I invite you to turn with me in your copy of the New Testament scripture to Galatians chapter number four. As John Sheik read for us just a moment ago, Galatians chapter number four. It is easy for us to romanticize that which is far from us in space or in time. For example, how great would it be to have lived long ago in Rome or Corinth or Ephesus or Philippi? How great would it have been to be part of the first century church? Everyone was a first generation Christian. The gospel of grace was so fresh. The apostle Paul was everyone's spiritual father. If we had lived then and there, it would have been so great. Yet everything was not so great at that time and in that place. Specifically, Paul's relationship with the Galatian churches was strained over the issues at hand. Their relationship, their friendship was fragile because of the dispute regarding law and grace. Before you there on the screen, I would state this. First Paul was horrified that the Galatians had turned away from the gospel of grace to another gospel. Chapter 1 verse 6, they had not obeyed the truth. Chapter 3 verse 1, they were bewitched. And perhaps there's been an occasion in your life when a close friendship became distant. And I'm not suggesting a physical move, but a change philosophically or ideologically. Perhaps you enjoyed common ground with a friend. In so many areas of life, you were kindred spirits. Perhaps you saw eye to eye on so many things. There was a bond that you shared, but then something changed. Your friend turned. They went a different direction and they chose a different path in life. And consequently you grew distance. After all, how can two walk together unless they are agreed? Paul was horrified when the Galatian churches turned away after another gospel. But then also Paul was hurt. Paul was hurt that the Galatians had turned against him. You see, at one time they had loved him dearly, but now they treated him like an enemy. Chapter four, verse 16, it's before you, Galatians four, verse 16. Have I therefore become your enemy? Because I tell you the truth. And the Galatian Judaizers were critical of Paul's ministry because he spoke the truth to them. And for that reason, Paul had to defend himself from his own friends in chapters one and two. Paul's motives were under attack. His methods were under attack. His message was under attack. And perhaps you also have had a good friend who not only turned from you, but turned against you. And whereas you had previously shared so much in common with that friend, you had shared with them your most intimate secrets, and you had previously counted on them to have your back and to take your side and to be on your team, but now they don't trust you anymore. They're publicly critical of you. And you find yourself repeatedly explaining yourself to them and defending yourself from them. And Paul was hurt. that they had not only turned away from the gospel, but that they had turned against him. And I have reason to believe that every single person here this morning under the sound of my voice has experienced a fragile friendship. because of these things. And such was the case for Paul and the Galatians. And so from Galatians 4 verses 12 through 20, I prepared a message titled Fragile Friendship. And this morning I want to make four observations from the text. You see it there, Roman numerals 1 through 4. And then also I'd like to make three applications of the text that is bringing the Bible principles to bear upon our lives. Let's go to the Lord in prayer, and then we'll look at the scripture together. God in heaven, it is now that we come to open your holy word, to read it, and to study it, and to be instructed by it. from your Holy Spirit. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to discern the realities of fragile relationships that existed between Paul and the Galatian churches, also, Lord, at times exist in our own lives. Lord, as we make observations and we make applications from the text, I pray that you would help us to be like you, I pray in Jesus' name, amen. He is now, has a change of tone, some of the most warm and personal words of this letter. He's no longer writing as a scholar or as a theologian. He's no longer presenting arguments as an apostle. He's no longer charging the Galatians or condemning them for their wrong, but rather he's making a heartfelt appeal to them just as friends. My first observation from the text, beginning in verse number 12, is simply that of faithful friendship. Number one, faithful friendship, I would point you to verse number 12, brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I have become like you. Stop there. This is the funniest thing. In Galatians chapter 1 and in Philippians chapter 3, the Bible establishes that Paul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was a Jew's Jew, if you will. However, following conversion by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, Paul became like a Gentile, that is, no longer under the Mosaic ceremonial law. The Apostle Paul the Jew became like the Gentile Galatian Christians. But then in a twisted sort of way, the Gentile Galatian Christians became like Jews. seeking to follow the law again. And so Paul was asking them to become like him, which is in fact like what they were in the first place before, not under the law. And I think Paul is trying to lighten the mood here a bit at this point in his letter by saying, I'm just trying to get back to the way it was before, the way it's supposed