Spour heads in our hearts now as we talk to the Father
Lord, it is a privilege to be able to come into your presence and to remember that you are the God who is high and holy and lifted up That you are set apart That you are so completely different than we are you are spirit eternal the mortal invisible the God only wise Father son and Holy Spirit as we bow before you and as we contemplate who you are we are We are led to to understand that wherein when we're in the presence of God we are in the sanctuary For we worship the high and holy king of heaven and earth And Lord it is so good to be able to come and have our lives put into perspective on this first day of the week and the Remember that that you created all that is good and all that is around us and you have created us by the very word of your power We exist because you call this into being We are not the chance objects of evolution, but we are the direct special creation of your hand And we bow as your creatures who have been created to give honor and glory to your name This morning we thank you that you revealed yourself to us that you've let us know who you are as we look in nature We see that you are a God who is all powerful as we see the beauty as we see the order We're aware that this couldn't simply have come to be by itself and yet you've revealed yourself further to us and sending your son Jesus Christ who showed us your grace and your truth who showed us so much about the Father so that to see him is to see God We bow before you and We're grateful that you called us that you opened our eyes that you helped us to understand who you are because otherwise We wouldn't know and now we know And now we understand what Jesus is all about and who he is and we and we worship you today And Lord we're glad that you gave us faith to trust in his work and that we can't come to you and and tell you how good we are for We're not and so Lord this morning on this first day of the week we don't gather in worship because we're good because we're yours We gather here today to worship and ask that you would continue to reveal yourself to us and to teach us and to open our hearts and Lord we pray that as we sit under your teaching to be today that you would open the mind and hearts of each one of us So you'd be with the one who stands here in front of your people and teaches for giving his sins and Use one who is finite to communicate your infinite truth A Lord this morning we ask that you would continue to be with our youth. We thank you for them We're so grateful for our students and what you've done in them and through them And Lord we pray that you keep them safe We pray that you reveal truth to them that they could know how to live for Christ That you would use them in ways that they can't even imagine right now Lord blessed them and Father we pray now also for the Gideon's and ministries like them that distribute your word father would you bless your word? So that others in ways so created and so unexplainable will come to know Christ and Experience the joy that we experience so father we meeting your presence teach us and receive now these offerings that we give because we give them in The name of and for the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ To have you do this again, all right All right, we appreciate that Clint Clark. We appreciate you leading are you this morning You have your Bibles we take them in turn to Galatians Galatians chapter 6 verses 11 through 18 is our text for today and if you don't have your Bibles take the Program because the text of scripture is typed there for you what what they just saying really was a sermon and and If it were in some churches you might get out without hearing another sermon, but it's not gonna happen here today So if you have your Bibles during the Galatians 6 we're gonna talk about the cross As we finish our study in Paul's letter to the Galatians We're Paul writes under inspiration of the Holy Spirit see with what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand Those who want to make a good impression outwardly 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 they'll be the law yet they want due to be circumcised that they may boast about your 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 or uncircumcision means anything What counts as a new creation? Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule even to the Israel of God Finally 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, I'm in This morning we finished the letter that we started several weeks ago the letter of Paul to the Galatians and Paul was the Apostle The Apostle of grace sent out to reach the Gentiles with with the gospel of grace He was a Jew who was called to reach Gentiles. He didn't know Christ And so he went all over the place three major missionary journeys one ended him up in Asia Minor In Asia Minor, he preached the gospel to the people called the Galatians and then later He sent him a letter and the reason he sent them this letter that we've been studying since it seems like forever The reason he sent that letter was because He had come to them and taught them how to get right with God He had taught them how to enter into a relationship with the Father was simply through the Sun that you come to the Father by Faith alone You don't bring to the Father all these good things that you've done and try to convince God that you're good You come to him and trust that Jesus died on the cross for your sins And God graciously offers anybody who accept him by faith to become his children. You do that and and you're his That's what Paul had taught but the problem was they some Jews had followed Paul. They were always following Paul And and they followed him to Asia Minor and they began to teach that salvation was not by grace through faith alone We've been saying that for weeks. It seems like you can you probably are saying that in your sleep that we Christians have been saved by grace Through faith alone underline alone But these these Jews from Jerusalem hated that concept and They came to the Galatians and they said you guys need to understand that faith in Christ is good, but you got to obey the law too And until you start obeying the law, you'll never know if God you're really going to be right with God Then in order to be right with God you have got to embrace Christ But keep the law and they were heavy on the law and the Jews had rules for everything didn't they? I mean they had rules for what you did on every day of the week They had feast days and they had fast days and and I don't know how they kept them straight I'd read the Old Testament many times. It's a challenge You got to make sure you don't fast on the feast days and feast on the fast days And it was just a challenge for all the rules and the regulations, but catch this Many of the rules and regulations that the Jews were teaching in the first century when Jesus had his ministry Were rules and regulations that were outside of the Old Testament These were the rules and the regulations that the pastors I mean the rabbis and the teachers of the law had given the people They weren't even biblical at all, but they were teaching them with the same force as the law of Moses And so guilt was rampant in Israel I mean these guys it was a national pastime guilt and they wanted to export it and they did export it They were taking the law all of notice they followed Paul With all of his grace they wanted to bring in the rules and the regulations as a way of getting right to gut with God And so some of you are saying well that's nice, but that was the first century I mean after all do we have that problem today? I mean do Christians struggle with guilt that much Disgallations really a relevant book to us today. It better be I've been teaching it for the last 10 or 12 weeks I believe it is there is guilt in the church Because we have rules for everything there's some Christians that teach what you ought to do on Sunday with the same Fervency and the same list of rules that took place in the first century with the Jews There are Christians that have got rules about how you you could get right with the Holy Spirit and if you just follow all of these things You will be filled with the Spirit There are rules all over the place and guilt is rampant in the church of Christ And guys a lot of a lot of these rules and regulations and teachings of the New Testament that pastors teach week after week a lot of them are good The problem is is sometimes we look at rules and regulations as separate from grace and We forget that we are accepted by grace through faith alone and we start thinking subtly Did if I just do these things God will like me more? God will accept me more It's so sure the gospel changes our life But we're not accepted by what we do but by faith a Christ and students. I want you to know where so We are so glad you're here today. What you're doing in this church? It's marvelous what God is doing in your lives And you probably get sick and tired of pastors telling you to do this and they'll do that Youth pastor although we've got a great youth pastor Sometimes youth pastors are always telling you what to do what not to do and your parents I know you never have a problem with that but in other churches as students do but listen it we want you to know more than anything else That God loves you And a lot of times we tell you don't do certain things, but it's not so that you would you would accept you if you do those things But so that you can understand that he accepts you because of what Jesus did on the cross We encourage you to live a particular way because we don't want to mess up your life We want you to follow the truth That'll set you free And so this morning I encourage you guys as we've studied through Galatians to continue studying through this book read it again Read it this week you say just finished it. It's all right read it again this week Read it next week when you start when you start feeling like you're not worth anything When you failed horribly as a Christian and when somebody has taken a knife of guilt and stuck it in and turned it Regulations to put it in a perspective Because it'll remind you of one thing a five-letter word Galatians will always bring you back to the cross to the cross That's how Paul ends his letter with the cross And so what I want to do just for the last couple of minutes that we have together is to look at what the cross Provide and how grace and the cross are connected because that's what Paul does is he ends this letter So first of all I want you to note that the cross provides the only safe basis for bragging versus 11 through 14 take a look at those verses again Paul says see with what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Price now We're not exactly sure why Paul writes in verse 11 see with what large letters I write to you with my own hands He's trying to emphasize something. We're just not sure what it could be That what Paul is trying to emphasize here is is is that though he normally dictated his letters in this case He's writing the whole