Once upon a time an old man and his son were on their way to market. The old man was leading a donkey and the boy was walking behind when they went through the first village. There, the people called the old man a fool for not riding the donkey, so he climbed up on the animal’s back.
In the second village, the people said the old man was cruel to let the child walk while he enjoyed the ride, so the old man got off and put the boy on the donkey.
In the third village, the people accused the boy of being lazy for making the old man walk, so the man got on the donkey with the boy.
In the fourth village, the people felt sorry for the donkey, because he was made to carry two people, so when the old man and his son arrived at the market, the old man was seen carrying the donkey.
Some people feel a need to impress others, but all they end up doing is carry a heavy burden.
My dear friends, you can be free from the need to impress. You can be free from the pressure to perform. You can be free from worrying about what others think.
You say, Phil, How? I want people to like me. I want people to respect me. How can I free myself from the burden of trying to impress at least some of the people in my life? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Galatians 6, Galatians 6, where the Apostle Paul shows us how.
Galatians 6:11 See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. (ESV)
The Apostle Paul usually dictated his letters to a secretary. Then, at the end of the letter, he would take the pen in his own hand and write a closing comment (1 Corinthians 16:21; Colossians 4:18; 2 Thessalonians 3:17). Usually it was a short comment – a verse or two – but here his closing comment is quite long – eight verses! Paul feels very strongly about what he is writing here. This is not just a mere formality tacked on at the end of a letter. This is important stuff! And just so we don’t miss it, Paul says, “See with what large letters I am writing.” Today, we would put it in bold print and double underline it. Well Paul, what’s so important that you write this stuff in your own hand with such LARGE LETTERS?
Galatians 6:12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. (ESV)
You see, the cross was a cruel thing and terribly offensive, especially in polite company. In Jesus’ day, crosses were reserved for the worst of criminals, the scum of society. It was a horrible instrument of torture and death, so horrible that Roman citizens, by law, could not be hung on them – only “the Barbarians.”
So when Christians began to proclaim that Christ had to die on a cross for our sins, many people were offended. “What do you mean MY sin demands the penalty of the cross? I’m not that bad. How dare you suggest that I deserve crucifixion and that Christ had to pay that kind of penalty for my sin?” That’s the kind of reaction many people had to the preaching of the cross. The cross was very offensive, and because of it, many Christians found themselves hanging on them.
A pastor was giving the grand tour of his new church building to another pastor. With pride, he pointed out the rich, imported pews and luxurious decorations.
As they stepped outside, darkness was falling, and a spotlight shone on a huge cross on top of the steeple. “That cross cost us $10,000,” the pastor said with a satisfied smile.
“You got cheated,” said the other pastor. “Times were when Christians could get them for free.” (Clarence Jordan)
Today, crosses are ornate objects used for decorations. But in Jesus day, people didn’t even want to think about them, because they were cruel instruments of torture.
On the other hand, circumcision was a cool thing in polite society. If you were a man, circumcision meant that you belonged to the right group. If you were uncircumcised, you were considered an outsider, so some of the church leaders began to compel men to be circumcised. They didn’t want to be offensive. Instead, they wanted to be accepted by the “right people,” so they stopped preaching the cross, and they started preaching circumcision.
They were trying to avoid persecution, but that put them in bondage to the need to impress. That put them in bondage to worrying about what other people think. That put them in bondage to the pressure to perform. My friends, if you want to be free from that kind of bondage, then…
Stop avoiding persecution. Stop living your life just to avoid being hurt. Stop dodging the pain, the ridicule or the shame that you think others might put on you. After all, if God thinks the world of you, what does it matter what others think. A New Tribes Missionary once said, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn't really matter. (Eternal Perspectives Newsletter, Fall 2003, p. 15)
Calvin Miller says that the most “vibrant missionaries” he has met are “medical doctors serving in lonely outposts of the Arab world.” These physicians and nurses are aware that in winning a Muslim to Christ, they condemn their converts to ostracism and persecution—even martyrdom.
One doctor asked him, “How do you think I feel in longing to lead people to Christ, knowing that the moment my patients receive Christ they face a life-and-death contempt in this culture?”
“It must seem pointless,” Calvin Miller responded.
