Be Impressed

Opening

When was the last time you did a genuine WOW. I’m talking a genuine, “I don’t believe what I am seeing right now, I can’t believe it, Geeze Louise, Wow moment?”

I think in some ways we are kind of numb to wow moments anymore. Speaking from personal experience, When I was younger I would get wowed all the time by guitarists. Jimi Hendrix blew my mind over and over again, He was like a magician. I was obsessed with him for a long time. I had a 5 foot tall poster of him sitting on a motorcycle on my wall.

I mean when I was a young high schooler I grew my hair longish, wore a pleather, plastic leather, jacket with a tie dye bandana on one sleeve and an American flag on the other every day of winter. I carried a Walkman CD player with his CD in it whenever I walked around town. I watched so many documentaries about him. I got into arguments with my younger brother yelling, and I quote, “YOU HAVE TO RESPECT THE CLASSICS!!!!”

Jimi Hendrix left a mark on me. Not a physical scar, but an imprint on how I thought, played, and even dressed. Jimi Hendrix didn’t just wow me. He shaped me.

Now I go onto Instagram or on Youtube and every week something that should be mind blowing is posted and I just move past it like yea okay cool.

It has become so hard to impress me.

I will say that as I think about the things that most impressed me in my earlier guitar life has so informed me as the guitarist I am today. Not that I can play like any of them, but the imprint is still there in my playing and I notice it.

I know not all of us are musicians here, but I think there is something in our lives that we do, and we do certain things because of early formative influences left and imprint on us. It could be something as simple as the way you fold clothes because your mom showed you how. It could be the way you build a campfire, tie one a fishing lure, because it is how your grandpa showed you.

And here’s the thing that same pattern can happen in our spiritual lives. Certain influences leave deep imprints on us shaping what we do, how we think, what we value.

Paul’s going to end Galatians today by talking about marks the things that impress us, shape us, and leave a lasting imprint.

The question is: which marks will define you? The ones the world values… or the ones the cross leaves?

Transition

Today, Paul closes Galatians by holding up two kinds of marks. The false teachers want the Galatians to take on a mark in their flesh (circumcision) so they can look good in the eyes of people, love their family, of their heritage.

Today we come to The last 7 verses. It has been a journey with Paul and his aggressive defense of the gospel. While Paul has been on the attack for the 6 chapters of this book. I also think this book is comforting to us. It is comforting because if we get to the heart of the true gospel we get freed from so much.

Today is Paul is going to close out this letter by wrapping up his arguments against the Judiazers, but he does this knowing that he is writing to people who have been impressed by false teachers. Paul writes trying to cut through the fog once and for all and encourage us to a better way of living. What Paul knew is what William Blake tells us:

“You become what you behold.” William Blake

Some things impress us for a moment and then fade. Other things sink deep into our lives and change us forever. Paul knows the Galatians have been impressed wowed, by voices that promised a shortcut to God’s favor.

But in closing his letter, he’s about to draw a sharp line between marks that only look good and marks that actually transform us. The question he leaves ringing in our ears is this: Whose marks are you wearing? Let’s read Galatians 6:11–18.

Galatians 6:11–18 NIV

See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand! Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. 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. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God. From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

Paul begins this section highlighting it’s importance by stating that he writes this with his own hand. This implies that Paul likely dictated this letter but this section he wrote with his own hand due to it’s importance.

He then enters into his conclusion. What I see in these verses is a comparison. Paul is going to finish his letter contrasting his heart with the heart of the ones opposing the gospel.

In verse 12 Paul begins his comparison by using the word “impress.” This is the only time in New Testament that this word is used. It means to mark or to stamp.

So what I see in this passage is Paul playing with the identity markers. Like the marks, the things that have left an imprint and which one will you choose. Paul wants to make something clear to us the our goal in life isn’t to chase check marks, but to carry cross marks.

MAIN POINT

Don’t chase check marks. Carry cross marks.

So go with me on this

In verse 11 Paul is marking the page with his own writing

In vs 12 we have impress False teachers want to impress (literally “make a mark”) to show off.

Vs 12 and 13 Paul brings up circumcision, which is a mark of the flesh that signifies allegiance, or that you are part of the old covenant peoples.

vs 12 ends with the marks Christ received on the cross. The cross is the mark of the new covenant, sealed in Jesus’ blood

then in verses 13 and 14 Paul contrasts what the Judiazers want to boast in. What counts is not an outward mark but the inward mark of the new creation. (the outward mark of the circumcision) and What Paul will boast in, not himself, but the cross of Christ

Jesus Christ is perennial and he who makes his boast in him stays fresh for ever.

Vance Havner

vs 15 Paul puts the hammer down, and says that the things that the false teachers want you to be marked by amount to nothing. The only thing that counts is being made new, which is an inward reality not outward mark.

Vs 16 he turns the screws on the Judiazers by saying that those who follow the new rule (which is more akin to assignment or “sphere of service”) are God’s people. It is those that are being made new that will receive peace and mercy. This echoes the opening verses from this letter where Paul lays out grace and peace as the whole gospel in three words.

Then Paul in vs 17 finishes his contrast of identifying marks with telling us that he bears on his body the marks of Jesus.

