How Do You See The World?

9.13.20 Galatians 6:14

But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

How Do You See the World?

I. It starts with how you look at yourself

What do you personally take pride in? Within our American culture, our defining moment of pride might be July 4th, 1776, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. For others, it might be the Emancipation Proclamation. For Michigan fans it might be when the Tigers won the world series or the Pistons won back to back championships under the bad boys. When you take pride in something you’re not afraid to get t-shirts and flags and posters in memory of that accomplishment. You put the diploma on your wall and you say, “I did it!”

What was the wall hanger of Paul’s day? His fellow Christian Jews were taking pride in the fact that they were getting their fellow Christians circumcised. It sounds like a strange thing to take pride in. Why? If they could get their fellow Christians circumcised, then they could claim to be maintaining their Jewish identity, and then they wouldn’t get persecuted either. So when they were able to convince more Christians to get circumcised, they felt like they’d gained another convert to their side. They were proud of it. It was a banner moment for them. But should they have been? By getting them to get circumcised, they were also putting them back under the confines of the law and taking them away from Christ.

Do you have a banner moment? They talk a lot about pride in today’s society. There’s gay pride, black pride, but what about Christian pride? No, that won’t work. God’s Word says that “pride goes before destruction.” Pride can keep us from humbling ourselves to him and relying on him when we’re full of ourselves. Pride puts blinders on who we are. We end up saying and doing things that are wrong when we aren’t aware of our own weaknesses and sins. Pride is something we should resist.

As a Christian, you can end up taking pride in how often you pray or how often you come to church. You can take pride in how often you invite people to church or in how much money you give to church. You can be proud that you never committed adultery or never fell away from church. You can take pride in how you raise your children and how polite they are or how well they do at school. These are all things that you SHOULD do. But at what point do your actions make you sinfully proud of who you are or what you do, where you think that somehow you are worthy of a pat on the back from God?

Pride can come from the opposite side of the spectrum too. You can be proud of how you don’t pretend to be more righteous than others. You are REAL. You have no qualms about having too much to drink, letting some cuss words out, and dressing how you want to dress. You’re not ashamed of who you are, and you aren’t going to try to dress the part of super-Christian for anyone. If your fellow Christians don’t like it, who cares? That’s THEIR problem, not yours. You aren’t going to be driven by what OTHER people think of you. You aren’t going to be driven by pride. Good for you. But isn’t there some pride there too?

II. It depends on how you see Jesus

Paul had plenty to be proud about. He had authentic Jewish blood. He was circumcised on the 8th day. He kept the Passover. He took vows. He didn’t throw away the law as a Jew. As a Christian, he went on missionary journeys. He risked his life on a daily basis. He was persecuted. He was faithful. He never took any pay for his work. He dedicated his entire LIFE to Christ. He made MANY sacrifices for the Lord. But Paul didn’t boast about any of that. Instead, he wrote, far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Stop for a minute. Isn’t that an entirely odd thing if you think about it? If somebody asked you, “What do you remember about your grandpa?” I would talk about how my grandfather was a pastor or my other grandfather was a boxer. But what if I said, “The greatest thing my grandfather did was to die”? It sounds sick. It only makes sense through what God’s Word says about the cross, for God’s Word says that there on the cross Jesus was punished for the sins of the world. There on the cross God created a just way for me to be forgiven for who I am and what I’ve done. God found a way to put me through hell, without sending me to hell. Without Jesus’ death, I end up in hell. If I’m going to stand before God, the cross is all I’ve got, but it’s also all I need.