Nothing to live for!

Well, I have been away awhile, but getting back into work again and starting to catch up on things.  So here is my first post since my return.  Some thoughts on Galatians 2:15-21 in the form of a brief walk through the text. So here we go...

The context of the section we are looking at today requires us to backtrack a bit to the earlier verses of chapter 2. We know from the beginning of Galatians that Jewish Christians (Judaizers) had come and told the Gentiles that unless they first become Jews (circumcised) they were not true Christians. This was the ‘other’ gospel Paul mentioned in chapter 1.  Then in Galatians 2:11-14 Paul recounts a confrontation with Peter who at first ate with the Gentiles Christians, but when these Judaizers came he withdrew from fellowshipping…acting in a hypocritical manner.  From these event Paul leads us to what is truly at question here.  The nature of the gospel.

Paul had a sharp way of speaking at times and we see this in verse 15.

“We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners”...

He is speaking to his ‘superior’ Christian listeners and readers and includes himself in their company.  ‘We’ the people of the ‘law’ know this truth to be self-evident not like those ‘sinners’. How easy it is to take this attitude. Many of us do it every day. We classify people by what they wear, their appearance, their speech, the people they are with. Even within the church we can easily fall into the trap of ‘good’ members and ‘bad’ members or ‘lapsed’ members. All of this is about performance and external evidence. We would be wise to act cautiously.

Now in verse 16 Paul states that even the ‘superior’ Christians know the essential truths. 

Yet we know that a person is put right with God only through faith in Jesus Christ, never by doing what the Law requires. We, too, have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be put right with God through our faith in Christ, and not by doing what the Law requires. For no one is put right with God by doing what the Law requires.

1.    We are justified by faith in Christ.

2.    There is NO justification to be found in or through the ‘law’.

To focus on religious formalism or personal observance of a moral or ethical law as a means of becoming right with God is to become an enemy of the gospel of Jesus. Sin is coming short of God’s standard, not human standards. Therefore to be made right with God depends on God’s acquittal not human effort. We cannot declare ourselves free from guilt and condemnation on the basis of our own judgement that our deeds are good or that we are a good person. I remember entering a room when my children were younger and smelling smoke and the odour of a freshly lit match. One of my sons was standing in the middle of the room with a matchbox in his hand and a smoking burnt match in his other hand. He took one look at me and said, “I didn’t do it. It wasn’t my fault.”  This is what we are like when we rely on our own good works and religious discipline as a way of being in a right relationship with God.

In fact Paul goes even further in verse 17.

If then, as we try to be put right God by our union with Christ, we are found to be sinners...does this mean that Christ is serving the cause of sin?

This is in reference to the breaking of the law (the Torah), like Peter eating with Gentiles in contradiction to Jewish dietary rules or Paul not concerning the Gentile converts with the rite of circumcision or the various ritual sacrifices required under the Torah. So is this ‘sin’ and is Christ serving ‘sin’?  It’s a ridiculous question and his readers know this. Paul is simply trying to show them how foolish their point of view is.

So he continues in verse 18. 

If I start to rebuild the system of the Law that I tore down, then I show myself to be someone who breaks the Law.

If Paul restores the prominence of the law as these Judaizers are doing, then he confirms that he is a lawbreaker, places himself under the judgement of the law, and therefore under God’s condemnation.  Ironically he is trying to get his readers and us to understand that to restore the law to such a role is not only a sin against the gospel of Christ, but in attempting to put other people under that law we restore the power of the law in our own lives and so find ourselves under the condemnation of the law. To turn back to the law is real sin. We are totally and unconditionally indebted to Christ for salvation…there is no other way. The law has no power to save, only condemn.

That’s why he points out in the very next two verses, 19-20, that the nature of the law forces us to abandon it as a means of salvation.

So far as the Law is concerned, however, I am dead –killed by the Law itself-in order that I might live for God. I have been put to death with Christ on his cross, so that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.

We have been killed by the law. We are dead in our sin under the law, but we are enabled to live for and with God through Christ. There are 3 aspects to this new life.

1. Given by participation in Christ’s death and resurrection. I am joined with him in his death and resurrection.  It is our baptismal journey.
2. Lived in the flesh. It is the life I live now...on this earth...in this time. Not some future pie in the sky life, but in and through the words, attitudes, actions and experiences of my daily life.  Even the most mundane task is now part of my living in faith in Christ.
3. The object and content of my faith can only be and needs only to be Jesus who loves and gives himself for me. Nothing else is required. No rules. No rituals. No pious actions. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ...as Paul writes to the Ephesians.

Ultimately this helps us understand that the death of Christ was not a random act of human violence or accident of history, but deliberate self-giving of Christ on our behalf. His death has given us ‘new’ life.

In light of this new life Paul writes:

I refuse to reject the grace of God.

Which is the very thing the Judaizers have done and what they are asking the Gentile Christians to do...reject the grace and rely on your own works and obedience. The problem with this, as Paul writes is:

But if a person is put right with God through the Law, it means that Christ died for nothing!

...so it calls into question the whole of Christ’s work...his life, death and resurrection, plus it challenges the whole of God’s plan of salvation. 

So this grace of God must remain the focus and foundation of our faith. For if we choose to supplant it or add to it through works of the law and our own human obedience then Christ died for nothing...and we have nothing to live for!

The human example...

The text this week, Philippians 2: 5-11, is an intriguing journey into the mind of Christ. God and man. The culmination of his obedience. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran theologian who was executed by the Nazis toward the end of World War 2 made this observation in his writings which I believe touches the very point that Paul is making here in the text.


