The Revolutionary Gospel
Galatians 6 - Restore Gently
October 17, 2021
Galatians 6:1-5 NIV
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 5 For each one shall bear his own load.
People will mess up.
People will return to the church broken and messy.
What is repentance?
To return to God with heart and soul.
All spiritual advances begin with turning away from what’s hindering our obedience.
We should encourage every act of repentance and make it easy to come home.
Luke 15:28-30 NIV
The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
He believed the worst.
He refused to call him brother.
We’re called to gently restore them. What does that mean?
1. We listen to them.
James 1:19 NIV
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
2. We encourage them.
Romans 12 says one of the gifts the Holy Spirit is encouragement. People with this gift can do two things well:
• Spot discouraged people.
• Make them feel valuable.
3. We walk with them.
Including people in our lives allows them to be restored.
We’re gentle with broken people because Jesus is gentle to us when we’re broken.
Psalms 68:5-6a NIV
“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. 6 God sets the lonely in families …”
The most vulnerable people in our world today are the fatherless, widows and the lonely.
We walk with them until they’re set in family.
Hope is belonging to a community whose center is Jesus.
