Baptist City Blog

Why the Fallen Are Not Restored

Galatians 6:1

"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."

There is a pastor friend of mine who has a hobby of restoring old cars. I recently preached a meeting for him when he asked me if I would like to see some old cars that had been restored. He took me to a place where there had to be over 40 old cars that had been restored. I was amazed at the condition of these cars. Every car I looked at looked as if it was brand new. The owner of this shop takes old cars, and through a rigorous process restores them to their original condition. My thought that afternoon was that this is what God wants us to do with those whose lives have been marred by sin.

Not long after this opportunity, I was eating with another pastor friend when our conversation went to the condition of churches in America. I made a statement to him that one of the biggest reasons why we don't have revival is because of the sin that is swept under the carpet in our churches. This pastor responded in a classic way by saying that one of the biggest reasons this happens is because there are few spiritual people who are capable of restoring Christians. He referred to the verse above that says, "...ye which are spiritual, restore such an one..." He made the statement that it takes spiritual people to restore those who have fallen.

One of the works of Christianity is to restore those who have fallen into sin. It amazes me how aggressively we go after winning those to Christ who are living in sin, but we attack those who were once our co-laborers in Christ because they fell into sin. I ask you, why are we more concerned with the lost than we are with those who are saved but have made a tragic mistake? God's desire is that we would be concerned with both the lost and the fallen Christian.

However, to restore the fallen it takes someone who is spiritual. The reason God says it takes a spiritual Christian is because an unspiritual Christian will criticize and attack those who have fallen into sin instead of trying to help them. For someone to be restored, they must come clean with their sin. The core of any sin is deceit. There can be no restoration until deceit has been removed. Part of removing deceit is coming clean with people about what you have done. I often say you should never lie about anything, and that includes what you have done. However, if people are not spiritual, then deceit cannot be removed due to the attitude of the unspiritual Christian.

The verse above teaches us that the attitude of the spiritual is one of meekness because they also consider that they are capable of committing the same sin. When a spiritual Christian hears that one has fallen, in a spirit of meekness they do not condemn the fallen, but try to restore them. They keep this attitude because they realize they are capable of doing the same thing. Until Christians become like this, then we will continue to see our churches filled with sin.

Let me ask you, are you spiritual enough to restore the fallen? Are you part of the reason that we cannot get sin removed from our churches because you condemn those who have fallen? When you hear of someone who has fallen, do you gossip and shun that person? Don't be part of the problem, but be part of the solution in helping to restore people. Whenever you hear of someone who has fallen, always remember that you are capable of committing the same sin. Likewise, don't participate in the gossip of those who attack the fallen, but rather run to the side of the fallen and help restore them. Yes, I would rather our churches be like a new car lot that if filled with new cars, but that is not going to happen. So, let's make our churches like the shop that was filled with restored cars. The only way we can restore lives is if by being spiritual.