Sermon Worksheet & Manuscript

Robert L. Hutcherson, Jr.

Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church

                                        Sermon Preparation/Delivery

Galatians 3:23-29

“What The World Needs Now”

The Reverse Karla J. Cooper, Pastor

 July 1, 2007

                                                       Proper 7 (12)

Sermon Worksheet & Manuscript

TEXT

Galatians 3:23-29

“Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring,heirs according to the promise. “

BODY

“What the world needs now –

Is love, sweet love –

It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of…”

This is the major problem that haunts society. WE DON'T GET ALONG! We argue and we fight at all different levels in society. Families argue and fight. Brothers and sisters do. Nations go to war with each other. Races conflict with each other. People divide up into different political parties and different ideologies. We divide by ethnicity, by class and by gender. Sadly churches and congregations don't always get along either. This is not new and it has been occurring since the first century. Our text today from the letter that Paul wrote to the Galatians was dealing with a church conflict. Now, while I confess that the “bee in my bonnet” these days is usually about church conflict, today with the help of the Apostle Paul we’ll examine the problems, purpose and calling of the church in a deeply divided society. The church is called to display to the world the Kingdom of God. We are called to embody in our common life God's intention for all humanity, while inviting humanity to join in.  At the end of verse 28 of our text, Paul says, "For you are all one in Christ Jesus." Literally it reads "You are all one person in Christ Jesus". We belong not only to God as sons and daughters but also to each other as brothers and sisters. We are all one in Christ. That is a constant theme throughout the New Testament. It is the central teaching of the book of Ephesians, in which Paul says, "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

In his letter to the Corinthians Paul says, "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ." Here, in his letter to the Galatians, Paul proceeds to break it down for them…and us…

First, Paul tells us there are NO RACIAL DISTINCTIONS. He says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek…" God chose Abraham and his descendants the Jews to be His chosen people. However, in Christ God fulfilled His promise to Abraham that "in you all the nations shall be blessed". This includes "all nations," people of every race, color and language. God has sons and daughter by faith in Christ in every people group in the world. One of the most powerful scenes to me in the entire Bible is the picture of worship around God’s throne in the book of Revelation. "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’. "For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth". See, black militants, white supremacists and oh so many others who believe that God loves or will save only certain races of people have never seriously studied the Scriptures. This was the primary struggle that occurred in the church in Galatia. There were individuals there who believed that Christians were obliged to obey the purity and shame laws of the Hebrew Scriptures. These groups were ethnically Jewish and it was natural for them. But the church of Galatia was not just made up of converted Jews.

Gentiles, that is, people from other nations, joined the community of faith. The two groups divided up and differed over what was essential to the Christian life. The former Jews insisted that Gentiles needed to become Jewish. They claimed to be the children of Abraham and Moses and inclusion in the covenants that God made with Abraham and Moses was necessary. You get the picture. This explains the first comparison that Paul makes. There is neither Jew nor Greek. All are children of Abraham through Christ! The differences are ultimately unimportant.

Second, Paul tells us there are NO CLASS DISTINCTIONS. "There is neither slave nor free.” These were economic classes. Christian faith, with its message of freedom had a great appeal to slaves in that ancient society. Many of them converted to Christianity, but they were of a different economic status... really, that is to say they had none. So naturally there was an arrogance that developed between those who were free citizens and those who were slaves. We need to understand the powerful implications of Paul's statement. Within the community of faith there was and is, no difference between the two. In fact we are equals. We all are sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ. The Church has a long and proud history, but part of that history has included a separate section in the sanctuary where the slaves of the members sat, segregated from the rest of the membership. This was quite common but it goes against Paul's statement that within Christian faith there is no economic difference. Do we still try to divide up by economic class today? I fear we do but Paul admonishes us that these walls of separation have been broken. In the kingdom of God there is neither slave nor free, rich nor poor, upper nor lower class. Imagine living in a culture of slavery. Some of the masters and some of the slaves were both Christians and both in the same congregation. When it came to Christ, they were equals. In every human society circumstances of birth, wealth, privilege and education have divided men. It is not so in Christ.

Someone has well said, "The ground is level at the foot of the cross." If we are to truly be a “Whosoever Church”, all people must be welcome here. There are enough churches that cater only to the wealthy or elite. The Apostle James speaks of bringing dishonor on a poor brother. He asks in his second chapter, verse 5, "Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?" He brings us to the bottom line in verse 9, "If you show partiality you commit sin."

Third, Paul tells us there are NO SEXUAL DISTINCTIONS. He says, "There is neither male nor female." Paul, who is regarded by many as being sexist, makes a radical statement for his day. The differences between men and women are meaningless in the community of faith. We are still men and women, but neither sex enjoys superiority. It isn't always this way in church, and certainly not within the world. A pastor told of how he became ill and was hospitalized. He had a wedding scheduled that coming weekend and so he called and asked his associate pastor to perform it. He didn't think any more about it until after he recovered and returned to work. That’s when he found out that the wedding never took place…because the couple did not want to have a woman perform their wedding. In our society we see this pronounced. In our own country, in our own state, yes, even in our own city…domestic violence is still a reality and we have a great deal of distance to travel before we can hope to achieve the norm that Paul presents. Men may be from Mars and Women may be from Venus, but before Christ, we are all right here on Earth and stand equally before Him! Please understand…the concept of equality of the sexes did not begin in our time. Women’s rights were not first championed by liberals in the 20th Century but by God back in the First Century. In biblical times, women were often seen as little more than possessions. They were all too often exploited and abused by their husbands and other men. Christianity elevated women not only to a new level of respect but to the place of equality with men in the body of Christ.

