Galatians 6:1
Putting Humpty Dumpty Together
We are in the last chapter of this epistle and like with all books,
this book has a purpose and follows a train of thought to accomplish
that purpose.
In chapters 1-4, Paul set about to accomplish his main purpose which
was to ask and answer the question that was raging through the
churches in Galatia, i.e. "How far into Judaism does one have to go
to be saved?" The answer was none at all. Not only can the Law not
save us, but our attempts to keep it in our own strength and
ability, will not please God.
In chapter 5, Paul told the churches what they needed to do. He gave
them three thoughts:
1. \\#5:1\\ They needed to stand in the liberty given to them by
Jesus.
2. \\#5:5-6\\ They needed to live by faith. Paul did not spend
much time on that because that was not the issue for these
churches; but he did mentioned it, and it is an essential
key to living the Christian life.
3. \\#5:16\\ They needed to walk in the Spirit.
The last command is very important because obeying it gives Christian
the desire and the ability to do what Paul began to teach in this
last chapter.
In chapter 6, Paul taught the church that they must put their
churches back together again. You do remember Humpty Dumpty’s rhyme?
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.
For the most part, it is not difficult to start to church. For the
most part, it is not difficult to grow a church to a sustainable
size. What is difficult, is to keep a church together.
People, even saved people, are far from perfect. Problems arise.
Feelings get hurt; and I don’t care who you are, our nature wants to
quit, to leave. The only way to keep a church together is for the
people to deny their nature, and to walk in God’s. That is what Paul
meant when he said, "Walk in the Spirit."
The Galatian churches had been divided and broken. If you have ever
been a part of a church division and especially a church split, you
know this feels.
1. A church is a like a home.
2. A split is like a divorce.
3. And a divorce is like reaching over with your right arm and
ripping off your left arm.
People who were once the best of friends were now enemies. Some of
them even counted Paul as their enemy:
Gal 4:16 Am I therefore become your enemy,
because I tell you the truth?
How does one put a broken church back together again? in
\\#Gal 6:1-10\\, Paul gave some eight helps.
I. \\#1\\ Restore the Wrong
Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a
fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an
one in the spirit of meekness; considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
A. I have and want to emphasize that this chapter is not standing
alone.
1. We preachers often pull verses out of its context and
preach messages and even series of messages on isolated
thoughts from a verse.
2. However, Paul had a reason for writing these thoughts.
a. Some people in the church had been wrong.
b. Some people in the church had been wronged.
c. And some people had done the wronging.
3. Paul wanted all three of these groups joined together
again
4. It is interesting that the same Paul who spared no
severity in calling out the wrongs earlier now spares no
mercy in calling on the spiritual to restore them.
B. Notice who Paul placed the responsibility for restoring the
church.
1. There are two parties mentioned in this verse:
a. The spiritual and those involved in the fault.
b. The spiritual should be those who were right in this
situation and those who were at fault those who were
wrong.
(1) The fault that Paul was speaking of was not the
returning to an old vice or giving in to a new
temptation.
(2) How do I know? Because though this whole letter
Paul was only correcting one issue, i.e. the
false teaching about the Law and salvation.
(3) Paul had those who had gotten their theology
wrong and with it had either split a church
or came near to splitting one.
c. Notice Paul placed the responsibility for restoring
the church on the shoulders of those who had been
right all along.
2. Keep that thought in mind for a moment.
C. Consider what the call for restoration would demand:
1. First it would demand forgiveness.
a. It gets hard quick.
b. Before these churches can be restored, someone is
going to have to get them started forgiving one
another.
c. Whose job is that? The spiritual, the ones who were
right all along.
d. Let us learn an important lesson:
(1) No Christian gets a "keep your bitterness" care
just because they are the injured party—not
even if you were right.
(2) It is the command of Christ and the duty of every
Christian to demonstrate the forgiveness of God
no matter who has hurt us, no matter how badly
we have been hurt, and no matter how difficult
it is.
e. Paul knew something about these kinds of situations.
(1) He had a similar situation occur at Corinth and
demonstrated there what he was teaching here.
(a) We have a problem, an offense against
Paul….
