Covenant Community

We all know what it feels like to experience setbacks. A setback is defined as an unanticipated negative change in progress. Things were going well; but then something happens to turn that around and now things are not going well. We see examples of this all over the place. Your favorite sports team is winning games, and then key players become injured, loses start piling up, it is a setback. Those of us who have faced major surgeries or health crises know about setbacks. I have had it in the recovery progress where things were feeling pretty good, and so I started doing more and more—perhaps a little too quickly—and I overdo it. Complications arise and I have to slow down again and heal, it is a setback. Maybe business is going well and your job is advancing forward, then a contract turns bad or major clients are lost, it is a setback. It does not seem to matter how old or young we are. Setbacks take place at certain times and places for everybody.

As we work through chapter 4 of Galatians, the apostle Paul describes something of a setback. This is a setback of community. The last two messages we heard from chapter 3 spoke of what it means to a covenant child of God. Now chapter 4 narrows the focus on a particular aspect of what it means to be a child of God’s covenant. In particular, we see what it means to be a community together with one another as people of God. And the apostle Paul sets this out for us in the midst of a setback being experienced within that community.

Galatians 4:8–20 NIV

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11 I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you. 12 I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong. 13 As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, 14 and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. 15 Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. 18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. 19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!

We should note here that Paul’s words in this chapter should not be read or interpreted as rebuke. There is a pastoral desire behind his words. The reason he is so perplexed about the actions and behaviors of the Galatian Christians is because he cares so much for them. You get that sense in this letter. He commends them for their incredible hospitality and generosity which he once experienced and shared with them. In fact, we see one of the elemental features of covenant community in the testimony Paul shares about his own life in Galatians 4.

The Calling of Community

The covenant community of God’s people is something into which we are called. There is a calling of this community. There is a hint of this in verse 9. Paul seems to correct himself in his writing, which of course is not true. There is no mistake here. Rather, Paul places the correction as an intentional focus on the better and more correct perspective. The says, now you know God—or rather are known by God.

Here is the first key feature of covenant community we find in this passage. We are called into this community. We do not find our way into the covenant community of God. God finds his way to us. In the person of Jesus, God literally found his way into the world in which we live. In the Holy Spirit, God still finds his way into the hearts of those he is calling to himself. The covenant community of God’s people always begins with us being known by God first—before we ever know who God is or what his covenant is all about.

we are pursued by God

Perhaps we can say this another way which gives it an even more powerful expression. God pursues you. You are pursued by God. God chases after you. Jesus expressed this in the parable of the lost sheep. The shepherd who has 100 sheep goes out and looks for the one who is lost. The shepherd does not sit by and just wait to see if that one lost sheep finds its way home. It is not that the shepherd offers an invitation and just waits to see what happens. In another parable of Jesus about the gathering of a wedding feast, the messengers are sent out with the invitation, they are told to go out into the countryside and alleyways and to compel those who were out there to come in and join the banquet.

Maybe some of you who have ever been recruited know what it feels like to be pursued and called. Sometimes there are some among us who have the experience of being called up by an employer and specifically asked to come take a job because they want you. Maybe a coach says they want you to come to tryouts because you are wanted on the team. An organization calls up and says they want you to take a position on the board of directors. Sometimes there are those experiences in which you were not the one looking for these opportunities to join a community, but the call to join came to you.

verses 13-14 - Paul has an illness, the Galatian church takes him into their community

Yet even this is not expressive enough to get at the full force of what it means to be called to the covenant community of God’s people. In verses 13-14 we read about some kind of illness which Paul was experiencing. And it was through this illness that Paul came to be with the Galatians Christians to begin with. He says they went out of their way to enfold Paul into their community even though it placed an extra burden upon them.

This is completely different. When a person is pursued for a job, or asked to join a board of directors, or encouraged to join a team, those are all invitations that come because you have something in particular to offer the community which would be a benefit to them. It’s because of something valuable you bring to the table. People who I know that are lawyers have said they often get requests to join boards, likely because the organization sees a benefit in having someone on the board who knows and understand the law.

God’s covenant community calls me in even though I have nothing to offer

But the covenant community Paul is speaking about is a community which called him in at a time in which his inclusion in their community was a burden upon them, not a benefit. This is how the calling of God’s covenant community works. We are pursued by the Holy Spirit of God to be included in his family only because of faith, not because of anything else we offer or provide as a benefit. And in fact as Paul points out, the covenant community of God’s people makes its most powerful impact and greatest expression of grace and love when the community intentionally reaches and enfolds those who are in a time of particular need and have nothing of their own to offer as a benefit.

When has there been a time in my life in which God has called me into his community?

Can you find a piece of that in your own story? Has there ever been a moment—or moments—in your life in which you felt as though you had nothing of benefit to offer, and yet the people of God’s covenant community went out of their way to pursue you and enfold you even though you maybe felt like a burden upon them? That’s not you taking advantage of others. That’s not people just being kind. That is an expression of God himself calling you into a covenant community where you may experience tangible reflections of his love and his grace.

The Foundation of Community

The next feature of covenant community we see in this passage has to do with the foundation of community. The covenant community of God’s people has a solid grounding upon which it is built. The first thing I need to do here is reach beyond the handful of verses we are looking at in particular in this message. We need to remember that the letter of Galatians is pushing a major theme all the way through that our place in a relationship with God is only made possible through faith in Jesus. The sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus is the one and only thing that can ever transfer the guilt of our sinful brokenness upon him and transfer his perfect righteousness upon us. And we should all know this by heart by now; it only happens by grace through faith.

our place in a relationship with God is only made possible through faith in Jesus

This is a foundation for God’s covenant community which the apostle Paul writes about again and again in letter after letter included in the New Testament scriptures. We have been saved by grace through faith. The community into which God has called us is built upon that foundation. What we see today in chapter 4 then is an extension upon the implications of that foundation. Because we are saved by grace through faith, the foundation of this covenant community will have some particular characteristics. It is a foundation that will look a certain way. There are features of this community that show up in how we see this community grounded.

verses 11, 19-20 - Paul expresses concern for the community because he cares about them

In verse 11 we Paul expressing concern for the wellbeing of this community. He says, “I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.” This is not a rejection. It is not that Paul is saying he would have been better off never spending time with the Galatians in the first place. It is just the opposite. Because this community of fellow believers means so very much to him, and because Paul feels such a close connection, his heart aches to see the turbulence and division taking place among the community. His desire then is to call them back to the foundation upon which God has called them to begin with. We see this sentiment echoed again in verses 19-20. He says I am in the pains of childbirth…I wish I could be with you.

the grounding of God’s community upon a foundation of faith in Jesus that is much stronger than shifting divisions and factions

Paul wants to remind them and us that the covenant community of God’s people is grounded upon a foundation of faith in Jesus that is much stronger than their shifting divisions and factions. Much of the rocky soul around Denver Colorado contains clay along with a chemical called benzene. This makes the ground naturally expand and contract with moisture. The result is that many houses and structures need to be built with a floating foundation which actually moves along with the expanding and contracting ground. The house I had in Denver had deep foundations formed around the exterior and a cement slab basement floor which could float apart from it. The house itself sat upon the pylons that went deep ensuring that part would not move. But the stud walls the finished the rooms in my basement were not built from the floor up. They were attached to the frame that sat upon the pylons and came down to the cement slab floor from there. And the stud walls of the basement stopped about 2 inches short of the cement floor. This allowed the cement slab floor of my basement to move up and down with the expanding and contracting soil without cracking or damaging or endangering the structure of the house upon it.

If the walls of the house sat upon the foundation of the cement slab, then the heaving and pushing of the turbulent soil would eventually bring the entire building down. But with the walls attached to the foundation that runs deep into solid ground, the building stays secure. It does not mean that there will never be heaving or pushing or pressure. It just means that the proper foundation of the house is built to take it and absorb it without damage.

verse 12 - we all share the same faith in Jesus; we are alike in this common foundation

Perhaps this helps us understand a bit of what Paul means when he says to his friends in Galatia in verse 12, “become like me, for I became like you.” This is not a riddle or some kind of puzzle for us to decipher and figure out what Paul means. That would be overthinking the plain and obvious context of his overall message. The common faith they all shared in Jesus is the one foundation which they all shared and in which they are all grounded together.