The church is the church only when it exists for others...The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving...It must not underestimate the importance of human example which has its origin in the humanity of Jesus.

God...Paul...and Mick Dundee

In the movie, 'Crocodile Dundee', as the reporter is interviewing Mick Dundee about his experience when grabbed by a crocodile they have this exchange:

Michael J. "Crocodile" Dundee: Of course it took me a week to crawl this far. I thought I was a goner. I said to meself, "Mick old son, find yourself a nice comfortable spot and lay down and die".
Sue Charlton: Weren't you afraid?
Michael J. "Crocodile" Dundee: Of dying? Nah. I read The Bible once. You know God and Jesus and all them apostles? They were all fishermen, just like me. Yeah, straight to heaven for Mick Dundee. Yep, me and God, we'd be mates.

"Yep, me and God, we'd be mates."

In 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 would take these words of Mick Dundee a step further and say:

"Yep, me and God, we are mates."

...and not only 'mates', but the very embodiment of God's righteousness.  That is to say, God's right relationship with his creation finds full expression in you and in your life.  Heavy duty stuff to say the least. 

Which leads to another interesting dialogue possibility...

Imagine some of your friends discussing what is the difference between God and you, or Jesus and you. Paul would hope that the answer to that question is that there is no difference. Our lives, words, attitudes, actions and very being are the active physical presence of God's divine grace and the living presence of Jesus in the world.  Very often the only Christ that most people will experience will be you and the only time they see God or experience his presence in their lives will be in you.

A desert strewn with corpses...

Now that's not the sort of phrase one would associate with faith, grace and salvation, and yet Paul uses just this sort of imagery as he addresses the Christians in the church at Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 he presents us with very vivid imagery based on the Exodus story to remind us that we can not take the gifts of grace and salvation for granted. As he warns in verse 12:

If you think you are standing firm you had better be careful that you do not fall.

Good thing to keep in mind, don't you think?

You are not what you appear to be!

In 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2, Paul makes some bold statements about Christians and the church. He speaks of how we "reflect the glory of the Lord' and how the Spirit "transforms us into his likeness in an even greater degree of glory'. Neat statements. But isn't this the congregation that has brought Paul to tears with its rebellion, immorality, false teaching, and misuse and abuse of the spiritual gifts? Isn't this the church that is divided and filled with squabbling and in-fighting and self-righteous judging of others? So what gives?

When Paul claims that the church is being transformed, he is basing his statement and belief not in the individual's or the church community's ability to change itself, but in God's power at work in them through the Holy Spirit.  It's a great picture and an even better reminder.

You may not be the perfect Christian reflecting the glory of God. Your church may not be the perfect community of love and compassion, but God has not abandoned us. His Spirit is working within you and me...and most certainly within the struggling church.

Love is...

1 Corinthians 13 is our text this week. A popular choice for weddings. You will find portions of it on greeting cards and inspirational posters. It was the basis for a series of cute "Love is..." cards and knick-knacks years ago that showed a boy and girl standing shyly either side of some saying like "Love is...bringing them breakfast in bed." or some such.  The truth about what Paul is saying here is tougher. This love is not much about emotion and cute. It's about patient endurance in the face of stupidity and meanness. It's about forgiveness and compassion in the face of hurt and harm. The love he speaks about comes from a decision of the will to love...not a heartfelt gush of warm emotion. Remember Paul's model for love at all times is Jesus. A love that sacrificed itself even for its very enemies. A love that called both hypocrites and followers to account. A love that sought only to do the will of God and not the pleasure of the people around. This love is hard and tough, but essential. To state simply what Paul is saying here...Anything undertaken without love is worthless, pointless and useless. 

Got that?  Then keep it in mind.

All that we need is a bit of a mess!??!!

Reading and reflecting on 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 this past week has been particularly personal as it speaks with a greater clarity into my current pastoral work here in the Illawarra and Southcoast region of New South Wales. In a parish that has seen significant decline over the years in terms of people and finances, there has grown almost an acceptance that we are on the way out. You could almost say there is a sense of resignation. Accepting the inevitable.  The reasoning behind this...the majority of the active membership are old. (and by old I mean that at 60 years of age I am one of the younger members here) Since the society at large considers them of little value, they have begun to see themselves in the same light. The words of Paul speak directly to this.  At the beginning of his letter to the Corinthians he reminds us that we are not lacking any spiritual blessing (that is needed) (1 Corinthians 1:7). Here in chapter 12 he reminds us that the gifts are apportioned in such way that the community is built up.  Another way of reminding us that we still have all that we need. My reading lead me to the writing of Mary Hinkle Shore on the Working Preacher website. She posed a couple of questions and another thought that is stirring me.  Here they are:

How do people know we are "Church"? 

A big question to ask, especially if you are a church like we are here in the Illawarra. Our foundational work of welcoming the early European migrants of Lutheran background to this area is long since finished. Which leads to the next question:

What is God doing in this place?  (and I would add "now"!)

Another big question and a struggle to identify what God is doing when it seems no matter which direction you look the view is one of decline and growing irrelevancy.  Still God is doing something here. Why else would he have given spiritual gifts to the people who are part of this faith community?  So it is one that needs to be wrestled with.

One final thought....to help keep the focus:

Whatever God's Spirit is doing, it will probably not be characterized by tidiness. When you are looking for the Spirit's gifts, look for a bit of a mess.