Don't turn again to Slavery
Notes
Transcript
Good Morning,
Before we begin let us open with a word of Prayer.
Pray 3+
Today we are in Galatians 4:8-20. If you are in a pew bible that will start on page 1075. In our passage today we will hear Paul give a passionate plea to the people, we again see Paul’s love for the churches of Galatia, and Paul’s letter begins to shift here in verse 12. Where Paul was defending himself and the Gospel message, he will now begin to exhort them. We see the first indicative, of Galatians in verse 12 when Paul tells the people in Galatia to “become as I am” and with that shift Paul goes from theology to application. Mind you, there is theology contained within Paul’s application, but the overall tone of the letter shifts.
Galatians 4:8–16 “8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. 12 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. 13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?”
Galatians 4:17–20 “17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, 19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.”
After we have been adopted, do we want to again turn to slavery?
After we have been adopted, do we want to again turn to slavery?
We need to remember the line of logic Paul is following here. Paul had just explained that because of faith in Jesus, these believers now had been set free from slavery and they had been adopted as sons and are now heirs through God. They do not have to live in fear under the guardian of the law, but rather can look to God as a Father.
Galatians 4:6–7 “6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”
Turn with me to Acts 14, this will give us a little context to what Paul says here.
Acts 14:8–14 “8 Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, 10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking. 11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13 And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out,”
This was unlike Peter’s ministry to the Jews who had the word of God. During Paul’s time in Galatia, he had seen the idols that they were enslaved to and he and Barnabas had both been mistaken for, small g, gods. They did not know the God of Israel, and worse they were enslaved to idols. We see in our passage today in Galatians 4:8-9, while Paul was there they came to both know God and be known by God. We don’t see it in the English, because in both verse 8 and in 9 we translate two different Greek words to the English word know or known. But, the word in verse 8 is what we would equate to knowing facts about something, they did not know anything about God, all they knew were the idols they worshiped who where not gods. However, they now know God and are known by God, they have a relationship with Him. They know Him like we can know a parent, this is more than simple facts, they are now God’s sons and daughters. And yet, we see in the second part of verse 9 through verse 10, they are turning away from God, they are turning back to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world.
I want you to notice something here, Paul equates trying to live by the Law with idolatry. In verse 10 Paul writes,
Galatians 4:10 “10 You observe days and months and seasons and years!” They had turned back to the Jewish law which had different dates and holidays that must be kept in order to be righteous. This, at least in one way, would be like us looking at the 7 feast and trying to observe them to be righteous, or keeping the sabbath the way it was prescribed in the Old Testament. We have been set free from the legal obligation to keep these, they are good to look at and understand because they tell us about the character of our Father in heaven, but we are no longer obligated to keep the Jewish law. That is just one way we can do this however.
We can also do this by adding all types of religiosity to earn favor with God. We have to be cautious here because there are things that do in fact affect our communion with God, but a great many of these are personal and have no effect on others, like the time of the day I read my Bible or for that matter if I even do read it, maybe I would rather listen to an audio Bible. As much as I wish there was, there is no command in the Bible, neither old or new testament, that says you have to read it to be a good Christ follower nor does it give a command to what time of day we are to do our devotions. We have commands to meditate on God’s word, those are all throughout scripture, but the requirement to read it at a certain time of day are not, and honestly the command to meditate on it is actually significantly harder than reading our bible, I can check a box and be done reading, but to really meditate on it takes time and effort and commitment. We do this all the time with all kinds of things, Marc correct me if I am wrong, but there used to be a saying, don’t drink, smoke or chew or go with girls who do, I will tell you I have known Christians who do one or more of these. And please do not hear me say that we are free to live however we want, that is not what I am saying we are called to be holy as God is holy. The problem comes when we start making these laws for salvation. Our salvation is completely dependent on Jesus’s work on the Cross, not in what we can do.
This was the problem in the church in Galatia. Before Paul had come they served idols, and in this system everything was contractual. I do this I will get this, if I fail to do this I will lose the blessing. Then when Paul arrived they came to know God and were offered freedom and sonship, now though they were trying to go back to this contractual arrangement. Paul cannot understand it, it is as if all the work he had done there was in vain.
I am not quite to this stage in parenting yet, but my kids are old enough that I sometimes feel this way. But it is similar to parenting, when you spend the whole time your kids live with you, trying to train them in the way they should go, preparing them to leave the nest. Then when they do it is as if all you taught them gets thrown out and they turn their back on it. It is as if all we did was in vain and Paul is pleading with them to turn back, just as parents plead with their kids to turn back once they are on their own. We see that in verse 12
Galatians 4:12 “12 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong.” Paul’s tone here shifts almost 180 degrees, where before he seemed harsh and factual now there is a tenderness and love. Where before he states O foolish Galatians, now Paul is pleading with the Galatians as those he deeply cares for, he says I entreat you, or I beg you to become as I am. He longs to see them become as he is, to return to the freedom of the Gospel, to return to their redeemer Jesus Christ.
