Date: March 22, 2009

Lesson: Galatians 6.1-10

Sermon Title: Don't Give Up

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INTRODUCTION

At the Zoo (1)

A father and his small son were standing in front of the tiger's cage at the zoo. The father was explaining how ferocious and strong tigers are, and junior was taking it all in with a serious expression.

"Dad," the boy said finally, "if the tiger got out of his cage and ate you up ... "

"Yes, son?" the father said expectantly.

" ... what bus should I take home?" the boy finished.

  1. Questions always arise when we want to know what we should do.

    1. This is one of the occupational hazzards of being a pastor.

      1. Pastor, What should I do?

      2. I have been criticized for the apparent failure to provide concrete answers.

    2. The problem with concrete answers is that they are set in concrete.

      1. There is little if any flexibility.

      2. One does some flexibility in meeting differing circumstances.

  2. So I cannot tell you what to do.

    1. Anyway, you are not going to do what I tell you to do.

    2. And think for a moment, what if you do what I tell you to do and its turns out badly?

    3. So we do not deal in concrete answers

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MAIN BODY:

  1. The Christian deals in principles that underlie belief and behavior.

    1. Publishers of Bibles are pleased to produce titles for the various sections of scripture.

      1. The one for this passage from Galatians, chapter 6, verses one through ten is "Bear One Another's Burdens."

      2. This section might also have been titled, "An Exhortation to Create and Sustain Relationships."

    2. An exhortation is an argument or advice intended to incite the hearers to action.

    3. There is some excellent counsel in these ten verses.

  2. If you outline the passage this is what you discover.

    1. You reap what you sow.

      1. We do not expect to get corn from pea seeds.

      2. We do not expect to get tomatoes from potato cuttings.

      3. There is the inevitable law of returns.

        1. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh.

        2. If you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.

      4. We have spoken of the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.

      5. We are not in danger of acting out of ignorance or misunderstanding.

  3. So we learn to sow.

    1. Sow restoration in a spirit of gentleness.

      1. Gentleness is required because we also fall short.

      2. We are gentle because we hope that people will be gentle with us.

        1. This poem was found in my Dads old Bible.

        2. It is from 1895.

Be Pitiful (2)

Beware of harshness; for the Lord
Is Judge, and you but clay.
Be pitiful, be pitiful,
In all you do and say.
Remember this: you also have
A weakness, and ere long
The test will come to you, and then
Will you be brave and strong?
Perhaps your feet may slip, perchance
Your lamp of faith grow dim.
Ah, then you'll need a helping hand
To lead you back to Him !
Excuse not sin, but kindly seek
With tender words to show
The erring one his fault, and-thus-
To lead his heart from woe.
And then, when fiery trials come,
Upon your bended knee
With confidence look up and pray,
"Show pity, Lord, to me."

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    1. Sow sharing another's burdens.

      1. The celebrated poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko spoke to a campus crowd at Juniata College, Huntington, Pennsylvania. Here is part of what he said: (3)

"Don't miss the priceless luxury of always being in trouble - not so much your own as in everybody's trouble, trouble which you feel as your own with all your guts.

"Forget the vulgar insulting patronizing fairy tale that has been hammered into your heads since childhood that the main meaning of life is to be happy.

"The only true happiness is to share the sufferings of the unhappy. Of course it can be very painful, but it is much better to have the screaming sensitivity of the soul uncovered by any protective skin than to have a tear-proof rhinoceros skin in combination with cold fish blood."

      1. This may be done at any time.

George Ross visited one of his dear friends of the parish in the hospital. (4)

The word from the doctor was not good. The days ahead for him are hidden in a cloud, but in that cloud there is a glory, and already he is living in it.

Yesterday morning he awoke to find a note from the night nurse pinned to his pillow: "I did not want to wake you," she had written, "but I want to thank you for our talk last night. It meant more to me than I can tell you."

The talk was about her life, her sorrows and some of the tragedies that had come her way and of her many, many years away from God. In the night season they had talked of these things.

Out of his faith and through his waves of pain, our friend spoke simply of the Lord he knows and trusts and loves. In the wilderness of the night before last at Akron General Hospital the Word of God came.

    1. Sow the testing of your own work.

There's the story of an ant carrying a piece of straw much larger than he was.

A man watching said to himself: "How interesting that the little ant can carry something so much larger than himself."

So he watched the ant in fascination. As he watched, the ant came to a crevice in the ground. The crevice was too big for him to go down into and it was too wide to cross.

The ant took the straw, laid it down over the crevice, walked across the straw and then picked it up and went on his way.

The ant turned his burden into a bridge.

      1. The simple things are easy.

      2. What do you do with the difficult things?

      3. How do you apply the Word?

      4. How do you handle the straw?

      5. Do you toss it aside or use it?

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    1. "Sow the necessity of carrying your own burden.

