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Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for
all the things that You've been teaching us over the last 11 weeks
through the book of Galatians. The gospel that
You brought to us through Christ; His death, burial
and resurrection. How that truly is good news
to hearts and souls
thirsting for something more than what the world has to
offer. Thank You for
giving us the warning that once we experience freedom,
there are those who are right there at our
heels, trying to take it away.
Help us learn to stand firm. Help
us to understand that the gospel message
is the most liberating message the world has ever known.
Help us to share that with others,
so that they can experience freedom.
Today, as we draw this series
to a close, I pray that You will again open up our hearts
and minds through Your Spirit; to give us insight,
give us meaning, and give us application,
so that we can live this freedom each and every day.
We thank You for this and praise You for it in Christ's name, amen.
So, Galatians 6, starting in
verse 11;
Paul writes a statement here: "See what large letters I use
"as I write to you with my own hand,"
We're not sure if he is just talking about the
final benediction of this particular letter, or
if he actually wrote the whole thing. But
this was a subject of such importance to him, that he
put his own penmanship
into the letter.
Often times Paul would dictate,
and he would have like a secretary that would write down the words
and then that would be sent to
a group. In this particular instance, he actually
took the time to write down these words himself,
with his very own hands. He did so for
emphasis sake; to be able to communicate
to his readers that this is of utmost importance.
When he talks about freedom, he wants
readers to really get a sense of what this freedom is, and
how to experience it in daily life. So he's putting it
the exclamation point with this particular verse.
"I am writing this to you with my own hand,"
and then he says, "Those who want to impress people by means
"of the flesh, are trying to compel you to be
"circumcised." This has been the theme throughout
this particular letter. It started in verse 10 of chapter 1,
about being people pleasers or God pleasers.
If you're a people pleaser, you're going to cave
to all of the other messages that are coming at you.
Just in order to please them.
To impress them; to give a show for them.
To be embraced by them; to be welcomed
into their circle. But if
you want to please God,
then you're not going to listen to the messages out there, you're going to stay focused
on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
You're going to stay focused on Christ, Himself.
As you stay focused on Christ, you're going
to experience freedom. So this theme
has woven itself throughout the fabric
of this particular book. So, those who want to impress
people by means of
the flesh, are trying
to compel you to be circumcised. What does it mean to be
impress? We all do this, don't we?
We try to impress people. We try to
impress people by the little labels we wear
on our clothes.
How many of you, you know, feel a lot better
if you have the little horse and polo man
than if there's nothing on your shirt? "Look at me, I'm a
"somebody! I've got a horse, right there!"
But we use that, don't we? We do. We think that's so
important. I think, "Gosh, I paid
"$50 for this one, and the one without it was like $10!
"and it's made from the same cloth!"
But we want to impress people. We want to make
people think we're somebodies. So we wear these labels
I
bought into that, hook, line, and sinker. I mean, just
incredibility so, as a kid.
I thought my clothes made a statement about
who I was.
That doesn't make a statement about who you are, it just makes a statement about the type
of clothes you like to buy. That's it!
That's all there is to it. I mean, there's lots of people that wear shirts
with the little Polo emblem. Their
character goes all over the place, right?
So, it's not the clothes that make somebody, but we use
those outward things to try to make a statement. We
try to impress people by means of the flesh.
We talk about
the places that we've been to. You know, "Have you been to
"x?" "Oh yeah, I went there last year. We're going someplace
"different this year." You know we do that,
don't we? That's who we are as people. Well guess what?
We do the same thing, spiritually.
We try to impress people by who we know.
Hey, I'm a part of this group over here, and
some of the labels that we toss about,
doing that to impress folks.
So, there was a group that had come to Galatia, that
Judaizers; those sent by James.
Who were there to impress people by means of the flesh.
"Hey, we know James. Do you know who he was?
"and is? He's the half brother of Jesus.
"We know him--personally.
"We pray with him, and all kinds of stuff with
"him. We know him. That means we're somebody.
"and because we're somebody, you should
"listen to us, and do what we tell you to do.
"Because we're giving you the right stuff.
"So you just follow along with what we say, and then
"you can be as wonderful as we are,"
And that's what they were doing. They were trying to impress people They were trying
to make a good appearance, or show.
But, what they were trying to
project out there, wasn't real.
They weren't free.
They weren't experiencing the freedom that the gospel brings. They were
in bondage to the opinions of others.
They were in bondage to rules
and regulations. They were in bondage to all of those things
that this in group said were important.
in life. So, they weren't experiencing
the freedom of the gospel; so the appearance
was different from the reality.
You have these clothes that are expensive.
That I used to wear...
But the reality is, I was poor.
as a church mouse.
When I came on staff at People to People, I raised my own support.
As a single guy,
you know, we had some discriminating policies.
with support. You know, the single guy couldn't get as
much as the married guy. Well, wait a minute, we're doing the same
job, but apparently didn't fly and..
Of course, I didn't make that argument.
That's how it was set up, and so I think I made $12,000
a year, as I raised support.
But I didn't dress that way.
I wanted to show people that I was making more.
So, the appearance didn't
match what was real.
We all fall into that trap, don't we?
What we're trying to project
doesn't match reality.
We come to church. "How are you?"
"I'm fine." Got this great smile on your
face. You're projecting
a withit; got-it-all-together
attitude. Inside, you're
scared; you're anxious; you don't know if
you know.. if you're going to have your job when you go to work on Monday
You've got these struggles going on
in life. Not even sure if you're right with God, you're not
sure if you're saved, but you're projecting
that everything is just fine.
Got it together. Doesn't match
reality. That's what these folks who are trying
to impress, were really saying.
Here's this appearance, but that's not what's real
for me. But,
you know, when you're miserable, you want other people to be
miserable with you. Somehow
makes you feel a little better, right?
That's the way we humans operate.
That's what we do. I mean, you
go into high school, and
kids start experimenting with alcohol.
Maybe their parents have it, and so they're starting to sneak
it out of the refrigerator, or out of the cabinets or something
and they're starting to experiment with it.
Well, they start inviting others
to experiment along with them.
Well, why do we do that?
Why can't we just stand on our own two feet and say
we like it or we don't like it; or we're going to do it, or we're not going to do it.
Well, that isn't good enough, we don't have enough confidence
to do that. We want somebody to come along with us
and join us in our misery. Join us in doing something
that we know is not right. Why? Because if
Billy does it along with me, then I'm going to feel a little bit better about
me. I don't really care about Billy,
but I want to know that
I'm kinda okay, and if somebody else is joining with me,
I feel a little better about myself.
Right?
So, here these guys were, they weren't free.
They were walking around
on eggshells.
They were fearful of what the leadership
was going to say about them, if they made a mistake;
if they didn't carry out
the full extent of the Jewish Law and daily
practice.
That was a burden they couldn't bear, and they knew it.
But they weren't looking
at the truth, they were just saying, "If I'm going to be miserable,
"I'm going to get other people to join me.
"and be miserable with me." So, what did these folks
do? They tried to compel the Gentiles to be circumcised.
and if they
could bear that mark,
as being a true Jew, then
this group could get them to follow all the other Jewish laws
and regulations. That's what they were trying
to do. Now, there was a reason they were
trying to do that. Says "the only reason that they do this is to
"avoid being persecuted for the cross
"of Christ." To avoid
being persecuted for the cross of Christ.
You make a stand in this world for the gospel
of Jesus; His death, His burial;
His resurrection; persecution is going
to follow you. That's just the
way it is.
If you make a stand for Christ as a high school kid, you're going to be
made fun of. If you make a stand for Christ as a college
kid, you're going to be made fun of. If you make a stand as an adult
for Christ; you're going to be made fun of. The world is going to mock
you.
That's just the way it is. They're going
to talk about you in terms of how can you believe
such crazy notions?
At our conference, the Be a Voice Conference, we did
a session on Jesus and the word of God.
Introduced that session with a little clip from Bill Mahr.
Some of you know him, he's a comedian, but
a Jewish guy, but very anti
God; anti Jesus. In one of his comedy
routines, and this was the little clip we pulled out, was
him making fun of the story of Jesus becoming man
He does this little deal of
God the Father having a conversation with Jesus the Son.
"I'm going to send you, but You're really Me, and I'm really...and..and..
he tries to make light of the whole deal, and what is he doing? Making
fun of us, who believe that story.
Know that story to be true.
That Jesus Christ did clothe himself in our
humanity; that He did become one of us. So that
we could experience life everlasting.
So, you walk in that story, and folks like
Bill Mahr are going to make fun of you. pubicly.
He's not
going to keep his thinking
about us to himself. He's
going to take advantage of the public platform that he has
to
mock us in front of the world.
Persecution
for the church, for believers, is going
to happen. Not like
it did, it may sometime in the future, but
here in America, we're not experiencing the type of persecution
that Christians--the early Christians did. We're certainly not
experiencing the type of persecution that Christians in other parts of
the world are experiencing. How would you like to be a Christian in Pakistan?
How would you like to be a Christian in China?
I mean, just
speak the name Jesus, you have to do it secretly.
You have to be aware of your surroundings
so that, no one else might hear you utter that
name. Why? Because your life is on the line.
