10 Five Principles of Christian Leadership (Galatians 4:12-20)

Krisan Marotta: Thank you for joining me today for Wednesday in the Word. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. Today we're going to study Galatians chapter 4, verses 12 through 20, and this is the tenth talk in my series on Galatians. Lecture notes for today's talk are on the link below this podcast, and you can find them by going directly to Wednesdayintheword.com slash Galatians 10. Thanks so much for listening today. We have seen him speak as an apostle, as a theologian, and as a scholar, warning the Galatian church that they are turning to a false gospel. Today, in this passage, we're going to see him speak as a pastor and as a friend. Paul gives us a rare glimpse into his relationship with one of his congregations, and we're going to see what we can learn from him about leadership in the church. Just to review where we are in the book, Paul wrote this letter to churches in Galatia that he founded on his first missionary journey. Since he founded them and visited them, they are turning to a false gospel. The Judaizers have come to town and told them it's not enough to believe in Jesus. In order to really be saved, you have to keep the law. In the first two chapters, Paul argued for his own trustworthiness, his authority as an apostle, and the trustworthiness of his gospel. In chapters three and four, he makes a series of five arguments for justification by faith alone. And we have looked at three arguments so far. The first one was in chapter three, verses one through five. And Paul argued, look at your own experience. Did you receive the Spirit because you got your act together and finally started keeping the law? Or because you heard the gospel that Jesus died to save you and you believed it. And obviously, you received the Spirit, the mark of God's acceptance, because you have faith. His second argument, which is in 3, 6 through 14, he says, your experience is confirmed by Scripture. Scripture teaches that Abraham believed God and God counted it to him as righteousness. So from the beginning, justification came through faith. God promised that all those who had faith like Abraham would be blessed. The law hadn't even been given yet, so Abraham never had a chance to keep it. He received the blessing because he had faith. His third argument in 315 through 22, Paul argued that God made a promise to Abraham, but the law which came later was a deal. And a deal does not nullify the promise. So the promise to Abraham was a one-sided covenant in which God promised to bless Abraham and those who have faith like him. The law was a two-sided deal where each side promised to do certain things, and blessings came only if you did those things. So the law spelled out God's standards of holiness and righteousness. And Paul argued that the law was given to teach us that we are not holy and we are not capable of being righteous and that we need the promise. Then in 323 through 411, he digressed slightly to more fully answer the question which he raised in Galatians 3.19 why the law? And he explains that the law functioned as a kind of drill sergeant to discipline and teach us, it put a fence around our rebellion and drives us back to God. So having learned the lesson from the law, we should graduate from law keeping to the maturity of faith. Today, in 412 through 20, we're going to look at his fourth argument. And this time, Paul makes a personal appeal to the Galatians based on his relationship to them. He appeals to the Galatians to take his word seriously and to turn back to the true gospel on the basis of his deep affection for them and his demonstrated concern for them. Now this passage breaks down into two sections. In each section, he contrasts two attitudes. In 4, 12 through 16, Paul reminds the Galatians of their attitude toward him. He contrasts how they viewed him when he first met them with how they view him now. Then in 17 through 20, Paul reminds the Galatians of his attitude toward them, and he contrasts his attitude toward them with the attitude of the false teachers. We're going to look at each of his appeals in turn and then ask what this teaches us about Christian leadership. This passage gives us a rare glimpse into the Apostle Paul as a pastor, teacher, and leader. So we're going to ask what we can learn about leadership in the church from Paul's relationship with the Galatians. Let's start with 412 to 16, and this is where Paul is contrasting the Galatians' attitude toward him when he first preached to them with their attitude toward him now. First, he appeals to them. This is 412 through 16. Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. You know it was because of a 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 received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. What then has become 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 become your enemy by telling you the truth? Let's just walk through this passage. I think this phrase, for I have become as you are, refers to the fact that Paul lived like a Gentile when he was among them. And now the believing Gentiles are trying to live like Jews. So he's saying, I lived like a Gentile when I was among you, imitate me. I lived that way in obedience to the truth, and I entreat you to do the same. He says literally in the Greek, for I as you, I think the idea is I conformed to your Gentile customs in many ways. I abandoned my Jewish upbringing, I gave up my Pharisaic lifestyle, I gave up my kosher ways, and I conformed to you Gentiles as far as I could in order to teach you and save you. Then he adds this phrase, you did me no wrong, or I have received no injury from you. This phrase seems to come out of the blue, but I think what follows it explains what he means. I think the sense of this is remember how much you respected me and responded to me when I first spoke among you. You accepted me then. You did not greet me with animosity. You didn't treat me with disrespect. You did me no wrong. And he continues that same thought in 13 and 14. You know it was because of a 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 received me as an angel of God as Christ Jesus. Apparently, when