Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2831
“Bear you one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.. .Every man shall bear his own burden.” Galatians 6:2,5.
OBSERVE, dear Friends, that the Apostle says in the second verse of this chapter, “Bear you one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” These Galatians had been trying to bear the heavy burden of the Law of Moses. They had, as far as they could, put themselves, again, under the old Ceremonial Law. They had forsaken the Gospel way of justification by faith and had sought to be made perfect by their personal obedience to the Law of God. Now, the Apostle, as though he would expel one affection by another, says, “You want a law? You wish to be under a law? Well, here is the law of Christ—yield yourselves to it! Instead of observing the outward ceremonies of the Levitical law, here is a living law which touches the heart and influences the life—obey that law. You are Christians. You have come under law to Christ by the very fact that you are not your own, but have been bought with a price by Him—now see to it that you yield implicit obedience to the law of Christ.”
It is somewhat remarkable, I think, that many of those who are self-righteous and apparently pay much regard to the Law of Moses are usually quite forgetful of that which is the very essence and spirit of that Law. They are so righteous that they become stern, severe, censorious—which is being unrighteous—for the righteousness even of the Law of God is a righteousness of love, “for all the law is fulfilled in one word,” that is, “love.” A self-righteous man is not generally a man with a tender spirit. He looks at that which is hard and stern in the Law and he begins to be hard and stern himself—there is none of the softness, sweetness, gentleness and graciousness which even the Law, itself, required when it said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Paul did well, in the mood in which the Galatians were—as they wanted to be under law, to remind them of what is the essence of the Law of God and he did still better by reminding them that they were under law—to Christ, whose law emphasizes the love which even Moses, himself, had taught under the old dispensation!
These Galatians had most foolishly sought to burden themselves with a load which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear. After being set free by the Gospel, they had gone back to the yoke of bondage, so the Apostle, in effect said to them, “As you have been so bewitched and fascinated that you want burdens to rest upon you, here are burdens for you—‘Bear you one another’s burdens.’ And, as you want law, here is law for you—so fulfill the law of Christ.” It was characteristic of that sacred craftiness, that holy ingenuity, which was so conspicuous in the Apostle Paul that he worded his argument thus, that he might draw the attention of these Galatians to it, fix it upon their memories and, if possible, reach and influence their consciences.
Should there be any of you here who desire to come under the yoke of bondage, or who wish to be burden-bearers, or who find great music in the word, “law,” I hope you will discover all these things in the text. I see in it, first of all, community—“Bear you one another’s burdens.” Then the latter part of the text teaches us immunity. You are not bound to consider other people’s burdens so much as your own, that you become responsible for them. No, “every man shall bear his own burden.” Then the third point, which will be a further opening up of the fifth verse, will be personality. “Every man shall bear his own burden.”
I. First, I see, in the text, A MARVELOUS COMMUNITY. “Bear you one another’s burdens.” What does this mean?
Well, dealing with it first, negatively, it does notmean that we are to burden one another. There are some whose religion consists in laying heavy burdens upon other men’s shoulders while they, themselves, will not carry them for a single yard. You recollect that sect of Pharisees with whom our Master was always in conflict—they have their representatives in these modern times. Why, even this text, itself, is twisted by some into a reason for burdening others. “‘Bear you one another’s burdens,’” they say —“do you not see, Friend, that you have to help me?” Yes, friend number one, but do you not see that you are not to go and burden that other friend? It is true that you have to bear his burdens. Let the first application of this passage be to yourself, and be not eager to apply it to your neighbor from whom you want to draw something. You have begun by violating the spirit of the text, not only by not bearing your brother’s burden, but also by thrusting upon him your own burden without taking his in exchange! I say this because I have often found that men naturally draw this inference—“We are to help one another, therefore, please help me.” The proper inference would be, “We are to help one another—where is the man whom I am to help?” Is not that the most logical conclusion from the text? Yet such is the selfishness of our nature that we begin straightway to say, “This text is a cow, I will milk it,” not, “this text gives me something to do, so I will do it,” but, “This text gives me a chance of getting something and I am going to get it.” If you talk like that, it proves that you are out of gear with the text and have not entered into the spirit of it at all.