WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:22.260 Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:25.880 This is where you can find audio for our current and past sermons. 00:00:26.080 --> 00:00:30.420 We hope that you enjoy this week's installment, and be sure to check back next week to hear 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:31.260 the latest message. 00:00:31.680 --> 00:00:32.460 Thanks for listening. 00:00:46.900 --> 00:00:48.600 Well, good morning, Willow Ridge Church. 00:00:48.700 --> 00:00:53.060 Glad that each of you could join us from the comfort of your living room as we continue 00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:54.340 on in our Galatians series. 00:00:54.340 --> 00:01:00.200 I know this week has been crazy for everyone with everything that is going on, but it is 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:04.540 good to know that God gives us the abilities like this to meet together. 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:06.020 So today we celebrate Him. 00:01:06.380 --> 00:01:11.360 We celebrate His grace even in these moments of difficulties as we continue studying His 00:01:11.360 --> 00:01:11.640 Word. 00:01:11.880 --> 00:01:17.160 If you've got your Bible, go ahead and open up to Galatians, the last verse of chapter 5, 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:21.040 verse 26, and we'll start reading from there in just a second. 00:01:21.260 --> 00:01:24.720 Paul is concluding his letter to the church. 00:01:25.060 --> 00:01:30.640 He's tying everything together and pressing forward into their lives so that they can take 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:35.780 the freedom they have from the gospel and now apply it to every single aspect in their life 00:01:35.780 --> 00:01:38.300 that's going to cause the gospel to press forward. 00:01:38.720 --> 00:01:41.200 And that's what we see here beginning in verse 26. 00:01:41.340 --> 00:01:45.560 So if you join and read with me, Paul writes and says this, he says, 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:49.900 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:57.280 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, let you who are spiritual, sorry, you who are 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:00.580 spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. 00:02:01.340 --> 00:02:04.740 Keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted. 00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:09.500 Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. 00:02:09.800 --> 00:02:13.860 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 00:02:14.340 --> 00:02:22.220 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:26.120 For each will have to bear his own load. 00:02:26.260 --> 00:02:35.380 Well, as I mentioned earlier, the gospel, our desire, God's desire for us is that the gospel should impact every single aspect of your life. 00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:39.320 So everything, from the way that we do our job, from the way that we interact with our neighbors, 00:02:39.600 --> 00:02:45.180 from the words that we say, from the TV shows that we watch, everything we do, the gospel should impact it. 00:02:45.260 --> 00:02:49.520 But primarily, what we want to focus on this morning is answering this question. 00:02:49.940 --> 00:02:53.080 How does the gospel affect your relationships? 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:58.640 Now, typically, when we talk about the gospel, we consider different aspects of relationships. 00:02:59.020 --> 00:03:07.240 But in this, what we want to see is, how does the gospel move me from regular relationships to gospel-centered relationships 00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:09.580 in every single relationship that I have? 00:03:09.860 --> 00:03:13.480 So I'm talking about those who are in my family and those who are not in my family. 00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:18.140 I'm talking about how does it affect my close relationships, my close friendships, 00:03:18.540 --> 00:03:20.520 and those that I'm just acquaintances with. 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:23.260 How does it affect my relationship with saved people? 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:26.220 And how does it affect my relationship with lost people? 00:03:26.600 --> 00:03:31.740 How does the gospel affect the casual relationships of the people that I kind of know, 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:36.920 and my work relationships with the people that I see five days a week? 00:03:37.040 --> 00:03:39.860 Because the gospel should not impact some of these. 00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:45.040 You see, the truth is that the gospel should impact all of these relationships. 00:03:45.500 --> 00:03:47.520 And this is what Paul is addressing. 00:03:47.980 --> 00:03:52.320 But before he does that, he approaches it on an individual level. