The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:01 sharing with you from the word of God.
00:02 Uh if you have been following the
00:04 sermons all these months, uh we are
00:06 almost at the end of our series on the
00:09 Paul's letter to the Galatians which we
00:12 started back in March. And this morning
00:14 we are at the last chapter chapter 6 and
00:17 the text is taken from the uh first five
00:20 verses with the topic uh bearing each
00:23 other's burdens.
00:25 There will be just I think two more
00:27 sermons after this and we will wrap up
00:29 our our studies on Galatians.
00:32 Now as a quick recap um the gist of of
00:36 uh of uh Galatians chapter five chapter
00:40 6 here comes from a long discussion. Uh
00:43 this letter uh to the uh Christians in
00:46 Galatia was written uh by Paul in
00:50 response to a twisted uh form of gospel
00:53 that was being propagated in their
00:55 midst. Uh there were some believers
00:57 among them in Galatia who were Jewish
00:60 and they insisted that their gentile
01:02 brethren uh must also follow the the
01:05 laws of Moses in order to secure their
01:07 salvation. We might describe this uh
01:10 this false gospel as gospel plus. In
01:14 other words, adding uh other conditions
01:17 uh to salvation as if Christ's work on
01:20 the cross was not sufficient. And in
01:23 response to this uh Paul expounds the
01:26 theology of the true gospel that is we
01:29 are we have been saved not by the works
01:31 of the law but by uh the grace of God
01:34 through our faith. Salvation is based
01:37 solely on the grace of God which we
01:39 received as a gift uh through the faith
01:42 we exercise in God. And the summary and
01:46 the summary of this is in u is in
01:49 Galatians uh 3:1. Clearly, no one who
01:53 relies on on the law is justified before
01:55 God because the righteous shall live by
01:58 faith. And unlike other religions,
02:01 Christianity teaches that it's not
02:03 possible to be saved by trying to keep
02:06 the laws. You can try all you want, but
02:08 you will surely fail because we are all
02:10 sinful people. Salvation can only be
02:13 gained uh on the merit of God's grace
02:16 which we embrace by by faith. Now in
02:19 this part uh of the final part of the
02:22 letter from the middle of chapter five
02:24 until the end of chapter 6, Paul now
02:27 explains that the believer who lives by
02:30 faith is now led by the Holy Spirit. And
02:32 having been freed uh from the yoke of
02:35 the law and bondage to sin, the believer
02:38 now strives to turn away from a life of
02:41 sin and he now starts to bear the fruit
02:44 of the spirit which is uh highlighted at
02:47 the end of chapter 5. So Paul is
02:49 describing here how the the believer
02:52 ought to live. And the anchor verse in
02:55 this final part uh of the letter is in
02:57 five verse uh 13. You my you my brothers
03:01 and sisters were called to be free but
03:03 do not use your freedom to indulge the
03:05 flesh. Rather serve one another humbly
03:08 in love. Serve one another humbly in
03:11 love. And Paul further writes in uh
03:13 chapter 5:E 6, the only thing that
03:16 counts is faith expressing itself
03:19 through love. Faith expressing itself
03:23 through love. And I draw your attention
03:25 uh to this to this uh to this word love
03:28 here. And so our text uh today from
03:30 chapter 6 should not be uh read in
03:33 isolation but uh as part of a flow that
03:36 starts from these two verses in chapter
03:39 5. And these uh two verses will serve as
03:42 the springboard for our message this
03:44 morning. We're going to see how we ought
03:47 to relate to each other in love and to
03:50 serve each other in love. Now from a
03:53 quick reading uh the gist of Galatians
03:56 uh chapter 6 1:5 is quite specific. Paul
04:00 is talking about uh bearing each other's
04:02 burden which is our topic for today. Uh
04:05 but before I unpack these five verses
04:07 from chapter 6 which I shall which I I
04:09 shall do later in the in the later part
04:11 of the sermon I intend to lay uh lay out
04:14 carefully uh for you uh the the
04:16 scriptural foundation to this idea of uh
04:19 bearing each other's burdens and I shall
04:22 do so by citing uh many other passages
04:24 from the Bible and next we shall we'll
04:26 also discuss why it is so hard for us uh
04:29 to to practice this bearing each other's
04:32 burdens and in other words uh we shall
04:34 first see why and then later we shall
04:37 see how when we examine uh the text
04:39 later in the sermon and so much for the
04:41 sermon outline. Let's commit this time
04:43 to the Lord in prayer.
