I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to Galatians 6:1-10
Galatians 6:1-10
(NIV)
1 Brothers, if
someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.
But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
3 If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else,
5 for each one should carry his own load.
6 Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
-- what do
we do when a Christian falls?
-- around
the turn of the twentieth century, a husband and wife team here in America founded
a well-known international ministry -- the ministry was blessed by God and grew
in numbers and in impact and their whole family became involved in the mission
-- their
son was sent to school to become an accountant, and when he graduated, he was placed
in charge of finances of the entire ministry -- things continued to go well for
a time, but some irregularities started showing up in the books -- checks that
should have cleared were now bouncing -- notices were received from bill
collectors for items that were shown to have been paid -- the son maintained
these were all misunderstandings on the part of others -- but as these
financial problems became more and more common, it became obvious that
something was wrong-- it turns out the son had been embezzling from the ministry -- he had been keeping two sets of books -- one accurate and one inaccurate -- and had been skimming proceeds from the donations to the ministry -- he had, in essence, been stealing from God
-- the son was arrested and convicted of his crimes and sent to prison for several years -- on the day he was to be released he did not know whether anyone would be waiting for him outside the prison gates because of the wrong he had done so many people, his own family included
-- as he walked through the gates of the prison, he saw his parents waiting for him -- they carried him home and told him he could live with them until he got back on his feet -- and then, to everyone's surprise, they gave their son back his old job taking care of the finances of the ministry -- the ministry never suffered another financial irregularity
-- what do we do when a Christian falls? -- that is the question before us this morning
-- today
finds us back in the Book of Galatians, here at the end of Paul's letter to the
church where he addressed the issue of the Judaizers and legalism and falling
from grace
-- as you
remember from last week, the church at Galatia had been infiltrated by a group
of Jewish believers who were teaching the Galatians they had to follow the law
of Moses and be circumcised to be Christians -- basically transforming the
gospel of grace into a religion of works-- many in the church had been captured by the seductive teaching of this group -- many had fallen from true faith in Christ and a reliance on God's grace instead of human effort -- many had given in to temptation and sin
-- and so Paul had written this letter to show the Galatians the error of their ways -- to point them back to the path of grace and mercy through Christ -- but the issue remained: what do we do with those who continue to sin? -- what do we do with those in our church who have backslid and fallen from grace?
-- Paul addresses those questions for us here in Galatians 6 -- if you would let's look back at this passage and let's see what we can learn about responding to fallen Christians from Paul's words to the Galatians
II. Relative Restoration (Galatians 6:1-6)
-- verse 1
1 Brothers, if
someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.
But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
-- Paul
addresses these verses to the brothers -- to the true believers in the church
at Galatia
-- in our
Experiencing God study this week we talked about the church -- what the church
is and what the church does -- as Paul points out in this verse, the church is not a place or a building or a title -- the church is made up of the brothers and sisters we have in Christ -- we are the church -- we are Christ's body -- and as Christ's body and members one with each other, we have responsibilities in this place
-- as Blackaby put it in the Experiencing God study, "a church is on mission with Christ in our world to carry out the Father's redemptive purposes" -- what are the redemptive purposes of God?
-- well, certainly, this means salvation -- it means evangelizing others -- witnessing to them and pointing them to the cross of Christ
-- but
God's redemptive purposes go far beyond that to those discussed in this passage
-- Christ died on the cross, not only to save us, but to redeem the world from
the curse that fell on it in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned
-- God's
redemptive purposes include righting wrongs -- fighting injustice -- speaking
up for and taking care of the least of these -- widows and orphans and the poor-- and God's redemptive purposes includes redeeming those who have fallen prey to temptation and sin and restoring them back to the body
-- it is our responsibility to look after all the members of our body, especially those members who have fallen away or, as Paul puts it here in verse 1, who have been caught or overtaken by sin
-- what do
we do when a Christian falls? -- Paul tells us here that we should restore them
gently
-- when I
think of restoration of fallen Christians, I can't help but think of Jim
Bakker, the first of the televangelists who got caught up in sin and fell from
grace -- Jim Bakker was an Assembly of God preacher -- and he and his wife, Tammy, envisioned and created the PTL show, one of the first major Christian talk shows on TV, reaching millions of people daily with the message of Christ -- as part of this ministry, they even built a theme park in South Carolina, which was the third most successful theme park in America at the time -- and developed their own satellite TV channel to broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week
-- but this empire came crashing down when Bakker became involved in a sex scandal and was eventually convicted of mail fraud because of his fleecing of investors -- he was sentenced to prison for eight years for his crimes -- his ministry collapsed -- and the Christian community turned their back on him
-- Bakker writes that when he was serving his last year in prison, he was visited by Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham -- Franklin told Bakker he wanted to help him when he got out -- to give him a job, a house, and a car -- Bakker told Graham that he couldn't do this -- that his baggage would bring the Grahams down
-- but
-- when Bakker got out of prison, the Grahams sponsored him and did just what they said they would do -- and on "the first Sunday out, Ruth Graham called the halfway house [he] was living in at the Salvation Army and asked permission for [Bakker] to go to the Montreat Presbyterian Church with her that Sunday morning.
