Gal 3:15-29               Religion is not God        January 31, 2010

      I want you to help me this morning with a little chore.  Let’s turn out the lights.  Let’s say it is late Saturday night and the sanctuary has not been cleaned this week.  I have come out to clean the carpet.  As I come into the sanctuary about 10 pm on this Saturday night, it is dark.  I cannot see at all.  How can I clean the place?  How can I straighten up?       (Turn on the lights)   Okay.  That is great.  The lights are on.  The room is bright.  And so, now it is clean, right?  By turning on the lights, I now have a clean sanctuary.  (No)  Well, what do I need to do?  What do I need to clean the place?  (Vacuum)  But you said I needed lights.  You did not mention a vacuum cleaner.  (Get out vacuum)  Okay, I have this vacuum.  So I do not need the lights.  (Lights turn out)  Wait, now I can’t see.  You said I needed this vacuum to clean but now I cannot see.  What am I going to do?  (both)  I get it.  The light shows me how dirty the room is, but the vacuum is what sweeps it clean.

      Today we are looking at Galatians and Paul makes this same point. The Religious Law was given to shed light on the problems in our lives.  However, it is the broom of Faith that sweeps those problems away.   We have seen how Paul’s church in Galatia was confused by other missionaries who taught them that they needed to keep all the ritual works of the law of Judaism in order to receive the blessings of God.  But Paul has said that this is not so.  Paul said that one needed Faith. But these other missionaries are not fools and they ask a very important question: Then why did God give those Old Testament Laws to Moses if they were not important?  Paul has an answer that is important if we wish to seek God and live the spiritual life.  Religion is needed to show us the way but religion is not God. 

           Paul knew clearly the difference between Religion and God.  I do not think everyone knows that.   These other missionaries had asked the question, “Well, if the Religious Law is not important, why did God give it to Moses?  Is the Law of the Old Testament against the Promise of Faith as found in Jesus Christ?”  Look at vs. 19.  Paul asked, “What was the purpose of the Law?”  Paul answers that the Law was given because of the transgressions of Sin.  God gave humanity the gift of Religion because the world was filled with Sin.   This past week, President Barack Obama gave the yearly “State of the Union” speech.  He outlined many of the problems and issues facing our nation and the world.  And whatever you think of his solutions, it is clear that our world faces many problems.  It has always been so.  Life is filled with problems, most of which are caused by our own doing.  Me, myself, and I are my worst enemies. The Apostle John wrote, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves…”  Paul says that we needed Religion to light up the room for us so that we could see the dirt in our lives.  But Paul says that the light cannot sweep clean the room. Only Christ can do that.    

    Now many people have heard these words of Paul and have decided that Paul has no use for the Religious Law.  Since we now have Jesus, we do not need Religion.   Martin Luther in the Protestant Reformation of the 16 th century cried out “Faith Alone and nothing else.”  But Luther soon realized that people needed some religious instruction about what faith meant. So Luther wrote his catechism to give people some instructions.   People wanting to be spiritual throughout the ages have often shunned instruction, methods, ritual, or ceremony.  They cry out that these things are just outward “dead rituals” and they only want the Holy Spirit in their hearts.  Many people outside the church in our day say, “I am not religious but I am spiritual.”  They imagine that they have reached God and so do not need any instructions.   But they are like people who want cake without having flour.    

      Look at verse 19…Paul asks, “Is the Law then opposed to the Promises of God?”   “Absolutely not.”  You see, Paul is not saying Religion is a bad thing.  Paul is not rejecting the Law.  The Law was given by God for a purpose.  It was a guide, a light to show us the way.  Paul says in vs. 24 that Religion was put in charge of us.   That word charge in Greek means a custodian, a guard, a keeper, someone who cares for us when we cannot take care of ourselves.  Religion is like a Foster Parent provided for a child who is in a difficult situation.  It is a positive word.  It is valuable.  It was given as medicine in our time of illness.  Religion is a gateway that opens to the path to God.

        But listen.  Religion is not the path.  It is not the way.  Paul says that this Religious Law was put in charge of us to lead us to Christ. It only points to the way.   Religion is the light that reveals how dirty the room is, not the broom that sweeps it clean.  That broom is Christ.

        Look at vs. 27-29…”Those of you who are baptized into Christ have now put on Christ….You are all one in Christ …heirs, inheritors, of the promises of God.”  You see, here is the reality.  This is the completion and fulfillment of all Religion.  Jesus Christ.  Paul says to these other religious folks who are contesting him, “The Religious Law was valuable and purposeful to point us to the way, but now the Way has come.”  There is a religious saying, “Here is my finger pointing to show you the beautiful full moon.  Do not mistake my finger for the moon.  Do not just keep looking at my finger.”

It seems people tend to fall into one of two errors when it comes to the spiritual life.  One group wants to be so spiritual that they imagine they do not need a finger to point them on the way.  They want to leap directly to the moon.  They seem to think they are so full of God that they do not need anything else.  Some of us here today think we are so advanced on the Way that we no longer need the helps of religion.   Another group is very eager for instruction and they do look at the pointing finger.  And keep looking and looking and looking at that finger.  They never see the moon.  Some of us here today spend much time in religious activities but we are just never seeing God.   But Paul says that religion has a purpose.  It is not opposed to the promises of God.  In our times of communion, in baptism, in prayer, in reading the Bible, in meditation, in singing hymns, in times of fellowship, in marriage ceremonies, in funerals….in all these we find direction to lead us on the way.  They are all so very valuable.  Do not shun them for they will carry you to the Promise.  But listen.  They are not the Promise.  Religion is not God.  We are to use the religious life like medicine to help us in fighting off our sickness.  And we are all so very ill.    But medicine is not wellness.  And medicines can become addictions in themselves.  No, we are seeking wellness.  We are seeking the Promise.  We are seeking God, not merely religion.  The religious life points us on our way to God.  Take every advantage to learn from this finger pointing.  But do go on to find the pathway.  Do not merely stand at the gate.  Religion is not God.  And I pray you are seeking God.  Amen.