04:46 Father in heaven, may your word come
04:47 alive this morning as your spirit open
04:49 the eyes of our faith so that we may
04:52 discern your truth so that we may live
04:54 lives that are pleasing in your sight so
04:56 that others might see more of your son
04:59 in us through what we say and what we
05:01 do. For we ask this in Jesus' name.
05:04 Amen.
05:07 Last Sunday, I wasn't around because uh
05:09 my family and I uh we were in the Manila
05:13 for a short family vacation over the
05:15 weekend. We left on the on early on
05:18 Thursday morning, 25th, and we came back
05:21 late Sunday night on the 28th.
05:24 Now, the Philippines is a country whose
05:27 population is uh 81% Catholic. 81%
05:31 Catholic with another 5% uh Protestants
05:35 and then another few% Mormons and the
05:38 others.
05:40 And so with 81% Catholic population, I
05:43 thought it might be interesting or even
05:46 appropriate that uh we should attend
05:48 Sunday mass in the Catholic church.
05:51 Anyway, it's been like more than 25
05:52 years since I last attended mass.
05:55 And so last Sunday morning uh we we
05:58 found ourselves in the Manila Cathedral,
06:03 one of the oldest churches in the
06:04 Philippines. And it was built in the
06:07 year 1581.
06:09 Inside was a sight to behold. It was big
06:14 and beautiful. Uh not like this, you
06:17 know, with Roman arches and and a Gothic
06:20 ceiling. And you can see the the pipe
06:23 organs at the back.
06:25 The service lasted just 1 hour.
06:28 Catholics are not so patient. One hour
06:31 finish ours is one one and a half to two
06:34 hours sometimes, you know. But they
06:36 conduct four services every Sunday
06:38 morning. And the priest uh preach a
06:42 message of hope uh based on a passage
06:44 from Mark chapter 5 uh namely the
06:46 raising of Gyrus's daughter. If I were
06:49 to ask my children what the sermon was
06:51 all about, I doubt they can answer
06:53 because I'm not sure if they were paying
06:55 attention.
06:57 Neither I think do my wife.
07:03 It was in a strange Filipino slang, you
07:06 know. So, and mixed with a bit of
07:09 Tagalog. Anyway, I don't wish to bore
07:12 you with the details of of of what
07:13 happened at the at the Sunday mass
07:15 except that it end at the end of the
07:17 service. Suddenly, the hundreds of
07:19 worshippers all rushed to the front and
07:22 I was wondering what was what was going
07:23 on. So, I went forward to take a look
07:26 and they were all eager to be sprinkled
07:29 with holy water by the priest. is the
07:33 equivalent of of the benediction that uh
07:35 pastor Mobi or Pastor Rama would would
07:38 give us at the end of our worship
07:39 service except that the was much more
07:42 dramatic and a little bit wet also. I
07:45 guess it's a literal form of showers of
07:48 blessings, you know, but it was a it was
07:51 a good experience the the Sunday mass.
07:53 You might say that we were masquerading
07:56 as as as Catholics if you can catch the
07:59 pun.
08:01 Well, after lunch, we made our way to a
08:03 large shopping mall for lunch. And after
08:05 church, we met we we went to this large
08:07 shopping mall for lunch and some last
08:09 minute shopping. And this Robinson's
08:12 place uh near our hotel in central
08:15 Manila. And here was another experience
08:18 on the second floor of of of this huge
08:21 mall. Uh in one part, in one section, I
08:23 saw hundreds of people gathered in one
08:26 place and some sitting and many more
08:28 standing standing behind. And I realized
08:31 that a Sunday mass was going on.
08:35 And the idea is so simple. If you cannot
08:37 get shoppers to come to church, you get
08:40 the church to the shopping mall.
08:44 I've never seen such a thing in my life.
08:47 If one day FBC needs to run a third
08:49 service on Sunday, we should consider
08:51 sub parade. I think
08:55 amazing uh church service in a shopping
08:58 mall.
08:60 And the third scene that I want to show
09:01 you from Manila, I took this picture uh
09:03 later uh that day at the airport when we
09:06 were waiting for our flight home. And
09:08 right there in the departure lounge, I
09:11 came across what looked like a shrine
09:14 with a statue of Mary, a picture of
09:16 Jesus, and an open Bible. And the
09:19 picture of Jesus carried the caption
09:21 that says, "Jesus, I trust in you."
