No Other Ground

Only Jesus, people. Galatians 4.12-20

Galatians 4 (4)

Pray Psalm 105.1, 2, 8-11.
Oh, give thanks to the LORD!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works…
He remembers His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac,
And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance…”

Sing Psalm 105.1, 2, 8-11.
(Warrington: Give to Our God Immortal Praise)
Give thanks unto the LORD Most High; call on His Name, before Him cry!
Make known His deeds in every land; sing praise for all the works of His hand.

He will His covenant faithfully guard—His oath, the promise of His Word.
That which He to our fathers swore, He will perform forevermore!

Preparation
1. How did the Galatians receive Paul at first?

 2. Why did he have doubts about them?

Meditation
In effect, by listening to the false teachers the Galatians were rejecting Paul. How unlike what they had done when he first came among them! Then they gladly received him, though he was suffering some trial in the flesh (v. 14). They regarded him as a messenger (“angel”, v. 14) sent from God, and they hung on his every word. So blessed were they, and so grateful to Paul, that they would gladly have put themselves in the place of his suffering if he could gain relief thereby (v. 15).

But now, alas: Paul wondered that perhaps he had become their “enemy” because he told them the truth about their situation (v. 16). Truth is not always comfortable or agreeable to hear, but it is always truth, and only the truth in Christ Jesus can set us free from the lies of unbelief and the flesh. He alone is our hope and ground. Paul exposed the false teachers for what they were. And though they were “zealous” to win the Galatians, it was a zeal with “no good” in mind (v. 17). Instead of returning zeal to the false teachers, the Galatians should recover their original zeal, zeal for that “good thing” which Paul proclaimed to them in Jesus (v. 18).

What did Paul desire for the Galatians? Some new form of bondage? Not at all. He longed for Christ to be formed in them, just as Christ was alive in Paul and making him new in Jesus every day (v. 19). Paul regretted that he had to be harsh and unbending with the Galatians, but truth was at stake, and he had his doubts about where they stood, on what ground (v. 20). The Galatians should humble themselves—as Paul was humble among them (v. 12)—and repent of wanting to earn their salvation all over again. They had the cart before the horse, wanting to be saved by keeping the Law.

Only Jesus has the spiritual muscle to rescue us from sin, set us down in Himself, and carry us forward along the path of righteousness. All other ground is sinking sand.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” (Gal. 4.16).

The angering truth was this: they could not work their way to heaven.

The church today seems to be suffering from two extremes:
One is that everything, all behaviors, are allowed because God’s grace is sufficient to cover them.
Therefore, no one’s life differs much from the world’s. We live like hell because we have a ticket to heaven.
Fire insurance all paid up and all that.
Or the other option: we are unable to accept the gift of grace and so are on track to win our salvation through good works and over-involvement with everything religious. Church activities replace hedonistic practices, but the outcome is the same. Work, work, work, to get what we want. We are the masters of our fate, the captains of our soul (Wm. Ernest Henley).

But how very wrong both options are!
God is saying to us in the nicest possible way: “Chill.
I AM the Master of your fate and the Captain of your soul.
Trust Me. Lean on Me. Let Me love and save you.
You cannot do this yourself. You need My help.”

“Be still, and know that I AM God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!” (Ps. 46.10)
“Be still in the Presence of the Lord GOD…” (Zeph. 1.7).
“Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace, be still!”
And the wind ceased and there was great calm” (Mk. 4.39; Ps. 89.9).

This is what God wants us to do to be saved: nothing.
He wants us to trust Him completely in His work for our salvation.

Then He wants us to get busy in His Kingdom:
“Praying like it all depends upon Him and working like it all depends upon us” (Pat Hunter).

Have I now become your enemy for telling the truth?
That truth is this: Jesus Christ is The Way, The Truth, and The Life.
No one, not any good or bad person, can come to the Father, or come into His Kingdom, or can enter His heaven, except through the Son of God, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

But the other piece of that truth telling is this: “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2.10).

Furthermore, at one time we were without Christ…having no hope, and without God in our world. But now in Christ Jesus we who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace… (Eph. 2.12-14).

Chill. Be still. Don’t work for it. Work because of it.
“Rest in the LORD…” (Ps. 37.7).
“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience” (Heb. 4.9-11).

All other ground is sinking sand.

Reflection
1. Even though we are passionate to do good works, we don’t do them to be saved. We do them because we are saved! Take a few moments and just give thanks to God for your salvation and the privilege of serving Him.

2. How do you practice being still before the Lord? What benefit do you gain from this?

3. What is our “rest”? How do we enter that “rest”? What do you experience in that “rest”? How does knowing that “rest” help you in encouraging your fellow believers?

Nothing is so sure a proof that a sinner has passed into a state of justification, as Christ being formed in him by the renewal of the Holy Spirit; but this cannot be hoped for, while men depend on the law for acceptance with God. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Galatians 4.19, 20

Pray Psalm 105.3-7, 45.
God only is all our glory and rejoicing. Meditate on His greatness. Give thanks for His covenant and promises. Bless and praise Him for Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Then go forth with joy and gratitude to walk the Jesus Path.

Sing Psalm 105.3-7, 45.
(Warrington: Give to Our God Immortal Praise)
Glory in God, rejoice in heart, all you who seek His holy part.
Him and His strength and Presence seek; His works proclaim, His judgments speak.

You holy children of Abraham, you chosen ones of Jacob, stand!
He is our LORD, of wondrous worth; His judgments are in all the earth.

So let us all in our Savior confide, and in His holy Law abide.
Let us observe His glorious Word, and praise our sovereign, faithful LORD!

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.