Please keep your Bibles handy at Galatians chapter 4 from verse 8 through to

Transcription

1 Gospel Concern (Galatians 4:8-20) 6 th July Please keep your Bibles handy at Galatians chapter 4 from verse 8 through to verse 20. There s an outline in the bulletin for you to take some notes if that helps you concentrate. Let me pray for God to help us in our understanding of His Word this morning! Intro I heard a story during the week which I thought summed up the attitude of the Galatians. It s the story of a little donkey in a village near Jerusalem who unties himself and trots into the road towards Jerusalem. The donkey struts around the road holding his head up very proud turning this way and that. The people on the road say to the little donkey Shoo. Go away little donkey, you re not wanted here! So the donkey pins back his ears - and heads to the marketplace in Jerusalem. And the donkey struts around the marketplace again holding his head up very proud turning this way and that. The people in the marketplace say to the little donkey Shoo. Go away little donkey, you re not wanted here! So the donkey pins back his ears and heads back to the village. When the donkey returns home he says to his mummy donkey Page 1 of 12

2 I don t understand yesterday everyone cheered me on the road to Jerusalem 2 and in the marketplace they even laid palm branches at my feet! The Mummy donkey says You silly donkey yesterday was not about YOU it was about Jesus riding on your back you silly donkey! (pause) That s the problem the apostle Paul sees with the Galatians they are so foolish they think being saved of their sins is all about them and their good works working their way to forgiveness and working their way to heaven by doing good stuff they have forgotten the Gospel message that Paul taught them was - that Jesus has already done the once and for all work on the cross to take their sins away. The Gospel is all about Jesus not all about the Galatians! (pause) And Paul in this chapter changes his approach dramatically from a purely teaching approach - to a personal and emotional approach. He pours out his concern for the Gospel and for his brothers and sisters in Galatia. If you look at v11 and v20 you can see evidence of Paul s concern. In v11 Paul says I fear for you and in v20 he says I am perplexed about you So in these verses 8 to 20 - of chapter 4 - Paul contrasts 2 things: Firstly he contrasts false religion with true Gospel faith. And secondly he contrasts 2 ministries a false Worldly Ministry and a true Gospel Ministry. Page 2 of 12

3 And I want to suggest today that we could be in danger of being just like the 3 Galatians and repeating their mistake - and making the Gospel and Ministry all about us and not about Jesus and yet it s so subtle we don t even notice. False Religion versus True Gospel Faith (vv8-11) So let s look first at the contrast between false religion and true Gospel faith. Starting at v8 Paul reminds the Galatians that before they knew God they were slaves to those who by nature are not gods and in v9 he says and now you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces and asks do you want to be enslaved by them all over again. What are these gods which Paul describes as weak and miserable forces? Well they are the pagan beliefs the Galatians had before they heard the Gospel. In Greek culture (as in Roman culture), they had many gods: Farmers made sacrifices to weather gods and fertility gods to get good crops; people who wanted beauty and love made sacrifices to gods and goddesses of beauty and love; sailors who wanted safety on their voyage made sacrifices to gods of the sea and so on. They had gods for all parts of life. And it would be easy for us to think that Paul is warning the Galatians not to go back to these gods and goddesses. But remember the whole point of the book of Galatians is to warn them not to be legalistic and follow unnecessary laws that can t save them from their sin. So we have to look at v10 to see what the Paul is really concerned about now. Page 3 of 12

4 He says in v10 the Galatians are observing special days and months and seasons 4 and years. What the Galatians were doing was religiously observing all the Jewish festivals and laws and ceremonies of the Old Testament. And in doing so they were swapping the old-slavery of worshipping pagan gods for a new slavery to make the Jewish traditions and laws their new gods and being enslaved by them instead. And what s so subtle is that they might not even realize they are making gods out of all this Jewish tradition and they might not realize they are far away from God. And perhaps we are the same today? Without realizing it we too can worship what we think we need to fulfill ourselves whatever gives us life and makes us happy. Things like money, achievement, success, love, people s approval, pleasure - they become our gods. For example, if we put our greatest hope in gaining wealth, we will be controlled and enslaved by it. When we are not doing well at gaining wealth, we will be devastated - and even when we gain wealth, we ll still want more and more. It s the same with looking for people s approval, if we don t get approval we try harder and harder making a god out of approval And if we do get approval we want to maintain that approval so it s still a god. If we treat things that are not gods as though they are, we become slaves to them! Page 4 of 12

