Gal 6:1-10
Helping A Brother

Tonight, I want to speak to Christians.  If you are an unsaved
person, we are honored to have you in our service but tonight’s
message is to Christians.

I believe that there is nothing more Christ-like for a Christian than
to help someone else. That is what Jesus did for us. He saw us in
need and He helped us. As sinners, He paid our debt. He did not ask
us if we wanted it paid. He just paid it. He did not insist that we
accept His payment. He just paid it. He did not make a lot of
conditions for the payment. He just paid it. He paid the debt to help
us. We are never more Christ-like than when we help someone else.

It is interesting that as I was reading this chapter, I noticed
repeated references to helping each other. This is not going to be an
extremely deep or spiritual message. They do not all need to be so.
Some need to be plain and very practical. This is one of those. Let’s
note some help that we need to give to others.

I. \\#Gal 6:1\\ We need to help those in sin.
    A. This is a book written to Christians and it is primarily about
        Christians.
        1. Certainly, we need to help non-Christians deal with sin as
            well.
            a. They need to be told and encouraged to accept Jesus.
            b. However, that is not what Paul was talking about here.
        2. Here, Paul’s topic is that Christians need to give help to
            Christians who are in sin.
        3. The thought here is not a willful, intentional sin but
            an unintentional yet several sin.
            a. "fault" - Side step; It implies an accidental step.
                Yet the end is the same.  The person fell.
            b. "Overtaken" - defeated, conquered.
        4. That is a very bad situation to be in but it happens and
            happens often.   Well meaning Christians make mistakes
            that lead them down paths of sin.
            a. Perhaps they trusted the wrong person.
            b. Perhaps they took a foolish risk.
            c. Perhaps they neglected something very important.
        5. For whatever the reason, they are now fallen into the pit
            of sin.
        6. What are God’s people to do?
    B. Restore him or her.
        1. That is the end result.
            a. Work to get them back in a good relationship with
                Christ.
            b. Even a good Christian may need help recovering from a
                fall.
            c. Christians, we need to work to help the other members
                of the body.
        2. What are some specifics that we can do to help restore a
            fallen brother or sister?
            a. We can pray for them.
                (1) We come again to this term, intercessory prayer.
                (2) We go to God and we plead for our brother or
                     sister on their behalf.  That is intercession.
                (3) If there is no other kind of prayer that you need
                     to offer—if you personally have no needs, no
                     blessings to thank God for, no praise or worship
                     to give—there is always someone you know for
                     whom you can intercede.
                (4) We can intercede for Christians that have fallen,
                     for Christians that are weak,
                     for Christians that are struggling in any area
                      of their lives (work, finances, children,
                      marriage, health).
                (5) We can intercede for lost people that are lost.
                (6) It think we missed this in our last revival.  We
                     need to rededicate these steps as an intercession
                     altar, a place where we will come EVERY
                     service and weep and pray for someone else!
            b. We will pray and hold them accountable.
                (1) I am not saying we should judge and condemn. That
                     is what the world wants us to think when this
                     topic is brought up but it is not the same.
                (2) Matt 18:15 sets up what to do if a brother sins
                     AGAINST you, but it also applies to if a person
                     sins AGAINST themselves.

Matt 18:15  Moreover if thy brother shall
trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault
between thee and him alone: if he shall hear
thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

                (3) God see them, as the Bible says here, in the
                     spirit of meekness realizing that it could be
                     you that had fallen.
                (4) So this is an errand of love not condemnation.
                (5) A few months ago, a preacher friend send me a
                     message, saying he did not mean to pry, to
                     meddle, or to get into my business but the felt
                     I ought to know something.  He added that he did
                     not want to offend me but was just concerned
                     for me.  Then he shared something that I did
                     know and was important.  I wrote him back and
                     asked, "How could I be upset with someone who
                     is trying to look after me in love?"
                (6) I know people who are in willful sin often get
                     angry when you try to help them but don’t let
                     that stop you from loving them enough to help
                     them—go talk to them.

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so
fulfil the law of Christ.

                (7) Doing these kinds of things to help a fallen
                     brother or sister is the "law of Christ."
                     (a) There is no specific law to which this
                          refers.
                     (b) It is another application of loving another
                          as you would love yourself.
                     (c) It is the right thing to do.
            c. Forgive and comfort them when they turn to God.
                (1) Paul speaking to Corinth about a brother that had
                     been disciplined to get him to return to Jesus,
                     wrote:

2Cor 2:7  So that contrariwise ye ought rather
to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps
such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch
sorrow.

