WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.560 Well, good morning, church. It's good to see you all this morning. Would you turn with me to 00:00:05.560 --> 00:00:12.800 ! the book of Galatians chapter 4. We are looking at verses 8 through 20 today. That's page 915 in the 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:26.000 Pew Bible. Galatians 4, verses 8 through 20. Let me pray as we come to God's Word. Father, what a wonderful 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:34.899 mystery it is that you and your grace have made us one, one with you and one with each other. 00:00:36.120 --> 00:00:43.500 Lord, as we come now to your life-giving Word, we ask that it would teach us, instruct us, encourage 00:00:43.500 --> 00:00:51.700 us, comfort us, lift our eyes to see you and the things of you more clearly so that we might live 00:00:51.700 --> 00:00:58.200 out this life that you've called us to live in a way that honors you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:00:59.980 --> 00:01:03.560 All right, Galatians 4, 8 through 20. Let me read this for us. Paul says, 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:11.420 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not God's. 00:01:12.520 --> 00:01:20.500 But now that you have come to know God, or rather be known by God, how can you turn back again to the 00:01:20.500 --> 00:01:25.680 weak and worthless elementary principles of the world whose slaves you want to be once more? 00:01:26.680 --> 00:01:34.659 You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. 00:01:36.260 --> 00:01:44.180 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. 00:01:44.579 --> 00:01:48.240 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:54.280 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me 00:01:54.280 --> 00:02:02.060 as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you 00:02:02.060 --> 00:02:07.259 that if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. Have I then become your 00:02:07.259 --> 00:02:18.099 enemy by telling you the truth? They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out. 00:02:18.099 --> 00:02:24.500 That you may make much of them. It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, 00:02:25.180 --> 00:02:31.639 and not only when I am present with you, my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:39.919 childbirth until Christ is formed in you. I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:44.000 for I am perplexed about you. 00:02:46.699 --> 00:02:54.060 Well, up until this point in the book of Galatians, we've seen a number of hats that Paul has worn, 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:58.219 haven't we? We've seen Paul the theologian as he's expounded on the deep doctrines of the gospel. 00:02:58.379 --> 00:03:03.779 We've seen Paul the biblical exegete as he's unfolded how the Scriptures fit together to hold up 00:03:03.780 --> 00:03:12.139 the gospel of Jesus Christ. But this passage today gives us a unique picture of Paul the pastor, 00:03:12.819 --> 00:03:19.259 Paul the shepherd. Paul is pouring out his heart in deep concern for the people he loves. 00:03:20.759 --> 00:03:24.020 But, you know, passages like this, they aren't just about Paul, 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:28.360 and they don't just apply to people who work in full-time ministry. 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:36.100 What we know from the New Testament is that every member of the body of Christ is a minister. 00:03:37.420 --> 00:03:41.900 We are all called to build one another up in the faith. 00:03:43.100 --> 00:03:47.960 So, a passage like this that gives us a window into what gospel ministry meant for Paul, 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:51.080 it helps us in our gospel ministry today. 00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:59.680 Do you realize that you have a vital part to play in building the church, 00:04:00.320 --> 00:04:06.380 in helping others come to fullness in Christ? So, this passage is for you. 00:04:08.140 --> 00:04:14.360 And we're going to look at three things about gospel ministry that we see in this passage. 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:20.180 We're going to look at the message of gospel ministry, then we're going to look at the method 00:04:20.180 --> 00:04:24.960 of gospel ministry, and then we're going to look at the goal of gospel ministry. So, 00:04:25.020 --> 00:04:28.800 let's look at each of those three things together. So, the first thing we see in this passage is the 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:33.699 message of gospel ministry, the message. This is verses 8 through 11. And if we were to summarize 00:04:33.699 --> 00:04:42.740 the message in one word, I think that word would be freedom. The message of gospel ministry is a 00:04:42.740 --> 00:04:46.780 message of freedom. Now, where do we see that? Well, notice, we kind of see it by way of contrast. 