Well, thankful again for the opportunity to open up the Word. We're going to start in Galatians 6 this afternoon as we look at a few more passages of Scripture as it relates to following that which is good, pursuing Christ's vision for His church. What is it that the church is to be doing? How is it that the church is to be doing it? We looked this morning at The fact that the church belongs to Jesus Christ. He is the one who gets to determine those kinds of things. And then we spent some time thinking about what it might mean for us to care for one another and how we might care for one another. And we're going to look at another aspect of that in Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6. verses 1, 2, and 3. We're just going to look at the first three verses. Galatians 6, verse 1, Paul says, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a foal, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." So we have an obvious one another passage here, but we have a passage that articulates something that the church ought to be involved in. It's just worth making the connection. If you've been here on Wednesday nights and particularly the last six months or so, as we've slowly worked our way through Galatians 5, 16 through 26, at least in substance, It's worth connecting the context of Galatians 6 is Galatians 5. He is speaking to those who he has just instructed not to walk in the flesh, but to walk in the spirit. He's speaking to those who he has encouraged to really to put on the fruit of the Spirit as it relates to their character, and that's just the church. So he gets to Galatians 6, and we want to answer a couple of questions here to kind of help us out with the passage. So question number one, as far as Galatians 6 goes, in the work of spiritual restoration, The question here is, who is Paul addressing? Who is it that Paul says ought to be restoring those who are overtaken? Who is he giving this instruction to? And it's Relations 1.1, first word, brethren. That could be brothers and sisters. He's talking to the church. He's talking to Christians who have joined themselves together as the church. He says, brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual and some of you have heard me say this plenty of times, but. The little phrase there, ye who are spiritual, that does not mean you who are more spiritual than others. That's not a descriptive statement of spiritual maturity. It could also be translated ye who are of the Spirit. In other words, you who have the Spirit of God residing in you, restore such a one. We could just say it this way. Christians, those who have the Spirit of God abiding in them, dwelling in them. If you've been equipped with the Spirit, then this is who Paul is talking to. It's not some sort of spiritually elite people. Now, that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to grow in our skill, but it does mean Paul is talking to the church here. He's not just talking to the pastors. He's not just talking to the people who are on the front lines. He's talking to the entire body of believers who have covenanted together, who are indwelt by the Spirit of God. Now, second question. What is Paul addressing? Who's he talking to? He's talking to believers. What is he addressing? Well, he's addressing a person who has been overtaken in a fault. That is, a person who has been overtaken in a sin or a trespass. The picture here is not someone who committed one sin one time. It's someone who's been overtaken. They are caught or they are enslaved to a particular sin. They have done this willfully, but this is an individual who is in bad shape, spiritually speaking. And one of the implications that we can take from Galatians 6 is that we are, as the church, we are responsible to try to care for the spiritual well-being of our members. What is it now? And I'll make a couple of application points here. What is it that Paul is calling the church to do? So he's addressing the church. He is addressing how they interact with those who have been overtaken in a fault. What is it that they should be doing? Well, Paul's instruction here is that they help to gently restore the individual. Now, let me Let me just make a comment or two before I talk about this gently restoring. The church ought to be ready to work toward the restoration of anyone who is willing and repentant. But you know, the church can't restore anybody on their own. I mean that in a couple of ways. Number one, Christ has to be working. The Spirit of God has to be present in the individual. The individual has to be willing to be restored. The church can be firing on all cylinders trying to provide all the care that's necessary to help someone who's been overtaken in a fault. But if that individual is dug in and stubbornly holding on to their sin, there's not a thing in the world the church can do. And then we move forward into other which would be church discipline. But the point that I want to make on just the front end is we're thinking about how is it that the church deals with people who have been overtaken in a sin. There is a responsibility on the church to be willing to do our part. So sometimes people say, well, that's not my problem. That's their problem. There's nothing I can do about this. That's that. They don't even try. Well, it's not honoring to Christ, and it's certainly not in line with what He's called us to do. But then there are times where the church bends over backwards trying to care for somebody that does not want to be cared for. And in that case, it takes a little wisdom, takes a little