FRAGILE FAITH
Galatians 3:1-14
Raj Roy
August 17, 2003
You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing - if it was really for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you have heard?
Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Understand, then, that those who believe are the children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the Gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you." So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because "the righteous will live by faith." The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them." Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree," He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
This passage from Galatians takes me back to the time twenty years ago when I rejected all aspects of faith, when I thought that by living according to a set of excellent principles (this set could be extracted from the teachings of Jesus or Buddha or Mohammad or Guru Nanak or all of them put together, since they all taught the same things anyway) one was doing all that was required of a person in their life on earth. It was through a friend that I realized that no one can live up to such a set of principles, and began to recognize that I was a sinner who needed God's forgiveness, no matter how smart or honest I tried to be.
This passage is all about faith, and it is also about the law, the law that was given to Israel, and which is the foundation for many legal systems around the world. It shows how difficult it is to combine faith and the law, both important ingredients of our life, and points out explicitly the order they must be placed.
Let me ask you a question - when did you last look at the Book of Confessions and the Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church, USA? These two books represent our faith and the law, respectively, in an operational sense, as observed by the PC USA. The material in these two books is intertwined and inseparable, and determines the way the church functions. But unlike the Bible itself, these books have been modified from time to time, starting a few hundred years ago, and these changes are a record of the evolution of a part of the church. The changes in these books represent the struggle that we have gone through in just one denomination of the church to try and define what our faith is, and to implement that faith practically in a church constituted of people living in the world. We see represented here the human struggle in recognizing and reconciling the unchanging and eternal aspects of God with the ever-changing aspects of human society. It is obvious from a theological perspective, that without a Book of Confessions, there would be no necessity for a Book of Order.
I do remember when I first looked at these books. I was baptized as an adult, in Dec 1986, in a little church with about 40 members that served as a homeless shelter during the week for 30 men. On Sundays, the mattresses were stacked up, and chairs brought in for the worship service. We bought our first house within walking distance of the church, and I attended Wednesday evening Bible study at the church for about a dozen years, until we moved here in 1999. But I never looked at the Book of Confessions after 1986, until in 1990, I was asked to replace someone on the session for a year, and Lucy Rose was given the task of making sure that I knew at least what the Book of Order and the Book of Confessions were about.
I will tell you more about Lucy some other time, if possible. Today I will just say a few things about her. A lifelong Presbyterian, she knew these books pretty much by heart. She taught homiletics at Columbia Seminary. When she asked me to read certain parts of these books, I made sure I at least looked at them before going to the church to meet with her. With a few quick questions she determined my complete lack of formal training and knowledge of these matters and proceeded to beam radiantly as she told me that it was wonderful that I had a fresh outlook and took nothing for granted. I could sense her excitement in talking to me about Jesus; she said that if I spent some time in his presence whenever I could, he would personally guide me in the journey I had just begun. She reminded me that I would also find out how easy it is to lose sight of Jesus as I led a life filled with many distractions.
Jesus' parable of the seeds rings in our ears in connection with this passage, for that is what Paul is concerned about in his message to the Galatians. This is now Jesus speaking,
And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold." (Mark 4: 13 - 20).
Paul is very upset. He had worked hard to convey the good news of Jesus to the Galatians. He had portrayed Jesus as crucified to them, they had received the Spirit, and now they were falling away from faith. Communication of the good news of Jesus is the first step, the next step is the amplification of faith in Jesus through good works, not its replacement by observation of the law and reliance on works to try and justify ourselves before God. That is a wrong turn to take for a Christian, and Paul wants to tell the Galatians very clearly how mistaken they are. He is disturbed by the fragility of their faith.
He is upset because the Galatians have forgotten what he told them about Jesus - the Jesus who has become his very life, who died for them as well as for him, whom he is now totally willing to die for - and they are in grave danger. Paul knows that through acceptance of the cross, Jesus finished the work God sent him to do. Jesus has brought to fruition the promise of God to make eternal life available to each one of us sinners on earth as a free gift. Jesus is not dead, but lives, and is willing to give anyone who asks, the gift of eternal life. Paul knows this personally and intimately. Paul is incensed that the Galatians have disregarded this amazing gift that God has given them and everyone else; they have fallen back to the attitude that they can earn favor with God through their observance of the law. He is upset with the Galatians because he cares for them; he loves them and is concerned about their spiritual journey.
