 | Full Text Sermon | Alternate Sermon Ideas | Prayers & Readings | Sunday June 28, 1998 ~ Fourth Sunday After Pentecost ~ Galatians 5:1; 13-25 "Freedom for Maximum Living" It was one of those scenes that attracts onlookers. Two police officers had stopped a car in downtown Milwaukee and ordered the driver to get out from behind the wheel. The man was obviously very drunk and had a hard time standing up, much less completing the field sobriety test. The resulting exchange between officers and the glassy eyed, thick tongued offender drew a crowd. The police were trying to get the man to turn, lean over and put his hands on the hood of his car. The man was screaming, "Hey... I'm an American and I live in America and that means nobody can tell me what to do!" One of the frustrated, but somewhat amused officers replied, "Yea, sure buddy... If you can spell American, I'll let you go." The drunk, offended by the reflection on his sobriety yelled back, "Don't make fun of me sir... I can spell it borwards and fackwards!" Strangely enough, this rather bizarre episode calls to mind a criticism which was frequently leveled against the Apostle Paul. Every time Paul spoke of God's grace and the freedom we have from the religious struggle to obtain God's favor, voices were raised in violent objection, "You destroy the law of God! You are saying people can do anything they desire. You allow sinful behavior and make Christ the minister of sin!" In other words, Paul was accused of saying, "I am a Christian and that means nobody can tell me what to do! The scripture reading from Galatians is Paul's answer to this objection. It is also one of most succinct statements in the New Testament of how the freedom Christ gives us can lead to the fullest possible life. "Freedom for Maximum Living!" This passage goes to the heart of what Jesus meant when he said, "I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly!" However, Paul's writing can be difficult to untangle at times. His struggle with those who saw his teaching as destructive of Jewish faith and morality was expressed in a way that can seem convoluted to us. Some of his thoughts need to be translated into more understandable terms. Here's what Paul is saying to us about living our Christian faith to the fullest: 1. You are free from having to earn your way into God's favor! (5:1) The first verse of our scripture sets up the theme. The sense of what Paul intends is, "Christ has liberated us free from a religion of rules and regulations so that we can have an authentic relationship with God! Hang on to that -- don't slip back into the old ways that made you feel distant from the Lord." Paul's mission into Galatia brought a breath of fresh air. Jews and gentiles alike responded to the good news that through faith in Christ we are freed from sin and guilt and put into a perfect relationship with God. Why? Because God is gracious. We are already loved and nothing we can say or do can cause God to love us more. We do not have to earn God's love, we need only accept and respond to it. This was especially good news for Jewish believers who had spend a lifetime trying to earn and deserve God's love. However, fast on Paul's heels, strict Jewish teachers came from Jerusalem to contradict this teaching about the grace of God. "Believing in Jesus is all well and good, they said, "But you still have to keep the law. Every male, including you gentiles should be circumcised... you need to keep the laws of ritual cleansing, prepare your food according to the law..." And on it went. This had the potential to absolutely destroy the Christian faith and make the grace of God null and void. So Paul says, "Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Why would anyone want to go back to slavery? Why? Because we are vulnerable to that which gave shape to our earliest years -- even if it is toxic. Have you ever seen something like this? A young woman came to our congregation and discovered a whole new spirit of love, acceptance and forgiveness she had not known in a church before. She came from a dysfunctional family, had experienced an abusive marriage, difficult divorce and had been roundly criticized and even shunned by her very conservative church. Her pastor aided and abetted her descent into depression with continual condemnation of sin and shame -- particularly her sin and shame! . Her experience in a new, healthy spiritual environment was liberating. Then suddenly she disappeared. Someone reported she was attending her old church. One of her new friends from our church visited with her and discovered the reason for her submission "again to a yoke of slavery." "It just didn't feel right," she said, "I went home feeling good every Sunday. There's so much I've done... so much sin in my life. I shouldn't be feeling so good about my life. It's more normal at my old church!" In Christ we are free from toxic religious bondage. 2. You are free to let love lead you! (5:13-15) Freedom is not, "Nobody can tell me what to do!" There is a thread of thinking in some people's minds that equates Christian freedom with some sort of absolute personal autonomy. A young lad in a mainline church confirmation class told his pastor that confirmation means, "I don't have to come to church anymore and nobody can tell me what to believe!" Freedom in Christ is also not, "Since God loves me unconditionally and saves me by his grace, it doesn't matter what I do. There is a delightful story that comes from the earlier days of Billy Graham's crusades. During a Los Angeles crusade, a well known gangster was invited by a friend who had experienced conversion. The mobster actually responded to an invitation to receive Christ -- having been impressed by Christian athletes and businessmen who spoke. Later that evening, the new convert attended a gathering which included some of the key leaders in the Graham organization. (They were curious!) When asked what he was going to do with his life, the new convert said, "I guess I'll be a Christian gangster." He was quite serious! His assumption was that he could simply continue with business as usual and append "Christian" to his occupation like the other folks did. "No," Paul says, "Christ has set us free from, but he has also set us free for..." We have not been set free to indulge ourselves, but rather we have been freed to live in the love that can lead us into genuine community. Becoming slaves [perhaps better = servants]... to one another means that as we embrace the love of Christ, we are then given the ability to love for Christ. This freedom does not simply set us free to drift about in a self centered world -- it helps us become everything God designed us to be -- through life in genuine, love-centered community. It is no secret that love is the greatest healing, encouraging, nourishing power on planet earth and when that love is without limits or conditions -- we begin to gain a glimpse of what "maximum living" is all about. 