Death could happen in an instant.
That's the way it is out in the world, but not yet in American.
We just get made fun of; laughed at. That's the persecution
we experience. But it's there.
It's there. The reason
that these Judaizers didn't jump
with both feet into the gospel message, is because of their
fear of being persecuted.
They didn't want the Jewish leadership to
come after them. They wanted to just
kinda fade away in the background.
Now Paul was
pretty familiar with the persecution thing.
Back to Galatians chapter 1,
verse 13,
"For you have heard of my previous
"way of life in Judaism.
"How intensely I persecuted the Church of God
"and tried to destroy it.
So Paul was the persecutor.
He was the guy that pursued the church,
who prosecuted the church, who persecuted
the church. That was Paul
as Saul of Tarsus.
The guy who was the rising star in
Judaism. The Pharisee of Pharisees.
He took this Christian thing
as a personal offense.
He didn't just let it
go, he stood up and actively
persecuted the church. So he
knows what he's talking about, from both sides
of the argument. In verse 23, again
he repeats, "They only heard the report, the man who formerly
"persecuted us, is now preaching the faith he once
"tried to destroy," Paul persecuted the church.
He tried to destroy the faith of Jesus Christ.
In chapter 4, verse 29,
"at that time, the son born according
"to the flesh persecuted the son born by the power
"of the Spirit. It is the same now."
Goes back to Ishmael
and Isaac. Ishmael, the son born according
to the flesh, persecuted Isaac, the son
of promise. Saul of
Tarsus, the man born according to the flesh,
persecuted the church of Jesus
Christ, those that had been born again of the Spirit.
So, just as it happened
way back then, in Paul's day, it was happening
again. At a point and time, he
was the leader of the persecutors.
Then 5:11; "Brothers and sisters, if I am still
"preaching circumcision, why am I still being
"persecuted?" Saul of Tarsus
became the Apostle Paul.
He left that old
way of life, was born again into a new
way of life; one led by the Spirit.
Paul became a son of promise.
Now he went from persecuting,
to one who was persecuted.
So Paul knows what he's talking about.
He knows it from both sides of the coin.
He knew what was in his heart; the raves, the anger.
The hatred towards those who had come to Christ,
before he knew Jesus.
He knew, experientially, what it meant to
let that out. To let that anger out
on the lives of these believers.
Then he felt that anger in his own life
as he came to know Christ, and started preaching the good news.
Man, he was beat; he was left for dead; he was
starved; he was everything you can imagine.
Everything was thrown at him, because of his
stance for the gospel.
So, these people who are trying to impress
did so, because they wanted to avoid
that persecution. They
wanted to keep their lives kinda safe
and secure, and easy.
There's only one way to do that,
and that's to compromise. That's to become
a man pleaser.
There's no freedom there. That's
ultimate bondage. When you put yourself
under the control of the appearance
opinions of others; you're in bondage.
You're enslaved.
You've become a slave to them.
Here's the rub with
all of this, "is not even those who are
"circumcised keep the law."
So these folks who are trying to get the Gentile converts
to be circumcised, those folks don't even keep the law
themselves! They just give a show
of keeping the law. They just
project this hypocrisy.
They wear the mask,
but underneath, it's not real. So
"yet they want you to be circumcised so they may boast about your circumcision
"in the flesh." You get circumcised,
they're going to boast about it. "See? We got another one!"
"got another one... our numbers are growing!"
"something good is going on over here,"
Well, the only reason your numbers are growing is because the people
that you're
winning over, you're winning over by fear.
Not by love,
but by fear.
They boast about that.
Notched another one. That's not what God's
all about. So Paul
says this, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
"through which the world has been crucified to me
"and I to the world."
When you're a
son of the flesh, the world is important to you.
The philosophies of the world, the opinions of the world,
the stuff of the world is important to you. Why? Because
those things define who you are.
You're a somebody if you live in the Trump Tower in
Manhattan. You're a somebody if you live on Jupiter
Island in south Florida.
You're a somebody. Why? Because that's how the world
defines the somebodies of the world.
Just the way it is, so when you're a son of the flesh,
those things are important to you. They were certainly important
to Paul. But when you become a
son of promise, through faith in Jesus Christ,
the things of the world fade into the background.
It's okay to actually wear a shirt without the little polo guy
I mean, really, it is folks!
It's okay not to have the best of dress in town.
It's actually okay to drive
a clunker of a car.
You know, you can buy a car for $5,000 or you can buy
a car for $30,000? And both of them are going to
get you from point A to point B, which is the purpose of having
a car. Right?
"But what are people going to think of me if I'm driving this clunker
"from point A to point B?"