00:04:47.139 --> 00:04:48.639 Notice that Paul says in verse 8, he says, 00:04:48.780 --> 00:04:55.079 formerly before hearing and believing the gospel, you were what? Enslaved. And then in verse 9, 00:04:55.139 --> 00:05:00.160 he says, how could you want to leave the gospel and go back to being what? To being slaves. 00:05:01.319 --> 00:05:07.439 In other words, the gospel brings freedom. Now, Paul starts in verse 8 by saying that the gospel 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:12.460 message is a message of freedom from idolatry, right? Now that you've come to know 00:05:12.459 --> 00:05:20.339 the one true God, you don't have to live in the slavery of making money or sex or power or people 00:05:20.339 --> 00:05:25.180 your God. You don't have to get your life significance or meaning from those things. 00:05:25.219 --> 00:05:30.199 You don't have to be chained by those empty things that don't last and don't satisfy anymore. 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:34.899 You know, because these things, right, they promise life, they promise happiness, 00:05:34.899 --> 00:05:41.699 but then they ask for more and more and more and more. But in return, they give less and less and less 00:05:41.699 --> 00:05:52.060 less. And the gospel says you can be free from that. You can know God, the true God. You can know 00:05:52.060 --> 00:05:57.860 the God who gives life and breath to everything and who will satisfy your soul and heal your heart 00:05:57.860 --> 00:06:05.120 because you were actually made for Him. Now, here's the thing, as we think about the freedom of a 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:13.040 gospel message. I think most people may expect Christianity to be a message of freedom a little 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:19.040 bit like that, right? Freedom from idolatry, freedom from lawlessness, freedom from immorality, like 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:23.959 freedom from living for yourself and for the world. After all, that's sort of what we think religion's 00:06:23.959 --> 00:06:29.240 all about, right? It means stopping all the immoral things and then turning around and living a very moral 00:06:29.240 --> 00:06:37.740 and upright life. So that first kind of freedom sort of seems, yeah, we get that. But here's what makes 00:06:37.740 --> 00:06:44.819 the message of Christianity so unique. According to the New Testament, there are actually two ways to 00:06:44.819 --> 00:06:52.120 be a slave. There are actually two ways to be lost. One sort of slavery, one sort of lostness, yes, 00:06:52.120 --> 00:07:00.379 it looks very immoral, very worldly. It's full of idolatry. But the other sort of slavery is actually 00:07:00.379 --> 00:07:10.600 very outwardly moral and very religious. That's what we see here. Look at verse 9. Paul says to the 00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:17.139 Galatians, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world whose 00:07:17.139 --> 00:07:23.979 slaves you want to be wants more? So Paul's very clear that these formerly pagan Galatian Christians 00:07:23.979 --> 00:07:28.719 are in danger now of leaving the gospel and returning to slavery. But how are they now in 00:07:28.719 --> 00:07:34.759 danger of returning to slavery? Are they being tempted to turn back to those same pagan idols that 00:07:34.759 --> 00:07:38.939 they used to serve, the gods of love and lust and war and sex and power and people and empire? 00:07:39.560 --> 00:07:44.620 Are they going back to those old immoralities and lawlessnesses? No, that's actually not what's 00:07:44.620 --> 00:07:51.079 going on. On the surface, the Galatians are doing the exact opposite. They're actually trying to keep 00:07:51.079 --> 00:07:59.420 all the laws. They're trying to be very moral. But they're doing those things as if that's what's 00:07:59.420 --> 00:08:06.540 going to make them acceptable to God. Verse 10, Paul says, you're observing days and months and seasons 00:08:06.540 --> 00:08:11.819 and years. In other words, Paul's saying you're being persuaded to keep all those old prescriptions 00:08:11.819 --> 00:08:17.920 and regulations and calendars of the old Mosaic law. And Paul is here warning them and saying, 00:08:18.339 --> 00:08:23.639 look, if you are seeking justification by works of the law, that is tantamount to returning to the 00:08:23.639 --> 00:08:32.200 slavery of idolatry. If you turn from law breaking and just jump right into law keeping as your means of 00:08:32.200 --> 00:08:36.639 righteousness, as your means of identity before God, then you've fallen right back into slavery. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:45.939 Because just like idolatry, legalism, works-based salvation, external religion, 00:08:46.840 --> 00:08:55.699 it will always ask for more and more and more. After all, how good is good enough? 