The Role of the Law

Eternal God in the reading of the scripture, may your word be heard. In the meditations of our hearts. Be your word be known. And in the faithfulness of Our Lives. May your words be shown? I'm in.

Are reading today comes from Galatians, chapter 3, verses 1 through 9, and 23 through 29.

You irrational Galatians you put who's Put A Spell On You. Jesus Christ was put on display as crucified before your eyes. I just want to know this from you. Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you still irrational after you started with the spirit? Are you now finishing up with your own human ever? Did you experience so much for nothing? I wonder if it really was for nothing. So does the one providing you with the spirit and working miracles? Among you do that by you doing the works of the law or by you believing what you heard? Understand that in the same way that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Those who believe are the children of Abraham. But when it saw ahead of time that God would make the Gentiles righteous on the basis of Faith scripture, preached the gospel in advanced Abraham, all the Gentiles will be blessed in you. Therefore, those who believe are blessed together with Abraham who believed

Before Faith came, we were guarded under the law, locked up until faith. That was coming would be revealed so that the law became our custodian until Christ, so that we might be made a righteous by faith. But now that Faith have come, we are no longer under a custodian. You Are All God's Children through faith in Jesus Christ. All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew, nor Greek. There is not a slave nor free nor is there male and female for. You are all one in Christ, Jesus. Now, if you belong to Christ then indeed you are Abraham's. Descendants are is according to the promise. Here in the reading.

When I was growing up. I had a friend named Tom and Tom and I met in the third grade. Or maybe with the 4th, I do remember one of the to be the third, fourth grade. And we were friends all through elementary school and middle school, high school together. We We spent Wiki weekends together. We played games, My middle school, there was a small group of us. The reason it was just telling me but I haven't seen Tom in about 15 years. And Tom was a real character. He was a really interesting guy in the end. He was the kind of guy that you can always rely on to show up and help if you really needed it. But at the same time, he often expanded on the truth, a little bit in his stories. He was he was an avid Storyteller. And he he would tell interesting stories about who he was, or who he worked for just various things. And you weren't always sure what you can believe, what you couldn't believe, but the reason why I haven't seen Tom in the last 15 years is simply that he stopped talking to me. He just kind of disconnected and disappeared. I haven't, I haven't seen him since then. but via the event that that started this separation between us I guess. Was nothing major? No no Fallout no no anger. No no no negative words. Exchanged nothing like that. The last thing that I did with Tom was to attend his wedding, his wedding was about 15 years ago and I have never met the woman that that he married. We had never heard anything about her really, until we got the invitation to come to come to the wedding. And when we arrived, the bride-to-be looked kind of uncertain about us being there. I'm, I, I fear, although I have no proof, I haven't haven't talked to Tom more than 15 years. I don't know for sure, but I fear that perhaps, He told him some stories about us that we're not wholly true and so maybe his wife thought we were unsavory character then I'm not sure that would certainly explain why he hasn't talked to me since then. but in any case, Reason, I thought a time without preparing for the sermon today, I was thinking about the law and the role of the law. And, and ways that I have that. I've heard people talk about the, the law of Moses, and the Ten Commandments and scripture in, and use them as

At the weapon in various situations and there are lots of there. Lots of examples, all through the history of the church where the scriptures have been used as a weapon to to harm various communities. but in this particular case, I remember what women went to Tom's wedding this was before I really come to Christianity and we went to, it was a very small wedding and it was a small Christian Church, probably use something in the Churches of Christ range of, you know, kind of I would assume kind of fundamentalist Evangelical Church. Looking nice place. People are all very nice. The the minister seems really nice, but one thing that surprised me was that the minister actually gave a full sermon during the, the wedding service, which I understand is I used to be, but it would not comment on the most of the wedding services that I've been a part of. But he gave a full sermon in the, his sermon, With on a marriage as being between one man. And one woman. And all of the scriptural support heat. He felt he had for that and it was a very, very anti-lgbt sermon. And I remember that what struck me about it. Was not that the content of the right. I expected that the surprise that this group of folks, healthy beliefs and ended in the Bible Belt in Texas. You know, this is not not surprising, but what I would do without it, if it was that it was. So, it seems so unnecessary. When we were at a wedding between, you know, a man or woman you with their friends and family there why why the need to preach the sermon about the thing to be of marriage? As being only between one, man, and one woman and kind of talking out against the LGBT community. At a wedding. Now I can. There's some there's some, you know,

there's a contact there with it being a wedding and everything, but it just is it struck me at the time as being, so out of left field so unexpected for me. I remember thinking, wow. What happened, what you know? When did when did Tom? My friend, that I grew up with you all through school. When did he become someone who believed in this? Or does he does? He believe in this? Is this the way that he thinks that, you know, is the same way? I was just very surprised by the whole thing. Of course, I never got to talk to him about it because I mean, literally, I did. I don't think I ever talk to him again after that. The wedding. Not, because I didn't want to. He just he just dropped off the face of the Earth. I'd never found again. So, I was left with this strange question in my head about weather, my friend had been changed by the by this community or, or what does a relaxing for a bit. It was stuck in my head and it still has to stay at one of the time, I think about, or someone has taken the law in the state that they talked a lot about Genesis. I talked a lot about