discernment. It's a judgment call. But in that case, after a little bit of time, then we turn that individual, 1 Corinthians 5, we turn that individual over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the Spirit may be saved in the day of Christ. So it's a two-way street. If there's no effort on the individual's part, the church can be as faithful as the church wants to be. Nothing's going to happen. Doesn't mean that Christ or the spirit can't do something and change the person's heart. It just means the church in and of itself doesn't have the power to do any of that. The spirit has to be blessing. The individual has to be willing. So the church is called to gently restore the individual. Here's why that's important, what I just said. Because if we understand that the church is responsible for doing the church's part, and the individual is responsible to do their part, then as we're seeking to restore someone who's caught in sin, we're not trying to motivate them through anger. We're not trying to motivate them through manipulation. We're not pretending like God has put all of this on our shoulders and everything's banking on us. The truth is, as it relates to the church, we're called to be faithful. And what it looks like for a church to be successful is for a church to be obedient. Sometimes you labor and you labor and you labor, and things do not work out the way you hoped they would. But you're still faithful. And God calls that successful. So, since we're seeking to be faithful, since we realize God's not putting all His eggs in our basket, then we can seek to gently restore a stubborn sinner. Now that word for gentle gently restored. In secular Greek writings, that same word is used to refer to a doctor resetting a broken bone. So this is how Paul says you're to restore such a one. It's a gentle restoration. That is, it's to be done with precision, You can imagine a doctor trying to reset a broken bone who just sloppily puts something in. I mean, it's got to fit up just right so that it heals right. So it's got to be done with precision, but it also has to be done with gentleness so you don't do more damage than is already done. So when you think about that as it relates to the church helping to restore someone who has been overtaken in a fall, are overtaken in his sin. It means that the church needs to be skilled in applying God's Word with precision. That is, we need to know what does God's Word say about this particular individual's circumstance. We could tell somebody to repent, but you know, repentance doesn't always look the same way. Depending on the circumstance, it looks a whole lot different. There are safeguards that you put into place for people who have been enslaved to sin, and those safeguards are going to look different as it relates to different sins. One of the ways and one of the safeguards that God has given us as it relates to sin is the ability to exercise wisdom. And as we try to apply wisdom to an individual's life who has been caught in sin, That can look very different for different people in different scenarios. And so there needs to be precision. It doesn't mean there's only one verse that would count, but it does mean we can't be haphazard. If someone's caught and enslaved to sin, we don't say, repent and go read the book of Matthew. If someone's caught and enslaved to sin, We say, let's go to Matthew chapter, I'm just using an example. Let's go to Matthew chapter five and let's figure out specifically how this speaks into your situation and how you can apply it. And then let's come up with a plan so that we can hold you accountable and see visible results. Do you know repentance is visible? When somebody repents, it's visible. You can see it. A lot of times people say, I've had people say this to me before. Well, you don't know what's in my heart. You can't see my heart. And I said, no, but I can see your fruit and your fruit is an indication of what's in your heart. And so repentance is visible. What's in the heart will come out. And the the the root, which is the heart, is always producing the fruit, which is what you see and what you hear. And so this individual who's caught in a sin needs to be restored with precision, but also with gentleness, with gentleness. Then the question is, how is Paul calling the church to perform this? in humility." Now, gentleness is obviously part of it, but he calls us in a spirit of meekness. If you remember, if you were here when we were talking about meekness out of Galatians 5, it's the opposite of sinful anger. And then in verse 3, he says, if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. So we go back to what we were saying this morning as far as Christ did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. We don't seek to restore folks. The church doesn't seek to care for people out of a spirit of superiority. The reality is anybody in this room could be enslaved to any sin known to man outside of the restraining grace of God. That's just the truth. I could be and you could be. And as we seek to minister to someone who has been caught in a sin, we need to go into that with that reality guiding not only how we're thinking, but how we're acting. It's easy to get disgusted with people. Who are enslaved with sin, but you think about how often really even every second of your life, God could be disgusted with you. Were it not for the blood of Christ that covers you. And when we're dealing with a blood-bought child of God, we should not approach an individual who's caught in a sin under those circumstances. We should not approach them