Boast in Christ

Intro

At the end of your life, what will people remember about you? Good business person. Great singer. Always on task. What if it was for something else?

Galatians 6:11-18

Main Idea: The only life worth living is a Christ-centered life

What I mean by Christ-centered life: A Christ-centered life is life where Jesus is at the center. Everything that we do is either pursuing Jesus or following Jesus. Paul has made his argument throughout Galatians that this is the life for us. He gives his final thoughts on churches in Galatia and the role of the Judaizers.

Truth #1: A Christ-centered life denies the flesh (11-13)

Exp. Paul makes a claim that he is the one writing. Large letters to emphasis maybe. Verse 12. He calls out the Judaizers for what they are. They do not seek to convert the Gentiles for piety; but to gratify themselves. Verse 13. They don’t even keep the law. Nothing to do with spiritual purposes. Paul calls out their motives: the real core of the problem.

The Judaizers’ motives:

Avoid persecution - Verse 12. Persecution was rampant for followers of Jesus. Especially uncircumcised. Didn’t believe he was new Messiah. These Judaizers believed Jesus but didn’t want persecution.

App. Like joining in with jokes so you don’t seem like an outcast. You don’t want yourself to look bad. For us, this also looks like capitulating beliefs because culture says differently.

Boast in the circumcision of others - Verse 13. The Judaizers wanted to boast that they had followers do what they wanted. Like saying, “People agree with me, so I must be right.” No. God is the standard. If my goal is for people to agree with me, my motives are wrong.

Ill. Motives infect the actions. Your spirituality can be plagued with incorrect motivations. Sin isn’t just blatant denial of God. But it can be an internal denial with motivations. Christian will say sorry to get out of something.

Arg. His apology is not because he did something wrong, but because he is in trouble. We approach Christianity in this way. I need to pray or others will think I’m not spiritual. I need to sing or people with think I’m stuck up. I need to _____ so that ____. Those are incorrect motivations that are focused on self. Feeds our flesh.

Christ - Foundation of Christianity is that our flesh dies with Christ. Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Our flesh died with Christ and we are made new.

App. Deny the flesh. How do you know?

Haven’t sensed the Holy Spirit leading. The Spirit only moves within us when we deny the flesh. He moves outside of us, but not within us. If we are on the throne, God isn’t.

The mortification of the flesh is the quickening of the spirit. - John Calvin

Lack of joy. You could put any fruit of the Spirit, but I want to address this one. Lack of joy could be from comparison or believing what others think. How do we remedy this?

Truth #2: A Christ-centered life boasts in Christ (14-18)

Exp. Paul reminds them of the sacrifice of Jesus. Verse 14. He focuses on the cross. Cross was a horrible symbol of suffering. Greek word “crux” was forbidden in many social circles. This becomes the banner for the believers.

Ill. Jehovah’s Witnesses at my house. They said the cross is a demonic symbol. Jesus didn’t die on a cross but a stake. I told them that this was a distracting argument. Paul seems to boast in the cross.

Arg. Why? What did the cross do:

Brought righteousness to us (2:21)

Redeemed us from the curse (3:13)

Brought adoption to us (4:3-5)

Crucified our passions and desires (5:24)

Christ - You have no other need because you have Christ. Your need for approval, acceptance, love, belonging, truth, is all found in Christ. No matter how much you look for these in other places, you will never find them!

Exp. Verse 15. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision. Paul defines that it’s not whether you fulfill the Law or not, but it is about being a new creation.

App. What do we do? We boast in Christ.

We boast in Christ in success & failures. (Verse 16)

We boast in Christ in peace & trials. (Verse 17)

Conclusion

At the end of your life, what will people remember about you?