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TWEETS FROM HEAVEN: Godly Wisdom in 140 Characters or Less - "#BeResponsible" - November 6, 2016 - Senior Pastor Scott Christenson

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St. Paul's Lutheran Church Orange, CA

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so we're starting a new sermon series today that's going to take us through the next few weeks as you see it's called tweets from Heaven Godly in 140 characters or less I'll one of the amazing things about the Bible is that we don't have to read a lot add to have our lives profoundly impacted by it God's word really is is Hebrew says living and given so sometimes just one sentence of scripture I can be life-changing for us so that's where going to look at in this series some these very short and very simple you deeply impactful sentences of scripture it's so today we begin our journey by Reid Galatians 6 verse to this verse carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ Christians in other words are supposed to rely on each other take care of each other through the various struggles of Life Jesus showed us love and compassion and so we are called to go and do likewise  that's pretty straightforward right so far so good  what kind of gets a little interest because just a few verses later Paul Van says this at the end of verse 5 but each one should carry your own load  snow if you were reading that sentence anywhere else in the New Testament you probably wouldn't think anything of it sounds right but me here right after telling us to carry each other's burdens you have to wonder how these two ideas go together because they really seem like polar opposite instructions  how can we possibly do both  it seems either we can carry each other's burdens or we can let each one carry his own load but we can't really do both think about it I think you'll realize that this is the tension that we live in everyday the tension between these two ideas NYC parrot this is something I think about all the time if if one of my boys has a problem and they come to me for help what do I do do I carry their burdens for them and other words to I'd jump in as Dad and take care of everything for them  or do I no this is one of those times you have to carry your own load another words you need to take care of this yourself and even though I could jump in and help you it's actually better for you if I don't and I suspect most of you will say well that depends right sometimes it's the right thing to carry each other's burdens and other times the right answer is to let them carry their own load and I think that's the question now is how do you know which one to choose and when this is one of those is it really helps us to dig into the original languages of the Bible because in the Greek text of Galatians Paul uses to very specific words to help us understand what he's saying here  inverse to when he says carry each other's burdens the word is the Greek word barrette when Paul says each one should carry his own load the word for low what is not bar about the Greek word for 10  MLB both kind of talk about the same thing there's actually a big me difference in meaning between the two the Greek word bar a really means and excessive burden one that you can sulfur example Matthew uses the word bar a in Matthew 26 you'll remember this is in the passion of Jesus and Jesus has gone to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray but his disciples keep falling asleep on him  Matthew 26 verse 4 three it says this when he Jesus came back he found them the disciples sleeping because their eyes were heavy  and the word that's translated to heavy there is the same Greek word Bari this was an excessive burn that they could not bear they could not keep their eyes open no matter how hard they try  Barra is also used by the Apostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians 1 back for this one he's talking about some very difficult challenges that he went through in his ministry and Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 1 verse 8 we were excessively again Bari is the Greek word they're beyond our strength so that we despaired even of life shut down when Paul says in Glacier 6 each carry each other's bar raise and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ This is what he's talking about he's talking about excessive burdens that an individual can I possibly bear themselves but what he says but each one should carry his own load the word for load is not the Greek word Bari but as I said 40 and what does 14 mean it doesn't mean an excessive load you can't bear yourself before John basically means a normal load a bearable load  so for example for 10 is the word used in Acts please 7 verse 10 Paul is talking there about one of his upcoming Journeys and he see at the end of the sentence he talks about his ship and cargo and the word translated cargo is the Greek word for 10 what is Cargo ship it's not an excessive burden that the ship cannot bear and that ships bear cargo all the time  this is what they do this is what supposed to do  cargo is a burden that a ship is designed to carry I may even be very but it's not excessive it's not impossible it's normal a 14 on is also used by Matthew when he votes Jesus in Matthew 11 saying this for my yoke is easy and my burden is light  McGann the word for burden there is the word for 10  Jesus another words the same come to me and I'll give you a burden that you can carry it won't be excessive or impossible it won't be a bar a I'll give you a fortune that's weird that Paul uses in Galatians 6 when he says but each one should carry his own load  so if you put all this together what Paul Shane in Galatians 6 what does he mean when he says we're supposed to Bear each other's bar raise but not each other's for tents  well here's the principle that I think he's laying out he's sane on the one hand help others do what they cannot do themselves what is the same time don't help others do what they can and should do themselves  and you know if you're not sure if that's true or not I can tell you this is actually a scientifically verifiable I wonder how many of you have ever watched a little chicks hatch out of an egg how many of you have ever seen that most of urine this is amazing thing to watch it's also incredibly frustrating to watch cuz you watch it and you just feel bad add for these little guys right there just coming to life and the first thing they have to do is this big huge job of pecking their way out of this  any watch them doing these poor little birds just literally exhausted by the end a farmer type you might think yourself why don't we help these poor little things out a little bit  this is no problem for us big so why don't we just crack the egg for them and let them out of there so they can rest and take it easy  do you know we don't do that  anyone in the know will tell you you better not do that because if you do that chick almost certainly.  