1943. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German born Lutheran and then eventually educated in America. He had a wonderful ministry in America before the outbreak of World War II and he felt the need to return to his homeland because he didn't think he would be able to minister faithfully from afar, from across the Atlantic, and the only way he could really minister to the German church would be to be there among the German church. He was eventually arrested as opposing the Nazi regime, and while he was in prison, he was also pinned with a conspiracy in the assassination of Hitler. Bonhoeffer's first advent was in prison. He wrote a letter to his parents, advent for him, was always a season for family and friends, a season almost for him of childlike devotion. He loved Christmas. This letter reveals more than his own nostalgia. It has come to terms with what is happening to him in his own loneliness as he does not yet know whether he will be able to get out. He begins this letter this way, although I am not at all clear about whether or how letters get to you, I want to write on this afternoon of Advent Sunday. Remember the Altidorf Christmas scene in which the Holy Family is depicted with the manger amidst the ruins of a broken down house. Now I Google that painting. I like doing that when somebody make reference to a painting to find out what they're talking about. And this painting is beautiful. It's a fully bright colors. If you can imagine your own driving maybe in Western Colorado through the mountains and you happen upon off the side of the road a house or a building that used to be a house maybe a hundred or so years ago. The house is dilapidated. You see some of the structure, the wall, maybe a door frame, maybe a window frame. Weeds have grown up around it. You can see maybe what used to be a fireplace. This painting looks like that. It looks like it's been bombed. The wall behind which Joseph and Mary and the baby are, it's dilapidated. Some of it is still standing, but it's just kind of in a triangular shape of brick. The wall behind them is intact, but the side walls are gone. The roof is showing and exposing supporting beams. There's tall grass around the structure, and there's a cow poking its head out of the window behind them. It depicts what the innkeeper thought of Jesus. They can have the property that nobody ever visits on the backside of our land go there, and they're there in the bright light of the glory of the birth of Jesus. There are three angels in this picture, tiny little baby-like creatures with wings kneeling before Jesus. Bonhoeffer continues this letter. He says, that is the painter 400 years ago, against all the traditions of his time, show the scene like this. It is really contemporary. We can and should also celebrate Christmas despite the ruins around us. Did he mean to say that to his contemporaries? It certainly speaks to us in this way today. I think of you as you now sit together with the children and with all the advent decorations as in earlier years you did with us. We must do so, even more intensively, because we do not know how much longer we have. He wrote this letter on Christmas, Advent Christmas, earlier in the month of November, end of November, 1943. He was hanged in April of 1945, two weeks before U.S. soldiers liberated the Nazi prison camp. His words were moving to me because it depicts the coming of Jesus in infancy amidst ruins. And I think about Christmas today. We can think about the way our world seems to be coming apart at the seams. Political upheaval, economic upheaval, a pestilence that seems like it's never gonna go away, a political division, and then there's the church, almost as divided. It is to that kind of context that Paul writes this letter to the church in Galatia. And so I'd like to consider today the words from Paul, beginning in Galatians 1, verses 1-5. Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and all of the brothers who are with me, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of God our Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. I'm gonna just, we're continuing our series, He Preached Jesus to Him, and today I wanna look at the Jesus that Paul preached. So that's the first point, Jesus that Paul preached. I'm going to take the traditional point of view that Galatians was Paul's first inspired letter. The very first letter that Paul wrote declares Paul's thoughts on the identity of Jesus. In this letter he's going to give an account of his conversion, of his personal tutoring by Jesus in the wilderness, even before Paul comes onto the scene in the book of Acts. But here is his first declaration of his his conclusion about the identity of Jesus. Paul an apostle not from men nor through man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. Perhaps there's no more poignant image of Jesus than Jesus in a manger. The utterly dependent Jesus. Jesus the baby cooing and crying and weeping and at the utter disposal of his mother, utterly dependent on her supply for his physical nutrition. Nevertheless, the Bible teaches that this same baby in the manger is the Almighty, the Sovereign. It is the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of all kings, the creator of the angels, and even in the image where the angels are depicted as babies kneeling at him, I think part of the reason why the painter would have done that was to portray their real status before this sovereign. When I think of angels, I think of the special forces of the military, the Green Berets, Navy SEALs, or Army Rangers, or Marine Recon Unit, or Air Force Special Tactical Units, utterly disciplined, well-trained, intuitive, intelligent, and of course, lethal. These heavenly special forces are on the scene, depicted as babies on their knees before their sovereign. I wonder if Saul of Tarsus knew of Jesus of Nazareth during his earthly ministry. Here Paul calls him the Lord Jesus Christ. Each of those names is loaded with meaning for Paul and for us, the Lord. The first time the word Lord is mentioned, it's mentioned L, capital L, and then small case, O-R-D, and