Help (!) your Brother!

Introduction and Context: A bad doctor?

Children, I will tell you a story that will help you and your parents understand this sermon better. Listen carefully. Suppose that you do not feel well for a long time. There is [KP1] a strange pain in your body. Your parents want to find out what is going on, and they take you to the doctor. The doctor asks you several questions and tells your parents that they need to make an appointment in the hospital [KP2] for a body scan. With that scan a doctor can look inside your body and see what is really going on. A few days later your parents take you with them to a big hospital in the city. After walking through some long corridors you enter a room where a friendly doctor welcomes you. Something that immediately catches your attention is a bed with a machine above it. The doctor tells you that he will take a MRI-scan. After measuring your weight and height and explaining what will happen, the doctor asks you to take a seat on the bed.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Chapter 6

the meekness which is the gift of the Holy Spirit working in our spirit (Ga 5:22, 25). “Meekness” is that temper of spirit towards God whereby we accept His dealings without disputing; then, towards men, whereby we endure meekly their provocations, and do not withdraw ourselves from the burdens which their sins impose upon us [TRENCH].

the meekness which is the gift of the Holy Spirit working in our spirit (, ). “Meekness” is that temper of spirit towards God whereby we accept His dealings without disputing; then, towards men, whereby we endure meekly their provocations, and do not withdraw ourselves from the burdens which their sins impose upon us [Trench].

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 338.

In that moment you get really nervous, but then you receive a headphone [KP3] that blocks the noise of the machine and present to you in the same time a very interesting story. You forget about the anxiety,[KP4] and the bed moves slowly through the machine. The doctor takes a seat at the side of the room and looks at a computer screen where he can see images of your body. Suddenly, the doctor notices something strange. [KP5] He sees that there is a problem that can be solved with a surgery on the same day. That treatment would take away a danger that could make you really sick and even lead to death. But, what would happen if, after the scan is over, the doctor was to walk to you with the same calm and friendly face, tell you and your parents that there is nothing to worry about, and then even give you a little toy to take home with you? Would this doctor be a good doctor? Certainly not!

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Eleven: The Liberty of Love (Galatians 6:1–10)

The legalist is not interested in bearing burdens. Instead, he adds to the burdens of others (Acts 15:10). This was one of the sins of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day: “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers

Paul’s Example and Instruction

Sin is much more dangerous than a physical problem. Sin divides us from God and, if not treated, leads to eternal punishment. Apostle Paul understood this very well. He knew that sin could even bring you to kill other believers from own experience[KP6] . But[KP7] God changed his heart and made him someone that[KP8] would care for the souls of many people.

Paul would not respond to spiritual dangers in the same way as the doctor did in the story. He would give of himself to fight the problem in order to restore it[KP9] . He would face every difficulty and deal with it as an emergency. This he would do with clear purpose and with an attitude of love.

The epistle to Galatians is a perfect example of how Paul cared for souls. In his letter, Paul teaches us how He showed[KP10] his love to others, and he instructs us to do the same in our speaking and doing[KP11] .

Look with me at the background of Paul’s letter and our specific passage, before we dive into our text. [KP12] [KP13] tells us that Paul was the author of the epistle to the Galatians. Galatia was a Roman province located in what is known today as midden Turkey. We know that Paul founded churches in the southern part of the province, namely Antioch, Iconium, Lystra,[KP14] and Derbe. He did this during his first missionary journey, as you can read in . At that time, however, he did not visit the northern part of Galatia.[KP15]

Paul had a close relationship with the gentile Christians in those churches. He preached the gospel unto them (1:8) and call’s them in chapter four “my little children” (4:11). Paul knew himself responsible for their spiritual health and growth. But what happened?

Already during his first visit he faced heavy opposition of Jews (14:3) caused by jealousy on Paul’s success and popularity. After he went, Jews called Judaizers, came to this vulnerable churches with dangerous teaching. Paul calls these men ‘dogs’ somewhere else and their teaching ‘another gospel’. The danger of the Judaizers was especially in the fact that they taught faith in Christ, but added works to it. That is always a danger of false teachers. They teach something that sounds good, but add something to it that attacks the heart of the gospel. The Judaizers are especially known for their emphasis in teaching on keeping the Jewish ceremonial law and submitting believers to circumcision rather than the gospel of faith alone. This teaching deviated Christians from putting their faith in Christ into themselves by focusing on works. Legalism enslaves Christians and takes away spiritual life.

It is no wonder that Paul is shocked by this influence and starts after a short introduction directly with his concern. “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel” (vs 6). Notice the phrase ‘so soon’. That reflects the vulnerability of those churches.

Paul helps the Galatians by affirming his authority and reports how he even rebuked Peter on flirting with Legalism in the second chapter. In the heart of the letter (chapter 3-4) Paul defends the central theme, justification by faith alone and restores the function of the law on the right place. The law is the schoolmaster to Christ. (3,24)

After defending the heart of the Gospel, he calls the Galatians to choose a life of true liberty in walking in the Spirit. That was Paul’s desire for them and my desire for you.

We all know those verses in the fifth chapter about the fruits of the Spirit. What is often overseen, is the part that directly follows – the application of the fruits of the Spirit. My focus in this message is to face four areas’ that would call each one of us to practice and experience the liberty of love. The devil wants to enslave us by focusing on doctrines only, he is really afraid for changed hearts that would impact the world with Christ’s love.

Message ‘HELP your Brother!’

Face to face with Hill difficulty – An Emergency (5:26-6:1)

Let us read again verse 1 of . (read) Paul describes a scenario in which you observe a sin in the life of another believer. The KJ translates the subject of this sentence with a man, but it could be translated with someone or another believer. I say the word sin, because the word fault is used in the New Testament interchangeable with sin and transgression. The phrase ‘be overtaken’ shows us that not a willful transgression is in view here, but an unintentional deviation from the truth. The preceding verse helps us to think about what kind of sins did Paul have in view. ‘Desirous of vain glory’ can be manifested in different ways. Pride is actually the root of all sin. Paul’s report on rebuking Peter is helpful here. We can read in the second chapter that Peter was compromising his behavior. He enslaved himself by not walking upright and brought the gospel of Justification by faith alone into danger. Every deviation of walking in the Spirit can be in view here. How do you respond when you see someone sinning undeliberately? Do you respond in the same way as the doctor did in the story?

See every sin as an emergency! Every little deviation from a Biblical walk does harm to the live of a believer. Terrible transgressions start always with early little deviations into a wrong direction. Think about sitting beside someone in a car. You are driving on the highway and you notice that the driver is slightly leaving the lane to the lane of the exit. Will you remain passive in such a situation? Certainly not! Judas, the disciple is a warning to us. His life shows that living very close to Christ is not a guarantee for not deviating from truth. Witnessing Jesus every day. His love for money deviated him little by little away from the Way of life, till he entered the exit where there was no point of return. We all know the final result, he hanged himself. () Unaddressed sin will destroy lives.

I called this first part of the message hill difficulty. Maybe you have an idea where that term comes from. During the preparation of this message I was thinking about Pilgrims Progress in which Christian travels to the celestial city with many struggles on his way. One of them was Hill Difficulty. The Hill was steep and demanded everything to climb. I found this illustration very helpful to address the difficulty of ‘observing sin in another’s life.’ A wrong reaction can do more harm than good. Jesus terminology is impressive on this difficulty. Helping a brother is nothing less than an ‘eye-surgery’. ‘Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in thine own eye?’ ()

Christian was not standing alone before that hill. Besides him were Mistrust and Timorous. Their responses on the hill difficulty were destructive. Allow me to address two wrong responses and one good response on ‘seeing someone overtaken by sin’.

Flee – There is something painful in the Priest and Levite’s responses in the Parable of the Samaritan. Jesus uses this parable to illustrate the love for God and the love for the neighbor. Both the Levite and the Priest were involved in sacred service. They actually just returned from Jerusalem. But what happens when they see the person half-dead on the ground? They neglect and flee from their duty. Were the costs to high? Dirty hands with consequences of going through a cleaning process again? Well, they didn’t get dirty hands, but some worse occured. Their hearts were polluted with disobediene. If the Spirit leads you to help a brother, don’t grieve Him. ()

Fight – The second person is the legalist. He will not be able to restore his brother. His has a beam in his own eye. His aim is not so much to help, but to condemn. Jesus clearly teaches in Matthew that we should not condemn, but discern wisely. (7:1 and 7:24) The attitude of the fighter is reflected in the pride of the Pharisee in the Parable of the Pharisee and Publican in , . His compares himself with the publican and thanks God for being better.

Face – A Christian faces a hill difficulty no matter the costs. Again, Christian of Pilgrims Progress is an example. He climbs the hill by saying, “This hill, though high, I covet to ascend; The difficulty will not me offend. For I perceive the way to life lies here. Come, pluck up,

heart; let's neither faint nor fear. Better, though difficult, the right

way to go, Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.”

Which of these three responses belongs to your default in facing the hill difficulty of seeing someone being overtaken by sin?

Face to face with yourself (5:24-26)

Paul urges me and you to face our self before facing our brother. After engaging with hill difficulty we need to look for a moment into the mirror and be honest about ourselves. I want you to think about this crucial question, What kind of love does your life reflect?

The reason for this question is to be found in verse 26. (read) It is possible to call yourself a Christian and live a life of boasting, provoking others and being jealous? Paul says ‘Let us not!’. Someone who is filled with pride is unsuitable for service, because pride kills service. The Spirit can only work with humble hearts. Some of you maybe need to hear what John Piper says to those people that are impressed with themselves. ‘Heaven will not be a hall with mirrors’. I repeat, ‘Heaven will not be a hall with mirrors’.

