When You Did Not Know God
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Galatians 4:8-20
8. Formerly, when you did not know God, you were in bondage to beings that by nature are no gods; 9. but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10. You observe days, and months, and seasons, and years! 11. I am afraid I have labored over you in vain. 12. Brethren, I beseech you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong; 13. you know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first; 14. and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15. What has become of the satisfaction you felt? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. 16. Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17. They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18. For a good purpose it is always good to be made much of, and not only when I am present with you. 19. My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you! 20. I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.
Paul is quite put out with the Galatians! He preached the gospel to them, he spent time with them, saw them convert as they heard and believed his words. They even cared for his physical needs when he was ill! He felt their love for him personally, but also of the community as a Christian stronghold. And now, he’s received word that they are backsliding. No wonder he’s discouraged.
Galatians 2:16 really sums up what Paul had taught on his visit: "know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.” In Paul’s absence the Galatians had begun to turn back to idol worship and to their rituals. Without a strong voice, spurring them on and reminding them of the truth, they fell back into their old, comfortable, familiar way of life.
They’re not any different than we are today. Sitting in church, hearing an inspirational sermon, it’s easy to walk out of the building and feel “pumped up” in our faith! When we gather together for a small group meeting -- a class or a study -- we feel close to God, and relish knowing his words and their application to our lives. Then we go out into the world. We go to work. We go to the grocery store. We go to a PTA meeting, and a little league game, and on and on and on. Not much sign of Jesus in any of those places!
And so, like the Galatians, we fall back on a former way of life. A life before we fell in love with Jesus Christ. A life without hope, without joy, without grace. We forget that it’s always worth the effort to stay on track with our faith. It’s always worth it to go the extra mile, take the extra time, exert the extra little bit of energy to preach the gospel by how we live our lives. Because we have a promise that will never be broken. And it’s the only promise upon which can rely in this life.
No ritual, no good deeds, no prayer or hymn will get us into heaven. We need to constantly remind ourselves that the world does not save us -- only Jesus on the cross, buried, and risen on Easter morning! Nothing on this earth will save us!
I hope today you will not fall back into a former time when you were in bondage to beings that were not gods. And that you spend your day living as one freed from the slavery of this world, living for the promised reward in eternity.
Mary
