Sermon in Minneapolis 02.03.2014

Today is Shrove Sunday. It is Sunday right on the threshold or the footsteps of Lent. Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the official beginning of the 40 days of Lent, which leads us right after Easter. And today, Shrove Sunday, has a special meaning in the Finnish language, which they call Defending Sunday.

Coming from the sancta, we are now kind of like on a slope, going downhill and descending into the season of Lent, or the Lenten season. So next Tuesday is Mardi Gras. Many people in the world go down to New Orleans and let all stops loose and live in all sorts of ungodly men, because they will then live a life of chastity and much more of a moral life during the period of Lent. Lent means a time of giving up pleasures. But, of course, Lent, the time of Lent, is much more important for us, and in the spiritual sense, we all begin to descend into the season of Lent, and to follow the footsteps of Jesus as he begins his final approach. As he comes the last time into Jerusalem, and he knows what will be awaiting him there in that day.

So the theme for today is the sacrificial way of God's love. So the epistle text is from Galatians chapter 2, the last three verses of the chapter, verses 19 through 21. And so we will hear these words as follows in Jesus' name.

Galatians 2:19-21: God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness came by the law, then Christ is dead in me. Amen.

The Jewish people, as a cultural nation, as an ethnic group, were sometimes called sons of the law. Much of their life outwardly and otherwise was dictated by the Mosaic law. Some examples would be what kind of clothing they could wear, what kind of foods they could eat, how to prepare those foods, how they could or should plow their fields, how they should then fasten the plow, the oxen, or whatever piece of burden they were using, how to plant their fields, and how to harvest them, and so on and so forth.

So Jesus, of course, was a Jew of the nation of Israel. And he said himself that he did not come to abolish or overturn or do away with the law. But he came to fulfill the law. That not one jot or tittle or one portion or part of the law will disappear or be nullified. But he came to fulfill the law. The law wouldn't remain. It wouldn't be in effect and it wouldn't still be in force.

And so if we think of the law and the many uses of the law, of course, we in Western civilization have our laws, our Constitution, and hopefully it continues so, but they have been founded based upon the Mosaic law or the Ten Commandments law for the most part. Of course, we know the currents of the time. People are trying to change the Constitution and trying to overthrow and undo and do a waiver many of these central parts of our Western laws, Western civilization and our Constitution to make it more politically correct and accepting into their lifestyles.

But anyways, in its origin and in many ways still yet today, the civil law, the laws of our land, which we are obedient to, we obey and adhere to, are founded upon and based upon the Mosaic law.

But then, there is a ceremonial law, the law in my outward sense, that the people of Israel followed very closely. And as I mentioned, some examples of a lot of purification, washing your hands before eating, and it's not only hygienic, but it also had more meaning to it for the Jewish people. And if someone touched it, it's gorgeous, they have so good purification rituals, and what foods they could eat, and what they couldn't eat, and how to prepare their food, and so on and so forth. This was the ceremonial law that the people lived according to in that time, the nation of Israel.

But then, of course, there is the moral law, which is the spiritual law, and that this is the law of Moses over which we speak of when we refer to it. And as Jesus said as an example that you have heard said, referring to the Pharisees, referring to the Ten Commandment Law of Moses, that God will not kill, but I have to do. So, we're looking at it in a literal sense that, well, I won't transgress that law unless I've actually taken the life of another person. But Jesus said it's much deeper, and goes much further than that. It takes a hold of not only our actions and deeds, but also thoughts and even intentions of the heart.

So, you have heard said, thou shalt not kill. But I say unto you, whoever has ever said an angry word to another person, or even had an angry thought toward another person, they have already killed that person, or transgressed that commandment in their heart.

So, Jesus, when he was here upon this earth and in his public ministry, for the most part, during his public ministry, he was working with and functioning among the promised nation of Israel. And he told his disciples when he was sending them out that go to the lost sheep of Israel. Go and try to seek and find those sheep who are of the people of Israel, but are no longer in the flock.

