back to indexBerean Community Church Wednesday Bible Study Galatians 4:15-20
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Let's make sure to head on over to our tables 00:08:56.600 |
Okay, please join with me in a word of prayer. 00:09:04.000 |
Lord God, we wanna give you thanks and glory. 00:09:13.140 |
Thank you, Lord, that as the great Heavenly Father, 00:09:34.340 |
we pray, God, that it be pleasing in your sight. 00:11:09.420 |
♪ And as high as the heavens are over the earth ♪ 00:11:16.260 |
♪ So great is your steadfast love toward us ♪ 00:12:46.960 |
♪ And as high as the heavens are over the earth ♪ 00:13:14.160 |
♪ And as high as the heavens are over the earth ♪ 00:13:27.000 |
♪ So great is your steadfast love toward us ♪ 00:16:01.300 |
Every knee bows down at your renown. There is no other savior. 00:16:44.820 |
Jesus, Lamb of God, how great you are. There is no other savior. 00:16:58.580 |
Every knee bows down at your renown. There is no other savior. 00:17:11.940 |
Jesus, Lamb of God, how great you are. There is no other savior. 00:17:25.540 |
Every knee bows down at your renown. There is no other savior. 00:17:56.100 |
Father, we thank you again for this opportunity 00:18:00.100 |
to worship you, to study your word. We pray that we're reminded of your truth, 00:18:08.180 |
that there's no way for us to save ourselves, 00:18:11.460 |
but you are truly the only way, Lord. We're saved 00:18:15.700 |
by grace alone through faith. We pray, Lord, for tonight as 00:18:24.580 |
where we humble our hearts before you. So again, we thank you, 00:18:28.260 |
we love you, pray all this in your name. Amen. 00:18:31.940 |
We don't have any announcements, so why don't we just go ahead and just begin 01:07:04.020 |
And Lord, we know that actually your word you have said is really clear. 01:07:12.020 |
In some sense, God, you just, you've repeated yourself and your teaching over and over again to us. 01:07:22.020 |
So it is our prayer, God, that whenever we see it, Lord, that we would be moved to conviction. 01:07:31.020 |
And God, would you also challenge us then to greater measures of applying those things into our lives. 01:07:39.020 |
We thank you again for the ministry of your word. 01:07:46.020 |
So by way of brief just review and an overview of the paragraph that we're looking at. 01:07:52.020 |
Remember that Apostle Paul was essentially asking them this to compare and contrast. 01:08:01.020 |
And before you were like this, you were like a child. 01:08:04.020 |
Before you didn't even know God, you didn't even perceive him. 01:08:07.020 |
But now that you know him, how can you go back to slavery? 01:08:12.020 |
And that he essentially made this incredibly personal and I want to say emotional plea saying I am begging you. 01:08:20.020 |
Do not go down this path. Be like me. Be free. 01:08:24.020 |
What I wanted to do is take a moment to review the previous just like last several verses that we saw last week. 01:08:38.020 |
And as I do it, I'm going to say I'm going to kind of draw for you where I would draw the lines if I'm studying. 01:08:44.020 |
Last week someone mentioned to me, hey, you never kind of explain how you indent and why you color code the way you do. 01:08:52.020 |
My bad. I never gave you guys like a legend or anything. All right. 01:08:55.020 |
But I'm pretty sure it's pretty self-explanatory. But here we go. 01:09:00.020 |
You have done me no wrong. But you know, and what are the things that you know? 01:09:10.020 |
One, that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time. 01:09:17.020 |
And that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition, you did not despise or loathe. 01:09:26.020 |
Instead, you received me as an angel of God, as Christ himself. 01:09:31.020 |
Some of you guys study the Bible this way where you are reading in paragraph style and then you're kind of breaking things up. 01:09:39.020 |
This is good to essentially like cut the scriptures into nice digestible chunks so you can study it. 01:09:46.020 |
And what that helps you to do, it helps you to see the phrases and the words that are important. 01:09:52.020 |
I'm going to read you guys because sometimes I actually do lean over and look at your papers to see how you guys are studying the Bible. 01:09:57.020 |
I find that a lot of your papers look like this, which is you make the correct segments of phrases, but it's just all aligned in a certain way. 01:10:07.020 |
With this, what I've done for you is just quickly color coded that this portion in review of the last little segment, 01:10:16.020 |
Apostle Paul was remembering all the good that they had done to him. Very clear, right? You did me no wrong. Green is good. 01:10:25.020 |
