What Really Matters

Bill Connors

Dear Church: A Study of Galatians • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

Galatians 6:11–18

Cross

Jesus' Death

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Bookmarks & Needs:

B: 11-18

Housekeeping Stuff & Announcements:

Welcome guests to the family gathering, introduce yourself. Thank the band. Invite guests to parlor after service.

We received a thank you note this week from CareNet Pregnancy Centers that I wanted to share with the church family. “CareNet would like to thank all those who contributed to the change of life baby campaign last year. Eastern Hills raised $1,881.79 for CareNet in 2019.” CareNet is a ministry that we will continue to partner closely with in the years to come. For those who took home baby bottles for this year’s campaign, thanks!

The Baptist Convention of New Mexico is hosting the 2020 New Mexico Evangelism Conference on February 24-25, at Sandia Baptist Church here in Albuquerque. I’m looking forward to being encouraged by the preaching we will get to experience at the conference, from guys like Adam Greenway, the current president of SWBTS and Chuck Kelley, former president of NOBTS. There will also be great breakout sessions and fellowship opportunities. You can get more information at register at bcnm.com. The conference is a free event.

Right Now Media is a Bible study and training streaming service that features thousands of studies, training, preaching, and other videos. We have subscribed to RightNow as a church for several years, and many of you use it regularly and have been blessed by it. We have just found out that we are allowed unlimited memberships with our subscription (it used to be 500), and so I wanted to make sure that everyone knows about it. Up on the slide behind me is the website to register for a RightNow Media account, or you can feel free to take your phone out and use the QR Code if that would be easier. We pray that this will be a blessing to you and that it will help you grow closer to the Lord as you use this great resource.

Eastern Hills Christian Academy, the private Christian school that we started decades ago as a church, will be holding an all-school meeting this Tuesday night at 6:30 here in the sanctuary. We will discuss the exciting work that God is doing in the school and what we believe His plans are for the rest of this year and for future years at EHCA. The school board and administration would like to invite any church members who are interested in coming to attend.

I wanted to remind or let you know of another tech resource this week. Eastern Hills subscribes to a mobile devotional service called DevoHub from Lifeway. There’s an app for your smartphone, and you can just add it for free from the App Store or Play Store. Then, and this is critical, you have to set it up while you’re at the building. It uses GPS at setup to verify that you are at our location in order to confirm your subscription. Then you can read daily devotionals such as Open Windows, Journey for women, Stand Firm for men, Essential Connection for students, and Family Journey for families with younger children. It’s free to you personally.

Opening

We are almost at the end of our series “Dear Church: A Study of the Book of Galatians.” We will just have this morning’s message and one more next week. After that, my intention is to move into the Gospel of John to look at the “I AM” statements of Jesus this spring. We’ve spent the last two weeks looking at some of the implications of church membership in Paul’s writings, and today, we come back to the central point that makes us a church.

So if you are able, let’s stand together in honor of the Word of God as we read our focal passage together, Galatians 6:11-18:

Galatians 6:11–18 CSB

11 Look at what large letters I use as I write to you in my own handwriting. 12 Those who want to make a good impression in the flesh are the ones who would compel you to be circumcised—but only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For even the circumcised don’t keep the law themselves, and yet they want you to be circumcised in order to boast about your flesh. 14 But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world. 15 For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation. 16 May peace come to all those who follow this standard, and mercy even to the Israel of God! 17 From now on, let no one cause me trouble, because I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. 18 Brothers and sisters, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

PRAY - Remember Walter & Linnie Belle Hyde

Take a moment and give some thought this morning to what is “central” to your life. What really matters? What is non-negotiable? What would radically change the very fabric of your life if it were to be taken away or be radically altered? When I reflect on this question, I can think of very few things: such as my wife, my children, my church… but most important and most central of all would be my faith in Jesus Christ.

