Bear One Another’s Burdens

Your pastors find great joy in walking alongside you. We feel both the weight of this office and the joy of it. Outside of caring for our own families, there are few greater privileges in our lives than being invited into yours. We want to sit with you in suffering. We want to pray with you through confusion. We want to open the Bible with you in sin, grief, marriage difficulties, fear, doubt, pain, and even celebration. That is not an inconvenience to us. It is part of the joy of shepherding. But Galatians 6:2 says:

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

That command was not given only to elders. It was given to the church. And sometimes bearing a burden requires enough love to discover that the burden is there in the first place. People don’t always announce that their marriage is struggling, and they won’t always tell you they’re discouraged. They don’t always volunteer that they’re losing a battle with sin. Sometimes you have to know them. You have to ask a deeper question, or care to notice when something seems off, and then listen long enough to hear the answer. Brothers and sisters, you don’t need special “equipping” to do that. For much of the soul-care God calls us to in the church, the basic equipment is very simple. You need two ears and a Bible. Christian, does the Spirit not bear witness within you to take upon yourself the burden of a fellow brother or sister? Is it not within you to offer to meet over coffee or lunch and listen? Indeed, it is.

Are you walking a trial with another member of this church right now? On the flip side, if you’re in a trial today, are you walking that with another member to help carry the load? Yes, there are issues that require certain wisdom. There are times when elders should become involved, and situations where specialized help may be useful, but we should be careful not to outsource something Christ intended His whole body to be equipped for. Ephesians 4 says Christ gave pastors and teachers “to equip the saints for the work of ministry.” You see, your pastors don’t replace the ministry of the congregation. Our calling is to equip the saints for it—and though we certainly don’t do that perfectly, it’s what we’re striving to do faithfully. We should all ask ourselves if we have stepped away from a burden Christ may have put us close enough to help carry. Ask this: “What person in this congregation might benefit from some sacrifice of my time and attention?”

Here are two wrong responses from each perspective:

For the person in the trial: “I don’t want to put that kind of problem on someone else.” And for the by-standing member: “My life is really busy right now, plus, I’m not a pastor or a counselor, so let me help find you one.” These two “ditches” on either side both rob members of their ability to pour into others and facilitate a kind of passivity for members to dive into the deeper trials of other members.