Recommended Citation
Lawal, J. O. (2025, March 23). Competence to help. See to It.
I want to further share with you on the instructions we have in Scriptures that say that we should see to it that none of us falls away from the grace of God or develop a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. This, of course, calls for a careful watching on our part over one another. And we have instructions along this line given to us in the book of Hebrews, chapters 3 and 12.
Now, in dealing with this, I said we must know what is going on in the lives of our brethren. In other words, we must be actively and deliberately involved in one another’s lives. We will not be able to protect ourselves from the evil one, if we are not involved in one another’s lives and also know what is happening in one another’s lives. But then, in order to be effective in doing this, our leaders must take the lead. They must be the first in opening their lives for us to see. Until they are open in their lives, they will have no moral right to ask us to be open with our lives for them to see. But when they are open with their lives and we can see what they are up to, we can be encouraged to do likewise.
So, if you are a leader of God’s people in any capacity, your life must be opened to those who are under your care. You must deliberately do this. Your brethren must know enough about you. They must know enough about what is going on in your life. They must see that you are not a hypocrite and that the life of faith you are calling them to live is what you yourself are living, not something else. That way, you will be able to help them, if they are missing it.
Another thing that is important is that we know how to live right, especially those of us who are leaders. Let me say this again: church leaders have to take the lead in doing these things, if they will work at all. I mean that if we will be able to adequately and appropriately watch over one another, the leaders must take the lead in doing what is right. So, those of us who are leaders must show ourselves as possessing sufficient knowledge about how to live right. At least, what we want is for our brethren to consistently live right before God and not turn away from His grace. And we too have to consistently live right before God and before them, if we will be able to help them in doing this.
For example, Paul says this to the Thessalonian brethren:
“You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.” (1Thessalonians 2:10NIV)
What does this mean? It means that the lives of Paul and his companions were open to the brethren in Thessalonica for them to see. And what they did they see in them? They saw that they were holy, righteous and blameless in the way they lived. It is important, then, for leaders not just to be open with their lives but to also show with those lives that they know what they are doing. It is one thing to be open with your life; it is another thing for people to see the right things in your life. You may be open with your life. That does not mean that what is going on in your life is helpful to the people of God.
It is bad enough not to be open with your life in relating to the people of God, if you are a child of God or a leader of His people. But when you open your life for them to see, what do they see? Is it hypocrisy? Is it bitterness? Is it envy or jealousy? Or is it righteousness, peace and joy of the Spirit of God?
The Thessalonians were witnesses of the holiness, righteousness and blamelessness in the lives of Paul and his companions. That means it was not only God that was a witness to the quality of life these men lived; the Thessalonians were also witnesses to it. So, I am saying that if we will be able to watch over another in line with the will of God, each of us that sees it as his duty to do so must not just be open with his life but must also show himself as possessing sufficient knowledge about how to live right and not fall away from the grace of God. Otherwise, we may soon become a part of the problem we are trying to prevent or solve.
In this same 1Thessalonians, chapter 4, Paul says this to the brethren in verse 1:
“As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.” (NIV)
Did you see that? Paul says we instructed you how to live to please God. So, these brethren were taught how to live to please God. They knew how to live to please Him. And they were living to please Him, at least, at the time this letter was written to them. So, Paul only needed to tell them to continue or persist in living to please God. And they could be told to persist in living to please God because they already knew how to live to please Him.
It follows, then, that if we do not know how to live to please God, even if our lives are open to the brethren, they will be able to draw no strength or encouragement for true Christian living from what they see. So, if we will be able to watch over one another and keep ourselves from falling away from the grace of God, it is important that we show ourselves as possessing sufficient knowledge on how to live right. Not only that, we also have to be living right. We must not be a part of the problem we are trying to prevent or solve.
If we ourselves have already fallen away from the grace of God, how can we prevent others from falling away? It cannot work. Jesus says a blind guide that is seeking to lead a blind man can only lead both of them to fall. So, if you are not living right, you cannot help others to live right.
Also, in Romans, chapter 15, verse 14, Paul says this to us:
“I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another.” (Romans15:14NIV)
There are three qualities that Paul mentions here. And these qualities are ones that we must possess, if we will be able to help one another live right and remain true to the grace of God, from start to finish. The first is being full of goodness. Paul could say of the Roman brethren that they were full of goodness. In other words, their hearts were right. The goodness of God had settled in their hearts. So, they would not deliberately do evil. They may make mistakes. And that someone is full of God’s goodness does not mean that the person cannot make mistakes. He can. But he will not deliberately do anything that is wrong. Whatever he does will always be with the right intentions. So, even if he misses it, he will be missing it with the right intentions.
Well, my point is that we have to be full of goodness, if we will be able to help one another. And this has to be obvious, for Paul says, “I am convinced that you are full of goodness…” So, people have to be convinced that we are full of God’s goodness, if we will be able to help one another live right and not develop a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. That means we must be known as good people by our brethren; we must be known as people whose hearts are right.
What we are saying is that our brethren must have no doubts about the fact that our hearts are right, as we relate to them. They must have no doubts about our intentions. And this is one of the problems we often face in the church – lack of conviction about the intentions of the brethren. When people are not convinced that our intentions are right, as we come close to them, they may not make room for us to affect or help them.
Mind you, this is not something that will happen automatically. The fact that we are in the same assembly does not mean that we will be able to automatically help one another. We have to give it time. We have to consistently show over a period of time that we are full of goodness and that our hearts are right. Yes, every child of God can manifest the goodness of God, for His goodness is in every one of us. But it is not every one of us that is currently manifesting the goodness of God. So, if people will allow you in their lives, they must see that you are a good person. This must be obvious to them from the way you talk, live and interact with others. And when they are convinced of this, they will have no problem allowing you to be a part of their lives.
The second quality Paul mentions is being filled with knowledge. That means being full of goodness is not enough to help God’s people live right; we also have to know what we are doing. That means we need to be educated in the will of God. Remember that we read from 1Thessalonians 4 of how Paul instructed the Thessalonians how to live to please God. So, people must know that we know what we are doing, that we are knowledgeable enough in the things of God to help their lives and faith. Otherwise, they may not want to have anything to do with you.
What I am saying is that if you are ignorant of the things of God, other people of God may not see why they should permit you to interfere with their affairs. So, you must show yourself as possessing sufficient knowledge of how to live to please God. But this will not happen by accident. You will have to give yourself to prayer. You will have to give yourself to the word of God. You will also have to give yourself to fellowshipping with the people of God, so that your faith is built up. This, of course, is not just about having bible knowledge; this is about possessing the knowledge of the truth, the knowledge about living to please God.
The third quality Paul mentions has to do with competence in helping one another. And this kind of competence only comes from the Spirit of God. It has to do with wisdom to help others. And as I said, it only comes from the Spirit of God. He is the only one that makes us competent to live to please God and competent as ministers of the new covenant.
Now all of these three qualities were possessed by the Roman brethren. So, Paul was convinced that they could real help one another in their walk of faith. If we possess goodness but lack knowledge of how to please God, we may end up becoming a part of the problem we are trying to solve. In fact, we may not be able to help anybody at all.
Also, if we possess goodness and knowledge but possess no ability or wisdom to use our goodness and knowledge to help others, we are still going to be failures. People will be falling away from the grace of God right under our noses. Yet we will not be able to help them. Yes, we may love to help them. But we won’t be able to help them. Whatever step we take will be counter-productive.
See, there are people who are good in their hearts and who also possess the knowledge of true Christian living. Yet they are not able to help anybody live right. Why? They lack the wisdom and the skills to do so. They really want to help. But they just can’t. You may have encountered people like that before. They truly meant well and wanted to help you live right. But everything they did was counter-productive. Their words were counter-productive. Their moves were counter-productive. That was because they were not wise. So, they could not help you live right.
So, we are dealing with possessing the wisdom of the Spirit to be able to help one another here. We are talking about a situation in which we know what to say and what not to say, when to talk and when not to talk and when to visit people and when not to visit them. We must know these things. And as I said, we will not become competent like this by accident. We have to give ourselves to prayer, the word of God and Christian fellowship. That way, we will be growing in the truth of Christ Jesus.
If we are not growing, we can be of no help to nobody. And it is the degree that you grow in your faith that you will be able to help others in their faith. So, don’t feel bad that you are unable to help certain brethren in their faith at the moment. It only shows that you have not grown enough in your faith to be able to help them. What, then, should you do? You should commit yourself to doing those things that will make you grow in the faith even more. These things have to do with spiritual maturity. A man cannot go beyond his strength. So, the more you grow in your faith, the more fit you are to help other people.
We will stop here for now. Let us pray.
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