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:59.600 You see, before Paul can deal with how we are relating to those relationships that God has brought us, 00:03:59.800 --> 00:04:03.540 he first says it's going to begin in how we look at ourselves. 00:04:03.740 --> 00:04:08.060 Last week, we concluded by reading Galatians 5.25, where Paul says, 00:04:08.500 --> 00:04:12.940 if we live by the Spirit, okay, so if we live by the Spirit and not the flesh, 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:17.440 he says let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:22.220 So Paul is dealing with the life, he's dealing with the heart of the individual. 00:04:22.740 --> 00:04:27.800 Now, what Paul is leading to us with is if we are growing in Christ, 00:04:27.880 --> 00:04:33.320 if we are changing in him, then there's an internal change, right, that happens with us 00:04:33.320 --> 00:04:37.040 that is going to lead to an external change. 00:04:37.180 --> 00:04:41.300 Now, so when the internal change happens and the external change happens, 00:04:41.660 --> 00:04:43.440 this begins to change who we are. 00:04:43.840 --> 00:04:45.400 You see, that's what the gospel does. 00:04:45.400 --> 00:04:47.260 It just doesn't change me internally. 00:04:48.080 --> 00:04:52.100 It doesn't just change me externally, but it changes both. 00:04:52.540 --> 00:04:56.780 And when both are changed, then I as an individual changes. 00:04:57.200 --> 00:05:02.120 And that's when we begin to see the power that transforms our relationships. 00:05:02.660 --> 00:05:04.860 So this just isn't an inward perspective. 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:07.520 This isn't just an outward perspective. 00:05:07.880 --> 00:05:13.600 But it's when the inward and the outward are combined that we see our relationships transformed. 00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:18.740 And so what Paul does, he gives us a relationship warning in verse 26. 00:05:18.880 --> 00:05:22.720 And notice the first part of that verse, Paul gives us a warning. 00:05:22.840 --> 00:05:26.180 He says, let us not become conceited. 00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:28.040 Here, Paul is warning. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:33.560 He says, look, if we're not careful, what will happen is we will wrestle with a deep insecurity 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:40.880 within ourselves that will lead us to need to prove ourselves, to prove our worth to other people. 00:05:41.280 --> 00:05:42.400 Paul says, we're not careful. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:46.300 We'll find that in our life we're not secure in Christ. 00:05:46.500 --> 00:05:48.440 We don't find our worth in him. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:52.320 And so what we'll need is we'll need to prove our worth to others. 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:55.040 And he said, this is the heart of being conceited. 00:05:55.160 --> 00:05:56.220 So let's think about this. 00:05:56.800 --> 00:06:03.120 When we are conceited, when that is the positioning of our heart, when that is who we are internally, 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:05.400 that affects who we are externally. 00:06:05.700 --> 00:06:08.220 And so what we do is this, we compare. 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:11.900 We ask ourself the question, am I better than him? 00:06:12.540 --> 00:06:13.880 Am I better than her? 00:06:14.100 --> 00:06:22.060 And when comparisons begin to happen, the sinful tendency that begins to come out of that is one of two outcomes. 00:06:22.320 --> 00:06:31.440 We were either going to have an attitude of what Paul points to of provoking and provoking in someone who is sure they are superior to others, 00:06:31.520 --> 00:06:32.700 so they look down on them. 00:06:32.880 --> 00:06:36.360 Or we begin to see that we have an attitude of envy. 00:06:36.620 --> 00:06:39.780 The opposite of that, someone who feels inferior. 00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:46.260 So they belittle themselves as they look up to those that they perceive that are better than them. 00:06:46.580 --> 00:06:49.400 Do you see what the heart of conceit does when we compare ourselves? 00:06:49.400 --> 00:06:58.320 It either makes us feel we're better, so we're belittling, or it makes us feel that we're inferior, so we belittle ourselves. 00:06:58.860 --> 00:07:02.320 Both are forms of what Paul says are conceit. 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:06.300 Both feeling superior and feeling inferior. 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:16.100 And they cause us to focus on how others make us feel instead of how we can positively affect others. 00:07:16.440 --> 00:07:24.300 And so what Paul wants us to do is to move from this being who we are to moving who we are in Christ. 00:07:24.640 --> 00:07:30.780 So moving from a mindset of conceit instead to moving to a mindset of humility. 00:07:31.080 --> 00:07:33.220 And that's what we're going to see in our relationships. 