Day 1

Galatians 4:12

¹² Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all.

You can never be a good service provider if you do not love the people you are serving. If you are a HR manager, you must love your staff. Loving means simply wanting the very best for them. If you are an IT service provider, you must picture the struggles of your clients as yours, knowing that they do not know what you know. Therefore, when they are disturbed with something which they think is very small, you must also see it as big from their point of view! That is what it means to love the people that you are serving.

Paul gave a very good example, as he was dealing with Galatians. True, they annoyed him! He is telling them are you bewitched! But at the same time, he is showing them love and concern.

Day 2

Galatians 4: 12

¹² Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. ¹³ You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.

Can you see the kind of relationship he has with these people? It is far much easier to help them when that relationship is like that. You are a leader, if you do not create a rapport with the people you lead, you will find the leadership journey a real struggle. Paul has something to appeal to, their deep relationship with one another, with the Galatians. He is telling them, I plead with you. You only plead with somebody you are concerned about. You only plead with somebody who is interested. Other people you give up on and move on. But Paul is not about to give them up. He loves them, he cares for them. He asks them be like me, if possible, do like I do. Do that in order for your good. In other words, Paul is not about to exploit them. He is not after getting something from those Galatians. He is simply become like me for I cannot become like you in doing wrong. In other words, I loved you, other than the fact that you are taking another gospel. I am unhappy with you as people.

That should be the basis of any service you give to people. A desire that you set them an example, a desire that the way you live your life, if they live like that, it will be good to them. You need to live with people the same way you like them to live with you. That is following what we call the golden rule; do unto others, what you would have wanted them to do to you.

 

I think what he is also telling them in the process, he loves them. Shouldn’t you be serious with what I tell you? We actually love each other, now, how then are we helping each other? He is telling them, since you have done me no wrong; you know very well I have no intention of hurting you either. Listen to me as a friend, even as I rebuke you and tell you the things you are doing are wrong. Listen to me as a friend.

Then verse 13 and 14 is talking about his  weakness.

As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you.

We normally do not picture Paul as a medical case, but this is his own testimony. He was sick and it sound like because he was sick, he could not go where he wanted to go. Therefore, he ended up staying with Galatians longer than he originally intended. In the process, he was able to preach at the church and ensure it was well discipled.

Day 3

Galatians 4

¹⁴ And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an ^[e^]angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

We can learn several lessons out of this. Paul can see possibilities even out of the bad. So, he is not complaining. He is not asking for sympathy. He can see that what was bad and happened to him was actually good of Galatians. Are you like that? Are you able to see good in bad experiences? It is important to just look at this verse again,

As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, and Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.

That is something we need to read to every person who is going through some challenging times. This will remind him; number one, that sickness does not always come because God does not love you. Also it does not come because you have sinned. Challenges in life are not necessarily a result of sin. God can take you through a challenge intending that it will cause good like it happened in the case of Paul. So, you need to be aware; that even in the middle of your challenge, you should sense God’s presence with you. Realize, that he is there. You should be asking God, what do you want me to learn out of this? What do you want to accomplish out of this? This is because he does not waste your pain like he did not waste Paul’s pain.

Number two, we should take care of the people that are sick. In fact, Paul admits that my sickness was trial to you. The church, the young church, had to look after Paul in his sickness and it is important to understand that one of our many responsibilities is to look after our loved ones, our parents, our children, our relatives, fellowship members. Obviously, he is admitting, he needed and got help. In fact, he is saying they were going through a trial.

Number three; we should not treat people that are having problems with contempt or scorn. aii! He must have sinned! How come he is getting sick? There must be a problem for, God has forgotten him! .That way you are doubling the problem of the sick person! He is already in pain, then your hatred and scorn puts him in an extra psychological torture.

Paul is saying that the Galatians were not like that. In his problem, they did not treat him with contempt or scorn. So, we need to be conscious not to treat people that are having problems with scorn. They need sympathy, and empathy. In fact, these Galatians are said to have welcome me as if I were an angel of God. In other words, right through the problems, they saw God in him. They saw as if he was Christ Jesus himself. The Galatians felt God is in this place despite the weakling preacher. They were the ones helping him.

Verse 15 says,

where then is your blessing of me now,

so, he is reminding them, as we are now discussing, that if you want to do ministry, get involved with people, love them, be concerned about them. He continues asking, do you remember this relationship we had? Where then is your blessing of me now? You took care of me then, now you seem to have abandoned the gospel that we shared in my pain.

Day 4

Galatians 4

^15 [f^]What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.

