The Book of Galatians #26
Galatians 6:1-6
Just to review very briefly, the book of Galatians is all about the contrast between being under the law and free in Christ. In the closing two chapters, Paul is dealing with the very practical issues of living that day by day. In fact, chapter 5 ends with that direct command, which we looked at the last couple of weeks: Walk in the Spirit.
But we also saw the conflict in that. As much as we may desire to do the right thing and be the right thing, sometimes we fail. There is this battle that rages within us and sometimes the dark side wins.
And unfortunately, all of us have times in our life when we walk by the flesh instead of the Spirit. We will sin. We will be disobedient and not live up to the position that is ours in Christ.
Now beginning at chapter 6, verse 1 we are given some instruction on how to handle that when it occurs in the church.
Verses 1-6
Now right off the bat I notice there are only two categories of church members. One the one hand there are the spiritual and on the other are those who are not spiritual.
There are only two possibilities. You're either spiritual or carnal at any given point in time.
And the groups are always in flux. It is always transitioning. It’s possible for someone to be in the “spiritual” group today and the “carnal group” tomorrow, or even before the service has ended.
And the cold, hard facts are you're either spiritual or fleshly depending on whether you're walking in the Spirit or not.
Therefore, a person who’s been a Christian five minutes can be spiritual because he's walking in the Spirit while a person whose been a Christian sixty years can be fleshly because he's not obeying the Word of God and he's not walking in the Spirit at that particular point.
So, those are characteristics of every Christian's life and we move between those two. Obviously the ideal is to be spiritual. But sometimes we aren’t. And sometimes “they” aren’t.
So what we have here in the opening verses of chapter 6 are some instructions on how we are to help one another to be spiritual.
Now before we look at the verses, let me just add this: The single most important pursuit of the believer is holiness. The only way I can be of help to you is to seek holiness for me also. Many make a grave mistake at this point.
They want everyone else around them to be perfect and perform in a certain way, they just don’t want to bother with it themselves.
I never cease to be amazed at the people who get offended by someone for doing the very things they do themselves.
Listen: Jesus said, I cannot take the stick out of your eye until I get the beam out of my own eye. I can't deal with your problem unless I've dealt with mine.
And so as a believer I must constantly be walking in the Spirit, pursuing holiness or I am not rightly related to God, and I’m of no spiritual assistance to you.
So as we take seriously the command to walk in the Spirit, there is going to be a spill-over into the lives of others and that’s what we encounter in verse 1 of chapter 6. We are called to this ministry of caring for one another. The question is then: how do we do it?
Given the fact that we are either spiritual or fleshy at any point in time, we can assume that a portion of the church is fleshy at any time. How is it then that those who are walking by the Spirit are to help those who are fleshy, who are failing to walk by the Spirit?
I'm going to give you three principles, three very simple points. When you come across someone who is fleshy, who is sinning, who is not obeying the Word of God, not walking by the Spirit, then responsibility #1is
1. Pick Them Up
verse 1
Notice the very first word in the verse: "Brethren". Obviously that refers to Christians. He's talking about those in the church. And then he talks about someone being overtaken with a trespass.
Just to get a handle on some of the significant words in the verse, notice “any”. We are not to ignore “any” trespass. Then note “overtaken”. The idea is to be trapped or bound. And then the “trespass” is simply sin, whether pre-meditated or inadvertent. So putting it all together it is the idea of any time a fellow Christian is involved in sin, those who are walking in the Spirit are to get involved to seek restoration.
Let’s zero in on that word for a moment. We are to “restore”. We are to help each other. And notice, again, “you who are spiritual”. I would suggest that the “spiritual”, those who are walking in the Spirit and being led by the Spirit are the only ones that can help those who aren't.
In fact, I’ve noticed the fleshly or carnal are of no help at all in those situations when a brother has trespassed. The fleshly don’t help, they gossip. They don’ assist. They backstab. They are critical and condemning.
If and when I am overtaken in a trespass, I don’t want anyone except the spiritual involved. A lot of people like to look down on those in sin. One writer said, giving a personal testimony, "I've often thought that if I ever fall into a trespass I will pray that I don't land in the hands of those critical self-righteous judges in the church.
Let me fall into the hands of bar keepers, street walkers or dope peddlers because such church people would tear me apart with their long wagging gossipy tongues, cutting me to shreds." I thank God that isn't true in our church but it is in a lot of places.
The strong are to help the weak. The spiritual help the carnal. That's our responsibility.
And how do we do it? We restore. Now you say, "How does that work? What is that process? How do we do that?"
And that's a very valid question. The verb "to restore," means to mend, or repair. And that's a very important concept. Something is broken, something isn't right, something isn't working properly, something isn't functioning and it is their spiritual walk. So we're to come along and strengthen that.