Well, they're going to be thinking a lot of things about you.
But none of it matters.
Not one bit of it matters
as far as God is concerned.
So, Paul, when he became this son of promise,
the world was crucified to
him. Just as Jesus was
nailed to a cross, and Paul was placed into Jesus,
all of Paul's past was nailed to that cross
along with the Lord.
His experience. He was
raised to walk in something new, something
different, than what the world had to offer.
So the world was crucified to Paul. Let me just
show you some of the things that Paul was speaking
about in that regard. Philippians chapter 3.
It says in verse 3 of chapter 3,
"For it is we who are the circumcision; we who serve God by His Spirit,
"who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh."
There's no reason to put confidence in the flesh.
There's nothing there to put confidence in.
Shirt with a polo man isn't going to get you to heaven.
A car worth $30,000
can drive you to point A to point B, but it can't get you into God's
presence. So he's saying
that we put no confidence in the flesh,
"though I myself have reason for such confidence."
"If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in
"the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the 8th
"day." Check that off.
Prescribed by the Law, Mom and Dad took him down
8th day, circumcision.
He's of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin.
A Hebrew of Hebrews. In regard to the Law, a Pharisee;
as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for
righteousness, based on the law; faultless.
That was his resume. That was his worldly
contributions,
his worldly acolades. If he's at a little party
with all of his Jewish buddies,
and he's throwing this stuff around,
"Oh you're of Issachar? I'm of the tribe of Benjamin"
"We're better,"
"You're a Jewish Leader? I'm
"a Pharisee of the Pharisees. You think
"you're faultless? Man, look at my life, you'll never
"live up to that."
Just dropping this stuff, as if it was really important.
But to him, at that point, it was. It was ultimately
important, supremely important, why? Because it defined
who he was.
Then he came to know Jesus.
Jesus asked, "Why are you persecuting me?"
And all things,
stopped.
Then he had to look deep inside his own heart.
Saul of Tarsus died.
Paul
was raised.
and for Paul, the world meant nothing.
Meant nothing.
All of that
counted as loss, "whatever were gains to
"me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more,
"I consider a loss because of the surpassing worth of
"knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for Whose sake I have
"lost all things. I consider them garbage that I may
"gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness
"of my own that comes from the Law, but that which is through faith, in
"Christ, the righteousness that comes from God
"on the basis of faith." I want to know
Christ. Wow.
Christ is everything!
That's what he's trying to communicate to these people in
Galatia. When he came to them,
what did he bring to the table?
He brought Jesus. He didn't bring a new set of rules
and regulations. He didn't bring something
that was just another philosophy of the world. He brought
Christ Himself. Christ,
crucified and resurrected.
The Christ who could come, and take up residence in
a human heart and bring life.
That's what Jesus brought to the table,
and these Judaizers were coming and trying to pull people away
from Jesus.
When you pulled away from Jesus,
freedom that you had tasted and experienced
goes away.
We've got to let this world stay crucified to us,
we have to boast in the cross of our
Lord. So that we can know
that Jesus is everything.
Then he says, "Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision
"means anything."
Mark that. Underline it.
Circle it. Star it.
As you're going through life,
and wordly things are starting to
weigh upon you, and draw you
away for who.. what you have in Christ,
remember this verse. 'Neither circumcision
"nor uncircumcision means anything,"
It doesn't mean anything; here's what counts:
It's new creation.
New creation is the only thing that counts
as far as God is concerned.
If you look at life, and look at this world, and look at what
it throws at us, it's just a bunch of
kinda dead ends that either take you left or right.
That's the world.
You're either
left politically or right politically.
Liberal or conservative; Democrat or Republican.
You go left or you go right.
That's the world. We take that into
theology as well. You're either an Armenian or a Calvinist.
You're either a pre-trib rapture guy, or you're
preterits, believes that Christ has already come.
You're being pushed either to the left or to the
right. That's what the world does.
God isn't about being pushed to the left or the
right. He's about drawing us forward, out of
this mess, into something new
altogether, called New Creation.
Jesus was the beginning; through His resurrection of this
new creative order. When we come to Christ,
we're taken out of the old left-right system, and placed
into the realm of Jesus, Himself. We are now
a part of this new creative order. What matters
is what Jesus does in and through us
as new creatures in Christ.
New Creation is what counts.
"Oh, I grew up in a Methodist Church,"
'Well, I grew up in a Baptist church" It doesn't matter.
Have you been born
again? Has the Gospel message so
gripped your heart that you have come to life in
Jesus Christ? Have you died
in Christ, so that you could be raised to walk
in the newness of life? A newness of life
that's not bound by left or right,
that gets introduced in the very
fullness of who Jesus is.
