Diagnosing the Check Engine Light
Introduction
It is probably the most annoying sight in my car. No, I’m not talking about trash on the floorboard or the rust on the wheel wells. I’m talking about a check engine light. And I am talking about a check engine light that stays lit.
The problem isn’t the light itself. The problem is that this indicator light is so general in nature. When it stays lit it can it can mean one of 1000 different things is wrong with my car. Sometimes it’s something as simple as the gas cap not being tight enough. Sometimes it indicates a simple problem that if not corrected can become more serious.
Sometimes the light itself indicates a serious problem already.
Introduction:
Have you ever had the check engine light stay lit in your car? What do you do? I have a friend whose check engine light stayed lit so he took a piece of black tape and covered it up. In essence, he denied that there was any problem.
You know what I do? I usually take my vehicle to O‘Reileys. The man or woman behind the counter comes out to my car with this hand held tool which they then plug in.
That device pulls the error code from the car’s computer that is tripping the check engine light. He then looks in a book that tells him one of the possible problems, how serious it is, and how to resolve it.
Review:
We continue our series of messages on Spiritual Growth and the tools we have in our tool box. We have been discussing the disciplines that we need to put into practice if we want to grow in maturity in Jesus Christ. Our theme text has been the fruit of the Spirit given in Galatians 5. We have been talking about the characteristics of a mature Christian who is walking in step with the Holy Spirit. We have talked about maturing being a more and more thing.
So we are exploring ways we can intentionally become
More and more loving,
More and more joyful,
More and more peaceful,
More and more patient,
More and more kind,
More and more gentle,
More and more faithful,
More and more self controlled.
We have talked about the power tool – Prayer – RRR, RRR, RRR. We have talked about the specialty tool – Fasting (Cover mouth with hand). Today we talk about the diagnostic tool. We are going to talk about the need we all have to plug in when things are going wrong. Today I hope we discover how costly covering up the check engine light with black tape can be. And we are going to talk about how plugging in might help diagnose the problem.
I think we’ve all had periods in our life where the check engine light is on.
You marriage is falling apart and you don’t know why. Your family is constantly at each other’s throats. You can’t seem to overcome that impulsive behavior. You can’t seem to get our of debt.
There’s something wrong; the check engine light is on; we just can’t diagnose it exactly.
So what do we do?
Turn with me to Galatians 6:1-3.
Galatians 6:1
1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.
When I first read this passage I wondered what Paul meant by “caught in sin” in verse one. I read it at first and thought maybe Paul was taking about being caught red-handed.
As in “if you catch someone in the act of sin….”
So I looked up the original meaning of the word caught. I don’t think that’s what Paul means. The meaning of the word “Caught’ actually means overtaken by in surprise. It is a word that means “trapped by” ; caught up in; or ensnared by something.
Instead of thinking just in terms of being caught red handed, we could read the text this way.
“If a fellow brother or sister is trapped (or overcome) by sin, you who live by the spirit should restore him/her gently. Sin can quickly ensnare people. We can quickly become buried in the muck and messiness that sin brings. And self reliance is not the most effective weapon in dealing with it when we have become overwhelmed by it.
In fact, I think we can see behind what Paul is writing is the idea that
Observation about Sin:
We should not always trust ourselves in trying to diagnose a problem.
Sin at it’s core is self deception. We lie to ourselves often about sin. Sometimes we need someone else to help us gain a better perspective.
Have you ever hung a picture on a wall? Often when I hand a picture on a well, I step back and see it isn’t level. I go to adjust it and step back again and it’s out of balance the other way. The problem is that I am too close to get a good perspective.
I’ve learned the call my wife and I ask her is this level?
It’s often the same way with sin. When we are in sin, we are too close to have a clear perspective. Sometimes we have to ask others who can step back to help us guide us to level.
So Paul calls on the fellowship of the church. In verse 2, we see bear one another’s burdens. Those one another phrases are fellowship words. It is mutual support we should be giving one another.
The Call to Mutual Accountability
I. Christians are called to richly invest in each other’s lives even in the messiness of sin.
It is more than a casual relationship we must develop especially when it comes to the topic of sin. In American culture this is really hard. We have engrained within us the ideas of individualism; we believe we can achieve anything individually if we work hard enough, we have the right to privacy guaranteed. So when we talk about sin, we can come to the conclusion that it’s my life and what I do is between me and God.
But read the words of Paul in this passage again. .
Paul does not say to the person who is caught is sin it’s between you and God.
Instead, Paul calls the one who is walking in the Spirit to come and gently restore the one caught in sin. We are called to engage sin as part of the fellowship of the church. Verse 2 says to bear each other’s burdens. It is clear from the context that Paul is talking about sin.
It’s scary, but it also provides hope. I want you to know that if you are trying to bear the burden of sin, you don’t have to bear the burden alone. In fact, I say quit trying to go it alone. You will be overwhelmed by it. Instead, let someone else help.
Paul suggests it should be one who is walking or living by the Spirit. What does a person who is living by the Spirit look like?
Go back a chapter to chapter 5. If you’ve been here the last few weeks or if you remember the introduction, you will remember that this chapter contains our theme verse.
The person who is living by the spirit will produce these characteristics more and more.
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Read a little futher with me.
Galatians 5:24-25
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
After one more verse, Paul pens what we read as chapter six. And it almost seems like Paul is suggesting that we will all at one time or another need help in keeping in step with the spirit. So we are called to invest in one another’s lives spiritually.
Church, it is not easy to get involved with someone else’s sins because it’s messy. But we are called to bear one another’s burdens even when those burdens are ugly. Why? I actually love this next part of what Paul writes. This next part makes our call to mutual accountability so rich.
We bear one another’s burdens because in doing so we fulfill the Law of Christ.
Do you know what that Law is?
In the gospel of Mark Jesus is having a discussion with the religious leaders about which of the laws is the greatest. Jesus replies.
Mark 12:30-31
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[f] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[g] There is no commandment greater than these.”
We need to see that there are TWO parts of the law of love. Love God/Love Others.
The Call to Mutual Accountability
II. Mutual Accountability is an effective way we can fulfill the Law of Christ (Love God/Love Others.)
Notes
Talking to someone else about their sin MUST, MUST, MUST be motivated by love. And the two of them must not be parted. Please hear this. This is vital in our discussion.
Accountability with a love for people but without a love for God ends up with unwise counsel. It leads to self help therapy and tolerance (That’s okay….your okay in your sin).
Accountability with a love for God but not for people ends up in self righteousness, judgementalism, and concdemnation of people. I think that was the problem of the Pharisees. They loved God a lot, but didn’t care much for people. Both ideas turn splinters into logs in our eyes.
God illustrated the perfect kind of love in accountability. If you read the Scriptures, you will see that mankind is sinful. Yet even in the midst of his anger about sin, God dealt with it in love. It’s the story of Jesus.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. (John 3:16)
This is how we know what love is. It’s not that we loved God, but that he loved us and gave his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
Love and accountability are often a difficult combination to pull off because there are many reasons we might talk with someone about sin.
We may be embarrassed by their behavior. It’s motivated by shame. “Look what your drug problem is doing to the reputation of our family.” At the heart of that is pride.
We may be angry and pointing out their sin is a way to get revenge. We toss their sin in their face. We may feel guilty about our own problem and talking to someone else helps us justify and feel better about our own.
Accountability and love must be together in order to be effective. I would suggest that a person we talk with about sin will quickly detect any other motive than love.
There is one other thing we need to note in this text. We must be careful when we approach sin. Sin is like that spider web we walk into. We can quickly walk into it without even seeing it. That’s why when we walk into a spider web we instantly become Ninjas. (Flail arms) My point is that sometimes we are caught in the trap before we realize it.
I think that’s why Paul warns, “But watch yourselves or you too may fall.”
I read an article a few weeks ago about a youth minister who genuinely wanted to help his young people overcome pornography. He didn’t understand the addiction so he unwisely decided to view it on the internet himself. He thought he could handle it. Guess what? He became addicted. It led him to inappropriate activity with one of his youth. I think that is part of Paul’s warning in this text. Don’t get trapped in the sin with them.
But there is another facet to it. Paul writes in verse 3, “If anyone thinks he is really something, he is nothing. He deceives himself.” Paul seems to be saying that in dealing with sin, we can quickly become conceited about our own righteousness. We can quickly become arrogant about our own “spiritual maturity.” We can think we are more than we really are. We can forget that we are sinners ourselves in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness. So mutual accountability must be covered in humility lest we deceive ourselves.
So let me summarize.
How to do Accountability
I. Accountability must be done gently.
Think of it this way. In archeology, the artifacts that are found are often fragile with age. So on the dig sight, the digging is most often done with a brush, not a bulldozer of a shovel. When we are unearthing a secret sin, we should apply the brush, not a bull dozer. Gentle accountability which is mutual will prevent roughness that leads to a calloused heart.
Second.
How to do Accountability
II. Accountability must be smothered in a love for God and a love For Others.
Any other motive will be quickly detected and it will not lead to restoration which is the goal. I hope our goal is to restore a loving relationship with that person. God’s love and our love. Think of it this way. Love must be applied if love will be restored. And it’s a love for God and a love for others.
Third.
How to do Accountability
III. Accountability must be done carefully lest we fall into sin or pride.
Satan has many ways to bait the trap. He is evil. And he is not opposed to using other people to draw you or me away from God through pride and self deception. Often the spider web of sin that is the hardest to see is the one hanging in our own home.
Conclusion:
I am not saying that accountability is easy. I’ve already said that sin is messy. It can be quite ugly. After all, the messiness leads to death. I often wonder if that’s why it needed to be covered with the bloody beaten body of Jesus and the cross. The cross wasn’t pretty either.
Mutual accountability won’t always be pretty. Even if we do it properly, we can experience a backlash from it because at the heart of sin is pride and self deception. That should not scare us. Because accountability is the way we can plug in for diagnostics; to gain a better perspective. Mutual accountability is a necessary tool if we are to grow more and more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, gentle, and self controlled.
How to find an accountability partner
1. Look for someone who is mature spiritually. Look for someone who you see as loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, gentle, good, faithful, and self controlled.
I hope you will find that in our Bible Study group on Saturday nights. I hope you find that in a Sunday school class that focuses as much on application of truth as is does understanding the truth. You can find it in one of our Elders.
2. Ask
Don’t handle sin alone . Don’t cover the check engine light with black tape. It can lead to a costly repair.
I want to conclude with this text to wrap it all up.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: 10 If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. 11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Invitation:
Invitation to move away from sin and/or to join the fellowship
