Galatians 4:8-16

Galatians 4:8–16 KJV (WS)

8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. 9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? 10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. 12 Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. 13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. 14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. 16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

Introduction

Paul exposes the real life consequences of the Judaizers theology in the life of the Galatians. (vss 8-11)

What you believe determines your behavior.

For example.

If you believe that the church is the bride of Jesus, the assembly of His family as brothers and sisters to celebrate the glory of our great God, that will have an effect on you.

You won’t treat it as a duty or an obligation.

You won’t try to go as little as possible to appease your conscience.

If you believe your body is the temple of God, that will effect how you treat it.

You won’t mar it.

You won’t subject it to things that the Holy Spirit wouldn’t want there.

You will take care of it.

If you believe your marriage is a picture of the gospel.

It will change the way you respond to your spouse.

You will understand your role is to extend mercy and grace the way Jesus did to us.

If you believe God gave you children to raise them to be disciples, it will change the way you parent.

It will affect the priorities you set for your child’s schedule.

It will affect the conversations you have.

We see an example of this truth in the passage.

The Galatians’ beliefs had been affected by false teachers.

They had been convinced that external performance was essential for acceptance by God.

This has changed their behavior.

We’ve already talked about how the men were being told that they had to alter their bodies to be accepted by God.

Now we see that they were being told they had to observe the Jewish holidays and festivals.

What are these observances that Paul is referring to?

The most common one that we may point to is the Sabbath.

If I could remind you, the Sabbath was on Saturday not Sunday.

Remember what Jesus said about the Sabbath in Mark 2:27 “27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:”

The Sabbath was a gift from God to man to provide them with a day of rest.

The Jews had made it this burdensome thing; full of ritualistic observances and limitations.

The Galatians had been led to believe that you must keep the Sabbath, in addition to the Sunday assemblies.

If you didn’t keep the Sabbath, you weren’t really spiritual.

Now let’s step back for a second.

Who instituted the Sabbath?

God did.

Is there anything wrong with taking a day of rest?

No, absolutely not.

In fact is one of the most physically healthy things you can do, so long as it is balanced out with hard work the other 6 days of the week.

BTW that 5 days for your work.

1 day for the Lord’s work on His day.

Just my principled opinion.

Observing the Sabbath, though, does not make the Christian more accepted by God.

Neither does observing all of the other Jewish holidays.

New moons.

Feasts

Jubilee and Sabbath years.

These were all meant to point people to Christ and the cross not to supplement Christ and the cross.

By trying to reintroduce these rituals into Christianity, the Judaizers going backwards.

This is what Paul accuses them of doing in verse 9.

Galatians 4:9 “9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?”

You have gone back to the same type of life that you had before.

I believe that Paul is specifically talking to the gentiles here.

Gentiles had holidays and ritualistic observances that they had to observe in paganism.

One of the most common gods found in Galatia was the Celtic god Telesphorus.

He was the god of health and children.

Their were many rituals and holidays associated with him in this region.

The Galatians were big on health and hygiene.

Remember that.

By observing the Jewish holidays as a means of earning God’s favor, the Galatians had simply exchanged one set of rules for another.

The gospel was never intended to take us from one set of chains to another.

The gospel was intended to set us free.

Paul looks at what has happened in Galatia and he is afraid.

Their beliefs have been influenced by false teachers which has altered their behavior.

It’s enough to make Paul wonder whether his labor among them had been in vain.

Had they really believed the gospel?

Their behavior did not support a belief in the gospel.

Had he not done a sufficient job in contrasting the difference between legalism and grace?

How had he not done enough to show them that they don’t have to clean up to come to God, they come to God and He cleans them up?

This fear leads into the next section.

Paul reminds the Galatians of the grace they had shown him. (vss 12-16)

Paul begins to plead with them to follow his example.

As he writes we can see Paul’s thought process.

He is beseeching them; the most passionate pleading that he can muster.

Be like me!

A former slave to legalism.

A freedman!

Loose from the chains of the law.

Then, it’s like something dawns on Paul as he’s writing.

He remembers something about the Galatians that he decides to use as an illustration.

You need to follow my example, just I desire to follow your example.

At this the Galatian readers must be scratching their head.

We need to be like you, but you want to be like us???

What in the world?

Paul begins to reveal a very personal episode that took place between him and the Galatians.

It all starts with this statement “you did me no injury at all.”

You all had the opportunity to hurt me but you did not.

How does this have anything to do with the legalism vs. grace debate?

Oh it has a lot to do with it.

Paul learned a valuable lesson in grace from the Galatians.

Paul reminds the Galatians of a problem that he had been dealing with when he first came to them several years earlier to introduce them to the gospel.

He reminds them that his preaching to them was through an infirmity in his flesh.

There was something physically wrong with Paul.

We think that it was potentially something wrong with his eyes.

Some kind of infection, perhaps.

Excessive watering, crustiness, swollen or permanently injured from the beatings he had already experienced.

Probably this is connected to Bro. Grant’s message about the thorn in the flesh that Paul had asked God to remove.

Now, remember, Galatia is the epicenter of Telesphorus worship, his temple was in Galatia.

A person who was dirty or unhealthy was considered to be under judgment from the gods.

Something was obviously wrong with Paul.

Paul was rejected according to their religion and culture.

And yet, Paul applauds and reminds the Galatians how they treated him.

They didn’t despise or look down on him.

They didn’t reject him.

They received him as a messenger from God.

They didn’t expect Paul to heal up before they would receive him.

They accepted him and showed him great kindness despite his infirmity.

They showed him grace.

Paul asks them what has happened to this blessedness with which they had received him previously?

They had received him with grace.

So much so that instead of expecting Paul to rise to a certain standard, they desired, had it been possible, to give Paul their own eyes.

Grace had ruled in the early days of gospel influence among the Galatians.

Paul had benefitted from it.

But, the teaching of the Judaizers, the legalizers, had affected the beliefs and behaviors of these once gracious people.

Now, Paul writes to them and feels like the enemy because he tells them the truth.

Before, Paul’s injury was an affront to the Galatians’ culture of health and hygiene.

But they had shown him grace.

Now, Paul’s message of grace is an affront to the Galatians’ culture of performance and achievement.

And, they are treating him like the enemy.

This warning helps us to understand that showing/living out grace is not a one-time event.

The Galatians had shown grace in the past.

Bad beliefs had led to bad behavior in the present.

The bad belief was that God requires a certain level of performance in order to attain His favor.

The bad behavior we see is a lack of grace towards themselves and to others.

Are you living in out the grace you received, or have bad beliefs affected your behavior?

Application

There are a lot of bad beliefs that can prevent you from showing grace.

I am important.

I am not important.

I’ve messed up my life too much.

I’m not as bad as other people.

That person is too far gone.

That person has made their choices.

That person would not help my future prospects.

If they would just change this, we could...

When we start to believe lies about ourselves and others, it will affect the way we live out our Christian walk.

When it comes to showing grace to ourselves, Paul would have us remember what we looked at in our last passage.

Galatians 4:5 “5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

When it comes to showing grace to others, we need to remember what we saw a few weeks ago.

Galatians 3:28 “28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Conclusion