Galatians Chapter 4 Verses 8 – 11

· Paul defines for us the, (what he describes as), weak and beggarly elements as the observing of days and months and seasons and years. Now there were certain days and times prescribed in the law that the Jews were to observe such as Passover, Shavuot (Feast of Weeks), and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) and even an entire year such as the Year of Jubilee which occurred every 50 years…

· And while Paul is certainly including those things in his statement, what he says here is more all encompassing of any regulation having to do with days and times totally. (If you are into this sort of thing, spend an afternoon researching the original sources of virtually all holidays and even days observed by the church such as Easter. You may be shocked to learn that Easter originated in the Feast of Ishtar, Lent comes from the Babylonian worship of Semiramis for the LENgthening of days…, Christmas comes from the Feast of the Winter Solstice, and on and on).

· The point Paul is making relevant to the Jews is that with the New Covenant, the totality of the requirements of all times has been fulfilled and Jesus Christ through the New Covenant has ushered in a time of grace and freedom unto relationship with God! What’s that mean? That means celebrate whatever day you want to and do it with a clean conscience before the Lord or don’t do it at all!

· Paul says in Romans 14:5, “One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it.”

· Paul goes on in the letter to the Colossians to further develop the idea of weak and beggarly elements as dietary restrictions imposed during the time of the law. He says in Colossians 2:20-23, “If you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations? Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish with the using according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value…”

· The gospel is a message of freedom to live unto Christ in a reality of fulfillment of all requirements of righteousness. Certainly not a freedom to sin but rather a freedom from sin. And yet sin now is a turning from the Lord in the heart and will, a personal relationship with God through Jesus being denied, transgressed, forsaken, rather than the weak and beggarly requirements of the law…

· Weak and beggarly… Those words in the Greek are “lesser” for weak, really another way to describe this word and the requirements of the law is “symptoms of sickness,” and for beggarly, “lacking,” or “symptoms of helplessness.” So, the law, being our tutor to bring us into awareness of our condition, coming forth into the world as a result of sin, Paul describes it and its requirements as symptoms of sickness and helplessness.

· BUT, now that Jesus has come, now that He has died in the Person and place of mankind, fulfilling the law, has cured the disease of sin for whosoever would trust in Him! You and I are no longer sick nor helpless but we are made well in His propitiatory sacrifice and the Helper Himself has come! So why stay on the meds!?

· Now that you know Him or Paul says, “rather are known by God…” That’s the key. That’s what Jesus did. God is the Agent and Author of life and in that He is all and only life but I was DEAD in my trespasses and sin… And now through Jesus, just as He rose from the dead, I have overcome death unto eternal life in coming to Him! That was the separation between God and me, God and us, it was that He was alive and we were dead! Can’t be more separated!!!

· Colossians 2:11-14, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

· So now its yes that I know Him… But I know Dwayne Johnson! It’s more than that, now that I am made alive in Christ, it’s that I now am known by Him. Totally different! That’s relationship talk! I know The Rock, all about him… but he doesn’t know me! This is the communion of God through the Person of the Holy Spirit in YOUR heart of hearts at the transacting of salvation…

· God in you, the gift of righteousness, the mystery of godliness, and in that being known by God. Are you known by Him? Do you have a real and living relationship with God through Jesus Christ? This is THE salvation because we can know of Him completely, walk behind Him our whole lives, following Him, and yet the thing is… is there real living relationship there?

· Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

· So, Paul says, now that you are known by God, which means real relationship through the genuine acceptance and heart-surrendering to Jesus Christ, why do you return to the bondage of the medication for symptoms you should no longer have…?

Galatians Chapter 4 Verse 12

· Notice Paul’s love for these people. Three and a half chapters of frustration. Disappointment in their turning from his instruction. Discouragement in their ready acceptance of folks preaching and teaching against even him personally. And yet he isn’t angry, he has somehow not taken it personally. That right there is a work of the Holy Spirit!

· Folks get a little peeved too that Paul tells an entire region of churches, multiple churches, to become like HIM! Why not Christ? Is it wrong for him to invite folks to become like him? Only if that will harm them… It’s an interesting thought. If you said to someone struggling or immature in an area of their faith, “Hey, be like me…” would that be the right thing to do to help them? Apparently and biblically for Paul…, it is…

· As Christians we should be ready examples and good examples for folks to observe and even imitate. Imitation is a high form of learning, it’s even a high compliment, and in the faith, it’s essentially what discipleship is. SO, are you worthy to say the same to folks around you? We all can be ready examples if we walk in the Spirit, therefore we all should be…

· And Paul isn’t perfect. That’s for sure. He knows that. But what has a perfect grip on him is the perfect gospel. That he is freed from the slavery and bondage of the flesh. Not without struggles for sure but even in the handling of his own struggles, he messages freedom and joy and love and grace… And he leans on that witness now in a personal example…

· There’s even grace and forgiveness in how he handles folks that turn away or against him… He says here, “you have not injured me at all…” Freedom is not just in the circumstance of what Christ has done for you but its also expressed and accessed in what you are now able to do for others. And that’s simply to forgive them and continue to run your own race whether they come along or not…

Galatians Chapter 4 Verses 13 – 16

· Paul recalls how they welcomed him at first. With a visible physical infirmity, in that culture, you would have been readily condemned as cursed. It’s just how they operated… But Paul says, “you received me as an angel of God even,” why now would you do differently?

· And this gives us perhaps a clue as to what Paul struggled with which he spoke of 2 Corinthians 12:7-9. “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

· It is quite apparent and obvious (at least to me) that Paul had a problem with his eyesight that was somewhat noticeable and visible to everyone around him. He will write at the end of this book in Galatians 6:11, “See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand!” Which tells us further that eyesight was a problem for Paul.

· I have heard the most creative of ideas about Paul’s thorn in the flesh over the years. Some have said that it was anger or lust or disbelief…, I personally consider all of those as entirely ridiculous and just someone projecting their own vices onto Paul to feel better about their own sin. The Bible is clear what Paul’s problem was and we ought not to look for something else when what the Bible has to say is sufficient.

Galatians Chapter 4 Verses 17 – 20

· One final point in our study today is this revelation of Paul that man-made religion and religious mandates, expectations, instruction and models…, anything suggested that is outside of the scriptures in terms of what we ought to do and be as born-again citizen of heaven, adopted sons and daughters into the family and kingdom of God through the Person and sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone…, anything additional and or outside of the Word of God, it’s all to bring you under their control and power…, of which Paul rightly calls “bondage.”

· Think of it and its glaringly obvious. A group, a leader, a person tells you what you ought to do so that you can be right in their eyes. It feels like an invitation. And then the moment you don’t do one of those things, you are excluded. In your exclusion, you now have to worry and work to get right in their eyes again…, and thus you become zealous for them, for the group, for the religiosity and in all of that… a masterful distraction… all of that takes you away from the simplicity of the freedom, forgiveness of all sin and positional acceptance and righteousness with God, knowing Him and being known by Him, in and through the Gospel of Jesus Christ…