Sermon(Gal 2:11-21): The truth of the gospel

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025222414

 

 

 

Scripture reading:

>> 11 But when Cephas came to Antioch I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he ate with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And with him the rest of the Jews acted insincerely, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their insincerity. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?” 15 We ourselves, who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, 16 yet who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified. .... 19 For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. .... (Gal 2:11-21) <<

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There is a saying in Korea >주객전도(The owner of the house and the guest are replaced by each other)<, which means that the relations of the two are reversed. This saying can be used when a man, not knowing the really important side of things, devotes himself to trifles while ignoring the important side. My brethren, the lord of the truth is the God. The lord of salvation is the God. It is presumptuous to ignore this and to define the truth based on one's judgement and to confine the range of the salvation. So the truth comes to the humble. A humble man has a clean heart and is like a white paper and a chalkboard that is easily erased. Therefore he easily accepts the words that the God who is the lord of the truth has written on his heart. But a proud man seldom changes his mind.

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Today's biblical text is about an episode at the Antioch church. Peter (Cephas) was eating with Gentile Christians when he heard that Jewish Christians who continued to keep the Jewish customs as Jews were coming. So Peter left the place at once for at that time it was a sin for Jews to contact with Gentiles. They think that it is a grave sin against God for the holy descendants of Abraham to be with such dirty Gentile human beings, because it would be an act that would defile themselves. Men obsessed with this thought would keep only their holiness by observing the ritual of circumcision and by keeping away Gentiles even after they believed in Jesus.

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But it is just a wrong behavior of those who, having such ideas of Judaism, misunderstand something. They are acting like a lord as a servant - a scandalous behavior. My brethren, the God is the lord. He has never rejected or hated the human beings themselves. Of course, he hated and punished those who committed idolatry, adultery and theft. But he hasn't rejected and hated people just because they were Gentiles. The reason is that all human beings are holy creatures created in God's image. Jews who received the law of God and were indulged in adultery, idolatry, murder and theft and Gentiles who didn't receive the law of God and were indulged in such sins were not so different human beings in conduct. Ever since Israel became the people of God, it has never been the great ruler of the world, hasn't it? on the contrary, the people of Israel (Jews) have lived under the domination of several Gentile nations, paying them all kinds of tributes. If this is their history, they should recognize the situation quickly and be humble - a good attitude. But Jews hated and shunned Gentiles to whom they had paid tribute - a very wrong attitude. Israelites as well as Gentiles were just God's instruments.

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Then, how did Israelites come to be separated from Gentiles? All humans except Noah and his family were destroyed by the Deluge, and Noah left three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. The second son Ham made a mistake on his father, so his descendant Canaan was cursed by Noah and became the servant of servants of Shem and Japheth. "Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers. Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem (or Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem – another version of the Hebrew text); and let Canaan be his slave. God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave. (Gen 9:25-27)" Canaan, son of Ham, became the father of Sidon his first-born, and Heth, and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites (Gen 10:15-18). And God called out Abraham, the son of Shem, to make him the father (the founder) of the Jewish people (Gen 12:1-3). However, Asshur (Assyria) and Aram (Syria) are the sons of Shem, too (Gen 10:22-23). These countries were located in the north of Israel, and were not less great than Israel. And as a matter of fact, Abraham himself was an Aramite (Gen 11:26-32, Deut 26:5). God called Abraham and promised to give him the land of Canaan (Gen 12:5-7). The descendants of Abraham later increased into a large people when they lived in Egypt as slaves, and under Moses' leadership conquered Canaan, killing the descendants of Ham, driving out them from there, making them their slaves (Ex 13:5). Thus the curse Ham had received was fulfilled, and the prophecy of Noah that God would enlarge Japheth and let him dwell in the tents of Shem was fulfilled when God blessed all human beings including the descendants of Jepheth through Abraham, a descendant of Shem (Gen 12:1-3).

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Noah's declaration >God of Shem (Gen 9:26)< is maintained through the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob and the God the Father of Jesus Christ. In this context, we can see how narrowminded Jews are when they insist to say >the God of us Jews<. There are numerous Shemites besides Abraham, Abraham has several sons besides Isaac, and Isaac has Esau, the first son, besides Jacob (who is the father of all Jews). And around the first year of the first century, Jews who were the central members of Judaism were part of tribe of Judah, tribe of Benjamin and tribe of Levi, and these three tribes were part of the descendants of twelve sons of Jacob. The Bible says of >God of Shem<, which differs a lot from >God of Jews<. Of course Jews can insist that the God is the God of Jews for they has kept the faith of Yahweh. Nevertheless, it is very wrong for them to refuse to have a meal with Gentiles in God. Some Jewish teachers (rabbis) established such a tradition arbitrarily as if it had been God's word, and taught it to the people. In the Bible, there is a procedure for the Gentiles to come into the community of Israel. Gentiles could believe in God and become his people even in the days of the Old Testament.

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Yes, my brethren! We must pay attention to the God, the Father of Jesus Christ. The Father of Christ, God the Father, declared himself to be the God of Shem through Noah, blessed the sons of Shem, and allowed the sons of Japheth to share the great blessings that Shem received. Therefore all humans except the sons of Ham who sinned to his father can be God's people and have the right for the blessing of God. So the iron curtain that has separated Jews from Gentiles must be abolished when God opens the salvation for the sons of them at the appointed time. Most of Ham's descendants were annihilated by the descendants of Abraham, who was the son of Shem, so there is no Ham's descendants any more, I think. Instead, a part of the descendants of Shem, that is, the descendants of Abraham, who were blessed by God took possession of the sinful land of Ham, the land of Canaan. Therefore in fact there are no people under God's curse in the world. So there are no Gentiles to be cursed by God. Furthermore the descendants of Ham were to be the slave of slaves of other brothers. They were never branded as Gentiles. God placed a curtain between Jews and Gentiles tentatively for his convenience according to his plan. He planed to elect some Shemites, the descendants of Abraham, to reveal himself clearly through them, to fulfill the salvation of all mankind through them.

