WEBVTT

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 The theologian N.T. Wright recalls the story of the tightrope walker Charles Blondin.

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 He lived in the 19th century.

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 He set up a rope across Niagara Falls and walked across several times.

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 So confident did he become that he made the journey backwards as well as forwards.

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 And he performed various tricks along the way, like sitting on a stool or eating a meal.

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 But the most famous trick was when he asked for a volunteer to be carried over on his back.

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 And it must be one of the most supreme acts of physical trust, faith ever placed by one human being in another.

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 A brave, or perhaps foolish man, stepped forward and was carried across on this great man's shoulders.

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 Now, supposing halfway across, the man had said to Blondin,

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 Look here, this is all very well, by the way, but I don't really trust you anymore.

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 I don't think I need to trust you.

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 I think I'd just be better off doing the rest by myself.

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 Let me down and I'll walk from here without you.

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 Now, the professional daredevil and everybody witnessing would have said,

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 You must be nuts.

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 Have you lost your senses?

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 Do you really think that you could take even one step on your own,

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 much less get all the way back?

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 How did you get to this point in the first place?

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 And this is where we find ourselves in the book of Galatians.

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 A letter to a church somewhere in the province of Galatia,

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 which was in Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey.

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 It's a church that Paul has visited before.

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 He's preached there.

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 But something has changed since Paul left.

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 False teachers have arrived and are adding to the gospel.

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 The good news that through Jesus' death and resurrection,

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 people from every nation and ethnicity can be a member of God's family.

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 These false teachers are saying,

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 Yes, yes, yes, to all of that good news and Jesus and death and resurrection stuff.

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 Yes.

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 But listen, if you want to be a member of God's family and a son of Abraham,

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 then you need to follow the Torah.

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 You need to follow the Old Testament and all the official teachings surrounding it.

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 And particularly, the men need to get circumcised.

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 And the Galatians are seriously considering it.

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 And Paul is flabbergasted.

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 So we're going to look at Paul's response here in chapter 3.

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 And we're going to respond to his response with three prayers.

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 And we've already been praying them, but we're going to pray them again.

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 We're going to pray them three separate times.

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 So, Ben, don't come up until the third prayer.

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 We're going to pray.

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 We're going to pray,

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 Let's start in verse 1.

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 Can we have that up on the screen, perhaps?

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 Thanks, Emily.

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 Paul doesn't literally say that you've lost your senses.

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 But he almost says that.

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 He says,

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 Oh, foolish Galatians.

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 Galatians have suffered a massive failure of understanding or intellect.

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 Paul writes,

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 Who has bewitched you?

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 When Paul says bewitched,

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 more literally he is saying,

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 Who has cast an evil spell on you with their eye?

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 That's what that means.

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 Or,

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 Who has bewitched you with an evil eye?

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 And then he continues with the vision motif.

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 It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

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 That's what Paul writes.

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 Paul isn't suggesting that the Galatians were eyewitnesses to the resurrection,

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 nor is he saying that he drew a literal picture of the crucifixion for them.

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 He's saying,

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 My preaching of the gospel was crystal clear so that you could even see it.

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 I preached how Jesus' death and resurrection has set you free from sin and death.

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 Before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

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 But you've been bewitched.

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 Does Paul really think that an evil spell has been cast on the Galatians?

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 No.

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 But nor is he simply being metaphorical.

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 Many commentators suggest that Paul believes there to be some kind of dark spiritual force at work here,

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 deceiving the Galatians, exploiting their blind spots.

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 And I think this is instructive for us here at Church of the Advent.

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 If the church in Galatia could have blind spots,

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 I mean, couldn't we, right?

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 Tommy is a very gifted preacher.

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 But they had the Apostle Paul preaching there.

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 They endured suffering.

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 They endured suffering.

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 And they still believed.

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 They experienced miracles worked by the Holy Spirit in their presence.

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 And yet still they lost sight of the truth of the gospel.

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 So surely we could have blind spots, right?

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 Surely there could be ways we are failing to apply or believe the gospel.

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 I'll tell you a couple ways how I failed to apply the gospel.

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 The gospel teaches us that Jesus gave up everything for us

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 so that we could have a seat at the table, a place in the family of God.