00:08:58.659 --> 00:09:04.319 How many of the laws do you need to keep? How well do you need to keep them? What level of 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:13.560 sincerity do you need to practice them? To go from idolatry and immorality to external religion and 00:09:13.560 --> 00:09:17.480 works-based salvation to being very, very, very moral as if that's what's going to save you is 00:09:17.480 --> 00:09:26.420 just to go from one slavery to another. But friends, hear this. The message of gospel ministry is not 00:09:26.419 --> 00:09:31.919 stop being immoral and work harder at pleasing and knowing God. 00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:41.539 In fact, at the heart level, that kind of works-based salvation is really not very different from 00:09:41.539 --> 00:09:51.719 idolatry because when I live as if God's approval must be won through my performance, when I live as 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:58.420 if God's blessing and favor must be kind of secured or held down by my efforts, when I ride that rollercoaster, 00:09:59.420 --> 00:10:05.759 then I'm functionally trying to be my own Savior, right? I'm acting as if I can cross the gap 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:16.080 between myself and God, which is to say I'm acting as if I'm God enough to reach God, 00:10:16.740 --> 00:10:23.139 which is itself a form of idolatry. I'm putting myself in the place of God. 00:10:25.639 --> 00:10:28.340 You know, it's sort of like watching old basketball reruns with your friend. 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:32.559 You're watching old Chicago Bulls clips and Michael Jordan sort of doing his thing, 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:36.799 shooting, scoring, winning championships, being the greatest of all time. He's doing his thing, 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:42.019 right? Then your friend turns to you and says, I could do that. You look at your friend, you're like, 00:10:42.319 --> 00:10:48.319 who do you think you are? You're no MJ. There's no way that you could cross the gap between your 00:10:48.319 --> 00:10:58.619 lame game and his. You cannot be MJ enough to outgame MJ. But is it not then even more ridiculous to think 00:10:58.620 --> 00:11:05.179 that we could cross the infinite gap between ourselves as sinful human beings and the holy God, 00:11:06.860 --> 00:11:09.919 who, as George prayed so beautifully, dwells in an unapproachable light, 00:11:10.460 --> 00:11:18.960 to think that we could somehow be God enough to span the infinite moral distance between God and 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:29.740 ourselves? But the message of Christianity, the message of gospel ministry, is freedom from all 00:11:29.740 --> 00:11:39.060 that legalism, which is just a covert form of idolatry. The message of gospel ministry is freedom 00:11:39.060 --> 00:11:44.060 from the hamster wheel of trying to perform and earn our way into God's favor. It's freedom from 00:11:44.059 --> 00:11:55.739 trying to be God. How? Because as the beginning of verse 9 says, the gospel is not just a message 00:11:55.739 --> 00:12:04.239 that we human beings can know God. It is not just a message that we human beings can know God. 00:12:05.079 --> 00:12:10.419 I mean, nearly every religion, by the way, claims to be a way to know God, doesn't it? Whether it's the 00:12:10.419 --> 00:12:17.019 five pillars of Islam or the eightfold path of Buddhism, but the gospel isn't just a message 00:12:17.019 --> 00:12:26.479 that we humans can know God. Listen to what verse 9 says, now that you've come to know God, or rather, 00:12:27.779 --> 00:12:29.339 be known by God. 00:12:32.740 --> 00:12:37.480 Christianity is not a message that says, here are the steps, here are the paths, here are the practices, 00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:43.480 so that you can climb the ladder and know God at the top. No. It's the message that God has actually 00:12:43.480 --> 00:12:53.800 come down and knows us intimately, savingly, covenantally. Just as there's a big difference 00:12:53.800 --> 00:12:59.620 between knowing about God and truly knowing God, there's a really, really big difference between 00:12:59.620 --> 00:13:13.320 saying, I know God and God knows me. And that's the message of gospel ministry. It's the freedom 00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:24.980 from both lawlessness and from legalism that comes when you can say, because of Christ, God knows me. 00:13:24.980 --> 00:13:34.159 Now, I don't just know God as beautiful as that is, but I've come to be known by God. This is the 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:40.860 freedom of a relationship of love, where the initiative is all God's, where God crosses the 00:13:40.860 --> 00:13:46.279 infinite gap between His holiness and your sinfulness in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, 00:13:46.279 --> 00:13:53.759 and where in Christ, God takes hold of you, and He takes responsibility for all your sins by dying 00:13:53.759 --> 00:14:01.459 on the cross, and He clothes you with His righteousness, so that now, because God knows you, 00:14:02.779 --> 00:14:08.980 you're actually no longer a slave. You're no longer a servant. You're no longer just trying to earn 00:14:08.980 --> 00:14:14.699 your place in the family of God, afraid that maybe one day you might sort of be let go when someone 00:14:14.700 --> 00:14:22.200 more suitable comes along, right? You're no longer a servant. Your place in God's family is no longer 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:31.320 conditional on your performance, because now God knows you. You're a son. You're a daughter. 