We are in Galatians chapter four verses twelve to twenty. And I haven't read this text yet this morning, so let me do that to prepare you for what we're going to think about. Paul says to the Galatian people, Brothers, I entreat you become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 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. What then has become of the blessing you felt? For I testify to you that if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. Have I then become to you an enemy? By telling you the truth, they make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out that you may make much of them. It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose. And not only when I am present with you, my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ was formed in you. I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. I've run into this idea in real life more than once, several times, somebody comes to a verse like you find at the very beginning of verse twelve. Where Paul says something like, brothers, I entreat you become as I am. And then they throw up their hands and in mocking ridicule, they say that Paul was the most ego centered, narcissistic, self-important person who ever lived. Who does he think he is? How can anyone take his words of Scripture? It goes against everything Jesus told us about denying self, loving others and seeking to be last. I have had roommates, I have had family members and Christian friends all respond to the apostle this exact same way. Some, I know, even lost their faith over it. Pretty remarkable, isn't it? How tragic that people cannot learn how to read the Bible properly. How devastating that a misunderstanding would cause someone to lose their faith. How sad that the Bible gets twisted and distorted, especially the apostle Paul, who in reality was actually one of the most selfless human beings that ever walked the planet, whose love for others caused him to tear out his hair when they turned against the truth, who was stoned with rocks and beaten with rods for trying to give them a message of comfort who became so ill at times, possibly over the stress that he placed on himself for trying to seek the good of these other people. But he still managed to shine the light of Christ upon those who dwell in darkness. What we have before us today is, in my opinion, a gut wrenching, tear jerking, passionate plea for a minister of his flock of a concerned mother to her wayward children of an angry father towards those who are seeking to harm his sons and daughters. This is not the ramblings of a narcissist, but as one commentator writes, quote, one of the finest practical applications of First Corinthians 13 written by Paul himself. Though the Galatians have failed Paul, his love toward them never fails, for love is long-suffering and kind, and even now hopes all things. So let's begin by looking at how the bad interpretation stumbles out of the gate. Now, yes, it's true. Paul implores, brothers, I entreat you, become as I am. He does, of course, say that, but did you notice he doesn't stop there? He is not putting the focus on himself as he continues, for I also have become as you are. Now, what's going on in this verse, we will quickly learn what it means to emulate Paul, but what does it mean that he became as they are? Well, what he means is that He would not let any lawful, but potentially divisive things stand in the way of showing these Gentile pagans the love of Christ and proclaiming to them the gospel. And so he became like them over these kinds of things. He explains exactly what he means here in our verse in the letter of First Corinthians, where he had the very same approach. You know, you're all familiar with this passage is what he says to the Jews. I became a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law, even though I'm not under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside of the law. To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak. I've become all things to all people that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel. that I may share with them its blessings. So that's a Corinthian is the same thing as a Galatian. He does the same thing to the Philippians. We read it for the gospel. I count everything is lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. So everywhere the apostle went, this was his attitude. Now, just here, when reading, especially the first Corinthians passage, I have to sigh and take a deep breath. I remember the word of Peter who said about Paul, the ignorant and unstable twist him to their own destruction. It seems sometimes like I can't explain something Paul said by quoting something else, Paul said, without having to explain the quote, because people misunderstand it, too. What I just quoted about Paul becoming all things to all men has been run with by more than one person trying to justify all manner of unlawful things, especially but not only related to the realm of worship. So I want to clarify my clarification. I said a moment ago that Paul would not let any lawful but potentially divisive things stand in the way. Never once. Do we find the apostle perverting the moral law to win somebody? You hear that ever? He does not become a prostitute to win prostitutes. Never once do we see him tinkering with God's worship to make it seeker friendly in order to win seekers. Rather, he says about one of the aspects of worship, I received what I also delivered to you. Paul isn't talking about that kind of thing. Instead, he has in mind. Living among people of different customs and cultural habits in such a way as not to be a stumbling block in their daily lives, you have to remember the apostle. Lived in the midst of these people when he became a missionary to them, he was with them seven days a week. In other words, he's talking here about things that