Galatians: Spiritual Relationships

Good evening, everyone.

I'm glad that we could be here together.

For those of you who have not been a part of our church or maybe here for the first

time, we've been using this time in our worship to look at a letter that was written by the

Apostle Paul a long time ago to an area of the Roman Empire known as Galatia, so we call

this letter Galatians.

And we've been looking primarily at how the gospel, which is the good news of Jesus Christ,

how that transforms society and how it transforms the way we think about things like race and

social class and gender and how it makes possible an entirely new way of being human.

It makes possible a new way of being human together.

And so we've looked at that at a kind of cultural level.

We've looked at that at the level of society at large.

This evening, we want to look a little more specifically and personally at our relationships,

the relationships within the church.

So more specifically, we're going to be looking and thinking about what it means to have spiritual

relationships.

You know, there's a lot in the news right now and a lot of research being done on the

epidemic of loneliness and on the importance of friendship and having strong social support.

And so there's a lot out there about this.

And, you know, research shows that you, people who have strong social support networks, they're

less likely to be depressed.

They're less likely to be suicidal.

They're better at dealing with stress.

Apparently, it's also good for your BMI.

You live longer.

All of these studies are showing the importance of friendship.

And so we know this.

We know friendships matter.

But the question we want to ask is, is there anything unique or different about friendships

in the church, about relationships between Christians?

Is there anything that makes this different than, say, college friends or co-workers or

neighbors that we're close to and spend time with on the weekends?

And so we're going to be looking at that theme here in the last few chapters of Galatians.

It talks about spiritual relationships here.

And in fact, Galatians has a lot to say about the Holy Spirit in general.

A lot of people don't immediately realize that Galatians is really a letter all about the Holy

Spirit and what the Holy Spirit does in the life of God's people.

And Paul's describing here what a Spirit-filled church looks like, a Spirit-led church.

And what's interesting is he does not describe a Spirit-filled church as a church where people

are being slain in the Spirit or speaking in tongues or prophecy and all these things.

Even though those things are a part of the life of the church, absolutely, that's normally

what we first think of when we think of a Spirit-filled church.

But Paul says that the clearest sign, the first sign that you have a Spirit-led church is

in the relationships.

It's what the relationships look like.

And so we're going to look at these places where we see a description of Spirit-led relationships

in the church.

In chapter 4, verses 12 to 20, Paul describes his relationship as a pastor to his people.

So what we're first going to do is look at what does a Spirit-led relationship between

a pastor and a congregation look like?

Now, I don't know that we've ever talked about that in the history of our church, specifically

what this relationship should look like.

So we'll see that.

And then we'll look secondly at what the relationship in a Spirit-led church looks like between people

in the congregation.

So let's pray and then we'll open God's Word together.

Father, we thank you, Lord, for your Word.

We thank you, as we do every week, that we have the privilege of coming and sitting under

your Word.

And we pray that you would use your Word to open our hearts to reveal to us our need for

grace that you see so clearly.

And that in that we would meet your living Word, Jesus Christ.

And we pray this in His holy name.

Amen.

So we're looking first at the relationship in Spirit-filled churches between pastors

and people.

What should this look like?

You know, these days I think there are a lot of expectations about the role of pastors.

Some people say, why do we even have pastors?

Other people say, well, I know why we have pastors and we have all kinds of reasons why we think

pastors exist.

Some people operate as though pastors are a lot like CEOs.

And a lot of pastors operate that way.

They assume that their main job is to keep the organization running smoothly, to cast vision,

to make sure that you're growing, and to make sure you're promoting the church as much as you can.

Other people think of pastors as kind of motivational speakers, you know, sort of spiritual TED

talk speakers.

And the main function of a pastor is, again, an inspirational message to kind of keep us going

through the week.

And other people think of pastors as maybe life coaches.

You know, if you need some tips on making marriage work or tips on how to do a better job at work,

then pastors are your go-to people for that sort of thing.

And so all of these things are reflections of things that pastors do.

But what's the central purpose of a pastor?

Why have pastors at all?

And we see that in Galatians 4, specifically in verse 19.

