There is no Longer

Sunday, June 24th 2007
Fourth after Pentecost
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Galatians 3:23-29 (Theme: Our ‘Oneness’ in Christ)

23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

This past week, ours wasn’t the only Vacation Bible School. The Family Development Center was holding its Vacation Bible School each morning, for the children who attend day care there. Nancy Taliaferro had asked me several weeks ago, as she has each year since we’ve come, to take part in their program and bring a “Missions Moment” each day – a short devotional thought on what it means to be a missionary.

On Thursday morning I asked the children if they could imagine what the world would be like if those first twelve disciples HADN’T begun to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ around the world. What would our world look like if they had simply faded into the lost pages of history as a tiny footnote to the Roman Empire?

We talked about how there wouldn’t be any churches – Christian churches, at least – and about how people might not be as kind to each other. There are other things that came to mind that the children didn’t bring up. Universities – do you realize that most of the institutions of higher learning that got started before the mid 19th century were started as church-related institutions? The same could be said for hospitals and orphanages, schools and museums.

We can ask ourselves if these institutions would have come into existence had the influence of faith not been present, and there is a pretty good likelihood that they would have. But the puzzle would be what form would they have taken had that influence NOT been present?

I do not want to present a revisionist view of history this morning. Yes, there were – and are – excesses and abuses, and terrible, terrible things that came about because of the power struggles within the church as well as from the simple fact that the church – in whatever denomination you would care to name – obtained worldly power. You’ve heard me say it before; there is a terrible track record that we as the current body of Christ in our local community have to face up to, OWN up to, and work to undo when we claim to be representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. In some ways, the deck is already stacked against us before we even start.

Those who would rather keep their preconceptions as just that – preconceptions – and not open that prejudice to what might actually BE a vastly different reality – will be our harshest critics – that is, AFTER we ourselves are done. Or at least I HOPE that is the way it would be. We DO, as people of faith, live in a state of grace, but even in that existence, we must be open-eyed when it comes to admitting fault, or wrongdoing, or shortcomings. Whether outside our family of faith or inside, we must always be prepared to ask for and extend forgiveness when we DON’T do as Christ would have done.

But it is precisely FOR those who HAVE their mind made up about us that we are even MORE compelled to show them the radical – the ROOT DIFFERENCE – which the Gospel confronts this world with.

You see, what we see and hear and observe every day is a world based on a binary system – that is, a system made up of two parts – THEM, and US. And it is EVERYWHERE. Do you rent or own? Do you eat in or dine out? Do you shop for name brands or go to the thrift store? Do you drive a foreign or domestic car?

Or let’s think in a slightly different way; do you sing hymns or praise songs in worship? Do you read from the King James or the NIV, NRSV, TEV, The Message … THAT list can go on for some time… do you wear jeans or suits to church? Do you sit quietly or stand and yell ‘amen’ during the preaching? Do you pray long or short? Do you use big words or plain speech? Do you …?

Well, you get the picture, I think.

It’s funny. As a people who are who we are based on the understanding that it isn’t through anything we’ve done or brought to the table except for faith – and even THAT did not come from us, but was drawn out through the Holy Spirit’s presence – we sure do like to set up walls.

The first century world understood all too well what this binary system involved – maybe even better than WE do – here’s the list:

Circumcised / Uncircumcised
Jew / Gentile
Free / Slave
Male / Female

The radicalness of what Paul is saying here and what Jesus was preaching is this: Jesus wasn’t in the business of moving us from one side of that list to the other – it wasn’t about putting us in the more favored slot. It was about doing away with the distinctions altogether. It was about realizing that the true measure of our worth is ONLY to be found in the light of Christ.

And if in that light of Christ we are ALL made Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise, then there IS NO OTHER VALID DISTINCTION that we can, should, or NEED to stand on in order to distinguish ourselves one from another.

What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

Sometimes we make statements that, though stated as fact, have within them more than a little wishful thinking.

“He’s going to get better,” “I think they are going to pull this one off,” or “Jerusalem will end with a winning season this year.” There is one statement in the passage this morning that at first struck me as though it might be something like that. It is found in verse 28 – the very last phrase:

“For all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
It comes at the end of that list of opposites; Jew/Gentile, slave/free, male/female; and serves to UNDO that opposition between each side.

Or at least that is what it is SUPPOSED to do. The question for us here today is: are we TRULY living as though we are one in Christ?

As I mentioned at the beginning of the message, we had our Vacation Bible School this week. It was a smaller group than it has been in the past, but it was a precious time. And speaking totally objectively … nah … can’t do it. Not with this: the folks from Jerusalem really outdid themselves this time. It wasn’t just the labor and the time involved, it was the willingness to do it all outdoors each evening. It was rough those first two nights, when the temperatures were in the 90’s, but we caught a break the last three nights, with cooling breezes and then cooler temperatures.

What I have always enjoyed about VBS here on the neck is that it ends up being a joint effort between churches. It’s always been the case to see KIDS from one church go to another church’s VBS, but there were folks from at least two if not three other congregations who pitched in and helped in some way with the organizing and carrying out of the VBS.

It seemed to be the case, for this week at least, that we really WERE living as though we are one in Christ, and for that we can give thanks.

But the question is – and will always be a challenge as well as a question – can we live like that EVERY DAY?

Let’s pray.