Weak and Beggarly Elements

You'll turn in the scriptures with me to Paul's epistle to the Galatians Galatians chapter 4

Paul's epistle to the Galatians Galatians chapter 4 Recognizing that the

Word of God is given to us by the Spirit of God the necessity of his spirit to know

Understand and obey let us ask one more time for his blessing upon our time together

Indeed our Heavenly Father we do open your word now, and we would ask that you would speak to us

We ask that your spirit would gather with us Lord that you would remove those things that would be distractions to our minds

Things we may have coming up Pressures upon us Lord. We ask that by your spirit.

You would help us to hear you would minister to us by your word Lord you would be honored and glorified and everything that takes place during this time

We pray in Christ's name amen Sometimes you have to say some hard things

To people that you love I'll confess that's not an easy thing for me.

I will confess There are a lot of people who assume that well you're an apologist

You're you're jetting off Tuesday evening of this week. You're gonna be going down to South Africa you're gonna be debating in a mosque in South Africa and and Debating in London and and doing radio programs with debates there, and all you you just love to argue no

Actually, I do not and in fact there could be really a

I think an appropriate criticism of me that that I might avoid some type of controversies that actually

I don't like and But I should engage him I think all of us probably at times that take the easier road rather than the harder road and When we think about Paul's epistle to the

Galatians We think about what caused the writing of this epistle

Certainly if Paul had been one of those who wanted to take the easy way out. He would not have written this letter

We know that there was a real problem in the churches in Galatia we know that there was a movement amongst the people toward a what we would call the

Judaizers a movement away from the gospel itself and Paul was faced with a difficulty

We we know from what he wrote that he recognized that the very truth of the gospel itself was at stake

The very truth of the gospel and we know that in the very first few sentences of the epistle

He launches into an attack upon his enemies there in the churches in Galatia, and he

Anathematizes them he places them under the curse of God This is not a man that you'd want as your poster child for ecumenical movements where we all just get together and sing kumbaya

No within a first the first few verses He has said if anyone preaches the gospel of the unto you other than the one that we've preached unto you

Let him be under the very curse of God well,

I couldn't have been easy to do and In fact we Get the indication in reading the letter that that rather than using a scribe

Which I guess would have been his normal way of doing things Paul probably wrote this letter himself

He didn't want someone else to be involved in Having to write down these incredibly difficult words and and when he wrote these things he knew that this epistle was going to be brought into the church and Of course they didn't have a church building in those days.

They were meeting in someone's home and There would be smaller gatherings member.

This is written to actually churches in an entire area So more than once this was going to happen where that gathering was going to take place and And one of the elders was going to say we have received a an epistle from the

Apostle an epistle from the Apostle and and so He's gonna read it out now

Probably I don't know but probably they would have read the epistle before they read it in the fellowship and they would know just how

Incredibly difficult this was going to be That this was literally going to be a bombshell right in the midst of the congregation and So were they nervous as they began?

Was there a possibility in their mind that they might want to you know sort of back off? Maybe maybe edit some of the things that the

Apostle had said But certainly Paul knew That when his words were read out

If there had been any planned Pot luck or fellowship meal or as we say pot providence

After the service probably gonna get canceled Either that or everybody's gonna end up with indigestion because there wasn't going to be any any sweet fellowship there was going to be such a a

Spirit of amazement Amazement grieving Because you see these people had come into the church and They they didn't wear a sign around their neck and said

I'm a heretic They had worked their way in and they're they're gonna have their own supporters

They're gonna have people who's gonna say that that that Paul what he said that was that was unloving

That was offensive. That would be the language that would be used today in Many churches people would be scrambling for their safe space after the reading of the book of Galatians and Sometimes though as the

Apostle recognized you have to address difficult issues

And that's what he had done He had laid out the case. He has now been for a couple of chapters arguing the case and and Demonstrating from from the scriptures, which would be the

Old Testament scriptures to us the reality of the necessity of justification by faith there can't be a

Jewish Christian Church a Gentile Christian Church And and you you can't put yourself under the old law to then be able to to by faith believe in Jesus Christ And he's been laying out his case.

He's been arguing his point But you'll notice In all of our experiences, we've we've had to have these difficult conversations these difficult times

You get to a point and you you remember the love you have for the person you're talking to or the people you're talking to and You want to reaffirm that even in midst of the difficulty and you want to say

Don't you remember how close we've been I I want you to hear my words I know I've had to say some strong things to you, but But I I hope you can hear my heart that I care for you

And I'm I'm concerned about you and and and even though we know there's still some more We're gonna have to say and and and we might have to sort of close with some very strong words

We want to sort of in the middle of that Reaffirm our concern and our care for the people we're talking to You may be thinking about some family conversations

Conversations at work some conversations in your extended family Where this type of thing has taken place well in Galatians chapter 4

We encounter a situation like that We encounter the Apostle and and he's he's talking to the churches in Galatia And then he he sort of takes a timeout and says remember how

I came to you remember Remember how you received me

Think about those things as you hear my words I know I'm giving you harsh counsel, but I have to the truth of the gospel is at stake and Chapter 4 comes right before chapter 5 that's sort of how that normally works, and and I honestly can't think of almost any text of scripture

That contains stronger language in Galatians chapter 5 does and so maybe

Paul knew he was gonna have to say some of the things he was going to say there and So he wants to sort of get the people ready.

He wants to remind them. I've not been your enemy You you know that I care for you

So let's take a look at Galatians chapter 4 beginning at verse 8 Galatians chapter 4 verse 8 and Sean we've got an echo going on here.

It's gonna sort of drive me crazy It's it's feeding back on us, so we need to back that off just a little bit

Galatians chapter 4 verse 8 however at that time When you did not know God you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods

But now that you have come to know God or rather to be known by God How is it that you turn back again to the weak and work of the worthless elemental things to which you desire to be enslaved?

All over again you observe days and months and seasons and years

I fear for you that perhaps I have labored labored over you in vain

I Beg of you brethren Become as I am for I also have become as you are you have done me no wrong but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time and That which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe

But you received me as an angel of God as Christ Jesus himself Where then is that sense of blessing you had?

For I bear you witness that if possible you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me

So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? They eagerly seek you not commendably, but they wish to shut you out since you will seek them

But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner and not only when I am present with you my children

With whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you But I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone for I am perplexed about you

What do we have in this text well very briefly? Paul reminds them of That time in the past when they were

Slaves to those which are by nature not God's Whatever their religious background had been he he did not have to Enumerate the various religious perspectives that had been theirs

He said there was a time when you did not know God and you were slaves those which by nature are no gods

It's interesting we can we can say that in any context today because though the world finds it offensive

The gospel of Jesus Christ is exclusivistic There is one God There is one name given amongst men whereby we must be saved the name of Christ Jesus We do not blush to say these things though the world finds that attitude to be reprehensible

Paganism has always said you can believe what you want to believe As long as you don't tell people that what you believe is true for them

That's what the Roman the Roman state was all about there are all sorts of different gods

It was okay if you believed in your God as long as you didn't tell anybody else that they need to believe in your

God as well Well, that's what we're going back to in our world today at a incredibly rapid pace the paganization of Western society is continuing on every

Single day, but then he says but now that you have come to know God, and then

I love this There's everything right and saying to a believer in Jesus Christ you've come to know

God, that's completely true But you see be prepared for a major anachronism here, but you see

Paul was a good Calvinist And he didn't want anybody to get the wrong idea

And he says but now that you have come to know God and all of us have But to be perfectly accurate or rather To be known by God in other words.

He wants to make sure that we see that the emphasis is

Upon the fact that it was God's doing It's God's doing it's not something that you didn't search out

God and find God because you're smarter than somebody else as Paul had said of the

Corinthians God and his wisdom has made sure that man by his wisdom is not going to come to know him

Instead of the preaching of the cross is how we come to know the God has revealed himself in Jesus Christ But now that you have come to know

God or rather to be known by God. How is it? That you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things to which you desire to be enslaved all over again

And there's all sorts of discussion about the elemental things here But the point is that man's religion is focused upon the accomplishment of man himself all of man's religions oh and the variety of them and all the different kinds of rituals and beliefs and images that are involved but Fundamentally when you think about those religions

They are focused upon what man does now God may God may make available a system a

System whereby you come to gain knowledge or grace or a mixture of these things you know set out a

System where you you go through this ritual and that ritual and there's a certain amount of time

And you you sort of build up points and and you know eventually you get to this level the next level

But it's it's all based upon man's accomplishments the idea of of God Condescending Joining men to himself and and when you think about the condescension of what we're talking about entering into his own

Creation in the incarnation so as to join Rebel sinners to himself change their hearts and their minds.

