Freedom is Here: A Study of Galatians | Donovan Rillion | Boasting in the Cross Alone

I want to start this morning as we wrap up the

letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church

in Galatia, modern -day Turkey. As we wrap up

this letter, because we are in the last section

of the last chapter, I want to ask a question

that many of us have felt at different moments

in our life, and if you haven't felt it yet,

you will, because we get there. or you're six,

you ask a question, and it is, what am I building

my life on? Now, that question may look different

for you, but it's the same question. It's, what

do I want to do with my life? Who do I want to

be? What kind of person am I going to be? What

do I want people to see when they see me? When

somebody reads the eulogy at my funeral, what

is it going to say? What am I building my life

on? What are people going to know and think and

feel when they think of me? There are things

that we say we value. We value family. We value

friendships. We value our faith. We value success.

We have these things we say we value, but sometimes

when we look at how we spend our time, when we

look at where our minds wander when we're tired,

when we look at what we spend our money on when

we have desires, when we look at the things that

we fear losing when we're stressed out, we realize

that our identity might be built on something

entirely different than faith and family. Some

people build their identity on accomplishment,

on how much success they can have. Some people

build their identity on reputation. Some will

build their identity on control. What can they

take hold of and have power over? We all build

our identity on different things, or at least

we end up building our identities on different

things. The problem that we have, though, is

that those things will always shift. They always

change. Jobs change. Health changes. People's

opinions of us change. Our relationship statuses

change. Life happens and things change. And when

we see these things change that we've built up,

that we've built our identities on, when those

things move, we move. And when we move and they

move, the foundation cracks. That's exactly what

the Apostle Paul is writing to. and Galatia.

They had started strong. They came to know the

gospel. They were believers in Christ. They believed

that Christ had died on the cross to save them

from their sins. They believed that this was

the truth that they needed to live their life

by. They started out really strong. They made

disciples. They built churches. They were the

model church. But then... They started to stray.

Then other voices came in convincing them that

they needed to prove themselves, that they needed

to improve themselves, that they had to earn

something in order to really belong to God because

grace wasn't enough. At least that's what these

false teachers were telling them. And they were

believing it. And sometimes we find ourselves

believing that whether you're a Christian or

not, you find yourself believing that you have

to prove your worth to the people that matter

to you. You feel like you've got to prove your

worth to your parents. You feel like you've got

to prove your worth to your friends, to your

spouse, to God. And so Paul writes these closing

words of this letter to pull all of them back.

Not to pull them back to a rule or a set of rules.

Not to pull them back to a system, but to Jesus

Christ and Christ alone. So I want us to read

what Paul says to close his letter to the Galatians.

In Galatians 6, verses 11 -18. And we're going

Galatians 6:11–18

to read through this and then we're going to

discuss it as we do. So starting in verse 11.

See with what large letters I'm 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. See, Paul begins

pointing out something interesting in verse 11.

He says, see with what large letters I'm writing

to you with my own hand. So when I first read

this, this was something that was kind of like,

what is Paul talking about? Why is that relevant?

So this is. Kind of my best understanding of

it. In that time, an important letter like this

would always be dictated. It would be spoken

to a scribe, and the scribe would write the letter

down for the person delivering the message. And

so Paul is speaking this message, this letter

to a scribe, and the scribe is writing it. And

now, well, the scribe would be somebody who has

really good handwriting. So this is like whenever

I need to send a birthday card to somebody or

I need to send a card of encouragement, I don't

write it myself. I get Eliza to write it. my

wife, because she's got really good handwriting.

And my handwriting looks, well, it looks like

Easton did it. So this is what the apostles would

do. They would speak this and a scribe would

write it for them. And so what Paul is saying

here is he's taking the pen himself. Paul takes

the pen from the scribe and he writes in these

large, uneven, unpolished, scraggly letters.

And that actually tells us something. One, It

tells us that this is urgent and it's important.

So this is something that Paul wants to write

himself. There's some importance here. It's like

when a CEO writes a handwritten note instead

of having the secretary just type it out and

put a stamp on it. Have you ever gotten a letter

from somebody important and it didn't look like

they actually wrote it themselves? I saw this

one guy. He posted a picture and I was like,

that's awesome, man. He got a letter from the

president. And he was like, I got this letter

from the, he was so excited about it. And in

my heart, I'm like, the president didn't write

that letter. He just, he didn't. And that signature

looks like a stamp. Like it looks printed on

there. That is, you know, hey, you did something

commendable. So we're going to send you something

from the president. And now maybe you have actually

gotten a letter from the president. If you have,

that's awesome. But this is not what Paul's doing.

What Paul is doing is he's saying. I need to

put my pen to paper here for you. Now there's

some speculation that the letters were large

because Paul was having some trouble with his

eyes. That is one way to take this. But I like

the idea of, this is Paul saying, this is important,

pay attention. It's like when you text somebody

and it's in all caps. And then they respond,

why are you yelling at me? Paul is saying, look.