The first thing we need to know actually is to whom do we belong? ‘And they that are Christ’s! (vs 24)’. Are you united with him? This is the secret for all our actions. We can only obey the exhortation of restoring another, if we are united with Christ. Belonging to Christ means being justified and united with Him. Your union with Christ should produce death to flesh. What Christians often forget is that being justified and unified with him is not all that happens at our regeneration. The ‘one another’ is an interesting phrase that reflect adaption into God’s family. Christ calls you brother’s and sisters’ of the same family.

Before moving to the third realm ‘facing the other’, I’ve to give a short note on living and walking in the Spirit. It is interesting that being Christ’s equates living and walking in the Spirit. What do you love the most in your life? Is it Christ? If that is true, your life ought to be a live walking in the Spirit. Walk in the Spirit can be translated in the original language with walk in line with the Spirit. That is a great change. We are not leading anymore, but following. Following Christ’s example and the Spirit’s leading.

Face to face with your brother (6:1-10)

Only if you face the hill difficulty with knowing your spiritual identity you are suitable to do the impossible, namely to restore your brother. The same word for restore is used for mending nets. This is exactly what idea covers of this command. We restore in order to bring a person back to a previous position of usefulness. And if we correct a person, we will experience that it is God who does both the willing and working.

The following phrase ‘in the spirit of meekness’ leads us to the source of our actions. Meekness represents the fruits of the Spirit that are listed in chapter five. Think about the Samaritan’s tender care for a moment with the man on the ground. He saw, stopped and helped with compassion. Does that not reflect how Christ dealt with us, when we were laying on the ground, dead in ‘trespasses and sins’?

Be careful however every time when you help a brother. ‘Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. The root of the word sin is ‘to fall’. The ground around sin and the sinner is slippery. There is a possibility to fall. Paul writes about that in , Therefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."

We will always help as sinner to sinner. In being not on guard we can enter exactly the same sin as the other. The idea of adoption is important here. If someone sins, it is not ‘someone’ anymore. It is a brother of sister of the same body. Would you neglect a injured part of your body by noticing it? Certainly not. Sometimes we are to much focused on winning the lost, but what about winning the saved? What an opportunity and what a challenge.

Face to face with God

It is important to face hills, ourselves and each other, but there is something that will never satisfy enough and that is facing Christ. Knowing Him is eternal life. The whole Old Testament exhorts us to look at Him and the New Testament does. Paul brings Christ in the center of attention already in the first verse of this letter, ‘Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.’

‘Bear ye’ is the same word that is used in , “And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha”. Look to our ultimate burden-bearer. See His willingness for you to face the hill of all difficulties to bear your burden. If He is precious to you, Why should you not bear the burden of another? There is some relation between bearing the burden of another and your own burden. The first word is connected to lift the burden of sin, infirmity in another’s life, where the second word really focusses on your responsibility.

Robert Murray M'Cheyne is very able in contresting the emptiness of self-seeking glory and seeking Christ’s glory. Let this stir us all up.

‘Ah! There is nothing like a calm look into the eternal world to teach us the emptiness of human praise, the sinfulness of self-seeking and vain glory—to teach us the preciousness of Christ, who is called 'The Tried Stone.'”

The phrase ‘fulfil the law of Christ’ is a beautiful purpose to aim for. Do everything for his glory. Make his compassion your compassion, his love- your love and his meekness, your meekness. And don’t forget this note what a commentator gives on this phrase, ‘But when Christ summons us to obey his law of love, he offers us himself to slay the dragon of our pride, change our hearts, empower us by his Spirit, and fulfill his law.”

Are you free or still bound to yourself? There is freedom in walking in the Spirit, practicing the law of love. There is something that is so powerful in practicing the liberty of love. It makes you free from love to self. It is not about me, but about the other. The love of Christ brings us however in mutual fellowship. And what a help is it to walk together till we’ve reached our destiny. If you need one final exhortation to practice to stop pleasing yourself and obey the law of love. Listen than to Paul’s love song in .

[ KJV] 4 Charity suffereth long, [and] is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth: but whether [there be] prophecies, they shall fail; whether [there be] tongues, they shall cease; whether [there be] knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these [is] charity.

Christian in Pilgrims Progress went over the hill difficulty. That hill was not his final destination. The last difficulty was not a hill but a river. He was however not alone in that moment. Together with Hopeful they comforted each other and finally got over. May all our actions be performed in that kind of love so that our love among each other will increase.

Closing

We’ve covered four areas that we need to face in our life. Let us be aware of the small things and little steps in our life.. Help a brother when the Spirit lead’s you into that situation. Let the letters of the word help, help you remembering this message.

