How can you tell if someone is spiritual?
• When the Pope stands in his white vestments before thousands of people and kisses a cross – is that being spiritual?
• When a charismatic raises his hands, closes his eyes, and mummers softly some prayer is that spiritual?
• When an Orthodox Jew rocks back and forth in front of the Western Wall is that spiritual?
• When hundreds of Muslims bow in unison on a prayer rug is that being spiritual.
• When millions of Hindus gather along the banks of the Ganges River to washed away their sins; fold their hands in prayer and hug one another in joy. Are they being spiritual?
• If you line up for Holy Communion in an Anglican Church, cross yourself, and take the bread and the wine with a very serious face is that what it means to be spiritual?
We are all spiritual being so perhaps any one of these expressions qualifies as spiritual. But let’s see how the Bible defines a truly spiritual person. Read text.
I. Brothers Sin
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression. I wonder who this ‘anyone is? Who is this one who sins? I think it’s the same crowd as ‘They Say’. They sin. And we are 'they'!
We know from Romans 3:23 that all have sinned. We know from the Old Testament that great men like Daniel included himself in the ranks of sinful men. And if there were any doubt left, we read in 1 John 1:8... ‘If we (Christians) claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.’
The ‘somebody’ who sins is us. Christians sin. Brothers in Christ sin. One of the most wonderful things about the Bible is it paints its main characters in living colour. These are not plastic people. They sin.
We’ve all been praying for a new Rector. I have a few suggestions: This first man I would suggest is a great preacher of Righteousness, but he also has a drinking problem. If you don’t vote for him, you just rejected Noah.
My next suggestion for Rector: He is well off, so we don’t have to worry about paying him, he’s got a lot of faith, he’s also a polygamist and a liar. Would you vote for him? If not, you just rejected Abraham.
Well, let’s go my next suggestion. This next candidate is very well educated, he is in his 80’s but he is very spry, a born leader, but a man with a past – (most people in their 80’s have a past. More past than ahead!) and this guy’s past is murder. His name: Moses.
OK, one last try: How about someone who is musical, someone who is worshipful, someone who steals another man’s wife and then murders the husband. So, you’re going to take a pass on David!
That’s why we’re having trouble finding a new Rector. Nobody’s perfect. Everybody sins.
Brothers sin. Christians sin. Sin means any falling short of the mark of God’s holiness; any transgression of the Law of God; any lack of love. We are not talking about being 10 minutes late for an important meeting. We are not talking about putting salt instead of sugar in the coffee. The Holy Spirit in this passage is talking about sin - not mistakes, not errors - but sin.
Things like Paul listed in the last chapter: things like sexual immorality and hatred, fits of rage and selfish ambition, jealousy is on the list and so is biting and devouring each other. Brothers do those sorts of things. We sin.
Real sin. Bad sin. Horrible sin.
II. Get Caught Sinners
Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin. If sinners get caught it means that they have been hiding their sin. Apparently, sin is something we are not proud of. We want to hide it. We want to keep our sins a secret. We don’t want it known. We don't broadcast our sins. We are ashamed.
We do it undercover. Behind closed doors. Where very few know.
I’ve been reading a history of the Jewish people. When I got to that dark chapter on the Holocaust, I was amazed again to discover that the Nazis did not permit pictures taken of the death camps. Most of the pictures we have were taken after the liberation.
The Nazis did not want the world to know of their evil. Neither do we. We hide. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden.
But sometime, somewhere the sin comes out. One of the most chilling verses in the Bible is found in Luke 8:17 These are the words of Jesus:
There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.
Nothing will be hidden forever. There are no unsolved murders with God. Sinners get caught.
So what happens when a brother sins and gets caught?
III. Spiritual People Restore
Two groups of people surface every time a sinner in the church is exposed. The legalist and the spiritual.
How do you react when you learn of a Christian committing a sin?
How do you react when a brother or sister in Christ sins? Sorrow, anger, loss, morbid curiosity, gossip, gentleness?
The Legalists pounce. They come to stone.
