The True Transformers
Galatians 2:20
I’ve not seen the
movie Transformers...and I never
will...but I have to
confess that the idea is somewhat fascinating
-the concept of regular, everyday objects being
radically changed
into something with superpowers
That’s the same
premise of the TV show, Heroes, and comic
book
characters of Spiderman, Batman, and Superman
...everyday
people who discover they have a unique
super-human ability
-for those of us who’ve always dreamed of
doing just one thing
really, really well...or of becoming a
hero...or of making a
significant difference in the world, or
even in one person...those
characters and ideas resonate with us
Who doesn’t want to be something or someone
more than they are?
-...even to leave their old life...and begin
again...to get a fresh start?
--in some way, that may be a desire all
share
---this deep, inner realization that
we are not all that we are
meant to be...we’re not all God
created us to be...not yet
When I’m longing to
be more...I find tremendous hope in the truth of
2
Corinthians 5:17, especially the second word à If anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
-of course, the key conditional element of
the promise is for that
“anyone” to be in Christ...everything hinges upon that, upon Him
No passage of
Scripture, in my opinion, describes what it means to
be in
Christ...to be His follower than Galatians
2:20 [Read]
-this
verse, as you can probably see, is packed full of some heavy
and significant theological claims about
who we are in Christ,
how that changes how we’re to live, and why
we have willingly
given control of our lives to some wandering,
Jewish rabbi
It’s kinda’ crazy
when you think about it—trust me, I’ve thought about
it plenty...I mean, I’m actually claiming
that my complete identity
and eternity rests in the hands of some Jew
who walked the earth
2000 years ago and was executed by, of all
people, the Jewish
religious leaders (with some help from the
Roman government)
But as nonsensical
as that seems...there’s something even more
ridiculous...that this Jesus, who claims to
be the Son of God, the
Savior of the world...this Jesus would freely
lay down His life in
order that I can be reconciled with God
-you see, my sins—like yours—separate me
from God...but then
Jesus steps in, sheds His blood, takes
on the punishment I fully
deserve...and enables me to have life
through His death and, as
we’ll see in a moment, our own death as
well
--that’s a lot to expect from one
verse...but just wait
Up to this point in
his letter to the churches in the region of
Paul has been confronting and correcting a
heresy
-basically, after believing the gospel and
surrendering their lives to
follow Christ, many Galatian Christians
were turning to a radically
different “gospel”...so different, in
fact, that Paul says at the
beginning of Galatians 1:7 that it is really no gospel at all
--in
other words, quite literally, this really
isn’t good news at all!
-he says that because they had been
reverting to the Jewish way
of thinking that they were made right in
the sight of God (or
“justified”) by keeping the Jewish laws
and commandments
--now, there’s nothing wrong with
doing that unless you believe
that your religion or your own
goodness is going to make
things right between you and God (or
“justify” you)
---and that’s where the big
problem lies
----in 3:10 he makes that quite explicit à All who rely
on observing the
law are under a curse
-----notice that
the issue isn’t observing the law,
but relying on one’s goodness
---the solution is also quite
explicit in 2:16 à ...a man is not
justified by observing the
law, but by faith in Jesus
Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ
Jesus that
we may be justified by faith
in Christ and not by observing
the law, because by observing
the law no one will be
justified.
----it just doesn’t get
any clearer than that
So with all of that
in the background, but still in the front of our minds,
we turn to our key passage and begin to
unpack the treasure there
-it’s enough that we need to look at it
phrase by phrase
--and it begins with a rather odd,
almost foreign concept
I have been crucified with Christ...
-be honest—our first reaction here is one
of: “Nuh-uh! I know what
crucifixion is...and I didn’t sign up for
that!”
--well, if you call yourself a
Christ-follower, you actually did
---remember what was read earlier
from Romans 6?
----...don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into
Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death?...we have
been united with Him like
this in His death...for we know
that our old self was
crucified with Him so that the body
of sin might be done away
with, that we should no
longer be slaves to
sin—because anyone who has died
has been freed from sin.
It’s also important
to grasp the word Paul uses here for “crucified”
-it’s not a one-time thing...“I was crucified”
-it’s not future...“I will be crucified”
-it’s not conditional...“I may be crucified”
-it’s not continuous...“I am being crucified”
-instead it’s a rather uncommon form known as
the perfect tense
which indicates it was a one-time action
that happened in the past,
but that has produced continued effects
--as 1 Peter 3:18 explains it à For Christ died for sins once for
all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.
It’s a difficult
concept to get hold of, but when Christ died, we who
trust in Him died, as well
-we died to sin...we died to the hold sin
had on us...we died to our
old identity, our old selves...we died
to any hint of any notion that
any effort on our part—regardless of how
valiant and how
religious—could ever justify us in the eyes of God
--after all, a dead man is about as helpless and as hopeless as
you can get...and yet, when we
identify yourself as “Christian”
that is exactly what we
become—dead
In fact, Paul goes
on to reinforce that with the next phrase...and
I no
longer live
-that puts the proverbial nail in the
coffin, doesn’t it?