to be. You are not supposed to be under law. So look at verse 12 again. Brethren, I urge you to become like me, not under law, for I became like you, Gentile Galatian Christians who are not under the law. You have not injured me at all. The ESV I think reads, you did me no wrong. So their fragile friendship was not a result of a personal offense toward Paul. Paul makes it clear that personal insult or personal injury was not an issue here. And he's trying to rekindle their friendship by reminding them of how and when they met. Verse 13, you know that because of physical infirmity, I preached the gospel to you at the first. And my trial, my physical infirmity, which was in my flesh, you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus." So evidently, Paul suffered some physical illness. In some way, that illness gave Paul the opportunity to preach the gospel in the regions of Galatia. Perhaps Paul was traveling through the region and he had to remain there for some time because of his sickness or his illness. He had to recuperate from that sickness or illness. Or perhaps Paul traveled to that destination intentionally because he needed the medical care that perhaps was provided in that place. We don't know. It doesn't matter. What is noteworthy is that Paul's illness, what he calls a physical infirmity, here in verse 13, or his trial in the flesh, verse 14, could have been the cause for the Galatians' rejection of him, yet the Galatians received him anyway in spite of that. We know that in ancient times, good medicines and sterile bandages and proper care for diseases were not always readily available, and so sometimes disfigurements or maybe disgusting consequences, and the sick were often quarantined or put out and away from the public lest they infect others. And if one was unclean in any way, they would not be received. They would be rejected, and everyone would avoid them for their own protection. It's the original social distancing, I suppose, there at the time. Nobody wanted to be in the company of the sick. But Paul's affliction, his illness or sickness in the flesh, was not a barrier to the Galatians. They did not reject him as unclean. They did not despise or reject him, verse number 14. They did not shrink away from him because of his condition. Quite the opposite, they received him. as they would have an angelic being or even Jesus Christ himself. There in verse 14, this is like the original Beauty and the Beast story. It takes faithful friendship to accept and embrace another who is diseased or disfigured. And that was the Galatians' relationship with Paul at the first. Look at verse 15. 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." So at the beginning, the Galatians were so blessed by Paul's ministry, they would have given them their eyes. And this might be a figure of speech. Of course, eyesight is the most precious of perhaps all of our senses. And giving another one's eyes, giving one's eyes to another, really illustrates the greatest of personal sacrifice. Or it could be that Paul's bodily affliction was actually in the form of an eye disease. And so he may be speaking more literally of the Gentiles' willingness to exchange their eyes for his, had an eye transplant been possible in that day. I don't personally believe that poor eyesight was Paul's thorn in the flesh. If you go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, I think Paul's thorn in the flesh was a person or persons, his critics that were opposed to him. However, I do believe that Paul had poor eyesight as suggested here. And it's generally thought that Paul had a bulging eye, infectious disease there in his eyes. In fact, if you turn the page to chapter six, look at Galatians six, verse number 11. Paul hints at this when he says in chapter six, verse 11, see with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand. Okay, now Paul usually dictated his letters to an amanuensis or a stenographer, but he would often add a postscript at the end of his letters, a personal greeting in his own hand at the end of his letters. If his eyesight was injured or infected, that would explain why Paul wrote with large letters. His eyesight was poor so that he could see what he was writing. His large print was not for his readers to read, it was for him himself the writer. At this point, at one time, the Galatians embraced Paul and were blessed by Paul's ministry. They loved him greatly, in spite of how diseased he may have been or how he may have looked. The Galatians were willing to make great sacrifice for him, like Henry's gift of the Magi story. Perhaps you're familiar with that. At one time, the Galatians were friends, but now things changed. Verse 16, have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth. And so we go from this great example of faithful friendship and the sacrificial relationship that they had to a faltering friendship in verse 16. Verse 16, have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth. And folks, we would say that the honeymoon is over at this point. And whereas the Galatians had once been blessed by Paul's presence, they were willing to give him anything he needed, even as their own eyes. Now he had become their enemy and their friendship was faltering. Why? Because Paul told them the truth in verse 16. He might jot in the margin Proverbs 27 verse 6, says, faithful are the wounds of a friend. But many times when a friend confronts us with truth and it hurts, we hate him for it. I remember being confronted