Galatians 2:15–21 CEB

15 We are born Jews—we’re not Gentile sinners. 16 However, we know that a person isn’t made righteous by the works of the Law but rather through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. We ourselves believed in Christ Jesus so that we could be made righteous by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the Law—because no one will be made righteous by the works of the Law. 17 But if it is discovered that we ourselves are sinners while we are trying to be made righteous in Christ, then is Christ a servant of sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild the very things that I tore down, I show that I myself am breaking the Law. 19 I died to the Law through the Law, so that I could live for God. 20 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I don’t ignore the grace of God, because if we become righteous through the Law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Who am I?

Have you ever asked yourself that question over your lifetime? I have on several occasions. On Friday I had the opportunity to speak at the First Friday meeting at the Somerset library. I was asked to introduce myself.

I started of course with my name. I said I worked for UPMC as a drug and alcohol therapist. I said I was married. I said I had 7 kids and 4 grand kids. I said that I was a pastor. I said that I had served in the Air Force for 20 years.

I said a lot about what I was and the many hats that I wear or have worn. I really didn’t state who I was.

This thought of Who am I has been running through my mind for a month or more. That thought has expanded to include the church, this church to be Who are we.

It is really easy to say that I am a Christian. We say that we attend the Church of the Nazarene. I still hear people say that they are protestant which implies they are not Roman Catholic.

Paul answers the question of Who am I in verse 20 of our text this morning. He wrote

Galatians 2:20 KJV

20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

That is the King James translation of what Paul wrote. From the little that I remember from the one class I took on the Greek language, the perfect tense is being used there when Paul writes “I am crucified.”

The perfect tense “is used to describe a completed action which produced results which are still in effect all the way up to the present.” [1]

When Paul was confronted by Jesus as he was on the road headed to Damascus and he fell down before Jesus, He was crucified with Christ. We’re going to look at what that meant to Paul and what it means for us today.

In the Manual of the Church of the Nazarene, there is a section that is titled Covenant of Christian Conduct. This section describes how we as a church and as individuals should live out our Christian faith. In the introduction to that section there is a paragraph with these words:

The church joyfully proclaims the good news that we may be delivered from all sin to a new life in Christ. By the grace of God we Christians are “to put off the old self ”—the old patterns of conduct as well as the old carnal mind—and are “to put on the new self ”—a new and holy way of life as well as the mind of Christ. [2]

I have said many times that some Christians seem like they were baptized in dill pickle juice. There is no joy in their lives. If you have truly received the good news and accepted it then you should be one of the most joyful people that lives.

As I’ve thought about Who am I and Who are we, I’ve wondered what kind of impression we give to the world around us. The Manual says that the “church joyfully proclaims the good news that we may be delivered from all sin to a new life in Christ.”

One of the words that comes to my mind when I think about why the church is not being effective in reaching people for the Kingdom of God is the word “Relevance.”

We have to use caution when we talk about the church being relevant in our culture. I does not mean that we change the message. The meaning of that word is “relation to the matter at hand.”

What is the matter at hand?

Romans 3:23 CEB

23 All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory,

The matter at hand is sin and God through Jesus came died for all of our sin so that we could have new life in Jesus.

The joyful news that we as a church and individuals should be proclaiming is this:

John 3:16 CEB

16 God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.

Lets take a look at the meaning of this Crucifixion that Paul writes about. One of my favorite commentators identified three words that captures the meaning of that word.

The first word is Pardon. Being crucified with Christ brings pardon. Pardon is forgiveness from sin. It also implies a restoration of relationship.

When sin entered the world, the relationship that Adam and Eve had with God was broken and damaged. Pardon restores that relationship.

Pardon also implies a passionate urge to never sin again. That is a vital fact about pardon. Is pardon or forgiveness real if we just continue living the way that we lived before being encountered by Christ? Paul wrote in verse 18:

Gal 2:18 “18 If I rebuild the very things that I tore down, I show that I myself am breaking the Law.”

If I rebuild the very things that I tore down. Those sins that we sought forgiveness for, if I start doing them again then I am a sinner.

2 Cor 5:14-15 “14 The love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: one died for the sake of all; therefore, all died. 15 He died for the sake of all so that those who are alive should live not for themselves but for the one who died for them and was raised.”

When we come to faith in Jesus and receive pardon and forgiveness we died to sin. We should not be living for ourselves.

Take for example a gossip who says that they have gotten saved. If they have, then that sin of gossip is forgiven. But, if they continue to gossip, they are still living a sinful life and they will not make it to heaven unless they truly find forgiveness for that sin.

If you’ve come to faith in Jesus but are still doing the things that God has identified as being sinful in this Book then you are in danger of eternal separation from God.

