My relationship with my brethren

Now it is a privilege to be with you today and we do trust that the ministry of the Word of God will prove to be a blessing. Turn if you will to the book of Galatians and chapter 6. Galatians in chapter 6 verse number 1. Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such in one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing he deceiveth himself. Let every man prove his own work then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another for every man shall bear his own burden. That of course as most of you know is a different word altogether from what we have in verse 2 bearing one another's burdens.

Here we are to bear our own burden in a sense of a responsibility. Let him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.

He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. He that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.

As we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Now we trust that God will richly bless to us this initial reading from his word today. Let me first of all just mention a few things so that maybe we can get these out of the way quickly.

One is that you understand there will be a certain measure of repetition that's very difficult to avoid when we're speaking about relationships simply because it's not as though we act one way in this set of relationships and another way in this set of relationships. There are principles that underlie all human relationships especially in the spiritual realm. So there will be a measure of repetition we'll try to keep it to a minimum but some of it is unavoidable.

Likewise we looked last evening for those who are able to be with us at what we consider to be the primary relationship the most important relationship and that is our relationship with the Lord from which every other relationship takes character and for which every other relationship finds its resources and its ability to meet that particular need. So if you weren't with us last night please don't feel like well then what do I do not having missed yesterday just understand that we want to underline that when we are speaking about relationships among believers or relationships with the unsaved and with the world at large we will find our strength our resources for that relationship as a result of having a right relationship with God in our own personal life. Let me just say one other thing and there may be occasion to allude to this later.

Some of you may be familiar with the concept of boundaries. In fact there are a number of books that are written especially for Christians with the the concepts of boundaries that every relationship requires the establishing of boundaries and actually we will say very little about that and you may say my that's a group a gross oversight on your part because even I think the scripture that comes quickest to mind dealing with the issue of boundaries between believers is the the wisdom for example of Solomon when he writes in his Proverbs to withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's house lest he be wearied of thee and he hate thee. In other words you can make a pest out of yourself sometimes we would say wearing out your welcome and so that in all human relationships there needs to be boundaries to know I don't want to get too close in that sense of overwhelming a person or or just wearing out my welcome.

The reason I'm not going to touch on that is I think sometimes our problem is at the other end. We sometimes are too distant from each other in terms of meeting needs and addressing needs and so we are going to just put boundaries to the side for a moment and if occasion allows that we may mention it but we want to talk however relative to Christian relationships and as you can see from your outline the theme before us this morning for a brief period is help on the horizontal. Now the reason we are using that title is to just contrast it with what we looked at last evening which is the value of the vertical.

The value of our relationship with God was the value of the vertical. Now we will move out to the horizontal and speak of help on the horizontal and really I just have three very simple things to impress on us this morning. I want to talk about demands we must appreciate.

The demands that the scripture, the demands that God makes upon us in our relationships one with another demands we must appreciate. Then I want to just underline briefly and these will all be very brief I want to underline very briefly development. Development that we must allow in our lives and finally dangers we must avoid so that's very simple and very easy to follow.

Demands we must appreciate. I want you to look at Galatians chapter 6 I just want you for a moment to think about some of the expressions that Paul has used in this epistle already just to give you a flavor and we will just put aside for a moment the theological arguments of which particular assemblies Paul is writing to. Northern Galatia or Southern Galatia whatever it may be and just remember he's writing to assemblies and he speaks about the fact that they were biting and devouring one another.

He speaks about some troubling them. He speaks about them being bewitched. So just get a mind's eye view of the of the assemblies to which he is writing and the problems and now he writes I want to tell you how you should be treating one another.

I want to tell you how you should be acting one towards another and so in these ten verses we have read he underlines at least five principles. Five principles that should mark our relationship one with another as believers. I just want to give them to you briefly say a few things about them and then move on.

He speaks first of all about restoring the earring. If a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such in one in the spirit of meekness. Restoring the earring so that your relationship to me and mine to you should ever be a ministry that restores us and brings us closer to the Lord.

Restoring the earring. I want you to see as well he speaks about relieving the oppressed. Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

We are responsible this is not an option this is not something just for a few specially gifted people in the assembly although indeed there are those who have a special touch but Paul lays it before all believers you are to relieve the oppressed. He then says you need to recognize your own responsibility in that assembly. He says to us in verse number 5 for let every man prove his own work and then shall have rejoicing in himself alone.