with disgust, but with grace, with meekness, with humility, as we seek the work of restoration and care. As you know, I mean, this church is not a foreign concept as far as trying to care for people, and work with people through difficult circumstances, and people who have been enslaved in different sins, and so forth and so on. You know, particularly if you've had a behind-the-scenes look at what all goes into this, Galatians 6 work is long, messy, oftentimes three steps forward, two steps back kind of work. And one question is, why in the world would the church go through all the mess and stress of trying to restore an individual like that? It's not fun. It's not glamorous. And the road to restoration often seems like it's not even going to be rewarding. You know, people are flaky. You know that? People are flaky. You're flaky. I'm flaky. We all are. So it never looks like this. It's a lot of this. Why would we do that? Well, the reason we would do that. Look in Galatians chapter 5 verses 13 and 14. Where Paul says for brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another, for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Why would a church go through all the mess and stress of trying to restore an individual? To fulfill the law of Christ, that's why. to love your neighbor. Not to fulfill the law in order to somehow gain status with Christ, but to prioritize what He prioritizes. To seek to please Him in the way that we interact with one another. And restoration is certainly going to be part of that. So the Galatians 6 model of caring for those who have been caught or entrapped, overtaken in a fault, And then go back to 1 Thessalonians 5, and we're just going to look at the different ways this passage articulates the way that we could be caring for each other, and then we'll be done. Things that we are to be doing. So Galatians 5 verse 11. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do." First task in this passage, wherefore, comfort. As members of the body of Christ and members of one another, one of the things that we are called to do in our normal interaction with each other is to try to seek and comfort as we have opportunity. What does the word comfort mean? Well, it means to give strength. To strengthen with a word. It's very close to the word encourage. And what is the word encourage? It just means to impart courage to someone. To use your words to stir someone to continue to move forward when they think they can. It's using your words and actions to stir up another individual to take one more step in the right direction. So to comfort and to encourage. Sometimes people shy away from comfort or encouragement because they think they don't know what to say. And the reason they think they don't know what to say is because they think the task is to make everything better in three sentences or less. And that's just not reality. You can't make anything better no matter how many sentences you use. But you can help give someone the strength to take another step in the right direction. To even turn and move toward the Lord in their sorrow, in their suffering, so forth and so on. So that's comfort. Secondly, in that verse, 2 Thessalonians, I'm sorry, 1 Thessalonians 5 11. Not only are we to comfort ourselves together, we're to edify one another. OK, that's just an umbrella term. It just means to build up or to embolden in the truth. And it's important to make the connection that edification always happens through the truth. You are edified by the truth. That's what builds you up. That's what Christ uses to build up His church in maturity. So you are knowing the truth. You are understanding the truth. You are applying the truth. You are walking in the truth. You are ministering the truth. But all of this is built around the truth. Edification is not just you coming up with something that you think might help somebody. It's you speaking truth in love and giving the right word at the right time, using the right truth. So again, it takes precision and it takes skill. And it's not rocket science, but it's also not you just throwing out homespun wisdom. So edification. Verse 12. and we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you." Now, this particular passage is talking about knowing your pastor. But just in a general sense, as we think about what it means to be able to interact with each other in a biblical way, we need to know one another. We need to work to know one another. Now, the word there means to consider and work to understand another individual. To consider and work, really we could say to consider and work hard to understand an individual. This would be the opposite of a rash judgment. Sometimes people think that they're gifted with the ability to just very quickly size somebody up and know everything about them. There are times where the Lord gives us discernment, and sometimes we're right, sometimes we're wrong. But as it relates to a church member, your knowledge of an individual should never be restricted to whatever your 30-second sizing up was of that person. You need to be interacting with that person. You need to be seeking to understand that person and grow in that. You've heard me say this before. But there's a lot of people in life that you just don't get and you just don't understand, and same here. But one of the things that I've found over time is if you work hard enough, not only can you understand another person, but you can appreciate them in areas that really rubbed you the wrong way at one time when you didn't understand why they were doing what they were doing or