One Gospel, One Family

For those of you who have not been in this space before, I welcome you.

This is the place where our Brooklyn Parish meets and worships.

It's a new location, and I give thanks for our volunteers who work tirelessly to manage the issues that come with any new space.

We also have a new sound system that we're doing our best to figure out, and so these folk are working really hard.

And so I'm very thankful for Adam, who has not sat down for, I don't know how many hours you've been here, but hard at work.

So God bless you, brother, and I'm so glad it's you and not me.

But we're gathered here because we want to take a look at God's Word.

And we're in a series now.

We've been doing this for the last couple of weeks, looking at Paul's letter to the Galatians,

which in 10 years of Church of the Advent, I can't believe that we've never really done a deep dive into this book,

but now is the time when we're doing that, and we're doing it because we talk as a church about being a gospel-centered community.

And so we want to know from time to time, what does that mean?

We want to remind ourselves, what's the intent of those words, and how is that meant to shape our identity as a community?

What does it mean to be a gospel-centered community?

And so we're in Galatians, and we're in this interesting place, chapter 1, verse 18, through chapter 2, verse 10.

Most people would not list this among their favorite Bible passages, right?

That this weird explanation of Titus and why Titus wasn't circumcised and the meaning of that.

It seems it's marked at a great job, but it's even kind of clumsy and hard to read.

People have found this to be a frustrating and hard-to-understand place in the Bible.

And yet I'm excited about it, and I think it's fantastic.

And the reason is because it's a perfect passage for us to consider as we bring both parishes together,

because it's all about the foundation for unity in God's family.

It gives us the reason, the rationale, but the underlying biblical truth for why we, as all these people from all these different backgrounds and places,

and all these different political affiliations and all of that, how we can nevertheless be completely unified as one family.

So the point of the passage is this, and we're going to break this out into parts.

But the point of this passage is essentially this, that there is only one gospel that can make one family out of all people.

There's only one gospel that can make one family out of all people.

So let's pray, and then we'll dive in.

Lord, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for your promise again and again and again that your word does your work in the lives of your people,

that you send it out and it does not return empty, that it accomplishes all that you desire for it to accomplish.

And we know that you have a plan and an intent for how to use this time in our hearts,

and we pray that your word would be like a surgical instrument.

And we pray that you would challenge those who have become too complacent,

also that you would comfort those who are overwhelmed with challenge.

We pray that you would illuminate your word, and that through it we would see the face of your son, Jesus Christ.

And it's in his name that we pray. Amen.

Only one gospel.

Why is it important to point that out?

Why not many gospels?

Paul had come into Galatia, and he was preaching this radical, strange, revolutionary message.

He was preaching this truth that the grace of Jesus Christ was not just meant for the Jewish people.

He was not just the Jewish Messiah, but he had actually come for all people.

He had come for Jews and Gentiles.

And that because of this grace, because of the cross, circumcision, which had up to this point set apart the Jewish people,

is irrelevant now.

It's irrelevant.

And so this primary marker of cultural identity and set-apartness for the Jews,

Paul was declaring utterly irrelevant.

And he's essentially saying that Jesus has eradicated the difference between Jews and Gentiles,

and this is part of the unfolding plan of salvation history.

It's the culmination, in fact, of the Jewish religion.

So, not surprisingly, he got a lot of pushback.

And it raised a lot of questions.

And the biggest question was essentially this.

Here's the biggest question.

Is Paul preaching the same gospel as the other apostles, or is Paul preaching something different?

You know, is there a gospel version for the Jews and then a gospel version for the Gentiles?

Is this even the same gospel?

Or has Paul distorted the gospel or twisted it?

Is he offering something that is a little more user-friendly for the Gentiles?

Maybe he doesn't want to offend them.

And so he's altered it slightly.

He's downplaying the importance of circumcision, right?

So this is the question that Paul's confronting.

And so in chapter 1, and then in the first half of chapter 2,

Paul is making two things absolutely clear for his people.

Number one, he's saying that the gospel that he's preaching is not just some distortion

that he got from the apostles,

but this is something that he has received directly from Jesus Christ.

