“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 too be tempted.”
(Galatians 6:1, ESV)
When I was in college, I drove a 1967 FJ40 Toyota Land Cruiser. It was a robust vehicle. Before I purchased it, someone had installed big rubber bumpers for pushing other vehicles on the front. One day as I was driving towards a shopping mall, I saw a person stopped on the side of the highway. I always kept my tools in the vehicle, so I stopped to give the man a hand. His problem was that his car had overheated. So, I took a gallon of water that I also had in the cargo area and thought I would help him. However, it did not fix the problem. As I remember, he had a busted radiator hose, and the water came right out.
I knew that there was a car repair shop at the mall. So, I offered to push his car to the shop where they could replace the hose for him. He was grateful and wanted to give me some money, but I did not want anything. However, he did give me a new wallet. He was a wholesale representative for a leather goods company and he was headed to an appointment at the mall.
The point to the story is this. When we see someone in need, very often we will help if we have the resources to do so. It is the loving thing to do. Yet sometimes in the church we can fail to help one with the greatest need that they have. That is to pick them up when they have fallen. Yes, in the church we are often great about taking someone food when they have little. We will take a work team to repair a widow’s home. We will visit the sick one in the hospital, or send a note of encouragement to one who is struggling. Yet we often fail to meet one of the greatest spiritual needs of our brothers and sisters in the church.
What spiritual need do we often fail to meet in our church brothers and sisters? It is the need for restoration when they have fallen into some sort of transgression. We might either ignore the need because it is too uncomfortable to address, or fail to respond in a proper biblical manner once it is identified. These are two separate but vital issues, both of which are issues of loving one another in the church.
First, we may over look the problem. The most hateful thing that we can do in our relationship with others in the church is to ignore them when they are “caught in any transgression.” To allow a believer to continue in a lifestyle of transgression without addressing the situation is to leave them on a path of spiritual destruction. It is like leaving them standing in front of a moving bus without trying to pull them to safety. We must lovingly pull them back to the righteous path, God’s path.
Second, we often respond to those “caught in any transgression,” in a most unloving way, often with the wrong goal in mind. Here, the spiritual person, the one led by the Spirit, will be the only one capable of handling such an issue correctly. The spiritual person will respond by demonstrating the love of Christ in addressing the issue. The spiritual person seeks to restore the fallen one rather than scold or wound the person. The unspiritual person, will normally become judge, jury, and executioner rather than the restorer.
The verb, “restore” in this verse, katartizo, means to complete thoroughly, to repair, to mend in order to make perfect (Strong G2675). A good analogy is to consider what the surgeon does when setting a broken bone. He works to restore the broken one to its original functional usefulness. Such is the goal of spiritual restoration. It is to restore the fallen one to full fellowship and usefulness in the kingdom. Moreover, this verb, “restore,” is a command it is not an option. Spiritual people are commanded to restore and not destroy the fallen one.
Spiritual people are the only ones who do the work of restoration in a loving and gentle way. They will demonstrate a mild and loving disposition. They will directly address the issue, but in a way that demonstrates a heart of love for their fallen brother or sister in Christ.
One more thing to note is this. Spiritual people will be able to do this work of restoration without being drawn into transgression themselves. Temptations come our way all the time. They may even come when we try to restore the fallen one. Thus, we must keep watch over ourselves, so we are not drawn into transgressions ourselves. The spiritual person, the one led by the Spirit, is not immune to temptation. Even the Lord was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15, NIV). The spiritual person will properly address a fallen brother to restore while keeping watch that they too do not stumble.
Renewing the Heart 