\u00a0<\/p>\n
October 5, 2008<\/strong><\/p>\n David Brubacher<\/strong><\/p>\n Text:<\/strong><\/p>\n Galatians 3:15-29<\/strong><\/p>\n Psalm 43<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Thirty five years ago I was in spiritual turmoil. In my religious context dos and don\u2019ts \u2013 mostly don\u2019ts \u2013 pointed the way. Hedges of shame kept one from wandering too far off the path. My well developed conscience told me I had walked too far into the world of don\u2019ts. Lest you start speculating about the don\u2019ts, let me assure you they were mild compared to what they could have been.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 About the same time I was invited to play a lead role in a drama at church. The lead character had gotten mixed up in the partying gang. The role was amazingly biographical for me. One of my lines was the Apostle Paul\u2019s well known words in Romans 7, \u201cFor I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That was exactly my problem. This Paul guy had it figured out. Knowing my problem helped me to appreciate something else Paul said in assuring that Christ Jesus died for me while in sin. At the time this resolved some things for me and I began to walk a different path. Through numerous twists, turns and bumps that path eventually landed me here at TUMC. Yet along the way there have always been questions.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Early on I grappled with how one is truly saved. Oh, I knew ultimately it is in the death and resurrection of Jesus. But how is it that the death and resurrection of Jesus saves me? To say I believe in Jesus and to invite him into my life, is good, but is there more? It seemed easy to say those things and then continue on my merry way. The places where what Jesus has done for me has felt most concrete is being with others to live into the life example modeled by Jesus.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Our Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition refers too living into the life example of Jesus as a participation in Christ Jesus. Two places where we symbolically enact our participation in Christ Jesus are in baptism and the Lord\u2019s Supper – Communion. Today, Worldwide Communion Sunday, we are celebrating our individual participation in Christ Jesus and our participation in the mission of the global Christian community.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But I did not know these things in my spiritual turmoil. At what was then Canadian Mennonite Bible College, today CMU, my eyes were opened to a broader understanding of the Bible and how it applies to life. Eagerly I dug into studies on this Paul guy who knew the struggles of life. I discovered that since the sixteenth century many have indeed understood Paul the Apostle through the lens of the inner spiritual conflict he describes in Romans 7. But I also learned that more recent scholars considered whether we were not just reading our spiritual struggle into Paul. Was the way we were reading Paul really the way Paul meant to be understood in the first century?<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We know the saying, \u201cI know that you think you have heard what I said. What you don\u2019t know is that what you heard me say is not what I said.\u201d I think that is what has been going on in our understanding of Paul.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier Doug and Tim introduced the series that the preaching team is doing on the Apostle Paul. For seven Sundays during October and November we will be drawing upon themes from Paul\u2019s writing that speak into the context of that day. Drawing upon a \u201cnew perspective on Paul\u201d we will be seek to build bridges from the world of \u201cfaith\u201d to realities of being God\u2019s people.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have the privilege \u2013 at least I think it is a privilege – to be preaching the introductory sermon in this series on Worldwide Communion Sunday. Using the text read from Galatians 3 I want to outline Paul\u2019s argument for how faith becomes real for us in our experience of salvation and how living into the experience of salvation might shape society. In the end I hope we can see in our celebration of Communion a participation in what Paul describes in this text.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Understanding Paul from within the context of first century Palestinian Judaism raises significant questions for how we have traditionally heard Paul. First for me is the question whether Paul himself wrestled with the inner spiritual conflict experienced in the modern western conscience? While the text in Romans 7 reflects what we often refer to as the human predicament, it is perhaps the only place where this is reflected in Paul. For the most part Paul expresses spiritual confidence as a faithful Jew who has come to know Messiah Jesus. Paul often encourages readers to imitate his example.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One might argue that reflects Paul after his conversion; but what about his conversion? From what to what was Paul converted?\u00a0 Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damscus. Knocked to the ground Paul heard Jesus, \u201cSaul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Left blind Paul was told to go into the city where he would receive further instructions. As Paul tells the story earlier in Galatians he talks about going from being a persecutor of Christians, as a Jew, to proclaiming the good news of Jesus, still as a Jew. Paul was called to be a missionary to the Gentile people.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The heart of Paul\u2019s mission was the inclusion of Gentiles into the people of God through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. He proclaimed that Gentiles did not first have to fulfill the Law of Moses to be a part of God\u2019s people. This was the freedom in Christ Paul proclaimed to Gentiles. The fact that the Galatians seemed to be drawn away from what Paul proclaimed when he established the church represents the crisis that lead Paul to writing the letter to the Galatians.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In Galatians 3:15-29 Paul reminds the Galatians of how faith, not the Law, was the foundation of their salvation. As I work through this text I acknowledge the work of Richard Hays whose argument I find convincing and quite Anabaptist.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paul begins his line of reasoning with God\u2019s promise to Abraham. In Genesis 12:2, 3 God says to Abraham, \u201cI will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing\u2026. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Paul looks back to Abraham, the beginning of the story of God\u2019s people, through the eyes of his experience with Jesus. Using the example of a last will and testament Paul argues that what was promised to Abraham could not be annulled by the Law as given to Moses several hundred years later. In this analogy Paul seems to equate the means of salvation with an inheritance. Salvation, Paul, argues is grounded in the promise God made to Abraham, not the Law.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Does that mean Paul sees no purpose for the Law of Moses? Absolutely not! It should be noted that Paul did not distinguish between Jew and Gentile. The promise God made to Abraham continued through the Jewish people, and through Jesus, was also extended to Gentiles.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For Abraham the promise also represented a call. The promise came to life as Abraham lived into the promise and left his homeland to follow God\u2019s call. Paul maintained, the promise to Abraham remained alive as people lived into the faith modeled by Abraham. The role of the Law, then, was not an entrance point to a life of faith but a guide for living in faithful obedience to God\u2019s promise.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paul considers Jesus to be the true heir of Abraham\u2019s promise. Living into faith in Jesus, Gentiles could also participate in the inheritance.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By now it is clear in Paul\u2019s reasoning that faith is the way to participating in the inheritance of God\u2019s promise to Abraham through Jesus. The question that remains, and has often been my question, is how does \u201cfaith\u201d become the door to our inheritance \u2013 to our salvation?<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Galatians 3:22 poses an interesting textual consideration. The NRSV and most modern translations say, \u201cBut the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> The problem that those like Richard Hays point to is that the ancient Greek text does not say \u201cfaith in Jesus,\u201d but rather \u201cfaith of Jesus.\u201d That is to say, we are not saved by our \u201cfaith in Jesus,\u201d but by the \u201cfaith of Jesus.\u201d To check this out I dusted off my rusty Greek skills and pulled out my Greek New Testament. As I say, my Greek is more than a little rusty, but it seems rather obvious to me that the proper translation is \u201cfaith of Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I believe what is going on here is a case of scripture being translated through the eyes of modern doctrinal beliefs. There is not time to go into the central role Luther\u2019s justification by faith plays in shaping our doctrinal statements. Centuries later we state that salvation comes by our faith in Jesus. But is it really \u201cour\u201d faith in Jesus that saves us? Does Jesus not have a role in our salvation?<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I am much more convinced with our being saved through \u201cthe faith of Jesus.\u201d It is in the faith or faithfulness Jesus demonstrated in his life, death and resurrection that we are saved. The Christian life then becomes a participation in the faithfulness of Jesus. Baptism is a public declaration in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. From there a walk with Jesus becomes a participation in a ministry of sacrificial love as modeled by Jesus. Communion is another time when we pause to reflect on the faith of Jesus by which we are saved and to bear witness to a desire to live as one, sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, extending to all the peace we have come to know in him.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In Galatians 3:23 and following Paul returns to the basic point of which he is trying to convinced the Galatians. Why would you want to leave the freedom known in participating in Christ Jesus? Why would you turn to imprisonment under the Law? Paul also addresses a growing tension that seems to be emerging between Jewish and Gentile Christians.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where people together participate in the promise of God, Paul describes a radical transformation of society: \u201cThere is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Paul describes this as a reality already existing.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My question has been how faith is activated to get us there? Seeing that we are saved by our \u201cfaith in Jesus,\u201d can be limited to a mystical experience or a verbal confession. I believe the irrelevance many see in the church today rests in the fact that people proclaiming to be Christian betray their confession by the path they walk in life.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To say that we are saved by our participation in the faith of Jesus calls us into an active expression of our faith. The initial promise of God to Abraham was activated by Abraham\u2019s faithful response in moving to a new land. As heirs of that same promise through Jesus we too are being called to live into the promise in participating in Christ Jesus.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In a few moments we will move to a celebration of Communion. We are a diverse collection of God\u2019s people. We hold various views and opinions. Sometimes how we hold these views and opinions gets in the way of the oneness we confess in Christ Jesus. In our visioning process we have affirmed a declaration of our values and identity. Generally we feel good about how that articulates what brings and holds us together as a people. Even so, we are not at the same place in understanding how we should live out our shared identity as God\u2019s people. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In Communion we look beyond our own views, to the faithfulness of Jesus modeled in life, death and resurrection. Let us come to the Table, as our faith tradition reminds us, in an act of participating in all that Jesus is doing for us. Participating in Christ Jesus also moves us into the realm of what God is doing through us. In what God is doing through us we join in the mission of Jesus being lived out through the worldwide fellowship of those participating in Christ Jesus.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In closing let us become silent before God in prayer.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 Participating in Christ Jesus October 5, 2008 David Brubacher Text: Galatians 3:15-29 Psalm 43 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Thirty five years ago I was in spiritual turmoil. In my religious context dos and don\u2019ts \u2013 mostly don\u2019ts \u2013 pointed the way. Hedges of shame kept one from wandering too far off the path. My well developed conscience told me I had walked too far into the world of don\u2019ts. Lest you start speculating about the don\u2019ts, let me assure…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-a-worship-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}