Ep. 19 | Serving without Submission
Speaker: Jesse Turkington
Summary: Is the Bible ever an inconvenience for you? It's possible to follow the Bible's teachings without ever submitting to them.
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Music created by Chad Hoffman
Artwork created by Anthony Kuenzi
Jesse’s Personal Notes:
Galatians 4:8-20
Prologue
Hey, welcome to Pickled Parables! My name’s Jesse.
This week’s episode is about the first half of Galatians chapter four. We’re going to look at verses eight through twenty and our intention is to observe the mindset (or I guess you could even say, the feelings) that Paul has towards the churches of Galatia.
Our goal is to understand Paul’s concern for the Galatians. That’s primarily the content of this passage.
Now, typically, when I teach, I use the ESV (the English Standard Version of the Bible). But for this particular passage, I’m going to use the NLT (the New Living Translation) and a little bit of the NASB (the New American Standard Bible). Because the original Greek that this was written in is kind of difficult to put into English.
So in an effort to help communicate this clearly, I’m going to use two English translations, one that kind of favors a thought-for-thought translation and one that deals more with word-for-word. So, that will give us a nice rounded exposure to what Paul is trying to communicate.
So with that little announcement, let’s take a look at Galatians chapter four, verse eight!
Galatians 4:8-12a
This passage feels like a little sneak peak behind the curtain. As Paul wrote this letter, he had history, experience, memories and desires for the people that he was writing this letter to.
This letter, was fastest and most accessible way for Paul to share his concerns, his corrections and his desires with the people of Galatia.
So Paul is meticulous with what he’s talking about and even the order of his subjects – the topics he wants to talk about. You could almost say that he’s being strategic with his wording.
Yet again, we’re able to tell that Paul has a fiery passion for this group of people. He had put in a lot of time and personal effort to reach these people. And now that there’s a threat of losing them to false teachers, there’s a desperate struggle within Paul’s words to defend, correct and fortify the Galatian’s faith.
So far, Paul has given a thorough defense against specific accusations that the false teachers were throwing at him and then Paul moved on to offer correction to what the false teachers were telling the Galatians. Paul camped out in this area for quite a while, and from this clear and orderly account, we today are able to be encouraged and built up through his teachings.
In fact, I was brought to the faith through this specific area of his teaching. So even though the meaning did not change, the application is able to weave its way through different situations.
That’s why I prefer to present studies verse-by-verse because a verse’s meaning is grounded in its context and that’s important to understand but its application is able to reach throughout our different life situations.
Let me add here though, there is a danger to the idea of creating biblical principles. Some principles are very evident to find, others have to be found, but despite how they are discovered, we should never take a biblical principle or an application from a passage and conform it to fit into our lives.
What we’re doing when we do that, is we are putting ourselves into the position of most importance. Americans, especially, have a really hard time with this. This goes back to an episode that we had about worldviews. If we take the Bible or just content from the Bible, and stuff it wherever we can find a spot for it in our lives, we’re treating the Bible as if it’s a self-help book and not the radically life changing source of God’s communication.
The correct and proper reaction that we should have with biblical principles and application is that we should conform our lives to those biblical principles and applications.
Do you notice the difference? One is taking the Bible and conforming it to fit our lives and the other approach is taking our lives and conforming it to the Bible’s teachings.
Let me give a practical example of what that could look like:
Let’s say, that I read a Bible passage … let’s pick one. Let’s say, First Samuel chapter 17 and I read about David and Goliath. This a is pretty popular passage.
So I sit down and I read this Bible passage during my morning coffee time with Jesus and I see with my self-centered viewpoint - David kill Goliath. So I think (or observe), “Wow, God helped David kill his giant so that means God’s going to help me conquer my giants.”
And I go on with my day feeling encouraged and fortified by the promise that big troubles will fall out of my way.
Now, this is an example of self-focus and self-centeredness. It could be an unintentional mindset. It could be something that I had just adopted and is unaware about, but nonetheless, it affects how I approach the Bible.
Now let’s use the same situation but with a different mindset.
So I sit down and I read this Bible passage during my morning coffee time with Jesus and I see with my God-focused viewpoint – David kill Goliath. So I think (or observe), “Wow, God demonstrated His strength through the weakness of an adolescent boy. How can God use me to accomplish His purposes?”
And I go on with my day feeling encouraged and ready to be used by God for any purpose that He might lead me in.
The difference in these two scenarios isn’t that they were different situations, it’s how I interacted and reacted with the Bible.
So all this to say, is be careful with how you find and apply biblical principles. Be sure that you’re conforming the right thing. Are you conforming the Bible or are you conforming your life to the Bible? It has to be one or the other because the Bible has such a power within its pages that it will either change you or force you to change something else.
So with this idea of conforming our lives to God’s teachings, we’re looking at Galatians chapter four today. And Paul is still in his correction phase but he’s trying to reconnect the emotional bond that he had first created with the Galatians.
