Join Skip Heitzig as he delves into the principles of restoration and the law of Christ, emphasizing the important call for believers to bear one another’s burdens. Through biblical examples and practical teaching, this episode encourages Christians to not only avoid burdening others but to actively support their fellow believers. Pastor Skip explores the concept of the law of love introduced by Jesus and challenges the listeners to manifest this love through their everyday actions.
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This is restoring. And the word restore, by the way, is a beautiful word. It means to mend a broken bone. It was a word used in medicine to set a bone that had been broken or to mend a net, a fishing net that had been torn. so that it’s usable again, so that the person can walk again. Restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Well, wait a minute. You’re saying we’re not under the law, but now you’re talking about the law of Christ. What’s the law of Christ? Well, the law of Christ is back in chapter 5, verse 14. Look at it. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. That’s how Jesus summed it up. So the law of Christ is the law of love. Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ, which is to love. Get good at loving people. Get good at bearing burdens for people. Don’t be a burden, bear a burden. The Judaizers were a burden. They came and laid burdens on people. And you remember, I know you do, because you know your Bibles. You remember that Jesus in Matthew 23 chided the Pharisees and the scribes, these legalists. And he said, the scribes and the Pharisees sit at Moses’ seat, do what they tell you to do because that’s the law of God, but don’t do like they do because they’re hypocrites. And then he said this, for they lay heavy burdens too hard to bear on men’s shoulders and they won’t lift one finger. to alleviate the burden themselves. Don’t be a burden, bear a burden. Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. You know, some people spread joy and peace and love and make people happy wherever they go. Other people make others happy whenever they go. you know the difference. You see some people come and you go, oh man, I love it. Encouragement is coming this way. You see another person go, oh man, that person won’t bear your burden, they’ll be your burden. And when they go, it’s like, whoo, hallelujah. So bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, When he is nothing, he deceives himself. Now go back to Peter and Jesus. Peter denied Jesus. But you remember the conversation that Jesus and Peter had? And Peter said to our Lord when Jesus said, you know, all of you are going to be offended tonight. And Peter said, well, they might be, but not me. These other disciples that you picked, they’re flaky, but not me. I’m Peter. I’m the rock. I’m going to be the first pope tonight. No, he didn’t say that. But some think he said that. But Peter was sure that he was incapable of committing the sin Jesus said that all of them would commit that night. Not me, Lord. Why? Because Peter was confident in himself. He thought himself to be something. That really was the root of the problem. When you point fingers at people, it’s because you think they are lower than you are and you have something on them. You are better than they are. For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, you’re not all that hot. He deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. You know, just Have your own walk before the Lord. You know, people will often ask me to tell them what the will of God is for them. And I have to convince them that I have enough trouble finding the will of God for me, let alone for me and them. So that’s on you. You walk your walk of faith. I’ll walk my walk of faith. If I can pray for you and give you biblical advice, I’ll do that. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, not in another. Now, verse 5 seems to be a contradiction to some. It says, for each one shall bear his own load. Verse 2 says, bear one another’s burdens. If you have an old King James, it’s the same word in both verses. Verse 2 is bear one another’s burdens. Verse 5 is for each one shall bear his own burden. So that has caused some contention. Don’t let it be. There’s two completely different Greek words, and that’s why the new King James differentiates burden and Verse 2, load. Verse 5, bear one another’s burdens. And the Greek word there is bare. In verse 2, bare means back-breaking burden. Something that’s so heavy you can’t bear it alone. You need to spread that load out on the shoulders of other saints. Bear one another’s burdens. The things of life that crush in on them. But in verse 5, each one shall bear his own load. That’s the word photion or photion in Greek. And that means a smaller, manageable, carryable load, like a backpack. A soldier’s backpack would be a photion. In ancient times, a Roman soldier would carry a pack. He can manage that on his own. He didn’t have to bear everybody else’s backpack, just bear his own. So there’s certain things you and I can only do alone, but there are other burdens that we bear that require the encouragement and love and bearing of others in our lives. But let each one bear his own load. So remember, Jesus said, take my yoke upon you. Then he says, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. He won’t give you more than you can handle in your own personal life. Sometimes it seems like he does. But that’s just a vote of confidence that you’re going to manage it. You’ll make it. If it seems too heavy, get others to bear with you. Pray with others. Okay, verse 6. Got to finish this up. Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Now, when it says share, the word share means remunerate. So let him who is taught in the word remunerate in all good things with him who teaches. It’s the same principle. I wish I had time to kind of unlock Romans 15 and 1 Corinthians 9, which mentions the same kind of things that, look, we’re taking up an offering for the poor people in Jerusalem. You have partaken of their spiritual blessings. It’s not a big deal if you give to them your material blessings and support them. The workman’s worthy of his wage in Romans 15. Jesus said that. And so that’s the idea here. Evidently, and this is, if you’re wondering, why is this verse sitting here? The Judaizers, one of the things they did is they were saying, don’t support Paul and don’t support these teachers that Paul has set up in your churches who are teaching you the word of God. Don’t support them. It’s wrong to support them. And Paul is saying, let him who is taught in the word share, remunerate in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. He who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. He who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. All right. There’s five sermons in just what I read. And There is a broad principle of sowing and reaping here that is true in every aspect of life. But in context, because the context begins in verse 9 with the congregation of Galatia telling to support their teachers and preachers there financially. it would seem to follow that in context, the sowing and reaping has to do with financial sowing and reaping in this context. So I’m always a stickler with context. Every text must be interpreted by its context. So Paul is saying then, if you spend all your money just on your flesh, on yourself, on your own satisfaction, and don’t take care of the work of God, you’re going to reap corruption. But if you do give and you do support, you’re going to reap a good harvest. So that’s the context. Now, though that is the context, this also is a spiritual principle that is mentioned many times in the Bible, right? You know that. The law of sowing and reaping. It’s a natural law that happens every day. You sow some seed and you reap a harvest. You plant stuff, you water it, stuff grows. You reap what you sow. Paul also used this in Corinthians, speaking of finances, when he said, he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. So it was also that same context. But let me just, let me do it from this angle. At any given moment, At any given moment, you are sowing to the Spirit or to the flesh.
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This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Your support helps reach people every day with biblical truth that speaks into real life. And this month, we’d love to thank you for your gift with a meaningful resource designed to encourage restoration and connection in your home and family relationships. When you give today, you’ll receive Reconnecting with Family— a powerful book from Pastor Skip that addresses the pressures families face today and offers practical scripture-based guidance for navigating life together with grace, wisdom, and hope. Your gift helps extend the reach of Connect with Skip Heitzig, connecting more people and families to God’s unchanging truth. Request Reconnecting with Family when you give $50 or more at connectwithskip.com slash offer or by calling 800-922-9222. 1888. Now, here’s more from Pastor Skip.
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Right now, you are sowing to the Spirit. You’re my favorite group of people. You think it’s important to come midweek and sow truth in your spirit. You’re going to reap a harvest. You’re going to reap in terms of having these verses and truths affect the rest of your life and give you equipment to pass it on to future generations, etc., etc., You may not see it immediately, like when you plant a seed, you’ve got to wait for that to grow, but it will grow. But if you sow to the flesh, that will also grow, and you’ll reap corruption. So here you are feeding the Spirit, and we like to sometimes say it’s like two dogs are living inside of you. And you’ll feed one or the other, or you’ll feed both, and then, man, the fight gets horrendous when you do that. So starve the flesh, dog, and feed the spirit dog. That’ll preach. I can get all Pentecostal here now. Feed the spirit dog. Because when you feed the flesh, you’re feeding a monster that never, ever is satisfied. Never satisfied. wants more, wants more. Anybody caught in an addiction will tell you that, that the flesh is never satisfied. There’s never enough. So sow to the Spirit and you will reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. So, do good to all. Jesus fed 5,000 people. Some were believers, some were not believers. He was doing good to all. You know, people say, we don’t want your Christianity. Really? What’s wrong with this? This is what our Religion tells us to do good to all. But especially, especially to those who are believers, the household of faith. So we’ve helped people out financially here, but this is not a social benevolent fund for anybody who wants to come out to church. They should give me money. We won’t do that. If you’re part of the body of Christ and you attend here regularly and we can track that and you’re going through a thing, we can help you out in that. But we consider first the household of faith. That’s our priority. Then he closes this off by saying, see what large letters I have written to you with my own hand. And we told you before that Paul probably is referring to an eye disease. We already cover this in this book that. At the end of his letters, he would have dictated his letter to a secretary, what we call an amanuensis. The amanuensis would be writing this down. But then at the end, Paul would sign or write the final few words or paragraph with his own hands. When he says, see what large letters I have written. Probably speaks of one of two things. Number one, I am writing large letters because I have eye problems and I really can’t see very well, so I have to write large enough for me to see because of the malaria and the eye disease that he was suffering with, the thorn in the flesh we’ve talked about. Or, Paul is wanting to emphasize something and he, at certain points, made sure the letters were really large. That’s what some people interpret this to be. Sort of like big capitalized print in a newspaper. A headline, you know, walk in the spirit or, you know, don’t walk in the flesh, something like that, that he would use large