Readings: Psalms 42 & 43, 1 Kings 19:1-15, Luke 8:26-39, Galatians 3:23-29
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 23rd, 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
There is a popular TV show called the 'X' Factor. The 'X' factor is that hard to define attribute that marks the difference between somebody who is simply a talented performer, and somebody who has an innate ability to stand out from the rest of the crowd. What exactly it is, can be hard to put into words, but people recognize it when they experience it.
This morning I don't want to talk about the 'X' Factor' but about what I'm calling the 'Faith Factor' – something that I believe can give to our lives an indescribable difference and offer us opportunities for our lives that we had never before dreamed possible.
I claim no originality in telling you about the 'Faith Factor'... I am completely indebted to the apostle Paul and his letter to the Galatians which in our passage today talked about the difference between having a religion that was all about what you could or couldn't do for yourself, and a faith that is based upon what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.
At the start of our passage Paul is talking about the laws that Moses had given to the people of Israel; the ten commandments and all the other things written down that flowed from them. Paul approved of the laws. They surrounded and protected the people. They created boundaries that created a sense of safety and gave an idea of right and wrong.
But in the church he had helped start in Galatia, things had got out of hand. After he had left them, some teachers had come and along and told people that simply believing in Jesus and being baptized wasn't really enough to be truly acceptable to God. They also had to take on a whole load of the customs of the Jewish people such as circumcision, and observing special holy days and not eating certain kinds of foods.
Paul had been born and raised as a Jewish person and he loved their laws and customs. But since his life had been turned around by his encounter with Jesus, he realized that the thing that set Christianity apart from the religion he had been brought up with, was the Faith Factor. He could see that if the church in Galatia was led away from the teaching he had given them about faith, then they would lose the freedom God had given them in Christ.
As well as the 'X' factor, there is also a program on TV called 'Fear Factor'. Paul recognized that there had been a time in his life when his religion was not about faith but all about fear. He had been so fearful of disobeying God's laws that it led him to persecuting the early church because he thought they were destroying and perverting true religion.
Then, whilst on a road to capture some Christian's, he had a blinding vision of Jesus, that changed his views for ever. One of the monumental changes in his life was that religion became for him no longer a matter of doing things to earn the love of God, but about doing everything in response to the love and grace he had received from God.
If you turn the 'X' in 'X' Factor' on it's side, it makes the shape of a Cross. ( + ). It was as he realized what Jesus Christ had done for the world, at the cross, that Paul became transformed. Later in his letter to the Galatian church he writes them, “But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14). If we wanted to say with TV illustrations, we could say that because of the X Factor (that is the cross factor) ... Paul moved away from the 'Fear Factor' and became a proclaimer of the 'Faith Factor'.
He talks of how, before faith came, he had been 'imprisoned and guarded' under the law. If you are in prison, you are in a fearful place. If you are living under a guard, then you are not living free! He talks about the law as a 'disciplinarian'. Such a term offers me the image of a cruel, boarding school head master, a despot, rather than a nurturing teacher.
For some people religion can be about fear. They believe that they need to 'do' something, bring up their lives to a certain standard, in order for God to love them. They feel a need to find practices and make offerings and in some way discover ways to justify themselves before God or repay God for the wrongs they have done. They come from a place of fear, not of faith.
Because they are coming from a place of fear they have to find ways of separating themselves from others. The only way they can accept themselves, is to say, “Well I know I'm not all that and a bag of chips, but at least I haven't murdered anybody or robbed a bank. At least I'm not as bad a person as so and so.” They find it hard to accept other people as equally being loved by God as much they are. Why? Because they are struggling to accept that they themselves are children of God, not because of what they can do, but because of what God has done for them, in Christ, upon the cross.
Again, in our reading this morning; verse 25 “Now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith'. We can understand therefore why he was becoming so upset at those teachers who were coming along to the Galatian church and telling them; “No! Your faith isn't enough! You need to do this and do that, not eat this and observe the other! Otherwise you can't be real people of faith like us!” They were being offered the 'Fear Factor' when Paul wanted them to be changed by the 'Faith Factor'!
He then talks to them about baptism. Verse 27 “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ”. I like the way the Message Bible trans-literates this verse. “Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise.”
Baptism, whether it be as a child or an adult, is associated with new beginnings. Martin Luther used to preach to his congregations about 'living into their baptisms'. Eugene Petersen pictures that well, in the Message, as he talks about moving from a fresh start to a position where you are putting on a whole faith wardrobe. In other words, in Christian life, we have never arrived. We are to 'keep on keeping on', keep on growing in grace and love and hope.
Paul could see that returning to a religion of 'do's and don'ts' that gave people comfort by designating them as 'true insiders' and everybody else as 'definite outsiders', was not growing towards maturity but taking a huge step backwards. It was a step that failed to grasp the enormity of what Jesus had achieved through His death on the Cross. At the Cross Jesus had broken every barrier down. The old had gone, the new had come. The gospel author's speak of how at the moment Jesus died the curtain in the temple was torn in two, and the gateway for all people of all faiths and all generations became opened to the holy presence of God.
So Paul writes in his next verse “There is no longer Jew of Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (verse 28).
One of the things that made the life of Jesus such a scandal to His religious critics was that He refused to play by the rules of who was 'in' and who was 'out' in the Kingdom of God. Sometimes they suggested He was hanging out with the wrong crowd. Samaritan women by wells, tax collectors who hid up trees, lepers who you were supposed to avoid. He gave far too much significance to the life of people who didn't matter. Little children. Sick people. Unbalanced people. Demon-posessed people.
And on top of that He just wouldn't stick to the really important laws. Like not eating grain on the Sabbath day. And not praying at the proscribed time of day. And He had a disturbing habit of answering questions with questions that made you question what you were asking in the first place. He may say all the right things, but... really... He had to pay more attention to the social barriers that were in place... instituted by God no doubt... for the protection of our privileges and to keep the wrong sort of people in the wrong sort of situations they deserved.
Even now, I think we fail to grasp just how radical this statement is. That we are all one in Christ Jesus. That, because of what Jesus has done on the Cross (the X-Factor) , we don't have to question if we belong to God, or be afraid that we don't belong to God (the Fear Factor) but are called to live our lives in such a way that all people, regardless of religion (Jew or Greek), social standing (slave or free) or gender (Male or female) can experience the Faith Factor. We are called to live our lives in a way that all people come to understand that they are children of God, whom Jesus died for and in whom the Holy Spirit of God can work with transforming, renewing and energizing effect.
