SERMON OUTLINE:
• He Reminds Them They are Free in Christ (vs 8-12).
• He Reminds Them of Their Past Friendship (vs 13-16).
• He Reminds Them he is Their Spiritual Father (vs 17-20).
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• Whales are one of the most impressive creatures on earth.
• If you watch them swimming in the ocean, they are truly amazing.
• They are creatures of strength, majesty and freedom.
• But tragically with their immense size comes a problem,
• They can become trapped when they have come too close to shore.
• When a whale becomes beached,
• The strength and freedom they had in the open water is gone.
• A beached whale is a horrible sight;
• The freedom the whale enjoyed in the open water has suddenly vanished;
• As the whale becomes enslaved by the sandbar.
• You may well have seen stories on the news of beached whales being rescued.
• Teams of people kept the whales wet,
• While others worked to get the whales free from the sandbar,
• That would cause their certain death if something were not done to help them.
• Once rescued they could return to the open water,
• And enjoy their freedom once again!
• TRANSITION: Why would a whale who had been set free to enjoy its freedom,
• Want to turn back to the sandbar and get themselves beached again?
• It certainly would not be a choice that it would voluntarily make,
• But it could happen by accident or by unusual events and circumstances.
In the book of Galatian’s, we find that the apostle Paul is puzzled.
• Because these Galatian believers have done something as perplexing as the whale.
• The difference is they have chosen the foolish and dangerous action,
• To give up the freedom of the ocean (their freedom in Christ),
• To be beached on the sandbar (to live again under the Old Testament Law).
• Which would put them into spiritual bondage.
• In this section we will see the apostle Paul;
• Use three ways to plead with his audience to hold on to Christ and to Christ alone!
(1). He Reminds Them They Are Free in Christ (vs 8-12).
“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God – or rather are known by God – how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11 I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you. 12 I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong.”
The Living Bible paraphrases verse 9 this way:
“And now that you have found God (or I should say, now that God has found you), how can it be that you want to go back again and become slaves once more to another poor, weak, useless religion of trying to get to heaven by obeying God’s laws?”
Ill:
• No-one can try to please God by their best efforts of keeping the rules,
• A good example of this is John Wesley.
• (The seventeenth century Anglican clergyman, evangelist, and joint founder of the Methodist movement)
• Before his conversion:
• He was the son of a clergyman and he became a clergyman himself.
• He was orthodox in belief, faithful in morality, and full of good works.
• He did ministry in prisons, sweatshops, and slums.
• He gave food, clothing, and education to slum children.
• He observed both Saturday and Sunday as the Sabbath.
• He sailed from England to the American colonies as a missionary.
• He studied his Bible, prayed, fasted, and gave regularly.
• Yet all the time, he was bound in the chains of his own religious efforts,
• Because he trusted in what he could do to make himself right before God,
• Instead of trusting in what Jesus had done.
• One evening (May 24, 1738) Wesley was persuaded to attend a meeting,
• Wesley records these great words in his journal:
"In the evening, I went very unwillingly to a Society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ; Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
• Later, he came to “trust in Christ, in Christ only for salvation,”
• And came to an inner assurance that he was now forgiven, saved, and a son of God.
• Looking back on all his religious activity before he was truly saved, he said:
• “I had even then the faith of a servant, though not that of a son.”
• TRANSITION: The apostle Paul will remind these Galatian Christians,
• We are not made right with God by keeping the Law,
• By “observing special days and months and seasons and years!” (vs 10)
Notice: in verse 9 he calls that type of faith, ‘weak & miserable’
• It is weak and miserable because it is helpless.
• It can define sin and tell people what the problem is;
• It can also convict a people of their sin,
• But it is weak and miserable because it cannot deliver help for sin.
• It cannot give a person forgiveness for past sin,
• And it cannot give a person strength to conquer future sin.
ill:
• One of the features of Jewish law was its observance of special times.
• Verse 10 is a kind of summary verse:
• “You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!”
• In this passage the ‘days’ are the Sabbaths of each week;
• The ‘months’ are the new moons;
• The ‘seasons’ are the great annual feasts like the Passover,
• Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles;
• The ‘years’ are the Sabbatic years, that is, every seventh year.
TRANSITION: So as Christians we don’t not have to keep these Jewish days or feasts!
• We can study them, and we can learn from them,
• But to insist we or another Christian have to keep them,
• Is to hinder that Christian and not to help them!
