“Living in Faith, Crucified in Joy”

Scripture: Galatians 2:15-21

We had a great time in Washington State last week, visiting with our son and his family. We discovered that our 9 year old granddaughter has developed an incredible relationship with her new 7 month old brother, and that he cares deeply for her. And even though their parents are thrilled that the children get along so well, I am equally certain that they never set up any household rule requiring it. Relationships can never be legislated, no matter what our governments may try to tell us – they can only come to be through desire and commitment, which then leads to a deep and abiding bond.
Children seem to inherently know this – why can’t adults see it? And the church seems to struggle with this concept as much as the worldly do. It never gets any better! In my two previous messages on the book of Galatians, we saw how Paul was trying to instill in the church this very thing – that every relationship, especially one with the Lord, can never be developed by following the law – it can only come about through a loving commitment.
Even the church of 2013 can easily fall into the trap of legalism. We try to convince others of our way of thinking through resolutions and laws and dictates, and even if the change succeeds by majority vote, there has never been any proof that it makes much of a difference in the lives of the voters. The only way that righteous change can ever come about in the lives of humanity is by a heart change - and never by a head change.

Today, we continue to follow Paul’s efforts to bring about a “heart change” in the life of the Galatian churches.

Read Galatians 2:15-16

Paul is relating a conversation that he had with Peter in Antioch (Galatians 2:11-14). He was calling Peter to task for requiring that certain Jewish ritualistic laws continue to be observed by the Gentile converts. Today’s text is probably a continuation of that conversation, although there is some dispute as to whether it is part of the original conversation, or if it is a return to Paul’s instruction for Galatia. Regardless, the point is still sound – that justification in God’s eyes can never be obtained by following the law - by being “good” - by “earning” our holiness. It must be by faith in the One who redeemed us – Ephesians 2:8 – “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast”

Paul is reminding Peter, as well as the Church in Galatia, and beyond, that all – Jew and Gentile alike – must turn to Christ for salvation. And the Church of the 21st century, and beyond, also needs to be reminded that salvation can only come to those who express and live a faith in Christ Jesus. And that is an important distinction! We can’t simply claim Christ with our words! Our faith must exhibit a true and complete change in the way we live in this life.
That’s what Jesus was telling the rich ruler in Luke 18:18-30 who asked what he must do to be saved. He knew all the commandments, and he told the Lord that he had kept them all. But Jesus tells him that as well as he may have done, it wasn’t enough. He was to sell everything that he owned and give the money to the poor. The man obeyed the law, but he loved his lifestyle and all the benefits that his wealth could bring him, and Jesus was telling him that he needed to make a change in his life – he was telling the man that he needed to make a change in the things he loved. Jesus tells us “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
Jesus is not telling us that the law is no good, but rather that it isn’t enough – we also need him! There is no justification, no salvation, unless we welcome Jesus in our life.

Read Galatians 2:17-21

The essence of the question that Paul had presented to Peter, and had in turn presented to the Galatians, was this: Are the Gentiles to become like the Jews, or are the Jews to become like the Gentiles? It’s actually a trick question – the answer is “Neither!” We are all to become like Christ. Later in this letter, Paul would write that there is no longer Jew or Greek – that we are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28) Sin is no longer a pronouncement on only a few – we are all guilty! And sin is not God’s problem – it is ours! He didn’t create it, but we certainly embrace it! He doesn’t condone it, but we try to justify it all the time.

Now a personal reflection on a rather strange sentence – “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.” Commentaries weren’t a lot of help in this passage, so here is what I think Paul is saying. He was zealous, by his own words (Acts 22:1-5), when it came to Jewish law, and he would come to realize that it did him no good. And because of his strict adherence to law, he would “die” to it when he came face to face with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-22). The law itself was the instrument of Paul’s death to the law. It was in his living the law to the extreme that forced him to Christ, and he “died to the law so that (he) might live for God.”
Now if this doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense for you, that’s OK. The point that I’m trying to make is that Paul is offering his personal witness to the Galatian church, and whether the thought was originally presented to Peter or to Galatia, he was telling them that the law held no good for him, that it holds no good for them, and that death by and to the law is the only way out.

And in that context of death bringing about a new life, Paul offers that often quoted verse “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Jesus had been crucified because of the law, and Paul proclaims, through the centuries and to the world, that he has let the “old life” die with Jesus on Calvary. There is no salvation in our goodness – only in the goodness of Jesus Christ.

Not that the world believes that, though. Years ago, Diane and I were Sunday School teachers for a group of Junior High students. One day, one of the girls brought in a survey that had begun to circulate at school, with the question “If we are real good, will we go to heaven?” Two of her teachers had written “Yes”. This has always been the world’s answer, and even Peter apparently felt that at least a token allegiance to the law was important. For Israel, the law held the key as to what made us clean (righteous), and what made us unclean (sinful). But for Christianity, we are, by nature, unclean, and it is only Christ who can make us clean again.
Back to the student’s survey - I asked her if I could respond, too, and when she said I could, I wrote “No”, and included a short explanation that our goodness means nothing when it comes to salvation in Jesus Christ. I never heard back on the results of the survey, but I sincerely hope that someone read my comment and took it to heart.

How about you? Is anyone still basing their hopes on their own good works? Are you still expecting the Lord to say “You’re doing a great job – come on in.” Society and business and all of those “Self Help” books tell us to take charge of our life, to work hard, to do good, and that will be enough to make us worthy of respect.
Even John Wesley threw “good works” into the mix with his famous “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” The difference is that Wesley never said that this was sufficient! He felt that this was simply our necessary response to Christ’s gift, not that it could ever supersede it!

How about you? Do you still think that salvation, the glory of heaven, the grace of Almighty God, can be gained by our own means? The truth is that we can’t even gain the respect of earth, let alone the glory of heaven! And just in case you think that living a life in Christ is difficult and painful, it is far better than a life without him. Crucified to the temporary ways of the world, living in Christ for eternity – it’s the only way!

Remember Paul’s words in verse 21 – “if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” But he did not die for nothing – he died for you and me, that we might live eternally with him in glory. Come to him today.