Jesus is our mediator
This sermon begins with the need to understand that all people have been sinners since Adam's time. In order to be fully delivered from sin and death, we need a mediator to deliver us from sin and death. Jesus is our perfect mediator because he freed us from death through his sacrificial death. Through His resurrection, He gave us new life and reconciled us to Heavenly Father. Anyone who acknowledges Jesus as their personal mediator to the father and accepts him as savior through their baptism is richly gifted with a new life begotten by the Holy Spirit. The admission of his complete dependence on his mediator Jesus allows the baptized person to live in an intimate relationship with him, to grow and to bear much fruit. The aim of this message is to make us acquainted with this mediator, Jesus Christ.
The gift of freedom
Saul was a well-educated and law-abiding Pharisee. Jesus consistently and frankly denounced the teachings of the Pharisees:
Matthäus 23,15 «Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel across land and sea to win a single person to your faith; and when he is won, you make him a son of hell, twice as bad as yourself. Woe to you, you are blind guides!
Jesus took Saul off the high horse of self-righteousness and freed him from all his sins. He is now the Apostle Paul, and after his conversion through Jesus fought zealously and relentlessly against every form of legalism.
What is legalism? Legalism places tradition above God's law and above human needs. Legalism is a kind of slavery that the Pharisees upheld even though they, like all men, were guilty of the perfect law of God. We are saved by faith, which is a gift from God, through Jesus and not by our works.
Legalism is the enemy of your identity and freedom in Christ. The Galatians and all who accepted Jesus as their Savior were set free from the bondage of sin by Christ, the great deliverer and mediator. The Galatians had cast off their slavery, so Paul vehemently and uncompromisingly urged them to stand steadfast in that freedom. The Galatians were redeemed from the bondage of paganism and faced life-threatening danger of placing themselves under the bondage of the Mosaic law, as written in the Epistle to the Galatians:
Galater 5,1 «Christ has set us free! Stand firm now and do not allow the yoke of bondage to be placed on you again."
How tragic the situation was can be seen from the clarity of Paul's words at the beginning of the letter:
Galater 1,6-9 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. There are only some who are confusing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven were to preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have just said, so I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”
Paul's message is about grace, salvation and eternal life, which stands in contrast to legalism. He is concerned either with enslavement to sin - or with freedom in Christ. It is understandable that I cannot speak of a gray area, a torn middle ground or a postponed decision with fatal consequences when it comes to life – or death. In summary, this is what the letter to the Romans says:
Römer 6,23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Legalism still makes man believe that by keeping all sorts of ordinances and rules that he enacts for himself, he can live up to God's idea. Or he takes the 613 commandments and prohibitions, which correspond to the Pharisaic interpretation of the law and seriously believes that he will be accepted and accepted by God if he could keep them. We are also not people who pick out a few of these commandments and believe that they are considered even more just and blessed by God.
We need a mediator
During my lifetime, the Spirit of God has allowed me to recognize or remind myself of the following points that are critical to my new life in Christ:
Markus 12,29 «Jesus answered, “The greatest commandment is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the Lord one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your soul Power. The other thing is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than this."
The law of God requires perfect love for God, neighbor and self. If you do not have divine love for yourself, how can you claim that you can have it for God and for your neighbor:
Jakobus 2,10 “For if anyone keeps the whole law and sins against one commandment, he is guilty of the whole law.”
It is a deadly error to believe that without the Mediator Jesus I can stand before God, for it is written:
Röm 3,10 “There is no one who is righteous, not even one.”
One who is lawful clings to the law at the expense of grace. Paul says that such a person is still under the curse of the law. Or to put it more correctly in the term is to remain in death, or to die spiritually in order to remain dead and needlessly miss out on the rich blessings of God's grace. The downside after baptism is living in Christ.
Galatians 3:10-14 “But those who want to be justified by the law are under a curse. For it is written: ‘A curse is on everyone who does not keep all the rules written in the Book of the Law.’ It is evident that where the law reigns, no one can be justified before God. For it says: ‘Whoever is justified by faith will live.’ But the law is not about faith; it says: ‘Whoever keeps its rules will live by them.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by taking the curse upon himself in our place. For it is written: ‘Whoever is hung on a tree is under God’s curse.’ This was so that through Jesus Christ the blessing promised to Abraham might come to all nations, that we all, through trusting faith, might receive the Spirit promised by God.”
