Anguish Out of this World

Context

The last time we were in Galatians together, we suggested that a key to valuing our salvation was to understand God’s adoption of us into His family better. The children of God are just that: God’s children. Members of His royal family. If you are in Christ, you are a prince or princess of the King. You belong to God, and while we experince hardship in the world, the world will not overcome who we are, because we are united to Christ. The children of God are heirs of the promise. God was faithful to Abraham to keep His promise to him and He has kept His promise to grant us all the riches of His grace in Christ, and when we are with Him upon our death or Christ’s return the promise will come to full fruition.

But the Galatian church had bought into what some false teachers were proclaiming. That salvation from God can only be enjoyed through, and as a result of our effort. God does His part and people do theirs and only through this cooperative effort, will we have peace with God. They were messing with the gospel, and it broke Paul’s heart that those in the Galatian church who he had labored over and with for so long were so quickly deserting Christ who had called them out of darkness into the glorious light of the gospel.

So much of what Paul does in our text today is pleas with the Galatians to snap out of it. He is agonizing over what is taking place in the Galatian church. He makes it clear that he views his relationship to this church in terms of father and son. Paul is desperate for the spiritual health of this people, and it is no small concern that they not reject Christ or His truth. You and I need to heed what Paul urges here, but we also need to learn from his anguish today. There is much in life that causes us pain, and while we do not seek after pain for pain’s sake, we should expect to experience this kind of pain because it reflects a right concern. We must have this concern for the people around us, and it is this concern that really needs to be our chief concern. Let’s see what it is.

Galatians 4:8–20 ESV

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

Introduction

We all know what it is to want something. But not just want something, but to desperately want something. But we also know what it is to be desperate for something to happen and possess no power to make it happen. In those moments, its like and unstoppable force (our desperate desires) meets an immovable object (our inability to do anything about it.

But what our desperate desires, and what about our methods to pursue those ends? Perhaps we’re not seeing the problem or the plea, that is the answers to those problems the right way.

Romans 8:18–28 (ESV)

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

FCF: Often Christians are overwhelmed with the wrong problems and spend their energies making the wrong pleas.

Main Idea

Christians should be consumed with only one problem and one plea.

Perhaps a statement that warrants some scrutiny. Only one problem and one plea? I think we face many problems, and we, in response to those problems, make many pleas to ourselves, others and God. How is it possible all of that boils down to one problem and one plea?

Country problems and pleas

Family problems and pleas

Health problems and pleas

Financial problems and pleas

kid & grand kid problems and pleas

Marriage problems and pleas

And the list could continue for quite some time. So again, how could it possible be that I am going to suggest that there is really only one problem and one plea for the people of God. For everyone here who is a child of God through Christ, I am suggesting that you have only one problem and one plea. Of course the problem has massive implications for our lives and the problem effects all of life like country, family, health, finances, kids and marriage. But ultimately, when we see Jesus for who He is, it all boils down to one problem. And because there is only one problem, there is only one plea. But what particularly problematic for Christians is not seeing all of life’s challenges as ultimately rooted in the one problem. I’m suggesting we must see and believe that the church contends with only one problem and therefore has only one plea in order to contend with life.

Main Question

What’s the problem and plea?

So, I will say upfront what I think the one problem and one plea is and then spend the rest of our time unpacking both as I see them in our text.

The problem

Rejection of Christ

The plea

Embrace Christ

Rightly understanding the seriousness of the problem prevents us from making the plea casually.

Rejection of Christ (8-11)

AQ: What does rejecting Christ look like?

Rejecting God-given freedom (8)

Pre-Christian past of the Galatian believers: enslavement to their sin

We’re not told what the slavery looked like, but the context of Galatia suggests it could have been

religions of south Galatia

Roman Imperial cult

Pagan deities of ancient Greece

Regardless, conversion to Christ meant breaking away from false beliefs, false gods and false worship

And Paul makes clear that all other gods are not gods at all. There is only one true living God, which is Paul’s point here, and to reject the one true living God is to embrace our own slavery.