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 Therefore, we too have the power to give up our preferences and to prefer one another,

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 showing a radical hospitality to each other.

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 Now, it's generally the experience of persons of color,

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 when they move in white spaces like ours,

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 that they have to give up all of their preferences in order to belong.

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 I'll give you two examples.

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 So my wife and I serve on the board of a homeschooler's co-op.

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 And as part of that, when families come to interview to be part of our cooperative,

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 we discern if it would be beneficial to them,

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 if they align with our beliefs and practices.

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 And so what we ask, we introduce this by saying,

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 we just want to make sure this is a good fit both for you and for us.

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 And these are questions that we learn from the people that interviewed us.

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 And this is the questions that we've been asking.

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 So recently, there was an Indian family that joined our board.

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 And they pointed out to us a big blind spot that we had.

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 They said, when you ask persons of color,

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 and when you say to them, we want to make sure this is a good fit,

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 basically what you're saying is you're requiring that they give up everything about their culture

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 in order to belong to yours.

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 She said it was true of us, this is how we felt,

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 and this is true across the board of all the persons of color that we've talked to in this co-op.

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 We had no idea.

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 It was a big blind spot, but it doesn't excuse us.

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 We had perhaps the right intent, but it doesn't excuse the impact.

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 Here's another way that I've had a blind spot in regards to this.

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 As a church, one way to communicate that everyone belongs here

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 is to do music that reflects the cultures and traditions of the people that are already here.

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 And so you may have noticed over the last eight months

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 that we've been doing more contemporary gospel music than we've been used to doing.

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 And a few weeks ago, one of our African-American members in our Columbia Heights parish

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 approached me one evening and said that she's noticed.

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 She came up to me and said, who's in charge of the music?

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 It's like, I'm in charge of the music.

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 I'm in charge.

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 She goes, well, I've noticed that you've been doing more and more contemporary gospel music

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 in the worship services, and I've noticed.

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 As a matter of fact, we're now singing this song.

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 The Hammond song, Fred Hammond.

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 Which one is it?

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 Yeah, You're the Living Word. Thanks.

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 You're the Living Word.

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 This is a song that her family sang growing up, together, all the time.

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 A cappella.

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 And she said, by doing these songs, I now feel more at home at Advent than I have ever felt.

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 That's great news.

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 Now, I'm not saying that to pat ourselves on the back.

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 I say it to pat Ben and Lauren on the back.

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 These have been like their introductions.

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 I could have made these changes like years ago.

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 But I had a blind spot.

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 I wasn't preferring and noticing.

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 And fortunately, I belong to a really gracious, patient church.

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 Patient with one another who shows kindness.

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 We have further chances to apply the gospel to practice radical hospitality,

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 honoring the preferences of those who historically have had to give up all their preferences in order to belong.

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 So, before I go on, can we pray this first prayer together?

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 Let's pray.

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 Lord, open our eyes.

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 Would You help us to see one another, to hear one another's stories,

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 to prefer one another, to set aside our preferences.

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 Open our eyes to our blind spot so that we can prefer each other as You have preferred us,

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 setting aside everything to bring us into the family of God.

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 We pray these things in Jesus' name.

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 Amen.

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 All right.

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 So, let's come back to the church in Galatia.

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 So, what have the Galatians forgotten?

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 The Galatians have forgotten about grace.

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 Galatians is a book about God's grace.

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 Galatians begins with grace.

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 It's the very first word Paul uses to address the Galatians.

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 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,

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 who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age,

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 according to the will of God and Father,

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 to whom be the glory forever and ever.

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 Amen.

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 Galatians ends with grace.

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 Chapter 6, verse 18, Paul writes,

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 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers.

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 Amen.

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 And then from end to end, it is filled with grace.

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 And it shows up in these six verses.

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 The word grace doesn't appear, but the idea is there.

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 Paul writes,

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 Let me ask you only this.

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 Did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

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 Now, Paul here is referring to grace when he uses the word receive.

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 Another word for grace is gift, right?

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 They are both translations of the Greek word keres.

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 A gift is something that is received, not earned.

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 So what makes a gift a gift?

