10/26 Treatment Of The Fallen

Jeremiah 52:31
“And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison,”

Unfortunately, in the Christian life, we consistently see people who have fallen into sin. When someone falls into sin we should never be happy that they have fallen, even if they have done us wrong. Furthermore, when a person has fallen into sin, we should not spread the news to everyone that they have fallen. Instead, our actions concerning the fallen should be to try and bring them back to usefulness for God.

I find in the story, from the verse above, Jehoiachin had been captive in Babylon for thirty-seven years. When Evilmerodach became king of Babylon, the Scriptures teach us how he treated this fallen king. I believe the way Evilmerodach treated Jehoiachin, the fallen king, is the same way we should treat the fallen.

The first action we should take towards the fallen is to help them in their condition. We must be careful about having the mentality that they got themselves into that mess, now they need to get themselves out of the mess. I am sure glad God did not do that with us when it comes to salvation. No, God took us in the condition we were in and worked with us from there. Likewise, we should do the same with those who have fallen. We should help them in their current condition.

Secondly, we should speak kindly to the fallen to try and win their trust back to us. You will notice in verse 32 that the king of Babylon spake kindly to Jehoiachin. We must be careful not to speak down to the fallen, but speak in a way that lets them know we want to help them.

Thirdly, we should try to change their actions from wrong to right. The king of Babylon changed the prison garments of this captive king. Our goal should be to try and change the actions of the fallen from wrong to right.

Fourthly, work with them to restore their position to usefulness. Notice in verse 32 that Jehoiachin's throne was restored back to him. Now we must be careful to understand that there are always consequences to sin. Sometimes those consequences mean we forfeit the right to hold a position we once held. We must always realize that anyone can be restored to usefulness for God.

Then, the last two actions go hand in hand. Jehoiachin was fed the right food and given the right associations. When restoring people, we must feed them the right spiritual food which is the Word of God. But we also, if we are going to keep them from going back into sin, are going to have to work hard at giving them the right associations. Right associations will help them to stay right.

One of the duties of a Christian is to restore the fallen. When you have a child or another Christian brother or sister who has fallen into sin, your goal should be to restore them back to usefulness. Let's work hard with those that sin has bound to restore them back to usefulness remembering this could be us someday.