A Pastor's Heart - DuPont Campus

Good morning, everybody. As you make your way back

to your seats,

continuing to pray for our pastor who is,

at last conversation, about 4 minutes

away. So what he asked me to do was

to gather you back together and we're

going to read the passage for this

morning. So We won't have the blessing of having it here

up on the screen yet, but if you have, this is one of those wonderful

opportunities that you might have to use your Bible

or your Bible app. And so, uh, if you

want to pull out your Bible or,

or open up, as I have, open up your Bible app to

the chapter— we're to the 4th chapter of the

book of Galatians. So we've been walking

through the book of Galatians, and just a little bit of a

reminder, Paul is writing this letter to

an early church.

Galatians, most scholars agree,

is the first book in the New Testament.

Okay, so If you think about that young Galatian church,

they don't have the Gospels, they don't have any

of the letters of Paul like you do right

there in front of you. This is the first letter that

is ever written to a church that Paul has established.

Praise God, here's our pastor.

Let me read you the verse. He gets set up, and then,

and then we will— I will turn it over to him. So this chapter

4, starting in verse 8, starting and

following on. Formerly,

formerly, when you did not know God,

you were enslaved to those that by the nature

are not God. But now that you have

come to know God, or rather to be known

by God, how can you turn back again to

the weak and worthless elementary principles of the

world, whose slaves,

whose slaves you want to be once

more? You observe days and months

and seasons and years, I am afraid I may

have labored in vain in you.

Brothers, I entreat you, become as

I am, for I also have become

as you are. You did me no wrong.

You knew, you know, it was because of 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 you received me

as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

What then has come of your blessedness? For I

testify to you that if possible,

you would have gouged out your eyes and

given them to me. Have I then become your

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 good—

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

is formed in you, I wish I could

be present with you now and change

my tone, for I am perplexed

about you.

Thank you, Pastor Dave. Let's pray.

Father God, we do thank you this morning for your word.

We thank you for the truths that are embedded

in them through Holy Spirit by the pen

of Paul, or at least articulated by Paul

and maybe the pen of a writer, um, but then

that are applicable to us here 2,000 years later.

Be with us as we look into your word. Holy Spirit,

help each one of us to hear from you today,

not just the words that I'm saying, but to be encouraged and challenged by

you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, let me step back

and get a look at you guys. I missed you already this morning. It was

great to preach down in Lacey, and by the grace of God,

I was able to make it up here. So I'm This is the first

time in any of the Tri-Teaches— it's what we call them— uh, that there was

actually an accident that might have stopped me, but I made

it. Uh, and I'm excited to be here this morning, uh, to share

God's word with you. I've been studying with you all, uh, if you've

been attending here, the book of Galatians. We're in chapter 4, and we'll be looking

at verses 8 through 20 today,

um, to just kind of catch you up if you're new today or newer.

Or maybe you've missed a few of them. Paul is sending correction

to the churches in Galatia because they are tempting,

or they are being tempted, to add things to salvation.

They're being tempted to add works to

the grace, the gospel of grace. And Paul is just saying,

please, please don't. And I think what you heard as Pastor Dave

read there, I hope you heard not only because of the way he reads,

which I love, but you hear that kind of pastoral heart,

that pastoral plea. Paul is changing his tone a

little bit. He's been talking to us all, but the churches in Galatia,

about the

legality of the law and the practical outlaying

of it and just this idea of this is what you're

being told you need to do. And he's He's getting to a place now

where he's like, I've told you why you shouldn't do it,

but now I'm going to tell you why you shouldn't do it as a pastor.

And I think that's where we see Paul today, is he's,

he's really in a place where his pastoral heart

is breaking. And so as we look at this passage

today, keep in mind that Paul has invested in these

churches. He loves these people. He doesn't want them

to be confused. By erroneous

teaching and theology, and he wants to

be there with him, but he can't. And so imagine kind of like hearing Pastor

Dave's voice, uh, instead of mine. Paul was able to change

his tone here and make it personal. And I think what we're going to

see today is that a pastor's heart is for

the truth, and that's where Paul is at with

Um, with the churches in Galatia. He's, he's going from this logical

argument why it's not smart to add works to

salvation, why it's not smart to go back to your former life when

you've been created into something new. Um,

he's going from that logical argument now to more

of a personal plea, and that's what we're going to be looking at today.

So we're going to see Paul's heart for the good news of the gospel of

Jesus Christ, unadulterated Just ready to go.

This is what it means to be saved. Don't let anybody

dissuade you. And I'm gonna tell you the truth here. I'm gonna kind of give

you the ending before we even get there. For you and I, it's the same

thing. There are people that are

being deceived. They're taking the name of Christianity or

the name of Jesus Christ, and they're adding things that are more palatable

to them or to society. And we as a church need

to be careful. Okay, that's what was happening here.

Paul's going to these churches, the Judaizers are coming up, and they're saying,

hey, Gentile believers, awesome that you're following Christ,

but now let's get circumcised, right?

Let's follow all of our calendar. You need to be doing all of our

things, watching all of our ceremonies, doing everything

that Moses' law calls you to. And, and Paul's saying,

man, no, no, no, there's a lot of great stuff in there, that is

good for you as a disciple that you should want to do,

but it doesn't mean that you're in or out based on whether you do that.

So that's where we're going, and I hope today you and I will be,

uh, when we leave here, we'll be challenged to stand

up for the gospel as it was preached,

originally given by Jesus Christ to Paul the Apostle

on the road to Damascus, and then given to the churches.

Okay, and that's where you and I need to focus in on. So formerly,

when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those by nature

are not God. So Paul's starting out with his personal plea, and he's saying

you used to worship idols.

Now idols, we always just think of a little trinket, you put it up there,

maybe people were praying to it. There were things that came along with

that. If you worshiped certain gods,

you might have to give, or you might have to do things or make sacrifices.

So there was a cost. There was enslavement

to that idol. And what Paul is saying,

you were enslaved to lowercase g gods,

but when I preached to you the good news of Jesus Christ and you accepted

that, you were given freedom in Christ.

And that's where you and I today are living, in freedom in Christ.

Not saved by good works, but motivated to good works.

Okay, and we're gonna, we're gonna see that that's, that's the way it was 2,000

years ago. That's the way it was, or it

is still today.

So Paul kind of shifts this argument back to their previous

life. You were a slave, you were given freedom in Christ.

Why would you go back? Why would you want to return to

the bondage of having to do things to

be accepted, forgiven, receiving salvation.

So for you and I, I've kind of given you this, uh, even in our

little preview there, but I would say, where are you tempted to add to the

gospel of grace this morning? Where in your heart, where does

it just not sit well to receive from God and

not try to repay God for what he has done or add

to it? Do you find yourself asking, what more good

can I do to offset the couple things of

bad that I did this week? Yeah, I raised my voice and yelled at

my coworker. What is a good work that I could kind of— I need to

balance this cosmic scale, right? And I know we don't

always think of it in that exact terms, but do we practically live

that way though? Like, oh, if I could just do a little bit good,

it'll make up for what I've done in the past that is bad.

Do you rack yourself with guilt if you miss a Sunday church

service? Because even though I've said it from the front

here and I've said it to your face as friends, God wants you in

church because he knows you need fellowship

and community and opportunities to learn.

But if you have an opportunity to go see family, if you accidentally sleep in,

if you need to work today, there's no condemnation coming from

me. You need to be in a church.

Not to save yourself or check a box, but because God wants

you to be there. So on and so forth. We can go through all of

these things, but we don't need to worry about

falling out of God's grace because of things that we do or don't do in

the salvific manner. I mean, it, it is done,

and then the works are after that. And so Paul is saying you're

no longer slaves to an unbearable burden.

You have been brought from that. And he also here

is masterfully weaving together this comparison

between their former lives as idolaters and their temptation

now to add works through the Judaizers.

So Paul is saying what you were is not who

you are now, but it's who you're threatening to become.

And so Paul's trying to get their attention. Listen up.

You were one way, you met Jesus, now you're a different way.

Don't take that and go back to who you were,

right? You don't need to add the heavy burden of Mosaic law and

feel like you have to somehow please God or stay in

his good graces. Should you do the things

that are laid out in the scriptures as to how we should be living?

Of course, but not in fear that you might somehow

lose your salvation or that you're trying to earn it.

You were saved from the idols, these worthless heavy burdens.

Don't go back to it. There is freedom in Jesus.

Why put on the weight of an unbearable burden just

trying to keep up with the Jewish law? 613.

At last count that I saw, 10 Commandments plus 603.

That's a lot of things to try to remember. And the Judaizers

were saying, if you want to follow Jesus Christ, who happened to

have been a Jew, you need to be like us. You need to obey all

those things. And Paul's saying, no, no, no. Are there value in some of those

things? You better believe it. And Paul's already talked about that, but not for

salvation. He says, now you, you know

God, or you've been known by God. If you, uh, look in Romans chapter

Romans 3 · chapter mention

3, we won't jump there today, but if you're taking notes, Romans 3:11

Romans 3:11

talks about no one seeking God, right? And again, I don't want to

get too deep into that theology, but God has known you is what

Paul says. He's drawn you.

He admits that when he came, he presented the

message of Jesus Christ and they responded. Right?

God put Paul in

Galatia for this season, even though he meant to go somewhere

else. God was in control.

And Paul loves his church, and he

loves his people, and he's not able to get there,

but he wants them to know, what I preached to you was

the truth of the gospel. Stand firm in

that. Don't return to the old life.

Don't add anything or feel the need to.

In 3:3 of Galatians, chapter 3, verse 3, Paul had already stated to

Galatians 3:3

the Galatian church that nothing can be added to salvation.

He was just crystal clear,

period. Because this book is all about that.

And you might be saying even out there going, man, Mark, this is like 6

weeks into this. We're hearing kind of the same message over and

over, right? Salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

You don't need to add works to it. And I would say to you today,

yes, it's there

for a reason. You and I need to hear it just like the original readers

do, because even though we might hear it, say we believe it,

how are our lives being lived out? Are we walking

in that truth? Or are we subconsciously doing

things that would affect? And so again, Paul has not changed

his message. Salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

Nothing can be added to it. I use the example here of concrete.

How many of you would build a beautiful brand new home, but when

the concrete truck shows up for your foundation, they're a

little short, so you just start throwing random things in

there? Well, I don't really need these shoes anymore, or here's,

you know, some empty aluminum cans or whatever. No, you You wouldn't do

that because you're diluting the strength of the foundation and

the house will crumble under it. And Paul

is saying salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone,

period. Don't add anything to it because

if you add anything to salvation, Jesus Christ plus anything

equals nothing.

Jesus Christ stands alone and it's a beautiful thing. And so what

started in the Spirit Paul has said,

is it being perfected in the flesh? Of course not.

Why would salvation start by God and then expect you to

come along and add to it? And so again, it's a beautiful

pastoral heart being just laid out

to the churches in Galatia. These people, he wants them to

hear it. He wants them to know how much he loves them.

And he says it may have caught Probably thinking

about that is why Paul penned this next line: I

am afraid I might have labored over you in vain. Paul's concern

for the Galatian church was huge.

If you've cared about anything in your life passionately before,

that is Paul and those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ.

He doesn't want them to go back. He was so concerned that

they've found life in Christ, and now that's

being taken away from them because

they are allowing someone else to add to it.

The foundation is being weakened.

Observation of festivals, the importance of them to the Jews,

uh, the calendar, all the things that the Judaizers want

them to do. Again, none of them were bad in and of themselves,

but if the pastor or the leadership

say, if you want to be saved, you have to do

this, you've just diluted the foundation of

faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

And Paul knew that, and he's like, you don't need to do

any of those things. Stop trying to.

And he says, I'm afraid I might have labored in vain. He's not concerned about

their salvation. He calls them brothers here.

