Gospel 101

What is the good news of the gospel, anyway? Some people think that it is knowing the rules that we have to follow. But the good news doesn't have anything to do with rules! The good news of the gospel is that God loves and accepts us without any rules at all! Paul fought this legalism nearly 2000 years ago in the days of the early church. If you choose to read my sermon, you'll find out what that was all about -- and why the good news of the gospel is still good news!

Sometimes you have to get back to the basics. Basics are, after all, the foundation on which we build. No one can advance in any discipline, whether playing the piano or riding a bicycle, without first being proficient in the basics. That’s why Olympic ice skaters are required to perform basic figures like circles and figure-eights before they get to skate their flashy routines in front of the judges. Even when someone has advanced way beyond the beginner stage, it’s a good idea to periodically review those fundamentals. Otherwise, bad habits start to creep in; and pretty soon, those bad habits are taking over.

That’s just what happened to the churches in Galatia -- they forgot the basics. Oh, they began well enough. Paul started those churches by preaching the good news that God’s grace is for everyone; and there’s not a darn thing that you have to do to earn it. His message was the very same as that of today’s United Church of Christ: “Whoever you are and wherever you are on your journey, you’re welcome here!” They welcomed everyone to table fellowship, both saint and sinner, just as Jesus had. They accepted Jew and gentile alike with the love of Christ. They shared the grace that God had showed them first; the grace that welcomes all of us into loving community. They really intended to be faithful Christian congregations. But somewhere along the line, someone suggested that if gentiles were real Christians, they should start behaving like Jews. After all, the Jews were God’s people, and God had given them the law. Didn’t God still want his people to keep it? Well… maybe Christians didn’t have to keep the whole law. Maybe they just had to keep part of it. But surely they should be circumcised! Was that too much to ask?

Well, when Paul got wind of that, he was furious! (Galatians 2:15-21.) He realized that if we have to do anything to earn grace, then it isn’t grace any longer! Saying that gentiles had to be circumcised to be Christians put limits on God’s grace. The camel of legalism had begun to nose his way into the tent of grace. Paul knew exactly what would happen if somebody didn’t stop that camel right away. First the front feet would poke through the tent flap. Then the hump would wiggle through, followed by the rear end; and finally, the tail would follow swinging out behind. And that camel would be full of rules: a walking billboard of what we must do – and what we must not do – if we want to be acceptable to God. You know how those rules work! They say things like: If you want God to love you, you have to go to church every single week, give until it hurts, and sing in the church choir (even if you can’t carry a tune). You have to be unfailingly cheerful, kind and patient with everyone, and never, ever lose your temper. You can’t have a tattoo, ride a motorcycle, or cuss (even if you drop a can of peas on your bare foot). You have to dress a certain way, go to a certain church, and spend hours every week in prayer and meditation. All those rules – that great big camel full of rules – started with just a nose that said “circumcision.” And once that camel gets all the way into the tent, it’s not a very pleasant place anymore. Camels spit a lot. They drag their big dirty feet all over the clean floor. And they aren’t housebroken, so they drop camel piles wherever they feel like it. The tent of grace that was once so beautiful and welcoming ends up being a nasty, dirty, smelly tent of laws and obligations where no one wants to live.

Oh, yes; Paul knew how things would end up; and his knickers were really in a twist when he wrote that letter to the Galatians. They were starting to think that they were acceptable to God by following a rule; and he wanted to nip that idea in the bud! The good news of the gospel is that we are already acceptable to God because of the grace that God gives us so generously. And through that grace, Jesus moves into our lives. “The life that you see me living is not mine,” says Paul, “It is lived through trust in the Son of God who gave himself for me.”

That, my friends, is Gospel 101. That is the foundation on which we can build our lives. That’s the good news that Jesus proclaimed, that Paul preached, and that we should be preaching, too! No one has to make himself or herself acceptable to God, because we already are acceptable! Grace has made us acceptable, no matter who we are or what we have done in our lives. God’s grace is for the people who have worked hard for forty years, raised their kids to be honest, productive members of society, and never once cheated on their income taxes; and God’s grace is for the homeless bum who lives in a box under the freeway overpass and drinks himself to sleep every night. God’s grace is for church-going folks, and for people who don’t know the difference between a pew and a powder room. God’s grace is for Billy the Kid as well as for Billy Graham. “If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping,” says Paul, “then Christ did not need to die.” Christ died for everyone, not just for the people who follow the rules. God’s grace is for you; and God’s grace is for me. It is a gift wrapped in the most exquisite paper, priceless beyond measure, and given to every single one of us. Rules don’t determine our eternal fate; God’s grace does. And that, my friends, is the good news – and it’s the best news that anyone ever preached!