Galatians 3:1-14 January 11, 2009
Rules and Relationship
How many of you have read “The Shack?”
The Shack is a novel about a man who had suffered great tragedy in his life, and is invited to spend a weekend with God.
I read it this summer, on holiday.
For the most part, I liked it, I’m not sure I would give it the glowing review that Eugene Peterson did, but I think it’s worth reading. It isn’t a theology textbook, or a spirituality guidebook, but it will give you some images and some ideas about God to run back to the Bible with, so it’s worth the read. – warning – it is not high literature and it could have benefited from a good editor. It is also good to remember that when God speaks in the Shack, it is not God speaking, but what the author thinks God would say.
There were a couple of passages in the book where I thought that Young opened up a topic, and then missed something in the discussion that ensued. Two of those passages lead me to think that I should create a series around the topic.
Here is one of the passages. Mack, the main character is having a conversation with the Holy Spirit, or Sarayu as she likes to be called in the book. They are in a canoe.
Mack allowed his oar to turn in his hands as he let it play in the water’s movements. “It feels like living out of relationship—you know, trusting and talking to you—is a bit more complicated than just following rules.”
“What rules are those, Mackenzie?”
“You know, all the things the Scriptures tell us we should do:’
“Okay…” she said with some hesitation. “And what might those be?”
“You know:’ he answered sarcastically. “About doing good things and avoiding evil, being kind to the poor, reading your Bible, praying, and going to church. Things like that.”
“I see. And how is that working for you?”
He laughed. “Well, I’ve never done it very well. I have moments that aren’t too bad, but there’s always something I’m struggling with, or feeling guilty about. I just figured I needed to try harder, but I find it difficult to sustain that motivation’
“Mackenzie!” she chided, her words flowing with affection. “The Bible doesn’t teach you to follow rules. It is a picture of Jesus. While words may tell you what God is like and even what he may want from you, you cannot do any of it on your own. Life and living is in him and in no other. My goodness, you didn’t think you could live the righteousness of God on your own, did you?”
“Well, I thought so, sorta…” he said sheepishly. “But you gotta admit, rules and principles are simpler than relationships.”
“It is true that relationships are a whole lot messier than rules, but rules will never give you answers to the deep questions of the heart and they will never love you.”
Dipping his hand in the water, he played, watching the patterns his movements made. “I’m realizing how few answers I have.., to anything. You know, you’ve turned me upside down or inside out or something:’
“Mackenzie, religion is about having the right answers, and some of their answers are right. But I am about the process that takes you to the living answer and once you get to him, he will change you from the inside. There are a
lot of smart people who are able to say a lot of right things from their brain because they have been told what the right answers are, but they don’t know me at all. So really, how can their answers be right even if they are right, if you understand my drift?” She smiled at her pun. “So even though they might be right, they are still wrong.”
“I understand what you’re saying. I did that for years after seminary. I had the right answers, sometimes, but I didn’t know you. This weekend, sharing life with you has been far more illuminating than any of those answers:’ They continued to move lazily with a current.
This conversation made me ask, “what is the relationship between rules and relationship, or in more theological terms, between grace and holiness?
How does the relationship shape how we behave, and how does how we behave shape our relationship?
To tackle those questions, in the next few weeks, I’m going to lead us through a few passages in Paul’s letter to the Galatians and to the Romans. And hopefully we will find some answers together.
The questions that Paul was answering might have been different than the ones that Mack was asking, but as we look at these passages, I hope that we will get a biblical understanding of rules and relationship.
To understand the questions that Paul is answering, it is good to know the context that he wrote in.
Paul came to faith in Jesus out of a very fundamentalist style of Judaism that kept the law to nth degree and further, he was so zealous for his form of faith that he persecuted the early Christians.
When he came to faith in Christ, he had a radical shift in his understanding how we come to God. Now he understands that we are made right with God, not by obeying the law, but through faith in Christ. Even more radical than that he believes that both Jews and non-Jewish people come to God in the same way – through faith in Jesus.
Paul was the main missionary of the early church. He traveled to city after city preaching this new faith in Jesus. He would stay in each city, starting a church where people could support each other and grow in their faith and understanding.
