The Church as a Means of Grace - Part 4
Good morning, you can open your Bibles to Galatians 6.
We’ve been in a series on the topic of personal change. Not any change, but the change that every follower of Jesus Christ is capable of experiencing since they’ve received the Holy Spirit. Theologically, this is what we call sanctification. Sanctification is the big word we use to describe the process of each of us becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. That is, the process of us becoming more Holy, or more sanctified.
This process began the moment you believed in Jesus and received his Spirit. In fact, it is the primary work of the Holy Spirit in your life. The Spirit is working everyday to help you be less like you were before coming to Jesus, and less like the culture around you, and more like Jesus. He’s helping you grow in your distaste for sin, and in your desire for holiness. He’s working to move you more and more in the direction of the glory that you will receive in its fullness when Christ returns.
In addition to learning that the Spirit is the agent of change in the life of every believer, we also learned that this work of sanctification, carried out by the Holy Spirit, is a work that he performs through means. That is, he uses practical tools to carry out this work. Tools that God has provided for every one of his children. These are what we call the means of grace. These are the things that God uses to communicate his grace into our lives, moving us more and more toward holiness.
THE BIBLE AS A MEANS
We discussed the Bible as one of those means. We learned that God’s Word is not just information for our heads but a powerful instrument of transformation for our lives. Through Scripture, the Holy Spirit renews our minds, exposes our sin, corrects our thinking, trains us in righteousness, and equips us for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It gives us a true view of God, a honest view of ourselves, and a clear vision of the life we are called to live. It protects us from error, comforts us in affliction, and shapes us into the image of Christ. The Bible is God’s primary tool for our sanctification.
PRAYER AS A MEANS OF GRACE Then we discussed prayer as a means of grace. We saw that prayer is far more than a religious duty or a way to present our requests to God. It is one of God’s gracious tools for changing the pray-er. Through prayer, God helps us unburden our anxieties and find supernatural peace that guards our hearts and minds. He renews our thinking, tears down worldly strongholds, and aligns our perspective with His truth. Prayer also reinforces our true identity in Christ, silencing the lies of our past and the accusations of the enemy, reminding us that we are beloved children of the Father, fully accepted in Jesus.
In the second sermon on prayer, we continued to explore how this means of grace works in our lives. We learned that prayer cultivates emotional honesty and biblical self-awareness, helping us name and process our inner struggles in light of God’s Word. It trains us in the habit of submission, softening our stubborn wills as we daily surrender to the Father’s rule. Prayer deepens relational intimacy with God, moving us from merely wanting His gifts to longing for His presence. And finally, it provides daily conscience cleansing - a gracious foot-washing that restores our fellowship and frees us from the weight of unconfessed sin.
THE CHURCH AS A MEANS OF GRACE
Then we began to focus on the church as a means of grace.
In Part 1, we saw that the worthy walk Paul urges in Ephesians 4 is not lived in isolation but together as a community of faith. Paul grounds our unity in the great sevenfold “ones” - one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all. He reminds us that our salvation was never meant to produce isolated individuals but a spiritual family where we live out practically the unity the Spirit has already forged among us. In a divided world, the local church is called to display an unusual, supernatural unity through humility, gentleness, patience, and love.
In Part 2, we pressed further into how this unity is lived out through the serving grace Christ has given to every believer. We saw that God has gifted each of us with a measure of grace for the common good, so that the church becomes the primary arena where this grace is exercised. Leaders equip the saints, but the real work of ministry happens as every member, along with the Elders, use their gifts to build up the body. The goal is that together we attain maturity, doctrinal stability, and loving unity, growing up into Christ as each part works properly.
In Part 3, we moved on from the topic of spiritual gifts and explored another way that God uses the church as a means of grace. Specifically, he uses our relationships with one another. He calls us to live with one another in relationships governed by Christlike character. He joins together a group of saved sinners, still in process, still susceptible to sin, and calls them to live and respond to one another, just as Jesus would.
