Year: 2016

So today we delve into a theological concept that is fundamental to our faith, and yet is one with which theologians over the ages have struggled.  The term we are going to look at is justification.  If you break that word down you see that it is composed of the root which is “justify”.  How is a person made just, made right, even made righteous before God?  In the past, or at least in the past for Paul which would have been in his Jewish days, one was made righteous before God through the law.  It had to happen every year.  Every year there would be a sacrifice made of a lamb, its blood would be shed and it would be sent over the cliff outside of Jerusalem as a symbol that God had laid the sin of all of His people on this lamb who carried it away.  Now, before you think: how cruel, think of the symbolism that we have in communion.  Our symbolism is that we eat the body and drink the blood of Jesus, which allows us to be cleansed.  So, before you hold your nose to the savagery of the past, keep in mind that we are not much better.  That is the value of symbolism.

Paul states in this chapter that no longer are we justified under the law, but rather, if you look at vs.21: “if justification comes though the law, then Christ died for nothing.”  Instead, Paul tells us, justification comes by “faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  This is the difference between the Old Covenant that was tied up in the law and an act that we had to perform in order to be justified, and the New Covenant which is tied up in the cross and the act that Jesus did and offered to us freely.  According to Hebrews, Jesus was/is the sacrificial lamb who was killed once and for all for us.  Go back to vs.16 and you can read these exact words and explanation by Paul that is noteworthy.  He states: “a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.”  This is the single most important difference that Jesus made.  He connects the chasm between us and God.  We do not try to connect it, he does it for us.

The beginning part of this chapter is a bit of a diatribe, again, again those who would insist that the only way to be a Christian is to first become Jewish.  Specifically, and this is where he objects the most, if anyone would require a person to be circumcised before they were welcomed into the fold, then that is simply wrong.  If you look at vs.12 you will see that there is a circumcision “faction”.  So, just in case you thought the first century church was perfect, it was not.  It had factions which caused church leaders, Barnabas at that, to be stifled and change their actions in such a way that it did not fulfill the will of God.  Paul says he approached them and talked to them to their face about their errors.  Now you know how you are made right before God.  It has nothing to do with what you do.  It has everything to do with Jesus and what he did for us.  If we have faith in what he did for us, we are in that number.  On that note see below.

This letter of Paul is clearly written to the churches of Galatia.  If you look at your map today you will not see a city called Galatia.  In fact, it is important that we see that this letter is written to the churches (plural) in Galatia as opposed to the church (singular) in Corinth (I Corinthians 1:2).  

The four churches of Galatia were thought to be Antioch of Pisidia, Lystra, Iconium, and Derbe.  They were squarely folded into the Roman Empire in  the 20’s BC.  It is thought that Paul established these churches in his early first missionary journey in the years 46-48AD.  He then wrote this letter to the churches around 49AD while he was on the way to the Jerusalem council.  The churches found themselves in a region that was often swayed and vacillated among ideas and philosophies.  This comes out in the letter.  Let’s look at the first chapter.

Paul gives us his testimony here.  What is your testimony?  I love the way in which he succinctly speaks of his born again moment in a few short paragraphs.  My testimony is not in any way similar to that of Paul’s.  I did grow up in a Christian family.  My parents did nurture me with Scripture and bathed me in prayer.  But I chose to not follow Jesus and to follow a path which I felt was right for me at that time, which had nothing to do with God.  In short, I was self-centered on that which was most important to me, and God was not a part of the equation.  I wasn’t necessarily hostile to God, He just didn’t enter the picture…until He did.  On a winter retreat on January 14, 1986 Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to talk to me and say that He wanted me in His fold.  Praise be to God I responded.  I was not out persecuting the church.  I was not hostile to people or groups.  I was involved in some actions which would be called immoral, but for the most part I was a good kid.  When I asked Jesus to enter my life, everything changed.  I became focused on knowing that my life had to reflect every single day the presence of Jesus in my life.  

Paul’s testimony is one of a celebrity and well educated clergyman who was empowered to root out the enemy and bring them to justice.  His conversion allowed the Holy Spirit to work in his life and it turned him into one who joined sides with the enemy, at least according to the religious rulers of the day.  I guess the most equal comparison would be if a well-known Christian pastor were tasked by the church to seek out ISIS cells within the US and bring them to justice.  In his responsibility of rooting them out he then changes his mind and joins ISIS to establish cells throughout the US.  His transition was a scandal to the religious authority and a bonus, a big bonus, to the early Christian church.  Yes, I am comparing the early church to ISIS in that the status quo of the day saw them as a threat which needed to be eliminated because they were a threat to their way of life and a real threat to their livelihood.

He begins the letter after his greeting where he lifts up the grace and the work of Jesus on the cross.  He chastises the churches in Galatia for their apostasy as it seems like they have quickly turned away from the faith which Paul had brought to them.  It does sound like someone who is disappointed in the recent development of things.  Keep in mind that once Paul visited that region and established churches that it would be years before he would be able to visit them again, if he was able to at all.  His main point is the following: If anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received (to what Paul had originally brought), let that one be accursed.  The Galatians were moving away from Paul’s original teaching and moving toward whatever teachings might have been appealing at that time and on that day.  

His testimony follows, and it a convincing one which allows the churches in Galatia to remember the authority which Paul has and the reason why, in the first place, that they turned to Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  

We launch ourselves into the last chapter of Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth.  It is hard to believe that we have made our way through both letters, and I hope you have been able to hear the difference between the two letters.  The first is much more encouraging and Paul seems to have more of a mentoring approach.  The second is much more critical and one in which Paul almost realizes either they are going to get it, or they are not.  Vs.2 Paul has another warning for the church in Corinth, if he has to come back again to Corinth in order to right the wrongs: “I will not be lenient”.  

Once again Paul’s greatest frustration with the church is that they consistently require Paul to demonstrate that he is a legitimate apostle.  The assumption is that there are probably a number within that community  who do not consider Paul on the same level as the church leaders in Jerusalem.  Paul is not jealous, but rather frustrated that they would not respect him in a way that he is to be respected.  Again, it is not a battle that I would choose to fight, for my belief is that over time if we consistently push forward, then people are going to realize who you are and who you aren’t.  We should never do anything in our lives with the motivation of trying to prove ourselves for other people.  Just do that which God has placed on our heart.  But for Paul, there is a palpable frustration in not being recognize as he feels he should be recognized.

In vs.10 Paul states that all of his words up to this point have been for the purpose of building up and not for tearing down.  His desire is that the church would be strengthened, and not that he would get on the case of any one individual so much so that they would feel inadequate and unable to complete the task at hand.  There is a fine line when dealing with volunteers at the church in regards to whether you are able to be critical in any way or not.  Criticism has the natural tendency to put people on the defensive.  At a certain point a volunteer could easily say that it simply isn’t worth the effort.

Vs.13 gives us a wonderful benediction that can serve universally.  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.  What a wonderful trinitarian statement to end the chapter.  Next…GALATIANS!

In these verses we find the proverbial “thorn in the side” Scripture.  If you look at vs.7 you will find Paul’s words that speak to a weakness that the Lord has given him which he has to face his entire life in order to overcome.  The reason why God has given him this thorn, according to Paul’s self-analysis, is so that Paul would not be able to be too elated about his status in life.  That is, God has gifted Paul powerfully, but there is always the temptation to think that our gifts come from us, and not from our creator.  Paul’s weakness is brought about  as a gift from God to remind Paul who is his creator.  What is this thorn?  There are so many different theories, but I believe it is that Paul has poor eyesight.  

You can find Paul’s reference to his eyesight in Romans 16:22 where he states that he wrote down the greeting in his own hand.  The assumption is that someone else wrote the letter which he dictated.  He says the same in II Thessalonians and I Corinthians.  In Galatians 6:11 he states that he wrote a greeting in his own hand in very large letters.  All of these references lead me to believe that he had trouble with his eyesight, but again, he doesn’t say directly.

But what he does say is that even with his present weakness, he fully realizes that God’s grace is sufficient for him.  He doesn’t need anything about himself to be perfect, because God can make all things perfect, and surely at least sufficient.  This is a great memory verse: My grace is sufficient for you.  That could even be a mantra should we ever find ourselves in times when we just need to be reminded of God’s providence.  My grace is sufficient for you.  That’s a good place to end.

I’ll never forget a conference that I went to which was full of pastors who were considering the current state of our denomination and trying to find ways in which we could champion a more conservative moralistic approach which seemed to be fading in the PC(USA).  At one of the break  out sessions there was a discussion on what a graceful separation from the denomination would look like.  The room was packed.  At this conference, and at this break out room, there were pastors from other countries, Presbyterians like the rest of us, who wanted to see what was happening in our denomination.

The discussion arose in regards to how do we make sure we keep our churches, the buildings, the campuses, the stuff, if we leave the denomination.  This topic seemed to come up and we lingered on it for quite some time.  At one point, a pastor from the Philippines stood up and said: “Why is that you Americans are more concerned about your church buildings and the material things about your churches than about the actual people.  Why don’t you just let the denomination have your building and you just focus on the people.”  It was a very telling statement, and one that hushed the crowd, at least for a moment.  

