Galatians 4:19, ‘My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you— 20but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you’.
Why was he sad about them? He used very strong words to Galatians. Apostle Paul established Church in Galatia. He had a responsibility. Galatians are going astray by those who are distorting the gospel of Christ.
Galatians 1:6, ‘I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ’.
Galatians 3:3, ‘Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?’
He says, ‘Are you foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?’
Galatians 4:6, ‘Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
8However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. 9But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? 10You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.’
The Galatians were back-sliding; following again their old, weak and elemental things or worldly systems in their lives. Let us test and examine our spiritual condition. By prayer, let us also examine ourselves in His light. Apostle Paul is declaring clearly what is the true gospel of Christ is. It is to reveal Jesus Christ in us.
Galatians 1:16, ‘to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood,’
He says, there is no spiritual growth in their lives; when he sees life of Jesus is not manifesting in their lives, apostle Paul is very sad and burdened about this and he says that he is in labor again!
Galatians 4:19, ‘My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you’
Apostle Paul is burdened and is in labor again for them, for the Christ to be formed in them– ‘as the life of Christ is not manifested in them’.
NLT, ‘Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives’
MSG, ‘Do you know how I feel right now, and will feel until Christ’s life becomes visible in your lives? Like a mother in the pain of childbirth.’
Let us examine ourselves and see, whether Christ’s life is visible in our lives. When we see Un – Christ like nature in us, let us have burden and inner cry like Paul .
Galatians were very kind and good. Still, Apostle Paul is not happy with them.
Galatians 4:14, ‘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.’
He was saying that they had received him as an angel of God.
V15, ‘Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.’
They were ready to pluck out their eyes for him, that level of goodness was in them! He was still sad about them as ‘life of Christ is not formed in them’!
We all might be good and kind in nature; it doesn’t mean that God is happy with us! The real life of Jesus needs to be revealed in our lives! We need to have a burden – to have the life of Christ in us. We need to ask God in prayer and remove the worthless fruits, which are evident in our lives! When God gives a burden regarding this, cry out to God; then He promises that He is going to work on it! If there is a real cry in our hearts, then God will fulfill it in our lives.
This happened in Nehemiah’s life.
Nehemiah 2:12, ‘And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind.’
Nehemiah 1:3, ‘They said to me, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.’
V4, ‘When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.’
Nehemiah was burdened – as the walls of Jerusalem were broken down! He wept and mourned for days, fasting and praying before God of heaven. Then we see that, God fulfilled his burden in his life!
Nehemiah 6:15, ‘So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.’
When we have a God-given burden to us, pray to God, then He will make it to happen.
Matthew 5:3, ‘“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’
The way to the kingdom of God is ‘being poor in Spirit’. This is the key; we should never miss.
Romans 7:24, ‘Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?’
V14, ‘For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.’
Apostle Paul was also fed up with so many things in his life, he was burdened, he had a conviction that there is no freedom from sin as he was under the law. Finally, he had experienced the liberty from sin through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the true gospel of Christ, working in his life!
V25, ‘Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!’
Romans 8:1-4, ‘Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.’
Unless we let go of our sin; after being convicted of sin, we cannot experience the life of Christ in our lives. By His mercy, we are receiving forgiveness for our sins, when we repent; but this is not having a victorious life! We need to experience His grace!
Romans 6:14, ‘For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.’
When we are under His grace, sin shall not be master over us! This is the real victorious Christian life! When we seek the liberty over the power of sin, through Jesus Christ, then we will experience a victorious Christian life! Never leave our burden until Jesus sets it free.
Hebrews 4:16, ‘Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.’
We need to experience mercy and also grace to have a victorious life!
Romans 8:4, ‘so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.’
Walk by the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16, ‘But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh’.
If we walk by the Spirit, the fruit of the spirit are evident in our lives. Have this burden for ourselves and for others; to experience the real fruit of the Holy Spirit and the life of Christ be manifested in our lives.
Galatians 6:14, ‘But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.’
The world is detached from him.
V15, ‘For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.’
We need to be a new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:17, ‘Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.’
Life of Jesus needs to grow in our lives. We become a new creature. We need to be conformed into the likeness of Jesus. Holy Spirit will work in our hearts when we have this desire and burden in our hearts; He will fulfill it in our lives!
Galatians 5:19, ‘My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you’
Only Holy Spirit will work and make it fulfill this in our lives.
Luke 1:31, ‘And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ‘
The angel told Mary, that ‘You will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name Him ‘Jesus’’.
V34, ‘Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”’
Mary asked the angel, ‘how is this possible that Jesus, be formed in my womb?
V35, ‘The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.’
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, He will work in our hearts and the life of Jesus will be manifested more and more in our lives. His nature and character will be revealed more and more in our lives. It won’t happen in one day! Take heart. Gradually, there will be a growth in our Spirit. One day, we will be like Him. He will be formed fully in our lives. We need to press on to have the life of Jesus in us. When we see the Un-Christ likeness in us, cry out to God. This is the burden we need to have, to have full nature of Christ in us.
May God bless us.
