Galatians 4:16. 16Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve experienced this. Sadly, this is all too common in ministry. The one doing the discipling is turned on by the disciples whom he or she is striving to help. Why? For “telling them the truth” that they simply don’t want to hear. The deeper you confront a person’s self-righteousness, the more truth about pride or shame that you try to add to their understanding, the less they want to hear it, to the point where they start to see you as the enemy.
This doesn’t just happen out of nowhere today, and it didn’t just happen out of nowhere to the Galatians. The agitating Judaizers have drawn the Galatian disciples away from the truth of the gospel. Not with theological truths from Scripture, but with flattery—“they make much of you.” Paul describes the strategy of the false teachers as twofold: they “make much of you” and then they “shut you out.” “Shut them out” of what? It seems that the Judaizers want to shut these dear Galatian converts out from a direct relationship with God—“knowing and being known by God” (4:9). To keep these disciples under the law is to keep them under control. Not God’s control, but their control. Why? So that the Galatians will “make much of them.” This is why preachers preach the law instead of the gospel, so that they can keep people under their control.
Every time I sit in a counseling session and confront the self-righteousness of someone with the truth of the gospel, I run the risk that they will start to see me as their enemy. Of course, if I tell them what they want to hear… then maybe they will “make much of me.” Or you. Christian, resist this temptation at all costs. Flattery, control, keeping others from Jesus so that they will still need you—these are very real relational pitfalls. Legalism is alive and well in our churches, our families, and our workplaces, and it is a seductress. But it is not the freedom of Christ—the freedom everyone needs to grow past the self-righteousness of legalism and into the righteousness of faith.
You: In what way might you be trying to control someone with legalism?
You in Christ: In Christ, people have direct access to God. Are you actively helping others learn to go directly to God, or go through you to get to God?
Christ in you: Where might you need to speak the truth in love to someone, even if it means risking them seeing you as an enemy?
Pray: Father, I don’t want anyone to make much of me. I want my life and the lives of others to make much of You and Jesus Your Son. Amen.
