Galatians 4:8-18

The Sentimental Argument

Open your Bible to…

John 13:35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Pray

Intro

√ The sentimental argument

Up to this point Paul’s arguments for the defense of the Gospel of Grace have been based purely on logic.

That is, he’s simply presenting the cold objective facts for our consideration.

However, in his next argument he tries another tact to win the Galatians back from legalism and that is he appeals to their mutual love for one another.

We call it the sentimental argument.

That is, Paul has appealed to their minds…

…now he is going to appeal to their hearts.

His purpose is to remind the Christians in Galatia of the strong bond of love that they shared with him and to take that into consideration when judging between himself and the Judaizers.

To remember that he had demonstrated a pure and holy motivation when he first brought them the Good News.

That they had responded in like manner to him and received the Good News in part because they knew that Paul was sincere in his concern for their spiritual well being.

Paul’s hope was that they would then see the vivid contrast between his motives and the motives of the Judaizers who really didn’t care a flip about the Galatians.

To Paul the Galatians were his spiritual children.

To the Judaizers the Galatians were just notches on their spiritual belts.

This section reminds us of the central importance of true agape love in our witness.

Ap. Won by love ~ the value of the sentimental argument

We can win an argument with our well prepared Biblical evidence and still not win the soul of the person we’re speaking to.

On the other hand we’ll find that even the heart of the hardest atheist can be melted by sincere love.

So, don’t neglect knowledge but make sure that it’s expressed with the love of Christ for it’s hard to win the lost if they don’t know we love them!

He Laments Their Regression (vs. 8-11)

Gal. 4:8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.

Gal. 4:9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?

Gal. 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years.

Gal. 4:11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

√ He laments their regression

Paul’s love for the Galatians shows through in these verses, but especially so in vs. 11 where he writes…

“I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.”

Like any parent Paul was fearful for his spiritual children and the consequences they would suffer if they continued on their present path toward legalism.

Ex. Your adult children

Ask any parent when they stop worrying about their kids…

…the answer, never!

As parents we do our best to raise our kids to grow up and make good decisions.

But, it seems that every one of us has to learn some lessons the hard way…

…by trail and error!

For parents it’s hard to watch our kids make bad choices and suffer the consequences.

You think…

“if only they had listened to our advise then they wouldn’t be going through this hard time.”

You wonder whether or not all your words were wasted because it seems like they are determined to prove your wisdom wrong!

That’s the message Paul is expressing here!

He was fearful that all he had taught the Galatians about God’s gift of Grace was wasted effort because it looked like they were going to ignore his wisdom and take up the heavy burden of the Law.

That made him sad because he knew from personal experience what a burden it is to live under the Law!

√ The path of regression

In verses 8-10 Paul recounts the Galatians path of spiritual growth and regression so that they might see how far they had fallen from Grace.

1. How Paul found them ~ without Grace

In vs. 8 he reminds them of their spiritual condition when he first came to Galatia…

“But, then indeed when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.” ~ vs. 8

That is, they were rank pagans!

They worshipped nature, idols made of rock, wood and metal.

They lived in constant fear of their false gods and what harm they might inflict upon them or their families.

They had no hope of heaven, no contentment in life, and no balm for their guilty conscience.

Then Paul showed up and brought them freedom through the Gospel of Grace revealing a God…

“Who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…”

The Galatians rejoiced to discover that God loved them!

2) How Paul left them ~ living in Grace

Paul reminds them that they had a real experience with God when they believed in the message of Grace that he preached!

“But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God…” ~ vs. 9a

That is, what they experienced was real! When they turned from their false gods and trusted in Jesus they…

Were filled with the Holy Spirit

Knew that they were forgiven

Had their consciences cleared

Saw and experienced God’s power in their daily lives

They knew God because they now had a relationship with Him!

They knew God’s love

That’s how Paul had left them! They had a joyful and power-filled relationship with God through Grace.

3) How Paul hears of them ~ fallen from Grace

It’s not clear how Paul heard of the problems in the churches in Galatia.

We don’t know if he had visited with them, or if they had sent him a letter telling him about their new doctrines, or if one of Paul’s associates had visited Galatia and brought news to him.

But somehow Paul heard what they had been taught and how they were now practicing their faith, so he writes…

“how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years.” ~ vs. 9b-10

The term “weak and beggarly elements” tells us just how far they had fallen from Grace! It means that they had turned from…

The freedom of Grace to the bondage of the Law.

The power of the Gospel to the weakness of Man to keep the Law.

The spiritual wealth found in a relationship with Christ to the poverty of empty religious ritual.

In effect they were now trying to please God by using the same methods they had employed in the worship of their false gods!

√ Weak and beggarly elements

Fortunately we aren’t left to wonder what the Galatian Christians were doing because Paul identifies what the “weak and beggarly elements” are in vs. 10…

“You observe days and months and seasons and years.”

That is, they were following the Jewish religious calendar that Moses gave to Israel (ref. Deut), celebrating…

Sabbaths

New Moons

Annual festivals of the Jews (Passover, Pentecost, etc.)

It would be safe to conclude that they were also practicing all of the laws and traditions associated with the keeping of these celebrations…

No work on Sabbath

No lighting a fire on the Sabbath

No yeast during the feast of unleavened bread

The bottom line is that they were Gentiles trying to live like Jews under the Law!

Worse, they believed that by so doing they were pleasing to God and superior to other Christians!

That was evidence that they had fallen from Grace for all of these things they thought were important were only shadows of the truth, as Paul wrote to the Colossians…

Col. 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,

Col. 2:17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

Ap. What’s appropriate for us?