00:07:33.460 --> 00:07:40.640 That if our relationships are going to be marked by the gospel, then they have to be marked by a true biblical sense of humility. 00:07:41.200 --> 00:07:43.720 C.S. Lewis defined humility as this. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:47.060 Humility is not thinking less of yourself. 00:07:47.340 --> 00:07:49.900 It is thinking of yourself less. 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:51.500 Do you see the difference there? 00:07:51.800 --> 00:08:01.160 I'm not focused in on myself and so thinking of myself less, but the exact opposite of that, that I think of myself less. 00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:08.400 So when we tackle conceit, when we seek to attack that in our life, our focus is not on ourself. 00:08:08.740 --> 00:08:10.540 And so our perspective change. 00:08:10.940 --> 00:08:13.780 So my perspective is now not that I'm superior. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:17.020 My perspective is not that I'm inferior. 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:25.780 My perspective instead is that I'm both bold and humble in who I am in Christ. 00:08:25.780 --> 00:08:31.320 And so I know these things being both humbled and bold seem like they are conflicting. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:33.280 But the truth is they're not. 00:08:33.700 --> 00:08:39.680 It's this, that I'm humbled because I understand that I'm a sinner who's saved by grace. 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:41.300 Do we see the humility there? 00:08:41.760 --> 00:08:44.260 You see, my standing is not based on who I am. 00:08:44.340 --> 00:08:46.780 My standing is not based on what I've done. 00:08:46.860 --> 00:08:51.460 But instead, my standing is based on who Christ is and what Christ has done. 00:08:51.580 --> 00:08:53.160 So I'm humbled by that. 00:08:53.160 --> 00:08:56.900 But at the same time, I'm emboldened as well. 00:08:57.140 --> 00:09:03.300 You see, I'm emboldened because I understand that I am loved and honored by God. 00:09:03.300 --> 00:09:11.060 Do we see the beauty of the picture that happens when the believer is both humbled by God and emboldened by God? 00:09:11.160 --> 00:09:20.700 That I'm humbled because I'm a sinner saved by grace, but I'm emboldened because I understand that I am honored and loved by God. 00:09:20.840 --> 00:09:32.280 So now the basis for how I see myself is not through my lens, is not through my interpretation, is not through my feelings, is not through how others see me. 00:09:32.420 --> 00:09:35.100 It's not even how I want others to see me. 00:09:35.100 --> 00:09:45.660 But now I see myself and how God sees me as a saved saint who is both deeply loved and valued by God. 00:09:45.980 --> 00:09:48.580 And that's the perspective that we're pushing for. 00:09:48.780 --> 00:09:59.860 And when we begin to see ourselves in this way, that we're neither superior or inferior, but yet we are sinners saved by the grace of God who are deeply loved. 00:10:00.100 --> 00:10:02.180 Now I am ready to love. 00:10:02.180 --> 00:10:09.960 Now I have the perspective and I can begin to press forward into gospel-centered relationships. 00:10:10.740 --> 00:10:19.940 And gospel-centered relationships will always be based in the growing others and the application of the gospel for their individual lives. 00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:21.840 Remember what we just talked about earlier. 00:10:22.220 --> 00:10:26.600 That as I press forward, that I begin to understand that my life is not my own. 00:10:26.600 --> 00:10:33.240 And so I begin to think of myself less and in doing so begin to think of others more. 00:10:33.520 --> 00:10:35.080 The true basis of humility. 00:10:35.560 --> 00:10:44.580 So now the relationships that I have are not based out of what can I get from you, but instead what can I give to you? 00:10:44.860 --> 00:11:02.340 Since God has entrusted me with this, since I'm desiring growth in my own life, how can I now live my life in such a way that I'm seeking to see others grow in their life, in their application of the gospel for their individual lives? 00:11:02.340 --> 00:11:04.420 So here's what this begins to look like. 00:11:04.780 --> 00:11:11.700 In my relationship with my wife, what I now do is I work to see her grow closer to the Lord. 00:11:11.900 --> 00:11:16.840 In my relationship with my kids, I work to see them grow closer to the Lord. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:24.760 In my relationship with coworkers, in my relationship with my family, I work to see them grow closer with the Lord. 00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:31.000 Everybody that's already saved, I'm working to help them take the next step of obedience. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:38.280 I'm working to help them see the fruit of the Spirit, like we talked about last week, come more and more out of them. 00:11:38.580 --> 00:11:44.640 I'm working so that they're dying daily to their sins so that they can live for the glory of God. 00:11:44.900 --> 00:11:48.440 But as we talked about earlier, it affects all of our relationships. 