Participants: Mark Howard & Jim Howard
Series Code: GBOTB
Program Code: GBOTB00013A
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00:22 Welcome to Books of the Book, I am Pastor Mark Howard
00:24 Pastor of the Emmanuel Institute of evangelism for the 00:26 Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventist as well 00:28 as the Pastor for the Gobels Seventh-day Adventist church 00:30 in Gobels Michigan and I am here at my co-host, 00:33 my brother Jim. 00:34 Yes, my name is Jim Howard and I am the Pastor of the 00:36 Detroit Metropolitan Seventh-day Adventist Church and 00:39 South Lyon Church Seventh-day Adventist Church 00:41 both in Michigan. 00:42 And we have been studying the book of Galatians, we are 00:45 actually going to conclude our study today in Galatians 00:49 Chapter 6 and it has been fantastic message the apostle 00:54 Paul has been delivering here about the one and 00:56 only true gospel. 00:57 Jim, he caps it off with his heart appeal to the Galatian 01:03 believers, this church he raised up. 01:06 We are going to Galatians Chapter 6 and if you have your 01:10 Bible nearby go ahead and grab it and turn with us in 01:13 your Bible to the New Testament book of Galatians. 01:16 You go to the New Testament Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, 01:19 Acts, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians and then Galatians. 01:23 We are going to Galatians Chapter 6 and we're going to 01:26 start in verse 11. 01:28 Galatians 6:11 the apostle Paul says, "see what large 01:32 "letters I have written to you with my own hand!" 01:37 Initially as we read that Jim, it doesn't communicate 01:42 a lot, what is he talking about? 01:46 - what are these large letters? - Right! 01:48 So he's writing something and was he boasting in his writing? 01:50 When we realized what the background is here it really 01:56 tells us a lot about the apostle Paul. 01:57 You see Paul had a challenge of some sort, evidently 02:02 with his eye sight and if we go back to 2 Corinthians 02:07 in Chapter 12 Paul talks about having 02:08 a thorn in the flesh. - right! 02:10 Most scholars believe that that thorn in the flesh 02:13 had something to do with his impaired eyesight after 02:16 viewing the Lord Jesus glorified on the road to Damascus. 02:20 We pick up a little bit of that idea in the book of 02:24 Galatians 4:15 where he was talking about the Galatian 02:29 believers and how much they had at one time been willing 02:33 to sacrifice for him. 02:34 He says in Galatians 4:15, "what then was the blessing you 02:38 "enjoyed? For I bear you witness, that if possible, 02:42 "you would have plucked out your own eyes and given 02:45 "then to me. " So the idea was there was something 02:49 with his eyes that were impaired. 02:52 Something else that we find is that Paul often had his 02:55 letters written by a scribe, but then he would sign 02:58 them with his own hand. 02:59 For example 1 Corinthians 16:21, if we turn there we 03:04 see, notice it says here, "the salutation with my 03:10 "own hand-Paul's. " 03:13 In other words he would have somebody else write the 03:15 letter and then he would sign it, evidently because 03:17 with his in paired eyesight it was harder for him, 03:21 he didn't have glasses so when he was trying to write 03:24 these things out it was hard for him to focus on what 03:26 he was writing, so someone else would write and 03:28 he would sign it. - just to give the authenticity! 03:31 - just to give an authenticity. 03:32 So when we coming into Galatians 6:11 and he says, 03:36 "see with what large letters I have written to you. " 03:39 In other words in order for him to see what he was 03:42 writing, he had to write really big. 03:43 His point to the Galatians is that I have not had 03:46 somebody else write this letter, I'm not just signing it. 03:49 I myself have written this whole letter. 03:52 It's communicating to us the burden that 03:54 Paul had for these people. 03:56 If we continue there in Galatians 6:12, he starts 04:03 entering deeper into this appeal. 04:06 It says, "as many as desire to make a good showing in 04:09 "the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised. " 04:13 He's talking about these Judaizing Christians and the 04:17 theme of our discussion through- out the study of Galatians 04:20 who came in with a perverted gospel in which they said 04:24 you can believe in Jesus Christ but if you really want 04:28 to be saved you will have to be circumcised. 04:30 Circumcision became somewhat of a substitute for faith 04:33 in Christ, a substitute of genuine obedience. 04:36 Then he says, "these who will compel you to be 04:38 "circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution 04:42 "for the cross of Christ. For not even those who are 04:46 "circumcised keep the law, but they desired to have 04:49 "you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. " 04:52 Right here in verse 12 it says, as many as desire 04:55 "to make a showing in the flesh. 04:57 These Judaizing Christians who are deceiving the 05:01 Galatians believers that Paul had brought in through the 05:05 gospel, their motives were not totally pure. 05:09 They make a good showing in the flesh, it gives you 05:12 a sense of reputation. 05:13 There was something about it that it wasn't for the 05:16 believers themselves, but something they were trying 05:19 to do for themselves. 05:20 That is totally contrary to the spirit of Christ 05:23 because we learn in Philippians that Jesus made Himself 05:26 of no reputation, when He came to this earth Jesus 05:30 didn't come to be born into a palaces. 05:32 He was willing at every stage to be considered 05:37 something different than He was, falsely represented. 05:40 All sorts of things, and that was because reputation 05:43 was not what was most important to Jesus, 05:45 it was character, it was saving souls, 05:48 reaching out to people. 05:49 These Judaizers didn't really have, the apostle Paul was 05:54 telling them, look these guys do not have your best 05:56 interest in mind, they are just doing this for themselves. 05:59 You know Jim, you use at work Judaizers and just for the 06:03 benefit of our viewers, a Judaizers means that they are 06:06 trying to bring people into the Jewish faith. 06:09 Now it is true that the apostle Paul would have 06:11 considered himself a faithful Jew because he had really 06:15 adhere to the Jews but the Jewish religion of his day 06:18 the religion itself was a substitute for following Christ. 06:24 What was interesting was in order to avoid the persecution 06:29 what they were really trying to do was retain their old 06:33 unspiritual life and then they were trying to bring others 06:37 into that old unspiritual life. 06:39 So they wouldn't suffer persecution. 06:42 They had formed their own religion and it is interesting 06:47 how sometimes people will get on some hobbyhorse, their 06:53 own pet idea and they like the feeling they get when they 06:58 can get other people on that pet idea. 07:01 It makes them this guru over the masses, we are all in 07:05 this club and it gives them a clubhouse mentality. 07:09 It seems that that was what was going on here. 07:12 - You're right, you're exactly right. 07:14 There is another passage in Galatians where the 07:15 apostle Paul's specifically talks about the motivation 07:20 behind these false teachers. 07:21 In Galatians 4:17 he says, "they zealously court you, 07:26 "but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you 07:30 "maybe zealous for them. " 07:32 So what they were doing was trying to find followers. 07:35 You know a lot of times the reason people try to find 07:38 someone to follow them is because if they are not in a 07:41 right position and they want to justify themselves, 07:44 if they can get a whole bunch of other people to agree 07:47 with them that it helps to validate where they are. 07:49 It also gives them a greater sense of power and influence 07:52 and there is all sorts of false motivations that can come 07:56 when we are trying to gain followers after ourselves. 07:58 Well let me interject this, I want you to hold the thought 08:01 but this may be confusing to the readers. 08:04 It says they would zealously exclude you, so what you 08:08 have been talking about is including them. 08:10 The point he is making is that they were trying to bring 08:14 them in but the idea of excluding, some translations 08:18 will say including because it is like, well they don't 08:22 seem to be trying to exclude but the point that is being 08:25 made here is again back to the clubhouse mentality. 08:29 It is like you have to do this and this to be part of 08:34 this club, and so what they do is they exclude people 08:38 who, if you're not going to be circumcised you can't 08:41 be part of our club. 08:42 By excluding certain people it vaunts them up, but then 08:48 they exclude, his wording is they zealously court you 08:54 and then they want to exclude you that 08:56 you maybe zealous for them. 08:58 It's a strange phenomenon that is part of human nature, 09:02 when we are excluded from something, the carnal nature 09:06 seems to want to do it all more. 09:08 If I can't have it, what I can't have it? 09:10 I want to be a part of that, I want to be part of this 09:13 elite group and that is what he is commenting on here 09:16 about excluding them, but false teachers are excluding 09:20 ultimately because they want these Galatians to be 09:24 desired to be enamored with their ways 09:28 of thinking and their religion. 