Galatians 6:1-16

The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost | 3 July 2022 | A Sermon on Galatians 6:1-16 | Samuel D. Zumwalt, STS |

Galatians 6:1-16 English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. ² Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. ³ For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. ⁴ But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. ⁵ For each will have to bear his own load. ⁶ Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. ⁷ Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.⁸ For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. ⁹ And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. ¹⁰ So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. ¹¹ See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. ¹² It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. ¹³ For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. ¹⁴ But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. ¹⁵ For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. ¹⁶ And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

HOLY BAPTISM: THE THIRD COMMANDMENT

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Holy Baptism is the beginning of the end of the world as we know it. The traditional rite includes three exorcisms with the first taking place at the door to the church, the second at the entrance to the nave, and the third before approaching the baptismal font. An ancient Eastern baptismal prayer commands the evil one to depart for God’s house is “… the dwelling place of men and not of beasts.” The traditional Western rite commands: “Hear, accursed Satan, for I adjure you in the name of the infinite God and His Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior, to flee in trembling and groaning, for you and your envy are vanquished.”

Marking the candidate with holy oil in the sign of the cross on the forehead and the heart makes clear the candidate has been redeemed by Christ the crucified. Holy Baptism is a means of grace. It is not a mere outward sign of an inward action but is indeed a public crucifixion. The candidate is crucified with Christ and raised to new life in Him as St. Paul makes clear in Romans 6.

Before the crucifixion, the candidate or the godparents are asked to renounce Satan, his works, and his ways. The candidate or the godparents, then, confess the Apostles Creed in the West and the Nicene Creed in the East, and, in obedience to the command of the Lord Jesus Christ, the candidate is baptized with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Anciently, the candidate was baptized naked as a recognition that the old life was being abandoned. The newly baptized was clothed in a new white robe, clothed now in Christ’s righteousness.

These liturgical actions are deeply intentional. In Holy Baptism, the candidate becomes a new creation, born from above by water and the Holy Spirit. The power of God’s Word accomplishes the Father’s intent (Isaiah 55), and through Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit, the newly baptized enters into the eternal life and love of the Triune God through God’s grace and mercy and by no merit or effort of the old sinful self, who was born dead in his/her trespasses.

As the baptized journey the Way of the Crucified through the wilderness of the old world, he or she travels not alone but with the household of faith. The Body of Christ in the world daily renounces Satan, his works, and his ways. So, not to follow the Crucified Lord Jesus is to sow to one’s own flesh, and St. Paul warns the Galatians today that if that becomes habitual for one who has been crucified with Christ eventually there will be only corruption at the very end of time.

A brother or sister in Christ who has wandered off needs to be restored to the household of faith. Because the rest of the brothers and sisters in Christ remain in the same weak flesh, the fall of a brother or sister is not an occasion for Schadenfreude (delighting in another’s sorrows). Rather, restoring one who has lost his/her way requires a spirit of gentleness. Pastorally, a confessor can engage one who has a troubled conscience with questions that enable the penitent to begin to see how he or she was seduced by the old world and its prince who preyed upon his or her weakness.

So, what does our heavenly Father want from those who have become His children by our Baptism into Christ? Two weeks ago, we learned He wants our trust (Proverbs 3:5). Last week, we learned He wants us to use His name rightly by calling on Him with prayer, praise, and thanksgiving (Psalm 145:21). This week, He tells us how best to remember who and Whose we are?

So, today, according to the Roman Catholic and Lutheran numbering of the Ten Commandments, our heavenly Father positively tells us what He wants from His own in the Third Commandment. This week’s verse is very familiar and is much easier to remember and to repeat.

P: Remember the Sabbath day

C: By keeping it holy (Exodus 20:8).

Now, you will remember that the Lord God built the Sabbath into creation by making the seventh day a day of rest (Genesis 2:2). You will also remember that, from the first day of creation, there was evening and there was morning. So, at the end of the sixth day, the Lord looked at all that He had made and called it very good. On the seventh day, which began at sundown, the Lord God established a day of rest. So, the biblical Sabbath began at sundown on Friday and ended at sundown on Saturday. After the rebellion in the garden and our first parents’ expulsion, that day of rest became a godsend for those whose work was hard and painful.

We know that the early Christians began to worship on the first day of the week, because Sunday is the day of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. St. John refers to being in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10). St. Luke reports that they came together on the first day of the week to break the bread, that is, to share the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7). But, particularly, the Didache, a document most likely from St. Matthew’s community, indicates that the Church gathers on the first day of the week for the Eucharist (http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/didache.html).

So, the early Christians began to speak of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as the eighth day of creation, that is the beginning of the new creation now that Christ is the firstborn from the dead. After Christianity was decriminalized in 312, Christian houses of worship began to be built, and the baptismal fonts were either cross-shaped or octagonal to emphasize the eighth day. Again, Holy Baptism is the beginning of the end of the world as we know it (Acts 2:38). Gathering for the Lord’s Supper is not only the principal act of Christian worship. The very meaning of Church (in Greek “ekklesia”) is to be called out of the old world to assemble with the Lord. He is present in the Breaking of the Bread. Assembling with the household of faith, we continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, the breaking of the bread, and the prayers (Acts 2:42). Quite pointedly, gathering for coffee, favorite tunes, and a cool message does not qualify as church.

Blessed Martin Luther writes in the Large Catechism: “… On this day of rest… we have the freedom and time to attend divine service. We come together to hear and use God’s Word, and then to praise God, to sing and to pray [Colossians 3:16]” (Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, 368:84).

Luther continues: “… The force and power of this [3^rd] commandment lies not in the resting but the sanctifying, so that a special holy exercise belongs to this day. For other works and occupations are not properly called holy exercises, unless the person is holy first. But here a work is to be done by which a person is himself made holy. This is done… only through God’s Word. For this reason, particular places, times, persons, and the entire order of worship have been created and appointed, so that there may be order in public practice [1 Corinthians 14:40]” (369: 94).

In short, when Christ’s Church assembles with Him around His Word and Sacraments, we arrive at an oasis in the midst of the old world that is passing away. Traveling the Way of the Crucified, we know weakness and weariness as our Lord Jesus did on the way to His cross for us and our salvation. Receiving Him and the eternal life and love He shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit, we are refreshed and restored through His gifts of forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Here, we bear one another’s burdens. Singing the joyful songs of home, our spirits are lifted.

P: Remember the Sabbath day

C: By keeping it holy (Exodus 20:8).

Father, grant that what we say with our lips, we may believe in our hearts, and what we believe in our hearts, we may show forth in our lives. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

___

©Samuel David Zumwalt, STS

   szumwalt@bellsouth.net

   St. Matthew’s Ev. Lutheran Church

   Wilmington, North Carolina USA