are indifferent How you act at a meal, what you do with your time during the week. Should you get a job or shouldn't you get a job? Those kinds of things. Not everything is a thing in difference. Theft is not a thing in different. Paul did not become a thief to win thieves. The worship that takes place in heaven with angels and saints is not a thing in difference. But we have examples of things in different, don't we? If a Jew, for example, could not even stand to be in the presence of an uncircumcised fellow in order to even gain a hearing. Then Paul, who was not obligated to this law, would have his companion circumcised in order to gain that hearing. So we read that that's exactly what he did to Timothy, even though with Titus in our letter, he didn't do that. And Thessalonica, another Greek city, Paul took up a craft and worked with his hands to pay for his food. For those people coming in with a message and expecting a payment for that message was an offense and a burden, because apparently these people were quite poor. And it also appears when you read that Thessalonians, that their lack of money was due, at least in some part to their laziness, as many of them would not work for their own food. Remember, he says, if a man will not work, he will not eat. Why does he say that? Because obviously some of them refused to work. Paul did not do this because he had to, under some kind of legalistic compulsion, go to work. But to be an example to imitate, he tells them. Which is exactly what he says here in Galatians 4.12 in this verse. Or in the verses that explain this, Paul says. Imitate us, doesn't he? Now, obviously, this is not about Be like me. For the sake of being like me, but it's about being holy and blameless and learning to live godly and quiet lives, learning not to make other people unnecessarily angry, learning to think of others before you think of yourself. That's the chief end of living in a community with one another. Now, Paul brings this up because It serves the purpose of his larger argument. What he's going to do is call back to their memory how it was that he first came to them, how they accepted him, how they so eagerly received his message because they accepted. And then he's going to contrast this with what is presently happening to them because of the false teachers and how they are now seem to scorn him, how they are being lured away, attacked and re-imprisoned and how they are being flattered and are having their base desires catered to by these false apostles. Everything has changed with these people. So much so that at the very end of verse 20, Paul is perplexed about the entire situation and just throws up his hand and says, I don't know what to do with you people. And thus, this passage is very relevant in a church, any church or in a day in the church when God's people are being lured away, enticed, duped, tricked, bewitched by false teachers who not only introduce false gospels, but cause Christians in churches where these false gospels are being proclaimed to actually mock traditional Christianity, to scorn orthodoxy, to ridicule traditional worship, to hate the old ways, to leave the path trodden by the apostles and church fathers and reformers. That day is here. Now. And it seems as if throughout church history, if you ever read anything on church history, that that day is always here. And therefore, you couldn't find a more relevant passage for the church than what we are looking at here this morning. So let's continue with the argument. The apostle desires the people to become like him as he became like them. And even as when he first came to them, he says they did him no harm. And what he means is that they had every reason, according to their cultural beliefs and backgrounds, to harm him, to mock him, Even to kill him, but they didn't do that. Instead, he says, you accepted me. Paul is talking here about something that's really very interesting, and I'm betting you've never put together like what I'm about to show you. It's really most remarkable. He says, you know, it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first. 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. Now, you ask, well, what's so remarkable about that? Well, let's see if we can't just reconstruct what he's talking about here and what you can do here is you can thank God using for using Luke to preserve some very important information about the visit of Paul to the heart of Galatia in the city of Lystra in Acts 14 verses eight through 19. Because when you read Galatians in light of Acts 14. It gets very interesting. The key to understanding what Paul is talking about in is the phrase an angel of God. It's a very bizarre thing. You accept to me as an angel of God. You remember that at the beginning of our letter, Paul condemns even angels if they preach a gospel contrary to the one. Gospel of Jesus Christ. And in that instance, the angel was a herald, a messenger, which is what angel means. Now, in this instance, being received as an angel is directly related to his physical health. You see, as you read the passage. So you've got a messenger and physical health or a proclaimer and physical health. Well, it just so happens that in the Greek pantheon of gods, and this would therefore be the religion of the Galatians prior to coming to faith in Christ. There is a god who functions as both the chief messenger to the gods, but also as the chief healer of mortals. His name is Hermes. Hermes has had an impact upon our English language, the word hermeneutic. Which means to interpret and to therefore relate messages comes from Hermes. The word hermetic seal, which is a vacuum that you place over things like food to preserve them, comes from Hermes. The word hermeticism is an esoteric Gnostic magical religious system that adopted a A thing called a catechist as its symbol. Now, you've seen the catechist before. It's the intertwining serpents around a pole. And guess what it is the symbol of today? Almost every health agency around the world. In other words, the catechist is the symbol of healing. At any rate, you wonder how any of this is relevant. OK, Acts 14. It tells us, I think, starting around verse eight, that when Paul and Barnabas came to Lystra, that there was a crippled man who had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking and Paul looking intently at him and seeing that he has faith, said, stand up. And the man began walking. And suddenly the entire crowd lifted up their voices in unison and they started yelling, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. Remembering much older times, such as Genesis six or the angels coming to Sodom and Gomorrah and so on. Luke then records in verse 12, Barnabas, they called Zeus and Paul Hermes. This is in the heart of Galatia that this is happening, friends. When Paul went to Galatia because of his preaching and healing, they thought he was Hermes, a god, or as the Greek translates the Old Testament word as angel. So zip back to Galatians 4.13. Paul has come to these particular Galatian peoples because of an illness. An illness. In other words, he could heal others, but he couldn't heal himself. How strange is that? He acts like Hermes, but he doesn't act like Hermes. Back in Acts, Paul and Barnabas were both indignant that people were trying to worship them, and so they told them, look, We are men of like nature with you, and we bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to the living God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that's in them. In past generations, he allowed all nations to walk in their own ways, though he did not leave himself without a witness in his common grace. And it concludes then in verse 18. And check this out. After they give this great appeal, it says that even with these words, they were scarcely restrained. They scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifices to them. They couldn't convince them otherwise, or they just barely convinced them otherwise. So with this as the background, understand what a remarkable thing Paul is saying here in our text. Let's assume that he is referring to in Galatians to another city. Since it's clear that in Lystra, Paul is not ill. So he says, when I came to you, I was ill with some kind of illness. So it can't be Lystra, but it could be the next city he went to, which is Derby, since it says that the Jews from Antioch and Iconium came to Lystra and persuaded the Galatians. And what do they do in verse 19 in Acts 14? They stone Paul, they drag him out of the city and they suppose that he's dead. Obviously, Paul would have been severely injured and may very well have gotten quite ill from that since he was near the point of death. And in light of this, it's very curious that Paul tells Timothy in his letter to Timothy something very similar to what we see going on in here in Galatians. And he refers to this very event again. He says, Timothy, you have followed my teaching. Listen to how opposite it is from the Galatians. Or at least what's happening to them now. You followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, my sufferings. So he's saying you have become like I am. He says, what happened to me at Antioch and Iconium and Lystra, which persecutions I endured, yet from all of them, the Lord rescued me. That's in Second Timothy three, ten through eleven. Timothy did what the Galatians are not doing. So he comes to a city. We'll assume Derby, the one after Lystra, where he's basically carried there by his friends near the point of death, his reputation has preceded him. These people accept him as an angel from heaven, a very God among men, as Paul says, as the Lord Jesus himself. They have heard of his preaching and of his healing, and yet before them is an ill man who cannot heal himself. What he's saying is they could have despised me just like they did at Lystra for not being able to heal myself. Or they could have yielded to the temptation to do so, but they didn't do either one. He says that his condition was a trial to them, but they didn't scorn him. And this is one of the most commendable, one of the few commendable things that he actually says to these people in the entire letter. When you think about the whole idea of it all, it's a remarkable grace of God that they didn't stone him, too. But God used this event to allow Paul to proclaim the gospel to these people and others who were in bondage to Zeus and Hermes, as we've seen as we've been going through this letter. And that proclaiming the gospel set them free from this devastating religious darkness that they were under. So can you see how all of this spiritual worldview stuff that I've been discussing with you in this letter has helped prepare you to understand the context today properly? You have truly now entered into the worldview of these ancient Galatian pagans. And because of it, you're able to understand why Paul is so upset. He knows personally that from which they have been set free and he himself has been set free. He was a Jew under the yoke of the law and never in a million years would he have thought about returning to that. And yet these Galatians are thinking very quickly about returning back to the slavery that they were under of Zeus and Hermes. And he can't he's beside himself. He can't understand why they would want to go back to that. Now, we are seeing the very same thing occurring in our day, friends, as they once Christianized West becomes more and more pagan. Today, it is cute and fun running back to the gods with open arms. We act like frolicking little school children who don't realize that they just met a child molester on the way home. If God is not gracious to us once more, I fear that in a generation there