Sermon Tone Analysis

I’m going to read Galatians 5:10–13 and Galatians 6:14–16.

This is Paul writing.

10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view.

The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be.

11 Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?

In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.

12 As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! 13 You, my brothers, were called to be free.

But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

Then we continue in chapter 6, starting with verse 14.

14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.

16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.

This is God’s Word

By the way, in the old King James Version, verse 14, which is shown here as saying, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ …” in the old King James Version it’s translated, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ …” You’re going to find today, since I learned that verse in the old King James, you’ll find me at certain points going back and quoting it that way.

“May I never boast except in the cross …” “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross …” Same thing.

From now until Easter, from now all the way through Lent, which begins in a little while, we’re going to be talking each week about the cross and how the cross deals with all the important dimensions of our lives.

This week we’re going to talk about the cross and freedom, next week the cross and forgiveness, and so on.

I got out my old Jesus Christ Superstar record.

A very old record.

In the theme song, there’s a place where Judas sings:

Did you mean to die like that?

Was that a mistake, or

Did you know your messy death would be a record breaker?

We’re talking about the record-breaking, messy death of Jesus for the next few weeks.

I’d like to talk about freedom and how the cross gives us the most nuanced and sophisticated answer to the modern problem of freedom.

Take notes.

I know when I get through here, I’m not going to deal with everything I should.

I’m not going to answer all the questions.

I’m not going to handle all the passage you have written in front of you.

The advantage you have over the other services, though you are the least of the services, you are the greatest of the services because we do questions and answers downstairs afterwards in the East Lounge.

You can go down and say, “What does this verse mean?

Why didn’t you talk about that?” and so on.

The way modern people define freedom is self-determination without limits.

Freedom is always doing what you want and never having to sacrifice what you want because someone on the outside is forcing you to.

Freedom is doing whatever you want.

The problem with that modern definition of freedom is that it doesn’t really work out very well.

The quintessential example of it is the interview with the French novelist Françoise Sagan some years ago.

When she turned 50 somebody interviewed her.

Of course, like most novelists, most people who live in Manhattan or London or Paris and so on, she is obsessed with freedom.

The important thing is you do what you want to do.

You mustn’t let others limit what you want to do, you see? That’s what freedom is.

At one point she was asked, “Have you had the freedom you’ve wanted?”

She thought about it and she says, “Yes.

Well …” she says, “Of course, you’re not free when you’re in love, but fortunately, you can’t be in love all the time.

So apart from when I’m in love, yes, I’ve been free.”

Man … Yikes!

You see, the modern definition of freedom … If you’re free by the modern definition, you cannot be in a love relationship without tension.

Do you see what she means?

If somebody says they love you, but they are not willing to sacrifice their desires for you, then you know they don’t really love you.

If they’re not willing to sacrifice their desires for you, they don’t love you, in spite of what they might say.

But if the definition of freedom is to be able to do what you want without sacrifice … Don’t you see she’s right?

“By my definition of freedom,” she says, “you can’t really be in love.”

I imagine you certainly couldn’t be married, because that wouldn’t work.

This is a tremendous problem, a huge difficulty.

The Bible gives the best answer, the most sophisticated, I think, the wisest, the most brilliant answer to the modern problem by giving us a definition of freedom that is unique.

It talks about it here.

Paul’s book to the Galatians is the number one book in the whole Bible on the subject of Christian freedom.

See he says, “Brothers, you’re called to be free.”

He’s talking about what he calls the circumcision party, who are trying to limit the Galatians and have them lose their freedom.

Now the circumcision party was a group of people that came in after Paul.

Paul had planted the Galatian church.

It was his church.

He had started it.

After Paul left, in came another party of teachers.

They were called the circumcision party, because they taught the entire Old Testament set of regulations plus circumcision was necessary in order to be saved, in order to be accepted by God.

Paul writes the book of Galatians back, and in it you can summarize the two different positions, the circumcision party and Paul, like this.

The circumcision party said, “You must give to God a record of righteousness to be saved,” but Paul said, “Nuh-uh.

On the contrary, you have to receive from God a record of righteousness in order to be saved.”

What is the essence, to give a record of righteousness or to receive?

Or we’ll put it one more way.

The circumcision party said, “Number one, believe in Christ.

Number two, obey the Law.

Then, number three, you’ll be accepted by God.”

But Paul said, “Nuh-uh.

Number one, believe in Christ.

Number two, be accepted by God.

Number three, then you’ll obey the Law.”

See, two radically different approaches.

Paul says not just that the other approach is wrong, he says, “If you follow that other approach, you have lost your freedom.

My gospel …” Which is his way of talking about his message.

“If you don’t keep hold of my gospel, you will lose the radical freedom that comes from the gospel.”

Now how do you get that radical freedom?

Paul says there are two things you have to do if you want to get that radical freedom, if you want to keep that radical freedom that you get only in the gospel.

You have to, first, let the cross offend you.

You have to feel the offense of the cross.

Secondly, you have to boast in the cross.

Then if you do that, you’ll be free.

If you see the offense of the cross, which is very important, and then, secondly, if you accept the offensive message of the cross, embrace it, boast in it, and glory in it, then you’ll be free.

Very important.

Let me show you.

1.

Let the cross offend you

First of all, Paul says, the whole purpose of the circumcision party, the circumcision teaching, was to get out from under the offense of the cross, to try to get out from under what the cross really teaches, which is deeply offensive.

It was a way of trying to abolish the offense.

You notice, by the way, he does not say the circumcision party was trying to abolish the cross.

They wanted the symbol.

They wanted the cross.

They said, “Yes, Jesus died for you,” but they were abolishing the offense of the cross.

They were trying to mute, or trying to hide, its main message.

“The main message of the cross is deeply offensive,” says Paul.

Now why?