Bear One Another's Burdens

“My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20 ESV)

“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:1-2 ESV)

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” (Jude 1:20-23)

“But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:13 ESV)

What do these four Scripture passages have in common? They are all instructions to us who are followers of Christ to let us know of or to remind us of our responsibility to the body of Christ and to all those who are outside of faith in Jesus Christ. And that is that we need to get the truth of the gospel to them and to help them to know and to show them the way to come out of their sinful practices (or lives of sin) and to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands in holy living, which we are all called to do. 

Sadly, so many people today are teaching Christians the opposite of this. They are telling them to “stay in your own lane” and to not confront people with the truth of the gospel and of their need to repent of (turn from) their sins to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his will for our lives, for that might offend them. And since so many of them are trying to attract the ungodly to their gatherings, using worldly means and methods, they don’t want to offend them with the truth which says they must die to sin and obey God.

So, we are responsible both to Christians and to non-Christians to get to them the truth so that they can have genuine salvation from sin and true hope of eternal life with God. For Jesus said that not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING God’s will. And he said if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to sin, we will lose our lives, but if we give up our sins to follow Jesus, we have salvation.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; cf. Romans 6:1-23; 1 John 3:4-10]

Therefore, it is our responsibility as followers of and believers in Jesus Christ to help others to come to know Jesus Christ, in truth, and then to help them to follow him in obedience to his commands in moral purity, uprightness, godliness, honesty, and faithfulness, where possible. And if a brother or a sister in Christ, or one professing faith in Christ, should wander from the truth of the gospel, we who are following the Lord with our lives are to bring that wanderer back, if possible (men with men and women with women). 

But please note what this says here, for it is speaking to believers in Christ, and this is regarding anyone among us followers (or professers of Christ), that if any should wander from the truth and we are instrumental of God in bringing that wanderer back into the faith, that we will save his soul from death and his sins will be forgiven. But why “save his soul from death” if he is already a believer? Because our salvation is progressive, and it won’t be complete until Jesus returns, and only if we are following him in obedience.

And then if anyone among us is caught in (trapped in, discovered, found in) sin, we who are following the Lord Jesus in truth and in righteousness should restore that person. And to restore is to do a reset, like a reset of a bone that is out of joint, so this is not an easy nor a painless task. And a spirit of gentleness is meekness, and Jesus was meek but he was not weak when it came to speaking the truth in love to people. And gentleness is controlled strength, not weakness. We need to speak the truth, but in love to people.

And we are to snatch others out of the fires of hell, and this is by telling them the truth, and not the lies which tickle itching ears but which make people feel good. And as fellow Christians we are to be exhorting (with a holy urging) one another daily so that none of us is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And this is love!! This is kindness!! And lies are never kind. And a refusal to tell people the truth out of fear that they might hate us in return is also not kind. For we are to bear one another’s burdens.

And that means that we are to care enough about other people’s spiritual lives and eternal destiny that we will lay down our lives for them enough to risk having them hate and reject us for telling them the truth about God, and about salvation from sin, repentance, obedience to God, and where they will spend eternity if they do not leave their lives behind them to now follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands and to his will for our lives. For Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24).

Additional Scriptures: [Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:11-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]  

Video Talk

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Hear My Cry

By G. M. Eldridge

When my soul is worn and weary

And my eyes are filled with grief,

When my hands in desperation

Reach to heaven for relief,

Would I find the words there waiting

If I had the strength to start?

Could a mortal tongue interpret

All the sorrow of a heart?

Spirit, search me in my weakness,

And discern this growing gray.

Intercede in understanding,

Hear the things I cannot say.

Hear my cry, heav’nly Father,

You have known my ev’ry pain.

You have seen all my sorrow,

Hear my cry once again.

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