O Pioneers!
Galatians 5:1, 13-25; 6:7-10
Paul was furious when he wrote the letter to the Galatians. Galatia was a Roman province. It’s in modern day Turkey. Paul visited Galatia, preached the gospel, and planted churches there. After he left the area, other missionaries came and undid all of his work. They told the Galatians that in addition to believing in Jesus they needed to obey the Mosaic Law to be fully acceptable to God. The men had to be circumcised; families had to follow the dietary laws, and so forth.
The Galatians bought it. When Paul heard, he was as mad as mad can be.
You have to understand his anger when he thunders, “For freedom Christ has set us free!” He wants them to experience the freedom of the gospel, not a religion of rules and laws. He was passionate about it. It’s good for us to know this for we often want a religion of rules and laws, a to do list with boxes to check. “I’ve done this, this and this, therefore I am holy.” For Paul, it wasn’t about rules – it was about a life of love empowered by the Spirit. This is what he wanted the Galatians to know.
But freedom is not license. You can’t do anything you want. There are still practical questions of how we are to live, and these questions lie behind our scripture text today.
I don’t often preach on Paul’s letters. The reason is it’s hard to imagine a scene, and I need a visual to work with. But reflecting on this scripture, an image came to mind this week. It may seem strange at first, but come along with me. I think it will work.
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Imagine the year isn’t 2010. Imagine the year is 1830. You are one of the original pioneers settling in this region. You are doing the things pioneers do. If this were Vacation Bible School, we would have a nice set to help us see the scene – a backdrop of woods and a cabin. But this isn’t VBS, so just use the imagination you have. You are among the pioneers who settled here in the Michigan Territory in 1830.
The reason I want you to imagine this is that the Galatians were also pioneers. They weren’t moving physically to a new region, but spiritually they were settling in a new place they hadn’t lived in before. The things Paul tells them to do are similar to the things pioneers do, things our forebears did when they opened this land. I have three things in mind.
First, as a pioneer you have to clear the land. It was densely forested, like that wooded area out behind the church. The land needed to be cleared to get ready for farming. The underbrush taken away, the trees taken out (which would have taken longer), the swamp lands drained by digging ditches. It was a long-term project, but the more land they cleared the more farming they could do.
Paul wants the Galatians to clear their land too. Any attitudes or behaviors in their lives that were hurtful or harmful, these would need to be cleared away. He calls this useless stuff “works of the flesh.” We might call them living by our own worst impulses. He gives a list of 15 examples, beginning with fornication (sex outside of marriage) and ending with carousing (drunken parties). There was stuff in between that seems more tame – factions, quarrels, envy.
But all these things are unhealthy patterns of living that hurt us and others. Paul says if we practice these things we make ourselves ineligible to receive God’s blessings. It is land to be cleared. It is a swamp that needs to be drained. And if we are honest, we all have swampy areas in our hearts that we’d be embarrassed for others to see.
Think of it another way. There’s a children’s song that goes, “Be careful little eyes what you see. Be careful little eyes what you see. There’s a Father up above looking down on us in love. Be careful little eyes what you see.” The song goes on to little ears hearing, little hands doing, little feet going, and little mouths speaking. We never outgrow this song. It’s good for us to look at our lives, at our eyes, ears, hands, feet and mouths, and ask what we are doing with them. Anything unhealthy here needs to be cleared away for new things to happen.
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Second, after pioneers clear the land, they plant a crop. You can’t eat a maple tree, but you can eat wheat, corn and vegetables. For an example, take a look out our God’s Acre community garden; lots of good things growing there.
Paul wanted the Galatians to plant a crop. He called it “sowing to the Spirit.” He wanted them to reap the fruit of the Spirit. He has another, shorter list, only nine items: love, joy, peace, patience kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We can agree these are attractive qualities; they make us appealing human beings.
The question is, how do we plant a crop? I’d say two things: prayer and practice. Pray that God’s Spirit will fill you, and begin practicing the changes you want to see. To change the image, it’s like a muscle; the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. Take joy, for example. You can cultivate joy by hanging around joyful people and avoiding crabby people. Or kindness, the more your practice it, the kinder you will become. It matters especially in small things.
Douglass Houghton was a key figure in early Michigan history. He was mayor of Detroit and the first state geologist. One day Houghton and his friend Alva Bradish were walking the streets of Detroit looking for a certain house. But they didn’t know where it was. Bradish saw a little boy playing in the street. “Boy,” he said, “Where is so and so’s house.” The boy pointed down the road. Houghton and Bradish moved on. When they were out of earshot, Houghton turned to his friend and said, “Don’t call him ‘boy.’ Call him ‘young man.’ That will appeal to his self-esteem.” Bradish remembered the advice, and from then on he was a little kinder to children. A seed of kindness took root in him.
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Third, pioneers clear land and plant crops. They also build a house. You have to have a place to live. The first houses in Adrian were built over near Hadden Tire. The oldest house in town is a red brick house on Broad Street built in the 1840s.
Paul tells the Galatians to “work for the good of all, especially those in the family of faith.” I envision this as building a house of faith. Whenever we work for the good of others, especially in the family of faith, we put another brick in the great house of faith we all live in. Over time, those good works create a beautiful house that shelters us and keeps us safe.
A story is told about a seminary in Germany. Hans, a professor, was grieving the death of his wife Enid. He lost his appetite and didn’t leave his house anymore. Out of concern, his fellow professors came to visit him. Hans told them, “I can’t pray anymore, and I don’t know if there is a God anymore.” They replied, “We will believe for you, and we will pray for you.” They began meeting daily at Hans’s house to pray for him and his restored faith.
Months later, when they gathered at his house for prayer, Hans smiled and said to them, “I don’t want you to pray for me. Today I want you to pray with me.” Their prayers had built a new room in the house of faith.
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A last thought. Scripture calls Christ the pioneer of our faith. Christ did the things pioneers do. He was tempted in all the ways we are, but was without sin; he kept his land clear. He had abundant fruit of the Spirit in his life, a rich crop of goodness. And he laid the foundation of the house of faith we live in.
As we do our work of pioneers – clearing, planting, building – we can trust that Christ our pioneer is working along side us, helping us get the job done. Amen.
Chris Brundage
Adrian, Michigan
