When I was much, much younger, someone in my household owned a label maker.

I am not talking about the label makers of today.

I am not talking about high-speed computers hooked up to photo quality printers that are capable of producing beautiful signage used to inform the world what an object is, where an object is located, or to whom an object belongs.

The 1980s label making system I am referring to was a handheld device that resembled a plastic hand gun.

On top of the gun-shaped label maker was a circular dial that had the alphabet, the numbers 0-9, and a few punctuation marks emblazoned around the circumference.  In order to have a letter, number, or mark appear on the thin plastic strip that was the printing surface, the dial had to be turned to the desired character and the trigger had to be pulled.  Those actions forced the letter through the thin plastic strip resulting in a raised marking on the soon to be finished label.

I can still hear the click, click, clicking of the dial as it passed every character and the snap of the trigger being pulled to force the letter onto the label.

In essence, this label maker was a hand-held type writer.

Being young, I didn’t have much use for a label maker, but the device was so intriguing and fun to use that it resulted in me making as many labels as I could before the owner of the tool realized that I had it and was using up all of the precious plastic label strips.

The labels began with the simple printing of my name.

Click, click, click, snap, F.

Click, click, click, snap, R.

Click, click, click, snap, E.

Click, click, click, snap, D.

After many labels were made with my name on them, I decided to type out labels naming objects.

Click, click, click, snap, B.

Click, click, click, snap, E.

Click, click, click, snap, D.

And, words like book, table, and kitchen came next.

After many labels were made with the names of everyday objects on them, I decided to get a bit more creative, and a bit rebellious, with the labels that I made.

Click, click, click, P.

Click, click, click, O.

Click, click, click, O.

Click, click, click, P.

And, words like fart and butt were not far behind, pun intended.

I enjoyed spending my time creating labels and attaching them to people, places, and things.

My youthful zeal for labeling people, placdes, and things is patterned in society today.

Each human sees it as their duty, their personal responsibility if you will, to create labels and attach them to people, places, and objects.

The labeling in our world today has become very specific and very emotionally charged.

Click, click, click, snap. You are Right or you are Left.

Click, click, click, snap. You are Republican, Democratic, or Libertarian.

Click, click, click, snap. You are pro-life or pro-choice.

Click, click, click, snap. You are pro-gun or anti-gun.

Click, click, click, snap. You are pro-cop or anti-cop.

Click, click, click, snap. You are White, Black, or Asian.

Click, click, click, snap. You are male, female, or transgender.

Click, click, click, snap. You are straight, gay, bi, or pan.

Click, click, click, snap. You are young or you are old.

Click, click, click, snap. You are thin or you are fat.

Click, click, click, snap. You are hot or you not.

Click, click, click, snap. You are smart or you are dumb.

These labels are just the skim on the surface of the deep waters of the world’s labeling system.

When one person or group places labels upon another person or group, the result is hurt, pain, tension, and division.

In the apostle Paul’s letter to the churches gathering in the region of Galatia, we hear of a situation in which one group was creating and attaching labels to another group with the result being hurt, pain, tension, and division, inside the church.

Here is the first-hand account of that event:

When Cephas [also known as Peter] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

The quick summary is this:

Peter was eating and enjoying time with his Christian brothers who were not of Jewish descent.  Peter’s Jewish friends come on the scene and Peter leaves the table where he was previously eating and enjoying time with the aforementioned friends.  Standing with his Jewish friends, he now refuses to go near his non-Jewish friends because he and his Jewish friends are placing the label unclean on the non-Jewish group eating and enjoying their time together.

Peter’s Jewish friends labeled the non-Jewish Christians as unclean because they believed that only those who were circumcised had God’s acceptance.  Since the mennthat Peter was previously with were not circumcised, the reasoning of the Jewish men led them to believe that the non-Jewish men were not accepted by God and therefore, they were unclean.

Paul’s Jewish friends were teaching by their words and actions that obedience to God and holy living lead to the freedom of forgiveness from God.

