Who has ever used “Cliff’s Notes”? I remember using Cliff’s Notes to get through my high school English class, particularly the sections on Shakespeare. You have to understand that I hated reading books. I was a numbers guy. I could work math problems over and over and over. I could read dictionaries or encyclopedias and never get bored, but I just couldn’t make it through a novel, much less a Shakespearian play.
Our passage of Scripture today is kind of like picking up a Cliff’s Notes. What I mean by that is these 12 verses give us a good overview of the book of Galatians, just like my handy English book gave me a good overview of what happened in Romeo and Juliet, or Hamlet. There are a number of themes, which Paul retouches on briefly at this point in the letter.
First, he rehearses the history of every Christian. We all were slaves, we didn’t know God. Whether we are a Jew by birth or a gentile idolater, we all came from the same stock. We didn’t know God and so we were ruled by crazy rules. Our ideas, our thoughts, our plans about what was holy, righteous and good controlled us. Our feelings about what is right and what is wrong controlled our actions.
We see that in every culture around the world. Every culture has a set of taboos, things you don’t do because it isn’t right. In India it is taboo to eat beef, in Islamic lands it is pork, a Jew would never eat seafood. To someone it may be a taboo to view nude art, raise your voice or to do or not some other act. Each of these things comes from a social rule about what is right and what is wrong, and even though they differ in the action they are the same at the core: human rules about what is holy and profane.
Paul is saying that every person comes from this background, a world taboos and must do’s and that it all proceeds from not knowing God. Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves…(Gal 4:8a). And this is perfectly in line with other passages of Scripture. Rom. 10:3 says, Since they [we] did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
But a time comes when every Christian’s world is forever changed. They go from not knowing God, to knowing him and that knowing comes about very intentionally because God determines to have a relationship with them. He determines to know them and therefore, to be known by them. That is what it means when he writes, Now that you know God, or rather are known by God. God revealed himself to you, that was Paul’s argument in the opening verses of the book, it is his argument in other places where he says that human reason never leads us to God but only away from God, think Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. But God in his grace comes to man and reveals himself. That is the whole story of the Incarnation, God coming to man, as man, to make the Father known. John 6:46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. And a little while later Jesus goes on to say, John 14:9 …Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
Just as we love because he first loved us (1Jn 4:19), so also, we know God, because he first knew us (Gal 4:9).
So Paul hits that same mantra again, why are you going back to those weak and miserable principles? He said it before with words like, “I am amazed that you are deserting the one who called you…Who has bewitched you?...Are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort (taboos and must do’s)…Do you wish to be enslaved…all over again?” (Gal 1:6, 3:1, 3:3, 4:9)
It would be like asking the man just paroled from prison after a 30 year sentence: You were in jail, now you are out of jail, would you like to go back in again? Do you want people to control your life, to tell you when to eat and sleep, how to walk, where to stand? Would you like to do that all again? I hear it is really rather pleasant inside; you have all the latest movies and such, would you like another try at jail? NO, he would scream. Absolutely not, she would say. Or then again it might be like an alcoholic who spent years drunk without any cognition of what sobriety was like, then one day he wakes up clean and sober and doesn’t return to the bottle. His thinking is clear. His vision is keen, the mind is quick. Now what would you say to that person if they asked you for a drink again? Wouldn’t you ask, Do you really want to turn back to those weak and miserable principles? (Gal 4:9) Do you really want to be drunk and hungover?
And here is how Paul sees them becoming alcoholics again, jail birds again. They are observing special days and months and seasons and years! (Gal 4:10) Not only are they toying with circumcision, but also they are currently adopting the Jewish culture as their way of being holy and separate. Now as far as cultures go, the Jewish culture is a fine culture for preserving itself for millennia. It certainly kept the descendants of Abraham separate, but it failed in making them holy. So why do you want to be separate? Remember Gal. 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. There is no reason to be separate, nor is their any reason to try and be holy on your own strength. It is like returning to jail.
Specifically, Paul is talking about observing a ritual in such a way that this action matters to your spiritual life. It is the belief that this action makes me more acceptable to God. There are some Christians that scrupulously celebrate Sunday Sabbath, Lent and advent because they think that this “makes them a good Christian” or that this somehow enhances their spiritual standing with God. Non-sense. That is not to say that you can’t do these things. I pay attention to some of these, but early on when I started to observe Lent, I must admit that it was because it looked more spiritual.
But we needn’t limit ourselves to just calendar issues as being enslaving. It could also be a legalistic observance of tithing, avoiding alcohol, insisting that one dress in their Sunday best to come to worship, or any number of other things that really don’t reflect anything about our life in Christ. The issue in each case is not the specific action, but the heart with which the action is undertaken. Two people can engage in offering a gift to God. One out of guilt, or a desire to be seen by others, or because God may be angry with them if they don’t, and so each one puts in his or her offering dutifully each week. The other out of gratitude brings a gift as thanks for al that God has given. One has been enslaved, the other has been freed. The actions are the same; the heart and the motivation are entirely different.
The same could be said of people’s approach to prayer or bible reading or even attending Sunday worship. Each of these can become a miserable, enslaving principle that robs us of the joy of the Lord. This reality can be summed by contrasting 2 scriptures. The first is from Lev. 18:5 and says Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord. Do and live, Act and be ok, fail to act and be condemned. The second is from Rom. 10:3-4 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
These are opposites. Believers trust Christ alone and realize that their life, their righteousness is from God alone and not dependent on any action they do or refrain from doing, while unbelievers have the exact opposite belief. They cannot fathom a reality that they don’t have to work for, and achieve by their own power. So they establish their own laws, rules and ways and means to be enslaved and holy.
So what is Paul’s response? First, it is fear or astonishment, which we have seen earlier, but which he repeats again here: I fear for you that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you (Gal 4:11). Paul is concerned that maybe he had gone out to a granite quarry with a spoon and worked to no avail. He is worried that he was on a snipe hunt, a fool’s errand, like a dog chasing his tail. All of these images and cliché’s give us a peak at how passionate Paul is about returning to earning one’s salvation or trying to maintain one’s salvation by their own works.
But secondly, Paul responds with an appeal Become like me, for I became like you he says (Gal 4:12).. This little phrase has caused many scholars great angst as they have struggled to understand its meaning. There are two possibilities that I would like to present: One, Paul became one not having the law, just as they didn’t have the law as gentiles, so he urges them to abandon the law again. This would fit with the tenor of the letter to this point, but then what are we to do with the sentences, which follow and speak about Paul’s illness and his reception of their care. That is where the second option comes in. Might Paul not be saying I was physically sick and in need of help and you gave it to me? Similarly you are spiritually sick and in need of help and I am giving it to you. Accept my help as I accepted yours. Let one who is healthy minister to you who are sick. Become like me, for I became like you (Gal 4:12).
Thirdly, Paul asks them some questions: What has happened to all your joy?...Have I become you enemy by telling you the truth? (Gal 4:15-16) These questions have served me well as I have reflected on my Christian life. For a few years now I have taken times of retreat to ask the question what has happened to all your joy? I have asked it in various ways: What has brought me peace this week? What has been the most enjoyable? Why have I engaged in this activity? These questions and others like them have always directed me back to the Gospel, to Jesus Christ himself. For in answering these questions and their negatives, frequently I find that human rules have crept into my life and they are strangling me. All of them are good things, but one can die on steak as easily as one can die on cyanide. Even good things can bring death.
I am reminded of a story I once read. A man was in a coffee shop and overheard a young woman sit down with an elder man and explain to her that she had come to believe the gospel the past week at his church and now she wanted to know how to continue to rejoice in that gospel and grow in her understanding of the promises of Christ. She was exuberant when she walked in, with a bounce in her step like one walking on air. Her face shone with the freedom of the gospel and the awareness of the unconditional love of God. The man proceeded to talk most deliberately, outlining to her the need to awaken early and study the scriptures every morning for an extended period of time. He spoke of the need to pray many times a day, even when she was driving. He told her that now that she was a Christian, God expected 10% of her money to be given to the church, for her to boycott immoral businesses and to quit watching R-rated movies. An hour and a half later, the conversation finished and as the woman walked away, her shoulders were slumped, and her face was saddened. What had happened to all her joy?
Paul isn’t asking them about happiness. Happiness is an emotional feeling dictated by circumstances. “For most people happiness is possible, but it’s also fickle, shallow, and fleeting. As the word itself implies, happiness is associated with happenings, happenstance, luck, and fortune. If circumstances are favorable, you are happy; if not, you’re unhappy. Christian joy, however, is directly related to God and is the firm confidence that all is well, regardless of your circumstances.” [1] Regardless of your circumstances, is all well with you and the Lord? This is what Paul is asking? When our circumstances begin dictating our relationship with God, have we lost the gospel? I think so. When our acceptance with God is dependent on our situation, then we are back in the Law, but in Philippians 3:1 Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord.” Rejoice in what he has done for you, not what you have done for yourself. Where is your joy? Is it in the work of God or the work of men? Is it in the cross of Christ or the self-flagellation of your body?
Be zealous for his gospel, for his promises. Rejoice in them; stake your life on them, for these promises include the reality that Christ is being formed in you. That is the gospel Christ formed in you. Christ doing his work to you, it is a passive verb, meaning the action is performed on the object, without the object’s participation. Christ is formed in us. His Spirit is making us into the body of Jesus. This is the gospel. There is no other. It is by grace, through faith, and this not of ourselves, it is the gift of God so that no one may boast (Eph 2:8-9).
So family of God, wherever you happen to be in your walk today, if it is in a position like the Galatians where your joy is waning, then reflect on god’s gift to you. Recall the gospel that it all depends on Christ and him crucificied and resurrected and be encouraged. If you are on the other side, full of joy in the goodness of God to you, rejoice some more. Hold that truth out before your eyes and your heart daily and remember that God always loves you. And if you don’t believe the gospel at all, then consider your actions. Can they really make you holy?
Let’s pray…
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