I invite you to take your copy of God's word and turn to Galatians. You've already been there once. For our call to confession, please turn there again to chapter six, Galatians six, six through 18. As Christians, we are a people of the gospel. We should be known as a people of the gospel. And what is the gospel? The gospel is the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is, in many ways, the very reason that the church does what she does, that everything the church does is to protect and promote and proclaim The gospel, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we think about the gospel, we think about the cross and we think about the empty tomb. And those are not just historic occasions, although those things did happen in history, they are integral parts of God's plan to redeem sinners for his own glory. And he does this through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there's a real sense in which the world wants the empty tomb. That's not to say that they want Christ risen from the dead and ascended and reigning on high, but they want victory over death. Everyone wants victory over death. Everyone lives, whether they realize it or not, under the specter of the judgment of God, which is connected to death. And everyone knows that death is coming. The world, in a sense, wants the empty tomb. They want victory over death. But the cross comes before the empty tomb. And the world most definitely does not want the cross. But therein lies the hope, right? Therein is the hope for lost sinners is the cross. And in a sense, when you and I say that we are gospel people, another thing that we are saying is that we are people of the cross, that the Christian life is a life lived in light of the cross, that the Christian life is a cross-centered life. The Lord Jesus puts it this way in Luke 9, 23. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." This morning, as we look at our passage, we're going to be considering what it means to live the cross-centered life. which is really what the Christian life is. And in our passage this morning, we will read these words where the Apostle Paul says, The world wants the empty tomb. They don't want the cross. but the only hope that they'll ever have in victory over death is through the cross. You and I are people of the gospel, which means we are people of the cross. And as we look at our text this morning, and we'll read it here in just a moment, there are three things I want us to consider, that as we think about the cross-centered life, the cross-centered life is lived, number one, in joyful submission to the word of God, in patient hope of the harvest to come, and in honest assessment of the present life. And we'll repeat those again as we come to them, if you're taking notes this morning. So why don't you stand this morning as we hear this passage, and as we consider what it means to live the cross-centered life. Galatians chapter six, beginning in verse six and going through verse 18. Let us hear the word of the Lord. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. 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. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let's pray. Father, we come now to your word. And we pray that you would help us to receive it as your word. It is indeed a light unto our feet and a lamp unto our path. May we, by your spirit, hide it in our hearts this morning. You have wonderful things to show us today. Please open our eyes to those treasures. And we know that all those treasures are found in the Lord Jesus Christ. So we pray that our hearts would be directed to him. Comfort us where we need to be comforted. Convict us where we need to be convicted. We pray that all would be for your glory and honor, for we are your servants here to worship you. May we hear from you today, and we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. It is somewhat risky to start at the end of a book of the Bible. We have a sermon series that we've been in, obviously through First Timothy. As you've heard, Pastor Logan is on vacation with his family, and so you're getting a one-shot sermon this morning. And so, as I said, it is risky to start at the end of a book. To give a quick overview, and this will be very quick, of the book of Galatians, the context of the book of Galatians is that false teachers had come to Christian churches and they were teaching that if you were circumcised, You could be saved. You needed to believe in Jesus, but in order to be right with God, in order to be justified, you had to not only have faith in Christ, but you also had to be circumcised. In other words, they were denying the gospel, which teaches that salvation is by Christ alone and that we are justified, that is made right with God by faith alone, in Christ alone. And so Paul writes this letter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And God has given us this letter to show us how important the gospel is. It is indeed in this very letter at the beginning where Paul says, if an angel from heaven comes and teaches or preaches a different gospel, let him be cut off. Let him be cut off. And so as we go through the book of Galatians, you see that the Bible is setting before us that we are not made right with God by our own efforts. But when you come to the end, you see the emphasis on the Christian life. And this letter does not move away from the cross as it looks at the Christian life. In fact, the cross is right there at the heart of what it means to be a Christian day in and day out. And so we come to verse six, which is the beginning of our passage this morning. And verse six seems to be an odd verse to us. In fact, there are many commentators who struggle with how this verse fits in with the flow of the book. How does it fit in with what comes before and with what comes after? And Paul begins, you've already heard me read verse six, but let me read it again. He begins with these words, let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. And notice here that the focus in this verse is on the student. It is on the one who is being taught. And this is not a learner in general, but the one who is in view is the one who is being