BEFORE A CHURCH DISCIPLINES
(Gal. 6:1-10)
I. THE PURPOSE IS RESTORATION (v. 1)
A. The Sinning Saint
1. Sin has come in quickly. He doesn’t know what
hit him. His sin was not premeditated.
2. Maybe he made a rash decision.
3. Maybe he reacted to a situation without
thinking it out first.
4. Maybe he hadn’t spent time to draw closer to
God and wasn’t spiritually ready to handle the
temptation to sin.
B. The Supporting Saint
1. This type of person lives their life in close
communion with God. In short, they are led by His
Holy Spirit.
2. Because they are Spirit-led, they exude the
fruit of the Spirit, one of which is meekness.
3. Now would be a good time to examine your own
life. Let’s read Galatians 5:16-25.
4. Now be honest. Which list closer describes
your life? Even better, if you gave both list to
someone you work with, play with, or go to school
with, how would they classify you?
5. This person doesn’t seek to tear the other down
in order to build himself up. He dearly desires
for that person to come back to Christ.
C. The Self-Righteous Saint
1. This person can’t wait for situations like this
to arise. They live for other people’s failures.
2. They think the have all the answers, but they
don’t realize that they have fooled themselves
into thinking they are always right.
II. THE PATH IS ROUGH (v. 2)
A. The Load
1. Sometimes sin can quickly overtake and
overwhelm a Christian. They can’t get out on
their own. They need help.
2. We must have a willingness:
a. To get involved
b. To help them spiritually by prayer and
physically by intervention.
3. Prayer is essential, but prayer coupled with
action is even more important. Burden-bearing is
hard and often seems thankless.
B. The Law
1. Turn to Matthew 11:28-30. Paul takes what
Christ does for us and tells us to do the same for
others.
2. Truthfully, sin weakens a person physically,
emotional and especially, spiritually. Jesus
helps us when we are at our weak times, and so
should we help our fallen brother and sisters in
Christ by yoking them up to us so we can lead them
back onto the right path.
III. THE PREPARATION IS REQUIRED (v. 3-8)
A. The Pride (v. 3)
B. The Proving (v. 4-5)
C. The Pronouncement (v. 6-8)
IV. THE PRODUCT IS RIGHT (v. 9-10)
A. Overcoming Weariness
1. One can easily grow tired of working with and
trying to restore a fallen Christian. To be
honest, they try the patience more than anything
else.
2. Paul gives us encouragement by reminding us
that the law of the harvest holds many blessings.
Therefore, we should work hard, knowing that God
will bless our efforts.
B. Overabundant Works
1. We should always seek to do good. (Random acts
of kindness)
2. We should pay special attention to how we treat
our fellow Christians.
