1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Good morning, my name is George, no, just kidding. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:07,000 My name is Jerry, you guys know me. 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:12,000 Today's scripture reading is from Galatians 3, 27 to 29. 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,000 It's on page 1003 in the Bibles in the back of the pews. 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,000 If you wanna follow along there. 6 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,000 Starting at verse 27. 7 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,000 For those of you who are baptized into Christ 8 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:24,000 have been clothed with Christ, 9 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,000 there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, 10 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:33,000 male and female, since you are all one in Jesus Christ. 11 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:37,000 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, 12 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,000 heirs according to the promise. 13 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:41,000 This is God's word. 14 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:45,000 Yeah, yeah, it's always good when the word of God 15 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:47,000 gets some claps, you can give it a... 16 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,000 Or were you just, were you clapping for George there? 17 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:52,000 Okay. 18 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:56,000 Joe. 19 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,000 Joe, yeah. 20 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:05,000 The Bible knows nothing of the idea of an unchurched Christian. 21 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:10,000 It knows nothing of the idea of an unchurched Christian. 22 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,000 In the book of Matthew, chapter 16, verse 18, 23 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,000 Jesus said that he will build his church. 24 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,000 He will build his church. 25 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,000 And Paul said it this way in 1 Timothy, chapter 3. 26 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,000 He said to Timothy, I have written 27 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,000 so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves 28 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,000 in God's household, 29 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,000 which is the church of the living God, 30 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,000 the pillar and foundation of the truth. 31 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,000 I've written you these things so that people know 32 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:48,000 how they ought to behave within the household of God, 33 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,000 which is the church of the living God, 34 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:56,000 the pillar and foundation of the truth. 35 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:01,000 Jesus is building his kingdom through his church. 36 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:03,000 And the Bible knows nothing of the idea 37 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,000 of an unchurched Christian. 38 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,000 Instead, they know of the household of God, 39 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,000 which is the pillar and foundation of the truth. 40 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:19,000 There's a quote from a commentator or a preacher, 41 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:24,000 John Stott, said, Conceived in a past eternity 42 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,000 and being worked out in history 43 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:30,000 and to be perfected in a future eternity, 44 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:34,000 God's work is not just to save isolated individuals 45 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,000 and so perpetuate our loneliness, 46 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,000 but rather to build his church, 47 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:48,000 that is to call out of the world a people for his own glory. 48 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:52,000 We are called to a life together. 49 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,000 The word church comes from the Greek word, ecclesia, 50 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,000 which means the gathering of those summoned. 51 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,000 The ecclesia is the gathering of those summoned 52 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:06,000 or the gathering of the called out ones. 53 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,000 It's life together. 54 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,000 You aren't a football player 55 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:14,000 if you are not on a team of other football players. 56 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:19,000 You are not a solo soldier without an army. 57 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,000 But as you know, there's a problem. 58 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,000 People don't really like to get together, 59 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,000 at least not very well. 60 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:30,000 And when we do, we don't play very well together. 61 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:32,000 We especially don't naturally connect 62 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:35,000 with people who are different than us. 63 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,000 We are more comfortable with those who are like us 64 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,000 than those who are different. 65 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,000 And so the gospel is bringing us together, 66 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,000 and it's bringing together all kinds of people 67 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,000 who aren't naturally drawn to one another 68 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,000 or by every natural measure 69 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:51,000 are actually opposed to one another. 70 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:55,000 How is this thing that God is building gonna work out? 71 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:58,000 And Paul is dealing with that question 72 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,000 in a sense in the book of Galatians. 73 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,000 Galatians was a letter that Paul wrote 74 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,000 to the church in Galatia, 75 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:08,000 a province of what is modern day Turkey. 76 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,000 And the question of the day was really 77 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,000 what is required to belong to the church? 78 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,000 Or what does it mean to be in God? 79 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:19,000 Or pleasing to God or righteous before God? 80 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,000 Number of Gentile non-Jewish believers 81 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:26,000 was growing as the gospel had spread out 82 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,000 to new places and was reaching new people. 83 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,000 And a group of Jewish teachers had come along. 