Our passage closed by Paul telling us (verse 29) “If you belong to Christ, them you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise”. Paul wants us to understand that what I'm calling the 'Faith Factor' had been part of God's plan right from the start. That the faith factor was something that had been transforming peoples lives as long as people had been hearing and responding to the call of God.
Abraham had it. Joseph had it. Moses had it. David had it. The prophets preached it.
He talks about all of us being the inheritors of the promises of God. What are the promises of God? All we need to do is open our bibles and read about them! The greatest promise of all is that if we trust our lives into the hands of the life and love of Jesus Christ, then through God's Holy Spirit, God will guard us, guide us, comfort us and lead us.
God will lead us to see our own lives as places where God's promises can come to reality. God will lead us to see others through the loving eyes of Jesus, to see that there are no barriers to the actions of grace, to see all people as those whom He welcomes to be part of the family of God. God will lead us to embrace Kingdom lives that have the 'X-Factor' – that factor which can be hard to put into words, but people recognize it when they experience it.
So with Paul I encourage you to make the Faith Factor a defining feature of your own life. Don't slip into the mistake of thinking religion is about 'who's in and who's out' or about 'do's' and 'don't's'. We are saved by grace though faith in what Jesus has done for us. We are called to grow into our baptisms and enable others to see that, they too are welcome, in the family of God!
Rev. Adrian J Pratt B.D.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
GALATIANS : THE GOSPEL OF GRACE 3. 'Faith and Life'
Father's Day/Graduate Sunday/Sunday School Teacher Recognition Day
Readings: Psalm 5:1-8, 1 Kings 21:1-21, Luke 7:36-8:3, Galatians 2:15-21
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 16th, 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
Being a parent can be a frustrating experience. Today is Father's Day. As one who has had that role in life I remember there were days, particularly in the early years when frankly I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Babies don't arrive with a manual. And people who write baby books never seem to allow for the fact that every child (and every family) is totally unique.
I remember the first time I tried to put a disposable diaper on my first child. Could I get those tabs to stick together, after getting that cream all over my hands? Yvonne came home to find a red faced dad, a stack of disposables all over the floor and a baby still needing changing. Then the babies grow up and ask you for advice. What if you say it wrong? What if they go and do what they think you said rather than what you actually meant? It ain't easy being a dad!
Today is also Graduate Sunday. Being a student can be a frustrating experience. My first year in seminary I had to learn Hebrew and Greek. I am not good at languages. I remember almost screaming with frustration, 'Why can't I get this in my stupid head!” The first year I was in training Yvonne thought I only had two subjects to study such was my struggle to get my head around the languages. She was kind of surprised when I mentioned that we also did history and theology and comparative religion and a whole host of other things. I don't know where your particular areas of struggle may be, but I do know...we all have days when we feel like screaming 'I can't do this!' It ain't easy being a student.
Today is Sunday School Teacher Appreciation Sunday. And... teachers.... we do appreciate you. I personally appreciate what a frustrating thing teaching scripture can be. Most years I take kids on their confirmation journeys. You are sharing these stories, giving it your best shot, bearing your heart... and sometimes you feel it's going way off somewhere that only the Lord knows where! And I know that is a sentiment shared by teachers universally, not just Sunday School teachers. It ain't easy being a teacher.
Today we gather here as a community of faith. We are people under construction. We may even feel that to truly call us 'Christian' is a little foolish... as there isn't that much you'd notice as being 'Christ-like' about our lives. Following Jesus is hard. We wonder sometimes if we can really do it, or are just fooling ourselves. 'Take up your cross and follow me' Jesus says. Instead of 'taking up a cross', we just 'get cross' because it just doesn't seem to work for us some days! Any would be follower of Jesus is eventually going to hit the frustration barrier.
One of the great figures of Reformation history was Martin Luther. Much of his earliest religious journey could simply be defined by one word. 'Frustration'. Martin Luther really wanted to be the sort of person God wanted him to be. He read scripture. He prayed. He gave. It didn't seem to work.
So he decided to go the whole hog and became a monk. And there he read scripture. And he prayed. And he served. And he really, really, really tried to do everything that a religious person was supposed to do. He went on a pilgrimage to Rome. In Rome there was a great sacred stairway, the Scala Sancta. It is considered to be an act of great devotion and penance to climb the staircase on your hands and knees. It shows you are serious about faith. He tried it. It really hurt his knees. He felt like God was just as distant as ever. His life was a showpiece of discipline, self-denial and self-torture. 'If ever' he said, 'A man could be saved by monkery (that is by becoming a monk) that man was I!”
Then one day, in frustration, he gave up trying to justify himself. It was as though, in modern terminology, he switched on his car radio and heard Carrie Underwood singing 'Jesus take the Wheel'. When he did that, when he said, 'That's it. I can't do this anymore, take the wheel of my life', a voice came from heaven that said “The just shall live by faith”. He understood that a life of peace with God could not be attained by frustrating and futile, never ending, ever defeated effort; it could only be had by casting himself on the love and mercy of Jesus Christ. 'The just shall live by faith'.
Those words came from a biblical book we've been looking at the last couple of weeks. Paul's letter to the Galatians. Chapter 3:11 to be exact. 'The just shall live by faith'. Paul has begun developing that argument in the passage we read today. In 2:16 Paul writes; “We know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ'.
He has written to the church in Galatia because teachers have come amongst them and tried to pressurize them into taking up all sorts of dietary laws and Jewish rituals in order to be truly accepted by God. This has greatly concerned Paul, because nobody could have been more committed to Jewish rituals and laws than he had been, and it had not turned out well. It had led him to persecute the church and kick against the only One who could set him right, the Lord Jesus Christ.
On the road to Damascus his life had been turned around and he knew that God accepted a person, not on the grounds of what they had done, but only through the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross and was raised to give new-life. Only by putting their faith in what God could do... could set people free. If they started putting their faith in what they could do... it was a dead end road.
He saw how when he had tried to live for God, it ended in frustration. He discovered that he needed to allow God to live in Him, through the presence of the Holy Spirit... Christ in him... was his only hope of glory.
In verse 20 he tells the Galatians “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.”
As a Father I remember trying to teach my kids to swim. How hard they'd thrash about as you held them and would say, “Dad, please don't let go”. Eventually came that moment when they didn't realize you were no longer holding on. It may only be a few strokes as they swam to the side, but they understood, that they had to trust the water to hold them.
Faith doesn't come easily. We'd rather thrash about and rely on other things to hold us. We'd rather invest in good works and compliance and ritual and order than trust in God to take care of everything. Although we pray regularly to God 'Thy will be done', we often are hoping that God will fall in line with our expectations rather than expect us to risk all by trusting that God really does know what's best.
In our spiritual walk, God calls us first and foremost, not 'to do' but 'to be'. To be His children, to be in relationship with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, to be centered in His love. When we get the focus right then the other things have a habit of taking their rightful place. 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness;” invites Jesus “And all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)
We don't need to prove to God how good we are. What a waste of effort! Because none of us is that good! God desires that we experience how good life can be as we allow Christ to live in us.
God invites us to trust that in Him our lives find their purpose, that as we apprehend what has been done for us through the Cross and Resurrection we will know that we are loved... that as we envisage the possibilities of what a life open to and molded by God's Holy Spirit could look like, we will want to have that kind of life!
It's one of the hardest things to do. To stop thinking we are in charge and let Jesus take the wheel of our lives. To live 'not my will be done Oh Lord, but thine'. Though hard, it's also essential. What we do, however admirable, how ever successful, is never enough. Paul knew that! No-one had been better at religion than Paul. Martin Luther discovered the same thing. Even monkery could not give him the relationship with God he desired.
Only grace could do it! Only allowing God to be God and accepting the forgiveness and love of Jesus Christ can save us. Only by throwing our faith totally on what God can do and by stopping believing we can save the world results in us breaking through to that relationship with God our hearts so desire.
Once we realize the wonder of grace, it can transform everything. We realize we don't have to do anything to be accepted by God other than accept we can do nothing. We realize we are God's children, adopted into God's family through Jesus alone, through His merit, through His love, through His death, through His life, through His ascension and resurrection. We are children of God, loved and claimed in Christ.
Grace encourages us to hold our heads up high. To see that though we are weak, the Holy Spirit is powerful. A mighty rushing wind that brings healing and vision and hope to lives that are otherwise bowed down and going nowhere. We start to understand that every little thing we do for the Kingdom is a big thing. We are changed... not by our own efforts but by allowing the love of God the freedom to live in us and through us.
It doesn't matter what we have been. Ask Paul! What counts is where we are now in our spiritual journey! Paul feared that the Galatians were being side-tracked by people who told them... 'No! Stop! You have to do this and be this and obey this and obey that law”. 'Been there, done that' says Paul . 'And it wasn't a good place to be'.' The life I now live... I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (verse 20).
Such is the challenge this passage leaves us with. Where are we right now in our spiritual journey? Trying to make it but really just faking it? A little lost and at sea? Or are we aware that grace is making of us more than we could ever make of our selves? Do we know ourselves children of God, saved, by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ?
Through the open doorway of prayer we always have the opportunity to invite Jesus to take His rightful place in our hearts and lives. To invite Him to take the wheel. To recommit ourselves to be Kingdom people. As we do so His Spirit will guide us. To places we can serve. To people who also need His touch. To situations where our unique make-up can fill a need. That's how grace works. That's what He calls us to do. In His name. In His power. In His grace. To God's name be the glory. Amen.
Rev Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Readings: Psalm 5:1-8, 1 Kings 21:1-21, Luke 7:36-8:3, Galatians 2:15-21
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 16th, 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
Being a parent can be a frustrating experience. Today is Father's Day. As one who has had that role in life I remember there were days, particularly in the early years when frankly I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Babies don't arrive with a manual. And people who write baby books never seem to allow for the fact that every child (and every family) is totally unique.
I remember the first time I tried to put a disposable diaper on my first child. Could I get those tabs to stick together, after getting that cream all over my hands? Yvonne came home to find a red faced dad, a stack of disposables all over the floor and a baby still needing changing. Then the babies grow up and ask you for advice. What if you say it wrong? What if they go and do what they think you said rather than what you actually meant? It ain't easy being a dad!
Today is also Graduate Sunday. Being a student can be a frustrating experience. My first year in seminary I had to learn Hebrew and Greek. I am not good at languages. I remember almost screaming with frustration, 'Why can't I get this in my stupid head!” The first year I was in training Yvonne thought I only had two subjects to study such was my struggle to get my head around the languages. She was kind of surprised when I mentioned that we also did history and theology and comparative religion and a whole host of other things. I don't know where your particular areas of struggle may be, but I do know...we all have days when we feel like screaming 'I can't do this!' It ain't easy being a student.
Today is Sunday School Teacher Appreciation Sunday. And... teachers.... we do appreciate you. I personally appreciate what a frustrating thing teaching scripture can be. Most years I take kids on their confirmation journeys. You are sharing these stories, giving it your best shot, bearing your heart... and sometimes you feel it's going way off somewhere that only the Lord knows where! And I know that is a sentiment shared by teachers universally, not just Sunday School teachers. It ain't easy being a teacher.
Today we gather here as a community of faith. We are people under construction. We may even feel that to truly call us 'Christian' is a little foolish... as there isn't that much you'd notice as being 'Christ-like' about our lives. Following Jesus is hard. We wonder sometimes if we can really do it, or are just fooling ourselves. 'Take up your cross and follow me' Jesus says. Instead of 'taking up a cross', we just 'get cross' because it just doesn't seem to work for us some days! Any would be follower of Jesus is eventually going to hit the frustration barrier.
One of the great figures of Reformation history was Martin Luther. Much of his earliest religious journey could simply be defined by one word. 'Frustration'. Martin Luther really wanted to be the sort of person God wanted him to be. He read scripture. He prayed. He gave. It didn't seem to work.
