Sunday LinkUP – June 22, 2025 – Galatians 3:23-29

WELCOME and THANKS for joining us.

 

OPENING COMMENTS

• This is the second Sunday after Pentecost.
• Our theme for this week is we belong.
• The selected readings emphasize the tenderness of God in meeting us where we are.  We are God’s children, and we’re cared for in more ways than we know.
• Psalm 42 and 43, which are actually a single poem, are laments that evoke the feelings of loss, disappointment, and longing we’ve all experienced. The psalmist acknowledges the difficulty of these feelings but encourages us that God is in the midst of them.
• An illustration of God’s tender care during our darkest moments is found in 1 Kings 19. Elijah finds himself exhausted and isolated, so God sends an angel to minister to him, providing a cake and water for his physical needs and encouragement for his spiritual needs.
• The Gospel account in Luke 8 recounts Jesus’ healing of the demon-possessed man, sending the evil spirits into a herd of swine. More importantly, after the man was healed, Jesus sent him back to his people, his family, so that he could tell them what God had done for him.  Jesus chose an outsider, one thought to be unclean, to bear the good news of God.
• Our sermon text in Galatians 3:23–29 challenges us to rethink the ways we tend to categorize people and assess ourselves.

 

OPENING SONG

 

FIRST READING

Luke 8:26-39

²⁶ Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.  ²⁷ And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time.  And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs.  ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?  I beg You, do not torment me!”  ²⁹ For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.  For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.  

³⁰ Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?”  

And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him.  ³¹ And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.  

³² Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain.  So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them.  ³³ Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.  

³⁴ When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country.  ³⁵ Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.  ³⁶ They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed.   ³⁷ Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned.  

³⁸ Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him.   But Jesus sent him away, saying,   ³⁹ “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.”  And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.  

 

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FIRST MESSAGE

The Myth of Isolation
Greg Williams

Program Transcript … 

Have you ever participated in a large, multi-day event that was spiritually exhilarating and yet physically exhausting?  In July 2021 we held the GCI Denominational Celebration as an online event.  This was the first time we ever did a virtual gathering of this magnitude, and the post-celebration comments were extremely positive and grateful, yet the on-site staff were still physically and mentally recovering weeks later.

The Old Testament story of Elijah has similar elements.  Having demonstrated the power of God, having laid low the prophets of Baal, having revealed God’s supremacy beyond all doubt, and having those who witnessed the sacrifice at Mount Carmel turn and repent, Elijah is exhausted.  Then when the death threats of Jezebel come, he feels alone, flees, turns inward, and becomes deeply depressed.

Elijah cannot see a way out.  The salvation of Israel seems beyond hope and despite an amazing day of victory evil appears to have once again gained the upper hand.

God’s response to Elijah’s fatigue, despair, and loneliness is one of compassion and encouragement.

 God provides Elijah with food and  drink to gird him for the journey of revelation ahead of him – which lasted for 40 days.  At the end of this journey, Elijah finds himself in a cave, where God meets him and asks, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Let’s listen to his response:

“I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts.  For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”
1 Kings 19:14 (ESV)

“I only am left.”  This is the falsehood Elijah tells himself.  Have you ever told yourself this — have you ever convinced yourself that no one understands you, no one can help you?  In our darker moments, many of us have been there.

Yet in his compassion, God reveals to Elijah the truth; he is not alone.  God tells Elijah to go to Mount Horeb, where he witnesses the power of God over nature and then hears God speak to him in a low whisper.  He helps Elijah wrestle with his thoughts and fears and then he reveals to Elijah that there are 7,000 who have remained pure throughout this time of apostasy in Israel.

God then goes further and sends Elijah on his way, knowing that he will encounter a companion – Elisha – whose faith and faithfulness match his own.  God delivered Elijah out of loneliness and despair through the powerful reminder that He was with Elijah.

The next time you have a crisis of faith, a moment of weakness, a feeling of despair and loneliness, remember you are in the company of the great cloud of witnesses, where the greatest prophets (after Jesus) once trod.  Just as God never forsook them, he will never forsake you.

God always comes to us in strength and in our dark nights of the soul – always without condemnation, always filled with love and grace.  He is always there to deliver you out of the darkness, and into his eternal light.

I’m Greg Williams, Speaking of Life.

 

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SECOND READING

Galatians 3:23-29

²³ But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.   ²⁴ Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.   ²⁵ But after faith has come,  we are no longer under a tutor.   

²⁶ For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.   ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.   ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.   ²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.  