00:11:48.440 --> 00:12:01.840 And this is also our relationship with the lost, so that I'll work to see them also grow closer to the Lord by working toward them beginning a relationship with Him. 00:12:02.380 --> 00:12:06.160 So in all of these things, I'm working towards this. 00:12:06.220 --> 00:12:08.560 Now, I use the word work intentionally. 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:11.140 And here's why I use the work intentionally. 00:12:11.560 --> 00:12:17.020 I'll work to see them grow closer to the Lord because that's simply what it is. 00:12:17.020 --> 00:12:17.940 It's hard. 00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:21.900 And Paul paints a picture of this in chapter 6. 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:24.760 Let's reread verses 1 and 2. 00:12:25.260 --> 00:12:30.000 Paul gives us a scenario, and we see the toil that's in here. 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:31.800 We see the work that's within here. 00:12:31.860 --> 00:12:34.220 We see the burden that was within these verses. 00:12:34.900 --> 00:12:35.180 He says, 00:12:35.180 --> 00:12:43.040 Brothers, if anyone is caught in transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. 00:12:43.580 --> 00:12:46.900 Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 00:12:47.680 --> 00:12:52.680 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 00:12:52.900 --> 00:12:56.020 So Paul brings this uncomfortable experience. 00:12:56.580 --> 00:13:04.540 Paul brings this moment that we've seen where there is someone that we love, someone that God has brought into our path, someone that we see. 00:13:04.540 --> 00:13:06.700 And the Bible tells us that they're caught. 00:13:07.040 --> 00:13:08.900 We literally see like a snare. 00:13:09.060 --> 00:13:10.200 They've been entrapped. 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:12.700 They can't remove themselves from something. 00:13:13.060 --> 00:13:14.740 And what that something is is sin. 00:13:15.140 --> 00:13:16.560 And we've seen people like that. 00:13:16.660 --> 00:13:18.000 We know people like that. 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:20.180 We love people like that. 00:13:20.180 --> 00:13:30.920 And so we have a burden in that moment to be put to work for the sake of the gospel, for their betterment, so that they can grow in their relationship with Christ. 00:13:30.920 --> 00:13:38.760 And so Paul talks with us about what that begins to look like, because this is what a gospel-centered relationship looks like. 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:42.520 It's not that we ignore it, but instead we dive into it. 00:13:42.740 --> 00:13:49.340 And so we begin to see and understand is that gospel-centered relationships help one another. 00:13:49.540 --> 00:13:54.620 The first thing that Paul paints the picture is that we're called to help in these moments. 00:13:54.620 --> 00:14:02.860 Now, if we're not where we should be, if we are operating in an area of conceit, we won't desire to help. 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:10.380 Instead, we'll look down on them, and we won't display the grace that we have experienced in Christ. 00:14:10.660 --> 00:14:18.920 Or, if we think they're better than us, right, we'll ignore their sin out of fear that they won't want anything to do with us anymore, 00:14:19.180 --> 00:14:22.940 and we'll continue to let them head down a path of destruction. 00:14:23.580 --> 00:14:26.140 Tim Keller said this about these moments. 00:14:26.920 --> 00:14:34.520 He said, Christians need to be neither quick to criticize nor afraid to confront, but willing to help. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:35.560 I love that. 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:36.600 Look at the beauty of those words. 00:14:36.760 --> 00:14:44.140 That when we see a brother or sister caught in sin, we neither need to be quick to criticize, to judge, 00:14:44.620 --> 00:14:50.980 but not afraid at the same time to confront, but that we need to be willing to help. 00:14:51.580 --> 00:14:52.900 And so that's what we do. 00:14:53.220 --> 00:14:53.880 We help them. 00:14:54.560 --> 00:14:55.900 So what does it mean to help someone? 00:14:56.460 --> 00:14:57.340 Well, I can tell you what it's not. 00:14:57.940 --> 00:14:59.320 It's not trying to fix them. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:01.440 It's not trying to shame them. 00:15:02.040 --> 00:15:03.660 It's not trying to beat them down. 00:15:03.760 --> 00:15:06.080 It's not trying to make them feel guilty. 00:15:06.900 --> 00:15:13.260 Paul says that in order to help someone, that what we're called to do is we're called to restore them. 00:15:13.540 --> 00:15:16.100 I want to talk about this word, restore, really quickly. 00:15:16.500 --> 00:15:22.940 It's a word that is used in Paul's day to talk about the setting of a dislocated bone back into place. 00:15:23.040 --> 00:15:24.640 Now, I want to tell a little story. 