At the beginning of this chapter Paul once again in a somewhat sarcastic manner speaks out against, it seems, other people who might be preaching a Gospel, but not the Gospel of Christ.  It seems that he is speaking against the church in Corinth because maybe, just maybe and I could be embellishing this, they were also supporting some of these false teachers.  If you look starting at vs.12 you can hear him call them out.  When he states in vs.13 that these teachers, and I’m guessing he’s talking about those who had cut into his profits, calls them deceitful workers.  

The entire ending of this chapter is Paul proving to the reader that he is a better qualified apostle and church worker than anyone who has graced the city of Corinth.  Nuff said.

So who made Paul angry?  It seems as if the entire chapter 10 is an apology for his authority and the  fact that he is the one, after all, who was used by the Lord to establish that community.  It is interesting that he uses their words as a defense of who he is.  If you look at vs.10 you will see that he is given some physical attributes.  They say that he is weak in body and that he has trouble with his speech.  I’m not sure what that looks like, but he does not seem to be the best cut out to be an evangelist.  Yet somehow it works.  Somehow he becomes, and he has already by then become, the most significant evangelist in history.  

That might teach us a lesson that if we are weak of body and our speech is “contemptible” that we are not without hope.  We can still bring people to a loving knowledge of Jesus as Savior.  Beyond that, it seems as if Paul does get somewhat defensive and says something along the lines of: it is not those who speak about themselves that are lifted up, but rather those whom the Lord lifts up.  Ironically, this is immediately after he has spoken very highly of himself.  

Are we talking about money again?  Yes, but not exclusively.  Vs.6 is a classic verse which has been used on stewardship Sundays for millennia.  Paul reminds us that those who sow sparingly, will also reap sparingly.  Again, he is speaking in relationship to those who are giving for the ministry of the early 1st century church.  He speaks in the verse earlier that he wants the giving from the brothers and sisters to be seen as a voluntary gift and not as an extortion.  That’s a pretty harsh word.  How could giving to the church be seen as an extortion?  Oh, I don’t know, if maybe promises are made.  

It is time to speak about the prosperity Gospel which is a fairly pernicious message that many churches espouse.  The teaching goes along this line: the more that you give to the church (it is often said that you are giving to God), then the more you will be given by God.  God’s desire is that all who follow him would be rich.  The only word for this kind of teaching is, frankly, heresy.  God’s ultimate desire for us is not that we be as materially endowed as possible.  There are some pastors who use guilt in order to puff up their lifestyle by saying something along the lines: God wants his primary servant to be comfortable as he is suffering for the Gospel.  Where do you read that?  Paul says quite the opposite.  God’s servants need to be comfortable in suffering and doing without.  

Let’s not forget about vs.7 which states that God loves a cheerful giver.  This cheerfulness in giving can only come about if we understand that what we have is not actually ours to begin with.  Yes, we have worked hard, yes, we have sacrificed, yes, no one has given us anything.  But all that we have could be taken from us.  Let’s not forget about Job.  Or, conversely, we could receive material gifts which we have never expected or deserved.  Giving is a reflection of a recognition that what we have is God’s possession which allows us to use it for His purposes.  

The promise that we do have from God is not that we will be prosperous, but rather, as vs.8 states, that we will always have enough of everything.  We will never be assured of more than what we need, but we will always have enough.  That is a promise that God gives us, not quid pro quo, as in if we give 10% then God will bless us with what we need, but rather a recognition that obedience does lead to eternal promises.  That is something we can rely upon.

So, let’s talk about money.  That’s Paul’s basic premise here in this chapter.  He commends the church in Macedonia for its generous giving.  The churches that were located in Macedonia were in Philippi and Thessaloniki, which were two communities to whom Paul wrote and that make up part of our New Testament.  He says that they were willing to give even more than what their means allows.  Let’s talk a little bit about money and financial giving.

I have consistently preached on the tithe as the way in which we can be obedient to God as we are stewards of that which God has placed in our lives.  I fully recognize that it is a “flat tax” and that 10% is more to someone making $20,000 than to someone making $200,000.  I get that, and still I am convinced and have experienced God’s generosity to allow all of us to make ends meet, if we are faithful to His call of tithing.  I hope that doesn’t sound either hokey or self-serving.  I’ve mentioned several times in my sermons the way God has provided miraculously on the financial front to our family in times in need as well as to the churches where I have served in times of need.  God provides.  Paul commends the churches for allowing themselves to be used as God’s instrument of provision.

I’ll never forget a number of different bankers with whom I worked on my sessions who would say: “God doesn’t provide the money, people do.”  I couldn’t agree more.  I don’t believe it is contradictory to say that God will provide.  In all things in churches without people the church is an empty shell.  God works through people in order to provide.  This is true not only in terms of finances but also in terms of time, material, showing up, being present, usage of gifts and skills.  God uses us in a way that reflects our value just as we should love to be of use to God because of his amazing grace.  So, if you are wondering what is our calling in regards to finances, 10% is our calling regardless of who we are.  It is a matter of recognizing that what we have is actually given by the grace of God.

