February 18, 2025: Tuesday Bible Study on Paul’s letter to the Galatians 4:12-20
Good morning, all. This has been a very frustrating morning. It just took me an hour to restart my computer after having put it to sleep last night to speed up the start today. It didn't happen. I had to close the computer anyway and then wait for it to reboot. This computer is four or five years old, never out of the box, but it has been difficult to work with, to say the least.
I am glad now that I can get our morning Bible Study started. For prayers today, give thanks that no one was killed in the plane crash in Canada. Pray for Christ to be in our hearts in such a way, that as our economy struggles, you and I will find ways to provide for those who have inadequate food and shelter and medical care in their lives. Continue the prayers from yesterday too.
This morning in Galatians 4:12-20 we discover a very different approach from Paul. Prior to this part of his letter, Paul has been doing the hard work of helping the new Galatian Christians to understand the theology of how Christ has brought such amazing blessings and grace into the lives of His member-diverse new churches. While some try to put into place a two-level arrangement, with new uncircumcised members only being members in an outer circle, while Jews want to be the inner circle with the most privilege and power. So, how does Paul approach this new temptation for the gentile members of the new churches in Galatia? He gets personal! When he first came to Galatia Paul was evidently having some kind of major health crisis. It wasn't the same thing as being blinded on the road to Damascus. Perhaps he had run into getting beaten up in some community where preaching the truth of God's Son had been summarily rejected with violence. Or perhaps Paul had come down with some diseases like malaria or had an illness that had been debilitating for him. Regardless of what it was, The Galatians welcomed him and offered him care and compassion as he healed. So now Paul falls back to this first relationship with the Galatian community, reminding them of how their warmth and caring had restored his ability to preach and teach about Jesus. He tells the people there that they didn't care then about who he had been, or that he was a stranger with few resources. No, they ignored any of those kinds of things to offer Paul the help that he needed at that time. Now Paul says to them that none of these Jewish rules mattered then, and it certainly doesn't matter now as they deal with the Jews who have come to tell the Galatians that they will always be second tier Christians if they don't do things the way the Jews tell them they must. (like circumcision) For Paul his own example disproves the Jew's desire to claim a superior position in the new church. If a leader who teaches the theology of God's action through Jesus Christ does not establish and maintain an interpersonal relationship with those who are coming to Christ in bits and fits, (cause that is what we all do) then the community will never know that close relationship and truth of the theology because they have never seen it in their leader's life, and in the leader's relationship with them. The warmth and love that we are each called to share with our brothers and sisters in Christ is really what helps the faith journey to continue and ultimately to be fulfilled. Recently there was a fellow Christian who found themselves in a bind of needing to find a resource for two new tires on their car, or they would have to stop driving it, and the money they had saved was designated for medical care. These things are the reality of life, and so as pastor it was important for me to say I will help you get those tires you need, and you can pay me back some of it each month. Such care does not come from any excess money in our lives, but instead from the heart of Christ that Melody and I know is so important as we work together for the sake of the Gospel. This kind of reciprocal relationship is exactly what Paul is talking about here. The only rule for living in Christ Jesus is to meld together the heart and the mind for the glory of Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. There is nothing in this world that makes anyone more deserving of the gifts that Christ gives to the faithful, it is only all about making a friend, being a friend, and bringing that friend to Christ. (This is a saying from Via de Cristo.) Paul could claim his new friends in Galatia, and they could claim his friendship too, and together, the Christ of God will be in, with, and around them, and us, in all things of this life, and on into the next.
Monday we will get back to the theology of Paul's teaching and preaching.
With Love in Christ, Pastor Kim
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