So, for the most part, he did not go outside of the promised nation of Israel. There are a few examples where he did, and that part of his ministry or the part of the mission work of God didn't come about until later on.

So, the nation of Israel rejected Christ. As John the evangelist says, that Jesus came to his own, the people of his own nation of Israel, the promised nation, his own kindred. He came to his own, but his own received him not. They rejected him.

And because he tried again and again and again and was rebuffed, then, eventually, at the end of his life, just before he was captured and then condemned to being crucified, he says in one of his final speeches, that the kingdom of God will be removed from you and given unto the Gentiles.

And so, after he rose from the grave and then commissioned his disciples with that mission command, he says, go into all the nations, go unto all the peoples, go unto people of every tongue, of every nation, and preach the gospel of repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

And we know that this was very difficult for even some of his disciples to accept and comprehend. Because we remember in the Acts of the Apostles when Peter saw that vision, and God was preparing Peter for his mission work. He saw that vision of that linen coming down out of the sky, out of heaven, three times. And in that linen were such animals that the Jewish people considered defiled. They wouldn't touch, they wouldn't eat the meat of such animals, for it was abhorrent to them.

And so then Peter heard in his vision, in that vision of voice from heaven, and it said to Peter, Peter, rise, slay those animals that you see in that linen, and then eat them, eat those animals, eat the flesh of those animals.

And I'm sure Peter was absolutely appalled. As a Jew, this was forbidden. You couldn't do it. And Peter tried to resist, and nothing doing. The voice from heaven said, Peter, do what I say. For what I call and consider to be clean animals, don't you now go and try to call these animals filthy or defiled.

So now the people were living a new era. It was the time of the new covenant. And these ceremonial laws, laws regarding eating of these foods, no longer applied. Because Christ had died and at the same time he abolished that part of the law.

And so there was a twofold meaning to this. That now these foods that they considered formerly defiled, filthy, not worthy to be eaten, forbidden, now they were acceptable as food to eat. But yet there was another meaning to it. God was preparing Peter for his mission work.

Because immediately after he saw that vision, then someone came and spoke to Peter and said, Peter, you are, or was it an angel that came and said, Peter, rise, go into this certain village, go into this house of this Roman officer whose name is Cornelius, and there's people there waiting for you to preach to them.

So normally this also would have been forbidden. A Jew could not enter into the house of a Gentile. It was forbidden. But now Peter had just seen this vision and he said, aha, this vision was talking about these formerly filthy animals which are now considered clean and acceptable, and now I get this command from this angel, and he's telling me to go into the house of a Gentile which up to this point was considered forbidden. There must be a connection between this dream and now this call by the angel to go into the house of this Gentile.

That emboldened Peter to go. So Peter went to the house of this Gentile man, this Roman officer whose name was Cornelius, and there was a house full of his underlings and he preached a sermon. He preached the gospel and Cornelius and everyone who was in that house listened to that sermon, accepted that sermon, made repentance and received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

So this was now a new era. But if we read at the beginning of this second chapter of Galatians, it's very interesting that it tells about two different meetings that had recently taken place. And one of these meetings or conferences occurred in Jerusalem and another meeting or the second meeting occurred in Antioch, which was a former center of Christianity soon after the time of Jesus.

So the center of Christianity changed from Jerusalem and then moved on to Antioch and it was there in Antioch where the followers of Christ first received the title as Christians, the followers of Christ. And we can read about this in the Acts of the Apostles.

And so this first meeting that occurred in Jerusalem was over this issue that can a Gentile person, a non-Jew, be saved without being converted to Judaism? So this was a big issue, that up to this point, the living word, the living gospel was among the people of Israel, the Jews, the promised nation of God. And they lived according to their own cultural norms and followed the ceremonial law.

People of Israel. And now the gospel was spreading to non-Jews, the Gentiles. And they were making repentance and becoming believers, but the Gentiles knew nothing about these food laws. For them, eating pork was just fine. It was a non-issue, unless they were Muslim, but the Muslim faith didn't come until several hundred years later, so that's a non-issue.

