Brotherly Love

"Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself let you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothign, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 5 For each one shall bear his own load."
Galatians 6:1-5

There is a lot of "stuff" going around out there in the Church. There are the latest "fads" that blow through the church. The "fads" could be called "winds of doctrine" which come in and lead people away from the Biblical truth. There is the seeker-sensitive movement, or "gospel lite" as I call it. There are those churches which are driven by purpose, rather than led by the Spirit. Recently, there has "emerged" a movement that is deadly to the church. Oddly enough, it is called the Emerging Church. For more on the Emerging or Emergent Church, see Roger Oakland's book, Faith Undone. But there has been something that has been around in the church for as long as I have been a believer, and even before that when I was merely a church attender, before I gave my life to Christ. That thing is the cruel way we Christians treat each other. Not everyone across the board, mind you. That would make us unlike Christ. But there are certain ones, who come into our sights, and for some reason, we justify as okay what we do to them and how we treat them. I cannot explain it, nor understand, how some so-called Christians can treat their brothers and sisters which such disregard and disdain, and still call themselves Christians. It is beyond anything I can figure out. The only thing I can think of, is that they themselves are deceived. The enemy doesn't care how you treat your brothers and sisters, as long as he can destroy YOU. And he never lets up, and he never takes a day off, and he is always on mission. And in your ignorance and state of being deceived, he may even use you to destroy another. This is a very seroius thing for a believer, as we will have to stand before Jesus Himself and give an account for what we have done. I don't envy the one who is responsible for tearing down what the Holy Spirit has built up.

I read once that the Christian army is the only army in the world that shoots it's own soldiers. What baffles me is that this is in total contradiction to Scripture. As we read today, if a brother or sister sins, we are to restore them, not kick them while they are down. Not ostracize them from the fellowship. Not write them off from our lives. I saw a friend of mine, who slipped up and sinned, being treated so poorly from his fellowship, his friends, and his family. I wanted to cry, "Where is the spirit of gentleness? Where is the consideration of yourself?" But there was none. And sadly, he left the church, his family, and just moved away, probably never to darken the door of a church for along time, if ever again. Why? Why? Why do things like this happen in church, when the Holy Spirit tells us not to cast out (unless the person is blatant and unrepentent), but to restore. Jesus Himself was denied by one of His closest friends. He was betrayed by another one. Jesus restored Peter, and was giving Judas one last chance there in the Garden, when He called him "Friend" (Matthew 26:50).

Beloved,I believe that there is no examining of ourselves, truly. But there needs to be. We compare ourselves to others and say to ourselves, "I'm not as bad as so-and-so, I am okay." We glance at ourselves, and think more highly of ourselves than we ought, and then run out there door, rolling over and smashing anyone who gets in our way. All I can say, is it isn't the Jesus way. Other people are not our standard: Jesus is. We have been duped into thinking that as long as I read my Bible, and pray to the Lord, and listen to Christian radio, then I am alright. But verse 4 in the above text tells us, "Let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another." In other words, what the Holy Spirit is saying to us is, "You take care of yourself, and don't look around at what others are doing. Taking care of yourself is a full time job. I will worry about what everyone else is doing." Man, if we believers did that, the whole face of the church would be changed. We might actually make a difference in the world around us. Beloved, don't be deceived. Don't buy into the world system and the world's way of thinking, putting ourselves above all others. Let us bear our own load.

So beloved, today, first of all, know that we are all nothing without Jesus Christ in our lives. Let us first examine ourselves and not think more highly of ourselves than we ought, because without Jesus, we are nothing. Secondly, let us walk in grace and truth, and restore our brethren, not tear down. Jesus was in the "business" of restoration. Let us follow His example. Let us not take delight in the downfall or discouragement or the "payback" of others. Let us pray for our brothers and sisters. Let us come along side our brothers and sisters. Let us enourage each other, and spur one another on to love and good deeds. Let us not deceive ourselves. We belong to Jesus Christ the Son of God. Let us follow His example of restoration today. Amen.