Freedom: Paul's Personal Appeal

What Length?

To what length are you willing to go for your children or your grandchildren? How about your spouse? Maybe it is someone else, a mom, a dad or a friend, but the answer is normally the same, “any length”. (expand on this)

Paul was willing to go to any length to win people to Jesus as he expounds onin 1Cor8:19ff (summarize) - below is not on a slide

I’m free but make myself a slave

To Jews a Jews, under the law

TO the weak, became weak

1 Corinthians 9:23 NASB95

I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

In Paul’s appeal, defence today we will see a couple of different things.

His lament of their regression

The Power of the person and the personal appeal

I. Paul’s heartfelt Lament

Gal4:8

Galatians 4:8 NASB95

8 However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods.

Galatians 4:9 NASB95

9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?

Galatians 4:10–11 NASB95

10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.

Paul has addressed the Jews now turns to appeal to the former Gentiles who were previously seeking god’s who were not god’s. That’s no different than today is it?

People who run to horoscopes; Psychic's; even those who run to the idol of other things, vacations, sports, family, their job, all of them are not gods at all.

When you trusted Christ you gained liberty in God through Christ, you were delivered from things that were not god’s in the first place. But now the Galatians were abandoning their liberty to go back to a form of bondage that could not free them in the first place.

look at what it says in the ASV in (v.9)

Galatians 4:9 ASV 1901

9 but now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again?

Gal4:9

By are known by God when you come to God through Christ Jesus, but here you are turning back to weak and beggarly rudiments. They are giving up the power of the gospel for the weakness of the Law, the wealth of the gospel for the poverty of the law.

Remember the reason for the law, the purpose of the law was to lead man to Christ. Don’t be entrapped again, don’t abandon your liberty

Galatians 4:10 NASB95

10 You observe days and months and seasons and years.

Gal4:

The days when looking into this is Sabbath Days, the months are new moons, the seasons are the annual feasts that they observed such as Pentecost, Day of Atonement, Feast of Booths. and the years are sabbatical years, 7th year is a year of rest of freedom. Even today man can elevate one day more than another and judge man because of one day or another. Doing either is a form of legalism and we are not saved by law we are saved by, justified by grace through faith.

Jesus did not say “I’ve come to give them religion” he said “I come that they may have life and life full (re; jn10:10)

For the Christian everyday is God’s day, the day of opportunity, a gift and what we do with it is our gift back to God so don’t get caught up in legalism, that has to go! Don’t trade the grace of God for a religion that cannot save you that is weak and beggarly.

Galatians 4:11 NASB95

11 I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.

Here Paul tells it like it is, I fear for you! and he now is prepared to make his personal appeal.

II. The Personal Appeal

Paul balances rebuke with love and here he goes and gives a personal appeal to them reminding them of their love for him and his love for them. It is one of tenderest passages in Paul’s words and I’m sure you can feel his heart, his feelings of failure, overwhelming sense of appreciation, his commitment to them. His love, care, concern for the gospel and them is visible, personal, it is transcending, tough but tender.

Galatians 4:12–13 NASB95

12 I beg of you, brethren, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong; 13 but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time;

G

Galatians 4:14–15 NASB95

14 and that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. 15 Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.

Galatians 4:16–17 NASB95

16 So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them.

Galatians 4:18 NASB95

18 But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner, and not only when I am present with you.

Galatians 4:19–20 NASB95

19 My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you— 20 but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

The Visible Gospel in Paul

(v.12) Paul urges, begs, implores (depending on version) them to be like him. What a bold plea, not said with arrogance but in humanity and all humility for they received him as he was, with his malady. We get a little clue of his malady.

(slide) Could be vision problems (see v.15) - Some commentators relate this back to the time of the Damascus road forward, but there is no other mention of eyes except here.

(slide) Said could be malaria which was common at the time

(slide) Said could be epilepsy since spoke of not despising him (v.14) It is believed that if you were epileptic you were demon possessed and people would despise you and even spit on you.

Galatians 4:14 HCSB

14 You did not despise or reject me though my physical condition was a trial for you. On the contrary, you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself.

Whatever the malady was it forced Paul to stop there unexpected and preach the gospel to them and they responded. They accepted him lovingly in his condition.

Even when he the person had these issues he still appeals through himself to be like him. He became like them. He appealed to them that he had not changed and nor should they. The gospel is personal, it is received personally and it is shared personally and Paul goes on to the personal gospel now.

The Personal Gospel in Paul

Paul had a personal experience with the Gospel and God’s Word was very personal to him, and it should be to us too. I appeal to you from my heart and my love of God from God’s Word. The Gospel is always personal one seeker sharing it with another seeker. The Gospel hits in all the intimate areas of our life , what we think, what we feel, in hate, in love, in standing firm and in compromise, in weeping and in rejoicing, in life and in death. And finally about Heaven and about Hell, its personal because it is a personal decision.

