Let's Not Lower the Standards

Got your Bibles, like you turn with me to the book of Galatians. We’re going to continue that study. We’re doing kind of, I’m taking a little bit out of each chapter every week. We’re in chapter four today. We’re going to be looking at verses eight through 20.

Again, let me just kind of wrap some things up, just kind of remind you. Paul is writing to a number of churches that he helped start in an area that today would be Turkey. It was probably on his second missionary journey that he kind of went through that area and started these churches. Spent time with them, loved them, poured himself into them, and now they’re struggling. And the reason they’re struggling is because there were some folks kind of came in behind him with a whole other doctrine. And we’ll talk about that in a little bit. But he’s kind of going, why are you listening to these people? And I can imagine how you feel sometimes where you’ve poured into somebody and you love them and you care for them. And you’re seeing them kind of, things are going well. And the next thing you hear, they’ve made all kind of horrible, bad decisions. How do you feel? Feel betrayed? Feel angry?

And what Galatians is, unlike, say, the book of Romans, if you were going to send kind of a lengthy email off to somebody, you know, where you hear and, man, you’re emotional and you just want to send it off and kind of get it out there and let them know that, what are you all doing? This is what Galatians is kind of like, the letter to the churches in Galatia. Romans is like a little, I mean, you go into Romans and those incredible chapters is where all our doctrine is. I’ve had a seminary professor say, if he was on a desert island and he could only have one of the 66 books of the Bible, the book he would grab is Romans. Because all of our doctrine is in the book of Romans. Sometimes it’s a little hard to read and sometimes it’s a little difficult to understand, but it’s all there.

Well, we’re not getting a whole book. This is a letter off to this church. And Paul is just, he’s kind of beside himself and he’s just kind of going, what happened to you folks? Remember last week he said, I mean, who bewitched you? I mean, who came into your brain and changed that thing? When I left, everything seemed to be running smooth. You were loving the Lord. You were praying to Him. You were out doing some great things. And the churches were growing. All of a sudden, it’s different. So that’s kind of where we’re at. So if you’ll just kind of go with me. Galatians chapter 4. We’re going to start with verse 8. Just stand with me as we read.

He says, verse 8. I beg of you, brethren, become as I am. For I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong, but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time. And that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition. You did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. Where then is that sense of blessing that you had? For I bear you witness that if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them. But it is always to be eagerly sought out in a commendable manner. And not only when I am present with you. My brethren, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you. But I could wish to be present with you now and change my tone for I am perplexed about you.

Please be seated. Thank you for standing.

Paul’s kind of going, how did this happen? How did the bar was here? And now it’s about here. You know, one thing I’m always amazed with, if you go into the military special ops or whatever. You ever notice that people are always kind of in line to join SEAL teams or Rangers or Green Berets or whoever. Or go to boot camp. If you just want to go, that’s just you basics. And you know what, the bar’s here, isn’t it? And so when they go in there, they know this is where the bar’s at. And If you don’t meet the bar, what? If you’re already in the military, you just go to a regular unit. If you’re trying to become a Navy SEAL or an Army Ranger or you spend that year or whatever with the Green Berets, which is incredibly intense training, this is the bar. And Paul is kind of sitting there going, here’s the bar, folks. The bar is Jesus. I mean, we need to understand, coming to Christ, this is the bar. It’s nothing more, nothing less, but it’s Jesus. When we live our lives, what’s the bar? The bar is Jesus.

Now, will we ever attain that bar? Probably not. I would be surprised if we do. But the deal is, it’s saying, that’s where I want to go. I heard someone say this, look, I reach for the sky. Now, I may look down, I’m just on a stump, but at least I’m off the ground. Okay, that’s where we always want to go, to where Jesus is.