will be no more light of the gospel allowed to penetrate our once glorious, magnificent culture. And people will be begging for freedom from these demonic creatures that now hold our culture in their clutches, but make themselves seem so harmless. Only the gospel can set a person free from them because only Jesus Christ has conquered them and won the victory. Now, with that, Paul now wonders in verse 15, what has become of the blessing you felt? In other words, he's returning now to the place they find themselves today. They were once so quick to receive weak things of the world, things that shame the wise, in spite of their cognitive dissonance that they had with their worldview and Paul's health. They were so receptive of Paul when their entire worldview said that they should not have been. Then he says, Look, you people would have gouged out your eyes for me and given them to me. Perhaps that's a reference to something that happened to him, maybe at Lystra when he got stoned, or it might just be hyperbole to show how great their affection and tenderness was towards him when he arrived there. But now it's no longer clear that they would do this at all. He writes in verse 16, have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? Now, it's not clear when he's talking about here. Perhaps he's thinking about what he just wrote in the letter. He's just kind of thinking out loud. Perhaps he's referring to the last time he visited them and maybe it wasn't a very good situation. Whatever the case, it has to do with the false teachers who are leading them astray, causing them to return to the very things, the bondage of sin and the law and the devil that we've looked at in the past couple of weeks. Verse 17, they make much of you, but for no good purpose. In other words, you're being flattered, your ears are being tickled, you're being told the things that you want to hear in the flesh, your guard is no longer up because you like what you're being spoon fed. Your cyanide pill tastes like sugar. You feel like you're in charge, you feel powerful because of what these people are telling you. But he says they want to shut you out. The Galatians are being told, don't listen to Paul. He doesn't have your best interests in mind. He doesn't want to give you power over your own life. He does not want you to obey God, but rather he wants you to break God's law. So stay away from him. Have nothing to do with him. The false teachers are attempting to isolate the Galatians so that they can pick them off like the wandering animal from the herd that then gets eaten by the lion because he hasn't stayed in the pack. It's easy prey. They are doing it, quote, so that you may make much of them. It's their own self-importance that's in mind here, not God's. Now, this ironic thing to say in light of how I began the sermon, because Paul says become as I am. But now he says they want you to make much of them. But the ideas are not the same, they're actually opposites. Paul wants them to emulate his selflessness and weakness, humility, suffering. And even their own original attitude towards him so that they might return to Christ, who is strong, but that's not what's going on with the false teachers. These men want to be flattered to be propped up as great teachers, to be magnified and worshiped as those who have the secret knowledge to the higher life. Paul wants the Galatians to emulate his actions, but these men want to puff up their own persons. So it's very different things going on. Now, in verse 18, he says, it's always good to be made much of for a good purpose and not only when I am present with you. And in this verse, he's remembering that on the former occasion, when he came to them so distressed. He was the attention of their wholehearted devotion, they made much of him because of how sick he was. This is the way that they're acting now towards the false teachers. When he was there before the attention they gave him was for a good purpose. What in the world does that mean for a good purpose? It means that it allowed him to hear it or allowed them to hear and receive the gospel that he'd been preaching. It was because of their single minded love and attention to him that they actually heard the gospel. But now it's the very same character trait that is causing them to abandon the gospel. It's a double edged sword, and this reminds me of how everybody in this room has a strength and a spiritual gift. Some of you don't even know what yours is, but I encourage you to figure them out. But also how those gifts are often our greatest weaknesses at the same time. So, for example, a person gifted in speech is often heard And if what they have to say is good and important, that's a good thing. But at the same time, this same kind of a person very often, because they love to talk, never listen. And so the strength becomes a weakness. But think about those with gifts of serving who are often a great help to the church or to the family. And this is a vital and important thing in any community, and yet such gifting can sometimes cause them to be too busy. You remember Martha, who didn't have time for Jesus because she was so busy serving. It can also cause the person to well up with anger. Asking why aren't other people as helpful as I am. The strength becomes a weakness and you could go down and listen, any strength you can think of and you find the same thing. Now, in the case of the Galatians, their ready desire to accept anybody allowed the gospel to come to them. And now, ironically, it's causing them to abandon the gospel. And so you must beware, you need to know your gifts, the things that you're good at, but you need to know the weaknesses that accompany those gifts. Don't let yourself be hindered by the trappings of sin that can result when you exercise your gifts. Of the end of the section now sees a deep affection