Marbury Church of God

Today’s message from Galatians 2:15b-21.

The setting:  Paul, the Pharisee-turned-evangelist, is very worried that someone has come in behind him to change the message from one of life-changing good news (gospel) to one of religious particularism (another gospel which is no gospel).

Paul’s Revelation

He makes it clear that the message he has been spreading through the world did not come to him from a human source, but “by revelation of Jesus Christ.”  Not that he had not, after his remarkable meeting with Christ on the Damascus road, checked in with those who had known Jesus during his earthly ministry; he had, and had found that his message was consistent with theirs.

Someone’s been messing with the message!

Some of the new believes in the Church at Jerusalem have not yet understood the scope of the message that gave them life, and want to impose additional conditions on the new-found faith of their non-Jewish counterparts out in the wide world, of whom the Galatian churches form a part.
This “other gospel which is not a gospel” makes the claim that while faith in Christ is a good start, it is incomplete without the entire traditional package —  we would now call it the “judeo-Christian tradition” — including rules about circumcision of males, dietary practices, and all the other things that go with their (superior [?]) religious tradition.
Later in the letter, Paul says that his Galatian friends have been “bewitched” by this alternate message:  one that relies on “the works of the law” rather than “the faith of Jesus Christ.”

Sermon notes from May 9, 2010

Text: Revelation 21:10, 22 – 22:5

A heavenly vision: the New Jerusalem is God’s dwelling [tabernacle]  (v  2-3).   It is the church of God, descending from heaven to earth.
Evidence that this is the church:  it is the Bride: 21:9-10 (see Ephesians 5:25-33). It is the city with foundations, which is to come. Hebrews 11:10,16; 12:22-23; 13:14.

The description of this heavenly Jerusalem, which is the bride, the church, draws heavily from the description of a restored Jerusalem given in Ezekiel chapters 40-48. One clue that this vision of John is a re-presentation of Ezekiel’s vision is the guiding angel who carries a measuring rod (Revelation 21:15; Ezekiel 40:2-5).

It is also Ezekiel who gives us the original vision of the “river of the water of life.” John can use this shorthand because his scripture-savvy readers will understand that he is talking about the same vision which we find extensively described in Ezekiel 47:1-12.

The vision of life-giving water flowing from the place of God’s dwelling is much older, however; you see it in Genesis 2:10-14, where all the great rivers known to the ancient world are said to have first flowed from Paradise: so we have in this vision a sense of the restoration, at long last, of God’s original plan (although we should note that the benefits of Paradise 2.0, given here, include many enhancements over the original version: most especially the prominent place now given to the Tree of Life [22:2], which is no longer off limits).

This vision of the church is comprehensive and inclusive; the gates are the twelve patriarchs, representing the Old Covenant and God’s working in the physical, historical realm.

Notes for message preached on Palm Sunday, March 28, 2010 at the Marbury Church of God.

The Price

Isaiah 50:4-9a
50:4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens– wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.

50:5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward.

50:6 I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.

50:7 The Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

50:8 he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.

50:9a It is the Lord GOD who helps me; who will declare me guilty?

The Ministry of the Messiah

By all accounts this is a messianic text, allowing us, through the inspired prophet, to gain a glimpse into the mind of Christ.  This we must do, because we are admonished: “let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” With what attitude did Jesus approach his ministry?
Isaiah 50:4-5:

Compare Luke 4:17-19 The spirit of the Lord God is upon me….

“the tongue of a teacher,” the tongue of one who is taught”…. the language here suggests that one who learns from God will be able to teach, to “sustain the weary with a word,” because he is also one who is able to learn continually, “morning by morning.  The best teacher is one who constantly learns, and the prophet here shows us that Jesus is that kind of teacher, as each of us is called to be.