The faith Paul talks about is not faith in the law. Does Paul think that the law is useless? Not at all. The law is wonderful, as Psalm 19 tells us, and Paul knew this well. God gave us the law, after all. Paul says "So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith." (Gal 3:24) Once again we see how faith and the law are intertwined. What went wrong? The problem lies with us wanting to take the gifts we get from God and turning them to uses that God did not intend. This happened with the law given by God to Moses and the Israelites. Jesus died on the cross, as Paul tells us, to free us from this deadly predicament, this misuse of the law in ways not intended by God. "So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified." (Gal 2:16) Paul asks them a question that he has already answered - don't you see that anyone who lives by the law is cursed when they do not do everything according to the law? So do not try to live according to the law apart from Christ - rely on the law to point you to Christ, as it reveals to you your inability to observe it perfectly, as it reveals your sinfulness to you. The law does have a great use - it shows you why you must rely on Jesus to be your savior.
Paul tells us that without faith in Jesus, we cannot take the law given by God and use it the way God intended. As humans, we are sinful creatures who tend on our own to separate ourselves from God. If we are to use all the natural resources God has given us, we must first have faith in Jesus. Otherwise, all our science and technology, our legal frameworks and constitutions, will sooner or later lead us in the wrong direction, towards violence and destruction. All our worldly wisdom and our efforts to justify ourselves by "good" works are useless. Only when we look towards Jesus are we able to follow God's will for us in our lives. Why, you foolish Galatians, have you forgotten that? Why have you forsaken the gift of the Spirit that you received when you first heard about Jesus, and gone off to follow the teachings of people who are in the clutches of the evil one, and who will lead you to disaster as well?
The faith Paul talks about is faith in Jesus - but who is Jesus that we should have faith in him? This is the central topic of the gospels - and those who have asked it have often received the answer in the most unexpected of ways, down to modern times. A homeless man begins to ask it and finds out that though he has AIDS, peace flows into his heart, a peace that allows him to minister to others in ways he would never have thought possible, without resentment and without absorption in his own suffering. A young woman asks the question and finds that none of the people belonging to the church seems to be able to answer her satisfactorily, but she is so overwhelmed by Jesus' presence in her heart that she becomes one of his most faithful disciples, though she is a Jew and never becomes a Christian in any formal sense. She is baptized by the Spirit, and dies in Jesus' arms, convinced that he alone is the truth and the way and the life. An atheist scientist asks this question and becomes convinced of who Jesus is - the Son of God and the Son of Man - in such a way that he begins proclaiming this to anyone who will listen. Faith in Jesus turns water into wine.
What is faith in Jesus? It is to know deep inside that Jesus alone has been able to rescue us from this plight, this slide into wretched separation from God that is often described as hell. It is to know in our bones that Jesus finished the work of rescuing us on the cross, and that he lives today, and will accompany each of us on our journey if we accept God's gift of His Son as our savior. It is to know that Jesus speaks to each one of us in our own language, he loves our company and our food. He knows exactly what is in our hearts and will help us to free ourselves from the terrible doubts and constraints that prevent us from accepting the gift of eternal life and love that God has given us. Faith in Jesus is knowing that he is the truth and the way and the life; you have no option but to follow him wherever he goes, even to the cross. Paul knows that faith is the shield with which we can ward off the flaming arrows of the evil one. Our lives are a continuing battle with the forces of evil - how can we survive if we do not use the armor God provides us for protection?