And so today, what I want to ask you and even me this question, when you came to know Him, why did you want to be saved? It’s almost like Paul’s sitting there going, folks, let’s go back. Why did you want to be saved? Was there something in your life that wasn’t working? Was your way of life not working? And you go, there’s got to be a better way, because this is falling by the wayside. Everything’s going south. You know, my heart knows that there’s got to be something more out there than the life I’m living. And I just, I need to commit to something that’s bigger than me. And someone who loves me, died for me, gave Himself for me. I mean, why did you come to know Christ? Why did you want to know Christ? I mean, that’s the whole deal. And here’s the bar.

And I want to tell you, even ministers struggle with the bar. We come to know Christ, and then also we want to be used by Him, then we get in, and we go through some struggling times or tough times, or we hear something else and we’re confused. You know, it’s like in the ministry, guys that say, you know, I just want to preach. I just want, I’m thinking, well, there’s more to pastoring than preaching. I mean, there’s hospital visits, there’s funerals, there’s weddings, there’s, you know, talking to people in their homes. There’s, you know, there’s all kinds of things that goes into the, preaching’s not just a part of it. It’s probably the most important part, but it’s just a part. And it’s like being a deacon or being just a Christian in the church. There’s, where’s the bar?

I’ll never forget, I had a deacons meeting one time where I was sitting down with the deacons, and a young man who had just been elected goes, you know, guys, I’m kind of looking over what I got to do, and I don’t know if I can do all that. And gas is expensive, and I don’t know if I can just go to the hospital when somebody, a family that I’m kind of responsible for is in the hospital, or go visit, or always come to all these deacons meetings and all that kind of stuff. And I’m thinking, boy, what a, you know, it takes a lot of courage to do that, to say, you know, maybe right now is not the time, or I’m not cut out, and I’ll never forget some of the other deacons. Well, don’t worry about that. That’s okay. Just, it’s okay if you don’t make all the meetings. It’s okay if you can’t go to the hospital. I’m thinking, guys, why have we just lowered the bar? I think we do that even as Christians.

See, the main point of the sermon today is to understand that the goal of salvation is one thing. It’s Christlikeness. That’s the goal. When Jesus forms you, when He comes into your life, and He commits not only Himself, but His resources to you, and you do to Him, and you say, God, it’s not about me anymore. It’s about You. God says, you know, here’s the goal, and it’s Romans 8, that we are, you know, predestined to be conformed to what? The likeness of the Son. When you get saved, God says, this is what’s in store for you. I want you to become like Jesus. That’s why when we go out of here, sometimes I’ll say, you know, you may be the only Jesus someone ever sees. I want to tell you, in this country, it’s amazing now how many people never hear the words Jesus or Christ.

Someone sees your life, and they go, “Why are you the way you are? Why do you always smile? Why do you act the way you do in trying circumstances? Why, when you could nail somebody, you don’t? Why do you have, why did you do those kind things for somebody to go, well, normally I probably wouldn’t do that?” But there’s someone now inside of me who says, “That’s what I ought to do, and that’s the way I ought to be.” It’s Christlikeness.

Max Lucado has a book. I was looking at it this morning. And here’s how the cover reads: “Jesus loves you just the way you are. But He also loves you. He refuses to leave you that way.” See, He wants to make you just like Jesus.

It’s like with a little coin, you know, I was just sitting there saying, you know, God wants to be able to use us. He can’t use us the way we are when we come to Him. He couldn’t use the Apostle Paul the way he was when he came. Chapter one, he talked about taking Paul into Arabia for three years and back to Damascus. And then he goes back to Jerusalem and he’s, you know, he studies with Peter a little bit and James, the stepbrother of Jesus, and he studies and he does all those things. So I’m thinking if Paul’s got to kind of be a sign, grow up and study and grow in Jesus, don’t you think we do? Does that make sense?

Folks, we’ve got to grow each other up. You know, that’s why coming to church is important. That’s why hanging around some Christians, not that we don’t need to be in the world, because we do. I got a former youth minister of mine that is now in Atlanta as a pastor. And we were talking the other day and he’s doing kickboxing. He’s lost all kind of weight and he’s doing really good. He said, “Al, I’m in the gym and I’m more around lost people than you can imagine, but they all know I’m a preacher.” And he said, “I have been able to witness more to folks in those few moments than I’ll do all year long, it seems like, in church.” But we also got to be around each other to get encouragement and grow and be able to lean on each other and say, “Look, I’ve got these issues,” and mentor and grow each other.