Women and men are to share the same rights, the same access and the same fellowship among the people of God. Peter reminds us men, "Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife…as being heirs together of the grace of life …”. Now, make no mistake. This doesn’t mean racial, social and sexual distinctions have been obliterated. Christians are not "color or gender blind", though that would be a worthy goal. They are aware of a person’s cultural, economic, and educational background. But as John Stott says, "When we say that Christ has abolished these distinctions, we mean not that they do not exist, but that they do not matter. They are still there, but they no longer create any barriers to fellowship." If you have a penny, please take it out and look at it now for a minute…thank you. G.K. Chesterson said, "In Christianity all are equal, as all pennies are equal, because the only value in any of them is that they bear the image of the king." We are truly "all one in Christ Jesus."

Finally Paul says, "And if you are Christ’s…" if you have been born again by faith in Jesus, "you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."

There is a great sense of meaninglessness in today’s society. Many today believe life has no meaning, that we are a random mass of cells and tissue. With that philosophy, is it any wonder that so many today feel they do not belong anywhere. They feel unattached. They feel lost.

The good news of the gospel is that in Christ we find ourselves. The unattached become attached. The lost become found. We find our place in ETERNITY as the sons and daughters of God. We find our place in SOCIETY as brothers and sisters in the family of God. We find our place in HISTORY as part of the succession of God’s people down through the ages. When someone asks, "Who are you?" we can accurately answer, "I am in Christ. I am a child of Almighty God, I am an heir of all His promises. I am united with the redeemed people of God of all the ages, past, present and future." In Christ we find ourselves. In Christ we have an eternal identity. In Christ we belong to God. In Christ we also inherit the promise to Abraham. We take our place in the long line of the heroes, the men and women of faith like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, David, Samuel and all the prophets. Now I don’t know about you…but that makes me want to stand just a little straighter, and walk just a little taller. We stand apart from the world as people who by faith are God’s "heirs."

In Christ we find the road of faith that will ultimately lead us home. We are no longer lost. There are many roadways through life, but the most important road anyone can take is the road of faith. The great preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, "If you are uncertain of which of the two paths to take, choose the one on which the shadow of the cross falls." We are no longer unattached. We have a three-dimensional attachment in Christ - height, breadth and length. We are attached in HEIGHT through Christ by entering into an eternal bond with God Almighty. We are attached in BREADTH through Christ by being united to all believers in Christ’s body. We are attached in LENGTH through Christ as part of the long line of believers through the course of time.

These were radical pronouncements by Paul. These were statements that confronted the existing culture with an entirely different vision for ordering society. The early church, like its Savior, was truly a counter-cultural community. When we choose Christ, when we put on Christ as we put on our clothing, we put on a new identity. The old identities that accentuate differences are no longer valid. The kingdom of God does not know these differences. We are sisters and brothers with Christ, and therefore with one another.

The challenge for us as the Christian community today is to lay aside the differences which divide us and truly put on the clothing of Christ, who suffered, bled, was crucified, and died for our chance to once again be in community with God and with each other. The challenge for us as the Christian community today is to be a community of faith that not only talks the talk, but walks the walk. A walk in which our CONFESSION lines up perfectly with our PROFESSION. Those things which divide us, whether they are ethnic, racial, economic, social, political or ideological are ultimately of little importance. When we stand before our Lord at the end of time, He’s not going to ask about our ethnic background. He’s not going to ask about our political views. He’s not even going to ask about the opinions that we held. But we will be called to account for how we followed Christ and how we showed the love of Christ to each other. How we remembered that we are first and foremost members equally in the community of our Lord.

What the world needs now is for us as Christians to realize that we have more in common with one another, than what divides us and that we must celebrate those things which bind us to Christ and to each other. What the world needs now is the church more than ever. What the world needs now is for the church to be the church of Jesus the Christ.

Our world is bitterly separated into different groups. In the coming months we will be reminded constantly of our political differences as the elections proceed. The media will tell us stories each day of conflict and hate which have as their root ethnicity, class, social viewpoint, politics and religion.

What the world needs now is to see a group of individuals who come from different perspectives, different viewpoints, different races, different genders and different classes who acknowledge that there is far more that binds us together than there is that separates us. What the world needs now is to know that it is not impossible to get along with each other. What the world needs now is love, sweet love…the love of Christ…it’s the only thing that there’s just too little of…

Let us pray…

Order of Worship

Sunday July 1st, 2007

11:00 A.M.

Opening Hymn………………………” I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord”, Hymn 515

Doxology……………………………………………………All

Call to Worship…………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Hymn………………………………..”Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”, Hymn 75

Prayer……………………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Prayer Response………………………………….”Give Us This Day”

Scripture Reading………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Decalogue……………………………………….Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Gloria Patri…………………………………………….Congregation

Sermon…………………………………………..Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Invitation to Christian Discipleship…”We’re Traveling Home To Heaven”, Hymn 496

Altar Call/Offertory………………………………………..All

Offertory Response……………………………”All Things Come Of Thee”

Affirmation of Faith…………………………………..Congregation

Benediction………………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson