What Makes Us Alive--March 9, 2020
"Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law. But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed." [Gal. 3:21-23]
This is a really curious argument--how do we know that law-following and rule-keeping won’t make us “right” with God? Paul says you know it because no amount of law-following or rule-keeping will make us alive. Paul has this deep sense that at root, God’s desire for humanity is in fact, to be made truly, fully alive. And laws might keep us from harming others; laws might restrain most people for most of the time from doing dangerous things—if we believe their threat of force or punishment. Laws might even point out all the places we are not truly, fully alive yet and show us how often we break the laws and miss out on life in its fullness. So maybe a law can make us wish we were truly alive, or regret the ways we’ve opted for something less than full life. But a law cannot make us alive. And God, Paul says, is most concerned that we be made alive rather than dead-but-well-behaved.
Interesting, though, how often we turn God’s freely offered promise that really can make us alive into a new set of rules. Want a “successful” life?—Just follow my seven life principles and you’ll be on your way. Want a godly family or marriage or business?—Here are the Bible’s secret rules for doing just that. For that matter, we so easily turn the life of faith, life in this community of Jesus’ followers, into a new list of rules, as though the rule-following were God’s great gift to us. But Paul keeps coming back to the promise as the only thing that really can make us alive. That doesn’t mean that there are no rules for us who follow Jesus, or that anything goes among us. But it does mean that we recognize that it’s not by virtue of our rule-following that we belong or step into life in its fullest—rule-following may keep us back, restrain us, from messing things up further (although we’re not too good at rule-following), but the only one who can actually make us alive is the one who freely breathed life into our dusty selves in the beginning. And that breathe comes freely as a gift—no strings attached.
What are ways that we've traded gospel-as-promise for gospel-as-set-of-rules? What fear are we still living with that can be let go of--in order that we are then freed with that much more energy to freely love our neighbors, and strangers...and enemies?
God our Creator, at first you spoke us into existence, and you breathed your life into us from the beginning. Keep breathing and speaking into us so that we will live--keep reminding us of your promises, keep loving us beyond our ability to grasp it, and keep teaching us the words of your promise so we will echo them to all we encounter this day.
"Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law. But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed." [Gal. 3:21-23]
This is a really curious argument--how do we know that law-following and rule-keeping won’t make us “right” with God? Paul says you know it because no amount of law-following or rule-keeping will make us alive. Paul has this deep sense that at root, God’s desire for humanity is in fact, to be made truly, fully alive. And laws might keep us from harming others; laws might restrain most people for most of the time from doing dangerous things—if we believe their threat of force or punishment. Laws might even point out all the places we are not truly, fully alive yet and show us how often we break the laws and miss out on life in its fullness. So maybe a law can make us wish we were truly alive, or regret the ways we’ve opted for something less than full life. But a law cannot make us alive. And God, Paul says, is most concerned that we be made alive rather than dead-but-well-behaved.
Interesting, though, how often we turn God’s freely offered promise that really can make us alive into a new set of rules. Want a “successful” life?—Just follow my seven life principles and you’ll be on your way. Want a godly family or marriage or business?—Here are the Bible’s secret rules for doing just that. For that matter, we so easily turn the life of faith, life in this community of Jesus’ followers, into a new list of rules, as though the rule-following were God’s great gift to us. But Paul keeps coming back to the promise as the only thing that really can make us alive. That doesn’t mean that there are no rules for us who follow Jesus, or that anything goes among us. But it does mean that we recognize that it’s not by virtue of our rule-following that we belong or step into life in its fullest—rule-following may keep us back, restrain us, from messing things up further (although we’re not too good at rule-following), but the only one who can actually make us alive is the one who freely breathed life into our dusty selves in the beginning. And that breathe comes freely as a gift—no strings attached.
What are ways that we've traded gospel-as-promise for gospel-as-set-of-rules? What fear are we still living with that can be let go of--in order that we are then freed with that much more energy to freely love our neighbors, and strangers...and enemies?
God our Creator, at first you spoke us into existence, and you breathed your life into us from the beginning. Keep breathing and speaking into us so that we will live--keep reminding us of your promises, keep loving us beyond our ability to grasp it, and keep teaching us the words of your promise so we will echo them to all we encounter this day.
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