Free to Grow

We have been saved by grace; that much is clear. But Paul's burden for the church at Galatia is for them to realize what it means to live by that grace—not as slaves to religion, but as sons in a relationship to God; and not for earthly pleasure, but for a heavenly home. For many of us, there is so much room to grow in this area.

So the first prayer in this passage is that God would show us how to walk in His grace. Here is the second.

God, Help Us to Trust in Your Word

Galatians 4:12-16

We've taken verses 8-11 and 21-31 somewhat like bookends on this section of Galatians 4. Now we need to look in between at verses 12-20. Paul commends the Galatian believers in verses 12-16.

In verse 12 Paul talks about how he became like the Galatians in order to lead them to Christ. In other words, Paul, a Jewish man, when he went into Gentile contexts, didn't follow all of his Jewish customs. Instead, he put them aside in order to show that salvation was not dependent on these things. Now he's pleading with the Galatians to do the same—to stop living like they needed to do certain things in the law in order to be saved.

In verses 13-14 Paul talks about how he first met the Galatians. The apostle was sick. Some scholars think he had malaria, others have suggested other illnesses, but whatever Paul's issue was, it was apparently pretty bad, almost repulsive. Yet the Christians there had accepted him, even when it wasn't easy to do so. And they did so with joy, verse 15 says, even sacrificing themselves for his sake. But apparently they seemed to be almost rejecting Paul now, turning their backs on him, treating him as an enemy (v. 16). This made Paul perplexed, confused, and in a sense, heartbroken.

Paul's trials remind us that we need God to help us trust in His Word. By that I mean God must help us to live it when it's not easy. What Paul was asking these Galatians to do—to leave behind Jewish customs and rules—was not easy, particularly when there were teachers in the church saying these customs and rules were necessary for salvation. This was not easy at all, which is probably why Paul implies in verse 12 that living and preaching like this wasn't easy for him. For instance, Paul was ostracized in many ways for reaching out to Gentiles like he did. He was ostracized first of all by the Jewish establishment for coming to Christ, for leaving Judaism to follow what they perceived of basically as a cult. And then after he became a Christian and a part of the church, he was ostracized by Jewish Christians for reaching out to Gentile Christians. It wasn't easy to convert to Christianity in the first century, particularly if you had to leave Jewish customs and rules embedded in an old covenant in order to be a part of a new covenant. In verse 29 Paul gives the example of Ishmael persecuting Isaac to make this very point. This is what happens when you walk by grace and live according to the Word by faith. You will be persecuted.

Interestingly, persecution comes not only from the world, but also from the religious establishment around you. This is a theme that runs throughout the Bible. The prophets were persecuted, and who was it that persecuted them? Was it the surrounding Gentile nations? No, it was the ruling Jewish establishment. Jesus was persecuted, and by whom? By the Pharisees and religious leaders of the day who instigated His execution. In a similar way, Paul was persecuted by these Judaizers. What's the common theme? When you start to live radically by grace, it will cost you. Sure, it will cost you in the outside world, but you'll receive the most trouble from the religious world around you. Throughout the history of God's people, some of the greatest struggles have not come from the outside, but from the inside. This continues to be true today: when people start to really trust in God's Word, when people start taking it at face value and believing it and living it, then there will be religious people who will rise up and make some noise. You will be resisted by the religious establishment when you start to live out the Word. You may even be ostracized, discounted, and labeled a fanatic. The question for us is, Will we live according to God's Word even when it's not easy? For this we need God's help.

Not only do we need God to help us to live out the truth when it's not easy, but we also need God to help us to hear it when it's not popular. Paul closes out verse 16 by saying, "Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?" This is what I love about Paul. He has said some hard things to the Galatians, not because he hates them, but because he loves them. Paul was willing to risk his own reputation with the Galatians by telling them the truth instead of telling them what they wanted to hear. This is a good reminder for me or any teacher of the Bible. People love a preacher or a teacher who says just what they want to hear. You can draw the crowds, gain the accolades, and have everything go smoothly as long as you tell people what they want to hear. But when you tell the truth, people will look at you like you're their enemy. So the question for every Bible teacher and preacher is this: Do you (or I) want to be popular or do we want to be faithful? I want to be faithful to God's Word more than I want to be pleasing in people's opinion. As long as God's Word is guiding us, let's ask God to help us hear it and receive it, even when it's not popular.

In verse 17 Paul talks about the strategy of the Judaizers. They sounded like they cared for these believers, but in fact they did not care. Actually, they are leading the Galatians down a road that leads to hell. The Galatians don't want to hear Paul when he tells them their "friends" are wicked; on the contrary, they suspect Paul's motives. Therefore, Paul pleads with the Galatians not to see him as their enemy, telling them of his love. He wanted them to hear and receive the truth and reject the harmful lies. We too must be faithful to the Word, even when it exposes blind spots and areas of our lives that need radical adjustment. Even when it contains truths that you, or frankly I, may not want to hear.

God, Give Us Great Zeal for Your Purpose

Galatians 4:17-20

We come now to verses 17-20 in this passage. In verse 18 Paul says that it's good to have zeal—we need to be zealous—as long as it's for the right purpose. Then in verse 19 Paul talks about what he's zealous for. He brings in the imagery of giving birth, saying, "I am again suffering labor pains for you until Christ is formed in you" (v. 19).

Based on this verse, we pray that God would give us a passion to be conformed to the image of Christ. The key word here is "formed" (morphoo), which refers to shaping us. More than anything, Paul wanted Christ used as a mold to shape the lives of the Galatians. Paul wants them to be like Christ. We're reminded of Paul's words in 2:20, where he speaks of Christ living in him. Similarly, in 2 Corinthians 4:10 Paul speaks of the purpose of the sufferings of the apostles: "so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body." This is the freedom that Paul is talking about—Christ shaping us, molding us, changing us, and forming us into His image so that we might be liberated to experience life in Him, for Him, through Him, by Him, and with Him. This is my prayer for the church I pastor, that Christ would be formed in them.

When Christ is formed in us, which only happens by the Word, this affects our proclamation. So we pray that God would give us a passion to see others transformed for the glory of Christ. We hear Paul's heart at this point. According to Galatians 4:19, this is what he labors and experiences pain for, what he wants more than anything else. Like a mother who longs, even through pain, to give birth to a child, Paul longed to see the Galatians transformed for the glory of Christ. This ought to be the heart of every pastor and also of every follower of Christ. We should pray for each other, teach each other, and model the Christ-life before each other because we want others to be transformed. We are not followers of Christ merely for our own sake. We are here together, for each other. Our churches ought to be communities that weep with each other, plead with each other, confront each other when necessary, pray with each other, and exhort each other. And we do all of this because we want to see each other transformed, not into our own image or some pre-fabricated image of what our culture says we should look like, but instead into the image of Christ. Paul says that he will not be satisfied until that happens. May God help us to be a people who are not satisfied until Christ is formed in us, until we take on the shape of Christ.

Reflect and Discuss