Third Sunday After Pentecost
Third Sunday After Pentecost
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Michael Moffitt June 29th, 2025
Galatians 5:1, 13–25
Most of us likely remember a simple song that is usually taught to children as an exhortation. It reminds them to be careful what they see, what they hear, what they say, what they do, where they go, who they trust, and what they think. The reason given is because, “The Father Up Above is Looking Down With Love.” What if the fact that the Father up above is looking down with love were true (of course I believe it is) how would that change us? Would it encourage us or frighten us? I think it depends on the relationship that you have with the Lord.
I love the prayer from Psalm 16 that we read together this morning. Verse one would lead us to believe that possibly there was present trouble in the life of the psalmist. Whether or not it was we find that he knew where to turn for refuge. If there was to be good outcome then he would seek God because there was no good apart from the Lord. He has seen through the life of others who have pursued other gods, that it only led to more sorrows and suffering. In the ESV he declares in verses 7–8,
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
He has trained himself to feed his mind upon the word of God and has found direction and peace there. It led him to conclude in verse 11, You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
1
Today we will consider how each of our Scripture lessons point to the theme that the God who is present is our hope for salvation from the sins that so easily distract us, anything else is a lie.
That’s the lesson in the apostle Paul’s exhortation to the church in Galatia. Do not return to the law as your means of salvation! In the previous chapters Paul taught that salvation would only be found in Jesus Christ, not the law.
He was addressing the problem that had arisen among the churches in the province of Galatia. A group of agitators had come into their midst attacking the teaching of the apostle Paul personally and preaching a distorted form of Christianity. Their “gospel” required the circumcision of Gentile Christians as a symbolic commitment to seeking salvation through the works of the law. In other words salvation was to be in Jesus Christ and circumcision.
The agitators, who were Judaizers coming from Jerusalem, were most likely disciples of James the brother of Jesus, and they seemed to have authority, but it wasn’t given to them by God or the Jerusalem council. It’s very easy to see how quickly men and women can be distracted from the true gospel of salvation by grace through faith and to turn back to things that seem to have some measure of truth but actually turn our focus away from Jesus and back to religion.
This was one of the major issues that brought on the Protestant Reformation and caused Martin Luther to begin teaching the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone.
Earlier in Galatians Paul taught that salvation by faith apart from works is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. The confirmation of Paul’s gospel message was the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit and seeing the Old Testament record of Abraham’s own faith in God before he was circumcised, plus the lost joy that the Galatians once had when they followed Paul’s gospel. Why return to the bondage of striving to find salvation through their struggle to keep the law?
The true gospel of Jesus Christ always produces life change that is evident, as
2
opposed to religion which of itself can’t transform but can actually lead to further bondage. The difference between the works of the flesh and the effect of the indwelling person of the Holy Spirit were dramatically and clearly unrelated. Listen to Galatians 5:18–24,
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Paul isn’t saying that those who have done these things at some point in their lives will not inherit the kingdom of God, but those who choose to live in rebellion to God and live according to the flesh are condemned to judgment because they will be judged according to the law. Without Christ there is no hope of escaping the wrath of a holy God. Consider the fruit of the Spirit in contrast.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
The very beginning of chapter 5: 1:13, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
For you were called to freedom brothers. Paul has made the point over and over again - the Christian life is a life of freedom. Jesus came to set the captives free, not to keep them in bondage or put them in bondage all over again. Paul didn’t nullify the law he affirmed the law. Christ fulfilled the law rather than abolishing it. The law serves as a model for how God would have us live before him.
In the passage from 1 Kings 19 there are actually many things going on but I only want to consider one: Elijah is to anoint Elisha as an apprentice and helper, someone who will take over his prophetic office someday and Elisha has to make the decision how to respond to the call on his life.
3
Elijah had been a very powerful prophet in Israel who not only spoke the words that God gave him for Israel but also revealed the power of God by raising the dead, calling fire down from the sky, praying that it would not rain for 3½ years and defeating the 450 prophets of Baal. It was Elijah who with Moses met with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration in Luke 9. Elijah encouraged the people of Israel to turn from their sins and follow Yahweh their God and true king.