      1. On the morning of June 24, 1993, a professor of computer science at Yale University by the name of David Gelernter opened a package he'd received in the mail. (5)

Suddenly it blew up and nearly killed him. Gelernter was the 23rd victim of the Unabomber, the man we now believe is Theodore Kaczynski. Like this madman's other victims, Gelernter had never even met Kaczynski.

Bleeding profusely, Gelernter managed to drag himself to the university clinic. When he arrived, his blood pressure was nearly zero. The bomb had blasted away much of Gelernter's right hand and shattered the wrist, broken his left hand, inflicted deep wounds on his chest and right leg, and permanently damaged his right eye so that his vision on that side is constantly blurred. He endured months of reconstructive surgery but will carry severe scars on his body from the bomb for the rest of his life.

Gelernter is an observant Jew. He grew up on those Bible stories that recount how God delivered those faithful ones who suffered. He learned that faith is not the absence of doubt, but the presence of courage. He shares with us Christians an unwavering belief in the God who is able.

Here's what he writes:

So: What's the scoop on surviving a mail bomb? What do you learn? You learn that, at first, the past will seem only like a cause for mourning, but your job is to twist it around and make it a cause to rejoice. At the end of meals every Sabbath, observant Jews sing a psalm [126] ... 'Those that sow in tears will reap shouting with joy. Weeping as he goes, he carries the seed bag -- and returns with shouts of joy .... If you focus the big sweep of history on a single lifetime, the [psalmist] says, you see life as a stubborn return from sorrow again and again.

      1. This is truly carrying a burden.

      2. Carrying your own burden.

    1. Sow the willingness to share all good things with the teacher.

A teacher asked a small boy a question: "If you have two apples, and I ask for one, how many will you have left?" Without hesitation the boy replied: "Two."

This is not mistaken mathematics, but a basic mistaken attitude toward life: What's mine is mine, and sharing is an option.

    1. Do not grow weary in doing what is right.

Reaching the Goal (6)

Once upon a time there was a bunch of tiny frogs who arranged a running competition. The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower.

A big crowd gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants. The race began but no one in the crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower. You heard statements such as:

"Oh, WAY too difficult!!"

"They will NEVER make it to the top."

"Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!"

The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one, except for those who, in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher.

The crowd continued to yell, "It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!"

More tiny frogs got tired and gave up.

But one continued higher and higher and higher. He just wouldn't give up!

At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top!

All of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it. A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal.

It turned out that the winner was deaf.

      1. Well, you don't have to be deaf.

      2. You need to keep going.

    1. Work for the good of all, especially for those of the family of faith.

      1. Larry Davies asked during a worship service if there were any prayer needs today?. (7)

One person mentioned a neighbor who was sick. Another spoke of a couple with financial problems. A young man asked us to pray for the family of a friend's grandmother who recently died. After hearing what seemed to be all the requests, I said, If there are no other needs then let us bow our heads and pray.

Shortly after beginning the prayer, I felt something tugging on my pants leg and at the same time heard a loud whisper: Preacher ... Preacher ... I 'needs' something, too!

Still speaking, I slightly opened one eye and took a peek. A little boy was on his hands and knees below me, tugging on my pants leg as hard as he could and earnestly whispering: Preacher, I 'needs' something, too!

The choir members behind were beginning to lose their composure and I could hear giggling in the background as the boy continued tugging on my pants and was by now speaking loudly: Preacher, I 'needs' something!

Oh no! I thought to myself. In my arrogance and pride, had I ignored the needs of a small child? Maybe he knew of someone who was ill that we needed to include? Feeling guilty and ashamed, I stopped the prayer and gently asked the young boy: Yes son, what do you need?

Preacher, I 'needs' to go to the bathroom!

        1. This child may not understand what is happening.

        2. This child is of the household of faith.

        3. We work for his good as we would for an adult.

      1. This may appear to be a simply silly story, but it contains the seeds of the need to work for the good of all.

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CONCLUSION:

  1. I cannot tell you what to do.

  2. Paul is not telling you what to do.

    1. He is providing principles not concrete answers.

    2. Do you have enough principles to assess the task and find your way?

Amen.

1. The Good, Clean Funnies List [gcfl-info@gcfl.net]

2. Atlantic Union Gleaner, November 19, 1895

3. As quoted in The Chronicle of Higher Education, 12 June 1991, B3

4. George E. Ross, "The Wilderness Word of God," 8 December 1985.

5. Time, September 22, 1997.

6. Mikey's Funnies [funnies-owner@lists.MikeysFunnies.com]

7. Larry Davies, Sometimes you just have to laugh! Sowing Seeds of Faith, sowseeds@nesbeonline.com

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