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Wednesday night at seven at our place. If you need the address, please come see me and I can get that to you.
With that in mind, if you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, take them and turn with me to Galatians chapter six this morning.
Galatians chapter six. Galatians chapter six. Galatians in chapter number six.
Galatians six. This morning we're continuing on, for those of you who are visiting, we tend to have the habit here of working through books of the
Bible or sections of the Bible verse by verse. Well, we've been for quite a while now working our way through the letter to the
Galatians, and this morning we find ourselves in Galatians chapter number six. So if you have a copy of God's Word nearby,
I invite you to turn there. Galatians chapter number six. This morning we're gonna read verses one through 10.
Verses one through 10 of Galatians chapter six as we continue the series that we've been in for the last few weeks that we've called
Walking in Gospel Liberty. For the benefit of those of you who are visiting with us this morning, Paul in Galatians is writing to a series of churches who have found themselves believing a message about Christianity that isn't the truth.
And in his concern for these people, he has taken pen in hand and written a letter to these people, basically reminding them of what the true gospel is, and really in the section that we're in, asking the question, or answering
I should say, what does it look like to be a Christian? What does it look like to be somebody who lives in the freedom that the gospel, the good news about Jesus and what he's done, what that looks like?
Well, Paul is answering that question, and this morning we come to chapter six as he begins to land the plane, really we've got two more messages in Galatians after this.
And he's giving us more insight into what it looks like to be
God's people. And so this morning we find ourselves in Galatians chapter six and verses one through 10.
Galatians six, one through 10. If you are able to do so, would you stand with me out of respect for God's word?
It's our custom here at Redeemer to stand when we read scripture. Galatians chapter six, verses one through 10.
We also read responsibly during this reading, and so I will read the even,
I will read the odd numbered verses. Every week I make that mistake. I will read the odd numbered verses, and then
I'll invite you to read the even numbered verses with me. So I'll read verse one, we'll all read verse two together, then we'll keep doing that till we hit the end of verse 10.
And for those of you who don't have Bible, it should be up on screen. Galatians chapter six then, reading from verse one through to verse 10.
And as we read, brothers and sisters, these are God's words. Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won't be tempted.
One another's burdens. In this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if someone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone and not compare himself with someone else.
For each person will have to carry his own load. Let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher.
Don't be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows, he will also reap.
Because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh.
But the one who sows to the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit. Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up.
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially those who wrong to the household of faith.
As we read earlier, God's word says that the grass withers and the flower fades, but this word of God will abide forever.
Please join with me as I pray, ask for God's help, and then we come to his word this morning.
Heavenly Father, we would ask that as we open up your word and you speak to us as your people, we pray that we would have hearts that are receptive to hear, ears that are able to receive, and that above all, we would see
Jesus, that even as we talk about our own Christian lives, we would not do so disconnected from your son and his work for us.
Father, we pray once again for the visit from our brothers at Redeemer Gilbert this week, such an important time for our church.
Pray that your spirit would use that visit to encourage, to strengthen, to give a renewed sense of vision for the work here.
May Jesus be made much of now as we come to his word. We ask it in his name and for his sake, amen.
Amen. Well, please be seated. Please be seated. This morning, I've tagged our text,
Walking in Restoration, Walking in Restoration. We're gonna be in verses one through five, but I had us be verses one through 10 because it's one unit, and really, this unit is, as I'll say more about in just a moment, it shares the theme of support.
So in verses one through five, it's support for those who are struggling, and verses six through 10, it's support for those who are serving.
So this morning, we look at the first half of that as we talk about walking in restoration.
When I was growing up, we had a category of songs called gospel songs.
They were very simple songs that were often used more than anything else for encouragement as believers.
Some of them were not that great, but some of them were really good. And one of my favorites goes something like this.
Some of you maybe know it. The chimes of time ring out the news. Another day is through.
Someone slipped and fell. Was that someone you? You may have longed for added strength, your courage to renew.
Do not be disheartened. I have news for you, and I'm guessing that if you know those words, you know the chorus.