Paul taught among the Galatian churches, he suffered from some kind of sickness. We don't know what it was, but we can speculate. In my reading, I found two pretty good theories about what was going on. One theory involves geography. Paul first arrived in the region at Perga. It was a big city, it was the main metropolitan city in the district, but there's no record of Paul stopping there to preach in the synagogue or seek any converts, and there's no record of any church in Perga, which is striking because it was such a big city. So that raises the question, well, why would Paul skip that city? We don't know for sure, but one theory is that Perga is on the coastlands. The geography of that area is that the coastlands were low and then they rise quickly to a kind of high plateau. And all the churches that Paul visited that are recorded in Acts are on that high plateau. Well, so why quickly leave the lowlands and evangelize in the cities higher up on the plateau? And one theory is that the coastlands were ridden with malaria, and Paul may have contracted malaria while he was there. In order to escape the malaria, he went up to the higher regions. So, under this theory, when Paul says he preached to you because of bodily ailment, he's referring to escaping the malaria. Perhaps he's saying, I planned to stay in the coastlands, but because of the malaria, I changed my path and I came to you instead. I might not even have explained the gospel to you, except malaria was running rampant in Perga. And that's one possible theory. In that theory, he's referring to his first visit to them. But another theory is that Paul is referring to his second visit with them. From Acts, we know that Paul traveled through the region, he got as far as Lystra, and at Lystra he was stoned and left for dead. From Lystra then he backtracks the way he came. He goes back to the cities and churches he had just visited as he heads for home. So this theory says if they stoned him to the point where they thought he was dead, Paul must have been in pretty bad shape. It seems likely that he ends his forward journey and starts backtracking toward home because of the severity of his injuries. He probably needed time to recover. When he visits them on his way back home, his injuries may have been unpleasant to be around. They may have disfigured him in some way that would make it uncomfortable to look at him or to listen to him. He must have been covered with bruises. He was probably swollen from the beating. But the Galatian churches didn't let Paul's suffering deter them. Instead, they received him with great affection. Because Paul goes on to talk about them giving him their eyes, it may be that malaria had affected his vision, or maybe his face was so swollen from the stoning that his eyes were swollen shut or something. We don't know. There is a third theory that Paul had something chronically wrong with his eyes. Scholars speculate that his eyes were never right after his blinding encounter with the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, and that when he prays to have the thorn in his flesh removed and so forth, he's asking that his eyesight or his vision be restored properly. And that could also be what he's referring to here. Whatever it was, Paul is saying, You Galatians did not let that get in the way. As unpleasant as it was to look at or to be around, you received me as a messenger from God. You treated me with the utmost respect, even as you would have treated Jesus Himself, and you responded to me as if it was to your great fortune that I came and explained the gospel to you. You showed me the kind of gratitude that belongs to the Messiah, and I am only the messenger of the Messiah. He's arguing since they showed him so much respect before, in spite of his physical affliction, shouldn't they pay the same respect to him now? Shouldn't they continue to listen to his teaching and follow his example? After all, he is the same man in his principles and his practice and his message as he was then. He then goes on in 15 and 16. What then has become 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? Paul's asking, what happened to that gratitude? Where is that gratitude now? Where is that sense of good fortune you had when I first taught you the gospel? Paul's baffled by their change. He's confused. Why haven't you continued to be grateful for the message of the gospel? He says, You Galatians were so grateful for my coming to teach you that if possible, you would have sacrificed your own eyesight for me. You were so hungry to learn the gospel that you would have given your eyes to learn it. Where is the joy you had when you first heard the gospel? And where is that desire to learn from me now? Apparently, the Judaizers have turned the Galatians against Paul. So the Galatians no longer trust Paul like they used to. They have abandoned the gospel he taught them, and they are treating him with disrespect or as an untrusted teacher. And he's saying, By teaching you the truth, have I become your enemy? Is my telling you truth the proof that I've ceased to be your friend? Well, that would be highly ironic. The Bible tells us that the person who tells us the truth is our best friend. Proverbs 27, 6, Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. If I'm in danger of committing a great sin, or I've been selfish or unloving and I'm straying off the path over a cliff, the person who pulls me back is my truest friend, even if I don't want to hear it. If I'm in danger of exercising bad judgment and it can be avoided, the kind and loving thing to do is warn me, even more so if I'm pursuing a course of conduct that could ruin my eternal destiny, as the Galatians are. And Paul's saying, your true friend would warn you and correct you, and yet you're treating me like an enemy. So that's his first appeal. He appeals to them on the basis of their prior relationship. He says, You used to trust me and be grateful for my teaching, and you believed in me as if I were Christ himself, even though I'm only Christ's messenger. What happened? I haven't changed. What caused the change in you? Now he's going to switch gears and contrast his attitude toward them with that of the false teachers. And he's going to point out that not only is he not their enemy, he has labored over them like a parent. Let's look at 17 through 20. 