00:15:24.760 --> 00:15:29.160 And if some of you have weak stomachs and don't like medical stuff, then this might gross you out a little bit. 00:15:29.220 --> 00:15:33.760 But when I was in college, we were playing basketball at a church. 00:15:33.980 --> 00:15:39.180 And there was a friend of mine named Seth who played college football at Presbyterian College. 00:15:39.180 --> 00:15:42.360 And he was home on the weekend and he was playing basketball with us. 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:44.840 And Seth went up for a layup. 00:15:44.900 --> 00:15:46.740 And I'm telling you, no one was around him. 00:15:46.860 --> 00:15:47.880 No one touched him. 00:15:47.960 --> 00:15:49.980 No one was anywhere close to him. 00:15:50.220 --> 00:15:54.000 And as he came down, he just crashed onto the floor. 00:15:54.120 --> 00:15:57.220 It's like his legs never touched the ground. 00:15:57.340 --> 00:15:59.880 And instead, he just completely collapsed. 00:16:00.260 --> 00:16:02.560 And we all ran over there to him. 00:16:02.560 --> 00:16:05.860 And we looked down as he was holding his ankle. 00:16:06.260 --> 00:16:12.300 And we noticed that his ankle had dislocated and was like sitting on the side of his leg. 00:16:12.400 --> 00:16:15.260 Now, apparently, this had happened to Seth before in football. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:18.340 And so he said, can somebody pick me up? 00:16:18.700 --> 00:16:19.720 And we said, yeah, sure. 00:16:19.780 --> 00:16:24.800 So we pick him up and we think we're taking him to the emergency room because that would be a normal thing to do. 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:26.640 And he said, take me over by the wall. 00:16:27.500 --> 00:16:28.000 I said, okay. 00:16:28.060 --> 00:16:29.220 So we took him over by the wall. 00:16:29.220 --> 00:16:33.760 And he held his leg back and he kicked it against the wall as hard as he could. 00:16:34.440 --> 00:16:36.080 All right, that's the gross part. 00:16:36.540 --> 00:16:41.720 But in that moment, we saw his foot go right back in place. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:46.120 And I looked at him and said, man, why in the world would you do that? 00:16:46.700 --> 00:16:47.700 Didn't that hurt? 00:16:47.780 --> 00:16:49.220 And he said, yeah, it hurt. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:50.780 And it hurt really bad. 00:16:51.040 --> 00:16:54.120 But if I ignored it, it would be catastrophic. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:59.220 You see, when we're willing to help someone, that's what we're doing. 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:05.380 It may be difficult, it may be hard, but it's catastrophic if it's not dealt with. 00:17:05.800 --> 00:17:14.480 So we restore, we help, we work toward this, but we restore in what Paul says through gentleness. 00:17:15.080 --> 00:17:17.260 Here's what it means to be gentle in this moment. 00:17:17.560 --> 00:17:20.780 That we don't think that we're better than they are. 00:17:21.120 --> 00:17:26.540 And that we understand that we're capable of sinning equally as well. 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:34.260 Maybe our sin that we struggle with is different, but we understand that all sin is offensive to God. 00:17:34.660 --> 00:17:37.400 That all sin offends his holiness. 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:42.320 And so when we confront in gentleness, we maybe not have that struggle. 00:17:42.820 --> 00:17:48.060 We've maybe never made that decision in our life, but we approach it with gentleness 00:17:48.060 --> 00:17:52.560 because we understand, right, that we're not better than them. 00:17:53.380 --> 00:17:54.720 Let's read verse 1. 00:17:55.360 --> 00:18:03.160 Paul says, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:04.060 Notice this. 00:18:04.620 --> 00:18:09.140 Keep watch on yourself, Paul says, lest you too be tempted. 00:18:09.860 --> 00:18:16.600 You see, you and I, we can't help someone with their sin if we don't understand our own sinful capabilities. 00:18:17.120 --> 00:18:19.480 Because we have that tendency as well. 00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:22.020 We could be on the other end of that. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:27.920 And what we'll find all too often in our lives is that we are on the other side of that. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:37.040 And if people love us the way that God loves us, then they'll be willing to confront in those moments to restore us as well. 00:18:37.700 --> 00:18:38.460 And so it's work. 00:18:38.940 --> 00:18:39.880 It's hard work. 00:18:40.260 --> 00:18:41.400 It's painful work. 00:18:41.700 --> 00:18:43.160 It's uncomfortable work. 00:18:43.340 --> 00:18:45.640 But it's the work that God calls us to. 00:18:46.080 --> 00:18:55.200 So the gospel-centered relationships help one another, but also gospel-centered relationships, Paul says, they bear with one another. 00:18:55.680 --> 00:19:00.940 And so when we bear with one another, what we're willing to do is we're willing to press through the difficulty. 