Sunday after the Exaltation of the Cross

Title

Christians are not Good People but Followers of Jesus

Outline

Some folk think that Christianity is keeping the rules

Now there are rules in Christianity as there are in any community or organization

“Do your own thing” is the recipe for chaos as is “believe whatever seems good to you” - you soon get war

But neither is “keep the rules and you will be fine” the answer - unless you are looking for a way to guilt

In Paul’s day it was “become a Jew” following the teaching of Jesus and you will be fine

- the most basic rules were circumcision, kosher eating and living, and observing festivals, particularly the Shabbat. These set you off from the culture around you and made you a separate community.

Paul says, we are those “who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

The “works of the law” are those deeds that made one a Jew

But it is not those deeds that get God’s stamp of approval: “just” or “dikaios” or “innocent”

It is those who have faith in Jesus the Messiah, that is who are committed to or give allegiance to Jesus the Messiah

Faith in = trust in, give allegiance to a person verses faith that or believe that = be committed to something as true

In other words, Christianity is a life of identification with Christ, with his power in us freeing us from that which draws us into sin and death

Jesus puts it this way:

“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35  For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

Those committed to Jesus follow him, denying what they might want in this world, even dying to it (take up your cross), not because it is a rule but because Jesus did that and it is in being close to him that I find life. I may lose what this age calls life but I will gain what is really life.

He goes on to speak of this in terms of denial or him or shame because of him versus allegiance to him: “whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Peter would deny him, but he would turn back, give his allegiance back to Jesus, and follow and confess Jesus until the Romans killed him - we know what he got

Brothers and sisters, these issues are alive and well today

I did know a seminary student who went and got circumcised “just to make sure” - he had a problem

I have known Christians who thought that living a more Jewish lifestyle was better, who make them more pleasing to God - they had a problem

I have known people who thought that getting baptised would make them OK with God, some adding, so long as we keep the rules - they have a problem

I may live a Jewish lifestyle if it helps me to get closer to Jews so as to authentically show them how Jesus the Jew is the one they need to know

I did get baptized, but the reason was because Jesus was baptized and Jesus taught that we should be baptized into him and so through baptism I can follow and come closer to him

I could list issues like this for a long time, but the psychological principle is that if we seek something, move forward towards something its opposite grows weaker in our lives, but if we are constantly focusing on controlling some impulse it tends to grow stronger and the positive we are seeking grows weaker in our lives.

So, brothers and sisters, we are in that sense free from the law, but that is because it could not in itself free us from evil. Instead, we have the challenge of moving forward after Jesus, becoming one in heart and mind and deed with him. That is what makes us a Christian.

Readings

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 9-19-2021: Sunday after Holy Cross

EPISTLE

Galatians 2:16–20

16  yet who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no flesh be justified. 17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were found to be sinners, is Christ then an agent of sin? Certainly not! 18 But if I build up again those things which I tore down, then I prove myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. 20  I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 9-19-2021: Sunday after Holy Cross

GOSPEL

Mark 8:34–9:1

34  And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35  For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? 37 For what can a man give in return for his life? 38  For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” 9  And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.”

Notes

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 9-19-2021: Sunday after Holy Cross

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2021 | ELEVATION OF THE HOLY CROSS

SUNDAY AFTER HOLY CROSS

Dark Vestments

Epistle Galatians 2:16–20

Gospel Mark 8:34–9:1

RED

Sts Trophimus, Sabbatius, and Dorymedont, martyrs (m ca 277)