09:30 The other thing that strikes me here is that they 09:34 zealously court you, so you have this picture of 09:37 courtship where even though they are excluding, they 09:41 also when you have false teachers involved, there is 09:45 usually some flattering going on. 09:47 You know when you're courting somebody there is a sense 09:50 in which you are wanting them, I can see you having 09:54 some great potential with us. 09:55 So they court and give them a sense that they could 09:58 really be special if they were circumcised. 10:00 They are trying to allure them into this, but it is not 10:04 for the benefit of these believers, 10:07 it is for their own benefit. 10:08 Now one thing the apostle Paul says that is kind of 10:11 interesting here though is right after verse 17 it says, 10:15 "but it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, 10:18 "and not only when I'm present with you. " 10:20 He said it's good to be zealous, so even though 10:23 they were zealous in a wrong way, the apostle Paul wants 10:25 to make the point that it is a good thing to be zealous. 10:28 One of the biggest problems that we have in the Christian 10:30 Church is complacency, laziness. 10:33 We seem to forget the devil is one of the hardest 10:37 workers out there, and he is zealously doing his work. 10:40 He has got his representatives who are zealously doing 10:43 their work and he doesn't sit back. 10:45 - incidentally Paul was one of those representatives. 10:47 - that's right, he was. 10:48 So when we sit back and just ignore that and say oh well, 10:52 the Lord will take care of it all. 10:54 If we ignore the obvious problems that are existing, 11:00 ignore our own need to be spreading the gospel as we 11:04 talked about last time, restoring those who are in need 11:07 of help in winning those who are in need of being won, then the 11:11 Devil is going to, because of his zealousness, he is 11:14 going to gain battles, he will not win the ultimate war 11:17 but he is going to gain battles that we could have won 11:19 if we hadn't been sleeping on the job. 11:21 That is exactly right, so the apostle Paul is 11:23 I was mentioning head that zeal, Jesus Himself 11:26 The Bible said in the story of the cleansing of the 11:29 temple and John chapter 2, that it applies the text 11:33 from the Old Testament Word says David had written 11:36 zeal, for thy house is eating me up. 11:38 In other words Jesus was zealous for the cause of God. 11:41 The problem is that these people were zealous for 11:44 the wrong thing for sure. 11:45 So we are going to go into verse 12 and continue on. 11:51 Well, you had gone into verse 12 about the circumcision. 11:56 Notice the language here, "these will compel you to be 12:00 "circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution 12:04 "for the cross of Christ. " 12:05 So this is interesting, they are wanting to compel this 12:10 circumcision for the purpose of not suffering persecution 12:15 and this is fascinating to me just looking at this from 12:19 the perspective of Christianity today. 12:22 The tendency today of many Christians is to not want to 12:29 be that different from the world around us. 12:31 And we come up with reasons, we say well we wouldn't 12:35 reach as many people if we were so different. 12:37 But I'm afraid that the real reason is we really 12:40 don't want to suffer that persecution. 12:42 You know the Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 3:12 if you 12:47 want to turn there, 2 Timothy 3:12 12:51 The apostle Paul tells this young apprentice, "yes, 12:57 "and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus 13:02 "will suffer persecution. " 13:05 You suffer persecution when you live godly. 13:07 One of the challenges with these Judaizing teachers 13:10 was they really didn't want to live godly. 13:13 They wanted a religion where they had a few outward 13:16 things they could subscribe to that would help them 13:20 to be able to avoid totally living godly. 13:24 I'm looking at our clock and saying I want to really 13:30 dig into this, but we need to take a break. 13:32 So we are great go ahead and do that and when we 13:34 come back we are really going to dig into this idea 13:38 of avoiding this persecution for the cross of Christ. 13:41 How we as Christians need to be faithful to Christ 13:45 no matter what, stay tuned! |
Revised 2014-12-17