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THE GOSPEL OF GOD'S GRACE EXALTS THE CROSS OF CHRIST ALONEGalatians 6:11-18INTRODUCTION All humans boast. This is without exception. Boasting begins early in life. It’s not something that you are taught to do. It is something you just naturally do. Whether it’s a toddler boasting about her newfound ability to jump on her bed (“Daddy, daddy, look what I can do!”) or the 50 year old father boasting to his 18 year old son that he can run farther than he can, all people boast. We boast in the things and people that give us pleasure, like the food at a favorite restaurant or the accomplishments of our children and grandchildren. We boast in the things and people who give us security like a fully funded pension plan or the U.S. Armed Forces. We boast in the things that we do and have that gain the admiration and affection of others like athletic or academic or career achievements or a restored 1959 Chevy. The things we boast in or about reveal what it is that we love and trust and hope in. Boasting is merely the outward expression of an inward affection and trust. Boasting reveals what we believe makes us great and makes life great. It is more than evident throughout the Scriptures that it is God’s goal to stop people from boasting in anyone or anything other than him. God is supreme in his universe and he aims to be acknowledged as supreme by all of creation. All that he does he does for this ultimate purpose, that his glory and greatness might be the focus of attention for the entire universe. We heard that this morning from the prophet Jeremiah when the Lord commands that humans not boast in their strength, wealth or wisdom but that we should boast in one thing alone, that we know God. The apostle Paul takes this statement from Jeremiah and shows that the salvation that God has accomplished through Christ is the fulfillment of this command. Listen as I read 1 Corinthians 1:27-31, “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” Then in those famous verses in Ephesians 2:8-9 he says, “For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.” Finally, in our passage this morning, the apostle Paul, declares that he will boast in nothing except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, the goal of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ is to destroy all human boasting and to make us a people who boast in God alone. It is the cross of Christ that accomplishes that goal of God. It is the cross of Christ that is to be the center of our affections and of our faith and of our hope so that what we love to talk about and what makes our hearts fill with joy and our mouths overflow with praise is the bloody cross of Christ. This morning we are going to see why it is that Paul views the cross alone as the object of our boasting. MAIN POINT Christians and Christian churches boast in the cross of Jesus Christ alone because…I. The cross alone exposes human hearts (vv. 12-13) If you are at all familiar with the New Testament then you know that the authors of most of the NT letters did not actually put pen to paper. Almost all the letters were dictated by the author to another person who actually did the writing. In some cases we know the name of the secretary. For example we know that Paul was the author of Romans but Tertius actually wrote the words on the parchment. Peter authored his first letter but Silas wrote the words down. In many of Paul’s letters, near the end of the letter he puts down his own greeting in his own hand as sort of a signature to verify the authenticity of the letter. Thus he ends his first letter to the Corinthians with, “I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand.” So we have in v. 12 a similar expression. Paul takes the pen from his secretary and writes out, not merely this one line but an entire paragraph. Notice that he draws attention to the large letters he uses to write out this summary of the entire letter. Just as you or I might use a bold or italic font to highlight something we wanted to say in a typed letter, so Paul draws attention to these final words by increasing the font size of the letters. If they remember nothing else that he has said in this letter he wants them to remember this paragraph. Just like when parents leave home on a date they tell their children the most important things they want them to remember just before they walk out the door: be good, don’t fight, obey the babysitter, go to bed at 8:00pm, I love you; so Paul tells the Galatians the most important things he wants them to remember from his letter at the end of the letter. The first thing he wants them to remember is what is really motivating these false teachers and all who listen to them. Paul again uses the false teachers' insistence that the Gentile Christians be circumcised to stand for their more general insistence that God only accepts into heaven those who obey his law. The message of the false teachers is that God accepts as righteous those who actually are righteous by their obedience to the law. All religion that is not focused upon the cross of Christ is out to compel people to perform certain acts or rituals that will win the favor of the god or gods. The form of all man centered, man dependent religion varies from culture to culture, from religion to religion. However, all religion apart from true Christianity is focused upon the inherent goodness of human beings and upon the ability of human beings to do what God requires and thus earn God's favor. Those who teach human religion, whether it goes by the name of Christianity or Islam or Scientology, compel people to perform certain acts or adopt certain attitudes that will gain the favor of the deity. One of the deadliest things that can happen to any congregation is for the teachers in the congregation to begin describing Christianity as primarily moral reformation. This is seen when the characters of the Bible are held up primarily as examples of good and bad moral performance to be imitated or avoided. When sermons and Christian educational material overflow with "how to's": how to have a Christian marriage, a Christian business, a Christian family, a Christian friendship, etc., there is a moralistic Christianity. Christianity becomes human religion when Christ himself is primarily presented as the model Christian. This is the danger with the WWJD bracelets. Asking the question, "what would Jesus do?" presumes that Jesus is mainly an example of how to live and that I have the ability to do what he did. Jesus is not first and foremost an example to follow but a Savior to trust. He did what we cannot do. Therefore, churches which emphasize being like Jesus above trusting in Jesus, are churches in danger of doing what the Galatian churches were doing, compelling people to perform some set of works in order to be accepted by God. Christianity presented as "the best way to live" is the greatest threat to Christianity. The problem with this sort of Christianity is that it talks about Jesus a lot and aims to motivate Christian behavior, but the underlying assumption is that Christianity is about what we do, not about what Christ has done. Paul unmasks in these verses what motivates self-help religion, including self-help Christianity. He pulls back the veil to show what drives those who refuse to make the cross of Christ the center and focus of their lives but insist that human beings must do something to be accepted by God. First he says about them that those who compel men to be circumcised want to make a good impression outwardly. The word that is used here means to make yourself appear handsome or beautiful. It is the word we might use to describe what motivates a person to go on one of those shows on the Style Network like “How do I look?” or “ Fashion Court.” The reason these teachers are seeking to coerce the Galatians into submitting to circumcision is so that they, the teachers, will appear attractive to others. And just like a teenager who wants others to think they are dressing cool cannot bear to have another teenager mock them for dressing like a dweeb, so these false teachers cannot bear to be ignored, mocked or mistreated for teaching that Christ’s death on the cross is the only reason that God will accept anyone into heaven. What these false teachers know, what all purveyors of human religion know is that humans love to hear that they are in control. We love to know that we have what it takes to gain heaven. What humans hate to hear is that we are not righteous, do not do good, have become worthless, do not seek God. This is what the cross of Christ says about humans. Therefore, if you want to be popular and admired by people and if you want to avoid being mistreated by others, then do not talk about the bloody cross of Christ and all that it means about us. Rather, talk about the things that humans must do to gain a happy life with God. Humans don't want to be told they are so bad that they can do nothing to gain God's favor. We want to be told that with just a little bit of moral effort we can do what God requires. Salvation is not beyond our reach. We have what it takes. This is the kind of teaching that has gained the admiration of billions of people in our world. It is the kind of teaching that will keep you from being persecuted. However, notice what Paul says about all those who would make law keeping the ground of acceptance with God. They talk about law keeping all the time but they never do what they command. The point here again is that if you are going to try to approach God on the basis of human law keeping you must obey all of it all the time. Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law. Therefore, what they command they do not fulfill. That means that their motivation for preaching law keeping cannot be keeping the law. So Paul reveals in the last half of v. 13 the ultimate motivation that drives these exponents of human strength. These men were motivated by the high octane thrill of power and influence. Their boast was in the numbers of people they were able to convince to be circumcised. What they loved and what they depended upon and thus what they boasted in was that other men listened to them and joined their club. They were motivated by what motivates entrepreneurs: a growing business. The exhilaration of seeing others converted to their way of thinking and living was what drove these men to do what they did. For all their talk about God and his glory, they were only concerned for their own glory as reflected in growing congregations. Christians and Christian churches boast in the cross of Jesus Christ alone because…
II. The cross alone conquers sin and death (v. 14) In contrast to the boasting of the false teachers, Paul boasts in only one thing, the cross of Christ. This doesn't mean that Paul doesn't care whether or not the Galatians follow him or the false teachers. It does mean that the reason he cares about whether or not they listen to him is not his reputation but Christ's reputation. Paul's ultimate motivation for doing the work of ministry is not his love for people but his love for Christ. The thing that motivates Paul is the greatness and glory of Christ. He views the false teachers as insulting the Lord of glory and thus he labors to restore Christ to his rightful place in the affections of the Galatians. Paul offers us some real help here in regards to being sure you are a Christian. Boasting in the cross of Christ is the chief mark of every Christian. Being excited about people professing faith in Christ, being excited about your children showing interest in Christ, being excited about your church growing, being excited that you are a better husband, wife or parent because you are a Christian; these are no sure sign that you are a Christian. The only sure sign that you are a Christian is that you are excited about and taken up with and trusting in and therefore boasting in the cross of Jesus Christ. It is virtually impossible for us to grasp how shocking this statement actually is. The cross was viewed within Paul's culture as the vilest and most hated of things. It was a symbol of Roman oppression and brutality. It was the symbol of the worst sort of evil. The cross was not a symbol of glory but a symbol of dishonor and humiliation. It was not something to be proud of but to be ashamed of and to avoid speaking about. What Paul sees in the cross is that at the point of greatest shame and weakness God accomplished the greatest work of all. The cruel death of an innocent man, executed as a political subversive, accomplished a work more powerful and magnificent than the creation of the universe. The cross stands as more admirable and glorious than the highest work of art or the most spectacular vista. The cross of Christ is more awe inspiring than watching the space shuttle launched into space or having a heart and lung transplant that saves your life. Paul says that the cross of Jesus Christ is the most necessary thing in his life. Why does Paul boast only in the cross of Christ? The first reason he gives is because it is by the cross that the world has been crucified to him and he has been crucified to the world. What does Paul mean by this term, "world?" He uses this term about 46 times in his letters. After surveying all of them I can tell you this about what he means by this word. The world is the society of men in their natural condition, gratifying the desires of their flesh and following the flesh's desires and thoughts. It is the place where sin and death and Satan dominate human beings. It is the world of human beings who are the object of God's wrath. It is a world of men who do not know the true and living God and who have no ability to know God. It is a community of human beings united in their disdain for the cross of Christ and their conviction that human thinking and human effort is more than adequate to please god and gain heaven. The society of men who teach one another that God can be appeased and pleased by obedience to religious laws. It is the association of people who delight in human achievement and human goodness. It is this world of human beings that Jesus entered in order to save sinners who comprise it. It is also a temporary world, it is passing away and one day will cease to exist. It will be replaced by the new world, the new creation. So, what does Paul mean when he says that this world has been crucified to him and he to it? Paul means that the world has as much attraction to him as a corpse would have to any of us. There is not person in this room who would like to live with a corpse. Dead people don't speak to us, nor do they have power over us. We are not fascinated by corpses and we are not influenced by them. In the same way, the world with its sin and death and lust and ignorance of God and pride in human achievement holds no power over Christians. We are not interested in the world and it has no influence over us. The world of human achievement and human recognition and human acclaim holds no real interest for us. In the same way we are dead to the world. The world has no interest in hanging out with us. We are as attractive to the world as a corpse. The world is as opposed to us as all people are to corpses. All Christians by virtue of their union with Christ in his death are cut off from the world of human lust and pride and moral performance. We are dead to sin and dead to death and dead to Satan and dead to law keeping as the ground of acceptance with God because we died with Christ. Paul did not escape the world, nor does he remain free from the world by his own law keeping. The focus of Paul's attention is not upon what he is doing or not doing, but upon Christ and what he has accomplished by his death. His growth in holiness as a Christian is not due to his paying attention to laws or to his performance but his paying attention to cross of Christ. He is not free from the control of the world and does not remain free from the world because of anything he did but because of Christ's dying on the cross. He does not boast in the law. He does not boast in himself. He does not boast in anything, except the cross of Christ because it is this cross that has permanently destroyed his ties to this world so that he now lives for the world to come. Last night as I went to bed I thought about my day and what I had done. I finished writing this sermon. I took care of Jared. I watered my lawn. I watched Jordan play soccer. I went grocery shopping. I listened to the Brewer’s game. As I thought about my day I thought about what there was in my day that would commend me to God. Sure, I didn’t murder anyone or rob a bank, but what righteousness had I performed that would cause God to love me and accept me. Did I really love anyone? Did I perform any moral act that would motivate God to reward me? Even if I had done more religious things, if I had read my Bible more or served some poor person, would there then have been something I had done that I could boast to God that I had accomplished that he should reward me for? It hit me like a ton of bricks, I have no ground for boasting. Even on my best days, I have not come close to performing what God requires. Thus I have only one option left open to me. I must cast myself upon Christ and his bloody cross. I can only boast in his cross and I must leave behind all dependence upon anything I have ever done. The only thing I should feel when I think of my life in light of God’s perfect law is terror and then joy in the cross of Christ. Whatever was to my credit I consider loss for the sake of Christ. Whatever commends me as a good person to the world of men, I treat as manure in light of being counted righteous through faith in Christ. I am cut off from what the world is consumed with, human performance and my mind is fixed upon Christ and his death on that cross. Christians and Christian churches boast in the cross of Jesus Christ alone because…
III. The cross alone fulfills what God has promised since the beginning (vv. 15-16) These two verses aim to instruct us on how we are to understand the OT in light of the coming of Christ, especially in light of his death on the cross. Circumcision stands for the OT law, which promised God's blessing on the condition of perfect obedience and threatened eternal destruction on any deviation from perfect obedience. This law was given for the purpose of revealing the sinfulness of human beings, showing our helplessness to save ourselves and then to reveal the glory of Christ and his salvation. Circumcision was never meant as the condition of entering into God's kingdom but always as a physical symbol of that cutting away of our flesh, our sinful nature that would be accomplished by the death of Christ purchasing the promised Holy Spirit. Or as Paul says it here, the physical act of circumcision is nothing but the new creation to which it points is everything. This new creation is not merely referring to an individual person being born again by the Spirit of God and thus receiving eternal life. It includes that but refers to the entire renewal of all things that God promises throughout the OT that would be accomplished by the Messiah. What Paul is saying is that the cross of Christ is the primary work of God in accomplishing the new creation. The new creation does not come into existence through human effort but by divine grace. God does not need human help to make new people and a new universe. He makes new people and a new universe through the death of his Son. Circumcision and all law keeping belongs to the old order of things. Now, with the coming of Christ, the new creation has broken into the world in individual lives being made new by the Spirit and by a new community, the church, being established on the earth. The true meaning of the entire OT is being lived out by us now and will be fully experienced at the return of Christ as we boast in the cross of Christ. The law of God has been written on our hearts and so we do not live by external command but by inward desire. We delight to love others and thus fulfill the law by an inward desire, a new creation desire planted in us by the Spirit. We want to do the will of God not because we fear being rejected by God for failure to obey or because we think he will love us more if we do obey. We do his will out of our boasting in the cross of Christ. We are a community that is characterized by holiness of life and love towards all men, not by our focusing upon law but by our focusing on the cross of Christ. We are beginning to live out that new creation life. At the end of all things we will live in the fullness of the glory of Christ and we will always do right and will perfectly love God and one another. We are beginning to experience what that life will be like now while we wait for its fullness. What matters is not whether or not we've been circumcised, or obeyed any law, but whether or not we've been made part of the new creation. We know we are part of that new creation by our faith in Christ or as Paul says here, by our boasting in the cross of Christ. In v. 16 Paul says that all who follow this rule are the recipients of God's peace and mercy. What is the rule we are to follow? It is the rule of not seeking to obey the law but rather the rule of the new creation, which is to have faith in Christ. It is to keep in step with the Holy Spirit, to be led by the Spirit, to live by the Spirit and thus not fulfill the desire of the flesh but rather to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. It is to live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. What Paul says at the end of v. 16 is stunning but completely in keeping with what he said in Galatians 3:16. All the promises God made to the nation Israel, to Abraham and his seed, were not made to many people but to one person, that is Christ. Therefore, all who are in Christ, all who follow the rule of the new creation, these and these alone are the Israel of God, the ones to whom all the promises were addressed. The peace and mercy promised by God throughout the OT to his people Israel are only true for all those who are members of God's Israel. God's Israel is compromised of all who are united to Christ by faith. This includes all those who lived prior to Christ who trusted in the Messiah who was to come and all those who live after Christ and trust in the Messiah who has come. The promises of the OT were not made to national, racial Israel but to elect, believing Israel. The OT is a Christian book because Christ fulfilled all that it commands and obtained all that it promises by his cross. Christians and Christian churches boast in the cross of Jesus Christ alone because…
IV. The cross alone gives power to endure and boast in suffering (vv. 17-18) The last thing Paul commands in this letter is that none of the Galatians give him any trouble. The reason they should not give him any trouble is because he bears on his body the scars of persecution suffered for the sake of Christ. He calls his scars the “brand-mark” of being owned by Jesus. Like cattle are branded with the sign of the ranch that owns them, so the scars of persecution brand Paul as belonging to Christ. Paul is not saying that he's got enough trouble from persecution and so he doesn't want them to add to it by rejecting him and his gospel. Rather he is telling them not to reject him and his gospel because he bears on his body the brand of ownership that he belongs to Christ. Just as the thing that commends Jesus to us as one whom we should trust is his suffering and death on a brutal cross, so Paul argues that the reason the Galatians should trust him and not the false teachers is because he bears on his body the scars of suffering for the name of Jesus. There is an implied contrast here as well. The false teachers bear a mark on their body, the mark of circumcision. That mark excludes them from being followers of Christ as he said in 5:2. Circumcision gains for them the approval of men but the hatred of God. However, in contrast, Paul has been persecuted for rejecting circumcision and preaching the cross of Christ as the only means to be made right with God. His scars are the evidence that he belongs to Jesus and that he is the one telling them the truth. Here is the question. What is it that enables a person to not only endure persecution or suffering without denying Christ but to also use the experience of persecution as the evidence of his authority? He is boasting in his scars by calling them the brand mark of Christ, the proof that he is part of that new creation and blessed by God along with the Israel of God. Paul knows that by the death of Christ he has escaped the worst thing that could ever happen to him, eternal torment in hell. And he knows that he has gained the best and greatest thing that could ever be given to a human being, eternal life with Christ in the new heavens and the new earth. The cross at one and the same time shows him what he deserves, death and hell and promises him freedom from what he deserves. Nothing can separate him from the love of Christ but rather all the suffering enables him to glory in the grace and mercy of God in deeper ways. Therefore he uses his suffering for Christ as his badge of honor and authority. It is not something to be ashamed of or grieve over but what proves that he belongs to Christ and is an heir of heaven. It is the cross of Christ that enables us to not only endure but also to rejoice in our sufferings. Christians and Christian churches boast in the cross of Jesus Christ alone because…
© Copyright
2005 John Swanson.
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