Good Guys Wear White Hats

Galatians 4:1-7

 

 

 

Rules are a part and parcel of our western world. If you break a rule, there are consequences, or at least there’s supposed to be. If you live by the rules, you’re considered a good guy. In terms of the old Western movies, you wear a white hat, because the bad guys, the rule breakers, wear black hats.

 

Paul knew well what it meant to live by the rules. In Philippians he referred to himself as, “a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless”. Paul lived according to the Law as well as anyone could. But it wasn’t enough.

 

Jesus spoke to the rich young ruler about the commandments. The ruler said that he had kept them all since he was a boy. You can hear his pride and self-righteousness in his words. But even before this exchange, Jesus had told him that only God is good. In other words, obeying the commandments can’t make you good. Uh oh. So much for white hats.

 

In Galatia, there were Judaizers, who were Jewish Christians. They believed that a number of the ceremonial practices of the Old Testament were still binding, and insisted that the Gentile believers abide by these, particularly circumcision. Paul responded in today’s passage with his attack on this belief.

 

“And that is the way it was with us before Christ came. We were slaves to Jewish laws and rituals, for we thought they could save us.  But when the right time came, the time God decided on, he sent his Son, born of a woman, born as a Jew,  to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law so that he could adopt us as his very own sons.”   Galatians 4:3-5 TLB

 

The Galatians, the rich young ruler and, before his conversion Paul, all thought that the Old Testament Law and rituals could save them. Clearly, that is not true. They are inferior to the freedom that we have that comes through Christ.

 

However, for us, it may not be the Jewish law and rituals, but our own set of rules and expectations; our own pride that leads to self-righteousness. Do we wear the right cloths; go to the right church; say the right things; pray in the right way? We have our own set of rules to make us feel like we wear a white hat, but that can enslave us in the same way that Paul described.

 

Bottom line: It’s not whether you wear a white hat or a black hat. It’s not about rules, but a relationship. It’s not about attending church, but being a child of God. It’s not about maintaining control, but surrendering control to Christ.