then we know the way the Bible translators translate it, that when there's a different name, the capital, all capitals, L-O-R-D, that is the name Yahweh, When Paul speaks of this Savior as Lord, he's referring to that Lord, that Sovereign, that Eternal One. And then Jesus, we know this name to refer to His humanity. And of course, when we think about the centuries that followed the first century of debate about who this person really is, the Council of Chalcedon, in the later, in the 400s, came to the conclusion about the hypostatic union. And of course, when I use that language, I don't mean to come off like I'm smart. I think we need to realize that Christian faith needs to have language like this. It's not wrong to have complicated language. We have to master its content. The Christian faith is the kind of faith that even the youngest child can embrace, but the wisest, most intelligent Christian can be baffled by it. And this Lord Jesus is one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith, the way in which Jesus was God and man and yet one person. And then Christ, the Christ, whom Paul refers to as whom the Father raised from the dead. Of course, these terms, what, five, six words here, we know libraries of books that have been written to account and explain and apply its meaning to the church over the centuries. Notice what Jesus came to do, the sacrifice. This is an important part of the argument for Paul to the Galatian church, the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins. Jesus, the sacrifice. Jesus, the offering of the Father. Jesus, the atonement. These words have volumes of freight being carried into them from the old covenant. It all culminates in Jesus, the entire sacrificial system throughout the history of Israel now is a laser beam focus on Jesus, Jesus the priest, Jesus the lamb, Jesus his blood, Jesus the substitution for sinner, Jesus the temple, Jesus, the pleasing aroma, Jesus, the complete and total satisfaction before the presence of God, Jesus who gave himself for our sins. We cannot simply stop there. We have to also notice the reason for Jesus' coming, for our sins, and we think about the world today, You know, since after the election, I pretty much haven't watched the news. And I think that, you know, the world today is every bit as unstable as it has ever been. There is national tensions. There are international tensions. Tensions within any given city. Maybe even tensions within a local church. And here it says the reason behind all of those tensions for our sins. There's a reason behind the problems of our world. There's a reason behind the problems that we are facing. It is here, our sins. Paul does not say their sins as if he is come for those people over there, those sinners over there, those lawbreakers, those are the ones that are really in trouble. No, he lumps himself here into this whole mix. He says, our sins, my sins, and yours. We are the reason. Cheekay Chesterton is alleged to have been asked, what is wrong with the world? His alleged reply was, I am. Jesus came and gave himself for our sins. This is where the gospel levels the playing field. There is no one over there but us. We're all the ones over there. If you're among those that he has saved, then you are among the sinners he came to save. And that's one of the prerequisites for salvation, by the way. You have to be named a sinner. You have to believe it. In fact, he doesn't save anyone else. You might think, well, I actually don't need him. Well, then you cannot be saved. You are not going to be saved. His sacrifice is not gonna be applied to you. But why did he come in the first place if we can be saved without him? I've always loved the prayer of Daniel 9, which we've prayed as a church from time to time. And of course, Daniel, who wrote Daniel, never says anything about his faults throughout the prophecy of Daniel. because Daniel is trying to hide his faults. I think he has an inspired agenda, which is why he did what he did. Until chapter nine, when he prays this prayer, O Lord, great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we, he says, have sinned. We have done wrong. We have acted wickedly. We have rebelled. We have turned aside. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us, open shame." He throws himself into this statement. He gave himself for our sins. This is key to Paul's argument for the Galatian Christians and for us, too. Later on, he's going to ask this question, and I think it's a good question not only for us to memorize, it's a good question for us to ask ourselves maybe every week. Galatians 4 verse 15, what has happened to all your joy? What has happened to all your joy? Have you, yourselves, today at 251 East Stern Boulevard lost your joy? Have you forgotten how good it is, how sweet it is to be relieved of the burden of your guilt against God by his atonement for you? He came to gave himself for our sins. Or is it simply ho-hum? You yawn when the notion of worship is the next thing that we do after Saturday. You know, where's your joy? What has happened to all your joy? Who is Jesus Paul preached? He is the sacrifice. Then two, he is the deliverer. The Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age. He delivered us from sin, yes, but here he makes a very important point that is gonna be fleshed out in the rest of his book from this present evil age. We're gonna talk about that in a minute. This present evil age is the rivalry that is set forth. God is setting forth his kingdom and the rival, the kingdom of this world, the kingdom of the age, the kingdom of the prince of the power of the air. The present age sets forth an alternative form of righteousness for you, rather than the righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus. He has delivered you from that false righteousness, even though we feel it from time to time, and it is real. Later on, Paul will express this false righteousness when he says that we are to be free from its yoke. Chapter 5, verse 1. We can be yoked to it, and then the yoke weighs us down, and he mentions throughout Galatians a couple