Who are we?
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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 are we?
Who are we?
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians Justified by Faith, Not Works of Law (Galatians 2:15–21)
A well-known story is told of Margaret Thatcher during the time she was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She was visiting an old people’s home, going from room to room and meeting senior citizens who had lived there a long time. One old lady showed no sign of realizing that she was shaking hands with a world-famous politician. ‘Do you know who I am?’ asked Mrs Thatcher. ‘No, dear,’ replied the old lady, ‘but I should ask the nurse if I were you. She usually knows.’
Last week I asked the question, Who am I. That question is vitally important because it identifies where we begin. Paul answered that question in verse 20 of this passage when he wrote:
Gal 2:20 “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.”
That is where it begins for each of us. That old person, that old Nathan and Dave and Bonnie died. Paul said “I am crucified with Christ.”
Crucifixion was a well known method of execution in Paul’s day. Stories from ancient Rome would have been passed. History tells us that over 6,000 rebels were crucified by the Roman Emperor about 50 years before Christ was born.
People understood what crucifixion meant during Paul’s time. It meant a death occured. So Paul is saying that he died with Jesus and that he no longer lives but Jesus lives in him.
He’s not saying that he physically died. That doesn’t make sense. He is saying that he died to himself, his wants and wishes. He goes on in the latter part of that verse to say “the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith.”
He’s saying that physically still living, but he is now living in a new way. He is living by faith.
Paul says something that in this translation expands on living by faith.
Common English Bible Chapter 2
I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me
Living by faith possible because of the faithfulness of Jesus. It isn’t just living by faith, it is living by faith by the faithfulness of Jesus. The word faithfulness carries the meaning of strengthen, support or hold up. In other words our faith his strengthened, supported or held up by the faithfulness of Jesus.
So, who are we then?
We are God’s Holy people.
Peter wrote in his first letter
13 Therefore, once you have your minds ready for action and you are thinking clearly, place your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
14 Don’t be conformed to your former desires, those that shaped you when you were ignorant. But, as obedient children,
15 you must be holy in every aspect of your lives, just as the one who called you is holy.
16 It is written, You will be holy, because I am holy.
Look again at verse 15
15 you must be holy in every aspect of your lives, just as the one who called you is holy.
Peter makes clear the answer to the question of Who are we. We are to be holy in every aspect of our lives just like God.
I know, I hear it all the time, that is impossible. God is setting us up for failure. Paul addresses that when he wrote in his first letter to the Thessalonian church
23 Now, may the God of peace himself cause you to be completely dedicated to him; and may your spirit, soul, and body be kept intact and blameless at our Lord Jesus Christ’s coming.
24 The one who is calling you is faithful and will do this.
That is what this church teaches and our denomination teaches. In that Covenant of Christian Conduct that I quoted from last week I pull something else from it.
The Church of the Nazarene purposes to relate timeless biblical principles to contemporary society in such a way that the doctrines and covenants of the church may be known and understood…[1]
God is holy and we are called to be holy just like Him. That is one of the “timeless biblical principles” that we need to relate to our society.
I joined the Church of the Nazarene at the tail end of the time when our denomination was known more for what we were against than what we were for. The denomination that I grew up in was also known for what we were against than what we were for.
I have struggled with that perception of the church. When I look at the life and ministry of Jesus I see him saying to the “religious people” harsh statements in order to point them back to God.
When Jesus was out doing ministry, spending time with the losers, the sinners, the tax collectors, the women with questionable reputations, the lost and the least you didn’t see him telling them what not to do. He called them to follow Him, to be obedient and faithful to God.
We have one full sermon that Jesus Preached and it is the Sermon on the Mount. It is found in Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7. In that sermon we have the Beatitudes and teachings on relationships, worry, anger and other types of issues we might face in life.
His message in so many ways was very positive and offered an alternative to the way that the Jewish religious leaders taught the people.
One of the dangers of the Western Church is how we have capitulated to the culture around us. We in many ways have surrendered to the culture. We have talked about what we are against. We’ve talked about how to live your best life now. We’ve talked about pop psychology. We’ve talked about a lot of stuff.
The problem is that in many ways we’ve missed the point. We need to recapitulate the Gospel.
I like that word recapitulate. It means to summarize or essentualize or outline. It means rather than give over to the culture we restate what we believe.
Jesus did talk about how to walk with God. He said that the road was narrow. That implies to me that there are things that as a follower of Christ we don’t do. Jesus said
13 “Go in through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction is broad and the road wide, so many people enter through it.
14 But the gate that leads to life is narrow and the road difficult, so few people find it.
He doesn’t say it will be easy to follow Him. He invites us to take up our cross and follow him. He even went so far as to say that people who claimed to be serving Him will not make it into heaven. He said in verse 21
21 “Not everybody who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom of heaven. Only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter.
