Galatians - Boasting in the Cross (part 6) (S2E12)

Welcome to the J-John and Tom Wright Podcast. The podcast where two old friends and evangelists and a theologian tackle the big questions of life and faith. Hello Tom. Hello John. Could be with you again. Thank you so much for this conversation that we've had with pause letter to the Galatians. We're again we're just touching each chapter and we're at chapter six and I always feel a little bit nervous you know to say oh as I read chapter six this is what I think it's about you know I'm just a little preacher. Well put up. But I wrote this Tom. Chapter six this is what I think it's about new creation people and I think the theme of chapter six is the community the gospel creates. Would you agree? In principle yes I mean but it's expressed quite sharply because here is the community the gospel creates but here are all the problems that that is creating. When people don't recognize it or don't realize what that's going to mean and particularly the early parts of the chapter are really quite quite stringent. You know that if you sow to your flesh you'll reap corruption from the flesh and all that and God is not mocked. I that phrase I read in a Christian book when I was a teenager from Galatians six for seven God is not mocked and it's always somewhere in the back of my mind that God is not if we if we think we can just drift off and do whatever we like and that God somehow will shrug his shoulders and say okay I can go along with that the answer is no no actually God is not mocked. Don't don't reckon that you can just treat God like a vaguely tolerant smiley old great grandfather. Speaking as myself a tolerant grandfather now I but that's been very striking for me but then it does all come down to and you're referring to verse 15 particularly. Yes. There's a wonderful passage which of course is part of the passage which we know very well from that wonderful hymn when I survey the wondrous cross forbid it Lord that I should boast save in the death of Christ my God and all the vain things that charm me most I sacrifice them to his blood. Verse 14 of chapter six let me far far be it from me to boast except in the cross of the Lord Jesus so Paul is looking at the boasting of the community in Galatia where there was a Jewish community that said we are the children of Abraham and these Gentiles they're just beyond the pale they're just sinners so this is who we are and we are we are defined as the physical children of Abraham we are circum the males among us are circumcised we keep the law so we have this status boasting is about status and you said the only status that I have is the cross which is such a powerful statement and through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world so what happens to the world and what happens to me well it's dangerous if we stop there because of course in Christ you come through death to resurrection and amazingly the cosmos the world does the same thing neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters but new creation kinectisus in verse 15 and that's the standard verse 16 those who walk according to this standard peace upon them and mercy they are the Israel of God I know that's a controversial reading but I'm sure it's the right one but the idea then of that crucifixion is not simply oh dear I've got to give this up oh dear this is going to be hard morally oh dear how am I going to resist this temptation or sin the answer is new creation has happened it's resident in you through the Messiah who dwells in you now live that new creation and live it out corporately before the world and you'll find that the badges like circumcision Sabbath food laws they drop away they're irrelevant they are part of the preliminary stage in God's purpose and now new creation has arrived that's actually what the whole letter is about so no surprises this is where the letter is coming into land as it were new creation is what matters is what matters Paul writes in verse 2 bear one another's burdens I mean is it is it's just a lovely little sentence isn't it we do all have burdens I know the Lord said come unto me all those of you who heavy laden and argue you rest but you know we're we're under pressures yeah there's all sorts of things and it says bear bear with each others and and and and that that sense of this is how the body of Christ ought to be here is somebody who's bearing a burden let's see how I can come along aside them and literally metaphorically put my arm around their shoulders yes and say let's see this thing through together and you know some of the great times in the Christian life are when something tough is happening and some brother or sister can can do that with and for you can say we'll help you with this we will pray you through this one we will see it through we'll bring you up the other side of course it's a paradoxical thing and Paul I think is deliberately being paradoxical in chapter 6 verses 1 to 5 because he then says verses 4 and 5 let a person examine themselves and then they will be able to have a boast in themselves and not in somebody else he's taking a swipe at the people who say if we can persuade that lot to get circumcised we'll be able to say to the officials to Caesar's rule local rulers and yeah we did it we we brought them into line they said no that's not what the boast should be and and and you don't boast in someone else you boast in the Messiah's cross and that's the only safe place to boast and then he says verse 5 because each of us will have to bear our own load and he uses a different word there for load 40 on to the word he used in verse 2 for burdens a barry and so there's a paradox there of we bear one another's burdens because sooner or later we've all got to stand before the Lord and be who we are in his presence and as he says in Romans 14 is all appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah and in 2 Corinthians 5 he says the same thing so I know and he says somewhere else doesn't he talk about you know I almost like I don't care what you think of me but it's what God thinks of me oh I know I'm going to be judged by God and actually we have to first Corinthians 4 yes yes absolutely absolutely that there is a time for saying there is a time for hearing