Untitled Sermon (47)

Introduction

I originally was planning on teaching today on the Church and Israel.

However, I think that conversation would better suit our congregation for another time. Please not that I do not intend to completely overlook verse 16 but will instead at some later date, come back to it when I think its time.

Sometimes in this life there are battles we should pursue and others we should not and at the moment, I feel like that’s one we’ll avoid for a moment.

With that off the table for this morning, would you please turn with me to .

I’d like to read this whole section to get us a little context to the Apostle Paul’s closing remarks here.

Read

Galatians 6:11–18 ESV

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

Pray

Because we have been looking at Galatians for just a touch over a year, I thought as we end this epistle that it might be good to end with a brief review before we close.

We have seen that the issue of False Teachers were a major issue in the 1st century.

During this time, the false teachers were more obvious as they would literally trouble the Church as Paul states in 1:7 and 5:10.

They threw all sorts of confusion into the mix that would try to muddy the waters of the Gospel.

In our day, we have much of the same problem with one exception. The false teachers today come in disguised as the good guys.

Think about how much today falls under the name of Christian. T.D. Jakes, Creflo Dollar, Mormonism, Jehovahs Witnesses. All of these are disguised as Christianity. Each of them perverts the Gospel, yet they do so in ways that are not as obvious to most Christians.

In fact, since the very foundation of God’s covenant with Israel, there has been those who would distort the message of God.

Think about Zedekiah and his 400 prophets. These men claimed to speak for God when they assured Ahab and Jehoshaphat that God would give Israel the victory over Syria’s army. Yet this man was not speaking for God.

1 Kings 22:5–18 ESV

And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.” Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?” And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.” Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah.” Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.’ ” And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak.” And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?” And he answered him, “Go up and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” But the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’ ” And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”

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Do you see the contrast here? All the way back to the early days prior to the fall, men claimed to speak for God and yet had no authority.

Think about the Serpent in the Garden.

Throughout all of history there have been men who had a desire to tickle the ears of those around them without a care of what the Lord was saying in the moment. Isn’t this what the King of Israel said to Jehosaphat? “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.”

He never prophecies good concerning me, but evil! I hate the man because he never tickles my fancy but is instead always telling me what goes against my views.

We could say it another way that would fit our culture of the Church in the West to the T and that would be this, “I don’t like that preacher because he always tells me of all the wrong I do in my life. He never makes me feel good but instead, I always walk away convicted about how I’m living my life.”

See false teachers have always been around and sadly, they’ll never go away until the Lord returns. But the Lord also sends those who may be few among the hundreds who will preach truth. And that’s what you had in Galatia.

2. And this works itself into the second issue that showed up in this letter, namely the issue of authority.

Address the issue of Authority and how we often view it as a bad thing. The Elder of the Church has no authority outside of the Word of God and should stand firm upon that authority.

How do we know whom to believe and who not to believe?

Remember, these Judiazers that showed up, they claimed to have the authority and the backing of the Jerusalem Church.

Yet as soon as they arrived on the scene in Galatia, they began undermining the authority of the Apostle Paul.

What you find is two sets of teachers, both supposedly carrying authority and yet they both drastically contradict one another.

What were the Galatians supposed to believe? This is no different in our own time except that today, we are bombarded with countless many people claiming to teach with authority.

In Paul’s time, he asserted his authority as an Apostle with a true endorsement which we found in .

What Paul was saying is that regardless of what someone else might say, he held the authority as an Apostle.

In our day, we have to check those whom teach through the teachings of those very same Apostles.

The Word of God and the teachings of the Apostles is preserved for us as a Church to reside over us as an authority which shows us what to believe. Not the other way around. This is why Scripture and not the Church is the authority in all matters of faith and practice.

There are many more issues which we could focus on and find ourselves digging back through the entire letter one more time. Instead though, I want to focus on our passage for today.

3. I want to look at what Paul wrote in verse 17. “From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.”

Let me ask you a question; Do you realize that if you live a life pursuing after Christ, you will end up one day bearing the marks on your body which show your pursuit of Christ?

Now I don’t necessarily mean that in a literal sense although for some that is probably a very true statement.

Instead I mean that in a spiritual sense and also in an experiential sense.

To be a Christian means that your life is going to be marked.

Persecution in the work place, persecution from family at times. (Possible example from uncle Kenny)

Your life as a Christian will bear the marks of a true desire and a true pursuit of Christ. And those marks will be revealed in how the world looked at you.

Think about this rationally for just a second. Do you realize how crazy the Christian faith sounds and how it defies the supposed wisdom of the day?