letters for things like that. So both are valid. You can take your pick as to what you want to lean with. As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. Paul was persecuted by Jewish people. When he went into the synagogue, they stirred up trouble against him. And so Judaizers didn’t want that persecution, and because they preached you must be circumcised, they were out of the line of fire. Because when you preach the gospel, which says no matter what you do, no matter how many laws you keep, no matter how many works you perform, that’s not good enough for God. God demands perfection, and there’s perfection only in one, and that’s Christ. And he lived the perfect life that we could never live, died the atoning death in our place, and by faith in him and faith in him alone can a person be saved. That will bring persecution. because it cancels out any work, any human work. Verse 13, for not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they might boast in your flesh. Got another notch on my belt. I had four people circumcised this week. I don’t know who’d want to say that, but. Evidently they did. But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but a new creation. Doesn’t matter if you’ve been circumcised. Doesn’t matter if you’ve not been circumcised. What matters is God changed your life. a new creation. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things pass away, all things become new. And as many as walk according to this rule, Paul is saying, don’t keep all those rules, but if you walk according to this rule, this rule of grace, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. Please do not misinterpret that verse. The Israel of God does not refer to the Gentile church. What does refer to the Gentile church is the word them in verse 16. Peace and mercy be upon them, now a whole new group, and upon the Israel of God. 65 times the New Testament mentions Israel. It always refers to Jewish people, literal Israel. It would be weird to think that Paul everywhere else made this word refer to literal Israel, but now he’s referring to spiritual Israel, the Gentile church. No, he’s not. Peace and blessing and mercy to those who keep this rule, to them in Galatia, and to the Israel of God and to Jewish believers. That’s simply what he’s referring to. So I want to unravel that for all the reformed arguers, or if you’re getting hammered by that, that would be a poor way to interpret. It would be a faulty hermeneutic. From now on, let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” I don’t want anybody to hassle me. I’m tired of these Judaizers bothering you, bothering me, hassling me. I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. You see, the Judaizers were interested in the mark they could put on your private parts. Circumcision, right? Circumcision. That’s the mark they were concerned about, the circumcision mark. Paul says, I bear the marks of suffering like Jesus bore on his body. That’s the mark that gives me the qualification. You know, Paul the apostle was probably one walking scar. If you know your New Testament, how many times he was arrested and beaten, flogged, tortured, and then eventually beheaded. I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. So they’re worried about their little mark of circumcision. I’ve got the marks of Jesus’ suffering on my body. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. He closes the book with how he opens the book. He closed the book with grace, just like he opened the book with grace. It’s all about grace. So the final word from Paul is the final word for all. Grace, grace, grace. And Paul said, I can preach grace because I’ve been preaching it and there’s marks on my body, scars on my body. that prove this message is the one message the world hates, but it’s the message God sent me to preach. There was a missionary to India named Amy Carmichael. She gave her life to that country, and she wrote a little poem imagining Jesus surveying his church, his believers, you and I, at the judgment seat of Christ, and quizzically wondering why we don’t have scars. It’s a great little poem. Hast thou no scar? No hidden scar on foot or side or hand? I hear thee sung as mighty in the land. I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star. Hast thou no scar? Hast thou no wound? yet I was wounded by the archer’s spent. Lean me against a tree to die and rent by ravenous wolves that compass me, I swooned. Hast thou no wound? No wound? No scar? Yet as the master shall the servant be, and pierced are the feet that follow me, but thine are whole. Can he have followed far who has no wound or scar? Wherever Paul went, he was scarred. You and I will bear scars. We will be persecuted for righteousness sake. For all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Count it as a badge of honor. Not that you’re a masochist. Come on. You know, slander me. Go ahead. Feels good. Beat me. No, nobody wants that. But when it comes, thank you, Jesus. When they post something about you because you’re a Christian or because you take a conservative stand that has a biblical value, rejoice. Rejoice. You’ve got scars.
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We’re so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, here’s a reminder. When you give at least $50 this month, we’ll send you Reconnecting with Family as our thanks. It’s a powerful new resource from Pastor Skip that offers biblical wisdom and encouragement for navigating real life family challenges with faith and grace. Your support helps keep this Bible teaching ministry on the air, connecting more people and families to God’s Word. Give today at connectwithskiff.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your April resource. See you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig.
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Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast your burdens on His wood. Make a connection.
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Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God’s never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
