November 14th
Restore Them
Galatians 6:1
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.
We rebel. God restores. We have all been there, experiencing momentary lapses and finding ourselves turning from the truth. We tumble into temptation and spiral into sin. We Transgress. Every believer has been there. But for most of us our sins remain secret. They are committed in isolation as an unrevealed thought or an unexposed act. They remained cloaked from the congregation. They are concealed, covered up and hidden. We continue confident that our sin is shrouded. It is unseen and undetected. We go on as if all is good. Every believer has done this.
But for some their transgression is told. Believers’ sins that become broadcasted before all. They are openly exposed. Their misgivings are made know. Their rebellion is revealed. They are caught and condemned as guilty.
This is inevitable in the life of every believer. Our transgressions will turn up. Eventually they will become evident. Whether privately within our soul or publicly before the saints, we will be discovered.
Our text gives a biblical response toward the rebellious righteous. Believers who behaved badly. It outlines a recourse for those caught in transgression. It commends the spiritual to care for the caught. Not to shun them, detest them, devalue them or dismiss them, but to build back the broken. The role of the church is certainly to discipline, but it is also to restore the repentant disciple and firm up those who have fallen. The saints are to go alongside them in a spirit of gentleness and help them get back.
Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. The fallen are often forsaken. Their body riddled with the fiery darts of the enemy. They are abandoned. They are deserted by the disciples. They are left to bleed out on the battlefield. It seems that the grace afforded to the worst of sinners is absent for the worst of saints. The grace that saves sinners is no longer applicable for sinful saints.
The text issues a caution to the congregation who would cancel them. “Keep watch on yourselves, lest you too be tempted”. Here we see two precautions. First, you may be in the same situation someday. You may find yourselves fallen and found out. You might be at the precipice of being pushed away. You might become rejected by the righteous and shunned by the saints. So, you must seek to treat these who have transgressed in the way you would want to be treated if your transgression became known.
Second, we must be careful not to add our sin to theirs. Clearly the text exhorts those who are spiritual to shore up those who have sinned. We are to restore them, rather than reject them. So, to not do this is for you to sin. You must watch lest you to be tempted.
Today consider your response to those believers who have been caught in transgression. Don’t culturally categorize their sin to determine your response toward them. Go to them. Help their hurt. Seek to help them to repent, to remove known sin and to find restoration. Hear the caution to not reject the rebellious righteous. Don’t discard them in their depravity. Ask the Lord to help you to seek their restoration. Ask Him to use you and others who a spiritual to walk alongside them in a spirit of gentleness until they are reestablished. The righteous will sin. God uses saints to help restore righteous sinners. You who are spiritual should restore them.
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