once by a friend. I was a senior in Bible college. As a senior in Bible College, I was the assistant dorm supervisor, which was normally a position reserved for graduates, not for students. It provided me some privileges, and I thought I was BMOC—Big Man on Campus. Of course, I was Little Man on Campus. I carried myself as if I was a big man on campus. I was also dating a beautiful woman named Kimberly. You know her. I had just preached in chapel before the entire student body, and I had won the preaching contest. Now, in hindsight, I don't like the idea of a preaching contest. It's like a praying contest, right? Or a soul winning contest. I don't know that there's virtue in those things, but I was full of myself and it was at that time that a friend of mine, an underclassman, mind you, pulled me aside and he confronted me with truth about my proud spirit. And I remember him saying to me, warning me that God resists the proud. He warned me that pride goes before a destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. And he lovingly confronted me with the truth that God hates a proud look. And he told me that I had become proud. That was an awkward moment, right? And it was an angry moment. What was I supposed to say? And who was he acting all high and mighty as an underclassman, telling me a senior assistant dorm supervisor who had just won the preaching contest, right? What did he have to teach or tell me anything? The audacity of him telling me something that was wrong with me. But I remember him saying this to me. I remember him saying, I'm just telling you the truth. You're puffed up, you're proud, and you're arrogant. And in some way, shape, or form, if you read through the Gospels, Jesus says, I tell you the truth 84 times. And perhaps there's been a time when you've been confronted by the truth. How do you respond? And what did it do to your friendship? Proverbs says, rebuke a scoffer and he'll hate you, but rebuke a wise man and he'll love you. And when my friend confronted me, I wanted to respond like a wise man and love him for it, but it was not easy because of my pride. Folks, I struggled with that then and perhaps even now to respond in humility and make the necessary changes. so that I am not proud. And by God's grace, my friendship with this other student did not falter. However, Paul was confronting the foolish Galatians, chapter three, verse number one. Paul was confronting them with truth. And they responded, or would they respond, either as the wise or as the fool. Unfortunately, they responded as the fool. In chapter four, verse 16, they hated him for it. And their friendship faltered. Verse 17, they zealously, who's the they? The they is the Judaizers. That is those that would insist on law keeping. They, verse number 17, zealously court you, but for no good. Yes, they want to exclude you. Verse 17, that you may be zealous for them. So by keeping you at a distance and critical of you, they want you to aspire for them, to be zealous for them. But it is good to be zealous at a good thing always and not only when I am present with you. I would call this feigned friendship, feigned friendship. Verse 17 describes the Judaizers who were pursuing the Gentile Galatian believers. As a man might court a woman, if you'll follow this example, let's create a scenario for us here this morning. Boy meets girl. And boy has good manners. And boy says kind words. And boy gives nice gifts. And boy is chivalrous. But then dad meets boy. And dad tells the girl, he doesn't care about you. He's only interested in what he can get from you. And girl throws a fit and says, but daddy, I love him. He's so good to me. Why don't you want me to be happy? And what has happened here in our little scenario is the girl is foolishly bewitched by the boy. Chapter three, verse one, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? The girl is foolishly bewitched by the false promises and assurances and manipulation of the boy. Chapter four, verse 17, this feigned friendship. And the girl resents her father's loving warning. She doesn't want to hear the truth about the boy. And nobody can see it other than the father, right? Or perhaps the mother, the parents. And in a similar way, Paul is playing the role of a parent in this case. In fact, he calls the Galatians little children. See it there, verse number 19. He calls them little children. And in a fatherly sort of way, he recognizes that the Galatians were bewitched, chapter three, verse one, by the feigned friendship of the Judaizers, chapter four, verse 17. Proverbs 27 verse 6 says, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. And a fascinating Bible study is to trace the deceptive kisses that are recorded all through the scripture. Most familiar to us, of course, would be the kisses of the adulterous woman in Proverbs 7 and the kiss of Judas in the Gospels. So we must be careful of the feigned friendships around us. There are so many that would bewitch us and promise us health and wealth and prosperity, giving us assurances of peace and pleasure. It takes a spiritual father to warn us of blind spots and danger that is pending. And it takes accountability of one another here in the family of God when we are willing to speak truth to each other. Verse 19, my little children, for whom I labor and birth again until Christ is formed in you. I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone for I have doubts about you. I'm going to title this fervent friendship. Paul's appeal at this