Has their love grown cold?
Has their love grown cold?
We see at the end of verse 12 through 16 that something in the church has shifted.
Galatians 4:12–16 “12 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. 13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?”
We are not given the context of the bodily ailment that Paul had here, we do see it was a burden or trial to the people here. Yet, something happened that was very different that would be typical for this time frame. Paul says they did not scorn or despise him. We again have to understand this time period, those who had infirmities were often separated from everyone else for several different reasons, but if we look at the book of Job for example, it usually was considered a mark of God’s or the gods disfavor with an individual and by taking in such a person one was risking taking disfavor upon themselves. That is not what happened here though, they recieved Paul as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. They welcomed him and cared for him. Paul says they would have been willing to give him their eyes if possible. They loved him enough they were willing to give up everything to care for him, to help him. In the midst of describing the compassion and care they once had he asks these two questions.
At the beginning of verse 15 Paul says, “What then has become of your blessedness?” and verse 16 reads:
16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?
We see this love and compassion that they once had is being lost though the law and legalism. This man who brought them out of bondage into freedom is now being considered their enemy because he speaks the truth. Jesus gives us a parable in Luke 10, that speaks to this mind set. The parable of the Good Samaritan comes after a lawyer asks what he must do to inherit eternal life and Jesus asks the lawyer what the law says, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’, but after Jesus tells him he answered rightly, then starting in verse 29:
Luke 10:29–37 “29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy…”
Now Jesus tells this parable to illustrate who our neighbor is, but he intentionally used a priest and a Levite in this story. The priest was required to keep the law perfectly to fulfill his duties and the Levites were required to keep the law perfectly due to their services in and around the temple, but look who it is Jesus said fulfilled the law here. It was not those who “legalistically kept the whole law” rather it was the one who served the heart of the law. We so easily become like the priest and Levite in this story. We get so caught up in keeping our law so we can stay in righteousness that we refuse to help those who need help. We look down our nose at those who do not live like we do or study like we do. We put all these moral barriers around ourselves and stay perfectly clean on the outside, yet we refuse to get dirty and care for others.
This feeling carries over into those who try to share the truth with us too though. We begin to shut out those who would share God’s truth with us. We tell them they are sinning because they are not living up to our rules. As they try to share what God’s word says to us we shut them out and seek out those who solidify us in our legalism. This relationship is the opposite of this, but a couple of guys spring to mind when I think of how easy it is to do this, and how it should be handled. John MacArthur and R. C. Sproul did not agree on every point Theologically and there are several points that many Christians hold legalistically that they could have broke fellowship over, but I want to read this quote to you from MacArthur about Sproul, this comes from MacArthur’s tribute letter in 2017,
“He and I once had a vigorous public debate on the subject of infant baptism. He was as bold and candid with me as he would have been with any other adversary. He clearly wanted me to be equally straightforward and forceful with him. Of course I was. Although R. C. didn’t change his opinion on baptism, our friendship was not sabotaged but strengthened by the robust exchange of arguments and rebuttals. That’s precisely how our friendship worked behind the scenes as well.” In these two we see two men who did not agree on every point and even debated it, but they loved and cared for one another. Not holding to secondary issues legally but rather challenging one another in love, and holding fellowship.
Paul goes on in Verse 17-20
Galatians 4:17–20 “17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, 19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.”
Who are you letting court you?
Who are you letting court you?
We see Paul lash out against the Judaizers here, as a parent would to an abusive person courting their child. The language here does give the idea of courting, Paul the Galatians they are being earnestly courted, but for no good. The tactic the Judaizers are using is to shut them out or exclude them for not conforming, so that the Galatians would pursue them all the more. It is like when in high school we desire to be part of the cool kids, where we would do almost anything, waiting on every whim of theirs just to be included. As they draw closer and closer to the circumcision party, these people cut ties with Paul, they see him as an enemy like he said in verse 16. We see this in different ministries today, typically on YouTube, everyone is a heretic or nearly so except them and the goal of their ministries it to get people to follow them and their very narrow and legalistic view and people fall into these traps.
Paul does tell them that being courted isn’t bad, but it only if it is for a good purpose. Paul is courting the Galatians, he wants them to follow him, but he is pursuing them that they might become like Christ. Paul is in anguish over them in the same way a parent is in anguish when their children go wayward. He desired to be with them in order to be able to show his concern rather than the tone he has had to take with them. He ends with confusion, that same perplexity that a parent has for their children he has for the Galatians.
Conclusion
We must be careful in what we are looking to for righteousness and salvation. Are our choices being made on the basis of a love of Christ or because we think it will earn us favor with God?
If we are not sure, we must check our compassion and love for others, has this grown cold have we distanced ourselves from those who bring us God’s truth.
We must be careful of those who pursue us, are they trying to help us be more like Christ or more like themselves?