-- When [he] got there, the pastor welcomed [him] and sat [him] with the Graham family," and when Ruth Graham arrived, she walked down the aisle and sat next to Bakker, worshiping with him as if nothing had ever happened1
-- brothers, you who are spiritual should restore him gently -- that is exactly what the Grahams did for Jim Bakker as he was getting out of prison -- today Jim Bakker is back in the ministry as a pastor and evangelist -- as his website states, "If God can put Pastor Jim's life back together, then He can do it for anyone."
-- I want
to point out something here in this passage -- Paul tells us in verse 1 that we
are to restore Christians who are caught up or overtaken by sin -- Paul is not
talking here about a person with habitual sin, but sudden sin -- a change in
behavior that is not in keeping with one's character -- a sin that happens when
someone gives in to a temptation all of a sudden and finds themselves trapped
and fallen away
-- in other
words, the first moment we see someone start to slip away, it is our duty to
reach out to them and gently show them the error of their ways and restore them
back into the fold -- now, if that doesn't work -- if their sin moves from the
sudden to the habitual -- there are other steps to be taken -- church
discipline as outlined by Jesus that we are to apply in order to bring people
back to repentance -- but that is not the issue here -- Paul is addressing
those who have made a mistake who need to be restored back to fellowship
-- the
phrase Paul uses, "restore him gently," is actually a medical
metaphor -- it is used to describe the act of a doctor setting a broken bone
and putting it right or putting a dislocated joint back in place
-- the idea
Paul is trying to get across to the Galatians here is that all members of the
church belong to one another and need one another -- and when one person is
broken or dislocated -- the body cannot function as God intended-- as members of the body, we are responsible for every other member -- and when someone has fallen away, we are called to restore them so the body will be whole again
-- verse 2-6
2 Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will
fulfill the law of Christ.
3 If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he
deceives himself. 4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else,
5 for each one should carry his own load.
6 Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.
-- Paul
tells us here in verse 2 we should "bear one another's burdens" --
the word that Paul uses for burdens in verse 2 is BAROS -- it means "a
heavy load" -- this word stresses the weight of the burden being borne by
our brother or sister in Christ
-- Paul
says we should bear their burden for them -- we should help lessen their load
so they will not be overwhelmed and give in to temptation
-- think
about the times you are tempted and give in to sin -- when does that occur? --
it occurs when you are burdened -- when you are overwhelmed -- when life is
just rushing at you -- you might feel lonely -- you might feel like it is too
much for you to bear -- and then Satan comes along and says, "Why don't
you give in to this temptation just this one time? -- it will make you feel
better -- you deserve it"
-- Paul
tells us here to bear our brother's burdens before this can happen -- to help
take some of the weight off their shoulders so they can keep on keeping on
-- but over
in verse 5, Paul seems to contradict himself when he tells us that everyone
should carry their own load -- the word Paul uses in verse 5 is the Greek word
PHORTION (for-tee'-on), which refers to a backpack that a solider would carry
-- it speaks of our responsibility to do our part in the body of Christ
-- yes,
occasionally burdens and loads come upon us that weigh us down, but usually
these are of our own making -- usually these are things we are putting on
ourselves that do not come from the Lord-- the PHORTION we carry as members of Christ's body is not overwhelming to us -- it is not more than we can bear -- as Christ said, "take My yoke upon you -- for my yoke is easy to bear and my burden is light"
-- the questions we should ask ourselves are: "Am I doing my part? Am I bearing my PHORTION?" and "Am I trying to carry a load of my own making that is too heavy for me?"
