Lord, Pentecost Us Again 

Acts 2:1-4, 13-21

Text Introduction:  During December many Baptist churches focus attention on missions.  While international outreach is always an important part of the church's work, we can never forget the obligation to be open to the Spirit's work in empowering us to reach our own neighbors.

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Even though it involved a motley crew of fishermen, tax-collectors, peasants, and socially-powerless women it would be hard to overstate the significance of the events Luke describes in this passage.  This was a world-changing moment.  Theologians argue about whether or not it is proper to call this the birthday of the church, but certainly it was day the church read its birth certificate and discovered its true identity.  

The church, from this point forward, would be God’s fifth column challenging a world-system which had turned its back on its Creator. 

Listen to Ernest Baker’s description of that day:

“One hundred and twenty disciples of the Lord Jesus were suddenly baptized in the Holy Spirit.  their characters were wonderfully enriched.  New gifts of speech, insight, and argument were conferred upon them.  A great accession of zeal, and love, and devotion was added to their motive powers.  Within a few hours 3,000 men and women were converted.  The Christian Church was constituted.  Every day conversions took place;  sometimes scores, hundreds, and even thousands, were added to the ranks of the disciples.  The work continued for years in Jerusalem itself.  It was not the event of a season.  It also spread abroad.  The revival created missionaries, who went out in all directions.  Revivals in other centers followed.  Every city of any considerable importance in the Roman Empire felt the influence of the movement during the next few years.”

How does this compare with today’s church?

Well, it depends upon the breadth of your perspective.  In the minds of many people the church is dying.  They point to the fact there is little real growth, that conversions seem to be declining, that many people just don’t take the church seriously anymore.

Those whose visions look beyond the west, however, see something very different.  They see that in the so-called Global South Christianity is rapidly growing. They see that in sub-Saharan Africa Christianity is the fastest growing religion.  They see that there are millions of new Christian converts in China every year.  And they see that even in Muslim nations there are many who risk their very lives to become take Christ’s name.  

How can this be?  Western churches have the money.  Western churches have the technology—some of our churches even own radio and television stations.  Western churches have the universities and seminaries.  Western churches have the most highly trained clergy in the world.  Yet, the Western church seems to be dying.

When we look at those non-Western churches, one thing stands out.  They have no choice but to rely on the Holy Spirit.  

There may be other differences but one must be the role the Holy Spirit played in the lives of these non-Western Christians. 

The late John Stott reminded us of what too many in the West have forgotten:

“Without the Holy Spirit, Christian discipleship would be inconceivable, even impossible.  There can be no life without the life-giver, no understanding without the Spirit of truth, no fellowship without the unity of the Spirit, no Christlikeness of character apart from his fruit and no effective witness without his power.  As a body without breath is a corpse, so the church without the Spirit is dead.

Compare that with the attitude expressed in a statement cited by Os Guinness in which one modern church leader commented that the early church needed the Spirit because it did not know about mass marketing techniques like we do.

It’s time the church prayed, “Lord, Pentecost us again.”

As Christians, we speak of the Holy Spirit but our focus is usually on how the Spirit works in the life of the individual.  And that’s important.  The New Testament has some beautiful language to describe the relationship of the believer to God’s Spirit.  The New Testament speaks of “baptism in the Spirit,” “being filled with the Spirit,” “walking in the Spirit,” and simply being “in the Spirit.”  We probably don’t need to draw too much distinction between these terms, but remember they all speak of an intimacy with God through the Spirit.  It is an experience the believer should cherish.  

There’s no doubt the individual believer needs the Spirit.  But so does the church.  In the first chapter of Acts, Luke reminds us that Jesus had told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Spirit.  After reminding them of the great work they would do in spreading the gospel, Jesus said, “… stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” 

Jesus knew that partnership with God, through the Spirit, was essential if the church was to do his work.  The church always needs Pentecost.

I

WE NEED TO PRAY “LORD, PENTECOST US AGAIN”

BECAUSE THE SPIRIT

ENABLES US TO MINISTER WITH EFFECTIVE POWER.

Only a few days before Pentecost Jesus told the disciples to await this power.

You probably know the word “power” comes from “dunamis”, the same word from which we get “dynamite.”  Elsewhere it’s translated as “miracle” and implies a power which is effective.  It characterized the ministry of the early church.

Listen to Luke’s report in Acts 4:33, remembering that this report followed the first threats against the church by the authorities.

“AC 4:33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the 

 resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. “

It was like a spiritual earthquake.

Next year will mark the tenth anniversary of the Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake.  That is the earthquake that occurred early on December 26, 2004; it resulted in a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that took almost 280,000 lives.  The quake was the third most powerful ever recorded on a seismograph and shifting lasted almost ten minutes.  The entire earth shook and other quakes were triggered thousands of miles away in Alaska.

 The revivals that shook Great Britain and America during the 18^th century had that kind of power.

Yet, it’s probably a mistake to think of the Spirit’s power solely in terms of its explosive impact.  One popular attraction in the Texas Panhandle is Palo Duro Canyon, just outside Canyon, Texas.  Palo Duro Canyon the second largest canyon in the United States.  Along the floor of the canyon meanders Palo Duro creek.  The boys and I have wadded a good distance up that creek.  It’s not very deep and not much to look at but that creek help to create the canyon through steady erosion.   The process may not have been as dramatic as an earthquake but it was, nonetheless, powerful.

Sometimes the Spirit’s power works the same way.  Slowly, steadily the Spirit erodes a pathway for the gospel into the heart of an individual or a culture.  

Today’s church needs both kinds of power.

