The New Creation

Good morning and welcome to another week here at the Bridge. I am so glad that we could be here together.

There are a lot of things that are good about being a pastor. There is nothing better than serving God. To be in a place that I feel that I am serving Him and honoring Him with my life. I realize that not everyone gets that with their job. There are other good things like, the feeling of impacting people’s lives and more importantly their spiritual life.

Now don’t get me wrong it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. There are a lot of difficult days as well. From the loss of loved ones to the everyday struggles of trying to build the Kingdom it can be tough. Than there are the practical sides of ministry that I really don’t like.

Dirty Jobs of Ministry

I like to think of these kinds of jobs as the “Dirty Jobs of Ministry”. They are the jobs that are necessary and they aren’t glamorous and some times they even just don’t feel like they are an accurate representation of what ministry is. These are things like attendance, general maintenance, and annual reports. Annual reports are one the of worst ones for me.

Annual reports based on their name if you can’t tell are something that I only have to do once a year but they in many ways are a reflection of the past year. I have to go in and go through all the statistics each year and share them with the denomination. It is never an easy thing to do. There are statistics that we have to report that are important because they do help us to be honest with our ministry and one aspect of its effectiveness but they are also a source sometimes of difficulty. Things like How many baptisms did you perform. How many people are being discipled at the church. They are necessary but in a way they always feel like they cheapen what our faith is about.

They always feel like things that we use to boast about our ministry. It is something that feels like the focus is on the wrong thing. Don’t get me wrong I also think there is great value in doing this because it challenges us and it is something we need to be aware of. The problem isn’t reporting the numbers it is the danger that comes with the numbers. It is the danger of viewing certain actions in the church as more valuable than others.

This leads us to our passage this morning.

Galatians 6:12–16 NIV

12 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. 13 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. 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. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.

Paul v. Opposition

Paul faced a lot of challenges over the years his ministry. He faced persecution. He faced threats on his life. He also faced consistent challenges from people who could be identified as Judiazers. These were individuals who would focus in on aspects of the Jewish beliefs and force them on the message of the Gospel. This happened the most significantly centered around the idea of circumcision.

For the Jewish people and for even some of the Gentiles that participated in the action it was an outward sign that they could use to show their faith. It was their symbol to identify themselves as something different or more. It was their badge of honor. This badge of honor was their way to avoid persecution though.

The Jewish people were exempt from emperor worship. This protection would not be afforded to a new religion such as Christianity. It was this comfort and what seems to be very practical reason that the practice of circumcision would afford protections that would make life easier for believers. That makes sense right we can justify that. Yet, is it a reason to give yourself to avoid persecution for the cross.

The truth of the matter is that when we are following the cross. Persecution is unavoidable. If we live a life that is devoted to the message of the cross. It will be inevitable that we will face some form of persecution in our life.

This wasn’t the only problem associated though with the action of circumcision.

Galatians 6:13–14 NIV

13 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. 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.

Boasting in the Cross

Paul reminds the Galatians that even those who are circumcised fail to keep the law. No on is able to keep the law. For the circumcised they want to boast about what they have done to their bodies to show their commitment.

Remember those numbers I talked about int he beginning. For them their commitment to circumcision became a badge of honor. They saw it as look how many people we circumcised this year. Aren’t we special. The Christian church can be in danger of doing the same thing.

I know of pastors who regularly boast about how many people they have baptized. In fact it can be so bad that they will baptize people and just never follow up or make sure that people are connected to the community of believers and these individuals think they have this great sign of salvation but they have not made the connection to the cross. Their focus is on the baptism instead of the cross.

We can do the same thing with a lot of other statistics we keep in the church when we get focused on the numbers instead of the cross.

We forget what it means to boast in the cross.

I thought about that for a little while when i was working on this message. What it meant to boast in the cross. See part of the problem is we have a romanticized view of the cross. We see the cross as this beautiful image. We see it only in a positive light that we forget that it was a curse to be crucified. The cross was a bloody affair that was deadly and viewed very badly in the Roman world. It wasn’t something of honor like it is today. To find glory in the cross and boast about it was crazy thought. Jesus took something that was so horrible and turned it to the good of all humanity. If he took something that was considered a curse and turned it into a blessing it reminds us of what he can do for us.

1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

It is the power of God it is his glory and his work in us that is being honored in the cross. So we boast not in our work but in God’s power because we know that the cross leads us to the new creation.

Galatians 6:15 NIV

15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.

The New Creation

For Paul this was the reminder to the Galatians and to us today that what is important is not the symbols that we create or put in place that seperate us. It is the work of the cross in us. It is the new creation that happens in the work of God in our life that we need to value. It is the change and commitment to God in these moments that we need to hold on to. It is the fact that when God gets a hold of us we can’t hang on to who we were in the past. We can’t worry about how the world sees us. We only need to worry about how God views us. It is only How God is working in us. It is only how we are being transformed into the new creation.

I spoke earlier about Baptism and pastors who use it like it as the means of salvation. I said that not to undermind the power of baptism. Baptism is a powerful work in our hearts. It is a testament to our faith and commitment. It is the symbol of the new creation. It is not a badge of honor for us. It is the work of God. It is not the water that we put people into. It isn’t the words of the pastor that make it special. It is the work of God in the heart and the mind of the individual. It is the openness to receive that work from God and the willingness to be transformed into something different that makes baptism unique an not just another action that we are required to do. It is powerful moment, not because we are submerged and raised from the water but because God works in us. IF we are open to what he has for us and we are willing to accept his love and grace and we see the cross for what it is. The Salvation of all humanity no matter how horrible or irredemable we may be it is in this place of tension that we realize the new creation is the most important part of who we are as Christians. God calls us to it. God wants it for us.

I keep going back to this verse because i belive it is important.

1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

This message may sound like foolishness to some. The cross is seen as foolishness to many. Yet, for those who choose to recognize its power and authority in our lives we see that it is the power of God it is the sources of our ability to become the new creation that he wants for us. For me this morning i was reminded that we need to view the power of the cross and be reminded that it has changed us. It isn’t that we worship these two pieces of wood put together to make this cross but we are reminded that Jesus did an amazing thing for us that day. It is a reminder that Jesus gave us access to be restored and to be transformed if we are willing and nothing on this earth can prevent that. We just need to trust that he has us and we are the new creation when we place our trust in him.

Let’s Pray