The New Life!

Reflection: A lot of our theology surrounding what it means to respond to God’s grace in Christ Jesus and how to live life worthy of the calling comes from Paul’s letters to the churches in the 1^st Century.  There are probably 2-3 sets of verses that for me epitomize the best of Paul’s writings and theology about how we go about living this life, after we have realized God’s grace by faith.  Today’s reading contains one of them as it states:

^“20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

There is a multitude of things we could say about these two power packed verses, but for the sake of brevity let me just say a couple of things. 

First, the statement, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live but Christ lives in me.” Of course, Paul is speaking metaphorically but it does not lessen the power of his statement for him and for us.  To be “crucified with Christ” means we have died to an old way of living that relied on self, and lived life on our own terms.  To say I no longer live is not literal, because of course we go on living, but we live a new kind of life empowered by God.  It is a Christ centered life flowing from Jesus’ own life.  We are not Jesus, but He lives in and through us by His Spirit. 

And our life is now characterized by “faith”.  We live by faith!  We live in full reliance on what God has done for us in Christ when he loved me and gave himself for me on the cross.  Luther describes faith as, “trusting in the one in whom you believe”.  So as we continue to live our lives on this earth, we live it by faith.  Faith is a gift God gives us, and yet is something we hold on to as we live.  Faith is a daily walk with God trusting in Jesus for everything in our lives.  That is why it is so helpful to memorize a verse like this because our daily thought can be, “I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”  When we are tempted to take back control, we could say those words in quiet meditation and be reminded of what a life of faith looks like.

Finally, Paul sums up the whole thing by saying, "I do net set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing."   This is the sober reminder that every time I start getting self-righteous, which is easy for me to do, then I am nullifying what Jesus did for me.  The minute I start taking credit for the good things God is doing through me, I am cheapening what our Savior did for us on the cross. 

Where are you tempted to set aside the grace of God?  Where are you tempted to take control and forget what Jesus did for you?  What area of your life has not been crucified with Christ?  The Good News today is that Jesus did die for you because He loved you, and as you live your new life by faith in Him, you will be a wonderful testimony to the grace of God in Christ Jesus! 

Psalm 78:1-8

A maskil of Asaph.

¹ My people, hear my teaching;
    listen to the words of my mouth.
² I will open my mouth with a parable;
    I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
³ things we have heard and known,
    things our ancestors have told us.
⁴ We will not hide them from their descendants;
    we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
    his power, and the wonders he has done.
⁵ He decreed statutes for Jacob
    and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
    to teach their children,
⁶ so the next generation would know them,
    even the children yet to be born,
    and they in turn would tell their children.
⁷ Then they would put their trust in God
    and would not forget his deeds
    but would keep his commands.
⁸ They would not be like their ancestors—
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
    whose spirits were not faithful to him.

Song of Solomon 7,8

7 How beautiful your sandaled feet,
    O prince’s daughter!
Your graceful legs are like jewels,
    the work of an artist’s hands.
² Your navel is a rounded goblet
    that never lacks blended wine.
Your waist is a mound of wheat
    encircled by lilies.
³ Your breasts are like two fawns,
    like twin fawns of a gazelle.
⁴ Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon
    by the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
    looking toward Damascus.
⁵ Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel.
    Your hair is like royal tapestry;
    the king is held captive by its tresses.
⁶ How beautiful you are and how pleasing,
    my love, with your delights!
⁷ Your stature is like that of the palm,
    and your breasts like clusters of fruit.
⁸ I said, “I will climb the palm tree;
    I will take hold of its fruit.”
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes on the vine,
    the fragrance of your breath like apples,
⁹     and your mouth like the best wine.

She

May the wine go straight to my beloved,
    flowing gently over lips and teeth.
¹⁰ I belong to my beloved,
    and his desire is for me.
¹¹ Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside,
    let us spend the night in the villages.
¹² Let us go early to the vineyards
    to see if the vines have budded,
if their blossoms have opened,
    and if the pomegranates are in bloom—
    there I will give you my love.
¹³ The mandrakes send out their fragrance,
    and at our door is every delicacy,
both new and old,
    that I have stored up for you, my beloved.

Galatians 2:15-3:5

¹⁵ “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles ¹⁶ know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. ¹⁷ “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸ If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Faith or Works of the Law

3 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ² I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? ³ Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? ⁴ Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? ⁵ So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

Lord, do not let the downtrodden be put to shame. Psalm 74:21

Jesus said, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Matthew 25:40

Lord, we see great suffering all around us, yet we know it does not compare to the suffering you’ve done for us. Help us to reach out to those in great need, even as we struggle to do your will. Amen.