Living With Integrity
Sermon
Sermons on the Second Readings
Series III, Cycle C
Object:
"Justification by faith" -- to a theologian these words express one of the most basic principles of the Christian faith. But to many people today, they're simply one more example of Christian jargon that seems to brand the church as too complicated and out of touch for our time. Is it real? Is it relevant? Does it matter? To the apostle Paul in our scripture reading for today, "justification by faith" was so important that he repeats it over and over again like a football coach going over and over the same drill again and again. To him and to his first readers, "justification by faith" was not primarily a theological concept. It was not meant as a technical term to be understood only by a select few. In fact, it was a response to a very real situation in the life of the church.
It all began with Peter, who had been one of Jesus' closest disciples. At one time, Peter had been a fisherman, but when Jesus called him, Peter immediately followed. He saw Jesus perform many miracles, including the raising of a little girl from the dead (Mark 5:37-43). He witnessed Jesus' transfiguration on the mountain top (Matthew 17:1-8). He was with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37), followed Jesus after his arrest as far as the courtyard of the high priest (Luke 22:55), and ran to the empty tomb after Jesus' resurrection (Luke 24:12).
Just as Peter had been a leader among Jesus' first disciples, he also became a leader in the early church. It was Peter who preached the sermon on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came with power on the gathered believers (Acts 2:14ff.). Peter healed a crippled beggar at the temple gate in Jerusalem (Acts 3:1-10). He was arrested and testified to Jesus' resurrection before the religious authorities (Acts 4:1-22). When one of Jesus' followers in Joppa fell ill and died, Peter even raised her from the dead (Acts 9:36-43).
One day, Peter received a strange vision of something like a huge sheet filled with all kinds of animals. A voice said to him, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat" (Acts 10:13). As a proper Jew, Peter was horrified. He was well-schooled and practiced in the strict dietary code of Judaism. Certain animals were "clean" and could be eaten as long as they were slaughtered in accordance with Jewish law. Other animals were "unclean" and were forbidden to eat. He could barely look at the strange mix of animals in his vision, and he refused to eat any of them once, twice, three times, before the vision finally ended.
As Peter soon learned, this vision was not only about food, about what to eat and what not to eat. By the leading of the Holy Spirit, he came to understand that his vision was also about the people who had been declared "clean" and "unclean" according to the food laws. As the voice had said to him in his vision, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane" (Acts 10:15).
For Peter in his time and for his people, that meant accepting both Jews and Gentiles into the fellowship of the church. By faith in Jesus Christ, both had been made clean! They were no longer separated by the laws concerning food and other religious rituals. They could now eat together at the same table. They could now worship and fellowship together under the same roof. They could now celebrate the Lord's supper together for they were part of the same body. Peter himself demonstrated this by eating with Gentile believers, hosting them in his home, and granting them baptism on confession of their faith.
Yet at some point between Acts 10 and Galatians 2, Peter reversed himself and began to hold back from eating with Gentiles. Just before our scripture reading for today, in Galatians 2:11-14, the apostle Paul criticizes Peter for this reversal. We don't have Peter's side of the story here, but Paul clearly interprets this as fear on the part of Peter. He was afraid of what others might think! So Peter acted against the vision that he had received, against what had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, against what he knew to be true. What's more, since Peter was a leader in the church, his actions influenced other Jewish Christians to separate themselves from the Gentiles. Paul was so incensed over this that he accused Peter of hypocrisy in front of everyone.
This is the backdrop for our scripture reading for today. Peter and others had begun to separate themselves again from the Gentiles as if the old dietary laws were still in effect. They were acting contrary to the gospel that had set them free and had made them one with all who believe. They were acting as if Jesus' life, death, and resurrection had not happened!
No wonder Paul was so incensed. No wonder he used such strong language over and over again in our text for today. He wanted to be very clear -- it was not keeping the law that made a person right with God, but justification came by faith in Jesus Christ. The crucifixion of Christ had changed everything! His resurrection had changed everything! So now all who have faith in him are dead to the law and dead to sin and live in newness of life before God. As Paul writes later in Galatians 3:28, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." In Christ, there is no reason for Jews and Gentiles to eat separately, no reason for Paul or Peter or any of the others to break fellowship with the rest.
Although it might sound like complicated Christian jargon to our ears today, "justification by faith" was actually a response to this very live and very practical issue in the life of the early church. "Justification" was another way of saying "being made right" with God, being declared righteous and acceptable to God. Like the margins of a book might be "justified" -- they line up together and form a straight line up and down the page -- being justified in God's sight means lining up with God.
The word "justified" appears three times in verse 16 alone: "a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ"; "we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ"; "no one will be justified by the works of the law." Then in the strongest words possible, our text ends in verse 21: "for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing."
Justification does not come by what we do. It is not a product of our own work. Instead, it is a result of the work of Christ. It is "the grace of God" as Paul says at the end of our text. In other words, it is a gift, undeserved and freely given. It is not something that we have to earn but something to accept by faith. God is the one who lines us up, who makes us justified.
