9 Things That Can Bring Weariness Part 1

Guest (Male): Today on Abounding Grace, Pastor Ed highlights nine things that can bring weariness, even as we're doing good.
Pastor Ed Taylor: The enemy loves to tempt us to lose heart. He loves to get us to want to give up and throw in the towel, and it doesn't happen overnight. Supporting other believers, helping restore the broken, helping others with their burdens, seeing our own lives in order, they're all good, but they also can make us very weary. There's a weariness that comes through trials, and there's a weariness that comes through doing good. I want to share with you nine things today, nine good things or things in our lives where we're wanting to follow the Lord, that I want you to watch out for.
Guest (Male): Well, I'm sure we've all experienced it. In the heels of some trial, we grow weary or even lose heart. But did you realize that can happen as we're doing good as well? Today on Abounding Grace, Pastor Ed Taylor draws our attention to nine things that can bring weariness. These are things to watch out for. So join us in Galatians 6:9, and we'll get started.
Pastor Ed Taylor: Open your Bibles to Galatians chapter six. Today, we're only going to look at verse nine, although if you're a note-taker, be ready for different verses as we'll look at different verses throughout to build this topic in Galatians chapter nine in a Bible study that I've entitled "Nine Things That Can Bring Weariness." Nine things that can bring weariness because we are taught here in Galatians chapter six—we looked at it briefly in our study last time, but we pause and stop here. Verse nine just jumps off the page where Paul says, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season..." just like we read in Psalm 1, "...in due season we shall reap if we don't lose heart." Now, the enemy of our souls, when he shoots his flaming arrows at us, he is aiming at the bullseye of a target. I think a singular bullseye using all these different angles, all these different attitudes, all these different weapons against us, I believe he is shooting his arrows at us to hit the bullseye of this target. The bullseye is this: The enemy wants you and me to lose heart. He wants us to lose heart. The idea of that word means to become deeply weary. It means to be exhausted, to faint, ultimately to quit and walk away from what God has called us to do. Deuteronomy chapter 20, verse 3 says, "And he shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.'" This has been an attack of the enemy from the very beginning, to get you and me to lose heart in the battle. Jesus would put it this way in Luke chapter 18, verse 1: "Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart." And we're all familiar with trials. Losing heart and going through difficult things go together. We're all familiar with trials. We have them: big trials, small trials, short trials, long trials. That's to be expected. And the fact that we see many people lose heart because of difficult times doesn't surprise us. We know by now that being born again doesn't stop the pain. Being born again doesn't make us immune to the hardships of life. We've learned by now that being born again makes regular trials sometimes even harder because of the spiritual warfare that surrounds them. We know that trials cause us to lose heart. There are those times in life, like we learn in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 36, "For you have need of endurance." We spent a lot of time on that word and that section of Hebrews. There are times in life where you just need to endure that season. The word "endurance" sometimes is translated "perseverance." It's the Greek word that you have learned, I'm sure—if you haven't, you can circle it. When you get to Hebrews 10, circle it and write next to it *hupomone*. That's the Greek word, *hupomone*, H-U-P-O-M-O-N-E. There are definitely times you've just got to bear up under the weight of the pressure, or the circumstance, or the difficulty. *Hupomone* almost always refers to situations, not people. So, it's not like you're dealing with *hupomone* with other people; that's a different type of endurance. But the times where things come against you and you are dealing with a battle, sometimes external, sometimes internal, *hupomone* speaks of bearing up under, having a deep patience and endurance toward things or circumstances. This endurance speaks of a constancy under suffering, and it raises up faith and duty. It speaks of waiting on God, clinging to God, and taking a strong stand, as we'll learn in Ephesians, standing fast against the onslaught of the difficulties that you're facing. Losing heart and growing weary with trials is no surprise. That's not new news to most everyone listening to me near and far. Weariness comes through trials. It does. But today, we learn about another type of weariness, and that is the weariness that comes from doing good. We don't think of it; it doesn't seem to match. Our thought is if we do good, then only good will come, but doing good, especially in the kingdom of God, can bring its own weariness. Right at the beginning of verse nine, we are told that there is some control of this that we have. There's some control toward weariness that we have when it says in verse nine, "Let us not grow weary." So, we learn that there's a