That’s because my faith in Jesus should determine to a great extent what all the rest of those things look like: My faith in Christ should effect how I am as a husband and as a father. My faith in Christ should determine what I look like as a member of this church. There is no part of our lives that isn’t supposed to be touched and impacted and effected by our faith, if we belong to Christ. I wish that I could stand up here and say that these things are ALWAYS true—that I perfectly live out my faith in every aspect of my life, but I don’t. However, this question of what matters most takes us to a question that’s one level deeper still:

When it comes to my faith in Jesus Christ, what is central to it? It’s the Gospel, and the central point of the Gospel is the cross.

I want to thank the praise band for allowing me to call an audible this week and request that they lead us in “The Wonderful Cross” this morning. As I was preparing this week, I was blessed to reflect upon the hymn which that song uses, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” The central point of the Gospel is the fact that Jesus Christ died on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins. The cross makes the Gospel good news, because without the cross, I would still be under the wrath of God, without hope of forgiveness and eternal life. So for my life to be all that God wants it to be, it has to be centered on the cross.

In our focal passage this morning, we are going to consider whether our lives are cross-centered or not, because Paul argues for the centrality of the cross.

Before we get to those points, let’s take a moment to consider verse 11:

Cover verse 11

Galatians 6:11 CSB

11 Look at what large letters I use as I write to you in my own handwriting.

We’re tempted to just kind of skip over this without another thought. It’s pretty self-explanatory, it’s not theological, and each of us is reading a typewritten Bible anyway… we can’t see what Paul’s referring to. There are two reasons for Paul doing this: first, it is his confirmation to the Galatians that he is the author of the letter. Paul had used a scribe to write the bulk of the letter as he dictated it, probably one of the “brothers who are with him,” from . His writing this last paragraph had the effect of confirming his authorship of the whole thing. This was actually very standard practice at the time.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, Paul noted that he was writing in “large letters.” Paul is drawing attention not just to the fact that he is writing, but to HOW he is writing. How many of us send text messages now? Almost all of us. What does it mean when someone texts in ALL CAPS? They are “yelling.” They’re trying to make a point, or emphasize something that they are saying. If Galatians were a text message instead of a letter, this paragraph might be in all caps. Paul is telling the Galatians to listen up as he closes out this important letter to them. It would be wise for us to listen up as well.

Outline is from Danny Akin

Full disclosure: my outline of our focal passage this week comes from Dr. Danny Akin. As I studied this passage, I was blessed and convicted as I walked through his outline, and I honestly did not feel that I could improve upon it, and that it would bless the church body as it had blessed me. We’re going to have six points this morning, just to warn you. Let’s dive in:

Outline is from Danny Akin

1: A Cross-Centered Life is Humble, Not Prideful

Paul here returns to a discussion that has been a major part of the letter, and a major reason why he was writing in the first place—legalism. If you were here in some of our earlier studies, you will remember that there has been this discussion of circumcision and its importance since early in the letter. Some had come in and had distorted the message of hope in the Gospel by saying that those who came to faith had to trust in Christ AND be circumcised (likely using circumcision as a way of saying “become Jewish”) in order to be saved. Paul returns to his rebuttal against them here in verses 12 and 13:

Galatians 6:12–13 CSB

12 Those who want to make a good impression in the flesh are the ones who would compel you to be circumcised—but only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For even the circumcised don’t keep the law themselves, and yet they want you to be circumcised in order to boast about your flesh.

Paul here makes an accusation against these legalists, also called Judaizers. He says that they are trying to get the Galatians to submit to circumcision for the wrong reasons. Notice what he says about them: that they “want to make a good impression,” they are trying to “compel” the Galatians to be circumcised, but only so that the Judaizers could “avoid be persecuted,” and they want to be able to “boast” because of it.

Sure, what they were telling the Galatians was that the Gospel was Jesus PLUS Jewishness, so the Galatians should be circumcised in order to really be saved. But Paul sees through their lies and sees that what they’re really doing is trying to show off. They were basically trying to get numbers: how many Jewish proselytes did we make this week? They want people to look up to them, or at least not to persecute them for preaching the Gospel of salvation through faith alone. They knew they couldn’t keep the whole law, but they wanted the Galatians to submit to the law so they could tell people how effective their ministries had been.

If you get a bunch of pastors together, eventually the question is going to come up: “So, how many are you all running over at Eastern Hills these days?” Nothing wrong with the question itself. Numbers are a metric. While it’s not the only metric we should be using, it’s one of the easiest to quantify. There’s a temptation to pad the numbers, I’m not gonna lie.

That’s because in the flesh, we all want to be liked and respected, maybe even admired. We exalt so many different things in our culture today, depending on what we’re looking for or what’s important to you. We celebrate income, or fame, or innovation, or appearance, or skill, or success (whatever that means), just to name a few things.

But the problem with this is that it’s not centered on the cross. The cross-centered life is a life of humility, not pride. Everything about our walk of faith is about what God has done, not about what we have done.

1 Corinthians 1:28–31 CSB

28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, 29 so that no one may boast in his presence. 30 It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:31 CSB

31 in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

1 cor 1:28-

So there is no room for pride at the cross. When we look to the cross of Christ, we see the total ugliness of our sin. Sure, we rejoice in the cross now by wearing it as jewelry and by making it pretty and such, but back when Paul wrote this in the first century, the average Roman citizen would have thought we were crazy, along the lines of us making pretty electric chairs, lethal injections, and gas chambers today. They didn’t even like to say it. They had another phrase for crucifixion: “arbori infelici suspendito”—”Hang him on the unlucky tree.” That’s how ugly our sin is: it required the only perfect Man to hang on a cross.

So a cross-centered life is a life of humility, because we know that we brought nothing to the table of our salvation but our sins and our shame.

2: A Cross-Centered Life Boasts in the Cross, Not Self

When I was a kid, I loved bragging about myself. I’d even make up stuff to brag about. And then, if I got caught by a friend who knew the truth about what I just made up to brag about, I would brag about how I had come up with such a great fake brag.

But according to Paul, the cross-centered life is a life that doesn’t boast in itself. It’s a life that boasts in the cross: Just read through “Christ”.

Galatians 6:14 CSB

14 But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world.

When Paul here says, “I will never,” he is saying it as strongly as he can in the Greek. He’s using a phrase that means, “MAY IT NEVER BE!” So Paul says that he never wants to boast in anything other than the cross of Jesus.

When I was a kid, why did I love to boast so much? Why do any of us like boasting? What we boast about shows what we want to make much of. We make much of ourselves when we boast, hoping that others will make much of us as well. It’s about glory. We want glory for ourselves.

But when Paul says that He will only boast in the cross of Jesus Christ, he’s saying that he never wants to make much of anything other than what God has done for us through the cross of Christ. On that cross, the sinless and perfect Lord died in Paul’s place, taking Paul’s sin on Himself, paying the penalty for Paul’s failure, so that Paul could be forgiven and saved, at peace with God. And he did the same for each of us. For me, for you.

Colossians 1:19–20 CSB

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Brothers and sisters, we should boast in the cross! Every spiritual blessing we have is because of the cross of Jesus Christ. Because of the cross, the wrath of God will not be poured out on me, because it’s already been poured out on Jesus. Because of the cross, we have been brought from a relationship of enmity against God to a relationship of friendship and adoption. Because of the cross, we who have trusted in Christ are new creations. Because of the cross, we have been given the Holy Spirit, His very presence as a seal guaranteeing our inheritance with Jesus.

Which leads us to our next point:

3: A Cross-Centered Life Treasures Christ, Not the World

I’m going to re-read verse 14, and then we’ll put this point back up so you can write it down if you’re taking notes:

Galatians 6:14 CSB

14 But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world.

Because of the cross, Paul looks at the world and says, “You’re dead to me.” Please keep in mind that he’s not talking about the people, but about the system. Watch the news for 30 minutes, and you’ll see the system of the world. Spend some time on Facebook or Twitter and you’ll experience the system of the world. The world’s system is about power and control, demands and results. But when you take that look, you see that the world’s system is corrupt and meaningless, warped and broken.

