Critical Concerns

Faith is a happy resting in the all-sufficiency of what Christ did on the cross, what he is doing now in our heart, and what he promises to do for us for ever.

There is in every human heart an intense and powerful love for the praise of men.

Just as naturally as apples fall downward, human beings gravitate toward ideas and actions which make them look great, and resist ideas and actions which make them look small

Theme through this passage that should run through our own lives

Paul had uncompromised faith in believing that those who followed Christ were the enemy

Paul was converted

Paul embraced Christ alone as his salvation

Paul turned away from the law as his salvation

Paul became like a gentile

Not living by the law

But by the truth of the gospel

The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ

In verse 11 Paul questions their faith’s validity in the first place

The reason that Paul is questioning their faith in verse 11 is because of how we was originally welcomed and how he is being treated now

Paul was welcomed warmly prior

:12 Entreat - plead!

Paul visited because of some illness which he does not explain further

2 Corinthians 12:7 ESV

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

What was this ailment that came across Paul?

Possibly Malaria, Epilepsy, or even ophthalmia a serious eye disorder

Whatever the ailment was it is not made clear here

What is made clear is that Paul believed that it was a part of God’s plan

2 Corinthians 12:8–10 ESV

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Sometimes God uses suffering to change our circumstances for His glory. Other times he uses our suffering to change our character.

So that we might become completely dependent on who He is.

As one commentary puts it “Time and again God has used the adversities of life—sickness, persecution, poverty, even natural disasters and inexplicable tragedies—as occasions to display his mercy and grace and as a means to advance the gospel.”

John 13:20 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.””

Luke 10:16 ““The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.””

Matt 10:40 ““Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.”

These are words from Jesus Christ himself.

Paul came to Galatia to represent our Lord and the Galatians received him with joy and heard him gladly

The relationship between the Galatians had once been one that God had blessed and that the Galatians had joy towards Paul because of

“God does not promise to bless Christians by removing suffering, but to bless Christians through suffering. Jesus suffered not so that we might not suffer, but so that in our suffering we would become like Him.” - Tim Keller

Legalism and the ways of Satan can tear apart what once was friends

Legalism cannot be the true gospel because it tears down relationships

When they greeted Paul and Barnabas they welcome them warmly

The Galatians had done no wrong to Paul during this encounter

Whether Paul had a problem with his sight or not

The Galatians responded so strongly in favor of the gospel that they were willing to loose their own eyes to help their brother

How can someone go from being willing to gouge out your own eyes for someone you love to calling them your enemy??

Paul was so persistent in his preaching of the truth had he scared away his brothers by not showing love?

1 Cor 9:19 “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.”

Paul cared so much about winning their souls that he was pleading with them throughout the book of Galatians, but never once did he deviate from the truth of the gospel

That’s the main point of the paragraph. “Become as I am: have Christ formed in you.”

Where has the joy gone?

15. They would have torn out their eyes to give to Him

Pauls eyes problems?

John Stott: “In seeking to win other people for Christ, our end is to make them like us, but the means to that end is to make ourselves like them. If they are to become one with us in Christian conviction and experience, we must first become one with them in Christian compassion.”

The Judaizers sought after the Galatians

There was nothing wrong with them seeking after them

But the Judaizers had evil intentions and selfish motivation in their hearts.

The Judaizers sought to isolate the Galatians from Paul, ultimately separating them from Christ

“These false teachers, are ministering not because they are sure of their salvation but in order to be sure of an win their salvation. Just as they are calling the Galatians to earn their salvation through works, so they are earning their salvation through works - it is salvation-by-ministry.” - Tim Keller

Persuasion from the Judaizers changed their mind?

Paul was now shunned, and treated like an enemy because he preached the truth of grace.

The Judaizers were not there to support the Galatians but to cause dissension.

Their desire was to separate the Galatians from Paul

Paul explains how this passion is misplaced.

“There is nothing wrong with zeal in itself what dictates whether it is good or bad is whether the purpose is good. The false teachers simply want to be built up by building the Galatians up - not in the gospel but in pride and self-righteousness.” - Tim Keller

Paul on the contrary is being like them so that they might be like him in imitating Christ in their actions.

Paul is not trying to get fan but to get people to follow Christ as he does.

Paul is upset with the Galatians, but changes attitude to remind them of his love for them

Paul would love to be more gentle with them but must hold out on the gospel rather than receive praise.

Teknia

Little children - sign of affection

Term of endearment

Anguish of childbirth -

Waiting 9 months, waiting in the hospital room, longing for this child, suffering through the pain of the child birth

Nothing compared to the suffering of Christ but how desperately we long for that child to come

Paul said he is willing to suffer that pain and anguish twice for these people he so deeply loved

Paul implored for the Galatians to become Christians, to commit themselves to Christ - 1st child bearing

Now that they have he is relentless, he is longing for them to have spiritual growth in Christ - 2nd child bearing

“The false teachers want followers who glorify them: Paul wants partners who glorify Christ.” - Tim Keller

As one commentary put it, “Paul’s language in this passage stretches our imagination to the limit, but his meaning is not in doubt. He was deeply anguished over the Galatians. He did not want them to suffer a spiritual miscarriage but desired instead that they make their calling and election sure. This can only happen through the birth of Christ in their hearts.”

Who Paul once was seemed impossible for him to become such a devote follower of Christ

Many things seem impossible but through God all things are possible

But Paul knew that

He talks about what God can do later in

Galatians 5:10 “I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.”

But for now he had to cling to the hope and the evidence of what God had done in his own life

2 cor 4:7-16 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away,…”

God turned Pauls life around and Paul desired the same outcome for those of Galatia and your life as well

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

“What deeply agitated Paul in Galatians was not that certain people had misconstrued the doctrine of justification on a theoretical plane but rather that individual men and women whom he loved dearly were in spiritual jeopardy because of this doctrinal deviation”

The enemy is out there, seeking to devour us

Seeking to draw believers away from Christ

We must be careful that we never allow false teachings and false gospels to enter into our hearts and minds

“Our love for the praise of men hinders us from trusting Christ because the purpose of Christ is to remove every ground of boasting in us and put it all in God

John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2007).”

We must stay true to Christ and who he is

This is a critical matter and one we cannot lightly pass by

Many of the studies that I read discussed how this is the pastors duties

Paul was a pastor and a teacher

But I believe this is each of our responsibilities to ensure that the truth of the gospel of Christ is made known to all

“After all, it is the gospel which brings people to Christ-dependence, shapes people in Christ-likeness, and provokes people to Christ-praise”. - Tim Keller

Paul understand the severity of this attack against the kingdom of God

And how cunning the devil is

So he begged and implored the people of Galatia to remember the truths that he taught them about God’s word.

“They were guilty not only of sheep stealing but also of soul butchering. This is why Paul could not simply shrug his shoulders, shake the dust off his feet, and move on to some other venue where he would likely be more appreciated. Something eternal was at stake, and Paul had to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered. May God grant to the church today ministers of the gospel possessed of the constancy of Paul, ministers of God who will not turn and run at the first sound of opposition but who will lovingly stand their ground, weeping, pleading, praying until Christ be completely formed in the precious souls that have been given to their charge.”

Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) O, that Christ Would Be Formed in You!

For some of you these are the very days in which for the first time the beauty of the gospel of grace is beginning to shine on the horizon of your soul. But others of you look back months or years or decades, to a golden era of faith when Christ was powerfully taking shape in your life. But something has changed. There has been a kind of settling into the world, and the vibrant sense of being an alien and an exile in the world has faded. And the powerful shaping forces in your life are not coming from Christ within but from the world without.

The word of encouragement and admonition to us all this morning is this: the Spirit of the living Christ can be poured into us afresh today. Paul would not have written this letter if there were no hope for the Galatians. Therefore, I urge you, take your amateur hands off the clay of your life and yield yourselves into the sovereign hands of God. Disavow the praise of men and all your efforts to achieve it. Turn your hearts to Christ and say: I am not my own; you have bought me; forgive me; be formed within me. Not to me, O Lord, not to me, but to your name give glory (Psalm 115:1). Amen.

Related Media

Related Sermons