Restore Such a One

Good afternoon, everyone. It's very good to see you, and we walked in right as church started, so hopefully look forward to seeing some friends some years ago. Hello, Mr. Faye. Didn't have a chance to shake your hand, so good to see you. It feels strange to be up here because, you know, my experience is you're up here and I'm down there, but anyway, I'm not nervous, really.

No, I'm not. I'm good. Anyway, yeah, my wife and I are here visiting schools in the Midwest. We visited a school in Chicago, one in Indiana. We'll be in Cincinnati on Monday visiting schools and then up to Michigan, so very happy to be here and to visit, and especially here in Chicago. We were staying with the Bradfords last night, and so they asked if I could say a few things about the French area, and also pleased to share with you a message.

So my wife and I live in San Jose, California, but my wife grew up in Paris. She came to the United States in her 20s. We met an ambassador, and we've lived in the United States for many years, but given events, I guess we know it's the end time because my wife and I are in charge of the French work, so we must not have much time left. But we have scattered brethren in France at this time. We have people in Bordeaux, Narbonne, people near the Belgian border.

We have a couple in Paris. We, in Bordeaux and Narbonne, they meet weekly in their home, seven or eight people in each group. My wife and I had a chance to visit them for the spring-holy days, kept the pass over and the night to be much observed in the first day with them. We're very thankful for visitors. They're very thankful for visitors, so if you're thinking about going internationally, the French brethren certainly appreciate those who transfer to France and come to visit. In Africa, we have about 200 people. They're mostly in the West African area, in Cameroon, Congo, Benin, Togo. Many places we don't know where are on the map, so don't feel bad. You just think of that Western area of Africa.

We have two pastors, one in Togo and another one in Cameroon. Then the pastor of Lagos, Nigeria drives over to Benin, and he actually speaks in the local Awe language, the tribal dialect there. Even though he doesn't speak French, he's able to actually give the sermons, which is a great blessing because those people weren't able to have a regular pastor. Then our pastor in Cameroon will fly to Congo and take care of those people.

Just recently, after the feast had a group in Cote d'Ivoire, Ivory Coast contacted us. They had been told that there would be no one to take care of them, given the events of the last couple of years. In fact, they saw that we were delivering the French version of the good news throughout Africa.

They saw a post office box with Togo, and they contacted us. So now they've come back, and we'll very likely have our pastor from Cameroon fly up there and take care of them. We've had a couple different groups over the last year to contact us and come back. We offer a magazine in French. We're the only magazine that's actually offered among all the Church of God groups that are preaching in French right now.

We have about 3,000 subscribers. We renew actively. Previously, that wasn't done, so we renew about every six months. So the people who are receiving the magazine really do want to receive the magazine, and we receive a lot of mail that comes from that. We have about 15 booklets in French, and we're on track to deliver about two additional booklets. Really, what we're hoping to do right now is just continue to build the foundation of our doctrines and also a lot of important Christian living types of topics there.

At this point, we're asking for God's direction for the French-speaking areas. We're asking for Him to lead us where He would lead us, as in many parts of the world, we were much bigger. When my wife and I were married, and we were married in France, we had about 1,100 people at the feast that year between the Belgians, the Swiss, and the French, and we're much smaller now. We're just asking that God would lead us in the right direction, and I ask you to pray for that as well.

Pray for the French brethren who don't have a chance to be in services like this. They meet, they sing, they have a tape, but a lot of times they'll do something where they'll have a shorter message, then they'll stop, they'll play a piece of special music that they have on a CD, they'll have a sermon on a tape, and then they'll sing and they'll give a closing prayer.

They really do work to have services. Everybody dresses up, they go to church, and they have a service, even though they're in their home. And yet, year after year, you can imagine that can get a little bit old, so they would appreciate your prayers and your encouragement, and certainly appreciate your prayers for the French work and the direction of what we're doing in United. So I was asking Bill Bradford last night the types of topics that have been covered here for the last month, and I guess I didn't want to share something that had been redundant, so if this topic has been covered, you can blame Bill.

It's his fault. I shared what I wanted to talk about. It's a topic that I think lends itself to having a guest speaker, because I don't really know very many of you, so you'll know that I'm not thinking about you when I'm talking about this topic. This is a scripture in the New Testament that I've found that if misapplied can lead to tremendous frustration and certainly, in some cases, offense.

It's a scripture that I've read, and you've probably read many times. As I thought about speaking about it, I've kind of shied away, because it's something that I'm like, how do you approach this, and how would I describe this? It's in Galatians 6, 1. If you want to turn there, we'll spend this split sermon going through it.

It's really one of those scriptures that if you think about 2 Timothy 2, 15, where Paul tells Timothy to rightly divide the word of truth, this is really one of those scriptures that we really need to rightly divide it. We can't see it and shy away from it and say, oh, well, I don't know what to do with that. I think I'll just ignore that scripture. We really do need to rightly divide the word of truth that we might be equipped for every good work, because it's in here for a reason, and I think when we go through it, we'll see where it fits in the context of what Paul was discussing with the church in Galatia. If you read Galatians 6, verse 1, it says, 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. So, you know, the question is, well, what does it mean restore such a one, right? So, for example, if you see your brother or sister doing something that, you know, you would consider sin, what you should do is go up, tell that person, and put them right on the right track, right? Just walk up there and tell them. Or maybe if you didn't tell him, you'd be tolerating sin in the church, right? You wouldn't want that to go on, and we don't want to be part of an organization where we tolerate sin. You wouldn't want to be contributing to watering down the truth at all by allowing that to happen.

And, of course, if you were to do that or I were to do that, you would probably just lead right for trouble, right? Because chances are you'd probably offend that person, you know, you'd end up in Mr. Fay's court or some other elder here, sort out, kind of, you know, figure out, well, why did you say that and who did what and, you know, what was going on and so forth. So some people will rush in where angels fear to tread, and then other people will look at that and go, I'm not touching that. I'm not going anywhere near that scripture, right? And so that can also not necessarily be the right approach, as we'll see. And, of course, we hear a lot about Matthew 18. We might go there today, depending on the time. Going to your brother, and so, you know, how does that fit? We also, there's a scripture in James about confessing your sins one to another, and how does that fit? So what does this scripture mean and how do we think about applying this in our congregation or in our families or among our friends? And that's what I'd like to go through today. Let's carefully, sort of as it were, unpack the different parts of the scripture and understand what it means.

So if you look at Galatians 6 verse 1 and you start there, I think we'd all appreciate that when this church was written and read to the Galatians, this wasn't just, you know, it wasn't started here, right? You started in Galatians 1 and you read continuously. And so, these chapter breaks can often get us messed up. If you go back to Galatians 5 verse 16, we begin to get a little bit of context of what Paul might be talking about in Galatians 6 verse 1.

He says, I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

So if Paul is talking about you who are spiritual, what does he mean by that? Hmm, Galatians 5, 16 might give us a little bit of a clue. Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And then he goes on to write what has become one of the most famous passages in scripture, and we go to often, don't we? He talks about the lust of the flesh against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh in verse 17. And these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, here we go again, being led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, and he goes through this list of these terrible sins of adultery, and fornication, and uncleanness, and licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies. And if it wasn't, that wasn't enough. He just keeps going, right? There's just so many more that he's describing, envy and murders, and drunkenness, and rivalries, and the like, of which I tell you before, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So if we think about somebody sinning, he's definitely given quite a litany of things that could be talking about that, and he's contrasting that then in verse 22, with the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, and joy, peace, and long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such there is no law. And I think the song later talked about going to China, you know, if Galatians had only had five chapters, if it had just ended around here, and it didn't go into chapter 6, it could almost be like, you know, some sort of Eastern religious philosophy, you know, like some sort of guru, right? I mean, if you think about Buddhism or Hinduism, or any sort of other, you know, sort of Eastern religion, with some guru on a mountain, and you go to that guru, and you say, you know, what do I need to do? And he'll say, well, you need to have love, and joy, and peace, and be self-controlled, and be gentle with all that, you know, it would all sort of flow like that. But Paul doesn't end it with chapter 5. He goes on, and what example is he going to give of how to actually begin to actually use and show these fruits, but a relationship in the church? I find it very interesting that he goes on then to give an example, and we continue in verse 24, and those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. And now he's transitioning to give an example of how this walking in the Spirit can be manifest in our relationships. Let us not be conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness. There's no chapter break here in the original letter. It continues. Now again, he's now transitioning to some way of understanding what it means to show the fruit, to walk in the Spirit, to be spiritual. You who are spiritual.

