Brethren, if a man is
overtaken
in any trespass, you
who are
spiritual restore
such a one
in a spirit of
gentleness,
considering lest you
also be tempted.
Bear one another's
burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ.
For if anyone thinks
himself to be
something, when he is
nothing,
he deceives himself.
Galatians 6: 1 -- 3
The first
thing to notice in the above structure is that the Scripture is speaking not to
a pastor, or some church leader, rather, to all Christians. How often have we sat back and let all the
work to our church leaders probably go about in our life however we
please. We may see our brothers and
sisters in some sort of crisis, and yet we do nothing, for we feel as though
the church leadership can better handle this problem. If this is true then your spirituality is in question. A spiritual person is one who has only a
desire to live by means of the Fruit of the Spirit as what was written about in
yesterday's blog (Galatians 5:22-23). A spiritual person is
one who has crucified their flesh, that is to crucify their affections and
lusts (Galatians 5: 24). Let's examine
our life and when we do will find that the natural life is not sinful. How can this be? The natural life is one who has crucified themselves against all
affections and lusts of the flesh and if this has not occurred then we are
living an unnatural life. Before this
unnatural life is to become a natural life a person must become apostatized
from sin, and that means to have nothing to do with sin in any shape or
form. Too often we only think of this
word apostasy in regard to those who are unchristian to let us understand this
word as it means to renounce, or to become abandoned of an object of one's
previous loyalty. Sin belongs to
Gehenna, that is, it is of Satan. You
as a child of God, belong to God. Therefore your loyalty is to God and not to yourself. Oh, you say, "I have to give up sin,
and this is a very difficult thing to do." It's not a question of giving up sin, rather, it's giving up your
right to yourself, and to give up this unnatural which we called natural
independence and self assertiveness, and there is where the battle is
fought. Did I tell you that we are in a
battle? Did I tell you that it is hard
to be a Christian? How often we reason
out our actions and say that these things that we are doing our right and noble
and good and this is to look at them from that which we call a natural position
or standpoint. Yet it is those very
things that keep us back from God's best.
When we come to this point of discernment in regard to ourselves and
these natural virtues they are antagonistic to ourselves and our surrender to
God and to bring our souls into the center of the greatest battle. Here's the problem: very few of us debate
with that which is called sordid and evil and wrong, but we have no problem
debating about that which is called good.
It is this good, this unnatural good, that which is actually unnatural,
that hates the best, and as we grow in our sanctification those natural, or
unnatural, virtues create a more intense opposition to Jesus Christ stymy and our actual sanctification. This is why it's so easy for people to
become overtaken in a trespass and the need for those who are spiritual to
restore such a one and this is to be done in a spirit of gentleness, and to
consider yourself, and you take care, that you are not overtaken in that sin or
any other sin. Fact: this is going to
cost every naturalness in you and everything you own and hold dear in this life, not just in some things, for did not
Jesus say: "Then Jesus said to His
disciples,’ If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross, and follow Me" (Matthew 16: 24). You must deny your right to yourselves and
you cannot do this until you have come to realize Who Jesus Christ is and this
before you will do it. Warning: do not
refuse to go to the funeral of your own independence. The natural life is not spiritual for it is unnatural when it
comes to the will of God therefore it must be made spiritual by sacrifice. Fact: if this is not resolutely sacrificed,
that is the natural that is in actuality unnatural, then the supernatural, God,
can never become natural in us. The
road is narrow it is so narrow that you are the only one on the road and every
one of us has it in their own hands to walk this narrow road. Oh I will pray about this you say, it is not a question of praying, it's
all about performing. Yes, pray, but manifest this Christian life. If we do not
sacrifice the natural for the spiritual, this natural life, that which is
actually unnatural you will mock at the life of the Son of God in us and will
produce a continual hesitant; a vacillating and perplexing
person. This is all due to an
undisciplined spiritual nature. How can
we restore another person who is going through the same things if this is what
we are also? We go wrong because we
stubbornly refuse to discipline ourselves physically, morally, and even
mentally. You must discipline yourself
now; not in the future, now! Then we
must resolutely keep all this under so that then God can deal with it and then He will open up all the wells and the oases and to fulfill His promises. Why all this? Then we are able to bear up one
another's burdens and fulfill the law of God that calls us to love our brothers
and sisters. Paul then adds this: "but if that let each one examine his
own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in
another. For each shall bear is home
load" (Galatians 6: 4 -- 5).
We had this final note: Paul previously had been talking in the plural
number and has now changed to the singular number and therefore there is an
enforcement as to the caution for everyone to look upon their own work and to
himself and then to be able to prove this to be close to be kind to
another. Let us and bear up under
another's burden.
For if you remain completely silent at this time,
relief and
deliverance will arise from the Jews
from another place, but you and your father's house
will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come
to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Esther
4:14
God deals tenderly with us and us with others
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