Grace Restores

1. Restore Each Other

Galatians 6:1 ESV

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

Loving Accountability

“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression . . .”

“Brothers” - term of endearment, love, pastoral, family of blievers

“Caught” - “detect, overtaken, surprised”; “Transgression” - “sin”

Humble Restoration

“. . . you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.”

“Spiritual” - those who walk according to the Spirit (esp. elders, pastors, ministers)

“Gentleness” - a sense of humility in the term, hence “keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”

Matthew 18:15–20 ESV

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

One-on-one Confrontation

Two/Three-on-one Confrontation

Church Confrontation

Galatians ((1) Bearing One Another’s Burdens (6:1–3))

It is a sign of the spiritual stupor that has befallen the body of Christ that church discipline is seldom if ever raised as a viable concern in evangelical churches today. Historically, the practice of discipline served a twofold function in the Free Church tradition: it aimed at restoring the lapsed brother or sister to full fellowship if possible, and it marked off clearly the boundaries between the church and its environing culture. In both of these ways discipline helped preserve the purity of the church’s witness in the world. The loss of this historic distinctive has resulted in the crisis of spirituality that pervades so much of our church life today. Can we recover a structure of accountability in our congregational life without relapsing into narrow judgmentalism? What are the standards of personal holiness that ought to distinguish a man or woman of God? What are the ethical implications of our corporate decisions? We will not find answers to these questions until we recover that pattern of personal striving and self-examination by which serious Christians endeavor, in the words of the Puritan Richard Rogers, “to keep our lives and hearts in good order.” ~Timothy George

Many would be offended today, primiarily because we have adopted the framework and attitude of our culture: “antiauthoritarian egoism.”

Authoritarian Egoism

“How dare you judge me! You don’t know where I’ve been and what I’ve done; you’re not in my shoes. I am my own person and in charge of my own life. No one has a right to tell me what I can and cannot do.”

Psychological Man

We cannot handle anything that makes us feel bad, uncomfortable, or guilty. We are not at fault.

But the church is about holding each other accountable, loving one another, helping each other become more like Christ.

Ephesians 4:11–16 ESV

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

We need to have the correct view of the church: it is not a country club where good people come to recognize God. It is a familial community where we love one another and bear each others burdens so we may be shaped into the image of Christ.

2. Bear with Each Other

Galatians 6:2 ESV

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

“Burden”

“weight,” “load”

“Law of Christ”

to be contrasted with the “Law of Works/Moses,” i.e., grace!

1 Corinthians 9:21 (ESV)

. . . to those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.

We fulfill the Law of Christ or grace when we bear one another’s burdens.

Of course, the essence of grace is love: John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

Romans 12:15–16 ESV

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.

James 5:13–16 ESV

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

One reason we meet together on Sundays (SS, worship); 3 values of LCC (e^3): evangelism, EDIFICATION, education

One reason we begin small groups

The church is a family, a community. Do we know what this looks like today, or have we become too self-autonomous? We are also used to outsourcing everything . . . some, therefore, have the perspective that the pastor/minister is to perform all the acts of grace for the community of believers.

We must put off the facade when we come together. This means we will have to be vulnerable and discontinue protecting ourselves. We need to be genuine—real—with one another other.

Aren’t you tired of playing church?

Are you ready to commit yourself one to another? To be loyal and loving? Lock arms and live life together?

Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855): “Whereas Christ turned water into wine, the church has succeeded in doing something more different; it has turned wine into water.”

J. I. Packer (1926-2020): “God wants life in his new society to be a perfect riot of affection, good-will, open-heartedness and friendship. (So what on earth are we all playing at? You tell me!)”

3. Examine Yourself

Galatians 6:3–5 ESV

For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.

Pride Goes Before a Fall

Proverbs 16:18 ESV

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

If we find ourselves in the position to point out a person’s sin, we are to do so with humility, knowing that we too could succumb to the same. We do not confront in pride, as if we are better than the person and measuring their performance with ours. We confront others’ sin because it does not conform to God, and we do it in gentleness in order to restore, not boast.

Test Yourself

If we ever boast, it is in comparing our present self with our past self. We are to never compare ourselves with others.

It is the Pharisee, the ungracious haughty legalist who says with an aura of pride, “I would never do that.”

The gracious, humble Christian says, “I hate that you did that. The Lord loves you and I do, too. What can I do to help you get back on track?”