00:14:32.780 --> 00:14:36.160 And if you are His son, if you are His daughter, if you are known by God, 00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:40.280 then as Paul said in the passage we looked at last week, then you are heirs of His kingdom, 00:14:40.279 --> 00:14:48.759 and you're free. Free from the lawlessness of idolatry to live now for God and His holiness, 00:14:49.379 --> 00:14:54.220 and free from all the pride and anxiety of legalism to live now with God in joy. 00:14:58.179 --> 00:15:04.139 Okay, so as we take up our gospel ministry as a church, how is it that we talk about this message 00:15:04.139 --> 00:15:12.299 that we have? What message do we actually share? Do we talk about it merely as a set of rules? 00:15:12.919 --> 00:15:16.460 Do this, don't do this. Here are the things that are really bad. Here are the things that are really 00:15:16.460 --> 00:15:23.159 good that you have to do. Or do we talk about it sort of as a bunch of spiritual practices? You have 00:15:23.159 --> 00:15:28.200 to come to church. You have to read your Bible. You have to do this, do that, take communion, 00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:35.140 get baptized, right? Or do we talk about a bunch of social goals and ways we want to change the 00:15:35.140 --> 00:15:41.060 culture, right? This policy, that program, this thing. Is that all we talk about? 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:51.240 Do we just present Christianity as if it's one more external legal code? 00:15:51.240 --> 00:16:02.159 Or do we proclaim the message as what it really is? A relationship with a living and true God, 00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:10.220 a relationship achieved and secured wholly through the work of Jesus and not through our own. A whole 00:16:10.220 --> 00:16:19.159 new life and a whole new standing in life and in death whereby we can say not merely, I know God, 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:22.039 but even more importantly, God knows me. 00:16:25.100 --> 00:16:30.240 And of course, Christianity says there are good ways to live. There are good spiritual practices 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:35.139 to take up. There are ways in which we want to love our neighbor, of course, but at the heart of it 00:16:35.139 --> 00:16:43.579 is that you've come to know God, or rather, be known by God. That's the message. 00:16:43.580 --> 00:16:50.940 Now, let's turn to the method. What's the method of gospel ministry? We have this incredible message 00:16:50.940 --> 00:16:55.500 to share, a message of freedom, a message of knowing and being known by God in Christ through 00:16:55.500 --> 00:17:01.740 God's own work and not our own. How do we go about sharing this message? Well, what we see in verses 12 00:17:01.740 --> 00:17:08.279 through 16 of our passage is that the method of gospel ministry is love. The method is love. 00:17:08.279 --> 00:17:13.980 In these verses, Paul reminds the Galatians of their former love for him, yes, but he also talks about 00:17:13.980 --> 00:17:21.759 his love for them. In verse 12, he says, brothers, sisters, I entreat you, become as I am, that is, 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:26.839 live in the freedom of the gospel of grace, no longer bound by works of righteousness, right, 00:17:27.220 --> 00:17:32.240 by works of the law as a means of earning your favor with God. Become as I am. Why? 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:42.480 Because I also have become as you are. That is, Paul was willing to enter into the Galatians' life 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:51.079 and their culture and to love them and to show compassion to them and to adopt their way of 00:17:51.079 --> 00:17:58.079 speaking and to listen to their interests and their loves. He was willing to enter their world 00:17:58.079 --> 00:18:09.199 with love. That's what gospel ministry looks like. And of course, ministry empowered by the gospel 00:18:09.199 --> 00:18:20.240 will always have this flexible and cross-cultural ease because we know in the gospel that it's not 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:27.919 our culture that justifies us. The gospel tells us loud and clear that no one culture is any 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:32.700 better than any other. God's not a God of favoritism. God's the God of Jews and Gentiles 00:18:32.700 --> 00:18:39.080 and all the other nations of the earth. So, when it comes to dress and forms of speech or the foods 00:18:39.080 --> 00:18:43.220 that we eat or the types of songs that we sing, these things are not what make us right with God. 00:18:43.300 --> 00:18:50.259 They don't set us apart as somehow special in God's kingdom. And so, we're able to love people very, 00:18:50.259 --> 00:18:56.700 very different from us. We're able to adapt and be flexible and