The David Spoon Experience 9-26-23 part 2
1) In the middle of chapter 4 of Galatians, Paul picks up the ferocious pace. He states that the false teachers, who are just anxious to win your favor, are not doing it to help you. Instead, they’re doing it so that you’ll pay attention to them. Essentially, this means that these false teachers are the center. They’re not trying to push or pull anybody towards the Lord. They’re trying to push and pull people towards themselves and themselves alone. Large personalities are not bad, but large personalities that gather unto themselves, for themselves to glorify themselves, is another matter altogether.
2) The apostle quickly acknowledges that it’s good to be eager to do good. That’s not a bad thing. Eagerness is good, especially if it’s directed in the right place. But Paul has a concern. He wants these people that he labors for and labors over to continue in their development of being Christ-like until Jesus is fully developed. That’s our target while we’re on earth: to fully develop Jesus Christ in our lives. However, the Apostle is concerned that he’s going to have to do the initial labor pains all over again.
3) What I love about the scriptures is how God crafted the personality of the authors into the framework of the text. In case you’re wondering, Paul expresses a pretty decent level of frustration when he tells the believers how he wishes he could be there with them right now but doesn’t know what else to do. That’s expressing genuine concern for their spiritual well-being. Not everything in the Kingdom of God is rainbows and roses.
4) Paul steps up his arguments to make sure they understand that they are saved by grace and not by reconverting themselves under a baptism of the law. He makes an illustration of two women who have two children: Sarah and Hagar. The one woman had a child by promise, while the other woman had a child because they were trying to force the hand of God in fulfillment. From a human perspective, guess which turned out to be the problem? Guess what happens when we try to fulfill something that God has promised to do by human effort? Yep, it’s the same mess.
