Thursday, July 19, 2018
Restoring the fallen
Galatians 6:1
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
People get written off every day because of one failure or another. We tend to have very high, sometimes unrealistic, expectations of others and when those expectations are unmet we are devastated.
Everywhere there are people who have fallen and disappointed others as a result. The moral failure of politicians, parliamentarians, professors, priests, professionals, partners and papa wreak havoc in our lives and sometimes even destroy homes. As a result of this there are hurt citizens, hurt churches, hurt spouses, and hurt children.
Based on the degree of moral failure the consequences vary. Some people lose face, some lose freedom, some lose their friendships, some lose their finances, and yet others lose their families.
While we should expect nothing less than that those found guilty of criminal acts receiving the just deserts of their crimes, there is need for a culture of rehabilitation and restoration of persons who have fallen in one way or the other.
At the extreme end, I get to work regularly with prisoners. I get to look at murderers, and rapists, and arsonists in the eye and hear them confess (and sometimes deny) their crimes. I also get to talk with petty criminals who stole a few dollars or a neighbour’s chicken, or who were found with a little marijuana in a spliff. But, regardless of the nature and degree of the crime, it is hard to walk away without thinking that most of these prisoners could be changed.
I remembered thinking one day, after hearing the stories of some criminals, that more of us would have been in prison if we were caught. Often, the difference between the person in prison and the person who is free is a matter of who got caught. Also, many of us who are free could have been in prison were it not for that one thing that happened to stop us for doing what we had contemplated – someone showed up unexpectedly, or the lights came on, or a sound was heard – something that stopped us from carrying out the act that we had already determined in our minds.
Strange as it may seem, the church is frequently not very good at restoration either. Young unmarried women who got pregnant have suffered the brunt of the approach by church leadership to those who have fallen. They pounce on the young lady like the Pharisees who brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery. Apparently, she was committing adultery by herself because they never brought a man.
I have always heard talk about people being “read out” of the church but never came face to face with it until a few years ago when a young lady I had met, when speaking at her school years before, showed up at our church with a baby and asked to see me. She had been “read out” of her church because she got pregnant. She felt unwanted and was looking for a place to be accepted and cared for.
This is strange because pregnancy could never be a crime by any definition. By our highest Christian standards, sex, outside the bonds of marriage, is sin, but the resulting pregnancy is not. Anyone who is truthful and honest would agree that there are scores of unmarried young people in the church who are sexually active. The only ones who get punished in church are the females who by carelessness, or lack of information, get pregnant.
Pregnancy, of course, is the easiest example but there are people in our churches failing and falling for one thing or another every day, whether at home, at work, or in the community. We easily condemn, gossip about them, and cast them aside instead of bringing them to a place of conviction, repentance, and restoration.
King David committed a heinous complex crime, starting with the internal moral failure, he abused his position of power, perpetrated adultery, and orchestrated circumstances that would result in the certain death of the man whose wife he had abused. For us, David was over, for God David was not. God sent the bold and brilliant prophet Nathan to the King’s court. Read 2 Samuel chapter 12.
Like many church people, David was quick to see the speck in a fictitious man’s eye while ignoring the plank in his own. “So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.” 2 Samuel 12:5,6.
Now, with David taking the moral high ground Nathan thrust forward and brought him down saying, “You are the man!” 2 Samuel 7. “So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” 2 Samuel 12:13
Nathan delivered the word of God and brought the King under the convicting power of God’s Spirit. But he didn’t leave him there. We have the evidence in Psalm 51, read it if you are convicted of wrongdoing, but read it also to understand what happens to the person we bring to conviction, repentance, and restoration.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.” Psalm 51:10-13.
Paul gives a sound warning in our key verse today, there is always a chance that we too could fall into sin, “considering yourself lest you also be tempted,” ask me, I know.
Think on these things:
- Have you ever suffered moral failure and been condemned?
- Do you know of any person in church who was condemned and put out because of failure?
- Have you ever made efforts to help someone to a place of restoration?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would have the boldness and the grace to confront those in our midst who have fallen and to lead them to restoration.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex