Rev. Dr. Joel D. Biermann
Galatians 6:1-10
February 19, 2017
It’s such a common thing you’d think we’d all be used to it and hardly notice it anymore. But sometimes, you may still find yourself getting sucked into the trap only to be bitterly disillusioned. You get the circular from the sporting goods place in the mail. Of course, they’ve got a sale going on, and they’ve included a coupon good for 20% off a pair of athletic shoes. Perfect. You need new shoes, and clip the coupon. At the store, there are hundreds of shoes and dozens of brands. You make your selection, head to the check out, and smartly hand over your 20% coupon…which was rejected. Your brand has been excluded from the coupon. It’s right there on the back, in microscopic font—a dozen lines of excluded merchandise, which includes, of course, the brand you had picked—along with every other brand you liked. Or, maybe it’s an ad on the radio pitching the very car you have been noticing and considering. They quote a price that is so low that your mouth actually drops open and you find yourself staring at the radio. What a deal. And then it starts: the rapid-fire four-second disclaimer. It’s impossible to decipher all that is siad, but you hear vital words like, “significant, down-payment, required, not, qualify, trade-in, and extra.” In fact, the verbal fine print negates all that the ad had promised. It’s no deal at all.
We’re used to it, but we still hate it. Fine print takes away what the headline gives. Fine print limits and excludes and qualifies until the deal disappears. Fine print teaches us to be cynical, suspicious and wary. Our lives are filled with fine print. What a relief, then, that in the church there is no fine print. It’s true. While the world and its business, law, contracts, and politics are filled with fine print, in the church fine print does not exist. It’s all straight-forward with no hidden surprises, no qualifications, and restrictions that effectively eliminate all that was good. Here, what you see printed on a page and what you hear proclaimed and declared is exactly what is. There is no fine print. So when you hear that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, that he lived a perfect life and died according to God’s plan as the sacrifice for all the sins of all the world, that is exactly the way that it is. There are no caveats, no disclaimers, no restrictions, and no extenuating circumstances. God’s work of creating and then reclaiming and restoring his creation, including you, is completely “fine-print-free”. He says it and that’s it. This means that you never have to wonder where you stand, you never have to doubt whether it is all really true. It is. God has said so; there’s no fine print. There’s no fine print in the church, and that’s a good thing...or maybe not.
Just as there is no fine print regarding your reception of grace, your entry into the church and your place within God’s plan; so, there is no fine print when it comes to what it means for you to be part of the church. It’s all spelled out with great clarity in plain black and white. Paul’s pointed direction in Galatians six is only one of many places where the New Testament teaches this truth. You heard it read, but maybe you didn’t hear it. It’s all pretty simple and straightforward…and it’s all rather challenging and unsettling. If you see another Christian, Paul says, who is doing something that is out of bounds, that doesn’t match with his Christian confession; then you need to deal with it. You need to bring that person back into line with God’s will. In other words, Paul is taking for granted a truth that seems to be far from the thinking of many 21st century Christians. Paul assumes and asserts that Christians are responsible for one another. This means that in the church, you are required to look out for fellow Christians. You need to know what’s going on in your brother’s life, and you need to care about what’s going on—even, no especially, when it’s not good. That’s what Christians do. That’s what it means to be part of the church. Mutual responsibility. Mutual accountability.
So, is Paul saying that if another Christian is being lax in his church attendance, that you need to go and talk to him about it? Yes, that’s exactly what he’s saying. And if another Christian is gossiping, or making off-color jokes, or showing too much interest in alcohol, or losing interest in his marriage, or neglecting his family, or excusing his shameful or destructive entertainment habits, and you see it, then you need to do something about it. In other words, yes, you are your brother’s keeper. Yes, his business is your concern. Yes, you do have an obligation to speak to another believer about his words, his choices, and his behavior—even the private and personal ones. You are responsible for the person sitting next to you and in front of you and behind you and sitting on the opposite side of the sanctuary from you. His Christian walk is your business. And of course, this means that your Christian walk, the life you live, the words you use, the choices you make in every area of life are all the business of everybody else. That’s what it means to be the church.