A life lived in Him.
That's what counts.
You know, I have kids in
high school and college, and there's some of you with kids
and then there's some kids in here today.
This stage of your life, you're going to
think so many important things.
I want to be the best
on my team. I don't want to be just a teammate, I want to be
the best. We strive for that, and it's important
why? Because that's what defines us. That's what I wanted to be.
I wasn't content to just be a team mate. I wanted to be the best.
I wanted to be number 1 on the
tennis team. I wanted to have the accolades of
what the world would say, because I was good at a sport.
Get all tied up in knots and frustrated
and anxious and you know, "What if I don't make number 1? what are people
"Going to think about me now?" Guess what? It's not important
You go to a
conference and meet new people and talk to folks on the radio,
Guess what? They don't even know I play tennis.
and I don't tell them.
but we think that's so
important. You're going to look and you've gotta say
I've got to this pair of jeans over that pair of jeans; or I have to have this over that;
It's not that important.
Really not. If you have a mom and dad that
come to you and tell you, "It's okay,"
Listen to them.
They're adults.
Peer pressure doesn't stop
once you get your diploma.
It's a life long deal.
The sons of the flesh will be nipping at our
heels constantly. That's
just the way it is.
Why is America such a target
of criticism from the world at large?
We embrace freedom.
And those who aren't free will attack.
The sons of the flesh
are not free. They
will attack us at every single
turn. They will constantly tell us
that for us to be somebody in this world,
we need to follow the ways of
this world.
Doesn't matter.
Don't let those voices
start bringing confusion.
Don't let those voices
tug you away from the freedom that you have in
Christ. Why? Because what matters
is the fact that Jesus, at a point and time,
came to you in such a powerful
real way, that you
sensed His love, you sensed His mercy;
you felt His forgiveness;
and your heart responded with faith,
He made you alive,
That's what matters; New Creation.
Because you're new, let Jesus
pull you out of this left-right
into the newness of life.
That's what counts.
Be thankful,
that God has done that for you.
Peace and mercy to all that follow this rule.
What's the rule?
That circumcision nor uncircumcision
means anything. What counts is New Creation.
When you're following that rule,
you're letting your life be ordered by the fact that you're a new
creature in Christ. What's the result?
Peace and mercy. You get tied up in the worldly
things. There's no peace, there's no mercy.
How many of you have experience mercy out in the world?
It's cut throat.
That's the way it is; and certainly there's no peace
there either. I've talked to business
men and they've just, and you know, in the depths of their hearts, they're crying out, "I just want
some peace! I just want some peace!"
Why can't they get peace? Why? They're following the rule of the world .
They're letting their life, and their identity and all every
thing that they are, be set for them by
worldly thinking.
Let your life be ordered by
Spirit. That's where peace
and mercy is experienced.
Though he says from now on, let no one cause me trouble.
Paul had had enough.
Okay, I've brought you
Jesus.
I didn't do it for me,
I could do no other. I was constrained
by the love of God. God set me apart
for this very work.
I came to your city, in genuiness
of faith, I laid at your feet
the gospel of Jesus. You responded.
Now folks are coming
back and saying, no, no, no, you need to add to it.
They're causing problems but
from you, who heard,
who believed, walk in it.
Don't let
your willingness to be sucked in be a
trouble to me. For I bear on my
body the marks of Jesus. I've been persecuted.
I know what that is.
I've gotten through it, because I've experienced
peace and mercy from my God,
and you can, too. He says, "The grace of our Lord
"Jesus Christ be with your Spirit, brothers and sisters,
"amen". Jesus
is who Paul brought.
Jesus is grace.
It's not a thing; it's Christ.
So let the grace of Christ, let Christ Himself
be with your spirit. That's the new
creation. That's the new creative order. That's the
new way of life. He in us,
we in Him, us responding
by faith in Who He is. That's the
grace of God. Don't let anyone
anyone drag you away.
from what you have in Him. Well, let's pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You
so much
that we can have an identity that's wrapped up in you.
That is secure,
that will never change.
That's everlasting.
Gosh the world sometimes looks good to us. The religious world
sometimes looks good to us.
But there's nothing of substance there.
Nothing in the world that can reach into these hearts of ours and can bring
satisfaction.
That's something that only You can do.
Help us to always be grateful
for the fact that You saved us.
That You buried us in Christ, that You
raised us, so that we could experience
something new; something different. Something the world knows nothing
about. Help us
to stay focused on You, and You alone.
We thank You that we can have the privilege
of saying, "Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is
"with us, each and every day,"
In His matchless name that we pray, amen.