Isn’t it funny that Paul said that the world was dead to him and that he was dead to the world nearly 2000 years ago? That’s because the system of the world is always this way. It’s always wrapped up in what we can get and how we can get it. It’s always about living for self. Jesus said in :

Matthew 6:19–21 CSB

19 “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Where is your treasure? For Paul, he said that he no longer treasured the things of the world—that those things are dead to him. Remember what he said back in Galatians chapter 2:

Thoughts

Galatians 2:19–20 CSB

19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. 20 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.

If we are in Christ, then we have a new life. A new purpose. A new system. A new hope. The old self, the self that was a part of the world’s system, and there is now a new self.

And on the flipside of that coin, Paul says that the he is dead as far as the world is concerned. It no longer has any use for Paul, because Paul doesn’t play by its rules anymore. We need to expect that if we are in Christ, then the world will look at us and decide that we aren’t worth its attention, its time. We’re dead to it, and it is to us.

Do we see the world this same way? Do we look at the things that try to entice us and say, “You’re dead to me?” Do we live in such a way that the world might look at us and say, “ I have no use for you...You’re dead to me?”

4: A Cross-Centered Life Values Spiritual Transformation, Not External Ritual

As we have already seen this morning, there were those who had come along to the believers in Galatia and had told them that the ritual was what mattered. Sure, they had Jesus, but if they didn’t also have circumcision, then they weren’t truly saved. But Paul says that the visible ritual is completely meaningless without a change on the inside:

Galatians 6:15 CSB

15 For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation.

Galatians 6:15–16 CSB

15 For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation. 16 May peace come to all those who follow this standard, and mercy even to the Israel of God!

Back in chapter 5, we saw that Paul said that Paul said that what mattered wasn’t circumcision or uncircumcision, but faith working through love (v. 6). What matters is that something internal has changed, not something external. Think about it:

Thoughts

Galatians 5:6 CSB

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything; what matters is faith working through love.

You can be kind, and still not be a new creation.

You can be generous, and still not be a new creation.

You can follow strict moral rules, and still not be a new creation.

You can

You can go to church, and still not be a new creation.

You can be religious, and still not be a new creation.

You can go to church, and still not be a new creation.

Most people think that there are only two ways to live: religiously or irreligiously. It’s either all about the rules or not at all about the rules. But both of these perspectives focus on the outside, the externals. The path of following Jesus, a life centered on the cross, is a third way:

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

What really matters isn’t what we do on the outside, but who we are on the inside—have we been made alive through faith in Christ? Have our hearts of stone been turned into hearts of flesh because of our relationship with God through Jesus? Take a moment and give some thought and prayer to your life right now… do you belong to Jesus Christ? Have you been made new? Or are you just going through the motions, thinking that God will save you if you’re good enough? If you’re not in Christ, surrender your life to Him in faith, trusting Him for your salvation.

5: A Cross-Centered Life Walks in Truth, Not Error

I’m going to say this as directly as I can: our theology matters. It is important that what we think about God (for that is what “theology” is) be true, because what we think about God ultimately affects what we think about ourselves, our world, and everything else. In verse 16, Paul prays for peace for all those who follow “this standard:”

Galatians 6:16 CSB

16 May peace come to all those who follow this standard, and mercy even to the Israel of God!

Who are “all those?” The church. And what “standard” do they follow? What Paul just said: that our external performance doesn’t matter, but what’s most important is the new creation. Remember what the Judaizers were trying to avoid: persecution for the cross of Christ. And as a result, they were trying to find peace through deceiving and manipulating the people they should have been sharing the Gospel of freedom with.

