Leave The Old Series

As we come to the final season of the year, it tends to be a time of extremes. We are called to more events, to buy more and decorate more than the rest of the year combined. People will also go to personal extremes. Those who have been able to control spending, drinking and personal habits, suddenly give themselves an excuse to let loose. The danger for many is that this becomes more thank a one-off experience. The destructive habits and past ways of life, remerge and begin to take control again.

This was the danger facing the Galatian believers. Although they had learned to call God “Father”, they were in imminent danger of going from sonship right back into slavery. They were about to squander their spiritual inheritance by selling their birthright as sons and daughters of God. Paul had reminded them of his own conversion by the Gospel (Gal. 1:11-2:21). He appealed to their experience of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 3:1-5). He showed them through Biblical examples and theology (Gal. 3:6-14). He used examples from everyday life (Gal. 3:15-4:7). Finally, in the middle of chapter 4, Paul pleads with the Galatians on the basis of their personal relationship. Afraid that all his work has been in vain, he pours out his soul to them. (Philip Graham Ryken. Galatians: Reformed Expository Commentary. P&R Press. 2005. p. 169)

Do you make resolutions? Do you vow to exercise more or eat better? Do you promise to pray more, or read you Bible more faithfully, witness your faith or minister to others? As we approach the year end, it can be a helpful time of year of forsaking old habits and unproductive ways and embracing helpful spiritual disciplines. Just as fall turns to winter we can Leave the Old behind. But in order to do this we must: 1) Forsake our Former life (Galatians 4:8), 2) Understand our Present Life (Galatians 4:9) and 3) Live for our Future Life (Galatians 4:10-11)

In order to Leave the Old worthless things behind we must:

1) Forsake the Former Life: (Galatians 4:8)

Galatians 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. (ESV).

Paul has already explained that in their former life, they were Galatians 4:3 [3]In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. (ESV) Before they came to know the one true God, the Galatians believed in other beings (gods such as Zeus and Hermes—(Paul’s experience in Lystra, a city in Galatia, in Acts 14:8–18) For the Jews that bondage lay in the belief that the law could make them righteous. For the Gentiles, the bondage was that of idolatry (1 Thes. 1:9). To keep his beloved Galatians from slipping back into slavery, the apostle Paul tries to remind them how they had become the children of God in the first place. Paul shows from their former life them that they did not know God.” (Barton, B. B. (1994). Galatians. Life application Bible commentary (133). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House)

Please turn to Romans 1

To know (gnontes, from ginosko, lit., “to know intimately and on a personal level”) It speaks of relational knowledge. God initiates the “knowing”; we know him only because he first knew us. It is more than just factually or head knowledge.The unbeliever while he may have a head knowledge of God does not have fellowship or communion with the Almighty God. (Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (2:602). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)

Paul explains this relationship in Romans 1

Romans 1:19-23 [19] For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. [20] For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. [21] For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. [22] Claiming to be wise, they became fools, [23]and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. (ESV)

There was a time when the Galatians did not know God in a relational way. Most of them were Gentiles, and thus they were unacquainted with the God of the Bible. They worshiped pagan gods and goddesses. Some of them were into astrology and watched the signs of the zodiac. Others worshiped the deities of ancient Greece. All through Galatia, people belonged to the Roman imperial cult. None of these deities were really gods at all. They were mere idols. Yet because demonic influences were at work, bowing down to false gods brought real spiritual bondage. The concept of the Roman imperial cult is not so far removed from what people look to today. Countless citizens are looking to Government for deliverance. From economic stimulus to bailout of industries, they put their hope in politicians for future happiness. There are times when a people stray from God, that He allows them, like what is described in Romans 1, to receive the just rewards for their actions. In essence, God says: “you look to government/the economy for happiness, then see just how well that will work out” The issue in Galatians 4:8 and here in Romans 1 is that of Idolatry. It speaks of a type of slavery, an illustration pointed to previously in Galatians. It would be foolish for those redeemed from idolatry to seek to go back to such slavery. Some Christians will look back at the previous year, see a lack of spiritual growth and commit to a new program of memorization or Bible reading which, while helpful practices, become almost a legalistic system of trying to earn favour and merit with God. Spiritual disciples like prayer, Bible reading and memorization are great disciplines for Spiritual growth but they do not in and of themselves earn merit or favour with God. (Philip Graham Ryken. Galatians: Reformed Expository Commentary. P&R Press. 2005. p. 170)