Galatians 3:23-29 November 13, 2016 (Receive New Members) PUTTING ON CHRIST

Transcription

1 Galatians 3:23-29 November 13, 2016 (Receive New Members) PUTTING ON CHRIST In order to be here this morning, I first had to put on my clothes. My Sunday morning routine of getting dressed is usually a little different than the rest of the days of the week. I take a little more time and make more of an effort to brush my hair and pick out just the right, colorcoordinated clothes because I want to look my best for the people who come to Sunday worship. When I dress my best on Sunday mornings, I feel better I feel more prepared and more confident to lead worship. So I guess you could say, not only do I put on my clothes, but my clothes actually change me! I wouldn t be the same me standing here before you if I was dressed, let s say, in the pajamas I slept in last night! I would be very different, and so would your perception of me, based on nothing more than the clothes I put on. So yes, it s true that we put on our clothes; but it s also true that our clothes change us. The externals do matter. This is the case, I think, even though Jesus criticized the religious leaders of his day for being more concerned about the outward practices and visible rituals of their religion then they were about the inner condition of their hearts. You see, the internal and external practices of faith aren t always mutually exclusive things, because sometimes the externals, the outer and visible part of our faith, just like a change of clothing, can lead to a transformation on the inside, and a change of heart. When the apostle Paul wrote to the Galatian church about the change that occurred in them through their baptism, he told them that Christ had made them all God s very own children. That leads me to wonder if the members of the Galatian church felt like they were God s children in their hearts. Maybe not, because if they had felt transformed by their baptisms, Paul might not have had to write his letter. But maybe the inner feelings of the Galatians wasn t the most important point. You see, Paul told the Galatian church members that, in baptism, they had to put on Christ. He used the image of outer clothing

2 to talk about their new relationship to God in Christ. The labels by which the world categorized and pigeonholed people such as Jew and Greek, and male and female those labels now meant nothing because they had been clothed in Christ. And the new clothing of Christ covered over all those old and worn out external labels. In the Sacrament of baptism we have water splashed on us in an external and visible way, and in the process we re made a Christian. You see, Christians aren t born, they re created when they re baptized. But that s only the beginning, the first phase, because at the moment of our baptisms we aren t all that we could be and should be; we re not all that God wants us to be as followers of Jesus. Still, we are on our way. The first baby step was taken when we were baptized, and even though there s a whole lot of walking left to do, that public, external, visible act of baptism is a significant stride forward in our progress as Christians. This morning, seven people stood up here in front of us and publically declared their willingness and hopefully their enthusiasm and joy to become members of our faith community and join us in loving God and serving Christ together. Each one of them put on Christ right here in front of us. They didn t join our church in a back room somewhere, or make their promises to this church and to the Lord behind some closed door. Rather, they stood up here where all of us could see them and openly said, Yes, I want to be a part of this faith community. I want to love the Lord and minister to others alongside all of you. I haven t had a chance to ask them yet, but I m hoping that their external, public act had an internal, heart-felt effect on them. The fact that they came up front and outwardly pledged their fidelity to Christ and to our church hopefully made their pledge more real and more inwardly meaningful. And hopefully as well, their external act will help to strengthen their inner desire and determination to carry out those pledges. Hopefully their outer, visible act of commitment to membership will kindle in them an internal desire and heart-felt resolve to be a faithful member of this church. You know, I think sometimes, when it comes to our faith, we put a little too much emphasis on our inner attitudes, feelings and psychological condition, to the point where it can hinder us from taking action. For example, I don t always feel like a pastor on the inside. At times I get overtired, feel inept, occasionally say the wrong thing when I should have said something else, lose my temper, express frustration, forget to 2

3 communicate gratitude to church volunteers like I should, and run out of patience. And, I ll be honest, there are days when I just don t feel like going out and being a pastor. So, what do I do? I get out of bed even if I do it reluctantly put on my clothes, and maybe a tie or a clergy collar if it s Sunday, and I go out and act like a pastor anyway, on the outside, I ll bet that sometimes it s like that for you, as well. You don t always feel like a Christian, am I right? Maybe you re not sure about what you believe, or you re not sure if you believe at all. Maybe you felt strongly when you first became a follower of Jesus; you felt close to the Lord and sensed God s presence everywhere in your life. But then, perhaps, as the years passed and life did its best to knock the stuffing out of you, your enthusiasm may have diminished and your faith wavered a little, or maybe a lot. What then? How do you carry on as a follower of Christ when you don t necessarily feel like a follower of Christ? Well, you get out of bed even if you do so very reluctantly and you put on your Sunday best and go to church, just like you ve done today. Then you say the prayers, you sing the hymns, you listen for God s Word spoken to you through the Scriptures, and you pay attention to the sermon. And when things click and the Spirit moves, by the grace of God, at the end of the worship service you are a follower of Christ even if it s only for the rest of the day. You ve become a Christian on the inside, in your heart, as a result of acting like a Christian on the outside. I was scanning a magazine one day and came across an article on Child Development. In that article the author wrote about the reason for and importance of playtime for children. It stemmed from the author s own parenting experience. This is a brief portion of what the author said. When our children were young, we had a section of their playroom that we called the housekeeping corner. In that corner there was a little stove which I had made out of a wooden box, and a little refrigerator, likewise created from a few pieces of wood. Old pots and pans were available for them to use, as well. Also we had a rather large collection of dress up clothes. There was a firefighter s helmet, a police officer s cap, and other hats that adults would wear to work or to church. Our children would go to the housekeeping corner, put on those clothes, and act as if they were adults. They made pretend meals on the 3

