February 25, Ash Wednesday, 6:30 pm.

Lesson: Galatians 4.8-20

Sermon Title: Wasted Work

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INTRODUCTION

  1. There is an old expression that says: "Waste not, want not."

    1. Checking out Google I received 24,900,000 hits for Waste not, want not [definition]. (0.17 seconds)

    2. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy defines the phrase this way:

"If we don't waste what we have, we'll still have it in the future and will not lack (want) it." (1)

    1. It applies to just about everything we use.

      1. Food

      2. Water

      3. Environment

      4. Gas, Oil

      5. "You never want a serious crisis go to waste," says President Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel

      6. Student access to global communication.

    2. It even applies to Paul's concerns for the Galatian believers.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. Paul writes in Galatians 4.11: "I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted."

    1. He means: "I begin now to be seriously alarmed for you, and think you are so thoroughly perverted from the Gospel of Christ, that all my pains and labor in your conversion have been thrown away."

    2. Why would he say something like that?

      1. He compares their former and latter state, and shows the reason he had to fear that his labor on their behalf was in vain, vv. 8-11.

        1. 8Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods.

        2. 9Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits?

        3. How can you want to be enslaved to them again?

        4. 10You are observing special days, and months, and seasons, and years.

      2. He mentions his trials among them, and their kindness to him, vv. 12-16.

        1. 12Friends, I beg you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are.

        2. You have done me no wrong.

        3. 13You know that it was because of a physical infirmity that I first announced the gospel to you; 14though my condition put you to the test, you did not scorn or despise me, but welcomed me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

        4. 15What has become of the goodwill you felt? For I testify that, had it been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.

        5. 16Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

      3. Shows his tender affection for them, and exhorts them to return to the Gospel, vv. 17-20.

        1. 17They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you may make much of them.

        2. 18It is good to be made much of for a good purpose at all times, and not only when I am present with you.

        3. 19My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20I wish I were present with you now and could change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

    3. "I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted."

      1. We do not know exactly what happened in Galatia.

      2. Most of the Galatians decided to become like Paul rather than the opposition.

      3. Though some left and became renewed slaves of the old.

  2. What are we about today that bears any resemblance to Paul's expression of concern?

    1. Is an Ash Wednesday service a waste of time?

    2. Is Sunday morning Sunday School for children and adults wasted time?

    3. Is Bible study on Wednesday evenings a waste of time?

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  1. There is nothing that is really wasted.

    1. Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers fame tells a story on himself.

One summer, midway through seminary, Fred Rogers was on a weekend vacation in a little town in New England. He decided on Sunday to go to hear a visiting preacher in a little town's chapel. He heard the worst sermon he could ever have imagined. He sat in the pew thinking, "He's going against every rule they're teaching us about preaching. What a waste of time!" (2)

That's what he thought until the very end of the sermon when he happened to see the person beside him with tears in her eyes, whispering, "He said exactly what I need to hear."

It was then that I knew something very important had happened in that service. The woman beside me had come in need. Somehow the words of that poorly crafted sermon had been translated into a message that spoke to her heart.

On the other hand, I had come in judgment and I heard nothing but the faults.

It was a long time before I realized it, but that sermon's effect on the person beside me turned out to be one of the great lessons of my life. Thanks to that preacher and listener in need, I now know that the space between a person doing his or her best to deliver a message of good news and the needy listener is holy ground. Recognizing that seems to have allowed me to forgive myself for being the accuser that day. In fact, that New England Sunday experience has fueled my desire to be a better advocate, a better "neighbor," wherever I am.

    1. Is Missions a waste of resources?

      1. We don't take much time to follow-up on our missions programs to see that they are accomplishing.

      2. In 1956, five American missionaries to Ecuador were brutally speared to death by a savage Stone Age tribe of Indians.

        1. Although they might have defended themselves, they laid down their lives, leaving family and children behind.

        2. You could argue that such loss of life was a waste.

        3. But remember what one of the missionaries wrote in his journal:

"He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose."

      1. We give what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose.

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CONCLUSION:

  1. God's work is not wasted.

    1. Paul's work is not wasted.

    2. Our work is not wasted.

  2. We may learn from our mistakes, but we will carry on!

Amen!

1. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

2. Source unknown.

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