Text: Galatians 6:11-18, Title: A Parting Shot, Date/Place: NRBC, 8/19/07, PM
A. Opening illustration: Two ministers in a small town were openly critical of each other’s efforts and constantly opposed one another. After a joint meeting in which they planned a community-wide effort, one took this parting shot at the other, “We’ll just go out from here and continue to do the Lord’s work, you in your way, and I in His.”
B. Background to passage: These final verses of Galatians are very different from Paul’s usual closings. There is no greetings passed on to various individuals, no prayer requests, no doxologies, and it is quite long, except maybe in comparison to Romans 16. And besides all that, Paul goes back to the heart of the letter with the issue of works salvation and circumcision vs. glorying in the Christ and justification by faith alone. Erasmus said that there is just a much fire in the closing as in the beginning of the letter where he pronounces anathema upon angels and even himself if they or he preaches another gospel. There are also a couple of unusual statements in these verses that are interesting to bible students, one at the beginning of this text and one at the end. So the end of Paul’s letter is made up of a last word against the Judaizers and their teaching, then a different from usual benediction. One pastor after having preached through Galatians asked the question of the congregation: how do we tell if the message of Galatians has begun to take root…
C. Main thought: So in the text tonight, we will have a reminder of the wrong mindset and the right mindset, as well as a blessing upon those who agree with the truth of the gospel.
A. The Wrong Mindset (v. 12-13)
1. After Paul makes this strange statement about the size of the writing of his own hand, He goes right for the jugular of the Judaizers by exposing their true motives for what they are doing. And in doing so he does not question all of their sincerity, but shows some underlying motives that are in direct opposition to the true cause of Christ. The first motivation given of these Judaizers is that they want to make a good showing. They are out to gather the praise of men, not of Christ. They are running a popularity contest to see how many accolades they can heap up for themselves. They fear rejection of men, not God. The second motivation given which is still somewhat related to the first is that they push circumcision in order to avoid persecution. They are not willing to take up the real cross because it is too heavy and burdensome. They where trying to make the Christian faith look ecumenical with Judaism, so that the Jews wouldn’t persecute them. They were too cowardly to stand on the gospel, offend the Jews, and suffer the consequences. The third motivation to brag or boast in their new converts circumcision. They were counting scalps. They had confidence in their outward religious rituals, so they kept good statistics.
2. Pro 29:25, 1 Sam 15:24, Matt 15:12-13, Acts 4:19-20
3. Illustration: the fear of man crops up its head every time that we vote on something an nobody votes. For instance on the budget the other night, the vote was about 5 to 1 with 40+ people present, “The cross is laid on every Christian. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death–we give over our lives to death. The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” –Bonhoeffer,
4. The fear of man causes us to act in ways that are hypocritical and anti-Christian. Whether it is bending and compromising to accommodate unspiritual values and people, or if it is putting on a big spiritual show with all the T-shirts and bumper stickers show everyone will talk about how spiritual you are; if it is done to win man’s attention and praise, it is anti-Jesus. And we put on a good show! Are you always wondering what people are thinking of you? Looking over your shoulder to see who is watching you? Do you refrain from lifting your hands in praise because someone may think or say something? // Are we afraid of the results if we tell our neighbors that they need Jesus Christ to be saved? Do we love comfort and east so much that we are unwilling to put forth the effort to minister to others, vacuum our own carpet, go on mission trips to TN or Peru, or stand up publicly against abortion, alcohol, evolution, or homosexuality? Are we willing to bear the persecution that the cross brings? Are we willing to embrace suffering for being obedient to Christ? // Are we focused more on the outward results of religion more than the life-transforming grace and its results? Do we judge men and women more on what they do than who they are? We talk about all that someone does, and little about their depth in Christ, not that these two things are not linked. In fact there should be a great correlation, but the emphasis is on the heart! Do we pray for growth in spirit as well as numbers?
B. The Right Mindset (v. 14-15)
1. After showing the wrong motivation, he shows the only right one—glorying in the cross of Christ. Using the strongest expression available to him, Paul says, “God forbid that I boast in anything but the cross.” This was the antithesis of the Judaizers who wanted to add works to the cross for salvation demeaning the value of the finished work of Christ. The cross is the centerpiece in redemptive history. It is the most God-honoring, Christ-exalting event ever conceived. It purchased salvation for millions while maintaining the righteousness of God. And it eliminates all boasting because, as that song says, “Jesus paid it all/all to Him I owe.” Then Paul mentions a triple crucifixion mindset—Christ on the cross, Christians to the world, and the world to us. Christ on the cross is the ground for boasting. Our union and death with Christ renders us dead to self, sin, and the world. And simultaneously the world being crucified to us means that it (the world) will be hostile, unfavorable, and ruthlessly committed to violence against those that truly take up the cross and lay down their lives in order to further the cause of the glory of Christ through the gospel. And finally he says what results is a new creature, not a circumcised man or uncircumcised man, but an inwardly-transformed new man with new desires, new priorities, and a new nature.