There are things in Leviticus and Deuteronomy and didn't going to take him this that the books and they use them as a weapon against their fellow human beings. and this is, I think exactly one of the things that that Paul is warned against in his letter to the galatian for the end. Other other places in his letters, were he talks about the law and the role of the law and in the Christian Community.

Accept it in Paul time, it wasn't the lgbtq community or the African slave Community or you know, women who want to preach or any of these groups who were being attacked by folks using biblical sources. It was in within that the new Growing Christian Community. and I specifically this case in the, the church in galatia,

And this is the second art experiment part of a three-part series of my own design, but where were using The Narrative Lectionary and The Narrative Lectionary goes through the entire Bible and we're coming to the end of it. So next week will be the last the last service in this sequence of The Narrative Lectionary. And these last three servants are all about a Galatians which is really I think, really interesting. So last time, we talked about the first two chapters of collation to this house with the third chapter of Galatians.

and we talked about,

What Paul is was done with the last week. We, we heard that a couple of things and impulse kind of set up to this point, Paul mentions it that you first, he was called to teach the Gentiles who called Skipper. He was himself an Israelite. She was a member of the Jewish community. And he had a pressed the, the Christian for the early on. And then he had a vision of Jesus on the road on during his travels and he converted to the Christian Community in the heat decided it was he was called to go out to the Gentiles, to the non-jewish community and preach them. The gospel of Christ of the Death Christ crucified.

And he says that he received this gospel directly from Jesus that he didn't, he didn't receive it from the Apostle. He didn't go down to Jerusalem and an athlete of the Apostles. The teaching, the gospel that he received the drive-thru from Jesus and the car lot in this Revelation talked a bit about how probably the, the, the event that the gospel that the parts that make up. For example, the the Gospel of Luke and the facts, which are both attributed to one of Paul's associate Luke. You probably knew those things from hearing them for other places and he was, he was a pressing the Christian Community. He probably already heard what people were saying about Jesus the wooden Twin Pulse. If you receive the Gospel, what he means is that he received the, the spirits received, the the sudden realization of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And so years later, I think you said more than 10 if he's at he's at 14 years later. Something like that neat. He goes down to Jerusalem and he talks the Apostle stuff to verify to make sure that that he really is teaching a, valid mean, valid teaching that if you can your valid in are correct. And I think also to check with the the Jerusalem Community to make sure that They're not too far from himself not as much because he wants to make sure he's correct but I think part of it is because he wants to make sure that they have not strayed from what he sees as being the, you know, the central people. And sure enough, he finds he's in complete agreement. With with the apostles, can you put Paul and James?

How far is new with Peter in chain in and talk to them, and they're working fine. So did we come to this? The the the event that has spurred this letter that it causes letter, it than that, isn't that a group of Christian from the Christian Community from the Jewish Christian Community, have come to galatia and are telling the the relatively newly formed Church there, which is comprised of a mixture of both Jewish and non-jewish Christians. They're telling them that the the non-jewish Christian didn't talk, Christian must must be circumsized and begin following the law of Moses. If they want to be saved, they want to be part of the job of the Christian Community because the after all Christianity has started out as a as a sect of Judaism. And the three, folks, you have to be Jewish to be Christian.

and the death letter of the Galatians that letter to the to the church and Alicia was Paul's rebuke of them for for for believing with these people were telling them because Paul had taught them something very different and he started with a story about Peter Peter had reached out to the Gentiles and around you Jerusalem. He was having meals with the oh, everybody in the in the community, you know, Gentiles and Jews. You know, I'm slaving free. You know, that it's all walks of life. That was a huge core component of Jesus's Ministry and of the ministry of the church in the end. And so, Peter is kind of the leader of the church with was doing that. But then there were some folks in Jerusalem Who convinced him that he should stop eating with the Gentiles and the reason for this was a multifaceted. We don't we don't know why we don't we don't hear Peter side of the of the story very much. We don't we don't know exactly what his thoughts work, but it's likely that he was concerned about the the the rise in Jewish nationalism with injury. Some of the time, there's all these movements to try who the one attempt to free Judea from Roman rule. Instead of the day then that there was a there was a bolt in 70, 80 that where they tried to do just that and they were crushed in the temple was destroyed in the Romans, just completely crush them into this is before that happened in. And so, it possible that Peter was concerned that that he didn't want the, the, the Jewish community in Jerusalem to be

