How To Help Someone Who Blows It

GALATIANS 6:1 “HOW TO HELP SOMEONE WHO BLOWS IT”

A) Suppose a friend of mine had to resign as pastor because of an adulterous relationship.

* Within two days after the affair was discovered, he left the area with his wife and family.

* Now my problem is how to reach out and restore him back to the fellowship of the saints.

B) I find that I’m reluctant to get involved … After all, he would have a sense of guilt and

shame when I get in touch with him.

* Since he doesn’t live next door, I can avoid him without any effort.

* And so if I follow my inclination, I will do nothing ... But should I?

C) Suppose Moses had knocked on your door on his flight to Midian.

* Word of his murder of the Egyptian has already swept through your village.

* But you’re a distant relative to him through his mother.

* To take him in is to invite possible death, but he’s afraid and needs help … So what do you do?

D) You’re a member of the church at Philippi.

* A friend reports that Demas is in town, but doesn’t come visit his friends.

* Should you try to find Demas, or is it his responsibility to get in touch with the local assembly?

E) Believe it or not, but the Bible has much to say about restoration.

* But before we spell it out, let’s consider some reasons why we are so perplexed as to what we

should do, especially when someone in the church has blown it.

(I) BEFRIENDING THE FALLEN APPEARS TO BE TAKING A SOFT APPROACH TO SIN

A) Sometimes we have the attitude, “If a man sins, he ought to pay for it.”

* If he’s restored too easily, we’re giving the impression that sin is not all that serious.

* So we justify our inaction with the belief that the offender is just getting his due.

* But is this the right attitude?

(II) WE MAY BE AFRAID OF GUILT BY ASSOCIATION

A) If we are known to be spending time with one who has failed, we may be considered by

others of being guilty too ... Besides, “Birds of a feather flock together.”

* Eph. 5:11 “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather .......”

* Luke 7:34 – Jesus was accused of “being a friend of sinners.”

* Luke 15:2 “This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.”

B) But perhaps the most important reason we don’t get involved is this .......

(III) BECAUSE CONFRONTATION IS AWKWARD

A) If it’s a moral failure, there is shame.

* If a marriage is breaking apart, it’s difficult for the couple to admit that they’re not making it.

B) Someone has got to make the first move … WHO IS IT?

* How can we be of help in putting broken lives together?

C) I’m sure you’ve bought things you had to put together.

* You took all of the pieces out of the box and laid them before you and looked at them.

* They look nothing like the picture on the box, just a bunch of pieces. (My aluminum building)

D) Men have the tendency to not look at the instructions first before putting things together.

* We just look at the pieces and wonder, “Where does this piece go ... Where does that piece go?”

E) All of us have known lives like that ... Just a bundle of unrelated pieces, serving no

particular purpose.

* You wish there was an instruction manual to give you some idea where to begin.

* You also wish that there would be a model to give you the big picture so that you’d know what

the final product would look like.

WE HAVE AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL

A) There is an instruction Book, put together by the author of life ... The Bible.

* As our Creator, He knows how to make us whole, but we must give Him all the pieces.

* Sometimes we need others to help us get ourselves together.

B) There is a role for you and me to play in helping our brothers and sisters in Christ.

* Rom. 15:1 “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to .......”

C) Not a one of us is beyond the possibility of falling.

* 1 Cor. 10:12 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

D) If a believer is not restored, the strength of the church is weakened.

* We’re soldiers in the same army, members of the same family, and stones of the same building.

E) That’s why a believer who doesn’t fellowship with others will never grow in the Christian