But pork was, who cares if they eat pork or beef or chicken, to them it was all the same. And all young Jewish boys were circumcised. That was the sign of being a Jew, an ethnic Jew. The Gentiles, they didn't practice circumcision at all.

And so, you had some that were circumcising themselves, and some that weren't circumcising themselves. You had some that were eating pork, and some that said, no, you can't eat pork.

So, the question was that now these Gentiles are being converted, but when they're being converted, do they first have to be converted to be a cultural Jew, and follow these norms of the Jewish people?

So, the meeting in Jerusalem said, no, they don't have to. They weren't required to keep these laws.

But then, later on, they had another meeting, and this was in Antioch, the new center of Christianity sometime later. And the issue was over this, that can Jews forsake the law, and now enter into the house of a Gentile? And when they're in the house of the Gentile, can they have fellowship and dine with these Gentiles?

Well, we know that Peter just saw that vision. So, Peter felt this liberty, this freedom to do so, because he was emboldened to do so when he saw this vision.

And so, here in our text, if we read a little bit further, in this second chapter, so this entire second chapter is one big event, one big picture, that can't be, or shouldn't be, cut up into smaller slices.

So, we should look at the entire chapter as a whole. And then, the verses that were set aside for this evening are just the last three concluding verses of this entire second chapter.

And so, Peter now felt free to go into the house of the Gentiles, and freely associate with these Gentiles, and sit down and have dinner with them. And when they offered him pork chops for supper, he freely ate pork chops for supper.

But then it says that there came some Jews from Jerusalem. So, we can imagine Peter was there with his newly found Gentile friends, and having a ham dinner, and he sees his Jewish friends approaching the house. And he says, uh-oh, if these Jewish friends of mine see me in this house of the Gentiles, they're going to be offended.

So, apparently, Peter quickly slips out the side door, the back door, and he's acting as, I was never in the house, that house of the Gentiles. No, no way, I wouldn't go in there.

But then we can imagine that they come closer, and they could smell pork on his breath. And he said you weren't in the house of the Gentiles, and you didn't eat pork? Well, we can smell, I'm just kind of embellishing the story, we can smell pork on your breath.

So this came to be a serious issue. And so Paul then now comes and rebukes Peter. Because Peter, rightly so, had the liberty to go into the house of the Gentiles. He had thought of that vision. And he had the liberty to now eat pork because he had saw that vision.

But now he's acting like a hypocrite, acting like it was still forbidden. So he slips out the back door, the side door, and acts like he had never been there. And by example, he's now with his actions telling everyone else that, no, don't go into the house of the Gentiles. Nope, don't eat pork, it's still forbidden.

So, he's saying, do what I say, but not as I've actually done. So he's saying one thing, but he's actually, in his life, doing another thing. He's being a hypocrite, being two-faced. That's what a hypocrite means.

And so this is what the apostle Paul is now challenging Peter about. Being a hypocrite, being two-faced, saying one thing, and actually in his life, doing another thing.

And so, if we can find it, it says, do, do, do, do. So then when James and, let me see, so when Peter came to Antioch, I Paul stood him up face to face, because he was to be blamed for his actions.

For before that, certain men came from James, James came from Jerusalem, and he was probably one of the leaders of the people of Israel, of the church there in Jerusalem, so they're calling those that came the people of James.

And so before certain men of James, but before that certain came from James, from Jerusalem, or from the church of James, he did.

So before they came, Peter was freely eating with the Gentiles. But when these people came from Jerusalem as Jewish friends, Peter withdrew, or snuck out the back door. Knew I was never in that house. Don't even try to call me on the carpet about it, if we can embellish the story.

So he withdrew, and he separated himself from that Gentile house, fearing them which were of the circumcision, his Jewish friends, who were circumcised people, and who probably still had this thought and idea that you don't enter such a house, you don't eat such foods.