Science tells us that the earth is billions of years old and that man evolved into what we see today. That at some point there was literally nothing in existence and that nothingness slammed into itself and out of this, came all of creation.

Scripture tells us that God, who has existed throughout all of eternity, outside of any limitations of time or even the existence of time formed the universe and all that is in it. That God made man in His image and breathed the very breath of life into his soul. That God took and formed dirt into the Image of Himself and made alive that which had never existed.

Science teaches that all of humanity is neither good nor bad but is instead a by-product of their socio-economic upbringing where right and wrong is taught to them but is ultimately left up to the person and society.

Scripture teaches that man was created good with a libertarian free will but fell into sin which has since held all of mankind in bondage. That there is an ultimate right and wrong.

Science tells us that each and every single one of us will one day go into the ground and dissolve into nothing returning to the ground which we evolved out of.

Scripture tells us that because of our sin, each and every single one of us are bound for an eternity in hell, removed from the common grace of God forever.

Science tells us that there is no hope for man, apart from what they can offer in this momentary fleeting glimpse of time.

Scripture tells us that there is hope for fallen humanity. That God, though one in essence is also three in persons and He sent the Son to become a man. And that man would live a righteous life on this earth where He would one day take the wrath that was due us on the cross of calvary.

That this God-man, who died upon a tree was placed into a grave where three days later He arose from the dead in triumph over both sin and death. That Jesus is now seated on the right hand of God pleading your case before a holy and righteous God.

See Scripture says that the Gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing. And because it is foolishness to those who are perishing, they will mock and scorn you for your belief in this whole idea of redemption.

That mocking and scorning is nothing more than bearing the marks on our bodies for the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that is only one form of these marks, there are many more!

4. There are those marks which are very literal on our bodies and on our lives.

True Biblical Christianity infuriates the world. And it infuriates those who would desire to lead people astray.

Think about what Paul said in .

2 Corinthians 11:23–25 ESV

Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;

Not only was his life marked by the Gospel and what it would cost him, but so was his body in a very literal way!

Could you imagine this for just a minute and how we would react? Most of us have a hard enough time giving up 15 minutes of our “precious time” for the Lord. Could you imagine what we would do if we found ourselves under literal persecution for our faith?

I think it’d be one of the greatest things to happen to the Church today but I also think we’d be surprised by who remained and who revealed themselves to be unconverted.

Think of men like John Bunyan who gave up 12 years of his own life sitting in a jail cell for the proclamation of the Gospel. Think about everything he missed with his children and his friends. Time that he would never get back in this life.

Think back to those people who were burned at the stake for holding fast to Biblical Christianity.

They all bore on their body the marks of Jesus and it cost them everything to follow Christ.

They all bore on their body and gave of their life willingly for Christ and without complaint!

Yet if we here in the West were to undergo the same thing, we’d see a lot of Christians complaining that they’re not comfortable.

You know I have never read anywhere about Bunyan complaining about all of those years he wasted being a prisoner.

Yet we get upset when we feel like we’ve wasted an hour of time in pursuit of Christ.

Where is our heart?

Many mope around this village with dread written all over their faces for lives they wish they could have had.

Yet all of that time, all of it was nothing more than bearing on your body the Marks of Jesus and a pursuit after the Christian life!

Realistically, this is not any different from those who spent many years in prison.

5. That leads to the last point and that is this, this life that we’re living, it is not our own.

In the redemption of calvary, the old you has died and in the resurrection of Christ, you have been made alive anew in the Gospel, together in Christ.

Because of that, it is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me! This life isn’t my own! Enjoy it? Sure.... but

I can understand the outside world out there moping around over years they feel they wasted. But why us Christians?

For those not redeemed in the Gospel of Christ, those people who have never repented of their sin and trusted in Christ, this is the best life they will ever have! This is it! No matter how good or bad it may be, this is it! I guarantee you that for the unbeliever with even the most tragic life here on earth, it is a thousand times better than what they have to look forward to.

But for us, for those who’ve been redeemed, there is not one thing in this life that can ever compare to what we have to look forward to! Nothing!

We could be billionaires with the greatest lives by worldly standards and yet it will pail in comparison to what awaits us in Christ Jesus.

So why do we mope around as Christians longing for time to be restored?

Is it because of the marks on our body? Why are we not leaping each and every single day for what we have to look forward to?

I would argue that the reason we don’t leap for joy each and every morning is that we don’t actually believe what it is that we have to look forward too!