So if you wonder why in the end of chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2,

he's going to great lengths to say, you know, I had this encounter with Jesus,

and then I went away for three years, and I barely interacted with the apostles,

and even when I did, it was just Peter, and it was just for 15 days.

The reason that he's doing all of that

is to tell us,

I didn't receive some garbled version from the other apostles.

This is something that was revealed to me by Jesus himself.

So that's the first point he's making.

The second point is like it.

He's saying,

even though I received this gospel from Jesus,

it's not a different gospel than you've already heard.

He says,

then in fact I know this because when I went and I actually shared what I had learned from Jesus

with the other apostles,

they didn't add anything to it.

All right, so they didn't say,

well, you've got it partly there,

but we need to talk about this, that, or the other.

We need to talk about circumcision.

He says,

no, no, no.

In fact,

they didn't add anything to my understanding of the gospel,

and they simply offered me the right hand of fellowship.

That is to say,

they endorsed my preaching of the gospel,

and then they sent me out to be a gospel preacher to the Gentiles,

just as they are preaching to the Jews.

So that's the flow of the passage that's happening.

And so Paul is saying,

I got it directly from Jesus,

and it lines up with the teachings of the other apostles.

Right?

It's rooted in the life and the ministry of Jesus,

and it aligns with the teachings of the other apostles.

So this is the first point I want to dwell on for just a little while,

that there's only one gospel.

And the way we know that we're dealing with the real gospel,

as opposed to a counterfeit,

is that first,

it's a message that is rooted in the life and the ministry

and the teaching of Jesus Christ.

And number two,

it aligns with the teachings of the apostles,

which we have in scripture.

Right?

And if either of those criteria are missing,

you're not dealing with the Christian gospel,

you're dealing with some other religion entirely.

It's all or none.

Now,

why does this matter?

You know,

we keep coming back to doctrine,

and some people say,

why quibble about doctrine?

Right?

You can have your emphasis,

I'll have mine.

Well,

here's one of the reasons it matters.

You may have heard of Leslie Newbigin,

who was a missionary,

British theologian,

pastor,

missionary.

And Leslie Newbigin wrote a book

that was profoundly influential on me,

Gospel in a Pluralist Society.

And in this book,

he talks about his days

as a young missionary in Hindu culture.

He spent decades as a British missionary among Hindus.

And here's what he says in his book.

He says that he would go every week

to the Ramakrishna mission.

And he would sit with the monks in this mission,

and they would open the gospels,

and they would open the Upanishads,

and they would study these together.

Right?

It was kind of an interreligious dialogue.

And he says this went on for a long time,

these weekly meetings at the Ramakrishna mission.

And he said,

as you walk around the Ramakrishna mission,

you see on the walls

all of these portraits

of all these great religious leaders

from all different religions.

And not surprisingly,

one of the portraits was of Jesus Christ.

And he says that every year on Christmas,

these monks would all devote that day

to worshiping and honoring

and glorifying Jesus Christ

as one of the divine manifestations

that has occurred throughout history.

Now, he says you might be tempted to see this

and to say they're worshiping Jesus once a year.

This is a step in the right direction.

This is movement.

They're becoming more open

to the truth of the gospel.

But in fact, Newbigin says

that's not what's happening.

What's actually happening?

He says this was not movement

toward accepting Christ as a savior

or a lord.

The monks had co-opted Jesus

into their existing worldview.

They had taken Jesus

and taken the truth of the gospel

and fit it into their existing worldview

and their existing religion.

And now you say,

okay, well, that's an interesting point.

Well, here's the kicker,

the thing that really got me.

Newbigin says this,

the more he reflected on this fact,

the more he began to realize

that he had done the very same thing

as a Christian.

And here's what he says.

Jesus had become just one figure

in the endless cycle

of karma and samsura,

the wheel of being

in which we're all caught up.

He had been domesticated

into the Hindu worldview.

That view remained unchallenged.

It was only slowly

through many experiences

that I began to see

that something of this domestication

had taken place

in my own Christianity.

That I too had been ready

to seek a reasonable Christianity,

a Christianity that could be defended

on the terms of my whole

intellectual formation

as a 20th century Englishman,

rather than something

which placed my whole

intellectual formation

under a new and critical light.

I too had been guilty

of domesticating the gospel.