It sounds like the sickness had to do with eye. Maybe this is the thorn in the flesh he talked about elsewhere. Of course, for an intellectual like Paul, having trouble with his eyes so that he cannot read his scrolls as much as he wants must have been quite a challenge to him. But they felt so sympathetic that they wished it were them having trouble with the eyes. Is that how you show love to friends suffering? He is remembering how this church that is now backslidden, had shown real love to him.

so, he is asking them in verse 16,

Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

In other words, he asks them, remembering that relationship, do you realize I love you? Do you realize you love me? Do you realize I cannot give you a wrong gospel? I love you too much to do that. I think it will be important for you to ask such of any relationship in ministry. Do you have that kind of relationship with the people? Once the relationship is in that level, in order to sustain that relationship, do you compromise your faith? You can’t tell your friends when they are going wrong. When the things they are doing are wrong, do you keep quiet because you do not want them to hate you? Because that is what verse 16 is saying. After he is telling the truth, they are now no longer concerned about him!

Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? Paul does not shy from sharing the gospel even if in the process they will not like him. Despite the deep relationship they had they may drop him. That is, I think, what James Dobson calls tough love, where you tell them the truth because you love them even if the truth is going to hurt them.

Look at verse 17,

Those people are zealous to win you over,

Who are these people? The false teachers he has been talking about from Galatians chapter one, these are who have now come and given them a different gospel which Paul dismisses as not gospel. Why have they come all the way to Galatia? Theses Jews? Judaizers, he is telling them, they actually do not love you. If they did, they would not be asking you to come out of the free grace of God to working for faith by doing Jewish customs. They want to win you over with a wrong gospel which is not good for them either. It is not good for you. Therefore, you need to watch out when you see people trying to get you out of the scriptures. Sometimes the motivation is simply to put you in that which is not good for you. What they want is to alienate you from the conventional church. That way you may be zealous for them. In other words, people are just after followers. They are not interested in your good. In fact, they are so unhappy with their teacher Paul that they think by misleading this group it will hurt Paul. So, he wants them to stop following Paul so that they can follow him. The way to do that is to create a new teaching even if it is a wrong teaching. Maybe that is one motivation for false teachers. Paul thinks so. False teachers have various other motivations. Paul suspects they know it will not be for your good and concludes that all they are after was followers.

Day 5

Galatians 4

¹⁷ They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them. ¹⁸ But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you

We should always be telling the truth even if it causes enmity, and my prayer is that you will do that, you will want to tell the truth at all times. You know, the real reason for the Galatians church moving away from the faith was because they were going to get into a personality cult. Paul had preached and led them to Christ rather than to himself. However, now they have somebody who wants to control them. I think it may be truth, that there are some people who do not like to think for themselves. They therefore would like somebody who is forcing them and controlling them. They will run to somebody who is hurting them, controlling them. Then we wonder how can this guy go that way? I have seen that among the people who are leaving Christianity to follow Ancestral worship. With all its many bad and enslaving practices, they still go. You know the strategy is to mislead the church of Christ. They want you to hate the Parents and your Pastors gospel and commit yourself to the cult leader. He may not be necessarily after your good.

Paul is happy to see that they are zealous but now for the wrong thing. It is always important that whatever you do, you do it with zeal. The danger is when your zeal is not for a good purpose. In fact, he is saying it is good to be zealous, not once but always. This way Christianity will be something you follow, you care for, you push for. He does not support the idea of lukewarm Christians. People who are Christians by name, nominal they are called; They do not seem excited about their faith. If somebody is zealous about something, they talk about it! They live by it, they sacrifice for it.

Paul is saying, to be zealous, that is a good thing; it is not an awfully bad thing. Do not just be zealous once, but zealous always. In fact, not be just zealous when the teacher is with you, but zealous for the faith at all times. Do not be zealous for a personality cult, but for the faith. That way even when the leader gets lost, you go on by the faith.

Paul is saying, mmh! It is fine to be zealous, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. When the zeal is for a wrong thing, it is dangerous. It is good to be zealous, but it could be zealously wrong.

Verse 19 is saying,

My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.

So, this backslidden era that the Galatians have entered into, seems to have wasted Paul’s spiritual pain of childbirth. What I am getting to understand from Paul, is getting people to know Christ and to worship him, was not something he did half-heartedly, he was so concerned about the lost that he would immerse himself following them, pleading with them, begging them, and that is the pain he is calling the pain of childbirth.

Now I want to ask you, the people you are ministering to, do you feel their pain? Do you get hurt when they are lost? Do you get to where you feel like Paul sometimes .He used to say, I would rather be the one lost, not you. That is really love! Could you really say that when you are evangelizing a group of people that you are having childbirth pains for them.No wonder the excitement when finally, they give their lives to the Lord.

