During the past 2 Sundays, we’ve looked at who Jesus was and why Jesus came. We concluded that Jesus was more than an influential religious leader and a moral teacher, but that He was the Son of God, equal to God. We found the purpose for his coming was to free mankind from the poverty of living for the present, to free us from the prisons of sins, and to free us from the payment for sin. And He did all this, because of His great love for us.
This morning, we’ll look at what Jesus left behind. During the Christmas season, one might answer, “Jesus left behind Christmas trees, Christmas lights, nativity scene and church musicals.” If we were not in the Christmas season, a person might answer, “Jesus left behind a religious movement, the church, moral teachings and a tremendous amount of influence in the arts, literature, and in our public and private lives.
These are all true. Had Jesus not come, we would not have the effects and products of his influence. From a letter written by a child to God, “Dear God, please put another holiday between Christmas and Easter. There is nothing good in there now. Signed, Ginny.”
Had Jesus not come, we would not have Christmas or Easter. But what we want from God and what God intended Jesus to leave behind is very different. We are people easily satisfied with holidays, decorations and festivities with family and friends.
What I want to do is offer more than observations of how Jesus influenced mankind and civilization over the last 2000 years. I want us to look at what Jesus left behind to those who lived during his time rather than what we’ve gleaned for personal gain within our lifetime. By looking at what Jesus left behind initially, we will have a better chance of coming away knowing what Jesus truly intended to leave behind.
Our text comes from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. We’ll look at the main themes of this letter, which I believe gives indication of what Jesus intentionally left behind. Let’s look together.
First, Jesus left his message behind. We see this in Galatians 1:6-24.
Soon after Jesus’ ascension into Heaven, people began to alter the message Jesus left behind. The Jews were the first to become followers of Christ, but some also held onto the Jewish requirements, such as circumcision. When the Gentiles began to follow Christ’s teaching, they too added their beliefs, such as Gnosticism, which sees matter as evil and spirit as good.
Jesus’ message, and what Paul was trying to reclaim here, is a message of grace or undeserved favor from God to mankind. John the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus reads, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).” And the Apostle John wrote in 2 John 1:3, “Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.”
Religion is mankind’s effort to reach God; Jesus’ message is God’s effort to reach mankind. Yet, many people claim to accept Christ’s message, but they add angels, saints, promises and superstitious rituals. Like the Christians in Galatia, people today have turned Jesus’ message into another man-made religion that requires ineffective and burdensome efforts.
I was recently talking to the Mom of a girl for whom I did the funeral. The Mom claimed to be a Christian, and in our conversation, she comforted herself by saying, “I know Sally (and that’s not the daughter’s real name) is an angel now. She has always done good deeds.”
I thought to myself, “It’s not about Sally’s good deeds. It’s about God’s great deed through Jesus Christ on the cross. It’s not about angels, it’s about a restored relationship with God through Jesus.”
Jesus left us his message of good news. Jesus’ message is about grace. We must never change Jesus’ message into a message of self-effort, religious discipline or promised reward for deeds and rituals.
Second, Jesus left his freedom behind. We see this in Galatians 2:1-21 and 5:1-15.
Jesus was never an institution or people-pleaser. He spoke the truth in all settings, confronting sinners, religious leaders, political powers and demonic powers. Paul had the guts to confront Peter, the leader of the first church, because Paul received his freedom from Jesus.
All of us are slaves to sin, to man-made religious laws and to the need for people’s approval. And Jesus came to set us free. Jesus said in John 8:31-32, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Several weeks back, someone called me and said, “I’m not sure I agree with your interpretation of a certain passage in the Bible.” So we opened up the Bible and studied over the phone for about 15 to 20 minutes. The next morning, I told him I was glad he called to tell me what he told me. After all, I’m not the authority. The Bible is the authority.
Jesus left us with his freedom. We live in his freedom when we live according to the truths of the Bible. Don’t return to being a slave to people, to traditions, to superstitions and to sins.
Paul Tournier wrote in his book, Guilt and Grace, “We become independent of [the need for approval] in proportion as we depend on God.” The way to depend on God is to allow His Word, the Bible, to be the authority for our lives.
Third, Jesus left his faith behind. We see this in Galatians 3:1-27.
Most parents understand the fact that we relate to our young children through laying down a set of rules. These rules are placed there to protect them, even though your children may feel your rules are placed there to imprison them. But as they mature, we relate to them through trust rather than through rules.