00:19:01.140 --> 00:19:05.760 When we bear with one another, we're willing to work for each other's betterment. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:09.880 When we bear with one another, we're willing to confront sin. 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:15.780 When we bear with one another, we're seeking to restore each other. 00:19:16.260 --> 00:19:21.200 And it's what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. 00:19:21.800 --> 00:19:24.000 It's what we desire for ourselves. 00:19:24.300 --> 00:19:26.800 It's what we want others to do for us. 00:19:27.120 --> 00:19:28.660 We don't want to be left. 00:19:28.760 --> 00:19:30.000 We don't want to be stranded. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:33.160 And so we seek to do the exact same things. 00:19:33.260 --> 00:19:37.320 That's why Paul writes in verse 2, bear one another's burden. 00:19:37.940 --> 00:19:44.060 And so, look at this, underline it in your Bible, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:52.900 Paul is sharing what Jesus shared with the disciples in John 13, 34 through 35, where Jesus gives a commandment. 00:19:52.980 --> 00:19:59.240 And he says, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you. 00:19:59.240 --> 00:20:01.920 You also are to love one another. 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:08.900 By this, all people will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. 00:20:09.060 --> 00:20:10.360 So let's think about this. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:12.540 How did Jesus love us? 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:14.560 What does that look like? 00:20:14.900 --> 00:20:18.540 What do we experience when we experience the love of Christ? 00:20:19.120 --> 00:20:29.800 Jesus loved us by bearing us, by bearing our burdens, and bearing them all the way to the cross. 00:20:29.800 --> 00:20:36.180 You see, we can't love people the way that Jesus loved us if we give up on them when things get messy. 00:20:36.600 --> 00:20:43.040 We can't love people the way that Jesus loved us if we aren't willing to get into the fire with them. 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:53.240 We can't love people the way that Jesus loved us if we aren't willing to be vulnerable about where we are in our journey and the struggles that we are having. 00:20:53.280 --> 00:21:00.040 We can't love people the way that Jesus loved us if we don't meet them right where they are. 00:21:00.360 --> 00:21:15.480 And so we bear with, we come alongside, we hold each other up, we encourage each other, we confront, we do all of those things as we seek to press forward in our relationship with him. 00:21:15.720 --> 00:21:19.860 But the only way this happens, church, is it has to begin here. 00:21:20.600 --> 00:21:24.620 It has to begin internally with who we are. 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:42.520 It has to be manifest externally through the things that we do as we live in a way where we understand that we are simply sinners saved by grace who are now saints that are loved and valued by God. 00:21:43.160 --> 00:21:43.820 Would you pray with me? 00:21:45.720 --> 00:21:51.080 God, help us understand the impact of the gospel on our life. 00:21:52.120 --> 00:21:57.300 Lord, help us see what you long for and what you desire for us. 00:21:58.460 --> 00:22:05.580 Lord, as your word tells us, as we are ministers of reconciliation, reconciling people back to you. 00:22:06.460 --> 00:22:11.540 Lord, we have to be done in a simple sense of boldness and humility. 00:22:11.900 --> 00:22:15.080 You do humility because of who we are in Christ. 00:22:15.500 --> 00:22:18.600 But boldness because of who we are in Christ as well. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:22.920 So Lord, may we be willing to do the work that you've laid before us. 00:22:23.740 --> 00:22:29.940 Lord, may we count it a blessing, the men and women that you've placed into our lives, the individuals who are there. 00:22:30.580 --> 00:22:33.120 Lord, may we count all the people that we work with. 00:22:33.220 --> 00:22:36.200 Lord, all of our neighbors, all of our family as a blessing. 00:22:36.900 --> 00:22:42.240 Lord, may we count all the people that you've chosen us to strategically be in their lives for the glory of the gospel. 00:22:42.860 --> 00:22:49.440 So Lord, may we go and may we live this way, loving people the way that you loved us. 00:22:50.180 --> 00:22:51.360 And it's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:22:52.200 --> 00:22:52.440 Amen. 00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:52.560 Amen. 00:22:52.560 --> 00:23:11.940 Thanks again for listening to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast. 00:23:12.500 --> 00:23:14.780 We hope that you enjoyed listening to this week's message. 00:23:15.260 --> 00:23:23.820 If you'd like to learn more about who we are or explore additional resources, visit us online at www.willowridgechurch.com 00:23:23.820 --> 00:23:27.400 or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook and Instagram.