Day 6

Galatians 4

¹⁹ My little children, for whom I labour in birth again until Christ is formed in you,

Do you preach a disinterested message, and so your sermon is neither here nor there? Your attitude is if you get saved well and good, if you do not, what is that to me? It does not seem to bother you. That is not Paul’s way. He is involved with them; he is interested in them, willing to sacrifice for them, that way going through childbirth pains. How many ministers of the gospel actually experience this childbirth pains for the sake of their people, for the sake of the church, for the sake of the lost, for the sake of the unreached people group that the Lord has put in your heart? Therefore, you are doing anything and everything to ensure that group does not go to the next generation without having the church of Jesus Christ among them. Do you have that kind of a pain?

That is what Paul had! When he preached among the Galatians, he was at the level where he felt their pain; he described that pain as the pain of childbirth. If such people get saved, you are interested with them; you want to follow them up. If people get saved and you say, well! a hundred got saved! and you have not even thought about how they will continue with the Lord-discipleship, I doubt you have childbirth pains in bringing them to the Lord.

For Paul, you can see he is interested in these people to continue with the Lord. When he hears something bad is happening, you can see he is in pains yet again. When all you just want is to write a letter home about how wonderful the ministry you are doing is, there is a problem. You write …look! a hundred got saved, 10 got saved yet you are not interested with them beyond the fact that they have received the Lord. We start wondering whether you really have gone through childbirth. Do you understand why the mother loves the child that much? I do not suggest that the mother loves the children more than the father does, but with that pain of childbirth, gives a level of commitment to the child that the Bible calls it the mother’s love; and that love continues beyond the immediate childbirth.

That is the same thing you need to be having when you are dealing with the lost. You love them, you are involved with them, and you care what happens to them overtime. Not ahh! that one is now saved move on. How is he now walking with the Lord, is not your concern.

according to verse 19, Paul is calling them

my dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.

In other words, when he hears they have backslidden, he start getting the childbirths again! He feels their pain, he feels their lostness. So, it is like childbirth pain all over again. He is having to give birth a second time to the same child. Why is he in childbirth pain? Because he wants Christ formed inside them. When Christ is formed inside them, then they will be able to say no to the Judaizers. They will be able to say no to enslavement of the law and traditions. They will follow Christ, not Paul, but Christ, for Christ will be in them.

That is what it means to be a Christian, to have Christ formed in you. How do you know Christ is formed in you? Because you now do not want to do or say or think anything that does not glorify Christ. When you fall in sin, because you should not be walking in sin you feel the pain of disappointing your Lord. Now that he is in you, he is formed in you; you have a sense of conviction, and then a sense of him loving you. I think that is what we really are talking about, and so anybody you lead to the Lord, it will not be enough to just say that you led them in the sinner prayer, you need to help them until they have Christ controlling them. Thus, Christ is not just a Saviour but the Lord of their lives. He is formed inside them. He is living in them. They are able to say with Paul, now... it is no longer I that lives. When you see me, it is not really me you are seeing, but Christ who is living in me, through me. I live for him; I do not live for myself.

Day 7

Galatians 4

²⁰ I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.

He is conscious that the whole letter would hurt them. He is not happy to hurt them! in other words, although I said it is important to tell the truth even if it is going to hurt, it is not something you do very happily. It cannot be something you say laughing I told them off! I read riot act to them! … talking with bravado. no, no! It should never please you to hurt others even for good reasons although sometimes you have to hurt them.

Are there times when you sound to people like you do not care what happens to them? In fact, you sound happy they are backslidden. After all, you are going to heaven, and they are now going to hell. That is not Paul attitude! Paul is saying, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone. Of course, you remember he is not present, he is writing a letter. He has heard a bad report and he is writing a letter about it. Maybe he hopes if he were among them, he would change them quickly therefore he will not have to use this kind of strong language.

That is what sometimes bothers me, when people seem to talk and they do not seem to feel other people’s pain. You should not be happy to hurt others. It should bother you that you hurt others even if you did so unintentionally. Paul is saying, how I wish I did not have to talk to you the way I am talking, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you! The reason why I am talking to you like this, Paul is telling them, due to the stories I have heard! I am totally perplexed! I cannot believe those stories are describing you. You can see he is totally moved.

so, what are we learning out of this? That Paul’s ministry was a love ministry. That Paul’s ministry desired that they do not become his followers, but Christ be formed in them, that Christ be the guide and Lord of their life. Paul’s ministry was prompted by love, was prompted by a desire for them to benefit out of what Christ offered, in dying on the cross for us. It was prompted by friendship, to him, ministry and friendship are synonymous. You are now serving them as your new friends.

So, we ask ourselves, is that the way we serve others? Is that the way we minister to those that have become our clients?

 

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