Dance Lessons: A Passionate Plea from a Pastor
Galatians 4:8-20
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
4-19-2020
Redeemed and Adopted
Last week, we celebrated Easter in a very different way but the resurrection of Jesus Christ was still celebrated all over the world by billions of people.
If we had met in the auditorium of the church, we were planning for about 115 people. The video of the sermon has been viewed over 200 times! God in His providence has given us the opportunity to reach even more people this year, despite the inability to meet in person!
We mined the depths of one of the most beautiful passages in all the Bible and learned two Easter words - redeemed and adopted:
“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” (Galatians 4:4-7)
What did we learn?
Because Jesus was fully God, the second Person of the Trinity, He could fulfill the law’s requirements completely. His ‘perfect score” was applied to our accounts. His righteousness is applied to us.
Because Jesus was fully human, He could die on the cross as our representative, absorbing all of God’s wrath for our sins, and paying the price fully.
He did this voluntarily and out of sheer grace and love for us in order to redeem us, to buy us back from the bondage to sin.
But He not only redeemed us, He also adopted us into His forever family! We are no longer slaves to sin but sons, and heirs , of the Most High God that we can now, by the Spirit, call “Daddy.”
That was great Easter news!
If you haven’t watched that sermon, or any other of the Galatian sermons, you can find the all on the Chenoa Baptist Church FaceBook page.
In chapters 3 and 4 of Galatians, Paul dives deep into doctrine and sometimes leaves us trying to catch our breath.
But in the verses we will study this morning, Paul becomes emotional as he thinks of his “spiritual children” in Galatia.
Remember, that he planted these churches, he lead them to Christ and disciple them into leadership.
But the Judaizers came behind him and told the Galatians that Jesus + Nothing = Everything might make for a nice bumper sticker but it wouldn’t get them to heaven. They had to follow the Mosaic law, the dietary rules, and get circumcised. In other words, they had to become a Jew to become a Christian.
?The Galatians were confused and didn’t know what or who to believe.
Paul writes the entire book of Galatians to help them understand that we have been called to dance to the rhythm of grace and it would be absurd to go back to the chains of the law.
Remember, that those who dance are often thought crazy by those who cannot hear the music.
Turn with me to our verses in Galatians 4, starting in verses 8.
Prayer
No U-Turns
Paul starts this section out with a startling claim. He tells that in faith in Christ, there are no U-turns allowed.
“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 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? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.” (Galatians 4:8-11)
Just like in the beginning of chapter three, Paul is going to appeal to their experience. He’s going to remind them of what it was like for them before they were Christians.
Verses 8-11 serve as a bridge to Paul’s emotion appeal to come.
Before they came to Christ, they didn’t know God and worship idols, or as Paul puts it “no gods.”
They were Gentiles and there were pagan worship temples everywhere in Galatia and they were all expected to participate in the worship of the Emperor.
They were slaves to the “dumb idols” and Jesus had rescued them from the demonic powers that were behind such worship.
But Paul says that something significant happened when they came to know God.
This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” (Jeremiah 9:23)
Knowing God changed everything for them.
But then he actually corrects himself and says that they are rather known by God.
I’m always a little befuddled when I hear someone say that they “found Jesus.” I usually say, with a smile, “I didn’t know He was lost.”
The only way we can know God is if He first knows us:
“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” (Ephesians 4:1-6)
Paul says since you know God and are known by him, how is it that you are making a U-turn in the middle of the road of faith?
Paul wants to know why they would ever think of turning back to those “weak and miserable” forces. Weak and miserable can be translated powerless and bankrupt.
It’s one thing to be a slave but to chose to go back to slavery? That’s craziness!
What were they doing that got Paul so riled up? Were they going back to the pagan temples and offering sacrifices to idols? No, it was worse than that.
They were “observing special days, months, seasons, and years.” In other words, they had traded the pagan calendar for the Jewish one. Remember, these were Gentiles who knew nothing about the Jewish law. But the Judaizers were trying to get them participate in the Sabbath, and the New Moon Festivals, and the year of Jubilee.