This is a radically strange way from the world's perspective of Expressing religious belief these are the elemental things and and once you have a system you become enslaved those things you become enslaved to the repetitious nature of Whether it's sacraments in the

Roman system, or whatever else it might be you have this Slavery so Paul says you observe days and months and seasons and years

I fear for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain and so so they were being brought back not just as we know the

Judaizers saying you need to be circumcised, but You can't just you can't just drop a little bit of legalism into the cup of grace it takes the whole thing over and so once you have just a little bit just a little bit of synergism just a little bit of Cooperation God does most of it, but you know he can't do it without our help the tendency in man's religion is

That man's part gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger grace is driven out

That's what that's why Paul said in Romans chapter 11 if it's by grace Can't be of works

These things are contradictory Concepts they can't the hand of works and merit cannot fit into the hand of grace.

They just don't work and so Paul says You observe days and months and seasons and years and I've got to admit

I fear for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain I Mean if they could go all the way if they could if the entire church could be convinced the

Judaizers were right then how else could Paul view it, but as a a complete failure a complete failure a laboring in vain and so Having said that those are strong words.

I mean can you imagine if if The elders stood up here and looked out at the congregation and said we've just gone

We just don't know what to do with you folks We're starting to wonder if we've just wasted our time

You know if pastor Frye got got really into into a text of scripture, and he's just Preaching away on it, and he looks at all all of us says

I don't know that anybody here gets as I may have just wasted my time you think you're gonna I'll be listening pretty carefully to what he's saying

Strong words Strong words, and so it's right then That Paul says

I beg of you brethren become as I am for I also become as you are You have done me no wrong, but you know that was because of a bodily illness.

I preached the gospel the first time now There's all sorts of discussion About whether we can look at this text and determine things about When Paul went to Galatia and and the relationship of missionary journeys and dating and and How this relates to Acts chapter 15 the

Jerusalem Council? And if you've ever done an in -depth study of the book of Galatians, you know there's all sorts of I mean commentaries on Galatians would be much shorter if We didn't have the necessity of constantly arguing

About the North Galatian theory versus the South Galatian theory and and all the chronological stuff and the timing that's involved because it is fascinating to try to Understand how this fits in with what was going on in Acts Especially Acts chapter 15 and then what happens with Paul later, and and so on and so forth

It's it is important to do. I'm not saying that this is not important stuff But but a lot of the time is spent

Asking those kinds of questions when what Paul's really doing here is he's he's basically saying to them look brethren

You've done me no wrong. I am being open with you I Want you to be open with me?

I want I'm sharing my heart with you I Am focused upon the grace of God remember that time when

I first came to you It was because of a bodily illness. I preached the gospel you the first time

Now again The commentaries are filled with all sorts of discussion of What this bodily illness was?

and You know if you want to get published you want to get a dissertation approved or something you've got to come up with something new and I think there would probably be a few that there'd be fewer possibilities if it wasn't for the fact that people down to the centuries have just come up with a million different theories

For example well Paul had malaria He contracted malaria down toward the sea and and so he had to go up into Inland to higher altitude to recover and and and they the thinking in that day was you need to get out of the area where you contracted the the malaria and So he had sort of been distracted from where he wanted to go and he had to go inland more

And that's why he came to them and you know malaria is not exactly the type of thing that Makes you attractive to other people and and makes you a great speaker and things like that It makes you weak of body so on and so forth and so you have the that that theory

But there is there is some indication here for you notice and that which was a

Trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe that term to to despise

Literally to spit at and So It would be common

It was common in the cultures because of certain religious beliefs of the day

To think that that spitting in someone's presence Could protect you from whatever disease they had especially it was one that looked like it was particularly contagious or something like that and So some people looked at that I Personally more toward a a less literal reading to despise or loathe

There is something About Paul's condition that did not make him

Attractive to his audience and You'll notice down in verse 15 For I bear you witness that if possible you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me, so there's

There's what seems to me to be a pretty important clue

Whatever it was it seems and is this that is this the thorn in the flesh?

from from the Corinthian literature might be Might not be we don't know my guess is it probably was

But we can't prove it one way or the other but Paul had a bodily illness that would generally make him not be the type of person you want to hang around and be in the presence of and when he said it says you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me evidently there was some type of Was it pink eye was it the ancient version of pink eye something like that?

