Daily Bread 2010 - Galatians 4
17Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. 18It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you. 19My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!
We see Paul’s heart for the Galatians in chapter 4, and apparently they had a large heart for him as well, as they helped endure an illness while he was with them on his missionary journey. But now that he has left, the Judaizers (those telling the Gentiles they have to be circumcised to be real Christians) have come in and try to usurp his authority and the gospel he preached to them.
Paul’s reveals his true heart for them and the sense of familial bond he has with them when he says in verse 19, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” Paul had a big heart and passion to lead people into a saving relationship with Christ, but just as big of a heart for discipling them to look like Jesus. Or as he says, “Until Christ is formed in you.”
In church circles we often call this, “To grow to Christ-like maturity”. Of course it is a fairly “churchy” saying and the majority people don’t really know what it means. I think it has to do with what Paul is saying here, “Until Christ is formed in you.” So we might also call it Christian formation.
As a church one of our major goals is to help people become like Christ. But this does not happen by accident or by “osmosis”. Romans 12:1-2 gives us some further help in defining what this process looks like. It says, “I urge my brothers and sisters in view of God’s mercy to present your bodies as a holy and living sacrifice, which is an acceptable form of worship. Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of the your mind, so you may be able to test and approve what God’s will is, His good and perfect will.”
Although we will never reach perfection, or become totally like Christ in this life, we can enter the process of transformation by offering our bodies and minds to God in view of His mercy. The “in view of” is important because we don’t do it to be approved or accepted by God, but in view of, or in response to His mercy and grace in Jesus. But still God has given us free will and as we offer our bodies, and resist the temptation to be squeezed into the world’s mold (not Christ’s mold) by renewing our minds, God will transform us. Did you hear that? We don’t transform ourselves, God transforms us by the power of His Spirit, as we offer our bodies and minds to Him.
Romans 12 calls this “worship”! We say, “Wait a minute I thought worship was going to church.” Yes, but worship is also what we give “worth to”, or prioritize. If we go to church on Sunday and then give priority to everything else besides worshiping God on Monday through Saturday, it is doubtful we will see the formation into Christ Paul is describing here.
Part of renewing your mind is to be in the bible every day, for it is in the bible that our mind is renewed with God’s thoughts instead of the values of the world which we are given a constant barrage of in daily life.
Jesus thank you for giving us an example to live by and thank you for giving us Your Spirit to help set us apart to be formed and to become like you. Help us to submit our minds and body to the process of transformation that begins now and is complete when we will meet you face to face. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
We see Paul’s heart for the Galatians in chapter 4, and apparently they had a large heart for him as well, as they helped endure an illness while he was with them on his missionary journey. But now that he has left, the Judaizers (those telling the Gentiles they have to be circumcised to be real Christians) have come in and try to usurp his authority and the gospel he preached to them.
Paul’s reveals his true heart for them and the sense of familial bond he has with them when he says in verse 19, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” Paul had a big heart and passion to lead people into a saving relationship with Christ, but just as big of a heart for discipling them to look like Jesus. Or as he says, “Until Christ is formed in you.”
In church circles we often call this, “To grow to Christ-like maturity”. Of course it is a fairly “churchy” saying and the majority people don’t really know what it means. I think it has to do with what Paul is saying here, “Until Christ is formed in you.” So we might also call it Christian formation.
As a church one of our major goals is to help people become like Christ. But this does not happen by accident or by “osmosis”. Romans 12:1-2 gives us some further help in defining what this process looks like. It says, “I urge my brothers and sisters in view of God’s mercy to present your bodies as a holy and living sacrifice, which is an acceptable form of worship. Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of the your mind, so you may be able to test and approve what God’s will is, His good and perfect will.”
Although we will never reach perfection, or become totally like Christ in this life, we can enter the process of transformation by offering our bodies and minds to God in view of His mercy. The “in view of” is important because we don’t do it to be approved or accepted by God, but in view of, or in response to His mercy and grace in Jesus. But still God has given us free will and as we offer our bodies, and resist the temptation to be squeezed into the world’s mold (not Christ’s mold) by renewing our minds, God will transform us. Did you hear that? We don’t transform ourselves, God transforms us by the power of His Spirit, as we offer our bodies and minds to Him.
Romans 12 calls this “worship”! We say, “Wait a minute I thought worship was going to church.” Yes, but worship is also what we give “worth to”, or prioritize. If we go to church on Sunday and then give priority to everything else besides worshiping God on Monday through Saturday, it is doubtful we will see the formation into Christ Paul is describing here.
Part of renewing your mind is to be in the bible every day, for it is in the bible that our mind is renewed with God’s thoughts instead of the values of the world which we are given a constant barrage of in daily life.
Jesus thank you for giving us an example to live by and thank you for giving us Your Spirit to help set us apart to be formed and to become like you. Help us to submit our minds and body to the process of transformation that begins now and is complete when we will meet you face to face. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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