to show love across radical cultural 00:18:56.700 --> 00:19:01.019 difference. In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul says, 00:19:01.480 --> 00:19:06.920 to those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, 00:19:07.600 --> 00:19:11.779 that I might win those under the law. And then he says, to those outside the law, 00:19:11.880 --> 00:19:17.019 I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, 00:19:17.580 --> 00:19:21.980 that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak. 00:19:21.980 --> 00:19:28.700 I become all things to all people, that by all means, I might save some. I do it all for the 00:19:28.700 --> 00:19:39.220 sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. The method of gospel ministry is 00:19:39.220 --> 00:19:44.900 genuine love that meets people where they're at with flexibility and kindness and compassion. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:49.720 John Stott in his commentary on Galatians puts it really clearly. He says, 00:19:49.720 --> 00:19:54.380 if we desire people to become one with us in Christian conviction and experience, 00:19:54.600 --> 00:19:59.319 we must first become one with them in Christian compassion. 00:20:01.940 --> 00:20:07.519 So, brothers and sisters, how are you loving those to whom you hope to minister? 00:20:08.860 --> 00:20:14.200 Too often our human approach is to kind of despise or question others when they're different from us, 00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:19.779 right? Rather than to love others first. But in Christ, we can love. 00:20:22.539 --> 00:20:28.279 And notice how the Galatians responded to this love of Paul. Paul says his visit to them 00:20:28.279 --> 00:20:32.880 was because of a bodily ailment. Now, we don't know exactly what that ailment was, but apparently 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:37.819 Paul got sick in some way on his missionary journey, and that's what sort of waylaid him in Galatia so that 00:20:37.819 --> 00:20:42.500 he could be there. But in God's providence, even that illness and that unplanned stop, as it were, 00:20:42.500 --> 00:20:46.220 was for the sake of advancing the gospel. And the Galatians didn't just receive the message, 00:20:46.220 --> 00:20:51.240 but they received Paul himself, sickness and all. And they received him with such favor and such 00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:54.799 gladness, Paul says, you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me. Which, of course, 00:20:55.619 --> 00:20:58.500 just back, just like it is today in the first century, it was just a way of saying, you would 00:20:58.500 --> 00:21:05.079 have done anything for me, right? Now, there's a lesson here for us as we think about the Galatians' 00:21:05.079 --> 00:21:12.139 reception of Paul. You know, when we think about learning from others, when we think about having 00:21:12.139 --> 00:21:20.679 someone disciple us and minister to us and help us in the faith, you know, we shouldn't judge or dismiss 00:21:20.679 --> 00:21:27.779 them because of their appearance or because of their outward worldly success or their ability. 00:21:27.779 --> 00:21:34.720 I mean, look at Paul. Paul was in rough shape when he landed in Galatia, right? But the Galatians 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:41.019 didn't say, can't we get like a more successful or good-looking apostle? I mean, this guy showed up 00:21:41.019 --> 00:21:46.160 on death's door. Can we get like a Peter or a James or something? We get Paul and he's sick and we got 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:54.779 to take care of him? No. What the Galatians valued wasn't Paul's appearance or style or outward success. 00:21:54.779 --> 00:22:00.220 What they valued was the Word that he brought. He says, you received me as an angel of God, 00:22:00.279 --> 00:22:06.259 as Christ Jesus. As an apostle, Paul did speak with the authority of Jesus himself. He had that 00:22:06.259 --> 00:22:13.799 commission from the risen Christ, and that's what the Galatians valued. Not Paul's external strength 00:22:13.799 --> 00:22:19.799 or winsomeness or external appearance or his worldly standards of success. What they valued from Paul was 00:22:19.799 --> 00:22:31.419 the Word of Christ. Now, there aren't apostles today, but we do have the apostolic Word in Scripture. 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:42.139 So what should matter to us today is likewise not external appearances. We shouldn't seek out a mentor 00:22:42.139 --> 00:22:46.159 or someone to disciple us just because they're outwardly successful or good-looking or have a big 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:51.540 following on the internet or whatever. I mean, after all, that's going to be destroyed by AI anyway, 00:22:51.660 --> 00:23:00.019 right? So whatever. No. What should we seek out? We should seek out God's Word. As churches, 00:23:00.140 --> 00:23:07.060 we should be hungry for the Word of God, not the human polish or human appearances. 