Stockholm Syndrome
06/13/10
Pastor
Marji Miller
On August 23rd, 1973 two machine-gun carrying criminals entered a bank in Stockholm, Sweden. Blasting their guns, one prison escapee named Jan-Erik Olsson announced to the terrified bank employees, “The party has just begun!” The two bank robbers held four hostages, three women and one man, for the next 131 hours. The hostages were strapped with dynamite and held in a bank vault until finally rescued on August 28th.
After their rescue, the hostages exhibited a shocking attitude considering they were threatened, abused, and feared for their lives for over five days. In their media interviews, it was clear that they supported their captors and actually feared law enforcement personnel who came to their rescue. The hostages had begun to feel the captors were actually protecting them from the police. One source insisted one of the women later became engaged to one of the criminals and another developed a legal defense fund to aid in their criminal defense fees. Whether those reports are true or not, clearly, the hostages had “bonded” emotionally with their captors.
In psychology, Stockholm syndrome is a term used to describe a psychological phenomenon in which hostages admire and have positive feelings towards their captors.
Let’s leave Stockholm in 1973 and go back 19 hundred and 13 years in time and 13 hundred and 49 miles to the southeast, to Antioch in modern day Syria. There were churches all over the eastern Mediterranean within decades of Jesus’ death. Our story today begins in a diverse church in Antioch, made up of Jews and non-Jews. Paul and Barnabas were working there and Galatians 2 tells us Peter had come to Antioch. Peter was one of Jesus’ closest friends and followers. He had become the spokesperson for the apostles at Pentecost when the church was born. It was Peter who had had the dream about a sheet full of creepy crawlies. God had used the dream to tell Peter the gospel was to go to everyone. In response to that dream, in Antioch at least, Peter had adopted a lifestyle that was similar to that of Gentile Christians. He ate with Gentile Christians, maybe even Gentile food. For all we know, Peter could have been eating barbecued spare ribs! In Antioch, it was understood that the unity of the church, consisting of Jew and Gentile, included eating together.
But, then, something happened that changed all that! Into the picture came some people from the Jerusalem church – the mother church. The Jerusalem church was led by James, Jesus’ brother. In spite of not taking Jesus very seriously during the ministry years, James had become a pillar of the Jerusalem church. The Jerusalem visitors seem to have expressed their disapproval at seeing Jewish and Gentile believers eating together. Jews weren’t supposed to do that. Peter began to pull back from the Gentile believers, maybe at one of the church suppers. As a result of Peter’s actions, eating together – the symbol of unity – had become separation.
Hold that thought right there and let’s move again. Another time, another place, another church. This time in Galatia – modern day Turkey – the church we’ve been talking about in the Galatians class. There were problems there, too. Someone was trying to add rules and expectations and “shoulds” to the gospel. Paul heard about it and wrote this letter we’ve been studying.
When Peter came to Antioch, I challenged him to his face, because he was wrong. Peter ate with the non-Jewish people until some Jewish people sent from James came to Antioch. When they arrived, Peter stopped eating with those who weren’t Jewish, and he separated himself from them. He was afraid of the Jews. So Peter was a hypocrite, as were the other Jewish believers who joined with him. Even Barnabas was influenced by what these Jewish believers did. When I saw they were not following the truth of the Good News, I spoke to Peter in front of them all. I said, “Peter, you are a Jew, but you are not living like a Jew. You are living like those who are not Jewish. So why do you now try to force those who are not Jewish to live like Jews?” Galatians 2:11-14 NCV
Imagine we are having a potluck after church. What if Pastor Greg gathered up his plate and his small group people and moved to another table – away from the rest of us, and made it clear we weren’t welcome at his table because we’re not pure enough? How would you feel? What message would that send? That’s exactly how the Gentile believers would have felt. Angry. Hurt. Confused. Not good for church unity.
In spite of his use of the word “hypocrite,” Paul’s concern wasn’t that Peter was changing his behavior in different situations. Paul would live like a Jew, too, to win Jews. But this was about Gentiles, and Peter was doing something serious, he was misrepresenting the gospel. He was supplementing conversion to Jesus with conversion to keeping the Jewish ceremonial law: Jesus plus eating the right food, or Jesus plus circumcision.