• All these feats and holy days etc were shadows of things to come,
• And in Christ they have all been fulfilled,
• He is the substance, so why seek after a shadow when you have the real thing!
It was the apostle Paul's fear:
• That men and women who had once known the magnificence of grace,
• Would swap it by slipping back to legalism,
• And that men and women who had once lived in the presence of God,
• Would shut him up to special days and occasions.
Remember this;
• If you add anything to grace it is no longer grace
• One work added to grace would render it no more grace.
Ill:
• On March 4th 2018.
• Ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were deliberately poisoned,
• They were found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping centre in Salisbury.
• Infected by the Novichok (Russian for ‘newcomer’ or ‘newbie’) poison,
• Novichok is among the most-deadly nerve agents ever created.
• TRANSITION: Novichok agents can take the form of an ultrafine powder,
• If you were to add a tiny bit of that poison to a glass of pure water,
• It would render it no more a glass of pure water;
• But a glass of deadly poisoned water.
• The gospel of grace becomes poisoned;
• When just one human work is added to the plan of salvation
• We can study them, and we can learn from them,
• But to insist we or another Christian has to keep them,
• Is to hinder that Christian and not to help them!
Notice: in verse 12 the apostle Paul tells them straight; “Don’t be a Jew”
• I like his play on words; “Become as I am,” he says, “for I became as you are.”
• He tells them straight that he has left those Jewish rituals behind
• And embraced Christ alone as the means of his salvation and sanctification.
Ill:
• If you know the apostle Paul’s testimony.
• You will know that he was deeply Jewish in every way.
• Philippians chapter 3 verse 5 - T.L.B.):
“I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.”
• The apostle Paul was as Jewish as it was humanly possible to be,
• Yet he abandoned it all! He counted I as rubbish!
• He has left his Jewishness behind and became like a Gentile.
• Verse 12 he says:
“I as a Jew have become like a Gentile. Don’t respond by becoming like a Jew.
Stay Gentiles! Stay Gentiles!”
• Salvation has come to the Gentiles!
• So, don’t confuse what the gospel is.
• The gospel is not ‘Jesus + keeping rules & regulations.
• The gospel is not ‘Jesus + trying my best to top up what he has done’.
• The gospel is a ‘gospel + nothing’. ‘Grace plus nothing’.
• The gospel is being saved by grace through faith;
• It is ‘Jesus + nothing’.
(2). He Reminds Them of Their Past Friendship (vs 13-16).
“As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, 14 and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. 15 Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.
Ill:
• A man dialled a wrong number and got the following recording:
• “I am not available right now, but I thank you for caring enough to call.
• I am making some changes in my life.
• Please leave a message after the beep. If I do not return your call,
• You are one of the changes.”
• TRANSITION: The apostle Paul had once had a good relationship with this Church,
• But for whatever reason that friendship had changed.
• In these verses the apostle Paul does makes not a theological appeal,
• But rather a personal appeal.
• He reminds them that for their sake he had become a Gentile;
• So that he could win Gentiles with the gospel.
Ill:
• You might be surprised to know that for Chinese tourist coming to the UK,
• Barnsley runs high on their places to visit.
• They want to visit the place where one of their great heroes was born,
• They want to pay homage a man few in Yorkshire have even heard of.
• Yet, Chinese tourists are coming in great numbers;
• To pay their respects to Christian missionary James Hudson Taylor,
• Who was born in the South Yorkshire town in 1832.
• Hudson Taylor (founder of China Inland Mission - now OMF International).
• Taylor spent 51 years in China.
• The society that he began;
• Was responsible for bringing over 800 missionaries to the country
• Who began 125 schools and directly resulted in 18,000 Christian conversions,
• As well as the establishment of more than 300 stations of work;
• With more than 500 local helpers in all eighteen provinces.
Now what Hudson Taylor radically different was this:
• He made a radical decision (as least for Protestant missionaries of the day):
• To dress in Chinese clothes and to even grow a pigtail (as Chinese men did).
• His fellow Protestants were either incredulous or critical.
• But Hudson Taylor realised to reach the Chinese people,
• He needed to forsake his Englishness and become Chinese!
• TRANSITION: It is a lesson that all missionaries now employ,
• To reach people you become like the people!