John 3:20–21 CSB

20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. 21 But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

John 3:19–21 CSB

19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. 21 But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

Their message could have had disastrous results. While the Galatians had been saved through believing the message of the Gospel when Paul and Barnabas had been there on their first missionary journey, what would have happened if they had succumbed to the Judaizers’ bad doctrine of having to become Jewish in order to be saved? The next generation would have gotten it completely wrong, and Paul and Barnabas’ ministry—the proclamation of the Gospel in Galatia—would have had short-lived fruit.

If our lives are centered on the cross, then we should actually want to be corrected when our theology is off. We should want to grow in our faith, so that we look more like Christ, who is the visible standard

One last word on verse 16: when Paul says, “and mercy even to the Israel of God,” what does he mean here? There are several opinions, and my personal perspective is kind of in wet cement, but I agree with Timothy George, who wrote that it seems that Paul is praying, as he does in Romans later on, for the grafting back in of the nation of Israel, because that will be the only way that the Jewish nation will truly find peace, and that will be a beautiful display of God’s mercy when it occurs. It will also mean that the nation of Israel (the faithful remnant, specifically), has come to understand and believe the truth of the Gospel.

6: A Cross-Centered Life Seeks to Please Christ, Not Man

Finally, the cross-centered life seeks to please Christ, not man. Paul had himself experienced massive persecution while he was in Galatia. You’ll recall that back in , after the people in Lystra had tried to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas, believing them to be gods, the Jews came down from Antioch and Iconium. These two places had been their first two stops in Galatia. Paul and Barnabas had been kicked out of Antioch, and had heard of a plot against them in Iconium before they left. And now, these same Jews came down and got their way: the had Paul stoned (people threw rocks at him until they thought they had killed him) and left for dead.

But now, Paul writes that he’s not worried about those types of persecutions:

Galatians 6:17–18 CSB

17 From now on, let no one cause me trouble, because I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. 18 Brothers and sisters, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

When he says, “let no one cause me trouble,” he’s saying, “I’m not going to be troubled or bothered by false teachers.” Why? Because he bears the marks of Jesus. He’s not saying that he literally bears the holes in his hands, feet, and side. He’s saying that he bears on his body the evidence of belonging to Jesus. The word here for “marks” is the Greek word stigmata. It was a word used for the branding of an animal or a slave.

He was Christ’s slave. And as Christ’s slave, his life was cross-centered. If the Lord had to suffer, Paul was willing to suffer as well. In fact, he expected to suffer because of the message of the Gospel.

2 Timothy 3:12 CSB

12 In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Romans 8:16–17 CSB

16 The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, 17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Do we see ourselves as slaves of Christ, or it Christ just an add-on, an upgrade to our lives? The person who lives a cross-centered life will want to please Christ, even if it means that all others reject him.

Do we see ourselves as slaves of Christ, or it Christ just an add-on, an upgrade to our lives? The person who lives a cross-centered life will want to please Christ

Mark 8:34–38 CSB

34 Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it. 36 For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life? 37 What can anyone give in exchange for his life? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Closing

So are our lives cross-centered? Do we live out the Gospel? Do we share the Gospel? Are we new creations, and is that newness evident in how we go about our lives day-by-day? Being cross-centered means that our lives will be different, and that we will see other people in a new way, because we are new ourselves.

2 cor 5:

I want to close with the lyrics of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” which I mentioned in my opening:

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,

Save in the death of Christ my God!

All the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down!

Did e’er such love and sorry meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,

Spreads o’er His body on the tree;

Then I am dead to all the globe,

And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Next week, we will take one last look at the message of Galatians. We’re going to look at verse 18 then.

Very quickly, I’d like to invite you to respond to the message of the Gospel today. If you have believed the Gospel today, we want to celebrate that with you. Please come and share that you are a new creation this morning.

If you believe that God is leading you to join with this church family in formal membership, please come and share that as well.

If you are convicted that your life doesn’t center on the cross, feel free to come and pray with one of us, or at the steps, or right where you are in your pew this morning.

Respond to the movement of the Spirit of God in your life now, as the band comes and as we pray.

PRAY

REMIND OF THE PARLOR

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