So he decided to go the whole hog and became a monk. And there he read scripture. And he prayed. And he served. And he really, really, really tried to do everything that a religious person was supposed to do. He went on a pilgrimage to Rome. In Rome there was a great sacred stairway, the Scala Sancta. It is considered to be an act of great devotion and penance to climb the staircase on your hands and knees. It shows you are serious about faith. He tried it. It really hurt his knees. He felt like God was just as distant as ever. His life was a showpiece of discipline, self-denial and self-torture. 'If ever' he said, 'A man could be saved by monkery (that is by becoming a monk) that man was I!”
Then one day, in frustration, he gave up trying to justify himself. It was as though, in modern terminology, he switched on his car radio and heard Carrie Underwood singing 'Jesus take the Wheel'. When he did that, when he said, 'That's it. I can't do this anymore, take the wheel of my life', a voice came from heaven that said “The just shall live by faith”. He understood that a life of peace with God could not be attained by frustrating and futile, never ending, ever defeated effort; it could only be had by casting himself on the love and mercy of Jesus Christ. 'The just shall live by faith'.
Those words came from a biblical book we've been looking at the last couple of weeks. Paul's letter to the Galatians. Chapter 3:11 to be exact. 'The just shall live by faith'. Paul has begun developing that argument in the passage we read today. In 2:16 Paul writes; “We know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ'.
He has written to the church in Galatia because teachers have come amongst them and tried to pressurize them into taking up all sorts of dietary laws and Jewish rituals in order to be truly accepted by God. This has greatly concerned Paul, because nobody could have been more committed to Jewish rituals and laws than he had been, and it had not turned out well. It had led him to persecute the church and kick against the only One who could set him right, the Lord Jesus Christ.
On the road to Damascus his life had been turned around and he knew that God accepted a person, not on the grounds of what they had done, but only through the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross and was raised to give new-life. Only by putting their faith in what God could do... could set people free. If they started putting their faith in what they could do... it was a dead end road.
He saw how when he had tried to live for God, it ended in frustration. He discovered that he needed to allow God to live in Him, through the presence of the Holy Spirit... Christ in him... was his only hope of glory.
In verse 20 he tells the Galatians “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.”
As a Father I remember trying to teach my kids to swim. How hard they'd thrash about as you held them and would say, “Dad, please don't let go”. Eventually came that moment when they didn't realize you were no longer holding on. It may only be a few strokes as they swam to the side, but they understood, that they had to trust the water to hold them.
Faith doesn't come easily. We'd rather thrash about and rely on other things to hold us. We'd rather invest in good works and compliance and ritual and order than trust in God to take care of everything. Although we pray regularly to God 'Thy will be done', we often are hoping that God will fall in line with our expectations rather than expect us to risk all by trusting that God really does know what's best.
In our spiritual walk, God calls us first and foremost, not 'to do' but 'to be'. To be His children, to be in relationship with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, to be centered in His love. When we get the focus right then the other things have a habit of taking their rightful place. 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness;” invites Jesus “And all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)
We don't need to prove to God how good we are. What a waste of effort! Because none of us is that good! God desires that we experience how good life can be as we allow Christ to live in us.
God invites us to trust that in Him our lives find their purpose, that as we apprehend what has been done for us through the Cross and Resurrection we will know that we are loved... that as we envisage the possibilities of what a life open to and molded by God's Holy Spirit could look like, we will want to have that kind of life!
It's one of the hardest things to do. To stop thinking we are in charge and let Jesus take the wheel of our lives. To live 'not my will be done Oh Lord, but thine'. Though hard, it's also essential. What we do, however admirable, how ever successful, is never enough. Paul knew that! No-one had been better at religion than Paul. Martin Luther discovered the same thing. Even monkery could not give him the relationship with God he desired.
Only grace could do it! Only allowing God to be God and accepting the forgiveness and love of Jesus Christ can save us. Only by throwing our faith totally on what God can do and by stopping believing we can save the world results in us breaking through to that relationship with God our hearts so desire.
Once we realize the wonder of grace, it can transform everything. We realize we don't have to do anything to be accepted by God other than accept we can do nothing. We realize we are God's children, adopted into God's family through Jesus alone, through His merit, through His love, through His death, through His life, through His ascension and resurrection. We are children of God, loved and claimed in Christ.
Grace encourages us to hold our heads up high. To see that though we are weak, the Holy Spirit is powerful. A mighty rushing wind that brings healing and vision and hope to lives that are otherwise bowed down and going nowhere. We start to understand that every little thing we do for the Kingdom is a big thing. We are changed... not by our own efforts but by allowing the love of God the freedom to live in us and through us.
It doesn't matter what we have been. Ask Paul! What counts is where we are now in our spiritual journey! Paul feared that the Galatians were being side-tracked by people who told them... 'No! Stop! You have to do this and be this and obey this and obey that law”. 'Been there, done that' says Paul . 'And it wasn't a good place to be'.' The life I now live... I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (verse 20).
Such is the challenge this passage leaves us with. Where are we right now in our spiritual journey? Trying to make it but really just faking it? A little lost and at sea? Or are we aware that grace is making of us more than we could ever make of our selves? Do we know ourselves children of God, saved, by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ?
Through the open doorway of prayer we always have the opportunity to invite Jesus to take His rightful place in our hearts and lives. To invite Him to take the wheel. To recommit ourselves to be Kingdom people. As we do so His Spirit will guide us. To places we can serve. To people who also need His touch. To situations where our unique make-up can fill a need. That's how grace works. That's what He calls us to do. In His name. In His power. In His grace. To God's name be the glory. Amen.
Rev Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Monday, June 10, 2013
GALATIANS : THE GOSPEL OF GRACE 2. “Grace Takes Time”
Readings: Psalm146, 1 Kings 17:8-24, Luke 7:11-17, Galatians 1:11-24
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 9th, 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
For the early Christian Church Saul of Tarsus was their worst nightmare. He held the coats when one of the first christian martyrs, Stephen, was stoned to death. Saul was educated, extreme and totally committed to wiping Christians from the face of the earth.
Then one day, on the road to Damascus, Saul encounters Jesus, as a voice asking him 'Why are you persecuting me?' He is temporarily struck down with blindness, and is changed from being Saul, the great persecutor of Christianity, to Paul the great defender and evangelist of the Christian faith.
Only one word suffices to explain what happened to Paul. Grace! In his own words from Galatian's this morning he says, God 'Called me through His grace'. Grace transformed every thing about his life.
