Week eight: 4.8-20 Paul reminds them of his labor and love for them

Rev. Stanley L. Derickson Ph.D.

COPYRIGHT 2004

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At one point in our lives we were asked to pioneer a work. We were asked to take over a small Bible study and move it into a church. We moved cross country because we were called of the Lord to do so, and we have never regretted the time and labor involved. We know that all of it was God's purpose and that we grew immensely from the experience as a family.

On the other hand there was the other side of our thinking that we had given the greatest effort that we could to the people involved and yet there was nothing that indicated any growth or learning whatsoever.

I worked full time (45 hours a week) while preparing and teaching five lessons/sermons a week. As we moved through time with the work, it was obvious that the people were there to take and nothing else. None of them would do anything when asked. We met in our home and they wouldn't even come a little early to help me move the furniture out of our living room so that we could set up chairs.

There were times of great frustration on my part and I am sure on my wife's as well. We continued on wondering if things would ever change.

We ultimately left because we could see there were some fundamental differences of philosophy between myself and the people. The group of pastors that had started the Bible study in the first places promised that they would take over the flock and find someone else to shepherd them.

We heard a few months later that the pastors had disbanded the church, resulting in a little frustration on our part remembering their promise to care for it. Many years later we found out that the pastors had met with the people and it was obvious to them that the people had little desire to do anything, and that they had no intention of trying to prosper the work - thus the decision to close.

My point, finally is that I really wondered at the labor that we had put into that work - whether it was worth it or not. We knew we were there for God and that it was God that we served, but we wondered if our labor had been in vain as it related to the people.

In this section we see Paul wondering at some of his work as well.

4.8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

What a backward, sneaky, backdoor way to call their former life idolatrous. They had been in bondage to their gods that were not gods.

I have always marveled at the concept that God knows He is one God among multitudes of gods and that He doesn't really care. He even mentions it in the Old Testament.

He knows the reality of man having other Gods, yet he makes it quite clear that He is above all gods. Deut. 10.17 "For the LORD your God [is] God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: " Joshua 22.22 "The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if [it be] in rebellion, or if in transgression against the LORD, (save us not this day,)"

The Old Testament is near clogged with references to gods, the gods that God's people trusted, the gods that they served. Yet, He simply declares Himself to be what He is and trusts that some of His people will ultimately see and worship Him rather than his much lesser competitors.

He just ignores all the gods and does His Godly work as if the others didn't exist - oh, whoops - they don't exist – that is what Paul is making clear in this verse :-) No matter how real they are to man, no matter how convinced we are that they exist, and no matter how much we think they do for us, they don't exist so they can't do for us, they can't exist, and they aren't real.

The Old Testament also declares other gods are not gods at all. II Kings 19.18 "And have cast their gods into the fire: for they [were] no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them."

Also I Chron. 16.25 "For great [is] the LORD, and greatly to be praised: he also [is] to be feared above all gods. 26 For all the gods of the people [are] idols: but the LORD made the heavens." II Chron. 2.5 "And the house which I build [is] great: for great [is] our God above all gods." Psalm 95.1 "O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. 3 For the LORD [is] a great God, and a great King above all gods." Psalm 136.2 "O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy [endureth] for ever." And there are many more if you take a look in a concordance.

Probably the Old Testament passage I like most relating to idols is the one where the people go get the limb from the tree, and cut some of it up for fire wood and then they make an idol of the left over. Isa. 44.15 "Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth [it], and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth [it]; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. 16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth [himself], and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: 17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, [even] his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth [it], and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou [art] my god."

Note that the god comes from the residue or the left over of the wood. Kind of like us isn't it, giving what is left over of our time and wealth to God. You'd think if you were making a god you would go looking for some of the nicest and best of woods so that you could have a great god, but not so. You'd think we would give of the best that we have to our God, the God of creation, yet we often only give Him the leftovers, the drivel of our lives.

Ps. 115.4-8 speaks to the gods of the gentiles. It is even worse than the above text in relation to idols and their effectiveness. 4 "Their idols [are] silver and gold, the work of men's hands. 5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: 6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: 7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. 8 They that make them are like unto them; [so is] every one that trusteth in them.

