A burden is something that weighs on you. You could be burdened emotionally because of a relationship that is weighing on you. You could be burdened psychologically because of the weight of a looming deadline. You could be burdened spiritually because of the weight of guilt you are carrying. You could be burdened physically because of your weight and depleted strength. We all carry burdens. There are seasons in our life where some burdens are big and you do not feel that you will be able to bear up under the enormous pressure you are under. Those seasons will pass. For those in leadership there is the constant burden of the weight of responsibility that must be carried. (Have you ever noticed what this kind of burden bearing does physically to a President or Prime Minister over their term in office?) In the Bible we read that GOD actually gives people burdens so that they become stronger, wealthier, happier, and more productive. These types of burdens always involve caring for others. (Have you ever considered why Jesus was sweating great drops of blood as He was praying just before He went to the Cross via His hours of humiliating pummelling, beating, scourging, hair-pulling, and mockery?) I want to share with you why I am now carrying an enormous burden that I would consider the biggest burden I have ever had to carry. I do so in the hope that this might help you to bear your burdens with greater expertise and joy. Yes, joy.
Look to Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2
BURDEN BEARING PRINCIPLE #1 – BE YOKED
The Epistle to the Hebrews was probably written around AD 63. Within a few months, into AD 64, a bloody and a deadly persecution against thousands upon thousands of Christians around the Roman Empire would break out. In preparation for their possible martyrdom, the writer encourages the Hebrew believers to remember Christ in His sweating-blood moment of passion who was in that moment carrying the burden of the world’s sins all the way to the Cross. The writer’s insight into Christ’s burden-bearing moment was that His burden was co-carried by the other members of the Trinity. Here is the first principle of burden bearing: Be yoked to Christ (Matt. 11:29). That is, as the writer of to the Hebrews said – Look to Jesus for the help you need to be able to carry your burden. As I am now labouring under the biggest burden I have ever carried, I am looking to Jesus and walking yoked to Him.
BURDEN BEARING PRINCIPLE #2 – SEEK FIRST THINGS FIRST
In Christ’s famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave the ultimate set of success principles for the spiritual life. He then summed them all up with this principle: Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things [which you worry about] will be taken care of for you by your Heavenly Father (Matt. 6:33). When you stop, get quiet, turn off your interruptions, and take up GOD’s Word to thoughtfully and prayerfully read it, you are seeking first the Kingdom of God in your life. As Kate Smith tells new Christians, at least treat the Bible like you would with Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. No one would open up The Lord of the Rings to a random page and read a few sentences and then close it. They wouldn’t pick it up a few days or weeks later, open to another random page and read a few more sentences then close the book and continue this pattern for a few more weeks and expect to understand the story! Yet, many Christians treat their Bibles like this. At least start at Genesis 1:1 and read a 3 or 4 chapters a day until you get to the end of Genesis 50. Then go to Matthew 1:1 and read 3 or 4 chapters a day until you get to John 21:25. What you will discover, perhaps much to your surprise, is that the Bible is a story just as – if not more – riveting as The Lord of the Rings! And, when you are about to read your 3 or 4 chapters a day, pray this prayer: Lord God, please speak to me through Your Word, Amen. And after you have read your 3 or 4 chapters a day, pray this prayer: Thank You Father for Your Word. Help me to understand and obey it. Amen. Here is the second principle for burden bearing: Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness in your life. As I now bear my biggest burden, I am daily and moment by moment seeking first the Kingdom of God.
BURDEN BEARING PRINCIPLE #3 – PRAY WITHOUT CEASING
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies
First Thessalonians 5:16-20
As I have discovered, bigger burdens require bigger prayers. Bigger prayers are not necessarily long prayers. Bigger prayers are thankful heartfelt prayers to God seeking His will to be done and interspersed with our humble requests.
Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6
Taking note of the apostle Paul’s words in First Corinthians 14:18, I thank God that I can pray in the Spirit in tongues. This enables me to pray in a way that the apostle Paul must have thought was very important. And here is the next principle for burden bearing: Pray, pray, pray. As I continue to strive to carry my biggest burden, this is what I am doing.
BURDEN BEARING PRINCIPLE #4 – BEAR ONE ANOTHER’S BURDENS
When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he told them their church was a family with people who were formally disconnected from each other due to race, language and culture. But now, in Christ, they were one family despite their status, gender, or ethnicity (Gal. 3:28). As a family, he concludes his epistle by telling them to bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2). It’s too easy to get pre-occupied with our burdens and thereby neglect our poor brother or sister who is struggling with their own burdens which we might be able to alleviate.
There are burdens for other people that we who are “spiritual” (see Gal. 6:1 where Paul addresses those Christians who are “spiritual”) should simultaneously bear. Added to this, we should also have a burden to reach the lost; a burden to pray for our State and National leaders; and a burden to pray for our own families for their salvation. This is the fourth burden bearing principle: bear one another’s burdens and have a burden for others to know Christ. As I am staggering under the load of my biggest burden, this is something that I am pastorally and evangelistically undertaking to do.
MY BIGGEST BURDENS
For those who know me, you may suspect that my biggest burden is my failing health. It is not. You could expect that my biggest burden is what Kim and my future may hold as we conclude our pastoral ministry at Legana due to my health. It is not. You may consider that the PhD I am undertaking with Monash is my biggest burden. It is not. Perhaps you would reckon that my biggest burden is financial as Kim and I will soon be out of a job. It is not. Whatever my biggest burdens are, I know that being yoked to Christ as I seek first His kingdom, and pray without ceasing, that there will be no burden that can crush me as Paul’s principle in First Corinthians 10:13 depicts:
No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful:
He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear,
but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it.
First Corinthians 10:13
My biggest burden is for you – our church, over which God had appointed me an overseer (1Peter 5:2) – and ensuring that I do not leave you as ‘orphans’. My biggest burden has been to ensure that a new pastor, a shepherd-hearted leader, who will love you, feed you, protect you, and grow you, will be appointed before I conclude my ministry among you. This is my ‘fatherly’ longing; this is my biggest burden. When the historians write the history of our church in four-hundred years, it is my hope that I will just be an entry in the long list of pastor-shepherds who have served God and His people here at Legana. And perhaps, just maybe perhaps, with each successive pastoral-leadership transition that a historian will discover a fleeting mention that with each of these transitions there was a supernatural weight of responsibility – a heavy burden – evident on each of the transitioning pastor’s shoulders as he passed the shepherd’s mantle onto his successor.
Your Pastor,
Andrew
Let me know what you think below in the comment section below and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.
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