Introduction
Today we have the honor and the privilege of ordaining a man to the holy office of deacon. The Lord has provided this man to us in order to lead us in service. Last week, the apostle Paul taught us that God is after men who have a heart of service to minister in his church. Throughout the Bible, God calls his people to serve, and it would be easy to assume that we are supposed to buckle down and serve him. There is some truth to that: we are to obey God regardless. But the type of service God wants from us is the type that can only be rendered through the cross.
Eph. 2:10 – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Our service to God and our service to one another is the result of what God has done for us on the cross through the Lord Jesus Christ. True, God-glorifying, soul-blessing, church-building, heart-warming service is rendered from the perspective that God has empowered us to do so. And God empowered and freed us to serve in the cross of Jesus. That is the beauty of Christian service! It is not an exchange with God. It is not a performance test. It is the grace God secured in the cross working its way through the Body of Christ, which is the Church. Because of the cross, Christian service is a low-risk, high-reward proposition.
I. The Galatian Church, or Better yet, the Churches in Galatia.
A. The Galatian churches were the first intentionally planted churches in the history of Christianity.
1. Up to the time these churches were planted, churches happened by accident.
a. After the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus, the Jerusalem church happened because everybody was there.
b. Once persecution arose (Acts 8), Christians went away from Jerusalem doing what Christian do (or should do): proclaiming the Gospel.
Acts 8:1-4 – Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.
1) As they shared the Gospel with those with whom they came in contact, people were saved and started meeting together.
2) This was even true of the first Gentile church, the church in Antioch.
Acts 11:19-21 – Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
2. The Galatian churches, however, were the fruit of the intentional missionary work of the Antiochian Presbytery.
Acts 13:1-3 – Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.
B. The Galatian churches were geographically located in modern day southeast Turkey.
1. They were located in the ancient cities of Perga, Derbe, Iconium, Lystra, and Pisidian Antioch.
2. Paul visited them twice in his first missionary journey and at least one more time during his second missionary journey.
C. It was heart wrenching for Paul to see the firstfruits of his missionary work being influenced by wicked, hell-bound doctrine so soon after he planted them – many scholars believe Galatians was the very first epistle written by Paul.
II. The Galatian Problem.
A. False teachers had come into the church with a different version of the Gospel that ended up not being the Gospel at all, 1:6-9.
1. This perversion of Gospel was the idea that Christ's perfect life, death, and resurrection on behalf of his people were not sufficient to reconcile man to God.
a. These false teachers taught that believing in Jesus and what he said is great – you should do that!
b. But you need something else – you need your own obedience to go along with Christ's obedience on your behalf.
2. Paul does not even try to measure his words – whoever teaches such damnable doctrine is accursed of God.
B. Sadly, the Galatian Christian fell for this teaching, 3:1-4.
C. Who were these false teachers and exactly did they teach?
1. They were Jewish Christians associated with the Jerusalem church, 2:11-12.
2. They taught that, although believing in Christ was good and necessary, one also had to keep (obey) the OT ceremonial/dietary laws in order to be included in God's people and declared righteous in the sight of God.
a. In more popular language, they taught that in order to be saved and receive eternal life, you had not only to believe in Jesus, but also you need to obey all those ceremonial and dietary laws that you find in the book of Leviticus, for example.
b. And the test they used as to whether you were keeping the law was your being circumcised or not.
3. The principle of what they were teaching: what Jesus did for you + your obedience to an arbitrarily determined standard = forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.
III. Why Were They Teaching That?
A. First, their own benefit, 12-13
1. Benefit # 1 – they wouldn't have to be persecuted for their faith in Christ, 12.
a. The Jewish-Christian community that these false teachers were part of didn't have a problem with their believing in Jesus as long as that looked exactly like being a Jew.
b. So in order to gain their approval (good showing in the flesh) and not be persecuted by them, these false teachers preached a gospel of personal obedience, which Paul says was no gospel at all.
2. Benefit # 2 – converts, 13.
a. Their goal was followers for themselves, not the eternal destiny of souls.
b. For them, the cross was a minor item in their belief system and their boasting was on what they had accomplished.
c. They were much more interested in counting foreskins than bringing Jesus to people and people to Jesus.
d. The cross was nothing more than a means to their own end.
e. In their minds, their religiosity was what was going to gain approval for themselves with God and man.
