Friends, this week, we are returning to St. Paul’s letter to the Christians of Galatia. The overarching theme of this letter is that God’s grace is a gift for all. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to follow Jesus. St. Paul was unhappy that some Christians were trying to impose rules on the Gentile Galatian converts that made it hard for them to consider following Christ.
Let us now turn to the letter to the Galatians, chapter 3….
The Scripture Galatians 3:1-9, 23-29
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.
I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?
Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?
Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain?
So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?
So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.
Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”
So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.
So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.
Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,
for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray….
The Sermon One in Christ
One of my favorite hymns is “They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love.” It opens with the focus of our scripture reading: that we are united as one in Christ…. “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord. … We will pray that all unity may one day be restored. And, they will know we are Christians by our love, by our love, and they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
Christian unity is the theme of the portion of Paul’s letter to the Galatians we read today. The tone of this portion of Paul’s letter was a tad angrier than the portion we read last week. The letter is focused on the problem of whether the Galatian Christians, as former Gentiles, needed to follow Jewish laws. Paul’s position was that they did not. They did not convert to Judaism when they became Christ-followers. Jewish people are called to follow Jewish laws. Paul wrote his letter when Christianity was beginning to separate from Judaism – Christianity was not just a branch of Judaism, it is a wholly new thing.
Paul was upset because the Galatian Christians were visited by Christian evangelists that wanted them to follow Jewish practices as well as the Christian faith. But, Paul asserts that Jesus didn’t come to only be a prophet and teacher among the Jewish people, but instead Jesus came to bring a new revelation to the world. Jesus came for all people, Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free people, male and female – all people are called to embrace Christ’s teachings and believe in God.
Jesus was the great equalizer. All people, no matter what their background, are encouraged to embrace the Christian faith. In the couple of decades after Jesus’ ascension to heaven, Christianity spread from Judah and Galilee to Samaria and Egypt and Ethiopia and Turkey and Greece and Rome. It is believed that St. Thomas, the doubter, travelled along trade routes from Judah to India and started churches there just two decades after Jesus’ death. Christianity quickly spread along trade routes first in the Roman empire and then beyond. Christianity shifted from a faith of people who were formerly Jewish to a faith of people formerly from a variety of Gentile religions.
Christianity is for everyone. When we become Christians, we become part of the body of Christ. So, people who are from every continent on the earth, of every ethnic background, of every economic background, of every profession, are all one in Christ. We are one.
People naturally are tribalistic and suspicious of each other. Perkiomen Valley Vikings are suspicious of North Penn Knights. Plymouth White Marsh Colonials are suspicious of the Norristown Eagles. Eagles fans hate Cowboys fans, and vice versa. We love to pick sides, pick teams, and root for our side.
But, Christianity is not tribalistic. Everyone is invited and included. In a way, when we commit to following God, we agree to become part of the body of Christ….we no longer have our team, our side, and instead become one with other believers…other believers we don’t look like, other believers we often don’t think like, other believers from every national origin, other believers of every age and race.
Sometimes, Christians struggle to remember this. We may think that American Chrsitians are more important to God than Sudanese Christians….we may think that Caucasian Christians are more important to God than aboriginal Christians….we may think United Church of Christ Christians are more important to God than Pentecostal Christians.
We must remember that we are one in Christ. God loves and values all of God’s followers. Jesus is the great unifier – a unifier of people, a unifier of nations, a unifier of the world. So, we must work to be welcoming and receptive of all people into the community of Christ. We are called to join together with Christains of every nation and background to work together throughout the earth. And, we must put aside the roadblocks and things that may divide us, for we are all one in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment