What Is Your Greatest Boast? Series

Introduction:

A. Today is Father’s Day, and we want to wish all of the fathers among us a Happy Father’s Day, and we pray that God will bless you with the wisdom, love, and strength needed for blessing your children.

B. Let me ask you a question: Have you ever found yourself bragging about something?

1. Children can sometimes be found bragging about their fathers, right?

2. The story is told of three girls who were bragging one day in the cafeteria at school:

a. One girl said: My dad’s so smart he can talk for one hour on any subject.

b. The second girl said: My dad’s so smart he can talk for two hours on any subject.

c. The third girl said: Oh yeah, well, my dad’s so smart he can talk for three hours and doesn’t even need a subject.

3. One day three boys in the schoolyard were bragging about how great their fathers were.

a. The first one said: Well, my father runs so fast that he can shoot an arrow, and start to run, and get there before the arrow.

b. The second one said: Ha! You think that's fast! My father is a hunter. He can shoot his gun and be there before the bullet.

c. The third one listened to the other two and shook his head and said: You two know nothing about fast. My father works for the government and he is so fast that he gets off work at 5 and is home before 4!

C. Let’s tell one more bragging story that is on a different subject than fathers.

1. The story is told of a strong young man at a construction site who was bragging that he could outdo anyone in any feat of strength.

2. The young man made a special case of making fun of one of the older workmen and he taunted him.

3. After several minutes, the older worker had had enough. He said to the young boaster, “Why don't you put your money where your mouth is? I will bet a week's wages that I can haul something in a wheelbarrow over to that building that you won't be able to wheel back.”

4. “You're on, old man,” the young guy replied.

5. The old man grabbed a wheelbarrow by the handles, then he turned to the young man and said, “Alright. Get in.”

D. Boasting can get us in all kinds of trouble.

1. That is especially true if we are boasting about spiritual things.

2. As Paul finished up the letter to the Galatians, he pointed their attention to what he boasted about.

3. When it came to Paul’s salvation, there was only one thing he thought ought to be boasted about and that is the cross.

4. We will have more to say about this in a few minutes, but for now let’s begin working through the final section of Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

E. When many readers of the Bible come to the end of Paul’s letters, they are tempted to skim the conclusion because they think they have read all the important stuff already.

1. They think that the conclusions of Paul’s letters are just conventional – why give much attention to the “sincerely yours” at the end?

2. Although Paul’s letters follow customary forms in the introduction and conclusion, both are important for understanding the content of his letters.

3. In Paul’s introductions and conclusions, he often emphasizes the main points of the letter.

4. That is certainly the case in the letter to the Galatians.

I. The Final Paragraph of Galatians

A. The first thing we notice in this final section is Paul’s Signature (6:11).

1. Verse 11: See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.

2. Ordinarily Paul dictated his letters to a scribe, and then added his signature at the end.

3. But in the Galatian letter he did more – he seized the pen from his scribe and from verse 11 on to verse 18, all the verses were written in his own hand writing.

4. Why did Paul use such “large letters?” There are at least three possibilities.

a. First, Paul may have had bad eyesight that made it difficult for him to write, except with large letters.

1. This may have been Paul’s thorn in the flesh.

2. Remember that back in chapter 4, verse 15, Paul had mentioned that the Galatians would have gouged out their eyes and given them to him, if that were possible.

b. A second possibility was that because Paul was a tentmaker, he never learned to write well.

1. This is unlikely, since he was also so highly educated.

c. A third possibility was that he wrote with large letters for emphasis.