Grace From Galatians (10 Of 19)

In the first appeal, he dealt with them about three things:

• He appealed to their PAST

• He appealed to their PRESENT

• He appealed to their PREDICAMENT

In this second appeal, he appeals to their love for him and how he should be treated by them.

• Being a Minister of the Gospel is considered by some as one of the toughest jobs a person can do.

• Because it is such a difficult job, nationally, the average pastor remains in a church less than three years.

• There are literally thousands of churches today without pastors. Why? Many ministers are finding easier and better paying jobs.

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

One of the problems is that when pulpit committees go out to look for a pastor for their church, they often look in the WRONG PLACES and they ask the WRONG QUESTIONS.

If some of the best men that ever walked on this earth were to appear before many of the pulpit committees, they would be rejected. And the ones they should reject are the ones they would accept.

Illus: Someone wrote this about a pulpit committee: In our search for a suitable pastor the following scratch sheet was developed for your consideration as a congregation. Of the candidates investigated by the committee, only one was found to have the necessary qualities.

• Noah: He has 120 years of preaching experience, but no converts.

• Moses: He stutters; and his former congregation says he loses his temper over trivial things.

• David: He is an unacceptable moral character. He might have been considered for minister of music had he not 'fallen'.

• Elijah: He proved to be inconsistent; and is known to fold under pressure.

• Hosea: His family life is in a shambles. Divorced, and remarried to a prostitute.

• Amos: Comes from a farming background. Better off picking figs.

• John: He says he is a Baptist but lacks tact and dresses like a hippie. Would not feel comfortable at a church potluck supper.

• Peter: Has a bad temper, and was heard to have even denied Christ publicly.

• Paul: We found him to lack tact. He is too harsh, His appearance is contemptible, and he preaches far too long.

• Jesus: He tends to offend church members with his preaching, especially Bible scholars. He is also too controversial. He even offended the search committee with his pointed questions.

• Judas: He seemed to be very practical, cooperative, good with money, cares for the poor, and dresses well.

We all agreed that he is just the man we are looking for to fill the vacancy as our Senior Pastor. Thank you - The Pastoral Search Committee.

Paul was a good minister, but he was not treated as a good minister by these Galatians, who were allowing these Jewish teachers to turn them against him.

Illus: Someone said, “You can tell a lot about a church by the way they treat God’s man.” If this is true, it does not speak well of the church of Galatia.

They allowed these false teachers to come in after he left, and they literally tried to destroy his reputation as an Apostle and the gospel of grace he preached. If they really loved him as the man of God he was, they would not have done such evil things.

Paul is trying to get this congregation to come to their senses by these five appeals. This is the second one, and notice he talks to them concerning-

I. THEIR TREATMENT OF A GOOD MINISTER

These Jewish teachers were saying some harsh things about Paul. But he is not addressing them, he seems to be addressing these Christians that have allowed the false teachers to do such things among them.

Notice, in verse 12, Paul referred to them (the Galatian Christians) as, “Brethren….”

One of the things that a pastor has to do in the ministry when he is being attacked, is not to take everything so personal.

It is personal, but he has to recognize that those who are opposing him often are “Brethren” that have been misguided.

Illus: When the U.S. and the U.K. invaded Iraq, it caused a controversy across the land. The liberals began to hit the streets and the airways to express their opposition to the war. This caused many to question their patriotism.

But those who were more sensible, knew that many of these were not opposing the war because they were not good patriots, they were opposing it because they sincerely believed they were right in opposing the war.

So many times when things do not go our way, it is easy to see those who oppose our view points as the “Enemy,” when they are good citizens but have a different opinion than we do.