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 What makes a gift a gift?

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 Well, it depends, right?

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 Sometimes it means that there is no reciprocity required.

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 Right?

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 And I think that's usually what we in the West think of when we think of the word gift.

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 Like if I'm to give you a gift, and if I'm to expect a gift in return,

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 well, that kind of nullifies the giftiness of the gift, right?

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 But that's not true in all cultures, nor has it been historically true.

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 And it's not what Paul has in mind when he writes about gift and grace.

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 What Paul has in mind and what made his understanding of grace so radical is its incongruity.

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 It's not its lack of reciprocity.

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 You see, in other cultures, if I were to give a gift, I could expect a gift in return,

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 and you give me a gift.

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 The purpose of gifts in that scenario is to strengthen the social bonds between two people,

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 right?

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 So reciprocity is okay.

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 It doesn't nullify the gifts.

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 What Paul has in mind is incongruity.

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 The gift or grace is bestowed regardless of the worth of its recipient.

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 That's what makes this grace.

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 This was not an understanding of gift in Paul's time.

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 The recipient of a gift in Paul's time had to be in some sense worthy of the gift

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 because nobody would want themselves tied to people who would degrade their social capital.

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 And so whenever you gave the gift, you would discern if they're worthy or not, right?

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 Not so with God's grace.

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 This is not God's grace.

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 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God.

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 Christ made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant so that we might become God's sons and daughters.

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 You see the incongruity?

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 But the Galatian men were considering getting circumcised because they were led to believe that in addition to the gift of grace,

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 circumcision would make them worthy of this gift.

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 What Paul wants the Galatians to remember is that there was nothing that made them worthy of the gift.

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 Sheer grace.

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 Both Jews and non-Jews are called by grace into common belonging to Christ.

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 Their previous evaluations of one another and their traditions based on ethnic distinctions

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 are subverted by an event that has paid no regard to any former criteria of worth.

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 This disregard is what makes the good news the good news.

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 Do you try to add to your worth?

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 Do you believe you can provide something that adds to what God has already provided for you?

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 I know you do, because I do.

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 I do.

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 For one, you can be defensive.

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 Don't be defensive.

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 You can be defensive.

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 You're criticized and you feel indignant.

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 You cling to your reputation for your sense of worth.

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 And when that sense of worth, that reputation is threatened, you leap to defend it.

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 You either lash out or you just burn inside.

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 You forget that your only worth comes only from what has been given to you as an act of grace.

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 God's grace.

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 God's gift.

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 Your union with God.

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 Your sonship.

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 The love the Father has bestowed on you.

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 That's what makes us worthy.

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 That's where we find our worth.

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 Ideally.

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 But we often get indignant and defensive.

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 And, you know, you can be critical of others, too, right?

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 If you compare yourself with another person, you can come out feeling better about yourself, right?

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 I have worth.

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 I eat better than this person.

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 I'm more fit.

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 I can't believe people eat that.

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 I can't believe people would belong to that political party.

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 I can't believe people would raise their children that way.

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 I can't believe my housemate won't pick up after themselves.

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 Boy, I pick up after myself.

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 I belong to the right political party.

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 I feel worthy.

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 You know, perhaps you wrestle with feelings of guilt and shame.

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 You know, when you do, you, too, are tying God's grace to your worthiness to receive it,

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 or, in this case, your unworthiness to receive it.

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 Martin Luther had a thing or two to say about shame, for he, too, wrestled with this.

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 And he gives you advice for those occasions when the devil accuses you.

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 And he tries to convince you that you are unworthy of God's grace.

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 In a sermon that he delivered on Galatians chapter 1, Martin Luther says,

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 You should tell the devil,

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 Just by telling me that I am a miserable great sinner,

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 you are placing a sword and weapon into my hand with which I can decisively overcome you.

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 Yea, with your own weapon I can kill and floor you.

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 For if you can tell me that I am a poor sinner,

00:17:36.560 --> 00:17:40.780
 I, on the other hand, can tell you that Christ died for sinners and is their intercessor.