“Pointless?” the doctor said. “This IS the point of the gospel.” (Calvin Miller, Jesus Loves Me: Celebrating the Profound Truths of a Simple Hymn, Warner Books, 2002; www.PreachingToday.com)
It’s what Jesus meant when he said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
Now, we don’t live in a Muslim culture here in the United States of America, but we do live in a culture which is increasingly becoming hostile to Christianity. We may not yet be killed for following Christ, but we are ridiculed sometimes, and we are at times considered “narrow minded bigots” by some.
Even so, none of that should stop us from following Christ, because the only thing that really matters is our relationship with Him, not what others think of us. And such a relationship sets us free from having to impress others, because He is already impressed with us.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer died in a Nazi concentration camp because of his faith in Christ. He once said, “Christ kept himself from suffering till his hour had come, but when it did come he met it as a free man, seized it, and mastered it. We are not Christ, but if we want to be Christians, we must have some share in Christ's large-heartedness by acting with responsibility and in freedom when the hour of danger comes. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Christian History, No.32; www.PreachingToday.com)
And that’s exactly what Bonhoeffer did. When the hour of danger came for him, he acted with responsibility and in freedom, because his life was not about avoiding being hurt; it was about following Christ.
My friends, if you want to be free, truly free, then you too must make our lives about following Christ, not about avoiding pain. If you want to be free from the need to impress, if you want to be free from the pressure to perform, then stop avoiding persecution.
More than that, stop trying to promote yourself. Stop doing things just to have something to brag about. Stop living to pump up your own ego. That was the problem with some of the religious leaders in Paul’s day. He says…
Galatians 6:13 For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. (ESV)
They’re a bunch of hypocrites, but they’re hyped on themselves. They themselves don’t keep the law, but they want you to keep it just so they can boast. What do they do? Collect the foreskins of their new converts so they have something to show their friends? It’s all a show, an outward pretense without any inward reality, and it puts them in great bondage, because it is a lot harder to keep up the pretense than it is just to be who you are.
Years ago, Gordon MacDonald described just such a man in his book, Ordering Your Private World. This man on the outside was very “successful,” but on the inside he was very empty. He owned his own business, the best in that section of the yellow pages. He made a lot of money, had a big house, a sports car, and everything that money could buy. But he was a driven man. He worked 19-20 hours a day, destroying his own family and his own health in the process. By his own admission, he could never do enough. He could never earn enough to be satisfied. Everything had to get bigger, better, and more impressive.
Why? What was driving him? It was the fact that his father had told him regularly, “You’re a bum; you will always be a bum, nothing better.” So into his 40’s, this man was committed to disproving the label his father had given him, even after his father’s death. He was going to demonstrate with unimpeachable evidence that he was not a bum.
My friends, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, your Heavenly Father has no such opinion of you. In fact, He is proud of you because of your relationship with Jesus Christ, His Son. You have nothing to prove to Him or anybody else. You are free from the pressure to perform, so stop living in that kind of bondage. Stop living just to promote yourself. Stop living just to avoid pain. Whatever you do…
DON’T SEEK TO IMPRESS OTHERS WITH YOURSELF.
Instead…
BE IMPRESSED ONLY WITH YOUR SAVIOR.
Let the sacrifice He made for you on the cross amaze you. Boast not in what you can do for God. Instead, Boast in what He has already done for you.
Galatians 6:14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (ESV)
You see, next to the cross, next to the love of Christ demonstrated there, the trinkets of this world mean nothing.
The cross sets us free! It sets us free from self (Galatians 2:20). It sets us free from the flesh (Galatians 5:24). And it sets us free from the world (Galatians 6:14). We are free from the bondage of having to impress others. We don’t need their acceptance anymore, for in the cross we find that GOD has already accepted us.
Several years ago, some thieves stole a 14-foot bronze crucifix from Calvary Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas. It had stood at the entrance to that cemetery for more than 50 years, put there by a Catholic bishop in 1930. At the time, it had been valued at $10,000; but thieves cut it off at its base, hauled it off in a pick-up truck, cut it up in small pieces and sold it for scrap for about $450. They obviously didn't realize the value of that cross. (Lee Eclov, The Agony of Victory, www.PreachingToday.com)
That, of course, is the problem for many people today. They don’t understand the value of the cross. For many, the cross is only a nice story with a happy ending (the resurrection). What they don’t realize is that “in Christ Jesus God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). The cross made it possible for God to accept us as holy and righteous in His sight. The cross made it possible for God to be proud of everyone who comes to Him by faith in Christ Jesus.