However, as the apostle Paul knew to be true and as Pastor Steve Brown writes,

“The message of the gospel is a message of freedom. Obedience and holiness are the result of that freedom, not the cause of it.”[1]

It is easy for us to take our our label maker and screw things up by falling into the trap of legalism just like Peter and his Jewish friends.

We like to see evidences of faith.  For example, some might feel Christians will vote in a certain way.  If we find out that an individual voted for a party or candidate that we disagree with, then that individual’s faith is suspect.  We might feel strongly that alcoholic drinks are dangerous and should be avoided.  If we find out that an individual has an alcoholic drink, then that individual’s faith is suspect.[2]

We often find ourselves believing, even after finding ourselves believing in Jesus, that obedience to God and holy living lead us to a place where God will finally accept us and set us free from the burden of trying to make Him happy.

However, the truth is that the freedom we have through faith in Christ, the freedom that comes with knowing that all things requiered for God to accept us have been completed for us as a gift, enables us by the working of the Holy Spirit to be motivated to obey and seek a holy way of living.

Paul believed, taught, and defended the truth that it didn’t matter if someone was circumcised or uncircumcised, all that mattered was the presence of faith in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

The labels of circumcision and uncircumcision were useless.

Even though the labels that man creates and attaches to people, places, and things are useless in defining who you really are, there are 2 labels, and only 2 labels, that have weight in your life.

Those two labels are God’s labels of condemned and justified.

The first of those labels is condemned. Sin pulls out it’s label maker and you hear click, click, click, snap, and the label placed on you reads condemned.

This label that every human being starts out with, means you are separated from God.  It means that you will receive the full punishment that you deserve for living in disobedience to God’s rules for life and love.

We are like Peter. We enjoy spending our time watching the actions of others, becoming prideful, and attaching labels to people, places, and things.  We like the feeling of superiority of being the label maker.  It feels good to have the power to define the identity of another.

But that disobedience to God leads us to hear click, click, click, snap, condemned!

Now, here is the good news for you.

In sin you are labeled condemned but through faith in Jesus Christ you hear the click, click, click, snap, and receive the lable justified placed on you.

This second label is means that you have been made right with Him.  It means that you are forgiven.  It means that you are restored to a place at God’s eternal table.  It means that through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, for you, your relationship with God is healed and you are therefore fully accepted by God yesterday, today, and forever.

That reconciled relationship with God and eternal acceptance by Him only happens because Jesus trades his perfect life for yours.  On the cross, after living a life in perfect obedience to God’s rules for life and love, Jesus received the full punishment that you deserve for living in disobedience to God’s rules for life and love.

On the hilltop outside of Jerusalem, the place called Golgotha, you hear the click, click, clicking of the nails as they passed through Jesus’ hands and feet forcing Him onto the wooden cross.

The purpose of such a death was to create signage to inform the world that you are God’s son or daughter, that you are eternally located in God’s eternal kingdom of Heaven, and that you belong to Jesus Christ who bought you by paying the price for you that was His life.

Sin labels you condemned but Jesus labels you justified.

For you who have been hurt or are hurting because of the labels placed on you by others, I want you to know that Jesus fully understands.  He was an innocent man labeled a liar, a drunk, a thief, a cheat, a criminal, a friend of prostitutes, a God-hater, useless, poor, homeless, no good, from a unimportant family from an unimportant town.  Jesus knows the pain of the world’s words and labels.  Because of that experience, Jesus knows your thoughts, your doubts, your desire to end it all, and your loneliness.

But, the labels of the world had no effect on Jesus’ true identity.  He is the Son of God regardless of what the world labels Him.  And, the same is true to you.  Through faith in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection for you, you are a son or daughter of God regardless of what the world labels you.

For you who have caused hurt or are currently causing hurt because of the labels you put on people, I want you to know that Jesus forgives you.  While you were labeling others unloved by God, or condemned, Jesus was labeled condemned for you.  He forgives you of the hurt you have caused others, go therefore and seek forgiveness from those you have hurt.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Amen.

Pastor Fred.

April 8, 2018.

[1] Brown, Steve. When Being Good Isn’t Good Enough . Lucid Books. Kindle Edition.

[2] The Lutheran Study Bible, 2005.