Guest Speaker Rod Whitlock
Oct/09/11 09:55 Filed in: Sunday Series
Podcast
There’s Been An Accident!
Galatians 6.1-5
The average person will be in seven car accidents in their lifetime. I’ve been in four to date. One I wasn’t driving. Two weren’t my fault and one I hit my wife.
Galatians 6.1-2 – “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.”
We find Paul doing three things in the book of Galatians.
He defends the message of grace and his apostleship.
He defines what the gospel of grace looks like.
He demonstrates the gospel.
Right before this passage we find Paul telling us to walk in the Spirit. Gal 5.16, 18, 25. To be Sensitive to the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 5.22-23 he is telling us to put on the fruit of the Spirit. He is setting us up for this passage in Galatians.
This idea is not given for us to walk around calling ourselves spiritual and having a love fest with God. We are to be his hands and feet to others in the church and in our community. Express Christ to the world.
1. “Brothers & (Sisters),…”
Notice how the passage begins. “Brothers (and Sisters)…”
Paul is assuming we are family. I’m going to show you a bunch of pictures.
(Slides) What do each of these characters have in common?
Each character and there are many more, have this one thing in common. They are all orphans. Hollywood understands that we live in an orphaned society.
Hollywood sees the cry of the orphan. They make many movies with such characters. We need to see others as orphans, who were later adopted, and who lost their way. They forgot who their father was.
God is a Father who desires that we live in relationship, as brothers and sisters, as one family.
Are there examples of orphans in Scripture? Moses, Joseph, Lot, Esther, Joash to name a few.
Homes in Capernaum.
John 14.1-3 – “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
So when Paul writes in Galatians, if someone is caught in a sin. He is speaking about one of our brothers and sisters.
2. “…if anyone is caught in any transgression (sin)…”
Woman caught in adultery from John 8.
She was caught in the very act. The religious leaders wanted to stone her. That would not have been the gentle way. Jesus says, “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Jesus first says I don’t condemn you and then leave life of sin. We would do it other way around. If you leave sin I won’t condemn you.
Meaning here is that this is not a sin that someone willfully does out of rebellion. This is a momentary lapse, a falling away. It’s the difference between someone ramming their car into another to cause an accident, versus the guy who makes a wrong choice and causes an accident.
Someone who wants to do the right thing, but occasionally fails or falls into sin. So what are we to do with this person when it happens?
3. “…you who are spiritual should restore…”
Evaluate ourselves and responsibilities.
So Paul deals with people charged with restoring the brother in sin. Danger here is to respond correctly. Brother in sin already knows he is caught and is in sin. He is addressing the brother/sister who is about to restore.
Our response is potentially more damning than the sin of the one who fell. Community hears about it. People hear and talk about the way the church deals with sinners. Our pride can get in the way here.
You who are spiritual. Those walking in the Spirit. Spiritual maturity. Restore a damaged car. Bringing it back to previous condition.
We are to cultivate sensitivity toward others. We are to be able to detect others needs. Community is implied.
Sherriff at Arbys
Why have we lost our sensitivity? Problem is that we think about ourselves first. Comes about from 20 years ago when we worried more about everyone’s self-esteem. Lower test scores. We feel good about flunking.
We have people who think they are great Christians but they never get involved.
Galatians 6.1-5 (The Message) “Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.
4-5Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.”
Fruit of Spirit is not meant to be hidden in multiple Bible studies. It was meant to be lived out in our world and inside the Church.
This is why Paul writes, “keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”
What should each of us who are spiritual do to rescue our brothers and sisters? First we must look at what spiritual means.
“Spiritual” – Someone who wants to please God.
You see God wants them restored. The spiritual person in wanting to please God wants them restored also.
Too many times we have people who want to criticize someone who has fallen. People don’t need to be criticized when they fall. They need someone to come alongside of them.
4. “…in a spirit of gentleness.”
What about discipline? If you fell, how would you want to be disciplined?
How should we discipline? The picture here for gentleness is the opposite of grabbing.