I suppose the clearest counsel is in Matthew 18 where Jesus is speaking about life in the church.
verse 15
That is exactly what Galatians 6 said. Paul no doubt learned that principle from this passage of Scripture and the life of His Lord.
Now how do you do that? What's the process? You go, first of all, and you help him to see sin as sin. Many times a person will react by saying, "Well, I don't think that's so wrong. Well, I mean, a lot of people do things wrong. Well, you do things wrong yourself."
But first of all,, sin must be acknowledged.
Then you want them to confess it to God and seek His cleansing and His forgiveness. That's the process. So you reprove him in private. If he listens to you, you've won your brother. You've gotten your brother back on the spiritual plane. You've gotten him back walking in the Spirit, moving in the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, perfected by the Spirit. And now he's on track in the process of maturity.
But then notice verse 16.
It doesn’t have to be a big deal. Two or three witness make sure you can have an accurate report of his attitude, whether it's one of rejection or one of repentance. And the same process. What do you do? You point out sin and you say you must recognize this as sin, you must confess it, you must repent of it, you must ask God to cleanse and wash you and that He would fill you again with His Spirit out of that cleansing, that you would begin to walk in the Spirit. You must recommit yourself to the faithful study of the Word that will dwell in you richly. And you encourage him through all of that.
Then verse 17 says, if he refuses to listen to them, tell the whole church.
What do you tell the church? You tell the church the truth and then get them involved, not to vote him out but to seek restoration. The idea is ganging up on this erring brother for his own good.
What is the goal? To pick him up. And if he refuses, treat him like a pagan and a tax collector. In other words, put him out of the church. Why? Because a little leaven leavens a whole lump.
And the church will not well tolerate or benefit from that kind of influence.
I really believe, beloved, that one of the major problems in the church today is the church preaches against sin but doesn't do anything about it. And consequently it has a somewhat pure message and an impure population. There's leaven maybe not in the preaching but there's leaven in the living. And that takes the very life from the church.
Now let's go back to Galatians chapter 6 and follow a little bit further through this process that the Apostle Paul has outlined for us.
In picking them up there's a very important note here. He says, "Restore such a one."
That is always the goal. Discipline is not assigned to the church so we have a way to put people out of the church, but rather a way to lift up those who are struggling.
Putting them out is a last resort for the sake of the purity and safety of the body. So you restore such a one, and notice the tone of the discipline, "in a spirit of gentleness."
Now that shouldn't be too hard. Why?
Look at verses 22-23 of chapter 5
So if you are walking by the Spirit, producing the fruit of the Spirit, you will be gentle. So if you who are spiritual are restoring, you will be doing it in a spirit of gentleness. It's almost as if this is a statement rather than a command.
You who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness characteristic of your spirituality.
Do it with gentleness, you are not to be overbearing. You're not to be ungracious. You're not to be unkind. No need to be hateful.
By the way, notice 5:26
Why is all that so important?
Notice the end of verse 1 of chapter 6
Let me ask you a question. Have you ever known anyone to sin a sin that you couldn't be tempted to sin? You could be tempted, couldn't you?
There’s no need for you to be arrogant and cocky because you could wind up doing the same kinds of things you’re condemning them about.
If Jesus could be in all points tempted like as we are, then certainly we who have actually fallen to sin should be able to sympathize with those around us who have fallen.
By the way, the phrase, “considering yourselves”, is a very strong verb that means to carefully observe. Don't get to thinking that you're invulnerable to that. Take a good look at your own temptability and then go in gentleness.
One of my favorite statements about Jesus was taken from the prophets and quoted in Matthew 12:20. Let me show it to you and then I’ll close for tonight.
Matthew 12:20
The first part of the statement references the reed that was played by the shepherd. He would take a reed and punch holes in and play music on it. They were very much like the flutes the Bro. Dan makes and sent to Malawi.
Now when those reed flutes got old, they began to bend. And once it was bent, the air couldn't go through, therefore, it wouldn't make music and so they would just break it in two and throw it away.
And the reference to the smoking flax was describing a little oil lamp. They would float a piece of flaw in the oil, and when it got down to the bottom and was almost gone, it would begin to smolder and smoke and not light, and they would throw it away.
Now the Isaiah said of the Messiah, when He comes He will not break the bruised reed and He will not extinguish the smoking flax. The point is that when a person is bruised and when their candle is low, Jesus doesn't throw them away. That's the point.
And that's the way we have to approach this process. We are to be like Jesus in that we go to the struggling believer in a spirit of gentleness, reaffirming our love with an attitude of forgiveness, and we seek to pick them up.
Well, that’s the first principle. There are two more and we’ll look at them next week.
Let’s pray