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We can say that religiously mankind have paid the penalty of their sins three times. once through Noah's flood, once through the annihilation of Canaanites, the descendants of Ham, and once through Jesus' suffering. God has removed all the guilt of mankind through these three punishments. God so hates the sin that he annihilates the sinners once he punishes the sin. He did so when he punished the people in Noah's time and those in the land of Canaan. God the Father gave his only begotten Son Jesus Christ deadly mental and physical suffering when he punished Jesus, the representative of mankind, for all the sins of mankind.

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Brethren, in the biblical text Paul is condemning Peter, emphasizing >the truth of the gospel<. What is the truth of the gospel? First, all problems of the sins of humans have been solved by Jesus Christ. The sin was not still eradicated even after God had severely punished humans for their sins through the Deluge and the destruction of Canaanites. God finally prepared the means to decisively blot out all sins of humans through his only begotten Son Jesus. Now he does not remove humans as punishment of their sins but removes all sins of humans through Jesus Christ, the only righteous man. Anyone who believes in Jesus as the Savior will be forgiven all his sins. In order to be forgiven sin in Judaism, you need a priest, a mediator between you and God, to offer up sacrifices for your sins to God. But now you don't have to do so anymore. Therefore the priests and the rituals of Judaism are needed no more. You can not judge those who are living in the new constitution to be guilty or innocent according to the old constitution. Now even Jews have to live under the new constitution (the new good news).

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Second, therefore the gap between Gentiles and Jews has been resolved. Now only the titles >God of Shem and Japheth< and >God the Father of Jesus Christ< are valid. "There is neither Jew or Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal 3:28)" Jesus Christ became the light of the Gentiles. "Mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel. (Lk 2:30-32)" It is a great glory to Israel that Jesus the Savior is a Jew; Jesus is the light of salvation and truth to Gentiles. Now the privilege of the Jews is invalid. The privilege of the Jews consists in the fact that they received the law from God and that they exclusively served God. But the law has expired and God has opened the door to salvation of all humans and has become the Father of all humans. Now, bragging with the symbol of Jew such as circumcision in front of Gentiles is like bragging with a beacon in the mobile phone era. Now, to refuse to eat with Gentiles because they are dirty is a heartless act of refusing to accept your brother as family, who left home for a while but returned home. But as a matter of fact, the privilege of Jews had been only the religion of the God up to then, however almost all of the secular blessings had been given to Gentiles. Now God is the God of Gentiles also, so the Jews have little to say about their privilege. Privilege? What privilege? To refuse to eat with brothers is not a privilege but a shameful narrow-minded behavior. Sometimes the new gospel (the new words of God) proclaims Gentiles by birth as real Jews and Jews by birth as real Gentiles. Now the qualification to be new Jews, God's people, is to give up one's righteousness and to accept Jesus' grace of salvation in faith. Here, the origin (the birth place) of the individual is not considered at all.

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Third, therefore, the formal elements of the law of Judaism have been eliminated. All the words of the Old Testament are the symbols of the New Testament. Since the righteousness of man and the solution of human salvation have been clearly revealed in the New Testament, all the words of the Old Testament must be interpreted in the light of the New Testament. So neither the formal elements such as circumcision and rituals nor the races such as Jews and Gentiles remain important. Now excessive emphasis on the formal elements of Judaism undermines the truth of the new gospel, for God can not be confined in the form of Judaism nor can new wine be put into old wineskins (Mt 9:17). The form of Judaism can't adopt the truth of the new gospel because Judaism defines the Gentiles to be ones living under God's wrath. And because Judaism puts emphasis on God's stern judgment rather than his unconditional love. The curtain of the temple was torn when Jesus died on the cross. Jesus tore it apart so that we might use the old wineskin of Judaism no more.

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Fourth, God's grace is the central truth of the new gospel. Do you think that God prefers to punish and curse humans rather than to grant favor and grace to them? Far from it! In a sense Jews who were closest to God took the God lightly. They thought God was the same as themselves. No, he wasn't! And God is not one who can be sufficiently satisfied with the bloody offerings of the Judaists. He first loves mankind and does them favor, then the wants to receive from them thanks, praise and glory coming from the bottom of their heart. He wants to be a benevolent father rather than a solemn judge. This is the core of the truth of the gospel. And it demands a true faith from us.

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My brethren, we are not owners and lords. We must not act as lords in everything. The lord of ourselves and our life is the God. The church, too, is not ours. It is God's. You must not lord it over the church because you've offered a lot of money for the construction of the chapel. You must not be a lord of the church because you've attended the church so long. You must not be a lord of the choir because you have a beautiful voice. You must not behave like a lord in the house of God because you have a doctorate. The more you have received from God, the more you should be humble and give praise to God and try to fulfill only his will. New members and members who came from other churches are not strangers but your brothers and sisters you should take good care of. Especially I'd like to exhort laymen in high positions in the church: Be a real lord of the church not by frustrating the minister's plans but by becoming the corner stones that are bearing all the burdens of the church. Who will stop you if you play the lord humbly, gracefully and evangelically? Paul, a man of the Holy Spirit, harshly rebuked Peter when he play the lord wrong. Be a lord who is praised without any reproofs. Be a man of the Holy Spirit and a man of humility and obedience.

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May all of you realize the truth of the new gospel right, know God's will in everything, obey him, and be like the pillars of the church.

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Chong Tack Kim

                                   - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -

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