But then sometimes you'll see me highlight things in blue, which to me, Marks, I just need to read into that a little bit more or study it because it just raises questions. 01:10:36.020 |
What bodily illness? What condition? Right. But this segment actually is majority green. 01:10:43.020 |
It's him talking about how even though I have this trial and condition, that was a trial to you because it was a burden on you. 01:10:51.020 |
And then he says, you didn't despise or loathe me, but you received me as an angel of God, as Jesus Christ himself. 01:10:58.020 |
For me, I end up doing this kind of indentation because every phrase has a relationship to the other. 01:11:08.020 |
And most of the time it's trying to expand, modify, et cetera, et cetera. Right. 01:11:13.020 |
And a lot of times you start wondering, like, why does he even use the word but rather than another type of word? 01:11:20.020 |
For example, one can say you have done me. Sorry. You have done me no wrong. Right. Such as. But that's kind of the way that it reads. Right. 01:11:30.020 |
But what you'll notice is he's thinking wrong instead of wrong. What you've done is this. Right. 01:11:36.020 |
And so these are the things that, you know, you know that this was a circumstance in which I came to you. 01:11:42.020 |
I didn't come to you because I wanted something out of you. I actually came to you because I was sick. Right. 01:11:49.020 |
And in that context, my love for you was I wanted to keep preaching the gospel to you no matter where I was, 01:11:55.020 |
because back in Acts chapter four, when they said keep teaching us, he just kept on preaching to them. Right. 01:12:02.020 |
And then it says this was a trial to you in my bodily condition and you did not despise or loathe, but you receive me as an angel. 01:12:11.020 |
So instead of the despise and loathe, you notice he says, but you receive me. 01:12:16.020 |
So if you'll notice, what I do is I highlight all the key, what they call the syntax or is showing you the relationships. 01:12:25.020 |
And I highlight those in orange so that I can see, hey, is this an example? Is this a contrast? Is this a further reason? 01:12:33.020 |
Is this telling me when? Is this telling me how? Is this telling me why? And all of those are really important. Right. 01:12:40.020 |
Because I want the scripture text, even down to the pronoun to dictate for me what I'm teaching you. 01:12:46.020 |
But more importantly, what I am receiving as a conviction. Right. 01:12:51.020 |
Those are actually some of the ways that I make my sermons, is if I have a certain sermon about, there's a command that tells you be loving. 01:12:59.020 |
And by the pronouns within the text, I'll actually make my points. 01:13:04.020 |
You need to love people. This is how, this is why, this is who, etc. OK. 01:13:09.020 |
Now, for us, by way of quick review, I wanted to just do this to show you how I do things. 01:13:17.020 |
By way of quick review, we're in a segment where Apostle Paul is saying, look at our relationship. It was so good. Right. 01:13:24.020 |
And so by way of overview, this paragraph that we're looking at today is a personal plea with review of the great relationship that they had. 01:13:34.020 |
This was Apostle Paul expressing his heart's intent. 01:13:41.020 |
You know, we can already kind of think in this paragraph, then we're thinking alongside Apostle Paul with the mind of ministry. 01:13:49.020 |
That Apostle Paul, as he's speaking the truth, there's actually no way to detach your personal self from the people you preach to. Right. 01:13:57.020 |
Otherwise, you just wouldn't be a good preacher. 01:14:00.020 |
Now, I think that this segment, even in his personal plea, has three portions to it. 01:14:08.020 |
He describes the blessed relationship in the first portion up to verse 16. 01:14:12.020 |
Then he points to them and says, in our relationship, this relationship is turning sour because of them. 01:14:19.020 |
And those individuals, they're manipulating you. So he points to their manipulation. 01:14:24.020 |
And then he expresses, but this is my heart to you. Right. 01:14:29.020 |
In my preaching, in our relationship, this has been my heart. And he expresses his intention, his desire. OK. 01:14:37.020 |
So with that said, let's jump right into the first portion. 01:14:40.020 |
We're looking at this blessed relationship that we have. 01:14:43.020 |
And if you just notice by the color, the whole majority of it is just, and we had it so good. Right. 01:14:51.020 |
You treated me well, you sacrificed for me, et cetera, et cetera. 01:14:54.020 |
And then at the very end of it, it's like, so, but now I'm your enemy. Right. 01:15:00.020 |
There's almost this tone of this disbelief, frustration, of ridiculousness, almost a sarcasm, like, so I'm the enemy now, you know. 01:15:08.020 |
