Wouldn’t you love to take any common metal like nickel, copper and be able to turn it into gold? That was the belief of the alchemist, men and women in the Middle Ages who tried to create gold out of other non-precious metals. The one thing they didn’t understand was that it was impossible, with the technology they had to change copper into gold. Copper has 29 protons and neutrons, and 35 electrons; a density of 8.96 g/cm3 while gold has 79 protons and neutrons, 118 electrons and a density of 19.32 g/cm3. This is what particle accelerators do; unfortunately the result is very unstable and highly radioactive.
The good news is that while you can’t change a base metal into gold or silver, the Gospel can change people, and it does supernaturally change men, women and children. It changes drunkards who worship the bottle into people who praise the Lord Jesus. It changes greedy, selfish women into compassionate, serving princesses of God Almighty. It changes namby-pamby men into strong leaders who point their family and friends toward Jesus Christ regardless of the cost that society charges them. The gospel changes people because the gospel is powerful. It is the power that raised Jesus from the dead; it is the strength that caused the Son of Man to hang on a cross and die to forgive us our sins. It is the fortitude that unites us to the Body of Christ, refusing to release us when we are dirty and wallowing in our filth, but which sees us as we are – children of the King, brothers and sisters of the spotless lamb. The Gospel changes people.
Last week we looked at how it changed Saul, a murdering, self-focused, comparison making, adherent of human tradition into a gospel preaching, secure in Christ, serving minister of the Good News. Today we are going to see that not only does the Gospel change people, it also makes those changed people equals. The gospel brings equality among Christian brothers and sisters, but equality doesn’t mean independence. Quite the opposite, in fact, equality means interdependence.
Who can remember back to their 1st or 2nd grade teacher? I can’t. But I can picture an old gray-haired woman in a straight, polyester skirt and a plain cardigan sweater saying something like, “Class today we are going to learn about the commutative property of addition.” For those of you who can’t remember back that far, and that might be a few of you, the commutative property of math says, a+b = b+a, 3+2 = 2+3.
This is a form of equality where the equality is dictated because the items on each side are identical. Sure the order is rearranged since the b has commuted, or traveled to the other side of the a, but the commutative property of addition assumes that equality exists because the numbers are identical on both sides.
Now, how about this equation, 5+4 = 6+3 = 2+7 = 1+8 = 9. This is a different kind of equality; this is a kind of equality that is independent, yet interdependent. This kind of equality, which I will call mutual equality, is what Paul is talking about. Paul isn’t talking about the commutative property of addition kind of equality in the passage, as much as he is talking about the independent yet equal kind of equality that exists in Christ. While each of the equations is able to stand alone, their full expression brings a great depth and variety to the world of math. Similarly, as Christians, there is also a freedom to be equals, independent yet interdependent, related to one another. No two people are the same in their gifting, but the result is the same, the exaltation of Christ.
But before we get to that, let’s ask the question, “Does the gospel also bring commutative equality?” Yes, I would say, for the gospel levels the playing field and makes everyone an equal at the foot of the cross.
Rom. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We are all equally sinful and in need of grace and redemption.
Rom. 9:22-24 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath — prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory — 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
This is one of the kinds of equality that the gospel brings - Jew and Greek stand before God, equal in his sight. And Paul alludes to it in our passage, “Not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek” (Gal 2:3). Why? Because at the foot of the cross, (Gal. 3:28) There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. God pays no attention to any status or state in the person when he calls. He just calls whom he calls, and justifies whom he justifies. Romans 3:30 goes on to say, …there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
And since we are all equally needy at the foot of the cross, we are also all in need of the same grace, the same mercy, and the same redemption. We are all dependent on Jesus to the same extent. We are equals, no better and no worse than one another in the eyes of Christ. But that means that we are also all his children. A little later in Galatians 4:7 Paul writes, “So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”
But if we are all his children, then we are also all interdependent on one another. We are equal members of the family, but we need each other, for God has gifted us differently. While we are called by God as individuals, and are all equally dependent on Christ for our salvation, we are also interdependent on one another for ministry within the body, as the analogies of 1 Corinthians 12 tells us – one body, many parts. Listen to his words there:
1Cor. 12:12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
And a little later,
1Cor. 12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”
1Cor. 12:24-25 ...But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
Each of us needs the other, sure we can minister alone, but we need others to minister to us. We need the body to encourage us, to build us up, to lead us, or administrate for us, or whatever other gift we need. And they need us. We are equals, all our gifts are beneficial to the body, none is greater, or less. They are all needed. We see that in our passage in these words, “they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles” (Gal 2:7-8).
And it is because of this interdependence that the gospel also brings an equality of fellowship: A fellowship that causes us to recognize one another, and affirm before the world that we are brothers and sisters of the same Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We need to be united in the single gospel we are preaching to the world, recognizing it wherever it is taught and fellowshipping with those who teach it. This is a crucial point in Paul’s letter.