After listening to Jesus’ teaching that they would be set free by the truth He had proclaimed to them if they yield to the truth, some Jews objected to this notion of freedom because they were children of Abraham. In other words, they were children of the promise. They belonged to God. They were favored by God. Jesus responds this way:

John 8:34–37 ESV

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.

Jesus is saying that practicing sin proves one’s enslavement to sin, and sinning enslaves one to sin. This is the ultimate bondage to Jesus.

And slaves have no permanent place in the family, which is what Jesus references in v. 35. The Jews thought because they were descendants of Abraham, they were favored by God. Jesus is telling them they are just like slaves who have no permanent place in God’s family.

And then in v. 36, Jesus makes clear that He can set people free from the bondage to their sin. And the freedom He grants is total.

And what the Galatian believers were doing were rejecting that freedom. They were going back to their former reality in which they did not know God.

And by rejecting the freedom they were given in Christ, they were also

Reverting to slavery to sin (9)

Notice how Paul refers to the Galatians’ connection to God: now that you have come to know God...

Knowledge, in this sense is more than an intellectual understanding of the gospel (this is included), but it is also a reference to a personal intimacy with God. To know God in this way is to be transformed by God in every way.

And what bewilders Paul - what is beyond his comprehension is why the Galatians, who know God in this way, would now turn back to the way they were before they knew God.

To turn back in v. 9 means to revert to a former condition. What were they before they knew God? Slaves to their sin. Upon coming to know God, they were set free. But now they were going back to their former way of life. They were electing to live as slaves.

And what were they reverting back to? The elemental principles of the world. We have come across this phrase several times in this book, and while there is some discussion on what it exactly means, I suggested that it is referring to what is most basic and fundamental about the world. And what is most fundamental about the world is that the world’s system opposes God. And it expresses this opposition by presuming we can have freedom and peace apart from God’s intervention. No need to repent of sin, no need of a Savior, no need for salvation from God because people are able to figure out themselves. Able to provide, through their own effort, freedom, peace and salvation.

And so Paul is asking, you have an intimacy with God through Christ, but you want to go back to you former, empty way of life?

It is this that breaks Paul’s heart, and is truly heart breaking. Rejecting Christ for something less and destructive. This is the problem.

We know this is distressing to Paul. He thought of all the time he spent with the Galatians, and what he witnessed God do among them, but now instead f revering Christ they were

Revering futility (10-11)

days, months, seasons and years are references to the Jewish system of religious feasts. The Judaizers were teaching that these feats must still be observed to be right with God.

And what was worse is that the people were buying into it. Paul heard about this somehow, and look what he says in verse 11.

The word labored means to work intensely to the point of fatigue. What Paul was struggling with here is that he was wondering if all that effort and energy yielded no fruit.

And notice how Paul puts it: I labored over you. Paul didn’t see his work among them as disconnected from them. I believe when he was writing this letter, and expressing his concern he had the faces of the people to whom he was writing in his mind. He loved these people, and for him to learn that they were rejecting the truth, rejecting Christ, revering empty, hallow, worthless practices instead of the living Savior who died for them and forgave their sins, it broke his heart.

Illustration

Back in Dec. of 2012, the show 60 minutes aired an interview with an escaped prisoner from a North Korean prisoner named Shin-Dong-hyuk. He was born in a prison known as Camp 14. His parents were prisoners there as well. They were permitted to marry one another because they worked hard. They were not however, permitted to live together. Shin’s story is amazing and tragic, but in my view there was a moment in the interview that emphasized the tragedy more than any other part.

The interviewer asks: This may be a dumb question, but did you even know what love was for the first 23 years of your life?

Shin answers: I still don’t know what that means.

In his lifetime, which the majority was spent in a prison, he never was taught about love. As far as he was concerned, he was never shown love. He did not know what it was to love or be loved. Love, to Shin, was absent in prison and absent from his life.

And this is the experience of anyone who is a prisoner to their sin. People may claim to know what love is, to know what it is to love and be loved, but unless they come to know God, that is, to have an intimate relationship with God through Christ, love will be illusive at best. Impostor loves and freedoms and peace will come and go, but nothing will last.

If Shin were to decide to go back to Camp 14, and become a prisoner again, we would think he is misguided, and making a horrible decision. I’m sure there would be people who would do all they could to prevent him from going back. But this is what Paul is saying was happening with the Galatians. They were going back to prison. They were going back to the life offered no hope, no peace, no love, no knowing God.

It’s a heart-breaking problem. Rejecting Christ.

And so anyone who knows God… is no longer rejecting Christ has one plea. There only one plea that makes sense for us to make, if we really understand the problem.

Embracing Christ (12-20)

AQ: How do we embrace Christ?

You will notice that all of the following points will begin with the word mutual. Paul understood his relationship with the Galatian church in terms of community and family. We are a community and family under Christ. So embracing Christ is a group effort. We must help one another do this. And so we begin with:

Mutual surrender (12)

We come to an imperative in v. 12: become as I am.

What we want to do here is to understand what Paul meant when he urged the Galatians to become as I am for also I have become as you are.

Paul makes this same kind of appeal in 1 Cor.

1 Corinthians 4:14–16 ESV

I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

Here, Paul urges the Corinthian church to imitate him as children should model themselves after their parents. In other places, Paul admonishes his readers to imitate him as he in turn imitated Christ.

But here in Gal 4, Paul said to become like him for he became like them (the Galatians). What does he mean?

Let’s start with his claim that he became like them. In what way did the apostle Paul become like the Galatians.

Consider

1 Corinthians 9:19–23 ESV

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

Paul made some cultural accommodations in his ministry, without compromising the Bible’s prescription for conducting local church ministry, for the sake of winning some with the gospel. Today, this strategy is often called contextualization. And I suggest that Paul’s strategy to proclaim the gospel in Galatia and plant churches in this region was by becoming like them. To become one of them, without compromising truth, for the sake of them. This is how he became like them.

And it is on this basis that he urges them to become like him. He used to be a zealous Pharisee and observer of the Mosaic Law… more careful than any of them. But now he has been delivered by Christ and has been set free from the bondage of the law. He wants them to know and live in the liberty that Christ grants to all His children… the children of Abraham.

Our plea to embrace Christ is a plea to surrender to Christ. We want those who are living under the burden of their own sin to know the freedom that Christ gives. This is a plea we need to give to one another and to the rest of the world.

When we are party to gossip on the phone or in some conversation somewhere, we are rejecting Christ ultimately. So what do we do, we plea that the gossiper would surrender his or her speech and desires to Christ. And this is mutual. There are times we need to make the plea, and others when we need to hear the plea.

Surrender our desires, our goals, our comfort zones all of ourselves to Christ… and we need to help each other do it.

Notice the end of v. 12: you did me no wrong.. Perhaps this is Paul reflecting back on when he and Barnabas first came to Galatia to bring the gospel to them. He was reflecting on how he became like them and, at that time, they did him no wrong.

Our plea to embrace Christ is not only a call for mutual surrender but also a call for

Mutual sacrifice (13-16)

I am not going to spend, really any time speculating what the bodily ailment was. There is much speculation and ultimately, no one knows exactly what it was. But what I do want to note here is the relationship Paul says exists between his ailment and his preaching the gospel to the Galatians. Because of his ailment, he preached the gospel to them. How does that work?

It may have been that Paul had some sort of attack of this physical ailment and that resulted in him staying around longer than expected. And while he was with them, he preached the gospel to them. We don’t know for sure, but what we need to know is that doing the work God has called his people to do requires sacrifice.

Embracing Christ is also rejecting other things, ideas and desires. Instead of convenience, we inconvenience ourselves for the person who is lost and in need of help and counsel. We drive out of our way to provide a ride, or we stay on the phone longer than we feel like it to be a comfort, or we don’t buy something so the money can be sued for kingdom purposes.

And living this way is something we must encourage each other in.

And Paul acknowledges that his trial was a certain kind of trial to the Galatians in v. 14. Apparently there was something repulsive about Paul’s appearance that could have been a trial of sorts to the Galatians. And this could have lead some to discount Paul and his message. But they didn’t react that way to him. They didn’t scorn (disdain) him or despise (to spit upon with contempt) him.