II

WE NEED TO PRAY “LORD, PENTECOST US AGAIN”

BECAUSE THE SPIRIT

ENABLES US TO COOPERATE WITH UNEXPECTED UNITY.

 One of the most amazing things about the early church, noted by friends and foes alike, was its social makeup.   Observers could hardly believe the reports of how rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, educated and uneducated, slave and free, worshipped together on the Lord’s Day.  

That should have hardly been surprising when we consider the nature of the prophecy fulfilled that Pentecost.

This promise had a universal character as the words translated “all flesh” could be translated “all humanity.”

This promise transcended gender barriers:  “your sons and your daughters will prophesy.”

This promise transcended age barriers:  “young men will dream…old men will see visions.”

This promise transcended economic barriers as it included slaves.

This promise even overcame ethnic barriers because the words translated as “slaves” or “servants” were words reserved for Gentile slaves.

Joel’s prophecy anticipated a blessing which would know no boundaries and out of that came a church which continually crossed boundaries.

As the sun set on the Day of Pentecost, the newborn church had some 3,000 members from as many as fifteen nations.  Within a few more years, the church rolls would include not only those born as Jews, but also those born as Gentiles.  

In the middle of the last century church leaders concerned about racism in the church complained that eleven o’clock on Sunday morning was the most segregated hour in American life.  Ironically, by the end of the first century, in the class-conscious Roman Empire, it could be said that the hour of worship on the Lord’s Day was the most integrated hour of the week.    

This sense of unity had a practical expression.  When the Jewish-Christians in Palestine suffered a great famine, the Greek Christians of Philippi, Corinth, and elsewhere contribute to their needs.   They didn’t balk because there were differences in customs, language, and skin-tone.   Writing to the wealthy Philemon about the runaway slave Onesimus, Paul dared to call them both “brother.” 

How was such a phenomenon possible?  Paul gives us a clue in his Epistle to the Ephesians.  He calls on the Ephesians to “maintain the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting-bond of peace.”  (4:3) Paul knew the Holy Spirit created the remarkable unity of the Christian church.  Such unity was nothing short of miraculous.

Probably no other institution has done more to bring people together than the church of Jesus Christ.   

III

WE NEED TO PRAY “LORD, PENTECOST US AGAIN”

BECAUSE THE SPIRIT

ENABLES US TO LIVE WITH JOYOUS FREEDOM.

B. L. Davis, former Director of Missions for the Amarillo Baptist Association was attending the Baptist General Convention of Texas that was meeting in El Paso.  After one of the evening sessions, he got together with some fellow-pastors at the hotel restaurant for a bite to eat and some reminiscing.  The longer they talked over their iced tea and coffee, the louder their laughter became.  Finally, a waitress walked over and said, “Look, we’ve got lots of Baptist preachers staying here tonight, you drunks have got to quiet down!”

Folks who have trouble with worship becoming too enthusiastic, would probably prefer to forget this passage completely.  Imagine the scandal, the participants in the first worship service of the Christian Church are accused of being drunk.  

Sometimes we get so involved debating about “speaking in tongues’ we miss how an enthusiastic worship service became an evangelistic crusade.   Praising God led to proclaiming the gospel.  Joy roused the curiosity of the crowd.

The Holy Spirit energizes Christian worship.  In Ephesians 5:18-20 Paul links being filled or submitted to the Spirit to joyous worship.

…be filled with the Spirit,

speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,

singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

always giving thanks for all things in the name of 

our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father…  

When the Pentecost dynamic is at work, the Spirit informs our praying, drives home the message of preaching, challenges unbelieving listeners to respond to the claims of Christ, and sends believers into the world with a sense of God’s presence.  Out of that sense of God’s presence should come an overflowing joy.

We’re told that our age is one without a lot of hope.  It’s been that way for some time.  Remember the term “beat generation?”  I always thought it had to do with the kind of music popular in the fifties and sixties.  It doesn’t.  The “beat” generation was that generation which came to maturity following World War II, that generation which was emotionally and spiritually running on empty, exhausted, beat.  

From the beat generation to the members of generation X that same emptiness and despair has been passed on from generation to generation.  It doesn’t impact every individual in the same way but there’s still a great need for Christians to model the genuine joy which comes from their relationship with Christ, the joy which is a fruit of the Spirit.

IV

WE NEED TO PRAY “LORD, PENTECOST US AGAIN”

BECAUSE THE SPIRIT

ENABLES US TO FOLLOW JESUS WITH INTEGRITY.

Luke offers a sidebar on the day’s events:

AC 2:42 [The new Christians] devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the 

fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer…. 

[44] All the believers were together and had everything in common. 

[45] Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. …

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere 

hearts, [47] praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the 

Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The Twentieth Century NT renders “enjoying the favor of all the people” as “winning the respect of all the people.”   That respect was won, in part, as the Christians lived their lives with integrity before the watching world.  Even if we don’t always agree with someone, we generally admire integrity when we see it.  Such authenticity is appealing.

In time, the crowds would turn against the church but that would be because of the false rumors spread about Christians by the authorities.  Still, the impact of the average Christian’s life was amazing.

The Holy Spirit is sometimes called the Spirit of Christ.  This title refers not only to the Spirit’s being Christ’s gift to the church, but to how the Spirit endeavors to make us increasingly like Christ.  Paul speaks of how Christians are transformed “as the Lord’s Spirit makes us more and more like our glorious Lord.” (2 Cor. 3:18)

We live in an age when men and women who have not embraced Christ’s claims are disinclined to listen to our words.  But these men and women who might never attend a church to hear a sermon are attracted to a life of integrity.  Only after they have seen the authenticity of our lives are they persuaded to hear what we have to say.  We have an ongoing need for the Holy Spirit’s help.