He speaks about every man bearing his own burdens recognizing my responsibility and then he speaks about reinforcing the righteous. Reinforcing the righteous. You that are taught in the word communicate to him that teaches that all good things because whatever a man sows that's what he's going to reap and so we are to reinforce the righteous and then he tells us finally he says I want you to relentlessly pursue the good.

Be not weary in well-doing in due season ye shall reap if you faint not relentlessly pursue the good. Now if you want an easy way to remember what I'm going to speak about a way that maybe would be helpful for some I want to speak about being a Barnabas or being a Barnacle. You can be a Barnacle just hanging on getting what you can from the assembly or you can be a Barnabas a son of consolation a comforter someone who is an encourager someone who is a help in God's assembly and so that's your choice just to be a hanger on like a Barnacle hanging on to a boat or hanging on to a whale whatever it may be or you can be a Barnabas choice is yours.

So let's look at these very briefly then and just say a few things about them and then move to some of the other things we want to mention. Restoring the erring. Well now you say hmm verse 1 I'm excused in verse 1 because it says you which are spiritual and so of course I would never you know how humble I am I would never take the ground of being spiritual so you know you certainly don't think that applies to me and well wait just a minute.

Spiritual. He has just been telling us what spiritual is all about in this epistle. That's the great theme of the epistle.

It's not some high level of Christian living that's above all the others. The great difficulty in Corinth is here were people who were saying the way to do things is by keeping rules and regulations laws and law keeping and Paul has been working on the fact that that is not the secret of Christian growth. That is not the secret of Christian living.