But let's ask the important question. If Apostle Paul is taking this length to describe the relationship, how good was it? Right. 01:15:16.020 |
How good was the relationship and how does he describe the interaction that even between them? 01:15:22.020 |
And I want to start highlighting it. Right. So the big thing is, he said, man, early on, you did me no wrong. OK. 01:15:29.020 |
And in case the example that he gives, he says in my, in my sickness, rather than despising or loathing. 01:15:39.020 |
And that idea of loathing is very interesting because it describes it as like spitting out something. Right. 01:15:45.020 |
And back then there was so much superstition. There was so much like, oh, my gosh, don't touch me with your sickness. Right. 01:15:52.020 |
Oh, my gosh, that person is a sinner. And that's why they're so sick. 01:15:56.020 |
That person has an evil spirit and that's why they're sick. And so they would literally spit at them or in hopes that the evil demon would be cast out. 01:16:03.020 |
They would do all these things. Right. So rather than doing that, they sacrificed. They bore his burden. Right. 01:16:12.020 |
And now it doesn't even matter necessarily like what kind of sickness it was. Some people think it was malaria. 01:16:18.020 |
Some people think it was like an eye disease because he talks about like, you would have given me your eyes, you know. 01:16:24.020 |
But regardless of how severe or not severe it was, they clearly it was a huge burden on them, but they sacrificed for him. 01:16:31.020 |
And what's more, this portion of it in the previous section was quite wild. Right. 01:16:36.020 |
To what degree did they receive, to what degree did they actually tend to him? 01:16:41.020 |
So as an angel of God and almost like, well, isn't that too much to receive him like Jesus himself? Right. 01:16:51.020 |
You read that and it makes you almost feel like, hmm, should they have done that? You know. 01:16:56.020 |
But what he's saying is, I'm bearing witness and I've received it. So I know and you know just how good we have this relationship. 01:17:07.020 |
In many ways, they were loyal to him. To be willing to be so generous that he says, you would be willing to sacrifice your own eyes for me. 01:17:18.020 |
They experienced a kind of closeness where it was like the great love of the Lord that fills your heart was overflowing to each other. 01:17:25.020 |
They love the message and the messenger. And it was good. Right. 01:17:30.020 |
They had such a love relationship between the two. He described it as like, and I preach to you. I gave you myself. 01:17:37.020 |
And later on, he's going to start talking about, I gave of myself in so many different ways to you. And it was good. 01:17:44.020 |
So, a brief note that I want to make about that is, that's a good thing. 01:17:50.020 |
I hope and pray that our church fellowship would actually be to such a degree where we love the scripture so much, the love of God is overflowing to each other. 01:18:00.020 |
In that, as we fellowship in the word, that kind of intimacy is experienced. It's a good thing. 01:18:07.020 |
Unfortunately, we do kind of live in a generation and time right now where it's my kind of honest assessment that there's a lot of distrust in the generic church. 01:18:17.020 |
There is a lot of distrust. And I can tell when sometimes I meet people, they all start asking questions like, you know, at your church, what kind of safeguards do you have? 01:18:26.020 |
What kind of policies do you have to make sure that the church authority is not abused, etc., etc.? 01:18:32.020 |
And that gives me a clue like, you know, have you had some bad experiences in the past? It makes you a little bit suspicious, you know? 01:18:39.020 |
That kind of doubt and suspicion towards each other is not good. 01:18:44.020 |
Now, I know some things have gotten sour or gone south, and that's why people feel that way. 01:18:50.020 |
But the goal actually is to have such a deep, clear fellowship between the members of the church, right? 01:18:59.020 |
Now, with that said, then his big transition here is to say, we had this sweet relationship, and then there is the two questions. 01:19:11.020 |
And the two questions are, where is it now, right? 01:19:14.020 |
First in verse 15 is, where is that sense of blessing you had? So this is the question here. 01:19:20.020 |
And the second was, so I've become your enemy? 01:19:24.020 |
Now, in thinking about that first question, okay, the first question about the sense of blessing, 01:19:29.020 |
I kind of wonder, how did you take that, like, what did you think that refers to, the sense of blessing, right? 01:19:38.020 |
