What The Church Should Do With Its Casualties

• 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.