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 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. The false teachers are apparently eager to win the affection of the Galatians, but their intentions are deceitful. They are trying to separate the Galatians from Paul so that the Galatians will adopt the same doctrines and mindset that they have. They want the Galatians to be one of them, which means they want the Galatians to reject Paul. This phrase they make much of you is more literally they zealously affect you. The word used here means to be eager for something. It's usually to be eager for something in a good sense. Here, the false teachers are deceitful in their zeal. They make much of the Galatians, they profess great favor and friendship and affection toward them, but they really only want followers. The Judaizers claimed an extraordinary concern for their welfare, but their goal was not really to save them, their goal was to win the Galatians to their teachings. So their motives were mixed. They didn't have good designs. They want to shut you out that you may make much of them. The idea is they want to shut you out, they want to exclude you from the love and affection of Paul. They want to end the Galatians' relationship with Paul so that the Galatians would believe only them. They have the strategy of making the Galatians feel like they're outsiders looking in. So it's this idea of, well, yeah, Paul told you you need to believe in Jesus, but we're believing Jews. We know all the rules and the rituals and the regulations, and we know we have God's favor because we've had God's favor since Moses. This is like ancient history to us. But you don't, because you're a pagan Gentile and you don't know how to keep these rules and rituals. You're on the outside, we're on the inside, and you just don't have it. We all know the force of peer pressure. There's nothing like being kicked out of a club to make you desperately want to be in the club. And this is the kind of situation Paul's describing. The Judaizers employ this strategy of saying, well, you're not really a follower of Jesus. You're not a true believer, you're outside the circle. If you were a real follower of Jesus, you would keep the law like we do, but you're this second class wannabe. Well, how are the Galatians responding? They want to be inside the circle. So they beseech the Judaizers, tell us what we need to do to be authentic followers of Jesus like you. And the Judaizers say, Well, you've got to stop listening to Paul, and you better start keeping the law like we do. Because Paul stood in the way of their plans, the false teachers had to discredit him. They charged him with teaching an incomplete gospel, with omitting the part about law keeping. And this is probably why Paul took such great pains at the beginning of the book to establish his own credibility and trustworthiness. So he's saying first the Judaizers show this special interest in you, then they tell you you don't belong, and they seek to alienate you from the person who first preached the gospel to you, and all of that is so that they can draw you into their lies. And Paul's point is they don't really care about you. All they care about is getting more people to confirm and ratify their position. They want you to vote for them in this debate. They're making sure you feel like an outsider so that you are willing to join them. Paul contrasts that attitude with his own motives. This is 18 through 20. It is always good to be made much of 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. He says, They're willing to shut you out so that you might join them. Now it is good to be wanted for a good reason, but they want you for a selfish reason. And now he contrasts his reason. He says, My motivation is the same motivation of a mother. Just as a loving parent or a loving mother wants her child to be safe and healthy and wise, so I labored over you. He labors over them at all times, not only when he's physically present with them, but when he's absent. Paul sees them as his spiritual children, children he suffered for, like a mother suffers the birth pangs, so he suffered that they might learn the truth of the gospel. Paul says, I wish I could just sit down with you in person and straighten this thing out. So I could change my tone and not be strict with you anymore. Their conversion was the fruit of much of Paul's labor and prayers and tears. He felt toward them like a parent who labors over the upbringing of a child. Despite everything, his attitude toward them is not changed. He's suffering the same anxiety and distress he endured when he first preached the gospel to them. He's concerned about them as individuals. He wants them to fully understand the gospel so that they might find life in the kingdom of heaven. Paul doesn't care whether they validate him as a teacher. He's not out to be a rock star and win converts and followers to himself. He's teaching them the truth and he wants them to learn it because he wants them to be saved. He's not trying to win votes in the debate. His concern is for their eternal souls. They need to know the truth. Their eternal destiny hangs in the balance. And he says, I went through this once when I first taught you the gospel and waited eagerly to learn how you would respond. Now it's like we're doing it all over again. It's like I'm in these birth pains all over again. The Galatians had lost a lot in Paul's absence. They changed their understanding of the gospel. They had in some measure become alienated from him, and he wishes that he might be again with them as he was before. I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. I think he's aware that he's writing this letter with a certain amount of energy and force. His tone is warning, his tone is strict, he's rebuking them and calling them out, but it's all because he cares for them and he's concerned about the direction they're now heading. He's frustrated with them and he's baffled by their change. He wishes he didn't have to be frustrated. He wishes he could change his tone, but