This is Paul sharing his heart.

And it's beautiful because you see that Paul is not some distant, stoic, ivory tower theologian.

He's a pastor.

And he passionately loves his people.

And at the end of this passage, he says in verse 19,

My little children.

That's what he calls his people.

My little children for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth

until Christ is formed in you.

What is the purpose of a pastor?

The purpose of a pastor is to form Christ in others.

It's to see Christ formed in other people.

And you say, well, what does it mean to have Christ formed in you?

Well, it means that all of your beliefs and all of your desires

and the way that you live and your imagination,

that all of those things are aligned with the person and the character

and the heart of Jesus Christ.

So instead of saying, well, I believe this,

and yet this is what I really love and care about,

and this is kind of how I live, and this is what I fantasize about,

right, all of those things are aligned with the person of Christ

and the character of Christ.

That's what it means to have Christ formed in you.

It's as though your very identity has been supplanted.

Right, so Paul says that's the reason that pastors exist.

And he compares this work to birthing and raising a child,

which I think is just wonderful.

I mean, I don't obviously personally know what it's like to give birth to a child.

I was there with all three of our kids when they were born, with my wife.

And what I know from her is that as painful as it can be

and as anxiety-provoking as the entire process can be,

all of that pales in comparison to the joy of bringing new life into the world.

It's staggering.

Right?

And in the same way, Paul is saying,

as hard as this is and as much anguish as it causes me at times,

that pales in comparison to the beauty and the joy of seeing new spiritual life come into the world.

And, you know, if you think about when you have kids,

one of the things that I didn't realize really, truly,

about having kids is that, you know, we have three now.

Our oldest is Riley.

And I remember having Riley, and I remember for about a year after having Riley,

I was constantly in a state of kind of low-grade panic.

Panic.

Because what I kept realizing is I'm always on duty.

You know, I had never had a job before where I'm always on.

You know, you don't clock out after 12 hours and somebody else comes in and takes a night shift.

You're just kind of always on.

And people can come and family and babysitters and all that and kind of help here and there,

but you're the one always on duty, and you're responsible for that child's well-being.

And so, you know, low-grade panic.

It's about a year.

It still kicks in every now and then.

And Paul's saying it's very much like being a pastor.

You know, it's not a day job.

You don't clock in and clock out.

And he says, you know, everything I do, all of my life, is oriented toward one goal.

Just like being a parent.

Everything you do as a parent is oriented toward that child growing up and becoming a mature, healthy adult.

And in the same way, Paul says, pastors, everything you do is oriented toward those people becoming mature, healthy disciples and followers of Jesus Christ.

This is the goal.

And so he says, here are some of the things that I do.

And we see in this passage some of the things that Paul does in order to form Christ in his people.

Number one, Paul identifies with his people.

First thing he does in order to form Christ in them is he identifies with them.

It says in verse 12, brothers, I entreat you.

Become as I am, for I also have become as you are.

So he's saying, I became like you in order to reach you.

And, you know, he's a Jew.

He's kind of a Jew's Jew.

He's a Jewish elite, you know, in his former life.

And he says, you know, you're a bunch of Gentiles.

Not too long ago, I wouldn't have even associated with you.

I would have crossed the street if I saw you coming.

But I became in every way like you.

I've lived with you.

I've eaten the same food at the table with you.

We've laughed together.

We've cried together.

We've experienced life together.

I know what it's like to be in your shoes.

I became like you in order to see Christ formed in you.

And I think that there is a principle for pastoral ministry here, a kind of model, right?

I mean, as good as, as wonderful as technology is, as wonderful as, you know, podcasts are

and video projection and streaming media and all of these technologies

and as amazing as those technologies are for getting the gospel out to the world.

And I love all that stuff.

I listen to tons of podcasts.

There is no substitute for a flesh and blood pastor preaching to people he knows,

preaching into situations that he's personally familiar with.

There is no substitute.

I became like you.

I know what it's like to be in your shoes.

Now, pastors can't know every single person in their congregation deeply and intimately.

But pastors can know their people, know what it's like to be them,

know what they go through on a day-in-day-out basis.

So Paul says, you know, I identified with you so that I could form Christ in you.

The counterpart to that, number two, Paul set an example with his own life.

He says, become like me, for I became as you are.

And that's staggering to me.

Become as I am.

To me, that's staggering.

You know, and what he means is obviously in Galatians 2.20, a couple of chapters earlier,

he says, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And what's he saying?

He says, I'm doing everything I can so that you will have the kind of relationship with Christ that I have.

Or I'm so, it's not about my moral excellence.

It's not about my resume.

It's not about all of my impressive accomplishments.

It's about the fact that I'm so in love with Jesus.

I'm so taken with him that it's almost as though I no longer exist, that he lives in me.

He fills me up.

And he says, I want you to have that.

You know, the great Scottish pastor, Robert Murray McShane, famously said, he's a pastor,

and he said, the greatest need of my people is my personal holiness.

That hits me like a sledgehammer.

I don't know how you feel about it.

But I'm staggered by that.

You know, I hang out with a lot of pastors.

It's kind of one of the hazards of the trade.

And we hang out, and, you know, pastors are always trying to think about how they can grow.

And, you know, pastors are always working on stuff.

You know, and so a lot of pastors talk about, I want to become a better preacher and a better communicator.

You know, or other pastors say, I want to become better at fundraising and development.

And other pastors say, I want to become better at organizational leadership or, you know, vision casting.

Or, you know, and so pastors are always talking about this stuff.

Rarely do you hear pastors say, I want to grow more holy in the way I live.

You just don't hear it that often.

And yet I think what McShane is saying, what Paul would say is, my people's greatest need is my relationship with Christ.

That that's worthy of imitation.

And so I think there's probably no other quote out there that has convicted me more than that quote.

It's always in the background whenever I'm praying or confessing to God my own weakness.

So Paul set an example.

He was able to say, become as I am.

Number three, the third thing Paul does to form Christ and his people is, he preached God's word even if it made enemies.

He preached God's word faithfully even if he made enemies doing it.

So he says, you know, in verse 5,

What has become of your blessedness?

For I testify to you that if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.

Have I then become your enemy?

By telling you the truth?

And you've got to hear the pain.

You've got to hear the heartbreak.

I mean, Paul's been in anguish over this.

I mean, he's essentially saying, we were friends.

We loved each other.

We lived life together.

We laughed together and we cried together.

We had all kinds of plans of the ways that we wanted to live our lives together.

We were brothers and sisters.

And now you don't even talk to me.

You don't return my calls.

You act like I don't exist.

In fact, you act like I'm your enemy.

All because I preached what was revealed to me by Jesus Christ.

And you didn't want to hear it.

And so now the relationship is off.

And you say, how could that be?

And you know, we've had that kind of thing happen over the years in our church.

And I will tell you, it hurts every single time.

It hurts.

And there's this temptation, you know, to ameliorate the tension.

There's this temptation to skip over the troublesome parts.

And the things that we don't want to talk about are, you know, to kind of mitigate those.

Or to kind of, you know, explain things away.

Or to just kind of soften this.

And there's this temptation to do that because it would make it a heck of a lot easier.

It would be so much easier.

If there were nothing in Scripture that were in any way challenging.

Or offensive to our modern sensibilities.

And yet, you know, I think personally of my own ordination vows.

Questions like this were asked of me.

Are you determined out of the Scriptures to instruct the people committed to your charge?

Will you be ready with all faithful diligence to banish and drive away from the body of Christ

all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word?

And you realize that pastors are ordained not to tell people what they want to hear,

but to tell people what they need to hear from God's Word.

And there are things in God's Word that we all need to hear that none of us want to hear.

Including pastors.

So chances are, if you have a pastor who is only telling people what they want to hear,

it's probably not a pastor.

It's more of a peddler.

There's probably a book for sale in the lobby somewhere.

Paul says what is true based on God's Word,

even if it makes enemies.

And of course, number four is maybe the most important of all.

The last thing that Paul does in order to form Christ and his people is,

he relies on the Holy Spirit to do all of the things that he can't do.

Verses 13 and 14 tell us that Paul was sick when he arrived in Galatia.