And so the others began to follow Peter's example, and the other Jews disassembled likewise. They stayed away from the Gentile house, they stayed away from food that were considered forbidden by the Jews.

In so much that Barnabas also was swept up with this dissimulation or this controversy or this debate.

So this debate occurred and Barnabas was completely taken up or swallowed up or consumed in this controversy.

But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter, I was talking to Peter in earshot of everyone else so everyone else could hear what I was saying when I was rebuking Peter.

I said to Peter before them all that if you, being a Jew, and you live now according to the manner of the Gentiles and not as the Jews actually were formerly supposed to, why are you compelling the Gentiles to live as the Jews?

So with this example he's even telling his newfound Gentile friend that no, we don't, Christians don't eat pork and be careful of the fellowship and so on and so forth.

So we who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law.

And here we come to a very important theme or topic which is central, a red thread throughout this letter to the Galatians. It's a very short letter but it's one of the gems of the Bible as Luther says. He calls this letter to the Galatians his Katie or his wife's name was Catherine or Katie. So he calls this letter to the Galatians his dear wife.

And so knowing that a man is not justified. So here we have this term justified or to be righteous or to be acceptable before God.

And so Paul is going on to explain how this justification occurs and takes place according to the message of the Bible. And we are saved alone through the merits of Christ Jesus.

And here it says not according to the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ.

So the opposite of justification or the opposite of righteousness is condemnation or to be declared guilty. So unrighteous is one who is condemned or considered to be guilty and righteous is one who is declared to be innocent or acceptable under God the Heavenly Father.

So how does one come to be in the state of being acceptable or declared innocent before the face of God our Heavenly Father? So that's the question. That's the crux of this chapter that we have before us.

So knowing that a man is not justified by the law and so he's trying to illustrate you know the law says you must do this you must do that and if you don't do this according to this rule and that rule and according to the law of the Ten Commandments then you will not be heaven acceptable.

But we are justified by faith which is through in and through and by the works of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by faith in Jesus Christ and not by the works of the law.

For by the works of the law shall no person or no flesh be justified or made righteous.

But if while we seek to be justified by Christ we ourselves are also found sinners.

So if we seek to be justified by Christ we ourselves also are found sinners is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.

So if we build again the things which I destroyed I might make myself a transgressor.

And then we come up to this portion which we have before us and it took a good half hour to get to the verses we have selected and set aside for this evening.

And so now he is saying something very interesting. He's using or saying things that are a paradox that are seemingly completely contrary to what we hear or what we read at face value.

So if I through the law am dead to the law for I through the law am dead to the law so when I am through the law now dead to the law then I might live unto God.

It's a very confusing statement.

So what are some other paradoxes that we can find in the Bible? Well Jesus himself said that those that are first will be last and those that are last will be actually first. And the one who is greatest in your midst is actually the servant your servant or your slave.

So the one that we would consider to be lowest on the totem pole in our society is actually in God's eyes the greatest.

So we call such things a paradox.

And then the one who seeks to save his life will actually lose it. And the one who will lose his life will actually save it.

So these are some statements of Jesus that are what we call a paradox.

Well Paul said some similar things which are also considered a paradox that when I am weak I am strong. Or the foolishness of God is greater than all of the wisdom of man. That's a paradox.

And that we as people should rejoice over our trials.

So just a few examples that are a paradox.

And so here Paul is talking about this issue of the law and when I am dead to the law then I am alive to Christ Jesus.

So if we look at the analogy of marriage when a man and a woman for example before this altar and before the congregation get married they have they make vows or promises to each other that they will love each other in times of prosperity or good times or easy times in times of adversity or the difficult or the challenging times until death separates the one from the other and so they are now the two have become one they are joined together in the eyes of God and what God has joined together let no person separate.

And if one or the other is unfaithful to their spouse then they are called an adulteress or an adulterer but then they are bound to each other by the law but then when one or the other person dies then that law becomes null and void and now they are free to marry again.