Why because even though it's a burden for them they can do it and they should do it be all of that work of pecking their way out of that little egg is actually what gives them the strength they need to survive once they outside of the egg  so you may think you're helping them but you're actually harming them by cracking the egg for them  novice makes perfect sense right but this is the problem we have we all look at this right we all know this already  help others do what they cannot do themselves don't help others do what they can and should do themselves I mean do we really even need a sermon on this this is so basic right this is not rocket science here see this is the problem that we have the problem we have is that are natural sinful tendency is to do the exact opposite of both pieces of this principle our sinful the what is to not help others do what they cannot do themselves and at the same time to help others do what they can and should do themselves we call ourselves Christians but when the moment of opportunity comes to Bear some Alice's burdens that they can't bear themselves so often we walk by and do nothing kind of like that priest levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan  are sinful capacity to be indifferent to suffering it's just unbelievable sometimes  I'm here at the very same time many of us violate the second half of the principal also we jump in and we people do things that they really can and should do themselves  and we say we're helping them but the truth is what we're really doing is helping ourselves feel better  we're not helping them what we're doing is enabling them we're enabling their bad behavior to continue a little longer  they need to change and take responsibility for themselves but we're not letting them because we keep jumping in all the time to quote on quote help them Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about this actually in his famous book of life together take a look at this quote he says nothing can be more then the tenderness so-called tenderness that consigns another to his sin nothing can be more passionate then the severe rebuke that calls our brother back from Sinton from the path of sin you see what you're saying there he's saying that's sometimes the most loving thing that we can say to someone they need is no no I'm not going to help you with that because you can and you should do that yourself you've got a crack your own and at the same time if we walk by someone with an excessive burden that they can't bear themselves and do nothing and we saw justify it by saying well it's really none of my business he's saying that's not kind  that's actually being this cruel as you could possibly and the question you have to ask is why are we like this is this our sinful default mode what is it that drives us to be so cruel that we can sometimes right by people who have terrible burdens they cannot bear themselves and do nothing  and all the other side what is it that keep cracking people's eggs for them  and I believe the answer is that this is in identity issue  we do it because we don't know or we've lost sight of who we are in Christ what we have here is a failure to really believe the gospel  to see if you're the kind person who has a tendency to walk by a person in genuine need and do absolutely nothing you need to recapture your true I you need to remember that when you were completely helpless and hopeless Jesus did everything for you that's the gospel that Jesus did for us what we desperately needed to do ourselves but could never do our the perfect life that God required us to live but that we could not live no matter how hard we try play some died the death that we deserve to die at the cross and he rose from the dead to give us eternal life the life that no amount of effort on you part could ever achieve he did what you could not do for you only when that reality digs deep into your soul will you realize I have no life at all apart from that and when that happens who's you to serve others in similar situations  at the same time the Gospel of Jesus is antidote for the person who keeps cracking other people's eggs for them  because what is it that causes people to help others to the point of enabling them  I think it's one of two things sometimes I think it's because the first has the sense that unless I help them I'm not a good person  and that's why they can't bring themselves to say no to someone  Lucy the Gospel of Jesus says to you your goodness is not dependent on what you do is to and then on what Christ has done for you  and other times I think people become enablers because they think to themselves just can't stand to watch other people struggle  I just don't want anything bad to ever happen to someone that I love and that sounds good but see when you believe the gospel of Jesus you start to realize that God often how's his greatest work in our lives through times of struggle and suffering  in fact the greatest work God ever did happened when Jesus endured the most horrific suffering that we could ever imagine And yet when he cried out to God the Father for help the father essentially said by his silence no no I'm not going to help you you have to bear this yourself  and then you start to realize that people who never what's the struggle with anything in their life tend to turn out to be very immature people and very self-centered people add people who have a mindset of entitlement she the Gospel of Jesus help start to understand that if you bail people out all the time what you're really doing is robbing them of the opportunity to can on God themselves and see God come through for them in their times of struggle carry each other's burdens God sets  it's not a suggestion it's a command what is the same I'm each one should carry his own load  that's not much  but that's Godly wisdom in a reading 40 characters or less let's bow our heads and pray father we ask for your Divine wisdom as we seek to live out these verses every day  Lord forgive us the many times we have walked by indifferently when people were bearing terrible loads and needed our help at the same time Lord we ask you to forgive us for the many times we have thought we were helping others when we were really bearing loads should have more in themselves  Lord give us wisdom each day to live this out  so that all of us can know and understand better the Gospel of Jesus  we asked it in his precious name

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TWEETS FROM HEAVEN: Godly Wisdom in 140 Characters or Less - "#BeResponsible" - November 6, 2016 - Senior Pastor Scott Christenson

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