The Bible has a lot to say about sin. Paul wrote later in this letter:

Galatians 5:19–21 CEB

19 The actions that are produced by selfish motives are obvious, since they include sexual immorality, moral corruption, doing whatever feels good, 20 idolatry, drug use and casting spells, hate, fighting, obsession, losing your temper, competitive opposition, conflict, selfishness, group rivalry, 21 jealousy, drunkenness, partying, and other things like that. I warn you as I have already warned you, that those who do these kinds of things won’t inherit God’s kingdom.

Wow, preacher, you are being pretty negative. No, we need to be reminded that Who I am depends on how I live my life. I am Crucified with Christ!

The second word about this crucifixion is this.

2 - Being crucified with Christ brings Power.

This power comes from Christ living within us. Paul said “I no long live, but Christ lives in me. I don’t know about you, but when left to my own devices, I do a pretty good job of screwing things up.

Think about this. When a person dies, the body begins to decay. That is why they embalm a person, it slows down that decaying process so that we can have those visits at the funeral home.

That is why when Jesus showed up after Lazarus died and commanded that the stone be rolled away that Martha said “Lord, the smell will be awful! He’s been dead four days.”

Think of the power of God at work there. Lazarus didn’t come out of the grave with skin falling off and a gross appearance. Jesus raised him to life. When Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb he called him by name. I speculate that if he had just gave a generic command to come out of the grave that everyone in that cemetery would have walked out of their tombs!

When Jesus was raised from the dead it was through the power of God.

2 Peter 1:3 “3 By his divine power the Lord has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of the one who called us by his own honor and glory.”

If God can raise Jesus from the dead, can He not give us everything that we need for today?

That power comes only when we give ourselves over to the lordship of Jesus Christ. It is when we begin to live that “I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live.” It is then we understand who we are.

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 CEB

3 Although we live in the world, we don’t fight our battles with human methods. 4 Our weapons that we fight with aren’t human, but instead they are powered by God for the destruction of fortresses. They destroy arguments, 5 and every defense that is raised up to oppose the knowledge of God. They capture every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

As we walk each day in faith we grow and we begin to use the weapons that God has provided us will. Going back to that quote from our Manual it said

“By the grace of God we Christians are “to put off the old self ”—the old patterns of conduct as well as the old carnal mind—and are “to put on the new self ”—a new and holy way of life as well as the mind of Christ.”

When we come to Christ we begin an entirely new way of living because Christ lives in me. God through the Holy Spirit lives within us.

The third word that we see here is Partnership. Being crucified with Christ means partnership.

Paul wrote “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” That is the beginning of the partnership. Paul goes on to complete his thought in the later part of that verse by saying.

Gal 2:20 “And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

“The life that I now live” implies that there was an old life. That old life had to die. When we are baptized, it symbolizes in a vivid sense of dying to ourselves. That old person has died and we are raised from the waters to new life by the power of the resurrection. That is why Paul wrote “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

Maxie Dunham wrote about a letter he received from a young man who was learning about this life of faith. He quoted from the letter these words:

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 31: Galatians / Ephesians / Philippians / Colossians / Philemon (All in Grace)

One night alone in prayer I took God to task on a few of his promises. I was feeling like I needed to come into close contact with him and I was feeling, I guess, a hole in my spirit. I prayed and asked him to fill my life with whatever I was missing. I asked and waited and asked again and waited for a long time. Then I just said, “Lord, I’ll try to be your man. I will let you live in me.” Immediately I was filled with a powerful ecstatic joy. I said, “Fantastic, God! This is incredible, how about some more?” And more came— my head was buzzing and I felt like I would explode with joy. Then I thanked God and went to sleep.The following day I was no different on the surface. It was my same life, same realities to deal with, but I felt great knowing God was in this thing with me. I have a new set of tools at my disposal and I’m finding that they’re needed.

That young man got it. He recognized the partnership with God and the power of God that flowed in his life. That is the transformation that is to occur in each of our lives.

We must be careful that this crucified life is not just something that we believe. Of course we believe it, but we have to live it out. It has to be experiential. We can’t just equate it to baptism that happened years ago. It is what Jesus meant when he said

Luke 9:23–25 CEB

23 Jesus said to everyone, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow me. 24 All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will save them. 25 What advantage do people have if they gain the whole world for themselves yet perish or lose their lives?

To live this crucified life means that we share that way of life with Jesus. We take up our cross daily and follow him.

Who am I? My answer is the same as Paul’s. I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

Is that true for you? Have you been crucified with Christ?

Are you living that life daily?

[1] Greek Tenses Explained – Ezra Project. (n.d.). Ezraproject.Com. Retrieved January 7, 2023, from https://ezraproject.com/greek-tenses-explained/

[2] The Covenant of Christian Conduct – MANUAL 2017–2021. (n.d.). Nazarene.Org. Retrieved January 7, 2023, from https://2017.manual.nazarene.org/section/covenant-of-christian-conduct/