The War on Terror Is Won :: Galatians 5:16-24

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself on behalf of our sins to take us out of the present evil age (1:3-4).  

I have been crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20). 

Say it with me: I have been crucified with Christ. Say it again like you mean it. 

It seems to be such a simple statement of faith: I have been crucified with Christ. 

Do you believe it? I know, most of you feel very alive today. Therefore, you are thinking, how can I be crucified with Christ? I mean, you’re here ... Right? Breathing ... Heart beating. But ... I have been crucified with Christ? I no longer live? 

That’s right! We are crucified! That’s what Paul is telling us today in our epistle reading. 

I HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST

This is our pure gospel theme today. In our epistle reading from Galatians 5, the beloved apostle restates this verse I keep quoting from Galatians chapter 2 (v. 20). In fact, in every chapter of Galatians, he urges us to never forget this. We Christians have crucified the flesh with its passions and cravings (v. 24). 

We must never forget this ... even when we struggle to understand it. We want to deny it, because it doesn’t make sense that the fullness of time has come, that the God with us sent forth his Son (4:4-5) to draw near to us and die on a cross for us. This is why Paul had to write his epistle to begin with ... reminding all of us that we can see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears the crucifixion (3:1). The churches in Galatia .... like churches all around us ... were abandoning this Gospel of what God had done in Christ ... in favor of the Law ... they were abandoning the gospel for preachers who make you think you can contribute to your salvation, that you can make yourself holy, that you can set yourself apart. 

Even after hearing the Gospel each week, we are all too quick to retreat from him who called you in the grace of Christ. We are all quick to turn to a different gospel ... not that there is another (1:6). ... There is only one Gospel ... Jesus Christ was crucified (3:1) for you. Jesus died for you. Jesus gave his life to you. We have been crucified with Christ.

So why is this word so important? It means that we no longer have any reason to fear. It means we have every reason to proclaim the Lord’s death, joining the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven lauding and magnifying his glorious name, receiving the bread and wine in the feast of forgiveness every Lord’s Day until he comes. It means we don’t need to be afraid of exposing our sin in confession any longer. It means there is no need to fret ... no need to mourn your sin any longer. We have been crucified with Christ. Our sin has been redeemed. Our sin is dead and buried. God has won the war on terror. 

So Paul writes ... Now walk around in the Spirit, and the cravings of the flesh certainly will not be fulfilled (v. 16). 

In every Christian there is a conflict ... a real war on terror, if you will ... which is graphically expressed for us in our epistle reading today. Here in Galatians chapter 5, we see two contrasting ways of life. On one hand, we face the overwhelming cravings of the flesh; on the other we experience the fruit of the Spirit. The cravings of the flesh is sin. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, humility, and self-control. As Paul says, the flesh craves [things that are] against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, for these are opposed to one another in order that you may not desire the things you may do (v. 17). 

Sin is opposed to God in Christ. When we live our life the way we want to live our life, we express life in the flesh. When we live as Christians, we excel in the life of the Spirit. To live in the flesh is to live in the image of our natural father Adam, who brought pain, suffering, struggle, death to us all. This is the experience Paul expresses in Romans chapter 7. I do not understand the things I do. I do not do what I want. I do what I hate (7:15). And what do I hate? Sexual immorality, impurity, indecency, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousies, wrath, selfishness, dissensions, heresies, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. Brothers and sisters in Christ, I tell you [now], just as I have said before, that those practicing such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. The wage of these sins is death. 

Don’t think for a second that this is some all inclusive list. It isn’t! We could easily add another 25 sins just from Ephesians 5 and 2 Timothy 3, and then we still don’t have all the things like these ... all the things that are destroying your life in the flesh.

So in the name of Jesus, repent, everyone of you. You who have been baptized, you are not yourselves, you who were bought with a price ... you have been crucified with Christ to bring you in step with the Spirit, who raised you to walk in the newness of life. 

Through baptism God has opened your eyes to recognize sin in your life, whatever yours may be. He has united you in baptism with Christ in the crucifixion, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead you too might walk in step with the Spirit. So are we to continue in (sin)? By no means! (Rom 6:1) Your sin ... all your sin of thought, word, and deed, all that you have done and left undone ... all of it was crucified with Christ. I have been crucified with Christ. 

Jesus carried your sin to the cross, where it was nailed to his tree, then he buried all of it with him, so that it will never be heard from again. It is precisely because of the crucifixion we see our savior.

Our readings for more than two months have been leading us to this recognition. As the Holy Spirit calls us back into his Divine Service, he has been opening our ears and eyes to see what our sin has done ... crucifying Christ. When we look to the cross, we can now be truthful with ourselves, recognizing that our own immorality, impurity, indecency ... jealousy, selfishness, and envy ... pride, arrogance, and abusiveness ... all the things we hate ... have a terrible price. We can recognize that we cannot overcome our own flesh, our own cravings, our own lusts by our own will and efforts ... but God can. Like the ten lepers in Luke 17[:11-19], Jesus has heard our pleas for mercy from a distance. He has washed us clean in baptism. He has made us whole, giving us faith that saves. Thank God that we have been crucified with Christ. 

For those of us who are being saved, this truth is the power of God (1 Cor 1:16). 

God made this possible by coming to us to fulfill and obey all the law for us (Mt 5:17-26) ... to fill all of us beyond full, providing for all our needs of body and soul (Mk 8:1-9) ... delivering to us the joy of his salvation (Ps 51:12) here in his Divine Service to us (Ps 92), where we hear and see his salvation (Ps 50). 

Now as we continue returning to the Divine Service, we begin to understand what the fruit of the Spirit really is ... the fruit of the Spirit is uniquely Christ himself: Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, humility, faith, and self-control. These are not natural, individual attributes. They are not singular character traits, that some of you have some of the time. They are uniquely Jesus Christ himself who now lives in you, and you in him. They come uniquely from Christ himself, through Christ, with Christ, on account of Christ. Apart from Christ, we have none of them. But as we walk in the Holy Spirit, we have them all because Christ lives in us, and we live in him. 

Everyone who belongs to Christ has all these fruits because he is all in all. We do not just naturally become nicer, more loving and kind, progressing in humility because we are Christians. The Holy Spirit produces these within us on account of Christ, who has saved us by grace through faith. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ep 2:10). 

God has made this all possible. Jesus lived life in the flesh exactly as we are called to do. He produced perfect love, joy, peace. He exemplified his long suffering ... that is, patience ... coming to us in the fullness of time. He ... in perfect harmony with his divinity and with our flesh, exemplified humility, showing us kindness and goodness, healing all our infirmities, making us whole in his new creation. He has given us faith in all of his promises. And on account of this faith in Christ that he gave us, we truly have peace, which is the forgiveness of sins, won for us in the crucifixion, where Christ suffered for us in our place, appeasing the full wrath of God. 

And because of his means of grace, God has raised you with Christ from the dead into the hope of eternal life, where we will finally stand before God clothed in his righteousness. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our fight against the works of the flesh is still real. 

But because of the Spirit’s power and Christ’s victory on the cross, you are first and foremost, saints. He has won the war on terror for us. Now if you are being led in the Spirit, you are not under the law (v. 17). That is to say ... we are not under condemnation of the Law any longer (Rm 8:1). 

We have been crucified with Christ, baptized into Christ, raised with Christ, and we look for the resurrection of the dead, and life in the world to come. Now (we) no longer live, but Christ ... he lives in (us) ... and that (life) which (we) now live in the flesh, (we) live in the faith of the Son of God, the one who loved (us) and gave himself on behalf of (us) (Gal 2:20). 

So rejoice. Embrace your baptism, hear his absolution, and receive the Lord’s Supper as often as you can with the joy that he provides. This is your new life in Christ.