Personal does not mean private or self-indulging, that is what the Judiazers wanted was to turn people from Jesus to follow them and their way. Jesus addressed that issue in Mt23:23

Matthew 23:23 NASB95

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

In stead of reaching out and helping the helpless they were tying people up with the law and keeping people from serving as Jesus came and set the example of doing. Some other differences you can see:

Christianity brings peace beyond all comprehension

Christianity brings strength to endure the hard times

Christianity brings meaning to a Jericho road in helping a stranger

And it brings holiness between man and God and Man to man in actions.

How could the Gospel and the results of the Gospel not be personal. The personal gospel has power.

Romans 1:15–16 NASB95

15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Romans 1:16–17 NASB95

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Rom1:14

The personal gospel that was personally given to you and you personally heard and you personally obeyed is without limits.

Philippians 4:13 NASB95

13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

In freedom, in prison, in the work place or at home you can do all things that God wants you to do without limitations.

III. Without Limitations

So here are the Galatians who previously received Paul in his malady, whatever that happened to be, and look at his reception.

Galatians 4:14 NASB95

14 and that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself.

They received him as a angel, as Christ Jesus Himself.

Paul, sick, a sight for sore eyes and they received him. Paul who now while in prison is writing to them from his heart. His circumstances did not hold him back, he was without limitations. Love has not limitations

1 Corinthians 13:4–6 NASB95

4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

1 Corinthians 13:7 NASB95

7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Paul was willing to bear all things for them and if that meant being an enemy to them because he spoke the truth, so be it.

Galatians 4:16 NASB95

16 So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?

Gal4:

(Illustration)

There is a story about a woman named Lizzie Johnson, no not the cattle baroness but a young girl, at 13 years old was in an accident that took her ability to move basically away from her.

She was without limits in her faith and her willingness to serve God. She heard that an African slave could be redeemed for $40.00 and set free so she made a quilt but no one would buy it. Not to be discouraged for she was without limits.

Without limits she then took to making bookmarks and she raised about $1000.00 a year for the next 27 years of her life to free slaves. She never was discouraged she gave every penny to do this, it was her life’s work.

But she was without limits

If you are wondering about the quilt she made that no one would buy. She served a God who is without limits, There was a missionary from India who was travelling and doing speaking engagements who came to the town in Illinois where Lizzie lived and she gave the quilt to him. He accepted the gracious gift and the story of her work for Christ in freeing slaves. He used the quilt to challenge people to have the kind of limitless faith that Lizzie had and it helped to raise $100,000 to carry on the mission.

Without limits Lizzie continued to give, she gave to help people who were coming to Christ in Japan. After Lizzie’s death a prominent Japanese Christian who survived the bombing at Hiroshima by the name of Takuo Matsumoto was coming through the town where Lizzie had lived, Champaign Ill, her sister Alice remembered the name from her sister in giving and wondered if it was the same man. Alice planned to go to see him and inquire of him but she was struck sick on the day he was to be there and was very ill and could not go.

God used someone else to carry a message to Mr. Matsumoto and told the brief story of Alice and Lizzie, his face beamed and said she is Lizzie’s sister, and said he owed his very life and all that he is because of Lizzie and her dedication to God and her giving to help people. That very night he left after the event and went to the home and with tear filled eyes met with Alice and then went to take flowers to the grave of a girl without limits who could not get out of bed who touched his life with her love.

Without limits he prayed asking God to help him have that kind of limitless love for others that Lizzie had.

Don’t let you limitations limit what God wants to do in your life and through your life.

Paul was without limits, he was willing to risk everything for his love for the Galatians.

IV. Tough, Tender, and Personal

Paul was willing to risk everything in his relationship with the Galatians. He loved them and they loved Him, remember they were willing to pluck out their eyes for him (v.15) they enjoyed the blessing of the gospel and they were ready to leave that for something that offered them no freedom at all.

In our christian community we need to be protective of the truth for it is easy to fall into some pitfalls.

Pollyanna Christianity

Legalistic Christianity

Either is a danger to the spread of the Gospel

This brings us to (v.19)

Galatians 4:19 NASB95

19 My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you—

Can you feel Paul’s love who is willing to labor for them again! Are we willing to labor for the fallen, for the unsaved. Are we willing to risk it all for the gospel and the truth?

May we be people who are without limits who are personal and still stand up and speak out for the gospel so souls can be saved and the fallen can be restored.

(Lead to invitation)

(Slide) LIVE A LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS LIVE IN CHRIST

For in Christ you are a new creation (2Cor5:17); in Christ your hope is found (Col1:27); for in Christ we die to self and live in Him (Php1:21) in Christ there is no condemnation (Rom8:1); In Christ it is not longer us who live but Christ lives in us (Gal2:20

Come enjoy being in Christ or return to the joy of your salvation in Christ and for Christ and live without limits