21. THE BOOK OF GALATIANS – CHAPTER 6:1 - MESSAGE 21 – THE RESPONSIBILITY IN YOUR HIGH CALLING: A FALLEN CHRISTIAN
We begin the last chapter of Galatians and there is much in it. Remember Paul wrote to the churches of Galatia to combat the error of the Judaisers that were turning the Christians there to the Law, which they were unable to keep. Grace separates from Law. One walking by the grace of God will, and must not turn to the bondage of the Law. We take up this very full verse 1 of the chapter.
{{Galatians 6:1: “BRETHREN, even if a man is CAUGHT in any trespass, you who are SPIRITUAL, restore such a one in a spirit of GENTLENESS, each one looking to yourself, LEST YOU too be tempted.”}}
Paul addresses them as “brethren/brothers”. He now deals with a serious matter. I want to deal with 5 words from the verse –
[1]. BRETHREN
Brethren can be used of the men or it can be wider in an inclusive sense. Normally in the New Testament it means the men, and in this verse, it is the men who are addressed, BUT not all men (we look at that with the word SPIRITUAL shortly). There is a closeness with that word, and you remember there are a couple of references to the brethren of Jesus (usually translated “brothers”). {{Mark 3:31 “His mother AND HIS BROTHERS arrived and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him”}}
Brethren indicates a family as we have earthly families; so too a Christian family, the church. Some in churches look on a church like a club, or society, more a welcoming, social gathering but it is not that. It is far deeper than that. We are sons and daughters of the living God, a congregation of the redeemed, a blood-bought family where this verse applies – {{Hebrews 2:11 “for both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father, for which reason He is NOT ASHAMED TO CALL THEM BRETHREN.”}}
In writing to the Thessalonians, Paul is anticipating there might be trouble from a small number in the fellowship who would want to disregard what the Apostle was saying; in other words bits of trouble makers. Here is this verse – {{2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 “If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that man and DO NOT ASSOCIATE WITH HIM, so that he may be put to shame, and yet do not regard him as an enemy, but ADMONISH HIM AS A BROTHER.”}}
Two instructions are given to the church – NOT to associate with the one who is being objectionable, but at the same time TO admonish him as a brother. What we learn as we mature in the faith is that the scriptures are the watershed, and our behaviour relies on them. I think “associate” used regarding the disagreeable man, means social interaction outside the church fellowship. The admonishing is in view to his restoration, not to make someone an outcast forever. To admonish someone is extremely difficult because the range for most people lies between judgmental fury and condescension; being scared, and uncertain what to say.
Then we have Romans that tells us we are to avoid those who cause divisions and offence. In the NASB it is:- {{Romans 16:17 “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those WHO CAUSE DISSENSIONS AND HINDRANCES contrary to the teaching which you learned, and TURN AWAY FROM THEM.”}} There is no instruction here to restore them because those who cause dissention are enemies, so we turn away from them. Another scripture – {{Ephesians 4:1-3: “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner WORTHY OF THE CALLING with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, BEING DILIGENT TO PRESERVE THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE.”}} We are children of the Lord in His family and have both honour shown, and privileges to maintain. We love as in a family.
The whole essence of Galatians 6:1 is restoration, not further division or self-righteousness on display. This whole verse is saturated in true humility. Brothers and sisters in the Lord, stand firm in the grace which is in Christ Jesus, and be led by the Holy Spirit as He desires. Follow His lead, not yours.
[2]. CAUGHT
GOTCHA! We hear that in children’s play and in some games. In fact I think there may have even been a board game in the 1950s with that title.
Have you ever watched a spider on its web sitting there silently and an insect becomes ensnared in the web. Immediately the spider races over and encases the victim in silk. Once ensnared rarely does anything escape the spider’s web.
ENTICED! I live in the tropics and it is common to see pitcher plants around. These marvels of the botanical world have a body a bit like a pitcher used in the past for carrying water, etc. However at the bottom of the pitcher there is a foul smelling fluid but insects love it. They are enticed by the smell and fall into the sticky liquid and can’t escape. Then the carnivorous plant feeds on them.
The word implies being ensnared in a net and who among us will confess to never being caught falling into a sin, even a grievous sin? The word “man” is man or woman or young person. It is inclusive. Remember this verse follows an examination of the sins of the flesh in the previous few verses in chapter 5. However there is a great difference in FALLING by the wayside and LIVING by the wayside; that is, in practising the sins of the flesh, even cultivating them. Why, even David in the rape and murder, did not keep repeating it.