Think poorly of the Christian Community and likewise didn't want the Roman government thing, for the decreasing. Trying to kind of you know, be everything to everyone. Or maybe he really believed this, what they were saying about the, but I doubt that I think it was probably something you probably thinking more about the unity of the community, the Paul reviews him. Paul Potts time, Paul Revere and it says he can't do this, like you've got to eat with. Everybody says, this is the core of the faith. It's a pulse Elvis's. Lesions in the first chapter, has to kind of get them into this thing. Paul main point here, is that weird that we are saved? Not through our own actions, not through anything we we do or believe, but through the grace of God, only for the grace of God and that there's no way for us. It's impossible for us to save ourselves. God is the only one who can do it. And took her purple, the grace of God. And not being able to save oneself, a kind of core understanding of the gospel and he says and invitations, I don't ignore the grace of God. Because if we become righteous through the law being thrown actions, then Christ died for no purpose. The forgiveness is a very important point in doing the second, the third chapter. I mean, he continues his thought process and he

Kia. How to get to the point. I try to get to it, the glaciers been thrown the beginning of our reading, follow the meatly after that bit about Christ. After no purpose, he says you irrational. Galatians you put a who Put a Spell on You. Jesus Christ on display is crucified before your eyes. I just want to know this from you. Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law, by believing what you heard? Are you still irrational? After you started with the spirit? Are you now finishing up with your own human effort? Did you experience so much for nothing? But he's really berating them right in in the kind of, in a loving way of of a parent would now they've they've become, you know, the beginning, their brothers and sisters. Now, they're kind of his children for reading them and he saying, you know, who who is convinced you who is the witch? Do we put a spell on you to make you think that that what I taught you when I was there is it's not true. because, What Paul was teaching was justification through faith justification through, not your work, not for the law, but through the spirit, it was that it was God's spirit moving within you that caused you to change your life to to suddenly, except the realization of the Gospel that has to accept it then. Leave like the gospel is true that, that

That God has has forgiven you. The Christ has Ransom to you through his death on the cross. And you know that you're what is needed of, you is Faith. And Faith, here is a little tricky, but you, we today we a lot of kids, get stranded. And I believe, or we think about faith, we think about it as being like an intellectual belief. I believe this is true. I have a little extra lie. I think that's probably true but I believe this is true. I've been convinced right? But that's not what this word means. In the in the Greek. It's it's a pissed-off witch. Really is closer to its faith is like, faithfulness or trustworthiness. It's what you would say if someone who was who you trusted, for example, to do a job for you knew, it was what you would say. To your, your trusted, your treat, your trusted servant to who, you know, took care of your of your house for you. While you were gone or work, or you trusted business partner, who who can go in and take care of a business, a business deal for you in your absence or whatever that you have that. The story of that, for example, the story of the trouble, the talents were we talked about the, the man who give the money to his, to his servants. And then one of them, you know, that one of the best sit in one of them buried in the sand. That kind of thing. Is it is what the kind of trustful left that that we're talkin about here this word. Can we say Satan in most places in the, in the New Testament is translated as Faith. But in this particular verse is that could translate it as believe.

and, you know, Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Really? What with this belief word here is its Faith. It's about It's about.

