Restoring the Sinner

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.  Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  -Galatians 6:1, 2

This passage in Galatians deals with the subject of church discipline.  This was not intended to be used to put someone out of the church as much as it was to put the offending person back into the fellowship of the church.  Truly there are times when someone gets out of the will of God to the point that the church must step in and make an attempt to set the person straight – get him or her back into the fellowship of the church.  But as the Scripture says there is a right way and a wrong way to do that.

The wording of verse one refers to any kind of sin: theft, adultery, idolatry, lying, or apostasy.  As followers of Christ we must be on our guard lest we be the one taken in a fault or sin.  Let us never become arrogant thinking that it could never happen to one of us.  Such an attitude could cause us to let our guard down, and that’s just what the devil is waiting for.  Once we let our guard down he moves in to attack.  We who are spiritual, mature believers are the ones who should seek to restore the person who has gotten out of God's will.  And we are called to do so in a spirit of meekness.  Were we to have to confront a brother or sister in Christ who had become involved in some sin, we would not want to beat the person over the heard, but rather seek to restore him or her gently.  Now, that restoration depends on the person’s willingness to repent, doesn’t it?  What if the person refuses to repent?  There is really only so much that the church can do in a case like that.  But we are called in Christ to make an effort to restore the person to the fellowship.  

The warning is given: The mature believers must be the ones to take this on lest they fall into the same sin.  Those doing the restoration must be persons of prayer, faith, maturity, godliness, and patience.  If they are not, then they may run the risk of falling into the same sin.  I have for a long time been amazed at how vulnerable people are to not only falling into sin, but falling away from the truth.  I read once about a man who left an established, Bible believing church to join a cult.  Some representatives went to see him to try and get him to come back to the truth, and before it was over those men had joined the cult.  This is why Paul the Apostle gave the warning that only those who are spiritual should go to the person, and then in a spirit of meekness, recognizing that they are treading on some serious and potentially dangerous ground.

We restore the sinners by first letting them know that we love them.  We then pray for them, reach out to them, and seek to make contact with them.  These situations have to always be entered into with the greatest of care and caution.

Never give up on the sinner.  Reach out to them, pray for them, and pray in faith that God will bring them back.  God can and will work miracles in peoples' lives; miracles of faith, healing, and restoration.