Satan uses all means possible to trap Christians including the three common ones – lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. He manipulates the old nature expertly. When I say Satan, he is not omnipresent, and can be in only one place at one time, so it is his demonic horde that is actively engaged in snaring Christians, assisted by the person’s own sinful nature.
Do Satan’s hordes entice and ensnare non-Christians? Yes they do, but an unsaved person already belongs to Satan so most of the effort is spent on trapping Christians.
The AV/KJV used the word “overtaken” which implies sin is fast on our heels and wants to run us down. All too often we are overtaken and ensnared. When we walk according to the word, sin will not catch us up. Last time we looked at that – walking in the Spirit and we will NOT do the deeds of the flesh. In that walk, we may stumble. Sin is looked at in different ways in the New Testament. It means the following:-
* Missing the mark when shooting at a target
* Crossing a line that should not be crossed
* Disobeying a voice
* Being ignorant when we should have known
* Giving less than full measure (holding back, keeping for yourself, quenching the Spirit). Part of one lovely hymn – “By and by when we look on His face, glorious face, wonderful face; By and by when we look on His face, I wish I had given Him more – More, so much more, more of myself than I’d e’en given before – By and by when we look on His face I wish I had given Him more.”
* Not obeying the law of God (not the Law of Moses) (moral, ethical law)
* Falling when we should have walked uprightly
Do you remember what the Lord said to His disciples when He found them asleep in Gethsemane? {{Matthew 26:41 “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”}}. It does not take much to nod off in the Christian walk. It should not happen, but it does and the falling asleep may result in some awful sin. When that happens, “what then”? We continue and will look at that.
[3]. SPIRITUAL MEN TO RESTORE
Well the “what then”, is that the spiritual man steps in, but how often do we see that happening in churches? A pastor may see it as his DUTY, not impelled by the breaking, compassionate heart of the Saviour over one fallen sheep. It is sad but some churches do not have this loving, compassionate, restoration ministry. Even worse, some don’t care.
The majority want to gossip or condemn or judge or shun a person taken down by a fault or a sin, and treat them like a leper. I do not misjudge what happens in churches. It is sad but it happens so much. It is the playing out all over again of the parable of the Good Samaritan in attitudes to the one fallen and wounded. The Samaritan was the spiritual man who went to the fallen one and compassionately restored him again.
The sub-heading above is “spiritual men”, but the inference is not just men. Women have their role too especially with other women.
What is a spiritual man? The key part is “spirit” and that is one who is controlled by the Spirit of God. We use terms like “walk in the Spirit”, “led by the Spirit”, but it just means doing the will of God and being directed by the Holy Spirit through His word, or under His control, if you like.
(From BibleHub) – [[YOU WHO ARE SPIRITUAL - "Spiritual" refers to those who are living in accordance with the Holy Spirit, as described in Galatians 5:16-25. These individuals are characterized by the fruit of the Spirit and are mature in their faith. The call for the "spiritual" to act underscores the need for wisdom and discernment in dealing with sin, as seen in 1 Corinthians 2:15. It also implies a level of spiritual maturity necessary to handle such delicate matters.”]]
[4]. GENTLENESS. The spirit of gentleness, meekness, compassion is exactly what is required – nothing else will do. Don’t you pick it up when one is sincere, led by God, or just performing out of a sense of duty? The world is littered with fallen Christians who were condemned and driven away by attitudes of others, of those in the church. No gentle, spiritual man could be found. It is a disgrace. God is all into restoration and His people should be restoration people.
Remember too, that gentleness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit in Chapter 5. Paul wrote to Timothy about what’s required of a servant of the Lord – {{2 Timothy 2:25-26 “WITH GENTLENESS CORRECTING those who are in opposition, if PERHAPS GOD MAY GRANT THEM REPENTANCE leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”}} In this case it is dealing with opposition, but what extra gentleness should be shown to a believer caught up in a sin.
While we are talking about this, gentleness is the requirement of ALL God’s saints as Paul explained in this letter – {{Ephesians 4:1-2 “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to WALK IN A MANNER WORTHY OF THE CALLING WITH WHICH YOU HAVE BEEN CALLED, WITH ALL HUMILITY AND GENTLENESS, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love,”}}
Remember, gentleness is based on the Lord. Look here – {{Matthew 11:29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I AM GENTLE AND HUMBLE IN HEART and you shall find rest for your souls,”}}. Gentleness is a character of God and it is important we are so too. As an older man now I can look back and see my failings in this area. Stay close to the Lord.
