Facing The Wayward
The Tests Of Life • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
This evening we are continuing that which we started a little while back on “The Tests Of Life.”
We started this series by looking at what it means to be tested in life by “Facing Truth & Consequences.”
As we discussed there are very real consequences to be obedient to the truth and telling the truth to others.
We must then be ready for those consequences so as not to shrink from teaching and living the “whole counsel of God.”
Today, we are going to be looking at another real test we in the church face due to man’s sinful nature and that is “Facing The Wayward.”
1 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. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
The reality is we must face the fact that this is one of the most neglected works of the church, not just today, but for many years now.
As brother B.C. Carr once put it…
“To a great degree we have adopted the ‘Bo Peep’ philosophy. ‘Just leave them alone and they will come home, wagging their sins behind them.’ ”
Maybe it is because many don’t understand the concept of restoration.
When we are talking about those that need restoration we are not talking about those that are struggling with their personal sins, but still striving to walk in the light.
In other words, those that have come forward, to illustrate, because of sin they want help overcoming.
No, when talking about those in need of restoration we are talking about those that are as lost as the non-Christian.
Maybe it is because we don’t know who is supposed to help the wayward become restored.
Again looking at Galatians 6:2, we see clearly it isn’t just the elders, deacons, or preacher it is “the spiritual.”
In other words, if you claim to be spiritual you must be about the work of helping to restore the wayward.
Those that are spiritual are expected to restore their erring brother or sister.
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Maybe the first question we should be prepared to answer before we face the wayward is…
Are We Failing At This Work?
Are We Failing At This Work?
Introduction To This Point
Introduction To This Point
Before we can even begin to obey God on “restoring the wayward” is to make certain we are aware where we stand in the work itself.
Let’s be honest with ourselves and ask ourselves whether we are failing or not.
What is the best way to do this, by…
Testing Ourselves
Testing Ourselves
Could it be we are not aware of the problem itself?
When preparing for this lesson I was looking through some old sermons on this subject and came across one that talked about keeping a record of everyone that was baptized, or had placed membership, and everyone that had fallen away.
This particular preacher talked about how a new congregation he was now preaching for had kept records and found that in the five years previous they had 308 additions in the last five years but had lost 165.
I would venture to say more congregations keep track of those being baptized then those being lost.
But this ought not be the case, because you and I remember the words of our Savior in Luke 15.
4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
Maybe the problem is simply we are not aware of the problem itself?
Could it possibly be we are pessimistic toward restoring the wayward?
There is no doubt that this work is a difficult work.
19 A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.
Maybe we fail at this work because it is so hard and challenging to get the wayward to return.
I heard a brother say about his wayward brother one time…
“Just leave him alone, he was worthless to the church anyways.”
This also reminds me of the story of the young boys playing “church” in the barnyard.
They had singing and praying and then they decided to start baptizing the animals.
That is until it came to the old goats turn and he kicked and head butted the kids until one boy stated, “aw, just let him go to to hell.”
Now, to be clear there is a point when we must “disfellowship” and “dust the dirt off our feet.”
17 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.
10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
Yes, there is a point when this fact cannot be denied, but maybe we give up too quick or never even try because we forget the power of the gospel.
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
May it never be said of any of us that which Jesus said to the Sadducees in Matthew 22:29…
29 …Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
Summary
Summary
Maybe we need more teaching, training, and the like.
This work is not for the babe in Christ or the one weak in the faith, it is for the mature, zealous, and one not easily offended themselves.
Another question we should be prepared to answer if we are to face the wayward is…
Why Are They Falling Away?
Why Are They Falling Away?
Introduction To This Point
Introduction To This Point
It is vital that we understand “why people fall away.”
This is indispensable for two reasons.
First, because if we don’t know why they fell away and became wayward we cannot help them to correct such and be restored.
Second, if we know why people are falling away we can do a better job of heading it off by spending time teaching, training, and talking about what keeps one faithful verses what doesn’t.
So why are God’s children falling away?
Well for some…
They Have Been Offended
They Have Been Offended
I have personal experience in this area with some of my family.
Illustration of my Uncle Jerry & Aunt Linda.
My uncle had recently started attending the church and someone said something that offended him and my aunt left the church with him.
Unfortunately, truth can offend people, which leads some to fall away from God.
Jesus offended his disciples with the truth and most of them fell away.
66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
Paul offended some in the churches of Galatia with the truth as well and they were struggling with accepting “another gospel” because of it.
16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?
However, we can offend due to our lack of compassion or lack of controlling our tongue.
This type of offending of others, Jesus clearly taught against.
1 And he said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.”
Whether the lost sheep fell away due to being offended by the truth or being offended by the servant of God makes no difference in the since of being offended.
If we are going to be able to help restore them back to faithfulness we need to understand they were offended and by which means it was so as to help guide them back to the flock.
Another reason God’s children fall away is because…
They Are Not Fully Converted
They Are Not Fully Converted
Sometimes in our eagerness to help someone obey the gospel and get them baptized we may not properly teach them so that they are “fully converted.”
We must guard against willfully avoiding difficult teachings with the lost soul just so we don’t offend them or cause any controversy with them.
Some will avoid all prevalent and current questions about their life that they might need to repent of just to avoid person not “being baptized.”
We must also guard against teaching too little of God’s word that leads them to not having actual faith and conviction when getting baptized.
This is a dangerous situation to put the person in who thinks they are saved.
Jesus clearly stated in Matthew 18:3…
3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn [be converted] and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
We must teach the unadulterated gospel to the lost and let them decide if they are willing to count the cost of discipleship.
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Sometimes people follow Jesus because of convenience instead of conviction.
These obey because they “were raised this way” and “like this life” but are not actually convicted in their love for and steadfastness for God.
In either case we must make certain we know for which reason they were not fully converted and fell away so as to help restore them.
Lastly, but certainly not exclusively, God’s children fall away because…
They Spiritually Do Not Grow
They Spiritually Do Not Grow
As Jesus pointed out in the Parable of the Sower and the Seed some obey the gospel, but then do not grow the necessary roots, i.e., mature in Christ as they should.
20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
Spiritual milk is good for the infant or babe in Christ and those being “refreshed by the gospel of Christ.”
2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation
However, there is a point where we must mature and if we don’t we are can and often will fall away.
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Sometimes, though the babe in Christ doesn’t mature as they should because we, the mature, fail to help them grow.
2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
We must be aware of this danger and have the attitude of the Psalmist in Psalm 69:9.
6 Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord God of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.
Some babes in Christ are left unattended and this ought not be.
God provided shepherds and the stronger in the faith to help those that are weak in the faith mature.
1 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Summary
Summary
Knowing why our brothers and sisters fall away and become wayward, lost sheep of the house of God can help us not only restore them when this happens, but hopefully prevent it from happening.
Conclusion
Conclusion
So “whose responsibility is it?”
Ultimately the responsibility for the wayward lands at their feet as they will have to answer for why they left Christ, and woe to those that have to answer for such (2 Peter 2:20-22).
However, it is also the responsibility of the faithful, or spiritual to go to them and strive in love to help them come back to God and be restored into his good graces (James 5:19-20).
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent
33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
32 Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