 

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SPECIAL MUSIC 

 

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SERMON

The Problem of Pigeonholing

Galatians 3:23–29  NRSVUE

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a personality assessment tool that’s sometimes used in business to make hiring decisions.  When you take the Myers-Briggs test, you’re asked 93 questions, and you only have two possible responses for each one.  Based on your answers, it places you in one of sixteen personality categories.

While the personality test may be useful, it also can be an inaccurate predictor of job success or satisfaction because your responses to the questions are fluid, depending on your circumstances, not static as the test assumes.  The article “The Dangers of Categorical Thinking” published in the Harvard Business Review in 2019 suggests that categorical thinking, such as that generated by Myers-Briggs, can be misleading and lead to the following:

• • Treating members of the same category like they are identical when differences still exist
  • Believing that the differences between people in different categories are greater than they are
  • Favoring or giving preference to some categories (discrimination).
  • Not allowing for the possibility that categories initially assigned may change.

Our brains tend to sort, categorize, and create binaries.  (A binary is something made of two things or parts.  Thinking in binaries can be limiting because it leads us to believe there are only two choices; it’s either this way or that way.)  We tend to pigeonhole others.  (Pigeonhole  is an expression to mean a neat category or label which usually fails to reflect actual complexities.)  But God doesn’t pigeonhole people or follow typical human expectations.  As we can see from the humble birth of Jesus in a manger, God often chooses the most unexpected response.

Consider the Gospel reading from Luke 8 this week.  Once Jesus healed the man who was possessed by demons, Jesus sent the man back to his family and village to preach the good news.  This man was an outsider, newly healed and restored to his right mind.  He had been isolated from and feared by his people, yet Jesus chose him to return to his people with the good news.  There also was the political subtext in the story where the demons called themselves “Legion,” after the fearsome Roman army.  And the pigs the demons were sent into were used to feed the Roman army who were occupying the Jews’ land by force.    Jesus responded to the situation in an entirely appropriate and subversive way, one that was unexpected but that addressed the inequities involved.

Our sermon text in Galatians speaks to this tendency we have to pigeonhole people.  Some mistakenly think that Paul was ranking two different religions (Judaism and Christianity).  But he was writing to show that God’s intentions for Israel were accomplished in Jesus, applying the promises to all the Messiah’s people (i.e., both Jews and Gentiles).

Let’s read the sermon text together.

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed.  Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be reckoned as righteous by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian,

for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.  As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.  And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.  Galatians 3:23-29 NRSVUE

 

The Context of Galatians  

More than 500 years ago, the Protestant Reformation, led by Martin Luther, was a 16th-century movement that challenged the authority of the Catholic Church.  It led to the creation of Protestant denominations, emphasizing (among other things) salvation by faith alone, rather than by works, and a “personal” relationship with God.  The book of Galatians has often been viewed through Martin Luther’s lens.  However, theologian N.T. Wright suggests that Luther was viewing Galatians from a medieval perspective rather than seeing Galatians from a first-century perspective.  The Reformation focused on the individual’s salvation rather than communal salvation,  and it emphasized heaven rather than heaven and earth coming together as a new temple through the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost.  This distorts the original intent of the book, and we must reconsider the historical context to understand why Paul wrote what he wrote.

For example, rather than focusing on the individual, Paul emphasized the communal fulfillment of promises made to Abraham that Christ brought to the world.  Wright says,

“Galatians is not about how to be saved from sin in order to go to heaven, and about the relationship of ‘faith’ and ‘works’ in that process.  Actually, ‘sin’ is hardly mentioned in the letter, and ‘salvation’ not at all” (p. 26).

Instead, if heaven’s reign started with Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, then redefining Abraham’s family is critical: “Therefore those who belong to the Messiah belong to Abraham – as they stand without more ado.  Without circumcision …” (Wright, p. 58).  Rather than defining Christian formation to be personal conduct or piety, this aspect is really a small piece of a larger whole – “whole person, whole-being, whole-society thing” (Wright, p. 53).  That’s the task Galatians 3 undertakes.

In Galatians 3:23–25, we read Paul describing what used to be, what changed  it, and what reality is now.  The Torah applied only to Jews, not to the believers in Galatia, but they needed to understand the purpose of the Torah.  Paul compares it to being in jail, but in ancient times, jails were not a punishment in themselves but a place to hold people until their outcome had been decided.  The Torah was a temporary “babysitter” (i.e., paidagōgos), making sure the Jews stayed in line until the Messiah came.  Therefore, the Galatians were not required to be circumcised because that would be going back to the “babysitter” when they were grown up in Christ (Wright, p. 331).