Did you have faith? Did you did you trust what you heard? Do you do trust in God? Do you have? Do you do you have faith in God not. Do you believe? I do believe in Jesus Christ but do you trust in the saving Act of Jesus Christ. To do you trust the deep? Do you put your your faith? And you put your trust in God? That's what he say. And he saying that, that's what you'd what is needed of you. And even that is not an accident that you are. Even doing that. You doing that doesn't. Baby you doing that doesn't make you right as you already, right? Yes, you're right. Just already by the saving work of Jesus Christ, is it? But what happened is it? When you when you have an epiphany and realize the truth of that, then you've come to have faith in the gospel. And he goes on to talk about then talking about, why would you believe that you have to do? The law has work so lightly and then he he Likens them to Abraham and he does because you're the law of Moses, the Ten Commandments and the law can be can be described a couple of things. And Polly would describe the same words, describe a couple of different things, but the long can generally be thought of to be the first five books of the Jewish scriptures, which is called the pentateuch means the five rolls or that Tanakh But it's the or the list of the Books of Moses, they call them. It's odd. Genesis Exodus Deuteronomy, Leviticus and numbers. And these, the five books were supposedly written by Moses in that. I, I would love to have another another server. Not go into detail on on how I understand these books were actually written and how they came along that the kind of beyond the scope of the Thurman today. But those are the books. And so, you can call those books in the whole the law or you can talk with the law as being, you know, just the the legal requirements in the books. Especially in Exodus, Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Or you could talk about except for the laws, being this narrative story and the fact that I think in that in the Jewish community of Paul's day, it was commented to think about the law and in two different way there with this, this narrative that was important because it was the story of God's interaction with the, the people of the Israelites, the Jewish people through history and then woven into that story where the legal requirements, which is another kind of the law. And Paul point is that we talked about this, and he saying that that, which is more important, In this in the in these books is that narrative story but the legal aspect, it is not as important as the narrative part, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Three points at to Abraham because that law of Moses came hundreds of years after Abraham and yet Abraham, what, who had Abraham believed in had faith in God, and was considered righteous by God before he was circumcised before the Books of Moses existed, before the law had been had been even thought of you a little written down. And so Paul's point is that it's faith in God. That. Justifies you that shows that your righteous in God's eyes, not any physical activity perform with at circumcision or following dietary restraints or whatever? And then he goes on to say that. The law and fact. Was put on the people of Israel as a way to show them how they could never really live up to it. You know, that the rest of the of the book, The the rest of the Jewish scripture is Goldfield movie called the Old Testament is the story of how Israel never lived up to what God wanted of them. I mean, there, there's all of these stories about, you know, things are going well and things are going bad and then disaster strikes. Do another card off to Babylon and all this kind of stuff. Right. So that the truth about her is it that you do as a as a as a whole of the community could never follow the law perfectly. And in fact Paul make the point that no one could ever fall in love her. It's not possible. The only person who was able to follow up perfectly with Jesus Christ but that it was impossible for anybody else to do it in for the point of the law. If the show us our own fallibility of the art, the fact that we could not do our own actions save ourselves that we must rely on the grace of God.

It's over that way. Paul says the law is like a custodian or like a, like a

Tell you the word. Use the end of translation.

I need a King, James have the Schoolmaster, but that's not a good translation. Either that this like the person whose put in charge of us I'm a student to make sure that they that they, that they study, so The law is if you know, there is a looming over us to show us our own shortcomings. but, If Christ death on the cross. Christ Christ, redeemed, us and not just us, not just me or you all of humanity. That's what Paul says. You're the Chrysler redeemed, all of humanity through through his own, faith is on trust and through his death on the cross. And so when that happened, the custodian of the law that than the need for the law as something that we have to follow. Because it shows us how how we can't ever live up to everything is removed. And that moment in Christ, we are, we are all one, there's neither Jew, nor Greek or some other slave nor free or neither male nor female, but we are all now Abraham's. Descendants.

So that kind of the the gist of this third, the third chapter of Collegian. And next week, we'll talk about the rest equations and we'll see where it goes from there. But not want us to Macon, talk about the role of the law. So if Paula saying here that the need for the law has been removed because through the actions of Jesus Christ. And the end for all of humanity and certainly is Universalist you know, we believe that all of humanity and all of creation will eventually be brought into right relationship with God. Whether that happens in this life or the or the neck, the point of it. He was all loving and all-powerful will eventually reconcile everyone to God self. And so, If that's true. And if it's true that Christ's death on the cross Justified, not just a group of people not just those who are currently, baptized not just those recruit curly causal Christian, but all of humanity.

If we're not saved your own actions are there. No, religious observances or songs or intellectual believe it's better. That we can have that affect our Salvation in any way at all. If it's salvation is only by then through the grace of God, as we attest, that it is, In what use is the law. Why? Why even had it and yet you Jesus says that he's not coming to do to get rid of the law, but to fulfill it.

And we here in juices and in Jesus his own words but also in and Paul's words that the summation of the law is to love God and to love one neighbor, and then if you do those things, then you have fulfilled, the requirements of the law.

And that is something that I am better than the core of my, of my belief part of the core by belief of my trust in God, is in the idea that it is through trusting in God and through, loving our neighbors, loving all of humanity. Especially those people that we don't get along with very well through that, that, that we show. Are we show? The world that Jesus is trying to bring into existence, the kingdom of God here on Earth. And also it's through that that we, that we Allow ourselves to be changed for the better by the spirit right through through living that reality. but, but Where does that leave the law in this case? We mean, literally the Old Testament and the end of Pacific Lee. The five books of Moses. What is the use of them? If not as a logbook, if not at the legal description of legal things that we should, we have to adhere to?

