The Most Important Thing (In the Word, On the Go: Galatians 2:20)

This is In the Word, on the Go, the podcast where we look at one verse from God's Word for 10 minutes of your day.

Champ Thornton: (00:38)
Welcome to In the Word, On the Go. I'm Champ Thornton, your host. Whether you're listening by yourself or with your family, this podcast is here for you to spend ten more minutes in God's Word while you go about your day. In each episode, I get to interview one person about a favorite verse from the Bible. And today I get to interview Jared Kennedy. Jared serves as the Pastor of Families at Sojourn Community Church Midtown in Louisville, Kentucky, and as a children's and family ministry strategist for the Sojourn Network. He's also an author of The Beginner's Gospel Story Bible, and he blogs regularly at the gospelcenteredfamily.com. Jared, it's great to have you on the program today.

Jared Kennedy: (01:15)
It's so good to be here, Champ.

Champ Thornton: (01:17)
Well, I appreciate your taking the time. What verse do you have that you want to share with us today?

Jared Kennedy: (01:21)
Well, I have Galatians 2:20, and this is what God's Word says: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Champ Thornton: (01:41)
If you were to put that verse in your own words, if you were to paraphrase it, what would that look like?

Jared Kennedy: (01:48)
Well, this is a verse about our identity as Christians, and I believe what Paul is saying is that the most important thing about me—the most important thing about us—is not our story, but Christ's story that has been given to us.

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Champ Thornton: (02:04)
That is an amazing way to say that. So I want to read it again in a second, Jared. But before I read this verse again, Galatians 2:20, is there any background, anything we need to know that would be helpful as we read it again.

Jared Kennedy: (02:17)
Well, I think it's important to know that in Galatians there are false teachers in the church who are trying to tell the Galatians that it's their history, especially their history as God's people, as Jewish people who kept the law, who were defined by certain Jewish practices, that made them right with God. And that history made them holy, and Paul is telling them it's not true, that it's not their history or their accomplishments that make them right with God. The most important thing about them is not the story that they bring to their relationship to God, but Christ's story that has been given to them, that they received from him instead.

Champ Thornton: (03:03)
Wow, that is profound. So I'm going to read it again. This is Galatians chapter 2:20. I'm reading out of the Christian Standard Bible. It says, "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." So what do you think would make this difficult to live out in our lives?

Jared Kennedy: (03:27)
Yeah, well, I mean, I don't think that way. I tend to think that it's where I've come from and what I've done, what I've achieved—my opinions about life that are the most important thing, and very often I have to die to that and truly believe that it's Christ's way and Christ's story that motivates me to live instead of being motivated by my own comfort or power or the way I want things to be. So "I live by faith in the Son of God, knowing that God's way is best, knowing that who he is and what he has done defines meand not what I've accomplished—not what I bring to the table, but what he brings to the table.

Champ Thornton: (04:16)
Well, it's like I remember hearing Sinclair Ferguson say that the most defining aspect of my life is not my past but Christ's past. So if you were explaining this verse to a ten year old, what would you say? Could you walk us through it phrase by phrase?

Jared Kennedy: (04:31)
So let's start with, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live." I was just thinking about the fact that there is a past that I have when I come to Christ. So maybe that's old sinful patterns. Maybe that's just the history of where I was raised or how I look or what I've done—the sports I'm good at or the academics that I'm good at. And he's saying I'm dead to those things. Those are not the main things; they're not the most important things. The most important thing that defines me is the fact that I belong to Christ and I've died to those things, but Christ lives in me. He's given me his Holy Spirit who helps me to live by faith in him to believe that his love is what defines me the most.

Jared Kennedy: (05:23)
And I love that last part that it says "he loved me and gave himself for me." So I live by faith. I still live in the body. I still have my story. I've still done those things I remember in my life. All those things are still true, but the most important thing is that I'm trusting God, worshiping him and living for his honor and glory and loving others by faith as well. I'm trusting God. And the motivation for that is that "he loved me and he gave himself for me." I'm compelled by God's love. It's what encourages me to love my neighbor and love others.

Champ Thornton: (06:01)
So it's that faith in Christ and what he's done for us. That's how we appropriate his life that he's given to us.

Jared Kennedy: (06:08)
That's right. We don't always see outwardly that this is true. We live in a world that makes it difficult to believe this is true. One of the things that makes it difficult to believe that our identity is found in Christ is the fact that the world looks at what we've achieved. It looks at our history or the family we're from and defines us in that way so that's why he says we must put our faith in Christ, in his story. And it's by faith that his life is appropriated for us.

Champ Thornton: (06:38)
So how has this verse affected you, Jared, on a heart level?

Jared Kennedy: (06:42)
Well, I just think about that last phrase, "who loved me and gave himself for me." I'm really thankful that it doesn't say "who loves me and gave himself for me," but that it says "who loved me" in the past tense. Because I don't always feel moment by moment that Jesus loves me, especially when I have started to not have faith and believe instead maybe that I am more defined by my accomplishments or by my history. I see the brokenness of my life, and I see my failures, and it doesn't feel like God loves me in the moment. But the verse says that he loved me past tense. It's a point in time love. It's the way he loved me when he died for me at the cross.

Jared Kennedy: (07:37)
And so in those moments what faith does is it doesn't look within for the way I feel but it looks outside of myself to what Jesus did two thousand years ago when he died on the cross for me. That's the way that he showed me his love. He loved me and gave himself up for me. He died for me. And that's how I know he loves me. I look outside of myself and I look at the cross and then that's what motivates me and compels me to then go and live by faith and love others.

Champ Thornton: (08:11)
Is a wonderful reminder of the relevance every day of the cross in our lives and how it displays God's love. Jared, would you pray this verse as we close?

Jared Kennedy: (08:22)
Heavenly Father, thank you for Galatians 2:20. And I thank you for the truth that as Christians united to Jesus, that we're defined by your story and not by our story. So, Lord, in those times when we don't feel like we measure up, when we don't feel like we've achieved, thank you Lordthat you have given us your love and that you've shown that love perfectly on the cross when you loved us and gave yourself for us. I pray for each person who listens to this podcast that they would experience his love today, knowing that your love happened in history, that you loved them. I pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

Champ Thornton: (09:05)
Thanks for listening to In the Word, On the Go. For more information about this podcast, or to listen to past episodes, visit wordonthego.net.