It is no secret what God can do, what he's done for others, he'll do for you with arms wide open, he'll pardon you.
It is no secret what God can do. As I told you as a kid,
I loved hearing that song, and I love that opening verse of that song. And as I was studying this text this week, and I was preparing this message, that song just kept coming up in my mind, because I think it sums up perfectly what
Paul's talking to us about here in Galatians in chapter six.
As I said, we've been studying this for quite some time, and we're really in the closeout section of Galatians.
And as we've been walking our way through this closeout section, Paul has been taking great pains to show us that while the
Christian lives in liberty because of the gospel, walking in that liberty is not always a cakewalk, it's not always easy.
But the reality is that sometimes on this walk, Christians lose their way.
The reality is that sometimes those who are running the race find themselves tripping up and quite frankly, falling right on their faces.
And in those moments, I know I've had those moments, and I'm sure if we were honest, you know, we're in church, you shouldn't tell lies.
If we were honest, we would all say we've all had moments like that. We have all had moments where it feels as though, man,
I've just fallen flat on my face and I need some help. In those moments, it's easy to think that as it were, you know, losing our way or tripping up as we round the spiritual curve, as it were, means that we're done for.
I don't know about you, have you ever had that feeling? That feeling like, oh man, I've messed up and there's no way back. Add to that, and let's just be honest, add to that a church culture that really struggles between at times recognizing the difference with somebody who is genuinely struggling and needs help versus somebody who's just playing games.
We've all met the type. They know what to say to sounds, but deep down inside, they don't want to deal with their problem.
They just want to look like they want to deal with their problem. Well, recognizing that we have that struggle, at times a text like what we just read in verses one through five can sound a little more complex, a little more messy than we'd like.
Well, this morning, I want to talk to you about an aspect of our walk that summarized in the verses of that song that I spoke to you about.
I want to talk to you about the aspect of our Christian lives that involves, here's my big word for today, restoration.
In one sense, the idea of restoration is something that as Christians, we know intimately because that's what
God does for us. So we read in Psalm 19, for instance, where it says that the word of the
Lord, the law of the Lord, it revives, it restores the soul. Psalm 23, the psalm that is loved by so many.
Remember verse two? It says that God who is the shepherd king in that imagery, that God is the one who restores our soul.
In First Peter chapter five, and in fact, if you have a Bible, I'd like you to see this one yourself. This is a really great promising God's word.
First Peter chapter five. First Peter in chapter five. We read
First Peter chapter one this morning. Well, let's go to the end of the book. Chapter five.
And in verse 10, Peter is closing out his letter and he gives this beautiful promise to these
Christians who are going through trials. They've been separated from their homes. They've been cast out. First Peter 5 .10,
he says, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself, and the first thing he says there is, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while.
It's a beautiful promise of God's word that he promises that yes, even as we go through suffering, he will restore, he will make us whole.
And that helps us as we go through suffering to endure. I don't know about you brothers and sisters, but I'm incredibly thankful that we serve a
God who is in the restoration business. And yet our
God who is in this restoration business also uses means to bring about that restoration in the lives of his people.
He uses the feeble efforts of people like me and you, just ordinary everyday people to help those who need a hand.
This morning, I wonder how equipped you feel to help somebody who needs some restoration.
I wonder how you would feel if someone called you up and said, yo, bro, sis,
I'm in a bad way and I need some help. What would you do in a moment like that?
How would you handle it? Well, this morning, as we come to this portion of God's word in Galatians chapter six,
Paul is going to help us believers who need a little help in giving some support.
He's gonna help us, as I said, to think about this issue of helping others. Like I said, the theme of this chapter from verse one through verse 10 that we read really is support.
This week, we're thinking about support for those who stumble. And next week, verse six through 10, well, not next week, the week after, we'll look at those who serve.
But this morning, our focus is on those who stumble, those who are struggling in their walk.
Here's my big idea for this morning. Brothers and sisters, the gospel frees us.