The account Paul gives us in Galatians One about his transformation is a little different from that we are given in the Book of Acts. You can get the impression from reading Acts that it was a case of Saul, on the road, blinded by the light, reaches Damascus, meets Ananaias - becomes a preacher and saves the world. 'Boom' - there it is. Instant hero.
The account in Galatians is subtly different and involves Paul having to spend time trying to come to terms with what had happened to him and the revelation of God given in the scriptures; Paul putting into practice what he now believed as he is befriended by those whom once he persecuted, and finally, Paul returning home to confront his past and give evidence of the reality of the transforming grace that had gripped his life.
The point I'm making today is that grace, amazing and unmerited and transforming as it may be, does not just happen. Grace takes time. Grace works through a process that includes; commitment to scripture, communion with others and confronting the past. Think about some of those things!
Commitment to Scripture
Galatians 1:16 (Paul speaking of what happened to him after his revelation of Jesus Christ) “I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away, at once into Arabia”.
Just as Jesus after His baptism was led into the wilderness to prepare for His ministry, so Paul is led to the desert of Arabia to ground himself in the scriptures that he may find his center in the will of God. Up until this point in his life, Paul had read the scriptures, as it were, with a veil upon them. They kind of made sense, but not really. They were hard to put into practice, but if anyone could do it, it was going to be him.
Because he had never encountered Jesus, he never understood all the Old Testament passages that were fulfilled through Christ's coming into the world. He writes in a letter to the Corinthian church, about the blindness he once shared with his Jewish contemporaries in understanding the scripture, “But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” (2 Corinthians 3:14-16 NIV)
In the gospels, when Jesus asks the disciples “Who do people say the son of Man is?” Peter comes to make the amazing confession of the Lord, “You are the Christ, the son of the Living God”. And Jesus looks him straight in the eye and says, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17 NIV)
When after the resurrection two disciples are walking on the road to Emmaus, down-hearted and disillusioned, it is Jesus who draws along side them and begins to open up to them the scriptures that they had known since childhood, in such a way that they saw, what they had never seen before, that the Scriptures pointed to Him! “They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:32 NIV)
The point being made here is that in order to understand the Scriptures we need the help of God's Holy Spirit to reveal the truth that they contain. Bible study is not an intellectual exercise, but a conversation with God. Without the presence of God, interpreting and applying Scripture to our lives, we study, as it were... under a veil. Only the action of God unveils the scripture.
Paul headed into Arabia. All the Scripture knowledge that he had in his head needed to make it's way into his heart. All his life he had missed out the one important ingredient that actually made sense of the scriptures - a living relationship with Jesus Christ.
He goes to no man on earth, not even to one of the apostles, to be confirmed in that truth. He turns to God and to the Scriptures, and they, in tandem, impart to him grace that transforms him from being blinded by the light, to someone who knows Jesus as the way, truth and life.
For scripture to come alive to us, for Scripture to be a force for grace that is transforming our lives, we need the presence of God to be acting as interpreter. Otherwise Scripture becomes just knowledge for knowledge's sake.
And that step, the step of moving from being in a place where the Bible becomes, not some old dusty book, but an album of God's messages to our hearts, is one that only happens through grace. For our part it involves a willingness to listen and obey, faith and trust that God can and will speak to us, and believing that the living Lord Jesus Christ walks with us in our lives.
But Paul doesn't stay in Arabia reading the good books. He leaves Arabia and seeks...
Communion with others
Paul heads to Damascus and works alongside the church leaders preaching the gospel. Eventually he heads to Jerusalem and for a few days meets with Peter and with James, the earthly brother of Jesus who by then had become a leader in the early church. I'd love to be a fly on the wall for some of those conversations!
'Peter, what was it like when you went up the mountain and saw Elijah and Moses talking with Jesus? 'James, how come you never got who Jesus really was when you were growing up?' 'Whatever became of Mary?'
Paul, through the revelation he had received on the road and in the desert of Arabia, now knew, beyond any personal doubt, that the gospel was true. He threw himself into the task of sharing with others what he had discovered. The great persecutor became the great proclaimer.
As you can imagine, it took a while for the leaders in the early church to accept him. How do you get beyond all your fears about somebody who has previously betrayed you and been the darkest of all opponents? Sure, we believe in grace, but can grace really be that trans-formative? What if it's a trick? What if there's a relapse?
There's a telling passage in Acts 9: 26-27 'When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.'
Not only does transforming grace take time, but it has to be a two way traffic. We have to extend grace towards those who extend grace to us. Paul's new friends were stretched to accept him as friend. But they did it! He 'gets by with a little help from his friends'.
Whenever we welcome new people into our lives, whether on a personal level or as a church fellowship, God calls us to extend our grace muscles. Because it's going to bring about change. And if there's one thing we don't handle well, it's change.
Paul changed the whole character of Christianity. Till he came along they thought that it was mostly a religion for scattered Jewish people. Only under Paul's influence did it become a religion that truly was for Gentiles as well. That was a 'Big' Change.
The final thing we see in Paul's journey of transforming grace is that of;
Confronting the past
He goes into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. This was his homelands. Jesus once told the folk of his hometown , "A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home." (Mark 6:4 NIV). But Paul feels he has to make that journey.
We never read of him actually managing to found a church in his hometown, but we do read in verse 23, 24 “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” And we hear Paul telling us “They glorified God because of me.” Even those who knew him the most could not deny that a change had come over him. They weren't prepared to let him build a church there, yet they could see that grace had the power to transform. Grace takes time.
I have been in ministry now for most of my life. Yet when I go back to my hometown I think there are still a few old friends who consider it to be just a phase I'm going through and wonder when I'll get a proper job. Whilst of course I pray for them, I feel that if ever they do embrace Christianity it will be through someone else's ministry rather than mine. They knew me too well when I was without the church, yet I hope they at least recognize that I'm probably the better for being with the church!
Sometimes we do have to confront our past. If nothing else, it keeps us humble. It reminds us, not just how far we have come, but that we have limitations. It recalls us to see that we are on a journey that takes a lifetime and that some portions of it, we would rather forget. Despite the fact of his position of leadership in the church, Paul would never escape the fact that he had once done the church a great deal of damage.
Great lessons in this passage about transforming grace. Grace takes time. Grace works through a process that involves; Commitment to scripture, Communion with others and Confronting the past.