he cares too much about them to let them lose their way. He's baffled by how quickly they have abandoned the gospel he taught them and how easily they were swept into this false gospel. So to summarize, Paul is worried about their faith, their future, and their maturity in the gospel. He appeals to the Galatians to listen to his warning based on their prior relationship to him. He reminds them that when he first preached to them, they joyously and gratefully responded to him and accorded him the same respect they would have shown Jesus himself. Despite his physical deformity, whatever sickness he was afflicted with at the moment, they sat and listened to him. They were so eager to hear his gospel that they would have sacrificed an eye for him. And he reminds them he hasn't changed. He's still the same person with the same abiding deep affection for them. Nothing about him has changed. So why have they stopped listening to him? And why have they ceased to trust and believe him? He reminds them he has told them only the truth, and his primary concern is for their welfare. He's told them everything they need to know to find life in the kingdom of heaven, in contrast with the false teachers who are seeking to win him to lies and their side of the debate. That's the passage. Let's see if we can put some of this together and what we can learn about leadership from Paul's relationship with the Galatians. I'm going to give you five principles of leadership. These are clearly taught in other passages, but I think that we can see them confirmed here by Paul's relationship to the Galatians. The first one organizational hierarchies in the church are often problematic. Paul contrasts the attitude of the false teachers with his own. The false teachers seek to turn the Galatians away from Paul and put themselves in his place. Rather than sowing harmony and unity, they are creating factions with themselves at the top, and that is always a problem. Jesus spoke against this in Mark 10, 42 through 45. Jesus called them to him and said to them, You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be a slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. So rulers of the Gentiles or pagan entities, they equate power with domination. Those who have power lord it over those who don't have power. They take advantage of the powerless for their own sakes, and Jesus says that is the way of the world, but it is not so with you. That's not the kind of leadership that we need in the community of Christ. Those who exercise authority should be those who are most committed to serving the community. Those who lead must learn to give up their own rights and their own desires in order to act on what is best for the flock. We can see from Paul's example that his leadership is based on service. Now, this doesn't mean that leadership and prominence in the church can't coexist. A servant leader can have great gifts and be highly regarded, as Paul evidently was highly regarded by the Galatians when he first preached to them. The difference between Paul and the false teachers is not how prominent they were, it's motive. A servant leader, following the example of Christ, crucifies his self-interest and makes decisions based on what is in the best interest of his flock. So Christian leadership does not describe a place in human ranking. It describes an attitude by which we interact with others, and a leader is to serve his flock. His flock is not there to serve the leader. You'll notice throughout this letter, Paul never pulled rank on the Galatians. He has appealed to his authority as part of his credibility. He's appealed to their close relationship as part of the basis for his trustworthiness. But he has never said, look, I'm an apostle, I outrank these Judaizers, we're going to do things my way. Now, if anyone could pull that kind of rank, Paul as an apostle could do it. He could probably make some kind of executive decree, but he never does. Divisions between clergy and laity, between senior and associate, or even between one type of spiritual gift and another create circumstances which encourage rivalry and competition. If a certain title in an organization confers power and status, then everybody wants that title. If a certain ministry is defined as where the action is, then everyone wants to be part of that ministry, leaving other equally necessary ministries to wither and die. At my church, many years ago, we had a season where the senior pastor inadvertently created ministry winners and losers. Every year he picked a new ministry that he personally would be involved with. And he talked about that ministry from the pulpit. He had workers in that ministry come up front and share, and that ministry got more space and attention than all the others. And then the next year he'd pick a new one. I don't think he intended to create winners and losers, but that's what happened. Because inevitably, everyone wanted to be in the ministry of the year. Because the senior pastor was involved, the perception among the congregation became that's where the cool kids hang out. That's where the movers and the shakers are. So if evangelism was the ministry of the year, then finding Sunday school workers became almost impossible. And if next year Sunday school was the ministry of the year, then outreach events withered on the vine for lack of volunteers. And it took several years of this cycle before he realized the unintended consequences of his actions and he stopped that practice. But it is true, as a general rule of thumb, that if a certain role is given prestige and prominence, everyone wants that role. When we define some team or some position or some title as better or higher in the body of Christ, it becomes seen as the place of action or the place of power and it builds strife and competition into the body. If an organization creates a structure that rewards competition and introduces hierarchy, it's very hard to declare that everybody in the body of Christ is equally important and has a role and a calling to play before God, because the organization itself is undermining that by saying, Yeah, but these roles are better than others. So be careful of organizational hierarchies. The second