weariness that grows over time if we don't pay attention to it. It's a weariness that grows over time in doing good. Now, the context here: Paul's writing to believers who started out their walk so strong and so good. They were born again by the grace of God. Their family was changed, their marriage was changed, their life was changed, and they're enjoying the newness of life in Christ until the false teachers came and said, "Oh no, that's not enough. Faith isn't enough. You have to follow the law. You've got to offer all these good works." And before you know it, they're all burdened down, and some of them actually believed the false teaching and ruined themselves, ruined their families, messed up their kids. Paul learned about it, wrote the letters, and he's telling them, "Look, you've been ripped off, and you need to get back to grace. You need to reject these false teachers." You fought the good fight, but now you've got to continue to press on, go back to doing good, which is what the summary of chapter six has been—looking at others more highly than ourselves. Peter would put it this way in 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 17: "For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil." There is a weariness that comes from trials and difficulties, and there is also a weariness from doing the right thing and doing good. There's a tiredness that comes from doing what is good, right, and wholesome, and it happens over time. This weariness that grows over time only leads to one place. And you say, "Well, Pastor, what is that place?" It's at the end of verse nine: You'll lose heart. If you don't pay attention to this part of your life, you and I will lose heart. We have some control in not allowing good things to make us weary: "Let us not." Paul would put it this way in another letter to another church, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 1: "Therefore, since we have this ministry, we have received mercy, and we do not lose heart." That's the place you want to be. You want to be on that. "Hey, I know what ministry I've been called to. I know what I'm involved in. I know what family I'm in. I know where I work because everything in life is ministry. I know where I'm at, and I'm telling you, God has given me the mercy that I need, He's given me the grace I need, and I do not lose heart." I might be tired, but I'm not losing heart. And in context, Paul is encouraging the believers, perhaps even encouraging himself, that there is a weariness that comes in faithfulness to the Lord. There's a weariness that comes in serving. There's a weariness that comes when you are doing the right thing in your own personal walk. I think of the room filled with men and women right now that are making wise choices at great personal cost because it would be easier to do this, but the Lord wants you to do that. And so you go, "Okay, I'm not going to take the easy route. I'm going to do what God has called me to do." "I read this scripture or this wisdom from the Bible. I'm going to raise my family this way. I'm going to honor my wife this way. I'm going to respect my husband this way. I'm going to live as a pure single this way." We could go on and on of the powerful spiritual decisions you're making right now at much personal cost. And the Bible says, "Don't grow weary. Don't give up. Don't lose heart." The enemy loves to tempt us to lose heart. He loves to get us to want to give up and throw in the towel, and it doesn't happen overnight. Supporting other believers, helping restore the broken, helping others with their burdens, seeing our own lives in order, they're all good, but they also can make us very weary. There's a weariness that comes through trials, and there's a weariness that comes through doing good. I want to share with you nine things today, nine good things or things in our lives where we're wanting to follow the Lord, that I want you to watch out for. There are far more than nine, and you may have, at the end of the list, something to add to the list. If you have something to add to the list, I want you to email me that. I would love to hear your perspective. I'll keep a list of it, and maybe if I develop this message to travel with and I do a two-parter or something, maybe I'll add what you have to offer. But don't write me a book about it. I don't have time to read it, but just give me the points like I give them to you, and then give me a brief description and maybe a scripture that the Lord has given you. I would love to hear your feedback if you have it on something good that God has brought into your life that has caused you to be weary or even think about giving up along the way. It's been a temptation from the enemy, but you're persevering and you're pressing on. So, I'm going to share nine of them with you today. But before I do, I think it's important to pause and speak to the weariness that comes because you are at a place where you just don't want to serve anymore. It happens a lot. You don't want to do good anymore. And that's just where you are. It's something that I hear often with words like—and sometimes the team here can get that, the staff and the leaders can get that where I'll hear it. There's a hum that goes on, and it's usually voiced this way: "It's so hard, Ed. It's so hard. You don't understand how hard it is. It's so hard." Can I just affirm you in that, that if you do ministry right, it's going to be hard. It is hard. I agree with you, it's hard. But I've also developed a phrase that it's important you understand this. Are you guys ready? It's hard, but it's not that hard. Sometimes it sounds like, "Well, you know, it's so hard, like you're out there building the railroad or something." Like you've got that big steel thing on your back and it's so hard, nobody's helping me. It's hard, but you're not building the railroad here. You're not up on a skyscraper with no net, doing rivets in a high-rise unless that's your job, and then, okay, you're an exception to that. Like you're afraid you're going to fall off 30 stories like in the back in the day. It's hard, but stop making your identity how hard it is in ministry. That's not your identity. You have been enlisted in the calling of God upon your life. You have been enlisted to serve Him. It's hard, but it's not that hard. So get back to the place where you're being tempted right now through the weariness. You're being tempted through the difficulty. You're being tempted because of a hard person or a hard situation. And it's hard, but it's not that hard. The enemy wants you to lose heart, and I'm asking you to get back to the Lord. Get your eyes back on the Lord, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. So it's hard, I agree. I mean, I think of those of you that might want to serve. We've got to take it and we've got to put it in a context of our little church here. So just say you want to start serving in this church. You go online, start the application process and everything, and you're just there, it's so exciting, you can't wait. Then you start serving. Oh, it's so hard! Go back to how you really wanted to do this. As a matter of fact, we could say you said you wanted to do this. You responded to the Holy Spirit. You took all the time to fill that out. You watched all the videos. You answered all the questions. And now today, you don't want to do it anymore? You have to ask yourself why. Could it be that you have let yourself grow weary in well-doing? You've forgotten that there's a harvest in due season. There's a harvest in due season. And this is not something that we do in our own strength. God didn't design ministry to destroy you or to wreck you, although sometimes serving the Lord will destroy your flesh. Maybe it's better to say, "This is so hard, Pastor, it's so hard because my flesh..." Yeah, I guess, you know, the spirit lusts against the flesh, the flesh lusts against the spirit, so you don't do what you really want to. Yeah, the flesh is a formidable foe. But God is showing you that He is your strength, and He'll get you through this because you're advancing the kingdom. Okay, if you're taking notes. Number one: It's easy to become weary when you help restore a fallen brother or sister. That's a good thing. Chapter 6, verse 1: "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted." This is good, and it can also weary you. This can be super challenging to step into someone's life that has backslid, or walked away, or wandered away, very mad at God right now, very upset. When you step into their life, it can be very, very taxing and challenging. It's a good thing, but it can weary you as you help to repair what's been destroyed and walk with them. It takes time, it takes effort, it takes energy. This is something you need to watch out for. Number two: You can become weary when you help bear one another's burdens. Again, Galatians chapter 6, verse 2: "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Life can get so heavy and hard. We're all already carrying our own pack. We all already have our own lives. We already have our own issues. And certainly, if we look at it as a backpack and we all have our own backpack of life's issues, some of our backpacks are filled with heavy trials. And so you're kind of walking around bent over because it's so heavy. And then with that, as you're carrying your own pack, you're stepping into someone else's life to help them with their heavy burden. Yeah, this can be very wearying, helping people. Life gets so heavy and hard, and those around us are carrying such heavy, hard burdens: emotional, physical, spiritual. The whole revelation of these mental health challenges, and you're the one that's helping them? Yeah, it could tire you out, for sure. Helping someone get their mind back on the Lord, or minister to them, or help them, or encourage them, or think of them, or pray for them. This is something you need to watch out for. As you're doing good and helping others bear their burdens, it's a weariness that can come that if you don't check it, it could lead to losing heart. Number three: This is an interesting one, and this is a good thing. You and I can become weary when you carry your own load, which we learned in verse 5: "For each one shall bear his own load." You'll notice right away, as I'm starting with these "doing good," I'm using the context of the passage. This is where Paul wrote it, and these are the things he's just said. I want to bring you back just for the sake of, whenever you're reading the Bible, you always want to hold that verse in context. So he's really talking about these things in particular. "Hey, I'm telling you, in grace, go out and help people that are broken." Ah, it's tiring. I know. "And help people with heavy loads." It's tiring. I know. "And by the way, while you're doing that, take care of your own thing." Ah, it's tiring. I know. And it can weary you if you're not careful. Our own lives come with their own challenges, their own twists, their own turns, their own ups and downs, challenges, surprises. Living the Christian life and facing our own lot in life can also weary us. But it's good. It's good that you take care of your own house. It's good that you lead your family. It's good that you are turning your whole life and orient it toward the things of God, living in grace. It's good, but be careful. Let us not grow weary when you're carrying your own load. Let us not grow weary when you're helping restore a brother. Let us not grow weary when you're bearing one another's burdens. Number four: This is an interesting one, also comes from the context. You can become weary when you're waiting on God. Waiting. Waiting. You go, "Ed, where do you get that?" Well, right here, in verse 7: "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." I want you to think of it this way: Sowing a seed doesn't have an immediate harvest. It takes time. So the time between sowing and reaping, in between, you can call that waiting. Waiting. Doing good, you did something good, but you don't see the immediate benefits of it, or you're waiting. Like the Bible says, some people plant, some people water, but you're waiting for God to give the increase. I think of the people you're praying for right now that might get saved. And you've been praying for how many years now? You don't have to say it, but how many years have you been praying? Waiting. Not just on the bad things, not just on the trials. You might be waiting for a trial to end. Okay, that's a good thing, waiting. Not taking things into your own hands. If you really want to grasp this in its totality, when I taught through the book of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, especially the second half of 1 Samuel and all of 2 Samuel, looking at the life of David going into King David, going into Solomon in Kings, when you read those books, you'll see David waiting on the Lord, encouraging and receiving the benefits. And then you'll see him take things into his own hands and suffering the consequences. Waiting on the Lord is a good thing, but it's a good thing, but it could weary you. I think of how many believers over the years have just given up waiting on the Lord. And they just lost heart, concluding that God is not faithful. But we see it's due season. Due season. That's the key here. We don't control the season in as much as we control the snow or the wind. It's God. It's due season. While you're waiting on the Lord, you can get tired. This is such a lie from the enemy. This is a big lie, by the way. This is a big one. I want you to think of these in terms of how the enemy tempts you through lies because losing heart while you're waiting is the exact opposite of what God says waiting does in a person's life. It's the exact opposite. Now, I know you have your feelings, and I know you have your life experience, and I know that you are living with circumstances, but we have to cling to God's word, no matter what we're feeling. This is the exact opposite of what God says happens for the man and the woman that waits on God. Isaiah chapter 40, verse 31. It says, "Those who wait on the Lord shall quit, walk away, and never come back." No, you guys know your Bibles, that's not what it says. Here's the promise: "Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." That's the promise. The promise is then replaced with temptation, and then we come back to the new covenant: Let us not grow weary. Let us not grow weary. Waiting on God is the exact opposite of weary.
Guest (Male): Well, there you have the first four of nine things to watch out for. Things that can bring weariness if we're not careful. And we'll see what the remaining five are next time on Abounding Grace. This message from Pastor Ed Taylor, "9 Things That Can Bring Weariness," can be heard again at aboundinggraceradio.com, 1place.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here in the month of July, we've picked out an excellent book from David Wilkerson, "The Jesus Person Promise Book." It contains over 800 promises from the word of God, helping you discover hope, grace, and healing for almost every spiritual and personal problem encountered today. It would make a meaningful gift for that special someone or a purse companion for you. And we'll send it to you when you support Abounding Grace with a gift of $25 or more today. Reach us toll-free at 877-30-GRACE or go online to calvaryco.store. And thank you for your support. It helps us get the word out on stations like this one all across the nation. Large or small, God is using your gifts in great ways. I wish I could share all the emails and phone calls that come in as evidence of that. To make a donation, just visit aboundinggraceradio.com or call 877-30-GRACE. That's aboundinggraceradio.com or 877-30-GRACE. Our time together sure goes by quickly, doesn't it? But we're already looking forward to our next study in Galatians here on Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed. God bless.
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