DAY #280: Galatians 4:1-20

People’s ignorance of God make them slaves of something less than God. There is only one God; to worship anything else means false worship and slavery to sin. Anyone who has not discovered freedom in Christ remains a slave.

The Galatian believers had been enslaved, but then Paul introduced them to God. Paul was astonished that after getting to know God personally, the Galatians would go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual powers of this world. Who, after tasting freedom, would return to slavery? Why, after meeting God, would the Galatians become slaves once more? Was that what they truly wanted?

For instance, Paul pointed out their observance of special holidays. The days referred to keeping the Jewish Sabbaths or other specified dates in the Jewish calendar. Paul did not condemn the celebration of the Jewish events—for he himself kept the Sabbaths and still traveled to Jerusalem for certain festivals.

He condemned the Gentile Galatians celebrating the Jewish holidays in order to somehow receive more merit before God or fulfill some legal duty in doing so. The God-honoring festivals were not bad in themselves; but when used as a way to earn salvation or “score points” with God, they became nothing more than slavery.

If the Galatians continued in their law-centered approach to Christianity, setting aside God’s grace in order to obey codes, customs, and rituals, then Paul feared that all his hard work among them and his suffering on their behalf would be worth nothing.

Paul was not saying that the Galatians would lose their salvation but that their very turning away from the truth would render them unfruitful and their faith “dead,” as if Paul had never visited them at all.

As this passage ends, we are reminded that the Galatians had received Paul with open arms and joyfully received the message he had preached among them. So Paul asked, “Where is that joyful spirit?”

Paul was now being treated like an enemy. Why? The only possible reason would be that the Galatians didn’t want to hear the truth. The Galatians needed to realize that they were in real danger of believing a lie rather than the truth of the gospel.

The false teachers that were among the Galatians were claiming to be religious authorities and experts in Judaism and Christianity, but they had selfish motives. They were anxious to win people’s favor, but their only desire was to win the people over to their side—and at the same time alienate the people from Paul, and thus from Christ.

While the false teachers simply sought a larger following, Paul saw these believers as his dear children. Obviously his motives differed from those of the false teachers, for he loved the Galatians dearly, as a mother loves her children.

Paul’s concern would continue until Christ would be fully developed in their lives. Paul wanted each of his children to reach spiritual maturity in the faith. They would do so by having the likeness of Christ portrayed in their lives.

SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

Why is that we try, at times, to earn our salvation or win approval from God? Why are we so insecure at times in our relationship with Him? I think it is because we see God through the lens that we see others. So many of our relationships are conditional. So many of our relationships are built on what we do for others or what they do for us. God is not like that.

This morning, I want us to look at how God changes our mind and helps us not only see Him in a new light but see ourselves in a new light. I want us to look at God's view of you. Today I want us to look at a few things that God says about you that are true because of His grace.

#1. I AM ACCEPTABLE. That's pretty good to start off with because most of us spend our entire lives trying to be accepted by others. We want to be acceptable to our parents, to our peers, to our enemies, to people we envy, by total strangers. Most of us do not realize that the drive to be accepted is behind many of the things you do in life.

Your desire to be accepted influences the way you dress, the kind of car you drive, the kind of house you live in, the career you choose and many other things. People will do the craziest things in order to be accepted. People do all kinds of crazy things just to feel accepted by somebody – to just fit in with the crowd.

I’ve got good news for you this morning. Your parents may have rejected you, your friends or family may have rejected you, a coach or a boss may have rejected you, but God will never reject you. Jesus tells us that this issue is settled when we accept His grace.

Romans 15:7 says "Christ has accepted you." PERIOD. Notice there is no condition. It doesn't say, "Christ will accept you if you go to church every week." It doesn't say, "Christ will accept you if you promise to be perfect... if you keep the Ten Commandments." No, it's unconditional because it's based on God's grace not your performance.

But God doesn't leave it there. #2. God says I AM VALUABLE. I am worth something. How much do you think you're worth? I'm not talking about your net worth. I'm talking about your self worth. Net worth and self worth have no relationship whatsoever. Your value has no relationship to your valuables. So let me ask you, how much do you think you’re worth?

You say, "I don't know. How do you judge the value of a person?" How do you judge the value of anything? There are two things that determine value in life. One, who owns it. Two, what is somebody willing to pay for it. Those two things create value.

First, the ownership determines the value of something. We all know that something that's owned by a celebrity is far more valuable than something that's owned by one of us. For instance, would a car owned by Elvis sell for more than your car? How about a pair of tennis shoes owned by Michael Jordan rather than a pair of your tennis shoes? Any difference? The fact is, the owner of something adds value to something that is normally just common. Who do you belong to?

1 John 4:4 says "You belong to God." Imagine your value. When you come to Christ and say, "Jesus Christ, I accept Your gift of salvation, I accept Your gift of grace," and you step across that line, God puts you in His family. All of a sudden you now belong to God. Everyone is created by God but everyone does not belong to God. If you've accepted Jesus Christ, you belong to God. That means you're priceless. You're valuable.

The other thing that determines value is what somebody's willing to pay for it. How much is your house worth? It's only worth whatever anybody's willing to pay for it. You may have paid $250,000 for your house. But if somebody else is only willing to pay $200,000, guess what it's worth? $200,000. It's worth whatever the market will pay for it.

So let me ask, how much was paid for you? 1 Corinthians 7:23 says "You have been bought and paid for by Christ so you belong to Him." In other words, Jesus gave His own life for you.
God said, "You are valuable enough that I will give My own Son to die for you." That's how valuable you are.

Folks, when you fill your mind and life with the truth of God, then Romans 15:13 will be true in your life. Listen to this great verse - "May the God of hope fill you with joy that by the power of the Holy Spirit, your whole life and outlook may be radiant with hope." Folks, God wants to fill your life with the joy and hope.

How does God do that? Two ways. #1When you accept Jesus Christ into your life, joy and hope invade your life. They fill your life. #2. When you accept His truth. When you start seeing yourself like God sees you. You stop playing those old tapes that you used to believe about yourself and you start rehearsing and remembering what God says about you. I am acceptable and I am valuable. God never lies.