point is not the appeal of of theological precision in which he presents a tightly fashioned or formed theological argument. His appeal is that of a broken heart. He's not writing with the heavy authority of an apostle, but with the agony of a hurting mother. And his desire for them is that they develop into the Christian God intends them to be, a Christian who is conformed to the image of Christ. And he's troubled by them because he loves them. And his friendship, his love for them is fervent. So here, just in these few verses, the observations that I make is the faithful friendship that faltered. Others that were feigned in their friendship, but Paul's fervent friendship for them. We've made these observations. How about now some applications? some applications for us. I want to take the remainder of our time here this morning and present three principles from this text that may help us in responding to those who, like the Galatians, have chosen to depart from the truth. Perhaps for you it's a wayward child. Perhaps for you, it's a former student. Perhaps for you, it's one who used to be a member of this church, or perhaps one who is still a member of this church. Perhaps you have a friendship that is fragile because your friend has turned away. And it's complicated, isn't it? It's really complicated. How do we interact with those who have strayed? How do we reach those who have erred? Those who have drawn away from what is right? Let me give you three ideas. First, number one, be tender. Be tender. And I think of Paul's instruction to the young pastor Timothy in 2 Timothy 2. If it's good for a pastor, it's good for all of us. Here's what he says as a servant of the Lord. A servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all. able to teach, patient, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they might know the truth and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. Gentle, patient, in humility. I think in 1 Thessalonians 5, these references are there in your notes. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the faint-hearted, Uphold the weak, here it is, be patient with all. Another, I think of Galatians 6, one, brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, that is spirit filled from earlier in Galatians 5, those who are spirit filled, spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness or meekness. Be tender, be tender with that other, that friend. It does not mean that we're soft on sin. Remember the context of Paul's letter to the Galatians includes rebuke and correction. So don't only be tender. How about this? Be tough. Be tough. And that seems to contradict number one. We might call this tough love, for we render no service to our loved ones if we do not rebuke and exhort and correct them. If we had the time, I could take you to Hebrews chapter 12, where the Bible speaks of the value of chastening. In fact, it's a father who loves his son who chastens his son. And although chastening is painful for the present, it's profitable. Hebrews 12 verse 11, no, no chastening seems joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, it's the faithful wound of a friend. It's painful, nevertheless afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. I've also given you there in your notes, maybe I haven't, 2 Timothy 4, verse number two is Paul's charge to Timothy to convince, to rebuke, to exhort with all long suffering and teaching for the time will come when men will turn away from the truth. Be tough. So Hebrews 12, 5 to 11 and 2 Timothy 4 verse 2, I failed to include those in your notes. But then this, number three, bring truth. Be tender. Be tough, that faltering friendship, that fragile friendship. Be tender, be tough, and then bring truth. And where do I get that idea? From our text, Galatians 4, verse number 16, have I therefore become your enemy? Because I tell you the truth. There is too much emphasis today on methods and not enough on the message. There is too much attention given to the messenger today and too little to the message. Truth is bound up in the pages of this book. It is the gospel that is the power to save. It is God's word that is quick and powerful to change. Never mind what you think or how you feel, your opinions and your ideas. Bring truth to the other. Perhaps you've experienced a fragile friendship because you've been confronted by a friend with the truth. Respond in humility for God gives grace to the humble. He resists the proud. Be the wise man from Proverbs and don't hate your friend for that. Love them for that. Thank them for that. Whether it's a pastor, a parent, a teacher, perhaps it's a fellow church member. Thank you for bringing truth to my life. Or perhaps you're experiencing a fragile relationship, a fragile friendship, because you have confronted that other with the truth. Do it in these ways, like Paul. It may still bring pain, but faithful are the wounds of a friend. And may we heed what we read of here in all of our relationships, in all of our friendships, is they can be fragile at times. Let me pray. God in heaven, thank you for the example of Paul and the Galatians. Lord, we thank you for Paul's courage and tenderly but toughly bringing truth to the Galatians regarding the dispute over law and grace. Lord, it's our desire that you would have your way in our lives, that you would conform us to the image of your son. Give us the humility of spirit to bend the knee, to follow, to submit to the truth. For I pray it in Jesus' name, amen.