Avoiding Persecution is Revealing

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Galatians 6:11–18 (ESV)

11 See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. 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. 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. 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. 15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16 And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Opening Prayer

A Couple of Clarifying Thoughts Regarding Doing Good

A good question was asked last Sunday after church regarding the sermon on doing good...

Not growing weary in doing good.

Doing good to everyone, especially the household of faith.

The question was, and I’m pulling from memory here...

This is not a quote.

Is doing good, sometimes withholding or not doing?

IOW, if I help someone in the way that seems helpful or they deem helpful, can it not be harmful?

So, is doing good, sometimes withholding help?

A context for such is someone you know is using resources to harm themselves and you stop giving them the resources they can use to harm themselves.

We could get into a lot of different contexts and situations and discuss what one should do...

But, here is the overriding context or evaluation...

When we talk about doing good, biblically...

Which is the only kind of good...

We must not think that we or anyone else other than God is the definer of what is good.

IOW, we do not get to just do to others and call it good...

Unless God in His word calls it good.

LBC 1689, Chapter 16, paragraph 1 says...

1. Good works are only those works that God has commanded in his holy Word.  Works that do not have this warrant are invented by people out of blind zeal or on a pretense of good intentions and are not truly good.

So, in our doing good works, doing good towards others...

We do so only when those works are called good by God...

And, we can only do those good works by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.

And, in the context of doing good towards someone, we can pray for them, without giving them physical things.

We can speak the gospel in their lives without giving them physical things.

And, of course I’m not promoting not helping people with physical needs...

But, this is a certain context in which those physical needs are being traded for things that harm.

And, in those types of extremely difficult, heart-breaking, gut-wrenching situations...

We pray for God to grant us discernment and wisdom.

Now, with that being stated and hopefully clarified, we notice in v.11...

Paul takes the Pen

Galatians 6:11 (ESV)

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

It’s not strange or new that Paul closes the letter with his own signature and final word of greeting.

But, what is noticeable and stands out here is that it is more than his name and greeting.

Paul picks up the pen and makes some closing statements about the important truths of the epistle.

Paul takes up the pen and writes with size 20 font more than v.17-18.

Paul writes with his own hand v.12-16, as well.

And, so, Paul is wanting to emphasize the importance of what he has said...

By restating a few major themes of the epistle in his own handwriting.

So, as we bring our time in Galatians to a close...

We will revisit what Paul reemphasizes.

Paul states in v.12 in very clear terms the motives of the false teachers...

Galatians 6:12 (ESV)

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.

Deny the Cross to Avoid Persecution

Why would someone deny the doctrine of justification to avoid persecution?

If those who oppose such will persecute you for it...

And comfort is more important to you than the cross of Christ...

Then you will go where your heart goes, right?

What you treasure is what you guard with your heart, mind, soul and strength.

Let’s get an idea of the sort of persecution that was going on in these days regarding the cross of Christ...

And, regarding the Jewish people...

You’ll recall the story of the blind son being healed...

John 9:19–23 (ESV)

19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

This was a huge sacrifice.

To stand for Christ at the cost of being cast out.

To be cut off from your nation, your people.

To be an exile in your own homeland.

To be despised and rejected by your countrymen.

To have no one hire you, buy your goods.

To be mistreated at every corner by those to whom you used to get along.

It meant not only discomfort, but the possibility of losing one’s livelihood, and the daily means to live.

It may mean that you have pick up and start anew somewhere else.

Which was nearly a death sentence.

Is the cross of Christ worth it?

Only if you understand it.

If you don’t truly understand it, then you will not think it is worthy of such detriment to one’s life.

Isn’t that exactly what Jesus teaches in the parable of the soils...

Listen to the reasons for those who abandoned Christ and the gospel...

Rocky ground

Mark 4:17 (ESV)

17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

Among the Thorns

Mark 4:19 (ESV)

19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Good soil

Matthew 13:23 (ESV)

23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Do you hear that?

The seed that was sown on the good soil...

What differentiates the soils?

What is the marker of the good soil from the others?

It is understanding that differentiates.

What caused the good soil to be good soil?

What caused that person to endure the persecution and tribulation?

To get through persecution and tribulation...

And, on the other side bear good fruit for the glory of God...

It is because they understand the gospel.

They understand the significance and the necessity of the cross of Christ...

On their behalf.

If you do not truly understand the cross of Christ...

You will not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.

And, here in the context of Galatians...

The false teachers are trying to appear as if they’re not abandoning the cross...

While at the same time adding to it.

And, to add to the work of Christ with anything...

Is to abandon the work of Christ.

Today, especially in America, we have the same types of abandoning going on.

We take sin and we make it almost non-existent in the preaching and doctrines of many churches...

And, yet those same churches/leaders will still keep the cross and the beauty of Christ’s death in their doctrine.

But, when you deny the sinfulness of sin...

You at the same time diminish the necessity of the cross.

You at the same time diminish the magnitude of the death of Christ.

Because most sin is okay now and not really sin...

Well, then Christ must have really and truly only needed to die for the really, really bad people.

And, so Christ crucified is no longer needed in the pulpit...

Only the prison ministries, right.

Why is this happening today?

Why are churches and church leaders abandoning the cross, yet seeking to make it seem as if they are not?

I mean, we’re not living in a context in which we are being exiled, cut off from our country.

Not yet, at least.

No one to my knowledge is being shunned out of society, as a whole.

At least not publicly. Not saying it won’t happen.

But, persecution comes in many different forms.

Today, church leaders/churches/denominations abandon the cross of Christ because they don’t want to:

Lose your non-profit tax status.

Lose finances/offerings.

Lose religious freedoms.

Lose positive publicity.

How would one do this today?

Blending doctrine to make both parties happy.

And, they blend doctrine only to advance themselves.

To the undiscerning, being inclusive seems like being more spiritual.

Being more inclusive, in today’s cultural climate seems more accepting...

And therefore is more widely accepted by the public.

More popular among the masses.

How is this made attractive to the undiscerning?

It is usually labeled “For Unity.”

I mean unity is great right?

But, here’s the thing, unity at the cost of truth is unity at the cost of disunity.

What do I mean?

When truth is being setting aside...

You are unifying people at the cost of dis-uniting yourself from God...

And, what God says is truth above unity.

Because true unity comes from Truth.

And truth does not change.

But, to those who are willing to abandon the Cross...

Blend truth with falsehood...

Truth is not according to God it is according to the cultural climate of the day.

Listen, if you don’t understand the cross and its significance...

If there is not a spiritual understanding given by the Holy Spirit...

You will use the Cross of Christ for personal gain...

Or you will abandon the Cross of Christ to circumvent personal loss.

And, so we see the Cross being emptied of truth...

For the sake of popularity, ease of life, comforts of this world, and so on.

And, it is an indication to the discerning that they care not for...

Nor do they truly understand the Cross of Jesus Christ.

But, for us, Paul makes this beautiful statement...

I’ll say more about this next week...

Galatians 6:14 (ESV)

14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ...

To the Christian, Paul says

The Cross is Everything

If you understand the significance of the Cross for the world...And for yourself...

Then you understand that the cross is something that cannot be denied...

Nor walked away from.

It signifies our hope, our forgiveness, our redemption, our justification, our sanctification, our glorification, our eternal state...

All that we are, is founded in the cross of Jesus Christ.

To abandon it, would be to abandon self.

We Praise God for the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Closing Prayer – Lord’s Supper