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Introduction
Big Idea: Gospel friends confront gospel relapses
Something about being told what we want to hear vs. being told what we need to hear (Doctors?)
So I went in to see my doctor recently, and I was not a fan of some of the things that she told me: High blood pressure, High cholesterol, low vitamin D, too fat.
I need to exercise more.
I need to change my diet.
Does your doctor tell you things you don’t like too?
You know what we need?
Doctors who tell us good things.
How much better would my experience have been if my doctor instead told me, Glen, your blood pressure is perfect.
Your cholesterol is spot on.
You have an abundance of vitamin D. Your body is the model male physique.
You have no need to change whatsoever.
Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
That would be horrible.
It may be nice to hear but there is only one small problem.
It’s not the truth.
We go to doctors NOT to hear what we want but to hear the truth.
And doctors who don’t tell the truth will not be doctors for long.
More than needing the truth about our physical health, we need people who will speak truth into our lives about our spiritual health.
We need people who will tell us hard things when we relapse in our belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Our text today addresses this very fact.
Paul is functioning as a spiritual doctor to the churches in Galatia.
They have relapsed and he wants to get them back on track.
Let’s take a look, starting in verse 8, and see just how they have relapsed in Paul’s absence.
Gospel Relapse
Galatians 4:8-
Prior to knowing God
Before knowing God the Galatians were enslaved by false gods
Now, by knowing God, Paul is not referring to some sort of intellectual knowledge about God.
He is talking about knowing God in a personal relationship.
It is possible to know things about God but not really know him.
Who were these false gods that enslaved the Galatians?
The idols that they worshipped.
Even though they are not actually gods does not mean that there isn’t some sort of spiritual power behind them.
In fact, speaks about these so called gods as demons.
The real power behind every other deity and system of belief imagined by humanity is demonic.
Rather than being benevolent, these false gods enslave people, keeping them from the truth.
Galatians 4:9
That slavery was supposed to end once they met God through his Son Jesus.
And to avoid confusion, Paul clarifies who takes the initiative in beginning the relationship, lest we think we arrived at such knowledge of God on our own.
If you are a Christian today, it is because God wanted to know you and make you his own.
Which is what makes the Galatians actions so perverse.
God sought them out and freed them from their bondage to these false gods.
Why on earth would they try to slip out from God’s embrace and put their shackles on again?
Quick time out.
Last time I checked, the Galatians weren’t returning to worship pagan idols again.
So how can they return once more to be slaves?
Paul is saying that the inherent power behind the belief that God accepts us based upon his law is demonic.
Let that sink in.
Satan would love it if every person decided to try to please God by keeping his law.
Because the more we try to approach God on our own merit, the further from Jesus we get.
Running from the arms of idols into the arms of Moses puts you in no less damning a position.
You can ditch drugs, drinking, sexual immorality, and crime and still end up in hell.
Galatians 4:10-11
Paul lists the proof that these Christians are starting down the path of legalism: observing the law’s ritual days.
They hadn’t yet started widespread circumcision it seems, but they had started keeping all of the religious festivals, thinking that somehow God would be more pleased with them based upon these rituals.
Paul is worried that his work among them has been pointless.
They have relapsed in their adherence to the gospel message.
Paul asks that they become as he is: free from the law
Paul had abandoned all hope of God’s acceptance through his actions.
The whole reason Paul became like the Galatians and lived among them and served them was to get them to the same place he was: banking on Jesus alone.
Paul, enemy of the Galatians?
gal 4.13
Galatians 4:12
Paul rehearses some history: he ended up in Galatia because of some physical problem he had.
Were not sure what it is.
Might be something with his eyes, but we don’t know.
Whatever the physical problem that Paul had, it was challenging to be around him.
Even so, the Galatians received Paul gladly.
They were happy to bear with him in his physical weakness.
They received him as they would an angel or even Jesus himself.
As we should.
We should embrace those who bring the message of the gospel of Jesus to us.
Galatians 4:15-
Now though, he feels that they have turned on him.
They once were blessed, happy, with him.
This is especially hard for him, since he knew how devoted they once were to him.
They would have disfigured themselves if it meant Paul could have been healed.
Why did they turn on him?
He told them the truth.
He told them what they did not want to hear.
How often do we turn on those who in love speak truth into our lives.
Do we blame the doctor when he points out the physical problems?
No.
But we throw up walls and get defensive when someone else points out our spiritual problems.
But that is exactly what fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are called to do for each other.
When we see one of us having a gospel relapse, living in a way that is inconsistent with the gospel that we have received, we tell them the truth.
It’s not just that we need to listen to the doctor.
We are called to be the doctor.
What would you do with an MRI technician who, upon discovering cancer in a patient, wouldn’t tell them because it was bad news?
Yet that is exactly what we are doing, dear Christians, when we silently watch other professed followers of Jesus run back into the arms of slavery.
What is it that motivates people who refuse to tell the truth?
Why do
Enemies tell you what you want to hear
Gal 4.17-
Paul says that these false teachers make much of the Galatians.
This means that they tell them what they want to hear.
Why?
They want the Galatians to make much of them.
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