And there were kind of few options, because you could read it in the way that Apostle Paul may be thinking, 01:19:43.020 |
"Hey, where is that kind of blessed love that you had for me?" 01:19:51.020 |
Where is that kind of friendly, loyal, sacrificial heart that you had towards me? 01:19:56.020 |
But then, the ESV and King James kind of describes it a different way, it's like, where is the sense of blessedness you had? 01:20:03.020 |
I.e., if you really understand the gospel, and all that I was saying before, that you are now sons of God, 01:20:09.020 |
where is that sense of overjoyedness, and blessedness, and happiness in Christ? 01:20:15.020 |
You know? Well, I think, just by way of quickly mentioning, it's okay to think it's both, right? 01:20:25.020 |
Because clearly we know, that when one is incredibly blessed in Christ, that overflows, yes? 01:20:34.020 |
And what's more, the tragic kind of situation we're looking at, is both senses of blessedness are gone. 01:20:43.020 |
Apostle Paul is deeply concerned, because if they go down this route of relying on the flesh, 01:20:48.020 |
trying to seek the approval of men, there is going to be no blessedness, right? 01:20:54.020 |
But what's more, what's happening right now, is this big relationship shift, 01:20:59.020 |
where the enemies, the Judaizers, are trying to win over the Church, and block what Apostle Paul is doing, okay? 01:21:08.020 |
In thinking about this, I want to quickly move to verse 16, where he says, 01:21:16.020 |
"So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?" 01:21:19.020 |
And the question he asks, causes us to think, oh man, did those Judaizers succeed in convincing the Church 01:21:28.020 |
that Apostle Paul is the enemy? That he's the false prophet? 01:21:32.020 |
That he's the one with selfish intentions to, you know, gain something? 01:21:37.020 |
Maybe he's just this egotistical guy, who's proud and has selfish ambition, you know? 01:21:43.020 |
Maybe that is what the Church was tempted to think, okay? 01:21:49.020 |
But what Apostle Paul says is, man, he took that risk. 01:21:55.020 |
He took that challenge, to rebuke a Church that he loves, to speak truth to them, 01:22:03.020 |
knowing that there was the potential of becoming their enemy, right? 01:22:07.020 |
And so at that juncture, I wanted to highlight something by that point of application, you know? 01:22:13.020 |
Every single one of us, to some degree, experiences a level of fear. 01:22:20.020 |
But what's actually interesting, is that a lot of times, that fear is intensified 01:22:29.020 |
And one of the profound examples that I found in the Old Testament, is the prophet Eli. 01:22:36.020 |
You guys know that very famous story that's used often to talk about, like, 01:22:41.020 |
"Hey, listen to God, because He's speaking to you." Right? 01:22:44.020 |
And you guys know the story of Samuel, when he was young, and he heard his name, "Samuel, Samuel." 01:22:49.020 |
And so Samuel woke up, and he said, "Oh, Eli, did you talk to me?" 01:22:52.020 |
And he was like, "No." Right? And it was God speaking. 01:22:55.020 |
And what's crazy about that scene, is God was calling Samuel to speak judgment against Eli. 01:23:02.020 |
And that judgment was incredibly, incredibly intense. 01:23:07.020 |
He says, "In that day, I'll carry out against Eli all that I've spoken concerning his house, 01:23:13.020 |
from the beginning to the end, for I have told him that I'm about to judge his house forever 01:23:18.020 |
for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, 01:23:25.020 |
Therefore, I have sworn to the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house 01:23:30.020 |
shall not be atoned for by any sacrifice or any offering." 01:23:38.020 |
Eli essentially knew that his sons were offering up false sacrifices, and he says, 01:23:44.020 |
"Because you didn't rebuke them, you are going to be judged." 01:23:51.020 |
First Samuel 2.29 says, "Why do you kick out my sacrifice and my offering, 01:23:55.020 |
which I have commanded in my dwelling, and honor your sons above me 01:23:59.020 |
by making yourselves fat with the choices of every offering of my people?" 01:24:08.020 |
And God says to him, "Your whole lineage, there's not going to be a man in his prime, 01:24:13.020 |
because I will cut every single one of them." 01:24:16.020 |
That's one of the scariest things I've heard. Right? 01:24:22.020 |
sometimes actually the people who are closest to us, 01:24:26.020 |
where the relationship is too valuable to lose, 01:24:30.020 |
will become the hardest moments for us to speak truth. 01:24:33.020 |
And by way of applicational question, I want to ask you guys to discuss, 01:24:38.020 |
in what ways can you improve upon your ability to speak truth and love, 01:24:47.020 |