00:17:40.779 --> 00:17:49.339
 You remind me of the boundless great faithfulness and benefaction of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:55.359
 The burden of my sins and all the trouble and misery that were to oppress me eternally,

00:17:55.740 --> 00:18:01.299
 you very gladly took upon his shoulders and suffered the bitter death on the cross for them.

00:18:01.299 --> 00:18:02.700
 To him I direct you.

00:18:02.940 --> 00:18:05.339
 You may accuse and condemn him.

00:18:06.619 --> 00:18:08.299
 Let me rest in peace.

00:18:09.500 --> 00:18:12.700
 For on his shoulders, not on mine,

00:18:13.259 --> 00:18:17.839
 lie all my sins and the sins of all the world.

00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:24.139
 Before I go on, pray with me.

00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:28.959
 Lord, open our hearts to your gift of grace.

00:18:29.740 --> 00:18:32.839
 Lord, help us to hear with faith.

00:18:34.119 --> 00:18:35.659
 Help us to believe.

00:18:37.059 --> 00:18:38.399
 Help us to trust.

00:18:40.119 --> 00:18:43.579
 To trust in you for our worth, for our righteousness.

00:18:43.579 --> 00:18:49.039
 Lord, forgive us for being defensive.

00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:52.419
 Lord, forgive us for being self-righteous and pharisaical.

00:18:53.619 --> 00:18:55.879
 Lord, heal our guilt and shame.

00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:04.119
 That we might experience a loving relationship with you, Father, day to day.

00:19:04.279 --> 00:19:08.879
 As your children, recipients of your good gift of grace.

00:19:09.919 --> 00:19:10.439
 Amen.

00:19:10.440 --> 00:19:13.140
 All right.

00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:17.960
 One last way we try to add to our worth is by relying on ourselves

00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:22.580
 and not by being completely dependent on the Holy Spirit.

00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:27.519
 Now, when Paul talks about grace, he often uses a part to describe the whole.

00:19:27.700 --> 00:19:29.500
 We call this a synecdoche, right?

00:19:29.600 --> 00:19:33.580
 And so, throughout Galatians, he's going to refer to the death of Christ.

00:19:33.700 --> 00:19:39.440
 Well, he means often the death of Christ, the resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:43.519
 And when he says the resurrection, he means all of that, too, at the same time.

00:19:43.580 --> 00:19:45.059
 And so, he's doing the same thing here.

00:19:45.620 --> 00:19:48.019
 You've received the Holy Spirit.

00:19:48.920 --> 00:19:51.279
 So, he's referring to the whole gift of God's grace.

00:19:51.400 --> 00:19:54.660
 And yet, he's also referring to the Holy Spirit.

00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:58.000
 The Holy Spirit, in particular.

00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:07.420
 It was the Holy Spirit who hovered over the waters and through whom the world was created.

00:20:08.019 --> 00:20:10.059
 And now he is bestowed.

00:20:10.220 --> 00:20:14.000
 As his children, the Holy Spirit is bestowed on you.

00:20:15.400 --> 00:20:23.180
 And he who created everything is living in you, creating new life, reminding you of your adoption as sons and daughters.

00:20:23.180 --> 00:20:27.519
 He fills you and brings newness to your life.

00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:30.840
 Where you feel weak and inadequate, he gives you power.

00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:41.799
 When you experience bondage and addiction, he sets you free, breaking chains, habits, addictions, things that would keep you spiritually bound.

00:20:42.259 --> 00:20:47.140
 He's the counselor, the helper, the gift giver, the guide.

00:20:47.140 --> 00:20:52.920
 He softens our hearts, taking away our hearts of stone.

00:20:53.460 --> 00:20:59.259
 And he gives us hearts of flesh, moving us to love others and help those in need.

00:20:59.360 --> 00:21:02.700
 The poor, the brokenhearted, the captives.

00:21:02.700 --> 00:21:09.400
 We tend to go about our day-to-day lives going it alone.

00:21:10.460 --> 00:21:12.160
 When things seem manageable.

00:21:13.100 --> 00:21:15.019
 Going it alone when things get tough.

00:21:15.360 --> 00:21:19.059
 And only when things get really tough do we then perhaps pray.

00:21:19.539 --> 00:21:22.600
 Do we then perhaps ask the Holy Spirit for help.