So now we can get a little bit of understanding of what he means. You who are spiritual, you who exhibit the fruits of God's Spirit, who walk in the way, who live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, who have crucified the flesh and its passions and desires. Those people, you who are like that, restore such a one. And so now we begin to get a little context that, yes, there are places that we, in our own understanding, in our own walk, that when it comes to restoring such a one, we're not really ready to go there. We're not part of that you who are spiritual. We have to really look at ourselves very, very deeply, and we have to understand where we stand relative to exercising and understanding how to apply this Scripture. So when Paul says you who are spiritual, I think he's very much referring back to chapter or to verse 22 and 26. Now, this also tends to if you're hearing some tones in here of Matthew 7, I don't think that's a surprise. I think very much it's going back to what he might say. And let's just go back to Matthew 7. And I'm sure many of you are ahead of me here. And we'll see that Paul very much echoes a lot of these words when he's discussing how this is applied in the church. Judge not that you be not judged, Matthew 7, verse 1.

For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged, and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And of course, the very famous set of Scriptures we know very well about don't look at the speck in your brother's eye, but consider the plank in your own eye. Or how can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck out of your eye and look at a plank as in your own eye? You who are spiritual, restore such a one. So as we go through this, I think we'll begin to see that there's only one reference to the person actually talking to someone else. And in fact, we'll see that talking may not be actually what's referred to. But the rest of it is a context of self-examination. The rest of it is a context of understanding where we are and where we stand. Let's go back to Galatians 6. And let's begin to see how Paul then describes Galatians 6 verse 1 and then down to verse 5. It says, in a spirit of gentleness.

Gentleness, we just read about gentleness and Paul would have just talked about gentleness. So understanding what gentleness means is, of course, critical to understand how to actually approach someone where you might see that there's some type of an issue.

Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. And there are those similar words.

Consider yourself. Consider your own situation before you might go to your brother. Now, if we go back to the beginning of chapter 6 and verse 1, in my Bible it says, brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, the J.B. Phillips says, even if a man should be detected in some sin. That's how they use it. That's how he translates it. Certain other Bibles put in the word even. And even is interesting because even will provide a transition from verse 26 to 6 verse 1. So you see kind of a flow. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another, even if a man is overtaken in any trespass.

So consider verse 26 and then consider the context. So what is the context of the situation? The Greek here of overtaken, when it says overtaken. In my Bible I've got a New King James version. Galatians 6 verse 1 says, caught in my margin. I don't know if you have that in yours. Another way of translating this would be trapped, if a man is trapped or caught. And the Greek here has a sense, according to the Expositor's Bible commentary, of a certain suddenness or surprise. But it can also mean that somebody's been sort of caught and they've been in this situation for a while and maybe they don't know how to get out of it.

So considering the context of the person, what they're going through, is very, very important when approaching the Scripture. Now, the word for restore, here where it talks about restore such a one, is the Greek word katzikaritza, k-a-t-a-r-i-z-o, kadriitzo, k-a-t-a-r-i-z-o. And it's a medical term. It's used in secular Greek and it's a reference to setting a fractured bone.

You're going to kind of restore it. It's broken and you're going to set it straight. You're going to restore it to the way that it was before. Again, J.B. Phillips translates this passage, set him back on the right path. So I think it's interesting that Paul doesn't say, tell him his sins. It doesn't say that. The word karitzo, restore, doesn't necessarily require a conversation. It just says restore. So if a doctor is going to restore something, they're going to kind of work on it.

But it doesn't say tell or speak or bring it before or whatever it might be. I think it's very much a relationship type of word. What is the relationship that someone might have with someone? You know, sometimes unspoken things can be just as powerful as the spoken word. The power of an example, the power of a relationship of someone who knows somebody over a period of time. And that person sort of sees the example of what that person might do or not do.

So we have context. We have example. We have gentleness. We have considering yourself. Are you able to even do that? Now, the tricky thing with this type of discussion is what kind of example can you give? Because any sort of example, you know, we're a small church community, whether it's in California or Chicago or wherever, and somebody's going to say, oh, well, he's going to talk about somebody else. And, you know, somebody did this and somebody did that.