There was a special relationship between Paul and the Galatians.

Paul sacrificed for the Galatians and they sacrificed of themselves. Paul was confident that they would have been willing to gouge out their own eyes for him if it would have helped.

And instead of being repulsed by Paul and rejecting him and his message they welcomed him as a messenger of God (end of v. 14), so Paul is now asking in v. 15, what has happened to your blessedness?

Paul always spoke the truth to the Galatians in love. As far as he was concerned, he had not changed. It was the Galatians. They changed. They were rejecting Christ, and rejecting Christ has devastating consequences, and often these consequences show up in our relationships with other people. Where is your joy that we used to share, Paul is asking. Now, instead the truth be told in love being the glue of their relationship, it has become an obstacle.

Now the nature of their relationship is that of enemies, and it is because of the truth. More specifically, the Galatians’ rejection of the truth.

They need to return to their commitment to the truth. This lead to a mutual sacrifice for each other but ultimately for the cause of Christ.

Mutual suspicion (17-18)

Paul moves from expressing his concern for the Galatians to addressing his concern about the false teachers. And when it comes to the false teachers, Paul’s concern is not so much that the they are giving attention to the Galatians, but their evil intent.

There is a phrase that Paul uses 3 times in vss. 17 & 18: make much of. The word from which this phrase comes from is where we get our word jealous from. Now we use the word jealous in a negative sense (resentfully envious). In this context, Paul is using the word to convey an effort to win the Galatians over. The false teachers were making much of the Galatians as a means to gain their approval and loyalty. But their intentions were hidden.

Look what verse 17 says: they make much of you but for no good purpose. They may come across like they care about you Galatians, but they really don’t. In fact, while they may seem to have your best interest in mind, they really have their own interest and agenda in mind. And what is that agenda? End of v. 17: that you make much of them.

But v. 17 also says that the motivation of the false teachers’ flattery was to shut them (the Galatians) out. Shut them out from what? Paul doesn’t identify anything specific, but given the flow of the passage and the broader context, it appears that the false teachers the people’s commitment and loyalty, and they saw Paul as a threat to that. It was much like the dynamic between people, Jesus and the Pharisees. There was a certain jealousy in play. The false teachers wanted the attention. They wanted the applause. They wanted the glory. And what were they willing to do to get it? Most anything, but certainly they were willing to flatter the Galatians. They were willing to make them feel important and special. But they were clear on their intentions. They had a purpose, and that was to draw them away from the teaching of Paul, and while they may not have fully realized it, their agenda was to draw the people away from Christ.

Paul was urging the Galatians to see this for what it was. They were being duped. It all felt good, but they were being used as pawns in a scheme to bring about their destruction and the success of the false teachers’ hidden agenda.

Here’s something that we need to be on the alert for. There are false teachers today. People who have an agenda to divert our affections and loyalties away from Christ. The challenge in this is that false teachers are often likable. They are often popular. They are usually better able to communicate their message than your pastor can communicate the truth. But what is usually at the heart of the false teacher’s message is him or herself. Wanting people’s attention. Wanting their commitment. Wanting their applause. Wanting the glory.

We do our best here to proclaim and live out our vision: to be a people who pursue God’s glory in all things among all people. Certainly our efforts are far from perfect, but we must recognize efforts from others to convince us to pursue another glory or the glory of another.

In verse 18, Paul references how the Galatians used to look at him. They used to hold him in high regard. He used to have their acceptance and loyalties. They used to make much of him for a good purpose. But now, that all seemed to change. Paul wasn’t much to look at. He wasn’t very impressive. But he proclaimed the truth, and God used him among the Galatians, but people were messing with the gospel, and that caused all kinds of confusion and heart ache. It always does.

Christians should be consumed with only one problem and one plea. The problem: rejecting Christ. The plea: embracing Christ. And another way of embracing Christ is through our

Mutual anguish (19-20)

As I noted earlier, we are all bothered by many things. Sometimes we get really upset about something. But what I’m suggesting is that we begin to see all of what bothers us, causes us pain and especially what agonizes us as being connected to the problem of rejecting Christ and the desire or plea to embrace Christ. And if we are committed to seeing our lives in light of this problem and plea, then we need to help one another process our anguish in this way.