3. You are free to reject it! (5:16-21) However -- with God there is no bondage. Our ability to choose is never revoked. Paul's longest section in this reading has to do with choosing to live, "by the Spirit". There is a struggle going on within us. Verses 19-21 list the end result of self-centeredness. It is as though we are wired for vulnerability. Read through the list... if you are honest with yourself, something in these few verses will rise up and wave a flag in your face -- as though to say, "Hey! I'm yours!" Is it jealousy or envy? How about Anger or quarreling? Something is this list would be on your "most likely to do me in" list. Don't feel bad, you are not alone. Some years ago, I was in a pastor's lectionary study group and this same passage was due for discussion. As we took turns reading the verses, a colleague read verses 19-21 and when he got to, "...drunkenness, carousing, and things like these," he remarked, "Sounds good to me!" The truth? We are all vulnerable to these "works of the flesh" and God will not overrule our ability to choose. But here's the catch. What seems to be fun isn't so great sometimes. What sounds good at the time can turn out to be a life buster! How many times have you said to yourself, "Boy.. I wish I could take that back!" Life which is not given and guided by the Spirit is minimal living. We just don't realize it until it is too late. But, be warned... God honors our choices. If we persist in choosing self-centered living, God will sing the Burger King song to us... "Have it your way." 4. You are free for maximum living! (5:22-25) There is another way. It is the way of the Spirit. It is freedom for Maximum Living." It is the result of choosing the guidance of the Christ who dwells within us. It is the fruit -- or the natural result of giving way to the Spirit within us. Mark it down. Somewhere in this
list is the thing you would most like to have as a
quality in your living. If we really belong to Christ, as Paul puts it, our vulnerabilities will diminish and the fruit of the Spirit will increase. You see... God really does have a better idea. As we take the time and make the commitment to seek the person, the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will see a harvest of the "fruit of the Spirit". [Apply It] 1. Paul lists nine things he calls fruit of the spirit. Which of those nine would you most like to see increase in your day to day living? 2. What would you rather do? If you were somehow to appear before God today to justify yourself -- would you rather depend on: a) Your own efforts to deserve God's love or; b) The grace of God that gives his love without regard to personal merit? 3. Here's the cruncher... when it comes to being in your good graces; do you more often require people to do [a] or [b] ? More and More Doctors Agree - Faith is Good Medicine! ~ Psalm 16 [Do Psalm 16 as a responsive reading if your choose this as a sermon] If you do not use the gospel lesson for your sermon - do this one. A week long series on the relationship between medicine and religion showed some absolutely wonderful benefits of faith -- something the bible has known for three or four millennia! [Peter Jennings: ABC Evening News: Feb 23-27] Jennings reported that 30 medical schools now offer spirituality courses for their future physicians and some schools like Georgetown University require the course. Physicians are encouraged to discuss religion with their patients and even pray with them. Dr. Timothy Johnson, medical director for ABC news and minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church, said that the relationship between faith and health is now a matter of solid medical science. People who are active in their faith experience significantly better outcomes for serious illness. People who worship regularly have less depression than non-worshiping persons do. Jennings said to one medical researcher, "It is as though we are wired for God." Do an exposition of Psalm 16 with a focus on all the positive qualities that are mentioned. Note especially the gifts of refuge, goodness, guidance, and stability. Then note verse 9: The whole person approach to faith and health... "heart, soul and body!" The result of faith in verse 11: life, joy and pleasure! [And you thought the God of the Old Testament was a God of wrath and war!] If you do not use this as a sermon, use it as a bible study or a group discussion. This is dynamite material. Jesus was way ahead of the pack when it comes to medicine and faith! Love for God, for instance, is a matter of heart, mind soul and strength. He was the first "whole person physician!" On the Road Again ~ Luke 9:51-61 I was one of those people who said, "I'm not into all that walking where Jesus walked stuff." The salesman from Air France was trying to talk me into taking a group of parishioners to the Holy Land. I ended up going and it was literally breathtaking. At the Church of the Beatitudes which sits on the foothills of the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, there is an iron fence that surrounds the church property. On the south side, there is a metal cross which is a part of the fence. The picture of that cross looking southward toward Jerusalem still brings tears to my eyes. It brought to mind the verse, "He set his face to go to Jerusalem." If you want to do a sermon on the gospel, do one on The Road Again. The theme has to do with the idea that Jesus is absolutely, totally given to one huge purpose in his life.... namely, The Kingdom of God! This includes, Jerusalem, the cross and nothing else. Jesus is "on the road again" -- journeying toward the only real destination he ever cared about. More than prejudice, more than the press of daily issues, more than having everyone agree with him. The scripture here can be a strong call to discipleship. Life's bottom line question is quite simple really. Jesus says, "My life is about the kingdom of God! Are you with me, or are you not with me!" A
Responsive Call To Worship (Based on Psalm
16) A
Prayer of Dedication
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