2. Rom 3:27, 1 Cor 1:23, 29-31, Gal 2:20, 2 Cor 5:17,
3. Illustration: the words to When I Survey/The Wonderful Cross, “The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it.” A.W. Tozer, “No boasting. No exulting. No rejoicing. No thanksgiving. Except in the cross. Why? Because every dream dreamed for the future of our church, every hope-filled meeting held, every plan formed, every notebook filled, every dollar given, every brick laid, and every student taught is blood bought mercy for us redeemed sinners because apart from the cross all we deserve is condemnation. And therefore, every exultation, every thanksgiving, every boast, every joy is in the cross…that Christ crucified always be our boast and exultation and joy and our praise—that the crucified Christ get glory and thanks and honor for every good thing in our lives, and for every bad think that God causes to turn for good.” -Piper
4. We can claim no part of our salvation with our efforts. God elects, He calls, He draws, He opens our eyes, He convicts, He grants repentance, He washes us in the water of regeneration in the Spirit, He causes us to be born again according to His will, He seals, He sanctifies, and it is all done through the cross! And therefore He gets the glory, and we have all the more reason to exalt in the cross. There is no room for pride with the cross. There is no room for self-exaltation. And usually those who are self-exalters do not want to follow Christ, because the path is laden with death to self and glory to Him. // Have you really been crucified with Christ? Does the world appear unattractive to you because of its lusts and values? Or do you look like the world, act like the world, have the same values as the world? Do you pursue the material as if it were the only, idolize sports, toys, sex, and money? Are you experiencing the wrath of a world that has been crucified to you? // Paul’s says that the only thing that matters other than the glory of the cross is the new creature. When you look inward at your life is that transforming influence of the Spirit evident? Have the old things passed away; have all things become new? Do you have new desires and passions? Are you in love with the glory of Christ like Paul was? Do you long for the exaltation of His name and fame?
C. A Conditional Blessing (v. 16-18)
1. Even with the last words that he would write in this epistle, Paul refuses to compromise and fires off three indications that his support, prayers, and backing go strictly to those who embrace a gospel of grace. He pronounces a blessing upon all who follow this rule (literally kanon or standard.) With a little slap in the face he mentions the real marks on the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Judaizers were calling circumcision the mark of genuine Christianity, and Paul was saying that the real marks of Jesus are all the wounds that he has taken as His servant. Exp the controversy of stigmata. Finally, he calls those to whom he writes, “brethren.” All the way to the end, Paul stands firm. And indicates that God and His grace stands with those that hold firmly to the gospel.
2. Gal 2:5, 1:8-9,
3. Illustration: talk about the abuse that was suffered at the hands of the liberals and moderates in the ‘70s-‘80s by those that brought about the Conservative Resurgence of the SBC, In November, 1987, a large group of anti-government rebels in Soroti, Uganda, had targeted a rural army post and airstrip for take over. A company numbering in the hundreds gathered in the dense surrounding brush for the attack. But this was to be no ordinary invasion. The task force would use some strikingly unconventional tactics.
According to the Associated Press, the rebels attacked half naked. A few wore old army trousers, a few more army boots, and all of them had their pants rolled up above their knees. Curiously, all of the attackers were smeared with oil. As they advanced on the air strip, they marched boldly, even fearlessly toward government defending forces. In unison they chanted, "God is there! God is there!"
When the hour-long attack was over, the rebels were routed. Out of seven hundred men, two hundred were killed, many more were taken prisoner. One of the prisoners, a man named Obone, explained the bizarre event. The rebels were members of a disgruntled religious/political group called the "Holy Spirit Movement." The founder of the movement, a witch doctor named Alice Lakwena, convinced her forces that she had concocted magic oil that would protect them from bullets. She instructed them to take off their shirts, roll up their pant legs, and smear their bodies with the oil. She promised that rocks would explode like hand grenades for the faithful. The rag tag militia went then went to take the airstrip and wait for foreign assistance. The troops never took the airstrip, and foreign assistance never came. The battle was lost before it had begun. No one could fault the "Holy Spirit Movement" for a lack of sincerity. One must be a true believer to face live bullets half naked. Sincere? Yes. But wrong, dead wrong.
4. The reminder for us is what is at stake! These things are not child’s play issues. We are not talking about minor theological differences or the possibility to agree to disagree. We are talking about things here that will cause men and women to sincerely perish in everlasting torment because they trusted in something else besides or in addition to Christ. There is no room for compromise or niceties. There is only room in our hearts for a blood-earnest conviction that Christ is absolute Lord and through faith alone in His Name and the death He died to we have eternal life and all things good. He sets an example to us that where matters of doctrine which are crucial to the faith hang in the balance, we must be willing to go the distance, even to our dying breath, standing firm for Christ. There are hills on which to die. There are truths and are worth everything, in fact worth eternity. And justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is one of them!
A. Closing illustration: go back over Piper’s four differences between self-exalters and Christ-exalters, and call for an evaluation of people’s lives.
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