Now on to a topic where I am not very orthodox.  At my daughter’s graduation this year one of the speakers was adamant that Jesus wants us all to be rich.  To be honest, I was insulted and shocked that at a Mennonite School this would be a value upheld, much less one that was trumpeted at graduation.  Jesus doesn’t want us all to be rich, he wants us all to care more about our neighbor than ourselves.  There was one statement that was made – “Go out there and make as much money as you can, and if you can help people along the way that would be good too.”  Ouch.  Now to the controversial part that I was talking about.  Look at vs.9.  Keep in mind what is the topic at hand.  Paul is not speaking metaphorically about being rich in spirit or being poor in spirit.  He is speaking about material richness.  There is some interplay in this verse between metaphor and literal rendition.

I wrote a paper once in seminary about Jesus who was rich and chose to sell all that he had to give to the poor.  We know that his disciples were not poor.  Peter had slaves and a fleet of boats.  Matthew was a tax collector who could hold feasts and pay back oodles of money to those whom he had cheated.  We know that there was a building boom taking place in that day as the Roman Empire expanded.  There are first century writing which point to the fact that if you were a carpenter of a certain stature, that you did okay.  Granted there was not much of a middle class, you were either poor or rich, but carpenters were at least closer to the middle than they were to the lower.  

Who would you respect more?  A person who never had money telling folks to sell all that they have and give to the poor, or a rich person who had actually sold all that he had and given to the poor?  When Paul mentions that Jesus was rich, I think part of that statement was very literal.  The difference is that in the end Jesus does become materially poor, but by his own choosing.  He did not spend his life as a rich man (foxes have holes and birds have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head).  But unlike the speaker at the graduation, we know for sure that Jesus commands us to prioritize not the making of money, but rather the making of disciples, the making of people who are lovers of God.  If along the way we make some money, that’s okay, that’s a plus, but our focus needs to be on people.  

We are definitely missing something here.  From this chapter it is fairly obvious that there is a letter that was written which chastised the Corinthians, but it is obviously not the first letter to the church in Corinth which we have.  Paul tells the church in vs.8 that he was sorry if his letter caused sorrow within the church, but only to the extent that it caused sorrow, not because he was wrong to write the letter.  In fact, it was good that he wrote the letter, he states, because it lit a fire under them to do something to get themselves out of whatever the situation was.  He alludes to the situation in vs.12 where he states that there was someone who committed a wrong and someone who was wronged.  At least this we know, but nothing more.

Titus is mentioned here in this chapter.  If you want to know more about Titus feel free to read the miniscule letter, only 3 short chapters, where you can read more about this person of faith.  He is said to have brought about great peace to the community of Corinth after delivering a letter that condemned some of the actions of the Corinthian church.  This is what is mentioned in vs.8.  As a result of Titus, II Corinthians is thought to have been written.  So Titus is not an insignificant person.  He is beloved by Paul who brought him to the Jerusalem Assembly in Acts 15 and then argues that while some should be circumcised in order to represent the Gospel, such as Timothy, Titus did not need to succumb to that procedure.  

It is an interesting chapter because it reminds us that there is a lot of history involved in the life of Paul which we don’t know just from reading the Bible.  In fact, much of it may be lost.

There is a fine line between being in this world but not of this world.  This Scripture speaks specifically to those who are looking for a spouse and they are out in the world and wondering who God has prepared for them with whom to grow old.  There is a verse that I have heard ever since I was a teenager in my youth group.  Look at vs.14.  Now, keep in mind that I went to a few different youth groups.  One in a Presbyterian Church, where I didn’t hear this verse, and one from a youth worker named Big Al who brought me to an understanding that Jesus actually loved me.  It was Big Al who taught me this verse and taught me, and all of us in our youth group, that we are not to look for people to date who were not Christian.  Needless to say, there was a lot of dating going on within that youth group.

But there is a lasting truth in recognizing that we do not want to be unequally yoked for the rest of our lives.  One of the first decisions we have to make is when the children come along.  Do we baptize them?  And if so, where and when?  Those are questions that need to come along before the marriage and if the couple are not both Christians, then the one Christian will find themselves facing a very difficult uphill battle.  There is a statement that we don’t choose with whom we fall in love.  That is true, to a certain extent, but we do choose whom we will marry.  I am a huge believer that if we do not marry those who love Jesus, then Jesus is going to lose out in our relationship.  That is the most important thing in our life, our relationship with Jesus.  I pray every day that my girls will find someone who loves Jesus that they will also fall in love with.