You Can’t Micromanage your way into Heaven - a sermon

Pentecost 4

June 16, 2013 

Galatians 2:15-21

There are a number of platitudes that said throughout this country that speak to the individualistic nature of our society…”if you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself”…”you’ve got to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps”…”God helps those who help themselves”…I’ve probably shared this before, but when I was a little kid my own personal platitude of independence was that I wanted to do things “all my by self.”  Sometimes, platitudes like these can inspire folks to work harder, to push that extra mile on a project and strive towards a goal…but more often than not, they simply enslave us to the notion that we need to be able to accomplish certain number of tasks, in a certain way, in a certain time frame if we are going to be deemed successful…and we don’t it we can become enslaved to the accompanying guilt.  

And when it comes to our faith, these same platitudes can be just as dangerous tying us to the notion that if we have the right amount of faith, if we give the right amount of money, if we do just the right amount of good deeds, and ask just the right questions, we will be favored in the sight of God and we will be blessed not only with God’s favor, but also with eternal life.  And so when doubts arise, when faith crises hit, we can become enslaved to accompanying guilt.  When times hit when it isn’t possible to give as much as we’d like, or when we’re too tired at the end of the week to do anything but hit the sheets and catch up on some sleep, we can question if we have done enough and more guilt sets in.  It’s an awful cycle to get caught up in, feeling like you can’t ever do enough to be worthy of salvation.  

This is where Paul comes to our rescue.  

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul was writing to a group of churches full of folks who were living in a society where it was thought that there was an impersonal force controlling the world and so folks did what they could to try and escape whatever “destiny” had set up for them.  Living in an early Christian community, the question had arose among them whether or not they were obligated to follow the Laws of Moses.  The text itself has an frustrated tone to it, particularly if you hear it in the original Greek language, but you can pick up bits and pieces of that from the English, as well. “For if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.”  

But the message that Paul sends to the churches in Galatia is full of good news.  

Paul writes “Yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ.”

This one line sums up the whole premise.  Our relationship with God is not based upon how well we measure up against the Laws of Moses, how well we do the things we should do and how well we avoid the things that we shouldn’t do…for this is contrary to God’s promises from the beginning.  In the Old Testament we hear over and over again that God is a caring God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  

But notice that there is one word in the reading that we heard this morning that is different from what I just read. There is a debate among scholars whether the text should read “through faith in Jesus Christ” or “through the faith OF Jesus Christ.”   Both translations are correct, but if you look at this text as a whole, the translation “through the faith of Jesus Christ” is a better reading.  And this is not because our faith in Jesus Christ is trivial.  It’s not, it’s important. But when our salvation depends solely on our faith in Jesus Christ, questions arise.  

What happens when we hit low faith moments in our lives?

What happens when we the circumstances of our lives lead us in to faith crises where, if we are honest, we say in those moments that we don’t know if we believe or not?

Is it possible that we can turn faith, which is a gift from God, into a work?  

I think the answer is yes…because if it relies solely on us and the nature of faith is to ebb and to flow and to grow and be renewed…then we are lost…and as Paul says, if our salvation relies upon us and what we do…if we can achieve salvation on our own…then Christ died for nothing.     

But if, in fact, we are justified…made right in the eyes of the lord, through the faith of Jesus Christ, then Christ isn’t relegated to playing a passive role in our justification but rather he is that one taking the lead and playing a very active role in our salvation.   

In the explanation to the third article of the apostle’s creed, Martin Luther wrote “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or call to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with her gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one true faith.”  

When it comes to being saved, there is no amount of to-do listing or micromanaging our own salvation.  Because we cannot do it of our own will.  By nature we are sinful beings and prone to straying, even if our faith is strong.  

Rather it is through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose again, and the work of the Holy Spirit who calls us to the waters of baptism and, in that act, joins us to Christ in his death and resurrection, that makes us right in the eyes of God.  

It’s not about us…it’s about the faithfulness of Christ and thanks be to God for that.  

So does that mean that Christ’s work, through the Holy Spirit is a proverbial get out of good deeds free card?  

By no means.  It may not be by our good works that we are saved, but it is because of our faith in Jesus Christ that we respond to the knowledge that through the faith of Christ we are joined to him in his death and resurrection…and thorough our baptism it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us by committing good and loving deeds, deeds which serve God and serve our neighbor.  Our good works are not done in order to be saved but because we are already saved.

So the moral of the story is this…when it comes to our being made right in the eyes of God, it’s not about us…it’s not about what we do or fail to do…it’s not about climbing the proverbial ladder of success into heaven based on our works…it’s not about how much money we give to the church.  Rather, it IS about Jesus Christ, who was faithful to God to the point of death on a cross so that we could be made right in the eyes of God and joined to Christ in his death and resurrection in the waters of baptism.  So when we do good works, when we give, when we live lives according to the example of Jesus Christ, it’s not in order to secure our spot in heaven…instead it is in celebration of the gift that we were given through the faith of Jesus Christ. Amen.