Do we recognize that you are no better and no worse than anyone else at the foot of the cross? Are we living like we are equals or are we living like we are there are some who are better and some who are worse. Does favoritism affect the way we interact with believers? Are we convinced that every gift is needed? Perhaps you aren’t. Perhaps, you think that your gift isn’t as valuable or as needed as other gifts in the body. Maybe you have been hesitant to serve the body, to volunteer time, to give your two-pence to the offering because you don’t think it will make any difference. Maybe you think that the church has gone on without my activity for a long time now, they don’t need me. I am here to tell you, Paul is here to tell you, the Gospel message declares to you that you are needed. You are equal. You are mutually a part of the body. Offer your gift and glorify God with it, when we add it all up with every other gift, the result is a whole, complete body.
If this is true, if we are all equals at the cross and mutually equal in our gifts, then why is Paul afraid his race might have been in vain? Simply put, if the Jerusalem leaders and he can’t agree on the first premise freedom of the gospel, the freedom to approach God without works or additions, then the second premise, mutual equality in our gifts can’t exist and if we aren’t mutually in need of one another, then there is no Church united across all the ethne, all the people of the world. If they don’t agree to the first simple point, then Paul’s gospel is not equal in their eyes and there is no church. There is no Christian equality. There is no body, family, and there is no universal salvation, for no equality exists at the foot of the cross if gentile aren’t saved there. If there is no Christian equality, then the effective Christian witness has been lost because, (returning to my math analogy):
5+4=6+3=7+2=8+1=9
has been exchanged for a commutative property, a+b = b+a, where equality implies identicalness in every way with the Jewish nation. If the gospel hasn’t brought equality and interdependence, but has rather brought identicalness, then the only way to be saved is to become a Jew in every way, just as the Judaizers are saying, and if that is the case then the Jews have no need of the gentiles. There is no mutuality.
If that is true, then the Church, gathered from every people and nation, is lost, for only one nation, the Jewish nation is saved. If the apostle don’t recognize Paul as an equal and his gospel as the same gospel they preach, and vice versa, then the church is split and all hope of a single body and one means of justification is lost. This is important stuff. So while Paul is independent and he needs no one else to stand before God and minister, this joint recognition, this partnership is fundamental to Christian living and witness to the world. The equality of the gospel is what bridges the gap between Jew and gentile, between me and you, and between you and everyone else.
But equality must be based on a proper recognition of the gospel. That is why Paul keeps coming back to the gospel in his letters. Equality and fellowship isn’t to be given to all, only to those who share the same gospel. Paul didn’t consider the Judaizing false brothers equals and partners; quite the opposite, they were enemies and spies. The right hand of fellowship can’t exist where the parties involved differ on the solution to the problem. Christian unity can’t exist where the problem and solution aren’t agreed. This is one of the greatest challenges facing the interfaith movement, as Catholic, Liberal, Protestant/Reformed and folk try to agree on the solution. We all agree on the problem – human sinfulness in light of God’s holiness. But we disagree on the solution. To some it is the sacraments, to others it is social activism, and to others it is faith and repentance. For the interfaith movement to move forward, some of the parties must compromise and change their view of salvation, the solution to the problem of sinfulness. And that isn’t happening, although everything in culture keeps trying to water down the gospel. This is why interfaith dialogue is pointless, and why I have huge problems working with interfaith ministries, we disagree on the solution to the primary problem - sin – if we disagree with the problem and the solution, one of us is working an addition problem, the other a division, one is bound to whole numbers, 1, 2, 3, and the other to decimals and fractions, ¼ 3/56, 2/93. There is no fellowship here, there can’t be.
It is why denominations are important. That it one of the structures or ways we have of recognizing each other. We need each other, we support each other and we affirm each other through denominational ties and through larger denomination groupings like the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Reformed Ecumenical Fellowship and their impending merger into the World Communion of Reformed Churches. This is the right hand of fellowship at work.
But the same thing is true at the local level. Church membership is part of this equality, yet interdependence. There are a number of people who claim that church membership isn’t important, or it is overrated, even some tele-evangelists who say it is sinful for a church to ask you to be a member. I would argue, it is a way of not running in vain, or running alone. It is a way of affirming the gospel in your brothers and sisters and of they affirming it in you. Church membership shows that we are equal and yet, interdependent on one another.
We are equal, but we need each other. Equality doesn’t mean independence; equality means mutual dependence and involves the right hand of fellowship. It involves, unity, commitment, oneness, being of the same mind and heart. To the apostles that unity and commitment involved the truth of justification and the freedom to live God’s heart to a world in need – remember the poor.
Let’s remember as we leave today that we are all equals at the foot of the cross. Our sin is heinous, but Christ sacrifice and his sacrifice alone saves each and every one of us. And because of that we are also all gifted in ways to serve one another and proclaim the gospel to a dying world, so we each need one another. We each need the gifts that the others bring, and the world needs our joint service, as the body of Christ serving a dying world. The gospel makes us equals ↑ and ↔. Praise God, the gospel changes us.
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