If we rightly understand what it is that God has done for us in the gospel, the gospel frees us to help restore others who are struggling in the
Christian life. The gospel frees us to help restore others who are struggling in the
Christian life. That's the big idea of this passage. And what we're gonna see this morning is that Paul's gonna teach us three lessons for helping to restore tripped up Christians.
I don't know about you, but I wanna be part of God's mission in helping to restore people who need help.
I don't know, anybody else wanna be on the same side with God on that one? Yeah, well, if you do this morning,
I think Paul's gonna give us some helpful tidbits for doing that. In particular, three lessons that come out from this text.
I'm gonna try not to be before you long, which is the famous last words of any preacher. So I'm just gonna go straight to work this morning.
Point number one, first lesson about restoration that we need to get our heads around. Restoration involves patching up the caught up.
Restoration involves patching up the caught up, verse one. So you see that there, if you, again, like to have your
Bible open, have that text in front of you. So verse one, he says, "'Brothers and sisters, if anyone is overtaken "'in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, "'restore such a one with a gentle spirit, "'watching out for yourselves "'so that you also won't be tempted.'"
Really, this is the foundational lesson for if you want to jump into this ministry of helping with restoration in people's lives, it has to start here.
So for a moment, let's kind of break this up a little bit. It makes it a bit more manageable. First of all,
Paul would have us to understand that believers will get caught up. That believers will get caught up.
Did you catch that there first? He says, "'Brothers and sisters, "'if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing.'"
This is not a potential statement, it's a reality. In other words, you're going to have people who are believers who are overtaken, who are caught up in wrongdoing.
Well, it kind of helps us to define two words real quickly here, overtaken and wrongdoing, because we don't want to confuse somebody who is willfully given over to their sin to somebody who's overtaken by it, don't we?
We want to be careful about that. So for a moment, let's take a step back. Let's define these two terms here real quickly.
The idea behind this word in the original language for overtaken, it carries the idea of surprise, of that which comes up on somebody suddenly or without warning.
Now, the question becomes, well, what's the surprise here? Is it that, as it were, they're caught red -handed in sin?
Or that they're caught up by one? I think the context as you read it makes the most sense if it's referring to somebody who is caught up by sin.
That's why my translation of the Christian Standard Bible translates this as being overtaken in any wrongdoing.
Well, this should make sense to us if those of you who were here, remember what we saw in chapter five, verses 16 to 21?
The fact that the Christian life is a struggle between the flesh and the spirit? There, the believer, yes, the one who is in this struggle between the flesh and the spirit, who is daily engaged in this war, the believer can find themselves at times in this struggle overtaken, caught up by some sin.
And it's interesting, the second term we need to define is this term wrongdoing here. It's not the standard
Bible word for sin. The standard Bible word for sin carries the idea of missing the mark, but that's not the word that's used here.
The word that's used here is literally carries the idea of a misstep. It carries the idea of unintentionality behind it.
Not so much that you knew what you were doing and you decided to do it, more as you find yourself for one reason or another crossing a line, that's literally what the word means.
One author puts it like this, quote, it is likely that Paul is not thinking of behavior which so flagrantly flouts accepted standards or which can be best dealt with a temporary withholding of fellowship, in other words, church discipline.
No, this word is not a settled course of action, but an isolated action which may make the person who does it feel guilty, end quote.
Now, at this point, I need you to kind of turn off churchy brain for a second. If this sounds strange to you, like what do you mean someone sins unintentionally?
Well, actually, by experience, you know that. Again, we're in church, you should not tell lies.
I don't know about you, but I find moments in my life where I'm not intending to do the wrong thing.
I really wasn't, as one of my friends, Saco Woods out in Texas likes to say. I was minding my business and then made one bad decision, which became another bad decision, which became another bad decision, and before I knew it, bad decisions turned right into sin.
You're like, how on earth did we get here? You know by experience that at times you sin intentionally.
One of my friends in the South has this saying. I've never really understood it, but I always think it's hilarious. He says, when you picked up that Crisco and that spatula, you knew you were wrong.
Sometimes there's that, but then there are times where you sin just by being negligent. Secondly, can
I point to the Bible makes that distinction? There's a distinction between unintentional sin and sin that is done, in fact, better than me saying it.
