Don’t Settle for Less Than the Truth

“Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?  Galatians 4:8-9

Paul wrote to the Galatians who had come to faith in Christ but were still somewhat clinging to their former idols and false gods.  Old habits are hard to break, but when it comes to faith in Christ, there is no excuse to turn back to idols.  Paul wasn’t just writing this for the Galatians of 2,000 years ago, but his words and all the words of scripture are just as apropos for our modern-day culture, even more so because of all the history that we have behind us concerning Christ and the gospel which was new to the folks in Galatia.  There is really no excuse for not having some knowledge of God and His word (Romans 1:20).  However, if we consider some of the most ungodly things that are going on in our day, one would think that a large part of the world’s population has become extremely ignorant of God.  Either that, or they have become extremely arrogant with no fear of Him whatsoever.

When God made man, He put within man a desire to worship something greater than himself with the intent that man would worship his Creator.  God also gave man free will, the ability to choose how he would live his life, and, more specifically, to choose the object of his worship.  Satan, in his attempt to become man’s object of worship, disguised himself and appealed to Eve’s pride telling her that she could be her own god, and thus, by Adam and Eve’s disobedience, God had no choice but to sever His relationship with them.  As the world began to populate, people began to choose what gods they would worship.  We know that there was a remnant of people, like Noah and Abraham, who chose to worship the one true God, but the vast majority of those living on earth made their own gods to serve, which, as Paul states, were really no gods at all.  The believers in Galatia had been some of those who were idol worshipers before Paul came and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to them.  If the truth be told, we are or were all idol worshipers until we repented of sin and put our entire life in the hands of Christ.

Once the Galatians had repented of their sin and turned to worship the living God through Christ, they had experienced a freedom and joy that was impossible to obtain from serving nature or idols made of wood or stone, or, as in our day, money, power, and everything other than the Lord.  Paul reminded his readers that it was God who initiated His relationship with them and not the other way around.  They had been privileged to be able to turn from idolatry to serve the one true God who had blessed them and would continue to do so.  Why in the world would they want to return to the bondage that would result from living under a law of which they, as Gentiles, had not heretofore been subjected.  All that God had done for them far surpassed the weakness and bondage of the law which had no power to give them freedom from the guilt of sin.

Legalism, following all the dictates of the law, was a rather tiresome, burdensome, and unfulfilling method of worship and service which could never bring relief from the guilt of sin nor the joy that comes from knowing Christ.  Paul reminded these folks, and us, that the observance of various days, months, times, and years had no bearing on their relationship with Christ.  Worship is an everyday habit, or at least, it should be.  We do set aside Sundays for corporate worship when we can get together with likeminded folks and celebrate Christ, but I think Paul was referring to the Jewish feast days which, under Judaism, all Jews were required to attend as part of keeping the law.  Paul was fearful for the Galatians that all of his labor in preaching and discipling had been in vain.  He was greatly worried that the Galatians would turn away from Christ.

Paul actually wondered if he had become their enemy.  What happened to these folks that their joy and exuberance upon their receiving Christ had nearly disappeared?  Why were they desiring to come under the law?  They had been so grateful for Christ and His salvation that they would have plucked out their eyes and given them to Paul, an indication that his infirmity was poor eyesight.  That is quite a declaration of devotion!  But now, now that he was rebuking them, they treated him as an enemy.  Sometimes the truth hurts, but it always helps, perhaps in ways that we do not see.  Jesus didn’t die so that men and women could be comfortable in their sin and idle worship.  He died to make them uncomfortable in their sin so that they would seek relief through Him.  Sin deceives, but the truth relieves.

One thing that had led the Galatians to consider the law was influence by a group of people knows as Judaizers, who traveled around in an attempt to win believers in Christ to come under the law, which, after the sacrifice, death, and resurrection of Christ, was a form of idol worship for, as stated earlier, whatever is not faith in Christ is idol worship.  Why would they do that?  It was likely because the Judaizers had a lust for power and control over any who had come to faith in Christ, and a diminishing of the honor of Christ.  Hasn’t that been Satan’s chief goal for thousands of years?

Do you want to know what one proof of a genuine conversion to Christ is?  It is a turning away from anything that one had put before Christ to a consistent commitment to Christ.