Fulfill the law of Christ

Galatians 6:2 (NIV)

Carry one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 

What burdens do you have in your life?  What burdens do others in your family, church, and community carry?  The word in the Greek is “baros” meaning heaviness, weight, trouble.  The imagery is a person with a heavy load on his/her back who can hardly keep walking with such a weight on their shoulders. Burdens in life come in the form of unexpected suffering that make your knees buckle and you can hardly keep going.  A loved one in an accident…….your house burns down…….being abandoned by someone you trusted……..sudden widowhood……a call from the doctor’s office with bad news from recent tests…….a rebellious child in jail……whatever prayer requests we read in the church’s weekly prayer list…….all these are examples of burdens people experience that causes healthy and strong people to become overwhelmed, crushed, practically paralyzed by such burdens.  In these situations you are to do whatever you can to help them---walk alongside them, pray with them, offer them hope and encouragement, give them a sense of direction and guidance, help them make wise decision, and so forth.  

There is another burden to which this passage is referring.  That burden is described in the preceding verse that speaks of someone being caught in any trespass.  Yes, we are to bear one another’s sins and trespasses.  Paul is talking about brethren---Christian brothers and sisters---helping one another in our failures as well as our trials.  We carry one another’s burdens by restoring a sinful brother or sister in the spirit of gentleness.  It takes a person that verse 1 calls “spiritual” to restore the sinful brother or sister.  To be spiritual is to be filled and led by the Holy Spirit.  You are not to correct them or judge them, but you are to bear their trespass, their weakness, and help them be restored.

In all these efforts to bear one another’s burdens, you are fulfilling the law of Christ.  What is the law of Christ?  Simply stated, although volumes have been written, the law of Christ is to believe and follow what He said are the two greatest commandments  — to love God and to love others as yourself. 

While we are to bear one another’s burdens, we also are to carry our own load (Galatians 6:5).  The Greek word for “load” in this verse does not mean the same as “burdens” in verse 2.  It refers to obligations that the Lord lays upon each of His children.  Each of us have a certain weight of responsibilities and challenges that we are suppose to carry on our own; we must not over-burden others with some circumstances that we ourselves must carry.

May you pray and be wise to know what burdens you can carry on your own and what burdens require others to help you carry.  And may you recognize when others need your help in enabling them to deal with their crushing burdens and weaknesses.

Everything in the Scriptures is God's Word

II Timothy 3:16 (CEV)

Everything in the Scriptures is God’s Word.  All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live.

There are several symbols used in Scripture to describe the Bible:

1.   Sword—Hebrews 4:12—it both hurts and heals (read also Ephesians 6:17)

2.   Hammer—Jeremiah 23:29—it reproves (read also II Corinthians 10:4-5)

3.   Seed—I Peter 1:23—it plants eternal truths (read also Luke 8:5-15)

4.   Mirror—James 1:23-25—it tells us who we really are (read also I Corinthians 13:12)

5.   Fire—Jeremiah 20:9—it can consume our lives (read also Luke 24:32)

6.   Lamp—Psalm 119:105—it is a guidebook, not a rulebook (read also Proverbs 6:23)

7.   Food—I Peter 2:2—it provides wisdom and knowledge for eternal life (read also                     I Corinthians 3:2 and Hebrews 5:14)

As the above verse states, the Bible is useful (the original Greek word means “profitable” or “advantageous”) to accomplish four goals—teaching, helping (actually convicting or reproving), correcting and showing us how to live.

Are you giving the Bible a chance to teach, reprove, correct, and train you to enable you to be adequate and equipped for every good work (II Timothy 3:16-17)? 

Too many Christians are spiritually anorexic.  Too many Christians are not spending time in the Word and, therefore, not receiving what the Bible claims it can give to enable Christians not only to serve others, but to make the best and right decisions in their own lives.  Too many decisions and beliefs based on our culture, the media, and our own feelings, not based on the Word of God.  Examples might include job and career decisions, how we use our resources, what we do with our time, and how we react to life’s challenges. 

“The need for knowledge of the Scriptures is obvious.  There are so many well-meaning Christians who are long on zeal, but short on facts……lots of enthusiasm and motivation, but foggy when it comes to scriptural truth.  They have a deep and genuine desire to be used by God, to reach the lost, serve in the church, invest their energies in the Kingdom of God, but their doctrinal foundation is shifting sand rather than solid rock.  They are at the mercy of their emotions, flying high one day, scraping the bottom the next.  To avoid being exposed to their vulnerability, most retreat into the background scenery of passivity because their ignorance of basic Scripture caused them embarrassment”—Charles Swindoll, Growing Deep in the Christian Life, 1986, page 9.

How well do you know your Bible?  How well are you living what you know?

Gifts to equip God's people

Ephesians 4:11-13 (NLT)

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 

                                                         

This is one of four passages in the Bible that speaks of spiritual gifts.  Two others are familiar (I Corinthians 12 and Romans 12), but can you find the fourth passage?  This passage lists four, some say five, gifts; they all are communication gifts.  You know the roles of evangelists, pastors, and teachers, but are there any modern-day roles for apostles and prophets?

The Greek word for apostle (“apostolos”) refers to a delegate, an ambassador of the gospel, and someone who is sent forth.  Apostles today could be those who plant churches.  Missionaries are apostles.  Church planters and missionaries go out into the world and establish churches; that is, they spread the gospel of Jesus through their communication and either start brand new church assemblies or connect new converts to church bodies already established.

Prophets were those who were used the God’s Spirit to declare what God had revealed, particularly foretelling future events. Today, many people know what the future holds although we are skeptical of modern-day prophets just like people in biblical times were skeptical of prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah and all the others.  Indeed there are many more false prophets than true prophets, but there are legitimate prophets called by God today to predict future events if people do not adhere to the call to salvation and follow the cause of Christ.

What is the main purpose of these communicators, called of God?  They collectively are called to equip God’s people—the church—to do His work and build up the body of Christ.  They will continue to use these gifts until four things happen: all God’s people are unified, have a personal relationship with Christ, have grown up as mature Christian people, and are Christlike with their lives.  Obviously, the church is going to need these communicators for a long time. 

Someone has said that the apostle focuses on a region, a prophet focuses on a target, the evangelist focuses on the unsaved, and the pastor-teacher focuses on the local body of believers.  Ideally, every church congregation has one or more of each of these communicators as members of the flock.  Who are these at your church?  Are you one or could you be one?  Do you know what God has called you to do for your congregation?  Do you know what God has called you to do for His kingdom?  It might not be one of these communication gifts as there are other gifts required to serve the body of Christ (His church) and you can find these in I Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and, the answer to my question above, I Peter 4:11-12.  Yet all Spirit-filled Christians have one or more spiritual gifts to use to serve others and build up the church of Jesus Christ.  May you clearly know what you spiritual gifts are.  If not or uncertain, begin pursuing what they are for you via many avenues—study guides, asking others, and experimenting with various roles of service and communication in your local church.