RECEIVING THE ONE ANOTHER’S AS A MEANS OF GRACE
These one-another relationships then serve as a means to challenge and change us. On the one hand we benefit from others when they love us when we are unlovable, when they are patient when we are difficult, when they gently restore us when we fall into sin, when they bear our burdens when we are weak, when they forgive us when we have hurt them, when they speak the truth to us in love when we are drifting, when they encourage us when we are discouraged, when they show us compassion when we are hurting, when they serve us in practical ways when we are overwhelmed, and when they pray for us and hold us accountable in our struggles. In all these ways, God uses our fellow church members to communicate His grace into our lives, helping us grow up into Christ as each part works properly.
EXERCISING THE ONE ANOTHER’S AS A MEANS OF GRACE
On the other hand, we are not only challenged and changed when others exercise the “one another” attitudes toward us, but we are also sanctified as we are forced to show these same attitudes toward one another. It is sanctifying to have to do the hard, daily work of maintaining God-glorifying relationships among sinners. It requires us to put pride to death, to choose patience when we feel irritated, to speak truth in love when it would be easier to stay silent, to forgive when we have been genuinely hurt, to bear burdens when we would rather focus on our own needs, and to humbly submit when our natural instinct is to insist on our own way. Every time we choose to love, encourage, restore, serve, and bear with one another, the Holy Spirit uses that obedience to kill our selfishness, deepen our humility, and conform us more fully to the image of Christ. In this way, the local church becomes one of God’s most effective tools for our sanctification.
So, we began to look at an overview of the one another’s of scripture and considered how to exercise them toward one another, and how they serve to build up others, and ourselves. We explored the foundational call to love, unity, and relational harmony, learning that biblical love is a steady, self-forgetting commitment that puts the good of others first. We saw how humility and mutual submission serve as the heart posture that makes every other “one another” possible, and how encouraging and edifying one another with truth spoken in love protects us from being tossed by every wind of doctrine while helping us grow up into Christ.
Today we’re going to continue by considering some more one another’s, grouped together under some helpful headings and consider how exercising them challenges us to grow, and being on the receiving end when others exercise them toward us, builds us up to be more like Jesus.
So, in addition seeing that if we are going to grow together as one body to become more like Jesus together, we must be committed to 1. Love, Unity & Relational Harmony; 2. Humility & Mutual Submission; and 3. Encouraging & Edifying One Another with Truth and Love, today we move on to see that we must also be committed to 4. Bearing Burdens and Restoring the Wandering.
4. Bearing Burdens and Restoring the Wandering
So, as we are all working together, exercising our spiritual gifts for the benefit of one another, and seeking to exercise the “one anothers” in our relationships, what happens when one of us fails miserably?
What happens when instead of growing spiritually so we can be a help to others, we fall into sin? What happens when one of us falls woefully short of our high calling to walk worthy of our salvation? Do we shun them? Do we cast them out? Do we shame them? Put them through a guilt trip? Or otherwise embarrass them? Do we rear up in pride and shake a finger as if we could never be caught up in the same sin?
Listen to Paul in Galatians 6:
“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.”
Here Paul is equipping the congregation so that they know how to handle a situation where one of them is caught in sin. The phrase “caught in any transgression” does not mean that someone is “caught sinning” or “caught in the act.” It’s the idea of someone being ensnared, overtaken, or captured by sin. Think of someone walking through the woods and stepping into an animal trap. His friends come along and free him from it and tend to his wounds.
This is that brother or sister in the church who has been overtaken by sin. Maybe even caught off guard, and in a time of weakness fell into it.
This is the brother or sister in the church who has been overtaken by sin, often in a moment of weakness or vulnerability. This is the sister whose heart has grown cold and discontent, and before she even realized how far she had drifted, she found herself speaking critically and gossiping about others. This is the brother who gave in to temptation in a moment of loneliness or stress and has now found himself enslaved to a pattern of pornography. This is the believer who made a series of small compromises that eventually led to a serious moral failure. In each case, they didn’t wake up one morning and decide to rebel against God. They were overtaken.
