Leadership
ESSENTI AL CHARACTERISTICS IN FISHING FOR MEN
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in a fault, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. If a man thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceived himself (Galatians 6: 1-3).
Although it may seem strange that I would use a passage of Scripture in the context of restoring a fellow believer in Christ, I have discovered in these verses the vital characteristics that are necessary to be effective in fishing for men. The principles necessary for restoring a brother in Christ are equally necessary for leading men to Christ. I have been reading the excellent works of CH. Spurgeon on soul winning and find these principles also applicable in reaching our unsaved friends. Examining these verses closely, it contains just about all the principles we need to know about how to be used by God to be a blessing to others. I have been moved in the examination of my own calling and motives for ministry through reading these messages.
The first area of concern is found in my own relationship to God. What have I to undertake a ministry that I myself have not the qualification? The word holiness is a good starting point. Only God is holy and only God can cause others to be so. The day I became a Christian I opened the word of God for the first time. I was overwhelmed as God's word, like a mirror, exposed the sinfulness and unworthiness of my own heart. I realized my security in religion was merely a sham because I had no true relationship with God. It was that exposure, of my unworthiness in the presence of God that motivated me to change the direction of my life. There was no reason to boast in any righteousness of my own, and seeing myself in that way, drove me to find relief from my sin.
A man who was a soul winner himself, led me to Christ that day and a new life and purpose began. We must understand that only the holy God can cleanse me from my sin and give me a reason to start over by giving me a clean slate with my sin forgotten and removed. In approaching men with the gospel of Christ we must seek to help them to understand their sin as God sees it. One of the ways that it is done is through my being a clean vessel that reflects that holiness to others. We should always try to find new ways and methods to reach men with our words, but none can downplay the importance of the influence of a Christian who lives a holy life. So, we may say that the first qualification is holiness of life.
The second principle found in our text is a proper understanding of this matter of sin. Sin is a destroyer, a taskmaster, and the power that enslaves a man and blinds them to their helpless state. The holiness of God is the standard that helps us to understand how horrible sin is. We more readily see the sin in others than admit that we have a problem with it ourselves. The word sin means to miss the mark or to fall short of the target. In this case, the target is the law of God, the perfect law of God that requires absolute obedience. When Romans 3:23 says, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” is not merely stating a fact that is so but it is pointing out a terrible condition that has horrible consequences: the idea of forfeiting eternity and blessing from God is downplayed because we misunderstand the absolute horror of sin. Now there is a difference between sins and sin. When Adam fell, something happened and every man born since then has a corruptible sin nature that he can do nothing to change. This idea of sin can be stated simply when related to our desire to please and glorify ourselves.
The fact of the sin nature is demonstrated by the presence of selfishness. This selfish nature causes us to perform sinful acts against God, against ourselves and against others. Sin is the problem, sins are the result of life without hope and without God
In our verse, we notice that the problem is a brother who has been overtaken in a fault. This brings us to another important principle; that of humility. I am not going to try to define humility but I would like to illustrate it to the meaning of this verse. When desiring to help another sinner, in this case, a fallen brother, there must be in myself the recognition that I am also a sinner, unworthy to help another. Humility comes when I recognize how truly sinful and prone to a temptation that I myself am. If we approach another person with the idea that we have the right to expose them and reprimand them then we are immediately in trouble and not qualified to help.
I heard the story once that pertains to this passage where there was a brother who had fallen and the question came, ‘who was going to visit him and restore him?” The first man who volunteered had the idea that because he was free from such a problem he had the right to exhort him. Another man who thought he could quote Scripture about judgment and follow with various steps of rebuking him. Finally, the man who was chosen was a man who replied, Oh, pastor, I am totally unworthy to restore this man for if I myself was in his circumstance I might do far worse. Here is an example of humility, recognizing first, my own tendency towards failure and recognizing also, like the woman taken in adultery who was saved, because none could pick up the stone and slay her. Humility is nothing more than honesty. Sometimes we have a difficult time admitting to ourselves our unworthiness to do anything for God. But like we said previously, we are merely earthen vessels that hold the treasure that could bring men to Christ.
