Potted or Planted: Bearing With One Another

Hey, if we've not met, my name's Josh. And whether today's your first time or you've been here a thousand times, I'm glad you're here. If you are newer here, something that I often say that you should know is that you just walked into a room full of people who are not perfect and who have not yet figured it all out yet. Can I get an amen on that? Okay.

They're not lying. They really mean it. If you're perfect, just go home. You're gonna break us. It's not gonna work.

No, we're glad you're here this morning. And we are just here pursuing God together, trying to figure this out in Christian community together. And so if you're imperfect and if you want to pursue God too, then this is a great place for you. Over the last eight weeks, we've been in this series called Potted or Planted. We've been talking about what it means to be a church that doesn't just show up once a week, sit on top of the soil in our individual pots, never get to know other, never be connected, never let our roots grow into the actual soil that's underneath the pots.

And we've been talking about this in lots of different contexts. But last week, we talked about the gospel practice of evangelism and how God's calling us as believers to share the good news that we've got a guy, Right? And we were talking about all of that, and I got so much feedback from this last week from people who have been longtime Christians, and it was so such a relief for so many people to hear. It isn't our job as Christians to go around and make fruit ripe everywhere, but it's our job as Christians to be witnesses, to tell of what we have seen, heard, and experienced, and to check the fruit. And I just loved hearing back from so many of you that this has adjusted the way that you've walked into your week.

If you were here last week, hopefully you got one of these, one more cards. This is so that we can always have someone in our sights for the kingdom, someone specifically in mind, not just this general idea of God. If you have anybody in my life that you would like for me to share the gospel with but God, These are the names and we've committed to. If you've taken one of these, written a name to three names on the back of that, of people that we're praying for every day, that God would soften their hearts toward the gospel, that he would provide opportunities for us to be A witness to them again, just sharing what we've seen, heard and experience. And that when the time comes, when the fruit is ready, we will do that.

And we just keep showing up, checking the orchard. So if you didn't get one of these, if you left it here, if you weren't here last week, we've got several of them on the tables. On your way out, please grab one. If you didn't listen to last week message, please listen to that one. This.

This is foundational. It can totally change the way that you view your job as a Christian when it comes to sharing and being a witness. Today we're going to talk about the Gospel practice of bearing with one another. Bearing with one another. But let's pray first.

Holy Spirit, thank you for these moments that we get to gather together. Thank you for using me to share your word today. I pray that I can do that faithfully, that these would be your words, that you would till up the soil of our hearts and our minds, prepare us to receive this word. And I pray that it will challenge us and grow us and that you'll continue to teach us what it looks like for us to be the kind of church that is planted together. May it glorify you in Jesus name.

Amen.

There are two main New Testament words that capture the idea of bearing with one another. The first is the word bastazo. Can we say that together? Bastazo. It means to carry or to take up a weight.

But it paints the picture of someone stooping down to shoulder part of another person's load. It's a specific act of getting up under something with someone on purpose. Someone else owns the load, and we bear up under it with them from underneath. We find this word used in a few spots in the New Testament. One is Galatians 6, verse 2.

Paul says, Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. We say Christ is at the center of everything we do. He says, you want to fulfill the law of Christ. You bear with each other. This section in Galatians is talking about restoring a Christian brother or sister, actually, after they've fallen into sin.

And it's specifically there that Paul suggests that humility from us, which comes from us recognizing that we have had this sin or we have other sin in our lives. It leads us to a response of intentional bearing with we've been there, so we come alongside them, we get up under that weight with them. And it looks like us saying, man, me too, me too. As Christians, we cannot forget to say those words. Me too.

I've been there. I know what this is like. There's a way through this because I've been through this. And I want you to know I'm right here with you. Paul says that when we carry each other's burdens like this, we are fulfilling the law of Christ.

Well, what's the law of Christ? Galatians 5:14 says, for the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command, love your neighbor as yourself. Paul says that when we bear up under the burdens of our neighbor, we are living out what Jesus calls the second greatest commandment, to love our neighbor as ourself. Who is our neighbor in the sense? Well, literally, quite literally, in this immediate context, it is whoever is physically closest to you in proximity.

Now, Jesus definitely expands that out to many other things, but in this immediate context, it is at least our Christian brothers and sisters in community like this, in shared soil. The Bible calls us to bastazo to get up under and help bear the weight that the people closest to us are bearing. And when we bear like that, we look like Jesus. This word is also found in Romans 15:1 3. Paul says, we who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up, for even Christ did not please himself. This section in Romans 15 comes right on the heels of Paul's whole discussion in chapter four 14, where he's talking about how believers should handle the differences of opinion and personal conviction in the non essential things of faith. The essential things such as who Jesus is, that he is the Son of God, he is one with God, he is part of the Trinity, the truth of his word, the authority of Scripture, salvation by grace through faith, under the blood of Christ. These things are not up for debate. These are not.

These are essential things. They're the bedrock of our faith and we hold very tightly to these. But Paul's concern here is what happens when we elevate non essentials, the secondary issues, the personal preferences, our cultural expressions of faith, our traditions to the same level as essentials. The church in Rome, like ours today, it was made up of people from different backgrounds, traditions and experiences. Some still observed parts of the Jewish law.

Others had influences from pagan and secular practices. And each had these deeply held convictions about what faithfulness looked like in daily life. It's not all that different now. Some believers here among us came from more formal, traditional styles of worship. Others like things casual.

Some feel strongly about what kind of music we should be playing in church, or what you should wear to church, or what your political views should be, or what kind of education you should have had. And those things matter, but they're not ultimate. Paul's instruction is in the non essentials. We practice patience, humility, and grace, and that this is bearing with one another. And so I want to encourage you if you find yourself saying, well, I don't understand why the preacher didn't mention the thing that's most important to me.

Well, I don't know why that lady sitting next to me doesn't care about the thing that's most important to me. I don't know why that guy showed up not wearing a suit and tie to church today. That's not very respectful, whatever it is. These are non essentials. Church and the Holy Spirit may very well be convicting you in an area that he's not convicting someone else.

And don't take that to mean you should convict everyone else on that area that you're convicted in. Take that to mean that you should be stepping up and doing what the Holy Spirit called you to do. Amen. All right, we'll move on.

But ultimately, it's a picture of believers learning to carry each other's differences without condemnation, getting up under one another's load, choosing compassion and grace over convenience and right, and absorbing the tension that comes from diversity on the way to unity and peace. It's the posture of Jesus that Paul says did not please himself. He chose not to please himself. Jesus could carry our weakness on all the way to the cross. Surely we can carry some differences all the way to unity.

So we choose to get up under help bear the weight of another's limitations and struggles, especially those closest to us in this family of faith, right here in proximity. And when we do, we look like Jesus. Now, the final place in the Bible that this word pistazzo is found is in the Book of Revelation. And Jesus, the resurrected Jesus from heaven, gives John this vision and this revelation. And as part of that, he's talking to the church at Ephesus, Jesus himself.

And he's commending them for something he says in Revelation 2. Three, I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. Weary. He says he's commending the church at Ephesus for bearing up under the weight of things with each other and that they are doing that for him. When we bastazo, we look like Jesus.

Now, the second key New Testament word that captures this Idea of bearing with it's a little bit different. It's Anais. It means to hold up, to endure, or to patiently bear with. This isn't just in a moment. This is a long term, long suffering kind of bearing.

Pistazzo focuses on carrying the weight of someone else under that somebody else is under for a temporary period of time. And Nekomai focuses on staying under the pressure of a relationship. It's the love that remains when things or people get difficult because people get difficult.

It's almost literally bearing with those who are unbearable. A nekomi was often used to describe someone enduring hardship, holding their ground, continuing to bear up under strain. It's the kind of patience that doesn't run away when you're frustrated. It doesn't run away when you're tired and annoyed. The long suffering that makes love last, that makes love true.

We find this word in a few places. Ephesians 4. 2. Paul says, Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love.

This whole section in Ephesians is about the church staying united in in the Spirit. Paul has just finished telling believers to walk in a manner worthy of the calling that they have received and immediately ties this to humility and gentleness and patience. Long suffering, patience and nekomiyah in this context means that love doesn't just show up when it's easy, it stays when things get hard. It's the steady spirit enabled choice to remain in a relationship even when someone frustrates, disappoints, or offends us. The world is telling us right now that all the relationships around us are disposable relationships when they begin to cost more than they're worth.