It reminds us of Peter’s warning in 1 Peter 5:
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Well, sometimes we are not watchful and the adversary does lock his jaws on us. Sometimes men and women in the church get caught up into sin. When this happens, it falls on the rest of us to respond well. It falls on us to lovingly restore this person to a place of spiritual health.
THE STRONG ARE OBLIGATED
Notice that Paul says “you who are spiritual should restore him.” We learn that a mark of spiritual maturity is a character that shows patience, and mercy toward those who fail. This is quite the contrast to the Jewish leadership in the first century. The Pharisees in Christ’s day sought to prove their spirituality by looking at sinners with disdain. They stood in judgment of those who fell into sin and used those failures as evidence of their superiority. Paul says that those who have a measure of spiritual maturity among us, can’t be that way. Instead, the spiritually mature should be marked by an attitude of grace and gentleness.
This is an important reminder because some people think it’s a mark of spirituality to be harsh with others when they sin or fall short. Such reactions are actually a hallmark of spiritual immaturity and a display of a shocking lack of self-awareness.
See, there are some important things that happen the longer you live as a believer. First, you grow to hate your sin more and more. You grow in your desire to live in obedience to Jesus. You grow in your understanding that sin only enslaves and never satisfies its promise to bring happiness. Next, the longer you live as a Christian, the more aware you become of your own propensity for sin and unfaithfulness. You learn over time that whereas God is always faithful, you are prone to wander from the God you love. Though you love him, you often disobey him (Romans 7).
This means next, that over time you learn to deeply appreciate the mercy of God (Rom 11:32-36; 1 Tim 1:16-17). Over time you grow in your understanding that your acceptance by God could never depend upon your goodness, or your performance, because you are ever-aware of your own failures. You learn to abandon any thoughts of legalism, and to rest in his grace. You learn to love the doctrine of imputed righteousness, trusting that you are secure in God’s love, not because of your own worth or ability, but because you’ve been united to Jesus.
Listen to Paul as he writes to young Timothy:
1 Timothy 1:15-16 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.
Paul had a deep awareness of his own sin, and with that a deep awareness of how dependent he was on the mercy and patience of God. This awareness drove him to show love and patience toward others, even when their sin was directed toward him (2 Cor 2:6-8) Why? Because as one grows in their understanding of their own propensity for sin and failure, and in their thankfulness for God’s mercy and grace in light of their unfaithfulness, they also grow in their empathy toward others when they fail. Such a person learns to show to others, the same grace that God has extended to them (Matt 18:23-35).
It’s for these reasons that a lack of mercy toward others when they sin is a sure sign of spiritual immaturity, and a lack of spiritual self-awareness.
IN THE SPIRIT OF GENTLENESS
So, Paul says that if you want to respond to a sinning fellow believer in a mature way, you’ll do it “in a spirit of gentleness.” This is meekness. It means you mean no harm. It means you handle carefully. It’s like handling someone with a broken bone – you might cause a little pain when you set the break, but you’ll handle it as gently as possible with the sole intent of seeing them healed.
This is the character of Jesus. He said in Matthew 11:29:
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
So, when we find out a brother or sister is caught up in sin, we approach them with the attitudes of Jesus – gentleness and lowliness, or meekness and humility. What might this look like practically?
Speaking with a tone of sadness rather than anger or disgust.
Asking questions to understand rather than immediately accusing.
Being willing to listen to their struggle without immediately giving a lecture.
Offering hope and pointing them to Christ’s mercy, not just their failure.
Being patient with the process of repentance rather than demanding instant change.
Protecting their dignity, even while addressing their sin.
AN HONEST CULTURE THAT RESTORES
This means that we can’t allow a culture in the church that pretends that we never get caught up into sin. On the one hand we promote holiness, and preach and teach what it means to live a life worthy of our salvation. On the other hand, we are open and honest about the fact that all of us fall short of that ideal this side of eternity. We foster a culture that invites honest confession, without judgment. We develop relationships within which we mourn with one another over our own sin, instead of pretending it doesn’t exist.
