Stand Firm in Your Freedom

Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

Galatians 6:1-6 (NIV) – [1] Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. [2] Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. [3] If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. [4] Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, [5] for each one should carry his own load. [6] Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor.

I. Our Responsibility to Others

A. Confrontation

1. We have a responsibility to lovingly confront Christians who sin. (Matthew 18:15-17)

Matthew 18:15-17 (NIV) – [15] “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. [16] But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ [17] If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”

2. We must first judge ourselves before we ever attempt to confront someone else. (Matthew 7:1-5)

Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV) – [1] “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. [2] For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. [3] “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? [4] How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? [5] You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

3. The goal of confrontation is to bring a person to repentance. (2 Corinthians 7:8-11)

2 Corinthians 7:8-10 (NIV) – [8] Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— [9] yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. [10] Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

B. Restoration

1. Our goal for those who have sinned is always to restore them.

a. Restore (katartizoo) means to mend what has been broken or torn, to repair; to put in order, to strengthen.

b. It is used for the setting of broken bones, mending torn nets, or bringing warring factions together in peace.

2. Only those who are spiritual should conduct the work of restoration.

a. Restoration, not condemnation, is the very kind of thing truly mature Christians believe in and practice.

b. However, only those who are well-established in the faith and genuinely led of the Spirit have the maturity to deal with the sin of others.

c. Restoration is a process that requires time, patience, mercy, wisdom and discernment.

d. Restoration should be done with humility and gentleness.

e. Those who restore must guard themselves from temptation. (1 Corinthians 10:12)

1 Corinthians 10:12 (NIV) – [12] So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!

C. Care

1. We are to help carry each another’s burdens.

a. Carry (bastazoo) means to take up with the hands, to take up in order to carry or bear, to put upon oneself something to be carried; to take away or remove by curing them.

b. Burden (baros) means a heaviness, weight, burden, trouble.

c. The emphasis is on moral burdens or weaknesses and it implies a burden too heavy for one person to carry. (1 Thessalonians 2:6-7)

1 Thessalonians 2:6-7 (NIV) – [6] We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a BURDEN to you, [7] but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.

2. When we care this way, we fulfill the law of Christ, which is different from the Mosaic Law.