Crucified With Christ

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Pentecost C

Jerusalem Baptist Church, (Emmerton) Warsaw VA

Galatians 2:11-21

Good Morning, as someone I love very much said to you last week, it is joy to be with you this morning! J

Our reading comes from the second chapter of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, beginning at verse 11 and going to the end of the chapter.

As always, whenever we open scripture, the invitation is to listen in this reading, in THIS PARTICULAR reading, at THIS PARTICULAR time, at 11:37 on Sunday the 13^th of June, listen for God’s word for our life, understanding that if we were to read this passage in a month or two, there might be a different message.  That is the “living” aspect of the word.

Paul writes: 

¹¹But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; ¹²for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. ¹³And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?” ¹⁵We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; ¹⁶yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. ¹⁷But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. ¹⁹For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; ²⁰and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

This is the word of the Lord.  Thanks be to God.

It is a familiar theme, a familiar rant, if you will, of Paul’s.  It seems he is constantly arguing from the point of being a Jew, and of being an OBSERVANT Jew, that THAT observance of his, that belongs to his heritage, is NOT necessary for those that do not share his heritage. 

You may remember the situation with the Galatian church:  Paul had come and had established the church, and had preached the Gospel.  Many had come to believe, including Greeks and Gentiles, but after he left, folks had come from the church in Jerusalem, and other places where the believers were predominantly of Jewish heritage, and those folks told the people at Galatia that “no, they actually DID need to become Jewish first in order to be considered followers of Christ – LEGITIMATE followers of Christ – in that meaning they had to become observant of the food laws, the circumcision laws, and all the other 613 laws. 

Paul walks a fine line in his defense of the Gospel, because while he states that a Gentile does not need the law, he still upholds the necessity of the law in his own life.  He never stopped being an observant Jew.  Yet what he preached crossed the barrier.  He was the apostle to the Gentiles, but in some ways I think that the transformative … let’s see … what’s the word here … I’m taking Brandon’s cue by the way, I’m speaking sans manuscript… who knew? … more about that later … (Leslie’s anxiety level just went “whoop” through the roof (chuckle) … ) what Paul learned when he had his experience on the road to Damascus was that the Gospel, that Christ’s message was for EVERYONE. 

That in itself was a radical … uncovering of a truth for a Jew.  And we know he was a ZEALOUS Jew … we know that he was persecuting Christians for THAT VERY reason … for the fact that they were claiming Jesus to be the Messiah.  And he got it … with a two by four up ‘side the head, that the Gospel is, that salvation is for everyone, regardless  - now here’s the tricky part – regardless of whether or not they observed scriptural law or not.  In truth, if you take what the so-called Judaizers were saying to these new Gentile Christians, they were actually being consistent with their history.  The Messiah was supposed to come and fulfill the law – complete the law and fulfill the law – bring the Messiahship at the conclusion of this living out and following and obeying all these rules and regulations.

So they were at a loss when they were confronted with the fact that Jesus’ message AS THE MESSIAH was that IT DOESN’T MATTER.  IT DOESN’T MATTER. You can be in relationship with God and not have to be circumcised, you can eat pork or whatever else … and still have this relationship with God. 

The catch comes with this little phrase in verse 19:  “I have been crucified with Christ”. 

As far back as I can remember, when I began to understand and think about things of faith – matters of faith – “crucified with Christ” I always associated with crucifying my sins with Christ. It would seem to make sense, Christ died for my sins, so my SINS are what gets crucified.  Some part of me is still me.  Some part of me still BELONGS to me. 

No. 

There is no qualifier on ‘I have been crucified.’  That “I” is “I in my entirety, my whole being.”

You’ve heard of the book ‘The Five Love Languages’?  Who is the author?  Anybody?  I can’t remember … it’s Gary … Smalley, yes.  And he talks about the different expressions – the different ways we can express our love for somebody.  I don’t know them all, I know ‘Acts of Service’ is one of them, I think ‘Romance’ is another, but I only know Acts of Service because that one just came to mind this past week. 

God’s love language, the way we express our love for God, the way Jesus expressed HIS love for his father was through obedience. 

Philippians 2, obedience “even unto death on the cross”. So if we as followers of Christ are to emulate, are to model, are to copy, are to let HIS life be our life, then we obey God to the point of letting ourselves be crucified.  Obviously not literally, but figuratively.  And Figuratively in the most complete way we can.  Following Christ means surrendering ourselves wholly and completely to the will of God.  And if that means … actually … take out the ‘if’ there … that means nothing more than letting Christ live in us, not US live in us … and I hope you can read from the expression on my face that that is a little uncomfortable to say because there’s this piece of me that wants to say “but what about me? What about my identity?  What about my hopes and dreams, and all that stuff?” 

Here is the grace of following Christ:  when we give ourselves to him, when we give ourselves completely to God, God gives us back who he wants us to be, and we find ourselves IN Christ. 

There is no loss in giving ourselves away.  None whatsoever. 

Seven years ago tomorrow to the day, we pulled into the driveway over here with a U-Haul hauling our little Mazda loaded with stuff the looked like a mess (chuckle) and who was there to help [unload]?  Tony, Jack, Greg and Sue Smith came, Jim, Jay, Tommy … William, were you there?  Okay. 

That day began for us the most grace-filled period of our lives to date.  We have … to say we’ve been blessed is an understatement.  Stepping into the role of Pastor is a two-edged sword.   There is a lot of affirmation, a lot of love that comes my way, that I HOPE has been reciprocated.  In that same instant, as I have worked at living out what I speak from here each Sunday, I find that the main person I’m preaching to is myself, because I need to hear this MORE than anybody else sometimes.  To hear this message that Jesus lived out that it was not about him.  The Gospel is about God’s love.  We as Christians understand it as THROUGH Christ, and Jesus lived it, but no … but he wasn’t the focus of his message.  He didn’t stand in the spotlight and say ‘Looky!  Here I am!’  He talked about the Kingdom of God, and about how it is expressed in community, how it is expressed in our care for each other.  He talked about what it’s not.  That it’s not about being self-righteous, about being overbearing, it IS about being humble with each other, about being selfless rather than selfish, about being self-sacrificing. 

And over these last seven years I hope you’ve watched me learn that lesson.  I hope I’ve lived it faithfully.  So many instances come to mind where I have failed.  And for those who have extended the grace of remaining in communion, of remaining in conversation, and in relationship with me beyond that, I am deeply grateful.  But it’s not about me.  It’s about US, and about how we, even as we learn to do it individually, we’re also called to surrender ourselves as a group, as a congregation, as a community of faith, and give ourselves, surrender ourselves, sacrifice ourselves, and that can get a little more complicated.  Because, here we are, fifty people, seventy-five people, seventy-four on the roll (for Sunday School, anyway).  If there is an invitation, it is that we all continue to put grace first.  To put love before anything we do and say.  That we focus on our relationship with God, rather than how the T’s are crossed or the i’s are dotted.  Because it’s not about the six hundred and thirteen rules, it’s about being in a living relationship with a living, loving God. 

        

Let’s pray.      

Lord we have sometimes gone astray.  We like to chase rabbits.  We are enthralled with these stories and details and love to explore. We are curious, Lord, about how this, your written word, came to be.  We unpack it, we decipher it, we study what the words were in the original languages and how they mean what they mean.  And while that engages our minds, you ask for not only our minds, but you ask for our hearts as well. So even as we TURN our minds to you, Lord, help us give our hearts to you as well. 

Through Christ our Lord,

Amen.