Sermon for August 30

 

13^th Sunday after Trinity

Grace, mercy and peace are yours from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our text for our meditation together is the Epistle reading of the day, We are going to go through it a verse at a time.

Galatians 3:15  To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.

In Galatians, Paul is writing some concerns he has with those in the churches in the province of Galatian. Some among the church members talked and acted like their religious was still based on Jewish laws and rituals, given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Paul is correcting them. No, he says, it is not the law of Moses that makes you a Christian. It’s the promise, the covenant God made with us, starting with Abraham, the father of all who believe.

God promised Abraham, making a covenant, with him. Abraham would have a son, an heir, in fact Abraham would have many descendants, beyond counting, like the stars of the sky. Abraham would be the father of nations: Jews and Arabs and Palestinians and other tribes and nations, trace their ancestry back to Abraham.

In this covenant with Abraham, God promised to bless Abraham and all his children. It was a covenant of grace, that we too, by faith have inherited from our father in the faith, Abraham.

But the Galatian problem was this, they were trying to add to the covenant, saying things like it only applies to those who follow the law, the Old Testament rituals and restrictions. That was the Galatian problem. It’s a human problem, this hesitation to receive grace from God and put your trust in that grace completely. Human beings are tempted to trust the law instead of the promise. We, ask, what must I do to be saved.

Paul says, “you can’t think like that. If you add your works to it, it’s like amending a legal contract that has already been agreed to, signed and ratified. If you add to it, or change it, it’s not fair to the other party because it’s not what was agreed to. So you can’t alter or amend the covenant of grace with God by adding laws and your own works to it. We must be careful in our faith, to not make it about our works and our credit, because that would take the glory away from Christ.

16Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.

Paul points out a consistency in the words of Scripture. From the promise to Abraham, all the way back in the very early history of the world, the words of Scripture are about Jesus Christ, the one who would save us. The author of the Bible, God the Holy Spirit, is consistent. The promise is this – God sends His Son, our only Savior Jesus Christ.

 

17This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.

Paul is talking Bible history here, so you can kinda get the bigger picture of what God was doing in those years. He gave the covenant promise to Abraham, and it wasn’t until 430 years later that God gave the 10 commandments and other rules to Moses. The promise to Abraham was coming true. God was blessing Abraham’s descendants, now numbering in the millions. And he gave them the laws for how they would live and be his people.

 

18For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

 

Now Paul uses a more specific word for the kind of covenant God has with His people. It’s an inheritance. An inheritance comes by the grace of a promise, not the demands of the law. You ought not demand to be included in the inheritance, but you will get an inheritance if someone chooses to be gracious to you when they die.

In Jesus’ story of the prodigal son, the arrogant son says to his dad, “give me my share of the inheritance now.” This was the first of his wrong ideas.

Inheritance works by grace. Someone wants you to have a gift. So is the promise we have from God. Christ says, “this is my last will and testament at my death, my body is given for you; my blood shed for you, for your forgiveness, eternal life and salvation.

19Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

Why then the law? Because of transgressions. It had to be spelled out. Lest anyone say, “I didn’t know it was wrong to murder”, God had to make it clear, “You shall not murder.”

Because someone would say, “I didn’t know I was supposed to help out this poor bloke who was beat up on the side of the road to Jericho.” God has to spell out the law. “Do good to your neighbor.” “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

When we fail to love God, when we fail to love our neighbor, God needs to give us His law to point out our transgressions and then seek for grace and forgiveness through the intermediary in this covenant, the promised offspring of Abraham, Jesus Christ.

   21Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

 

Here’s what the law is for. Not for you to follow and earn points with God or with your religion. Righteousness can’t be earned by the law. The law imprisons everything under sin. So that we see that the only hope, the only salvation is in Jesus Christ.

Because we are sinners the law nags and accuses us constantly. You did that horrible thing. You thought those evil thoughts. You didn’t help and befriend that poor guy and now it’s too late. It’s like the law beats you up, steals what little you have and leaves you for dead along the side of the road.

Your help and your hope is the promise by faith in Jesus Christ. He promises you this, forgiveness and a clean conscience, eternal life and the resurrection of the body, peace of mind, joy in suffering, love never ending.

Cling to his promise. Believe his promise.

Amen.