84 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,000 They were called the Judaizers, 85 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,000 who said that in order to be saved, 86 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,000 one must obey the Mosaic law and customs, 87 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,000 and most specifically for salvation, 88 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,000 the ritual of circumcision. 89 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,000 And they had to do that first. 90 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,000 That first in order that they might then come to Christ 91 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,000 and receive all that he offers. 92 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,000 Convert to Judaism first, 93 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,000 then you can become a Christian. 94 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,000 But all paths lead through Judaism. 95 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,000 But the gospel that Paul was preaching 96 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,000 was a gospel of faith alone in Christ alone. 97 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,000 And many Gentiles were coming to the faith. 98 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,000 And so there was a problem and this group of Judaizers 99 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,000 arrived and they say, not so fast. 100 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,000 There's something else for you all to do 101 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,000 before you can believe. 102 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,000 It would seem by the introduction of this book 103 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,000 that some of the folks in Galatia believed the Judaizers. 104 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,000 And began to yield the gospel of faith alone 105 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,000 in Christ alone to this gospel 106 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,000 that they were preaching, so to speak. 107 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:42,000 And so Paul writes this letter to argue 108 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,000 that they've gotten it all wrong. 109 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,000 That's the letter of Galatians. 110 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,000 You got it all wrong if you go down that path. 111 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,000 Right out the gate, after the standard introduction 112 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,000 in the book of Galatia and the greeting, 113 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:00,000 Paul immediately turns to the issue at hand. 114 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,000 In a typical letter that Paul would write, 115 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,000 often times you had this introduction, 116 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,000 here's who I am, apostle Paul called by the Lord so and so. 117 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,000 And then your standard greeting, greetings 118 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:11,000 in the name of the Lord Jesus. 119 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:15,000 And then a paragraph of like fuzzy, warm, 120 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:19,000 lovey-dovey encouragement for how much he loved them 121 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,000 and he was so like on board and affectionate toward them. 122 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:27,000 Or maybe some sort of kind of theologically rich doxology 123 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,000 about who God is and how amazing he is. 124 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:34,000 This one Paul goes, my name's Paul, howdy. 125 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:37,000 Let's get down to business. 126 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,000 Let's skip the fuzzy warms, let's skip the doxology, 127 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:41,000 let's get right to it. 128 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,000 And in fact, in chapter one he goes right to this. 129 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,000 This is so important, it's too important to wait 130 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:50,000 through all the standard niceties. 131 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:54,000 I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him 132 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,000 who called you by the grace of Christ 133 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,000 and are turning to a different gospel. 134 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,000 Not that there is another gospel, 135 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,000 but there are some who are troubling you 136 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,000 and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 137 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:11,000 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach 138 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,000 to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, 139 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,000 a curse be on him. 140 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:21,000 As we have said before and I now say again, 141 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:24,000 if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary 142 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:29,000 to what you received, a curse be on him. 143 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:33,000 You're turning away. 144 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,000 You're turning away to a gospel which is no gospel at all. 145 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:42,000 You're turning away from grace to human effort. 146 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,000 Curse the person who preaches a so-called gospel of works, 147 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:52,000 the one who distorts the gospel of Christ. 148 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:56,000 The gospel is all about what was done for us, 149 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,000 not what we do. 150 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,000 And since it is not by our efforts but by his grace, 151 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,000 that puts us all on equal footing. 152 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,000 Outside of Christ, we are unable to do anything 153 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:15,000 to secure our salvation. 154 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:22,000 In Christ, it has all been done for all of us. 155 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,000 Oh, but I come to Christ with great riches and wealth. 156 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,000 Surely I have a leg up on the poor person. 157 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:35,000 But I come to Christ with great wisdom and knowledge. 158 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:39,000 I'm way smarter than those dumb folk on the other side of the aisle. 159 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,000 But I come to Christ with a life of good works. 160 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:48,000 That person has been a problem since they were a teenager. 161 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,000 I come as a man. 162 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:55,000 Surely that gets me somewhere ahead of the women. 163 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:58,000 No. 164 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,000 The gospel comes and says we all come 165 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:04,000 with the same level of need. 166 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:06,000 We all come. 167 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:10,000 And we are all welcomed in the same way through faith. 168 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,000 Believing is belonging. 169 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,000 Verse 27 says, 170 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,000 For those of you who were baptized into Christ 171 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:22,000 have been clothed with Christ. 172 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:26,000 Baptism, as we think of it, is that symbolic reenactment 173 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,000 of what is actually a spiritual reality 174 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:33,000 that we go through when we are born again in Christ. 175 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:37,000 And here, Paul is referring to the reality of what the acts 176 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:41,000 that we observe in the baptismal symbolizes. 177 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,000 He's talking about the reality behind it. 178 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,000 Since you have died to the flesh and sin 179 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:50,000 and have been raised to life in Christ, 180 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,000 you are now clothed with Christ. 181 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:55,000 Once you could only relate to Christ from afar. 182 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:59,000 The only way you and I could relate when we were outside of Christ 183 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:02,000 was through worldly understanding or knowledge. 184 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,000 I don't know what I think about that Christ guy. 185 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:05,000 I don't know. 186 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,000 I gotta think about his teaching and see how his teaching 187 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,000 measures up to other teaching. 188 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,000 And I gotta weigh it in a worldly way. 189 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:14,000 I gotta reason this out. 190 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,000 I gotta use all my reasoning faculties to figure out 191 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,000 whether I believe Christ or I believe this guy. 192 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,000 That's the only way we could relate to Christ. 193 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,000 But the work of the gospel has fundamentally changed 194 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:28,000 the way you and I relate to the triune God. 195 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,000 And it is now through our union with Christ, 196 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:34,000 who is the second person in the Trinity, 197 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:37,000 that we are now like a piece of clothing 198 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:39,000 wrapped around our body. 199 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:44,000 We are drawn in to experience union with God through Christ. 200 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:49,000 But you are not the only one. 201 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,000 Back to our original points. 202 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:54,000 You are not the only one. 203 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,000 Anyone who has been baptized into Christ 204 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:00,000 is there with Christ as well together. 205 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:04,000 We are one together in Christ. 206 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,000 Which leads us to verse 28 and 29. 207 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:09,000 There is no Jew or Greek slave or free, 208 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:13,000 male and female, since you are all one in Christ Jesus. 209 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:15,000 And you belong to Christ. 210 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:18,000 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, 211 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:21,000 heirs according to his promise. 212 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:26,000 Paul lays out in verse 28 some natural points of division. 213 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:31,000 Jew, Greek, slave, free, male, female. 214 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:37,000 The phrase there is no Jew nor Greek addresses the racial, 215 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,000 the cultural divides of the time. 216 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:43,000 Jews and Greeks or Gentiles were often in conflict 217 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:48,000 with deep-seated prejudice and religious differences. 218 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,000 It was really hard for them to hang with each other. 219 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:53,000 It was so different. 220 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:56,000 Paul asserts here that in Christ, 221 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:59,000 these racial and ethnic distinctions are irrelevant. 222 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:01,000 Irrelevant. 223 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:04,000 Believers are united in a new identity 224 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,000 that transcends these divisions. 225 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:11,000 Did you know that we are still divided over race 226 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:16,000 and cultural expression in the church, the household of God? 227 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:20,000 That may surprise you depending upon where you're at 228 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:22,000 or what you see. 229 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,000 But there are stories out there, me and Mike, 230 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,000 we're just at a conference hearing plenty of them. 231 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:35,000 In 1912, a group of leaders at the Anderson family camp 232 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:40,000 or the Anderson camp meeting asked all the black folk 233 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,000 to please not come anymore. 234 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:47,000 Because their presence was keeping white people 235 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:52,000 from hearing the gospel and coming to the Lord. 236 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:57,000 Put out, eventually a camp was formed, 237 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:01,000 I think it was a Middlesex, formed in 1917, 238 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:05,000 where they could then go and go to camp 239 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,000 with whoever wanted to come and worship. 240 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,000 But it was an Anderson camp. 241 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:16,000 We have heard a story of a black female pastor 242 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:21,000 in the district who will not go to Diamond Arrow 243 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:23,000 because it was at Diamond Arrow 244 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,000 that she was first called the N-word. 245 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:31,000 She's still alive, so this is in her lifetime. 246 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,000 I don't want to air all of our dirty laundry, 247 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,000 you might be like, where's the door, let's get out of here, 248 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:41,000 but would you be surprised if there was a district 249 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,000 within our movement that refuses 250 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,000 to credential black pastors? 