letter to the Galatians and probably I agree with those scholars and say Paul had a severe eye problem couldn't write with lower case letters and wrote with big letters and so he wrote the whole letter of To the Galatians with capital letters It could be that he says see with what large letters I write to say emphasize this stuff is crucial Or it could be he's just writing the conclusion of the letter and he's just saying I'm writing this with my own hand Because I want you guys to know how important this is whatever the reason is that the most important thing to see is that he comes Back to the cross and he rips off those people who say that spirituality is a matter of rules and regulations And he says that the only reason these people are trying to get you to follow rules and regulations Is because they want they want you to reflect good on them They want to brag about you. Yeah look what I I got this person and that person to follow all these rules and regulations He says that they do this Got that they keep the law themselves Have you ever noticed that legalists are always pointing the finger? But but they don't keep the law themselves and you can always find inconsistencies in their own light My book is coming out soon inconsistencies and my congregation who have them? No, I'm just kidding, but you know they Did you think I was telling the truth on that? No, but the reality is is we've all got inconsistencies even those who are who are Puntilius and keeping the law don't keep it perfectly Legalists are people who try to get others to follow the law Because they're afraid of the cross What's the big deal? Why is it that the Jews of the first century were so opposed to the cross? Why were they so mad at Christians who taught the cross of Jesus Christ here? Here did here's the reason This is worth the price of your admission to the book of deletions. It's this If you buy into the cross and that Jesus paid for all of your sins It absolutely obliterates the works righteousness system that the Jews had set up It means what they thought they could be right by simply being circumcised it Doesn't do anything It means if that long list of laws and rules that they were supposed to keep Doesn't mean a thing The Jews of the first century were so opposed to the cross Because what it says is you can't rule and regulation your way into a right relationship with God It's like the anything Christ Christ paid it all in the cross So people as we end this letter what Paul wants us to do is should be reminded At what the bragging rights of the Christian are The bragging rights of the Christian are not that we've been good not that we followed the law not that we were good presbyterians But that Jesus died on the cross for us That's it And that because Jesus died on the cross the grace of God is yours through faith in him He accepts you completely Because he paid for your sin come completely And so it's so crucial for us to see that it is free it is free I like the story Kathy Wyatt gave me about an 85 year old couple. They'd been married for almost 60 years and They died in a car crash They'd been in really good health for the last 10 years mostly due to the the interest of the wife and help cooking health food and Their interest in exercise and when they reach the pearly gates they met st. Peter of course everybody who gets there meets him Someday I'll show you the Bible passage on that But they met st. Peter and Peter took them to the mansion and showed them the mansion that they would occupy for all eternity It was beautiful. It was all new Gorgeous big living room a wonderful Kitchens master bath had had a jacuzzi everything was set they looked around Peter said how much do I have to pay on a monthly basis for this thing Peter said this is heaven, man. It's free So Peter took them out back and showed them their backyard, which is on the 15th Halls Of the most incredible golf course that you have ever seen that changed every week Miraculously to fit all the wonderful golf courses that were on earth during the earthly reign Anyone out and he goes man, how much of the green fees for this? No, you don't understand. This is heaven. It's free. You play whenever you want just call And so and so then Peter took them to the banquet hall took them where they could eat their meals all the time Just it was just late at just incredible better than the cruise line. Just there was all you can eat any time And that's it how much he said listen, it's free. I told you once it's free And the man little timidly said yeah, where's the non cholesterol non fat table. He said man That's the best point. You need everything you want here and you won't die. You can't die You need everything you want it is wonderful and the man flew into a rage He was ticked. He was yelling. He took his hat. He was stomping on it. He was so mad finally Peter and his wife gone to man And he said what is the matter and he pointed his finger at his wife and he said this is all your fault If it wasn't for your brand muffins, I got a bin here 10 years ago. I don't know if the application is I just like that story
The application is we ought to be ticked at people who tell us But the way to get right with God is by obeying rules. We ought to get mad Because the way to heaven is free and the cross provided it And it's Christians we always got to go back to the cross and remember that grace is cross-dependent And that's why that's why we glory in the cross the children Had worked long and hard on the little cardboard clubhouse. They put it up and it was wonderful And that's where they were going to do all their things away from parents and you know as kids do they came up with rules for this clubhouse And so they came up with three rules they were very good actually number one their first rule was nobody act big Rule number two was nobody act small Rule number three was everybody act medium
You know, that's actually pretty good Because in Christ We don't have to play games and impress each other We don't have to have a warm theology that says we're no good
Because we have a savior who paid the price On the cross and you can't have Christianity without a cross You don't ever have Jesus without a cross never can make Jesus a moral example only He's not a moral example just that He's a savior on the cross You would go to a party in the first century There were some things that you would not want to say in polite company There's some things you might not say in polite company. You go to the company party at Christmas You probably aren't going to talk about how you spank your child. They'll think you're they'll call hrs You probably won't tell them you're a Bible bumper And you take the Bible fear seriously even believing in Jonah things like that In the first century if you were to party you would never talk about the cross
Among pagans it was It was politically incorrect for the very reason is that the cross was the most awful symbol of shame Only the worst of the criminals died on the cross
Only the worst of the worst were exposed naked
On the country on the on the city garbage heap For hours and hours and hours until they finally suffigated in agony There was so much shame associated with the cross that nobody talked about the cross and polite company The Christians did Because they knew what the cross provided Complete acceptance forgiveness Paul wants to end the letter of the regulations by saying remember that the grace comes from the cross And that from the cross we receive by faith The grace and forgiveness of God secondly notice that the cross also provides the source for ongoing development as people are ongoing source of development versus 14b through 16 and I love How Eugene Peterson writes it in the message He says because of that cross I have been crucified in relation to the world Set free because set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns they dictate Can't you see the central issue and all this It is not what you and I do submit the circumcision or reject circumcision It is that God is doing in us and creating something totally new a free life a free life One of the things that sometimes we forget about our faith in Christ is that is that the cross leads us to a changed life That you don't become a different person by keeping his center rules But by accepting the grace of God by faith and letting God make you a new creature That's why we worship him because of all that he's done for us We are new creatures in Christ and Paul says the result of the cross is that Jesus has done so much for me I'm gonna be I'm going to be crucified to the world I'm gonna live as though the world doesn't matter And as though I am different than I was before I came to Christ because I'm a new creature Dietrich Bonhoeffer called that Called that costly grace you may remember it featured Bonhoeffer the name at any rate He was a German pastor during World War II who opposed openly Hitler and all that Hitler was doing And and it was it was Bonhoeffer who talked a lot about grace who said that there's cheap grace and costly grace And this is this is what he said he said cheap grace is grace without discipleship grace without the cross grace without Jesus Christ living and incarnate through us guys We need to understand That because of the cross were new creatures by faith in Christ and he's changing us And what matters is what he's doing in our lives
Found this great story entitled lost in DC. Let me read it briefly to you I usually know my way around Washington DC but not today It's raining so I signal a cab The driver asks in heavily accent at English where I'm going union station. I reply I soon noticed the Arabic calligraphy probably the Islamic creed on his dashboard I have been plucked out of the rain by a Muslim taxi driver I'm exhausted, but can I pass up an opportunity like this After a quick prayer. I say you're a Muslim Yes, I'm from Somalia. How did you know that? The creed you have on your dashboard The man says can you read Arabic? No, I'm a Christian who has studied Islam I say hoping to engage him in conversation he tells me what has Has surprised him most since coming to North America mostly he comments on the low level of morality here I remember a speaker one reference referring to the fact that Muslims assume all North Americans are Christians Therefore the state of morality is so low in America because of Christianity That speaker had a suggestion and I decided to try it. I bet you think Madonna is a Christian I noticed the driver is no longer taking a direct route DC cabs don't use meters so the longer away doesn't benefit them. Maybe he wants to talk She was born in America her parents are they Christians he asks She is a blasphemer I reply If a Muslim did such things would she still be a Muslim would all Muslims be responsible for her behavior She would be a disgrace no true Muslim could do such things as his emphatic reply neither can any true Christian I say by now the cab is well off its roof People who ignore what the bible says and do whatever they want many of them are not really Christians Then there are not so many Christians in America he can see We continue talking about the claims of Christ some he accepts some he rejects union station is now in sight I give him some literature in English wishing I had a new testament in his language He says farewell and promises to read what I gave him I watch the cab disappear in the rain It's a good day to get lost in the rain and they see
He's in Christ It isn't okay to do whatever you want but the motivation is there Because he has saved us by grace We allow him to continue to transform us and through a life that is changing have the opportunity So that other people could see the grace and the goodness of God Then lastly briefly Notice the cross provides the power to live completely free for 17 Paul says finally let no one cause me trouble for a bear on my body the marks of Jesus what Paul is saying is guys I'm tired of fighting with you theologically over this grace stuff I'm right you're wrong Don't ever bring it up again Don't bother me with this stuff Because I'm only concerned for the truth And you need the grace of Christ Because of the grace of God I even bear in my body the marks of Jesus do you play racquetball? I've moved from running to racquetball Because I can't stand the pounding anymore in my back And now I get the pounding from racquetballs in my back And the other day I played with a friend who hit me four times I didn't hit him once I went home and had wealth all over my body and they hurt for hours I'm gonna do it again. I want you to know But the marks that we bear Because of stuff like that don't hold a candle or what happened to what happened to Paul And he could live so free and so powerfully because he knew the truth And Christians we need to understand that the freedom that we can have in Christ Can give us the freedom to live without worrying always about what other people think about us Be willing to take shots for Christ That work at home Be willing to live for him You're free in him. What matters is not what people think about you But that you are accepted by the Father because of the Son The great Baptist preacher Charles Virgin used to say that every once in a while He would view himself lying in his funeral clothes in a coffin You know death gives perspective certain The Egyptians used to bring a mummy to their parties As they're honored guests. I mean it does it does cut into the the zip of the dancing But it does put life into perspective
when you die And Christ is your savior You're gonna be right with the Father And if you know that now you can live with absolute freedom and abandon for him now Because of all that you have in Christ If we want to wrap up Galatians as a book It redraws completely our picture of God. What's your view of God? Here's your view of God the God who is angry The God who is out to destroy your life Or the God who wants to bless you with riches that you just can't even imagine right now Galatians causes us to redraw our picture of God To see him as a Father Who gave us His Son Who is constantly at work right now In developing us and so guys you could trust him Do what he tells you do what he teaches it's gonna be okay Because he is your Lord cardinal basal hume the one-time Archbishop of Westminster And a well-known spiritual guide was on a tea speaking tour of the United States and as he was Coming through on a particular tour He told about how he was raised by a very severe mother very severe mother Who would point her finger at him and say Basil you steal an apple from my pantry And I will punish you And if I don't see you steal an apple from my my pantry Almighty God will see you steal that apple from the pantry and he will punish you Imagine what a view of God he had as he grew up He started reading the Bible and he found grace
And he thought as his picture of God began to change That that he could subtly begin to hear the Father saying to him why son? Why don't you take two Why don't you take two you take it to heart
Father some of us are here today and we don't know you at all And our view of you is it's your harsh And that you want to destroy our lives and Father I pray that you and those people's lives would Would cause them to redraw the picture Because of Galatians know that you are trying to build us and develop us because you love us And you came to give us an abundant life And Father there's many of us who've been brought up in the church or we've been Christians for so long It seems like we've always been here And we've kind of gotten to think that we could please you more if we're just good And we've forgotten the worship you because of what Christ did on the cross so redraw our picture of you As a father who isn't just trying to get us to toe the line But as a father who's given us so much in his son and wants to give us more every day Open our hearts and our minds And Father causes to live grace Give us two and three and not just one For we pray these things in Jesus name
After the service my friend Bob Pistford is going to be up here at the communion table And if you have never really met God in a personal way Would like to accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior or at least figure out what that means Bob would love to talk to you So it I And now may what to find your life this week not be your own accomplishments Or what other people think of you but may what to find your life this week be that you are unconditionally forever accepted By the Father because of the grace of his son our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen