Galatians 6:1-10 – Help A Brother – Bible study

Gal 6:1-10 Helping A Brother Tonight, I want to speak to Christians. If you are an unsaved person, we are honored to have you in our service but tonights message is to Christians. I believe that there is nothing more Christ-like for a Christian than to help someone else. That is what Jesus did for us. He saw us in need and He helped us. As sinners, He paid our debt. He did not ask us if we wanted it paid. He just paid it. He did not insist that we accept His payment. He just paid it. He did not make a lot of conditions for the payment. He just paid it. He paid the debt to help us. We are never more Christ-like than when we help someone else. It is interesting that as I was reading this chapter, I noticed repeated references to helping each other. This is not going to be an extremely deep or spiritual message. They do not all need to be so. Some need to be plain and very practical. This is one of those. Lets note some help that we need to give to others. I. \#Gal 6:1\ We need to help those in sin. A. This is a book written to Christians and it is primarily about Christians. 1. Certainly, we need to help non-Christians deal with sin as well. a. They need to be told and encouraged to accept Jesus. b. However, that is not what Paul was talking about here. 2. Here, Pauls topic is that Christians need to give help to Christians who are in sin. 3. The thought here is not a willful, intentional sin but an unintentional yet several sin. a. "fault" – Side step; It implies an accidental step. Yet the end is the same. The person fell. b. "Overtaken" – defeated, conquered. 4. That is a very bad situation to be in but it happens and happens often. Well meaning Christians make mistakes that lead them down paths of sin. a. Perhaps they trusted the wrong person. b. Perhaps they took a foolish risk. c. Perhaps they neglected something very important. 5. For whatever the reason, they are now fallen into the pit of sin. 6. What are Gods people to do? B. Restore him or her. 1. That is the end result. a. Work to get them back in a good relationship with Christ. b. Even a good Christian may need help recovering from a fall. c. Christians, we need to work to help the other members of the body. 2. What are some specifics that we can do to help restore a fallen brother or sister? a. We can pray for them. (1) We come again to this term, intercessory prayer. (2) We go to God and we plead for our brother or sister on their behalf. That is intercession. (3) If there is no other kind of prayer that you need to offerif you personally have no needs, no blessings to thank God for, no praise or worship to givethere is always someone you know for whom you can intercede. (4) We can intercede for Christians that have fallen, for Christians that are weak, for Christians that are struggling in any area of their lives (work, finances, children, marriage, health). (5) We can intercede for lost people that are lost. (6) It think we missed this in our last revival. We need to rededicate these steps as an intercession altar, a place where we will come EVERY service and weep and pray for someone else! b. We will pray and hold them accountable. (1) I am not saying we should judge and condemn. That is what the world wants us to think when this topic is brought up but it is not the same. (2) Matt 18:15 sets up what to do if a brother sins AGAINST you, but it also applies to if a person sins AGAINST themselves. Matt 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. (3) God see them, as the Bible says here, in the spirit of meekness realizing that it could be you that had fallen. (4) So this is an errand of love not condemnation. (5) A few months ago, a preacher friend send me a message, saying he did not mean to pry, to meddle, or to get into my business but the felt I ought to know something. He added that he did not want to offend me but was just concerned for me. Then he shared something that I did know and was important. I wrote him back and asked, "How could I be upset with someone who is trying to look after me in love?" (6) I know people who are in willful sin often get angry when you try to help them but dont let that stop you from loving them enough to help themgo talk to them. Gal 6:2 Bear ye one anothers burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (7) Doing these kinds of things to help a fallen brother or sister is the "law of Christ." (a) There is no specific law to which this refers. (b) It is another application of loving another as you would love yourself. (c) It is the right thing to do. c. Forgive and comfort them when they turn to God. (1) Paul speaking to Corinth about a brother that had been disciplined to get him to return to Jesus, wrote: 2Cor 2:7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. (2) He was saying that since the brother had returned, the issue is finished. (3) Now forgive him and love him. (4) The past is the past. We may learn from it. We may become wiser for having lived through it; but it is not to hinder our present relationshipsespecially in the body of Christ. II. \#Gal 6:2\ We need to help those under a burden. A. A burden can be any kind of a load. 1. It can be anything that weighs on the heart, the mind, or the body. 2. It can be financial or mental, physical or spiritual, personal or in the outlaying family. B. How is the Christian to help one under a burden? We are to help bear it. 1. If it is financial, we share it. 2. If it is physical, we help lift it. 3. If it is spiritual, we pray for it. C. Whatever we can do, we should DO it. 1. A woman did what she could. Mark 14:8 She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. 2. Sometimes we just need to do what we can. In 1994, Mr. Alters fifth-grade class at Lake Elementary School in Oceanside, California, included fourteen boys who had no hair. Only one, however, had no choice in the matter. Ian OGorman, undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma, faced the prospect of having his hair fall out in clumps. So he had his head shaved. But then 13 of his classmates shaved their heads, so Ian wouldnt feel out of place. "If everybody has his head shaved, sometimes people dont know whos who," said 11-year-old Scott Sebelius in an Associated Press story. "They dont know who has cancer, and who just shaved their head." Ten-year-old Kyle Hanslik started it all. He talked to some other boys, and before long they all trekked to the barber shop. "The last thing he would want is to not fit in," said Kyle. "We just wanted to make him feel better." Ians father, Shawn, choked back tears as he talked about what the boys had done. He said simply, "Its hard to put words to." (Sherman L. Burford, Fairmont, West Virginia. Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 3.). http://www.bibleteacher.org/Gal06_05.htm D. To do this, we must do some things. 1. We must be thoughtful. We must think about others and what they are going through. The best way to do this is again by intercessory prayer. Call the names of the people you know before God and think about what you know they are going through. Ask God to reveal such things to you and then ask God to help them and to help you to help them. 2. Dont volunteer. If you think of something that is needed, just do it. Need seen. Assignment given. 3. Dont expect thanks or recognition. III. \#Gal 6:4-5\ We need to help those who need some character. A. As there are people who need help with sin and with burdens, so we soon find out that some people need help with growing up too. 1. The body of Christ is made up of all kinds of lives. 2. Sin took us all down a different path. Some sin made to work too much. Some sin made to work too little. Some people. We want to help all Christiansindeed, all peopleto be the best they can be whether they like it or not. B. The best help you can give to some people is to quit helping them. 1. I know that sounds like a contradiction but it is not. 2. Note \#2, 5\. They also look like contradictions, but they are not either. 3. They both mean that some people need to be forced to take responsibility for their actions and if you keep doing it all for them, they never will. C. What do you give a person who does for himself? 1. \#4\ "rejoicing in himself and not in another." 2. There is a joy that comes from being able to do for yourself. 3. Sometimes people get lazy and they would rather have someone else do it instead, but if you love them, you cant help them be that way. D. If you love them, make them bear their own burden. IV. \#Gal 6:10\ We need to help everyone by doing them good when we have an opportunity. A. Just do people good instead of bad. 1. You can do good when they have a need. We have mentioned some of the kinds of needs already. 2. You can also do them good by the way you greet and speak to them. a. Smile at them instead of frown. b. Encourage them instead of cut on them. c. Build them up instead of tearing them down. 3. Just try to leave people better than when you found them. B. And if you get an opportunity to do something better for a person, do it. 1. Sit with someone hurting. 2. Buy someone a tank of gasoline. 3. Recommend a brother for a job. 4. Give someone a coat on a winters day. 5. Let someone walk under your umbrella. 6. Hold the door open for someone. C. The goal is just to be kind and helpful to everyone we meet, but especially to the saved!