251 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:52,000 Refuses, today, refuses. 252 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:58,000 It's not over there, it's not out there, it's not back there, 253 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:02,000 oh, that's 1950s stuff, it is 1950s stuff, 254 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:03,000 but it's also today. 255 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:08,000 We still see divisions within God's household 256 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:13,000 over things like race, differences in ethnicity. 257 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:19,000 To this day, I won't go into detail, 258 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:23,000 but hearing firsthand stories of feeling like 259 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:26,000 I don't belong, I'm with the wrong people here. 260 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:29,000 I don't, I don't know, I don't know, 261 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:34,000 why I'm here. 262 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:37,000 Breaks your heart, knowing that's not something, 263 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,000 and that's not a delusion, 264 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,000 that's not something fabricated in a mind. 265 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,000 There's evidence that speaks, 266 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,000 not necessarily one-to-one. 267 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,000 I would hope that none of us have ever 268 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:54,000 said that directly, some of those words that I repeated, 269 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:56,000 but it's not a delusion. 270 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:59,000 I said that directly, some of those words that I repeated, 271 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:01,000 but it's possible. 272 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:02,000 The gospel is that great equalizer, 273 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:04,000 because we can all come from different places. 274 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,000 We can even come from racist background. 275 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:10,000 The gospel can change us by bringing us into a family 276 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,000 of lots of different folks and change our hearts 277 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:18,000 so that we can see differently the people who are around us, 278 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,000 not primarily by those things that divide, 279 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:26,000 but by the one thing that unites in Christ. 280 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,000 Verse 28 continues with the statement 281 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:32,000 that there's no slave or free. 282 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,000 This speaks directly to a social and economic division 283 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:39,000 that was really prevalent in the Roman Empire. 284 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:42,000 There was a significant gap between the slave 285 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:45,000 and the free people, and Paul's message is radical 286 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:46,000 in this context. 287 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:50,000 In the Christian community, that will not be. 288 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:53,000 That distinction will not be. 289 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:58,000 These social hierarchies are destroyed. 290 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,000 Both slave and free are equal in dignity and worth 291 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:05,000 in the eyes of Christ and in his household. 292 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:10,000 James chapter two, giving exhortation to us, the church, 293 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:14,000 said, brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism 294 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:17,000 as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus, 295 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:20,000 for if someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring 296 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:23,000 and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor person 297 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:26,000 dressed in filthy clothes also comes in, 298 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:28,000 if you look with favor on the one wearing the fine clothes 299 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,000 and say, oh, sit here, here's a good place, 300 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:35,000 or maybe you could sit at my feet, the place of honor. 301 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:39,000 And to the poor person, you say, hey, behind the curtain, 302 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:42,000 or in the back, or in the corner. 303 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:43,000 It's all practical reasons. 304 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:48,000 You smell, you're unsightly, you're scaring people. 305 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,000 Haven't you made distinctions among yourself 306 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,000 and become judges with evil thoughts? 307 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:08,000 Jews, Greeks, slaves, free, by saying, 308 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:12,000 there is no male and female, what is Paul saying? 309 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:19,000 Is he agreeing with our modern social movement 310 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:22,000 to erase all gender distinctions? 311 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:27,000 He can't be doing that, for God created it in goodness. 312 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:31,000 Paul is addressing a culture where women 313 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,000 were often considered inferior to men, 314 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:36,000 and so this statement that in Christ 315 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:39,000 there is no male or female 316 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,000 would have been a revolutionary statement. 317 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:44,000 The Jewish man gave thanks to God 318 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,000 in a liturgy that went like this. 319 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:51,000 The Jewish man of the first century gave thanks to God 320 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:53,000 in a liturgy every morning. 321 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,000 If he was the head of the household, he would get up, 322 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:59,000 and he would say, at least in part, this liturgy. 323 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:04,000 Thank you, God, that I am not a Gentile, 324 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:08,000 a woman, or a slave. 325 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:10,000 Thank you, God. 326 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,000 And Paul is pointing out that in Christ, 327 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,000 all the old dividing lines and walls 328 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:21,000 that were accepted and even extolled in Judaism 329 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,000 had been broken down in Christ. 