I repeat and emphasize, Jesus is our mediator. He gives us eternal life through grace. Legalism is a hallmark of the human need for security. Joy, security and certainty of salvation do not rest “in Christ” alone. They are then based on an apparently correct, but nevertheless incorrect church arrangement, the correct Bible translation and the apparently exactly correct expression of our personal selection and ideas of Bible experts and church officials, the right time of the service, the correct behavior according to human judgment and behavior. But, and this is the crux of the matter, not on Jesus Christ alone! Paul warns us not to let anyone prescribe anything in the area of the law, for example about food and drink, about a particular holiday, the new moon or the Sabbath.
Kolosser 2,17 “All this is only a shadow of the coming new world; but the reality is Christ, and this (reality, the new world) is already accessible in his body, the church.”
Let's understand this properly. You are free to choose how you want to honor God, what you do, what you don't eat, or what day you want to gather with brothers and sisters and other people to honor and worship God. Paul draws our attention to something important:
1. Korinther 8,9 "Nevertheless, you should be careful not to harm those whose faith is still weak with the freedom you believe you have."
God does not want us to abuse our freedom or act it out in ways that offend others. He also doesn't want them to feel insecure in their faith and even lose faith in Jesus. Grace gives you the freedom to enjoy who you are in Christ. God's love has also encircled your will to do what He expects or asks of you.
Free from judgment
The gospel is the message of breathtaking freedom. Even if you fall, the evil one, that is, the devil, cannot condemn you. Just as all your attempts to live a holy life before could not take you out of the first Adam, because you remained a sinner, so your sinful deeds cannot now take you "out of Christ." You remain righteous in God's eyes, because Jesus is your righteousness - and that will never change.
Römer 8,1-4 "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. Martin Luther puts it this way: 'Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the power of the Spirit of life has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin, which leads to death.'"
The law could not save us because our human nature resisted it. That is why God sent his son to us. He came in human form like us, but without sin. God destroyed sin's dominion over us by vicariously condemning His Son for our guilt. He did this so that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled by us, and we would no longer be guided by our human nature but by the Spirit of God.
They cannot possibly be tried and condemned and acquitted at the same time. If the judge pronounces you not guilty, there is no conviction, no condemnation. Those who are in Christ are no longer judged and condemned. Your being in Christ is final. You have become a free person. A human begotten and created by God Himself, just as God intended to be one with Him.
Do you still hear accusations against yourself? Your own conscience accuses you, the devil is doing everything in his power to make you believe that you are and remain a great sinner. He sues and convicts you without any right to do so. And there are also people around you who judge you, your statements and actions, maybe even judge them. Don't let this unsettle you. This does not affect you if you are God's property. He placed God's judgment on sin on Jesus, he atoned for you and your guilt and paid all costs with his blood. By believing in him, which is a gift from God, you are absolved and justified from sin and death. You are free, absolutely free, to serve God.
Our mediator, Jesus Christ
Since Jesus is the mediator between God and man, it is appropriate to describe his position as Godman and to trust in him alone. Paul tells us
Römer 8,31-39 “What then shall we say, considering all this? God is for us; who can harm us? He who did not even spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all. Will not all these things also be graciously given to us along with his Son (our mediator)? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? For God himself declares them righteous. Is there anyone left to condemn them? Jesus Christ died for them—more than that, he was raised to life and is at God’s right hand, interceding for us. Who then can separate us from Christ and his love? Shall hardship? Fear? Persecution? Famine? Nourishment? Danger? The executioner’s sword? For as it is written: ‘For your sake we are constantly in danger of death; we are treated like sheep to be slaughtered.’” And yet, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Yes, I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I ask the question: To whom are these words addressed? Is anyone excluded?
1. Timotheus 2,3-7 “This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, as his testimony at the proper time. For this purpose I was appointed as a preacher and apostle—I speak the truth and do not lie—to teach the Gentiles in faith and truth.”
These verses are addressed to all people, including you, dear reader. No one is excluded because God loves all people unconditionally. It makes no difference whether you come from a tribe of the people of Israel or from the Gentiles. Whether you have already surrendered your life to God or are about to decide to confirm this with baptism makes no difference, because God loves us all. He wants nothing more than that every human being listens to the voice of his beloved Son Jesus and does what he personally tells him or her to do. He gives us the faith to trust him as our mediator.
Many people refer to the time since Jesus' ascension as the end times. Whatever may happen in our turbulent times, we are thankful to know and always ready to believe anew that Jesus, as our mediator never leaves us, abides in us and leads us to eternal life in his kingdom.
by Toni Püntener
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