He was ill.

We don't know exactly what was going on, a lot of theories about that.

But we know that it was a significant illness,

and that it was a burden to the Galatian people.

They had to take care of him.

And he was so sick, and the condition was such that it inhibited his ability to communicate

and do his normal kind of ministry.

He was kind of bedridden or something.

But what we realize is that even though he was limited,

and even though he couldn't communicate the way he wanted,

the Holy Spirit still did amazing work in Galatia.

There's this thriving church as a result.

And you realize that the Spirit is the one actually doing the work of ministry.

And there are so many things that in pastoral ministry, day in and day out,

so many situations that confront you with your own limitations.

Your highest estimation of yourself is the day you graduate from seminary.

I know everything now.

I've got all the answers, all the techniques.

And in about a month, you're sort of down here.

And then, you know, slowly but surely, your self-estimation gets chopped away, you know,

which is a good thing in the kingdom of God.

But it confronts you with your limitations.

You know, I realize again and again and again,

I can't fix marriages.

I can't convert people.

I can give great arguments, great apologetics, illustrations.

I can't convert people.

Only the Spirit can do that.

I can't make people ask other people out on dates.

Okay?

I just can't do that.

I can arrange marriages.

I have a contract, and if you sign that contract,

I will arrange a marriage for you.

It will go wonderfully for you.

A little awkward for the first couple of years, but you'll work it out.

I can't make people stop dating people.

I can't make people stop doing self-destructive things.

I can give them all the reasons.

I can't take away chronic pain.

I can't take away depression.

There's no magic word that I can tell you that's going to alleviate your anxiety.

I can't make your life easier if you struggle with chronic mental illness.

I can't tell you what your future holds.

I can't tell you which job you should take.

I can't even tell you if you're going to be okay.

All I can do is pray.

And I can do what John the Baptist did,

which is to continually point to Jesus Christ and to decrease

so that He would increase in your life.

That's all I can do.

And then, as I'm praying and as I'm pointing,

I can sit back and I can watch the Holy Spirit do

what no human being could do in your life.

And that is one of the great joys and privileges of pastoral ministry,

is getting to see the Spirit work in people's lives in amazing ways.

Getting to see the Spirit do things

that I couldn't do in ten years of trying in an instant.

You know, compared to moving, you know,

compared to the work that sometimes needs to be done in the human heart,

moving mountains is easy.

It's way harder, infinitely harder,

to change a human heart than it is to move a mountain.

You see the Spirit do amazing things in the church.

So we take all this together,

and just a word before we look at the relationships

that exist within the congregation,

you know, over the last few years,

I've been working to try to clarify

my sense of pastoral calling in this church

and what that should look like

and what my priorities should be.

And one of my great heroes who passed away last year,

Eugene Peterson,

says that there are three jobs of a pastor,

preaching and teaching and leadership,

administrative leadership,

and he says those three jobs hinge on three core practices.

Prayer, Bible study, and spiritual direction.

And you know, what's interesting about those

is they all have to do with attention.

Prayer is attending to God.

Bible study is attending to God's Word

and the great story of salvation history,

all that God has done in the lives of His people.

And then spiritual direction is attending to the work

of the Holy Spirit here and now,

in your lives and lives of our congregation.

And in our community in general.

Where is God calling us to go?

What is God doing right now in our midst?

And you know, all of these things concern attention.

And to be totally honest,

I don't have a lot of attention.

I have about that much.

My attention span is very, very, very small.

Right?

Medication gets me to about here.

You know?

Monster gets me to about here.

You know, that's about,

and that's about my,

I'm maxed out, highly medicated.

I'm about right there.

Right?

And it's not that much.

And so I have to be very choosy

about where I invest that tiny little bit of attention

that I have to give.

And so this is why I went off all social media.

And this is why I've mostly gone away from email.

is because those things were robbing my attention.

Another thing I've done is,

you know, as we've grown,

I've tried to focus more and more of my attention

on equipping our staff,

on equipping our other pastors,

on equipping leaders.

Because even though in this parish

it feels like we're a church of,

you know, a couple of hundred people,

the reality is we're a church of like 400 people.