Paul’s discussion brings up a good question, is it wrong for Christians to celebrate special days or seasons like Easter and Christmas?

The answer really depends on our attitude!

That is, if we celebrate Passover, or Pentecost, or even Christmas believing that we’re going to gain some special favor from God…

Then we’re sinning because we’re no longer trusting in God’s Grace but in our own effort to gain his favor.

If we celebrate a holiday to recognize the work of God and to rejoice in His gift of Grace…

Then there’s no problem because the celebration is simply an experience that enriches our faith and trust in God.

Ex. Christ in the Passover

We conduct a Seder and go through the prayers, the meal and the liturgy so as to better understand the meaning of the Last Supper…

…and to be enriched in our faith by the incredible symbols within the Passover meal that point to Jesus Christ as the Passover Lamb!

He Seeks Their Affection (vs. 12-18)

Gal. 4:12 Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all.

Gal. 4:13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.

Gal. 4:14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

Gal. 4:15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.

Gal. 4:16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

Gal. 4:17 They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.

Gal. 4:18 But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.

√ He seeks their affection

You can feel Paul’s pain in these verses as he reaches out to his friends in Galatia.

He wonders what happened to their love for him…

…and how he had wronged them that they were now willing to cast off their friendship with him for their new relationship with the false teachers.

Note Paul’s love for them in vs. 12…

“Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you…”

Or as the NLT puts it…

“Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles were—free from the law.”

Paul’s point is that when he first came to them he didn’t separate himself from them as the Judaizers did…

…rather, he demonstrated his love for them by embracing them and living as they did!

He ate with them

He ate their food

He lived in their homes

Things that the Jewish legalist would never do!

But Paul was willing to make himself like a Gentile so that he would not offend them and thereby be able to share the Gospel with them!

He proved his love for them by his willingness to live as they did!

Ex. Hudson Taylor in China

√ Their love for Paul

Paul then reminds his friends that they had a mutual love for one another, that is it wasn’t just Paul who loved them…

…rather, the Galatians had a deep affection for Paul too as demonstrated by the way that they treated him when he first visited them.

Gal. 4:13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.

Gal. 4:14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

Gal. 4:15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.

Unfortunately we don’t know the exact nature of Paul’s illness, but whatever it was it forced him to spend some unplanned time in Galatia during his 1^st Missionary journey (Acts 13-14).

From the description of his illness it sounds like Paul was not a pleasant sight to behold (vs. 14).

Vs. 14 also implies that he had some problem with his eyes and that it was bad enough that his new friends would have given them their own eyes if they could have!

So picture a guy with a pair of bloodshot, goopy, oozing eyes ~ that was how Paul looked when he showed up in Galatia!

His point is that as bad off as he was the people of Galatia demonstrated their true love for him through their hospitality and care.

Now he wants to know…

…what happened to that love!?

What had changed since Paul’s departure that would cause them to reject him now? Vs. 16 and 17 tells us what happened…

Gal. 4:16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

Gal. 4:17 They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.

The false teachers had stolen their hearts!

The first step in promoting their false doctrines was that they had to discredit Paul…

…his calling, his authority, his message and his love for them!

Through their smooth words and half-truths they planted doubt in the minds of Paul’s friends about his true intentions and love for them.

It’s the same trick that Satan used on Eve…

“Has God really said?” ~ Gen. 3:1

And…

“Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ~ Gen. 3:4-5

Satan called into question the word of God and the goodness of God through his subtle lies.

Adam and Eve bought it and believed that God was somehow holding out on them…

…and that He didn’t really love them.

That was the same tactics of the false teachers.

They called into question the word that Paul preached and his goodness toward them.

They bought it and rejected Paul to embrace the false teachers.

Ex. Mike sharing about Kay’s response

“Oh Mike, we trust your love”

Ap. Don’t believe everything you hear (or read on a blog!)

Rather, look objectively at the life of the person being attacked and ask yourself if the accusations ring true with what you know about them.

If the accusations don’t match what you know to be true of that person’s character then stop reading the stupid blog and listening to the self-proclaimed preacher of truth because it’s just slander!

That’s what Paul was asking his friends in Galatia to do…

…to evaluate what they knew to be true about him against the accusations of the false teachers.

If they would do that then they would realize that Paul was the one who really loved them, not the Judaizers!

While Paul may have had to say and write some difficult things for them to hear it was all motivated by his pure love for them, as the Proverbs remind us…

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend,

But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” ~ Pro. 27:6

Paul proved his love for them by telling them the truth! While they might not like what he wrote to them it didn’t mean that he didn’t love them!

If they rejected his love and continued to enjoy the “kisses” of the Judaizers they would suffer for it.

They would find themselves in bondage instead of freedom.

They would move from being sons to slaves.

It’s not that they would lose their salvation, but they would lose the enjoyment of it!

Close

√ The sentimental argument

The sentimental argument…

That is, Paul had appealed to their minds…

…now he is appeals to their hearts.

His purpose is to remind the Christians in Galatia of the strong bond of love that they shared with him and to take that into consideration when judging between himself and the Judaizers.

To remember that he had demonstrated a pure and holy motivation when he first brought them the Good News.

That they had responded in like manner to him and received the Good News in part because they knew that Paul was sincere in his concern for their spiritual well being.

Paul’s hope was that they would then see the vivid contrast between his motives and the motives of the Judaizers who really didn’t care a flip about the Galatians.

Ap. Don’t believe everything you hear and read!