But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.
Summary: Super sports cars and sin don’t have to go together, but sometimes they do. When we find ourselves trying to help others who sin, we might fall into the supercar trap.
Imagine that you are given the keys to someone’s car and asked to move it to a different parking spot. You smile, accept the keys, and walk outside to the car.
When you get to the car you realize it is not an ordinary car. This car is very special. As you walk around to the driver’s door, the gleam of the car’s finish is mesmerizing. Opening the door, you are greeted by the smell of leather and the sight of polished wood trim. You sit in the driver’s seat and pull the door closed. You are now sitting behind the wheel of an eight-hundred-thousand-dollar car.
Everything is immaculate. The engine springs to life at the touch of a button and the deep rumble of raw power rumbles throughout the car. You are tasked with driving the car around the block, but it is tempting to take the long way to the other parking spot, like maybe out on the highway or up through the woods on that curvy road that is so much fun to drive.
What do you do?
This may sound like an odd illustration for today’s verse, but there are some comparisons.
For one thing, God loves each one of his children. We are incredibly valuable to him. Our illustration of a car worth almost a million dollars doesn’t really come close to illustrating the value Jesus puts on each one of us. Even the person who sins! (And who doesn’t?!)
When we are tasked with restoring someone “caught in a sin,” it is important to remember that we are not being asked to judge that person. Instead, we are being asked to restore them to a right relationship with God. We have a specific task to do.
Like driving someone else’s supercar, it might be tempting to grab the “steering wheel” of the conversation and show the person we are trying to restore how we like to “drive.” “Watch me!” is the feeling we get when we sit down behind the steering wheel of a supercar. Instead of letting the Spirit guide our drive, we think we can do it ourselves. That is the temptation Paul is warning us about.
Restoring a person gently requires us to live by the Spirit (Galatians 6:1). As Paul says earlier, “you are not to do whatever you want.” (Galatians 5:17).
Application: Stick to the Lord’s work.
Food for Thought: What other temptations come to mind when we see someone “caught in a sin?”
That is a very good illustration. Being asked to move a car, of great value, from one spot to another without taking liberties. It brought to my mind what it means to a good steward of grace.
1 Peter 4:10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
1 Corinthians 4:2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
Philippians 3:16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
We have received God’s grace, and are therefore stewards of His grace. I think there is a temptation to misapply the same truth and grace given to us through Christ when dealing with others. That is a double-edged sword. On one hand truth and grace does not mean ignoring sin, on the other truth and grace does not mean placing others under the law. If we come across to others in a tone of “Thou shalt not” we can miss the opportunity to help others find true repentance and redemption. I think about the truth and grace I have received, that I was given the chance to understand the truth of my sin, repent in that truth, and receive redemption from that sin under God’s grace. That was a process founded in love from the Father to me.
I think also there is a temptation to delight in correcting others:
1 Corinthians 13:6: “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth”
Some folks do delight in the opportunity to correct others. Delight in the opportunity to tell someone else they are doing wrong, not to help them. They sort of “drop the mic” and run away. To correct someone from the love that Christ has for us is to walk two miles instead of one. To initiate the conversation out of love and stay as long as love requires.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Thanks Chris!
“To initiate the conversation out of love and stay as long as love requires.”
Well said!
What other temptations come to mind when we see someone “caught in a sin?”
As a single younger man, I had to have a beautiful Red Mercedes Benz two seater convertible. I kept it highly polished and on sunny days, I would lower the top and spend considerable time driving this car on the highways around Portland. I started off feeling great but in time all the fun went away and I actually felt uneasy. I locked the car up, in my garage and tried to figure out what was going on.
Eventually I took it out again and paid attention to me, I quickly discovered I was looking at all the other drivers to see how many were looking at me, “driving my car.” I turned around, parked the car in my garage, put an ad in the paper and quickly sold it for less than I paid for it. I just wanted it out of my life. Today I drive an 11 year old Jeep, which I am committed to keeping, and pay attention to my driving instead of other people on the road.
Believers are privileged, being allowed by God, to die to self, receive empowerment from the Holy Spirit and serve Him, live according to His will over our own, as He ministers to this world through us.
Colossians 3:5, Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
Galatians 2:20, Luke 9:23-24, Romans 12:1-2
It is by the power of God that today we see the sins of others, have His genuine compassion toward them, reject the judgement seat, and allow His mercy to flow from ourselves, to the person caught up in sin. We take our eyes off self and direct a portion of the precious time God has given us on earth toward allowing Him to do His work through us. Our reward is being called and empowered to submit to Him as He uses us to bring peace to others.
Thanks Ron!
I have had my “hot car” moments, too. Looking at people as God’s “hot cars” is a way of opening eyes to the value God places on each of us.
The “reward” you point us to is the difference between flesh and Spirit. The flesh glories in itself, the Spirit glories in God’s work.