of ways in which it weighs us down. It weighs us down by the yoke of the interior flesh. That's one kind of righteousness. And there's another righteousness he mentions in chapter 2. which is veiled under the language, those who seemed to be influential. Galatians 2 verse 2, I went up because of revelation and said before them, though privately before those who seemed influential. That's right there. And then in verse 6, from those who seemed influential to those, I say, who seemed influential. They added nothing to me. And then he mentions again in verse 9, James and Cephas and John, who seemed influential, who seemed to be pillars. What is that? Well, that's spiritual intimidation. Those who seemed influential were intimidating Galatian Christians into believing their importance and causing them, wanting them, and pressing upon them to submit to them. They were seeking to persuade these Christians of their alleged importance with this language here. Paul says, this is the evil age, manipulating the people of God. You know, it's within your own self in the form of the flesh. That's what that does. That's what that flesh is designed to do. When the impulse of the flesh comes up, it's seeking to seduce you by a form of righteousness, an alternative rivalry to the righteousness that's by faith. And then it's outside the church in the form of friendship with the world. but it's also inside the church. That's what these people are doing here. He gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age. Everywhere the Lord Jesus went in his earthly ministry, he felt this. He felt this. We talked about it just briefly last week when the mother of Jesus came to Jesus and she insinuated to him, asking without actually asking anything, you know, they have no wine. As the sovereign, he set the record straight when he spoke to her, but then, of course, she submitted to him, as you recall. He also experienced this from the Pharisees. In Matthew 26, Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, I urge you by the living God, tell us if you're the Christ, the Son of God, tell us. And he didn't. He wasn't willing to play that game. Even his own brothers wanted to derail him. They say to him, for no one works in secret. If he seeks to be known openly, go and show yourself. That's what you came here for. And he, of course, he wasn't, it wasn't his time. He was being pressed upon everywhere. But he continued to live freely in the mission that he had from his father from beginning to end. He gave himself our sins, deliver us from this present evil age. The gospel grants freedom to serve him without that pressure. And Paul will later say in Galatians, therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. By deliverance of Jesus from this present evil age, we're no longer slaves of the old covenant. It stands for the old Mosaic commandments, whereby we were, they were by seeking to do the commandments, we were finding a righteousness of our own. But rather, the free woman is the woman of promise. The woman of promise who, bringing the promise of Abraham to us, where the promise is, I will bless you. And we receive that blessing by faith. Who is the Jesus Paul preached? The Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Father raised from the dead, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age. Now, let's consider his response, which I think is going to be practical for us. You know, I have here no longer Saul. Paul begins this letter by referring to himself as Paul. You, of course, remember when he came on the scene in the book of Acts, at the end of Acts, after Stephen's sermon, Saul of Tarsus was there. In Acts 13 verse 9, Luke records that Saul was also called Paul. So Saul was already Paul. When this man was living among Greek speakers, he was Paul. When he was in Jerusalem among Hebrew speakers, he was Saul, until Jesus met him. Jesus found him. Jesus saved him. Jesus converted him and eventually commissioned him. And for a brief moment, he was Saul, but then no longer Saul and Paul, but just Paul. No longer a double name, no longer a double identity, no longer a double life. Saul in Jerusalem and then Paul in the Greek-speaking parts. No, it was now just Paul. After Christ saved him, after Christ vested him with the Spirit of God, after Christ impressed the reality of his new identity in union with Christ upon him and in him, It was Paul everywhere he went. Paul in Jerusalem, Paul in Antioch, Paul in Corinth, Paul in Ephesus, Paul in Rome, Paul before Nero. I think this is a very interesting lesson to master here. It's very instructive. I think we can always tell that we're giving in to this present evil age when we change our names depending on our new context. When we're one person in this context, and a different person in that context. When we're a faithful Christian here, and we're not as faithful over there. The evil system has begun to appeal to you, and you're beginning to listen to this evil system. I mean, I think of Peter, who in this book, is referred to not as Peter, but as Cephas. By the time he's mentioned as Cephas, he's already caved in to this present evil age that was bubbling to the surface by these Christian Judaizers. And Paul, of course, takes significant issue with the compromise of Peter to be Cephas instead of Peter. Here, Paul is Paul, the apostle of the Lord Jesus. Paul is a brother to the Lord's people. Rather than the valued, esteemed rabbi Saul, Christian rabbi Saul, no, he'd rather be a slave of Jesus as Paul, everywhere he goes. Paul said, whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. And I have to imagine that he's thinking, I didn't really lose anything. when Christ vested me with his righteousness. I gave up what for me wasn't any worth to me anymore, and I haven't looked back. This is freedom, people. And I think that sometimes we can feel the feeling from time to time when we're in a context and a situation posed itself would be perfect for you to mention Jesus's name. And you begin to calculate. Is this the right time? Should I? What's going to happen if I do? Is that not perhaps the