Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2 NASB
Our pastor has been teaching through the book of Philippians for about the last 6 months or so, and it has been one of the most revolutionary series of sermons that I’ve ever listened to. The common theme is abundance in Messiah. In every circumstance, we are to find our source of strength, our joy, and our total identity in the person of Yeshua.
So how does all of that tie in to the verse that I posted above?
In the book of Philippians, it seems that Paul is emphasizing the importance of giving of ourselves to one another, and in so doing, we experience the goodness and abundance of God. Time and again, he relates examples from his own life regarding how he loves the people of Philippi sacrificially. His challenge in the letter is to recognize that only in Messiah can we receive what we need to love each other sacrificially.
Sacrificial love is obvious, it cannot be faked. It is laying down my agenda for your life, because I love you. It is choosing to find God in the midst of unruly children (your own, or someone else’s) and asking that He give you His love for them. It is recognizing that we need others if we are to become remotely successful in our relationship with God. It is acknowledging that we don’t know it all, and that my way is not always the best way. Or it is acknowledging that my way is the best way, but we can do it your way, because that is what you want to do. It sometimes is something as simple as going to work to provide for one’s family. All in all, sacrificial love is the very thing that our Master and Messiah calls us to when He states that we must take our our cross and follow Him. Sacrificial love is simply discipleship.
While we’ve been studying the book of Philippians for months, it has become very real to me personally in the last few weeks. A dear friend of mine, a member of our community/congregation was just diagnosed with low-grade lymphoma. As soon as I found this out, all that God had been impressing on me about sacrificial love came rushing to my mind. I immediately was wondering and praying how can I demonstrate the love of the Messiah to my friend?
I didn’t have to wonder for long. Our pastor announced about 2 weeks ago that as a community of believers, we would be fasting for the month of January for our brother. Last week, the details of the fast were made available. By way of summary, there were some suggestions made concerning the different kinds of fasts (partial, liquid only, plain food, dietary cleanse, etc.). The purpose of the fast is to pray that any health and/or benefit that we may receive from the fast would be credited to our brother’s account, while in turn we are laboring for his healing in prayer.
In undertaking the fast, it has thus far proven to be one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever done. However, I know that the rewards will far outweigh the sacrifices. Hebrews 12 tells us that our Master went through the suffering of the cross for the joy that was set before Him. In the same way, we are trusting that God through the Messiah will give us joy.
I share this with blogger land as a call to sacrificial love. There has been much posted (see here and here for a couple of examples.) regarding a call to repentance and service to one another in the coming decade. It almost goes without saying that unless we as Messianics begin to love each other sacrificially, our movement will quickly become stagnant. Unless we take up the yoke of the Messiah, His light will go dim.
Yeshua said that we will be known as His disciples by our love for one another. Loving one another is giving of ourselves sacrificially. It is His way. John tells us in 1 John 3:16, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
Your blogpost is just further confirmation to me that God is leading our movement to deeper levels of maturity and Christ-likeness. Our souls are sick from fad teachings. You can’t just “wrap a tallit” around dysfunction and expect “the restoration of all things.”
We’ve learned a lot from our Jewish roots, but I think we’ve trivialized the fundamental aspects of our faith in Yeshua.
Seth,
Amen to all that you said, but especially concerning the trivialization of “the fundamental aspects of our faith in Yeshua.” It is time that we recognize that we are still followers of the Master.
We need to remember that we are still Christians, as much as many of us hate that label. The Kingdom is so much bigger than our little corner. Unity will only take place when we all take up our crosses and follow Him.
Shalom!
Our community is being challenged with the same thing. We are called to be doers and not pass by someone in need. It is easy to ignore a need and hard, messy, and inconvenient to get involved but much more rewarding! Sitting around on Sabbath and studying Torah may impact us but we are challenged to impact the World.
I just wanted to clarify, I didn’t mean to imply that the tallit or tzitzit are trivial things. It was meant as an example of how Messianics can use sacred objects such as these in trivial ways without dealing with matters of the inner life.
Seth,
I didn’t think that is what you were saying at all. It is time that as Messianics, we stop making issues out of things. While it is important for us to keep the commandments, we need to remember that Yeshua commanded us to focus on the weightier matters of the Torah. He told us to remember the smaller things as well, but in their proper perspective.
I’m not advocating that we cease doing anything either, but we must stop using the Scriptures to condemn our brothers and sisters.
Talya,
I’m glad to hear that there are good things happening in your community as well. Keep us up to date. We miss you guys, and look forward to seeing you again soon!
Hey Aaron. You commented on my blog and I followed you here. You run an interesting blog. Subscribed.
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Thank you! Beautifully written and encouraging. I am currently suffering with someone, bearing his burden. I needed help to continue to bear up under the load, and your words are bringing God’s strength, courage and grace. Thank you…
Shalom