We can’t allow a culture of superficiality in the church - the nature of sanctification doesn’t allow it. Sanctification is a lifelong process with ups and downs, progress and setbacks. This means that at times along the way, we’ll be caught up in sinful attitudes, sinful affections, and sinful actions. Since the church is a primary context in which our sanctification is carried out, when we create a culture where sin can’t be acknowledged, or when confessed sin is met with judgment instead of gentleness, we create a culture where real growth can’t happen.
So…
Dads, you may be caught up in a pattern of being harsh with your kids.
Husbands, you might find yourself being selfish and unloving toward your wife.
Kids, you might find yourself acting out in rebellion against your parents.
Moms, you might find yourself caught up in envy, and covetousness toward others.
Any of us might find ourselves caught up in an attitude of bitterness, negativity, or gossip.
Any of us might be caught up in sexual sin; addicted to unhelpful substances, or otherwise drawn into the world.
So, what do we do? Those caught up in sin don’t wait around to be found out, or until their sin causes serious damage. Instead, those caught in sin should confess that sin. To whom? To God? Yes. To the elders? Maybe. Listen to James 5:
James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
If you are caught up in sin, confess it to someone in the church. Not because they can absolve you of that sin, but because your confession invites the church to lovingly come aside and work to gently restore you to a place of healthy spirituality.
But, James 5:16 isn’t just addressing special circumstances when someone is caught up into sin, but is speaking to the type of culture that should always exist among us as a church. “Confess your sins to one another” means that we maintain a culture where we are willing to continually bring our sins before one another with honesty and vulnerability. When we do this, we tap into God’s powerful means of grace in the church. We are all given grace from God so that we can extend that same grace to one another. What better time for Christlike grace to be extended then when sin is honestly confessed?
So, those caught up in sin don’t wait around for others to catch on, they confess their sin to their brothers and sisters in the church. On the other hand, brothers and sisters in the church are to be exercising some loving watchcare over one another so that they might notice a wandering church member before that confession ever happens.
KEEP WATCH ON YOURSELF
If its suspected or known that someone is caught up in sin, they should be lovingly approached, with gentleness and humility, not judgment. To protect against such attitudes, Paul says in Galatians 6:
Galatians 6:1 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.
In what ways might we be tempted? We might be tempted to respond to the sinning brother or sister with pride and harshness, or judgment and criticism – as if we could never commit those same sins. This is Paul’s way of reminding “those who are spiritual” that they aren’t beyond sinning either. He’s telling us to maintain some self-awareness, and to remember our own propensity for sin – and to allow that to drive our determination to be gentle as we seek to lovingly restore a brother or sister who has sinned. Let your understanding of your own weakness drive you to be gentle with others when they succumb to their weakness. Be compassionate and forgiving to others, because you will require the same restoration some day.
THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF SHEPHERDING
What’s remarkable in Galatians 6 is that this command to care for and restore one another sounds a lot like the language of shepherding.
The word “restore” carries the idea of gently mending or setting something back in its proper place, like a shepherd carefully tending to a wounded sheep, especially a broken bone. And the call to “bear one another’s burdens” reflects the ongoing, practical care a shepherd gives to the flock. Yet Paul does not give this responsibility only to elders or pastors. He gives it to the whole church - to “you who are spiritual.” This follows immediately after Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. This is for all of us who are growing in the faith.
This is the democratization of shepherding. It’s the distribution of the work of the ministry. While God has given elders a unique role of oversight and leadership (Ephesians 4:11), He has also equipped every spiritually mature believer in the church to participate in the shepherding work of the body. This is exactly what Paul describes in Ephesians 4 when he says that Christ gave leaders “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.”
The elders are not called to do all the shepherding themselves. They are called to equip you - the members - so that you can come alongside the elders and participate in the work by also shepherding one another. So don’t fall into the trap of thinking, “That’s the elders’ job.” If you are walking with the Lord, God is calling you to be a shepherd to your brothers and sisters too - to gently restore the wandering, to bear burdens with patience, and to care for one another with the heart of Christ.