Brothers and sisters is implied, but he calls them the word that would

be used for those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, who would call

themselves Christians, right? He's writing to

believers. He's not afraid that they'll lose their salvation, but what

they'll lose out in is on the life that was intended. Jesus Christ

has given you freedom so that you might live for him

and look more like him and have a testimony that

points people towards him, right? That's,

that's God's goal for us. So what he's saying is

you're going to miss out on that, and there's reward in that.

He's saying bouncing out of bed in the morning excited about who you might have

an opportunity to talk with that day, talk with about Jesus, working hard

for Jesus, living for Jesus. That can be a reward here on earth.

And obviously we've preached on before, there will

be rewards in heaven. The beauty of the rewards in

heaven is if the— if and when they're given, we'll be able to lay those

back at Jesus' feet. But we are told to work

hard as unto the Lord, again, not to

earn our salvation, but because we're saved. So Paul is like,

he's concerned because he loves them.

That they might be doing something that will distract

them from the goal of living for Christ. That's what

Paul's concerned about. That's why he was afraid he might have labored in

vain. Again, here he calls them brothers. I entreat you, become as I

am, for I also have become as you are.

You did me no wrong. Paul's gonna start here for these next like 4 or

5 verses. This is the real kind of like personal

plea. This is like, you know me, listen to me,

everything I've said so far and everything I'm going to say, you know me.

We experience life together in a real personal way,

right? And so he starts out, when I was with you, I became like

you. I didn't require you to become like me. I ate with you.

I lived with you. I taught you to live like Jesus

Christ, not like Jews.

Remember, snap out of it. Don't forget, don't get confused.

Clarity is what Paul was wanting here. Clarity in life for the

disciple. It's important to know what it should look like.

It's important to be running after Jesus,

but know that your performance doesn't

earn or secure your salvation. Jesus did all

of that on the cross for you and for me, and he gave it

to you. And when you receive it, it can never be taken away. No one

can pluck you out of his hand. This is salvation by

faith in Jesus Christ. It's grace-filled.

It's undeserved. I've been given merit

based on what he did, and it's so beautiful.

That's what Paul preached. And he's frustrated with

the church. We've heard that through the first 3 and a half, 4 chapters,

in that he's saying these are the reasons you shouldn't

do that. And now he's turned a corner. He's saying, man, listen to my heart.

I want you to remember what has happened. He also goes into these few

verses here in the middle. We're gonna be able to kind of scoot through these

because this is basically telling, hey, this is how I ended up with you.

I wasn't even coming to you guys. Most commentaries

I read this week, and I read quite a few, I had a few conversations

and watched a couple of my favorite pastors preaching through this same chapter,

because there is a lot of confusion and none of us know for sure because

Paul never wrote it down. But with all that being said, there's a

good chance Paul had malaria and he probably had lost

some of his eyesight through that, if not most of it. There also,

if you put the timeline together, this is after Paul had

been stoned. And if you read the words of scripture,

Paul had been stoned to death. When the men walked away from him,

they thought Paul was dead. So imagine

the size rocks that would have been chucked at him. Imagine those hitting his head,

maybe his face. I don't want to get too gruesome, and I don't want to

speculate because I don't know, but had he had damage to the eyes

that way? Was he even deformed? And what he's saying is,

you loved me. You received

the good news of Jesus Christ. You accepted me for who I was.

You cared for me. We've got history.

This wasn't my plan. My plan was to go somewhere else, but because

of what happened to me, I came to you.

The message that I brought, it says there, you received me as an angel of

God. I think the better translation is messenger,

even though angel is a messenger from God. So again, we're kind

of dicing things up there, but you received me as a messenger

of God. As Jesus Christ. You trusted me,

you heard me, you believe me. Holy Spirit drew you unto

himself. Remember the time you first placed your faith in Jesus

Christ, right? You maybe had heard it before over and over,

but finally it makes sense. That's Holy Spirit pulling you. God knows

you. And that's what had happened here. And he's saying,

you would have done anything for me.

You would have done anything for me. I think there was a, there was a

part here, whether it's— I'm trying to remember if it's here. Yeah, look at there

in, in 15. For I testify to you that

if possible, you would have gouged out your own eyes and given

them to me. I won't ask you to raise your hand, but how many

of you had a friend like that that would do anything for you?