I mean, I don't like being around people with pink eye personally, and it's not just because I happen to know it's incredibly contagious

Ever had pink eye. I I remember. I don't know how old I was but sometime when I was young and I Got it bad, and let me tell you something that was gross.

I mean especially in the morning I'm not could go into the details, but it It you know and and you could go to the doctor and get eyedrops stuff like that you

They had eye salves and things like that in the ancient world there believe me.

There are all sorts of Do -it -yourself remedies to those days But taking a bunch of icky eye salve and putting that all over what you've already got from some type of eye infection

Yeah, that's not exactly hey Let's go look at the really disgusting looking guy and let's listen what he has to say is he preaches this message

We've never heard of before Yeah, I can see how that would have caused an issue and certainly

Certainly not necessarily some people I say oh, no no that would ever be this low, but think about it If you're one of the

Judaizers They wanted to undercut the Apostles authority there are ways for you to mention the fact that Well, you know the

Judaizers Not only are they able to speak to you But they can they can read from the scriptures that having somebody else to have to do that And they can write letters to you and normal -sized print without having to do it real big

And you know help is a blessing from God it might indicate something You know if if someone's got this constant problem

You know maybe maybe God's not really with them And we know that was certainly a concept that that existed during Jesus's day amongst the

Jews remember John chapter 9 and so there may have been a Subtle seeking to undercut the

Apostles authority by reference the fact that he really isn't all that impressive a guy

You know you can't see real well, and he he doesn't look real good, and and he's not the greatest greatest speaker in the world

Maybe that was a part of it as well the Paul Mentions this bodily condition you did not despise or loathe me

But and in contrast to what would be a normal or expected response the opposite of that is you received me as an angel of God as Christ Jesus himself and So Paul contrasts what they could have been like he contrasts how a natural reaction might have been to what they really were like They received him as an angel of God as one with a message from God I mean if an angel is going to come from God with a message

Then you're going to want to hear what the angel has to say And so he says you receive me as an as an angel of God as Christ Jesus himself and so even if if Jesus had come and preached the message the kind of respect the kind of of Acceptance that you would expect to be given to an angel or even greater to to Christ Jesus himself

Had been accorded the Apostle Paul, so he says where then is that sense of blessing you had?

They felt themselves to be blessed by the ministry of the Apostle amongst them

Where is that sense of blessing it seems to have disappeared? What would have caused that to disappear?

Could it be that there have been those who've come amongst you and Because of their teaching and what they're teaching that the sense of blessing you once had in the proclamation of the free message of grace

Has disappeared has gone It's in that context he says

I bear you witness you would have given me your eyes And then he asked this question So have

I become your enemy by telling you the truth Now Galatians 416 is a verse

That I certainly memorized many many years ago for use on the street in Mesa or Salt Lake City in witnessing to folks when they become offended

Offended that I would say no Mormonism is not the truth of God Mormonism is not the restored gospel

Joseph Smith was not a prophet But man in our day You say anything to anyone and They become offended

This might be a good verse to have ready to go have I become your enemy by telling you the truth

I? Mean some of you may have seen the story just this week But there were a group of people

Putting posters up to promote a meeting on the campus of Loyola, Marymount and In Los Angeles now if you ever hear the term

Loyola That's almost a certain indication. That's a Jesuit school Ignatius Loyola was the founder of the

Jesuits So you have a Jesuit University and people are putting flyers up about a meeting promoting pansexuality

It's a transgender movement If you can't keep up with whatever the newest movement is which

I don't think any human being on the planet could Someone came along Another student came along and in the conversation about the posters

Can you believe the heartlessness of people today another student said

I Think there's only two genders I mean at a

Catholic University to have someone who would actually be so heartless as To say

I think there's only two gender That was so terrible

That the groups on campus that are tasked with making sure that we're all thinking correctly

Had to call the Los Angeles Police Department to investigate a hate crime

Because someone on campus actually believed there are only two gender and Of course the point was that one of the people who was putting up the signs claims to be transgender and Therefore you're saying

I don't exist and that's a hate crime That's the world we live in folks.

