SERMON BRIEF
Date Written: January 9, 2001
Date Preached: January 10, 2001
Church: BBC (PM) Wed Night
FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS
Series: Great Imperatives for the Christian Walk
Title: The Imperative of Restoration
Text: Gal 6:1-10
Introduction:
The ‘church’ is often referred to as the household of God. We are often called a family.
The local congregation is a tangible expression of the household of faith. In the household of faith we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, and we have mutual responsibilities to relate to one another as children of God. The all-inclusive law that must prevail in this household of faith is the law of LOVE!
As members of the household of faith, we are also servants of Jesus Christ! We have been given the mission of evangelizing the world.
One of the greatest challenges and handicaps we face in leading the world to Christ is found in the failure of those who profess to be Christians.
So looking at this passage tonight, what is our responsibility to those who are professing Christians who have fallen into sin and are failing to be a good witness for Christ?
When we find ourselves dealing with Christians who have ‘fallen’ – is it proper to feel superior? Is it proper for us to look down on them as failures, thus lifting ourselves up as successes?
As we deal with our fallen brothers and sisters in Christ should we criticize, point out flaws and faults and chastise them?
Here the Apostle Paul shows us a very inspired view of the truth of how Christians are to react in this particular situation.
The Apostle Paul lays out the great imperative for the Christian in dealing with other ‘fallen’ Christians. He suggests that if we are TRUE followers of Jesus, if we are truly spiritual, that WE have a major responsibility toward those who have fallen into sin.
In our text tonight we see that he addresses the Christians at the church in Galatia as Brethren. As brothers and sisters in the family of God we are called to love one another and be helpful to one another.
Paul calls the brethren, “you who are spiritual” meaning those who are:
Indwelt by the HS (Gal 4:6)
Led by the HS (Gal 5:18)
Experienced the fruit of the HS (Gal 5:22-23)
Living and Walking in the HS (5:25)
Every Christian needs to face up to the challenge of caring for fallen brothers or sisters.
In tonight’s passage I can see 2 observations that will help us as we look at this great imperative that Paul is showing us! The imperative of restoration…
All of us stand in need of the ministry of restoration:
We must be understanding with ourselves and others as Christ was. We need to recognize that at one time or another each of us will desire and need the ministry of spiritual restoration. Why? I can see many reasons for this:
First we continue to live in and be a part of an unchanged human nature: What is that human nature (read Gal 5:16-21) The new birth we have in Christ is a great miracle and it does miraculously change our lives, but it does not do away with or immobilize our fallen human nature! We continue to live in a very sinful and corrupt environment and it is so easy to live for the flesh and ignore the spirit.
Second is that the devil is continuously working to deceive, defeat and destroy us: [Have someone read 1 Pet 5:8] Satan will lead us into sin everytime unless we are constantly on the alert and walking the power of the HS and not in our own power.
The 3rd thing I see is that the church has not learned how to bring baby believers out of infancy: Our job as Christians is to bring others to Christ [Have someone read Matt 28:18-20] Now what I mean by this is that most churches are great at bringing people to know who Christ is…but after they have converted them they drop them and these baby Christian either never grow or grow the wrong way. We must learn to grow the baby Christians into fully mature Spiritual warriors!
Fourth I see that the cares of this world, the delights and riches presented to us distract us from the cause of Christ: [Have someone read Matt 13:22] You see Christ knew that there would be times, situations and distractions in this world that would ‘choke’ out our desire to be the Christian that we should be. For some it chokes them out entirely and their witness is totally destroyed.
The 5th reason I see is that there could be someone who has the wrong response to being hurt or disappointed and they fall into an improper attitude and spirit that leads to an improper response: All of us have experienced this kind of falling away from the high and holy will of God. We are all influenced by those who have mentored us, and they’re failing could lead us into a spiritual nose-dive response.
Finally I see that some need to be restored in love because they are depressed and ashamed of their past lives or past failures: In the 23rd Psalm we find David sharing how God had delivered him and had “restored his soul”. The ministry of restoration is a continuous need in the body…in the family of believers…we need to be continually restored to fellowship with God and with others.
And although we have observed that we all at times will need the ministry of restoration, we can also know that…
We all have a duty of Love toward fallen brothers and sisters in Christ:
If we do what Paul says and engage in the ministry of restoration we must be careful about our attitude toward and our actions toward those brothers and sisters of whom we are trying to help.
Our attitude toward fallen brothers and sisters must be a healthy and forgiving attitude: We must be very careful that we do NOT assume the attitude of self-righteousness that can and does create a harsh and critical spirit toward our fallen brothers and sisters in Christ.
Sometimes it is much easier to be a Pharisee and legalistic than it is to show the love of Christ and be a Christian. Jesus was accused of being a friend of sinners and publicans (which he WAS). He had both the desire and the capacity to deal with sinners in a non-judgmental manner that caused them to feel comfortable around Him, and because of this they accepted Him and ultimately His message.
Is that not what we are to be doing today as Christians. Getting people to accept us and our message.
We need to recognize that fallen brothers and sisters in Christ have a feeling of hurt deep within their hearts. Most likely they are disappointed in themselves and experiencing shame. Fallen brothers and sisters may be dealing with depression.
So we as the ‘spiritual ones’ [as Paul put it] must:
Put love to work on their behalf.
Practice forgiveness toward them.
Lift them up before God in prayer.
Encourage them to return to Christ.
Provide sympathetic help in their time of trouble.
That is what our attitude should and must be as Christians toward those who have fallen away from the Christian life. But we cannot just have the correct attitude, for the correct attitude would be totally lacking if we did not have the correct actions in our lives.
Our actions on behalf of fallen brothers and sisters must be Christ-like: We must show a Christ-like attitude in how we actually DEAL with these fallen Christians.
Let us put forward a sincere effort to restore them to church attendance and into the Christian fellowship.
Let us seek to encourage them to renew the process of spiritual growth and service to God.
Let us seek to restore them to activity and usefulness in the family of God and in the church of God.
Let us seek to restore them back into harmony and understanding within the family of believers.
Let us be the love of God and the grace of God to them.
Conclusion:
I want us to take notice of our passage of Scripture again tonight…let’s look at the words. They reveal to us our personal responsibility toward our brother and sister in Christ who have been defeated and have fallen away from a life with Christ.
I want to stress a point here that many get confused. When I mention a falling away from their life in Christ…what I am NOT saying is that they have ‘lost’ their salvation!
What I AM saying is that they have gotten away from that relationship that was formed when they became a Christian. God has NOT left them…they have strayed from God.
When the lone sheep strays from the fold and danger begins to fill its path and harm ultimately comes to it…the shepherd does not simply say, “Well that sheep no longer belongs to me!” Any good shepherd worth his salt is going to search high and low for that sheep until it is recovered and fully restored to the fold.
Jesus will never give up on you, no matter how far you stray away! He loves and cares for you and will continually seek for you to be restored to the fellowship of believers.
To put this imperative that Paul teaches us into perspective we must look no further than a quote from Jesus himself in John 3:17:
“For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.”
If Jesus came to this world to do this…is this not what WE as His representatives in this world must do.
We are not to condemn those brothers and sisters around us be help them to be restored to that salvation that they once held near and dear to their hearts!