criticisms and for being put right by people and we see that going on here but there is also a time for saying I've worked this one out I've prayed this one through this is where we stand and I can see that that's a bit of a model and a mess and I'm not going to let anyone from that world tell me that I'm on the wrong track yeah he says he goes on at verse 7 and 9 whatever one shows that will be also that he will also read yeah yeah and that is true oh yeah oh yeah absolutely and it happens in many different spheres of life that's in it that when you invest in whether it's scripture reading whether it's care for the poor whether it's in teaching people in a fellowship whatever when you invest in things like this both personal spiritual disciplines and in the work of the church in in the wider world then that will bear the fruit that it bears and that's that's the great delight and hence the sowing image of course is very powerful in the New Testament going back to Jesus himself about the sower sowing the seed and I think it's it's regularly in the mind of the early church but so that if you soar to your flesh that is to say if you engage in all the things which he describes as the the works of the flesh in chapter 5 then watch out because what you're doing is saying I'm in love with death I'm in love with the things which produce death with corruption with decay with things going bad and and I find that paradoxically very helpful when I remind myself that way of behavior is a way of saying I don't even want to be alive I just want to be corrupted and to mold her away and he says no no instead if you sow to the spirit you will reap and it's the life of the new age verse eight yes eternal life which we shouldn't hear in a platonic sense of a disembodied immortality but rather the whole new age that has begun in Christ and which is the new creation of verse 15. He says, "Let us do good to everyone." Yes. Do you know Tom? I really do think that some unbelievers devalue what the church has done. Oh yeah. You know, the church were the pioneers of hospitals, of hospices, of orphanages, of schools, of food banks, of prison ministry, you know, people who fiercely put down Christianity, if we stop doing all the good that we do, the world would be in a worse mess than it is. Absolutely. Absolutely. But that's not often said in the media, the good that the church dies. Quite agree. And it annoys me. It annoys me too. When I became Bishop of Durham, I was told by one of the advisory people that the national press tend to ignore what the church does, but you'll find that the local press, the local newspapers where you are, are always eager for a good news story as well as bad news stories, so that if there's something exciting that churches up to, call the local reporter and say, come and join this party and it's surprising. Then so locally, you do get some literally good press, but the culture as a whole is very negative. It is. But yes, the church does all kinds of things. I was just in America recently and the American Christians themselves would say, they're in a bit of a mess because of the political situation and tensions, etc. At the same time, the churches that I was visiting were sending mission groups out to really tough places and were running food banks and collecting things for places in their society where, because of government policy and whatever, things were going really badly wrong. The church is saying, okay, we're on site here. We can help with that. We can do this. And so I totally agree. And that do good to all, especially those of the household of faith. It's as though as in acts, you have a primary responsibility to the family, which is to the church, but there is then the wider responsibility to everybody. And that is part of the sermon on the Mount. Let your light so shine before people that they may see and give glory. I know. And I do like that bit, especially to the family, especially to the household of God. Don't ignore your church community. And if there are needs in our church community, I met this lady and she said, "Oh, Jay, John, can you pray for me?" And I said, "Just of course." And she says, "I'm an agony." And I said, "What's wrong?" She said, "Well, I need a new hip." And I said, "Oh, okay, I'll say I will pray for you now." But I said, "When can you have an op?" I said, "Two years' time. I'm on the waiting list." So I prayed for her. And then I went to the pastor of the church and I said, "Do you know Mrs Smith?" "Oh, yes, yes, I do." I said, "Well, can we have a collection for her?" Because I think £5,000 will do it. And she can go private next week. Yeah, wow, wow. But actually, Tom. Did they do it? Yes. Right, wonderful. How do you do it? But I think it was just so easy. I am dear to somebody and saying, "Look, you don't have to wait for the national health service. Let's just have a collection." Yes, yes. I mean, speaking as somebody who's run churches, as you have to, I instantly, my instant reaction is, "Oh dear, that means we're going to have a long queue of everybody in the congregation who wants private medicine." I know. And that is always the risk. And Paul addresses that risk in the Thessalonian correspondence, whether there have been people who have discovered that you can get free food through the church. So they'll turn up to the church and pretend to be unemployed. And so we'll have the handouts. Yes. And Paul is pretty sharp with them. If somebody won't work, then don't let them eat. No, absolutely. So I mean, I love that not because it's harsh, but because it's realistic. It's already in the very first generation of the church, showing that they're taking seriously the responsibility to look after one another so much so that it's being abused. Yes. And much better to be looking after one another and run that risk than because of the risk, not do it. Yeah, I mean, and it's, you read it. There are threads of it in Paul's letters on there. There's lavish generosity. Let's not be afraid. If there are needs in our church communities, well, can we meet that need? Let's not wait for others to meet that. Yes. That's the joy. Yeah, no, that's great. I can feel sermons on verse 10, bubbling up. So Tom, as you look at chapter 6 and as you reflect on the whole letter, give