OTHER EXAMPLES OF DEMOCRATIZED SHEPHERDING
Lest you think it a stretch to see shepherding language here in Galatians 6, consider how the New Testament consistently calls all of us to care for one another in deeply shepherd-like ways.
James writes in James 5:19-20,
“19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”
What a beautiful and sobering picture James gives us. When a brother or sister begins to drift spiritually - wandering away from the truth like a sheep straying from the fold - God does not leave them to wander alone. Instead, He invites any of us who see it happening to go after them with love and seek to bring them back. Notice how James puts it in verses 19 and 20: “if someone brings him back” and “whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering.” The language is wonderfully inclusive. It is not the responsibility of elders alone, nor is it limited to a few especially gifted people. James places this calling on the whole church. Any believer who sees a brother or sister wandering is called to take initiative and do what is necessary to bring them home.
Bringing someone back from spiritual wandering is deeply practical. It often begins with simply getting close enough to notice. It may look like reaching out with genuine encouragement when someone is growing cold. It may require a loving but direct conversation when we see patterns of compromise. Sometimes it means asking thoughtful, even uncomfortable questions that gently probe beneath the surface. Other times it involves consistently praying with them, opening the Word together, or walking with them through a season of struggle. In all of these ways, we are seeking to do for one another what a good shepherd does for a wandering sheep. So, although the congregation is under the shepherding care of the elders, there is also a shepherd-like watchcare carried out by each member for the others.
There are a couple of other passages that encourage believers to look after the weak among them, just as a shepherd might care for weak and wandering sheep. Paul urges all believers to in 1 Thessalonians 5:14,
“Admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.”
Here again we see the heart of pastoral care distributed among the whole congregation. We are called to gently confront where needed, to strengthen those who are discouraged, and to come alongside those who are struggling - all with patience and love. This requires all of us to tend to our own spiritual lives so that we can be useful to others.
The writer of Hebrews gives us a similar charge in Hebrews 12:12-13:
“Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.”
What’s interesting in this passage is that the audience appears to be some who are themselves having a difficult time. Figuratively, they have “drooping hands,” “weak knees,” and are tempted to wander into crooked “paths.” The writer gives them motivation to strengthen themselves spiritually – there are others who are lame, who need healing – and they need you. This is the sort of self-denying care that characterizes shepherds.
These passages show us that God has designed the church to be a community where we watch over one another with love. When we encourage the discouraged, gently confront those who are wandering, strengthen the weak, and patiently bear with one another, we are living out the very heart of Christ toward His people. This is what it looks like to love one another as He has loved us.
It’s in this way that the church is a wonderful means of grace. Your brothers and sisters around you are a gift given to help you grow. To help you be sanctified. To help you change for the better. And you’ve been given to them for the same purpose.
So, if you have ever benefited from an encouraging word, a heart-probing question, a shoulder to cry on, or a convicting conversation from a fellow believer, thank God for the church as a means of grace. If you’ve ever received mercy from others when you didn’t deserve it, or forgiveness when you’ve sinned against others, thank God for the work he’s done in your life through the church. Thank God that He hasn’t just given you elders to love and lead you, but to equip the entire body to shepherd and minister to one another.
AND FULFILL THE LAW OF CHRIST
Then, in Galatians 6, Paul says that when we respond to a repentant brother or sister in this way, helping to “bear one another’s burdens” we are “fulfilling the law of Christ.” What is that law?
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34).
If we love one another, we won’t stand in judgment of one another, or use one another’s failures to gloat, or embarrass. Far from it. Instead, we will help bear that burden, and do what we can to restore that one to spiritual vitality.
In Romans 15, in a different context, but still relevant to this, Paul wrote:
“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (Romans 15:1).
In the church, those who are strong are obligated to show patience, humility, gentleness, and love to those who are weak. They use their strength to support those who have little.