This is serious. I need you to hear me. He's

not trying to impress anybody here. If he was

trying to impress people, he'd let the scribe

keep writing so the handwriting looked nice.

Nobody would have to know that Paul writes like

a doctor. He would be able to have a good, clean

presentation. But Paul's not worried about managing

his image. He's reaching out like a father, grabbing

his troubled child by the shoulders, looking

them in the eye, and saying, I need you to hear

me when I say this. Because this is important.

And you have to understand this. And so then

Paul gets into trying to point out the contrast

between the motives of the people that are pressuring

them, the Christians there in Galatia. They're

trying to get them to go with a different gospel.

Remember I told you at the beginning of this

series, if you were here, the Jesus plus gospel

is this Jesus plus your works. Jesus plus your

commitment. Jesus plus your money. Jesus plus

your energy. And all those Jesus plus gospels

as opposed to just Jesus. And so these people

are trying to pressure the Christians there in

Galatia to go with these Jesus plus gospels.

And Paul says, I need you to understand that

their motives, their motives are not the same

as my motives. My motives are from God. They're

a good motive. Their motives are to get you to

be able to say, so and so helped me. For you

to be able to say, so and so led me to salvation.

So and so helped me be a better person. Their

motivation is a little bit different than Paul's.

And this is what he says. He says, the people

pushing circumcision, they want to make a good

showing in the flesh. They want to look spiritual.

They want people to see them and see an influential

person. This is like, you know, if every time

somebody got baptized, I came up here, I took

a picture with them, and then we put it on our

sign out front and said, look at what our preacher

is doing, as opposed to look at what Jesus is

doing. And so Paul says, they want these spiritual

trophies. They don't want you to be spiritually

transformed. They want you to be able to say,

they did this. They helped me. They saved me.

Not Jesus saved me. And so Paul continues, and

he says, so that they may not be persecuted for

the cross of Christ. See, these false teachers

are giving you a new gospel. And what Paul wants

you to see is these people, they want Christianity

to be something respectable, acceptable and comfortable.

They want something that nobody's ever going

to question. Nobody's ever going to try to persecute.

Nobody's going to talk down on. They want Christianity

to be something that everybody's just going to

welcome in and love and accept. And it's going

to be this great thing, even though Jesus told

them and he told us that it would be the narrow.

It would not be the road that everybody traveled.

It wouldn't be the popular thing to do. You see,

they want to follow Jesus without carrying a

cross. Sound familiar? We live in a culture where

the worst thing that can happen to us is being

uncomfortable. The worst thing that can happen

is that we feel pressure for our faith. We want

God as long as He fits nicely into our lives.

We want discipleship as long as it doesn't interfere

with my preferences and my desires. We want blessings

as long as we never have to say no to ourselves

or yes to sacrifice. Many of us, we want what

I would call a convenient Christianity. 20 or

so years, you've probably heard the phrase consumer

Christianity thrown around a lot where people

just want to sit in a pew and they want to hear

somebody talk to them and tell them about how

God is going to bless them and God's going to

give them everything that they want and God's

going to make them successful. God's going to

help them score the touchdown. He's going to

help them get the promotion. And that's that

consumer Christianity. But what I think we struggle

with more than anything in the church is convenient

Christianity. We want to add faith like we add

a gym member. It's something beneficial that

requires very little from us. It doesn't really

require a ton. You know, that's how Planet Fitness

makes all their money is they give you a $15

a month gym membership because they know you

only paid $15 for this, you're not coming. Because

guess what also costs $15? Netflix and an order

from Taco Bell. And so instead of going to the

gym, I can go sit on my couch, watch whatever

show I like, and eat Taco Bell. And I don't get

better, but I'm still spending the same amount

of money. And we want this convenient Christianity

that doesn't cost us more than a normal life

costs us. We want a Christianity that doesn't

require us to sacrifice, to put in blood and

sweat and tears. But the truth is, we were told

that it would require us to take up a cross.

It's not... and it was not meant for consumers.

And so many churches, so many preachers and teachers

have learned to market that version of Christianity.

We've learned to, not we, they have learned to

sell a Christianity that's inspiring, but it's

not convicting. It's emotional, but it's not

transformational. It's a Christianity that never

challenges or never wounds our pride. Listen,

if I never step on your toes, I'm not doing my

job. And if you don't step on mine, then you're

not doing yours either. This is something that

the Bible is, I mean, it's confrontational. This

whole letter from the Apostle Paul has been a

big confrontation. And so it does come with its

sacrifices. Just like the Galatian Christians,

we're tempted to shrink the cross. We're tempted

to make it something that we can just wear around

our neck. That we can just put in our Facebook

bio. That we can just attend on Sunday morning.