What?! All these things pointed to Christ and were a part of the age of law. Now that grace has come, Paul can write to the church at Colosse:
“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17)
Remember that the purpose of the law was to show us our sinfulness and that we are hopeless and helpless to save ourselves. It took us by the hand and lead us to Jesus. The law was the prison and the Gospel was the key.
The Jewish calendar wasn’t evil but trying to keep it in order to win brownie points with God was no different than worship at the pagan temples!
I’m sure the Judaizers didn’t appreciate that comparison.
Paul is so frustrated that he actually said that he is afraid for their souls and that all of his effort among them would be wasted if they made this U-turn.
There are people today that are in church every Sunday morning and they are no different than the Hindu who worship 300 million gods. How so? Because they believe that church attendance somehow earns you credit with God. If you don’t believe this, they why do we have such big crowds at Christmas and Easter?
Church attendance is good for us and the Scriptures tells us not to neglect the gathering together (Hebrews 10:25). But if you are attending because you think if you do you earn brownie points with God, you are completely off the track of faith.
The Appeal
I can imagine Paul putting down the theological quill and beginning to tear up as he writes these next verses:
“I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong.” (Galatians 4:12)
Paul is not too proud to beg. And you only plead with those you really love.
What is he begging them to do? “Become like me.”
Paul had lived out his Christian freedom while he was with them. They saw Paul dancing to the rhythm of grace.
Paul tells the Corinthians to “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (I Corinthians 11:1)
They can put themselves in his sandals because he put himself their sandals.
“…for I became like you.”
When Paul first came Galatia, he lived as a Gentile. He ate BBQ with his neighbors and didn’t think twice.
Paul sums up his approach to missions in I Corinthians:
“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” (I Corinthians 9:19-23)
Paul was flexible and culturally sensitive when he was sharing the Gospel. This is a good word for the church today.
Paul is willing to get down on his knees and beg them not to go back to slavery but live in freedom as he did while he was with them and even now.
Paul then writes, “You did me no wrong.” This could have several different meanings. Paul could be saying that he wasn’t going to take this personally, which is a lesson I think all Christians need to learn. But he could also be saying, “Hey, you’re not rejecting me you’re rejecting God!” I personally think it’s a combination of both of these.
During this time of quarantine, Maxine and I have been doing puzzles impossibly hard, puzzles. But we go about them in very different way.
Maxine has no interest in looking at the box. She’s looking at shapes and colors. That’s maddening to me! :)
I have to look at the picture on the box. That’s the reference point for me.
In our Christian walk, we need people that are our reference point.
Paul had no hesitancy about urging the Galatians to imitate him as he imitated Christ.
For 13 years, I served under Pastor Brian Bill at Pontiac Bible Church. I have met very few people that take this call as seriously as he does. In those years, I saw a multitude of examples when Brian would model Christ-Likeness in conflict, in a crisis, in good times and bad.
When it came to shepherding the flock, Brian gave me an extraordinary example that I still try to live out today.
The way he loved his family, he set the bar high and his prayers seemed to go straight to the throne.
If you said these thing to him, he would simply say that he will just following the Chief Shepherd.
My friend Milt has taught me how to love anyone, no matter what they look like or where they’ve been.
My friend Marty has taught me how to lead with Christ-like integrity.
My friend Dale has taught me how to give grace to those who need it the most.
We need people that we can look up to in our Christian walk.
Can you say, imitate me as I imitate Christ? If not, it’s time to take a step back and focus on getting your grace dance steps going again.
If you have been walking with Christ for a long time, we need to you to step up and mentor younger believers.
Part of being a pastor/shepherd is this call to be an example for you, my flock. This is a scary thought but I take it seriously.
How we first met
Every once in a while, Maxine and I will reminisce about how we meet in the mountains of North Carolina at a little Christian children home called Crossnore.
We first conversation we had was an argument and she found me arrogant and immature. She also called her mother and told she she thought she had just met her husband!
Pau is going to remind the Galatians how they met and make an emotional appeal to renew their relationship with him.
“As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, 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. 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. Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (Galatians 4:13-16)
It was not part of Paul’s strategic missionary plan to visit the region of Galatia. Paul was sick when he first visited them.
There are many theories about what was wrong with Paul. Many commentators believed that he might have contracted malaria in the mosquito-infected swamps of Pamphylia and journeyed up into the highlands of Galatia to recuperate.
Paul recognizing that his illness was a trial to them. It was obvious that Paul’s appearance was disfigured by this illness but they didn’t treat him with contempt or scorn.
The word scorn means “to spit.” When people were visible sick, people in that day would often spit on them to ward off the evil eye from the demons that were afflicting them.
Let me pause here and make an observation. It’s extraordinary that the Galatians welcomed Paul and listened to his message. Think it through. He is coming with a message of hope, healing, and salvation but he’s a complete mess physically. It would have been easy for them to dismiss him as a quack.
Instead they welcomed whims if he were an angel of God or even Jesus Himself! What a testimony to their spiritual openness.
In the church we attended in Mississippi the youth pastor’s name was Rich. Rich was a a wonderful guy but he stuttered profoundly. You would think that going into ministry would be one of the last things he would have done, especially youth ministry where students can be so cruel.
But they loved him! They whole church did. It didn’t matter how long it took for him to teach, the students listened patiently.
Paul somberly wonders where is their blessing for him now? What happened to their joy and love towards him?
He reminds them that if they could have they would have torn out their eyes and given them to him.
This leads many commentators to believe that this illness also affected his eyes.
Near the end of Galatians, Paul writes:
“See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!” (Galatians 6:11)
But this was also a common cultural way to affirm friendship. Either way, Paul and the Galatians were had a mutual love for each other.
Then Paul asks this haunting question - “Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?”
Have you ever watched shows like Celebrity Intervention? The doctor recruits the persons loved ones and they gather together to try to convince them that they need help.
I’ve actually participated in several interventions and none of them went well. The person got mad at us and eventually stormed out of the room.
Every pastor that has been in ministry for a number of years, can resonate with this question.
I had a student that was now in college called me upset and told me that her roommate wasn’t coming home at night. I drove down to Champaign where they were in school and went to the Christian bookstore they both worked at. We went in the back and I asked her if she was spending the night with her boyfriend and she just stared at me. She was mad that her friend had told me.
I asked her some hard questions but I could do that because I had been a part of her spiritual journey for years.
But something changed that night. She basically told me to mind my own business and she knew what she was doing.
I reminded her that God doesn’t allow Hi children to sin successfully and this would not turn out well.
She really hasn’t talk to me since. She got pregnant, ended up as a single mom in a foreign country.
I become her enemy for simply telling her the truth.
That’s the pain Paul is feeling. He is begging them to think through their flirtation with the Jewish law. It was like when the Israelites had come of of Egypt and then wanted to go back so they could eat the food.
Why would anyone willing go back to slavery? Paul wasn’t going to let them go easily.
Is there anyone you need to tell the truth to in your life? Are you willing to hear the truth from people you trust?
Love tells truth even we don’t want to hear it.
Proverbs 27:6 states: “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.”
Reject the False Teachers
Paul then calls out the false teachers and their motivation:
“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.” (Galatians 4:17-18)
These Judaizers were, as one commentator put it, “launching an aggressive campaign to win the allegiance of the Galatian Christians.”
They used flattery, false promises, and courted them. They were making much of the Galatian Christians. But Paul points out their motivation.
They were fawning and fussing over them. They were flattering them. All in an attempt to win them as their disciples and alienate them from Paul.
There is nothing wrong with being zealous. Paul was zealous when he first came to them. They were zealous in their love and care for Paul.
Like all false teachers, they wanted to have another notch on the spiritual belt every time a Galatian Christian was circumcised. It was about money and fame.