--I
have been crucified...and I no longer live
-this isn’t merely symbolism...some
mystical metaphor...this is
death to self, death to sin, death to
the credo: “my will be done”
Too many people
filling pews across town and across the country this
morning are like the
woman in the classic cartoon by Mary Chambers
-two couples are seated in a living room having
Bible study
--one of the women says, “Well, I haven't
actually died to sin, but
I did feel kind of faint once.”
Tragically many
self-proclaimed Christians have never gone through
that death because they refuse to surrender
everything to Him
-they insist on maintaining control of, if
not everything, at least
some
aspect of their lives...their social life, their professional life,
their secret sins...all of which serves as
pretty hard evidence that
they’ve never experienced that
crucifixion with Christ
--am I saying that genuine Christians
don’t struggle with
temptation and sin? of
course not...prime example right here!
---but Paul, inspired by the
Holy Spirit, leaves no uncertainty
that life in Christ must be
preceded by death in Christ
----and death tends to leave
a lasting impression
Just ask
-while in college, he served as a summer
missionary in East
--at the end of one of the church's
worship services, a teenage
girl stood before the congregation to
announce her decision to
follow Christ and be baptized
-afterward,
the wall of the church building, so he asked
the pastor about it
--the pastor pointed to the girl who
had just been baptized and
said, "Her father said that if
she were baptized as a Christian
she could never go home again. So
she brought her luggage."
If you had to pick
either the cartoon woman or the Malaysian girl, who
better represents your heart...your
surrender?
-are you simply feeling faint or a little
nauseous?
-or are you ready to turn your back on all
you know and love...turn
fully to Jesus...and say with humble
conviction, “Whatever the
cost, I will follow Christ.”
The difficult words
of Jesus in Luke 14:25-33 are
especially
applicable here...Read
But in Christ, death leads to resurrection
and to life and to eternal life
-only days before His own crucifixion Jesus
said...
Read John 12:23-27
It seems like a
paradox...a complete contradiction...
-but Jesus doesn’t mess things up...He shows
us what’s true and
right...and then reveals that we are the ones who are messed up
--from death comes life
-and back to Romans 6 à We were therefore buried with Him
through
baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised
from
the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a
new
life...we will certainly...be united with Him in His resurrection...
if
we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.
-and finally in our text, Paul writes à but Christ lives in me
--2
Timothy 2:11 à If we died with Him, we will also live with Him.
We live with Christ,
in Christ...yet still in this human body...and we do
so by faith in Christ
-The
life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who
loved me and gave Himself for me.
Death changes
everything...
Resurrection makes
everything new...everything
Yesterday afternoon
I was reading through this week’s Sports
Illustrated to see
how the experts ranked Mizzou for this upcoming
football season
-I stumbled upon a one-page article about a
safety...I only paused to read it
because of an inset box that
contained this quote: “I had friends who were killed living the
same life I lived.”
--that got my attention...and the
story itself had an impact on me
because it was in Sports Illustrated and not some Christian
men’s devotional book
It turns out the
safety, Marty Tadman, is tied for
most interceptions
among active college players...two came in
last year’s Fiesta bowl
against
-when he crossed the goal line, he took a
knee and pointed
skyward...about which the Sport Illustrated writer commented,
“Such celebrations are so commonplace
now that most people
watching one of the greatest games in
college football history...
paid it little mind. Those who know Marty Tadman, though, were
well aware of its significance.”
Coming out of
Tadman was named the
-but the prestigious honor did little to
hide the true story of a young
man who had become a drug user at the
age of 13...a cocaine
addict and heavy drinker by 15...and a
dealer by 16
--on his official recruiting visit to
horrible impression on the
coaching staff that they nearly
revoked his scholarship
One night the
following April, Tadman was depressed and alone on
the beach...and as an 18-year-old high school
senior who was about
to play Division I football on a full
scholarship...he was nearly
crushed by the question of why his life was
still so empty
-that night, Tadman says, “God revealed
Himself to me and gave
me a reason to live.”
--he quit all alcohol and drugs cold
turkey...and he asked his
Jewish mother if she could get him
a Bible
Three years later,
Marty Tadman preaches at churches in the Pacific
Northwest...and, along with his wife, Nicole
(a
player) leads a campus ministry
“Realistically,”
Marty says, “if I had never become a Christian, I’d
have been kicked off the team, or ended up in
jail, or worse. I had
friends who were killed living the same life
I lived.”
Perhaps Paul and
Jesus are right...those who try so desperately to
live, are certain to die...but those who
willingly surrender and die will
be given life...and be truly transformed