2 Cor 2:5 But if any have caused grief, he hath
not grieved me, but in part….
(b) We have a command and a reason.
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.
(c) We have an example.
10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also:
for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it,
for your sakes forgave I it in the person of
Christ;
(2) Paul had to demonstrate forgiveness often.
2. A second step that Paul will mention next is reaching out
or identifying with the others.
a. Someone has to reach across the divide, not as a judge
to a convict but as a brother to a brother.
b. Paul will mention that in a moment, but I believe this
is where it occurs in the process so I will only
mention it here.
3. The last step is to effect the actual restoration.
a. Strong’s defines the word as "to complete thoroughly
as in to repair or to adjust, to fit, to frame, to
mend perfectly."
b. The thought is to join the bend and broken pieces of
the now fragmented churches together so perfectly
that you would not even be able to see where the
cracks used to be.
c. Let me tell you that such things are not possible from
an earthly perspective; but by walking in the Holy
Ghost, what is impossible for man is easily
accomplished by God.
II. \\#2\\ Reach Out or Identify with the others
Gal 6:2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so
fulfil the law of Christ.
A. Paul’s command is that we reach out to those left with a
burden.
1. Notice there are several references to having the right
attitude here.
a. \\#1\\ Having "the spirit of meekness."
b. "considering thyself"
2. The burden Paul was talking about was not primarily a
physical burden.
3. He was talking about emotional burdens: hurt, grief,
loneliness, shame, regret, sorrow.
4. It does not matter what the burden is.
5. What counts is that we do what Jesus commanded and love
them in a way that helps them.
B. To bear this burden is not to instantly remove it.
1. That is the goal, but before you can remove the burden you
have to feel it’s weight.
2. How do we do that?
(a) That word that comes to mind is empathy.
(b) In this area, Paul was challenging the spiritual not
to condemn those at fault but to empathize with
3. He was attempting to get the spiritual to the place so
that they could look at those who had been wrong and who
perhaps had wronged them with the right attitude.
C. It is amazing how people (we) feel the need to get on one
side or the other.
1. Maybe it comes from a desire to show our loyalty to some-
one or something but for people, things most often come
down to "us against them."
2. What is really sad is that a lot of people pick a side
without even knowing that the battle is about!
3. The more people that get involved the more gas is poured
on the fire and the more difficult restoring a church
becomes.
4. In no time, people have said and done things they should
not have and often, even when no wrong has been done,
people still manage to get offended and hurt.
D. Inside the churches of Galatian—not just a church but
churches—there were plenty of hurt feelings.
1. How do I know? Because I am a pastor and I have hurt
others, been hurt by others, and watched as people hurt
one another.
2. In order to keep those churches together, someone was
going to have to swallow their pride and start the
healing process by reaching out to those on the other
side.
3. I am thankful for the many people who have reached out to
me through the years especially after I hurt them.
4. If you sense a good spirit in the Green Pond Baptist
Church you need to know that it is not because there were
no problems or disagreements.
a. It is because this church stands on the dead bodies of
pride and the broken bones of hurt.
b. It stands upon not a few but many, and if you have not
already been called upon to lay your hurt and pride
upon that heap, you will.
c. And if Jesus tarries His coming and you have laid them
there before, you will be asked to do it again.
d. That’s how broken church are put back together and
good spirits are poured out upon churches.
III. \\#3\\ Don’t get proud.
Gal 6:3 For if a man think himself to be
something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth
himself.
A. The last thing needed in a broken church is a victory dance.
1. Certainly not when wrong prevails but neither when right
prevails.
2. When wrong prevails, we need to weep and repent.
3. When right prevails, we need to do pretty much the same
thing except them we must also humble ourselves and
reach out to restore the fallen.
B. A person who will not or does not, is not the spiritual person
whom Paul was talking to in verse 1. He or she is not
"walking in the Spirit."
Many are the churches that have been broken assunder, sometimes by
the devil, but sometimes by man's selfishness all alone. But a
church can be repaired, made so that the crack is not even seen.
I pray we will never need these texts; but if we do, I pray God will
help us to use them.
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