You knew if you called them, they would drop whatever they're doing and go,

right? Like, that is the greatest kind of friend. And I think Paul was

that kind of friend to them, and they were that kind of friend to him.

And all of a sudden now they're walking away from that friendship.

This is a personal plea. Paul had

already spent time saying the nuts and bolts. This is why you do it.

This is why you don't. But he's getting personal here.

You love me and I love you. Why are you walking

away from the message? Not my message, but the message

that was given to me by Jesus Christ. It's, it's just such a beautiful thing.

Why would I have told you the gospel, right, and then become

your enemy by telling you the truth? They're the ones adding

to it. They're the ones making it unbearable.

Stand firm. I'm not your enemy.

Paul finishes this last part again. He's talking about the comparison

between them and him. Paul wants what's best for them.

They want what's best for themselves.

Jesus talked to the Pharisees and said, you would go across the sea to bring

back one, one person

to follow your way, right? And he was

saying that as a woe to them, like, woe to you,

you're bringing them back just so you can have followers. And what Paul

is saying here is that the only thing he made

good of was Jesus Christ and him crucified.

And he rose on that 3rd day. It wasn't about Paul

and it wasn't about numbers. His pastoral heart came forward.

They were there— they being the Judaizers. They're zealous.

They want to bring you to their side. It's Paul over here and

it's us over there. You need to come to us.

And Paul's saying, the only thing I'm zealous about is making much of

Jesus Christ.

Finally, we see Paul wrap up this section with a heartfelt final

pastoral plea. He says, my little children.

Paul's concern, his love, his commitment are seen in the tone

in which he is writing here. The description— growth

in Christ has been Paul's main concern of

his sheep. Right? He wants them to grow in

Christ, period. He's not looking for anything

else. He hasn't asked for anything else.

Growth in Christ. He addresses them

as children. And now, in some ways, as I was reading

this and studying it this week and kind of praying over it, I thought

it kind of ironic. He's, he's talking about my little children, and he talks about

some childbirth things. And I know for you moms out there especially,

Uh, maybe some of you dads that experienced it right in there with them,

but those moms out there, you know, when you birth that baby boy or girl,

you would do anything for them, right? You pull them in close. That's their baby.

There's anguish in childbirth, but man, love, and you would do anything for

them. And I think that's how Paul felt about these churches. I would

do anything for you. But he also, I think, is giving a

little bit of a rebuke because you're born. What do you do? You grow

up, you become a toddler, right? And then you get into school age. Now you're

in middle school and high school. You become these these young

adults and you're out on your own. And in our faith,

we need to do that too. We come to Jesus Christ, we're infants, we're given

the milk. And Paul says, man, I'm longing for you to get

to the place where you can eat solid food, right? So Paul loves

them and he's saying, you're my children, but man,

growth is what we desire. We being those

who are teaching you Jesus Christ crucified.

Buried, risen. And because of that, here's the growth

trajectory. And that's what Paul's saying. I'm in anguish because I

want Christ to be formed in you.

If I stand up here for any other reason than that,

I am an heir. It's not to grow this

church in huge numbers. Do I love seeing people out here?

Yes. Why? Because I believe community's important.

I think you can have strong friendships here that encourage you in your walk.

I think that when you're ready to do something around your house or you need

something or in community group, you, you have questions, you can

live life together and, and have that friendship and grow.

But I always am saying, get to know your neighbors, get to know your coworkers,

right? Love on them in Jesus' name. But the church is important,

but it's not about numbers. If I'm ever doing anything just to attract people

to get them here, I'm in the wrong.

I need to be up here preaching Jesus Christ and him crucified.

And what does that mean for you? What does that mean for me? And that's

what Paul's saying. I want you to grow

until Christ is formed in you. And that last little bit

there, I loved it. I was kind of thinking this week, it's kind of like

a text, uh, in, in the sense that he's having

somebody else write this letter. The letter's coming to him. He wants to be

there in person, but he can't. I hate doing text messages anything

longer than a back and forth, maybe once or twice. And especially

if there's something wrong. I'm not trying to figure things out

or trying to convict you of— or not convict you,

but bring something up to you. Or if you're bringing something up to me,

I'm going to be like, hey, can we get a phone call? I want you

to hear my, my tone of my voice.

