Doing Good to All
1Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, 5for each one should carry his own load.
Dig Deeper
At the end of every timeout or similar situations, the basketball team I coached would put their hands in the middle of our huddle and shout "one team, one mind." This was meant to stress for them over and over again that they were in it together. All the divisions and self-attention that might tempt them should be left at the door when it came to truly playing like and being a team. If they really wanted to win then they had to be the type of community that thought together, worked for a common goal, and helped one another when a teammate got into a bad spot. At the same time, however, that couldn’t go too far. We had to make sure that they didn’t take the team concept to the point where their individual work, effort, and responsibility no longer mattered. They couldn’t get to the place where they felt that everybody else’s hard work and discipline would cover up for their own laziness, shortcuts, or failings. Yes, they were a team, but they also had the individual responsibility to do their own part to be a part of that team.
The same concept applies to those who have laid down their own individual lives, dying to selves, and entered into the common life of the Messiah that all believers share. We are called to be one body, one community in the Messiah. This is a community where we truly strive to live with the concept, "one body, one mind" (the body and mind of Christ). This was a particularly important message for those in Galatia who were struggling with quarreling and infighting as a result of the controversial teachings of the Judaizers. It was time to leave all of that behind and truly become one in Christ again. Yet, at the same time, they had to be careful not to get into the mindset that they could skate by without taking any personal responsibility, merely relying on the holiness and forgiveness of the other people in the community.
Although Paul’s opening words here of chapter 6 form some principles that rightly can and should be applied universally within the body of Christ when dealing with those who had fallen into sin, he is clearly addressing a specific situation. The Judaizers had come into the churches and stirred up all kinds of factions and feelings as a result of their teachings on circumcision and following the rules of the Jewish law. When that type of thing happens it is easy to fall into bitter modes of thinking and not want to forgive in a godly way. Paul will have none of that. A body of Christ that will not forgive and gently restore those who desire restoration after falling into sin is really not behaving like a body of Christ at all. There has been sin and divisions in the churches in Galatia, but now is time for gentle restoration. The temptation would be for people in Galatia to think of themselves as one type of Christian, perhaps a ‘free’ Christian, and look down on other types that had showed themselves. It would be easy to get arrogant and act smugly towards those who had erred. This, however, would run directly counter to Paul’s vision of all people being on equal footing in the body of Christ (Gal. 3:26-29). If everyone is going to be equal and care for one another, then this applies to them not just in theory but also in practice. If Christ carried his cross for others, so must his people be prepared to shoulder burdens and show concern for one another. As Paul usually does, though, he gives them a general principle and leaves it to them to work out the specific situations to which it will apply.
Paul again returns to the concept of law since it has been the center of so much of the controversy. If they really want to follow a law, then it isn’t the checklist mentality of the law of Moses that they need. It is the love-centered law of Christ. It is, after all, love the embodies and characterizes the law of Christ. In fact, Paul uses a key word, ‘fulfill’, to get that point across. One needed to keep the law of Moses, but you fulfill the law of Christ. It is not something that can be kept, but must be thought through, discerned, and finally embodied.
When Paul says if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he is not referring to their social status, but rather their spiritual state. He could be and probably is referring to both sides of the major issue here. Those who tend towards the Jewish law certainly shouldn’t think of themselves as a better sort of Christian, but neither should those who were never tempted by following the law. The issue at hand is about being a single body in the Messiah, not who was right or wrong. If you begin to think that, Paul says, you have fallen into deception. If you somehow think that you have attained a level of Christianity from which you can look down on others, then that is evidence all by itself that you have not. It is like taking pride in being humble; it simply cannot happen. Instead, each person should scrutinize their actions and see whether they are truly in Christ or not. If they are, then they can boast in Christ for what he has done in transforming them into the character of Christ. This is not the kind of worldly boasting and pride where you compare yourself to someone else. It is the godly sort of boasting that directs all praise and glory to God.
Paul makes a statement in verse 5 that, at first glance, seems to contradict what he just said in verse 2. In verse 5 he says, each one should carry his own load, but he had just written that they should carry each other’s burdens. This is the great paradox of truly being a part of a team or a community. You must be unified and help one another by carry the burdens (a word which means something along the lines of shouldering a heavy boulder) but at the same time you can’t sit back and try to slide by on the work and genuine efforts of everyone else. If you do that then you are not really a part of that community. When it comes to one another, we must offer help and love one another, but when it comes to ourselves, we have to bear the responsibility for our own load (a word that means something like shoulder bag). Thus bearing one another’s burdens is balanced out in a healthy community by carrying our own load. When we find that balance as a body of Christ we will be well on our way to realizing the true life of the body of Christ in a world that knows little of this type of genuine community life.
Devotional Thought
When you come across someone who is caught in sin, what is your response? Do you, by your actions, try to distance yourself from that as quickly as possible and deal with them harshly? Or do you carry their burden and restore them gently? Remember, we are also called to carry our own load. Are you doing that or do you often rely on the efforts of others in the community to help others and support the life of the community?
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