Galatians 4:8-20

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 98:1-3
• Hymn — Come Let Us Sing unto the Lord (#16)
• Catechism Reading — Westminster Shorter Catechism Q&A 84–85
• Hymn — Not What My Hands Have Done (#461)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Sermon
• Hymn — Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken (#345)
• Benediction — Hebrews 13:20-21

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Sermon Title: The Shape, Tragedy, and Remedy of Turning Back

Scripture: Galatians 4:8-20

I. The Shape and Tragedy of Turning Back

A. The Galatians' former condition: enslaved to false gods

1. Their life before the gospel was marked by captivity to lifeless idols and vain religious speculations
2. Paul contrasts this with what they received: not merely knowing God, but being known by God

B. The significance of being known by God

1. To be known by God conveys rich covenantal intimacy — his eternal love set upon his people
2. As in Romans 8:29, "foreknew" means God fore-loved and fore-chose his people from the foundation of the world
3. This knowing is a fact for believers, not merely a feeling

C. The tragedy of turning back to weak and worthless elementary principles

1. The Galatians had left pagan idolatry behind, but under the influence of the Judaizers were now adding law-keeping to faith in Christ
2. Per Galatians 4:10, this included observing religious days, months, seasons, and years — shadows that pointed to Christ
3. To return to the shadows when you have the substance is Paul's grievance: why trade the substance for the shadow?

D. We can make the same error with good things today

1. Scripture can be misused as a textbook for self-advancement rather than as the means by which we are led to Christ
2. Church attendance can become a self-serving social tradition rather than the gathered worship of God's people
3. When good means are misused they become weak and worthless — elementary principles

E. The tragedy of fractured relationships caused by turning back (Galatians 4:13-18)

1. Paul recalls the rich fellowship and sacrificial care the Galatians once showed him — willing to give him their very eyes
2. The Judaizers' influence has poisoned that fellowship so that Paul must ask: "Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?"
3. Turning away from Christ toward elementary principles almost always produces fracture, jealousy, and haughty thoughts within the body

II. The Remedy for Turning Back

A. Paul's pastoral goal mirrors what he states in Colossians 1: toiling and struggling with all Christ's energy to present every believer mature in Christ

1. This is the goal of every faithful pastor: preach Christ and present his people as mature in him

B. The Galatians' lost blessedness (Galatians 4:15)

1. They had received the gospel with makarios — deep happiness and blessedness
2. Paul's pointed question: "What then has become of your blessedness?" — where is the joy you once had in Christ?
3. Diagnostic questions for today: Do you still find joy in Christ preached? Is he your greatest happiness? Does the Word move the needle of your heart?

C. The central remedy: Christ himself formed in the believer (Galatians 4:19)

1. Paul is in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in the Galatians — vivid language for the goal of gospel ministry
2. The Spirit works through the Word — read and preached — to form Christ in the believer: we begin to think what he thinks, love what he loves, do what he does, even suffer what he suffers
3. The fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5 — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control — is the life of Christ being formed in his people by the Spirit as Master Gardener

D. The goal is full formation, not partial

1. The whole Christ is to be formed in the whole person — all the mind, all the will, all the affection
2. The promise: he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion
3. The call: further up and further in — keep running toward Christ, do not turn back to elementary principles