Rev Adrian J. Pratt
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 9th, 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
For the early Christian Church Saul of Tarsus was their worst nightmare. He held the coats when one of the first christian martyrs, Stephen, was stoned to death. Saul was educated, extreme and totally committed to wiping Christians from the face of the earth.
Then one day, on the road to Damascus, Saul encounters Jesus, as a voice asking him 'Why are you persecuting me?' He is temporarily struck down with blindness, and is changed from being Saul, the great persecutor of Christianity, to Paul the great defender and evangelist of the Christian faith.
Only one word suffices to explain what happened to Paul. Grace! In his own words from Galatian's this morning he says, God 'Called me through His grace'. Grace transformed every thing about his life.
The account Paul gives us in Galatians One about his transformation is a little different from that we are given in the Book of Acts. You can get the impression from reading Acts that it was a case of Saul, on the road, blinded by the light, reaches Damascus, meets Ananaias - becomes a preacher and saves the world. 'Boom' - there it is. Instant hero.
The account in Galatians is subtly different and involves Paul having to spend time trying to come to terms with what had happened to him and the revelation of God given in the scriptures; Paul putting into practice what he now believed as he is befriended by those whom once he persecuted, and finally, Paul returning home to confront his past and give evidence of the reality of the transforming grace that had gripped his life.
The point I'm making today is that grace, amazing and unmerited and transforming as it may be, does not just happen. Grace takes time. Grace works through a process that includes; commitment to scripture, communion with others and confronting the past. Think about some of those things!
Commitment to Scripture
Galatians 1:16 (Paul speaking of what happened to him after his revelation of Jesus Christ) “I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away, at once into Arabia”.
Just as Jesus after His baptism was led into the wilderness to prepare for His ministry, so Paul is led to the desert of Arabia to ground himself in the scriptures that he may find his center in the will of God. Up until this point in his life, Paul had read the scriptures, as it were, with a veil upon them. They kind of made sense, but not really. They were hard to put into practice, but if anyone could do it, it was going to be him.
Because he had never encountered Jesus, he never understood all the Old Testament passages that were fulfilled through Christ's coming into the world. He writes in a letter to the Corinthian church, about the blindness he once shared with his Jewish contemporaries in understanding the scripture, “But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” (2 Corinthians 3:14-16 NIV)
In the gospels, when Jesus asks the disciples “Who do people say the son of Man is?” Peter comes to make the amazing confession of the Lord, “You are the Christ, the son of the Living God”. And Jesus looks him straight in the eye and says, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17 NIV)
When after the resurrection two disciples are walking on the road to Emmaus, down-hearted and disillusioned, it is Jesus who draws along side them and begins to open up to them the scriptures that they had known since childhood, in such a way that they saw, what they had never seen before, that the Scriptures pointed to Him! “They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:32 NIV)
The point being made here is that in order to understand the Scriptures we need the help of God's Holy Spirit to reveal the truth that they contain. Bible study is not an intellectual exercise, but a conversation with God. Without the presence of God, interpreting and applying Scripture to our lives, we study, as it were... under a veil. Only the action of God unveils the scripture.
Paul headed into Arabia. All the Scripture knowledge that he had in his head needed to make it's way into his heart. All his life he had missed out the one important ingredient that actually made sense of the scriptures - a living relationship with Jesus Christ.
He goes to no man on earth, not even to one of the apostles, to be confirmed in that truth. He turns to God and to the Scriptures, and they, in tandem, impart to him grace that transforms him from being blinded by the light, to someone who knows Jesus as the way, truth and life.
For scripture to come alive to us, for Scripture to be a force for grace that is transforming our lives, we need the presence of God to be acting as interpreter. Otherwise Scripture becomes just knowledge for knowledge's sake.
And that step, the step of moving from being in a place where the Bible becomes, not some old dusty book, but an album of God's messages to our hearts, is one that only happens through grace. For our part it involves a willingness to listen and obey, faith and trust that God can and will speak to us, and believing that the living Lord Jesus Christ walks with us in our lives.
But Paul doesn't stay in Arabia reading the good books. He leaves Arabia and seeks...
Communion with others
Paul heads to Damascus and works alongside the church leaders preaching the gospel. Eventually he heads to Jerusalem and for a few days meets with Peter and with James, the earthly brother of Jesus who by then had become a leader in the early church. I'd love to be a fly on the wall for some of those conversations!
'Peter, what was it like when you went up the mountain and saw Elijah and Moses talking with Jesus? 'James, how come you never got who Jesus really was when you were growing up?' 'Whatever became of Mary?'
Paul, through the revelation he had received on the road and in the desert of Arabia, now knew, beyond any personal doubt, that the gospel was true. He threw himself into the task of sharing with others what he had discovered. The great persecutor became the great proclaimer.
As you can imagine, it took a while for the leaders in the early church to accept him. How do you get beyond all your fears about somebody who has previously betrayed you and been the darkest of all opponents? Sure, we believe in grace, but can grace really be that trans-formative? What if it's a trick? What if there's a relapse?
There's a telling passage in Acts 9: 26-27 'When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.'
Not only does transforming grace take time, but it has to be a two way traffic. We have to extend grace towards those who extend grace to us. Paul's new friends were stretched to accept him as friend. But they did it! He 'gets by with a little help from his friends'.
Whenever we welcome new people into our lives, whether on a personal level or as a church fellowship, God calls us to extend our grace muscles. Because it's going to bring about change. And if there's one thing we don't handle well, it's change.
Paul changed the whole character of Christianity. Till he came along they thought that it was mostly a religion for scattered Jewish people. Only under Paul's influence did it become a religion that truly was for Gentiles as well. That was a 'Big' Change.
The final thing we see in Paul's journey of transforming grace is that of;
Confronting the past
He goes into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. This was his homelands. Jesus once told the folk of his hometown , "A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home." (Mark 6:4 NIV). But Paul feels he has to make that journey.
We never read of him actually managing to found a church in his hometown, but we do read in verse 23, 24 “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” And we hear Paul telling us “They glorified God because of me.” Even those who knew him the most could not deny that a change had come over him. They weren't prepared to let him build a church there, yet they could see that grace had the power to transform. Grace takes time.