us a summing up of it. In a sense, every verse in chapter 6 is a summing up because it's like the end of a symphony. Paul is deliberately putting all the different bits in place. But this is where he is more explicit than anywhere else about the actual problem on the ground, about the people who want to make a good showing in the flesh. In other words, there's been trouble locally. There are people who say, if only we can persuade these people to get circumcised, then there won't be any trouble anymore. And he says, no. All they are doing is they're afraid of being persecuted themselves. But in fact, though they claim to want to keep the law, verse 13, they're not really interested in keeping the law. All they're really interested in is saving their own skins. And so he's, this is the most blunt and explicit he is, I think, in the whole letter except perhaps for one little bit in chapter 5. But then the wonderful statement, 1415 and 16, that the only ground for boasting is in the Messiah's cross. And of course, it is the cross of the one who was then raised from the dead. You know that when Paul says the cross, the cross, the cross, he's not forgetting the resurrection. But the cross is the kind of standing rebuke as in chapter 2 verses 19 and 20. I am crucified with the Messiah. That any sense that being a Judean, even a zealous one like Paul, would have enabled him simply to coast on his way into the new creation. It's absolutely ruled out because if the Messiah has been crucified, that redefines everything. That redefines all human arrogance, all pride, all status, all ethnicity, etc. If the cross is there, then it's the same for everybody. If the Judean, or the Gentile, for the Black, White, Young, Old, male, female, slave-free, we all face the cross. And it's one of the reasons why in the tradition which you and I share, in Holy Weekend, Good Friday, we take it various seriously. We come to the foot of the cross because we know that we are redefined by this. And then God willing, we wake up on Easter morning and shout, "Alylouah is risen," which is the sequence of thought here. The world is crucified to me and I to the world because neither circumcision matters nor uncircumcision. In other words, these badges of ethnic identity, which is what they are, they're irrelevant. God has done new creation. The risen Jesus is the new human being. We in Him and He in us are part of the new creation already, therefore anyone who is walking according to that rule, then peace and mercy be upon them because they are now the family of Abraham, the Israel of God. And then, kind of Aaronic two last lines, for the rest, let no one bother me because I have the marks of Jesus on my body. And He talks about the stigmata, which is a word you get in St. Francis and so on. But I think what He means is, you know perfectly well when I showed up in your town, I was showing all the signs of having been beaten up and stoned and run out of town before. And they are actually the signs of the cross, the wounds of the Messiah in me. And I find that as a rebuke. Nobody has ever stoned me. I've only once been punched in the chest for coming out of church, whatever. Yes. By somebody who was after money and I didn't have any. So I have not suffered the way that Paul had. However, we all ought to be living a life which says, I am crucified with the Messiah. I am not my own. I was bought with a price. I am glorifying God in my whole self. Yeah. And hence the grace of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be with your Spirit, my brothers and sisters, that's the last line, grace. The grace of the cross is what the whole letter is really all about. And we need to cling onto that truth in our lives and meditate on that all the time. That's why, as you know, who carry a cross in my pocket. And I do, I just, you give them to people I know. And I give them to people. I think you've given me at least two, is that? I have. You know, and this is the symbol of our faith. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I gave this homeless man, I gave him this cross. And it was amazing how he just put it in his hands like this. And I said, God loves you. And he says, I know. And I said, well, how do you know? He said, because God sent you. Ah, ah, ah. It's really interesting, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I gave him more than just the cross. I'm sure, sure, sure. I did go and get him coffee. Right, right, right, right. This is the heart of our faith. That's great. That's great. Yes. And I am struck again and again. I was recently doing some lectures on Philippians. He was in Philippians 2 where he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. In Paul's world, the cross was not only not unknown. It was all too well known because the Romans particularly used crucifixion as a way of not just getting rid of people that they didn't like, but making a public example of them so that when there was the great slave rebellion about a century before the time of Jesus, there were so many crucified slaves that they were every few yards all down the road from Rome, south to wherever it was. And everybody knew this is what happens. This is the shows that Rome rules the roost here and that you can be rubbed out just like that. Extraordinary that Paul, in a passage like Galatians 6, took what was at the time the symbol of imperial arrogance and violence and transformed it into a symbol of redemptive love. And it's remained service since. And that, so quite extraordinary that you could we can use the cross in that way. This has been a great conversation. Thank you so much, Tom, for guiding us through Paul's letter to the relationship. Galatians has been part of my life, well over half my life. And I'm delighted to have shared it with you however briefly. Thank you so much. Thank you. I hope you've been inspired and encouraged by our conversation on Paul's letter to the Galatians. Can I encourage you dig deeper and get Professor Tom writes, commentary on Galatians, a great commentary to dig deeper into those passages, into those words. It will truly inspire you as it has done for me. Thank you for joining us for this series two of the J. John Tom Wright podcast. Series three will be coming soon. Thank you. [MUSIC PLAYING]