The third quality we find in these verses is the genuine love and compassion to those entrapped in sin. If we understand ourselves, considering the mercy of God and the forgiveness that we obtained being totally unworthy, then we can display the great love of God toward men who have no idea that God loves them. In the last few years, I had the occasion to talk to men about the love of God and they had no idea that God loves them. They blamed God for all the evil in the world that was going on and they failed to realize that the evil was not God's fault. I have a friend I have been working with for a few years and he has been fighting God's love for so long because of some misunderstanding he had in the past. One day he came to work and gave me some of the greatest news I have ever heard. He said to me, “Henry, I discovered this weekend that God loved me”. Men without God have this concept that God is a mean, vengeful and hateful God. Some ministers, by the way, that they preach, seem to leave that impression as well. So how can anyone experience the love of God with the presence of these obstructions? We must tell men that God is a good God and He has our best ends in mind. We are told that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (or change their thinking resulting in changing their life).
In reaching men for Christ we must have a grieving heart. A grieving Christian is a healthy Christian and an effective Christian. There are two things we must grieve over. First, we must grieve over our own sin. Guilt is truly one of the gifts of God because it is guilt within our hearts that causes us to cry out to God for forgiveness. I must deal with the sin in my own heart before I can pray for others. The psalmist says that “if I entertain iniquity in my heart, God will not hear me”. It is a serious matter to allow sin to go unchecked, because it could result in prayer that is needed for others, to go unanswered. Sin hinders my relationship with God and it halts God's blessing to others. So, if I never experience the problem of guilt in my life, I either am not a Christian at all or that my heart has been hardened to the point of being unconcerned and ineffective. God can free us from that. The second area of grieving is grieving over the sin and helplessness of my brother and friend. They are helpless and hopeless and have no understanding of how serious the problem is and the consequences of their not finding forgiveness.
I recall as a young Christian having a dream of my father perishing in hell. Friends, that was no small matter and immediately I set forth to warn him and exhort him and pray for him to receive Christ. My mother sent the letter back to me which was the even greater source of grief. Later in the years, I had an opportunity to talk to my father and he promised me that he would receive Christ. To this day, I do not know if he ever did and I must leave that with God. William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, said that if he had the choice in qualifying the soldiers for service he would have them spend five minutes over hell. Paul the apostle felt the grief of his unsaved countrymen. In Romans 10 he makes a statement that he could wish himself accursed, if possible, for his brothers according to the flesh, it is hard to imagine that he would be willing to forfeit his own salvation to get them saved. God being gracious as He is, does not require us to forfeit our salvation, but He certainly would love to see us have the kind of heart that Paul the apostle had toward his lost Israelite brothers.
In closing this section, I would like to point out some things that are not acceptable in the soul winner. First, being ignorant and choosing to remain that way. Being effective in sharing Christ with others requires a lifetime of study and diligence. There is no room for ignorant and lazy Christians in soul winning. There are so many people that we deal with, having so many types of personalities that sometimes it takes many years of diligent study and fervent praying to see them moved.
Another problem that hinders effective soul winning is insincerity. We must impress upon others that we really do believe what we teach and say. Men will not be persuaded to embrace the gospel if they detect insincerity on the part of the Christian. Along with insincerity is the problem of being unconcerned. Neither of these qualities should characterize the soul winner. Men cannot understand their need for salvation if they detect an unconcerned heart.
As we consider the last part of our verse which says, “considering thyself lest thou also be tempted”. That can mean having the right attitude and being ready for an unexpected response. If we approach them and they respond negatively toward us, a humble spirit will expect their response and not respond in like manner. When we confront men with the truth, we must be willing to accept the fact that they may respond negatively. That does not mean the Holy Spirit is not working but it can mean that He is. When confronted with truth it makes no difference if we’re talking about the Christian or with the non-Christian, men do not want to change and sometimes they will fight to their dying breath to avoid having to do so. The Holy Spirit must be allowed to do His work and we must respond positively, humbly and lovingly without any form of retaliation in our words or in our face. When doing God's work, we must be faithful, careful and most of all prayerful and wait for God to finish what we have started.
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