09:25 And again, I've never seen such a thing
09:27 in my life in an airport of all places.
09:31 Now, all these photos I'm showing you is
09:33 my way of painting a picture of a
09:36 society in the Philippines that is
09:38 steeped in the Christian faith. We are
09:41 putting aside the many serious issues
09:43 that we have with parts of their
09:44 theology, but it is a very very
09:47 religious country.
09:49 But just that is just one side of the
09:51 picture.
09:53 The other side, a more negative one is
09:56 the poverty you see in their country.
09:60 Children begging in the streets and
10:02 whole families living in whatever space
10:04 they can find in the city. The streets
10:06 are literally their homes. And this was
10:10 early Sunday morning when the roads and
10:11 sidewalks were empty of people and
10:13 vehicles.
10:15 And as I left Manila, I couldn't help
10:17 but think about the spirituality of the
10:20 people on one hand and the poverty in
10:23 the land on the other hand. And maybe
10:26 spirituality is is not the right word. A
10:28 better word might be religiosity.
10:31 What I mean is the disparity I saw
10:33 between Christianity which is supposed
10:35 to be to be well known for its charity
10:37 and generosity
10:39 between that and the obvious destitution
10:43 I witness in the streets of Manila.
10:46 But please don't get me wrong. I I'm not
10:47 speaking out against uh Filipino
10:49 Christians. I'm sure there are many
10:51 Christian groups in the Philippines
10:53 working very hard to help the poor. In
10:56 fact, FBC is supporting one such group,
10:58 the Capatip Ministry in Northern Manila,
11:01 headed by Brother Titus. I actually met
11:03 up with his son Jr. when I was there. I
11:06 have nothing against the Christians in
11:08 the Philippines. After all, the the
11:10 eradication of poverty is the
11:12 responsibility of the government and not
11:13 so much the church.
11:15 It's just that visually my eyes could
11:17 not escape the huge gap between faith on
11:22 one hand and action or the apparent lack
11:25 of it on the other hand. And I wanted to
11:28 use this as a backdrop to today's
11:30 message because before we even talk
11:32 about bearing each other's burdens,
11:35 perhaps we should begin by examining
11:37 ourselves and look into the gap between
11:40 what we believe in and what we do. or
11:44 rather what we don't do when it comes to
11:46 relationships with other people. And I
11:48 shall come back to this point later.
11:52 But what does the Bible teach us about
11:54 what we ought to do when it comes to our
11:56 dealings with others? What is it that
11:58 God wants us to do in relation to other
12:00 people? As I said just now, I shall lay
12:03 out carefully for you the scriptural
12:05 foundation to our topic.
12:08 Once a a teacher in the law tested Jesus
12:13 uh with this question, teacher, which is
12:15 the greatest commandment in the law? To
12:17 which Jesus replied, love the Lord your
12:19 God with all your heart, with all your
12:21 soul, and with all your mind. This is
12:23 the first and greatest commandment. This
12:25 is recorded in Matthew 22 and also in
12:27 Mark 12. But more importantly for our
12:30 purpose today, Jesus followed this up by
12:32 saying, "And the second is like it. Love
12:36 your neighbor as yourself. All the law
12:37 and the prophets hang on these two
12:39 commandments. The the phrase all the law
12:42 and prophets is a technical way of
12:44 saying the entire scripture. In other
12:47 words, the Bible's teachings from cover
12:49 to cover can be summed up under two key
12:52 commandments. Uh that is love the Lord
12:55 your God and love your neighbor. Our
12:58 Christian walk should therefore be
12:60 constantly modified by our vertical
13:02 relationship with God and our horizontal
13:04 relationships with people around us. And
13:07 these relationships are to be driven by
13:10 love.
13:11 Bearing in mind what Paul says in
13:13 Galatians 5:6 that the only thing that
13:16 counts is faith expressing itself in
13:19 love. Now between these two greatest
13:22 commandments recorded here, loving God
13:24 is perhaps uh the easier thing to do uh
13:28 than loving our neighbors. After all,
13:30 God who is in the who is the embodiment
13:32 of of perfection and righteousness. Uh
13:35 God who who loves us and cares for us.
13:38 Surely this God is worthy of our love.
13:41 But to love our neighbors, that's quite
13:44 something else. As you would agree, the
13:47 natural