-- Paul
tells us when we carry each other's burdens, we fulfill the law of Christ --
what is the law of Christ? -- that's easy -- love one another -- as I have
loved you, love one another
-- and, of
course, there is the golden rule:
"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"-- do you remember last week when I pointed out Jesus' commandments in regards to the law? -- Jesus told us there were only two laws that we must keep as New Testament Christians, and in doing so, we would fulfill all the laws of the Old Testament
-- "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength" and "Love your brother as yourself"
-- when we see someone falling away and becoming caught up in sin, our response should not be to turn away or to reject them -- instead, we should go to them in love and restore them gently back to the body of Christ
III. Sowing and Reaping (Galatians 6:7-10)
-- verse 7
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what
he sows.
8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that
nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the
Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
-- I don't
have time this morning to really dig into these verses -- perhaps we'll do this
another day if the Lord leads us back to this passage
-- but real
briefly, I wanted to point out something that Paul brings out in these verses
-- we've all heard the phrase, "you reap what you sow" -- and usually
this brings to mind the consequences of sin -- there is a price to sin and that
price has to be paid whenever you give in to temptation and sin -- you reap
what you sow
-- but Paul
brings out in these verses the alternative meaning of this phrase -- when you
do good to others -- when you fulfill the law of Christ by loving others and
gently restoring them back to the body -- you reap what you sow
-- good
things come from sowing good -- good things come when you sow love and grace
and mercy -- lives are changed -- relationships are restored -- and people are
brought to repentance
-- in verse
9 Paul gives us a very real warning -- he tells us to not become weary in doing
good -- he tells us to not give up
-- Paul
knew what he was talking about -- how easy would it have been for him to just
give up on churches like the one at Galatia
or the one in Corinth
-- I know
that feeling -- God brought me to this passage this week for a reason -- you
know that I do some one-on-one discipleship -- and I've had some success with
some disciples, but others have just left me disappointed
-- one
disciple in particular has really disheartened me -- I have met with him more
than any of my other disciples -- I've shared with him my life and instructed
him in what it means to be a follower of Christ -- but time and time again, he has let me down -- I can't tell you how many times he was supposed to meet me and didn't show up -- didn't even call to say he was not coming -- I can't tell you how many times he has committed to staying away from temptation and sin and then goes right back out and does it again and expects me to help him pick up the pieces -- I can't tell you how many times I've done emergency counseling with him and his family -- and then I don't hear from him for weeks or months at a time
-- he called me back up a couple of weeks ago and said he had recommitted his life to Christ and wanted to start meeting with me again -- and, to be honest, I didn't want to meet him -- I had gotten tired of it -- as Paul says here, I had gotten weary and had really just given up
-- but God led me to this passage and He told me to try again -- God told me that if I don't give up, good will come out of it -- that I will reap what I sow -- that if I just love this man and do everything I can to restore him gently back to fellowship with Christ, that good will come of it even though I am weary and on the point of just giving up
-- what do we do with a fallen Christian? -- this is what we do
IV. Closing
-- some of you might remember that a few years ago, an angry man rushed through a museum in
-- not long after this, a similar thing happened at St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome when a man rushed in with a hammer and began to smash Michelangelo's beautiful sculpture, The Pieta.
-- Two cherished works of art were severely damaged by these two hurting men -- so what did the museum curators do with these damaged works of art? -- did they throw them out? -- did they put them in the basement in storage and forget about them?
-- Absolutely not -- they hired experts in art restoration to work with the utmost care and precision to restore these treasures back to their original condition
--
Christians today should have the same approach towards believers who have been
suddenly overtaken by sin -- our first thought should be to restore, not
condemn -- as Paul urges in this passage, it is our responsibility as
Christians to love these backsliders and pray for them and work to bring them
back to spiritual wholeness and fellowship within the body of Christ2
-- Christ
did this for us -- and we should do this for others
-- let us
pray
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1"The Re-education of Jim
Bakker,"Christianity Today (12-7-98)2Modified from D.C. Egner (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
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