That's the world. That's that's what's coming That's what's coming and You might want to just note down Galatians 416 is for future memorization.

Have I become your enemy because I've told you the truth. Just make sure you tell him the truth Because in God's sight no longer in man's sight in our culture

But in God's sight the truth is the ultimate defense and as long as in your heart, you know, you have spoken the truth and That you've done so for the glory of God.

Well, that's enough in God's sight But I can't guarantee us to be overly relevant in our society any longer

You may lose your job You may be financially put in a position of tremendous financial hardship or eventually you might just lose your freedom

But That's where we are. So Paul says the Galatians have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?

he knows that what he's saying these individuals is going to cause a number of people to view him as their enemy if you had become particularly enamored with one of the

Judaizing teachers If you had even found something pleasant in the idea of becoming

Jewish prior to Becoming a Christian or or at least recognizing you need to go into the

Old Covenant for going to the New Covenant type of idea You might find Paul to be offensive

Paul says I've told you the truth. Does that make you? Does that make me your enemy? Then he refers in third person not by naming anyone

But everybody knew who he'd be referring to they eagerly seek you not commendably, but they wish to shut you out

So they will you will seek them He recognizes that they have a specific purpose in Trying to get them to stop listening to the

Apostle. They want to be sought out They want religious authority over other individuals.

That is so often the commonality of false teachers

They want to be sought and Paul says it's good to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner

Not only when I am present you my children whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you But I could wish to be present with you now and change my tone for I'm perplexed about you.

He says Christ is not being formed amongst you as long and he's going to expand upon this in chapter 5 as I said remember in chapter 5

If you Accept circumcision if you start down that road you have to go all the way

Christ will be of no benefit to you It's all law or it's all Christ.

It can't be both You can't walk down two roads that go 180 degrees opposite direction from one another.

You got to make your choice And even though these people claim to be Christians Paul is going to say you have fallen away from grace

You have been severed from Christ you who are seeking to be justified by law you cannot put the two of them together a complete

Dichotomy, but Paul says I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone

For I am perplexed about you and part of the part of the reason there be this

Confusion on his part easy to understand Because obviously not everyone in the churches in Galatia Had turned against Paul Not everyone had accepted this teaching remember the church is at a very young point in its experience at this point in time

They didn't have the books to look to they didn't have church history to go back to they didn't have

The kind of terminology that we can use there wasn't anyone sitting around going well You know it does seem that there's a tinge of semi

Pelagian ism in this They didn't have that kind of stuff we you and I we we have an entire theological vocabulary that can allow us to identify teachings if we've done our homework anyways and and recognize when when people are coming amongst us and are trying to Twist the gospel of grace, but this is the first generation you can imagine how difficult it was and Paul right is writing to an entire church, and there's the problem.

How many times do we see in Hebrews? You have to address the whole congregation, but the congregation is made up of different types of individuals

And so it says I am I am perplexed about you I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, but he's not going to change his tone and And he'd already explained why it was when he said in Galatians chapter 2 we did not put up with those

Who had pulled this off someplace else for even a moment? So that the truth the gospel would remain or abide with you now

We've walked through the text We see how it's functioning in the letter. We see the how it's sort of a transitionary period

It's a you know he's given most of his arguments before this and now he's he's not softening the blow that's coming

He's just reminding them that when he when he gives them the strong words especially of the beginning of chapter 5

That he's doing so as one who has had sweet communion with them and Recognizes that that they had been such a blessing in his life

They had accepted him even in his bodily weakness and so we have a

Relationship a relationship that was forged in Christ Jesus by the

Spirit of God Before this time and so it it lays a foundation for them to hopefully hear

Even the strong words that are yet to come in this epistle So why look at this this morning?