The fear of losing a valuable relationship by speaking so. 01:24:58.020 |
So, if you look at 17.18, it says here that they, 01:25:02.020 |
"Eagerly seek you, but not commendably, but they wish to shut you out, 01:25:13.020 |
that these false teachers aren't actually just trying to spread ideology. 01:25:29.020 |
is they're really targeting impressionable people, 01:25:35.020 |
has been raising them, teaching them, etc, etc, 01:25:38.020 |
and now he's losing them to these false teachers. 01:25:42.020 |
There's another passage that has a very similar tone, 01:25:47.020 |
"Here, for this third time, I am ready to come to you, 01:25:50.020 |
and I will not be a burden to you, for I do not seek what is yours, but you." 01:25:55.020 |
Okay? "For children are not responsible to save up for their parents, 01:26:04.020 |
"I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. 01:26:11.020 |
So there is this kind of taking a personal tone, 01:26:18.020 |
are we supposed to never take everything personal? 01:26:29.020 |
But in thinking about this, this is the sentiment and tone, 01:26:32.020 |
that like a parent losing their teenage kids, 01:26:41.020 |
and all of a sudden, at some junction in their lives, 01:26:50.020 |
That's probably what this is feeling like. Okay? 01:26:56.020 |
As Apostle Paul is pointing at the Judaizers, 01:27:02.020 |
What is their way of trying to win the people's hearts? 01:27:08.020 |
And I thought it was really interesting. Right? 01:27:10.020 |
Number one, they're eagerly desiring to seek them, 01:27:20.020 |
but it's like a zealous kind of fake flattery, 01:27:27.020 |
And then you look at what they're doing, it says, 01:27:31.020 |
make you feel like you're not part of the team, 01:27:33.020 |
so that you'd be like, "Oh, come on, let me in." Right? 01:27:38.020 |
"This is a classic case of hard to get." Right? 01:27:42.020 |
"We're so cool, you want to be a part of us?" 01:27:54.020 |
I don't know how that all played out." Right? 01:28:00.020 |
"Man, is it really that easy to manipulate people?" 01:28:20.020 |
And all they have to do is walk around a little huddle, 01:28:27.020 |
Think about how easy it is sometimes to manipulate us. 01:28:34.020 |
what they're doing is they're trying to elicit in you this need. 01:28:38.020 |
And then you think about it again, going back, 01:28:41.020 |
Apostle Peter, even the leaders within the Jerusalem church, yes? 01:28:46.020 |
And so, you know, we have to definitely ask ourselves, like, 01:29:11.020 |
In the academic world, you don't want to look stupid, 01:29:14.020 |
so sometimes you just parrot things that other people say, 01:29:19.020 |
Are we not susceptible to that kind of stuff? 01:29:22.020 |
I mean, in as much as I want to think that, like, 01:29:28.020 |
I don't care, and as Apostle Paul says in chapter 1, verse 10, 01:29:32.020 |
And I'm sitting here like, no, I just seek God's approval. 01:29:35.020 |
And yet, I have crazy FOMO, I have crazy, like, 01:29:41.020 |
And so I just want to ask you guys that question 01:29:47.020 |
in which we're very gullible and easily manipulated? 01:29:56.020 |
And then, in verse 18, he says something kind of interesting, 01:30:05.020 |
He says, it's good always to be eagerly sought 01:30:13.020 |
So my guess is some of you guys have to sit there 01:30:25.020 |
that Paul, it's funny, right, because he's seeking them. 01:31:04.020 |
And a funny, funny example or corollary would be 01:31:13.020 |
My favorite pastime was to talk about your dating drama. 01:31:41.020 |
"It's good for you to be led and get advice that way. 01:31:47.020 |
"and they're like, 'Oh, I'm so happy for you. 01:31:54.020 |
Whatever it is, they just give all these crazy, 01:32:00.020 |
That would be the sentiment of Apostle Paul here. 01:32:13.020 |
who don't actually have a good intention for you, 01:32:20.020 |
he now turns the picture on his heart and says, 01:32:25.020 |
He is very personally expressing his heart's intent. 01:32:36.020 |
of Apostle Paul's heart and intent for this church, 01:33:00.020 |
but he's talking to full-grown adults saying, 01:33:17.020 |
of bringing this baby into this world, right? 01:33:42.020 |
because this is his great goal and intention. 01:34:09.020 |
"I will labor until Christ is formed in you." 01:34:24.020 |
Let there be no division amongst the Christian body. 01:36:10.020 |
is to be with those who are constantly screaming. 01:36:35.020 |
"and your works and listening to these bozos, 01:39:52.020 |
what in the world kind of stupid flattery is that? 01:39:57.020 |
And I realized there is a temptation to do that. 01:41:19.020 |
for the church who's maybe becoming defensive, 01:41:29.020 |
And also we know you've placed us in this church 01:41:44.020 |
that God, we would truly be submissive to your truth.