1) These are much like the Pharisee in Luke 18.
Lk. 18:11-12 – The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'
2) This would be the equivalent of saying, "Look, Lord, I am in church. You need to receive me." Or, "I just gave the church some money, now it is your turn to tell me how good I am." Or, to bring anything other than the cross before God as the reason why he should accept you.
B. Second, because that's where human nature tends to go.
1. We profess our indignation with these false teachers, yet we tend to be much more like them than we are willing to acknowledge.
2. The cross of Jesus, and all that it represents, is offensive to us, Gal. 5:11
a. The offense of the cross is exactly that we do not and cannot add anything to the work of Christ and our eternal destiny is solely in God's hands.
b. We do not like that at all.
1 Cor. 1:18, 20-25 – 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. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
"The difficulty is the cross, because the cross speaks of the necessity of a divine death as the only solution to the sin of man. To have the cross is to have three disquieting and humiliating doctrines: (1) man is a sinner; (2) his sin brings him under the curse of God, which curse Christ bore; and (3) nothing man can do can earn salvation, for if this were possible, the cross would have been unnecessary. These doctrines humble men. Consequently, men hate the cross and actively persecute those who proclaim it." James Montgomery Boice
3. Apart from the work of God, we would all be enamored with our ability to obey God, which some of you are.
4. And when we, as blood-bought believers, forget this truth, we put ourselves under a bankrupt system that brings bondage, discouragement, conflict, despair, and moving backwards in our sanctification.
C. We cannot afford to have confusion in this area.
IV. The Clarity of the Cross, 11, 14.
A. At the end of this letter, Paul takes the pen from his secretary and writes this summary of the whole letter with his own hand, 11.
1. Paul wants to make sure they understand that this is his message.
2. And he writes with big letters to emphasize the importance of what he is saying (bold, italic, and underlined).
B. The false teachers were boasting about their obedience to their own standards and about all the converts they were making.
C. But for Paul, and for us, there is only one thing for us to boast about and one boasting that God is going to hear: boasting in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1. Boasting means to glory in, to brag about, to make much about.
2. So Paul says that the only thing that worth bragging about to God is Jesus Christ.
a. The Christian says, "Father, look at my Savior. Look at his sweet sacrifice. Father, look at his perfect obedience and count it as mine. Look at his selfless love for you and for me that led his to Calvary to experience the unspeakable suffering of the cross."
"It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished His dying breath has brought me life I know that it is finished. I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom but I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection." How Deep the Father's Love for Us.
"The offence of the cross shall be my proudest boast." Lightfoot
"The cross exposes man's desperate state, his utter bankruptcy that made such suffering necessary." William Hendriksen
b. The cross of Jesus Christ destroys all the other allegiances in our lives (the world).
"[The world is] an epitome of everything man seeks his glory and puts his trust in." Ridderbos
c. Christ who is the fairest rose of Sharon consumes us and any desire for the approval of the world around us dies on his cross.
Phil. 3:7-9 – But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which isthrough faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith…
D. Boasting about the cross is squarely centered on what we believe in our minds and actions, 2:11-21.
V. The Transformative Power of the Cross, 15.
A. It is not what we did or didn't do that settles how God relates to us or how we relate to him.
B. Christ settles that.
C. Through Christ, we are transformed – new creation (the mechanics of it below).
2 Cor. 5:17-21 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
1. This is the new birth that Jesus talks about in Jn. 3.
2. Notice that this transformation is a personal transformation, that is, it happens to each person as they exercise faith in Christ – it is the cross of OUR Lord Jesus Christ.
VI. The Result of the Transformative Power of the Cross: Mercy and Peace, 16.
A. This rule = boasting in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
B. Those who believe in all that the cross means are the objects of mercy and peace – that's the Gospel rule.
Rom. 5:1-2 – Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Conclusion
When the cross is our boasting, we are free to serve. The selfish demands of the world do not have power over us since they are dead to us and we to them. Because of the cross, Christian service is a low-risk, high-reward proposition.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2014/11/serving-because-of-cross-gal-611-18.html
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