You know, it’s like growing our children. I came across this, I thought it was interesting. I mean, how do we learn some things? This one mom was just laughing. It’s actually on, I think it’s on Instagram and it’s a clip show on her with her son and she’s resharing this thing and her son’s name was Fallon and she’s, “Fallon, what did the bank ask you today?” And he goes, kind of shyly, “They asked for my social.” “And what did you say?” He said, “I said, Instagram.” I mean, you just kind of go, really? Do you think, yeah, maybe he needs to be taught some things.

And so they kind of went on and some folks that were listening kind of wrote in their things. Some of their own kind of failures. “At the allergy doctor, my son, age 20, was asked who his primary care provider was. You know what he wrote down on the paper? My mom.” Another one said, “My son wrote under emergency contact once, 911.” “My oldest got his first job and texted me, mom, what is our social security number?” Like there was one for the whole family. And then don’t feel badly, little buddy. One guy said, he said, he said, “I once filled out a job application where it said pay expected.” And he wrote, “Yes.” I mean, that’s, it’s hard to believe that folks are like that.

My daughter, who’s smart as a whip, already got, got two masters. And she, she, I remember when we were Carowinds one time, I took the youth group up to Carowinds from our church and, and she had her own money that she’d worked for and she was going to pay for her own stuff. And she went to, she went to the, to the ice cream thing and she went, “I have one of those.” And the lady came back and they had like, and, and the lady says, “That’ll be like, you know, $1.60 something.” She said, “Wait a minute, it says $1.50 up there.” And the lady said, “Well, that’s tax.” And she goes, “Well, what’s tax?”

Remember that first time? Remember the first paycheck when you saw that little initial FICA? FICA. And you’re going, what in the world’s FICA? Why are they taking money out? Sometimes we just got to grow people. I want to tell you in the Christian world, and, and as we grow as Christians, we need to grow each other. You should be growing. You should be more of a Christian this week than you were last week. You definitely should be more of a Christian this time, this year than you were last year. I’m hoping you’re growing. I’m hoping you’re learning.

I want to tell you preachers. I, you know, I had a guy tell me one time, he said, “Al, how many times can you preach Moses and the bull rushes?” I said, “You preach it a lot of times.” And every time you preach, you get something a little different out of it, a different perspective, a different application, a different, you notice something in there that you didn’t notice before. I’m telling you, the Bible is living, breathing. It’s, it’s, again, it’s a two-edged sword. It’s something that’s active. It always is.

And Paul is dealing with two heresies in the church. Okay. And here are the heresies. First one is Judaizers. Now, if you just kind of look at the word, you see the word Judea or Judaism, and you get out of there, it’s got to be Jewish. And what they were saying is they were, that it would be, it would be God, you know, you know, salvation plus, okay. They were saying it was, if you’re going to get saved, that, that basically it’s, it’s that you receive Christ, but it’s also, you got to do some stuff along with it, which is contrary. There’s nothing you can do. You can’t earn your way there.

See, I always say we need to reverse that and say, say it’s, it’s God, it’s grace or God plus salvation that equals your works. So the equation changes. And that’s what they were preaching. Well, you got to, you got to, like he says here, they were doing all these feasts and there were these holy days and they were, they were, what they were eating. They had to eat kosher stuff. And he was going, Gentiles didn’t get raised that way. We’re not, you know, they’re not saying we got to be like them. Why are we saying we got to, they got to be like us? God comes in and changes your heart. God changes your mind. That’s what happens.

And then there was this group that did this thing called antinomianism. You ever heard those words? Well, you get to learn about it today. What that means is this. Now that I’m saved, I can act any way I want to because my salvation is guaranteed. And I do believe in once saved, always saved. I think the Bible is very clear on that issue, especially Romans 8:38-39. It is clear, but it’s also clear this, that once I get saved, something changes in me.