I have been in ministry now for most of my life. Yet when I go back to my hometown I think there are still a few old friends who consider it to be just a phase I'm going through and wonder when I'll get a proper job. Whilst of course I pray for them, I feel that if ever they do embrace Christianity it will be through someone else's ministry rather than mine. They knew me too well when I was without the church, yet I hope they at least recognize that I'm probably the better for being with the church!
Sometimes we do have to confront our past. If nothing else, it keeps us humble. It reminds us, not just how far we have come, but that we have limitations. It recalls us to see that we are on a journey that takes a lifetime and that some portions of it, we would rather forget. Despite the fact of his position of leadership in the church, Paul would never escape the fact that he had once done the church a great deal of damage.
Great lessons in this passage about transforming grace. Grace takes time. Grace works through a process that involves; Commitment to scripture, Communion with others and Confronting the past.
- As we try and make sense of our own lives, Paul gives us some wonderful insight. We can be guided by God's Word, as long as we make Scripture study a conversation with God rather than just an intellectual exercise.
- We can get by with a little help from our friends, but in the process need to think about how we can be friends to others.
- We need to confront the past, if only to remind ourselves that we all face limitations and that if we have any bragging rights, then let us boast of what the grace of God has done for us!
Rev Adrian J. Pratt
Monday, June 3, 2013
GALATIANS : THE GOSPEL OF GRACE 1 “The True Gospel”
Readings: Psalm 96, 1 Kings, 18:20-29, Luke 7:1-10, Galatians 1:1-12
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 2nd, 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
From earliest days groups of church folk have met around tables laid with bread and wine to celebrate the gospel. In the first chapter of Galatians, Paul instructs his readers that just as there existed a genuine gospel, so there was also a false gospel. And it was dangerous to get the two confused! In our reading today Paul gives us some clues as to what the true gospel looks like.
One of the foundational things he tells us is that the true gospel is a revelation from God. It is not a creation of any human mind, but a reflection of the mind and will of the One who created all things. He writes in verse 12 “I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it, through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Just as communion, bread and wine, are something to be received, so it is with the gospel. It is something we need to feed our hearts and souls and minds upon. It is something that offers us a radically different perspective on life, because it is coming from a place far beyond the confines of everyday life. Paul claims the gospel is a revelation from the God who gave all things their life.
But not a revelation in any general sort of way. It is a revelation of Jesus Christ that teaches us about what Jesus can do in our world and in our lives. Paul writes in verses 3-4 “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of God.”
Many have a sense of our world being out of synchronicity with it's purpose. They see it in the world around them and sense it within themselves. There's a disjointedness that often reveals itself through the addictive patterns of behavior we unwittingly become ensnared by. It is not that we are embroiled in some classic struggle of good against evil, more the case that many of us are just struggling to get by and make sense of it all.
Paul speaks of the times he lives in as being 'an evil age'. I wonder what he'd make of our day? For sure we witness wonders in our age that Paul would never have dreamed of. Yet in the light of all the advances it is a fact that even today all are not equal, many still suffer, millions go hungry, wars and disasters continue to befall us. Our current times seem as prone towards evil as they ever were!
The Good News, the great news, the gospel news, is that through the love and grace of Jesus Christ, life can be transformed. This is the true gospel. We can be moved from a place of striving to a place of peace, from a place of conflict to a place of healing, from a place of disjointedness to a place of 'Shalom', to a place of wholeness and completeness where we can rest secure in the love of God... and it's all because of Grace! The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Here around this table is our opportunity to connect with Jesus Christ, so that the level of servant life, that He exemplified, may be replicated and recreated in us, so that we can live for God's glory and be transformed by God's amazing Grace.
This desire for transformation is wonderfully captured in the third verse of Charles Wesley's hymn, 'Love Divine, All Loves Excelling' :-
The true gospel draws from us a sense of being children of God, being One with God and so with each other and all humanity. It is grace from beginning to end. It is a gift that takes our breath away and when rightly perceived leaves us in awe.
It is grace that causes us not to be satisfied with the way things are. It prompts us to make the kingdom 'a happening' because it forces us away from ourselves towards thinking of what can be done for others. It takes us right to the heart of Jesus teaching in the sermon on the mount, and prompts to take action to see the hungry are fed, the prisoners are set free, the sick healed and the poor restored to favor.
Transformed people are prompted to transform the world. And to do so in the light of the message of Easter. To proclaim Jesus as the living Lord. We are not powerless, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. We never walk alone, we walk with Him. We are not lone-rangers but communities of faith who witness to our common humanity in Jesus Christ.
For Paul this is the true gospel, a gospel that if we embrace it, transforms not only ourselves but our world. The problem he faced in Galatia was that a different gospel was being preached. This false gospel was not about grace but about all the things you could do in order to be accepted by God.
This false gospel is attractive because it's more about us than it is about God. It suggests that if we can be all that we can be, then God's love will be ours for the taking. It suggests that if we can just jump through all the right hoops then we've got it made. We will be the insiders and the rest of the world will slide merrily on their way to destruction.
This false gospel offers us a platform from which we can look down our noses at the rest of humanity. It gives us the chance to be self-made people and absolves us from the responsibility of caring too much about others. After all, if they are in a mess, all they have to do is follow the same directions as we have followed and all will change.
We can call this false gospel not the 'Good News' but the 'Good Enough' message. At it's root is the notion that somehow if we can make ourselves 'good enough' than such will be enough for God to accept us and pour out blessings upon us.
Why is it false?
Paul is dismayed. “I am astonished” he writes in verse 6 “That you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.” He does not hold back in expressing his disdain for those who were promoting a false message. Verse 9 'As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!' He doesn't care how angelic their words may sound, how impressive their qualifications may seem, nor even how attractive their words may be, it was all about grace, or it was not the true gospel!
Today I invite you to come to receive bread and wine, in the light of the true gospel, the gospel of Grace. I invite you, here and now, around this table, to take a step of commitment towards the things of God's Kingdom. I invite you on this day to allow the Holy Spirit of God to inspire you and remould you through God's amazing grace.
Come to the holy table, not because you are strong, but because you are weak. Come, not because any goodness of your own gives you a right to come, but because you need mercy and help. Come, not because you love the Lord enough, but want to love Him more. Come because He loved you and gave Himself for you. Come to receive this bread and wine the token and pledge of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit”
“Taste and see that the Lord is good!”