So as I was preparing this, I thought, well, why don't I talk about an example about myself? Because then you'll know that I'm not talking about anybody else. And I thought about, anyway, I think all of us who speak need to be thinking about these things as they apply and how we live these things.

So I'm going to tell myself here and give you an example of how this might be applied. In 2001, I had changed jobs a little bit before the feast, and that's always a little tricky because you're developing a relationship with your employer, right?

And you have to explain the feast, you have to explain Friday nights and sometimes, you know, Saturday. Don't work on those days. And so I had explained that. And as it turned out, as it always does, there's some dramatic thing that has to happen during the feast. And so my co-workers were not very pleased when they found out that I was going to be gone at such a critical time.

And they literally will work until one o'clock or two o'clock in the morning sometimes during that very, very busy time. And you know, you explain, well, but this year it's bad, but next year it won't be so bad. And they're like, well, why is that? And you know, you have to get into all those types of things. So my co-workers were not very pleased about the fact that I was going to be gone.

And so it was very important that I got back right after the feast. And of course, they asked me to, you know, do you really have to go? And maybe you could come back early or could you change? You know, we've all been through that, right? And so it was very important that I got back right after the feast was over. And the place that I was flying, as it turns out, you know, the flights are never quite right.

And so it kind of came down to the fact that if I were to leave the feast kind of right as that second service was ending, about, I calculated, 420. You know, church is over 430. And if I leave at 420, I can get to the airport and we'll just fly an hour on the holy day. And then I'll get back and I'll get the connecting flight and I'll get back at two o'clock in the morning and I can be at work at eight.

And I wasn't happy with the situation about this. You know, if someone had come to me and said, you know, Tim, I hear you're going to be leaving church a little bit early.

And I hear you might be flying on the holy day. And, you know, I don't think that's a very good idea.

That would have been really tough. Now, on the other hand, if somebody who was very, very close to me, right, and we're talking and, you know, I'm explaining my job and what I'm going through. And if they said, wow, you got to leave church, you know, you're going to have to fly on the Sabbath. I think that's a good idea. I think, yeah, I know, you know, maybe I shouldn't do that. Maybe I'll just come to work at noon the next day. You know, maybe there's somewhat, maybe even if I get to work at two, right? That would have been a very different dynamic if somebody knew me, had the context. Maybe it was somebody who had, you know, been through those situations before. They had had to struggle with their employer. They had to explain to their boss.

You know, I'm, you know, I know that that is the day, but I can't get back in time. So I'm going to be there at noon the next day. You know, I probably would have appreciated that.

But I didn't really have anybody sort of in that situation to do that. And looking back on it, I wouldn't do that today. At least, I hope I wouldn't do that today. Ten years later, I've gotten more comfortable explaining that. Is it wrong to fly for an hour on the Sabbath? Well, that's obviously a gray area, very controversial, and I'm not tending to get into that. But you know, some people will take that further. I'm going to need to miss the second service.

I gotta miss the second service because, you know, I gotta whatever, right?

Or what if they need to miss the second service because they want to go to a nice restaurant and they can't get there in time? Right? It's not about work. It's about getting to a restaurant.

Or what if they need to miss the whole day? They're going to fly on the last day and they're going to keep the last grade day at home by themselves. Right? You can see this starts getting really gray and pretty soon pretty black. So, you know, people have to make these kinds of decisions. They have to make these choices. We have to, you know, we have to go through these things. And so, you know, having these relationships, having these connections, having this context, having this understanding, it helps one another. Right? We help each other with these types of things.

And, you know, sometimes maybe people will do that. And it's like, oh, you missed this fantastic message. I'm so sorry you missed this message. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. You know, I mean, God commands us to be there all eight days and so forth. And so, you know, these kinds of conversations can be had in meaningful ways, not in hurtful ways, but in meaningful and powerful ways.

And, of course, that's an example that's very, you know, first of all, I'm telling it on me. But it's also one that's more obvious, right? And as it turned out, by the way, we left after the prayer. I don't know if that mattered, but we did stay for the full second service. I saw three people at the airport, by the way, on the plane with me. So anyway, I don't know if that's good or bad. But, you know, but some other things are not so obvious, right? So, you know, how do we know if somebody's tithing? Well, I hope that's none of our business, right? But, you know, still people, you know, I talk to people, oh, you know, I've got this, I pay the first tithe, but not the second, and you know, these types of things. You know, what people are going through at home, maybe people being too hard on their children or having some sort of, you know, anger issue or so. I mean, there's all sorts of things that go on that maybe we have some knowledge of, or maybe we don't. So, just because maybe we see something going on in our congregation, maybe that just is a tip of the iceberg. And again, this Scripture is pretty clear that there's context, and there's all sorts of things around it before we might approach it.