Dig a little deeper into that statement. When Paul—who was formerly a passionate and zealous law-abiding Jew—first came to the Greeks in Galatia, Paul did not let his cultural heritage or values become the foundation for his community. He kept the foundation firmly planted in faith in Jesus. But it does not mean that they all became exactly alike and identical in every way. Of course not, because how would that square up with what Paul writes elsewhere in the New Testament about valuing the different parts of the body?

But here is what the foundation of faith within the covenant community of God’s people looks like. It allows space for a bit of difference in culture and values and habits and rituals to bend and squeeze inside the overall shape of this community without breaking or damaging the foundations of our faith together.

The Goal of Community

verse 19 - “until Christ is formed in you”

It wouldn’t do us much good, though, to walk away from this passage without asking the question of what Paul is really after here. Even though he expresses a deep concern and pastoral voice for the Galatians community, what does he really want from them? What is he asking them to do or to be in this discussion of covenant community? The answer comes at the end tucked into the last half of verse 19. “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” We have looked at the calling of community; we have looked at the foundation of community; here we see the goal of covenant community: to be formed into the image of Christ.

Here we need to be careful in how we speak about and understand what we mean by the goal. We live in a world in which we develop and use goals quite a bit. Students have goals in their classes. Employees have goals in their work departments. Entrepreneurs have goals in their business. Goals are necessary in order for us to define what it is we are striving to achieve or striving to become. In one sense, this goal of covenant community to be formed into the image of Christ is like that. It gives us a picture of what it is we are after and where it is we are headed.

the goal of becoming like Christ is not so much something you do as it is something which is done to you

But this particular goal of covenant community is a little bit different from all those other goals we may set and have in our world. In particular, the goal of becoming like Christ is not so much something you do as it is something which is done to you. At the same time, it is not as though you are a completely passive recipient either. This much should be obvious; why else would Paul be writing with such compelling instructions for the community of Christians to embrace this goal.

how does my participation and involvement with this community embrace the goal of becoming formed into the image of Christ?

So, how are we doing at that? How are we doing at embracing the goal of becoming formed into the image of Christ? Before you get too far into thinking about an answer for that question, it is an imperative reminder that this instruction comes within the context of covenant community. While you might immediately think to answer with things like, “I read my Bible and do my devotions. I spend time in prayer.” Those are all good things, but that pulls away from the subject and theme of what Paul is writing about in Galatians 4. This is about covenant community. Specifically then, how does your participation and involvement with this community embrace the goal of becoming formed into the image of Christ?

learn from the example and testimony of others

I have been thinking quite a bit over the past several months about that question. During this time in which so many of our normal and regular habits for being in and experiencing community together have been reshaped, it is certainly more challenging to embrace that goal of being formed into the image of Christ within a community. I find it helpful to lean upon the testimony and example of others who have faced challenges with this exact same thing in times gone by.

Recently, I have been rereading some books by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In case you are unfamiliar with Bonhoeffer, he was a 20th century German pastor and teacher. Bonhoeffer was arrested by the Nazis because of his opposition to Adolf Hitler and imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. He was eventually executed by the Nazis. But he left behind many of his writings about the way in which he continually invited and embraced a covenant community of Christians even while imprisoned and awaiting execution.

It is helpful to be reminded that sometimes the most powerful and prolific forms of Christian community have happened under the worst of circumstances and most challenging conditions. I am rather certain the apostle Paul would agree with that. So, if you are waiting for just the right time with just the right people; if you are resisting covenant community until all your demands and conditions can be met, then you are missing the point. The forming and shaping and molding of this covenant community through any and all circumstances is what God uses to shape us into the image of Christ. Now is the time; and this is the place.

May we be people who are always assured that we have called by God into this community because we are known by God and loved by God just as we are. May we be people who ground our community together on the solid foundation of faith in Jesus. And may God never stop using this community—and our place in it—to continually form us, his people, into the image of Christ.