{"id":10810,"date":"2025-07-01T04:02:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T11:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10810"},"modified":"2025-07-01T04:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T11:05:09","slug":"two-by-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10810","title":{"rendered":"Two by two"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Select here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Galatians 6:[1-6] 7-16; Luke 10:1-11; 16-20<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How should Christians live? People want to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a famous book called In His Steps <\/em>(by Charles Sheldon, 1897) that spells out one man\u2019s view of what walking \u201cin his steps\u201d means. It became an instant best-seller for years and years because people wanted to know: How are we to live? How do we follow \u201cin his steps\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an international Christian group, very much like the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, called \u201cTwo by Twos,\u201d which takes from Luke 10:1-11 the idea that these are the ways, the steps, we are to follow if we are Christian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also those, particularly in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions, who say \u201cin his steps\u201d means living in poverty, chastity, and obedience (monasticism).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be sure, especially on Good Friday in places like Latin America and the Philippines, there are Christians who whip themselves and even carry a heavy cross. What does it mean \u201cto take up your cross\u201d? To follow \u201cin his steps\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book In His Steps <\/em>is still in print. Today the same idea is seen in the WWJD movement \u2013 \u201cWhat Would Jesus Do?\u201d There are a lot of jokes about WWJD, but it really is the question: How should we live?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jiminy Cricket says: \u201cAlways let your conscience be your guide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Paul has similar advice. In Romans 2:15 he writes that there is something in you that says this is good and that is bad. The text doesn\u2019t use our idea of conscience, but it\u2019s that idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Romans 14 Paul discusses at length what foods to eat, what days to observe, and how you must not trouble your neighbor with these views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1 Corinthians 8-10 Paul writes that you must not offend the conscience of somebody else, although at the end of 1 Corinthians 10:29, Paul also says (paraphrase): \u201cYou must not let your conscience be dominated by someone else\u2019s conscience either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He understands \u201cconscience\u201d to mean that everybody has some sense of right and wrong, but the content is filled by whatever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you know something about Roman Catholic thinking, you know that Aquinas said one has to live according to one\u2019s conscience. But when this comes up in discussions in the Roman Catholic Church, it is said that the conscience has to be formed by the Church. Conscience is not itself an authority or a source of revelation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul also has lists of vices (Galatians 5:19-21) and virtues (Galatians 5:22-23). In Galatians 5:22-23 he talks about the fruit of the Spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control \u2013 nine of them altogether. He goes on in chapter 6 to say bear one another\u2019s burdens, but also each one \u201cmust carry his own load\u201d (Galatians 6:5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another list is found in Philippians 4:8: \u201c\u2026 whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is holy, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul also commends imitation as a way of living the Christian life. In Philippians 4:9 he writes: \u201cWhat you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do.\u201d This is like Philippians 3:17: \u201cBrethren, join in imitating me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1 Corinthians 4:16-17, he says: \u201cBe imitators of me. I have sent to you Timothy to remind you of my ways in Christ as I teach them everywhere in every church.\u201d Then in 1 Cor 11:1 he writes: \u201cBe imitators of me as I am of Christ.\u201d Similarly in a passage that is coming in 1 Thessalonians 1:6: \u201cAnd you became imitators of us and of the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how are we to imitate him? Are we to be tentmakers? Travel around the eastern Mediterranean like he did? Make sure that we don\u2019t have long hair? What does it mean to imitate him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Paul\u2019s day the idea of having models for life was very common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was someone called Plutarch who wrote a whole series of lives, not just for biographical reasons, but to show how character was shaped by virtues and vices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a book we don\u2019t use because it\u2019s in the Apocrypha, called Sirach (chapters 44-50), it starts out: \u201cLet us now remember famous men,\u201d and these models are lifted up. We find a similar thing in Hebrews 11 and 12. We have saints\u2019 lives. We have this idea that there is some way of helping ourselves by looking at how people have lived. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same is true for the material in Colossians 3:18-4:1 and Ephesians 5:21-6:9. Both books say wives obey your husbands, husbands love your wives, children obey your parents, slaves obey your masters, or words to that effect. This was not some unique heavenly code given in the New Testament. We have thousands of examples of these kinds of lists common at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They provide guidance on how we should live. But when we try, as Luther says, we end up either in spiritual pride or despair. When we think: Yes, \u201cI\u2019m doing it, leading the good Christian life,\u201d if we are honest, we realize we don\u2019t and we can\u2019t. When we don\u2019t do it, we despair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we need to realize is that the question: \u201cHow to live?\u201d is the devil\u2019s own question. It\u2019s the wrong question. It misleads us into focusing on ourselves and thinking we can judge ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The right question is: What are we living for? We can see that as we look at the whole New Testament, but in this case, we are looking at what Paul writes in Galatians and elsewhere. There are several very specific points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first point is one we often forget, namely, that Paul thought the end was coming in his generation. This is found in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 where he writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul says much the same thing in 1 Thessalonians 4:15, and if you look at what he writes in 1 Corinthians 7:20-39, where in view of the approaching end, Paul says stay in the state you are. If you are married or not married, don\u2019t worry about it. If you\u2019re a slave, don\u2019t try to be free. Be content. He himself says: I\u2019m not married; I don\u2019t have time for that now because the end is near. He wasn\u2019t writing rules for all times and places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same thing is found in Matt 10:23 and Mark 9:1. This is not only in Paul but also some places in the four Gospels. You may say Paul was wrong, and what does that have to do with us? Five times in the New Testament, in the Gospels, in Paul, and in the Book of Revelation it says the end will come like a thief in the night (Matt 24:43, 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 2 Peter 3:10, Rev. 3:3, 16:15).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That applies not only to Paul and the New Testament but also to you and me. The New Testament talks about the fact that nobody knows when the end comes. Therefore, be ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second point that Paul makes is: \u201cWhat can we do to get the Gospel out?\u201d When we study the travels of Paul, we see him running around the Eastern part of the Mediterranean and then in Romans 15:24 he writes (paraphrase): \u201cI\u2019m on my way to Spain.\u201d We don\u2019t know that he made it, but he was trying to. Why? Because the end is near, and the only important thing is to get the Gospel out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all of these materials, he asks: \u201cHow then do we live? What do we do?\u201d He doesn\u2019t set up a discipleship program. He doesn\u2019t try to bring the kingdom of God on earth. In Romans 13:1-7 where he writes about the state, he says (paraphrase): \u201cPay your taxes and pay the dues that are due for border customs.\u201d He also says obey the rulers and the rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the end is near, he asks: \u201cHow can we keep chaos at bay?\u201d This gives us a different perspective on those lists of vices and virtues. When we come upon them, we think: \u201cIsn\u2019t he clever? Aren\u2019t these remarkable?\u201d Until you study the time and realize that such lists were widespread in the rhetoric of the time, and Paul simply took them and put them in his letters as a way of saying how we can live until the end so we can focus on the main thing: Getting the Gospel out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not that he goes along with all the mores of the time, but he follows more or less the kinds of practices he found among the Jewish people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the surrounding culture practiced infanticide, but the Jewish people did not. The Jewish people set sexual boundaries protecting marriage and the family. As a result, their people were healthier and flourished. Paul followed in this tradition of using the best thinking of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same is true for us. We need roads, food, private property, and social boundaries to keep chaos from taking over. But we\u2019re not kingdom builders. Our job is to keep evil at bay so that life can go on, and we can get the Gospel out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those lists of virtues are ways of saying this is how we can get along, keep the chaos back, so that we can do what is most important: What are we living for? To get the Gospel out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are three big conclusions from this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the advice for living (ethical) material in the New Testament is from the surrounding time. There is nothing unique or specific that says: This is specifically Christian ethics. Not only \u201cLove your neighbor,\u201d which is found in many cultures, but even \u201cLove your enemies\u201d (Matt 5:44) are found outside of the New Testament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, the best guide we have is the one that Paul gives us in Romans 13:10 where he discusses what it means to love your neighbor: \u201cLove does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.\u201d In other words, Christians ask: What causes harm? And we use common reason and common sense to minimize harm so that life can flourish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, as we look at how Paul works and how the New Testament works, we live by faith and not by sight. What happens and how God is working is not basically visible to us in the world in general and even in us ourselves. He is working in his way, and we let him run the universe and run our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, regarding that question\u2014WWJD: What Would Jesus do?\u2014it is the wrong question. He is Lord and we are not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No works make one worthy. As Paul writes: \u201cFor neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation\u201d (Galatians 6:16). This leads us to the right question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The right question is: WDJD \u2013 What Did Jesus Do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer: He made the great exchange: \u201cFor our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God\u201d (2 Corinthians 5:21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation<\/strong>; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come\u201d (2 Cor 5:17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are a new creation, but you can\u2019t see it. His work in you and me is hidden even from our own eyes. But we can be confident because through Baptism we are in Christ, and his redemption of us depends not on us but on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n

Galatians 6:[1-6] 7-16; Luke 10:1-11; 16-20<\/p>\n

How should Christians live? People want to know.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a famous book called In His Steps (by Charles Sheldon, 1897) that spells out one man\u2019s view of what walking \u201cin his steps\u201d means. It became an instant best-seller for years and years because people wanted to know: How are we to live? How do we follow \u201cin his steps\u201d?<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or select here<\/a> for a pdf version.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10810"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10819,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10810\/revisions\/10819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}