In many of the places that Paul planted churches, after Paul left, another group of Christians would come in teaching the Gentile believers that to be true Christians, they also had to keep the Jewish law, with a real focus on the practice of circumcision.
One such group of “Judaizers” had come to the Galatians and had convinced many of the believers that they had to follow Jesus as well as the Jewish ritual law. Paul explains that you can’t have it both ways – either you come to God through relationship with Jesus, or through the law – not both.
Galatians 3:1-14 – read it
1. The Holy Spirit comes through believing, not by following the rules 3:1-2
The first sign that God allowed the gentiles to come to him in the same way as the Jewish people was the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives
The story of Cornelius – Peter has to stop preaching because of the Spirit’s presence.
God gives his Holy Spirit not to those who “behave” but to those who believe. If we had to wait until we were perfect to receive the Holy Spirit, none of us would receive the Spirit.
- interesting that Paul’s first argument is about the Holy Spirit – the experience of the Spirit in our lives is supposed to be so full that it makes a great theological argument!
2. You started with belief and the Spirit, why switch to rules? – 3:3
All of us came to God first not through some great self-improvement course, where we made ourselves so good that he had to take us in. We can’t control the God, ourselves, or the process that much.
The song that comes to mind most at this point is
Wait For Your Rain - Todd Agnew
I cannot believe I’m this dirty
I’m ashamed to even ask to be clean
’Cause I can’t think of anyone less worthy
I have nothing to offer or to bring
I throw myself on Your mercy
I throw myself at Your feet
I throw my filth on the grace of One who’s beauty is beyond me
And I wait
And I wait
I wait for Your rain to fall
The waves of Your grace wash over me
I wait for Your rain to fall
Strange how forgiveness comes so easily
When I call Your name
And wait for Your rain
What an amazing thing that he just wants us to come to him and admit that we are a mess – ask his forgiveness & he forgives us & sets back on a firm footing in relationship with God.
This is the way that we begin with God, and it is the way that we stay with him.
Eugene Peterson translates it this way:
Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it?
It is not that we get in good with God through confession and repentance first, and then stay good with him by obey as many rules as we can.
Many of us know this with our heads, but our hearts constantly tell us that God is displeased with us and we better shape up or he’s going to give us the boot – that’s why the Galatians were so easily fooled.
3. The gifts of the Spirit come through believing, not by following the rules 3:5
It is not just that the Spirit comes through believing, not behaving, his gift come through believing as well. – verse 5
This is a good thing, because if people were healed because I behaved so well, no one would be healed through my prayers!
This is important to note – that the things that are most tempted to bargain over with God are a free gift as well
No, “Lord if you heal my sister, I’ll become a nun, or a missionary.”
No, “If I stop smoking, will you give me that raise…”
God’s Gifts are free – you can’t bargain with him, and if you do, he might not give the gift!
don`t go playing no shell game with God --
only Satan`s going to give you odds.
. - Starwheel - Bruce Cockburn
4. Abraham was saved through faith
real children of Abraham are saved through faith.
The Judaizers probably took pride in being children of Abraham, but Abraham did not have the law to follow, and it is written that Abraham believed God and his faith was counted like he was righteous.
John 3:39 "If you were Abraham’s children," said Jesus, "then you would do what Abraham did.
5. the law doesn’t work 3:10-14
The idea is that if you are going to get to God by being good, you have to be perfectly good! – mostly good won’t do.
It is like there are two trains to get to God – for one the ticket is a perfect life – none of us have the fare
For the other, Jesus paid the fare by dying on the cross for us
Paul is asking the Galatians, which train are you going to take? The one you can’t afford, or the one that’s been paid for already? – it’s a bit of a no-brainer.
To get on the train that’s paid for, you only have to admit that you don’t have the fare, and stop fishing around in your pocket like it’s there some place.
It is believing, not behaving that gets us to God.
I know what your thinking, if it isn’t “Woo Hoo, lets go do what we like! ‘cause God’s just going to forgive us anyway!”
Hopefully it’s “But doesn’t God want us to do the right thing?” and he does – but I can’t say everything in one sermon – you can read ahead in Galatians, or you can come back for the next few weeks as we try to get a grasp on how rules and relationship work with God.
Prayer of belief in Jesus
Prayer to be filled
Prayer to be freed from “Law”