And in a church that size,

even with three pastors,

it's impossible to know intimately

and care for everybody

in ways that people need to be cared for.

And so that kind of brings us

to the second piece of this,

which is what does the relationship

at a Spirit-filled church look like

between people?

And for this we look at Galatians 5 and 6.

Galatians 5, 25,

if we live by the Spirit,

let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Let us not become conceited,

provoking one another,

envying one another.

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.

Bear one another's burdens

and so fulfill the law of Christ.

What I want you to see here

is that the work of forming Christ in people

is not only pastoral work.

The work of forming Christ in people

is the work of every single Christian.

Right?

When you were baptized,

that was kind of like your ordination

and you became a full-time minister.

And part of the ministry of the saints

is to see that Christ is formed in one another.

So when Paul talks about

bearing one another's burdens,

he's talking about

sharing that sense of responsibility

for seeing that Christ is formed in all of us,

that we're all growing and maturing.

It's the burden of discipleship.

It's the yoke of discipleship.

And he says,

no one is called to go it alone.

There's no such thing as a lone gun Christian.

By design,

the formation of Christ in us

is a communal effort

and everybody has a part to play in that.

So he's saying,

our church relationships

are categorically different

than your friendships,

your college friends,

your co-workers,

neighbors that you hang out with,

even your family.

The church relationships

are categorically different

because we're all called to pastor one another.

And so just like Paul,

everything we do,

all the ways that we interact

are meant to orient toward that end.

And so we ask,

well, okay,

what does that actually look like?

And I'll just give you a couple of examples

of what that might look like.

The first example

of how we form Christ in each other

is simply this.

We attend to the work of the Holy Spirit

in one another's lives.

You just pay attention

to what God is already doing

in the lives of the people around you.

You notice it.

So in verse 25,

he says,

if we live by the Spirit,

let us also keep in step

with the Spirit.

Keep in step with the Spirit.

Track with what the Spirit is doing.

Pay attention to that

and then align your efforts with it.

That's what he's talking about here.

So just imagine your relationships,

your Christian relationships for a second,

and imagine how different they would be

if you were attending to the work

of the Holy Spirit.

In other words,

what would it be like

if you saw all of your relationships

in the church,

every single person,

as a work in progress

of the Holy Spirit?

You know,

like when you're driving down the street

and you see some row house

and it's being renovated

and they've got all the scaffolding

built out front

and all the machinery

and the tools

and the hard hats

and serious work is going on.

What would it be like

if you just assumed

that everybody in the church

was like that?

They were under renovation.

Open house coming soon.

You know,

so imagine if you had

a disagreement with somebody.

You have a major falling out

with somebody,

angry,

argument,

the whole nine yards.

You know,

I think maybe

that might be happening right now.

I don't know.

There may be somebody here,

a few of you here,

who are in a major disagreement

right now

and you're hurt

and you're angry

and you feel attacked,

you feel let down.

Imagine if instead of

however you're thinking

about that situation right now.

Instead of that,

you assumed

that you are a work

of the Holy Spirit

and this other person

is an ongoing work

of the Holy Spirit

and that this argument

is actually one of the ways

that the Holy Spirit

is renovating you.

You know,

there's like an old bathroom

or kitchen

that just needs to be

completely torn out.

There's something,

there's a part

that just needs to be gutted

and that's what's happening

right now.

The Spirit is working on you.

How would you respond

differently to that conflict?

Have you assumed

this is how God

is working in my life

and their life?

Think about dating people

and think about

our typical approach

to dating,

relationships,

or not dating,

hanging out with intentionality

or however it plays out.

And imagine

that you treat

the people that you date

like renovation projects

of the Holy Spirit.

The main thing

that's happening

in this person's life

is that God

is working in them,

forming Christ in them.

You know,

if you saw a house

being renovated

on the street,

you wouldn't go in there

and trash it.

So why would we do things

that might trash

other people?

Right?

You would be

very respectful.

You'd be very aware

of and attentive

to what's happening there

and you'd try

to appreciate it

even if ultimately

you go your separate ways.