Because if we can shrink the cross and if we

can make it something that's pleasing to everybody,

then nobody will ever think we're strange. And

nobody will think we're foolish. Nobody will

think we're weak because if we can shrink the

cross and its significance, we can make it about

us. But Paul says that's not Christianity. That's

not being a disciple. That's just self -preservation

wearing a religious t -shirt. Only the cross

frees us and it marks us as Christ's people.

I love how deep the Father's love for us. That

last verse, I will not boast in anything. I've

got nothing. I have nothing that I can put my

stamp or my signature on and say, I did this.

And I have nothing that I can put my stamp or

my signature on in your life and say, I did this.

It's only Jesus. It has always been just Jesus.

Okay, sorry for the rant. Now, in verse 14. The

Apostle Paul, he draws this clear line and this

is where we go with this boasting thing. But

far be it for me to boast or brag except in the

cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember I said

it's just Jesus by which the world has been crucified

to me and I to the world. You know, Paul had

status once. The Apostle Paul used to be Saul.

And Saul, he was known. He was notable. He was

this rising star in the Jewish religion. He was

this guy that people looked to and said, he's

next up. He's something special. He's got it.

He was respected. He had wealth. He was educated.

He had status. But he says all of that, the achievements,

the image, the approval, the success, I don't

care about it anymore because it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter. I can make all the money in

the world. I can own all the businesses that

there are to own. I can be as successful. I can

be as popular. I can be as famous as anybody

in the world. But none of it matters because

my worth, my identity, my foundation, what I

am building my life on, the only thing that matters

is the cross. It is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Because the cross is our identity. That is our

firm foundation. That is, the cross is where

Jesus, He doesn't just forgive our sins, but

He offers an abundant and eternal life. It is

where Christ remakes us. It is where He reshapes

us. And He turns us into something new and beautiful.

Something that the world cannot understand, but

they can be jealous of. And it is free to them

too. And then comes one of the most liberating,

Most freeing sentences in all of scripture. For

neither circumcision counts for anything. Nor

uncircumcision. But a new creation. Now if you

don't know what circumcision is. I think I mentioned

it a few weeks ago. You can look it up if you

want to. I don't advise it. Just know. You don't

want to look that up. Yeah. Don't go. Circumcision

image. Don't do that. Okay. So Paul says. In

a summary. The works of the law, not the works

of the law. None of it matters. All that matters

is that I have been made a new creation because

of Jesus Christ. Do you ever feel bad about yourself?

Do you ever feel bad about the things you choose

to do, the mistakes that you make, the places

that you go and the problems that you get into?

Do you ever feel bad about yourself? Yeah, all

the time. What Paul says is it's okay because

Jesus is offering you a self that you don't have

to feel bad about. He's offering you a life that

you don't have to have sorrow over, that you

don't have to stress over because this new life

is full, it's abundant, it's free, it's forgiven,

it's grace -filled, and it is fully from God.

It's not about what you do. Your religious resume

doesn't save you. Your achievements, they don't

save you. And your failures, they don't disqualify

you. Your lapses in judgments don't disqualify

you. Your light momentary afflictions, they don't

remove you from the grace of God. Your stupid

actions, your foolish actions, I'm talking to

myself here, they don't remove God's grace from

you. In fact, that's where God's grace is needed

more. Because it's not, nor has it ever been,

about what you can do. It's not about what I

can do. Because if it was about what I can do,

I would be up a creek without a paddle. If it

was about what you can do, you would be hopeless.

It's simply a question of, has Christ redeemed

you? Has Christ made you new? Has He saved you?

Has He put His stamp on your life? Not have you

cleaned yourself up. It's not a question of have

you gotten consistent enough. It's not a question

of have you been perfect lately. It's simply

has Christ made you new. Have you let Him make

you new. And Paul continues in verse 16. And

as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy

be upon them and upon the Israel of God. You

notice Paul doesn't say the anxiety that comes

from trying to impress God. Paul doesn't say

the insecurity of wondering whether you've done

enough or you've been good enough. He doesn't

say the exhaustion of constantly keeping up appearances

and trying to look good. Paul says peace. Peace.

Because Christ has already finished the work.

It's just Jesus. Mercy. Because God doesn't treat

us as our sins deserve. Because if He treated

me as my sins deserve, I would be dead. I would

be lost. I would be worthless. But because Jesus

came to save me, I can have peace. I can be at

peace with my life. As long as my life is in

Christ, I can know that God has shown mercy upon

me because Jesus has paid my debt. He doesn't

say stress, fear, worry. He says peace and mercy.

And then he gives a challenge and an encouragement

in verse 17. From now on, let no one trouble

me, for I bear on my body the mark of Jesus.

Paul's saying, I don't need to prove myself.