So is Paul telling us that we do not need to do good works? No! Faith is real only when it leads us to good works. Faith without works is meaningless. In fact, such faith is not true faith. Jesus tells Peter very clearly in John 21, three times over, "If you love me, Simon Peter, feed my sheep." Paul tells us elsewhere that even a faith that can move mountains is useless if we do not reach out in love to the people around us. We must learn to fulfill our faith through acts of love towards our neighbors. These are acts of worship for God, and wholly acceptable sacrifices. Faith in Jesus means that we do not quarrel and fight over material resources to perpetuate our "American, or Indian, or Brazilian, way of life." Faith in Jesus is what is necessary to transform the law from an impossible set of principles for any human to follow, to a way of life that is filled by God's presence, reviving the soul, as Psalm 19 tells us. It is a way for us to learn to live in harmony with each other, realizing why God made us in the first place, and what God has called each one of us to do.
To illustrate his point about faith, Paul gives the Galatians the example of Abraham, a person who became righteous not because he led a sinless life - but because he had faith in God, even though the promise God made to him appeared most improbable to ever be fulfilled. Abraham had such faith that he was willing to sacrifice his son when he thought God asked him to do so. Did he know that God would send us His Son as a sacrifice for the sake of humanity, to save anyone, Jew or Gentile, man or woman, slave or free, rich or poor, who had faith in him, and to give them eternal life? Who are Abraham's children? They are those who believe God's promises, those who recognize God's faithfulness to humanity in every aspect of life.
I think of each day in our lives as part of a journey through a landscape, the landscape of our consciousness that has evolved through all the experiences that we have as an individual over our life. But there is something common and universal to all people - there are two clear centers of attraction in the landscape of every individual's consciousness. One center is a source of faith and fulfillment, motivation and energy, leading to eternal life, through unity with God. The other center leads to separation from God, and drains us of our energy and what makes us truly human, making us progressively subservient to a master who is skilled in the art of making us slaves who will obey his commands, and does not hesitate to use deadly tactics to achieve his goal - the destruction of ourselves and of God's kingdom.
Paul knows well who has bewitched the Galatians. It is the seriousness of this predicament that makes Paul so forceful in expressing himself in his message to them. He knows that without faith in Jesus, there is just no hope for us to rescue ourselves. Only Jesus can do that; he has already done what was necessary to accomplish this incredible task of rescuing humanity. But we must have faith in him. Can we be so foolish as not to see this obvious truth? Why do we abandon our faith in favor of false teachings that have us revert back to ways of life that lead to eternal death instead of eternal life? He reminds us of what Jesus said - "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." (John 5:24)
Mother Teresa says very plainly what she considers important in life, what faith in Jesus led her to do:
At the end of life we will not be judged by
How many diplomas we have received
How much money we have made
How many great things we have done.
We will be judged by
"I was hungry and you gave me to eat
I was naked and you clothed me
I was homeless and you took me in."
Lucy Rose's faith in Jesus led her to invite two homeless men to live with her husband and three year old daughter in their home. I can only describe the transformation of these men, who had lived at the church shelter for many years, as miraculous. They became a part of her family. Lucy died of cancer in 1997. She is a companion on my journey, whose presence I have come to know and sense over the years after her death, and it is sometimes just as tangible to me as the fact that I am standing here talking to you today. That is the way it is with Jesus, if you will let him into your heart. Have faith in him, listen carefully to what he tells you to do deep within your heart, and know that he is with you every step of the way in the journey of your life, which is the only pilgrimage you will ever be on.
The more sophisticated we think we are in our reasoning and logic, the more we are proud of our learning and wisdom and our strength and resources, the more danger there is of our not accepting Jesus and having faith in him, of our trying to control our own destinies through observation of the law. Paul is trying to rescue us from our false sophistication, from the illusions we suffer from; he is pointing out that faith in Jesus is accessible to the simplest person - "faith in Jesus makes wise the simple," and this faith is both necessary and sufficient for us to be justified before God. Forgive us, God, for our reliance on our own works to justify ourselves with you, our implementation of the law in ways that you did not intend, our false pride in our strength and resources, our learning and intelligence. Help us to use these gifts as you intend, and to be children of God, as you call us to follow you, Lord Jesus.
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