Galatians 6 (1)

Pray Psalm 51.14, 15, 18.
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise…
Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.

Sing Psalm 51.14, 15, 18.
(Aughton: He Leadeth Me)
Deliver us, from guilt, O LORD, You Who have saved us by Your Word;
and let our tongues Your mercy bless, and sing of Your great righteousness!
Refrain vv. 15, 18
LORD, open now our lips to raise to You sweet songs of joyous praise!
Thus let Your favor on us fall, and build and strengthen Zion’s wall!

Read and meditate on Galatians 6.1.

Preparation
1. What are we supposed to do for one another?

2. How must we do it? 

Meditation
Paul was an excellent leader and shepherd. He never asked or expected of anyone something he had not done or was not willing to do himself. Confronting others in their sin is difficult enough. Doing it with a view of restoring their walk with the Lord, and doing this with gentleness and humility—that’s a tall order.

But Paul himself had done it with Peter (Gal. 2). Peter, for crying out loud! If Paul could restore Peter when he was “overtaken” in sin, we can restore one another.

Celtic Christians had a saying with respect to sin: contraries are by contraries cured. If someone is engaging in behavior that is contrary to the Law and Word of God, they must take up practices contrary to that to be restored. In the middle of the formula is that the “contrary” behavior should be exposed, and confession and repentance realized; and then a course of behavior “contrary” to the sinful walk should be agreed to according to the Word of God. You can see this pattern suggested in Galatians 5.16-23: not that, this.

The real challenge is the “restore” part. Because this can take some time, ongoing prayer, checking in (people don’t do what you expect, but what you inspect), and walking alongside the one who is being restored until complete restoration is achieved.

And, at all times, watch yourself, guard your heart, wait before the Lord to search your soul (Ps. 139.23, 24), and be vigilant against every temptation. Keeping our brothers in the Lord begins with keeping ourselves.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“If a man is overtaken in any trespass,
you who are spiritual restore such a one
in a spirit of gentleness,
considering yourself
lest you also be tempted” (Gal. 6.1).

Paul begins with an “if”, not assuming the worst, but just in case it happens here are the guidelines for restoration.
Next, he singles out the “spiritual”, or those filled with the Holy Spirit who are steeped in God’s Word for the “restoration project”.
Third, he offers guidance on how this correction should be done, “in a spirit of gentleness”; which is, after all, one of the fruits of the Spirit that Paul just laid out.
Fourth, he recommends that this be done whilst “considering yourself”. The Living Bible has a good take on this as it reads: “remembering that next time it might be one of you who is in the wrong”
Lastly, “lest you also be tempted” warns against falling into the same sin that your restoration-needing brother has fallen into.

But I think there are some other things we could be tempted to do in this situation:
Obviously, as we have said, to fall into the same sin.
But:
To be judgmental of our fallen brother;
To be lazy about the work of restoration;
To be tolerant of his trespass;
To be complacent about his fall;
And thus, if guilty, we let him fall further into his sin:
We dare not do this, for we are our brother’s keeper.

But:
Imagine with me this “If” scenario:
What if all believers took to heart Paul’s instruction in truth— “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit”? (Gal. 5.24, 25).
What if that were the case in all Churches?
What if we strove to be holy, above all, because that is what God requires of those in His Kingdom? (1 Pet. 1.16)
What if we set our hearts to follow His decrees daily, unto the very end? (Ps. 119.112)
What if we set the LORD always before us? (Ps. 16.8)
What if we love the LORD our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love our neighbor as we love ourselves? (Ex. 20.1-17; Matt. 22.37-40; Gal. 5.14)
What if we decided that we would never misuse God’s grace? (Gal. 5.13)
What if showing Jesus that we love Him is the preeminent thought and motive of our life? (Jn. 14.15)

If this were true, then we would never cause our brother a moment’s concern about us; and maybe, just maybe, our example would lead others to live in the same way, and the busyness involved in these “restoration projects” could then be better spent on living for God’s glory and winning souls for the Kingdom.

It’s an If/Then Scenario deserving attention.

Reflection
1. It’s hard to confront a fellow believer who is living in sin. Why? How can you overcome this reluctance?

2. How should you respond if someone comes convicting you of sin?

3. What are the best ways to help keep one another in the Jesus Path?

Paul does not say “punish” or “pass judgment” but “restore.” Nor did he even stop there, but showing that he strongly desired them to be patient with those who stumbled he adds “in a spirit of gentleness.” He does not say “in gentleness” but “in a spirit of gentleness,” showing that this also is the will of the Spirit and that the capacity to correct another’s faults is a spiritual gift. John Chrysostom (344-407), Homily on Galatians 6.1

Pray Psalm 51.15-19.
Pray that the Lord will use you today to build His Church. Prayerfully consider the opportunities before you for this day and how you might fulfill them for the Lord’s glory and the benefit of others.

Sing Psalm 51.15-19.
(Warrington: Give to Our God Immortal Praise)
No sacrifice, no offering would You have us, Your people, bring;
but broken spirits, cleansed of lies, and pure hearts You will not despise.
Refrain vv. 15, 18
LORD, open now our lips to raise to You sweet songs of joyous praise!
Thus let Your favor on us fall, and build and strengthen Zion’s wall!

Now build Your Church, raise high the wall of those who on Your mercy call.
And take our lives and let them be sweet sacrifices, LORD, to Thee!
Refrain

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.