And Paul is saying, no, no, no, no, no. In fact, because Christ has done this for you, you should do this for others. And when you do, you look like Jesus. So Paul says, bear with one another. Bear with one another.

He's describing the kind of endurance that holds the church together. It's the grace that says, I'm not going anywhere. You matter too much. We'll work through this. It's relational patience rooted in humility.

It's the opposite of pride. We see it again in Colossians 3:13. It says, bear with each other and forgive one another. If any of you has a grievance against someone, again, this is in the context of the rooted Christian family. This isn't just for everyone.

It's among our brothers and sisters in Christ. Here a nekomaya is directly tied to forgiveness. It means that bearing with One another isn't just tolerating someone, it isn't just keeping your mouth shut, but it's actually choosing to love them through imperfection. This looks like saying, I see your flaws, I'm staying. I've needed that same kind of grace myself, and so I'm going to give it to you.

So we are called to anekomai, to hold up, to stay, to patiently endure one another in love. It's not a passive tolerance. It's an active, humble, spirit led choice to keep showing up for the people that God has placed in our lives. And when we do, again, we look like Jesus. Isaiah 53 describes how Jesus did this for us.

It says, surely he, Jesus, took up our pain, bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him. And by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray.

Each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And we are whining about the imbalance of having to love people who didn't do enough for us. And because Christ has done this for us, it is the fuel for us doing it for others. The biblical call to bear with one another and bear each other's burdens is way more than tolerance. It's a call to carry the weight others can't carry and to endure with patient grace, humility and forgiveness when relationships get hard, sharing both suffering and strength.

Just as God patiently bears with us and carries us now, one of the most tangible ways that we live this out is the rhythm that keeps our roots connected. It's practicing what Paul instructs in Romans 12:15. He says, Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. See, to bear with one another is to enter into each other's stories, to come alongside each other, to celebrate when others are lifted up, and to help shoulder their sorrow when they are weighed down. Let's first talk about mourning with those who mourn.

It was about 10 years ago. I got the extremely heavy kind of upside down gift of being able to walk alongside a family whose little girl Sophia was five years old at the time. My son Garrett was the same age and they were in preschool together. And Sophia found out that she had leukemia. And at first the diagnosis or the prognosis was very positive.

They did the first round of treatments and her body just got rid of the leukemia, but shortly after that, it mutated and began this brutal 12 month battle with this nasty disease that just took her life. And I learned so much about grief from watching the way that her parents handled things. They were so open with their grief and shared so much with me as a pastor. I got to learn so much about how to handle grief. And one of the things that I loved watching was her mother that moved further and further into Christ in the middle of all of this.

And she saw as the months went on after Sophia's death that as everything kind of settled, all the counseling was over, all the meals stopped coming, people stopped asking. And she saw this big gap there for families that feel like they can't rejoice anymore, that they feel guilty for having a good day. And so she set out and started this not for profit organization, a foundation called the Best Day Ever Foundation. And she did that in the name of coming alongside other grieving families who had lost their children to help them celebrate and experience more Best Days Ever. And she's doing that.

It's expanded to now multiple chapters across our nation. And this all came through grief and this beautiful picture of her bearing with others in their grief. Another story that many of you will be familiar with is from right here in our church, from Jerika Humphries. She's our local and global impact director. She's serving in Whitewater Kids this morning.

But I asked if she would write up something to share with us. She lost her husband five years ago and I just asked her to share a little bit about that. She says, Five years ago this month, I became a 28 year old widow. My husband Rob was just 32 when he passed away from lung cancer. We'd been married four years and spent 11 months walking through chemo during COVID Suddenly I was a single mom with a two year old.

That kind of loss brings a desperation you can't really put into words. But it also brought something I didn't expect. God's presence, so close and so real. I felt him in the middle of it and I saw him through my church family. They showed up, they prayed, they babysat, they sent meals and gift cards.

They wrapped me in love that still carries me today. Grief doesn't come with a timeline. We know this. It's not tidy. It's just grace over and over again, grace.

And that grace, it became a gift I get to pass on. Now I get to comfort others who are hurting. Sometimes it's with words, sometimes just with a listening ear. Or steady presence. I notice people's pain differently now because I've felt it.

