“Christ’s Family”

June 20, 2010
Galatians 23: 23-29

Today we hear what Paul has to say to the Galatians, again. It is the third part of his letter to a church struggling to remain true to the gospel message. And by the tone of what Paul writes we can imagine what he is thinking, “These Galatians are so inconsistent.” Earlier he had reminded them he was the one who had first shared the message of Christ with them, and with others. Their “recognizing and worshiping God” resulted from what he had said. Then, as we read last week, Paul made sure they heard once again what was most important for their salvation. He wanted them never to forget that their real freedom from sin was a grace thing – a God thing, coming from a faith in Jesus Christ, rather than from their having to do certain things.

Now today we hear Paul say, “By God’s grace you have arrived. There is nothing more. Your faith is enough. And because of your faith you live in a close relationship with God, don’t you? Your life is a Kingdom life, isn’t it?” Paul goes on to say, “Your baptism has meant living a new life, ‘Christ’s life,’ hasn’t it?” And then, Paul moves right to ‘the closure,” when he says, “You are part of the family - Christ’s family.”

In 1968 Sly and the Family Stone had a hit song titled “Everyday People” which speaks, I think, to the gospel message Paul shared with the Galatians and others – as what it means to be Christ’s family. That song starts out:
Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrong
My own beliefs are in my song
The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I'm in
I am everyday people, yeah …everyday people.

Christ’s family is a family of everyday people; it includes everyone. The song speaks of our being a blue one… a green one… a fat one… a skinny one… and so on and so on… and a Scooby dooby doo one – (then the punch line): “we got to live together.” Like the words of the song, as individuals we can’t always accept the green one, or be like the skinny one, and so on and so on. And yet, as a family, we have to live together, knowing we are no better, but the same whatever we do… we are everyday people (who have got to live together as Christ’s family).

Paul says in Christ’s family there is no division, no distinction, and all are equal when it comes to the relationship we are to have with Jesus Christ. “That is,” Paul says, “we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ… and since you are Christ's family, then you are… heirs according to the covenant promises.”

Paul talked about a freedom – coming not by birth, or works, or by anything other than a faith in God’s great mercy and love for us – revealed in Jesus the Christ. This is what justifies all of us – Jew and Gentile, alike.

But what does our freedom – our justification – in Christ, mean? Earlier Paul said, “I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2: 19-20) It’s a ‘grace thing,” Paul says, “and that’s good.” Paul refers elsewhere in his letter to being made new and becoming a new person. God was now using the life Paul had thrown away.

Paul grew up believing he would be made right with God by doing what was right according to the laws of the Bible. But he discovered God was creating a whole new ballgame. To become ‘right with God,’ his focus now needed to be on something different. It wasn’t a matter of doing things right, but rather a matter of doing the right things – loving God and loving neighbor. This would be living life well. It might also be a family thing, something that our being part of Christ’s family, we would all have in common.

It is a grace thing that ‘justifies’ Paul – and frees all of us – making us worthy to live eternally with God, all so that, “Christ can live in us.” Paul says, “Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ's life.” (Galatians 3:26-27)

Paul discovered that works didn’t get the job done. Being good wasn’t enough. Faith in Jesus Christ is what frees us and makes us right with God. And that is when Christ ‘lives’ … truly lives in us. Having been changed, we can now put our complete trust in Christ. Transformed, as Paul says, no longer living a life of this world, we are filled with the power and presence of God’s self. What’s important to us and how we go about living our lives are changed. Love and self-giving characterize our lives. And living now by Jesus’ faith: we reach out to the poor, we welcome the needy, we show hospitality to the stranger, and we respond to the troubled in our communities.

Paul says we have arrived. Justified by the cross of Christ and welcomed into Christ’s family, it is time Christ lives in everything we do and every day be seen as our Father’s day. May we truly love and give ourselves for others as our Lord has for us.