Julie Fillinger

Am I my brother’s keeper?   

Despite Cain’s attitude of indifference after murdering his brother, the answer for Christians is yes ( Genesis 4:9). Yes, I am my brother’s keeper. How Christians treat each other is a testimony to the world of what it looks like to be a member in the family of God. They know we are Christians by our love. A good example of this is when we bear one another’s burdens, illustrating what it means to live a life of love, walking in the Spirit

1. We all have burdens but we shouldn’t have to carry them alone.

These are extra heavy loads that require endurance to carry. Sharing the load is the supreme imitation of Jesus’ teaching on loving our neighbor. ² But we have to know about them in order to help carry the burden. We must not give in to pride that tells us not to bother others with the burden. That’s a sure way to be overtaken by it. Instead, seek out a Christian friend or two and ask them to help. They can pray, be a listening ear, and help hold you accountable. A triple cord is not easily broken ( Ecc 4:12), meaning 3 of you bound together is stronger than you by yourself. The very act of crying out for help requires humility and begins the miracle of relief that will follow. 

2. An example of burden bearing .

Is there anyone among us who hasn’t been caught in a transgression? If we are hiding God’s Word in our heart and plugged in to His Spirit’s Power, this shouldn’t happen.  Sometimes as we reflect on former days, we find ourselves flirting with sin. We plug into the memories that make our flesh feel good, forgetting the consequences, and then we give in to it. The Holy Spirit immediately convicts us, and if we confess right then, it’s over. If we continue on and keep giving in to it, justifying the sin, defending it, it becomes habitual to the point of controlling and overtaking us.  

• What should we do? Restore.

Before it even gets to this point, there should be loving Christian brothers and sisters in our life who care enough to tell us this is wrong and we need to stop it. In this way, we restore them, setting them right like how a broken bone is repaired or a net is mended.  

• How should we restore? In a spirit of meekness.  

If you recall from last week, we defined the fruit of the Spirit. 

Meekness – an inwrought grace of the soul that accepts God’s dealings with us as good and therefore does not dispute or resist; a balance born in strength of character that demonstrates gentleness, not in weakness, but in power. 

In this situation it is being angry at the sin without being critical, speaking gentle words of Truth, asking the Holy Spirit to use it to convict the heart of the hearer.  

• Who does the restoring? Those who are spiritual.

There’s an assumption that the one doing the restoring is living and walking by the Spirit themselves. That doesn’t mean they think they have it all together spiritually. It means they watch over their own troublesome moral faults with continual diligence so they are are not also tempted, knowing they will need forgiveness someday, too. 

3. Declining to bear other’s burdens

When you think you are somebody who is too important to condescend to help your neighbor carry his burden, you are delusional. Your estimation of yourself is exaggerated. A wrong opinion of ourselves leads to either competing with others to show our superiority or being envious because we feel inferior. ²   Instead, examine yourself. The joy of doing the work you have been given with excellence is more satisfying than comparing yourself with your neighbor. Your neighbor is struggling with a heavy burden that you should be helping with. Meanwhile you think you are something just for doing the reasonable amount of work you have been given.  

Hearing Well Done!  

We will all give an account some day of how we did with what we were given and what we did to help others along the way.  I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Master” ( Matt 25:23). 

1. The ESV® Study Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 

2. John R. W. Stott, The Message of Galatians: Only One Way. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1968. 

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