00:23:07.059 --> 00:23:13.119 Oh, that we would be a church hungry for God's Word above all else. 00:23:16.279 --> 00:23:21.700 And that actually brings us back to the love that ought to be our method. Not only does love 00:23:21.700 --> 00:23:27.659 make us flexible to minister to others who are different from us, not only does love make us 00:23:27.659 --> 00:23:36.079 receptive to the ministry from others who are different from us, but love also, love also makes us 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:45.720 bold to speak God's truth. In verse 16, Paul says, have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? 00:23:48.299 --> 00:23:52.859 You see, under the influence of the false teachers, the Galatians' attitude towards Paul had begun to 00:23:52.859 --> 00:23:59.299 change. They no longer saw him as a friend, as a loving mentor, as an apostle. They started to see him as 00:23:59.299 --> 00:24:06.879 an enemy. Why? Because they began to dislike Paul's message. They began to reject his message. 00:24:07.299 --> 00:24:11.200 They started to really like the message of the false teachers. Why? Because the false teachers made them 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:20.200 feel really special, right? It was thrilling to think that they, as former pagans, could set themselves 00:24:20.200 --> 00:24:28.019 apart in a special way through keeping the law. They could find this special practice that was very 00:24:28.019 --> 00:24:36.200 ancient that made them a special class of Christians, not like those foolish people who believed Paul's 00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:43.379 gospel. No, they had the real insider knowledge now, the ancient ways of Moses and the law, 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:47.819 and this puffed them up, and it set them at odds with Paul. 00:24:47.819 --> 00:25:01.899 Paul was still willing to tell them the truth. Why? Because he was hard-nosed and hard-headed, 00:25:02.539 --> 00:25:09.960 right? Because his pride was at stake? No! Paul was willing to tell them the truth because he loved them. 00:25:09.960 --> 00:25:16.160 Love will compel us to tell them. Love will compel us to tell the truth, even when it's unpopular, 00:25:16.680 --> 00:25:18.700 even when it will make us seem like an enemy. 00:25:20.940 --> 00:25:27.860 Brothers and sisters, be thankful when you have an older Christian in your life 00:25:27.860 --> 00:25:30.880 who will tell you something that you don't want to hear. 00:25:33.120 --> 00:25:36.840 Be thankful when someone loves you enough to tell you the truth, 00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:39.619 even though you might not like it at the time. 00:25:42.019 --> 00:25:47.839 What we need isn't mere affirmation. Is it a bad thing to be made much of? No, 00:25:47.919 --> 00:25:50.819 Paul says it's fine to be made much of for a good purpose. It's good to love people, 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:56.559 build them up, affirm them, sure, but what we need isn't mere affirmation. We need the truth of God's 00:25:56.559 --> 00:26:00.139 Word because it's the truth that sets us free. 00:26:02.919 --> 00:26:04.980 So don't be afraid to speak the truth in love. 00:26:04.980 --> 00:26:11.360 Of course, there are ways to do that well, right? We want to speak the truth in love, yes, 00:26:12.360 --> 00:26:19.940 but it's a failure, a failure of love to not speak the truth to one another in the family of God. 00:26:22.740 --> 00:26:29.900 But imagine, imagine a community with me where there is both flexibility 00:26:29.900 --> 00:26:35.180 when it comes to cultural expression and human difference, 00:26:35.180 --> 00:26:40.960 but also absolute consistency when it comes to God's unchanging truth. 00:26:43.340 --> 00:26:47.740 Imagine a community where there's kind of daring flexibility and bold consistency, 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:52.540 all in love, right? Daring flexibility where the Word gives us freedom, 00:26:52.539 --> 00:27:00.440 bold consistency where the Word is clear, all in love. That's the method of gospel ministry. 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:01.720 There it is. 00:27:04.420 --> 00:27:10.000 All right, last, let's consider the goal of gospel ministry. We see this in verses 17 through 20, 00:27:10.819 --> 00:27:16.359 and here Paul warns the Galatians of the flattery of these false teachers and reaffirms his genuine love 00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:23.419 for them. But notice in this contrast that Paul and the false teachers have very different goals, 00:27:23.500 --> 00:27:29.019 don't they? Paul says the false teachers are making much of the Galatians. Why? So that they 00:27:29.019 --> 00:27:35.659 will make much of them. They want the Galatians to join their side to amplify their ministry and their 00:27:35.659 --> 00:27:43.819 significance, right? And of course, that is always how ministries work apart from the gospel. 