Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Mar 15 2020 - Galatians 4:8-5:1 – Christ formed in you

Paul can use striking and memorable pictures. He writes to the Galatians as one who laboured over them to bring them to faith. Now that they seem to be allowing themselves to be led away from the simplicity of the gospel, Paul writes “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you ...” (Galatians 4:19).

When Paul first ministered among these Galatians he laboured to bring them to know God (4:8) and to have faith in Christ. In the goodness of God his labours bore fruit; many were born again – given new life in Christ. Any parent of a new baby delights to watch their child grow up and develop; to watch their character forming. What will they be like? Paul’s concern is that those he has brought to faith should grow up into Christ; that Christ might be formed in them. By this he expresses his longing that their lives might become more and more shaped by the life of Christ; that the life and character of Jesus might shine through their lives. Now that they have gone astray, he is labouring over them again to this same end – that Christ might be formed in them.

This was God’s purpose when he laid hold of our lives; he purposed to make us like his Son. This is to be our great concern for ourselves and for all those who know God – or rather are known by God (4:9); that Christ might be formed in us; that our lives should become increasingly Jesus shaped. This is Christian spiritual formation.

And this is true freedom. Paul reminds the Galatians of the story of Abraham. God had promised him a son, but Abraham and his wife Sarah were very old and despaired of having children. Sarah persuaded Abraham to sleep with her servant Hagar. Hagar became pregnant and bore Abraham a son named Ishmael. Later, Sarah bore Abraham a son called Isaac; he was the miracle child that God had promised them. When Ishmael mocked his half-brother Isaac, God told Abraham to let Hagar and her son go, “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son” (4:30 – Genesis 21:10).

Paul uses this story as an illustration of what is going on in his own day by giving it a surprising and shocking twist. Ishmael was the ancestor of those living in Arabia and Paul points out that this was the area where the law was given at Mt Sinai. The Jews who prided themselves as children of the promise, have, by their enslavement to the law become children of the slave woman. And Gentiles, who had no natural claim on God’s promises have become the miracle children of God’s making – you, says Paul, are, like Isaac, children of promise (4:28). So, Paul adds, don’t allow these slave children of Sinai to mock you and enslave you. Send them packing and stand firm in the freedom that is yours in Christ. Don't let them rob you of your inheritance.

Are there ways in which we are drawn away from the freedom that is ours in Christ? Are we tempted at times to trust in things we can do for ourselves rather than in what God has done for us and is doing in us?

Father God, you have made us your children through the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to grow up in him and to rejoice in the freedom that is ours in him. Strengthen us by your Spirit that we may encourage one another to grow up to maturity in Christ. And help us to labour that others might come to know you and that Christ might be formed also in them.

Mar 15 2019 - Numbers 13:1-2, 17-33 – The spies and their report

God had promised the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants. Famine had driven Jacob, his twelve sons and their families to Egypt where God had looked after them. But later they were enslaved by the Egyptians. So, after 400 years in Egypt, God had rescued his people from slavery and led them through the wilderness. Now, it seems, they are about to enter the land that God had promised to give them as an inheritance.

But before they enter the land, God tells Moses to send men from each of the tribes of Israel to go and explore Canaan and to bring back a report of what they find. They were to look at the land and assess how fertile it might be – was it capable of supporting the lives of this multitude of people. They were to look at the people who lived in the land and assess whether they would offer serious resistance to the Israelites coming in to possess the land.

What did they discover?

Maybe you have asked a family what their recent holiday was like and been confused by their responses. Perhaps the children tell you that they had a wonderful time; there were so many things to do and so many new friends to do it them with. Meanwhile the parents are telling you it was a nightmare; the hotel lacked the advertised facilities, the flights were delayed and the weather was just too hot and they got little sleep! How can people who have experienced the same holiday come back with such varied reports? Perhaps the truth was that they were looking for different things; they viewed their holiday from very different perspectives.

The same was true of the men who came back with their reports of the Promised Land. It was indeed a land "flowing with milk and honey", a fertile land which readily supported those who lived in it. Look at the size of the grapes it produces; it takes two men to carry a full bunch! But it was also a land inhabited by people who had lived there for many years and had built themselves fortified cities. Some of them seemed like giants and we were like grasshoppers in comparison.

The majority of the explorers had eyes only for the problems and told Moses that, despite its attractions, they could not possibly enter such a land and possess it. Then, one of the explorers named Caleb manages to get a word in; "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."

What had Caleb seen that the other explorers (with the exception of Joshua) had not? Despite his words, Caleb clearly had his eyes fixed not on the capability of the Israelites but on the promise of God. God who had promised them this land and who had rescued them from Egypt to bring them into this land would not fail them now. It is not because of their own abilities but because of the promise and presence of their God that they can "certainly do it."

The Apostle Paul tells the Christians in Corinth, "We live by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). Paul was not a physically strong man nor was he impressive in appearance. But because he always had in view the promises of God and was constantly aware of the presence of Christ, he managed to extend the kingdom of God around the Mediterranean world.

Father God, we pray that your promises and power may always loom large in our thoughts so that we are not quickly discouraged by the difficulties that we may face in following Christ. May your Spirit give us that same conviction that we have seen in the apostle Paul, "I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power" (Philippians 4:13, Living Bible).

Peter Misselbrook