Elijah’s reign as a powerful and anointed prophet was considered a model of the ideal prophet in Israel. He is considered a type and shadow of the coming Messiah.
In our story Elijah is to anoint Elisha to be his replacement as the same type of prophet that Elijah had been. Let’s consider the immediate background of this wonderful story. Elijah had grown weary of his prophetic office. He had been
faithful to God but let Him know that he would rather die than continue. So God who is rich in mercy gives him instruction of things he must do before he is released from his prophetic office. However, I only want to briefly focus on Elijah passing his cloak upon Elisha symbolically passing his authority over to him.
Basically Elijah finds Elisha at his occupation and apparently he is pretty successful and had a considerable estate that would need 12 teams of oxen. When Elijah passes by he cast his cloak or prophets mantle upon him. This mantle was the symbol of his prophetic authority and was an invitation for Elisha to join him in his work. The mantle was a garment made of animal skin with the hair still on it and was the unique garb of a prophet (Zechariah 13:4; 2 Kings 1:8). Elisha seems to have understood the invitation, and he catches up with Elijah and tells him that he needs to say goodbye to his family and dissolve his business. He uses the wood from the yokes and butchers the oxen as a sacrifice and a meal for his family and friends. The important point is that his decision to follow Elijah was finalized by destroying the tools of his trade and any security that they would bring him. There would be no going back, and he willingly and joyfully joined Elijah in service to the Lord. You can continue to read in 2 Kings, Elisha became a
4
mighty prophet, in some ways more so than Elijah, and God honored him for his faithfulness.
I understand the importance of what Elisha was doing. When I left my job as a truck driver to go into full-time ordained ministry; I still had my Class A Chauffeur’s license along with all the endorsements. I knew that if this ‘ministry thing’ didn’t work out I could always go back into trucking. A few years later as I was preparing to go to seminary my license came up for renewal. If I didn’t renew it I gave up any chance of just going back. It literally meant I could not be “grandfathered“ and return back to a profession where I had many years’ experience. It would mean that I would need to go through a truck driver training course, a course that I was well qualified to teach. The Holy Spirit let me know that I could not go back less I find the anointing of God’s Spirit to accomplish what he called to do, being removed. There would be no going back, no matter how tough and discouraging things might become.
In our gospel reading from Luke 9:51–62 Luke is once again teaching his readers by drawing a contrast between one thing and another. He begins with the story of Jesus heading towards Jerusalem knowing full well what awaited him there. He sent the disciples ahead of him into a Samaritan village to inform them that he would be passing through and would need food and lodging. Jesus’ traveling party would have probably been large enough to strain the resources of a small village and so Jesus was giving them ample notice of their arrival. The Samaritans were unwilling to accommodate them probably because of the ancient hostility between them and the Jews. Jesus’ disciples were not willing to let this slight go unnoticed and asked Jesus,
“Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from Heaven and consume them? But he turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.”
Why did Jesus rebuke the disciples? His gospel was not oppressive but revealed the good news of God’s love for those who were lost and poor in spirit. The
5
disciples were acting just like the Pharisees who acted with arrogance and hatred toward those who disagreed with them or insulted them. That wasn’t the response that Jesus wanted from his disciples. Did they really feel that God would use them to bring judgment? Had they not heard him clearly teach, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17)
The disciples had acted toward the Samaritans in such a way as to reveal that they assumed that their place in this kingdom would be one of authority and dominance. They would be living the good life as members of the Kings elite, but Jesus is telling them and all who would follow him, that they must follow by
faith without knowing the cost. Like Elisha, there was to be no going back. The gospel of Jesus offered them life and relationship with God and would set them free from the deadness of the religion practiced by the Jews, and it would prove
to be more wonderful than anything they imagined, yet more costly than they knew.
Like us they still had a lot to learn and didn’t yet understand the impact of what Jesus was about to do in Jerusalem nor did they understand what it would mean for their lives.