And we talked about the things important or more of those two parts of the of the book, you know, woven together there's both a narrative history of God's interaction with Humanity through the, the people of Israel and this legal code that was that it was given to the Israelites. And so the narrative history is very important to us as important because it was the with a history and Anna and a tradition that was extremely well-known to Jesus, the extremely well-known to the apostles and disciples in the early church. And it's out of this tradition and using the the concepts and words and stories and narratives from this tradition that Jesus says the things that he wants to say about about God, and about community, and about love and everything. And it's through the same tradition, that the apostles and the early church, I'm talking to, you don't know the tradition. If you don't know the stories that we miss out on important aspects in the New Testament, Secondly, just because we're not bound by the law that just because performing the law. And here I can, I mean the legal, the legal aspect of it, the legal code Doesn't mean that it's completely useless, right? I mean that it's still helpful that you know, are the Ten Commandments are still an excellent Guide to Life. Even even if we say, well, you know, we're going to go to hell because we can't because we we we lied once or we are we cheated somebody, or we stole something one time. But yet, they give us a guide to what it means to live in the Christian Community and how to how to be a better person. So they're still useful to us as a self-improvement as a teaching tool as a, as a guide for us to look back on. And yet, at the same time, we have to remember that many of the of the people on the scripture are flawed flawed human beings. You know, David is pointed to, as a kind of a paragon of a kingly leadership and yet, you know he fell in love with with the wife of his General by Mia picking up picking on her while she was bathing. And then had an affair with her daughter. Pregnant, tried to get the general to come back in and sleep with his wife. So he could pretend it with his the general baby. And then when that didn't work, had the general killed Right. And here he's, you know, he's David he needs to

Ancestor of all of the king of Israel. You know, many of the people in that in the Bible are flawed flawed people. Do I have to wear that we don't do, we shouldn't just mimicked them because they're in the Bible and also, we should think about any kind of legal requirement with within kind of to contacts won the contest. With they were originally written, which is really important into the context of the entire narrative and then Tire teaching of the Bible as a whole You'll be read a particular first and it doesn't seem to make sense in the bigger picture of the, of the teachings of Christianity. Then it might be something that we should we should figure is out of date, something that that we should not emulate, you know? For example, there are many verses in both the Old and New Testament, that talk about the thunder beings of women to men. There are verses that talk about how women should not should not teach men. How women should be quiet in church. How women should be subservient to their husbands?

And yet that idea is so. So opposed to the, the overall Understanding we have of the Christian message, love one another and and love your neighbor and there's no division. There's neither Jew, nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free, there's neither male nor female and Jesus himself included, many women in Ministry, you know, the, the the women it was the women who discovered the tomb was empty. It was the women who were waiting by the cross. When when Jesus crucified, it was the women who didn't desert him. When things got to go being going badly.

And Paul speaks highly of women in the early church. He has, he obviously feels he's women as as his equals as as a part of the, of the Church community in the ministry. Yeah, we talked about finding women and you out to the church has to, to, to deliver his his letter or something. I mean, Paul obviously didn't think of that. Women should be below men from way when we read these texts. We have to think, you know where these later additions were these, you know, how did he get in here? But but you only, we can thank you. This is doesn't match the whole story and it with a lot of things like that. Things related to loving families at the LGBT community, your things related to slavery, you know, Paul, Paul seven and some of the apothem working with it. So you should be content being slaves, and not try to try to free himself, but you know, Paul office. The people shouldn't bother getting married because Paul thought that the end was coming. So soon that it was, there was no reason, people just shouldn't do it. Because, you know, why, why bother with it, when Jesus is going to come back in our lifetime? So, all of that, all if you could find those two things that have been used as weapons to weaponize the scriptures the passing, and anytime we use the scripture as a weapon against against somebody, instead of using it as a way to demonstrate our love for one another, then I think we were misusing it and we're misunderstanding, Genesis message.

So this weekend what you think about that, think about when you Feen people. Use versus Youth Court in Bible as a weapon, when they've they've used their own knowledge. Two, number one, ottoman, ship, and try. To not do that yourself. A try. Try to instead approach people from place of love, from a place of unity, Unity through diversity. This is what Paul is saying that in Christ. We are all one, there's neither slave nor free Jew nor Greek male nor female. We are all one together in Christ and we are one family. Even the people that we don't like you know even the the the Christians that the drive of crazy, we're still a part of their family and indeed part of the family of all Humanity. After we should try to remember, that's how we should try to change our own, our own view that our own lives to better represent in the world.