“The Life of Faith, Part 3: “Working for the Kingdom” by the Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, July 6, 2025, Year C / Pentecost 4 / Proper 9 (14) – Galatians 6:1-16 • I John 4:11-21 (not in lectionary).
THEME: Living in the Spirit by loving others anticipates the Kingdom.
Have you ever had the experience of being part of a really good team? Maybe it was a musical group? Or a work cohort? Some of the best-known examples, of course come from sports. The undefeated Miami Dolphins in 1972. The NCAA champion Penn State football team in 1982. The Chicago Bulls in 1995 and the New York Yankees in 1998. The World Cup winning US Women’s soccer team in 1999. And there are many more. I’ve been thinking about these teams this week. I have been wondering what made them so great? What do they have in common?
It boils down to three things. Identity, Unity and Selfless, mutual sacrifice. All of these teams had a distinct identity. It ran far deeper than their uniforms. On the one hand, they were distinct individuals, and they celebrated their individuality. They were often quirky and fun, sometimes outlandish. Dennis Rodman, anyone? But they also saw themselves as part of a larger whole, something bigger than themselves. They had a common mission, and their mission tied them together. Their mission provided unity. Every member of these teams had a different set of core skills and strengths. They played different roles on the field and in the locker room, but they always played together as a unit. They were cohesive. There was conflict, both on and off the field, but it was not divisive. In addition to identity and unity, the third key ingredient that set these teams apart, was selfless, mutual sacrifice. This was the secret sauce.
They suffered together on and off the field. Day after day, in practice and in games, they worked extraordinarily hard, not just to maximize their own performance, but to make each other better. They held themselves accountable, AND they held each other accountable, too. As a result, the team became more than the sum of its parts. They didn’t just win. They won with style. They played with creativity and joy. In later years as the players looked back on this experience, they described it as life-altering. As a fan, you could see it as it was unfolding. You could feel the joy. It was contagious. People wanted to be a part of it. That is why, for generations afterward, people still remember teams like these. They write books about them. They hold them up as the measure of current and future teams. They become legends, the standard to which all teams aspire.
Friends, this is exactly what Paul wants for the Galatians. In this sermon series on “The Life of Faith,” we have been exploring Paul’s vision for the way the Galatians should live out their faith with one another. It is striking that Paul emphasizes the very same things that make sports teams great: identity, unity, and selfless, mutual sacrifice. Identity is the foundation. This is what prompts Paul’s letter in the first place. He is adamant that circumcision is not the source of the Galatians’ identity. Their identity comes from Christ and from Christ alone. Through their faith in him, they are God’s children, heirs of God’s promise of blessing and new life.
Unity flows from that identity. Christian unity is the hallmark of new life in the Spirit, the life that Paul wants for the Galatians. They do not lose their individuality, but what unites them is Christ. That is far greater than any other differences they may have. Finally, their unity in Christ gives them a common mission of selfless, mutual sacrifice. Their mission is what Paul calls Christ’s law of love. He commands them to love their neighbors as themselves. Self-giving love is the hallmark of life in the Spirit. It is the first and greatest of the fruits of the Spirit. Paul says, enslaving themselves to one another is the truest form of freedom. It is the freedom to love as widely and as well as God loves them. Last week we saw what a magnetic force selfless love can be for folks considering becoming part of our faith community.
These three things – identity in Christ, unity in Christ, and selfless, mutual sacrifice in obedience to Christ. These are the characteristics of the Pauline way of Christian living, what he calls life in the Spirit. That is the point of this season of Pentecost. We remind ourselves that the experience of living in the Spirit as a community of faith is nothing less than life altering. It is a kind of spiritual rebirth. Which is why Paul says that the Galatians who live this way are a new creation.
Folks, the same applies to you and me. To be a new creation is to experience a little bit of that future life of glorious resurrection, when all creation is made new – including you and me. Have you ever had an experience like this, the experience of being part of a Christian team that changed your life? I have. It was exactly such a life-altering experience that led me to hear and pursue the call to ministry 25 years ago. As we were building our careers and raising our two girls, Beth and I were very active in the ministries of the churches we attended in New York and New Jersey. Now, as I look back on that time, I can see that God was preparing me even then for ministry. But I wasn’t there yet.
In the wake of 9/11, that changed. The husband of one of our pastors invited me to help him lead a mission team to South America. That experience changed my life forever. We recruited a team to go with us. Soon, there were twelve of us, both members and friends. I probably should have caught the symbolism of the number 12, and seen it as a hint that God was up to something big. Instead, I was focused on organizing travel itineraries and plane tickets. In the months leading up to the trip, we met in each other’s homes on a regular basis. We prayed and we studied together. We learned about the culture, economy, and history of Bolivia, where we were going to work at an orphanage for street children in the city of Cochabamba, high up in the Andes mountains.
At first, we did not know each other all that well, but we shared a common faith in Christ, and compassion for those whom he called the least and the lost. By the time we took off from JFK, we were more tightly bonded than any other church group I had ever been a part of. Soon enough, we were touching down in Bolivia. When we arrived at the orphanage, we were soon surrounded by hordes of young Bolivian children, at least 100 of them, jabbering away in Spanish, hugging us, and wanting us to play with them. Later that night, we gathered with the orphanage pastor, an older Catholic priest from Minnesota named Paul. Paul led us through reflections on the day. All of us were overwhelmed by the outpouring of affection and love from these children, as well as gratitude from the staff who worked with them and cared for them every day.
Then the reality hit home. These children were abandoned by parents so poor that they could no longer feed themselves, let alone their own children. Further, these kids were the lucky ones. Somehow, they found their way to the orphanage. But, even so, without parents, they were clearly starved for love and attention. Simply by being present to these so-called throw-away children, we made them feel loved. And they responded with utter joy. Because love does that. Ministry in Christ’s name, the ministry of self-giving love, changes the lives of others. We all expected that to happen. What we did not expect, was how it would change us, and our lives. I realized that the experience of being Christ’s minister was reshaping my heart. It was not long after that trip that I enrolled in seminary.
To this day, I remain grateful to God for the life-changing experience of being part of a ministry team whose identity is in Christ, whose unity is in Christ, and whose mission is to obey Christ’s command that we love our neighbor as ourselves, especially the least and the lost. Folks, this is the same mission Christ has given all of us. And we do not have to fly to another continent to undertake it. There are hordes of poor and hungry people living right here in Central Pennsylvania. If the news coming from Washington is correct, there will soon be thousands more.
The question is what will we do about this as a team of Christ’s ministers obeying his law of love? Whatever it is, we can expect two things. First, the Spirit will work through us to change the lives of others, to help them taste the New Creation of God’s Kingdom. Second, the Spirit will change our lives, too. We, too, will experience a foretaste of the New Creation of God’s Kingdom.
May it be so.