Those of us

who are married,

same thing.

You know,

we have conflict

all the time.

Marriage is hard.

And imagine

if we saw

the conflict

in our marriage

not as a sign

that we married

the wrong person

or that we made a mistake

or that we've just

grown apart

or that marriage

is too hard.

Right?

Imagine instead

we saw that as

that's exactly

what's supposed

to happen in marriage

because the point

of this marriage

is not necessarily

my happiness

and fulfillment

all the time.

It's my holiness.

It's that Christ

would be formed in me.

And guess what?

If God's doing

a renovation project

and you're the house

guess who the chief

contractor is?

It's your spouse.

God's like

this is a gut job

we're going to have

to redo the whole thing

we need a major

you know

some highly competent

contractor

to come in

who can just manage

the whole project.

Guess who that is?

It's the person

that you married.

They're going to be

the main one

that God uses

to renovate you

from the inside out

to form Christ in you.

And what if you responded

to your disagreements

and differences

recognizing this is

how God is at work?

What in me needs to go?

I'll just give you

one more example

you know

as Paul says

instead of becoming

conceited

or provoking

or envying one another

what if we paid attention

to the ways

that God may be

producing fruit

in other people's lives?

So he's saying

stop comparing yourself

stop resenting

the success

that other people have

stop envying people

for being smarter

or more successful

or better looking

than you

stop doing that

whole thing

instead notice

and affirm

where God is at work

in people's lives.

If you see fruit

affirm that.

You know sometimes

the best way

we can know

God is at work

in us

is when other people

give us feedback.

Wow I've just noticed

you're a lot more patient

than you used to be.

You have this kind of

gentleness

that you didn't

used to have.

I've noticed

that you seem

less preoccupied

you seem more

tuned in

to what's going on

and the needs

around you.

That's God at work

in your life.

Imagine if we did that

instead of resenting

and comparing

all the time.

We attend to the work

of the Holy Spirit.

Number two

last point.

What do these

relationships look like

in a spirit led church?

It means that we

take seriously

the work

of restoring

those who sin.

Restoring

those who sin.

the ancient view

of friendship

assumed that the

point of the relationship

was to cultivate

virtue

in one another.

Now I think

that the view

that we have today

of friendship

is quite different.

Most people think

of friends today.

Who are your true friends?

Well your true friends

are the people

who always affirm you.

They never question

your decisions.

They never push back

on what you're doing.

They're the people

that have your back

no matter what.

Right?

That's a true friend.

And I just think

that's an anemic

counterfeit view

of friendship.

If you look at

what Paul says

about these relationships

he says

in a spiritual relationship

we are quick

to restore

those who sin.

We're ready

to push back

if necessary.

And there are

a couple of ways

that we can think

about this.

You know

you're sitting

you're talking

with your friends

you're hearing

about their life

you're hearing

about things

that are going on

or decisions

that need to be made

and just a couple

of things to think about.

One

if you're serious

about forming Christ

in other people

then do not hide

behind neutrality.

You know

don't take the approach

of saying

well you know

I don't know

there's no real

right answer here

and you know

I just

whatever you want to do

I just want you

to be happy.

Don't hide behind neutrality.

Listen

we're not neutral.

Christians are not neutral.

Okay?

We're not neutral.

We're not agnostic.

Paul has literally

spent several chapters

saying that we are born

slaves to sin

and that only

through the greatest

sacrifice imaginable

has God set us free

and yet we are

perilously close

dangling

over enslavement

again.

It could happen

and we have to

and he's saying

that every single day

we have to fight

to hold on

to our freedom.

That's not neutral.

Nobody's neutral.

Everybody's biased.

Don't hide behind

neutrality.

Don't hide behind

the well

whatever you think

is right.

That's not true

friendship.

So don't do that.

We have to fight

for our freedom

all of the time.

Number two

I would say

that in most cases

avoid giving advice.

Just in fact

just don't give advice.

Just don't do it.

You know

statistically speaking

most of the time

when you give

people advice

they're much less

likely to do it

if you told them

to do it.

Did you know that?