I don't need to worry about what you think of

me. I don't need to worry about what they think

of me. I just need to know that I've been crucified

with Christ. Look at my scars. And for Paul,

I mean, he's not talking about metaphorical scars.

Paul is talking about some real deal scars from

being beaten, from being stoned, from being whipped,

from being chased out of cities, from being in

prison. I mean, Paul... faced real life persecution.

Paul says, I don't need to prove myself to you

because I know what I've been through for the

sake of Christ, for the life in Christ, from

living a life where obedience to Jesus actually

cost me something. It wasn't me just sitting

in a church house in a seat and listening to

somebody talk for 45 minutes. It was me going

out, sharing the gospel, even if it meant I could

die for it. It was me going out and sharing the

gospel, even if it meant I would lose friends

for it. I would lose family for it. It is a gospel

obedience that costs you something. It is staying

faithful when it's dangerous. It's loving Jesus

and loving people when others hate you for it.

Paul's saying these marks are my credentials.

They're not titles. They're not accomplishments.

It's not popularity. It's not a reputation. It's

kind of the opposite. These scars, the suffering,

they show who I belong to. And I belong to Jesus.

And Jesus, well, he was beaten. And Jesus was

chased out of cities. And Jesus was killed for

his teachings. Jesus was killed for loving the

unlovable. He was killed for hugging the sick

and the unclean. He was killed for being there

for the outcast. And so will I. If need be, I

will die for Christ. That's the life Paul exemplifies.

That's the life I want to live. I want to live

a life that is obedient even if it costs me my

life. And there's a freedom there. I know it

sounds terrible, the idea that it's freeing to

be okay with dying. But think about it. If you

live a life of fear, If you're always worried

about, am I good enough? Or do people think I'm

good enough? Or have I done enough? If you live

a life that's worried about people's opinions,

it's very stressful, is it not? I mean, those

are chains in themselves of trying to keep up

appearances. But it's freeing to know that I

don't need to impress you. I just need to live

a life that pleases God. I don't have to win

arguments. I don't have to prove my worth. I

don't have to be good enough for you. I just

have to be obedient to God. It's a freedom that

says I can simply just belong to Jesus and live

a life in step with Jesus. However that looks,

whatever that costs me, whatever may come from

it, I just live in a life that belongs to Jesus.

That's the freedom that Galatians has been calling

us to all along. Paul's saying, don't worry about

those false teachers. Stop listening to them.

Because what they want you to do is be a slave

to them. They want you to be a slave to their

traditions. They want you to be a slave to their

laws. But all God is calling you to do is to

just be his child. Now being a child of a parent

comes with rules, does it not? And you got to

obey the rules, otherwise you get a spanking.

And I think God's spankings look a little different

than my spankings. So you've got to follow some

rules. I mean, there's still an obedience there.

But it's not an obedience to man. And it's not

obedience to man's faulty laws. It's an obedience

to God's good, just law. And even when you fail,

because man is not as forgiving as God is man.

No. We live in cancel culture. We live in a world

where if you mess up one time and somebody gets

it on video, it's all over the internet and you

can never live it down. But God, the Bible tells

me so and I believe it. God looks at my sin and

when I ask him for forgiveness, he says, forgotten.

And this is what Paul finishes with in verse

18. The grace, this undeserved mercy, the grace

of our Lord. Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

If you were here when we started this series,

back in the first chapter, Paul starts out saying

grace and peace to you. And he closes with grace

and peace. Because when you live a life that's

trying to prove, when you live a life that's

trying to earn, when you live a life that's trying

to say, I am worthy, I am good enough, all that

brings is stress and headache and exhaustion.

But Paul says, God wants you to have peace. He

wants you to have this peace knowing that He's

shown abundant grace to you. He has forgiven

you. After everything, after all the corrections,

after calling them out, after holding them accountable,

Paul says grace is going to be the last word

here. I'm going to leave you. With grace, always

grace in your life or if your life has been built

on proving something. If you've been trying to

perform, if you've been trying to compare and

keep up, if you've been trying to make sure that

your image looks the way you think or society

says it should look. Hear Paul and believe him

when he says what counts, all that matters. Is

being made new in Christ. You don't have to impress

him. You don't have to earn his love. You are

invited to rest in his redeeming power. In his

good mercy. So today if you need prayers. if

you have any concerns, if you've been struggling

with a life that is bound by the chains of society,

if you've been struggling with a life that has

been maybe a little bit too reckless, a little

too carefree, if you're just not sure what you're

building your life on, if you don't know where

you stand, if you've not been redeemed by the

free gift of salvation in Christ, if you've never

given your life to Him in baptism, if you need

to be redeemed and given new, abundant, full,

eternal life. The water is ready. If you just

need prayers, we will pray with you. If you need

hugs and support, we're here. Whatever you need

to help you be free and to be able to rest in

the grace and the peace of Christ, we invite

you to come now as we stand.