4 play stove, went off to work and returned home again, fought fires and arrested bad people, and solved a lot of problems in their imaginary world. To adults, this kind of pretending is nothing more than insignificant child s play or make believe. But most child psychologists believe that such play is the serious business of childhood. Children make believe they are adults and dress up like adults because one day they will need to grow up, to dress up like Mommy and Daddy for real, and go out and be adults. Playtime for them is good practice for adult life. That s actually a wonderful way to understand the purpose, meaning and significance of Sunday worship. We get dressed up and act our way into a new sense of being. The idea, and the hope, is that if we get good enough at acting like good Christians on Sunday, then we just might become good Christians for real on Monday through Saturday. In other words, here in church on Sunday mornings we playfully, yet seriously, experiment with what it feels like to put on Christ. Just as putting on certain clothes affects how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us, here during worship we clothe ourselves with Christ, look in the mirror, and perceive ourselves as Christians. We exchange one set of externals for another, throwing off the ways of the real world and taking up the ways of God s world. Then, at least for a brief time, we act like Jesus followers here in public, in one another s presence, in the safe and loving environment of Christ s church. And as a result we take a significant step toward becoming genuine, heart-felt followers of Jesus for real, when we re out there in the cold, hard world. Notice that I said we do it in public. A lot of us think of religion as a private affair, something to keep to ourselves like it s some well-guarded, forbidden secret. But it really isn t. We go public with our faith, letting others know we follow Christ, partly because we want to share the good news of Christianity with others, but also because it can help to make us better, stronger, more faithful Christians. There s tremendous value in our external, public religious practices because they can and often do lead to a deeper internal and personal commitment. A minister was talking to a young man one day about faithfulness within a marriage relationship. The young man, who had been married for several years, said to the minister, You know, I have to confess that when I put on a wedding ring back then, I had no idea what being married to another person and being faithful to them meant. But when you wear that 4

5 wedding ring out in the world for a long enough time, it comes to you. One day you wake up and you are faithful. Maybe fidelity in marriage begins simply with a willingness to go out in public with a wedding ring on your finger. And maybe faithfulness as Christians begins simply with a willingness to go out in public having put on, or clothed ourselves with Christ. Acting like a Christian on the outside leads to becoming a Christian on the inside. Let me share one more story with you to bring that point home one last time. There once was a young woman who promised to do one simple thing for God every day of her life: she vowed to end every day reading one chapter of her Bible. That s a rather small thing to do for God, when it comes down to it; but for whatever reason that s what she promised to do. Two years into that daily discipline of reading one chapter of her Bible daily, she talked with her minister and told him that her life had changed. By ordering her life around that one little commitment, her whole life became reordered. When others wanted her to stay out and party some more, she was forced to tell them that she had to go home and read her Bible before bedtime. They wanted to know why. She had to explain. And by explaining it to them, she became stronger in her faith. Her simple little external action had led to a major internal transformation. And that s how it often works. My friends, all of us who have been baptized have put on Christ. Do you feel like you ve clothed yourselves with Christ? Can you sense it? Do you believe it? If not, maybe there s some promise you need to make to God. Not necessarily something spectacular or impressive, but just the promise to do some little act that outwardly and tangibly signals your commitment to live for Jesus Christ. It would be sort of like putting on a firefighter s helmet or a police officer s badge; or perhaps a minister s robe, to help us remember who we are, whose we are, and the kind of people we re supposed to be. Because if we dress the part by putting on Christ, and we act the part of being a Christian on the outside, it will help us become a Christian for real on the inside. Our hearts will be influenced for the better, and our faith will be made stronger by our faithful actions. So, on this morning when we celebrate seven new members who 5

6 have publically put on Christ in our midst, may we together strive to act our way into a new state of being, outwardly clothing ourselves with Christ and looking like Christians on the outside today, so that we may be genuine Christians on the inside, in our hearts tomorrow. Amen. 6