I wouldn't know how to do that if it weren't for a God who took a horrible situation and used it for good. That season changed me. My faith grew deeper. My trust got real. And honestly, I'm grateful for what God has done through it, not just in spite of it.

Five years later, I get to sit with other widows and tell them how God used His people to carry me. I get to remind others that he can be trusted, that obedience to him is never wasted. In fact, God wastes nothing, not even our pain, comforting others with the same comfort God had given me. If he can redeem my story, he can redeem yours. 2 First Corinthians 1:3 describes this exact thing.

Jericho's living this out. It says, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that say so that so that we can comfort those in any trouble trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. That's why he comforts us. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. See, this is the beautiful upside down picture of what it means to bear with one another.

This is a path that can only be laid by our incredible God. We mourn with those who mourn. But in that same verse, Paul also said, we rejoice with those who rejoice, right? Well, last week I shared that we'll be taking part in a special gathering here in just a couple weeks on the 13th of November. It's called night of Remembrance.

And it's a time that we're going to set apart to honor those who have lost a loved one here recently. And we're going to come together, we're going to remember them, we're going to honor them by name and hold each other up in love. It's about sitting in the soil of grief together. This is an actual intertwining of our roots and reminding one another that even here, even in the dark, God's with us, that we're with each other. So I want to invite you to join us.

If you've recently lost a loved one and you would like to honor them at Night of Remembrance, you can register on the events page. That link is right here. We've had several of you already sign up for this. We'll have you bring a picture of them and we'll provide a candle we'll name them by name and give everybody a slow moment to come forward, light a candle, and share in that moment, not just in grief, but in rejoicing as well. We'll bear with our brothers and sisters in their grief.

I hope you'll join us even if you don't have fresh grief in your life, to come alongside and bear up under the grief of our brothers and sisters. But again, Paul says, we don't just mourn with those who mourn. We rejoice with those who rejoice because the two belong together. Actually, both are expressions of the same kind of love that bears with one another, the kind that doesn't turn away when life gets heavy. It stays close and rejoices when life is good.

If mourning with those who mourn is about entering into each other's sorrow, rejoicing with those who rejoice is about entering into each other's joy. And rejoicing might not seem like bearing with. But actually rejoicing takes an incredible amount of humility and empathy and presence and a heart to be free of comparison, because we might be rejoicing for someone else while we ourselves are mourning. We might be in a moment of jealousy, comparing our lives to theirs, and might have difficulty rejoicing with them. And so it takes this selflessness and humility as well.

And so I want us actually to practice this today. Very often, we send you out with a call to action that you're going to take into your week and commit to doing that during the week. But today, right now, I would love for us to rejoice with those who are rejoicing. We read in First Corinthians 12:26, if one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

The message version of that says, the way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church. Every part dependent on every other part. The parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

So this week I put out on social media and asked, what are you rejoicing about right now? What's giving you cause to rejoice? And I asked the staff for some stories as well. And we're going to spend the rest of the service rejoicing with those who are rejoicing. And so I'm gonna chunk these out into individual chunks.

And then I'm just gonna call us to cheer and celebrate and whistle and hoot and holler and enjoy and rejoice. And it'll feel a little cheesy, but we're gonna do it anyway because we're gonna do what the Bible tells us to do and we're gonna celebrate everything from the little to the great together. Can we do that? All right, so here are some of the things that our church family is rejoicing over here. The first section is just everyday joys.

Dorie says the puppy made it through the night without an accident. Like, come on.

Heather says, today I rejoice that when I dropped my son off to work, I watched him smile, greet and hold the door for two women with walkers.

Karen says, I'm rejoicing over small wins. Jason says, I'm rejoicing for another day of life. DJ says I'm rejoicing because in our community, when one of our neighbors or friends has a birthday, we all chip in together and we get a cake in their favorite color and we just celebrate together. And he's rejoicing with that. Can we rejoice over these things?

These are some of just rejoicing and having gratitude for God's goodness and faithfulness. Mary says, I'm rejoicing over how much almighty God loves and care for cares for us. Martha says, rejoicing that God is my father and Jesus is my savior. Joe says he's rejoicing that the Holy Spirit has been so constant in me in helping me guide this small group. He started a small group in faith as we've been inviting people to do that.

