Church Sermon - July 18, 2004

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 66:10-14
Gospel Lesson; Luke 10:1-20
Sermon Text; Galatians 6:1-16

This past week was Bible Camp, for a number of children from Holy Cross, and also from some of the other congregations around Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. I was fortunate enough to be a counselor, at camp.

Now, the story that I am about to tell, I am sure is one that anyone who was a counselor up there could tell.

When I got to camp on Sunday night, I found out that I was assigned to be a councilor for Tree House #1. So, I went to Tree House #1 and found out that it just big enough to fit 3 bunks and a tiny floor space.

I was assigned five wonderful, young, gentlemen, who were all about 11 years old. They were to be my campers and I was to be their counselor.

Each one of those five young gentlemen brought a suitcase, a sleeping bag, a pillow, toiletries, towels, and you name it - a whole bunch of things!

Every morning, when we woke up, we were to clean our cabin up, because Mr. Lunde, who was, by night the song leader at the campfires, and by day ‘The Inspector’, who went around checking all of the cabins.

So here is what would happen, during the course of one day. After breakfast and Bible Study, we would come back to our cabin, because it was sports hour. So, one of the campers would probably get rid of the pants he had on, because it was getting too hot. He would throw them on the floor and grab a pair of shorts. When it was time for swimming, we would come back to our cabin, get rid of those shorts, throw them on the floor, and grab swimming towels and swimming trunks. When we would come back up after swimming, the swimming trunks were taken off and thrown on the floor, and the towel was thrown down, too. In the meantime, a pop can, (that had been lying in his suitcase) would fall out. Then, he would check his schedule for the day, and lay it down. Maybe the shoes would come off, later in the day. When the shoes would get changed, they would get left on the floor. And, whenever a shirt would get changed, it would get thrown on the floor, too.

Now, that was just one camper! Multiply that by five. Oh! Wait a second! Multiply that by six, because I was in there too, and I was probably just as messy as they were! By the end of the day, it literally looked like somebody had taken a stick of dynamite, lit it, and all of the suitcases had exploded all over the room!

We would go to bed each night, and when we would wake up the next morning, somebody would say, "We have clean up the room. Mr. Lunde is going to check it, after breakfast!"

So, all of the campers would start to gather their own stuff, and stick it into their suitcases (and I would be busy gathering my stuff, too). When we thought we were all done, there would still be some stuff sitting out. Somebody would say, "Hey, somebody left out a pop can. Whose is that?"

They would point that out.

Somebody would say, "Oh! That is mine."

And that camper would throw it away.

Somebody else would say, "Oh, look. There is a towel lying out. Who left out the towel?"

They would point that out.

Maybe it was mine, so I would say, "Well, that is mine."

I would quickly put it away.

They would point that out.

And, that is how we would get ready for cabin inspection.

In a way, that is a wonderful little picture of the Holy Christian Church.

Let me explain it this way. We are part of what we call the Holy Christian Church. The Holy Christian Church are those who have been called out of this world of sin, and called into what the Apostle’s Creed calls the Communion of Saints. Or, maybe a better translation, from the Latin, would be the Community of Saints, the Family of Believers, Brothers and Sisters in Christ. The word saints means, holy one. So, we have been called together as a community of holy ones. Only, we are not holy, by ourselves. Scripture calls us saints, or holy ones, because by grace, God chooses to see us as holy, for Christ’s sake. He sees us with all of our sins washed away, for Christ’s sake. He sees us as if we have lived a holy life, for Christ’s sake, by grace. And, we are the community of the holy ones. And, as a community of holy ones, we long to be together with each other. We long to be together as a family. We long to go to church together with one another. We long to grow together in God’s Word, as Brothers and Sisters in Christ. As a Community of Saints we long to serve our Savior together as brothers and sisters. As a Community of Saints, we long to sing praises together with one another, to Jesus, our Savior, who is our Brother.

Which gets us to our scripture reading, for today. Our scripture reading today says that we should carry one another’s burdens. And, it also says that we should carry our own burdens. One of the Greek words that are used for burdens is the word cargo, or the word we might say today is baggage.

Here is what I want you to think about. As we are all members of the Holy Christian Church, we are the ones who are called out of this world. We are called as Christ’s holy people, by faith in Jesus. We all bring baggage into the holy Christian Church. We bring our own baggage. We bring our own burdens. We bring our own sinful nature, the flesh, the sinful flesh. Those burdens, that baggage, that cargo, are still connected to us. Every one of us brings that baggage.

It may be the baggage you bring is

But, we all bring that sinful flesh, that burden that we bear, (that we wish we didn’t have), we bring that with us, into the Holy Christian Church. And, as we live with our brothers and sisters in Christ, sometimes that baggage comes out, and it becomes open and obvious to everybody. People can see us, as we lose our temper with one another. Or, people can see us, as we grow resentful of somebody else, one of our brothers or sisters in the faith. That baggage becomes obvious.

Now, among the things that we love, as being members of the Holy Christian Church, such as singing praises together, gathering together in God’s House, serving together for our Savior, one of the other purposes of the Holy Christian Church, (which is something that we should love, and it gets to our scripture reading) is that we should love being part of brothers and sisters who are willing to point out our baggage to us. Look at what our scripture reading starts out saying,

"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin,

you who are spiritual should restore him gently."

That means that part of the job, as brothers and sisters in Christ, is to correct, or admonish, or rebuke one another, and point out the baggage that we bring into the Holy Christian Church.