WHEN DIRECTLY HURT BY THEIR WEAKNESS
This is especially important for those who are stronger in the faith to remember. Because the failings of the weak can sometimes be expressed in personal offenses against us. When someone’s weakness leads to sin that directly hurts us - whether through thoughtless words, broken commitments, neglect, or relational damage - it is easy to respond in kind or to withdraw in pride. Yet Paul calls the strong to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves (Romans 15:1).
To bear with their weakness is to patiently endure it. It is to lovingly put up with it. It is a willingness to absorb a personal cost because of their weakness. It means choosing to respond to their ungodliness with grace. It means responding to the way they’ve hurt us in a way better than they deserve. We respond to them with the very grace that Christ extended to us when we were at our worst.
This is how the strong use their strength - not to dominate or protect their own comfort, but to strengthen the whole body through selfless mercy.
In this way, all of us act as shepherds - drawing the wandering back to the fold and restoring them with love.
A TWO-WAY STREET OF GRACE
So, here we find one of the most powerful ways the church serves as a means of grace. When we practice confession and restoration, grace flows in both directions. When we obey the call of Galatians 6 and move toward a brother or sister who has been overtaken by sin, our gentleness, patience, and willingness to bear their burden become a means of grace to them. We step into the difficulty with them, not to condemn, but to help free them and tend to their wounds. Yet at the same time, God uses this very act to work grace into our lives. Responding to someone’s failure with humility rather than pride, with gentleness rather than harshness, and with a heart that seeks their restoration rather than their punishment, forces us to confront our own self-righteousness. It requires us to remember our own weakness and vulnerability. In this way, the call to restore a wandering brother or sister becomes a powerful instrument of our own sanctification. God does not merely use us to change others - He uses the messy, beautiful work of mutual care to kill our pride, deepen our humility, and conform us more fully to the image of Christ.
We’re going to end there for today. So far, we’ve learned that if the church is to function as the means of grace that God designed it to be, then we must all be determined to relate to one another with a commitment to 1. Love, Unity & Relational Harmony; 2. Humility & Mutual Submission; 3. Encouraging & Edifying One Another with Truth and Love, and (today) 4. Bearing Burdens and Restoring the Wandering.
CONCLUSION
As we close today, I want us to remember why we’ve spent so much time on these things. We are in the middle of a longer series on sanctification - the Spirit’s ongoing work of making us more like Jesus. And we’ve been learning that God has not left us to grow in holiness on our own. He has given us means of grace - ordinary, Spirit-empowered channels through which He changes us. We’ve already seen how the Bible and prayer function in this way. Today we’ve seen that the local church, through our relationships with one another, is also a powerful means of grace – but only when we work together to foster the type of culture that God has designed the church to embody.
We need to be a church that fosters relationships where sin can be confessed, and met with gentleness. We need relationships of vulnerability where we are honest with our struggles, so that we can find encouragement before we ever need restoration. We need a culture of spiritual maturity where we are all so aware of our own propensity for sin, and dependence upon God’s mercy, that we extend the same to others when they are caught up in sin.
If we are to be a healthy church, we must become better at this. We must become a people who are willing to be honest about our struggles. We must learn to confess our sins to one another - not just in theory, but in practice. We must create a culture where it is normal to say, “I’m struggling,” or “I’ve fallen,” without fear of judgment or rejection. And when others are honest with us, we must respond with the gentleness and humility that reflects the heart of Christ.
This kind of vulnerability will not happen by accident. It will require intentionality. It will require relationships deep enough to bear the weight of real confession. And it will require each of us to reject the superficiality that so easily creeps into church life. Sanctification is too important, and the grace of God is too precious, for us to settle for surface-level Christianity.
So let’s commit ourselves afresh to this. Let’s be a church where sin can be named, where burdens are shared, and where wandering brothers and sisters are gently restored. Let’s be a people who, by the power of the Spirit, use the means of grace God has given us - including one another - to grow up into Christ.