The great principle of Christian living is the Spirit of God indwelling and so he ends chapter 5 with that wonderful section that deals with the fruit of the Spirit in the believers life and of the fact that we are to walk in the Spirit and live in the Spirit allowing the Spirit of God to control us. Now he says in chapter 6 you that recognize you that recognize that this is the principle for Christian living you are to restore one another in the spirit of meekness. So the first thing he comes to then is that the kind of men now you'll allow me just to use the word I will be using the word men and mean it in a very generic sense both men and women believers in the Lord Jesus he then come he begins with the kind of men that are involved here an acknowledgement of the power that is needed to bring about recovery that's the first thing that's what he's saying you which are spiritual recognize I can't go to you with rules and regulations I can't come to you with demands you which are you that recognize that everything but I underline that everything that is done for God is done as a result of the Spirit of God's power even the recovery of another believer it's not going to be happening by you know politics it's not going to be happening because of skillful diplomacy or why psychological application of reasoning it's going to come about by the result of the Spirit of God's power to bring about recovery so he brings before us then the the kind of men that are needed but then the measure that's involved you which are spiritual restore you might say well that's obvious really so often what we do is we get even we put someone in their place you deserve what happened I've been telling you time and again that if you went that way this was going to happen you deserve it I just want to put you straight and go on record as saying it's all Paul says you which are spiritual restore not a matter of getting even not a matter of putting someone in their place not a matter of just making it clear that it's all their own fault I'm not overlooking those issues but the chief goal should be ye which are spiritual restore bring back not only the men knowing the measure but the manner in a spirit of meekness in a spirit of meekness and awareness of the patience that is needed Paul speaks of that in to Timothy in his second epistle doesn't he of the servant of Lord must not be must not strive but be patient and so on instructing those that have wandered from the way a spirit of meekness meekness is not the idea of being apologetic or going with a half apology for what I am doing but it is rather a sense of a consciousness of the patience and the power that is needed to bring this about not being in me but being in God and then he finally says considering thyself an appreciation of the potential of this flesh to be in the same place that person is in an awareness that I am restoring this person today I could need it tomorrow none of us is above it none of us is beyond the realm of needing the restoring touch of another believer in my life and so he says do it with a spirit of meekness do it considering thyself restoring the erring relieving the oppressed bearing one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ there are burdens which believers bear not everything in life can be fixed that's hard for us to accept hard for us to you know we'd all like to see a problem here's the solution fix it that's it there are things that can't be fixed there are parents that have children that I'll use the word kindly can't be fixed children with deformities children with retardation children with irreparable problems there are believers with broken hearts that can never be healed there are problems that cannot be fixed we are to bear the burdens of others this has to do really with our comfort index how comfortable are we when believers have problems that can't be fixed and we'd all like to have that magic word that that one-liner that takes care of everything and suddenly the problem is there and there's no solution and we get very uncomfortable we've all been there haven't we you know the the sudden tragedy and you're all there with comfort the first day and it goes on and on and it never ends and after a while you don't know what to say after a while you run out of words and you run out of verses and you run out of sympathy and you don't know what to say and so you just don't go you don't visit you don't write you don't call because we're uncomfortable with it after a while Paul says bear one another's burdens our comfort index it has to do as well with our consistency index how consistent are we with those who are going through trials that don't have a foreseeable end to it that don't have our uneasy answer to it because you see what he is coming to is our conformity index the measure in which we bear one another's burdens we become like Christ so fulfill the law of Christ the law of love as he loved bearing one another's burdens and fulfilling the law of Christ do you ever think that someone has a tragedy let's just speak in everyday reality someone has a tragedy in their life lose a child lose a loved one have some other unspeakable tragedy and for the first few weeks or a few months we are tremendous I think Christians are tremendous when it comes to first aid we are great emergency room Christians when there is an emergency Christians spring to it like no one else you know that the dinners are made cards come the phone calls come the support we are great emergency room Christians but then life gets back to normal for us and the calendar turns you know what it's like for a person to go through the anniversary of a tragedy the year rolls around and that day comes again we are going about life as though nothing ever happened and there's a heart that's still grieving and that day on the calendar comes with a tremendous weight upon that soul would be nice just to think you know maybe I should just drop them a line the anniversaries coming that which is going to bring to mind all the grief and all the sorrow they once went through that which is going to really hit them again with tremendous power be nice to have a card in the mail just a little scripture just we're thinking about you and praying for you a phone call to tell them you know I know what it must be like going through it all over again you're probably reliving it just want you to know I don't have an answer but we're praying for you that God will sustain you just our continuance with it our ability to follow through not just to be emergency room Christians but long-term nursing Christians just to have that long-term care for others in our souls relieving the oppressed recognizing my responsibility Paul says here if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing he to see with himself I'm not sure I necessarily think this is the exact interpretation here but let me just apply it this way and that is the tremendous peril of pride to think that I am above needing other believers well you know I'm helping you and I'm bearing your burdens and really I'm fine I don't need anyone just be very careful the peril of pride but he says as well here he says take personal responsibility in other words I am NOT to be looking for you constantly to meet my needs not sitting in the assembly saying what are others doing for me why isn't everyone meeting my need here I think I'm gonna go elsewhere no one loves me no one cares for me no one really meets my needs I'm gonna go elsewhere Paul says you bear your own responsibility be a big boy okay don't be always looking for others to somehow minister to you so that's where we were coming from last night just to bring you back to what we were talking about it is that I should be looking to the Lord to meet my needs now God does use please don't misunderstand me I am NOT an independent self-reliant Christian that doesn't need you I need you desperately but I do not look to you for my needs I look to the Lord and the Lord chooses to use his people to meet my needs but I don't look around and say why aren't you people meeting my needs I look up and from my relationship with the Lord my needs then are met and I move out then to serve others James chapter 1 is a well-known chapter and you remember how James chapter 1 the first half of that chapter is occupied with a believer going through trial and the double-minded man being unstable and asking wisdom of God and God supplying it and the man that is approved receiving the crown of life strangely to my thinking but not to God's strangely that chapter ends by saying pure religion and undefiled before God is to visit the fatherless and the widows and to keep yourself unspotted from the world that seems a strange way to end a chapter dealing with trial I'm going through trial and the chapter ends with visiting the fatherless and the widows maybe the lesson God is trying to impress on me is this that when you are going through a trial remember others are going through trials as well don't become self-centered there are widows there are orphans there are others that know trials far greater than you you look to seek to meet their needs even when you are in a trial and so I am learning then to bear my own responsibilities don't be a taker or your life be a giver be one that seeks to meet the needs of others we're leaving the oppressed recognizing my responsibilities reinforcing the righteous now the context let me just briefly mention just a word about the context the context of where we are reading in Galatians 6 is this there were those who were coming along teaching if you want to be spiritual you'll have to keep the law of Moses you'll have to follow the Ten Commandments you'll have to keep yourself ceremonially clean and Paul says if you support those kind of men financially then what you are going to reap is what they teach he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption that's just gonna lead to to just corruption in your spiritual life but if you will sow to men you will support men who are seeking to guide you into the truth of God then you're gonna reap blessing from that so the context here is support for those who carry the Word of God to us those that teach us those that would seek to guide us into the way of truth that's the context but could I just take the concept and broaden it for a while and just enlarge it for you communicating appreciation is what I want to just emphasize for a moment communicating appreciation one to another yes again I know it has to do with communicating appreciation in a financial way to those who labor amongst the people of God but I think the principle is broad that we are responsible to communicate appreciation to other believers we have a fear I know and I was raised with it inbred with it and it's a difficult thing to overcome that if you say something too complimentary to someone they're going to get a big head and you're feeding their flesh and they're going to get filled with pride and so you never say to someone how much you appreciated what they have done and so forth and so on instead we have become experts we have become skilled in subtle criticism and we're good at it you know because we are self-appointed vigilantes to keep people from being proud and so we know how to deflate them and we can do it we can do it deftly you know skill that keeping people humble unless it happens to be that they want to keep humble then it's a different story but nevertheless what I want to just try to communicate then is this great truth that we should be seeking to encourage one another and to show appreciation let me just give you some simple examples you know there's the young brother that with fear and great trembling gets up on the Lord's Day morning and gives out a him first time ever and maybe it's not the most appropriate him to give out what do you do well usually you say nothing or maybe if you really feel burdened about it you go over him and say look you know that was just totally inappropriate you know never give out a him like that again you know what's going to happen he's never going to give out a him period if it's any encouragement to you now you know I always forget there's a younger generation that don't even know these names but the older ones will remember mr. Albert Ramsey a giant amongst us mr. Ramsey told how he wanted to give out a him at a breaking of bread his first time nervous and finally finally got the courage to get up and give out of him and he gave out of him and as he began reading the words here it was a wedding him first time he gave out of the breaking of bread was a wedding him and he realized that he had just seen the first verse of a him and it was lovely but as he read the other verses he realized all of a sudden a wedding him well they sang it okay they sang it nothing wrong with that so what do you do when someone does something that just seems out of place well you do what what the Lord would do glad to see that you were exercised this morning hope you'll keep up your exercise doesn't hurt to see that yeah it was inappropriate what he gave out it didn't quite fit but you know he tried he had an exercise to have a have something and yeah it didn't fit it wasn't right but you can at least thank him for his