Bear Ye One Another’s Burdens
Junior Level
Handout: Bear Ye One Another’s Burdens
How many times have you seen someone do something they should not have done, or say something they should not say and before you know it you are judging them and thinking to yourself what a terrible person they are. How many times have you seen someone fall into the same pit of sin over and over and think to yourself that they are hopeless? Brothers and Sisters even if we are not trying to judge, it is human nature and the ways of this evil flesh to do that. Here is what Jesus said about our judgment.
Matthew 7
1Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. 6Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
7Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?12Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. 13Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
15Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 24Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. 28And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: 29For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
What prompted me to do this study was something I saw. I normally don’t watch a lot of TV or secular shows, simply because I feel it takes away time that I could be studying God’s word. I’m not saying all TV is bad, that’s between you and God, but for myself personally I don’t watch much TV at all and I’m very selective about what I allow myself to watch. Today, I had gotten home from running errands, and I had a headache and was exhausted. I lay down in my room to relax a bit before having to start cooking dinner for my family and I turned on the TV, and I began to listen. The show was mostly over but I caught the end of it. There were so many men on the show that were hurting because someone had sexually abused them when they were children. For many years most of them had carried this secret of horror inside and not been able to tell anyone because of the shame and the guilt and the fear that people would judge them. I thought to myself how sad this is, and I cried for all the people in the world today who are under that same kind of bondage and they cannot tell anyone because they are so afraid.
I also thought about the many people who are caught up in sin strongholds such as drugs, alcohol, and other addictions and they are afraid to tell anyone their struggles because of the judgment they would have to endure. I thought about my own life and the strong holds that The LORD has freed me from, and I remembered back how satan at one time used it against me and I struggled alone because I was in fear that other Christians would not understand. I search my own heart and wonder am I the kind of person that shows the love of Christ so that a brother or sister would be able to come to me with any kind of struggle and ask me to pray with confidence that I would love them and not be judgmental?
Why are we judgmental of others at times? Is it because we fear our own struggles and shame, or do we simply lie to ourselves and think that our sin isn’t as bad as everyone else’s? God help us. The Word of God commands us to bear one another’s burdens.
Galatians 6:2 “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
God’s word commands us not to judge others. I think it is a stink in God’s nostrils when He sees His children judging one another. There is none save CHRIST who walked in human flesh that has been so righteous that they could stand in the place of Judge. We have all failed.
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
Remember in the book of John chapter 8 the woman who had been caught in the very act of adultery? The people took her out and reminded Jesus, (as if He didn’t remember) what the law of Moses said to do in this case. They were ready to stone her to death for her sin. They did not stop to think of her soul, just her sin. What did Jesus do?
John 8:7-11 “7So when they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10When Jesus had lifted up Himself, and saw none but the woman, He said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
I have often wondered so many times what Jesus wrote on the ground. I heard a preacher once say that he imagined that Jesus wrote…”The law called…and Mercy answered.” I liked that…perhaps it was something of the sort, maybe one day we will know but we see here that these people were so ready to kill this woman, but Jesus was concerned about her soul. He saw the person, not just the sin. No, Jesus was not condoning her sin, He was not saying it was ok what she did, what He was saying was that her soul was more important and that He forgave her for her crimes against God…He did the same for you and I you know. Praise HIS HOLY NAME!
Be honest…what would you have done? What would you think if you were the one that saw this woman committing this sin? Would you judge her? Would you run and find someone to tell what you just saw…or would you pray for her? It’s easy for our flesh to point fingers and see someone else’s sin and be appalled at it and then skip over our own transgressions. You may not have committed adultery but what does Jesus say?
He said that whoever looks at another person with lust is an adulterer at heart…have you ever looked at someone with lust? (Matthew 5:28)
Ever looked at murderer in prison and puffing up inside with a holier than thou attitude thought, he deserves to die! What does God’s word say?
1 John 3:15 tells us that whoever hates his brother is a murderer. Have you ever been angry or had hatred for someone?
What if a married person came to you, and they told you they were struggling with staying faithful to their spouse, what if someone came to you and asked you to pray that they were struggling with addiction to drugs or pornography? What if someone came to you and said they were struggling with homosexuality? What would you do? Are you a person that other Christians would be comfortable coming to you with such struggles for prayer? Are you a person that others know you would not judge them but instead be in prayer? I want to be that. In Isaiah 32 verse 2 it tells us that we should be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. We should be a refuge for others from their storms. No, this is not saying that we should condone or turn a blind eye to sin, or to be accepting of sin, but we should be accepting of the sinner. Just as JESUS was to the woman caught in sin. He did not accept her sin; He forgave her and told her to go and sin no more or to repent. That is what we must do. We must be like Christ showing love for the sin sick and telling them that Jesus will forgive them and that they must repent and turn away from that sin and cry out to the LORD for deliverance and HE WILL NOT FAIL! We must let them know there is freedom in Christ. They can be delivered.
Can you imagine how strong of a union we would all be if we stopped judging one another and people wasn’t afraid to come and confess their sins and to ask for prayer for those hidden things? Can you image the freedom we would all find and the healing that would come! Can you imagine how much ammunition we would take away from Satan’s hands if he could no longer black mail people with their struggles and strongholds! LORD HELP YOUR CHILDREN! Whatever is brought into the light of CHRIST is freed from the darkness of evil.
When we start putting that mirror of God’s righteousness up to our own heart seeing the reflections we would no longer have time to judge anyone else, we would be too busy repenting for our own stuff. Remember the Parable that Jesus taught about the Pharisee and the publican recorded in Luke chapter 18?
Luke 18:9-14 “9And He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Beloved, we are supposed to separate ourselves from the world and to strive to be righteous and we are supposed to stand against sin, but we are called to love and to forgive and to be a refuge. We are called to be a holy priesthood who stands and makes intercession for the lost and for one another and we are called to not be a judge but to be a light in a dark world so that others can find their way to JESUS CHRIST.
We can hate sin and love the sinner just as Jesus does. We can see the hurting soul who has lost their way or who is in bondage and we can be a called one to lead them to their promised land. We can be a Moses to others if we will only humble ourselves down and allow God to be judge and ourselves to be a light. This is what I desire to be. I pray for myself to be that and I pray for each one of you as well.
Life is tough, and it’s a struggle, let us not tear one another down, but lift one another up with words of life and with the love of Jesus Christ. Let us forgive as we have been forgiven and to have compassion on others who are so much in need for that love. I know it pleases the heart of God when we love one another and pray for one another and I pray that we can be what He would have us to be and that we can lead many to Christ. God Bless you all.
Dear Righteous, Heavenly FATHER,
Thank YOU for loving me. Thank You for being so Righteous and so Holy. Thank You for being so lovely. You are the very Essence of all that is good and right. Father, today I come asking You to forgive me for every time I have stood in judgment of another. Lord I ask that You give me wisdom, courage, and discernment so that I can be a refuge to others. Help me to get my flesh out of the way so that I can shine Your light and so that I can be a steam of water in a thirsty land to someone who is struggling. Help me to love the sinner and to be an intercessor for them. Help me not to judge them but to love. Father You have called me to this and I want to please You but I cannot do it alone. I need Your strength and Your love to shine through me.. More of You LORD and less and less of me. Thank You for Your countless blessings. I pray today for all those who are reading that You bless them and help them to be refuges for the ones that cross their paths. Help us be the light that leads millions to You. In the Lovely name of Jesus I pray…Amen.
~*Cindygirl*~ April 12, 2015