And I think that that is

a powerful insight

that we need to take

and reflect on,

that we too

are constantly tempted

to domesticate the gospel,

to co-opt Jesus

into our existing worldviews,

our existing priorities,

our existing agendas,

and this happens again

and again and again.

Right?

So in Jewish society,

when they heard the news of Jesus,

their first instinct

was to co-opt Jesus

into the Jewish worldview.

So you have a Jewish,

the Judaizers,

were advocating

for a version of Christianity

that was Jewish,

a Jewish gospel for the Jews.

Right?

Now if you live

in a post-enlightenment society

that enthrones reason,

like Newbigin did,

like we do,

what's your temptation

going to be?

You're going to want

to co-opt Jesus

and domesticate the gospel

such that everything

aligns with

and appeals to

that enthronement of reason.

In other words,

we're going to want

to have a faith

where we can explain everything,

rationalize everything,

understand everything,

fit everything

into a spreadsheet.

And if we can't have

strong apologetic arguments

for every aspect

of the faith,

then we panic.

Right?

We're going to want

a reasonable Christianity.

Right?

If you live in a

consumeristic society

where the orientation

is always to get

our needs met

and you can go

to a 24-hour CVS

and get access

to any medication

that's ever been invented

right then and there,

if we live in that

kind of society,

then we're going to want

a consumeristic Christianity.

You know,

we're going to want

a version of Christianity,

a version of Jesus,

a version of the church

that meets our needs

and really asks

nothing of us.

Right?

We're going to want

to domesticate the gospel.

In a society

that worships politics

as the ultimate,

in a society

that has come to see

that politics

is the way

to solve all the problems

of the world

if we can just get it right,

what are we going to want?

We're going to want

a version of Jesus

who aligns

with our political leanings.

Right?

We're going to want

to co-opt Jesus

into our political agenda

and we're going to have

a hard time imagining

that Jesus could also

love the other people

on the other side

of the aisle.

No way.

Surely he knows

how evil and wicked

they are.

That's what happens

in a society.

Right?

So in this horrendous

Ford-Kavanaugh hearing

and appointment,

right,

if you aligned

with Dr. Ford

and you saw Kavanaugh

in the light

that many people cast him,

you can't imagine

that he would worship

the same God as you.

Right?

If you aligned with Kavanaugh,

this guy's been wrongfully accused

and you couldn't believe

that anybody would do this

to such an upstanding man,

how could God possibly bless

and love people

who would do something like that?

Right?

And so we began to see

the world in binary terms

because we've co-opted Jesus.

Right?

In a society

that idealizes

romantic love,

we're going to want

a Jesus

who says,

at the end of the day,

guys,

love is love

and that's all that matters.

Right?

In all of these ways,

again and again and again,

we face the temptation

as individuals,

as a church,

in a society,

of co-opting Jesus

and co-opting the gospel

and domesticating this faith.

And so we,

because we face

this temptation,

we have to relentlessly

return

to two things.

The ministry

and the teaching,

the life,

the death,

the resurrection

of Jesus Christ

and we have to return

to the teachings

of the apostles

and we have to continually

be reminded

that we are not meant

to fit Jesus

into our worldview,

that our entire life

is in fact meant

to be fit

into God's unfolding story.

Right?

And that's a greater,

bigger,

more radical gospel

than anything

that we could ever cook up

as human beings.

This idea

that through the life

and the sacrificial death

for sins

and the resurrection

of Jesus,

that God is reconciling

human beings

to himself

and that God

is then reconciling

all people

to one another

as one great family

with him as father.

That that is

the only gospel

there is

and we should

never settle.

Don't ever settle

for anything less.

Don't ever settle.

So there's only

one gospel.

Now I want to go

a little further,

just one push further,

one step more.

And that is to ask,

okay,

we said there's

only one gospel

but then we said

that that gospel

can make one family

out of all people.

So I want to ask

the question of how.

How does this one gospel

actually accomplish

that kind of unity

and make one family

out of all people?

If we look

at verse 3,

it says this,

even Titus,

who was with me,

was not forced

to be circumcised,

though he was Greek.

Yet because of false brothers

secretly brought in,

who slipped in

to spy out our freedom

that we have

in Jesus Christ,

so that they might

bring us into slavery,

to them we did not

yield in submission

even for a moment,

so that the truth

of the gospel

might be preserved

for you.

So what's the truth

that he's defending?

He's willing to risk

Titus being shamed

or rejected

by the Jews

in order to defend

and protect

this gospel truth.

Well, as you are

hopefully aware by now,

the issue at the heart

of this book

is circumcision.

To us,

that sounds totally irrelevant.

To them,

it was a big deal.

The Judaizers

are insisting

that the Gentile converts

have to be circumcised

before they become Christians.

It's not legitimate

unless you're circumcised.

You have to become Jewish

and come under the Mosaic law

before you can become

saved by Christ.

And so Paul is teaching

a counter to that,

that the gospel

makes circumcision

totally irrelevant.

Now, there's a lot of ways

we could get into this,

but here's the thing

I want to focus on this morning.

The key to this issue

is understanding

the difference

between the moral law

and the ceremonial law

in the Jewish faith

and in the Christian faith.

There's a huge difference

between the moral law

and the ceremonial law.

So God had given

moral laws to his people.

What are some of the moral laws?

Well, Ten Commandments,

great place to start, right?

So worship God and God alone, right?

Keep the Sabbath.

Honor your father and mother.

Don't murder.

Don't covet.

Don't steal.

These are moral laws.

And the moral law

that God has given to his people,

the moral laws reflect

God's desire for our hearts, right?

This is what he wants

our hearts to be like.

And because this is what

God desires of his people,

this is the way God

still desires us to live today.

God still desires us

to live out the reality,

the truth of the moral law

in our lives.

Now, the ceremonial law

has a different purpose.

You know, so people look at

the laws and they say,

well, why are we so arbitrary

about the law?

Why would we be so intense

on the sexual laws

that we see in the Bible,

but nobody cares

if we eat shellfish anymore?

You know, why?

And it feels like it's arbitrary.

Well, no, it's not arbitrary.

There's a big difference

between the moral law

and the ceremonial law.

The ceremonial laws

had a very different purpose.

These are laws

about eating shellfish or pork.

There are laws about menstruation.

There are laws

about nocturnal emissions.

There are laws

about associating with Gentiles.

There are laws

about associating

with dead bodies.

All of these laws

that to our eyes

look bizarre.

They're all part

of the cleanliness laws.

This is all about

teaching people

what it means to be clean.

Right?

And this is all

the ceremonial law.

And circumcision

was a part

of the ceremonial law.

Now, what's the point

of the ceremonial law?

I said, well,

the point of the moral law

is this is God's desire

for his people.

This is the character

that he wants us to have.

What's the point

of the moral law?

Is it to be clean?

It's to teach us

that cleanliness

is impossible

because you do it

as well as you can do it.

You live by these standards

as well as you can live by them.

You do all of the rituals.

You do all of the prayers.

You do all of the...

You do everything you can do

to keep yourself

ceremonially clean.

And then what happens?

You still have to go

and offer sacrifices

to atone for your sins.

And over generations,

this is teaching God's people,

no matter how hard you try,

no matter how scrupulously

and meticulously

you keep these laws,

you will never,

ever, ever be clean.

So what's the point

of this entire system?

It's to teach them

and to prepare them

as a culture,

as a society,

to be ready

for the one sacrifice

that will actually

make them clean.

And if you want to read

in detail

how this all plays out,

read the book of Hebrews.

This is what Hebrews

is all about.

It's about how

the one sacrifice

that matters

is the sacrifice

of Jesus Christ

on the cross.

And so what we see

on the cross

is that there is

one true sacrifice

necessary

to cleanse us

from all sin.

So Paul's trying

to help the Judaizers

understand this,

that through Jesus Christ

we are given the spirit

to continue

to live out

the moral law.

God's law

is written on our hearts.

But also through Jesus Christ

the ceremonial law

is done away with.

It's irrelevant.

So we can eat shellfish.

We can eat pork.

And circumcision

means nothing.

And once they begin

to realize this

they begin to realize

how radically

transformative

the gospel is

in terms of

how they see

one another.

Because they realize

this Jew-Gentile

distinction

was 100%

a function

of the ceremonial law.