Let me show it to you. Keep something here in Galatians. Tell me with me all the way back to the Old Testament, the book of Numbers, the book of Numbers.
Numbers chapter 15, Numbers chapter 15.
Moses is kind of laying out the laws of God regarding the offerings that the children of Israel bring, and in verse 27, he mentions a very interesting offering that you may, at first glance, think, what on earth is this talking about?
Book of Numbers, beginning, chapter 15, beginning in verse 22.
Numbers 15, verse 22, it says, if, excuse me, when, excuse me, you sin unintentionally and do not obey all these commands that Yahweh, the
Lord, spoke through Moses, all that Yahweh has commanded you through Moses from the day Yahweh issued the commands and onwards throughout your generations.
And if it was done unintentionally without the community's awareness, the entire community is to prepare one young bull for a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to Yahweh with its grain offering and drink offering according to the regulation, and one male goat as a sin offering.
The priest will then make atonement for the entire Israelite community so that they may be forgiven for the sin was unintentional.
Did you know that this language of unintentionality keeps coming up over and over and over again? By the way, this is God speaking.
So God acknowledges that there is such a category as unintentional sin. He goes on, the entire
Israelite community and the alien who resides among them will be forgiven since it happened to all the people unintentionally.
If one person sins unintentionally, so there's a corporate unintentional sin, but then there is individual, verse 27.
If one person sins unintentionally, he is to present a year -old female goat as a sin offering.
The priest will then make atonement before the Lord on the behalf of the person who acts in error sinning unintentionally, and when he makes atonement for him, he will be forgiven.
You are to have the same law for the person who acts in error, again, acts in error unintentionally, whether he is an
Israelite or an alien who resides among you. So there's a category for that, but note verse 30 and 31.
There's a different category. He says, but the person who acts defiantly, literally, in the
Hebrew language there, with a high hand, like you knew what you were doing. This was just brazen disrespect for God's law.
The person who acts defiantly, whether native or resident alien, blasphemes the Lord. That person is to be cut off from his people.
He will certainly be cut off because he has despised Yahweh's word and broken his command. His guilt remains on him.
So again, God recognizes that there's a category for sins that happen unintentionally.
Yes, they need to be dealt with, but the dealing with them is not as severe as a sin that is done intentionally with full knowledge of what you were doing.
Okay, Covey, why are you laboring this point? Well, allow me to, I know it's a little early in the message, but I'm gonna call the time out here.
Let's have a huddle for a moment. If you are surprised that Christian sin you won't know what to do when they sin.
If it's a shock to you that Christian sin, when they sin, you're gonna be confused about what to do about it because you weren't expecting it.
It's like being in my car. If I'm driving down the five and my car just stops in the middle of traffic, that's a problem.
On the other hand, if I pull into my driveway and I hit the brake and the car stops,
I know what to do. It's supposed to do that. If you have the understanding that Christian sin, that is not an if but a when, you'll be prepared for helping the
Christian when they sin. Now, if a Christian sins defiantly with no desire to repent, like you go to them, you tell them, brother,
I'm kind of worried. I've seen this. This is a sin. We need to talk about this. And they're like, I don't care. Leave me alone. After that point, we start asking some probing questions.
But might I put it to you that Christians who sin more often than not often need gospel -centered help in their sanctification.
What they don't need is for us to kick them while they're down. That's why
Matthew chapter 18, the church discipline passage, have you not, if you've read it, if you haven't, Matthew 18, 15 through 20,
I highly recommend it. Matthew 18 has so many steps before you get to the point of kicking them out.
Why? The hope is that at some point, you can appeal to this person. The aim in Matthew 18, with church discipline, is restoration.
It's never punishment. Punishment is we've done everything we can and this person refuses to hear. But the aim isn't to kick them out.
The aim is, one, the glory of God, and two, the restoration of the person who is sinning.
So believers will get caught up. Believers will find themselves in unintentional sin.
And it can be sin that can derail them in their walk. That should not surprise us.
