Message
Galatians 6:1-10
Fail Well
No-one wakes up in the morning … or at least I don’t know any Christians … who wake up and say, “God let’s make this day a day of failure.”
You and me God – we can do this.
But I do know many Christians, and I have sat with many Christians, who are basically saying, “I’m not running the race. I’m failing.”
I keep falling into the same temptation.
I want to be different and I want to change and I hate myself for my incapacity to say no to temptation.
My times with God feel forced.
I don’t feel His nearness. I read the Word but nothing is really happening. When I pray my mind becomes easily distracted.
I’m tired; I’m always tired.
My life is too full. There are too many expectations on me. I just run from one disaster to the next. It is all too much. And I just don’t have time for Jesus.
We fail in our spiritual lives. With this failure in mind today we are going to explore this question.
Is it possible to fail well?
Let’s turn to Galatians 6:1-10 (read)
Is it possible to fail well?
Indeed it is.
In the church of Jesus there is a “fail-well” process. Paul tells us about that process. Which could be summarised in this way:-
We are RESPONSIBLE for each other.
We should be VULNERABLE to each other.
And when we do this we can all fail well and, at the same time, grow in depth and strength in our spiritual life. It revolves around these two key words.
RESPONSIBILITY
VULNERABILITY
We have a RESPONSIBILITY to act when we see a fellow believer falling into sin.
“If someone is caught in a sin … restore that person gently” (Galatians 6:1).
That doesn’t mean we start a witch-hunt within the congregation. As if we now have to go and uncover everyone’s little secrets.
Nor does this passage give us the right to come down heavily on those who might have different opinions, or with whom our character clashes.
Paul is doing here is calling us to action “caught” … “restored”.
There will be times when we see the people we love acting in a way that is going to result in a serious disruption between them and God. Because that is what sin is ... a serious disruption between us and God.
When we see that happening we can’t just sit back and do nothing … feeling that it is not our business to get involved. Or that we can just ignore it.
If you had a festering wound on your leg, with obvious red lines creeping up toward your heart, would you ignore it? No.
When a member of our church family is infected with sin and it is obvious to others to the point where it is impacting others can we afford to ignore it? No.
We have to get involved and take risks. We can’t stand coldly by hoping the issue will evaporate, or that the fallen believer will heal himself, or fade away, or something!
God’s people are failing … in the church. The church where the head is Jesus and he says.
It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. (Mark 2:17)
And he says:-
The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. (Luke 19:10)
The local church is a clinic for sinners. This brings us to the issue of vulnerability.
We must be VULNERABLE enough to admit that we all struggle with sin.
“If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.” (Galatians 6:3)
It is one thing to fail – because failure is hard. But it is harder to admit that we are failing.
The short-comings and failings of others are so clear to us.
But we don’t so easily see the same short-comings in ourselves.
Jesus spoke about it.
Talking the log out our own eye so we can remove the speck in the eye of the other person.
If we are going to “fail well” we need to be prepared for the moments when others will come alongside because we need to be restored.
If we can’t allow ourselves to admit that we also struggle with sin ...
If we think we are something, when we are nothing ...
Then a basic hypocrisy has come into our lives.
It’s not easy to admit we are not as perfect as we would like other people to think we are.
It’s not easy to have others identify areas of our lives which do not conform to God's law.
It’s not easy, but it needs to happen. We must be vulnerable enough to let it happen.
Responsibility for each other ... Vulnerability to each other ... that is the process of “failing well”. How else can we make it happen?
We all have a RESPONSIBILITY to act.
“You who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently … carry each other’s burdens” (Galatians 6:1,2).
Sometimes we can have the feeling in God’s family that there are some who are more qualified to help – and some who are not so qualified. That is not the case.
When we confess that Jesus is Lord, we are spiritual.
When we have been given the Holy Spirit we are spiritual.
We are brothers and sisters together.
And we can all have in impact in some way. Let’s think for a moment here of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. It is found in Luke 10:25-37.
In that parable a Jewish man is on his way to a city and he is beaten and left for dead by bandits.
A priest comes along and ignores the man by crossing over the other side of the road.
Later a Levite comes, but he also goes past.
Finally a Samaritan comes – Samaritans and Jews hated each other – but the Samaritan helps the fallen man and pays for his costs while he recovers. Jesus told this parable in response to the question ... “Who is my neighbour”. The point was very clear – everybody.
