This is as close to a rant as there is in the Bible. Oh, who am I kidding? This is a rant by Paul who is wrought with frustration and maybe a dash of righteous anger. He just can’t believe how stupid the Galatians are thinking and behaving! I envision Paul pacing back and forth as he dictates his letter to the Galatians, and the more he thinks about, the more upset he’s getting. He’s beside himself and can’t quite find the words to fully express his incredulity. Here’s the rant from Galatians 3:1-14 as translated by Eugene Peterson in The Message…it’s a long passage…but then once Paul got on a roll I don’t know that he even took a breath because he was so distraught.
You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it's obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the Cross was certainly set before you clearly enough. Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God's Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but it certainly will be if you keep this up!
Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you? Don't these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God. Is it not obvious to you that persons who put their trust in Christ (not persons who put their trust in the law!) are like Abraham: children of faith? It was all laid out beforehand in Scripture that God would set things right with non-Jews by faith. Scripture anticipated this in the promise to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed in you."
So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith—this is no new doctrine! And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: "Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law." The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that's the real life."
Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: "The one who does these things [rule-keeping]continues to live by them." Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the Cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham's blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God's life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it.
Whoa! What yanked Paul’s chain and set him off? To use the illustration we developed last Sunday for Easter, we’re all caged by sin. Jesus’ death and resurrection resulted in our being freed from our cage. This is a free gift of grace. And what we need to do is continue to trust God by living our lives in the context of God’s grace as secured by Jesus and mediate through the Holy Spirit. To be freed, but then to try and live life through our own efforts is to live stupidly.
What we need to talk about this Sunday is the little sheets of paper so many of us placed in the basket out at the foot of the cross. How do we live free of…the shame…guilt …regret…anger…need to be perfect…fear of success…fear of failure…and all the other things that keep us caged? If we’ve been freed, how do we live freely in the context of grace, and not law? This is the important second part of last week’s message.
Now for the other stuff on my desk…
I will be doing sermon prep with my friend and colleague Russ Kane this next week. I won’t be missing a Sunday, but next Sunday we get to hear Marcus Alphin present the message once again. If you missed Marcus last time, that was your loss. If you miss him again, that will be your mistake. The more time I spend Marcus, the more thankful I am that he is sharing his heart with us, and God is using him in a mighty way.
With that…you really do know what I know…
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