But if that's the case, and believers will get caught up, secondly, believers should be the ones to pick them up.
Believers should be the ones to pick them up. The struggling believer needs help.
They've fallen, but we all have a role in helping them. So again, go back with me to Galatians 6, 1.
Again, look at that verse. Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit.
When believers stumble, it is other believers, other people who are walking in the spirit.
That's what Paul means when he says we're spiritual. You who are spiritual. He's not talking about like a other class of Christians who are like the next league up.
There are no leagues in Christianity. There are saved sinners and there are unsaved sinners. Amen? Amen. But he's talking about those who are indeed walking in the spirit, those who are believers.
It's our role. We are tasked with restoring that person. I've used the word restoration a bunch this morning.
It might be good for me to actually define what I mean. The term that's used for restore here is a medical term.
It's a medical term. It was used of resetting a bone that was broken or relocating a limb that had become dislocated.
Some of you know, I used to play rugby as a kid. I had dislocated my left shoulder so many times.
Remember the first time it happened. Frightened the life out of me. I'm looking, I'm like, I don't think it's meant to look like that.
I don't know if you're one of the older guys on this youth team that I played on. Basically it was like, okay, my
English name is Douglas. No one called me Douglas, but as a kid, everyone called me that.
Doug, get on the sideline. Okay. Distracts me. It's like, bro, was that played up there?
What? Ow! Puts the shoulder back in.
I was like, oh, is that easy? He's like, yeah, it happens all the time. And don't tell my mom.
Multiple times in my life, I've had my shoulder popped back in. That's the word that's used here. Please don't.
I'm 30, she'll still come after me. That's the word that's used here.
Putting that which was out of joint back in place or a bone that's broken and you're resetting it.
In the moral context, it speaks to bringing someone back to their former position of wholeness or soundness.
They were once whole, they were once sound, something happened and they weren't, and now you're bringing them back to that position.
Christians, you hear this, brothers and sisters this morning, Christians are not out to punish struggling saints.
We're out first and foremost to help them because we are in the struggle against the flesh, because we are still reaching, stretching forward towards Christ likeness, because we know how hard it is.
Paul would have us to understand thirdly that believers should act in humility. So believers will get caught up.
That shouldn't catch us by surprise. Believers should pick them up and believers should act in humility.
Let's see, did you catch the last part of the verse? Brothers and sisters, if anyone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourself so that you also won't be tempted.
The work of restoring falling brothers and sisters is done in humility.
It's done with a rightful recognition that we too are prone to deception.
We're prone to struggle. We're prone to failure. For those of you who've been here throughout this study,
I love to quote this one commentary by a guy called J .V. Fesco. Highly recommend it. I love how he put it in his commentary on this verse.
He said, no one can stand in the place of God and with a perfect righteousness presiding judgment over another.
Rather, all of us stand in God's presence as forgiven sinners. And therefore, when it comes to restoring a repentant sinner, we should do so in gentleness and love, avoiding grudge holding and bitterness.
Moreover, the spiritual person does this because he knows that he too can fall into the same sin.
The moment we think we are beyond or above certain sins, we expose ourselves to greater temptation.
The one who thinks he is above the sin of adultery, for example, is likely closer to falling into unfaithfulness than the one who has a healthy fear concerning his own weakness, end quote.
Isn't this what Paul says when he says that, let the one who stands pay close attention lest he falls?
Have you ever been counseled by somebody who clearly didn't have an ounce of humility? Too many of them.
I mean, have you ever been helped, and we'll put help in air quotes there, by someone who clearly thinks that they are better than you?
Let me take it a step further. Have you ever been in a church full of people who you know in your heart of hearts, if you were struggling, you could not confess a sin to them?
Been there. I'm sure some of you have been there too. Yeah, James 5 .16
says we're to confess faults to one another so that we may be healed. Oh, similar concept to this.
But why would you? Why would I talk to that person when
I know all they're gonna do is look down their nose at me and tell me how stupid I am? Or worse, gossip.
Yeah, 1 Peter 4 .8 says that love covers a multitude of sins, but what do you do when it's obvious, when it's clear that that kind of a love is in short supply?
Like I said, I've been there, and I know many of you in the room have been there too. Can I put it to you that the church is not for perfect people that the church exists for the weary, for the way down, for the heavy hearted, for those who are struggling and know that they are struggling.
I don't know who needs to hear this today, but the church is not a country club. It's not a place for the nice put together people.
No, it's a hospital for the sick. It's a hospital for the needy.
And the good news is the gospel is the only cure we offer. If we don't have a recognition of the fact that there are people who need help and that we are the ones called to help, recognizing that we need help.
On the last page of that study guide, one of the books I recommended this week is a book called Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands by Paul Tripp.
I remember as a young man, my pastor back in London made me read it, and I'm glad he did. One of the most influential books in my own life.
I love the subtitle of that book. People in Need of Change, Helping People in Need of Change.
Love it, because that's what the church truly is. Beloved, restoration involves patching up the caught up, but secondly, it's not just people who sin who need help.
Secondly, restoration involves picking up the weighed down. Restoration involves picking up the weighed down, verses two and three.
So verse two and three, Paul says, carry one another's burdens. In this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.
For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Sometimes it's not somebody's sin that has them sending off SOS signals.
Sometimes that's true. Sometimes it's something else. As Paul says elsewhere, you don't need to turn there, but if you're taking notes, you can write this down.
1 Thessalonians 5 .14. Sometimes you're not warning the idle, the out of order.
Sometimes you're comforting the discouraged and you're helping the weak. And so Paul in Galatians 6 .2
says that we are to carry one another's burdens. Can I point out just a few things real quickly about that?
First of all, this is a command. It is not a suggestion. Paul's not saying it would be great if some of you, no, this is a command.
This is not a suggestion and there are no exception clauses. Secondly, in the original language, this is an active command.
This is an ongoing part of the church's life. The church is always in the business of carrying one another's burdens.
Finally, this is a corporate command. It's in the plural. Literally, you could say you all, or as my friends in the
South say, you all. I'm from England, I can't help it.
You all carry. All of you carry one another's burdens.
This is a corporate command. Every Christian is called to do this. The burdens here carry the idea of the ongoing cares and concerns, the stresses and strains of life.
A couple of messages ago, those of you who were here, remember I talked about the idea of spiritual polyanarism. You know,
PMA for Jesus, as I like to call it. As you may have gathered, or if you weren't here, you may be gathering,
I don't care much for that. For one thing, I grew up around one of the worst forms of that.
The so -called prosperity gospel, as I call it, the prosperity non -gospel. Prosperity gospel teaches that Christians don't suffer,
Christians don't get sick, because it's their covenant right to always be healthy and to always be wealthy.
And so, one thing you don't hear in those circles, how to deal with suffering, because why would we talk about something we don't think exists?
If I can be just blunt this morning, I think it's both insane and insensitive to act as though Christians are immune to pain in this life.
The role of the church is to help those who are hurting under the strain of suffering in Christ's name.
For one thing, that would be the body of Christ functioning like its head. You know the one who said,
Matthew 11, 28 and 29, come to me all you who are weary and are burdened and I will give you rest.
Those of you who are visiting, you've ever wondered, does Jesus still feel that way? On our literature table, we have a book.
It's our gift to you, feel free to take it. It's called Gentle and Lonely. If you've ever doubted the kind heart of Jesus for suffering and even sinning saints,
I would encourage you to go grab a coffee and read a chapter a day. I think it will reset some things for you.
I know it did for me when I read it. Beloved, Jesus' heart towards his own is one of unending grace and bottomless love even, and I would argue, especially when they are suffering.
That's why the Bible can say in 1 Peter 5, 6 and 7 that as we humble ourselves, verse seven, casting all our cares on him because he cares for you.
Beloved, if Jesus cares when believers are burdened and suffering, one of the songs
I grew up singing, the first verse asks the question, does Jesus care when my heart is torn too sadly for mirth or for song?
