Like this:

You are walking to school. It’s 85 degrees at only 8 in the morning. The hill looks like it could go on forever; you may even be walking up one of the hills your parents used to walk up on their way to school – you know, uphill both ways.

And as you think about how amazing that cold In-N-Out shake will be when you get one at lunch, you hear a blood curdling scream.

Immediately you turn around. There is a little girl on the ground, bloodied up, her arm broken. Her tiny tricycle is so twisted and mangled you can barely make it out as you sprint over to her.

Do you help her? You want to mend her arm and clean her up. If you don’t tend to her wounds, she could pass out. But you don’t want to make it worse.

She is in tremendous pain, what are you going to do?

You may not know this, but we face a situation like this every single day. Maybe this illustration will make things clearer:

You are walking to school. There is absolutely no hill, and after a light and easy stroll, you arrive at your destination. You see your Christian friend Joe get out of his mom’s car. He screams at her, slams the door, and lets out a string of curse words under his breath. What do you do now? You want to help him and confront him, because he clearly is in sin. But you don’t want him to get mad at you. You care about his friendship. If you call him out, he could never talk to you again.

Much like the situation with the little girl, you have two choices. Do you take action, or do you walk away?

The reality is, we see our brothers and sisters in Christ in sin all the time. And what should we do? We care about them. We want them to be holy. But we also don’t want to anger them. We don’t want to make it worse.

Galatians 6:1 tells us exactly what we must do:

“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”

If we see a brother in sin, we should restore him. It may be awkward, it may not be at first well received, but it is the biblical and godly thing to do. Rebuke and restoration is seldom a pleasant experience. But it is necessary as Christians, as this verse indicates.

Before we move on, let’s take a closer look at some of the words used in this verse. This will give us a deeper understanding of what Paul is trying to say.

Brothers- All Christians are in one family. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. We are His body, each of us being separate members. When you restore someone, you are not restoring a stranger. You are restoring a child of the living God. This certainly makes this situation much more tender, but also much more serious.

any transgression- It doesn’t matter the sin, large or small. They could have screamed curses at their parents, or they could just have a bad attitude towards them. It could be on purpose, or even on accident. We must restore those who are caught in any transgression.

spiritual- This can be confusing. Today, “spirituality” is a hot topic. But against the various views of today’s culture, Paul uses the term “spiritual” to refer to Christians, mature Christians in particular.

From these words we learn that this is a serious and tender matter (“Brothers”), and that it should be done with any transgression or sin. Those who restore their brothers or sisters from sin must also be Christians, preferably mature.

Now let’s turn to the nature of this “restoration.”

1) The call is to restore not just to rebuke- What’s the difference? As I see it, a rebuke is a confrontation of sin. It is telling someone that they are wrong, and that they need to repent and ask God for forgiveness. But notice how Paul doesn’t use “rebuke”. He uses “restore”. Yes, we should call said person out when they sin, but we must also restore them. The word “restore” brings up images of “welcoming back” and “bringing in.” We should pray for them, even pray with them. We should show them kindness and mercy, and give them advice from the Scriptures. Don’t just confront and walk away, restore.

2) This is to be done in a gentle manner- Nothing will turn off an already angry or upset person by harsh and uncaring words.

Is your response to someone’s sin, “Hey moron, way to cuss at your mom. I’m sure God is so happy with you now.”? (I hope you could sense the sarcasm there).
Or is it, “Hey bro (or however girls address each other), I heard what happened with you and your mom. I am sorry it happened; that probably wasn’t the best way to deal with the situation. But don’t worry, God is forgiving of your sin! Christ has paid your penalty in full! Here is what the Bible says you should do in this situation…”
As you can see, these two confrontations are way different! One is harsh and rude, the other is gentle and loving.

3) Be careful when restoring someone- Galatians 6:1 tells us to keep watch on ourselves, that we may not also become tempted. It would make most sense that Paul is telling the Galatians to be aware of pride.

When you confront and restore someone there is the possibility to be tempted with pride. You may think, “Wow, Joe cusses at his mom, good thing I don’t do that. I’m such a better Christian than he is” or even, “I am so spiritual because I rebuked and restored someone. Look at how godly I am!” Paul tells us to be aware of this temptation, and elsewhere 1 Corinthians 10:12 reminds us to “take heed, lest we fall”. Here we also learn the reason why a spiritual (or mature) Christian should do the restoring- he or she is less likely to be tempted.

What are some practical things you and I can do to avoid being tempted when we confront a brother or sister in Christ?
a) Remember that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We most likely have sinned in the same way that our brother or sister that needs restoration has. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man (1 Corinthians 10:13).
b) Remember that it is by grace that we have been saved (Ephesians 2:8-9). Without God’s gift of faith, we would be dead in sin and children of wrath (Ephesians 2:1, 3)
c) Dwell on the fruits of the Spirit. God bears fruit in us. God makes us holy. Our walk with God depends ultimately on Him, not ourselves. Jesus says in John 15:5 that no one can do anything good apart from Him.
If you are tempted to puff up with pride when rebuking and restoring someone, remember these amazing truths of Scripture. God does want us to restore our fallen siblings in Christ, but in a gentle and humble manner.

It is my prayer that we all can learn from Galatians 6:1. God takes sin seriously in the lives of His children. So should we. Though a rebuke will almost always be painful and uncomfortable, let us be encouraged by the words of Proverbs 27:5, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love.”

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