Contrary to the standard criticism, living this way does not fuel a judgmental atmosphere of criticism or foster self-righteous legalists. In fact, what happens is the opposite. When people take seriously the direction that God gives for the conduct of his church, and start looking out for one another with genuine concern for each other’s Christian life, it cultivates an atmosphere of support, encouragement and discipleship that allows people to thrive in God’s truth. There is nothing harsh or judgmental about humble and circumspect Christians urging other Christians to be humble and circumspect in their own Christian walk. It’s what you do in the church. That’s what Paul is getting at when he tells us to bear each other’s burdens. This is what he means when he instructs us to do good to others, especially other believers. The good that you do is to help them stay close to Christ, grounded and growing in his truth. That’s the good thing. You bear the burdens of other Christians by putting up with their odd problems, and their peculiar habits, and their unusual way of looking at things. You bear their burdens by caring about what is going on in their lives. You bear their burdens by gently calling them back to Christ’s way when they are wandering into foolishness or error. That’s what it means to be the body of Christ. That’s the way God calls you to live.
The sort of church described by St. Paul is rather unfamiliar, today. We are taught to mind our own business, and to live and let live. We are encouraged not to judge and stick our noses into the affairs of others. We are led to believe that being Christian and joining the church is pretty simple. What’s expected isn’t too demanding: show up on Sunday morning a few times a month, put something into the offering plate, enjoy polite conversation with people you like, and smile and generally be nice to everyone else…and that’s about it; that’s the extent of the Christianity that we know. But, this is not God’s version of the church, and it’s not the sort of church that Paul describes. A lite version of Christianity and the church is not the sort of church that you should be content to accept. God calls you to more. The “more” that he calls you to embrace—genuinely caring about others and staying invested in the Christian walk of your fellow believers—is not some optional “platinum” version of Christianity accepted only by a handful of elite super-Christians. No, the direction from St. Paul is aimed at every believer. Paul spells out the way that God expects every believer to live.
A life of mutual accountability and mutual responsibility for all in the body of Christ is what is expected of every one of us. It does no good to protest that you didn’t realize all of this when you signed up. The full expectations are all spelled out in the Bible. The insipid and individulalistic “Christian-lite” that infects the church in America was never God’s desire. You can’t claim an exemption based on your inexperience, or your insignificance. Paul’s expectation of a church filled with believers who are responsible for one another is not limited to a few key leaders or a small group of spiritual stars. It’s expected of everyone. It is expected of you. There is no exception. There is no excuse. There is no fine print.
This vision of the church is rather exciting, isn’t it? Oh, sure, it’s intimidating, and unusual, and a bit scary, I get that…but it’s also crazy and adventurous enough to spark a bit of a thrill—and the church could benefit from a little thrill, I think. Don’t be content with a benign faith and a tame church. God calls you to something very different. The church is unlike anything else in the world. It is not a club or a society, or a business, or a service organization. It is the body of Christ. It is the place where God delivers grace. It is the place where God forms sinful, messed up people into his people. It is the place where God is at work remaking the entire universe. The church is different. Christians are different. We don’t look and act like everyone else. We look and act like followers of Christ. We expect each other to do the same, and we spur each other on in that pursuit. The church is not about making people comfortable. It is not about making your life complete or providing resources to make your life more fulfilling. The church is not here to provide an inside track to success. The church is the body of Christ. At the center is the cross. It’s not just about comfort; it’s about conformity to Christ. It’s not about getting blessings; it’s about getting shaped into the will of God and being a blessing to others. It’s not about a fulfilled life; it’s about fulfilling God’ purpose for your life. This is what it means to be the church.
The world around us is in desperate need of the church. People in the world need to see Christians living lives that are different than everything else they see. They need the church to be radically different than anything else in the world. The world needs the church to be the church—not a watered-down lite version, but the church that Christ created and that Paul describes. The world needs this church to be the church—a church without fine print. When we make the church less than what God designed it to be, we hurt people—both inside and outside the church. It’s no wonder that people think the church is irrelevant, boring, or inconsequential. They think that because that’s the kind of church they see. The church that is faithful is many things; but it is never boring or irrelevant. We need to show the world that kind of church.
If you’ve been holding out during this sermon, waiting for the word that lets you off, the comforting assurance that softens the demand, the disarming smile that mitigates the hard message, I’ve got bad news for you. It’s not going to happen. There will be no final disclaimer that blunts the sharp truth. There is no fine print. You’ve heard the word of God, and that’s all there is. No fine print…only the clear word of God: you belong to Christ, now. You are part of the church, now. Now live in that reality. Amen.