that Paul feels for these people and it bubbles to the surface in verse nineteen, my little children. Like each of the apostles, Paul sees his job as a missionary, as giving birth to new life forms, those who convert under his ministry are as children. He is their father. Or in the case here, he is their mother. Because what's the analogy? I am in anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. I just want a few times that an analogy like this comes from the apostle, he does use something similar with the Thessalonians. We, of course, see God using this kind of imagery with Israel and Jesus speaks this way about the end times, the pangs of. Childbirth, but here Paul is speaking about giving birth. To these people, he's saying that he doesn't want their lack of faith to cause an abortion. The idea is that a group is never fully secure because they can always turn away. Now, I want you to notice here, I said a group all is not speaking about losing salvation. He is speaking to a group where some are saved and most of them are acting like they're not safe. He can't judge a heart, especially in a letter to everybody. But he can judge actions and confessions. And as a group, he's perplexed about them at the very end, verse 20. He uses the word again, I am again in the anguish of childbirth or birth pains. And William Hendrickson writes, having been displaced in their affections by others, Paul's birth pains have returned. The birth pain may very well be literal, like the great suffering, stoning that he endured at Lystra for Christ's sake. Hendrickson continues. He says he hopes with all the ardor of his soul that for the sake of their own salvation, the Galatians will renew their former attachment to him. Oh, that they might be his children once more as children imitating him is not what children do. I was thinking about that scene in Jaws. The dad is sitting there, and he kind of does this, and the boy does the same thing back. And the dad kind of goes like this, and the boy does the same thing back. The child imitates the father. That's what he wants these people to do. Oh, that they might imitate him again. Oh, that they might become as he is, trusting solely in Christ for their salvation. Oh, that they would cast aside all reliance on self, on works, as he, by the grace of God, had learned to do. Is that not love showing itself in action like we said at the beginning? This is true love. Paul's tenderness for these people is like a mother to a child. His anger towards the false teachers is protective, like a father protecting a daughter from a pillaging enemy. People often think about love as a feeling. But love is a verb, love is patient, love is kind, love does all things, right? Sometimes love must be tough. Sometimes love must be blunt. A child rushing into a busy street needs to be yelled at. Get out of the street. And then perhaps they need to be grabbed and spanked so that they won't do it again. It's for their own protection, not even because it was necessarily a sin. It's just because it was so dangerous. You can't let them do that again. Paul writes, I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone. He says this to let them know how much he loves them. And this, then, is how all pastors and elders ought to feel about each of their members and those who come to their churches. There needs to be great concern, but that concern also needs to be parental and focused on the long term welfare of the children. Paul has displayed in this passage, not some narcissistic, self aggrandizing person, But a most selfless, selfless, compassionate person. He protects his child, his suffering child, he trains his child, he warns his child, he hopes for his child, he lets his child see how much he loves him. I pray that you would know that your pastor and your elders feel this way about you. The things we do in this church we do for your good, as imperfect as we are, and sometimes they are. We desire nothing more than for Christ to be formed in you. We want your delivery to be healthy and happy on the day of Christ so that you may know the eternal love of the heavenly father. Let us pray for God's church, both here and abroad, that he would send pastors and elders who care about his children. That he would protect the sheep from the wolves and that the truth would be spoken, that the leaders might pattern their lives in such a way as to actually want to be emulated. And let us pray that God would bring many more people to himself through selfless missionaries and their endeavors that are undertaken for those who do not know Christ. Let's pray together. Father, you've heard these last words of mine here in my prayer for your church, for this church, for your people, for myself, for the church's broad, for its leaders, for missionaries that you would send out that we would. Nor that you would be kind once more and fill your churches with these kind of leaders. and with the truth and that is the truth goes out, it would be this kind of truth and it would not be some kind of a false falsely soothing false message that people want to hear in their flesh. I pray for the people that are here that They would be grateful for the words that they hear, that they would test the things that they're hearing in light of scripture and that they would be excited that that the things that they're hearing are true, that what they read in scripture conforms to what they're hearing from the pulpit, no matter who's in up here talking. I pray that we would greatly desire to know more of you and that our lives would be reflected in that way. Pray that your word would be powerful throughout the week. That we would have our minds drawn to it often that we would talk about it with one another and encourage one another with the things that we've heard here today. And we ask that you would hear our prayer in Jesus name.