Well I Want you to look back at verse? 14 and I want to warn you about something

For many of you this will just be sort of an educational thing sort of a oh

I guess we always need to be looking very carefully at Scripture for some of you especially if you ever take university classes if you take philosophy of religion classes anything like that where you're going to be encountering the common way of presenting religion in the academy today

Which would also mean if you watch television and watch documentaries and things like that What you're going to encounter are people who have been deeply influenced by one particular

Skeptic one particular enemy of the Christian faith in the world today

He is a man by the name of Bart Ehrman Bart Ehrman teaches religion and New Testament University of North Carolina and He puts out books all the time and His books are always on the

New York Times bestseller list and basically what he's been doing over the past 15 20 years is is putting out books that that will excuse

Skepticism and unbelief because as you probably know he himself is an apostate That is he made a profession of faith.

He went to Moody Bible Institute Wheaton College Princeton Theological Seminary and sometime during that time period

Lost his faith. He claims it was because the issue of evil. I I don't know he calls himself a happy agnostic today

And as I said, I think he's probably the leading English -speaking Skeptic and critic of New Testament Christianity and so his books are widely read and and he has a legion of followers who basically unquestionably

Unquestioningly follow his perspective Now why would I bring Bart Ehrman up right now?

Well, he put a book out a couple years ago About how Jesus became

God because obviously from his perspective Jesus was never truly God and that this was a evolution over time in the decades after his

Earthly ministry he does believe Jesus existed. He's actually written a book defending the existence of Jesus, but he was just a

Galilean He was just a Jew of his day. Nothing more than that. There was he was crucified, but there was no resurrection, etc etc and in this book

Herman admitted it was shocking to me that even after years and years of teaching

That he had learned much in his preparation for this book much that I would consider to be absolutely basic in Regards to an understanding of the

New Testament teaching concerning the person of Jesus Christ And in fact his studies have led him to believe that all the gospel writers

Did believe in the divinity of Jesus? just different kinds of divinity even

Mark and Paul certainly did but Not in the full -blown sense of later orthodoxy like you and I would believe

But in his studies Ehrman decided that the text that you and I have just read is

The key Christological passage in the entire New Testament now some of you are sitting here going

I Missed that I mean John 1

Colossians 1 Philippians chapter 2 Hebrews chapter 1

I Mean these are all about Jesus, and they contain deep teachings about his pre -existence and he's the creator and and all things made by him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things hold together and every knee will bow every tongue will confess and you've got all these other texts and Galatians 4 is the key to unlocking what the

Apostle Paul believed about Jesus Yeah, but you got to remember Ehrman only believes

Paul wrote seven letters So Colossians he doesn't think Paul wrote so you can sort of get rid of that and Philippians he decides that really is the hymn and he comes up some weird ways trying to get around that But you probably hopefully what's pretty easy to find what

I'm referring to because there's only one reference to Christ Jesus in this text Here it is verse 14

But you received me as an angel of God as Christ Jesus himself and you go

I Don't get it. Would you mind explaining before we run out of time? well

Technically if you just ignored everything else There are two possible ways of understanding the grammar of the original language

We all understood it as in as Being taken what we would call the offensive fashion.

What does that mean? Well? Paul was Saying you didn't despise me

You didn't loathe me you could have But in contrast to that You received me as an angel of God you receive me as Christ Jesus himself, so there's there's an ascension

From the loathing they could have done they didn't instead they received me as an angel even more than that as if I was

Christ Jesus himself and in looking at the large number of critical commentaries written by well -known scholars

Not only is that almost always the view that's taken, but in the vast majority of them no other view is even noted

But a few do mention that on a grammatical level you could look at this and say you receive me as an angel of God that is as Christ Jesus himself

And it could be taken in what's called apposition re naming and So the idea that ermine presents is you receive me as an angel of God that is you receive me as Christ Jesus himself because in Paul's teaching and theology

Jesus is an angelic creature. He's an angel of God now

Simply on the level of how you read your Bible do we read our Bible simply on the basis of tradition?