Paul turns his attention back to his concern for the Galatians in vss 19-20. He refers to them as his little children. Given what Paul had referenced back in verse 3 regarding the Galatians’ digression to the law becoming again a prison warden or tutor to them, perhaps some of what Paul is getting at here is that the Galatians were displaying immaturity. They were laying hold of who they are in Christ, and the freedom He gives them.

But in light of how Paul describes his relationship to the people whom he ministers, I think we are meant to see his enduring affection for the Galatians here, despite the strained relationship that now exists between them.

For example

1 Thessalonians 2:7 ESV

But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.

I suggest this is much of what Paul means to communicate when he refers to the Galatians as his little children. But look at what he says he is experiencing: he is again in the anguish of childbirth.

Notice the word again in v. 19. Paul experienced the first round of child birth pains when he spent time with them while making efforts to plant a church among them. That was hard and painful work. But now, the pain he feels is anguish because the people he has come to love, those whom he now regards as his little children, are rejecting Christ and he is now pleading that they embrace Christ. And while he waits and prays for this to happen, he is in anguish.

As I noted before, I imagine that Paul had faces in his mind and in his prayers when he thought of the turmoil in Galatia. I know you and I have names and faces of people we care about who may be rejecting Christ. When we really understand what it means to reject Christ and the consequences of that rejection, it makes sense to compare the feelings we feel to child birth pains.

Notice the end of v. 19 and what Paul says will alleviate his pain: until Christ is formed in you. The word formed is unique. In fact, it’s only used here in this verse. It carries the idea of development into a distinctive entity. It may be like a baby in the womb. From the moment of conception, the baby is a baby, but he or she cannot survive outside of the womb until his or her development progresses enough to survive independent of the womb. Paul is recognizing that the faith of many of the Galatians is so embryonic, so under developed that it cannot survive as its own entity. And what is essential to Christ being fully formed in them is the realization that they do not have anything to offer to preserve themselves in Christ. They need to rely completely on Jesus and His redemptive work, just like they professed when Paul was among them.

And notice what v. 20 says. I think what Paul means by changing his tone with them is that he wants for them to hear his voice in person that to hear his words from a letter. He wants to be with them, but he can’t.

And he’s honest about his pain over them here. I am perplexed about you, is what Paul says. In other words, he is at his wits end. Paul’s humanity comes through here. As he noted earlier in v. 11, he’s concerned he has labored over them in vain. If it was all for nothing.

And it is this anguish that we should feel while we wait for Jesus to return. Because until then, the problem and the plea will exist.

Conclusion

You see the plea is not only for certain individuals to embrace Christ. We may not be aware of it, but there is a longing of creation, an anguish that is like birth pains. We noted this earlier, but look at what Paul said in Romans:

Romans 8:22–25 ESV

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

The creation is groaning in the pains of child birth. And it’s not only the creation but we ourselves. And what is it that the creation and God’s people ultimately want? What is the ultimate longing of our hearts? The hope of Christ. For Him to come back and to do what He promised He would do. To bring to completion His work of redemption in the world. To gather all His people from every nation and tribe and people and language so that we, with one voice and one heart can stand before his throne and worship Him because He is worthy.

But until then church, be clear about our problem and our plea. They both center on Christ. The problem is that people reject Christ and therefore our plea must be to embrace Christ.

To see life in this way is not something that will come naturally to us. What comes naturally to us is to see the problems with which we contend as somehow distinct from rejecting Christ. Our pleas or ways of pursuing relief from those problems will also naturally be seen as distinct from embracing Christ. So we need the Spirit of the Living God to fall afresh on us today. For God to do a work among us so that we will make all of life all about Jesus.

But regarding those who we desire to embrace Christ and not reject Him, I’d like to be available to you today to here about those concerns. I want to meet you under the cross to hear about those individuals and to pray with you. Perhaps someone here or a family member.