Paul, blunt, and always to the point wrote:
We were not born as non-Jewish “sinners,” but as Jews. Yet we know that a person is made right with God not by following the law, but by trusting in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we might be made right with God because we trusted in Christ. It is not because we followed the law, because no one can be made right with God by following the law. We Jews came to Christ, trying to be made right with God, and it became clear that we are sinners, too. Does this mean that Christ encourages sin? No! But I would really be wrong to begin teaching again those things that I gave up. It was the law that put me to death, and I died to the law so that I can now live for God. I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore—it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me. By saying these things I am not going against God’s grace. Just the opposite, if the law could make us right with God, then Christ’s death would be useless. Galatians 2:15-21 NCV
Let’s break this down and try to see what Paul was talking about.
Paul presented a contradiction between following the law and trust in Jesus. You aren’t made right with God by both. It’s one or the other. Some translations use the word “justified” here. Justification is about being right with God. Justification doesn’t say that you didn’t commit the sin; but it gives you the opportunity to be treated as if you didn’t.
Is it the law that gives you the opportunity to be treated as if you hadn’t sinned? The first part is clear: Paul says that we aren’t made right with God by following the Law. OK with that? I think we are.
Here’s the part that may be hard to wrap your mind around. If you’ve been a Christian for very long, you’ve probably read a book or listened to a radio program that has tried to teach you to see Paul’s argument in Galatians being about the controversy of “faith versus works,” a very popular teaching. But, to say that Galatians concerns “faith versus works,” suggests that one achieves being right with God either by believing, or by doing, and either distorts Paul’s point. Paul’s wanted them to understand that being right with God comes through Jesus Christ, the one who loved me and gave himself to save me.
The question is not whether one achieves a right relationship with God by following the law or by believing. The point is the action of God in Jesus Christ, not the superiority of believing over doing. Again, Paul isn’t talking about the superiority of believing over doing. Saying the Sinner’s Prayer and expecting it to save you is talking about the superiority of believing over doing for making us OK with God. Neither makes us OK with God. Jesus makes us OK with God.
Paul was saying Jesus plus anything is a distortion. It’s captivity. God’s grace in Jesus is all we need.
In Galatia, the Judaizers wanted one foot in the vault and the other foot outside, to mix shoulds and grace. Like staying in that vault in Stockholm: it’s predictable; it doesn’t take much creativity or flexibility. There may be someone abusing you or threatening you, but there aren’t a lot of decisions to make – only one really. Am I going to do as I’m told by my captor? Once that’s decided, life is pretty simple. Very black and white. The people from Jerusalem were captive to the law. Sure, it bound them, but it was the way they had always done things.
They suffered from the Stockholm Syndrome. They were enamored of the very thing that held them captive. In their case it was their mistaken belief that they needed to supplement their faith in Jesus with a lot of regulations that spelled out how to act in every situation.
Are regulations bad? Try living without stoplights. What’s the difference? We don’t expect the stoplights to make us OK with God. The moment we do, the stoplights become our captors and we have the Stockholm Syndrome.
SO WHAT?
How about us? How many of you have encountered a church split over eating pork or having your kids circumcised? I thought so. So, does this have anything to do with us?
Valley Grace I don’t see us split over the salvation by grace vs. salvation by keeping the law. And I don’t see us dividing into factions. So, how do we apply this to our lives as Valley Grace Community Church?
I see two possible “locked-in-the-vault” distortions for us:
First locked-in-the-vault distortion: In some circles Christians have so glorified their faith that it has become another achievement. If I can’t earn my salvation by keeping the Law I’ll earn it by having strong faith. An oxymoron, but often believed anyway.
Faith is more than intellectual belief. James – the same James – wrote: You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. James 2:19 TNIV
So, what is faith? The translation we’re using today uses the word “trust” and that’s a little clearer. It’s not the size of your faith that counts. It’s the size of who or what you put that faith in that matters. Faith is useless if it’s in a Jim Jones or David Koresh. Faith in your faith is useless! The object of our faith – our trust – must be Jesus Christ. Not Jesus and circumcision. Not Jesus and the sinner’s prayer. Not Jesus and my love for him. Just Jesus. Jesus.
But, that seems so uncertain. What about..? And name a hundred different scenarios. I want to know exactly what I’m supposed to do in every situation. We often have positive feelings about our captors. We have to let them go. Every one of them. Even our faith doesn’t earn us God’s love and acceptance.
That isn’t the only locked-in-the-vault distortion: Some churches exclude. Pastor Greg talked about the vaults at his church. It wasn’t about eating spare ribs with non-believers, there – remember? It was about no movies, no dancing, no mixed bathing. You had to believe in Jesus AND not go to movies to be OK with God. Is there anything wrong with movies? Honestly, we’d probably all be a lot better off if we watched fewer of them – we do love our captors – but does not watching them make you more acceptable to God? We are already accepted by God. Valley Grace, let me say that again. We are already accepted by God, because of what Jesus has done.
I talked about my church. In my church you didn’t even hear about believing in Jesus, just about moderation and respectability. I guess we could call that salvation by blending in. Is there anything wrong with moderation and respectability? Hard to say, but they don’t get us accepted by God. We are already accepted by God. Because of what Jesus has done. Paul would have had a fit over both of those churches!!
Valley Grace, I believe we are the most accepting group of people I have ever known. We don’t exclude on the basis of race, gender, educational level, appearance, disabilities, degree of wealth. Or lack thereof. But, I know from reading studies on churches that most churches think they are accepting. And we – if we’ve visited many churches – know NOT all churches are accepting. Right? So, before I continue, I’m going to take a risk. I’m going to ask that if you have had an experience at Valley Grace that makes you feel NOT accepted, would you please come to me afterwards and talk with me? Or go to Pastor Greg? You see, we truly believe we are accepting, but if you don’t, then we’re doing something wrong. Fair enough?
Let’s talk, though, about how accepting we are as individuals. Here comes that second locked-in-the-vault distortion. We all have our personal standards. Or maybe they have us. I might warmly welcome you to church, but deep inside I’m thinking you don’t measure up somehow. Maybe your life-style or your political views. It could be your funny hair or the way you raise your kids. Your choice of occupation. So I look down on you. I don’t have standards. They have me!
Shoulds and expectations are infamous and frequent captors. If you do it the way I think it should be done, I can sit safely in my vault. We are enamored of the very things that hold us captive. Look at your own shoulds, and don’t try to lock someone else in your vault!
So much for the pitfalls I see for us. I don’t think we fall into them very often. Look around and thank God for the people around you. Not everyone belongs to a church family like we have.
That however, presents the preacher with a problem: How do we apply this to a group of Christians who don’t expect others to live up to their expectations? Who don’t buy into the distortions?
Stockholm: not everyone was locked in that vault. There were people on the outside. They knew what was going on inside was wrong even if the captives no longer did. The ones outside the vault didn’t buy into the distortion.
At Galatia, too, there were people besides the captives. The ones who didn’t follow Peter and Barnabas to the other table. They knew the gospel is a message of freedom and they weren’t about to get sucked back into the vault of captivity. I think we need to talk about those Galatians. They’re us!! What’s the message for the people outside the vault?
Yes, Peter, James, the others were captives to the law. It had them bound and they were distorting the good news. Paul passionately wanted everyone out of that vault. Rightly so. And, Paul challenged Peter in front of everyone! So, are we supposed to challenge those who are adding something to Jesus?
I think we are.
Maybe not in the way Paul did. There was so much riding on what was happening at Antioch that Paul had to stop it immediately. Paul and Peter stood at a critical juncture for the entire church. You and I usually don’t. We have time to think, try one thing, and if it doesn’t work, try something else.
So, how do we get them out of the vault? How can we lure them out into the light God’s grace? Gently….
If you’re in the class on Galatians, you know that the culture in which Christianity was born was big on inflammatory language. Insults flew. Exaggerations were the order of the day. But, times have changed, styles of communication have changed, sensitivities have changed. An almost sure way to get someone to never listen to you again is to put them down.
So, gentle, sensitive. Yes, we want to let them know how they are distorting the good news, but think of the bottom line. Do we want to be right, or do we want to help a sister or brother out of the vault?
So, how do we do it? Paul gives us the secret:
I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore—it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me.
Jesus lives in me and that changes everything. This is why I can accept others – even those who don’t accept me. It is only because Christ lives in us that we can love people who disagree with us, who are different or who have different beliefs. Because grace CHANGES us, we can be patient with those captives. Living by the Spirit who can be so unpredictable and so wild. We know it, so we need to challenge them in a way that doesn’t scare them to death.
Remember, they’re secure in the vault! They’re thinking, “I know what I need to do to be ‘in’.” No risk. We’re thinking, “Come out into the light! Feel the wind on your face! There’s color and music!”
They’re thinking “But there are also choices. Lots of them. With very few hard and fast guidelines.”
Us: “There is freedom!”
Them: “But there is also responsibility. And very little is black and white.”
They’re right about that. Everything is fuchsia and magenta and sapphire and amber and carnelian, indigo, periwinkle. Confusing choices. Life is very insecure in the Spirit. Them: “Let me back in the vault! I want things clear cut and simple. Make up my mind for me. I love my captors.”
Face it, many people don’t trust us. They have never met a Christian who didn’t put shoulds on them. Dozens of shoulds. And oughts. And expectations. They think life in their vault is better than life in ours. They don’t know that kind of Christianity is a distortion. The best way we can influence those around us to come out of the vault is by our lifestyles. We can model life in the Spirit.
Show them real freedom. Show them love Acceptance, Forgiveness. Empathy, Compassion…All can be powerful incentives for those captives to come out of the vault.
Will they thank us for this? Maybe. But, maybe not – captives are enamored of their captors. It’s OK if they don’t thank us, though. Jesus doesn’t always get thanked either.
Is it worth it? Think about where you were before you were free. Think of admiring those captors. Remember believing that you had to do more, achieve more, live up to someone’s expectations. You are free now! Share it. Live on the outside in a way that will make them want to come out of the vault! Help them say,
I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me.
On August 23rd, 1973 two machine-gun carrying criminals entered a bank in Stockholm, Sweden. Blasting their guns, one prison escapee named Jan-Erik Olsson announced to the terrified bank employees, “The party has just begun!” The two bank robbers held four hostages, three women and one man, for the next 131 hours. The hostages were strapped with dynamite and held in a bank vault until finally rescued on August 28th.
After their rescue, the hostages exhibited a shocking attitude considering they were threatened, abused, and feared for their lives for over five days. In their media interviews, it was clear that they supported their captors and actually feared law enforcement personnel who came to their rescue. The hostages had begun to feel the captors were actually protecting them from the police. One source insisted one of the women later became engaged to one of the criminals and another developed a legal defense fund to aid in their criminal defense fees. Whether those reports are true or not, clearly, the hostages had “bonded” emotionally with their captors.
In psychology, Stockholm syndrome is a term used to describe a psychological phenomenon in which hostages admire and have positive feelings towards their captors.
Let’s leave Stockholm in 1973 and go back 19 hundred and 13 years in time and 13 hundred and 49 miles to the southeast, to Antioch in modern day Syria. There were churches all over the eastern Mediterranean within decades of Jesus’ death. Our story today begins in a diverse church in Antioch, made up of Jews and non-Jews. Paul and Barnabas were working there and Galatians 2 tells us Peter had come to Antioch. Peter was one of Jesus’ closest friends and followers. He had become the spokesperson for the apostles at Pentecost when the church was born. It was Peter who had had the dream about a sheet full of creepy crawlies. God had used the dream to tell Peter the gospel was to go to everyone. In response to that dream, in Antioch at least, Peter had adopted a lifestyle that was similar to that of Gentile Christians. He ate with Gentile Christians, maybe even Gentile food. For all we know, Peter could have been eating barbecued spare ribs! In Antioch, it was understood that the unity of the church, consisting of Jew and Gentile, included eating together.
But, then, something happened that changed all that! Into the picture came some people from the Jerusalem church – the mother church. The Jerusalem church was led by James, Jesus’ brother. In spite of not taking Jesus very seriously during the ministry years, James had become a pillar of the Jerusalem church. The Jerusalem visitors seem to have expressed their disapproval at seeing Jewish and Gentile believers eating together. Jews weren’t supposed to do that. Peter began to pull back from the Gentile believers, maybe at one of the church suppers. As a result of Peter’s actions, eating together – the symbol of unity – had become separation.
Hold that thought right there and let’s move again. Another time, another place, another church. This time in Galatia – modern day Turkey – the church we’ve been talking about in the Galatians class. There were problems there, too. Someone was trying to add rules and expectations and “shoulds” to the gospel. Paul heard about it and wrote this letter we’ve been studying.
When Peter came to Antioch, I challenged him to his face, because he was wrong. Peter ate with the non-Jewish people until some Jewish people sent from James came to Antioch. When they arrived, Peter stopped eating with those who weren’t Jewish, and he separated himself from them. He was afraid of the Jews. So Peter was a hypocrite, as were the other Jewish believers who joined with him. Even Barnabas was influenced by what these Jewish believers did. When I saw they were not following the truth of the Good News, I spoke to Peter in front of them all. I said, “Peter, you are a Jew, but you are not living like a Jew. You are living like those who are not Jewish. So why do you now try to force those who are not Jewish to live like Jews?” Galatians 2:11-14 NCV
Imagine we are having a potluck after church. What if Pastor Greg gathered up his plate and his small group people and moved to another table – away from the rest of us, and made it clear we weren’t welcome at his table because we’re not pure enough? How would you feel? What message would that send? That’s exactly how the Gentile believers would have felt. Angry. Hurt. Confused. Not good for church unity.
In spite of his use of the word “hypocrite,” Paul’s concern wasn’t that Peter was changing his behavior in different situations. Paul would live like a Jew, too, to win Jews. But this was about Gentiles, and Peter was doing something serious, he was misrepresenting the gospel. He was supplementing conversion to Jesus with conversion to keeping the Jewish ceremonial law: Jesus plus eating the right food, or Jesus plus circumcision.
Paul, blunt, and always to the point wrote:
We were not born as non-Jewish “sinners,” but as Jews. Yet we know that a person is made right with God not by following the law, but by trusting in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus, that we might be made right with God because we trusted in Christ. It is not because we followed the law, because no one can be made right with God by following the law. We Jews came to Christ, trying to be made right with God, and it became clear that we are sinners, too. Does this mean that Christ encourages sin? No! But I would really be wrong to begin teaching again those things that I gave up. It was the law that put me to death, and I died to the law so that I can now live for God. I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore—it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me. By saying these things I am not going against God’s grace. Just the opposite, if the law could make us right with God, then Christ’s death would be useless. Galatians 2:15-21 NCV
Let’s break this down and try to see what Paul was talking about.
Paul presented a contradiction between following the law and trust in Jesus. You aren’t made right with God by both. It’s one or the other. Some translations use the word “justified” here. Justification is about being right with God. Justification doesn’t say that you didn’t commit the sin; but it gives you the opportunity to be treated as if you didn’t.
Is it the law that gives you the opportunity to be treated as if you hadn’t sinned? The first part is clear: Paul says that we aren’t made right with God by following the Law. OK with that? I think we are.
Here’s the part that may be hard to wrap your mind around. If you’ve been a Christian for very long, you’ve probably read a book or listened to a radio program that has tried to teach you to see Paul’s argument in Galatians being about the controversy of “faith versus works,” a very popular teaching. But, to say that Galatians concerns “faith versus works,” suggests that one achieves being right with God either by believing, or by doing, and either distorts Paul’s point. Paul’s wanted them to understand that being right with God comes through Jesus Christ, the one who loved me and gave himself to save me.
The question is not whether one achieves a right relationship with God by following the law or by believing. The point is the action of God in Jesus Christ, not the superiority of believing over doing. Again, Paul isn’t talking about the superiority of believing over doing. Saying the Sinner’s Prayer and expecting it to save you is talking about the superiority of believing over doing for making us OK with God. Neither makes us OK with God. Jesus makes us OK with God.