330 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,000 This is part of the good news of the gospel. 331 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:30,000 It implies equal value and equal access to God's promises 332 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,000 and blessings for both men and women. 333 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:35,000 The concluding part of verse 28 says, 334 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:39,000 since you are all one in Christ Jesus, 335 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,000 and that's key to understanding the verses. 336 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:43,000 Why is there no Jew or Greek? 337 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,000 Why is there no slave or free? 338 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:49,000 Why is there no male or female in Christ? 339 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:51,000 Because we are all one in Christ, 340 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:55,000 and that's the beauty is in the all one word. 341 00:18:55,000 --> 00:19:00,000 It's this Greek word that means one entity or one person 342 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:05,000 We are all, plural, we are all one person in Christ. 343 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,000 And elsewhere in the scripture, 344 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,000 it talks about the parts of the body, right? 345 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,000 You don't say to the parts of the body, 346 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:15,000 I don't need you, I'll cut you off. 347 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,000 Ah, you're inferior to me. 348 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:20,000 You're not a part that's noble, so I don't need you. 349 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:21,000 I'll leave you behind. 350 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:23,000 We don't cut off parts of our body, do we? 351 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,000 Well, we're one person in Christ. 352 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:31,000 One person in Christ, and so where do these divisions come from? 353 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,000 If we wouldn't do it in our own body, 354 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:37,000 why do we do it in God's, in his household? 355 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,000 You are one person in Christ. 356 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,000 All believers share the same status, 357 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,000 regardless of their racial, social, or gender, 358 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:51,000 because they are one new person in Christ. 359 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,000 If there is no love, there is no love in Christ. 360 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:59,000 If there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, 361 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,000 male or female in Christ, what is there then? 362 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,000 What are we now? 363 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,000 Well, verse 26 actually tells us right before. 364 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:16,000 For through faith, you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus. 365 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:23,000 No longer distinction, Jew, Greek, slave, free, male, female. 366 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:30,000 No, we are all sons of God in Christ Jesus. 367 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,000 Christ Jesus was the son of God. 368 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,000 We are all sons of God. 369 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,000 This passage is all about status. 370 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,000 It's all about the status of every believer, 371 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,000 Jew, Greek, slave, free, male or female, 372 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:47,000 that they have in Christ, and that is sonship. 373 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:48,000 We all have sonship. 374 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,000 Now you might immediately go, wait, that sounds gendered. 375 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:54,000 It's not like we're talking about men again. 376 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:59,000 It was a legal status, a legal status that conferred the benefits 377 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,000 on anyone with that designation. 378 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,000 What benefits? 379 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:12,000 Sonship in Christ is an equal heir to his kingdom and promises. 380 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:18,000 The status of sonship entitles us to full participation in Christ Jesus. 381 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:23,000 It entitles us to justification by faith in Christ 382 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:26,000 and union with God through Christ and through the Spirit, 383 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:29,000 as is talked about in chapter four of Galatians. 384 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:35,000 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, 385 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:37,000 which cries, Abba, Father. 386 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,000 So you are no longer a slave. 387 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,000 We sang that earlier. 388 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,000 You are no longer a slave, but a son. 389 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,000 And if a son, then God has made you an heir. 390 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,000 Jews, Greeks, slave, free, male, female. 391 00:21:55,000 --> 00:22:00,000 The female didn't have the hope of being a son, 392 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:07,000 to receive the inheritance of her father, her earthly father. 393 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,000 But in Christ, she is as a son. 394 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:18,000 She is as a son, full inheritance, full participation in Christ, 395 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:24,000 no mediator needed, justified, sanctified, 396 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,000 and unified with God through Christ and the Spirit. 397 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:32,000 Some think that, or sometimes I think we think that we are complete, 398 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:35,000 we are simply called to kind of give mental assent 399 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,000 to the components of the gospel. 400 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,000 We think that mental assent, yes, I agree with that, 401 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:43,000 I hear that, I hear that, I hear that, 402 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,000 that's believing, or that's faith. 403 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,000 But that is so wrong. 404 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,000 The church is called not merely to believe the gospel, 405 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:56,000 but also to become the gospel, and thereby advance the gospel. 406 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:01,000 The church is a living explanation of the gospel. 407 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,000 People don't want to hear what you believe. 408 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:08,000 People don't want to hear, yes, in Christ, we're all one. 409 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,000 We're one big happy family. 410 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:14,000 I'm so glad I'm a part of heaven. 