Before Jesus came, we related to God through obedience to His law. When we obeyed God’s law, we felt close to God. When we disobeyed God’s law, we felt distanced from God. But because we just can’t be good enough long enough, the law acted like a prison until Jesus came. When Jesus came, we relate to a Person rather than to a set of laws.
Steve Brown tells about a Mother who got tired of the cooking, the cleaning and the kids, and she simply walked out one day. When her husband returned home from work in the evening, he found a note that read, “I’ve decided to leave. There is food in the refrigerator, and the kids are fed already.”
The next day, she called her family and the husband picked up the phone. She asked, “How are you?”
The husband replied, “Where the hell are you?” She hung up the phone.
Almost every week for the next three months, she called again. Again, she began with, “How are you?”
Time and again, the husband replied, “We’re doing alright, but the kids and I really miss you. We love you. Will you come home?” And then she would hang up the phone.
Finally, the husband hired a private detective to look for his wife. Within a week, the private detective traced the Mother to a downtown third-rate motel in a nearby city. The husband hired a baby-sitter and then drove to that city and found the motel.
Without hesitation, he walked up to the room and knocked on the door. When she opened the door, he embraced her. They both broke down in tears, as he helped her pack to go home. He asked her, “Why, when I told you over and over again that I loved you and missed you, didn’t you come home?"
"Because," she said with profound simplicity, "before those were only words. But today you came."
John 1:14, speaking of Jesus’ coming, tells us, “The Word [of God] became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Because Jesus came, we no longer relate to God through His law but through faith in Jesus Christ.
Fourth, Jesus left his family behind. We see this in Galatians 3:28-4:31.
In 1992, I taught at a boarding school in Connecticut. The first week I was there, I didn’t see a single Asian. I was almost run over by a car whose driver and passengers yelled racial slurs through the window. It was a scary and lonely time.
At the end of the week, I attended a Congregation Church that was over a hundred years old. There was not one Asian present. But those I met were incredibly friendly. In fact, they offered to take me to lunch, and one gentleman drove me around to buy things I needed to settle in. After just meeting them briefly, I felt very comfortable with the people in this church; I felt I could trust them like my own family.
John 1:12-13 tells us, “Yet to all who received [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God -- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” In other words, those who receive Jesus belong to the same family, where God is the Heavenly Father.
If God is your Father, I am your brother, and you are my brother and sister. And church is where you belong, no matter what your race, gender, profession, socio-economic class or your past. Church is the family Jesus left behind.
Fifth, Jesus left his Spirit behind. We see this in Galatians 3 through 6.
Jesus said in John 14:25-26, "All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
I don’t read the Bible to be religious or to be a good Christian doing my quiet time with God. I read the Bible so that the Holy Spirit will be able to recall to me Jesus’ wisdom and truth in my times of need. I’ve never heard an audible voice from God, but I hear God’s Word, the Bible, recalled in me in all situations. May you have, also? Those are the works of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus left for us.
Those who belong to Jesus not only have a family, but we have a Counselor and Guide in life, the Holy Spirit. He is not our conscience, which is formed by all the input from our childhood to now. The Holy Spirit is our Bible teacher, reminding us of everything Jesus said to you. And when we respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our words and deeds, we experience love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Sixth, Jesus left his cross behind. We see this in Galatians 6:1-14.
My recall of first seeing a cross was on the outside of churches. The second setting I remember seeing the cross was in a Dracula vampire movie. I wasn’t a Christian at the time, and I didn’t understand why Dracula was afraid of the cross. The third place I remember seeing the cross, and again before I was a Christian, was around people’s neck, on a necklace. I didn’t understand why people would pick such a symbol to wear as jewelry, other than that they were afraid of vampires.
But the cross that Jesus left behind was not decorative or superstitious. The cross that Jesus left behind was a symbol of capital punishment for wrongs done deserving the death sentence. When we associate with the cross, we are admitting that we deserve death, which Christ bore for us. But not only do we admit our failure to live as God intended and surrender to God’s judgment for sin, we are ready to accept God’s love for us and the remedy for our sins.
William Barclay wrote, “The cross is the proof that there is no length to which the love of God will refuse to go, in order to win men’s hearts. The cross is the medium of reconciliation because the cross is the final proof of God’s love, and a love that demands love. If the cross will not waken love and wonder in men’s hearts, nothing will.” Jesus left us his cross as a reminder that He paid a debt He didn’t owe, because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.
I’m done. If you forget my message to you by tonight, that’s all right. The only message you really need to remember is Jesus’ message of grace.