Paul was saying Jesus plus anything is a distortion. It’s captivity. God’s grace in Jesus is all we need.
In Galatia, the Judaizers wanted one foot in the vault and the other foot outside, to mix shoulds and grace. Like staying in that vault in Stockholm: it’s predictable; it doesn’t take much creativity or flexibility. There may be someone abusing you or threatening you, but there aren’t a lot of decisions to make – only one really. Am I going to do as I’m told by my captor? Once that’s decided, life is pretty simple. Very black and white. The people from Jerusalem were captive to the law. Sure, it bound them, but it was the way they had always done things.
They suffered from the Stockholm Syndrome. They were enamored of the very thing that held them captive. In their case it was their mistaken belief that they needed to supplement their faith in Jesus with a lot of regulations that spelled out how to act in every situation.
Are regulations bad? Try living without stoplights. What’s the difference? We don’t expect the stoplights to make us OK with God. The moment we do, the stoplights become our captors and we have the Stockholm Syndrome.
SO WHAT?
How about us? How many of you have encountered a church split over eating pork or having your kids circumcised? I thought so. So, does this have anything to do with us?
Valley Grace I don’t see us split over the salvation by grace vs. salvation by keeping the law. And I don’t see us dividing into factions. So, how do we apply this to our lives as Valley Grace Community Church?
I see two possible “locked-in-the-vault” distortions for us:
First locked-in-the-vault distortion: In some circles Christians have so glorified their faith that it has become another achievement. If I can’t earn my salvation by keeping the Law I’ll earn it by having strong faith. An oxymoron, but often believed anyway.
Faith is more than intellectual belief. James – the same James – wrote: You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. James 2:19 TNIV
So, what is faith? The translation we’re using today uses the word “trust” and that’s a little clearer. It’s not the size of your faith that counts. It’s the size of who or what you put that faith in that matters. Faith is useless if it’s in a Jim Jones or David Koresh. Faith in your faith is useless! The object of our faith – our trust – must be Jesus Christ. Not Jesus and circumcision. Not Jesus and the sinner’s prayer. Not Jesus and my love for him. Just Jesus. Jesus.
But, that seems so uncertain. What about..? And name a hundred different scenarios. I want to know exactly what I’m supposed to do in every situation. We often have positive feelings about our captors. We have to let them go. Every one of them. Even our faith doesn’t earn us God’s love and acceptance.
That isn’t the only locked-in-the-vault distortion: Some churches exclude. Pastor Greg talked about the vaults at his church. It wasn’t about eating spare ribs with non-believers, there – remember? It was about no movies, no dancing, no mixed bathing. You had to believe in Jesus AND not go to movies to be OK with God. Is there anything wrong with movies? Honestly, we’d probably all be a lot better off if we watched fewer of them – we do love our captors – but does not watching them make you more acceptable to God? We are already accepted by God. Valley Grace, let me say that again. We are already accepted by God, because of what Jesus has done.
I talked about my church. In my church you didn’t even hear about believing in Jesus, just about moderation and respectability. I guess we could call that salvation by blending in. Is there anything wrong with moderation and respectability? Hard to say, but they don’t get us accepted by God. We are already accepted by God. Because of what Jesus has done. Paul would have had a fit over both of those churches!!
Valley Grace, I believe we are the most accepting group of people I have ever known. We don’t exclude on the basis of race, gender, educational level, appearance, disabilities, degree of wealth. Or lack thereof. But, I know from reading studies on churches that most churches think they are accepting. And we – if we’ve visited many churches – know NOT all churches are accepting. Right? So, before I continue, I’m going to take a risk. I’m going to ask that if you have had an experience at Valley Grace that makes you feel NOT accepted, would you please come to me afterwards and talk with me? Or go to Pastor Greg? You see, we truly believe we are accepting, but if you don’t, then we’re doing something wrong. Fair enough?
Let’s talk, though, about how accepting we are as individuals. Here comes that second locked-in-the-vault distortion. We all have our personal standards. Or maybe they have us. I might warmly welcome you to church, but deep inside I’m thinking you don’t measure up somehow. Maybe your life-style or your political views. It could be your funny hair or the way you raise your kids. Your choice of occupation. So I look down on you. I don’t have standards. They have me!