So, he reaches out and says in verse eight:
Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing. 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—free from those laws.(Galatians 4:8-12a NLT)
Paul had just given a clear and well thought out teaching about the righteousness we receive through the work of Jesus Christ. Justification is not through personal efforts, it’s not through earthly lineage. It is only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
And the Galatians were going to be faced with a choice because of this teaching. They would be forced to acknowledge the truth of this clarification or deny it. And Paul knew that, because there was no room in his language for any other option. It was now a decision that only the Galatians could make. It wasn’t a choice that Paul could make or even the false teachers. This was something that the Galatians were going to have to accept, deny or modify.
And Paul was aware that the Galatians had a specific weakness for feeling a certain kind of fulfilment through religious practice.
Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. (Galatians 4:8-10 NLT)
These days, months, seasons and years were Jewish celebrations. Undoubtable this came from the false teachers who were trying to make the gentile Galatians more into proselytes than fellow brothers and sisters. But observing these celebrations appears to be almost a comfort for the Galatians. Because they missed the observances and practices of their old ways. Why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?
These Galatians followed the false teachings of the Judaizes because they liked what they heard. Now they hadn’t accepted everything that the Judaizers wanted them to, like the more difficult practices such as circumcision. But the Galatians did accept the easier things because it was something they were able to conform and feel as a habitual comfort.
This makes me think of Israel at Mount Sinai. The Israelites became scared of God and wanted to find comfort through a familiarity. So they took gold and make a calf statue and said, “This is our god now.” You see, they had been steeped in Egyptian culture and the Egyptian culture had many gods. So this was a natural fallback for Israel. They had grown up in this. So they took the God of their forefathers and conformed Him to fit into something that was more comfortable for them.
The Galatians had accepted certain Jewish observances and allowed them to become their righteousness. Through these practices they felt rewarded. They felt like they were earning God’s favor.
Galatians 4:12-16
But Paul shakes them awake with his words.
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—free from those laws. (Galatians 4:12a NLT)
Paul makes an emotional plea that is built from his previous teaching of how the law was fulfilled through Jesus Christ and how the things before were but shadows of the things to come.
He then moves to remind them of the faith that they had when he first came to them.
You did not mistreat me when I first preached to you. Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News. But even though my condition tempted you to reject me, you did not despise me or turn me away. No, you took me in and cared for me as though I were an angel from God or even Christ Jesus himself. Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then? I am sure you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me if it had been possible. Have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth? (Galatians 4:12b-16 NLT)
The emotion of these words hang heavy over the teachings of this epistle. This is who he’s writing to. People who had taken him in and cared for him but now gave him the side-eye because they had found teachings that made them more comfortable.
Something Paul wrote in a letter to a guy named Timothy is:
“A time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Timothy 4:3 NLT)
Galatians 4:17-20
And Paul says in the next verse of Galatians chapter four, verse seventeen:
Those false teachers are so eager to win your favor, but their intentions are not good. They are trying to shut you off from me so that you will pay attention only to them. If someone is eager to do good things for you, that’s all right; but let them do it all the time, not just when I’m with you. (Galatians 4:17-18 NLT)
Paul makes an emotional plea and then warns them about how their comfort could become their slavery.
Verse nineteen:
Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. I wish I were with you right now so I could change my tone. But at this distance I don’t know how else to help you. (Galatians 4:19-20 NLT)
Let me be clear, these false teachers that were troubling the Galatian churches; they’re called the circumcision party, the Judaizers – they were at fault for this heresy. They were the cause for this problem.
But it must be stated that the Galatians, maybe not all of them but certainly enough of them to gain Paul’s attention, the Galatians were at fault too because they allowed themselves to be carried away with these false teachings.
The Galatians had a specific weakness for earthly longings. They wanted ritualistic practices. They wanted to earn favor with God so that they felt like they were involved with their salvation. They took the apostles teachings and God’s instructions and conformed them to fit their lives.
That’s why Paul issues an emotional plea calling them to live in the freedom of Jesus Christ and give up their fleshly ways of self-righteousness.
And just to remind you, these were brothers and sisters in Christ. These were people who had the seal of the Holy Spirit, who had been adopted into the family of God; the spiritual seed of Abraham. Let me warn you, it’s possible to shut up the Spirit of God who lives in you and grow in your selfishness. It’s possible.
We all need to be so careful not to hinder the work of the Spirit in our lives.
Paul declared at the end of this passage:
My dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. (Galatians 4:19 NLT)
As their spiritual father, the man who brought them the Good News, Paul had a burden for their sanctification. Paul loved the Galatians and you can hear the passion in his words. You can imagine the time he spent crafting this letter for them, hoping that this scrap piece of paper would bring them back into alignment with God’s will.
I don’t know what the response to this letter was. We don’t have it recorded. But miraculously, this letter was preserved and for us today, and we are able to read it and learn from it and hopefully, be corrected by it.
Make sure that you’re not conforming the Bible to fit your life, rather conform your life to fit the teachings of the Bible.
Conclusion
For a lot of people, the Bible is a great catch phrase collection. But spiritual growth will be seriously stunted if that is the most that we interact with it.
Let the Bible guide your values. Let the Word of God wash over your mind. Let the Spirit use the Bible to fortify your foundation. Work with the Spirit by reading and dedicating your life and your mind to the renewing Word of God.
Really, what I’m trying to say is read the Bible and conform your life to it.
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Thank you again for listening.
I’ll catch you next week.