5 5 If you want a more subtle example. Even church attendance and ministry to others and reading the Bible - can become gods or idols to us. Let s be clear your minister is not saying don t attend church, and don t minister to others and don t read your Bible! Let me explain what I mean how many people like reading books [Show of hands] Do you have a plan for reading a book? Like I ll read pages 1-20 today, pages tomorrow and so on? If you do it wouldn t be that enjoyable or rewarding to read the book, would it? Yet most new Bibles have a reading plan. I fell into this trap when I first became a Christian I tried following the reading plan - to read the Bible in one year! But I found myself ticking off Day 1 Genesis chapter 1-3, Day 2 Genesis chapter 4-6 and so on. And it became religious and mechanical. You don t read the Bible like that! You read and mediate on it it could be 1 verse, 10 verses, 10 chapters; or 1 hour or 8 hours it s how you connect to God s word - not how much you read. And it s the same with attending church your attitude could be Sunday is church day just like Monday is washing day and Tuesday is Ironing day! Rather - your attitude should be I want to come to church to worship the Great God of Love who I owe my whole being to the One who sent His Son to save the world from sin and I really want to thank and praise him because of his amazing grace and mercy. Page 5 of 12

6 It s also the same with ministry you can say to yourself - I have phoned all the 6 people on my pastoral care list that s that job ticked off my To-Do list for today. Or you can phone people on your pastoral care list out of genuine concern and love for them. The bottom line for Paul is: If anything but Jesus is a requirement for us feeling happy and feeling worthy, that thing will become our slave master. The classic example of this is our first reading today, from Luke 15 Your Bible might have a heading that says the Lost Son in Luke 15 verse 11. But there are two lost sons. The father in the story has one very immoral younger son and one very moral older son. Both of them wanted control of the father s wealth - but did not want the father. At the end of the story, though, the younger immoral son repents and goes in to the feast to celebrate with the father, but the older moral son says outside in anger, not even realizing he is lost! [Powerpoint 1] The religious person is just as lost as the non-religious person. The problem is though, the non-religious person knows they are far away from God whereas the religious person doesn t? Scary thought isn t it? (pause) We ve spent a bit of time saying what a false religion is, so what does Paul say is True Gospel faith? Well it s there in v9 now that you know God or rather are known by God Page 6 of 12

7 At first it seems Paul is correcting himself by saying or rather known by God 7 A better translation for v9 would be now that you know God or more importantly are known by God What makes a person a Christian is not so much you knowing God but His knowing you. To Know in the Bible means more than intellectual awareness. To know someone in the Bible is to enter into a personal relationship with him or her. So what Paul is saying it s not so much your regard and love for God but rather God s regard and love for you that really makes you a Christian. Paul puts it this way in 1 Cor 8:3 But whoever loves God is known by God. Think of it this way, if as Christians we are no longer sure that God loves us and accepts us because of what Jesus did. Then subconsciously we become insecure and look to try to make ourselves loveable and acceptable God. And then we make idols and gods of the things we choose to achieve God s acceptance of us - when Jesus has already done this for us! The Gospel of Jesus death and resurrection shows us we don t need to make ourselves lovable to God. [Powerpoint 2] If we put Paul s message in Galatians and his message in 1 Cor 4 together, we can say this to anyone we meet: Since God knows me, and sees Jesus in me when He looks at me, I don t care what anyone thinks of me, AND I don t even care what I think of me? If we truly grasp that we are known and loved by God because of Jesus we won t keep trying to boost our self-image and seek God s approval or people s Page 7 of 12

8 8 approval. We won t worship any idols or gods we will simply love God, the one who knows us. True Gospel Faith is the assurance that God loves us because Jesus has done it all. We need to be the little donkey with Jesus on our back not the little donkey going it alone (pause) False Worldly Ministry verses True Gospel Ministry (vv12-20) Now let s turn our attention to Paul s contrast between false worldly ministry and true Gospel Ministry. And let s first see what false worldly ministry looks like. Look at v17 false teachers are zealous to win the Galatians over so that they are emotionally dependent on these teachers and leaders, rather than dependent on God. Zealous to win you over means the false teachers will tell the Galatians what they want to hear, tickling their ear and pander to them - to gain their loyalty. [Powerpoint 3] False teachers need people who need them instead of needing God. False teachers want followers who glorify them instead of glorifying God! And these false teachers have also pointed the Galatians towards false teaching as we saw in v10 teaching them to observe Jewish traditions and laws that are totally unnecessary. One of the last lectures I had at Bible College was from a minister at Blacktown and Parramatta - Luke Tattersall. Page 8 of 12

