Sidetracked?

In today’s reading from his letter to the Galatians (Galatians 3: 1-14) Paul chides the Galatians for allowing the Judaizers to persuade them that they needed to obey the Law, to follow the rules and regulations of the Mosaic Code. He reminds them that they are put right with God by faith in Jesus Christ and not by their own efforts. He points to their attention that the real descendants of Abraham are the people who have faith. Those who are put right with God through faith will also through faith receive the Holy Spirit promised by God.

The mistake the Galatians made is not an uncommon one. It is one that Christians make in our own time. The Galatians got off to a good start but then they got sidetracked. They were influenced by the thinking of the Judaizers, Jewish Christians who insisted that Gentiles, non-Jews, must become Jews and follow the Mosaic Code in order to be followers of Jesus Christ. They essentially believed that God’s kindness was meant for Jews alone and for Gentiles to experience God’s kindness, they needed to become Jews. This attitude was contrary to what Jesus said after reading a passage from the Book of Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth.

Christians get sidetracked in several different ways. Their attention may be directed away from what is important to what is less important or not important at all.

How then do they get sidetracked? One way is that they come to believe that a person must adopt certain beliefs, principles, and ways of acting before they may become a Christian. These beliefs, principles, and ways of acting may have nothing to do with what Jesus taught and practiced or the teaching that was passed on to apostles like Paul who were not one of the original disciples. They may be beliefs, principles, and ways of acting that a particular Christian tradition has been following for a long time. The churches in that particular Christian tradition may mistakenly that because these beliefs, principles, and ways of acting are old and even wide-spread, they must not be wrong or false.

A second way is to insist that after one becomes a Christian, one must adopt a set of beliefs, principles, and ways of acting like those described in the previous paragraph.

A third way Christians become sidetracked is that they are led to believe that when they become Christians, they can keep feeling, thinking, and behaving the way that they did before they became Christians. They do not need to make any changes in their feelings, opinions, or ways of behaving. God accepts and affirms them exactly as they are.

A fourth way is that Christians believe that a person who has made a decision to receive Jesus as their Savior does not need to embrace him as their Lord. They are also not bound by any requirements of the Old Testament Law.

How do these four ways Christians get sidetracked stack up to what Jesus taught and practiced. First, Jesus did not require those who became his followers to make changes in their lives before they became his followers. He did expect them to trust in him and in what he taught and practiced.

Second, Jesus did not encourage his disciples to adopt attitudes, beliefs, and behavior that did not have their basis in the Scriptures. He warned them against the traditions of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

At the same time, he did expect them to follow his teaching and example and to make changes in their lives to that end.

In his teaching Jesus did stress obedience to the commandments which are called moral. In his teaching about what makes someone “unclean,” Jesus taught, “For from your heart come the evil ideas which lead you to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others.” (Matthew 15:19) In his conversation with the rich young man Jesus also stressed the moral commandments. “Jesus answered, ‘Do not commit murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; respect your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as you love yourself.’” (Matthew 19: 18-19)

Third, while Jesus mingled with all kinds of people, social outcasts as well as the respected members of Jewish society, and accepted their hospitality, he also told the woman caught in adultery, having saved her life and forgiven her, not to sin anymore. In other words, he conveyed to her the expectation that she would change her ways. In his teaching he conveyed the expectation that those who became his disciples would follow his teaching. They would show their love for him by obeying his commands. Jesus may have met them where they were but after they became his disciples, they were expected to make changes in their lives.

When Jesus was told that his mother and his brothers were looking for him, Jesus’ response was, “He looked at the people sitting around him and said, ‘Look! Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does what God wants is my brother, my sister, my mother.’” (Mark 3:34-35) What does God want? God wants us to obey Jesus in whom he is well-pleased.

The implications are clear. We cannot go on ghosting friends because we have found a new friend who is more exciting, more fun, and more interesting, and we no longer willing to forgive or overlook our old friend's faults and mistakes as we once did. We are no longer free to ignore someone’s existence because acknowledging their existence is inconvenient to us and causes us problems or difficulties. Such behavior is not consistent with what Jesus taught and practiced and therefore it is not suitable or right for one of his disciples.

The belief that God does not require us to make any changes in our lives when we become a follower of Jesus can be significant obstacle to our being open to the sanctifying, perfecting grace that God supplies us for the very purpose of transforming our lives and to our making effective use of that grace. It can keep us from becoming like Jesus in our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions.

Fourth, we cannot separate receiving Jesus as Savior from embracing him as Lord. Trusting in Jesus involves more than trusting in his saving work on the cross. It involves trusting in his words as well as his actions. As both the apostles James and Paul point to our attention, a vital faith shows itself clearly through actions, through deeds of kindness, as James puts it; through love, as Paul puts it.

Loving others, whether our neighbors, our enemies, or our brothers and sisters in Christ, can be seen as a test of our faith in Jesus. It means that we cannot adopt an attitude of indifference or unfriendliness toward them. When the opportunity present itself, it means showing them our love, our kindness, and our attention. It does not mean evading them or avoiding such opportunities.

This may not be easy. We may not find a particular individual especially loveable. Due to our past experiences, we may be uncomfortable around them. We may struggle to give others love, kindness, and attention because we ourselves have not received much love, kindness, and attention. God, however, supplies us with abundant grace to fulfill his will. He enables us to will what he wills and when we do will what he wills to keeping willing what he wills. He also gives us the power to carry out his will. If we hang back and do not avail ourselves of his grace, the Holy Spirit will gently nudge us to make use of God’s grace. He will encourage us to get back on track.