Rev Adrian J. Pratt
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 2nd, 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
From earliest days groups of church folk have met around tables laid with bread and wine to celebrate the gospel. In the first chapter of Galatians, Paul instructs his readers that just as there existed a genuine gospel, so there was also a false gospel. And it was dangerous to get the two confused! In our reading today Paul gives us some clues as to what the true gospel looks like.
One of the foundational things he tells us is that the true gospel is a revelation from God. It is not a creation of any human mind, but a reflection of the mind and will of the One who created all things. He writes in verse 12 “I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it, through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Just as communion, bread and wine, are something to be received, so it is with the gospel. It is something we need to feed our hearts and souls and minds upon. It is something that offers us a radically different perspective on life, because it is coming from a place far beyond the confines of everyday life. Paul claims the gospel is a revelation from the God who gave all things their life.
But not a revelation in any general sort of way. It is a revelation of Jesus Christ that teaches us about what Jesus can do in our world and in our lives. Paul writes in verses 3-4 “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of God.”
Many have a sense of our world being out of synchronicity with it's purpose. They see it in the world around them and sense it within themselves. There's a disjointedness that often reveals itself through the addictive patterns of behavior we unwittingly become ensnared by. It is not that we are embroiled in some classic struggle of good against evil, more the case that many of us are just struggling to get by and make sense of it all.
Paul speaks of the times he lives in as being 'an evil age'. I wonder what he'd make of our day? For sure we witness wonders in our age that Paul would never have dreamed of. Yet in the light of all the advances it is a fact that even today all are not equal, many still suffer, millions go hungry, wars and disasters continue to befall us. Our current times seem as prone towards evil as they ever were!
The Good News, the great news, the gospel news, is that through the love and grace of Jesus Christ, life can be transformed. This is the true gospel. We can be moved from a place of striving to a place of peace, from a place of conflict to a place of healing, from a place of disjointedness to a place of 'Shalom', to a place of wholeness and completeness where we can rest secure in the love of God... and it's all because of Grace! The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Here around this table is our opportunity to connect with Jesus Christ, so that the level of servant life, that He exemplified, may be replicated and recreated in us, so that we can live for God's glory and be transformed by God's amazing Grace.
This desire for transformation is wonderfully captured in the third verse of Charles Wesley's hymn, 'Love Divine, All Loves Excelling' :-
"Finish then thy new creation, Pure and sinless let us be;
Let us see thy great salvation, Perfectly restored in thee:
Changed from glory into glory, Till in heav'n we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before thee, Lost in wonder, love and praise.” The true gospel draws from us a sense of being children of God, being One with God and so with each other and all humanity. It is grace from beginning to end. It is a gift that takes our breath away and when rightly perceived leaves us in awe.
It is grace that causes us not to be satisfied with the way things are. It prompts us to make the kingdom 'a happening' because it forces us away from ourselves towards thinking of what can be done for others. It takes us right to the heart of Jesus teaching in the sermon on the mount, and prompts to take action to see the hungry are fed, the prisoners are set free, the sick healed and the poor restored to favor.
Transformed people are prompted to transform the world. And to do so in the light of the message of Easter. To proclaim Jesus as the living Lord. We are not powerless, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. We never walk alone, we walk with Him. We are not lone-rangers but communities of faith who witness to our common humanity in Jesus Christ.
For Paul this is the true gospel, a gospel that if we embrace it, transforms not only ourselves but our world. The problem he faced in Galatia was that a different gospel was being preached. This false gospel was not about grace but about all the things you could do in order to be accepted by God.
This false gospel is attractive because it's more about us than it is about God. It suggests that if we can be all that we can be, then God's love will be ours for the taking. It suggests that if we can just jump through all the right hoops then we've got it made. We will be the insiders and the rest of the world will slide merrily on their way to destruction.
This false gospel offers us a platform from which we can look down our noses at the rest of humanity. It gives us the chance to be self-made people and absolves us from the responsibility of caring too much about others. After all, if they are in a mess, all they have to do is follow the same directions as we have followed and all will change.
We can call this false gospel not the 'Good News' but the 'Good Enough' message. At it's root is the notion that somehow if we can make ourselves 'good enough' than such will be enough for God to accept us and pour out blessings upon us.
Why is it false?
- Firstly because that is not the way of salvation revealed to us by God in scripture. Paul's authentic message is that none of us have ever, can ever or will ever be sufficiently good enough to deserve God's blessing. We are sinners who fall short of the glory of God. Our only hope is the revelation that the grace of God restores us to a relationship with God.
- Secondly, the false gospel makes us into our own personal saviors and minimizes the need to put our faith in Jesus Christ. Paul teaches us that there is no other savior in all creation who can restore us to a right relationship with God other than our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the One who comes to save. He dies for the purpose of forgiving our sins. If we could atone for own sins He wouldn't have needed to face the Cross. His body wouldn't have needed to have been broken, nor His blood poured out. Again we are back with verse 4 “He gave himself for our sins to set us free … according to the will of our God and Father”
- Thirdly, this 'good enough' gospel causes us not to lift up our hearts in worship of God, but rather become focused on the rules of the game. It creates Pharisaic and judgmental ways of acting and behaving. It pulls us towards legislation, not towards grace. Rather than setting us free it sets us up for a fall.
Paul is dismayed. “I am astonished” he writes in verse 6 “That you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.” He does not hold back in expressing his disdain for those who were promoting a false message. Verse 9 'As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!' He doesn't care how angelic their words may sound, how impressive their qualifications may seem, nor even how attractive their words may be, it was all about grace, or it was not the true gospel!
Today I invite you to come to receive bread and wine, in the light of the true gospel, the gospel of Grace. I invite you, here and now, around this table, to take a step of commitment towards the things of God's Kingdom. I invite you on this day to allow the Holy Spirit of God to inspire you and remould you through God's amazing grace.
Come to the holy table, not because you are strong, but because you are weak. Come, not because any goodness of your own gives you a right to come, but because you need mercy and help. Come, not because you love the Lord enough, but want to love Him more. Come because He loved you and gave Himself for you. Come to receive this bread and wine the token and pledge of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit”
“Taste and see that the Lord is good!”
Rev Adrian J. Pratt
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