The Spiritual people come to restore. Can you see from this passage that spiritual in the New Testament sense of that word has nothing to do with screwing up your face and looking pious? Or kissing a Cross or bowing on a prayer mat.
Spiritual people are led by the Spirit to restore the fallen.
How can you tell if someone is spiritual? They are the first people to show up after someone is caught in a sin. They have come, not to wag a finger, or to find out the details but to restore.
Restore. What does it mean to restore a fallen brother?
The Greek word means to mend a broken bone. You go out and break your leg. The doctor puts a cast on that leg. It restricts you for a time but when that cast comes off your leg is stronger, better than it was in the first place.
That is the New Testament ministry of Restoration.
Yes, there should be a time of restriction. A cast of church discipline is placed on you. You are restricted in what you can do. But when that healing process is over you ought to be better off than you were before the break.
If an active member in any church that I have pastored is caught in a sin. I want them to keep coming to the church; but I do not permit them to remain active in ministry for 6 to 12 months depending on the social severity of the sin and the depth of their repentance. There needs to be a time for healing. A time of discipline. A time for the rest of the church to see if there has been real repentance.
After that healing time is over then I want to see them restored. Any Church that tries to operate without discipline is not a New Testament Church. Any nation without a fair and impartial justice system to deal with criminal and civil law is not a place I would want to live.
Let me tell you how restoration is supposed to work. For years I had a couple of old 10 k gold rings in my bedroom night table. They both carried with them bad memories. They were part of the past.
But I couldn’t bring myself to throw them out because they were worth a bit of money. One day I had an idea. I went to a Jeweller and said, Could you melt these down and make one good ring for Muriel out of it. She said she could. Well, the new, restored ring is 18 k gold and much, much more beautiful. And when we look at Muriel’s new ring, we give thanks for restoration. We are never the same after we commit a major sin, but we can become better. We can be restored.
God wants to do the same for you my brother, my sister as I was able to do to those rings. Perhaps because of sin you have been discarded to somebody’s night table, but God has something better in mind for you. He wants to melt you down, refine you, reshape you, and then make you even better than you were before.
I am not preaching a peaches and cream gospel. I know there are consequences to sin. In this same passage we are told a man reaps what he sows.
And this is precisely where the spiritual Christian comes in. Every sin has consequences. Those consequences are a heavy burden. But the spiritual person helps bear the burdens of the fallen brother. That’s what Paul is talking about in verse 2. The spiritual person takes upon himself the burdens of the consequences of the brother’s sin.
Are you a spiritual person or a legalist person? Do you look for ways to carry some of the consequences of your brother’s sins or do you say He ate cookies in bed let him lie in the crumbs.
Do you want to be a spiritual person? Well, first of all, watch your own life. Walk in humility. Don’t ever think you’re beyond some sin. Don’t think too highly of yourself, Paul warns.
Keep your eye open for hurting people. Look out for the people who have been bashed by a bunch of legalists. Let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of God. Bear the heavy load of the consequences of their sin.
Never give up on people. Verse 9: Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
I have a strong sense that if we were to just focus on people in this valley who have failed God and their family and then on top of that been stoned by the Church; if we started loving those people, started restoring those people this building would be filled up several times over every Sunday.
Some of you have read “I Was Wrong” by Jim Bakker. One of the most moving parts of that story for me was when Billy Graham went out of his way to visit Bakker in Jail. Billy didn’t have anything to gain by the visits. He just wanted to restore a fallen brother.
Do you know of anyone who has fallen into the pit because of their sins? Do you know of a brother who has given up on church because it was too harsh? Is there someone within your circle of friends who needs encouragement right now?
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Here’s the big test: Are you someone who is spiritual? If you are you will act on this sermon today?
Dear Father, you show us in Jesus’ story of the Prodigal son how you want us to react to the fallen brother. But so often we are like the pompous elder son. Forgive us Father and give us the grace to be gracious. Help us to bear one another’s burdens – those horrible consequences of sin.
And Father remind us in this sacred moment that we all need to keep on guard, lest we too be tempted. Help us to walk in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life. Sanctify us by the truth, your word is truth. Amen.
