You are God’s Child through Faith!

One day, there were two kids playing on the playground. One found a bug and dared the other to eat it. Not wanting to eat it, but also honoring the gravity of being dared to do something, the other kid responded, “I’ll do it for a million dollars.”

There are two empty chairs behind me. I am going to put something on those two chairs, and you are going to help me figure out what to put on them. There are two options for the chairs, either a light or dark cloth. The light symbolizes innocence, while the dark symbolizes guilt. The test to determine whether each chair is innocent or guilty is if each chair has kept the First Commandment, which is recorded in Exodus 20, 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.” And repeated by Jesus in Matthew 22, 37 Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Oh, and I forgot to tell you that one chair represents all of us and the other represents everyone who does not believe in Jesus. With that as the test, the answer is…both chairs get the dark cloth. Both chairs get a dark cloth draped over them because everyone has broken the First Commandment. Both chairs are guilty.

The test for the two chairs seems unfair. Neither chair was innocent; there was no difference. Neither chair had a chance at being called innocent, which makes the answer to the test sound like a judgment or verdict. The test was doomed for failure, which must mean God’s First Commandment was doomed for failure. And in fact, that is one purpose for God’s First Commandment, which we will see from our New Testament reading from Galatians 3. Paul wrote,

23 “Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.”

Galatians 3:23

The law to which Paul referred was the Old Testament ceremonial law. When Israelites broke these laws there were consequences involving animal sacrifice. This consequence kept them aware of their need for a Savior. Paul went on to write,

24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.

Galatians 3:24

The term ‘guardian’ was used for a man, usually a slave, whose was responsible for getting a boy to and from school, like a school bus driver today. The guardian was not a teacher, just someone to get a child to a place. The Old Testament ceremonial laws got Israelites to seeing they needed a Savior but did not show them the Savior.

God’s law continues to show us our need for the Savior. You and I are no longer under the Old Testament ceremonial laws as Paul continued to write,

25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

Galatians 3:25

However, we are still under God’s law, the law best summarized by the Ten Commandments. And for us, one purpose of the Ten Commandments is to show us our sins and need for a Savior to deliver us from the consequences of breaking them. When we compare our lives to the goodness of God’s law, we are not found innocent, but guilty.

 Through faith in Jesus, you are innocent. The purpose of the law to show your need for the Savior is good, but the promise of the Savior is better. Paul wrote,

26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.”

Galatians 3:26

The Greek word translated here as ‘children’ is really the word for ‘son’. Paul used the term ‘son’ as opposed to other Greek words that refer to children not because he was talking only about males to the exclusion of females, but because he was talking about rights to something. At his time the male heir would receive the inheritance, which is the point Paul is making and emphasizing. All people through faith receive the rights to the inheritance. All people through faith are no longer under the law and guilty. All people through faith are in Christ and innocent. Paul goes on with further assurance that you are innocent,

27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Galatians 3:27

Through baptism, God removes the dark cloth of guilt from sin and replaces it with the light cloth of innocence. The innocence of Christ is yours through baptism. Baptism is the work of God to connect you to Jesus by faith, to save you, to make you innocent, to make you his child and an heir to eternal life in heaven. Through faith you have a new answer to the test. Through faith the chair that represents us gets the light cloth from God and is innocent.

Jesus earned your innocence through his sacrifice. In our Gospel reading from Luke 9, Jesus asked his disciples who he was, to which

20 … Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.” Then, 21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

Luke 9:20-22

Jesus was rejected by people who believed they could change their dark cloth to light through the law. They hated Jesus because to them he was the strongest proof that they could not save themselves, which terrified and enraged them. Yet, this was the plan as we heard in our Old Testament reading from Zechariah 13, 7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!” declares the Lord Almighty. Jesus, the Shepherd, would die to save his sheep. Jesus suffered as an innocent sacrifice like the many lambs were sacrificed according to the Old Testament ceremonial law. Jesus was sacrificed for your sins, so that he could give you the credit of his good life by faith. Again, we heard the words of our New Testament reading from Galatians 3, 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Through faith you are justified meaning declared not guilt. Through faith in Jesus, you are innocent.

Innocence through faith is for all. Paul stresses the point that through faith in Jesus everyone has the same inheritance and equal share of eternal life. He wrote,

28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:28

Paul used three pairs to show all are equal recipients of God’s love, forgiveness and eternal life in heaven through faith in Jesus. A person’s birthright as a Jew or Gentile did not make them more or less honored in Christ. A person’s social standing as a slave or free did not make them more or less worthy of Christ. A person’s gender did not give them a greater or less share of heaven. And these truths continue today. There is no race or place of origin that makes one better or worse. There is no level of education, career or amount of material wealth that makes one more worthy of Christ. And notice there is a different word between the last pair, not ‘nor’ but ‘and’. There is male and female, but both genders are given an equal share of heaven and equal status as justified in Christ. At last, Paul wrote, 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. The promise saves, not the law. Just as Abraham believed the promise, so anyone who believes the promise is credited with righteousness. You who believe are heirs. This does not free you from being tested, but it is the answer. You will be tested as we heard in our Old Testament reading from Zechariah 13,

9 This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

Zechariah 13:9

The test is whether you are innocent through the law or through faith. The answer is through faith in Jesus.

When one kid asked another kid to eat a bug on the playground, the other kid said, “I’ll do it for a million dollars.” The other kid added conditions because it was not a good deal. You are guilty under God’s law, and you cannot change God’s law, nor do you need to change it. The law shows you your need for the Savior. And God’s promise shows you the Savior. Through Jesus, you have the birthright to heaven, you have good standing in the presence of God and you are equally loved, valued, forgiven and saved. Through baptism, we have been clothed with Christ’s innocence. You are God’s child through faith. Amen.