THE ONE TRUE GOSPEL
Meditations in the Epistle to the Galatians
Galatians 6:1-5
CHRISTIAN RELATIONSHIPS

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THESE FIVE verses are deeply profound and tremendously important. Paul is speaking of how we relate to other believers and how we relate to or view ourselves. In both these areas of relationship Christians most often fail, and not only fail but are unable to perceive their failure. It is plain that the Apostle addressed these relationships here because he perceived the need of it in the case of the church in Galatia.

RELATING TO OTHER CHRISTIANS

There are two directions of relating to others that Paul mentions here. The first one is how we relate to other believers in their failure and sin. The other is how we relate to other believers in their needs, whether they are spiritual or temporal. Although the two directions of relating hang together and are part of the whole way we should relate to other believers, they need to be looked at separately in order not to miss the force of what Paul is urging upon us.

1. Relating to believers when they sin.

The Apostle speaks of a believer being caught in a sin. The Apostle is not thinking here of the general fact that every day and every hour, however holy we are, we fall short of the glory of God. We struggle against pride, sloth, lack of caring, coldness of heart towards God, and so much more. We repent all the time for this, and it causes us to lean more and more heavily on the merits of Christ for us by which alone we are accounted righteous in the sight of God, and we adore the Lord so much more for the depth of his love and grace towards us in Christ.

What the Apostle is speaking about in these words is when a Christian is overcome by some particular sin. Perhaps a Christian has been tempted to steal, or tempted into adultery. Perhaps a Christian has been overcome by the devil in the case of particular lack of love towards another believer and is deliberately sinning in despising and rejecting that person. It may be a failure at work to work as a Christian should and give full measure for the wages received. It may be a failure in service where a Christian is selfishly refusing serve in the body of Christ, and so contribute to the health of the whole fellowship. There are so many ways we believers can fail, and fail seriously.

Let us notice that Paul shows us that Christians, who are real believers and justified by the merits of Christ, can and do sin deliberately from time to time, and often go on in this sin for quite some time. They do not cease to be the Lord's people. They are still justified of all things through the work of Christ for them. They are still beloved of the Lord. However they are grieving the Lord, hurting their own spiritual lives, and bringing dishonour on the Lord and his church. It is because of this, such believers need to be restored.

Notice how the Apostle speaks. He speaks of restoration. He is not speaking of judgement and rejection and condemnation and censure. Paul is not saying that the minister of the church or the elders should come down heavily on such a believer with discipline and excommunication, or even heavy condemnation and accusations of guilt. He speaks of restoration. This means restoring the one who has sinned to the condition of holiness before the Lord which has been lost by the sinning. Notice Paul speaks of restoring gently. So often when a believer does sin in a particular way, the sin is known and grieved over, but the believer just does not have the strength or the knowledge of how to put things right. This restoring is, therefore, to bring back the believer into the joy of the Lord which has been lost by the sinning.

This restoring is action of love and caring, of drawing near gently, and of bringing understanding and support, helping the sinning believer to see the Lord and his love and grace. None of us have any right to condemn another believer or despise another believer when sin is perceived. All of us have failed grievously from time to time. We may very soon sin grievously again because of the weakness of our flesh and need restoring ourselves. All of us depend entirely on the grace and love of Christ who has saved us by his blood. We have no right to condemn and look down on another believer, because it is un-Christlike. Christ does not look down and condemn; instead he loves and gently restores.

In fact the way of condemnation and censure is counter productive. It may coerce the one sinning into outward correction and repentance, but does nothing to promote true holiness. What promotes real holiness is the love of Christ shown in the caring love which draws near to the sinner and seeks to restore gently. Yet how little of this 'gently restoring' do we see in the fellowship of the church, and how often do we see self-righteous condemnation instead.

2. Relating to believers in their need.

The Apostle talks of bearing one another's burdens, by doing this, Paul says, we will be fulfilling the law of Christ. The law of Christ was given by Jesus to his disciples just before he went to the cross. He washed their feet. He did the humble menial task which the disciples were all too proud to do for each other. Jesus then said to them that they must act to each other as he had acted to them. He was demonstrating his love to them. Then later in the same chapter (John 13:34) he says, "A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another."

In one sense this was not a new commandment. The ten commandments are based on love. They tell us to love God with all our heart and soul and body and mind, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. However the newness is in the depth of the love that Jesus presses on us. In the decalogue we are only called to love others as we love ourselves. Jesus now tells us to love each other with the same depth of love that he has loved us. The depth of Jesus' love is that he was willing to die and suffer hell that we may live.

