Branded

Branded for Christ

Years ago their was a Black and white TV series(before color TV) called Branded.

It was a western about a man who was branded as a coward in the army and the shame he endured because of the brand he carried everywhere he went! The brand of coward was obvious to anyone who saw him.HE WAS THE SOUL survivor of an ambushed squadron and they said he ran away from the battle!

But he was innocent of all the charges. YET still he was branded a coward!

TEXT: Galatians 6:12–18

12 As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.

13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law;

but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.

14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

INTRODUCTION: Explain the text (about marks).

Moffett translates verse 17, “Let no man interfere with me after this, for I have been branded on my body the owner’s stamp of the Lord Jesus.”

The American Standard Version says almost the same thing: “I bear branded on my own body the marks of Jesus.”

The KJV. For I bear in my body the marks of the lord Jesus Christ!

“Marks” denotes a stamp, and impression, or a mark burned in, or a brand

(example: branding cattle in the Old West).

Paul could have meant he endured suffering for proclamation of the gospel Christ.

Originally a master branded a slave, or put his mark on him by the piercing of his ear.

Ex. 21:5-6

5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever

Soldiers and criminals were branded on occasion.

And then the religious fanatic’s branded themselves with the mark of his god.

But None of these reflect Paul’s mark of devotion to Jesus Christ. For His mark, or brand, was both of the inner man and outer man, Both the seen and the unseen, both the physical and the spiritual.

I. PAUL WAS BRANDED BY HIS DEVOTION TO THE TASK.

A. Tradition says, Paul was only 4 foot 6 inches tall, yet he was the greatest dwarf who ever lived.

B. He outpaced, out prayed, and out-passioned all the other apostles.Why?

Because his heart was on fire,

in Philippians 3:13-14 Paul said,

13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus

C. Paul was blind to all that other men gloried in. Un-sponsored, un-welcomed, and unloved—But these made No difference to Paul. On and on he went, blind to every jewel and to every earthly honor He never stopped moving forward for christ!

D. Gold was not his god nor his goal. He was not addicted to the Applause of men.

E. God declared Paul was a chosen vessel ; Acts 9 :15-16

“to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

II. Paul WAS also BRANDED BY HIS HUMILITY.

A. Moths could not destroy his God-given robe.

Paul never fished for praise! Only for men!

B. An old Welsh saying say’s;

“If you know Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, do not put them where Pilate did, over the head of Jesus ; but rather place them at His feet.”

C. Paul said, in Philippians 3:7,8

7 “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ”

What wonderful words!

D. In Ephesians 3:9–15, Paul talks of the mystery of the fellowship, and the manifold wisdom of God, hid in God , and created by christ, and given to the church,

9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. 13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

Yes Paul was Branded by the devotion to the task, and by his humility

III. PAUL WAS BRANDED BY HIS SUFFERING.

A. Consider what he writes in Romans 8:35–39:

35 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors thru him who loved us

38 For I am persuaded, neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities , nor powers Nor thing present nor thing to come

39 Nor height nor depth nor any other creature [nothing] … shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus

B. This wandering Jewish evangelist made war on every enemy of God.

The prince of preachers fought against the prince of hell.

They spared each other no beating. It was a free-for-all; no holds barred!

And Paul came out the victor!

C. Look at his tired body, his stooped and scarred figure—chastened by hunger,

kept down by fasting ,

scared by the whip;

his body brutally beaten and stoned at Lystra, and starved in many other places.…

And Adding danger to danger; he felt all alone at times;

Add to that 195 stripes, three shipwrecks, three beatings with rods, and a prison record.

Count it all. The work was not all peaches and cream!

Yet Paul call’s it a “light affliction” lasting “but for a moment” his whole life!

2 Corinthians 4:17

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

D. Hebrews 11:25 the bible tells us Moses chose “to suffer affliction.”

E. Psalm 34:19

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous.But the Lord delivers him out of them all!”

F. Paul knew and understood the rewards of suffering for Christ:

Philippians 3:10

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Romans 8:17, 18—“If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

2 Timothy 2:12—“If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.if we deny him,he also will deny us!

G. Paul knew it was disgraceful in his society to be whipped; it was a shameful, it was considered a reproach.

But when Paul looked at the scar ‘s on his wrist form the chains and his stripes on his back where he had been beaten for the cause of christ He did not see the shame or disgrace of society.But He saw only the marks of Jesus!

Paul would have said;

“I wear them to show I am the property of someone else—Jesus Christ, my Lord. I am not my own!”I’ve been bought with a price!

He had scars from being beaten with the rod,

scars from being stoned, and yet he called all of them “light afflictions.”

Branded by the task, his humility and his suffering

IV. PAUL WAS BRANDED BY His LOVE OF CHRIST

A. 2 Corinthians 5:14

For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

This was Paul's motivating factor in his life.

Webster defines constrain to means “restrain by bonds, force,or compel.”

Other translations render it, “impels me,” and “overpowers me.”

Most men have been constrained by some mastering principle.

Paul was no exception! The world said, “He is out of his mind.”

Festus said Paul was “mad” (Acts 26:24).

B. Asking Paul the question “Why do you do it?”

He said, “The love of Christ, constraineth us.”

C. Paul is the one who said, “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge that we might be filled with all the fulness of God (Ephesians 3:19).

Paul realized Christ’s love go’s beyond our comprehension.

D. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 13, which is the great chapter on charity, or love. He closed it by saying, “faith, hope and Charity, But the greatest of these is charity.”

Agape Love of God!

Paul was so captured and captivated by Christ that he cried out,

Galatians 2:20

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

He also proclaimed, “For me to live is Christ to die is gain…” (Philippians 1:21).

V. PAUL WAS BRANDED BY HIS PASSION FOR OTHERS.

A. Romans 9:2, 3—“I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed [separated] from Christ for my brethren, my kinsman according to the flesh.”

B. Acts 26:19 PAUL declares “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.”

From the day he arose from the dirt of the Damascus Road until the day he died as a martyr for Jesus Christ, Paul was never disobedient to that vision Christ had given him.

C. He had a burning passion. His whole spirit, soul, and body were consumed by the love for Christ and his love for others. he said;

1 Corinthians 9:22—“I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

D. Paul was saying, “This passion burns in me. I have a endless burning passion to win men to Christ.” A passion like Paul’s cannot be hidden.

Judson, the great missionary to Burma, didn’t know the language of that country.

So, he would walked up to a man and embraced him. The man went home and reported he had seen an angel.

They called Judson “Mr. Glory Face.”

CONCLUSION: Jesus was Branded also! Branded by God the father.

2 Corinthians 5:21

21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Isaiah 53

2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,

And as a root out of a dry ground:

He hath no form nor comeliness;

And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3  He is despised and rejected of men;

A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:

And we hid as it were our faces from him;

He was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4  Surely he hath borne our griefs,

And carried our sorrows:

Yet we did esteem him stricken,

Smitten of God, and afflicted.

5  But he was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities:

The chastisement of our peace was upon him;

And with his stripes we are healed.

I had been chained and branded awaiting my punishment on Death row.

But the living son of God came and released me (He set me free)

He paid for my transgressions, he took my stripes, he took my sorrow, he took my pain.

And He set me Free and gave to me everlasting life.

David Brainerd said, “I long to be a flame of fire, glowing in divine service to my dying hour.” He added, “It is sweet to be nothing, and less than nothing, that I might win Christ.”

Dr. Livingstone was found dead on his knees in darkest Africa. The last words written in his diary were, “My God, my Lord, my King, I again commit my all to Thee.”

What about you? Do you have that passion burning in your soul to see men come to christ?If you do, What are you doing about it?