In verses 57–62 Luke then turns to a story of those who were caught up in the moment and wanted to follow Jesus at some point in the future. The first man’s profession of faith was good, but he probably didn’t know that it would potentially mean homelessness. The others were willing to follow but needed to take care of things first and then possibly follow later. Jesus is making the point that following him in building the kingdom of God had precedence over everything else and there would be no looking back and there would be no dependence on previous resources in case things with Jesus didn’t pan out. To make sure that they understood the cost of following Him, Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
They should have remembered the stories of men like Elisha. After Elijah was
6
swept up in a chariot of fire and Elisha took his place as Israel’ prophet, God used Elisha in amazing ways, and he performed many miraculous things in the power of God. Would it have made any sense for him to return to the back breaking work of plowing with oxen? Absolutely not!
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
As you know I ran a homeless shelter for men for four years and I was able to see the devastation brought about by those who didn’t want anyone telling them how to live, even after their lives had fallen apart. Remember the difference between the fruit produced by the flesh versus the fruit produced by living by the Spirit.
We live in a time where people are surprised when there are consequences to their actions and seem to think that they should be able to do whatever they want without penalty. I have been involved in ministries to women who have had abortions and were never told the personal consequences to their own hearts that an abortion would cause. I have dealt with alcoholics and drug addicts whose lives were ruined but I have seen Jesus restore those who had abortions or those who dealt with serious addictions. It didn’t happen because they started obeying the law, It happened because they had Christ to model the deeds of the Spirit.
Hopelessness is rampant and those around us need to see Christ in us and in the way we live in front of them. We must be committed to doing everything we can to be the Light of Christ to those around us. Remember the example of Elisha who put aside everything to follow after the call of God on his life. No turning back for him and Jesus said that there is no turning back for us either. What is God calling you to do? What is God calling us as a church to do?
I want to close with a story about a man that I had the privilege of knowing. His name was Ben Myers, and he had been a drunk, a drug addict, and a sex addict. He lived on the streets of Roanoke or wherever he could find a bed for the
7
night. I suspect that the Rescue Mission was often his nightly refuge. The Rescue Mission in Roanoke offered a free dinner and breakfast, a shower, clean clothes and a bed in a dormitory type setting. I believe they could serve 450 people a night. One of the requirements was to attend a chapel service. Ben had heard the gospel many times but then someone told Ben about Jesus Christ and his love, and it clicked.
The change was awesome, and he found a job as the janitor at Green Memorial Methodist Church in downtown Roanoke. He worked there until his death many years later. He was a fixture there, beloved by most everyone. He joined a Saturday prayer meeting for men that my father started many years earlier. When I was in town I would go there. We got together to pray, to sing praises and then have breakfast at a local restaurant. I loved being with Ben. The Holy Spirit was so evident within him. Every Saturday before we went to breakfast we had to sing Ben’s favorite song, “Jesus Loved Me.” Tears would flow from Ben’s eyes because Jesus’ love for him was still the most important thing in his life. He touched the lives of many in downtown Roanoke because of the genuineness of his faith in Jesus Christ. One of us always bought his breakfast because most of his money went to help those who were like he had been. We found that he had cancer, and it spread quickly. The last time I saw him Teresa, Amy, and I went to the hospital to see our dear brother. We went to encourage him, pray for him but he ended up bringing joy into the midst of our sorrow. He was beaming, radiating the love and joy of Christ. Actually I think he was excited. He could hardly wait to see Jesus. His funeral was held where he worked as the janitor. The place seeded probably 4–5 hundred and was full of people who had stories to tell about Ben’s love and kindness. I was out of town, but Teresa went. Before he died he lived with his sister who did the eulogy and spoke about the prayer list that Ben prayed through every day. There were over 1,300 people in that book.
Ben Myers was not saved because he kept the law of God perfectly but because with joy he received the one who paid the price for his sins. He then spent the
8
rest of his life in gratitude to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He revealed in the fact that the Father up above looked on him with love.
I’ll close with a quote from Tullian Tchividjian, one of Billy Graham’s grandsons.
“Legalism says God will love us if we change. The gospel says that God will change us because He loves us.”
Let’s pray.
©2025 The Rev. Michael J. Moffitt
