• Verse 2 says, "Bear ye one another's burdens..."
• Verse 5 says, "For every man shall bear his own burden."
They err because they do not realize Paul was speaking of two different things.
Verse 5 refers to people who, like soldiers, must bear their own responsibilities.
Illus: Suppose a group of soldiers are on the battle field and one decides his back pack is getting to heavy, so he asks another soldier to carry it, along with the one he already has. That soldier should not try to push his responsibility off on someone else, especially one who already has all he can handle.
In church we are often exposed to people who try to get the church folks to shoulder their responsibilities.
Illus: There are some who, instead of planning ahead, will waste their money. Then when bills come due, they have nothing to pay them with, and they try to make the church people feel that it is their responsibility to bail them out of their difficulty.
Because of the softness of our hearts, we may help the first time, but no one should feel an obligation to help a person who refuses to use wisdom and help himself.
Now we turn to verse 2. Here Paul was speaking of one who was not able to help himself.
Illus: Suppose a soldier has fallen, wounded. He is helpless, that is, not able to help himself. His only hope lies in the willingness of his comrades to come to his aid.
Many in God's service have fallen by the wayside. We need to discover, from God's Word, what we should do with our casualties
I. THE FALLEN STATE
Galatians 6:1, says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."
Let's consider three words from this verse:
1. "BRETHREN"
Paul likened all who followed Christ to a family, brothers and sisters in the Lord. Brothers and sisters may argue and say things they should not say, and even do things they should not do to each other, but when real difficulties come, they stick together because they love each other. The same is true in the Christian "family." Paul purposely used "brethren" because he was referring to our relationship to each other.
2. "MAN"
He purposely used this word also. Often, when a person "falls", there is an attitude that that person was not a human being; that he should have been perfect instead of falling, and letting everyone find out he was only a man. "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault...". Paul's words should make us recognize that sometimes a Christian, in his war against sin, can be...
3. "OVERTAKEN"
Perhaps the man in verse 2 has had a certain temptation hounding him for a long time. He has successfully resisted Satan. Then he dropped his guard. The devil "overtakes" him, and he is too weak to resist, and the evil is done. Paul pointed out that some among the church had fallen victim to sin; not because they deliberately set out to live lives of sin, but they were overtaken.
A. OUR ATTITUDE
We should not do what seems to come most natural...
1. SPREAD RUMORS ABOUT THE INDIVIDUAL
This is a common practice among Christians, that should not be. People who would not walk across the street to help someone who has fallen into sin, will drive across town to spread slander about him.
Illus: They have the disease called "Rumortism." It is called that because it spreads so quickly and so easily.
Will we ever learn, a tongue four inches long can kill the reputation of a man that is six feet tall. When a brother or sister falls into sin, we do have this option: we can spread the news of their sin.
2. ISOLATE THE PERSON
The Bible does teach that we are to withdraw from one who is living in sin. The Lord set this up as a part of church discipline, for a reason. If a person calls himself a Christian, and goes all over town tearing God's work down, God's people are not to fellowship with him.
2 Timothy 3:6, "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us."
3. IGNORE THE PERSON
How cruel we are to each other sometimes.
Illus: We have been told that often the woman who is attacked and raped is then treated coldly, and ignored by her husband. All of sudden, it is as if she is trash, as if she asked to be violated.
Such a man should be taken “out behind the barn” and worked over.
The woman was overcome by a power that she was no match for. She needs his support so her wounds, physical and psychological, can begin to heal.
Christians act that way when one falls into sin. Just when we have the greatest opportunity to minister in giving assistance, we compound the sin by condemning, criticizing, isolating, slandering, and ignoring the victim. We must recognize every person is human. From time to time, one is "overtaken" in a sin.
B. OUR ASSISTANCE
"...restore such an one..."
Much good could be done for the body of Christ, if we would get out of the slander, rejection, holier-than-thou business, and get back into the restoration business. Many have done their part to destroy one or more saints, but never restored one. Some today, who claim to be children of God, would break fellowship with you if they did not like the way you parted your hair.
Illus: Two pastors were together one day, when a young man walked up to them and rebuked one, who parted his hair down the middle, for wearing his hair that way, saying he was being influenced by the world. The preacher who was being rebuked gave the young man a couple of good things to think about.
He replied, "The world has nothing to do with the way I part my hair. I part my hair this way because my wife said this was the best way for me to part my hair. By the way, I suppose you would have thought Billy Sunday was worldly too, because he also parted his hair down the middle.
The people who are all hung up on church discipline need to be careful. Often they are too eager to condemn. They remind me of the days of the cowboys of old, when some would form groups known as vigilantes. They would always be on the lookout for someone they could hang. I know of some churches, and some fellowships, who have been so eager to hang, instead of restore, that they have almost run out of people to hang. Their church attendance dwindles, and the fellowships shrink, and soon there will be no one left to hang. It is time we learned and become able to recognize some important differences. The Bible teaches "DISCIPLINE," for people who are rebellious. The same Bible teaches "RESTORATION," is for those who have been overtaken by sin.
Illus: In most cases, we do not have to be like the policemen in the video that was aired not so long ago, who ganged up and continued beating the criminal they had rounded up.