one, faithfulness is more important than short-term accomplishment, because invisible realities are greater than the things we can measure. Paul arrived at the Galatian churches with some kind of horrible illness. It apparently made him very unpleasant to be around, but it also may have sent him there in the first place. Perhaps his illness even detained him so that he stayed longer than he planned. How could he have predicted or known God would use an illness for such good? We fool ourselves into thinking we know what God is doing. You've probably heard the old joke, how do you get God to laugh? Tell him your plans. The most important question is not how can we get something done quickly or with fanfare, but rather how can we be faithful to what God has called us to do? In planning and leading, we should be asking, how do we minister to the flock God has given us? How do we respond to the needs God has put in front of us? Not what new program ought we to start to bring us fame and glory, or bring us numbers and prestige, or get us a write-up in Christianity today, or what would look the most good to outsiders. Now, just to be clear, I am not saying there is anything wrong with evangelism. There is nothing wrong with going after seekers or converts or new believers, but we don't want to forget that we have a flock. And the first question we ought to ask is how can we be faithful to what God has called us to? That has to be the starting point because what he's doing is often invisible to us. We think he's acting one way, but he may be moving in a completely different direction. And we can't be sure what he intends, so we ask his direction and try to be faithful to the calling we have. Think about Moses. He spent 40 years in the wilderness before he spent 40 years as the leader of the Exodus. Both those phases were part of God's plan for him, and the seemingly insignificant years of tending sheep in the wilderness were an important preparation for his prominent years of tending the exiles in the desert. We don't know what all God is calling us to as individuals or as churches. Long-term faithfulness is more important than short-term accomplishment. Frequently, we can't see the things God is doing. We can't measure the things God is doing, and we don't want to overlook them because we can't see or measure them. Often those things we can't see and measure are more important than the things that we can see and measure. Okay, third, God works through broken and inadequate people just like us. God used Paul's sickness to the greater good of the Galatian church and to us as well. Because if Paul had not had such a close relationship with them, maybe he would never have written this letter. If he hadn't been sick, maybe they wouldn't have heard the gospel. Maybe he wouldn't have stayed so long. But God used all that to bring about his plan. Big budgets, slick advertising campaigns, marketing gimmicks, all the things we do to push our programs can tempt us to trust in our own efforts and not in God's faithfulness. Now we may have the best of intentions, but the more resources we have, the more tempting it is to trust in the resources and to take all the credit for any good that results. When we lack resources to make something happen, it usually is more obvious to us that all the success comes from God. So as church leaders, sometimes we have to admit our weaknesses, admit our limitations, toss out the gimmicks and the fads in favor of trusting, waiting, and being faithful. Fourth, relationships are central to spiritual growth. Part of the reasons the Galatians initially responded to the truth of the gospel was their relationship with Paul. And Paul is counting on that relationship to help pull them back to the truth. We can learn information from books, we can be equipped and trained in seminars, but the best way our lives are changed is when we are in relationship with other believers. Very few people become believers in isolation. Very few believers continue to grow in isolation. We grow and mature by wrestling with the truth and wrestling with the truth with each other, praying for each other, struggling with each other, working side by side and shoulder to shoulder, encouraging each other through the hard times, lifting each other up, sharing our stories and our struggles and our doubts and our failures and our successes. Relationships are central to maturity. Information can be learned many, many ways, but lives are most often changed in relationships. And fifth and finally, the truth of Scripture is always relevant. Notice how Paul continually throughout these arguments brings the Galatians back to Scripture. Leaders are frequently tempted to ride the current hipster wave, to try the latest fad, use the latest tool or the newest technique or technology. And that can be good to a point, but we don't want to sacrifice the word of God to it. Leaders shouldn't ask what's on the cutting edge for the moment, to the detriment of asking what's true from the Word of God? What does this group, this flock, this congregation, this seminar, what do they need to know about God? The Word of God remains fascinating and useful. It speaks truth in every time and every culture. And we need to hold on to that passion to know the word. We need to encourage others to engage with God's word and apply it to their lives. Our job is to faithfully do what God has called us to do and to trust Him for the results. You've been listening to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. My mission is to explain what a passage means and how we figure it out. Please follow, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast app. It really does help others find the program. But most importantly, please tell a friend what you learned. And if you can, tell them where you learned it. You can hear all previous episodes in this series on my website, Wednesdayintheword.com, as well as find many other resources to help you study the Bible. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coates. You can find his music and his worship CDs on heartfilmusic.org. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krissan Marata, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.