Our part is to live that way -- to live in a way consistent with God's grace, to live in a way that expresses the truth of the gospel, to live as people who have been justified by faith. That's where Peter had fallen short. That's where the Galatians were also in danger of falling into the same error.
Today, hypocrisy and personal integrity continue to be challenges for the church and for all of us. Peter has lots of company! In our own day, some church leaders have also been taken to task in very public ways for their failure to live according to the very truths that they have preached. The issues today are not so much about food and eating together, but revolve around the big three of money, sex, and power. Church leaders have preached about giving, but have sometimes spent too much on themselves and in some cases have even embezzled funds. Some have preached about faithfulness in marriage and then later been caught in adultery or prostitution. Some have preached on the lordship of Christ, while at the same time misusing their own authority in a church or parachurch organization.
It's true that these are isolated instances -- in fact, they are newsworthy in part because they are isolated instances. But they are also cautionary tales for all of us, since the challenges of faithful living and hypocrisy are not limited to those in church leadership. There are times when each one of us has acted against our better judgment, against what we know to be true, against God's grace and gospel in our lives. We may not make any headlines, but we also sometimes fall short of faithful living in our use of time and money, in our marriage and family life, in our work life, in the way we treat other people, in the choices we make for leisure and recreation, and in many other ways both large and small.
Some might say, "The church is full of hypocrites!" -- and in a way they're right. From the pulpit to the very last pew, all of us stumble and fall and must plead guilty. Like Peter, there are times when we also need to be confronted, when we need someone else to point out our own blind spots. We need to be reminded that if we are justified by faith -- since we have been justified by faith -- we need to live that way with integrity.
At the same time, we might also say, "The church is full of forgiven hypocrites!" From the pulpit to the very last pew, there is hope for all of us. By God's grace, we can repent and change our ways; we can receive God's forgiveness and be made right with God again; we can live a new life! Not because we are justified by the law and our own ability to live with integrity but because we have been justified by faith in Christ Jesus.
We don't know how Peter responded to Paul's rebuke. Did he continue to avoid eating together with Gentiles? Did he get defensive and try to explain away his bad behavior? Did he immediately recognize his fault and mend his ways? Did he talk with Barnabas and the others who had followed his lead and redirect their misguided actions as well? We don't know the answers to these questions in Peter's life, but what of our own response? Do we get defensive and try to find excuses for our own bad behavior? Do we recognize our own failings and seek to turn ourselves around? Do we make amends with anyone that we have misled?
These are very real and relevant questions for our own time. "Justification by faith" is not just a bit of dusty theology or Christian jargon. It makes a real difference in the way we live -- with faith in Jesus who has set us free from sin, with trust in God who justifies us by the free gift of grace, with integrity in all we say and do.
Let us pray: Lord, we confess that we often fall short in living out the truth of your good news. In this moment, we receive again your forgiveness and grace. We remember again that we have been justified by faith in Christ Jesus, and now we live in him. Amen.
It all began with Peter, who had been one of Jesus' closest disciples. At one time, Peter had been a fisherman, but when Jesus called him, Peter immediately followed. He saw Jesus perform many miracles, including the raising of a little girl from the dead (Mark 5:37-43). He witnessed Jesus' transfiguration on the mountain top (Matthew 17:1-8). He was with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37), followed Jesus after his arrest as far as the courtyard of the high priest (Luke 22:55), and ran to the empty tomb after Jesus' resurrection (Luke 24:12).
Just as Peter had been a leader among Jesus' first disciples, he also became a leader in the early church. It was Peter who preached the sermon on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came with power on the gathered believers (Acts 2:14ff.). Peter healed a crippled beggar at the temple gate in Jerusalem (Acts 3:1-10). He was arrested and testified to Jesus' resurrection before the religious authorities (Acts 4:1-22). When one of Jesus' followers in Joppa fell ill and died, Peter even raised her from the dead (Acts 9:36-43).
One day, Peter received a strange vision of something like a huge sheet filled with all kinds of animals. A voice said to him, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat" (Acts 10:13). As a proper Jew, Peter was horrified. He was well-schooled and practiced in the strict dietary code of Judaism. Certain animals were "clean" and could be eaten as long as they were slaughtered in accordance with Jewish law. Other animals were "unclean" and were forbidden to eat. He could barely look at the strange mix of animals in his vision, and he refused to eat any of them once, twice, three times, before the vision finally ended.
As Peter soon learned, this vision was not only about food, about what to eat and what not to eat. By the leading of the Holy Spirit, he came to understand that his vision was also about the people who had been declared "clean" and "unclean" according to the food laws. As the voice had said to him in his vision, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane" (Acts 10:15).
For Peter in his time and for his people, that meant accepting both Jews and Gentiles into the fellowship of the church. By faith in Jesus Christ, both had been made clean! They were no longer separated by the laws concerning food and other religious rituals. They could now eat together at the same table. They could now worship and fellowship together under the same roof. They could now celebrate the Lord's supper together for they were part of the same body. Peter himself demonstrated this by eating with Gentile believers, hosting them in his home, and granting them baptism on confession of their faith.
