561. When Others Stumble Part 1 Galatians 6_1_2

Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm your host, Mike Henry senior. And today I want to talk about Galatians 6:1-2. I'm reading from the English Standard Version. "Brothers. If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself. Lest you are too. Be tempted, bear one another's burdens. And so, fulfill the law of Christ."

This book and this verse, this passage, verses one and two of chapter six are aimed at believers. The "brothers" comment there translated in the CSB as "brothers and sisters,” in the New American Standard, it's translated as "brethren." It's basically saying "you who are believers in Jesus, you're our brothers and sisters. And then it says, "if anyone is caught in any transgression." When I was first taught this verse, my initial understanding, I'm not sure it was even the fault of the teachers, but my initial understanding was "if anyone" referred to those brothers, in other words, this passage applied to Christians interacting between Christians.

Now studying the verse, a little more and praying about this, and I still may be wrong. I believe that "anyone" here, "brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression," I believe that anyone means anyone. I believe it's very general and it's not limited to just other believers. In other words, "brothers, if any brother is caught in any transgression," would be different than "brothers if anyone is caught in any transgression." I believe this is a command to us as believers to be peacemakers in the world, to be those who build one another up and who bear one another's burdens. We're challenged in this passage that for anyone who falls short, who has an error, "who's caught in any trespass," one translation says. Another one says, "is caught in any sin" or "is overtaken in any wrongdoing."

Anybody screws up, we who are spiritual should restore that person in a spirit of gentleness. What does that mean? Well, it doesn't mean that we hold a grudge. Often in our workplaces, we keep score. We keep track of how other people have dropped the ball or how someone failed in the past. Here I believe he's challenging us to create restoration, to help put things back.

To help things get back to being right. Not just being to where the damage is controlled but being as right as it can be. And we want to restore that person in a spirit of gentleness, which means that we don't do this complaining or sighing, which I'm famous for having done.  I would make faces or go, "Oh, whatever!" I don't think that was biblical.

I don't think that was in accordance with this passage.  I need to have a spirit of gentleness. I want to bring a spirit of gentleness to the situation because I might be tempted. Now, I don't know exactly what temptation he's talking about here, but some of the temptations that I faced where I would be tempted to think better of myself than the other person, or I would be tempted to think that I was immune from the kind of mistake that they made.

I want to challenge us. If anyone drops the ball, comes up short, fails in their work, let's be the people who restore that person with a spirit of gentleness. Let's keep watch over the others around us and ourselves so that we're not tempted to think better of ourselves.

Today our challenge: watch for people around you. When people fumble or drop the ball, don't let them beat themselves up. Help restore them in a spirit of gentleness. This is what we try and do. We encourage one another through our online community, at Follower of One. And I want to encourage you with this podcast. These commands that were given all throughout scripture to be difference makers in our workplaces, these commands apply to every one of us. This is not just for the super spiritual. This is a choice that we can all make every day in our job to bring a spirit of gentleness and to look for people to restore. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of the people around you.

Join us as we work to get better at this in the online community, https://community.followerofone.org. You can join us there and take part in the next Marketplace Mission Trip, where we practice these things on a daily basis.

Thanks very much.