The rest of the passage (Galatians 3:26–29) seems to explain more fully what was said in v. 23–25.  Paul outlined history from Abraham to the Messiah in Galatian 3:1–14, explaining the role of the Torah was necessary but limited and negative in Galatians 3:15–22.  Wright sums up Galatians 3:26–29 in this way: “The reason for all this was to produce, in the end, the single Abraham family that is the Messiah’s people, and this [Jews and Gentiles together] is what this family looks like” (p. 332).

Let’s consider what the elimination of binaries and pigeonholing looks like in Galaians 3:28–29.

No Jew or Greek     

If we consider other letters written by Paul, such as Romans, we understand that he was not teaching that there were no distinctions between the different ethnic groups.  In Romans 1:16, Paul writes of God’s salvation to all who believe, “to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”  However, God made a way through Jesus Christ for all people groups (i.e., Jews and Greeks) to be included in the reconciliation of humanity with God.  They did not need to become identical to belong — but they were one because of union with Christ, because of Jesus’ inclusive, unifying act.

For modern Christians, this may look like promoting the well-being of all people groups, eliminating human tendencies to stereotype, pigeonhole, and discriminate while appreciating and seeking to understand unique racial, cultural, and religious differences.

No Slave or Free    

Paul’s vision of the cross included the abolition of social class within the church, and instead, a recognition of each member’s distinctive contribution to the body of Christ.  Paul’s letter to Philemon regarding the runaway slave Onesimus addresses the lack of division and social structures in the Body of Christ, and Paul asks Philemon to treat Onesimus as a brother in the Lord.

For us, we’re asked to consider what equality in our churches and our world might look like if all people were valued as part of the Body of Christ, regardless of financial means, social conventions, or political affiliation.  We’re challenged to think about how we respond to those who we might find different or even distasteful.

No Male or Female   

Paul’s epistles seem to place women into the category of “brothers.”  In other words, the term “brothers” identifies our place in God’s family, who we are in relation to our elder brother, the Son, more than gender.  We know from other epistles that women held important roles in the early church, including church house leaders (Chloe), letter interpreters (Phoebe), and prophets and prayer leaders (1 Corinthians 11:5).  Junia, was an early convert, a prisoner alongside Paul, and she was well known among the apostles (Romans 16:7).

For modern Christians, we’re challenged to rethink gender norms as well as cultural and religious practices that limit women’s freedom, ministry, and overall well-being.   New Testament Professor Emerita Jane Lancaster Patterson writes this about Galatians 3:28:

As a woman, I wonder whether it felt freeing to be considered as a ‘brother,’ a co-heir of Christ, in early Christian communities. Given the status of adult women as essentially minors under the law, would I have welcomed the agency and full respect that came with being counted among the adult brothers?

Paul wants the Galatians to understand that in terms of being a part of the Messiah’s family, these binaries don’t matter.  Wright has this to say:

The Galatians need to know, and to understand, that the radical newness of the Messiah’s family, a newness entered through sharing the Messiah’s death and resurrection (Galatians 2:19–20), means that they are every bit as much full and true members of God’s people as the Jerusalem apostles themselves (p. 338).

Pigeonholing people limits their flourishing, and as Galatians 3:23–29 makes plain, we’ve been called into a dynamic and growing relationship with each other and with the triune God.  In this relationship, we cultivate freedom and respect for all people.   We’re invited into a wide-open place of love and acceptance, far beyond the constriction of pigeonholing and binaries.

Call to Action:  This week, pay attention to the pigeonholing and binaries presented in the media as well as in your own thinking.  Notice them without judgment, understanding that the first step toward changing the tendency to label and categorize is awareness.  Ask God to make you sensitive to the ways that you pigeonhole yourself and others.

 

CLOSING SONG

 

CLOSING PRAYER

 

 

 

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Further Reading for the Preacher:

N.T. Wright says this about the book of Galatians:

God, so Paul believed, has done what many Jews had longed for him to do but not in the way they had imagined … In Messiah Jesus something shocking, scandalous, unexpected, and dramatically different has happened, but when you grasp its inner core of meaning, you realize that this was the point of the ancient promises upon which Israel had lived for two millennia.  God has acted shockingly, surprisingly, unexpectedly — as he always said he would (p.56).

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Small Group Discussion Questions