So like research

shows that if somebody

has a problem

decision they're trying

to make

and you tell them

what to do

you give them advice

statistically

they're very unlikely

to actually do

anything that you suggest.

By contrast

if people are able

to come up

with a solution

on their own

they're much more likely

to actually act on it.

And guess what?

Here's the kind of

you know

here's the other side

of it

is that

regardless of whether

they follow through

a lot of people

will secretly resent

having to ask you

for advice

because they don't

like to be

nobody likes to be

in the position

of not knowing.

Right?

And so I would just

avoid advice

altogether

and you know what

I can get advice

from my college friends

I can get advice

from my co-workers

I can get advice

from those people

I can go to my neighbor

and say what do you

think I should do?

I don't need that

from my Christian friends

what I need

from my Christian friends

is I need them

to pray with me

and for me

and when they say

they're going to pray

for me they mean it

and I need them

to sit down

and help me understand

how God's word

might speak to my situation

and when we do that

when we come alongside

somebody

we don't tell them

what to do

or prescribe a solution

or problem solve

or advice give

and instead we do what?

Attend to the work

of the Spirit

in this renovation project

guess what happens?

You don't rob that person

of the opportunity

to grow in Christ

you don't rob them

of the opportunity

to take their issue

to the Lord

you don't try to supplant

the Lord in their life

instead you say

let's go to the Lord

together

and see what God's

going to do with this

so avoid

avoid

a voice

giving advice

last thing I'll say

do confront sin

whenever you see it

do confront sin

but do it with gentleness

and humility

I love that Paul

uses the word

restore here

you ever seen

an old car

or an old piece

of furniture

that somebody restores

maybe some of you

do that on the side

you restore furniture

restore cars

or a house renovation

and that work

is done

first thing you have to do

is you have to look

at that old piece

of furniture

and you have to envision

what it could look like

restored

the finished work

and you know

for Christians

what does the finished work

look like

when the renovation

is done

it looks just like

Jesus Christ

and so you have to

envision the end result

and then what do you do

well you begin

to restore

that piece of furniture

or that car

very gently

very lovingly

very delicately

with great attention

to detail

recognizing that

it's probably going to

take a long time

it's going to be

a long obedience

in the same direction

so to speak

and that's I think

exactly how we should

think about restoring

brothers and sisters

who are sinning

who have fallen away

from Christ

it's a gentle

gradual

work

of love

and attention

and care

and it takes time

and it takes an enormous

amount of humility

so if you have friends

and none of those friends

have ever pushed back

on you

they've never questioned

anything about your life

who you're with

or how many hours

you're working

or this or that

they've never pushed back

then maybe you don't

have friends

maybe you have

yes men

Paul's calling us

to be spiritual friends

to seek to form Christ

in one another

so as we bring

these things together

the relationship

of a pastor

to the people

and the relationship

between people

and one another

this is what spirit

led relationships

look like

in the church

and I think

one of the reasons

we go wrong here

is because we actually

misunderstand

what the church

is all about

in general

a lot of people

think that the church

is just another

non-profit

doing work

in the city

like anyone else

other people

think that the church

is more of a

social club

to meet potential spouses

or make friends

and other people

think of the church

as a kind of

therapy support group

where we can come

and learn coping strategies

to deal with life

and none of these

even come close

to the truth

because the church

is unlike any other

institution

on the planet

the church

is the place

where the eternal

has broken

into the temporal

the church

is the place

where the infinite

has come to dwell

in the finite

and the church

is the place

where the future

has broken

into the present

and you're not

going to see that

anywhere else

so the church

is a place

of transcendent

worship

where God

is actually present

and the church

is a place

of political

subversion

because every week

we proclaim

our allegiance

to the king

of kings

and implicit

in that

is the idea

that this

and all administrations

will come crumbling

down

the church

is the place

of spiritual

rehabilitation

where we are

relearning

how to be human

together

and all of this

is because we know

that one day

Jesus is going

to return

and is going

to renew

and restore

this world

and so we need

to make sure

that we are fit

to live

in that new world

and the only way

to be fit

for new creation

is to have Christ

formed in us

and that is

our common calling

let's pray