00:27:43.819 --> 00:27:49.779 Why? Because when you think that your acceptance with God is won through works, 00:27:51.079 --> 00:27:57.619 then ministry success will always be a gauge of whether or not you're succeeding with God. 00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:04.299 You'll need to actually find that external affirmation to prove that you're okay, that you're 00:28:04.299 --> 00:28:09.519 getting it right, and ministry itself will become the work that you hope justifies you, that gives you 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:13.519 that assurance. So you kind of need people to follow you and make much of you, 00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:21.500 to join your tribe, and to follow your teaching. Now, that is how nearly every cult and false 00:28:21.500 --> 00:28:28.460 ministry works. They make much of you so that you make much of them. But even genuine gospel ministries 00:28:28.460 --> 00:28:36.799 can struggle with making ministry success a gauge of God's favor. We can be tempted to make ministry 00:28:36.799 --> 00:28:47.240 success our identity too, and to forget the truth of the gospel. But notice, notice how different true 00:28:47.240 --> 00:28:58.240 gospel ministry is. What's the goal in gospel ministry? The goal isn't us or our glory. The goal is Christ 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:07.519 in His glory. Paul says in verse 19, my little children, for whom I'm again in the anguish of childbirth, until 00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:20.660 Christ is formed in you. Christ formed in you. That's the goal of gospel ministry. Do you see how different that is? 00:29:20.660 --> 00:29:29.060 The false teachers came along and said, okay, here's how you can literally form yourself through circumcision so that you can get into 00:29:29.060 --> 00:29:41.240 Christ. Ouch, right? Paul says, no, it's just the opposite. We long for Christ to be formed in you. That's the goal. Not you 00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:51.120 conforming to Him, but Him coming inside of you. Real, inside out spiritual formation of the life of Christ in you, in me, in us. 00:29:51.319 --> 00:29:59.259 That's the goal of gospel ministry. It's not about exalting a particular person or a particular church or a particular 00:29:59.259 --> 00:30:02.900 ministry fad. No, it's always about Christ in you. 00:30:02.900 --> 00:30:11.700 You becoming more like Jesus from the inside out so that Jesus gets more and more glory 00:30:11.700 --> 00:30:15.519 and so that you live more and more in joy and freedom. 00:30:16.980 --> 00:30:22.940 The Galatians had tasted that. Verse 15, Paul says, what then has become of your blessedness, 00:30:23.360 --> 00:30:30.280 Paul asks. That joy, that freedom, that blessedness of resting in the gospel of grace, of saying, 00:30:30.279 --> 00:30:37.339 God knows me, yes, me, a sinner, and He loves me. And knowing that Christ is being formed in you, 00:30:37.399 --> 00:30:49.859 a new creation, that is blessedness. Now, if that is our goal, Christ formed in you, if that's our goal, 00:30:51.480 --> 00:30:58.160 well, then that ultimately means, right, it means that we can't force spiritual formation, can we? 00:31:00.279 --> 00:31:04.019 Parents, you can't make your children into Christians. 00:31:06.420 --> 00:31:09.680 Husbands, wives, you can't force your spouse to change. 00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:16.139 Do we want Christ to be formed more and more in our children, in our spouses, in our communities, 00:31:16.259 --> 00:31:19.539 in our neighbors, in our roommates? Yes! We absolutely should. 00:31:19.539 --> 00:31:25.399 But we can't force it. We can't manufacture it. 00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:28.279 So what should we do? 00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:38.639 Well, ultimately, we can love, and we can speak the truth in love, and we can pray. 00:31:38.640 --> 00:31:46.220 There will be seasons of anguish. Listen to Paul's language in these paragraphs. He says, 00:31:46.680 --> 00:31:54.400 I'm perplexed. I'm in anguish. I'm afraid. I mean, that sort of describes the emotional state of a lot 00:31:54.400 --> 00:31:57.580 of parents when they think about their children, or a lot of us, and we love our neighbors, right? 00:31:58.640 --> 00:32:02.500 Our hearts break for them, and Paul's not afraid to show his emotions in his heart. 00:32:02.500 --> 00:32:09.539 But ultimately, God must do this work, and that means we really must pray. 00:32:11.299 --> 00:32:16.279 The most important work of spiritual formation, if we really believe that the goal of gospel 00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:25.079 ministry is Christ formed in us, is prayer. Parents, pray for your children. Wives, husbands, 00:32:25.980 --> 00:32:31.960 pray for your spouses. Don't just pray that they'll be nice or easy to live with. Don't pray that your 00:32:31.960 --> 00:32:35.960 kids will just be, like, obedient, so they stop bugging you all the time, right? That's fine. 00:32:37.079 --> 00:32:39.160 But pray that Christ will be formed in them. 00:32:42.360 --> 00:32:47.079 That's true for our fellow church members, too. During the week, pray for your small group. 00:32:48.380 --> 00:32:52.900 Pray for the people you sit next to on Sundays. Pray that Christ will be formed in us. 00:32:53.259 --> 00:32:59.880 That's what matters most. That's what we long to see. As Paul puts it in Colossians, 00:32:59.880 --> 00:33:07.180 what we want is Christ in us, the hope of glory. Or as Paul said earlier in Galatians, 00:33:07.260 --> 00:33:11.420 it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, 00:33:11.460 --> 00:33:15.160 I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, gave Himself for me. 00:33:18.520 --> 00:33:23.060 So then our message is freedom, and our message is love, and our goal is Christ. 00:33:23.059 --> 00:33:30.639 Christ, that's gospel ministry. Are you taking your place in this great work? 00:33:31.980 --> 00:33:37.019 It's not just for apostles. It's not just for pastors or elders or ministry staff. It's not 00:33:37.019 --> 00:33:41.059 just for deacons or small group leaders. This is the ministry of the whole body of Christ. 00:33:42.099 --> 00:33:48.039 When each part, when each member is working properly, we build ourselves up and grow into 00:33:48.039 --> 00:33:53.220 full maturity into Christ who is our head. We have to do it together. That's the design. 00:33:55.680 --> 00:34:01.819 Are you wondering where to start? Well, start where you are. Start where you are. Start with 00:34:01.819 --> 00:34:06.720 your small group. Start with your household. Start with your roommates, the people in your college 00:34:06.720 --> 00:34:13.360 ministry. Start easy. You know, you can take someone to lunch and ask how you can be praying for them. 00:34:13.360 --> 00:34:18.800 Listen to what's going on in their life. Share a Bible verse you've been encouraged by. This doesn't 00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:26.880 need to be difficult or complicated. Or, you know, maybe you could take a further step after that. 00:34:27.519 --> 00:34:33.280 You can maybe plan to meet three or four times together and read a book of the Bible together. 00:34:34.579 --> 00:34:40.880 What if you agreed to meet with someone four times, and each time you would discuss a chapter 00:34:40.880 --> 00:34:48.119 from the book of Philippians? And here's a simple way to make that discussion fruitful. Before each 00:34:48.119 --> 00:34:53.440 meeting, you'd read the chapter, and you'd highlight for yourself one verse that stood out to you. 00:34:54.519 --> 00:34:59.880 You could draw a little light bulb next to that one. And then you can maybe highlight one question 00:34:59.880 --> 00:35:04.420 that you had. You could put a little question mark there. And then you could highlight one area of 00:35:04.420 --> 00:35:08.940 application to your life, one place where you feel like God's Word's really prompting you to take on 00:35:08.940 --> 00:35:13.320 a new attitude or a new action or a new way or something that's really been encouraging you, 00:35:13.380 --> 00:35:20.599 something that's applicable to your life. You could put an arrow there. And then when you meet, 00:35:21.940 --> 00:35:26.960 you just share those things. You share your light bulbs. You share your question marks. You share your 00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:32.980 arrows. And you have a really rich conversation about God's Word at work in you and in one another. 00:35:32.980 --> 00:35:42.320 And then you pray. Is that hard? Anybody can do that, right? We can all be doing this work. 00:35:44.340 --> 00:35:49.780 So where will you begin? Where will you begin, friends? What if there was a whole culture of 00:35:49.780 --> 00:35:54.639 mutual discipleship at Trinity, right, where younger Christians were hungry to be discipled by older 00:35:54.639 --> 00:35:59.500 Christians, and older Christians actively sought out and discipled younger Christians, and where mutual 00:35:59.500 --> 00:36:05.039 encouragement and discipleship was happening as well? What if Trinity was that kind of place where more 00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:13.199 and more Christ was being formed in us through this flexible, prayerful, loving ministry of the truth of 00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:21.780 God's Word? Oh, I think a church like that wouldn't just impact our city, but even more, it would bring 00:36:21.780 --> 00:36:34.480 much glory to Christ as His life in us and among us makes us more fully alive. Let's pray together. 00:36:39.860 --> 00:36:47.920 Father, thank You that You have acted so decisively and definitively in Christ 00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:56.320 that we can now not just say that we know You as wonderful and as awe-inspiring as that is, but that 00:36:56.320 --> 00:37:05.460 You know us. Lord, in all of our callings this week, whether it be mutual ministry with one another, 00:37:06.000 --> 00:37:12.380 or whether it be our jobs, or our workplaces, or our school, Lord, whatever it is, Lord, 00:37:12.380 --> 00:37:20.900 help us to go forth in the freedom that You know us. You know us fully and completely in Christ, 00:37:21.640 --> 00:37:27.240 and we are secure in You in life and in death. Pray this in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.