Notice it is only Jesus here not Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus. Paul is intentional when he writes this. Whenever you are reading Paul and you come across him writing out Jesus’ name you will notice he shifts between writing Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus and simply Jesus. When Jesus is first Paul is focused on the human side of Jesus, when Christ is first Paul is focusing on the divine/savior/messiah. Here it is simply Jesus. The marks the man of Jesus. Paul is likely talking about the scars he has received from following Jesus, the marks that have been left from the persecution he has received that are similar to the scars that Jesus received from the persecution the Jewish leaders placed on him because Jesus was claiming things that didn’t fit into their worldview.

Application Marks in Our Lives

Paul is contrasting two kinds of marks. one one hand you have.

Check Marks: things we chase so people will think well of us, even “Christian” things done for applause.

Cross Marks: changes in our life that cost us something obedience that isn’t always admired, loving people the world doesn’t value, carrying others’ burdens until it leaves a dent on our own life.

MAIN POINT

Don’t chase check marks. Carry cross marks.

Transition to Persecution.

If you notice Paul keeps self referencing to things he has previously written in this same letter. For instance, in verse 13, when Paul talks about boasting in the cross of our Lord he is contrasting vs 4

(Galatians 6:4 “Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else,” )

where Paul talks about taking pride in our actions. It just so happens that Paul in vs 17, when talking about the marks of Jesus he is talking about the marks he has gotten from being persecuted because of the Cross and how it offends. That is what Paul told the church in Corinth

1 Corinthians 1:22–25 NIV

Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

See in vs 12 Paul claims that the motives that the false teachers have is because they don’t want to be persecuted due to the cross. Paul is telling the readers that the false teachers are simply trying to not be thaaatt different from the rest of their families. If I’m not that weird, If I water down the gospel and make it more comfortable and digestible for my family, friends, community, then maybe I can have my cake and eat it too.....

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This is an honest temptation. It is very challenging to go against the grain, to swim against the cultural current. Which is why I think it is important to extend some grace in our understanding to the Judiazers it makes sense to try to take this cognitive dissonance you feel that God’s people are Abraham’s descendants, and Abraham’s descendants have always been circumcized. So to solve that issue in their head they took it upon their own wisdom and traditions to inform their theology. That is understandable right?

But the rapper Lacrae helps us frame this when he said: “If you live for people’s acceptance, you will die from their rejection.” Lecrae

Like Paul said; the cross is foolishness to gentiles, and a stumbling block to Jews. This means that it is going to take boldness and courage to not fall in line or rather not pull the punches the cross lays out. The gospel God has revealed to us informs us on how we should live, think, treat one another, love our spouses, raise our children, engage with world issues is going to be counter to the generally accepted culturally understood way to do such because to the general public it is either foolishness or a stumbling block.

What I see is a world in a spiral. Have you ever made whirlpool with your friends. I used to love doing this. Myself and like 3-5 of my friends would be in my dad’s above ground pool, and we would all start walking and running in a circle around the wall of the pool. After a little bit the water would pickup a current. it would get pretty intense when it was 5 college aged dudes running in a circle and then you would grab a floaty and be carried away.

But if you tried to turn around and walk against that current you would get swept away.

“If you are afraid of being different, you will never make a difference.”

Andy Mineo

Which is why in vs 14 Paul states this new reality the gospel led him to.

Galatians 6:14 “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.”

Paul has died to the world, and the world has died to Paul. He has put to death the weight the world and the flesh puts on him. Paul gave the worldly part of himself the death penalty. Which is why he can say the what counts is the new creation. Paul wasn’t chasing check marks he was carrying cross marks.

Application – A Life Marked by the Cross

Peter Pett said it well: “He glories in only one thing, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… through it he has died to the world… that alone is what matters to him.”

That is what matters to Paul. And I think the way that we get to the same place is through consistent faith in the same direction, toward Christ.

If you remember nothing else from Galatians, remember this. Make these eleven words your prayer: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord.”

That is a prayer of humility. It is a prayer of focus. It is a prayer that re-centers us when we’re tempted to seek the glories of this world or the applause of our fellow man.

This is what it means to be marked by the cross. It’s not about outward symbols or rituals that make us look impressive. It’s about an inward reality a new creation that changes what we treasure, what we boast in, and what we are willing to suffer for.

If Galatians has taught us anything, it is that the gospel frees us from the tyranny of trying to prove ourselves, and calls us to a life shaped, and marked by Jesus Himself.

Wrap-Up: Galatians in One Breath

We’ve spent weeks walking with Paul through this letter, and here’s what it all comes down to: The gospel is not “Jesus plus something.” It is Jesus alone. We are saved by grace through faith; set free not to live for ourselves, but to live for others in the power of the Spirit.

That freedom is not license to sin; it’s liberty to love. It’s the power to crucify the flesh, to keep in step with the Spirit, to bear one another’s burdens, and to carry our own load with humility. It’s the courage to sow seeds of honesty, vulnerability, and grace, even when pride tells us to fake it.

And in the end, Paul says, all that counts is “a new creation.” That new creation will bear marks. Not the marks of outward religion, but the marks of the cross which are scars of love, humility, service, and sacrifice.

So here’s the call as we close Galatians: Boast in nothing but Jesus. Live as those set free. Let your life carry the marks of the One who carried the cross for you.

Be A Disciple.