Known By God

Scripture Text: Galatians 4:8-20

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11 I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.

12 I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong. 13 As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, 14 and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. 15 Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

17 Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them. 18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. 19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!

 

Sermon Notes:

 

I sat beside a young father on the flight from Phoenix to Houston. We exchanged greetings. Mid-flight he turned to me and asked, “Are you divorced?” I said no, and he said that he was going through a divorce. He had two sons, and he was worried about them. Their mother wanted to stop the weekly sleepover at Dad’s house. She thought it was disrupting them. He wondered.

His parents had been married for 40 years. He had intended to do just that. But unexpected forces went to work on their marriage, and it unraveled with much regret. “She’s a good mother,” he said. “That’s one reason why I married her. I thought she would be.”

I talked to him about my faith in Christ. He was curious but uncommitted. He had attended a religious school of some kind, but he knew little about Christ Jesus and his grace. He felt a futility of wasted time and effort in the failure of his marriage.

I told him the story about my encounter with God in the dead of night in a dorm room at Baylor University—go Bears—and how it changed the course of my life. It was pure grace, God intervening in my life, and I hope that Dad is thinking about it today.

 

God Knowing Us Is Deliverance:

“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God…” (v8-9).

 

• Previous to their faith in Christ they did not know God.

• They did not know who God was, and they did not know his nature. They were slaves to things—idols for the Gentiles, traditions for the Jews—that by nature were not gods. Without Christ, we are all worshipping we “know not what,” as Jesus told the Samaritan woman (John 4:22).

• Their former condition is sad. Their worship is a mistake. They are expending the hours and days and years of their lives in devotion to and on behalf of things that by their very nature are not worthy of such devotion and cannot reward the one who offers it. Their minds, hearts, resources, and energy are captured by false gods which cannot deliver on any of their promises.

• This human condition is normative around the world and in every generation. Humans are by their very nature religious. They are self-aware and able to ascertain that they exist and that their existence is not explained by anything they see. The nature of being itself drives us toward God.

• Having heard about and received the good news of Christ, they now know God. They understand more fully his nature and his being and his presence and his power and his love.

• In addition to this truth and in augmentation of it, they are known by God. This is an amazing statement. It communicates the personal, loving nature of our Great Creator God. He is not some distant deity that has no concern or knowledge of us. He knows us. This brings to mind the insistence of Jesus that the “very hairs of your head” are numbered. Even the sparrow does not fall without the Father knowing, Jesus taught us. We are of more value than many sparrows, he said. Therefore, God is very attentive to our need. When we go to God in prayer, Jesus said, he already knows our needs before we ask. But if we ask, we receive.

• Our stock just went up. We are important. We are valuable. The Creator God knows us. We are Some Body.

• Sometimes we will say of a prominent person, “I know him.” But that in itself is not surprising. Everybody “knows” him. If we say, “He knows me,” now that is surprising. If this prominent person knows your name and recognizes your face and is acquainted with you, then that is impressive.

• This is pure grace. This is true love. God takes the initiative to know us, to enter into a relationship with us. When we do the knowing, we are in control. When God does the knowing, he is in control. And when he is in control, we are not able to thwart his purposes in us.

• We want to be known. We want to be understood. We have a hard time communicating who we really are, sometimes. We feel like no one really knows us. This is the wonder and comfort of being known by God. He knows us better than we know ourselves. People write us off, drop us into general categories, pre-judge us without every taking the time to get to know us.

 

Turning Back Is Misery:

“how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces?” (v9).

 

• My vehicle GPS got confused at DFW Airport. I made a complete 360 that wasted 10 minutes. I discovered too late that the GPS had reverted to the previous destination—the airport—instead of taking me to the farm. I ended up exiting on the north end instead of south, taking Highway 14 instead of 121, and being generally irritated that I could not set a new record for the return trip like I had set for the trip up. I don’t like wasting things, especially time. This letter from Paul reminds me to assess my expenditure of energy and resources, especially time. It presses me to ask the question, “Am I surrendering precious time to weak and miserable forces” that always clamor for my attention? Have I been sidetracked?

• The insistence that the calendar of days and months holds some special blessing or wisdom or power is itself idolatry. These special days are efforts to work to appease the Deity. They stand in contrast to knowing God and being known by him. "Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!” (v9-10).

• These “Holy Days” when you can achieve supposed extra blessings are “weak and miserable forces.” These calendar events have no power to bless or help you.

• These calendar events are features of worshiping you know not what. They are indications that you have not yet learned Christ and you do not know the true nature of God.

• This includes special “Sabbath” worships. Some will insist to you that you must worship on a certain day or you are worshiping a false God. In other words, their god can only receive praise on certain days. He is too small, too weak, to hear you on Friday or Tuesday. He can only hear you and receive you on Saturday or Sunday.

• Every day is made holy by Christ himself. Through Christ, God has sanctified every day and every food and every place. Every human is now able to come directly to the throne of grace.

• Every limitation placed upon your worship by human regulation and rules is “weak and miserable.”

• If I say you must wear blue jeans to truly worship God, that is weak and miserable. If I say you must wear coat and tie, that also is weak. If I say you must wear a special scarf or certain articles of clothing, that is miserable. If I say you must be in a certain place, if I say you must use only a guitar, that is weak and miserable. If I say you must use only the piano or organ or drums, all of that is weak and miserable. If I insist on certain human chants or poems or repetitions, that is weak and miserable.

• All of these things are returning to the pagan days of magic and sorcery when we supposed that we could manipulate the deity by certain rituals or incantations.

• These puny ideas fail to grasp how great and strong and wide and deep is the love of God that surpasses understanding.

 

Illness Is Opportunity:

“it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you” (v13).

 

• His illness gave him an opportunity to preach the gospel to them. We don’t know how this happened. But it should not surprise us. God used every negative experience in Paul’s life to get the word out about his love for people.

• “My illness was a trial to you.” They would not describe it as a trial any more than Steve Barnett would describe taking care of Shirley as a trial. Well, he might, in jest. But the truth is, we gladly care for those we love when they are sick.

• “You did not treat me with contempt or scorn,” as if the illness itself were an indication of the curse of God or his punishment of the Apostle.

• “You welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.” These Galatians received Paul, weak and ill, as if they were receiving Christ.

• “You would have torn out your eyes and given them to me” (v15). This is the reaction of love to illness and disease.

• Christ was being formed in them. They were laying down their lives as they should.

• There is an un-formed Christian. He is not going through the spiritual formation that is expected of those who trust in Christ.

• There is a perplexity when the development does not happen. We are perplexed when someone says they trust in Christ and then does not change inwardly. We are perplexed when people who say they have received Christ by faith are suddenly depending on their works for right standing with God.

• We are perplexed when those who received the gospel with joy have lost all their joy and become slaves to new masters.

Someone here has turned back to the weak and miserable forces that you left when you came to Christ. You have been captured again by them. This is your call to freedom.