Now that can certainly be problem, can’t it? Our scripture reading goes right on and says,

"But watch yourself,

or you also may be tempted."

If we start to point out other people’s baggage, other people’s sins, other people’s shortcomings, and other people’s faults, we could be tempted to think, "Look how good I am. I don’t have those problems, those faults."

So, how do we go about, as brothers and sisters in Christ, carrying out what scripture tells us to do here? The Bible tells us that if a brother sins, "restore him gently".

In English, when a paragraph is set up, generally the rule of thumb is the first phrase and the last phrase should really summarize the entire contents of that paragraph, and everything else in the middle should explain the contents. And so, the paragraph that we are looking at today starts out by saying we should point out our brother’s sins. But you see how it ends. It ends with the phrase, "each one should carry his own load," burden, or baggage. Then, the rest of the paragraph explains what that all means. Really what scripture is saying is that there is no way that I can correctly point out my brother’s baggage unless, first of all, I really look at the baggage that I bring into the Christian Church. Look at the baggage that I bring and you bring. We look at our baggage and it may not be open and obvious to everyone else. It may only be open to God, and ourselves, and no one else may see all the baggage that we bring into the Christian Church. Nobody may see the resentment we have in our hearts, but God and us. Nobody may see the jealously, or the anger, or the impatience, or the lust, or whatever it may be. But, we do have that. It is a burden that we bear. It is a burden that we wish we were rid of. And, as believers in Jesus, we are so thankful that our Savior, Jesus, loves us so dearly, He loves us so dearly that He has taken our baggage as His very own. He has picked it up in His arms, as if it were His. And as a mother carries a child, He has taken that to the cross. There, my Savior, Jesus, died to pay for all of our sins. Now my Savior, Jesus, is so patient with me. Even though I still have that baggage with me, and I sin every day, He patiently forgives me, every single day. He is so long-suffering, that though I fall into the same sin over and over again, He freely and completely washes my sins away, every day! And even though I have that baggage, I know that I am loved. I know that I am cared about. I am provided for.

It is only when we begin to look at ourselves that we can even begin to look at our brothers. Our scripture reading then says that each one of us should look at our own baggage.

"If anyone one thinks he is something

when he is nothing,

he deceives himself."

So in humility, I should look at what my Savior did for me. That enables me, then, to look at my brother’s baggage. The Bible says,

"Carry one another’s burdens."

In the Greek, maybe a more accurate way to say it is, "You should endure one another’s baggage."

It is wonderful that you do that, for me. I know, as your pastor, that I am not perfect. I bring baggage into my position as a pastor. I know that I am probably not as hospitable as I should be, because of my sinful nature. I know that because of my sinful nature, I don’t thank people the way I should, for the work that you do here at Holy Cross. That is baggage I bring. I know that I don’t know the Word of God the way I ought to. That is baggage I bring, because of my sinful nature. But, you are so kind, loving, forgiving, and patient. You bear up with me.

As we look at how our Savior dealt with us, we see our Savior is so patient with us. My brother does not want to have that baggage, anymore than I want mine. He knows that he is forgiven, for Christ’s sake. Jesus paid a huge price for him, just like he did for me. And so, I want to endure my brother’s shortcomings, too. I want to be kind to him. I want to care for him, like Christ does for me. I want to be patient with him, like Christ is with me. I want to be long suffering and forgiving, like Christ is for me.

So, first we look at our own baggage and we know how our Savior treats us. Then, we can look at our brother’s baggage and bear up with his shortcomings, like Jesus does for us. And then, it is only in that context that we can go about correcting, and rebuking our brothers and sisters in Christ, with a spirit of absolute humility.

Our scripture reading says, if someone sins, you who are spiritual should "restore him gently". What does that mean? Given what we just looked at, that means that if I have a brother or sister in Christ, who is persistently committing some sin, (and maybe they are not even aware of it), it is my duty, out of love, to point that out to them. We go about that in a very humble way. We should go to them and first of all say, "I love you. I care about as a brother or sister in Christ. I know that I have my own baggage. Jesus says, ‘Don’t take the speck out of your brother’s eye, until you take the log out of your own eye.’ And, I know that I certainly have my own sins, and my own weak flesh. Certainly, I know that I am forgiven for all of that. And, I am not coming to you, because I think that I am better than you. I am not coming to you, because I am holier than thou. Not at all. I am coming out of love. What you are doing is hurting another brother or sister in Christ."

When that happens, how should we receive that kind of rebuke, reproof, correction, or admonishment, (as scripture calls it)? We should receive it, thankfully. Thankfully receive that rebuke, repent, and know that we are forgiven for Christ’s sake. And then, for Christ’s sake, strive to live a more God pleasing life, with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Scripture says,

"All scripture is God breathed

and is useful for teaching,

rebuking,

and correcting in training and righteousness."

What is the result?

"So that the man of God

may be thoroughly equipped

for every good work."

The only reason to rebuke or correct a brother or sister in Christ, is so that we, as a body, we as brothers and sisters, can get better, and better, and better, and more, and more thoroughly equipped to serve God, together as a body of Christ. The Bible says,

"Brothers,

sharpen each other."

We want to sharpen one another, so that we can function together in harmony and peace, as we go into the world, witnessing our faith to Jesus, our Savior, spreading the Word of God, with a prayer that more and more people come into the family of believers, saved for all eternity. So, let us bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the Law of Christ.

Amen.

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