He says God's been giving me the leadership I need and the presence of God is with me so much lately, it's amazing. Missy says, I'm rejoicing that God keeps waking me and allowing me to love those around me one more day. Every day deserves is the word rejoicing. And Beth says, I'm thankful that my visit to the orthopedist today confirmed that nothing is broken, badly bruised. Can we celebrate with them?

And we had so many of you that said you were rejoicing over the family that you have, the relationships that you have and new life in your families. Karen says she's rejoicing finding out that her first grandchild is a boy.

Sean says he's rejoicing that he gets to see spend time with his brother and sister in law and his nephews in Kansas. Kyler says he's rejoicing in the small moments God's blessing us with a family. Sandy says she's rejoicing spending time with her family. Bill says, rejoicing in being together with family. Everyone is healthy.

Kim says, anytime I get to spend with my grandchildren is a day to rejoice. God is good. Elizabeth says, rejoicing spending quality time with family for my son's birthday. Another Sean says in the process of buying a house, this is a mixed family. They said we were married earlier in the month.

This will be a house that all six of us can fit in and we will finally be together all under one roof.

Heidi says she's rejoicing that a co worker is pregnant after over a year of trying. Bobby says, I'm rejoicing over being witness to an absolutely beautiful wedding. And we had someone just handwrite a note and drop it off at the office. It didn't have a name. It says, I'm rejoicing because I've been asking God to open doors for a relationship with my son's girlfriend, to let her see Christ in me.

I've been praying and asking him to let her open her heart more and to share a friendship among us and. And it's working. All glory to God. Can we celebrate for those things?

Tom says, I'm rejoicing because I'm able to work with hurting families at the Life Center. Anita says I'm rejoicing because the relationships I've been building at work with two younger women have encouraged them to find churches so their kids grow up in faith. And I just saw a video with one of them volunteering for the first time with her husband at their church's Fall fest. Isn't that beautiful? Deb says God has been planting encouragers around me as I face the fluctuating emotions of closing the office I manage.

Terry says, I'm rejoicing today because I have a wonderful church family. Kim says, happy and rejoicing to be back with my people. Kim has been away from this church body for a while, and after some hurt and some restoration, she's back here and she's so thankful to be here again.

Martha says she's rejoicing for the Whitewater family, who cares for her deeply. Haley says she's rejoicing because we're able to host small group tonight and be with friends and family talking about God. What a beautiful thing. Can we celebrate for these?

And then we got some bigger things, some healing, some deliverance, God's power in restoring us, and we're gonna celebrate through these. Barb says that she was told three weeks ago that I am in remission from leukemia.

Amanda says I'm rejoicing that my latest cancer scan shows that my liver is in remission. It's working because God is faithful.

Mary says that she's rejoicing for health for herself and her family. She said her stent exchange went well and I'm recovering beautifully. And by God's grace, I am still cancer free. Let's celebrate with Mary.

Barry says that in 2014 he had an accident and the doctors gave him a 1% chance of survival. He says evidently God wasn't done with me, so I'm rejoicing for oxygen that he continues to supply.

Denny is rejoicing because his wife is continuing to heal. He says thanks be to God in prayers. Steve says on October 1st, I got to ring the bell celebrating the end of chemo, beginning the next chapter of this unplanned journey. He said the nurses all cheered and clapped as I rang the bell. Karen says, my husband and I have been in a season of shadow, struggling with his mental health all year.

The valley is not as dark as it was. We're actively working to strengthen our hold on the promise for the future. We're choosing to rejoice in God's promises even in the midst of our suffering here on earth. We are thankful and rejoicing for our community, our family, and a divine love we did nothing to earn. Let and let's rejoice with Karen.

Many of you know Linda Hutchinson, and she wrote in, she said, despite a terminal diagnosis a few months ago, our family is rejoicing that my husband got to walk our daughter down the aisle last weekend and that his last MRI showed no recent regrowth. Thankful for the good days. Let's celebrate.

And I have one. This is from my dad. He said the diagnosis of prostate cancer from my doctor was unexpected. But after receiving radiation treatments and being covered by prayers from multiple states, including many of you, I'm happy to report the blood tests show the PSA number plummeting to a very healthy number. Praise be to the God who sees and hears.

Let's stand church. Let's celebrate together. We're going to rejoice with those who rejoice. And we're going to sing out these words that God has done great things. Can we do that together?

Church.