How much worse it is for people to gather around, and continue to "beat" and "kick" a brother or sister in the Lord who has gotten knocked down. That person does not need to be told he is down, he knows that already. He needs someone to help him up!
1. FIRST, WHO IS TO ASSIST? -- "...ye which are spiritual..."
The only person who can help a person who is down, is one who is up. Often people cannot help those who are down because they are in such bad shape themselves. This is why Paul specified, "...ye which are spiritual..."
Besides that, in some cases only the spiritual are mature enough to even recognize the predicament of the one who is down.
2. SECOND, HOW SHOULD WE ASSIST? -- "in the spirit of meekness..."
Some are willing to try to help, but they make the one who has fallen, feel like they are nobodies, while the helper lifts himself up as a very pious person. How cruel and egotistical some are, even in trying to help someone.
Illus: The Miss America pageant does this. Every year, young women compete to become Miss America, and one is crowned as the winner. She struts down the aisle showing off every bit of her 36-23-36 figure to the tune of "There she is, Miss America," while every woman in America watches intently. What is the woman who measures 48-48-48 supposed to think? That she is not up to par? That is the only choice they give her. Miss 36-23-36 has become the national standard, so it goes without saying that all who do not match this are not up to par.
That is what some do when they deal with someone who has fallen. They are not really seeking to restore, but rather to make themselves look good, so the one who has fallen is left to feel that he is a no-good bum.
Paul said that those who have fallen are to be restored in the spirit of meekness.
3. THIRD, WHY SHOULD WE ASSIST IN THE SPIRIT OF MEEKNESS? -- "...lest thou also be tempted."
People who tell cruel jokes often forget this. In fact, we all can forget if we are not careful. We see people all around us with terrible hurts and diseases, and we do not reach out to them. We need to remember that same thing could happen to us.
Paul tells us that when we assist a brother or a sister who has fallen into sin, we are to keep this in mind -- "...lest thou also be tempted." We would like to think that someone would care enough about us to help us if we were tempted.
II. THE FORMER STATE
Look at the word "RESTORE," in verse 1. We like that word.
Illus: Many people like to restore old furniture. They will find a piece of furniture that once was very useful, but got discarded for some reason. They will take it and "restore" it. That is, they will make it look like new, and make it useful once again.
Illus: Some, who can afford it, restore old cars. They will find an old model that no one has seen in 25 years, and restore it. That is, they will fill in the rust spots, repair the broken parts, paint it and get it running again, so once again it is useful.
This is what we are to do for the fallen. They once may have been greatly used, but because of their being "overtaken in a fault," the church has discarded them. Now God tells us to work with them to restore them. How are we to do this?
A. RECOGNIZE THEIR NEED
Look at verse 2, we read, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ."
All across this nation, because no one recognized what really happened, people who were active in the work of God have been slandered, and neglected, and not used in the Lord's work.
Illus: Suppose a group of our Soldiers stood together fighting in a heated battle. Suppose hundreds were killed and wounded, and after the battle the medic team came looking to see who needed assistance. Suppose they came to one badly wounded young man, and one medic said, "I know him. His family never had any money and he did not even finish high school," and the team would not help him because he was not on a high enough social level. Then they came to another severely wounded young man of another race, and decided they would not help him because he was of another race. Then, they came to one, obviously just out of high school, who may have lied about his age, so he could get into the Army and fight for his country, but they refused to help him because he was not in their age bracket.
Listen, saints of God, we need to lay aside our prejudices, and recognize that everyone who belongs to the army of God needs our assistance. Some of you, right now, know of someone who was once active serving God in this spiritual warfare, who is no longer there because of some "wound." How have you treated that person? IF THE CHURCH IS GOING TO BE IN THE RESTORATION BUSINESS, WE HAVE TO RECOGNIZE THE NEEDS OF THE WOUNDED.
B. RECOGNIZE YOUR NEED
Look at verse 3, we read, "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."
One of our great needs as individual Christians, is to be able to recognize who we are, and who God is. Often we rank ourselves as a 10 and rank God as 0. That is why you won't do anything for the Lord. You think too highly of yourself, and not enough of God. No one wants to waste his time helping someone he does not think much of. He helps those he thinks a great deal of. Notice those who spend all their time on themselves, they do that because they think so highly of themselves. They spend little time on others, because they think so little of others. We need to recognize that every one who is a child of God, is one because of His great mercy. We need to recognize His greatness, then we can become useful in His hands to restore the fallen back to Him.
Conclusion:
May I suggest two motivations for your being active in restoring the backslider to the Lord:
1. IT PLEASES THE LORD WHEN YOU OBEY HIS WORD
2. BECAUSE YOU YOURSELF, ONE DAY, COULD FALL, AND GOD HELP YOU IF SOMEONE DOES NOT CARE ENOUGH TO REACH OUT AND HELP YOU
I. THE FALLEN STATE
A. OUR ATTITUDE
B. OUR ASSISTANCE
II. THE FORMER STATE
A. RECOGNIZE THEIR NEED
B. RECOGNIZE YOUR NEED