                (2) He was saying that since the brother had
                     returned, the issue is finished.
                (3) Now forgive him and love him.
                (4) The past is the past.  We may learn from it.  We
                     may become wiser for having lived through it;
                     but it is not to hinder our present
                     relationships—especially in the body of Christ.

II. \\#Gal 6:2\\ We need to help those under a burden.
    A. A burden can be any kind of a load.
        1. It can be anything that weighs on the heart, the mind, or
            the body.
        2. It can be financial or mental, physical or spiritual,
            personal or in the outlaying family.
    B. How is the Christian to help one under a burden?  We are to
        help bear it.
        1. If it is financial, we share it.
        2. If it is physical, we help lift it.
        3. If it is spiritual, we pray for it.
    C. Whatever we can do, we should DO it.
        1. A woman did what she could.

Mark 14:8  She hath done what she could: she is
come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.

        2. Sometimes we just need to do what we can.

In 1994, Mr. Alter’s fifth-grade class at Lake Elementary School in
Oceanside, California, included fourteen boys who had no hair. Only
one, however, had no choice in the matter. Ian O’Gorman, undergoing
chemotherapy for lymphoma, faced the prospect of having his hair fall
out in clumps. So he had his head shaved. But then 13 of his
classmates shaved their heads, so Ian wouldn’t feel out of place. "If
everybody has his head shaved, sometimes people don’t know who’s
who," said 11-year-old Scott Sebelius in an Associated Press story.
"They don’t know who has cancer, and who just shaved their head."
Ten-year-old Kyle Hanslik started it all. He talked to some other
boys, and before long they all trekked to the barber shop. "The last
thing he would want is to not fit in," said Kyle. "We just wanted to
make him feel better." Ian’s father, Shawn, choked back tears as he
talked about what the boys had done. He said simply, "It’s hard to
put words to." (Sherman L. Burford, Fairmont, West Virginia.
Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 3.).
http://www.bibleteacher.org/Gal06_05.htm

    D. To do this, we must do some things.
        1. We must be thoughtful.  We must think about others and
            what they are going through.  The best way to do this is
            again by intercessory prayer.  Call the names of the
            people you know before God and think about what you know
            they are going through.  Ask God to reveal such things to
            you and then ask God to help them and to help you to help
            them.
        2. Don’t volunteer.  If you think of something that is
            needed, just do it.  Need seen.  Assignment given.
        3. Don’t expect thanks or recognition.

III. \\#Gal 6:4-5\\ We need to help those who need some character.
    A. As there are people who need help with sin and with burdens,
        so we soon find out that some people need help with growing
        up too.
        1. The body of Christ is made up of all kinds of lives.
        2. Sin took us all down a different path.  Some sin made to
            work too much.  Some sin made to work too little.  Some
            people.  We want to help all Christians—indeed, all
            people—to be the best they can be whether they like it
            or not.
    B. The best help you can give to some people is to quit helping
        them.
        1. I know that sounds like a contradiction but it is not.
        2. Note \\#2, 5\\.  They also look like contradictions, but
            they are not either.
        3. They both mean that some people need to be forced to take
            responsibility for their actions and if you keep doing it
            all for them, they never will.
    C. What do you give a person who does for himself?
        1. \\#4\\ "rejoicing in himself and not in another."
        2. There is a joy that comes from being able to do for
            yourself.
        3. Sometimes people get lazy and they would rather have
            someone else do it instead, but if you love them, you
            can’t help them be that way.
    D. If you love them, make them bear their own burden.

IV. \\#Gal 6:10\\ We need to help everyone by doing them good when we
     have an opportunity.
     A. Just do people good instead of bad.
         1. You can do good when they have a need.  We have mentioned
             some of the kinds of needs already.
         2. You can also do them good by the way you greet and speak
             to them.
             a. Smile at them instead of frown.
             b. Encourage them instead of cut on them.
             c. Build them up instead of tearing them down.
         3. Just try to leave people better than when you found them.
     B. And if you get an opportunity to do something better for a
         person, do it.
         1. Sit with someone hurting.
         2. Buy someone a tank of gasoline.
         3. Recommend a brother for a job.
         4. Give someone a coat on a winter’s day.
         5. Let someone walk under your umbrella.
         6. Hold the door open for someone.
     C. The goal is just to be kind and helpful to everyone we meet,
         but especially to the saved!

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