Galatians 4:4-20 (English Standard Version)
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not 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 worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
12 Brothers, I entreat 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 then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged 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 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, 19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.
Sermon Outline
I. Where Have You Gone? (vs. 8-11)
“… you were enslaved … whose slaves you want to be once more …”
II. Where We Once Were (vs. 12-20)
“ … become as I am…”
A. Paul’s example to them
B. Paul’s time with them
C. Paul’s confusion over them
III. What God Did (v9)
“… or rather to be known by God…”
What should be the effect of sovereign grace in our lives?
1. Rejection of ______________________________
2. Eagerness to receive the _____________________
3. Disdain for ______________________________
Sermon Quotes
“Knowing God is a matter of grace. We do not make friends with God; God makes friends with us, bringing us to know Him by making His love known to us. Paul expresses the priority of grace in our knowledge of God when he writes to the Galatians, ‘Now that you know God, or rather are known by God’ (Gal. 4:9). What comes to the surface is the apostle’s sense that grace came first & remains fundamental in his reader’s salvation. Their knowing God was the consequence of God’s taking knowledge of them. They know Him by faith because He first singled them out by grace. The word know points to God’s initiative in loving, choosing, redeeming, calling, adopting & preserving. It is a knowledge that implies personal affection, redeeming action, covenant faithfulness & providential watchfulness toward those whom God knows.
What matters supremely, therefore, is not the fact that I know God, but that He knows me. I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him because He first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a child, one who loves me. There is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted from me or a single moment when His care for me falters.
This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort in knowing that God is constantly thinking of me in love & watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself & somehow quench His determination to bless me. There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow humans do not see, and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself. There is, however, far greater incentive to worship & love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His child & friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose”. J.I. Packer, Knowing God