Sermon Tone Analysis

President Calvin Coolidge invited some people from his hometown to dinner at the White House.

Since they did not know how to behave at such an occasion, they thought the best policy would be just to do what the President did.

The time came for serving coffee.

The President poured his coffee into a saucer.

As soon as the home folk saw it, they did the same.

The next step for the President was to pour some milk and add a little sugar to the coffee in the saucer.

The home folks did the same.

They thought for sure that the next step would be for the President to take the saucer with the coffee and begin sipping it.

But the President didn't do so.

He leaned over, placed the saucer on the floor and called the cat.

I thought that would be a funny way to introduce this concept that we will explore here in the next section of Galatians.

Though it did not work out so good imitating the president.

We should see the beauty of imitating the Apostle

Galatians 4:11-

Galatians 4:11-20

I. Become As I Am

I. Become As I Am

-The way to go for the Galatians here is to imitate the Apostle who imitates Christ.

I. Become as I Am

- The way to go for the Galatians here is to imitate the Apostle who imitates Christ.

- The way to go for the Galatians here is to imitate the Apostle who imitates Christ.

The way to go for the Galatians here is to imitate the Apostle who imitates Christ.

A.

Here we see that it is not enough for the Galatians to just acknowledge that what Paul has taught them about Gospel centered justification in Christ, but also that we live in light of this Gospel centered Justification.

B. If we use simple counterexamples from what Paul said… the Galatians were not only rejecting the theology but the practice that Paul taught them.

Why is this important?

Paul suffered for the cause of Christ and Paul is asking them to do the same thing.

Asserting… if you guys would just suffer for Christ and not turn away, then this whole controversy would be over.

C. How willing are we to suffer for Christ, by suffering for the truth of His Word?

This is what Paul did.

II.

You Were Welcoming

- Why are you not welcoming now, you were welcoming before?

A. You would have gouged-out your eyes if you needed to for me?

What happened?

You were ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of Christ when you were first changed.

B. We read this account today and maybe not see what is striking about Paul’s appearance.

When he came to the area, he had the appearance of a marked man.

He had a bodily ailment.

He mentions that they were tempted to turn away because of it.

But the illness was a blessing

C.

This theory was advanced by W. Ramsay, who surmised that Paul may have contracted malaria when he first came into the swampy region of Pamphylia in southern Asia Minor.

This was the occasion when John Mark became disillusioned with missionary life and returned home to Paul’s great consternation ().

It may have been that Paul’s original plan was to travel westward toward Ephesus and Greece but that he was redirected because of his illness toward the higher terrain around Pisidian Antioch.

There, high above sea level, he found a more congenial place to recuperate.

On this theory Paul may still have been in the grips of a terrible fever when he first began his preaching mission in Galatia.

D. How many of us ever thought that things that happen to us are for the purpose of others rather than ourselves?

This theory was advanced by W. Ramsay, who surmised that Paul may have contracted malaria when he first came into the swampy region of Pamphylia in southern Asia Minor.

This was the occasion when John Mark became disillusioned with missionary life and returned home to Paul’s great consternation ().

It may have been that Paul’s original plan was to travel westward toward Ephesus and Greece but that he was redirected because of his illness toward the higher terrain around Pisidian Antioch.

There, high above sea level, he found a more congenial place to recuperate.

On this theory Paul may still have been in the grips of a terrible fever when he first began his preaching mission in Galatia.

George, T. (1994).

Galatians (Vol.

30, pp.

322–323).

Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

E. The sickness was a stumbling block for many.

Some scholars will say that in the ancient world grave suffering indicated that you stood on the wrong side of the gods; your physical afflictions were treated as a telltale sign of divine retribution.

Perhaps you were even under a curse, and the gods were set on punishing you—and anyone else associated with you.

F. But the Galatians were different… This way of putting things together would have been natural for the Galatians.

They would have had every reason to shun this sickly Jewish preacher from Tarsus.

Yet they didn’t reject him but gladly received him.

Neither did they “scorn or despise” him; literally they didn’t try to ward off evil by spitting in his presence (4:14).

On the contrary, they embraced Paul as God’s very own messenger—“as an angel of God,” yet more than that, “as Christ Jesus” (4:14).

But in the ancient world grave suffering indicated that you stood on the wrong side of the gods; your physical afflictions were treated as a telltale sign of divine retribution.

Perhaps you were even under a curse, and the gods were set on punishing you—and anyone else associated with you.

Wilson, T. (2013).

Galatians: Gospel-Rooted Living.

(R. K. Hughes, Ed.) (p.

158).

Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

G.

This was a risky decision for the Galatians, since their conversion would lead to greater challenges.

For their commitment to Paul’s gospel would have brought some social fallout and perhaps outright persecution, whether from their own pagan friends or associates, local Jewish authorities, or some combination of the two.

This way of construing things would have been natural for the Galatians.

Consequently they would have had every reason to shun this bedraggled and disfigured Jewish preacher from Tarsus.

Yet they didn’t reject him but gladly received him.

Neither did they “scorn or despise” him; literally they didn’t try to ward off evil by spitting in his presence (4:14).

On the contrary, they embraced Paul as God’s very own messenger—“as an angel of God,” yet more than that, “as Christ Jesus” (4:14).

H. Also, by embracing Paul’s gospel the Galatians had to relinquish the worship of other deities, which would have made continued participation in at least some of the cultic and civic activities of their communities much more difficult, if not impossible.

(Like celebrating certain holidays today).

Their sitting loose to their ancestral traditions and social responsibilities would have inevitably raised a few eyebrows.

This was a risky decision for the Galatians, since their conversion would inevitably lead to greater challenges.

For their adherence to Paul’s gospel would have entailed some measure of social fallout and perhaps outright persecution, whether from their own pagan associates, local Jewish authorities, or some combination of the two.

On the one hand, by embracing Paul’s gospel the Galatians had to relinquish the worship of other deities (4:8, 9; cf. ), which would have made continued participation in at least some of the cultic and civic activities of their communities much more difficult, if not impossible.

Their sitting loose to their ancestral traditions and social responsibilities would have inevitably raised a few eyebrows.

Wilson, T. (2013).

Galatians: Gospel-Rooted Living.

(R. K. Hughes, Ed.) (p.

158).

Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

I.

In spite of all this, the Galatians’ embrace of Paul is more than an embrace of his gospel, it was an embrace of the life that comes from faith in Christ.

It is an embrace of his, carrying the cross daily way of life, as one who suffers for Christ Jesus.

It was an embrace of the Christian life and not just its doctrine.

Wilson, T. (2013).

Galatians: Gospel-Rooted Living.

(R. K. Hughes, Ed.) (p.

158).

Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

And yet the Galatians’ embrace of Paul is more than an embrace of his gospel.

It is an embrace of his cruciform way of life, as one who suffers for Christ Jesus.