9 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?

"turn ye back" is used of the person converting to Christianity, it has the idea of turning around to something else.

"weak" relates to the weakness of being sick, that puny dragged out feeling.

"beggarly" is just as it sounds, to beg.

"rudiments" or elements, this is the same word we discussed in verse three, the "elements of the world" which had the thought of the abcs or very elemental things.

How can you turn from God and go back to the puny, sickly, beggarly elemental stuff that is worthless when you have the God of creation right in front of you might be the thought of what Paul is trying to say.

Think back to the description of the idols - the same thing applies, how can you serve the leftovers of a branch when you have the creator of the branch sitting - waiting - desiring to communicate with you and assist you, and be your strength.

Not only have we accepted God, but WE ARE KNOWN BY HIM - let that seep down into the cracks of your brain - He knows you, He knows about you, He knows all there is to know about you and you are turning away from Him - HOW DUMB IS THAT? Yet, the Galatians did it and we Christians tend to do the same thing.

Why is it when we talk to God we give Him such great detail of who we are, of who we want to be, what we want Him to do. He knows us. We don't have to explain who we are and what relationship we have with Him, he designed that relationship, He drew us to Himself because He knew us, He knows our very being!

10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

They not only had taken on part of Judaism, but they must have been adhering to the days and celebrations of the law. They were returning to those elemental things of Jewish life rather than rejoicing in the freedoms of grace.

Times means an unspecified amount of time as opposed to the other terms in the verse which specify specific amounts of time.

Most commentaries relate this to the Jewish days that were to be observed in the law. It may relate to the overemphasis and critical attitude of some today that almost require church attendance anytime the doors of the church are open.

Church attendance is important, but to miss now and then is not going to hinder your entrance into heaven nor your walk with God. We need to remember this. Most pastors relate someone missing one of their sermons as close to rejecting all truth. Yes, the messages are important, but not quite salvation keeping important.

I once made the comment that I was not going to a church service, due to the fact that they were having some music special that did not appeal to me - I was a marked man, I was an unspiritual man, I was a man that didn't support my church, I was a man that didn't support my pastor - ya, right!

11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

The word translated "afraid" is the Greek term from which we gain our word phobia. Paul is really afraid that he has wasted time on these people - his time taken in giving them the gospel and working with them.

I suspect many pastors know just what Paul was feeling. They go into a church and spend years of their lives laboring and when they leave, the people act as though they haven't been taught anything.

I assisted in a church, for awhile, where their pastor had just resigned. He had planted the church, he had nurtured the church, and he had invested his life in the church. After he resigned, they called me to interim pastor. After about a year they called a full time pastor that proceeded to split the church in about a year.

That poor man saw his work turned into turmoil - how frustrated he must have been.

I say all this knowing that God is in control, that the pastor may have made mistakes, and that the people may not have been seeking God's leading in the choosing of a new pastor, but to see all those years of labor thrown into the air must have given him great heartache.

12 Brethren, I beseech you, be as I [am]; for I [am] as ye [are]: ye have not injured me at all.

He reassures them that they have not injured him, but he is just wondering at their rejection of his teaching and the acceptance of the teaching of the Judaizers.

13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. 14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, [even] as Christ Jesus.

Paul had a problem when he was there originally, but he went ahead and preached to them anyway. He was ministering to them in spite of his limitations. In spite of this they accepted him and his message as from God, as though he was an angel from God. They realized their lostness and understood the salvation that he was offering.

15 Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if [it had been] possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.

He continues on that they would have done anything for him when he was there the first time. Now, he asks them where that feeling was. They have lost that blessedness of salvation - they had taken on the law to their own unhappiness.

16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

He calls for their acceptance of his rebuke for their turning from God to the law. He has not turned against them as they have turned against God, he is only trying to help them understand how damaging the Judaizers teaching was to them.

17 They zealously affect you, [but] not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. 18 But [it is] good to be zealously affected always in [a] good [thing], and not only when I am present with you.

He tells them that the Judaizers are zealous, but they are zealously affecting them in a negative way - they have taken the joy of salvation from them and saddled them with many observances.

“yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.” The Judaizers were not stupid; they were separating themselves from the Galatians so that the Galatians would not affect them or their belief system.

19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, 20 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.

He continues with his concern for them and his desire to move them away from these false teachers and their false doctrine.

APPLICATION:

1. We scoff at the ignorance of the Old Testament people worshiping other gods, gods made of gold, of wood, of stone, yet we do the same, only we have substituted steel, plastic and everything else as substance for our gods. We worship the airways that carry our trashy television, radio and music, we worship the cars of steel and the goodies of plastic. If we aren't tied up in these, we are tied up in the god of self and self fulfillment. We are out to get all the toys, to climb all the hills and all the while leave God out of the whole mix.

The Old Testament is full of references to the fact that the Israelites took on the gods of other nations, and so we, the church have taken on the gods of the world. We have adopted their methods, we have adopted their music, we have adopted their viewing habits, we have adopted their world, we have just changed the name to Christian.

We have followed the Biblical view of coming out and being separate, but we have created our own little world that is just like the Devil's world, cept we call it Jesusville. We claim it is Christian, but it is that in name only.

The Bible speaks to idolatry in the New Testament. Most relate idols to the Old Testament, that in the New Testament we are more educated and don't believe in those old ways. After all the Romans didn't worship sticks and stones, they worshiped a man - Caesar. In the book of Acts Paul spoke to the educated of his day of all the different Gods that they worshiped. They even had one in case they missed one, the unknown god. One must wonder if this was their Romans one illumination in action.

In Acts 17.23 he uses this unknown god to introduce them to his God, the God that they were really seeking. Earlier in the chapter (verse seventeen) he perceived that the entire city was given over to idolatry. Wow, an entire city given to the worship of all but God Himself.

No, idolatry is not just an Old Testament problem. In fact in I Cor. 10.14 Paul admonishes Christians to flee idolatry. "Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry."

So, it seems that I am not way off base to assume that believers today can be involved in idolatry. Indeed, we are getting ahead of ourselves but in Gal. 5.19 we see that it is listed among the works of the flesh. "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

Another of Paul's letters mentions a similar string of horrible sins. Col. 3.5 "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them."

Okay, now let’s get down to some brass tacks here. Notice, Paul mentions that "covetousness, which is idolatry" is not to be part of the Christians way of life. However, what is the reality teenagers? I gotta have those name brand jeans, I gotta have those name brand shoes - oh and what about the reality of adults? We gotta have that huge SUV, we gotta have that big screen tv, we gotta have that ..... well we all get the point I think.

Why do we "gotta?" Because we COVET those things. Plain and simple, we are a coveteous people in America. The lexicon says covetousness is the "greedy desire to have more" and that is the crux of America today - even many if not most Christians today.

Paul walked through history with a cloak, a few scrolls and what clothes he could carry. We gotta walk through history with a house, a car or two, a tv in every room, a stereo in most every room, a load of money in our pocket, a ton of money in our bank account, a great watch, a great .... and the list could go on for some time. In America we seem to be never satisfied with what we have and are always wanting more.

I don't exempt myself from the finger pointing, though I could claim innocence since we live in a small apartment sized house and drive an older Hyundai, however that house is packed to the gills with toys and many of them are not needed, though we thought they were at the time of purchase.

2. Jamieson Fausset and Brown suggest an interesting point in relation to the fact that Christ came at the appropriate time. Not to sidestep the issue that God appointed the time, and that His plan was most certainly in effect, we might also understand that He had good reason to plan it this way.

"Had Christ come directly after the fall, the enormity and deadly fruits of sin would not have been realized fully by man, so as to feel his desperate state and need of a Saviour." This is quite an item to consider. Had Christ come just after the fall and died for Adam and Eve's sin, would they have realized that they needed His work on the cross? I rather doubt it. They, after all, had only eaten one piece of fruit! Why would they need someone to die for them? Why would someone need to correct that problem any way? They were kicked out of the garden, they were cursed, what more could God want?

No, sin was not fully realized so time for it to grow might well have been necessary.

Now, that we are talking of sin and its result, just what are some of the results? Our physical death, our bent toward sin, the creation itself is suffering under the result of sin, disease is becoming worse, civilization is degenerating even though the humanists would have us believe otherwise.

Sin is having its way with the entire creation and with God's creatures. It is progressing, no matter how good we humans make it look.

It is clear also that through time God has allowed man to prove that sin is rampant under all sorts of governing relationships. In conscience, in law and now in grace sin seems to rule supreme even though God starts all of these times out in relative Godliness - He gives man the opportunity to follow Him, but man always chooses to follow someone else.

3. In verse nine, Paul asks them a question. "whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" He asks why they want to again be under the bondage of rules and regulations. By way of application, consider your own life.

When you feel the most safe is when you are in a known lifestyle, a lifestyle many call a rut. When you are in a rut you feel comfortable. This is not uncommon for the human existence. We like things and times when all is going along by the pattern, by the rules, by the norm. When the end of the rut gets kicked out and we have to face the possibility of change, of not being comfortable because we don't know what is going on, we tend to get upset.

There may be a natural desire to get under some system that makes us comfortable. It may be the law or it may be just a church lifestyle. It gives us comfort to be controlled - our destiny so to speak.

4. Verse ten introduces the idea of "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years." Now that is clearly something relating to the law and can't possibly relate to the church age. Correct, though I wonder if some pastors don't get into this rut. Sure, they would deny it, but how many of the pastors of your past "religiously" give Easter messages on Easter, Christmas messages on Christmas, Veterans messages on Veteran's day, patriotic messages on the fourth of July etc. They even feel that the Gospel isn't being preached properly if they don't have a VBS and that the church is living in sin if there isn't an Easter and Christmas cantata. AND BE SURE IF A MEMBER MISSES ONE OF THEM THEY ARE REALLLL SINNERS.

I think many churches/pastors are near to observing days, and months, and times, and years. Let's be careful of how we view our little rut as churches as well as individuals.

5. In verses thirteen and fourteen Paul mentions some shortcoming that he had while with them. We don't know what that was exactly, but at the least it was a shortcoming - not sin, but a shortcoming. Now, consider the last pastor candidate that your church rejected. Why was he rejected? Was it due to sin, to lack of qualification, or because he wasn't perfect?

Many are rejected because they aren't perfect in everyway, but here we have Paul the apostle confessing to an imperfection. If he can have one why not pastoral candidates today?

I was in a meeting with a candidate and a church congregation. The man was well qualified, he seemed to have a great family, and he was trained well. His only mistake was to confess that he had future plans for the church; plans that involved seeing the Lord grow the ministry. His imperfection cost him the position.

One further illustration, a man years ago wrote a theology book. I found the book very valuable. It was concise and it hit on topics that were of interest to me, topics that most books avoided. For years I enjoyed this mans work.

One day I was contacted on the internet by a man that had been searching the net for this author's name. Since I quoted the author in some of my work I came up in the man's search. Come to find out the man had sat under the author in college and loved the man's teaching.

Through the email correspondence I found that the man had some tapes by the author and he offered to send me a cdrom with the sermons on it. When the cd arrived I quickly started listening to the man - he was nothing like the book, he was rather common and unassuming in his approach to the Word, and I am sure would not have been called to pastor a church due to his lack of delivery skills.

An imperfection of skill, of talent of ability should not automatically set a man aside in the Candidating process.

Our text actually goes further, according to some, than just an imperfection, but could relate to some loathsome appearance of Paul when he was there. It was some difficulty of the flesh, of the body. We tend to avoid those that are not like us. We tend to avoid those that have infirmity. This ought not be so. The Galatians were a good example to us in this area - they treated Paul as a gift of God even though he had this infirmity.

Look past the external and respond to the internal! You might find illustration material in II Kings 7 where the message of four leapers was gladly received even though they weren't beautiful messengers.

6. "They zealously affect you," in verse seventeen gives a little insight to the Judaizers. They were zealous in their teaching of the people. This gives us two items of interest.

a. They were zealous, they were real workers, they really believed in what they were doing and they were intent on getting the Galatian believers to follow them. They didn't, in my opinion, realize that they were false teachers. They thought they had the truth, so were putting that truth out there for everyone to see. Not like some Christians today, that know they have the truth, and don't put it out there.

I have to wonder if some of these false teachers, when confronted with this letter, turned away from their false ideas to the truth of Grace. In looking at the arguments set forth, I would suspect that some at least would have seen their error.

b. How "zealous" are we as pastors, as leaders, and as lay people when it comes to bringing people to Christ, in bringing people into true discipleship, or in bringing them into the church so that they can be discipled?

We tend to lay back and leave all that to the pastor. This is not all our fault for many pastors through the years have fostered the thought that they are the soul winners, that they are the disciplers, and that they are the important ones. My goodness have they let us off the hook, and given us a wide comfort zone!

7. Verse eighteen should be stricken from the Bible. It can't possibly belong there. Pastors have been decrying the sin of zealotry for years, they have demeaned many that do good work as zealots and used the term in the most harshest of ways, yet Paul says being zealous can be good. This can't possibly belong in the Biblical record. "But [it is] good to be zealously affected always in [a] good [thing],"

Paul says zealousness is good. End of statement. If you hear someone decrying someone as being too zealous, ask them why and see if their answer stacks up with Paul's simple, clear and concise statement.

If you have interest in the real Biblical story of zealousness, there is a study of mine that seeks to find out what is a balanced view of zeal. You can find it at my website.

8. The Seeming cooling of the Galatians relationship to Paul may indicate that he had prior discussion/letters with them relating to this false teaching. Sure, there is the first of the book that would have driven them away due to its bluntness, but he did not know if this was the case or not as he wrote. To know that they had cooled toward him would have required prior contact with them on the subject.

I would apply this to suggest that if you have confronted someone and you know in your heart the person is "BIBLICALLY" wrong, then a second or maybe third attempt at reconciliation might be the wise path. Matthew 18 suggests at least two attempts.

9. Paul rightly seems to deal with the wrong doctrine, but also relates to the people. Any doctrinal deviation is wrong, it is sin, but it is being done by a person. You can deal with the sin and leave the person out of it, but you will not deal correctly with the situation. Deal with the person while dealing with the sin.

Example: Many today are not attending church. This is not right, this is not how the Lord wants it. However to just pile on the person about his wrong, there is also the person that is behind the not going. There are reasons he is not going, there are situations that have brought them to this point and this decision. You must deal with this as well as the wrong.

I do not use the word sin in relation to non-attendance, as I believe there are times when there is no other choice for the believer. The churches today are so sick it would be wrong for the people to attend them and give credence to them.

Many quote the passage that mentions the forsaking the assembling of the brethren. First of all there needs to be brethren, secondly there needs to be the elements of a church to bring one to worship, not elements of the world that entertain. Worship is more than a greeting time preceded by standing around singing wishy washy verbiage that is unBiblical at best.

10. Learn well from Paul's graciousness and kindness to these people he is confronting. He has blasted them verbally but he did it in a loving way. Many there are today that have just been blasted - this is one reason church attendance is down today. Blasting without kindness and love will drive people away very quickly.

Learn also that he was on solid Biblical ground not on opinion ground. There is a vast difference that many preachers fail to realize.

11. In verses thirteen and fourteen we have mentioned Paul's sickness - now we should dwell a little more on the response of the Galatian Christians.

a. They were lost when they started responding positively to Paul. It was after they had responded to his physical need that their spiritual needs were met. Even as lost people they did what believers should do.

It has always cracked me up to hear the strong Calvinist, when speaking of total depravity, say unsaved man can do no good whatsoever. This verse teaches the opposite as does much of life if you observe. Many unsaved people do quite well at living the Christian life without the benefit of regeneration. Many live upstanding and moral lives.

More to the point of this passage Mt 25:34-40 speaks to the fact that we are to be doing good works in the area of helping the poor and the suffering. We don't do all that well with this one these days. We do have a unique situation in our society in America - we have many that are using the system, that are abusing the system, and that are making a mockery of the system. Many are using the Christian church to live the decent life without working to support them selves. They live off the system of welfare and social assistance rather than work for a living.

There are "homeless" that say they are making a good living panhandling. This is a perversion of what our society in America is about, and it is a perversion of what the Christian life is.

The point is really that we are to be involved in this assisting of the poor and destitute. We need to do the work and allow God to sort out the bad guys. He will judge when the time is right.

We need to give due diligence to determine the honesty of the need, but we don't have to necessarily prove a need before we respond. Respond as best we can and allow God to hinder the one that does our charity wrong.

On a personal basis, we need to use wisdom and respond as the Lord leads. If you don't know, just do for the person and remember that if they have wronged you and your charity, then the Lord will deal with them for it, you don't have to worry about it.

We need to respond to all kinds, all shapes, and all conditions. I once heard the testimony of a missionary lady in South America. She had traveled for miles back into the jungle and had stopped at a little village. She was sitting by the fire when she smelled something foul, and shortly an old disgusting woman appeared and sat down beside her. She was sick and dirty and totally disgusting, but the missionary knew that her heart needed a change. The two talked awhile about things and then of Christ and his love for the woman.

At some point in the conversation the missionary leaned over and kissed the old woman on the cheek. A tear appeared and she said something along the line that Jesus must love her if the missionary could love her. The old woman became the main contact for the area and became a strong Christian.

We need to respond to all that come along and allow God to do His work with these people.

As far as churches go, I have given some thought to the response system that might be of help. It is not perfect, nor is it comprehensive - it is something that you might be able to build upon. You can find it on my website under the “Notes of Lots of Other things” under “deacon’s fund.”

12. We might insert here that many believers do not have a real joy in their lives. Many have observed that the law adds bondage, and that it lacks the joy giving qualities of the gospel. If you have no joy in life it may be that you are trying to live up to some standard - a standard that you have falsely set, or maybe a standard that someone else has falsely set.

Our standard is freedom in Christ, not subservience to some standard of living that we constantly try to attain or keep. If you are trying to live a standard, give it up and come to know the joy of living in the freedom of grace that comes to us through the Gospel.

I have known many that have accepted the standard set forth by a church or a group and they are usually totally miserable. They aren't meeting the standard and decide that they are worthless and a failure. On the other hand if we realize our only standard is the Word we can live by it and know that the standards have been met. If we fail and miss the standard now and then, then we know we have I John 1.9 to find our forgiveness before the Lord.

13. It crossed my mind that Paul did very little explaining about some mighty deep doctrines. It must be that while he was with them he had covered some deep truths of the Word with them. He must have given them a strong foundation before moving on to his next work.

He speaks of adoption, but little is said of the background of it. He speaks of Christ, the Spirit, and the Father, but says little about Who and What They are. He speaks of their salvation, but little about the doctrine that is behind that salvation.

This brings forth another application: A minister should know his congregation and their knowledge of the Word. As he realizes where the people are he should then speak to their level of understanding.

Many are the preacher that preaches a gospel message every Sunday. How can they waste that kind of time on the possible one or two unsaved that might be there. Why not spend that time in helping your congregation mature instead of giving them time to daydream and sleep?

I have oft times looked around at the congregation to see what they are doing in a sermon. Nail manicuring, looking out the window, reading books, sleeping, playing with the kids, and a multitude of other things. This isn't worship, this isn't edifying, this is a total waste of time! Indeed, the fact that I am looking around at others probably tells us something about my own interest.

Pastors, we are boring our congregations to tears and just keep on doing it week after week. When will we wake up to the fact that these folks are there to learn, to feed, to nourish themselves from our ministry - when will we accommodate them and their God?

14. In relation to adoption there are only three cases of adoption mentioned in the Old Testament: of Moses Ex. 2.10, Genubath I Ki. 11.20 and Esther 2.7,15 and these are all outside of Israel. Paul is the only writer that uses the word in the New Testament. This was a gentile thing and in different countries it meant different things. (See I.S.B.E. for further on the customs of the different areas.)

Since the customs were varied, it would seem that Paul was just using this picture in a general sense and that we should not get too carried away with the implications and applications. Only take the general idea of adoption as set forth and relate them to salvation - not go into great detail as to what all the items might mean as they relate to salvation.

The parables of Christ are to be understood in the same light - only the general characteristics not the minutia.