restoring a fallen brother

Dear brothers and sisters,

Recently, I listened to a sermon that mentioned the principle of restoring a fallen brother or sister, as mentioned in Galations 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."

In thinking some more about this principle a few questions came to mind. The first was, what kind of a fault would this have been referring to? Might it apply to someone who was in a backslidden condition, or does it apply more to a specific episode of moral failure? Also, I was interested to know more about what the restoring process might look like. I have been in churches before where someone has shared with the rest of the congregation about a sin that had been committed. However, I haven't really known about the restoring process that might take place, after someone has acknowledged their sin, and needed to be restored in fellowship, to their fellow believers, and to God.

In 1 Corinthians, we have a record of an instance where a man falls and then is needed to be restored to fellowship. I'm wondering how this example from the Corinthian church can shed light on what this process of restoration would look like today.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

In Jesus,
John

I believe only Christ can restore completely a fallen brother, but God can work through one to help another what is good and pleasing in His sight.
God gives wisdom in these things if we ask for it, and it is His will that one be restored - but one can only be restored on God's terms - He gives grace to the humble.
I also believe that if we fall into certain sins and God restores us, then it should be perhaps a little easier to help restore another - not by our own power or righteousness of course, but perhaps because we've also been deceived in a certain area of our own lives, and we can now testify of God's grace that has restored us. We now have a "heart" that sympathizes with the fallen brother or sister because we ourselves have been there, and because of this, we have a greater patience and understanding in such a circumstance. And when we share our own experience of our past lives in true humility and meekness, it should be done after the log is taken out of our own eye that we may see clearly how to help remove the splinter out of our brother's eye.
And I do believe that there must also be a Godly burden in this - a burden that God puts on our heart that makes us weep for the one that is also weeping, that we would also pray for them, and even let their fall humble us even more as we remember where we ourselves came from, and that if it wasn't for the grace of God, we'd be perhaps in a much worse condition than those who are struggling with their inner beasts.
We must remember that the body needs all members - the eye cannot say to the foot, "I have no need of thee", etc.

by live4jc:
The first was, what kind of a fault would this have been referring to? Might it apply to someone who was in a backslidden condition, or does it apply more to a specific episode of moral failure?

by live4jc:
Also, I was interested to know more about what the restoring process might look like.

by live4jc:
However, I haven't really known about the restoring process that might take place, after someone has acknowledged their sin, and needed to be restored in fellowship, to their fellow believers, and to God.

I think this verse is telling us to go above and beyond the call of duty, not to be nosey with other’s lives but b/c we are our brother’s keeper and when we see their eyes lingering a bit too long on someone or something, in a spirit of meekness we need to go to them and share our struggles with them. There are people who call out our sins (forgetting theirs) (oh you bet there are!) and they do not do it in a spirit of meekness.

God does restore but He also uses us to draw people in. When I was backslid and in the bars, do you know how many people were also in there that had been hurt by so-called Christians or Churches? 95% of them. We need more meekness in ourselves today, I do.

God bless,
Lisa

Good word by Lisa.

I just wanted to say how key meekness and humility are in this process. The enemy gloats over fallen ones, whatever the case may be. We can even be "proud" of our restoration process, thus the warning. God has a destiny for us all, so we should be vigilant in the process of seeing one another fulfill that destiny. The chief goal is to glorify God.

Restoring has to do with fixing a dislocated joint, so the whole body benefits from restoration.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of detail as to the process itself, so we must consider (father-son) discipleship principles, nurturing type relationships. I am aware of very few such cases, sad to say.

Russell

What about this example from Gal. 2?

What was the troubling sin?
Why was it so dangerous?
How did Paul address it?

What might be some modern examples?

Paul Opposes Cephas (Peter)

11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

15 “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in[d] Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

17 “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”[e]

Diane