what their thought process was. So the labor of understanding a person cannot be overemphasized. That's one of the things we ought to be doing with each other. Who are they to know? Well, they're to know those who labor among them. Again, that's talking about pastors in this particular situation, but more than the pastors are laboring in the church. And so you should have an area where you're seeking to labor. That just means to work hard, to labor, to be weary, to work to the point of exhaustion. You know, God has a job for every person that He brings into the church. Again, Ephesians 4-7, if you have been given the Spirit of God, you've also been gifted by the Spirit of God so that you might edify the church. And so, labor. We ought to be laboring. And again, the work is hard. It can be enjoyable, but the fact that it's difficult is not an indication that it's the wrong thing. You know, I've been outspoken about this for the last six years, probably even before that. But, you know, I love being a pastor. If I could choose one thing to do, it would be this. But you know, not every day is an easy day. There are some things that are just hard. They're difficult. And sometimes people have a romanticized view that, you know, if God's called you to something, you're just going to love it. Find what you love. You'll never work a day in your life. You know, eventually you're going to have to wake up from that dream. Life is hard work. Anything that's worth anything got that way because of hard work. Marriage is hard work. Find somebody you love. You'll never have to work a day in your life. How's that worked out? That you work. You have to work. Raising kids. You love your kids. You've got to work. You love the church. You have to work and labor in order to fulfill what God has called us to. So it's hard work. It's not always enjoyable work, but it's always good work because it's the work that God's given us. Verse 12, We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Admonishment would be Another one of those areas. It just means to warn, to caution, to reprove. Verse 14, now we exhort you, brethren. The work of exhortation. These are ways that we're ministering to one another. Exhortation, that word just means a call to action. A call to action. You ever known anybody that had all the best plans, but never got around to doing one of them? Sometimes we can have armchair quarterbacks in the church that know how things ought to be going to make things way better than they are, but they never want to do a thing. There's nothing wrong with planning. If you've been here long enough, you know I plan at the beginning of the year. We don't always hit all those plans, but I think it's good to plan and to try to aim for something. But you've got to do more than just plan. You've got to put those plans into action. And that's as it relates to growth. That's as it relates to all kinds of different areas. So exhortation. And then we have the last four that are in verse 14. We exhort you, brethren, warn, warn the unruly. It just means to confront, to correct. That usually is not going to be very effective if you don't already have a prior relationship with that individual. If it's just a stranger or if it's somebody that you have a superficial relationship with, more than likely a confrontation and a warning is not going to go very far. Secondly, comfort the feeble-minded. Again, it just means to encourage or console the faint-hearted. And then support the weak. That is, support those who are, or help those who are feeble, sick, or without strength. And then number 10, be patient toward all men. Long-suffering. Okay, so if we're going to be doing the work that we've been called to do, one of the things that, and you've heard me say this a thousand times out of Ephesians chapter 4, one of the things that is an essential is patience. A couple of reasons. One, because if we've been made part of the church of God, we're in it for the long haul. This is not a on-season, off-season kind of thing. We're in it for the long haul. And then number two, we're going to be trying to figure it out until the day we die. There are no pros here. Somebody's going to think they need to give a warning when they actually need to be comforting, and you're going to have to be patient. Somebody is going to think that their gift is the gift of critique and criticism, and that's immaturity, and you're going to have to be patient. The point is, I mean, we could go through all these, but the point is we are figuring this out and will continue to figure this out until the day that we die. Many of these things are skills that we grow in. And so as we seek to follow that which is good and pursue Christ's vision for his church, we're invested in number one, obeying Christ and what it is that he's called us to do. And then number two, caring for one another. and growing in our care for one another from a biblical perspective. Let's pray. Father, again, we're thankful for Your Word and we're thankful for the calling that You've given us. And I pray that You would bless us with really the character to be able to fulfill such a calling. The patience and the long-suffering and the endurance the forbearance, and the meekness, and the humility, and all these other things, the exhortations that we need, all those things, Father, we freely confess that in and of ourselves, we will not last long. But through the encouragement of the Word, the power of the Spirit, and the stirring up of one another, would you bless us to be what you called us to be, I pray in Jesus' name, amen.