How Church Should Work || Galatians 6:1-3 || Manna for the Mind #7

Welcome to Day 7 of my “Manna for the Mind” devotional series! This series takes a passage of scripture (typically 1-3 verses) and builds its understanding through its context and connecting scripture. Doing this helps us understand what the Bible truly teaches us. 

Galatians 6:1-3

1          Dear Brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.

2          Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

3          If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.

Gently and humbly help someone get back on track. This is where Christians get on the extreme scale, meaning that they’re really good at this or terrible at this. Christians can get very “bible-thumpy” when they try to “help” someone and end up causing more harm, hence what we see often with LGBTQ Christians. Yet, some Christians ask one of the best questions regarding this idea: “How can I walk alongside you during your journey?” This question allows the person to have control of the situation, directly responds to the person asking, and shows that the person asking wants to support them but only in a needed way.

We should never think we are totally alone and must do everything ourselves. We should never think we are excused from helping others because we’re too critical, arrogant, or prideful. The body of Christ – the Church – functions when its members work together for the common good. The body of Christ must work together, meaning they must cooperate, communicate, and be united by one mission and vision. When this doesn’t happen, you get cliques and factions within the Church that do what they think is right (reminds of the book of Judges) without worrying about the other groups’ actions. They must communicate, cooperate, and be united to do the common good. The common good is the good for all people, not for their church body and not for themselves specifically, but for all people. The Church can sometimes be selfish, only worrying and doing things that benefit them. Still, we’re not called to serve ourselves but the world.

1 Corinthians 2:14-16

14        But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them, and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.

15        Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others.

16        For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

Non-Christians can’t truly understand God. I’ll take it a step further and say some Christians can’t truly understand God. Non-Christians take the version of God that society shows and that “Christians” show. Christians take the face-value understanding of scripture without its proper context and comprehension. There are different facets of biblical doctrine that some people are better at explaining than others. Still, there needs to be unity or continuity in our shared biblical doctrine. The Bible sounds foolish and confusing to people, but spiritual people can understand what it says. It doesn’t say they “will” understand, but they “can” understand. When you become a Christian, you don’t fully comprehend the Bible and everything about it, but you can comprehend it. You can look at a biblical story like the Prodigal Son in Luke from all corners of the page to see the cultural norms, the word choices, the emotional projection, and things related to that and then see how it can apply to our culture today. People might not accept your teachings or explanations, and you shouldn’t expect them to. Our role is to plant the seed in people’s minds and let Jesus grow. We can help them tend to it with any questions or conflicting thoughts they may be encountering, but the actual work happens between them and Jesus.

We should not be silent, though. We must be ready and alert for opportunities to share our testimony about Jesus. This doesn’t necessarily mean we force people to listen to it or figure out ways to shoehorn it into the conversation. However, if someone has questions or is going through something and is willing to hear how they got through a similar situation, then share away. I will never tell you not to share if you feel that nudge to share, but just be sure it’s not forced.

No one can know the Lord’s thoughts, but through the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, believers can gain insight into some of God’s thoughts, plans, and actions. We get to that more profound understanding of what the Bible is trying to teach us. We get beneath the words and find the meanings, the cultural context, the word choices, and definitions, and how those parts of scripture affect our time and culture today.

James 5:19-20

19        My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back,

20        you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.

There’s been plenty of conversation about whether or not people can lose their salvation. Still, the consensus shows that those who fall away from their faith are in serious spiritual trouble and should repent. From my studies, the argument goes toward those who intentionally walk away from the life-saving properties of the Holy Spirit. Like those who intentionally slander or blaspheme the Holy Spirit’s reputation and guidance. I read this and am confident about this next state: “If you’re questioning whether or not you’ve lost it, you haven’t lost it.” God is open to questions, doubts, concerns, and anything related to that because without those, how can we learn about who God is and what he does.

James urges Christians to help those wandering from the faith return to God. Help is the operative word because no one can, should, or would come forcefully. You can plant various mustard seeds, encourage conversations about their relationship with God, love on them, and pray for and with them, but you can not force them. God doesn’t force us into a relationship, so why should we, and are we, forcing others.

We must serve with compassion, speaking lovingly and truthfully to all (notice that the two are together and not mutually exclusive – talking to all you “truth” tellers who tell it like it is), live obeying God’s commands, and love each other. This is what it means to be the Church. The Bible isn’t just a book we read, and the Church isn’t just a place to hang out, but being a Christian gives us a whole new outlook on life.

1 John 5:16-17

16        If you see a fellow believer sinning in a way that doesn’t lead to death, you should pray, and God will give that person life. But there is a sin that leads to death, and I am not saying you should pray for those who commit it.

17        All wicked actions are sin, but not every sin leads to death.

John most likely refers to people who left Christianity to join the Antichrist movement. Those who willfully and intentionally left Christianity to follow the Antichrist are the ones that John claims are out of reach of prayer. Yet, we should continue praying for our loved ones, Christian brothers and sisters. We want to see good things happen to everyone, regardless of whether we’re in good standing with them. As I talked about earlier, it’s hard to intentionally go out of the way to cause or want bad things to happen to someone. Let us go out and love as Jesus loved. Amen.

Father God, we thank you for the guidance, wisdom, grace, compassion, and mercy you give us each day and teach us through the words of your text. Please help us to understand and comprehend what you’re telling us and share and show those teachings to the world. It’s in your name, we pray. Amen.