Well, I don't think pastor fried read it that way so I shouldn't either is that how we teach you to read your

Bible no We certainly believe that standing behind this pulpit. We should be consistent in how we handle the

Word of God But there are certain rules there are certain not man -made rules but just simply rules that exist to properly handle written material and The first and most important those rules is you always read something in its

Context now of course as I said Ermin alters that context how by changing what of Paul we can actually know you get rid of Ephesians you get rid of Colossians you get rid of 1st 2nd

Timothy and Titus and You know less about Paul's teaching than you would have before that right?

You're not going to have the same background information to draw from so there's the first change

But even just as you read this I think a number of you were a little taken aback when

I sort of switched the subject because you're like That's not what this text is about that's not how it's functioning.

He's not talking about who Jesus is That's not his focus at all his focus is justification his focus is the

Judaizers his focus is his relation with the churches in Galatia and specifically in this context how they received him when he came and To read into the idea that this text the idea.

This is the key Christological passage in all of Paul's writings available to us that really tells us who he thought

Jesus was really and yet That's exactly

Ehrman's argument and of course it makes you go well Hasn't he read?

Almost any commentaries on Galatians to find out he's way out in left field you got to understand something folks Someone like Bart Ehrman or someone like most of the professors at your university wherever it is you're going

Don't think they're under any compulsion To have any understanding or knowledge of what?

believing commentators or believing scholars ever said in Fact it's a badge of honor for them to be ignorant of such things because it would be a waste of time to know it anyway this worldview contains such a level of hubris and arrogance

That it's amazing the folks who practice it can't see it Those of you who've watched my debate with Bart Ehrman you saw it

He gets up after I give my presentation and says as a very intelligent presentation very good James I don't know that there was anyone in the room who could understand it.

Well. Thank you very much dr. Ehrman for thinking so much of our ability to understand or my ability to communicate

But he didn't even notice that he didn't I mean I saw people in the audience are going Excuse us, but he didn't even notice it didn't even notice and That's the background to the kind of presentation

That you as a young person or maybe you're going back to school. Maybe you're getting a degree That's what you're going to be hit with Our young people when they go off.

That's what they're going to be hit with And you as a person who has been exposed to the preaching and teaching of the

Word of God one of the great blessings of Being in this place with regularity is

That when you hear pastor Fry or myself or brother

Callahan Opening up the Word of God We use the same

Understanding that this is the Word of God and You must understand you are showing deep respect

To God's Word when you seek to handle it correctly because when you use the proper means of Interpretation you're allowing the text to speak rather than inserting your own ideas into it as if you're speaking

And you're no longer hearing God You show respect When you handle the

Word of God, all right and Hopefully What you've been taught over the years is to handle the

Word of God to recognize context and to be able to identify When someone is not handling the

Word of God correctly There is a reason why we teach and preach through the scriptures.

It's one thing to do a class on hermeneutics. It's another thing To live it out each and every week with consistency one communicates in a way the other can't

The other can't and so I hope you find it a blessing That just simply on a level of Experience You're able to look at the

Word of God and say no wait a minute. There's something something wrong there You've that's not where the emphasis is that's not worth

Paul's argument was going That not only contradicts everything else he says but and you're able to start immediately seeing where the real problems lie

This is just one illustration of many If we are going to be

Christians who are going to open this word in our culture today we have to become ever better students of it and You might say

I never would have seen something like that Well, that's the point when someone throws something at you you've never seen before don't be rocked by it

Go back to the foundations you already know to be true Don't become disturbed

Take the time to look into it, but always go back to the foundation has been provided to you

The Spirit of God Makes us to be a patient people patient people don't make flash decisions

Even when hit with something that you may have never heard of before My prayer is for all of us that we would have such a firm foundation that we would not be as a result moved

By any type of false teaching or any type of attack upon our faith That's what we want to have for all of us.

Let's pray together Our gracious Heavenly Father We do ask for the opportunity

Even in the course this coming week to be witnesses of yours to speak to those around us and We ask that even as we open your word that you will give us a confidence

That even if we are faced with objections that we've never heard before That our knowledge of your word will be so solid

So thorough that you're the ministry of your spirit within our minds will be such to calm us and To give us clarity of thought that we will be able to be used as your instruments

To speak your truth in a world where your truth is questioned more and more every day

Lord let us not be silent Christians Let us be Christians who speak boldly of your truth to your honor and glory you pray these things in Christ's name.