Become As I Am
Galatians 4:8-20
October 24, 2021
Read Galatians 4:8-20
This is the Word of the LORD.
Our text today is towards the end of a longer section that began with Paul’s description of his rebuke of Peter in Antioch. As you might remember from when Dan preached a month ago, Peter had come to Antioch, had communed with all believers – Jews and Gentiles alike – until some people came from Jerusalem and Peter withdrew to fellowship with only other Jews. Paul saw that others were following Peter’s example and he called out Peter in front of the church.
Since describing that example to the Galatians – who were in the midst of the same kind of confusion – Paul had gone on a multi-angle approach to exhort the Galatians to wake up, pay attention, and avoid falling into error.
- The argument (Galatians 2:15ff): “we know that a person is justified not by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.”
- The rebuke (Galatians 3:1ff): “You idiots!”
- The promise (Galatians 3:9ff): “For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.”
- The history; the covenant came first (Galatians 3:18): “For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.”
- Reframing the understanding of the law (Galatians 3:19ff): “But the [law] imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”
- And then, last week, the illustration – the effect of adoption (Galatians 4:1ff): “So you are no longer a slave but a child, and [because] a child then also an heir, through God.”
Now, this week, we get two more approaches: guilt and pleading. It may seem like Paul was manifesting different personalities, but different people respond to different approaches. Note his theme remained constant: “Grace and peace [come] to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen.”
This issue was so important to Paul that he just kept hammering and hammering so that they would get it and not forget it. We have been looking at this for almost six weeks – so I am hoping that you are getting it and not forgetting it.
With that introduction, let’s turn to the text.
Guilt
N.T. Wright has pointed out that, “What seems to matter here is that the Galatians were insisting on keeping the Jewish festivals; and the point of those Jewish festivals was that they all looked forward to the great act of redemption which God would one day accomplish.” [1] In other words, the Galatians were intent on devoting themselves to keeping traditions of waiting for something that had already occurred. It would be like buying anew each year a ticket for a flight flown a decade ago.
Paul’s approach in verses 8-10 needs to be read in the tone of a thoroughly Jewish mother. “Look where you came from,” he wrote, “and look where you are. Look at what God has done for you – and this, the thanks you give?” What he actually wrote was, “I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted.” Does anyone need me to paint the rest of that picture? With his head down, eyes closed, the sigh underneath the words, Paul was saying, “I am so, so disappointed in you.”
Now, of all the approaches Paul was using, this would have been the one that hit me the hardest. It is like a knife of guilt going right through my heart. I suspect I am not alone. There are few times in life when I have felt more shame than when I have disappointed someone important to me. I am not particularly happy about myself when I fail; but I am particularly unhappy when I fail someone I respect, care about, or admire.
Imagine how the first readers would have felt hearing these words read to them. They could recall the joy they had experienced when Paul proclaimed the gospel to them, and now he was openly wondering whether he was wasting his time on them? If it is hard to hear, then you can only imagine how hard it is to say.
But let me tell you: if you ever want to know what a pastor’s depression sounds like, there it is. Paul put it right out there for you to see, “I am afraid my work for you may have been wasted.” It is the lament lifted to God from the deepest, darkest corner of our heart. It is the fear of failure – that what God has us doing would be ultimately futile and pointless in the lives of those we are called to serve. Yes, Paul was using it as a rhetorical device to effect a change, but it is too real and raw to be feigned or pretended.
The pastoral life is a spiritual battle. It is constant. There is a Sisyphusian feel to it much of the time; that is, like Sisyphus pushing a heavy rock up a hill only to see it roll down again so that he has to start all over. Now, please do not get me wrong: please do not hear this as my complaints about the job. What I want you to hear is the weight of the pastor’s heart for the congregation. Pastors try not to make congregations, “my church” – at least, this one does not. This is not “my” church. You are not “my” congregation. I serve God by shepherding you. You have had shepherds prior to my arrival and – God willing and Jesus does not return – after I am gone. My hope and goal is to be faithful to God in building you up in discipleship so that you will pleasing to God. My hope and goal is for you to experience the joy of a life spent “glorifying God and enjoying him forever.”
The struggle is constant. It breaks my heart when I see people stuck – staying in patterns that are leaving them empty, longing, and lonely; wondering where God is and why God doesn’t do something to make their life better. It breaks my heart when I see people treat God as if God’s love and grace were scarce. But, most of all, it breaks my heart when I see people satisfied with good enough – and “good enough” comes in many forms:
- They do not want to get too close to God, (too religious)
- They do not want to get too much into the word, (too knowledgeable)
- They not want to invest in responding the mission that God has set before them for fear that they may miss out on something else that the world has to offer; (too committed)
- They do not want to risk material or social status quo because they are happy how things are for themselves; (too comfortable) or,
- They are too busy, too interested in other things, or too afraid that people in their world will think less of them (too distracted with other priorities).
If you are feeling guilty because you fit any of these descriptions; then...good. You should. As God’s agent sent to shepherd you, I want you to experience Paul’s heart breaking for the distance you keep from God. I want you to experience Paul’s heart breaking for the ways in which you are afraid to trust God. I want you to experience Paul’s heart breaking because you are turning your back on opportunities to experience life, and life abundantly – now.
In contrast, I want you to know how proud of you I am as I consider the reaction to some of the first Great Cloud of Witnesses that have been posted: people sharing a meaningful verse and telling a story about how it has had an impact on their life. “I didn’t know that about them!” “Wow!” “What an encouragement!” The point is that as we share these stories, we are inviting others to share their own, to realize God’s work and activity in all our lives and inspiring one another to draw ever-closer to God in whom we have our hope, life, and salvation.
Who would not want to experience God’s grace like that? What is holding us back?
Those are the kinds of experiences we need to be sharing with each other. Those are the kinds of experiences we need to be looking to find in our own lives. Those are the kinds of experiences we should be seeking in prayer, the kinds of experiences we should be preparing to encounter so we will be spiritually present, and the kinds of experiences for which we should be practicing so we will have confidence with words of grace. It is part of our role as the priesthood of all believers to represent God to the people around us. When we do, I rejoice and am proud of you.
Some of you may be thinking, “Well, that’s them – Bill or Jacque or Bob or Krae …and so on – that’s not me. Everyone knows they are people of faith.” That is true. I will affirm that they are people of faith. Yet they will be the first ones to tell you that they were not always so mature in faith; that it took a first step – and then another, and then another, and another – to grow to listen and obey and trust God. They had to know God and, as Paul wrote, be known by God. They had to surrender themselves to being known by God.
And perhaps that is the best way to explain the pastor’s heart. My desire is that you would be known by God. That is the key phrasing in verse 9. Did you catch it as I read it? “Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God…” That was not a typo. It was not an error in phrasing. It was not just a nuance to be considered. It was the point.
To the extent that the Galatians had been willing to be known by God, they would have been able to discern the error being presented to them. They would not have desired to be respectable in the eyes of men waiting for God to fulfill his promises; rather, they would have stood confidently on the proclamation that God had fulfilled his promises in Jesus. So what was holding them back from trusting God?
What is holding you back from trusting God? What would it take for you to allow yourself to be fully known by God?
Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
Beginning in verse 12, Paul’s next approach was to overtly plead with the Galatians based on the foundation of his relationship and personal history with them. Paul was telling them a hard truth and wondering if they could hear it and/or take it. “Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?” It was Paul’s way of asking whether they were going to cancel him for saying things that hurt their feelings, offended them, or displeased them. We do not have to look far in our own world to see how this could happen; it is the norm on all sides today. In recent days in our culture, we have stopped listening or engaging with anyone who does not share our opinions.
Paul pleaded with them to recall their good will towards him, their good feelings about him while he was with them, and to build upon that. Apparently, Paul was fairly ill when he began ministry with the Galatian communities. In fact, it seems that the illness was the cause of his stopping in these towns at all. His success in ministry in these towns was remarkable because of this illness. Some of the strange phrasing in this passage reflected the hyper-superstitious nature of the religions he encountered when he arrived. His acceptance was miraculous. We do not know the specific nature of Paul’s illness, but it seems as if it was something that carried a stigma with the Galatians culture. It was like he had the ancient world’s equivalent of early-days COVID. Whatever it was, it was something that easily could have been interpreted or diagnosed as the presence of an evil spirit that would have caused the people to scorn and despise Paul. Instead, they welcomed Paul, took care of him, nursed him back to health, and received his testimony and gospel with joy.
“Friends, I beg you,” he began. Just as he had not originally approached them from a position of strength, so now he also approached them with humility. This stood in direct contrast to those who had come to the Galatians from Jerusalem, who sought to impose their authority over the Galatians. It is interesting to note, however, that Paul’s humility did not mean he was wishy-washy or not confident in his gospel. Look at the substance of his begging: “Friends, I beg you, become as I am.” You might be thinking, “become as I am?” Isn’t that exactly what the opponents from Jerusalem were saying? “Become Jews as we are.” The big difference is what came next from Paul, “Become as I am, for I also have become as you are.” Paul was begging them to not give up fellowship among Jews and Gentiles – just as he had not ever distinguished Jews and Gentiles among believers.
In other words Paul was pleading with them to rejoice in their fellowship together rather than despise it. Rejoice in the gift they had received in the gospel; reconciliation with God and communion with one another.
Paul contrasted his own heart for them with the foreseeable dynamics of the relationship with his opponents. Paul’s opponents wanted the Galatians to take on Judaism in order to feel better about themselves and to lift themselves up as examples of righteousness; Paul, on the other hand, had come to them in weakness and proclaimed the power of the gospel for the benefit of the Galatians. “They want to exclude you, so that you may make much of them.”
For all those of you who think, “I do not know enough. I am not good enough. I am not as good a Christian as that other person, so they do not need me,” it is not true. Because you have been called and claimed by Christ, you belong, and you are needed.
In the same way, those who have been here for a long time must not become complacent and must work to not create or allow divisions. One of the things that keeps new people from coming and staying is the impression that everyone else has life figured out and all put together. Elsewhere Paul used the illustration of a body:
13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. (1 Corinthians 12:13-26)
The church is not a social hierarchy. Our session and deacons are elected; but there are no campaigns, ads, or posters to solicit your votes. They are not better or greater than you. They are elected to serve and not to rule. I get up and preach; but that does not make me better or greater than you. You do not worship me; I preach because God has called me to serve you. I serve a purpose but we stand together.
The church is the gathering of those who have been called and claimed by Jesus – whoever they are. No one is justified by their own righteousness at the foot of the cross. We stand – together – because Jesus holds us together. We have one hope for unity, one hope for life, one hope for salvation: Jesus. “Grace and peace [comes] to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen.”
Conclusion
So, as you prepare to go forth on this blessedly rainy day, take time to ask yourself:
What is holding me back from trusting God?
What would it take for me to allow myself to be fully known by God?
How can I rejoice in the fellowship I (and we) have been given here?
Amen.
Prayer
Questions:
- Though this is one letter, Paul has addressed the significance of faith from multiple angles and multiple rhetorical styles? Why? Why the urgency?
- What is holding me back from trusting God? What would it take for me to allow myself to be fully known by God?
- How can I rejoice in the fellowship I (and we) have been given here?
[1] N.T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Ephesians, p. 51.