Yet at some point between Acts 10 and Galatians 2, Peter reversed himself and began to hold back from eating with Gentiles. Just before our scripture reading for today, in Galatians 2:11-14, the apostle Paul criticizes Peter for this reversal. We don't have Peter's side of the story here, but Paul clearly interprets this as fear on the part of Peter. He was afraid of what others might think! So Peter acted against the vision that he had received, against what had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, against what he knew to be true. What's more, since Peter was a leader in the church, his actions influenced other Jewish Christians to separate themselves from the Gentiles. Paul was so incensed over this that he accused Peter of hypocrisy in front of everyone.
This is the backdrop for our scripture reading for today. Peter and others had begun to separate themselves again from the Gentiles as if the old dietary laws were still in effect. They were acting contrary to the gospel that had set them free and had made them one with all who believe. They were acting as if Jesus' life, death, and resurrection had not happened!
No wonder Paul was so incensed. No wonder he used such strong language over and over again in our text for today. He wanted to be very clear -- it was not keeping the law that made a person right with God, but justification came by faith in Jesus Christ. The crucifixion of Christ had changed everything! His resurrection had changed everything! So now all who have faith in him are dead to the law and dead to sin and live in newness of life before God. As Paul writes later in Galatians 3:28, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." In Christ, there is no reason for Jews and Gentiles to eat separately, no reason for Paul or Peter or any of the others to break fellowship with the rest.
Although it might sound like complicated Christian jargon to our ears today, "justification by faith" was actually a response to this very live and very practical issue in the life of the early church. "Justification" was another way of saying "being made right" with God, being declared righteous and acceptable to God. Like the margins of a book might be "justified" -- they line up together and form a straight line up and down the page -- being justified in God's sight means lining up with God.
The word "justified" appears three times in verse 16 alone: "a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ"; "we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ"; "no one will be justified by the works of the law." Then in the strongest words possible, our text ends in verse 21: "for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing."
Justification does not come by what we do. It is not a product of our own work. Instead, it is a result of the work of Christ. It is "the grace of God" as Paul says at the end of our text. In other words, it is a gift, undeserved and freely given. It is not something that we have to earn but something to accept by faith. God is the one who lines us up, who makes us justified.
Our part is to live that way -- to live in a way consistent with God's grace, to live in a way that expresses the truth of the gospel, to live as people who have been justified by faith. That's where Peter had fallen short. That's where the Galatians were also in danger of falling into the same error.
Today, hypocrisy and personal integrity continue to be challenges for the church and for all of us. Peter has lots of company! In our own day, some church leaders have also been taken to task in very public ways for their failure to live according to the very truths that they have preached. The issues today are not so much about food and eating together, but revolve around the big three of money, sex, and power. Church leaders have preached about giving, but have sometimes spent too much on themselves and in some cases have even embezzled funds. Some have preached about faithfulness in marriage and then later been caught in adultery or prostitution. Some have preached on the lordship of Christ, while at the same time misusing their own authority in a church or parachurch organization.
It's true that these are isolated instances -- in fact, they are newsworthy in part because they are isolated instances. But they are also cautionary tales for all of us, since the challenges of faithful living and hypocrisy are not limited to those in church leadership. There are times when each one of us has acted against our better judgment, against what we know to be true, against God's grace and gospel in our lives. We may not make any headlines, but we also sometimes fall short of faithful living in our use of time and money, in our marriage and family life, in our work life, in the way we treat other people, in the choices we make for leisure and recreation, and in many other ways both large and small.
Some might say, "The church is full of hypocrites!" -- and in a way they're right. From the pulpit to the very last pew, all of us stumble and fall and must plead guilty. Like Peter, there are times when we also need to be confronted, when we need someone else to point out our own blind spots. We need to be reminded that if we are justified by faith -- since we have been justified by faith -- we need to live that way with integrity.
At the same time, we might also say, "The church is full of forgiven hypocrites!" From the pulpit to the very last pew, there is hope for all of us. By God's grace, we can repent and change our ways; we can receive God's forgiveness and be made right with God again; we can live a new life! Not because we are justified by the law and our own ability to live with integrity but because we have been justified by faith in Christ Jesus.
We don't know how Peter responded to Paul's rebuke. Did he continue to avoid eating together with Gentiles? Did he get defensive and try to explain away his bad behavior? Did he immediately recognize his fault and mend his ways? Did he talk with Barnabas and the others who had followed his lead and redirect their misguided actions as well? We don't know the answers to these questions in Peter's life, but what of our own response? Do we get defensive and try to find excuses for our own bad behavior? Do we recognize our own failings and seek to turn ourselves around? Do we make amends with anyone that we have misled?
These are very real and relevant questions for our own time. "Justification by faith" is not just a bit of dusty theology or Christian jargon. It makes a real difference in the way we live -- with faith in Jesus who has set us free from sin, with trust in God who justifies us by the free gift of grace, with integrity in all we say and do.
Let us pray: Lord, we confess that we often fall short in living out the truth of your good news. In this moment, we receive again your forgiveness and grace. We remember again that we have been justified by faith in Christ Jesus, and now we live in him. Amen.