00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:24.080
 We're like orphans.

00:21:24.440 --> 00:21:27.700
 We're like orphans, forgetting what the Holy Spirit is reminding us.

00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:30.880
 That we have a Father who we can call on for help.

00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:35.040
 A Father who has received us as his sons and daughters.

00:21:35.120 --> 00:21:39.920
 A friend was telling me about a girl who was adopted from overseas.

00:21:40.540 --> 00:21:42.440
 And she was adopted into a very loving family.

00:21:43.300 --> 00:21:47.680
 And as part of this family the parents communicated to this adopted daughter.

00:21:47.820 --> 00:21:50.000
 Well, as part of this family we have some house rules.

00:21:50.200 --> 00:21:52.380
 You know, you need to clean your room.

00:21:52.500 --> 00:21:53.100
 Keep it clean.

00:21:53.280 --> 00:21:54.460
 It's just part of being a family.

00:21:54.580 --> 00:21:55.320
 Having life together.

00:21:55.480 --> 00:21:55.860
 Like, okay.

00:21:55.859 --> 00:22:01.419
 So the daughter cleans her room like spotlessly.

00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:04.319
 The parents come back in and the daughter says,

00:22:04.699 --> 00:22:06.039
 My room is clean.

00:22:06.740 --> 00:22:08.079
 Can I stay now?

00:22:09.259 --> 00:22:15.539
 The Holy Spirit reminds us that we don't have to keep our rooms perfectly straight.

00:22:15.979 --> 00:22:17.759
 The Father accepts us.

00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:19.699
 We can have a loving relationship.

00:22:19.700 --> 00:22:22.299
 We can always ask him for help.

00:22:26.200 --> 00:22:30.700
 But we go day to day forgetting to ask for help from the Holy Spirit.

00:22:30.860 --> 00:22:31.940
 Have we lost our senses?

00:22:35.580 --> 00:22:38.960
 Did we, this morning, ask for help from the Holy Spirit?

00:22:39.720 --> 00:22:40.840
 Just to get out of bed.

00:22:41.880 --> 00:22:43.080
 Just to get out the door.

00:22:43.860 --> 00:22:45.400
 Tomorrow, yeah, some of you did, yes.

00:22:46.420 --> 00:22:47.100
 Good job.

00:22:47.620 --> 00:22:48.279
 Well done.

00:22:48.279 --> 00:22:52.039
 I didn't.

00:22:52.180 --> 00:22:52.519
 I confess.

00:22:53.200 --> 00:23:00.180
 Tomorrow, when I start my job, am I going to sit down at my desk and first thing to say is,

00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:02.440
 Come, Holy Spirit.

00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:03.579
 Help me.

00:23:04.039 --> 00:23:04.700
 I need your help.

00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:06.339
 Just to do these emails.

00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:11.460
 You know, these things tend to be things I feel I can manage on my own, but they're not.

00:23:12.279 --> 00:23:15.399
 This is what Paul is rebuking the Galatians for, in which we need to heed.

00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:18.840
 We need to ask the Holy Spirit for help all the time.

00:23:19.980 --> 00:23:23.920
 And so our last prayer together today is, Come, Holy Spirit.

00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:31.160
 Let's expect, also, when we pray that, to hear something back.

00:23:31.160 --> 00:23:38.380
 Pope John Paul II said that the Spirit is always awesome when He intervenes.

00:23:39.100 --> 00:23:42.420
 He arouses astonishing new events.

00:23:43.060 --> 00:23:46.440
 He radically changes people and history.

00:23:47.300 --> 00:23:50.000
 Let's call on Him now to come.

00:23:50.320 --> 00:23:50.519
 Okay?

00:23:50.519 --> 00:23:51.319
 Let's pray.

00:23:51.639 --> 00:23:52.019
 Let's pray.

00:23:54.420 --> 00:23:56.279
 Let's pray.

00:23:56.279 --> 00:23:56.720
 Let's pray.

00:23:56.940 --> 00:23:59.200
 Let's pray.

00:23:59.559 --> 00:24:01.400
 Let's pray.

00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:05.339
 Let's pray.