Let's go on in verse 2. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Now, this is interesting because he's talked about all that's involved with actually, you know, understanding how to restore such a one, and then he goes on to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. The word for burden here is the word bestazo, B-A-S-T-A-Z-O. B-A-S-T-A-Z-O. And it means a heavy burden. And I think this really helps share the context of what he's discussing, because when we're in this kind of relationship where we're having these discussions and somebody is beginning to share, you know, what they're doing or sharing some issue that they think they might, you know, might be a problem, it's a burden. I mean, you know, if anybody has ever counseled somebody who's dealing with, you know, a serious issue, whether it's alcoholism, right, whether it's some sort of marital issue, you know, that's a burden. Somebody has to, you know, when you go home, you're like, I can't carry that with me, right? I have to let that go, because you can, it can be a burden. And so it says to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. And so I think this really shows that when we're having that conversation, we are really bearing one another's burdens. We're really helping that other person understand how to work through whatever issue they're working through. For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, verse 3, he deceives himself. And so, you know, we begin to see that if there's any sort of issue, and we begin to see this in verse 4, but let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone and not in each other. This we begin to see this concept of pride, right? It's almost like somebody who walks, you know, kind of walks in, and maybe they've been very successful in losing some weight, right? And they look over the other person, and you know, maybe they get up and they want to talk about weight loss, right? And they're all, you know, hey, well, not everybody can maybe be as successful in that, right? So let's not sort of rejoice, I'm feeling much better about myself because I lost a lot of weight, and I think you could lose weight, too. You know, this is very awkward, how it might come out.

So if we keep going down in verse 5, it says, for each one should bear his own load.

Now, this word load here is the word forteon, P-H-O-R-T-I-O-N, forteon, and it means a backpack.

Basically a little pack. It's just a light pack. Each one should bear his own load.

So we have our own load to bear, and it shouldn't be a heavy load. It should be a backpack. It should be something that is there to carry the provisions for the day. It's our food, and it's our water, it's a little snack, maybe it's something else that you might carry with you. It's a little backpack for the things that you need that day. Each one of us has to carry our own load. We're not designed to go carry somebody else's load, per se, but we can help bear one another's burden. So it's interesting how in verse 2 he contrasts this burdens, this bastazo, this heavy burden, with the forteon of the backpack. And so we see that there's this context. We who are spiritual, those of us who are spiritual, and that doesn't necessarily mean all of us, and it doesn't mean that we're necessarily have everything together either, must help bear one another's burdens, but also carry our own burden and recognize that we have to be studying and understanding and growing and developing. Let's look over at James 5 and verse 16, and we'll wrap up this split here. James 5 and verse 16 says to confess, if I can find it, James 5 verse 16 says, confess your trespasses one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, and it talks about Elijah, and how he prayed, and it reigned, and so forth. And then in verse 19, You know, again, if we just read this, we might think, oh hey, you know, that's my mission in life, right? I'm here to turn a sinner from his ways. Well, again, if we read this in the context of understanding Galatians 6 verse 1, we understand that a little bit more what James is saying. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing, and it's a wonderful thing if there's somebody going through a very difficult time, and they're dealing with a particular issue in their life, and they're able to confess that, and people are understanding of that, and they're willing to support that, and that person is able to help carry that burden with them in a long-term relationship, something where you know that person, you've seen that person, you understand that person, and they're able to overcome that and understand that. That's a beautiful thing. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing, but it has to be done within that context. You know, I hope that this has begun to spark some thoughts. This is obviously a big topic. I hope that I've given you at least some sense that this is not something that we rush into. This is something that requires a lot of self-examination. It's something that requires a lot of thought. It's something that requires even some counsel and some thinking about what do you do, and a lot of times it happens when somebody comes to you and says, you know, I'm struggling with this, or a lot of times it just happens by our example on how we go. So I hope this is helpful. I hope this can help and encourage us and help us grow together, and I thank you very much, and we look forward to talking with you after services.