exercise or the brother that gets up to preach for the first time in the gospel and he reads his verses and he stumbles all around with it and and embarrassed he almost sits down what do you say you could at least say there were nice verses he read couldn't you those were good verses you read tonight find something find something to encourage I'm not saying we close our eyes at difficulties I'm not saying we ignore the need to teach and guide exercise than wise brethren will do that but I think we need to encourage one another maybe you've never been there if you haven't God bless you but there are times when the last place on earth the last place on earth and you're gonna say and you're up there speaking yeah I'm up here speaking the last place on earth I feel like being that is that the assembly yeah sometimes personal burdens sometimes personal grief over things is so great but I'd like to lock my door stay in my home not see anybody that's happened okay that's true confession and because you're in a small meeting as you would know when you're there they expect you to take part have no choice almost it's the last thing you feel like doing your heart is so grieved all you want to do is almost cry just be alone with God and pour your heart out and you're there and you've got to take part because it's expected but your hearts not there imagine what it'll be like if you're there what I mean by they're not just in the assembly but you're that person and at the end of the meeting some well-meaning discerning person goes up and says what's wrong with you you are as dead as a doornail tonight makes you feel good doesn't it really lifts your spirits makes you feel like it was all worth it we can be so cruel we can be so thoughtless we can be so insensitive to burdens other believers bear listen there are believers here today that company is small we're not looking at hundreds but there are believers here today that have heavy burdens that no one else knows anything about no one knows they've come and their heart is heavy with something and sometimes we move with such callousness and such carelessness and such indifference never thinking everybody's not quite where I am today everybody's not just carefree and everything is wonderful in their lives there are believers with burdens Paul says look just communicate appreciation for each other just make it clear how much you appreciate each other and how much you appreciate what others are doing for you become an appreciative Christian Paul says whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap relentlessly pursuing good Paul says here let us not be weary in well-doing in due season we shall reap if we faint not as you therefore have opportunity let us do good unto all especially to them who are the household of faith learn painfully labor tirelessly look expectantly and live positively what do I mean learn painfully you know what some of our greatest difficulties are impatience that's me intolerance of failure ignorance of what God is doing and an indifference to differences what do I mean impatience I tell someone something once and I expect them that that's it you know I'm not going to tell you again I helped you once and it didn't solve the problem you know what do you want me to do thank God he doesn't get impatient with me you know how often he tells me the same thing you know how often God has to come to me and remind me you know you did it again yeah and he brings me back he's never impatient with me we get so impatient with each other we try to help someone and they don't take our advice well hey I told them once that's it what do they want impatience intolerance of failure you fail that's it you know just I don't have any time for you we live in an instant instant age don't we everything is immediate immediate gratification everybody wants everything right away you know we've got our remotes and our instant replays and everything else everything is on demand no need to have to wait you know I think we've all been there first time I got a computer you know you thought boy this is tremendous look how fast this does things that's about I don't know 20 years ago now you get so impatient because it takes that nanosecond that flip screens and you know wish this thing would go faster we have all become accustomed to everything instantaneous and so we think our ministry should have instantaneous results there are men who labor men with us today who labor in the gospel and know what it is to labor tirelessly to go back and to go back and to go back and sometimes years invested in seeing a person finally reached and saved no quick fixes and spiritual things so impatience intolerance ignorance and indifference to differences I have to hurry laboring tirelessly leaving results with God let us not be weary in well-doing in due season we shall reap if we faint not leaving results with God doing the good for good sake not doing the good because well you know I'm gonna go that neighbor who is in need I will bake them a cake I'll make them a meal and maybe the next time we have gospel meetings I'll invite them out and so you bake them a cake or you make them a meal and the next time gospel meetings come you invite them out and they don't come you say well that's it forget it no no doing good for good sake because that's the way God treats us how does God treat us he makes his reign to come upon the just and the unjust his son shines upon the just and the unjust and so we should be godlike doing good not to indebt people to us not to manipulate people but rather to be godlike in our attitude towards them yes invite them to meeting but keep it the good the same thing with other believers whether they have strayed or whether they are cold or whether they are problematic in the assembly continue doing good Paul says in due season you shall reap if he faint not and then he says I want you to look expectantly look for opportunities to do good as you have opportunity therefore let us do good unto all men and to live positively to actually do it to seek with God's help to be a positive influence in God's assembly for good well now someone might say you know that's all fine you have told us now the demands that the Word of God and that the Spirit of God makes upon us how are we going to do it well let me talk about a development a development that we must allow Paul speaks here in Galatians 5 of the fruit of the Spirit you're all familiar with those verses the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace it's found at the end of in verse 22 of chapter 5 love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance and so on so let me then just draw an analogy if I can as we're able to let me just first of all mention the unnaturalness you'll understand what I mean by that the unnaturalness of spiritual care we are by nature self-centered that is the great problem that occurred in the garden man went from being a God centered creature to being a self-centered creature that is the essence of sin that self is now enthroned and I serve self and so the result of that is I'm willing to help you as long as somehow in the end it helps me I'm willing to serve and minister to others as long as somehow there's some you know some return for me we have to learn that in spiritual life it is unidirectional one way not a two-way street I serve and I serve and I serve and I do not demand something in return if you haven't learned it yet let me clue you in on something there are many occasions when you will spend a lot of time on a believer and they will never profit from it I said that's very discouraging maybe there's something wrong with me no there's not could I give you a biblical example could I give you a scriptural example of someone who spent tremendous energy upon another but another believer and he never profited from it at least on three occasions Abraham showed tremendous concern and interest for lots first of all he brought him out didn't he he brought him out of her the Chaldeans you might have thought boy Abraham really was a tremendous blessing to lot he's certainly gonna appreciate that really first chance lot gets he's back to Egypt well now Abraham on another occasion you recall how that when I'm sorry back to Sodom when lot went down to Sodom you recall how that when the five kings fought with the four kings at and lot was taken captive by those Kings it says that Abraham armed that his men the men who were his trained servants in his house and he pursued after them to recover his brother lots now just don't read that kind of casually Abraham was risking his life risking his family risking his fortune risking his future to see a brother recovered wonderful thing and he brought him back from Sodom for rather he brought him back from captivity he's right back to Sodom and now God is about to rain fire and judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham intercedes for a Sodom he intercedes for a lot and it says God remembered Abraham and delivered lots time number three oh you might say finally finally lot is going to appreciate all that Abraham has done and lots gonna clean up his act and lot is going to begin living up a godly life like Abraham and you turn the page and lot is ending his days in a cave with sin beyond description all that Abraham did lot never benefited from no never benefited as far as we can see so you're gonna have to spend a lot of energy on believers and at times it will not always end with a nice happily ever after ending but that is the character of our God and so we are learning here that it is not just giving to get it is giving it is doing it is being for the sake of blessing and being a help to others it's unnatural and then it is we are unskillful not only is this this kind of a ministry unnatural we are unskillful this is not a matter of well now there is a Christian who is very sweet you know that person always was very sweet and considerate no no no if you remember back in the Old Testament when God instructed the people of God the Israelites to bring offerings one of the offerings they were to bring was called a meal offering a meat offering is what it says in our authorized versions but it was a meal offering it was flour and it was mixed with oil and it was anointed with frankincense and it was brought to the altar and it was offered and it was a picture of the kind of life that God saw as valuable for the altar and of course to us as believers it reminds us of what the Lord Jesus was like now God says when you bring up an offering like that to tell me of the kind of life I am looking for make sure there's no leaven in it we might say that's clear leaven is always evil God doesn't want any any any evil connected with with what is offered on the altar and and the perfect life he is looking for there can't be any leaven no sign of sin we understand that but God said also look there's something else I don't want in that offering I don't want any honey in that offering that natural sweetness now let me just put it like this when I look at leaven I see the worst of nature when I look at honey I see the best of nature God says neither one because he says the heat makes the rise and the heat the fire makes leaven makes honey sour I don't want either I'm looking for spiritual I'm looking for the oil that's what I want so it's not a matter of you having natural ability you know you're good with people and you've got a nice winsome personality and you're very diplomatic and you're you know you just know how to get around people that's not what's involved here we are looking at development through the Spirit of God and so he says in Chapter 5 if you are going to be the kind of person God wants you to be it is independence upon the Spirit of God that these graces develop now just look keep in mind what we have talked about in Chapter 6 and I'll just mention inherently you can go back to them and consider it again the love that leads to the restoration of a brother the fruit of the Spirit is love what about not being weary and well-doing he says one of the fruits of this one of the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit is long-suffering what about then what we looked about and what we talked about doing good unto all men especially those who are the household of faith well one aspect of the through the Spirit isn't it goodness and gentleness what about being not being weary and well-doing well he says one of the fruit one of the aspects is faith what about every man shall have rejoicing in himself alone well one of the fruit of this one aspect is joy now you can go down Chapter 6 and look at all that he is instructing believers to be and to do and you can link it so perfectly with all that's in Chapter 5 relative to the fruit of the Spirit what he has been telling them is this that all the resources that you need to minister one to another are the result of an indwelling spirit developing in you these qualities that are so vital and so Christlike and so imperative and essential for ministering one to another how are they developed you might say well I mean dwelt by the Spirit of God but I don't see these things in my life I have so much trouble with patients I have so much trouble with controlling anger I