We live our lives as practical atheist! We pursue all that we can have in this life and we disregard all that is coming on the day that we enter into eternity!

We groan and complain about every little momentary glimpse of suffering that we encounter or have encountered. All while forgetting what our Lord and Saviour went through to offer us redemption.

We don’t think about that.

Do you realize that Christ was 33 years old when He died upon that cross? For me that’s merely a few months away, for many of you, you’ve had many years past that.

Yet Christ never once complained about what He was giving up in this life. Instead, He said “Father not my will but thine.”

The Apostles, most of which died early in their lives said “not my will Lord but thine.”

Yet when we look at our generations, we say, “That sounds great for later but for the moment, mine and not thine Lord.”

We look back on our lives and what we feel we’ve wasted and we don’t see God’s provision in redeeming us and keeping us clean. Instead we mope around with regret and hostility.

And I guess that’s okay for a moment. It’s okay to occasionally think back to what you could have had and then wipe your eyes and look forward at what Christ has in store for you.

This light and momentary affliction is working for you and eternal weight of glory!

Those are the marks that each of us as Christians will bear on our bodies!

We’re not the first Christians to encounter find portions of our lives that we wish could have different. Yet we might be some of the first to mope around about it as though theres not more to come!

When we look at our lives and see those markings, we should rejoice and be reminded of what Paul told the Galatians.

Father is there anything else you would strip from me

and be reminded of what Paul told the Galatians.

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit brothers.

Because its not about the moment or what we could have had, its about living our lives in a reckless pursuit of Christ who is with us.

A pursuit which doesn’t look at the chains that might have once held us captive and spend our time in dread over what we’ve been through.

Instead, we rejoice over the markings on our body for the Lord Jesus Christ.

If every our lives are marked by bearing the mark of being in Christ Jesus and giving up the world for it, for that we should rejoice!

Where our heart is at is proven by how we deal with the cards we’ve been dealt in this life, what it is that God would have us to go through.

Do we reject the past and rejoice and look forward at what is to come, or do we sit and dwell in the things lost in this life?

This reveals to us where our heart is truly at.

To close us, I want to tell you the story of a man who would have had every reason under the sun to complain about the life that he’d lived and the markings for the Lord that he had, but instead chose to pursue after God.

This young boy at one point in his life was destined for greatness and success, then one day, he was sold into slavery. As a young boy, he lacked much understanding of what was truly taking place, other than he knew that a trust that should have been there with his loved ones had been broken. The boy tried to make the very best of his situation though. He would go on to serve his master faithfully. Yet even in his faithfulness, things always transpired that would knock this young man down. Things that took away years of his life. Time and time again he was knocked lower than low until one day, everything was made right. He became one of the greatest men in his country and was removed from being under that yoke of slavery for good. There even came a time when he was able to be reunited with his family and offer forgiveness to those who betrayed him.

When that time of forgiveness came, this young man said one of the most profound things that one could say to those who betrayed him and it was this; What you meant for evil, God meant for Good.

See that young man was Joseph. Betrayed by his brothers who should have loved him and looked out for him. Sold into slavery where he would rise to a noble position as a slave, only to be knocked down again by somebody else. Abandoned in a prison holding cell with no idea what was to come next.

Yet when it was all said and done and Josephs chains were broken and he was set free, he didn’t focus on the time that he had lost!

He didn’t focus on the time that he had lost because he knew that God had a purpose and that what he seen in this life wasn’t everything!

He knew that even though he had what many might call “wasted years,” God used that situation for both His own good, and the good of Joseph.

He bore on his body the purpose and the intention of God for his life.

Every single one of us in here today who are redeemed in the Gospel of Christ are exactly the same.

We’ve been set free from the slavery of sin and bear on our bodies the marks of Jesus as a follower in some way or another.

Whether that was 20 years of what we see as a wasted life, missed opportunities, or even things that we can never get back.

As a Christian those become the mark of Christ. They reveal a heart devoted to following Christ.

As we end, I want to give a word of exhortation. Though we should never take back the time that we have in this life and we should never waste it because it is precious.

If you’re living as if this is all you’ve got, you’re focused on the wrong thing and you’re living as a practical atheist. You’re focused on the temporal and not the eternal.

If that’s you, you need to repent. You need to repent and remind yourselves as the words of the Old Hymn Amazing Grace:

“When we’ve been there ten thousand years,   Bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise   Than when we first begun.”

You have all the time in the world to look forward to in eternity. And because of that, you need to start living this life for what God has called you to and that is to bear on your body the marks of Jesus.