present evil age making it a play for you? It might be good to be a fool for Christ and speak up and just try it and see what happens. And then debrief as to whether it was wise. Not always wise. I understand that. But you felt the feeling before, haven't you? Feeling where you thought, in retrospect, I should have said something. Maybe you should have. But let's not beat ourselves up. Let's return to the gospel and ask God for another opportunity to bear witness. And then as Peter says elsewhere, let's be ready. Let's be ready. Well, and let's look at our response before we have the Lord's Supper. Now in doing that Altidorf Christmas scene, in this letter he wrote, he mentions another verse of scripture. He mentions Revelation 3.20, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. And of course, that Altidorf Christmas scene reminded me of, maybe you've seen that picture. I don't know if it's a painting or if it's a picture of Jesus You know, the beautiful, long-haired, blue-eyed Jesus, meek and mild Jesus, knocking on the door. And the painting depicts a door without a handle, without a latch, which means that the person on the inside needs to open the door to let Jesus in. I love the caricature of this, and when you look on the internet, you see people, you know, making fun of pictures like that. And this caricature of this picture was Jesus wearing SWAT fatigues, Kevlar body armor, a face shield, holding a SWAT battering ram. And the caption is, this is the Calvinist version of this depiction, which says, if Jesus comes a knocking, don't bother a locking. Well, the Bible says Jesus is knocking. He's knocking, not knocking down or knocking over. But knocking, and I have to imagine Jesus is coming to the church, his church, a church that has long forgotten him. And the church is crumbling, it's being ravaged by their compromise, and he comes gently. And the door has no outside latch, and so the inside residents must open it as if they would open it to any wayfarer if that person was to be admitted. Is that who Jesus is to you, a wayfarer? You know, time to time you hear a knock on your door, and you walk up and you look through the keyhole, the little thing, look at that, okay. No, I'm not gonna open that guy. You go about your business. Door-to-door salesman, I'm not interested. Is that who Jesus is to you? Or is it the Lord Jesus Christ? Raised today from the Father, come to be your atonement and your deliverer. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me." That doesn't sound terribly militant. Doesn't sound like he's recruiting an army, you know, equipping them with weaponry and body armor and, you know, maps and plans. No, he just wants, for now, he wants to come in and eat with you. And of course, in a culture of hospitality, eating means talking. Eating means listening. Eating means lingering. And as you linger, you get a sense that He has an agenda with you, a gentle, gracious agenda. But because He is the Lord and you're His servant, He knows that we need to have His ministry by which we can be changed. He knows that we need Him to appeal to us, to to repent, but repent in the very unique ways that each of us as individuals need repentance. And so he comes and he doesn't come with a script that he applies literally to everybody, but he draws from his word and allows the spirit to begin to make inroads into your life and into your mind and your heart if you'll open yourself up to him. I know that being in a church, It's possible for you to be in church and not really be here. To be here in body and to be here because it's what we do. And for you to be thinking about looking behind to see how much more time do I have. There's not a time for that. You're interacting as woeful as this preacher is. Jesus isn't woeful. You have the occasion now to entertain Him and to sit with Him at a table and He is gonna share a meal with you and you with Him and He wants you to open yourself up to Him. Are you resisting that? Are you keeping Him at arm's length? Or you would rather have a righteousness of a different sort than the one He's giving to you by faith? If anyone hears my voice, he opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. That's where it has to start. Today when we have the Lord's Supper, I want you to yoke yourself to him. Receive him. A very, very humble, very, very modest little bit of this, but it's everything he is giving to you. He's giving you everything. Let him in. Let him have his way with you. Let Him speak to you. Let Him advise you. Let Him instruct you. Let Him correct you. How are you doing on being corrected? I don't like being corrected either. But we ought not to feel that way about Him. We have to let Him do it. And so I invite you. When you receive the cup, the cup is going to have bread and cup, bread and juice. Let His voice Let his voice enter into you. Let his voice say to you, I've been meaning to get a hold of you. Let's linger and let his voice be gently received so he can bring us the nourishment that we need. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for the privilege it is to meet with you and your son, to have our Bibles open and to have this text of scripture just drawn out in such a way as to know that there are voices laying claim to our hearts every day and yours is one of them. Help us to open ourselves up to you and to close ourselves off to that other voices and let your voice prevail. I pray today that as we think about that and hold the elements in our hands that we would hear your voice, that we would receive your voice, that we would cherish it even when the voice hurts. But we know that the hurt of the great physician is a hurt that leads to eternal life. And so I pray that we can welcome it in every way, that indeed we can Leave and prepare to leave this place with a greater sense of liberty and joy, the very joy you have always meant for us as your people to have. So I pray that your people can do the business you are calling them to do, even as we prepare to linger in the presence of the Lord in the table. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.