A sermon preached on the fourth Sunday after Pentecost, 16 June 2013, at Blooming Grove Reformed Church, DeFreestville, NY Galatians 2:15-21 1 Kings 21:1-21a Father’s Day gift question: what do you get the king who rules everything . . . well, everything nearby . . . but who won’t act the way you might expect a king to act? Well, if you’re Jezebel, you have the next-door neighbor killed and frame him for his own death so that you can give hubby a new garden. In a way, Jezebel was just being consistent with who she was, who she was raised to be. She was raised in a palace, but not an Israelite palace; where she grew up, kings took what they wanted, they owned the people. That’s the thing about Jezebel; for as evil and vindictive as she seemed, she was simply being consistent with how she was raised, how she saw the world, and always had. She believed that citizens existed to service their royalty, while her husband was raised—ro should have been raised—to believe the royalty were meant to care for their citizens. But, in her own way, Jezebel loved Ahab, and she was trying to do something loving for him. Which goes to show that the best intentions can become destructive without God’s grace. Still, Jezebel is simply being true to herself, which is why God’s anger is focused on Ahab. Ahab was from the line of David and Solomon; more was expected of him. For all he tried to play innocent, Ahab had at least a strong idea what had happened to Naboth; the blood was on his hands. Jezebel and Ahab, in a life without God’s grace, could only bring about destruction. This is what Paul was trying to explain to the Galatians: even if we were to live up to every letter of God’s Law, we would be lost without God’s grace. Fortunately, Christ has faith in us, and Christ’s faithfulness can fill our lives with grace, whether we sin or not—and we know that all of us do. So Jezebel and Ahab, living without God, can bring death even when they try to be nice, while we who believe can get everything wrong trying to follow God, and still God uses it for good. It is all because every day, more and more, it is not we who live, but Christ living in us. Every day, more and more, we live by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loves us and gave himself up for us. Every day, more and more, we are able to give ourselves up for others. Every day, more and more, we can risk and dare, knowing that God will not let us go wrong. Every day, more and more, Christ living in us, we can love one another and do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly. It isn’t easy—faith that matters never is—and we may seem about to fly apart any minute, but Christ in us holds us together, making us alive when everyone expects we will be dead. For it’s one thing to get a gift for the person who seems to have—or rule—everything, but our greatest gifts come when we live for God, as if we have nothing for ourselves at all.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 23:58:07 +0000
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