Only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Those are Jesus’ words.
In that Covenant that I have been referencing are found these words:
The Church of the Nazarene believes this new and holy way of life involves practices to be avoided and redemptive acts of love to be accomplished for the souls, minds, and bodies of our neighbors. [1]
Look there at those words that I highlighted and underlined. How we live is for the sake of our neighbors. In other words, what we do and say has an impact on those around us, those outside the church.
This statement is about the reconciliation work that God is doing in us and what we are to be doing in the world. Paul addressed this in his first letter to the Corinthians. I’d encourage you to read 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. Let me point out 3 verses.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!”
2 Corinthians 5:18 “18 All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation.”
2 Corinthians 5:20 “20 So we are ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ’s representatives, “Be reconciled to God!””
So those “practices to be avoided and redemptive acts of love to be accomplished for the souls, minds, and bodies of our neighbors.” That is that ministry of reconciliation. Paul said that we are ambassadors who represent Christ.
What we say and do impacts those who Jesus came to save. Jesus is the one who said John 3:16 “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.”
We are the ones to carry that message.
One of many things that I’ve learned as a parent is to be careful that you are not giving mixed messages.
Let me give you a couple of mixed messages that I have heard parents use.
Little Johnny looses a game and he curses. Mom yells at him for saying a bad word. Later Johnny hears his mom yelling at his dad and cursing him. Mixed message.
Teenage Susie gets caught vaping at school and gets in trouble. Her dad yells at her for vaping while he is holding a cigarette. Mixed message.
Preteen Tom has gotten some marijuana and has been smoking it. He gets caught by his parent’s and they ground him and tell him that he is to young to do that. When Tom says well you both smoke weed. They say it’s different, they are adults. Mixed messages.
The kids are in the backseat of the car heading home from church. Mom and dad are talking bad about the preacher or sister Ethel or Brother Paul. One of the kids says to their sibling something about an outfit that one of the other kids was wearing. Dad overhears them and yells at them for doing that. Mixed message.
We carry the life giving message of Jesus. People with out Christ are dead, dead in sin. We have the message that brings life.
I don’t know how many times that I have been turned off by how some Christian’s lived. They say one thing and live an entirely different way. We changed churches because racism was so rampant that we couldn’t tolerate it any longer.
Go back to that quote from the Manual. Those “practices to be avoided and redemptive acts of love to be accomplished for the souls, minds, and bodies of our neighbors.”
Folks the enemy is out for the souls, minds, and bodies of our neighbors. The heart and souls of our children are under attack today.
What we do or don’t do are for the souls, minds, and bodies of our neighbors.
God through Christ Jesus has invited use to be reconciled to him. He has invited us to live in a new and living way. Outside of a relationship with Christ is death.
Paul said in verse 16 of our text that we could “be made righteous by the faithfulness of Christ.”
I want to be clear that we are not saved because of what we do or don’t do, what we say or don’t say. We are saved, we are made righteous by the faithfulness of Christ. This saying and doing comes after the fact.
I am crucified with Christ. That is who I am. It is not me who lives, but it is Christ in me. The old me has died.
Paul said that the life “I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son.”
“Dr. George Morris was a Methodist seminary professor and a world expert on evangelism. He dedicated his adult life to spreading the message of Jesus around the world.
George grew up in a poor Appalachian family. His grandfather was an atheist, and none of the family showed any interest in spiritual things.
The year that George turned seventeen, his father became friends with a local Methodist pastor. At a revival one night, George got the shock of his life when his father knelt at the church altar and gave his life to Jesus. But what happened next really shook him up. George’s father got up from the altar and headed straight for George. His words burned their way into George’s heart.
He said, “Son, I know this is embarrassing to you, but I want you to hear me out and trust me if you can. I have found something here this evening that I have been searching for, for fifty-six years, and I would rather die than see you make the mistake I have made.” Young George prayed to receive Jesus as his Savior that evening.
That one prayer changed the course of his life, and has led him to influence countless other people and bring them into a relationship with Jesus, too. [2]
Have you found what his father had been searching for all of his life?
Have you died to self so that you can live for God?
God is holy and we are called to be holy just like Him. That is one of the “timeless biblical principles” that we need to relate to our society.
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
Have you experienced that promise? God is faithful, He will do it if we allow Him.
[1] The Covenant of Christian Conduct – MANUAL 2017–2021. (n.d.). Nazarene.Org. Retrieved January 14, 2023, from https://2017.manual.nazarene.org/section/covenant-of-christian-conduct/
[2] George E. Morris, The Mystery and Meaning of Christian Conversion (Port Orford, OR: World Methodist Evangelism Publishing, 2004), pp. 15-17.