9 9 He made this very important point that as a preacher of God s word it is our job to not make people dependent on the minister but equip people and enable them to understand God s word on their own. The reason being is so as not to rely on the minister but to give them the keys to unpack the Bible for themselves and point them to Jesus and His word and not to the minister. Ask yourself this morning do you find it appealing and flattering - to have people rely and depend on you - instead of relying and depending on Jesus and His Word? If so then that is false worldly ministry (pause) We ve briefly looked at what false worldly ministry looks like Now let s contrast this with Paul s true Gospel ministry. [Powerpoint 4 Heading True Gospel and point 1 culturally flexible] And first we see that true Gospel ministry is culturally flexible. Paul says in v12 I became like you A ministry that s energized by the true Gospel is flexible and adaptable with everything except the Gospel itself! Remember Paul s philosophy in ministry was that he became all things to all men (1 Cor 9:22). Paul is a model of someone who truly comes close to and enters people s lives. Paul got to know people personally, lived with them, ate with them, walked and talked with them. He adapted his message to them and their culture - without of course changing the Gospel message itself. [Powerpoint 4a 2 nd transparent] And second we see that true Gospel ministry is transparent. Paul urges the Galatians to become like me in v12. Page 9 of 12

10 What Paul is saying is that he has been open in his ministry and shown his heart 10 and life to the Galatians so much so - they can imitate him. And it s the same for us. People should be able to look into our hearts and lives, to assess how we handle trials, how we deal with disappointment, how we conduct ourselves in relationships, how we feel and act, so that they can see Christ is real in our lives - and see how the Gospel affects day to day human life. And don t think Paul is being arrogant by saying become like me because he has also said he became like them [Powerpoint 4b 3 rd opportunities] The third thing we see about true Gospel ministry is that there are even opportunities when there are hardships. We see in v13 that he only came to be in Galatia because of illness. It hadn t been his plan to preach in Galatia; but due to his illness Paul made new friends and many people in Galatia got to hear the Gospel message and a new church was established. God doesn t promise to bless us by removing suffering, but to bless us even through suffering and hardship. For example you may spend time in hospital that you hadn t expected - and in doing so you may have opportunities to share Jesus with people in the hospital which you hadn t planned. Our plans for ministry might not always be the way God plans it to work. For example when we planned the Communication Corner ministry we thought it would be a vehicle to reach the community which to some degree it has but it Page 10 of 12

11 has also built stronger relationships inside the church which hadn t necessarily 11 been the primary purpose but God knows better than us! (pause) [Powerpoint 4c 4 th relationships] The fourth thing we see in true Gospel ministry is heartfelt relationships which lead people to Jesus! See v14 when Paul arrived in Galatia with an illness, the Galatians didn t treat him as a burden instead they treated him like an angel of God, or even treated him like Jesus himself. And look at how Paul feels about the Galatians in v19. He is in agony for them as though he is in childbirth until Christ is formed in them. It is paramount to Paul that the Galatians have a relationship with Jesus when he said back in v12 become like me he s only saying that so that they will follow his example and follow Jesus and be changed into the likeness of Jesus. Paul is not trying to get fans but to get people to follow Jesus. Paul wants people not to become dependent on him - but on Jesus. That s why Paul uses the image of a mother in childbirth. A mother desperately wants her child to get out of the womb and be independently alive. A child grows inside the mother until it is time to come out of the womb. This is a picture of how we should feel about people coming into a relationship with Jesus We should be desperate for those who don t know Jesus - to be born as a child of Jesus - and not stay inside the womb - so to speak. Our love and concern for others to come to Jesus should be the same as the love and concern a mother has for her child to be born safe and sound. Page 11 of 12

12 12 Conclusion Let me finish with a couple of questions: [Powerpoint 5] 1. Are you being religious trying to earn God s approval and to earn people s approval? Or are you assured of your spot in Heaven because God loves you - and sent Jesus so that you have already got your approval from God? [Powerpoint 6] 2. Is your ministry to others about you feeling good and satisfied - or is it out of genuine concern and love that people need to have a relationship with Jesus? Friends, please meditate on these questions as you leave church today. Let s pray. Page 12 of 12