H- Hill difficulty – Face it, don’t flee or fight it with your heart on the wrong place

E- Emergency – Sin is serious and brings harm. View it as an eye-surgery.

L –Love of Christ – Nothing without that. Love restores - Pride kills.

P – Purpose – Help with the purpose in mind to restore to previous usefulness and exercise love as preparation for heaven.

Amen

[KP1]I changed this, because it is better to vary your language. Too many uses of second person pronouns can disrupt your flow of thought.

[KP2]You can remove this phrase, because it is already understood that an appointment would have to be made in the hospital, unless you are wanting to qualify at what kind of hopital the parents need to make an appointment. Your intent needs to be made more clear here.

[KP3]What do you mean?

[KP4]I added this comma here, because it is necessary to use one when combining two independent clauses into a single sentence. "You forget about the anxiety" and "the bed moves slowly through the machine" are two phrases that can stand alone as sentences. However, we do not want to sound choppy. In spoken English, we naturally add pauses when we speak to add clarification. In writing, though, is essential to add punctuation, such as commas, in order to maintian that clarification for the reader.

[KP5]This sentence, and the one that follows, need to be fixed. You do three things in this sentence that build up senses of urgency and foreboding in your audience. First, your use of "suddenly" denotes that something unexpected happens. Second, your use of the words "something strange" leaves your audience understanding that there is an unresolved mystery. Third, you do all of this in a very short sentence, which only intensifies that feeling of urgency I mentioned previously. When writing, you have to think about the reaction of your audience. By your tone, it seems as if something serious is about to be revealed, and your audience is anticipating that. Instead, you move abruptly to your next thought and your audience is left dazed, wondering what just happened. This dazed feeling is intensified by the words "little surgery" that appear in the following sentence. Your audience is anticipating a huge problem, but then it's as if you say, "just kidding. It's only a minor thing". I hope you understand where I am going with this. First, you need to let your audience know what this "strange thing" is, and you need to decide if it's a big deal or a minor issue. Normally, "same day" surgeries are not "little" matters. Please rework this section.

[KP6]This phrase does not make sense here. Because of how you have placed it in the sentence, it seems as though you mean for this phrase to describe "Christians". However, I think that you mean for it to describe Paul. This would be a better sentence: "He knew from experience that sin can bring people to kill others". I do not want to use the phrase "other Christians", because that would imply that a Christian was killing Christians. I'm not saying that can't happen. David killed Uriah. However, in this case, Paul was not a Christian at the time of Stephen's stoning.

[KP7]I know that when speaking, English speakers often start sentences with "but". Since you are writing this in order to speak it, I will not change what you have. However, you should know that when writing academic papers for class, it is best to avoid starting sentences with "but", as well as "and".

[KP8]"That" refers to objects. Ex: "This is the apple that my grandmother gave to me." In your case, you are referring to a person and should, therefore, use "who".

[KP9]Paul would not want to restore the problem. That is what would be understood, however, if you were to leave your sentence this way. You need to qualify your "it". In other words, what is "it" actually referring to? People's souls? People's relationship to God? Now, even if the latter is what you mean, can a person really restore another person's soul? Only Christ and the vivifying (to make alive) power of the Holy Spirit can do that. When speaking theologically, we have to be even more careful with our language than would be necessary otherwise.

[KP10]Be careful that you do not overuse words.

[KP11]This is rather informal language for a sermon. "Walk" is okay, because this is also Biblical language. When combined with "talk", however, I am reminded of the phrase "Walk the walk, and talk the talk". This is more of a jingle (catchy tune or phrase) than it is appropriate language for a sermon. Also consider that if you use "walk", this is more of an all encompasing word that refers to both our actions and our speach. You have a couple options, then. One, you could leave your sentence as it is, except with the removal of "and talk". Two, you could write it this way: "...he instructs us to do the same in what we say and what we do."

[KP12]This phrase should really come at the beginning of your sentence. One thing for you to note, since you used a comma before this phrase, if you move the phrase to the beginning, you will need to use a comma after it.

[KP13]I changed this to a numeric "1", because numerals are used to divide passages of Scripture. They are specific numbers. A number would need to be spelled out in a case such as, "He gave me five pencils". Make sure you know when to use numerals and when to spell numbers out. Keep this in mind as you go through the rest of your manuscript.

[KP14]Please include this last comma when making lists.

[KP15]I am not sure how relevant this information is. It does not give the reader any history relating specifically to the Galation church, especially the last sentence. If you want to give the reader a greater understanding of who the Galations were, you need to talk about the Galations. Examples: When did Paul come to them? What kind of area did they live in? Was there heavy or minor persecution? What were the cultural issues they had to deal with? What kind of internal struggles did the church have? What is something they did well as a communtiy of believers? These are just a few ideas.