And the chorus says, I know he cares. Oh yes, he cares.
His heart is touched with my grief. Not his heart was.
Like when Jesus was a man, well, he is a man right now. When Jesus was on the planet Earth, yeah, of course he felt, because he was around it, but now he's in heaven, he's got other concerns.
No, actually, he cares right now. If Jesus cares about suffering saints, again,
I ask, do we not want to be on the same side as him? Well, beloved, we show we care when we are willing to carry one another's burdens, when we are willing to take on one another's cares and concerns and make them our own.
That's the mark of the mature person, as Paul says in Romans 15, one, that we who are strong have an obligation.
Those of you who were here, remember, I preached Romans 14 and 15. We have an obligation.
We are indebted to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not to please ourselves.
And we don't do this because it's another nice turn, as it were. Did you catch that in Galatians 6 -2?
Carry one another's burdens. In this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.
We've kind of touched on the law of Christ at length in our study. I'm not gonna go back there this morning. Allow me to just summarize for the benefit of those of you who are visiting with us.
The believer ultimately obeys Christ, not in their adherence to the law of Moses, new covenant, new law.
We are not under that law, but we ultimately obey Christ in loving one another.
That's why Paul could say in Galatians 5 -14 that the whole law is fulfilled in one statement. Love your neighbor as yourself.
John 13 -34, I give you a new commandment. Love one another just as I have loved you. You are also to love one another.
John 15 -12, this is my command. Love one another as I have loved you.
Ultimately, beloved, the shape of this kind of love for one another, the shape of this burden -carrying ministry is cruciform.
You know what I mean when I use that word cruciform? It's shaped like the cross. We bear up one another when we are weighed down.
We pick up one another when we're weighed down, knowing it could cost us everything. But we can do that precisely because that kind of costly love was shown to us.
And if we rightly understand that, that levels the playing field for everyone. That's what Paul can say, look at verse three.
How can we possibly think that we are anything in ourselves when we have been such beneficiaries, such receivers of divine love and grace?
Beloved, we operate out of the grace that we have received in Christ. I talked about this last week, and I wanna come back to it again, that if we become forgetful of the fact that we are forgiven, that we are cleansed, that we are washed, that the
God who did all of that for us, like the song I started with said, will do that for others. If we become forgetful of that,
I wanna talk to the family here at Redeemer for a moment. Redeemer, do you understand that it would be no good to minister to anyone? Restoration involves patching up the caught up, it involves picking up the weighed down.
One more lesson, promise you I wasn't gonna be before you long. Thirdly, it involves perceiving where we stand.
Restoration involves perceiving where we stand, verses four and five. If we are going to be in the business of being a restoring influence in the lives of believers who struggle, that is going to come with some dangers.
This is not for the spiritually faint of heart. One of them is pride, we've already touched on that. But there's another one that comes up in verses four and five.
So Paul says, let each person, verse four, examine his own work. Then he can take pride in himself alone and not compare himself with someone else.
For each person will have to carry his own load. It's reported that an
Anglican bishop once said in a general synod that there was a confusion in the minds of many. The confusion was that they confused the, which, excuse me, he put like this quote, it identified the apostolic precept to bear one another's burdens with minding other people's business.
As some of you know, I'm a PK, preacher's kid. I grew up in church.
I know more things about what goes on in church, or at least the churches
I grew up in, than I ever wanted to know. Because there were always those people.
You know what I'm talking about when I say those people? My dad used to call them the
CBS. Not the network that you guys have here. The church broadcasting service.
If you didn't want to know something, oh, they'll tell you. Don't care who's in the room, oh, we'll tell you.
It seemed like their sole function in the church was to broadcast everything that was going wrong. And often those people were, again, no good at helping anybody.
The reality is that when we engage in this kind of personal ministry to one another, we run the risk of thinking that our role is to fix everyone and everything.
People start to not be people. They start to become projects. I have to remind myself all the time in ministry that people are not projects, they're people.
But what Paul does here is that he calls us to perspective. He calls us to say, wait a minute, before you start thinking, oh, cool, chest out, head higher than it should be, nose up in the air, all right.