You see we are to bear one another’s burden. We are to help those trapped in sin, because they are our brother or sister. Christ came down to us. When others fall into sin, we are to go down to them.
Being adopted in 9th grade.
On my twitter it reads, “…orphaned and then adopted…”
He defines what the gospel of grace looks like.
He demonstrates the gospel.
Right before this passage we find Paul telling us to walk in the Spirit. Gal 5.16, 18, 25. To be Sensitive to the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 5.22-23 he is telling us to put on the fruit of the Spirit. He is setting us up for this passage in Galatians.
This idea is not given for us to walk around calling ourselves spiritual and having a love fest with God. We are to be his hands and feet to others in the church and in our community. Express Christ to the world.
1. “Brothers & (Sisters),…”
Notice how the passage begins. “Brothers (and Sisters)…”
Paul is assuming we are family. I’m going to show you a bunch of pictures.
(Slides) What do each of these characters have in common?
Each character and there are many more, have this one thing in common. They are all orphans. Hollywood understands that we live in an orphaned society.
Hollywood sees the cry of the orphan. They make many movies with such characters. We need to see others as orphans, who were later adopted, and who lost their way. They forgot who their father was.
God is a Father who desires that we live in relationship, as brothers and sisters, as one family.
Are there examples of orphans in Scripture? Moses, Joseph, Lot, Esther, Joash to name a few.
Homes in Capernaum.
John 14.1-3 – “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
So when Paul writes in Galatians, if someone is caught in a sin. He is speaking about one of our brothers and sisters.
2. “…if anyone is caught in any transgression (sin)…”
Woman caught in adultery from John 8.
She was caught in the very act. The religious leaders wanted to stone her. That would not have been the gentle way. Jesus says, “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Jesus first says I don’t condemn you and then leave life of sin. We would do it other way around. If you leave sin I won’t condemn you.
Meaning here is that this is not a sin that someone willfully does out of rebellion. This is a momentary lapse, a falling away. It’s the difference between someone ramming their car into another to cause an accident, versus the guy who makes a wrong choice and causes an accident.
Someone who wants to do the right thing, but occasionally fails or falls into sin. So what are we to do with this person when it happens?
3. “…you who are spiritual should restore…”
Evaluate ourselves and responsibilities.
So Paul deals with people charged with restoring the brother in sin. Danger here is to respond correctly. Brother in sin already knows he is caught and is in sin. He is addressing the brother/sister who is about to restore.
Our response is potentially more damning than the sin of the one who fell. Community hears about it. People hear and talk about the way the church deals with sinners. Our pride can get in the way here.
You who are spiritual. Those walking in the Spirit. Spiritual maturity. Restore a damaged car. Bringing it back to previous condition.
We are to cultivate sensitivity toward others. We are to be able to detect others needs. Community is implied.
Sherriff at Arbys
Why have we lost our sensitivity? Problem is that we think about ourselves first. Comes about from 20 years ago when we worried more about everyone’s self-esteem. Lower test scores. We feel good about flunking.
We have people who think they are great Christians but they never get involved.
Galatians 6.1-5 (The Message) “Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.
4-5Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.”
Fruit of Spirit is not meant to be hidden in multiple Bible studies. It was meant to be lived out in our world and inside the Church.
This is why Paul writes, “keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”
What should each of us who are spiritual do to rescue our brothers and sisters? First we must look at what spiritual means.
“Spiritual” – Someone who wants to please God.
You see God wants them restored. The spiritual person in wanting to please God wants them restored also.
Too many times we have people who want to criticize someone who has fallen. People don’t need to be criticized when they fall. They need someone to come alongside of them.
4. “…in a spirit of gentleness.”
What about discipline? If you fell, how would you want to be disciplined?
How should we discipline? The picture here for gentleness is the opposite of grabbing.
You see we are to bear one another’s burden. We are to help those trapped in sin, because they are our brother or sister. Christ came down to us. When others fall into sin, we are to go down to them.
Being adopted in 9th grade.
On my twitter it reads, “…orphaned and then adopted…”