Galatians 4:17-20

Galatians 4:17–20 KJV (WS)

17 They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. 18 But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, 20 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.

Introduction

Toxicity

Herd of animals vs. predator

Do you remember the last words that Paul wrote in last weeks passage?

Galatians 4:16 “16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?”

Paul felt what all preachers are feeling today.

I’m really glad to read about this today.

There has never been a time in modern history where preachers have been so distrusted by Christians and non-Christians unlike.

It’s not hard for you to find the data yourself.

You can just search “public trust in pastors falls”.

You’ll find that people distrust pastors more than many other professions.

Why has this happened.

For sure there have been pastors whose behavior has contributed to this fall.

High profile failures get all kinds of attention from the media.

This leads to a greater suspicion or sensitivity towards local pastors.

All of us know of or have personally been affected by a pastor that didn’t do what’s right.

So, there are examples of bad apples.

But, there is also a targeted effort to discredit be-smudge those who sincerely seek to stand for God and proclaim His word.

You can see it popular depictions of preachers in the media.

You can see it the efforts to cast suspicion on the preacher’s message (which is really an attack on God’s word).

You can see it in the way churches and preachers are more and more commonly treated as cultish.

If you know a preacher that is passionate about what he does, he is probably more in line with David Koresh or Jim Jones than Jesus.

Most preachers that I know, quirky though they may be, love God, love people, and are just trying to make a difference for the better.

Paul accuses the Galatians of allowing themselves to be hoodwinked by the Judaizers.

Though we’ve talked a lot about their desire to introduce legalism to the churches, we’ve said little about their motivation for doing so.

Paul exposes the legalist’s motivation in these verses.

He starts by admitting the zeal of the false teachers.

To zealously affect some one is to energetically strive for someone or something.

Paul owns up to the fact that the Judaizers are pouring a lot of time and effort into the Galatian Christians.

They are zealously investing in their relationships with the church members.

They are giving them gifts, making them meals, spending time with them, and helping them with their chores.

All of these things seem nice and good.

Paul tells them that the affect of their zeal is not good.

Not just because of all the conflict between law and grace that we have talked about.

The true motivation of the Judaizers and their teaching and their zealous kindness is to “exclude” the Galatians.

“Exclude” in this verse essentially has the meaning of “isolate”.

The Judaizers are trying to ingratiate the Galatians, make them feel indebted, win their affections, so that they can pull them away from their other teachers.

They want to isolate them unto themselves.

This is cultish.

The legalists want the Galatians to come to them with their questions and no one else.

This is seen especially in Paul’s warning that the false teachers want the Galatians to affect them.

This is the same word as before.

If we apply the same definition, then we understand that Paul is saying that the false teachers want to be sought by the Galatians.

We should not be surprised to learn this.

If performance based religion is not of God; then it must be man-made.

If it is man-made then man sets the standard.

How are you going to know whether you are meeting the standard unless you are constantly checking with the man who set the standard.

Performance based religion is nothing more than a thinly-veiled power grab.

It’s a scheme to replace God with man.

Rather than seeking God’s counsel, we seek mans.

Rather than living for God, we live for man.

You may be thinking, see that’s why I don’t trust any preacher.

Here’s the problem, not every human influence is like this.

Paul immediately follows up the expose of the Judaizers by warning the Galatians not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

It is good to be zealously affected in a good way.

This is as contemporary of advice as you can get.

Don’t pull away from all churches because you got hurt by a bad one.

Don’t ignore all teachers because you were once exposed to a false one.

Don’t avoid all Christians just because you met some hypocrites along the way.

It is good for us to be influenced by others that pour into our lives and strive to help us live for God.

In fact, it is good for us to be able to develop the ability to identify those who will zealously affect us for good.

Good influencers of our past will not always be there.

Teacher

Parent

Friend

Pastor

These people come and go out of our lives.

We must always endeavor to surround ourselves with the right influences.

We must be able to filter the voices and personalities that affect our lives.

Not everyone that seems to be friendly should be our friend.

Is the truth of God in your life dependent on the presence of a Paul-like figure from your past?

Are you able to gate-keep your own heart?

This was Paul’s desire for them.

We see how intense this desire was by the picture used to illustrate it.

Childbirth.

All my childhood I was reminded of the price that was paid to bring me into this world.

It was intense and selfless.

It was dangerous.

The birthing process is the picture that Paul chooses to illustrate the pain he feels over their situation.

When a baby is born, there is just something different about the way they look at the very beginning.

It doesn’t last.

Maybe you really like that newborn look and smell.

We would be concerned though, if they stayed that way.

We expect that baby to grow, change, and mature.

An infant is incapable of caring for or defending itself.

Paul feels like he is having to give birth a second time because the first time the Galatians failed to grow.

The New Testament is clear that God’s desire for all of His children is that they would be conformed to the image of Christ.

To fail in this area is to remain susceptible to toxic influences.

When Christ is formed or developed in us, we are more hearty and defended from false, toxic teachers.

We aren’t ever going to rid ourselves of false teachers or toxic personalities.

There are too many weak and sickly Christians to feed on.

Those who are most susceptible, rather than staying in the middle of the herd, they get lured to the fringes where they become easy targets for the predators.

If you want to protect yourself from toxicity in Christianity, you have two options.

You need to grow up in the Lord.

You need Christ to be formed in you.

You need to mature and be strong in your faith and what you believe.

You need to surround yourself with strong christians until you grow.

Paul doubted whether the Galatians could stand up against the legalizers.

So, he desired to be with them.

To communicate with them face to face rather than by letter and messengers.

We need to be honest with ourselves about whether or not we are really able to stand against the toxic teachers of our day.

The Galatians had fallen prey to the classic tactics of toxic leadership used by the Judaizers.

They had been schmoozed.

They had been isolated.

They had been made suspicious of those who actually spoke truth.

Aren’t you just trying to get us to listen to you?

No.

You are a Holy Spirit indwelled priest.

You have equal access to God that I do.

I’m trying to warn you about the people that try to hold power over you.

There is only one person who had the words of life, that was Jesus.

Your fellowship with any person or people should only extend as far as they are loyal to Christ.

We’ve already shown how the legalizers were taking away from the work of Christ.

Be aware of the signs.

Toxic influences will zealously go after you.

They are looking for allies.

They want to win you over to their side.

They want to make you indebted to them.

They will try to isolate you from other influences.

They will draw you away from the people you had trusted in the place.

They villianize people that have invested in your life.

They want to set themselves up as your only source of influence.

Some of you can readily identify these signs in people you’ve interacted with in the place.

Don’t let the toxic people of your past prevent you from enjoying the healthy people that want to fellowship with you now.

It is good to be zealously sought after if it it’s for good.

Surround yourself with people that are seeking to grow in Christ and enjoy the strength that comes with healthy fellowship.