have so much trouble with just keeping at it I get so discouraged so easily they are developed by the teaching of John 15 as I know fellowship with God as I abide in Christ abiding in Christ so shall you become my disciples so shall you bear fruit this is the fruit then that we are looking at that comes as a result of abiding in Christ of knowing fellowship with him of daily becoming more like him not imitating him it's not a matter of let me see what Christ did and now I'll imitate what he did no it is a matter of his life being reproduced in me as I know fellowship with him as I abide in the vine as I allow this word to control my vision to control my view to control my values Christ is reproduced in my life and as Christ is reproduced in my life the fullness of the fruit of the Spirit is seen and I minister and move amongst God's people seeking to be a help and an encouragement wherever I can now more can be said my time is almost gone let me just mention then dangers to avoid what do I mean by that there are because we are human that is the big problem isn't it we are still human we have a nature that is prone wherever it can to assert itself to get something for self to get some recognition for self so that we tend to not be what God wants us to be so let me just mention what we need to avoid whether this is applied to myself I don't want to be this kind of person or whether this is applied to the kind of people I go to for help let me just apply it both ways and allow you to then apply it to yourself mr. authority you ever meet him mr. authority he knows it all ask him a question and if you don't do immediately what he says you've had it he's the authority and you're just not doing what he said so there's something wrong with you don't become a mr. authority mr. astigmatism you know he's got this difficulty with his vision he can see what's wrong with everybody else but he never can see what's wrong with himself he can see the moats and everybody else but there's this huge beam you know they talk about the elephant in the room and you can't see the elephant that's this man he can't see the elephant but he can see all the little mice and he's great at telling you what's wrong mr. astigmatism mr. answer man he has the answers to everything and you don't even have to go to him he's willing to come to you and set your life straight tell you what's wrong with your children tell you what's wrong with your husband tell you what's wrong with your business tell you what's wrong with your life he has the answers before you've got the questions don't become that kind of a person that's not what we're looking at we're not looking for an answer man God isn't looking for answer man mr. arrogance dictatorial the dictator mr. aware of it all there is a tremendous inherent danger to to knowing the griefs and the burdens of other believers because you begin thinking you know well if you knew what I knew about you know who then you would know what I know and you would really think I'm important if you knew what I knew and you can almost begin carrying that kind of an air about you mr. aware of it all mr. appeasement just keeping everything quiet everything happy everybody happy don't don't address problems cover everything over just keep everybody going and never really solving things and then of course there is mr. attachment he becomes indispensable he comes to you with a part you you go to him with a problem and he works himself into your life rather than working himself out of your life you know what I mean working himself into your problem rather than just giving advice and stepping back just giving help and stepping back he almost becomes indispensable to you that's not what God is looking at not looking for answer men not looking for appeasers not looking for arrogant people not looking for those who are authoritative not looking for those who are marked by a stigmatism not looking for those who have to attach themselves the problems as though somehow you need me now the rest of your life and this is what satisfies me to be needed to be a real integral part of your life though God is looking for spiritual men spiritual women who recognize responsibility who recognize that God has placed us together as assemblies as believers together in community of assembly for the sake of being a help one to another for encouraging one another for strengthening one another for supporting one another for being encouragers one of another for being if I can again use the expression for being a Barnabas for being a son of consolation for being an encourager rather than just being a barnacle who is either along for the ride or sucking strength from everyone else and never giving never helping God's a son may the Lord help us all to be more like Barnabas to be sons of consolation to recognize my responsibility as a believer to first of all restore the earring to as well in the words of Galatians chapter 6 to relieve the oppressed to recognize my responsibility to reinforce the righteous and finally to relentlessly pursue good amongst the people of God and to be a help in the assembly where God has placed me shall we pray our Father in the name of our Lord Jesus we bow together before thee we thank you for the Word of God and for its instruction whenever we think of the development of spiritual character among the people of God in our own lives we must turn to the ultimate example of the one who displayed in his life every aspect of what we have been speaking of of a care of a concern of a compassion of love that sought and ever desire to be a blessing to others yet never sought to receive from others what he was giving he never served to manipulate he came to minister and he came to serve the needs of others give us then character such as his that we may be a help one to another in spiritual things and the things of God we commit ourselves to the we thank you for saving us we thank you for the redemptive work of my son we thank you for the restoring work that is going on even this very moment at the right hand of God and in our own souls as he is there for us in the presence of God we bless thee for such a savior such a shepherd such a sovereign and thank thee that we can commit the keeping of our souls to him and look to thee for preservation remember the day as it unfolds with its many demands both upon my people will be listening and doubtless natural weariness will overcome us we pray for strength and help to take in the good word of God that it may prove to be a profit to everyone who has taken time to come receive our thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