Bearing each others burdens is to love our fellow Christians with the same sort of love with which Jesus has loved us. This is so demanding, for it calls us to sacrifice for other believers. Bearing burdens is costly. We are not called upon to save them. The problems which people have to bear are usually beyond our power to overcome them, whether they are bodily burdens or ones of the mind or the spirit. What we are called upon to do is to draw near to others in their suffering and seek so to love them, that we in some measure take some of the load of pain and suffering they are experiencing upon ourselves, and so ease for a time the burden they are carrying.

This bearing of others burdens requires the sacrifice of our time and of our own needs and pleasures. So often we are so reluctant to give up our own time and wants for the burdens of other people. Then so often we shrink from the cost of bearing anothers burdens. There is only one way by which we can increase in bearing each others burdens, and that is by looking deeply into the bearing of our burdens by Christ. We need to see continually the way he bore our sins in his body on the cross. We need to look at the cross and see him suffering there in our place, that we might be saved from pain and be given the bliss of heaven. It is only as we see the depth of Christ loving us that we will be able to love and carry the burdens of others. We don't bear the burdens of others first and foremost for their sake, but for the sake of Jesus. In fact by bearing their burdens we are reflecting Christ's love to them and to the world.

RELATING TO OURSELVES

If we are to relate to other believers in a Christlike fashion then we need to heed and apply the exhortation which Paul gives here about our attitude concerning ourselves. Paul's words all centre around verse 3 where he says "If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself."

We bring so much pain both upon ourselves and upon others by believing we are better than we are. In one sense the pain we bring on ourselves is our own affair, but the trouble is that when we imagine we are more skilled or important than we are, we bring pain and suffering on others. The pain is caused amongst those who have to deal with us and suffer our illusions of grandeur. The pain is also upon those who suffer because of the illusion that we are better than we are.

This is particularly relevant concerning Paul's words upon restoring gently those who are caught in a sin. Paul addresses this in the latter part of verse 1 where he says, "but watch yourself or you also may be tempted." It is a desperately common failing amongst Christians that they feel competent to judge a situation in another persons life and to come to certain conclusions about it. They fall into the trap of sinful pride and self assurance, which then makes judgements and gives advice which is both hurtful and harmful. In fact there is a great need when we are dealing with fellow believers, both in their failings and in their troubles, to understand that it is impossible for any person, however mature or knowledgeable, to understand more than the smallest fraction of the situation of another person, and all the experiences and problems that have led up to it. The Lord alone is able to judge a situation and alone has the right and authority to do so. It is also true that only the Lord, and certainly not another believer, who is wise enough to give advice and instructions as to how anyone should live or act. Paul's words about restoring gently surely means that our ministry is no more than drawing near to the one in sin or in need and gently making ourselves available for the one we are seeking to help, so that this hurting one is able to be open and use us as means whereby they can think through openly all that the Spirit of God is saying to them. We seem to assume that when a person is caught in a sin, or is in trouble, that the Holy Spirit is ceasing his ministry of love and correction, of guidance and caring. It is the Spirit who does the healing. We simply are a catalyst for the needy one to be able to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying.

Christians are too ready to give advice and to tell others what they should do. None of us, however wise, have the ability to tell another person what is right for their lives. To believe that we have this ability is to think we are something when we are not. We deceive ourselves.

There is a danger, unless we are truly humble, in seeking to coerce people into what suits us best, or what we feel is best, when the truth is that what we think is best may be far from what is God's best. We can only share our insights humbly believing and praying that the Holy Spirit will guide and restore in every situation which concerns another believer.

Paul's advice in verse 4 about each one testing his own actions is so important. Our motives need always to be suspect and to be tested. So often the way we deal with others is far from being free from some bias or other. Sometimes we act with others for our own glory, and to bring kudos to ourselves or for our own convenience. Sometimes we are concerned with our own peace or the defence of our own concerns and not simply for the good of others. Other times we simply imagine we know when we don't.

As Paul points out in the second part of verse 4, so often we act because we want to be better or more important than others, and what we say, and the advice we give, and the way we deal with people, is more concerned with seeking to be better or more important than others.

When Paul says at the end of these verses that we all must carry our own loads, surely he is saying that we are responsible for the way we act, particularly in the way we deal with others in their needs. There must be a total exclusion of self when we seek to help others, and there must be a total exclusion of self interest also.

When we seek to restore another gently, or when we seek to carry other's burdens, we must have only the love of Christ for them in our hearts. We must also have no confidence in ourselves, but be leaning only on Jesus, and having our trust and confidence only in him. When we draw near to people in need we need to be much in prayer, with holy fear seeking that the Lord may have hold of us, and control of us, and that all our actions and thoughts and words may be of him and from him. It is only then, when we relate to ourselves in a humble and loving fashion that we will relate in a Christlike way to people either when they sin or when they are in need.