Galatians 6:5 For every man shall bear his own burden. I. OUR OWN. II. OUR BROTHER'S (ver. 2). III. OUR LORD'S (ver 17) By bearing the FIRST we relieve our Lord's trouble: if every man bore his own burden, instead of shirking it, the will of God would be done on earth as it is in heaven. By bearing the SECOND we relieve our brother's trouble. Either by sympathy or substitution. By bearing the THIRD we relieve our own: the trouble of doubt, of sin, of controversy. IV. PERSONALITY AN AWFUL GIFT. This short verse — I. SINGLES US OUT FROM ALL THE MULTITUDE AROUND US. II. BIDS US REMEMBER, WHAT THE WORLD WOULD HIDE FROM US, THAT WE ARE EACH OF US ONE. 1. This is a great thought. 2. An awful thought. 3. A thought we cannot shake off. III. ORDINARY LIFE WITNESSES TO THIS TRUTH. 1. All deep thinking people live apart from others. 2. Sympathy may lighten their burden, but still it is their own. 3. Pain and death prove this. IV. THE PRESENT LIFE CANNOT EXPLAIN ALL THIS. We must go to Revelation: there we find — 1. That this great mystery is the gift of individual being from God (Genesis 2:7). 2. That we have a will that can resist the almighty will of God. 3. That the whole volume is a history of the conflict of the human will with the Divine, and of God's endeavour to win the human will by redemption. 4. That every healed will owes its healing to Divine grace. V. HENCE THE UNSPEAKABLE WORTH OF EVERY LIFE. 1. The will is either hardening itself against God, or — 2. is being drawn into harmonious action with the will of God. VI. PRACTICAL LESSONS. 1. The great importance of acting in the remembrance of our responsibility. 2. The necessity of securing times for self-examination and prayer. 3. The need of claiming our place in Christ the new and living man. (Bishop Samuel Wilberforce.) Parallel Verses KJV: For every man shall bear his own burden. |
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