CONCLUSION

We recently sent a special book to our grandson Kieran. I hadn’t seen anything like it in years.  It was basically a small flannel-graph.  You remember them, you could tell a story by placing paper figures on a flannel covered board.  Your imagination was the limit.  

 Some Sunday Schools are beginning to use flannel-graphs again.  They have to dust them off but they’re using them.  It seems these low-tech devices fascinate some children.

Now I believe a church should make use of every legitimate means to share its message but there is a lesson here.  Sometimes we have to look back to discover how we might better do our work.

That’s true at a very fundamental level.  The Holy Spirit, Christ’s parting gift to his people, is a Gift that has never become obsolete.  That’s why we always should be ready to pray, “Lord, Pentecost us again.”

Time for Thanksgiving

Not all of the material on Abraham Lincoln was presented during the sermon.  I find his pilgrimage interesting and have included it for those who may not know this aspect of the famous President's life.  

Psalm 100

We can only imagine how many turkeys have gone into our ovens and how many pumpkin pies have been doused with whipped cream in the past 150 years since Abraham Lincoln first proposed last Thursday of November, 1863, as a day for the nation to give thanks to God for his blessings and for the victory at Gettysburg.  Andrew Johnson made the last Thursday of November an annual day of thanksgiving.   

In 1939, on the advice of Fred Lazarus, Jr, Franklin Roosevelt moved it to the third Thursday to extend the Christmas shopping season.  That created so much flak about a third of the states refused to celebrate “Franksgiving;” insisting on celebrating the traditional last thursday. Of course, the other two thirds of the states celebrated on the third Thursday.  Texas couldn’t decide so the legislature declared both the third and fourth Thursdays to be holidays that year. 

In  December1941, the US Congress finally established the fourth Thursday as the date for Thanksgiving, even on those occasions when November had five Thursdays.  For a few years, some states continued to insist on celebrating on the final Thursday but to day everyone seems to have agreed to celebrate on that fourth Thursday.  

In all of the political wrangling and stubborn clinging to  tradition, every one seemed to agree there should be a time for thanksgiving.  Even though the nation faced the prospects of another war, they believed there should be time for thanksgiving.

[What must Lincoln have been thinking when he made that proclamation?  Gettysburg had been a great victory, but the war was far from over.  His wife Mary continued to show signs of mental instability.  Most significant, Lincoln’s beloved son Willie had died scarcely a year before.  Was it painful for him to even think of giving thanks?

It may be asking too much for us to try to guess that.  Historians are divided on the issue of Lincoln’s spiritual commitment.   A few believe he was converted while in the White House (a belief I share).  There seems to be little doubt that he appreciated the Bible and had considerable spiritual insight.  

He supposedly told a minister from Illinois:

When I left Springfield I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. 

While we can’t speak with absolute certainty about Lincoln’s personal faith, his Thanksgiving  Proclamation seems to have assumed people would be giving thanks to God.  Given today’s climate, a presidential proclamation regarding thanksgiving might be greeted with protest.   there would be demands that Congress investigate to see if the president had ties to the cranberry industry or if the turkey lobby might have contributed heavily to a reelection campaign.

Before we move on, let me share one more bit of historic trivia.  As Lincoln’s body lay in state in Springfield the military band played “Old One Hundred” the tune to which this psalm has been sung for hundreds of years.  Lincoln had almost certainly read the psalm;  perhaps its message reminded him of the importance of giving thanks to God for his blessings.]

This psalm has a long history in Christian worship.  Listen to this paraphrase from the Scottish Psalter.

All people that on earth do dwell,

Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;

Him serve with mirth, His praise forth tell!

Come ye before Him and rejoice.

Know that the Lord is God indeed;

Without our aid He did us make;

We are His flock, He doth us feed,

And for His sheep, He doth us take.

Oh, enter then His gates with praise

Approach with joy His courts unto;

Praise, laud, and bless His name always,

For it is seemly so to do.

For why? the Lord our God is good,

His mercy is forever sure;

His truth at all times firmly stood,

And shall from age to age endure.

What does it say to us about thanksgiving?

It is Time for Thanksgiving Because of Who We Are

The psalm begins with an invitation to join in a time of thanksgiving to God.  The recipients of that invitation depend on how you translate the first verse.  The words might mean “all the land,” meaning all Israel, or they might mean “all the earth,” meaning “everyone on earth”.  A Jewish psalmist, familiar with the traditions of Biblical religion, could have written either.  The psalmist never sees God as being limited or territorial.  He yearns for the Lord to be worshipped by all humankind.

Certainly the glory and blessings of God are not limited to any one place or to any one nation.  Praise recognizing that glory and thanksgiving inspired by those blessings can be offered in any language, by any perceptive worshipper.  As the psalm progresses, the psalmist begins to focus on the temple setting.  This is a reminder that those who know God best should be especially eager to participate in a celebration of gratitude.  

Listen to the psalm’s description of those he calls to give thanks.

He made us, and we belong to him.
We are his people.
We are the sheep belonging to his flock.

These are words that point to the identity we have as God’s people.  That gives us meaning and purpose.  To be “the sheep belonging to his flock” doesn’t mean God looks at us like livestock.  We don’t exist to provide him with wool or mutton.  The idea is that God the shepherd had dcommitted himself to care for us and protect us.  Centuries later, Jesus would remind his followers that they knew the same privileges and protections when he told them, “I am the Good Shepherd.”

How should we respond?

While we often interpret “joyful noise” as enthusiastic singing, it is more likely to have been a kind of “shout” of joyous praise (Hallelujah, perhaps?).  It’s an interesting thought.  Wherever Christianity has gone, it has introduced one Hebrew word into almost every culture:  Hallelujah.  In a sense, what this and other psalms anticipate has happened, men and women all around the world have found the Lord and the joy which comes from knowing him.  And they can’t keep silent.

 The psalmist calls us to “worship the Lord with gladness,” or as the Good New Bible says, “Worship the Lord with joy; come before him with happy songs!”  The verb “serve” implies worship.  A token of that gladness is seen in our coming before God with songs of praise.  Singing is often mentioned as part of Biblical worship.  But, who sang?  Choirs seemingly made up of priests and Levites are mentioned, but was there any kind of congregational singing?  It’s not clear in the OT but Paul clearly encourages churches to sing.  Believers—musically gifted or not—may raise their voices in concerted praise—praise which God welcomes.  It’s one of the unique blessings of Christianity.

It is Time for Thanksgiving Because God is Still the Same

The fourth verse pictures a procession of worshippers moving into the temple, all the while giving thanks to God.  While the psalm sets the act of giving thanks within the setting of corporate worship, the same spirit of gratitude may be exhibited by the individual worshipper.

What is the reason for this thanksgiving and praise?  It is grounded in the very nature and character of God.  We are to thank him and praise his Name.  We should be thankful for who he is and what he has done for us.

The psalmist presents a cluster of reasons to offer thanks to God.

-He made us.  He is our creator;  we are his, despite all the freedom we may enjoy.  The idea is that we are not independent, we belong to him, we need him.  Though God “owns” us, he has chosen not to treat us as mere property or chattel.  This is seen in the second reason we ought to give thanks.

-We may have a special relationship to him.  This psalm may have been specially addressed to the people of Israel but it applies to all who, by faith in Christ, have entered into a relationship with God.  He behaves toward us as a caring shepherd would toward a flock.  Though we are creatures, God has chose to have a relationship with us.  

We need to remember that.  Sometimes we tend to point to things to explain why we are thankful.  We ought to be grateful for our “daily bread,” but we ought to be especially grateful that the Giver of that bread allows himself to be called “Our Father.”

--Above all, we should be thankful that God is God.  That fact alone—when we fully perceive what it means—is grounds to worship, praise, and thank him. 

The psalmist expands on this thought by focusing on some aspects of God’s character:  The ground for our thanksgiving.  The three clauses are packed with implications.

“The Lord is good.”  The notion relates not simply to God’s character but to his intentions toward us.  He will never act capriciously to harm us.  Even if he should bring us through a trial, is goal is our good. (Jer. 29:11)

“His steadfast love endures forever.”  His reliable love is reliable.  The word translates checed (hesed) which suggest loving mercy, marked by endurance and kindness.  It is roughly equivalent to the New Testament notion of grace.  We live in a world where love may last only as long as we do the right thing, say the right words, think  the right thought—but God loves us even when we blow it.  A reason to be thankful, right?

“His faithfulness and truth endure to all generations.”  Because God is true he will be faithful to fulfill his promises.  There is no reason to look back to the “good old days” because with God every day is a good day.

Conclusion

In one sense, Thanksgiving calls us to thank God for who he is:  A God who love us and yearns to bless those who honor him.

Listen to Lincoln’s proclamation.  It reflects a great theological maturity.  Remember, Lincoln believed God was chastising both the South and the North for so long allowing the crime of slavery.  Still, Americans had reason to give thanks.

They [the growth and blessings America enjoyed] are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

Many Thanksgivings have come and gone since Lincoln’s proclamation.  But God is still faithful, still good, still loving.  It is still wise to pray for him to heal our nation.  And proper to thank him for his blessings.

A New Look at Abraham

      Just a short while ago I learned of the sudden death of a friend to our church and to me.  Some twenty years ago, I had the privilege of helping to conduct Tom and Dottie's wedding ceremony.  They were both in their 60s. Tom was a life-long Lutheran and Dottie, a life-long Baptist.  For a while they attended both churches on Sunday morning, a remarkable commitment considering how difficult it sometimes is to get folks to come to one church on a Sunday morning.  Then, Tom told me he wanted to become a Baptist.  Well, true to our tradition, he was baptized by immersion and joined our church.

     He was as good a Baptist as he was a Lutheran.  Tom was a scholar (he had been a professor at a local university) and we occasionally discussed Luther and the Reformation.  I like to think he would have appreciated these messages on Galatians with its stress on justification by faith.  May God bless Dottie, Tom's family, and all his friends.

Galatians: A Study of Christian Freedom

        Fairly or unfairly, this is one of the most notorious passages in Paul's writings.  

Lesson 6:  A New Understanding of Abraham

3 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? 

This is one of the most passionate statements to be found in anywhere in Paul.  His language reveals the shock and concern he feels about the situation.

He begins by addressing them as “foolish Galatians.”  The Greek term is anoetos, a word that makes use of the Alpha privative.  In Greek, placing that “a” in front of some words reverses the meaning of the word its connected to (add the “a” to theist—one who believes in God—and it becomes atheist).  In this case, it’s added to a word that means understanding or thinking.  To put it another way, Paul is saying the Galatians had disengaged their brains.

Alternative translations include  “witless,” “thoughtless,” “irrational,” and “senseless.”  The Amplified Bible tries to capture it all with “O you poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians!”  The Contemporary English Version has one of the strongest renderings, “You stupid Galatians.”  J. B. Phillips tries to include Paul’s genuine concern for his readers with this:  “O you dear idiots of Galatia.” 

The idea is clearly that the Galatians, in listening to the legalists, were giving no thought to the treasure they had in the gospel.  

Paul suggests there could be only one explanation—They had been bewitched; someone had cast a spell on them. Paul isn't suggesting the Galatians were literally bewitched by some practitioner of the dark arts.  (Though some commentators believed that.)  He says this because he had take such pains to present Christ.

The imagery of his claim is vivid.  

It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! 

Craig Keener says that first century orators worked hard to portray their messages with the most vivid language.  Paul did no less when he proclaimed the gospel.

The language recalls signs on placards.  We might say the message was put on a billboard.  The New Living Bible puts it this way, “For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross.”

Before moving on let me remind you that this statement once again points out the role Christ played in Paul’s message.  Christ and his cross was central to his preaching.  The Galatians couldn’t have heard Paul without hearing about Christ.  There was no way they could have claimed they didn’t understand the significance of Christ for their salvation.

It’s a reminder that most heresies and errors come from the church forgetting Christ.  A contemporary parallel to the Galatian situation would be the scenario in which the cultist rings a doorbell, gets invited in, quotes a few scriptures out of context, and hooks the unwary church member who has forgotten everything he or she has learned in Sunday school.  

Before we move on, I want to offer one more rendering of this verse.  It’s from the so-called Easy-to-Read-Version. 

You people in Galatia are so foolish! Why do I say this? Because I told you very clearly about the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. But now it seems as though you have let someone use their magical powers to make you forget.

Paul intends to remind them of some things.

² The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 

In the previous chapters, Paul used his own experience as a starting point for his argument.  Now he uses the Galatians’ experience.

He asks, “Did you receive the Spirit by attempting to obey the Law of Moses or by believing what you heard in the Gospel?”  

Receiving the Spirit is a synonym for becoming a Christian.  It reflects the New Testament view that the gift of the Spirit comes when we trust Christ.  But there may be something more implied in this question.  Although the Book of Acts had not yet been written, Paul knew something of the history of the early church.  He had watched it grow, first as a hostile outsider and then as an enthusiastic believer.  He had probably heard the story of Peter’s experience in preaching to the Roman centurion Cornelius.  It’s found in Acts 10.  

Peter had felt the heavenly push to step across the religious and cultural barrier and present the gospel to the Gentiles.  His effort was met with great success.  When others challenged him, he defended his actions by pointing to the outcome of his preaching:  the Gentiles had unquestionably received the Spirit.  

He said, in Acts 11:15 "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had on us at the beginning…17 So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God's way?”

The early church saw the Spirit’s coming to Cornelius as evidence that God wished to bless the Gentiles with salvation, just as he had the Jews.  (Acts 11:18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.")

³ Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?

The question once again implies failure to think through their position.  This time, however, Paul doesn’t seem to be focused as much on the beginning of the Christian life as he is on its continuation.  That concern is implicit in his question.  Here’s how the God’s Word translation renders it “Did you begin in a spiritual way only to end up doing things in a human way?”  The suggestion is that even if the Galatians believed they had entered a relationship with God through faith, they now believed they must depend upon human effort to maintain that relationship.  

The implication is that this is no more possible than winning our salvation through our own efforts in the first place.

Of course, Paul isn’t saying Christians who want to move toward spiritual maturity should be passive.  Prayer, Bible study, Christian fellowship, and service are all things we do to put ourselves in the way of God’s maturing work on our behalf but they are not the cause of our growth.  

⁴ Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. 

While there is no historical reference to the Galatians experiencing persecution, it is certainly possible they had suffered because of their faith in Christ.  Who had caused their suffering?  The Gentile authorities are likely culprits but many commentators believe some of the more radical Jews “who hated the gospel of grace” may have persecuted them in some way.  They may have lost jobs, their homes and businesses may  have been subject to attack, they may have been taunted in the streets, etc.  Tertullian’s comment that “the synagogues of the Jews are the fountain of persecution” was a groundless accusation when he wrote in the late second century.  However, during much of the first century some Jews did target Christians but that seems to have subsided near the beginning of the second century.   

The fact the Galatians had suffered for their faith allows Paul speak realistically to them.  He invites a comparison to what he said about the sufferings of Christ. If justification could be attained by our efforts, Christ “died for nothing;” his suffering was purposeless.  At the same time, if the Galatians, who suffered because they had abandoned the law in favor of grace, shouldn't have done so, their suffering was for nothing.  

Ultimately, Paul hesitates to declare their suffering actually to have been in vain.  He holds out the hope that they will come to their senses.

⁵ Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? 

Paul expands upon a point he has already made by asking the Galatian believers to ask themselves if the Spirit’s work among them was the related to their faith or to their diligence in following the law.

The reference to miracles reminds us that Paul’s churches appear to have all been “charismatic,” in the Biblical sense of the term.  That is, the work of the Spirit was demonstrated in the life of the church, through those individuals the Spirit had specially gifted to enrich and edify the church.

With the possible exception of the Corinthians the Spirit’s activity doesn’t appear to have made the congregations disorderly.  And with the possible exception of the Thessalonians the Spirit’s activity doesn’t appear to have made the congregations especially nervous.  Paul, of course, would correct each of these churches, moving them toward a more balanced position.

Having said that, the word translated “miracles” literally means “works of power.” (Lenski, p. 130.)  Such works were never inward; they always had a public manifestation.

Some of the Galatians could remember when Paul first preached to them.  Those from Iconium would have recalled how in the face of opposition Paul and his team continued “…speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.” (Acts 14:3)  Those from Lystra may have recalled how  the Spirit enabled Paul to heal a man who was born lame.  That same Spirit continued to work among the Galatians.

While it would be a mistake to think these works were everyday occurances they did play a role in the evangelistic activity of the church.  Lenski suggests Paul is inviting the Galatians to make a comparison:  Whose message is confirmed by these works of power, the message of those preaching grace or the message of those preaching the Law?

The Galatians had seen none of the Judaizers perform such works of power.  In the Galatians’ experience, the Spirit actively confirmed the message of grace.  That should cause them to reconsider their fascination with the notion of salvation by self-effort.

⁶ Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” ⁷ so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. 

At this point, Paul moves from autobiographical and biographical arguments to a Biblical and historical argument.  

Almost certainly, the Judaizers were claiming to be the true descendants of Abraham because they kept the Law.  

 Paul—a Biblical scholar—seizes on a passage in Genesis to co-opt that claim for those believers who relied on the message of justification by faith.  It comes from Genesis 15.  

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless…” And God brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness

Abraham heard God’s promise and believed it; God counted it or credited to him as righteousness.  Like Abraham, Christians hear God’s promise in the gospel and believe it; God counts that or credits it to us as righteousness.  

RCH Lenski offers an explanation of what transpired.

When Abraham believed he was in himself no more righteous than before he believed, but God counted his faith as righteousness for him.  God’s accounting did not make him righteous, it did not change Abraham’s person, it changed his status with God.  Although he was not himself righteous, God regarded him as being righteous.

As The Message puts it, “God declared him Set-Right-With-God.”  

Paul goes on to point out that this way of dealing with us was always God’s intention.

⁸ And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.” ⁹ For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed. 

Historically, the promise that all the world would be blessed though Abraham (and his offspring, the Jews) can be demonstrated in a variety of ways—science, the arts, music, medicine, etc.  But Paul seems to believe the greatest blessing was the precedent set when Abraham, himself, was justified by faith.

He wanted the Galatians to know that they were beneficiaries of Abraham’s faith.

OBSERVATIONS:

1 Caring for others and truth-telling are linked, sometimes, uncomfortably linked.

We live in an age when we are never supposed to offend anyone with our words, even though we live in a nation where freedom of speech is the first right in our oldest collection of rights.  Consequently, your child or grandchild might be sent home for wearing a T-Shirt with the worng slogan on it or your business might be threatend becus you voiced a personal opinion that is in no way expressed in how you do business.  Then, too, we live in an age when the very notion of one “truth” being truer than another is, at least theoretically, scorned as arrogant and bigoted.  I once heard of a pastor who ended every sermon with, “But then again, I could be wrong.”  Couple these facts with the fact we live in an age when we’re not supposed to feel passionate about matters like religion.  It makes us bad neighbors, maybe even dangerous neighbors.  

But what if what our neighbor believes is actually endangering our neighbor.  Can we remain indifferent to that?  Paul would say No. 

If Paul were simply committed to his position, convinced he was right, he might have heard about the Galatians’ error, shook his head, and said, “What some people believe.”  But his commitment to the gospel of grace was accompanied by a concern for the Galatians.  He couldn’t remain silent.

Now, someone with the personality Paul apparently had probably would have no trouble confronting his friends with their error.  Most of us don’t have that kind of personality.  The very thought of telling someone we believe they’ve taken a wrong turn makes our palms sweat and our hearts pound.

Still, when we’re convinced someone we care about has embraced a dangerous error, a soul-threatening error, we will find some way to intervene.  It’s the price of caring.

 2  No matter how well we’ve been grounded in the truth, we need to remain vigilant against error.

Paul had done a great job presenting the gospel of grace; he had carefully explained the significance of Christ’s death and resurrection.  Yet, many of those who heard him fell prey to false teachers.  

They had stopped reflecting on the wonder of the message and had allowed themselves to forget.

Years ago, when I was pastor of a church in Texas, there was an older man who never came to Sunday school.  One day, he said something like this to me, “You may wonder why I don’t go to Sunday school.  Well, I’ve already learned everything I could learn there so there’s no reason for me to go.”

That kind of pride is dangerous.  While that man in Texas never succumbed to the teachings of a cult, before his death he did embrace some notions that were on the threshold of error.  

3  The popular understanding of how God works always needs to be measured against the Biblical understanding.

 Amy Farrah Fowler is known for being Sheldon Cooper’s girlfriend (finally) but she has a mind of her own.  (If you have no idea who I’m talking about, you won’t need to know to appreciate this bit of dialogue.)

Amy and Sheldon have met for the first time after being matched by a dating website.  

Amy: I’m here because my mother and I have agreed that I will date at least once a year.  

Sheldon:  Interesting.  My mother and I have the same agreement about church.

Amy:  I don’t object to the concept of a deity, but I’m baffled by the notion of one that takes attendance.

Sheldon:  Well then, you might want to avoid East Texas.

The common understanding sees God as not only taking attendance but taking notes on a lot more of our activities.  

Each of the West’s three major religions has, at times, given the impression that our “good works” determines the degree of God’s love for us and are directly linked to our hope of salvation.  

Each of the West’s three major religions sees Abraham a key figure in the religion’s history.  

Judaism and Islam have traditions that say Abraham’s father was a craftsman who made idols.  His son came to realize that these figures carved in his father’s shop were not truly gods.  In the midst, of his spiritual dissatisfaction, God spoke to him.  Christians have usually resisted filling-in-the-blanks regarding Abraham’s early life.  We’ve been willing to simply accept that at some time God spoke to Abraham and Abraham heard.

Paul tells us that if we really understand God’s dealings with Abraham, we will really have an understanding of God that challenges the popular view.  God does not evaluate us on the basis of our good works or our obedience to the law (if he did, we’d all have no hope), rather he wants us to take him at his word and trust him.

Paul would remind the Romans that God crediting righteousness to Abraham took place years before circumcision was instituted as the sign of being a Jew.  Abraham had already been declared right-with-God before he was circumcised.  

In  sense, Abraham entered this right relationship with God as a Gentile.  This is not to discount Abraham as the forefather of the Jews and certainly not to endorse anti-Semitism.  We should never forget Abraham—the man justified by faith—would become a Jew so there might be a people who would be a blessing to the whole world, especially in that this people would bring Jesus Christ into the world.

For some this might be a new way to think about Abraham.  It is certainly a new way to think about God.

Galatians: A Study of Christian Freedom

Lesson 5:  The Unthinkable:  What difference does it make?

Scholars debate about whether these next words were part of what Paul said to Peter when he challenged him in Antioch or if they are addressed to the Galatians.   

 We don’t have to have know with certainty because the answer doesn’t impact the meaning of the words.  I think it makes the most sense to see the words as part of Paul’s rebuke to Peter.  So, I’m going to treat them as such. 

¹⁵ We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 

These words were spoken with tongue-in-cheek irony.  While there might be some who would have seen the Gentiles as natural-born sinners while the Jews inevitably held the moral high ground, throughout the Old Testament there is support for the conclusion Paul would make when he wrote to the Romans that “all have sinned.”  Of course, some behaved as if the indictment applied to some peoples more than others. While Peter would have never agreed to this assessment of the two groups, his behavior seemed to suggest, “Both Jews and Gentiles are sinners, but the Jews, not so much.”  

Doubtless, Peter would have felt the sting of Paul’s irony and saw the folly of his behavior.  The entire Jewish sacrificial system, much of the temple complex, the Day of Atonement all stood as reminders that even the Jews didn’t keep the Law.

Of course, Paul understood the Jews had an advantage over the Gentiles: the Law.  Gentiles did not have the Law and so it shouldn’t be surprising they were sinners; the Jews had the Law but were still sinners.  

Paul’s case is built on the fact that both Peter and Paul already accepted the fact  that both Jews and Gentiles were sinners. Paul’s next words show the common need for both Jews and Gentiles to depend upon something beyond their obedience to the Law if they hoped to have a right relationship with God.

¹⁶ yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. 

Again, Paul knows he is saying nothing Peter doesn’t already know. This serves as one of the fundamental axioms of Paul’s argument to the Galatians.  We need to understand it.

For the first time the subject of justification by faith is brought up in this Letter. The term “justification” is of unquestioned importance in the New Testament and in all the history of Christian thought.  It comes from the court system and means to be declared “guiltless.”  It goes beyond acquittal as we have it in the American court system.  In our system, the accused is to be acquitted if guilt cannot be proven “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Though we wouldn’t change that standard, it has sometimes freed the guilty along with the innocent.  As  Paul and other Christian writers use the term, there is absolutely no doubt regarding the guilt of the accused.  We all enter the courtroom guilty.  Justification is the Divine Judge’s declaration that the guilty is to be treated as guiltless.  Elsewhere, Paul will make clear that this declaration is made possible because of the work of Christ.

 This justification by faith is crucial to understanding the appeal of the Gospel.  Paul is saying that a person (any person, male or female, Jew or Gentile) does not have a right relationship with God through that person’s obedience to the Law (since that person doesn’t ever obey the Law); failing that, as we all do, a person’s only hope is in being “justified” or treated as righteous.  That only happens as a consequence of placing faith or trust in Christ.

In his little commentary on Galatians, John Stott says, “All that is required of us to be justified…is to acknowledge our sin and helplessness, to repent of our years of self-assertion and self righteousness, and to put our whole trust and confidence in Jesus Christ to save us.”  Paul Tillich puts it even more simply, “Justification by faith is accepting that we are accepted.”

This is something of a revolution.  Right standing with God does not come from what we do but through simple faith in Jesus Christ.  That is revolutionary because it runs contrary to what almost everyone thinks.  To quote John Stott again: 

 [Salvation by self-effort] has been the religion of the ordinary man both before [Christ] and since.  It is the religion of the man-in-the-street today.  Indeed, it is the fundamental principle of every religious and moral system in the world except New Testament Christianity.  It is popular because it is flattering.  It tells a man that if he will only pull his socks up a bit higher and try a bit harder, he will succeed in winning his own salvation.”

Paul goes on to explore this foundational idea.

And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. 

As Paul goes on he reminds Peter that they both have “come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ.”  Despite the fact they both came from the people of the Law, they did not depend upon obedience to that Law as the avenue to a right relationship with  God.  They couldn’t because they were undeniably unable to keep the Law.

There is an implied question here.  If the Law as a means to become righteous didn’t work for us, why would we ask the Gentiles to take the same fruitless path?

For Paul, that would end any suggestion that we must add following the Jewish Law to our faith in Christ if we would be justified.  

[This may be the point where Paul moves from recalling the encounter in Antioch and begins directly addressing some of the issues facing the Galatian Christians but that’s not necessarily the case and scholars are in disagreement about the matter.]

¹⁷ But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant [or advocate] of sin? Certainly not!

This question suggests there was some kind of debate going on about the implications of the Christ-way of salvation.  It is an objection that was raised early on in the church and raised again and again: Those who held so tenaciously to the notion of justification by self-effort saw the evangelical message as dangerous.  In their minds, the way of grace would open the door to moral chaos, lawlessness, to men and women assuming they may sin without compunction. In their minds this danger was so great it would be better to exclude the notion of grace from our message.

Does the message of grace mean we can and, perhaps, should sin freely just to demonstrate the depth and breadth of God’s acceptance?  Paul responds to that in the strongest terms.  The King James Version and the earlier Geneva Bible (1599) renders his response as “God forbid.”  That’s not a literal translation of Paul’s words and most modern translators use more restrained terms, like “certainly not” or “the accusation is frivolous” but not let that keep you from seeing how scandalous Paul believed the notion to be.

The notion that God’s gracious acceptance is permission to sin reveals a fundamental failure to understand the notion of God’s gracious acceptance.

God’s graciousness prompts us to a new way of living, as Paul will explain.

 ¹⁸ But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. 

Paul offers a kind of “circular” argument but not one that invalidates what he says.  More precisely, it is a “vicious circular” argument; a Catch-22 situation.

 The legalists argued that abandoning the law makes a person a sinner; Paul argues that returning to the law makes him a sinner.  Why?  Because the law showed him to be a sinner.  His life didn’t measure up to its demands.  He needed another way to a right relationship with God.   Going back to the law with all its minute demands that he had  already failed to keep certainly won’t negate the fact that Paul is a sinner; it will only demonstrate it once again.  Nothing will change in going back to the law. 

 The resolution becomes clearer in the next few verses.

¹⁹ For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; 

What does Paul mean when he says “through the law I died to the law?”  To die to the law means the law no longer has any claim on him; he is not obliged to keep that law.  Why?  Because the demands of the law had been met by Christ, with whom Paul had “been crucified.”  

It is a recurring theme in Paul’s thought that the believer is so intimately linked to Christ that the believer may be said to have shared in his death and his resurrection.  all the demands of the law were met when Christ died; Christ’s resurrection affirms that.

Paul (who stands for every believer) has no need to “build up” the law-system again because it has no claim on him.

Churches sometimes have “note burnings” when they have paid off a mortgage.  Once the mortgage is paid, the bank can no longer demand that monthly payment.  The obligation has been met.

As individuals, we have not met the law’s demands.  Yet, through our relationship with Christ we may be treated as if we had met that obligation.  But there is more.

²⁰ and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. 

We not only share in Christ’s death, we also share in his resurrection.  We have new life through him.  The law (or attempting to win God’s favor through obedience to the law) could only result in death because we continually failed to keep its demands.  But our relationship with the One who did keep all its demands brings us life.

Why would we want to return to such a death-dealing system?  Why would we ask anyone else to do so?  

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. 

The legalist’s fear that God’s gracious actions on our behalf might lead us to live self-centered, immoral lives reveals a failure to understand God’s gracious actions on our behalf.  Knowing that the Son of God “loved you and gave himself for you” inspires you to live for him; it is  life on a different plane.  The law-way to salvation prompted us to live in a certain way because we hoped to get something out of it; the grace-way to salvation liberates us to order our lives according to a different motive.  Instead of living for ourselves we are living for Christ.

When salvation is rooted in grace, ethics can be rooted in gratitude. 

With this Paul has responded to those who claim the gospel leads to lawlessness.

²¹ I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing. 

Paul’s final note, whether spoken to Peter or to the Galatians, is sobering.  To return to the principle of salvation by works is to “nullify the grace of God,” something Paul refuses to do.  Going back to the law would cancel God’s grace.

The very suggestion that we may actually earn salvation through self-effort has unacceptable implications.  If we could earn our salvation, “Christ died for nothing.”  The cross was unnecessary; his suffering was a tragic mistake, a travesty.  

If these words were spoken to Peter, imagine how they must have impacted him.  Peter had seen the Savior’s wounded hands and feet, he had certainly heard the story of the crucifixion from John and Mary, now Paul was suggesting his behavior implied that suffering was meaningless, purposeless.

Neither Paul nor Peter could accept that.  Nor can we.  It would be unthinkable.

OBSERVATIONS

This passage is central to the argument of the whole letter.  There might be several observation I could make.  Let me make the most important one by citing the words of Martin Luther as he speaks of the significance of justification by faith.  

This is the truth of the gospel.  It is also the principal article of all Christian doctrine, wherein the knowledge of all godliness consisteth.  Most necessary it is, therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually. (Quoted by Stott)

I like that because in my years as a pastor I’ve discovered something.  Because of our inclination to human pride, because of our cynical tendency to doubt that so great a salvation might be a gift, because of our fear that God might have made a mistake in being so liberal; it is necessary, from time to time, for this doctrine to be re-beaten into our heads—and into our hearts.

Questions for Later

 Is is easy or difficult for you to picture God giving you salvation without having done something to earn it?

2.  One critic said Christianity is a religion for weaklings because of its emphasis on grace.  Why might a person say that?  How would you respond?  Can you put the idea of justification by faith in your own words?

3.  Do you know those who believe God’s grace allows them to live without moral restraint?   How do you think Paul would address them?

4.  In our culture, the cross is sometimes used as a fashion accessory, even by those who have no particular commitment to Christ. On the other hand, some are incensed when co-workers wear a cross in the workplace to attest their faith. How would first-century Christians have viewed the cross?  How do you think early Christians would have  responded to the suggestion that the crucifixion was unnecessary?