SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT FOR TODAY (October 24, 2013) GALATIANS 4:8-20 A HUMBLE APPEAL Memory Verse: GALATIANS 4:12 (NIV) “I PLEAD WITH YOU, BROTHERS, BECOME LIKE ME, FOR I BECAME LIKE YOU.” It is very easy for believers to look at those who are slipping away from the faith in different ways and sometimes say lots of negative things about them. We fail to understand backsliders and as a result fail to help lift them up. We sometimes condemn them very easily as if they represent the devil himself. There are some Christians who will just not talk to their brothers and sisters again because they see them as having falling away from the faith. But Paul shows us in our passage today that we should always approach believers who are drifting away from the faith with love and care and a passion to see them back into the family of God. We need to approach them in love and humility and help them out of the grips of Satan and sin. Paul in this passage was addressing the Gentile believers of Galatia who were beginning to believe the teachings of some men from the Jerusalem Church. According the men, the Galatians could be fully accepted as saved upon the condition that they would become Jews. This implied that the Gentiles were to live according to the Jewish law by observing the Sabbath, all the ceremonial days and months, offering of sacrifices at the Temple, and being circumcised among others. Paul, having taught them that salvation comes through faith in Christ alone now appeals to them as brothers to be like him just as he became like them. This can be related to Paul’s former way of life as a Jew when he believed that salvation came through observance of the law. But now he has been freed from the bondage of the law and given freedom in Christ through faith. He was no longer living as someone who was zealous for the law. He was now living not as a Jew but a Christian and by extension, a Gentile believer who believed that salvation comes through faith in Christ alone! THIS SHOWS THAT PAUL HAD HAD A CHANGE OF LIFE FROM BEING A JEW BOUND BY THE LAW INTO BECOMING A BELIEVER SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. What Paul had left behind was what the false teachers were trying to take the Galatians back into again. Paul was therefore appealing to them to change their direction and become like him. Paul did not mean he had ceased to be a Jew by nationality, but had ceased to believe that salvation came by observing the law. SO HE TOLD THE GALATIANS NOT TO GO BACK TO WHAT HE HAD LEFT, BUT RATHER BECOME LIKE HIM (PAUL), WHO HAD THROWN AWAY HIS ZEALOUSNESS FOR THE LAW AND EMBRACED FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST AS THE ONLY MEANS OF SALVATION. Once again, we can see Paul’s passion in bringing back those who were being into the family of God. He appealed to them to change and go back to Christ. Paul’s humble attitude in this passage is something worthy of mention. He did not try to command them as the ‘founder’ or father of the church. He spoke to them as brothers, hoping to win some if not all back into the fold. There are many people who used to attend our churches, or used to be part of the Assembly of God’s people. For some time now they have not been regular or stopped coming. What has been our attitude towards such people? How do we see them? What do we say about them? What have we done or are doing to bring them to the faith they once held? Have we neglected them? Do we curse them or treat them as being too evil to be saved? It is my prayer that such people will not be neglected, and that we will take every opportunity available to reach out to them and persuade them to come back. AS THE HYMN WRITER SAID WE SHOULD “RESCUE THE PERISHING AND CARE FOR THE DYING.” WE SHOULD ALSO DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO “SNATCH THEM IN PITY FROM THE SIN AND THE GRAVE, WEEP OVER THE ERRING ONES, LIFT UP THE FALLING AND TELL THEM OF JESUS THE MIGHTY TO SAVE.” This is our duty as saved children of God. WE SHOULD NOT JUST RELAX AND WATCH UNCONCERNED AT PEOPLE WHO ARE BEING DECEIVED BY FALSE TEACHERS. WE NEED TO PRAY FOR THEM, REMIND THEM OF THEIR FIRST LOVE AND HELP THEM TO STAY FOCUS IN THEIR WALK WITH THE LORD! Paul was very concerned because these were the very people who accepted the gospel which Paul preached among them. The accepted Paul and his teachings and treated him like an angel of God, and were willing to do anything for him. What then had come over them? It is all because the devil was at work to “steal, kill and destroy” the people of God. He is still at it even in our days. He is using deception to win lots of people into his fold. WE MUST CONTINUE TO PREACH AND TEACH THE TRUTHS OF THE GOSPEL AND NOT JUST WHAT PEOPLE WANT TO HEAR. BY SO DOING, WE WILL BE ABLE TO GUIDE GOD’S PEOPLE WELL. FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY FALLEN AWAY FROM THE FAITH, WE SHOULD HUMBLY REACH OUT TO THEM AS BROTHERS AND SISTERS WITH LOVE, AND HELP RESCUE THEM FROM THE GRIPS OF SATAN. THE WORD OF THE LORD!
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 11:29:02 +0000
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