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Editors’ note: 

This excerpt is adapted from Gospel Shaped Living, the third installment in the Gospel Shaped Church curriculum co-published by TGC and The Good Book Company.

Lights are meant to shine. When they shine strong and true, they drive away the darkness.

Likewise, the church is supposed to be a light for the world, a distinct community that lives differently than the world around it—one so united, sacrificial, generous, truthful, and joyful that others are brought into the light of the gospel of Jesus (Matt. 5:14–16).

Dark Path

But there are challenges along the road to our growing in godliness—potholes and barriers that can quickly derail our walk with God.

There will be personal failures and ongoing weaknesses. There will be trials that test and stretch our faith. There will be scandals in the church that bring shame to the name of Christ. And sadly, there will be those we love and fellowship with who will appear to abandon the faith and walk away.

How do we cope with these challenges?

Three Vital Tools

In Galatians 6:1–10, the apostle Paul gives us three tools—restoration, support, and humility—to repair and refuel us in order to keep us walking with the Lord.

1. Restore one another.

The church community should be the safest place when we fail, as every one of us inevitably will. In many other contexts, failure is difficult to admit because of the consequences: people will take advantage of your failure and promote themselves, or perhaps they’ll look down on and shun you.

But among the people of God, no failure is so total that a person cannot be restored in a spirit of gentleness. Perhaps no story better exemplifies this than that of Peter. Failing to follow Jesus doesn’t get any worse than denying him multiple times when he was only a stone’s throw away and on trial for his life.

Peter could’ve remained in misery and despair. He’d put confidence in his own strength. He’d wagered his integrity and failed spectacularly. Yet the risen Jesus moved toward him in love. He forgives and offers him the opportunity to receive grace and be restored.

So rather than ignoring what’s happening, we must confront with gentleness those who wander away from the Lord. Our job isn’t to feel superior, but to help them get right with the Lord.

The church should also be a place where, when people fail, they find ample opportunity for restoration. This is yet another way the church stands in contrast to the world. Rather than using one another as stepping stones, we empathize with those caught in sin. We don’t condemn them since we know we too are sinners who could easily be in the same place. We are no better, so we need to keep watch on ourselves.

2. Support one another.

Walking in the Spirit can be a heavy burden. We struggle with our own sins. We struggle to honor Jesus in our daily decisions. And swimming against the tide can lead to exhaustion and despair. But the gospel declares that Jesus was pleased to bear our burdens on the cross. He sets the pattern for how we should bear one another’s burdens. As a fellowship, we can face the things that might otherwise overwhelm and discourage us because we don’t face them alone. We face them with brothers and sisters who are prayerfully supporting us practically, emotionally, and spiritually.

It may be someone struggling with parenting.

It may be a family dealing with a sudden sickness.

It may be a couple going through a difficult time in their marriage.

It may be someone wrestling with fear and self-doubt.

Whatever the issue, to bear with one another means to come close and commit to sharing our strengths, our hope, and our faith so we can keep walking and growing together.

3. Stay humble toward one another.

I wonder if our greatest danger is not really moral failure, but moral pride. We find it easy to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. It’s easy for us to believe great things arise from our efforts. It’s easy for us to believe we won’t fail in the way others have.

Pride is always deadly to spiritual growth and witness. It leads us to think we’re able to accomplish God’s mission—to be his lights—out of our own goodness. In reality, though, pride renders our witness hollow and false. Outwardly it may have a nice religious shine, but underneath it’s just a self-righteous version of the same darkness.

To overcome this danger, we must stay within the boundaries of the gospel, which reminds us we are nothings who’ve been made into something by the Lord. We were rebels, dead in sin and destined for eternal death. But God in his grace rescued us, and by his grace he will guide us home.

The more we know and appreciate this, the more humble we should be. And the more humble we are, the better we’ll be able to walk by the Spirit in dependence on the Lord’s mighty grace.

Shine for His Glory

All the church is and does must be aimed at shining a spotlight on the glory of God. In this sense, our light as a community is a direct reflection of the pure and beautiful light that comes from “the Father of lights” himself (James 1:17).

The promises of God will be realized when the Son of God returns to usher into our world the everlasting light of the glory of God, a light within which we will worship forever (Rev. 22:5).

Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?

In an age of faith deconstruction and skepticism about the Bible’s authority, it’s common to hear claims that the Gospels are unreliable propaganda. And if the Gospels are shown to be historically unreliable, the whole foundation of Christianity begins to crumble.
But the Gospels are historically reliable. And the evidence for this is vast.
To learn about the evidence for the historical reliability of the four Gospels, click below to access a FREE eBook of Can We Trust the Gospels? written by New Testament scholar Peter J. Williams.

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