[5]. LEST YOU. None of us is beyond sin, but we ought not feed that dog that will, without warning, turn on us and do a mischief. Paul warns them to take account lest they too might fall into sin. Remember the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour. Sheep are lovely to devour and the lion takes us because we are defenseless, as sheep.
However we are not defenseless! We have the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; the indwelling Spirit; and the watchful eye of the Great Shepherd of the sheep. As we saw earlier, keep watching and praying. Get slack on watching and praying, and look out!
{{1 Peter 5:8 “BE OF SOBER SPIRIT. BE ON THE ALERT. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”}}. I can’t help thinking that as Peter was writing those words, his thoughts went back to the betrayal night when Peter slipped and fell. After all those years he tells his readers to be sober and stay alert.
[6]. RESTORATION FOR THE FALLEN EARTHLY PEOPLE OF GOD
Consider this passage relating to Israel in the coming day of her restoration.
{{Hosea 2:14-16 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness, AND SPEAK KINDLY TO HER. Then I will give her, her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor as A DOOR OF HOPE and she will sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt, and it will come about in that day,” declares the LORD, “that you will call Me Ishi and will no longer call Me Baali.”}}
This is the message for Israel at the end of the Tribulation. From it we can ALSO draw applications to ourselves.
[1.] The Lord draws the erring one, the fallen one to Himself.
[2.] The caught one will be ministered to gently in the quietness of the “wilderness”.
[3.] Restoration is the door of hope that opens into freshness and blessing.
[4.] Often the restored one, through the lesson learned, sees the Lord in a new light and often goes on stronger for the Lord.
BEAUTY FROM ASHES
INTRODUCING THE POEM:
I am impressed very much with the Psalms. They cover almost every aspect of human emotion and weakness. Failure is sadly part of the Christian life, for I am truly to meet a saint of God that has not failed the Master at some time (or often!). Failure is “natural” because we all still have the sinful nature and that nature is corrupt and deceitful.
However, failure “gets worked on” by the Holy Spirit in conviction and guilt so that the wayward one can return to the Lord in restoration. I chose this poem title as to me ashes represent what is burnt and lost, but out of that God fashions a beauty for Himself. It is a bit like the Australian bushfires – they leave a destroyed carpet of black and grey ash all over yet from that springs new life and vitality.
That is what I see in this poem – new vigour and acceptance from failure. It is using an 11 metre which is a bit awkward to read in places and gives a labouring pace to the poem but that is fine because failure is not pleasant; nor does failure flow smoothly! This poem is for one who has failed the Lord and is coming back home in repentance.
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BEAUTY FROM ASHES
Beauty from ashes; a flower from failure,
The Lord has His field, and the plough’s in his hand.
What can He grow in a life that denied Him?
And what can He fashion from dry, barren sand?
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Mine is the grief and the life that’s been ruptured;
That flowed out its soul in a haemorrhaging shame.
Sin’s strong deceit - it severed God’s awesomeness,
And shut down the life links that connected His Name.
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Relieve me, Lord. In my distress, now listen.
Be gracious to me, and for You, set apart.
Wash me to cleanse all those hidden recesses.
Now wash me with hyssop applied to my heart.
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Lift up with light, your countenance upon me.
Now let the daystar of love triumph darkness.
Create in me a clean heart and right spirit,
The joy of salvation in clear, pure starkness.
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Beauty from ashes; God’s masterpiece perform.
And He will transform me and He won’t despise.
From failure grow strength; from denial, bring praise,
Then fully in God my salvation relies.
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IN CONCLUSION I LEAVE YOU WITH 4 POINTS –
1. The Christian fellowship must not judge any saint who has slipped up, or spread gossip. Where would Peter be if the Lord had not especially met with him after the resurrection?
2. Most especially no one must gossip and reject the person upon confession and renewal with the Lord.
3. The fellowship must not take the higher ground and hold itself too righteous to receive back a fallen saint. Each of us must forgive one another as Christ has forgiven me and you.
4. The fallen one must be truly repentant but that is the work of the Lord and He often uses the “spiritual ones” to accomplish that as He used Nathan to reach David. However the timing must be right and in David’s case it was about 9 months before Nathan could speak with David.