See, I’m asking you this this morning. There’s some changes in you. Do you notice differences in your life that now that you know the Lord? Do you think different? Do you look at things different? People different? Do the words that come out of your mouth, are they different? Are your actions different? I mean, do you think, I think Jesus would do this this way. Let me go in that direction. Maybe Jesus would respond in that way. Maybe I’ll respond like that. Are those the thoughts of your heart and your mind, or is it about you? And it’s not about Jesus. And if that’s not happening, maybe you need to take a step back and go, either I’m still back here, a baby Christian, or maybe I’m not one at all.

Because I can tell you, there are times where I’m having, even as a pastor, I’m having some thoughts I probably shouldn’t be having. And something will come up inside me, all of a sudden a song, a hymn. That Holy Spirit brings up something in my life, said, “Al, you need to be convicted of this, buddy.” Does that ever happen to you? I hope so.

Paul’s telling these people to think back. Now he goes, he asks him, he says, “I want you to think back to how you were when I was there.” And he mentioned something that I find kind of interesting. He says, verse 12, “I beg you, brethren, become as I am, because I have also become as you are. You have done me no wrong, but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time.” Now what is he talking about there? Here’s what He’s talking about. When Paul was going through that area, most historians and religious commentators believe that Paul probably caught malaria about that time. He was going around a lot in that part of the world at that time, and he probably caught malaria. And what they have found out that what malaria did, it will affect your eyes.

You know, there’s a place in 1 Corinthians or 2 Corinthians 12 where Paul goes to the Lord, and what does He say? Lord, I’ve got this affliction. Will You take that away from me? And God goes, no. He asked the Lord three times. The Lord says, let’s get on with it, Paul. That’s kind of going to be part of who you are. You’re going to have to trust me on this.

And this, people believe, is maybe the place that he caught, and it affected his eyesight because he makes a statement. He says, there were some of you there that you felt, you acted as almost as if you could have taken your eyes out and given them to me, you would have done that. That’s how much you loved me and you took care of me. But not only that, you didn’t look down on me because I was in this condition. In fact, you actually lifted me up and you listened to me and you heard everything that I said, and then you acted on it. And Christ came and I saw some things that I thought were almost impossible. And then I left. But now you’re kind of doing whatever you want to do.

And I’m wondering how God feels when He looks down at His church that He died for and gave Himself for. And ladies and gentlemen, instead of impacting the world for Jesus, we let more of the world come in and impact itself. Yeah, even in the church. Sometimes I think the church is more like the world than it is about Christ. And I think we need to look at ourselves and say, you know, how am I living? Where’s my bar? Where’s my standard?

So let’s just kind of wind up with God does not want you to do some things. Number one, God does not want you to stay in your sin. That’s the last thing. Paul is telling these folks, man, don’t go back to the old way. Do not stay in your sin. Move on. Remember, what is repentance? Repentance isn’t just turning around and facing in the other direction. Repentance is not only turning around, but moving out of where you’re at and going in the other direction, but not just staying in there. Maybe you moved out and now He’s saying God didn’t want you not just to stay in sin. He doesn’t want you to go back there. He doesn’t want you to go back to what was comfortable, a place that you know pretty well, and maybe you’re being pressured.

I’ve known folks that struggle with alcohol, you know, and I’ll just be real honest. I’m one of those teetotaler guys. I’m believing. Why would you want to start something that you would quit down the road and just break your neck to try and quit? It’s kind of like smoking. Why start something that you’re just going to do everything in your world and you may or may not be able to do it? I’ve had people that, gosh, I have counseled. I’ve seen they’ve lost jobs. They’ve lost family. They’ve even lost lives because of addictions. Why do you want to go back? Because I’m going to tell you, it’s easy to go back. And He’s saying, don’t go back. God doesn’t want you to do that.

Here’s the other problem. Not only if you stay in your sin, you go back to your sin. It confuses others with your sin. Because they’ll sit there, I thought you got saved. I thought you got saved. Now they’re trying to figure out, I thought you said you, all I see is hypocrisy. Number one reason people don’t come to church. No, that’s on them. That’s not on, you know, they can blame us all they want for our sin or whatever. But I want to tell you, I think it’s just as hypocritical to sit there and go, I don’t need that to be right with the Lord. Yeah, you do.

I’ve never seen anybody grow as a Christian outside of being involved in a local church. I’ve been in the ministry over 40 years and I’ve been in church since I was five. So that’s 62 years. And all my life, I’ve never seen a single person grow as God would want you to grow outside of being involved.

How do you serve? How do you give? How do you grow? How do you mentor someone else and let someone mentor you? How do you do that outside of, and I want to tell you, I’m not saying the local church is perfect because we know that it’s not. But I’ll tell you this, it’s still the best organization on this planet that’s out there.

You know where first hospitals ever came from in history? Church from Christians. You know where the first orphanages came from? Christians. Go back in history, look it up. Some of the greatest art, some of the greatest music. You go back to Bach and Beethoven and Handel and those guys. Read what’s even written in the music. Gloria ex ex ex deo. I mean, it’s just glory to God. I mean, it’s just, you just see it.

Yeah, we got our issues. My stars. Yeah, because we’re still dealing with sin. We’re not perfect. We’ve got the standard. We’re trying to get to the standard. We’re falling short of it, but we don’t want to confuse others. And here’s the last thing. It keeps people from Christ because of your sin.

You know, when people come to church or they see Christians, they think you ought to act different. And they put you, like I’ve said before, on a pedestal. Is that fair? Probably not. Do you not think they put pastors on pedestals? Oh man, oh man. Or a pastor’s wife. I can remember when Beth used to go to work and they found out that her husband was a pastor. And there was another level there. I don’t know what they thought she’d say or do or not do or whatever. But all of a sudden, there was a whole different kind of thinking. And the last, you know, we don’t want to keep people from Jesus. I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m not saying we don’t have our times. I’m not saying it’s not a struggle. It is. We can’t break down, bring down the bar.

See, if we do the above, here’s what happens when we do those things that I just mentioned. Number one, you break the heart of God. Who wants to do that? My little granddaughter is precious. Oh, she’s so precious. She’ll sit there and she’ll go, she’ll, she’ll, she’ll, I’m sure she’s three and she knows when she was two, she knew when she’d done something wrong. Oh, she knew. And all of a sudden she’d get that little sheepish look. And, and she’ll go, she’ll go to April now, my daughter, she’ll go, she’ll kiss her and goes, mommy happy now? Mommy happy now? It’s almost like that when we mess up with, you know, God’s got His outstretched arms. Don’t want to go to Him and say, Lord, are You happy now? I want to repent. I want to say, I’m sorry. I don’t want to help me not do this again.

We not only break His heart, we don’t receive His blessings. How’s God going to bless? You know, you wonder why things are going wrong in your life. Maybe God’s kind of going, I can’t bless that. I can’t bless that action. I can’t, I can’t bless that decision. Why didn’t he come to me in the first place?

Next thing is it keeps yourself from becoming Christ-like. Nothing makes you more look like more, not more like the Lord than, than just things, sin in your life. And the last thing is it hurts people like Paul who’ve invested in you. You know, what, what, sometimes the things I, I don’t do some things because I know people have invested in my life. And the last thing I want to do is let them down. One reason I don’t act the way I do is because I don’t want to let somebody, I can remember Beth growing up, even while we were dating, you know, she was always thinking, I never want to dishonor our family name or dishonor my daddy. Sometimes we need to start thinking, I don’t do some things because I don’t want to dishonor my heavenly daddy.

And then, but here’s the last thing. As you become more Christ-like, get all the benefits. God’s got the resources, the universe at His disposal. Do you not think He wants to bless your life? They say, don’t make it all easy and roses. They say that, but do you not think He wants to bless you? Do you not think He’s already prepared heaven for you? I mean, the short time we’re here, I always tell folks, especially at funerals, I sit there and say, I mean, what is 50 years, 60, 80, 90 years compared to eternity? Do you not think God has already leveraged all that for you? Do you not think that, that when you accept Christ, the kingdom starts now? Not to when you get to heaven, kingdom starts now.

Found this story this week. Let me, it’s a bunch of ministers are playing. I don’t know if you’ve watched a couple minutes. I’ve done, I play with three other buddies of mine. It’s, it’s interesting to say the least. We’ll cheat as well as anybody. We’ll hack and cough in the middle of somebody’s backswing. The guy will hit the ball and we’re yelling at get in the woods, go to the, go to the sand trap, you know, go roll over the green.

This guy was playing, he was playing with some buddies of his and he started making some comments out loud while he was getting ready to hit the ball off the tee. And he said, he said, “Man, it sure seems a long way off.” Nobody said anything. “Sure’s a narrow fairway.” Nobody said anything. “How do they expect us to get over them trees?” He said, the silence didn’t disturb me because I figured it was my guys just kind of just, you know, not saying anything, not agreeing with me because we had a bed on the line. We had a Coke at the end of nine. And, and so I was wearing their tricks. So I reared back and he said, I hit this incredible drive. I mean, it was just went up nice and high and had a little draw on it, went over the trees. I was going, and I heard just some kind of a grumble behind me. And I know they probably didn’t like it because most of them had gone down the right side. And so I felt pretty good. And I kind of grabbed my bag, picked it up, didn’t care what they were saying. I said, we were all tied. So this was going to be the determining factor. So I get up there and I get to my ball and my ball’s in the weeds, roughs among the trees. I was going, how did that happen? Why am I not? But he said, but then he looked at me, he said, “Well, that green looks a long way off.” And so he said, but he kind of came up with a plan and they’re on the other side of the fairway and they’re working on there, trying to find their balls and just hitting their balls, not really watching what he’s doing. And he said, I hit probably what I thought I looked and just aimed it at that green and I hit what I thought was the most incredible shot I’d ever hit. I mean, it just took off out of that mess and next no, it’s just heading to those greens. I’m going and they weren’t even, they weren’t even noticing. So I put my bag back on my shoulder and I walked on up to the, to the green and I got to the green and then I noticed something. There were some guys on the putting green that I didn’t know and I’m thinking, man, that group in front of me must be pretty slow, but where’d these guys come from? And then I looked over and I saw my guys on another green and I realized I’m playing the wrong hole. No wonder they grumped behind me, didn’t say nothing. No wonder they were on the other side of the fairway. No one is, I was playing the wrong hole.

I wonder sometimes that’s exactly what we’re doing with our Christian walk. We’re thinking we’re hitting good shots and God’s going, no, no, come back, hitting to the wrong hole, playing, you’re playing, going in the wrong direction. He’s got it for us, folks. All we got to do is pay attention and realize it’s there all along. That’s what, that’s what Paul’s telling this church. And I love you, wish I was there, but I want you to act that way, not just when I’m there, but when I’m not there.

We’re going to have the Lord’s Supper in just a moment, but in Second Corinthians, Paul’s talking to him and he says, when you come to the table, you need to come more readily. And we’re going to come to the Lord’s table. This is important, and I want to tell you, if you are a born again, committed Christian, you are welcome today to come to this table. We need to get things right, so let’s do that right now. I want you to bow your heads, I want you to close your eyes, we’re not going to ask You for something now. I just want you to just get things right with Him, man. If you need to say, “Lord, I was—I was saying some stuff or thinking some stuff this morning. I want to say I’m sorry,” or “I did something this week nobody knows about it but me and You, Lord, just forgive me.” You just get things right with Him. This is the time to do it. Then we’re going to come to His table, and we’re going to remember how much He loves us. Let’s do that right now.