Restored with a Spirit of Gentleness

(Galatians 6:1)

Many places in the Bible, and especially in the New Testament speak of the need for fellowship. The essence of this is that Jesus came to establish a church, that is, a collective of believers who followed Him.

It was never God’s intention that man stand alone, either separated from God or from his fellow man. Man is a social creature and it is in relationships that man grows and is nurtured to become all that God wants for him.

And in following Jesus there were many other benefits from being a fellowship of like-minded people. Similarly there were many other reasons for being together as one, and this scripture provides us with just one of the many reasons why we come together as a church.

Meeting Together

The writer of Hebrews encourages and exhorts us to meet together.

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. 26 For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins… (Hebrews 10:23-26)

It is easy to fall into the habit of NOT meeting together if you allow it.

There were certainly enough pressures to maintain life and work and so on when these words were first written, so how much more today. Today, when there is Sunday football, all of the shops are open for business, entertainment galore, invitations to friends houses, BBQ’s and so on. So many distractions that can cause us to skip meeting together for fellowship with the people of the Lord. We might say “just this once,” but when once becomes twice, and twice becomes thrice, we can drift away.

Consider also the points that the writer of Hebrews makes as to WHY we need to meet together.

We meet together for the purpose of stirring one another up to good works, and to encourage one another. It is for mutual strengthening, learning and benefit that we come together as we learn about the ways of the Lord.

Coming together in fellowship is how we build relationships with each other in the Lord. It is how the body of Christ is built. It is how we become the family of God because as we serve one another, we serve Christ also.

Restoration

There is another reason for coming together as brothers and sisters in fellowship, and it is this that Paul describes in the first verse of Galatians chapter 6. The verse reads like this:

1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Look to yourself, lest you too be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)

We all make many mistakes, and we can all sometimes take the wrong path. Furthermore, we all have weaknesses and faults that can rear up and cause us to do the wrong thing.

But sometimes we may not even be aware that these things are happening. Even if we are aware, we may not be aware that we are slipping into wrongful ways.

And this is the point of this verse. Paul encourages us in the spirit help those who have been overtaken in some trespass. He exhorts us to go to the stricken brother or sister and speak with them or work with them to overcome the issue so that they are restored onto the straight and narrow path that leads to Christ. He further exhorts us to do so with gentleness and not with a rod of iron.

The reason Paul tells us to take this path is two-fold.

First, it is necessary that we learn to walk in love with ALL people, but especially those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Love, as we see in 1 Corinthians 13, is patient and kind. Love is gentle and by acting in gentleness we stand a better chance of getting a fair hearing and being able to support those who are overcome in some trespass.

The second reason is in the word translated as “trespass” itself.

The Greek word used here is not the same word as “sin.” It is a milder word, and although it indicates a form of wrongdoing, it is not like a deliberate act of sin. It seems to focus more upon an unpremeditated violation of God’s will rather than a deliberate act of sin. It is more a mistake, perhaps one of those situations you might say, “Oops!” It is a slip-up rather than a pre-meditated thought or action.

And we all have these things occur as we walk in Christ. The damage done by some of these things can be worse than the actual thing itself.

Let me give an example. Suppose you are prone to anger, and one of your children, your partner or a friend does something that really gets you riled up.

When you later calm down, you may fall into shame, leading to self-condemnation and guilt just because you got so angry. And plenty of people do this.

But it is not a sin to get angry. Left unchecked, anger might lead to sin, but anger itself is not a sin. We are still weak human beings and we will fall prey to our emotions, but the important thing is to not let those emotions rule our lives.

If you have a problem with anger, and if you do get REALLY fired up when you get angry, seek the Lord over it. Don’t condemn, feel shame or guilt because of it, but seek a path that will allow you to contain and control your anger. And in the Lord there is a way to contain and control the potentially destructive emotions like anger. It is by walking in the Spirit that this is possible, and I have written many times about this, so I won’t go into it again here.

Paul exhorts and encourages us to meet together so that we can gently assist and help those who have been overtaken in such things, and it does also include those who DO actually sin and need gentle instruction, prayer and assistance. But if we don’t come together, how is this possible?

This is why we need to come together, so that collectively we can restore balance in the church. The strong can help the weak, the rich can help the poor, the experienced can help the inexperienced, those with knowledge can help the ignorant, and all of us can pray together and seek the Lord for His intervention, understanding and will.

So do not fail to meet together. Help each other and pray for each other so the Lord can step in and establish, restore, strengthen and settle the members of the church together as He builds us into the Family of God.

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