And once that ceremonial law

is fulfilled

there is no longer

any difference.

Right?

So you look across the aisle

at this hated enemy

and you realize

the wall has come down.

Right?

So these are the powerful words

that we see in verse 6

that say this

God shows no partiality.

God shows no partiality.

So whether people are Jew

or Greek

whether they're male

or female

whether they're

a slave or free

whether they're influential

or inconsequential

whether they are wealthy

or poor

whether they're

an insider

or an outsider

whether they're educated

or uneducated

God shows no partiality.

No partiality.

And this is the foundation

of the unity

that can exist

in God's family.

Coming to understand

that God shows

no partiality.

No partiality over race

over gender

over social standing

no partiality.

So the point

flows pretty naturally

from that idea

God shows no partiality

therefore

neither should we.

Right?

And yet

if you're anything like me

and you look at your own heart

you realize

showing no partiality

is a lot easier

said than done.

Right?

Because human beings

naturally show partiality.

I hope I'm not

the only one.

Do you show partiality?

Can you think of

any example

where you've ever

showed partiality?

Where you've preferred

certain people

over other people?

Even for reasons

that you don't

fully understand?

Right?

It turns out

that there's actually

an instinct in us

it's just an aspect

of human nature

but it's been measured

by a huge body

of social research.

There's a phenomenon

that exists

in every human society

called the in-group

out-group bias.

Right?

If you remember

your sociology classes

that you took

and people in the social sciences

you've probably

come across this.

Big body of research

showing that we are

hardwired

to give preferential treatment

to people

that we perceive

to be in our in-group

and to view

more negatively

people that we perceive

to be on the outside

of that group

in another group.

Right?

So the us-them thinking

is hardwired into us.

So research shows

that you can just take a

so we could take a group

of people like this

and I could go down the row

and each of you

I just flip a coin

heads or tails

and some of you

would be in the heads group

and others would be

in the tails group

and guess what happens?

These are intelligent

thoughtful

self-aware

mature

modern people.

What happens

very soon

is that

you began to

ascribe

more positive attributes

to your group.

Well heads people

are obviously

better dressers.

You know?

Heads people

obviously kind of

got their head

on their shoulders.

Right?

And then

more negative attributes

to the other group.

And it happens again

and again

and again

and it's not rational.

It's a kind of

primal wiring

that is just in us

in our DNA.

Right?

So there's a lot of theories

about why it happens

but our focus

is simply the fact

that it does happen.

And so it didn't take long

for the Jews

to develop

very negative attitudes

toward anyone

who was not circumcised.

Right?

They weren't just Gentiles

they were unclean

Gentile dogs.

And I don't have to

make the case to you

for the negative attitudes

that have been developed

towards Jews

over the centuries.

It works both ways.

But we see this

everywhere today.

Think about sports rivalries.

Right?

I mean

I know very little

about sports

but I

but I know

that violence

among fans

in college

and professional sports

is a huge ongoing issue.

Right?

People are

people are literally

trying to kill each other

because of sports rivalries.

Right?

Think about politics.

Think about the hatred

that exists

across the aisle.

The hatred.

The vitriol.

Right?

Think about racism.

Right?

Now that's a highly

complicated issue

especially in our country.

But a part of this

is driven by that

in-group, out-group bias.

I prefer people

who look like me

who are culturally

similar to me

over people

who are different.

It's hardwired into me.

Right?

And no matter

how much awareness I get

no matter how much

education I get

there's this innate

tendency in me

toward that preference.

Right?

We see it in the church.

We see it in

between denominations.

Right?

Lots of

mistrust and hatred

between denominations.

We see it

within the church

in terms of age.

Right?

Younger people

versus older people.

Right?

And each group thinking

the others

just totally missing it.

Yeah.

You see it

and this is true

in churches

where there are

older people.

I promise.

It is true.

There are people

who are in smaller churches

who over-spiritualize

small church

and they say

well anybody

in a mega church

they're just missing it.

They've sold out.

They're corporate.

You know

they don't get it.

Right?

And then there are people

who are in larger churches

who over-spiritualize

being in a large church

and why wouldn't anybody

want thousands

of people in their church

and why would you

settle for a little church

that can't operate

their sound system

when you could actually

come to a really nice

big church

and get all of these

amazing services.