Preferably face-to-face, especially if you're calling me out on something, or if

I have to call you out on something and encourage you to move in a

different way. I want you to know it's me, and I love you, and I'd

do anything for you. I'm gonna face-to-face conversation.

And Paul's saying here, man, I wish I could be present with you now.

My tone has changed. I love you,

and I want you to grow in Christ. And I, and I think that's

just so important that we understand that Paul He's not changing

the message from the first time he was there, and he's not changing the,

the tone and the heart that he has. When a pastor wants to

know what a heart should look like,

uh, in, in his church body, it should be one that's chasing

after God. As pastors, we should be desiring

to lead people, move people towards

the Savior. The gospel of grace is just that— it's grace.

The work that can be done is so important.

There's much to be done. And I want you to stand before the

throne someday and hear, well done, my good and faithful servant.

I gave you and you used it wisely.

That's it. That is a remark that is waiting for those who

are faithful. And I want that. I want to, I want

to get up there and be told, well done for living it out.

But I want to also understand, I do, and I want all

of you to, that that's not to earn favor in God's eyes. He couldn't

love you more than he does now. He couldn't love you more than

he does when you are personally at your lowest.

God loves you. Good works,

studying God's word, praying, worshiping, attending a local church service,

serving, giving, living out the fruit of the Spirit. They are all important,

but they're important in the right context.

And that's what Paul was talking about here. May each of us have hearts that

long for others to know the good news of Jesus Christ

and how salvation has come to us by the grace

of God. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for this morning.

We thank you for an opportunity to look into your word. We thank

you for the gift that scripture is. Lord,

I pray today that some of us

will be impacted by your word and encouraged

to live differently so that tomorrow we look more like Jesus and less like

ourselves. Be with us now as we go into a time of worship and

communion. Help us to continue on in,

in the, the, uh, attitude of

worship before you that is humble and yet bold

and confident that we can go into your throne room

before the throne because of what

Jesus Christ did for us. Be with us today through the rest of

this service, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Uh, the communion elements are in the back, and,

uh, as you feel led, go ahead

and take, uh, take them with your family or whoever's with you, and then come

back and find your seat. But let's sing out

that Amazing Grace.

Amazing grace,

how sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like

me.

I once was lost,

but now I'm found.

Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart

to fear, and grace My

fears relieved.

How precious did that

grace appear the hour

I first believed.

My chains are gone,

I've been set free.

My God, my Savior

has ransomed me,

and like a flood,

his mercy reigns.

Unending love,

amazing grace.

The Lord is from

his good to his word,

my hope secures.

He will my Shield and

portion me as long

as life endures.

My chains are gone, my chains are gone.

I've been set free. My God,

my Savior has ransomed

me, and like a flood, his mercy

Amazing grace, unending love,

amazing grace. My chains

are gone, I've been

set free. My God,

my Savior has ransomed

me. And like a flood,

His mercy reigns,

unending love,

amazing grace.

Shall soon dissolve like

snow. The sun forbear

to shine,

but God who called me here

below will be

forever mine.

Will be

forever mine.

You are forever

mine.

The splendor of

the King.

Clothed in majesty,

let all the earth rejoice,

all the earth rejoice.

He wraps himself in light,

and darkness tries to hide

and trembles at his voice. Trembles at his voice.

How great is our

God! Sing with me, how great

is our God! And all will

see how great, how great is

our God!

And there

she stands, and time is in his

hands.

The beginning and the end,

beginning and the end.

A God of three in one.

Father, Spirit, Son, the Lion

and the Lamb, the Lion and the

Lamb. How great

is our God! Sing with me, how great

is our God! And oh,

see how great How

great is

our God! Great is

our God! Sing with me,

how great is our God!

And just see how great,

how great is our

God.

Name above

all names,

worthy of all praise.

My heart will sing how great

is our God.