Shoulds and expectations are infamous and frequent captors. If you do it the way I think it should be done, I can sit safely in my vault. We are enamored of the very things that hold us captive. Look at your own shoulds, and don’t try to lock someone else in your vault!
So much for the pitfalls I see for us. I don’t think we fall into them very often. Look around and thank God for the people around you. Not everyone belongs to a church family like we have.
That however, presents the preacher with a problem: How do we apply this to a group of Christians who don’t expect others to live up to their expectations? Who don’t buy into the distortions?
Stockholm: not everyone was locked in that vault. There were people on the outside. They knew what was going on inside was wrong even if the captives no longer did. The ones outside the vault didn’t buy into the distortion.
At Galatia, too, there were people besides the captives. The ones who didn’t follow Peter and Barnabas to the other table. They knew the gospel is a message of freedom and they weren’t about to get sucked back into the vault of captivity. I think we need to talk about those Galatians. They’re us!! What’s the message for the people outside the vault?
Yes, Peter, James, the others were captives to the law. It had them bound and they were distorting the good news. Paul passionately wanted everyone out of that vault. Rightly so. And, Paul challenged Peter in front of everyone! So, are we supposed to challenge those who are adding something to Jesus?
I think we are.
Maybe not in the way Paul did. There was so much riding on what was happening at Antioch that Paul had to stop it immediately. Paul and Peter stood at a critical juncture for the entire church. You and I usually don’t. We have time to think, try one thing, and if it doesn’t work, try something else.
So, how do we get them out of the vault? How can we lure them out into the light God’s grace? Gently….
If you’re in the class on Galatians, you know that the culture in which Christianity was born was big on inflammatory language. Insults flew. Exaggerations were the order of the day. But, times have changed, styles of communication have changed, sensitivities have changed. An almost sure way to get someone to never listen to you again is to put them down.
So, gentle, sensitive. Yes, we want to let them know how they are distorting the good news, but think of the bottom line. Do we want to be right, or do we want to help a sister or brother out of the vault?
So, how do we do it? Paul gives us the secret:
I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore—it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me.
Jesus lives in me and that changes everything. This is why I can accept others – even those who don’t accept me. It is only because Christ lives in us that we can love people who disagree with us, who are different or who have different beliefs. Because grace CHANGES us, we can be patient with those captives. Living by the Spirit who can be so unpredictable and so wild. We know it, so we need to challenge them in a way that doesn’t scare them to death.
Remember, they’re secure in the vault! They’re thinking, “I know what I need to do to be ‘in’.” No risk. We’re thinking, “Come out into the light! Feel the wind on your face! There’s color and music!”
They’re thinking “But there are also choices. Lots of them. With very few hard and fast guidelines.”
Us: “There is freedom!”
Them: “But there is also responsibility. And very little is black and white.”
They’re right about that. Everything is fuchsia and magenta and sapphire and amber and carnelian, indigo, periwinkle. Confusing choices. Life is very insecure in the Spirit. Them: “Let me back in the vault! I want things clear cut and simple. Make up my mind for me. I love my captors.”
Face it, many people don’t trust us. They have never met a Christian who didn’t put shoulds on them. Dozens of shoulds. And oughts. And expectations. They think life in their vault is better than life in ours. They don’t know that kind of Christianity is a distortion. The best way we can influence those around us to come out of the vault is by our lifestyles. We can model life in the Spirit.
Show them real freedom. Show them love Acceptance, Forgiveness. Empathy, Compassion…All can be powerful incentives for those captives to come out of the vault.
Will they thank us for this? Maybe. But, maybe not – captives are enamored of their captors. It’s OK if they don’t thank us, though. Jesus doesn’t always get thanked either.
Is it worth it? Think about where you were before you were free. Think of admiring those captors. Remember believing that you had to do more, achieve more, live up to someone’s expectations. You are free now! Share it. Live on the outside in a way that will make them want to come out of the vault! Help them say,
I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me.