Jesus Is Infinitely Better Than Everything Else!

5th Sunday after Pentecost, 6/23/13
Galatians 3:23-29


Jesus Is Infinitely Better Than Everything Else!
I. Certainly better than a misuse of God’s law
II. Better, because he brings us into God’s family


Product comparisons are a common way of advertising products. Whether it’s laundry detergent or motor oil or paper towel, the advertising agent will place two or more competing products before your eyes, use them as they were intended to be used, and then show you the results. And they’re predictable. I have yet to see an advertisement of this type in which the sponsor’s product failed to come out on top; it usually does so by a wide margin. The sponsor wants you to conclude that you’re wasting your money if you buy the other product. You are strongly urged to buy the superior product—their product—the next time you’re in the market.

Product comparison. Which product is the best one for you?

I’m sure that, in most cases, it isn’t a huge deal whether you choose Tide or Purex for your laundry detergent, Quaker State or Valvoline for your motor oil, Bounty or Brawnie for your paper towel. But your choice regarding your way to heaven is life or death. Contrary to what our modern world wants you to think, there aren’t many ways to heaven, to a blissful life after this one.

There’s only one and it’s Jesus Christ. Actually, every other choice boils down to achieving heaven by your own efforts, your own sacrifices, your own prayers, your own good deeds, your own attempts to do what you think your god wants you to do.

We know and believe that Jesus is the Son of God and our Savior from sin, and that our own works do not save us. But that truth wages war with our own misguided thinking. And that’s nothing new. In fact, it’s as old as the sinful history of the human race.

The Apostle Paul dealt with it at length among his beloved Galatians. The Galatians wanted to mix faith in Jesus with their own good works as the way to salvation. Paul let them know in no uncertain terms how wrong they were. When it comes to the way to eternal life, Jesus is infinitely better than everything else. Let’s focus our attention on that saving truth as we apply our hearts and minds to this portion of God’s word this morning.

Part I.

When I was a child, I recall trying to pound nails into a piece of wood using a wooden baseball bat. You can guess what happened. Most of the time, I failed to hit the nail squarely on the head and the nail bent. And the more nails I pounded, the more damage I did to the baseball bat. There were small gouges all over the end of it.

When you misuse an object, the results are predictable. The object breaks or gets so damaged that it doesn’t function well any longer. Or perhaps it doesn’t work at all. Or, no damage occurs, but you don’t get the results you intended. It was a waste of time and effort. But one of the worst results is that you think you have accomplished what you set out to do, you’re satisfied with what occurred. But in reality, you haven’t accomplished anything.

That’s what was happening among the Galatians. They were misusing God’s law. Paul tells them, “Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” Do you fully understand what Paul was saying, or do you have a few questions? Let me help you out. Paul makes several points in those sentences about God’s law. Here he’s not talking about the 10 Commandments. Those apply to all people of all time. He’s talking about God’s laws for the Jews that were temporary. He’s talking about all the laws that regulated how they worshipped and what they ate and what they had to avoid touching, among other things. These laws only applied to the Jews for a certain time.

So what was their purpose, if they were only temporary? Paul says, “We were held prisoners of the law, locked up.” Actually, the Greek words don’t portray a prison situation. They portray a guardianship situation. In the Greek world, an adult slave often served as the guardian of a minor. This slave accompanied the minor everywhere he went to make sure he was doing what he was supposed to do and keeping him out of trouble. That’s what these temporary laws were designed to do for the Jews. They were meant to keep the people focused on their relationship with the God of their fathers and to keep them away from the evil practices of the nations around them.

Paul says that was the case before “this faith came.” What’s that all about? In the previous section, Paul had been speaking about Abraham’s faith in the promise of the Savior, in other words, God’s plan of salvation. By the time Paul wrote these words, that plan of salvation had already been accomplished by Jesus Christ. “This faith” refers to believing in Jesus as the Savior and the blessings he won for us, such as forgiveness and life in heaven. That’s our New Testament Christian faith in a nutshell.

But that wasn’t the faith of these Jewish Christians in Galatia. They stated that faith in Jesus was necessary for forgiveness and eternal life, but that you also had to keep some of the Old Testament laws such as eating kosher, observing Saturday as the Sabbath, and keeping the covenant of circumcision.

That is a complete misuse of God’s law. That won’t accomplish life with God. It will only accomplish life apart from him.

Jesus is infinitely better than everything else, certainly better than a misuse of God’s law.

Perhaps by now you’re thinking to yourself, “Here we go again. I’ve heard all this before. In fact, it’s one of the reasons that I chose to worship here. This church does not teach salvation by works. It teaches salvation by grace through faith in Jesus.” Fair enough. But there’s a good reason our God caused these words to be written down. This isn’t some crusty chapter of New Testament history in a limited location of the world 2,000 years ago. This isn’t a battle that Paul waged once, never to be waged again. It’s our modern battle, too. You know Christians who think this way. And that concerns us. But let’s be more concerned when we think this way. We know we’re saved by Jesus alone, and yet we like to think that our record as a Christian is worth something before God and our fellow Christians. And when things don’t work out that way, when we strive and sacrifice and nothing good comes back in recognition of it, then we’re quick to display our record and demand recognition. And if we don’t get it, we’ll feel justified in looking down on others. And when that’s our attitude, then we’re standing right alongside of these Galatians.

Jesus is infinitely better, because, on closer examination, our record isn’t so good. In fact, it stinks, mine and yours. And our efforts to claim that it doesn’t stink are just another proof of it. It’s not our record at all; it’s Jesus’ record. His perfect life. His sacrificial death. His glorious resurrection. All for our forgiveness and eternal life. Indeed, he’s infinitely better than everything else!

Part II.

Would you agree with this statement? “Never before has belonging to a family been more important because never before has the family been under such dire attack.” Perhaps you’d like to debate that statement and, perhaps modify it. But I think you’d agree that belonging to a family is critically important.

It’s eternally critical when it comes to your spiritual life. That’s what makes this next statement such sweet, good news, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Our gracious and powerful God has accomplished a spiritual change in you of epic proportions. His Holy Spirit brought you to faith in Jesus and, in doing so, he made you a child of God, a member of God’s eternal family.

That means all the blessings Jesus won for all people belong personally to you. Paul makes a short, but vitally important list of them. He states, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Our God does not see us with the filthiness of sin clinging to us. He sees us dressed in the righteousness or holiness of Christ. That’s the greatest news any sinner can hear.

Paul continues his list by placing before us the blessing that we’re all equal in God’s eyes. There are no distinctions. He loves us all with the greatest love the world has ever seen, a love that caused him to sacrifice his Son for all sinners.

Paul concludes his list of blessings by telling us that, since we are God’s children, then we are his heirs. God placed his name on you to bless you eternally. That’s what heaven is all about—God’s full blessing forever. And it’s all yours because Jesus made you God’s child and an heir of eternal life.

That makes Jesus infinitely better than everything else. He, and he alone, brings us into God’s family.

We spoke moments ago about the decline of the family in our modern world. Sadly, the potential exists for your place in God’s family to decline as well. It happens as we separate ourselves from the good news of Jesus in word and sacrament. Those are the means by which God makes us his children and keeps us as his children. You are God’s child by faith in Jesus. Jesus brought you into God’s family. Grow in that relationship with him by being firmly rooted in his gospel promises to you. Indeed, Jesus is infinitely better than everything else! Amen.