And it still is with false teachers today. They want to isolate you from other believers and become spiritually dependent on them. And of course, it doesn’t hurt for you to either turn your bank account information over to them or send them money to sow seeds of faith.
Remember that Paul said that if anyone preaches a Gospel other than the one he preaches, let them be eternal condemned. (Galatians 1:8-9)
In others, let them go to hell before they can take more with them.
This is why Paul is so upset. These false teachers don’t care about the Galatians. But Paul sees them as his very own children.
Christ Formed in You
Paul ends this section in anguish over them:
“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!” (Galatians 4:19-20)
These Galatians aren’t just a spiritual project for Paul. They are his spiritual children.
Paul likens his feelings to a woman in childbirth. He had already gone through labor once and now he feels like he is going through it all over again.
I remember being with Maxine when she was in labor and when one of the contractions went high on the machine I said, “Wow. That’s a big one.” Maxine screamed at me, “I know. I’m the one feeling it!”
Paul’s motivation is not that they follow Paul, it’s that Christ would be formed in them.
He wants them to learn to dance to the rhythm of grace, joy and freedom. He will labor, (pun intended), until their sanctification is back on track again. He desires that they would look more and more like Christ. That they would be shaped and changed from the inside out into the image of Jesus.
This is my heart for Chenoa Baptist Church. I’m going to be held spiritually accountable for your souls and I want to fulfill my ministry until Christ is formed in you!
He wished he could be face-to-face with them now instead of through this letter. (that’s something we can identify with right now)
If he was there, he would change his tone. It’s hard to read tears when they are just words on a paper and that kind of communication can be misunderstood.
I learned that from my sons when I responded to a text with just the letter “K.” I found out that when you respond that way it's a way of showing that you are annoyed or mad. I was just saying, “k.”
Paul ended this section by writing that he “perplexed” at their behavior. This word means “at his wits end.”
He’s frustrated, worried, fearful, and sad by the Galatians flirtation with these Judaizers. But he’s not going to give up. He’s going to keep loving them until they bleed Jesus.
Application
What do you do when you see someone you love doing a u-turn in their faith? What we sometimes call “backsliding” in church culture.
If you remember back to when we studied the seven churches of ?Revelation, Jesus had some timely words to the church at Ephesus.
“Yet, I hold this against you: you have forsaken your first love. (Revelation 2:4)
They didn’t lose their first love; they left it!
What was the solution?
“Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” (Revelation 2:5a)
First remember.
Remember there but the grace go I.
Have you been a Christian so long that you don’t remember how it feels to be lost, hopeless and helpless?
Remember what it was like when you first understood that God loved you so much that He’d rather die than live without you?
Remember…remember…remember…
Remember that if you’ve been a Christian for 50 years you still need to the grace of God just as much as a 14 year old you joined the revolution today!
Remember the goodness of God, the grace of God, the promises of God.
Do you know how amazing grace is?
Captain Tom Moore served in India during World War II. He was watching the news about the health care workers in England and decided he wanted to do something to encourage them. He would walk 100 times around his garden. By the way, he’s 99 years old. His goal was to raise $1,250.
He finished his 100th lap with a military escort and he raised $23 million dollars. That’s amazing.
But not as amazing as grace!
Second, Jesus commands us to repent.
Most of the time when someone is doing a U-Turn in their faith, it’s because we love our sin more than our Savior.
It’s interesting. The word repent literally means to “a change of mind that leads to a change of direction.”
When you are doing a U-turn in your faith, the best thing you can is to go the full 180 and keep going!
If you are 1,000 miles away from God, here some good news - it’s only one step back:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’ (I John 1:9)
Third, Jesus calls is to return
Go back to the deeds you did a first.
Read the Bible, not to check off a box on a reading plan, but to learn more about God’s love letter and to hear Abba’s voice.
Sing songs of praise without any thought about how you sound or look.
Talk to God. Admit that you don’t desire Him and ask Him to turn your flickering faith into a faithful flame again.
Serve others. Not to get attention or praise, but because it give you great joy.