411 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:15,000 Right? 412 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:19,000 Show me. 413 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:23,000 Exegete it. 414 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:28,000 Let the church be the living example of what that even looks like. 415 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:31,000 And we go, oh, I'm so proud. 416 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:35,000 I wouldn't be surprised if that song was sung at Anderson Camp 417 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:39,000 with all those folks who were uninvited, not present. 418 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,000 I'm so glad I'm a part. 419 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,000 That probably came later, but. 420 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:47,000 That's a Gaithers, right? 421 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,000 They had their own. 422 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,000 Oh, I believe because I evaluated each component 423 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,000 and I said, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, no. 424 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,000 That's not belief. 425 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:07,000 Belief is loyal love and faithfulness. 426 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:15,000 Belief is trusting in something so as to put the full weight 427 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:20,000 of your life on it, as if you were leaning on something sturdy. 428 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,000 And so if you say, I put my full weight on the gospel, 429 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,000 then the gospel has broken down divisions 430 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:29,000 that many people in our society and culture want to hold on to. 431 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:33,000 And many people in the church don't look much different. 432 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,000 But if you really do believe the gospel 433 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:39,000 and the gospel has the answers for the questions 434 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:41,000 that the people in this world are asking, 435 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,000 then we have to lean fully our weight on it 436 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:47,000 and believe it not just here, but live it out here. 437 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,000 There can be no division among us. 438 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:54,000 There can be no division, ethnic or racial division, 439 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:58,000 financial or status or economic division. 440 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:02,000 There can be no gender division among us. 441 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,000 That one is prime or has primacy over the other 442 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:08,000 or one is necessary for access to God. 443 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:10,000 No. 444 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,000 We have to live and embody the gospel 445 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,000 in the way that we live out this one community 446 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:18,000 that we are in Christ. 447 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:21,000 The gospel is the great equalizer. 448 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,000 And we are called out to participate in what God is doing 449 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,000 by becoming the gospel embodied. 450 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,000 It's not easy. 451 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:31,000 How many of you guys have had to have a hard, 452 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,000 difficult conversation with a brother or sister 453 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:37,000 in order to maintain unity and peace? 454 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,000 How many of you guys have had a difficult conversation? 455 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:41,000 Yep. 456 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,000 It's not easy. 457 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,000 You don't even want to do it. 458 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:48,000 You don't even want to do it. 459 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,000 But the alternative is pack your stuff and run, 460 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:51,000 go somewhere else, right? 461 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,000 And to live a life hopping from one place to the other 462 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,000 in division without living. 463 00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:58,000 It's not easy. 464 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,000 They had lots of questions to handle. 465 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:04,000 Paul had to figure out how he was gonna interact with Peter 466 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,000 when Peter seemed to be backsliding 467 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,000 and associating only with the Jewish believers 468 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:12,000 in the presence of the Gentiles 469 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:13,000 and making them feel inferior. 470 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,000 And so Paul had to say, what am I gonna do here? 471 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,000 I could say nothing, that's Peter. 472 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,000 That's the rock. 473 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,000 Paul said, no, this is too important. 474 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,000 I'm gonna step out, I'm gonna call out Peter 475 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,000 and say, no, we don't divide over that. 476 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:31,000 Not in God's household. 477 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:32,000 And we don't tolerate it. 478 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,000 You know, I just, I don't remember where I was sharing it recently, 479 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,000 but you know, culture is built, 480 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:38,000 maybe I shared it this last week, 481 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,000 culture is built by what we celebrate 482 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:44,000 and what we communicate and what we emulate. 483 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,000 And the final one is what we tolerate. 484 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,000 So what's the culture in the house of God? 485 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:51,000 Well, it should be biblically informed. 486 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:54,000 It should be based on the word. 487 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:56,000 But just know that whatever we're tolerating 488 00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:01,000 in the house of God is becoming part of our culture. 489 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,000 Who we are and how we relate to one another. 490 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,000 And when you tolerate division on those basis, 491 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,000 you're fracturing God's household. 492 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:14,000 You're weakening the witness that it has in this world. 493 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:16,000 We are not to divide, 494 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:20,000 nor are we to treat anyone as less or unimportant. 495 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:21,000 We have been clothed, 496 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:22,000 remember this part of the scripture, 497 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:27,000 we have been clothed with Christ. 498 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:30,000 But it's when we start slapping bumper stickers 499 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:32,000 and patches on that clothing 500 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:35,000 to shout out all of our other allegiances 501 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:38,000 that we start to introduce all kinds of problems 502 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,000 into the body of Christ. 503 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,000 Republican, Democrat. 504 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,000 For this, against that. 505 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,000 We start slapping on all kinds of patches 506 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,000 onto the clothing that Christ has provided 507 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,000 and pretty soon we're divided over things. 508 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:59,000 Yes, he didn't include political affiliation in his list, 509 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:05,000 but I guarantee he would. 510 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:07,000 It should not divide us. 511 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:11,000 We are one person in Christ. 512 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,000 Our society is looking for the answer to the question, 513 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:17,000 how can we live together? 514 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:20,000 And no institution is more equipped to answer that question 515 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,000 than the Church of Jesus, 516 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:26,000 the pillar and foundation of the truth. 517 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:29,000 We are called to participate in what God is doing 518 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,000 by becoming the gospel, 519 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,000 embodied for the world to see. 520 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:38,000 No matter the dividing lines, we are to set them aside. 521 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:42,000 All humanity is in the same sinking ship 522 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:43,000 and in need of a savior, 523 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:48,000 and no one is more deserving of it than anyone else. 524 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,000 Some may wonder why other voices seem to dominate 525 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:54,000 the conversation and discourse over diversity, 526 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:57,000 equity, and inclusion. 527 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,000 I think it's likely, as I've heard other pastors say, 528 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:04,000 it's likely because the church has given up its position 529 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:07,000 and yielded its authority to speak the truth on these issues. 530 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:11,000 And when we don't speak the truth about what this world is 531 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:13,000 and what it's like in Christ, 532 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:16,000 we yield the field to other people to try to figure out 533 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,000 how do we make this work. 534 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:22,000 And I think what we need are bold people of faith 535 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:24,000 who can go out and say, 536 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,000 hey, we're all in the same boat here, 537 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,000 but in Christ, we find a household of faith, 538 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,000 a place that we can be drawn into and changed 539 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:37,000 by his grace and his love at work in our hearts. 540 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:39,000 And we can find a way to live together 541 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:42,000 under his banner and his love. 542 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,000 It's likely that we've given up space, 543 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:52,000 and so others speak their truth on the issue. 544 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,000 People often argue that religion has been the cause 545 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,000 of many wars and divisions in the past. 546 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:01,000 And so how dare you Christians think that you have the answer? 547 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:05,000 What about this and what about that in the past? 548 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:09,000 And if you're measuring your behavior against your neighbors 549 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,000 to determine who is better, 550 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,000 then that's a legitimate argument, 551 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:17,000 because there are times where other organizations or people 552 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:21,000 have acted better than the church. 553 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:28,000 But if there is an immovable standard of perfection 554 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:30,000 that is Christ Jesus, 555 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:34,000 and you were so bad that someone had to die to save you, 556 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:37,000 well, there's no room for you to judge 557 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,000 or sneer at your neighbor. 558 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:41,000 No room. 559 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:43,000 Yeah, you weaken. 560 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:48,000 You wanna parse over whether or not you are a better person 561 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,000 or you do gooder works than me? 562 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:56,000 That's one way to do it, 563 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:59,000 but we could do that all day and still die 564 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,000 on the sinking ship. 565 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:04,000 There's only one way, and that's to abandon that way 566 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:09,000 and instead to look to the one who died for us 567 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:13,000 to save us because we were that bad that we needed someone 568 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:15,000 to die and save us, 569 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,000 and if we're that bad and you're that bad 570 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:21,000 and everyone is that bad, then we're all the same. 571 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:25,000 You're no better than they are, 572 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:28,000 and they are no better than you. 573 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:31,000 And if you were so unbelievably loved 574 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:35,000 by someone who was willing to die to save you, 575 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:39,000 there's an immense freedom to move forward in confidence 576 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:44,000 and grab hold of all the other unworthy ones along the way. 577 00:31:44,000 --> 00:32:00,000 In Christ, all may be one.