Paul makes the same point, in a very specific way, in verse 10. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Everyone has a role ... even if you feel you are not that spiritually mature. After all, just because you lack maturity, that does not mean you have nothing worth-while to say.
We can all help others who are failing.
Which brings us again to the issue of vulnerability.
We must be VULNERABLE enough to recognise no-one is beyond rebuke.
“Watch yourself, or you also may be tempted” (Galatians 6:1).
It is an indicator of the times that we live in where so many people look down on each other.
You see it in business. You see it in politics. You see it in fashion.
You shouldn’t see it in Christianity ... but you do.
If you don’t believe me I can show you with just one story.
The story is about an “unnamed” father who was training to be a Pastor – and he had a three year old child.
The trainee pastor was failing, but didn’t really see it. He had gotten into the habit yelling at other drivers who obviously didn’t know how to drive.
One day, on the way to church, this would be Pastor said some things out of the window to a car driving by.
From the back seat Miss three year old said those same words.
The failing changed from that moment.
No matter who we are we can never get to a point where we think we are better than others.
No matter how long or short in the faith you have been, we all need to be open to the fact that we don’t have it all together. We must also be open to the fact that, sometimes, others can see in us what we cannot see in ourselves.
If we can’t do this we can’t “fail-well”.
Responsibility for each other ... Vulnerability to each other ... that is the process. There is a third aspect to this teaching that Paul highlights.
No matter how bad the sin we all have a RESPONSIBILITY to act gently.
“You who are spiritual restore him gently”. (Galatians 6:1)
What does it mean to be gentle? We take our answer from the actions of Jesus.
When our Creator spoke the heavens and the earth into existence, Jesus was there. When Satan was banned from heaven Jesus was there. He was there at the side of the Father. He is all-powerful. He is worthy of all praise.
This same Jesus came to earth – to live under the authority of the world He created. Conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, a woman who was not even married. Born into the darkness of a smelly stable. Jesus shows that He is gentle by not forcing his authority … instead He came to serve. A gentle service.
When the accusations are made and the false witnesses are clearly exposed Jesus doesn’t say anything in His defence nor does He get angry about the injustice.
When Pilate declares His innocence yet sends Him to death, Jesus doesn’t jump up and down shouting, “It’s not fair, you’re just listening to the crowd”.
When the crowd around the cross keep mocking and ridiculing Him … daring Him to come down from the cross … Jesus doesn’t call upon the 12 legions of angels to rescue Him.
Jesus goes through this because He wants to identify with us in order to help us overcome sin.
Gentleness is the process Jesus uses so that He can deal with sin. We have a responsibility to act in that same manner.
A godly restorer comes, not as one stooping down to raise another up to their level.
Rather, they come alongside as a friend to help a brother or sister back to their feet.
Restorers are meek people – a blend of strength tempered by tenderness. Strong enough to set the broken bone, yet gentle enough to avoid hurting the patient more than necessary in the process. It’s a gentleness that is implemented no matter how serious the offence.
And it is a gentleness that should lead to vulnerability in those who want to fail well.
We must be VULNERABLE enough to recognise that it is easy to make excuses.
“Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows”.
Is it easy to point out sin?
Is it easy to try and restore others?
Is it easy to carry each other’s burdens?
It’s not is it. There are a number of excuses which stop us from being vulnerable
An Excuse:- Sin Isn’t That Serious
We are only human ... we hear that often don’t we? We have this common perception that it is natural for Christians to fall into sin. But when minimise sin we minimise its impact – sin separates us from God.
Of course, we must love the sinner, even when they have fallen; but for the sake of all we cannot trivialise it. Jesus told one sinner "I don’t condemn you," but He quickly added "Go and sin no more" (John 8:11).
An Excuse:- We Can’t Be Judgemental
Tolerance is the new means of dealing with each other, isn’t it. I do what I do ... you do what you do ... and we all leave each other alone. Everyone has good intentions when they talk this way. Unfortunately the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
There is a big difference between being judgemental and applying biblical standards. The difference is this:-
When you are judgemental you speak as one who feels superior.
When you apply biblical standards you speak as one who cares.
We care enough about each other that we say something when we feel a relationship with God is at stake.
An Excuse:- I’m Just As Bad
That is not an excuse ... that is the truth. And that is church.
The only perfect church in this world is the one that has no members.
And God knows that. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8).
But even though we have a mutual badness that does not make us ineffective.
We are RESPONSIBLE for each other.
We should be VULNERABLE to each other.
As we walk the Christian journey we do so together … because we want to “fail-well” together.
Prayer