Time for me to start helping some folks. Before you do, you need to remember that it's never your role to stand in judgment over others.
You're called to watch yourself. Paul would say it like this, 2 Corinthians 10, verse 12.
For we don't dare classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. But in measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves, they lack understanding.
We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but according to the measure of the area of ministry that God has assigned to us, which reaches even to you.
We're not going to start having an elevated view of ourselves to the point where we neglect, oh no, we're going to serve as God has called us to serve.
Verse 17, after telling them, listen, I want to go minister in places where other people have not served. 17 says, so let the one who boasts boast in the
Lord, for it is not the one commending himself who is approved, but the one the
Lord commends. Can I put it to you that if you keep who you are in perspective, if you perceive rightly where you stand, it makes you far better equipped to minister to others.
We have to regularly keep close watching ourselves. And I don't mean that in a morbid introspective way where we suck the life and joy out of walking with Jesus, kind of constantly nitpicking ourselves.
But with an awareness of our constant need for grace, with an awareness of the fact that,
Lord, am I keeping short accounts with you? As I'm seeking to help others, am I, are we on good terms?
It's when we view ministry from that lens, Paul can say, look back at verse four, that each person examined his own work, and then he can take pride, he can literally boast in himself alone and not compare himself with someone else.
This word for pride is actually gonna come up in our final message in Galatians. The false teachers were the type who like to boast in other people.
They were the ones who were like, girl, guess how many people I signed up today. Guess how many notches
I have on the belt. That might be how ministry is done in the flesh.
But ministry done as the outflow of life in the spirit, no, no, no, that kind of ministry, we do so with a desire to serve others, not to make a name for ourselves.
We do this ultimately because verse five, each person will carry his own load.
The word for load here isn't the same word as used in verse two for a burden. This word, that word there in verse two, it carries the idea of something that's heavy and crushing.
It's referring to the stresses and strains of life, like I said. This word here is different. This isn't that. This is the word that was used for a kit bag that a soldier carried around.
It speaks to responsibility. Our involvement in the lives of others, our involvement in the life of restoration and ministering to other people doesn't absorb us of the responsibility to keep close quarters on ourselves because we all have a responsibility for our own spiritual lives.
As Paul could say, last verse, this is what we need to see, 1 Timothy chapter four. This is my last verse and we're done.
1 Timothy chapter four. Paul is not quite at the end of his life, but close enough.
And he writes to his apostolic aide and his representative, Timothy. And he says, 1
Timothy chapter four, verse 16, pay close attention to your life and your teaching.
He doesn't say go pay close attention to what everybody else is doing. He says, pay close attention to your life.
The original language here is emphatic. Pay close attention to your life and your teaching.
Persevere in these things. Why is it that we do that? End of the verse.
For in doing this, you will save both yourself and your heroes.
The term save here carries the idea of, again, this ministry of restoration. You will be able to minister to those who are caught up.
You'll be able to rescue both yourself when you go through moments of struggle and your heroes, those you minister to,
Timothy. We keep close quarters on ourselves because we recognize that, again, we come full circle.
We have a ministry, a ministry of restoration.
And beloved, as I close out this morning, I can only encourage you to think deeply about that. And not to think deeply about that in the sense of, oh great, another thing
I have to add to my list. But rightly understand this as the outflow of a life that has been transformed by a
God who himself is in the restoration business. And as we do that,
I pray that God would help us in serving others, that he would help us in ministering to others, whether it's because of their sin or just the suffering of life, that we would be able to minister to them too.
Join with me as I pray. Oh Father, we thank you that you are indeed in the restoration business.
We can bear testimony to that because that's what you did for us in Christ. And so Father, I pray that you would simply help us, that we would help to restore, to bring back to soundness, to wholeness, those in our orbit who've lost their way.
Father, help us to keep close quarters on ourselves, to keep a close watch on ourselves, so that we will not become conceited, we will not become bigoted, we will not become self -righteous, but that we would serve out of sheer grace, out of the outflow of what you've done for us.