• And the apostle Paul did the same in his day;
• He has left his Jewishness behind,
• That is, he had cut adrift from the traditions in which he had been brought up,
• And become what these Galatian’s were, that is like a Gentile.
• That he might win the Gentiles for Christ.
Note:
• When the apostle Paul first arrived in Galatia his welcome was good.
• Verse 13 tells us it was because of an illness he came to them.
• What that illness was we do not know.
• The oldest traditions inform us that;
• The apostle Paul suffered from violent and prostrating headaches.
• But that is tradition and not the New Testament.
From this passage we get two hints of what the problem was;
• FIRST: Verse 15:
• Would suggest it was an eye complaint that the apostle had.
“Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.”
• It has been suggested that Paul's eyes always troubled him,
• Because he had been dazzled so much on the Damascus Road,
• That ever afterwards he could see only dimly and painfully.
• But once again that is guess work,
• The New Testament does not confirm that, only that he had a problem with his eyes.
• SECOND: Verse 14:
• Would suggest something additional to his eye complaint.
• The expression; “you did not treat me with contempt or scorn.”
• Literally means, “you did not spit at me”.
• That might sound strange to us today,
• But it was very much an ancient custom that if a person was epileptic,
• Or had some other ailment, then people spat at them.
• The belief was this;
• As you spat your spit would avert the influence of the evil spirit,
• Which was believed to be resident in the sufferer.
• So, it has been suggested that the apostle Paul was an epileptic.
• But once again that is guess work,
• The New Testament does not confirm that, only hints at it.
The main point from these verses is:
• He was welcomed as a friend,
• And they experienced a joy and blessedness when they received the true Gospel,
• So, although the messenger (Paul) was culturally repulsive,
• The gospel certainly was not!
(3). He Reminds Them he is Their Spiritual Father (vs 17-20).
“Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!”
• The apostle Paul points out that he is not their opponent.
• But the Judaizers were the real enemy.
• They might be full of enthusiasm and passion,
• But that religious zeal needs the right purpose, or it will be harmful.
Ill:
• Many cults use a technique informally known as “love bombing.”
• They overwhelm a prospective member with attention, support, and affection.
• Yet it isn’t really a sincere love for that person;
• It is really just a technique to gain another member.
• To get another member for their group.
Zeal, passion and enthusiasm is not wrong:
• In many of the Churches I attended we could probably do with a bit more of it!
• We should be passionate people for Christ, for the Church and for sharing the gospel!
• Remember that the apostle Paul was!
• He was a very zealous man for Christ, for the Church and for sharing the gospel!
• He was extremely enthusiastic for his faith.
• Zeal is good with the right direction and for a good purpose.
• And the apostle Paul was not out to increase his gang of followers,
• He wanted people to come to faith in Christ;
• To grow in Christ and to live for Christ.
Note: In the end the apostle Paul uses a vivid metaphor.
• No one can fail to see the deep affection of the last words; “My little children”
• The apostle John often uses this expression in his letters,
• But the apostle Paul only uses it here, and nowhere else;
• His heart is running over.
• The apostle Paul rightly considers himself to be a father to the Galatians.
• Yet because these Christian’s are being led astray,
• He feels as if he must bring them to Jesus all over again.
• He says, something unnatural has happened,
• Because you Galatians are drifting away from Jesus and to the law.
• The apostle Paul has to labour in birth all over again,
• And this is unnatural to have labour pains a second time.
• But in this section of the letter, the apostle Paul,
• Did not scold with bitter words; rather he yearns over his straying children
Ill:
• Florence Allshorn was a great woman of God,
• William Paton, who was secretary of the International Missionary Council in the 1930’s,
• And one of the founders of the World Council of Churches,
• Said of Florence Allshorn,
“I think she has the greatest spiritual insight of anyone I have ever known!
She had an enormous influence on many individuals during the mid-twentieth century.
• In 1920 Florence Allshorn, went with the Church Missionary Society (CMS),
• To serve God in Uganda, where she taught in the girls’ school at Iganga, Busoga
• It was said of Florence Allshorn,
• That if she had cause to rebuke any of her students she did so,
• As it were, with her arm around them.
• TRANSITION:
• The accent of love will penetrate where the tones of anger will never find a way.
• Likewise, the apostle Paul,
• Did not scold with bitter words; he yearned over his straying children
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=diHH7JXtDd5f3FAGhLn6x4bIOrIYnmjV