And so this is where Paul is getting this analogy from. He is using the analogy of marriage and referring to this issue of being under the law or being under Christ.

And so when a person is in unbelief they are married and their spouse is, we could say, the law. And when then they die to the law, that spouse dies, then they are now free from that former vow and now they're then liberated and then free to remarry again and their new spouse or their new marriage is to Christ Jesus their Lord and Savior and Master.

And we can read about this very clearly in the first few verses of Romans, is it chapter seven?

And so Luther says in this way that my life in the flesh is not my true life and this is what he says here later: I am crucified with Christ.

So Christ died on the cross he was crucified with us but then we say in Christianity that we still have this old Adam, this old person, this sin fallen and corrupt portion and we need to crucify that old Adam daily, need to nail it to the cross.

And this is kind of what Paul is referring to here that I am crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless I live. I'm not living even though I'm living in the natural sense but now I'm also alive in the spiritual sense, more importantly in the spiritual sense.

So nevertheless I live, it's not me who I'm living humanly but Christ now lives in me. I'm spiritually alive.

Why? Because Christ Jesus my Lord and master is the dweller of my heart and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in and of and through the Son of God who has loved me and he gave himself for me.

But then it says here at the end that I do not want to frustrate the grace of God. I do not want to belittle or I do not want to want to transgress or trample or what would be the correct English term to use? I do not frustrate the grace of God.

For if righteousness comes by the law then Christ is dead in vain.

But we live of faith and we live of the grace of God and the grace of God which is wholesome has appeared and this grace of God teaches us to deny all ungodly ways and worldly lusts and sinful pleasures and teaches us how to live in this life as a believer under and according to new obedience of the Holy Spirit.

Teaches us to live righteously, soberly and uprightly in this present life.

And so Luther expresses it in this way: so my life in the flesh is not my true life. It is but a mask of life under which lives another and it is we are living according to the power of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ who is my true life says Luther.

And so he also Luther also says in this way that you are entirely joined to Christ that he and you are made as if to be one person.

So we have this marriage and this marriage is so complete and so perfect and intertwined that Luther in his commentary says in this way it's trying to separate heat from fire it's impossible.

So you take a metal rod and you put it into a fire and it becomes so hot it's glowing red. Well you try to separate the heat from the glowing hot metal and you can't. They're one and the same and they're so intertwined with each other that they're inseparable.

So this is what Luther is trying to say that our life is now so intertwined and so tied in with Christ that we are married to him. He and I are one. He is our Lord, he is our master and he is the inhabitant of our heart.

So this is what Luther is trying to say and so we don't want to nullify the grace of God.

And so if a person tries to be heaven acceptable and yet tries to fulfill the law of God Paul writes in the fifth chapter to Galatians we are nullifying the grace of God.

And so there are some religions who say in this way that salvation is faith or Christ plus works. So Christ plus works equals salvation.

So yes a little bit of Christ but then a little bit of our own efforts then that makes us safe.

It's like trying to say that well we will try to build a ladder or a high building halfway to heaven and we can't make it quite there but then then well Christ will fulfill the rest for us.

But it's completely entirely through the works of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. He is our perfection, he is our salvation, he is our redemption and he is our holiness.

And so this is what Paul is trying to explain here in this second chapter of the Galatians and we can be happy and rejoice when we are a child of God and our sins are forgiven.

And we can be rest assured that we have peace with God in heaven and our names are written in the Lamb's book of life and we are led and carried by the gospel of Christ and the power of God lifts us and it carries us and will bring us toward our heavenly home and will teach us to refrain from those places of danger.

And when sin attaches and makes the journey slow it will speak to us and remind us and exhort us to go to the throne of grace where we can hear the good speaking voice of the blood of Jesus that we can believe our sins forgiven in his name and precious atonement blood.

So even now we can believe just as we are just as we find ourselves we can believe sins forgiven and believe unto peace unto freedom and unto joy in Jesus name. Amen.