You know?

And so both

sort of you look

at each other

and you say

no way!

Did that just happen?

Are you messing with me?

That's awesome.

The sound guy

has power.

Don't ever forget that.

So there's these tensions

that exist.

Where was I?

I have no idea.

So differences

between liturgical

and non-liturgical.

Right?

There are the people

hugely spiritualize

liturgical worship.

Right?

And if you're not liturgical

or if you're less liturgical

right?

There's a sense that

well you're just sort of

you know

you're kind of a junior

you don't really

take this seriously

you know

you can graduate to our

and then there are people

who say the opposite.

Right?

I can't believe people

who need a liturgy.

We just want to

worship God authentically.

Right?

As an expression of our hearts

we don't need a script

for that.

You know?

And so there's

all of these ways

that we see this

in-group out-group

preferential treatment

happening.

Right?

Let's get a little more personal.

We see this in our own church.

Church of the Advent.

Yes, this church.

We see it between the parishes.

Right?

I hear this all the time.

You know

it ranges from light joking

to sometimes outright contempt

between the parishes.

We see it between people

who live in Northwest

and people who live in Northeast.

You know

this is weird

arbitrary line in D.C.

North Capital

and somehow

that has deeply divided people.

You know

in terms of perceived value

worth

you know

whatever.

We see it between moms

who work full time

and moms who stay at home

with their kids.

I would say dads

but I see it primarily

in moms

because that's mostly

what we have.

We see it

between unmarried people

and married people.

We see it between

people who have kids

and people who don't have kids.

Along all of these lines

I have personally heard

and been a part of

in some way

in group out

group bias

in our church.

And it's heartbreaking

every time we see it.

Right?

And so verse 6

hits us like a missile

to the heart.

It says

God shows no partiality.

Right?

God doesn't give a rip

about your race.

God doesn't give a rip

about North Capitol Street.

Right?

You don't stop being

white or black

or conservative

or liberal

or living in Brooklyn

or living in Columbia Heights.

You don't stop these things.

You don't stop working

full time necessarily

or stop being

a stay at home parent.

But what happens

to all of these identities

is they're subsumed

into this larger

greater

overarching identity.

They're subsumed

into the truth

that in Christ

you become a member

of God's family.

Which means you're a child

in God's household.

Which means when God

looks at every single person

in his household

he shows no partiality.

Right?

He loves and blesses

all of his children

as he does

his son Jesus Christ.

So with all of the focus

in our culture

it's interesting

all of the focus

in our culture now

more than when I was

growing up by far.

You know for the last

several decades

since civil rights

there's been an increasing

strong push

toward values

like understanding

the value of your own

identity

relative to other

culture groups

the increase

in the focus

on multiculturalism

the increase

in the focus

on inclusion

and tolerance

and all of these things

have just steadily increased

and along with these

the focus on

raising awareness

the focus on

changing legislation

the focus on

creating enough

social pressure

so that we can actually

bring about change

and establish a more

equal

just inclusive society.

This has been the dialogue

for all my 41 years

of life

this has steadily increased

and yet the fascinating

thing is

whatever good

that has done

and I do think

it's done some good

it has also done what?

In my opinion

it's done what

every form of legalism

ultimately does

it's actually

hardened hearts

and I look at

I look at society now

and it feels more divided

on all these lines

and we realize

that whenever you try

to use social pressure

and shame

to change behavior

you're ultimately

taking an outside-in approach

and that hardens hearts

right?

So there's value in it

but this is not going to

get us all the way there

right?

The only thing

that's going to

truly unify

human beings

who have this

innate hard wiring

of bias

is an inside-out

transformation

right?

So there's only one gospel

that can make one family

out of all people

and when your identity

is in Christ alone

Jesus plus nothing

right?

Jesus plus

no other marker

Jesus plus nothing

then all of the dividing

walls between you

and other believers

start to come

crashing down

and that's the only way

to begin to eradicate

that in-group

out-group bias

when I can look at you

and say

this is my brother

this is my sister

because we have

the same father

and that's how I believe

we as a community

can genuinely

begin to move

in the direction

of becoming

the kind of family

that God intends

a family in which

there is no partiality

let's pray