Won’t you do that right now, if you haven’t done it already? Won’t you come to God by faith in Christ Jesus today? Won’t you trust Christ with your life right now? Just call upon Him and ask Him to save you from your sins. Then you will know that the value of the cross far surpasses anything this world has to offer.
My friends, boast about the cross. Boast about what GOD has done for you in Christ.
Don’t boast about what YOU have done for Christ. Don’t boast about your own achievements, for in and of themselves, they are meaningless.
Galatians 6:15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. (ESV)
The outward trappings of success mean nothing. It is only what God is doing on the inside that counts.
If you have put your faith in Christ, He is beginning to change you from the inside out. He is making you into a new creation. So boast about what God is doing inside you, not about what you are doing on the outside.
Then you will find peace. Then you will find a deep sense of satisfaction and contentment.
Galatians 6:16 And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God [i.e., the Jews]. (ESV)
In other words, Jew and Gentile alike can find God’s peace and mercy, if they look to the cross and not themselves. Anyone can find that deep sense of satisfaction if they stop trying to impress others with themselves and start impressing themselves with what God is doing in their lives.
In class one day at Dallas Theological Seminary, one of my professors, Howard Hendricks, told the story of a friend of his who was called into his boss’ office. When he got there, the boss offered him a promotion. He outlined the nice pay raise, the extra benefits, along with the prestige that would go with his new position in the company. “There is only one catch,” his boss said. “If you want the job, you’re going to have to sacrifice everything. The job must come even before your family. Take it or leave it.” Do you know what that man did? He left it. He walked out the door and never returned again.
Oh, the freedom to say “NO” to a driven lifestyle, because you don’t have to impress anyone, because you know what’s really important. And that’s not the outward trappings of success, no. It’s what God is doing for you on the inside because of the cross of Jesus Christ.
If you want true peace and freedom, stop boasting about yourself and your own achievements, and start boasting about the cross.
Sure, it may cost. Sure, you may be persecuted or ridiculed, even as Paul was
Galatians 6:17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. (ESV)
Literally, the “brand marks” of Jesus. Paul was beaten, stoned, and left for dead. His body had permanent scars, because of what he suffered for Christ’s sake. But Paul saw those scars as “brand-marks,” signs of ownership, marks that identified him as Jesus’ slave.
Paul was no slave to the law. Paul was no slave to the need to impress anyone else. That’s because he was Jesus’ slave, and he had the brand-marks to prove it.
Do you want to be truly free from the pressure to perform? Do you want to be truly free from worrying about what others think? Then don’t boast about your own achievements. Rather, boast about the cross; boast about what Christ has done for you, not what you have done for Christ. Sure, it may cost you plenty as you stop pursuing the outward trappings of success. But only as you boast about the cross, do you find real peace and mercy in your life.
If you want to be truly free, don’t seek to impress others with yourself. Instead, just be impressed with what Christ has done for you.
Well, here I am Lord. You said, “Take up your cross,” and I’m here to do it. It’s not easy, you know, this self-denial thing. I mean to go through with it though, yes sir! I’ll bet you wish more people were willing to be disciples like me. I’ve counted the cost and surrendered my life, and it’s not an easy road.
You mind if I look over these crosses? I’d kind of like a new one. I’m not fussy, you understand; but a disciple has to be relevant these days.
I was wondering – are there any that are vinyl padded? I’m thinking of attracting others, see? And if I could show them a comfortable cross, I’m sure I could win a lot more. Got to keep up with the population explosion and all.
And I need something durable so I can treasure it always. Oh, is there one that’s sort of flat so it would fit under my coat? One shouldn’t be too obvious.
Funny, there doesn’t seem to be much choice here. Just that coarse, rough wood. I mean that would hurt. Don’t you have something more distinctive, Lord? I can tell you right now, none of my friends are going to be impressed by this shoddy workmanship. They’ll think I’m a nut or something. And my family will be just mortified.
What’s that? It’s either one of these or forget the whole thing? But Lord, I want to be your disciple, I mean just being with you; that’s all that counts; but life has to have a balance too. But you don’t understand – nobody lives that way today! Who is going to be attracted by this self-denial bit? I mean, I want to; but let’s not overdo it. Start getting radical like this, and they’ll have me off to the funny farm. Know what I mean?
I mean being a disciple is challenging and exciting and I want to do it; but I do have some rights, you know. Now, let’s see – no blood – Okay? I just can’t stand the thought of that, Lord… Lord? Jesus?
Now where do you suppose He went?
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