taught the Word. And what is meant by the Word? But the Word of God. And what is being stressed here in this verse is, we might say, our attitude to the Word of God, our attitude to the Word of God. Will we joyfully submit to the Word of God? We are being encouraged in this verse, verse six, to reflect upon how you and I receive the word, and the emphasis is not on the word in our private devotions, as good as those are, but the emphasis here is on how do we receive, how do we submit to the word as it is taught. and by extension as it is preached. The one who is taught the word has an obligation, this verse is saying, to the one who teaches the word. And in the words of verse six, the student is to share all good things with the one who teaches the word. Now, what does that mean? Well, to put it simply, what is being said here is that teachers and preachers of the Word of God are to be compensated for their labors. Teachers and preachers of the Word of God are to be compensated for their labors. That sounds unspiritual to us, right? That sounds too mundane and too earthy for us. For some of you, that may even sound offensive. that preachers and teachers of the Word are to be compensated for their labors. But commentators seem to be agreed that what is meant by sharing all good things is meant compensation. This is a point that the Bible brings out in other places. Let me give you one of those. 1 Corinthians 9, verses 13 and 14. 1 Corinthians 9, 13 and 14. It says this, do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple? And those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings. In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9, 13, and 14. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Now, what is going on here? Why is Paul, as he writes to the Galatians, why is the scripture going in this direction? Is it really ultimately about ministerial compensation? Well, in a sense it is, but there's something deeper going on. Underneath this talk of sharing all good things is really that reality of how we view the taught and preached Word of God. Do we hold the Word as it comes to us through teachers and preachers as a valuable thing, or is it something to be dismissed? Now, how does the crucified Christ come to us week in and week out? Now, we know that Jesus is risen and ascended and reigning today, but we need to be reminded of the cross as we've said, and how are we reminded of the cross? Well, the crucified Christ comes to his people, we would say, through the preaching of the word week in and week out as the Holy Spirit moves. Let me give you two other verses, going back to 1 Corinthians, chapter two, 1 Corinthians two, one and two. And I, that is Paul, when I came to you brothers, when he came to Corinth, he says, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God, that is the gospel, with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." Paul is saying, when I came to Corinth to preach the gospel, I did not come with fancy words, because what I wanted you to see was Christ and Him crucified. How did Christ and Him crucified come? To the Corinthian believers, but through preaching. We read in Galatians, if you flip over to chapter three, And verse one, chapter three and verse one, we see these words, oh foolish Galatians, they had fallen into this false teaching. Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? And then these words, it was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Did Paul paint them a picture? Well, yes he did, but he did it through preaching. It was through preaching and teaching the word of God that the crucified Christ came to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, and that is how he comes to us week in and week out. You know, at the core of the Great Commission that we find at the end of Matthew's Gospel, Matthew 28, you know, Jesus says to the apostles, and this is given to the church, go make disciples. Go into all the nations and make disciples. And there were two parts to that disciple making, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them, teaching them all that I have commanded. The life of the church is a life that is to be lived under the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. But how does that teaching come to us? Well, one of the ways, indeed I would say the main way that Christ has ordained his words to come before his people is through those called to preach and teach the word. That is not to hold up and put on a pedestal the preacher or teacher. It is to show the value of what is being communicated in that the words of Christ are being given to us week in and week out. Jesus says this in Luke 9 26, for whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the father and of the holy angels. You see, one of the temptations in the history of the church is to drive a wedge in between Jesus and his words. In fact, many liberal churches have made this move. We love Jesus. We don't love Jesus' words. And yet Jesus says that we are not to be ashamed of him or his words. And how do those words come to us? How do the words of Christ of which you and I are not to be ashamed come to us? Well, they are in the scriptures. But God has said those words are to be preached, they are to be taught, they are to be proclaimed. What is our attitude to the preached and taught word? You see, there is to be a self-denial when it comes to sitting under the word. We think about the cross-centered life and dying to ourselves. Calvin said the sum of the Christian life is self-denial. We think about dying to ourselves. We have to die to ourselves when we come to the Word. That is true when you open it privately, and I would say it is especially true, and that is why it is being highlighted here when you sit under the preached and taught Word. We, I put myself even in there, we have to deny ourselves and die to ourselves when we sit under the Word. Are we doing that? How do we receive? How do we think about the Word as it is taught? What is our attitude? Now, make no mistake, I'm not saying that preachers and teachers get a blank check. Notice what Paul says, let the one who is taught the Word. The focus is on not the preacher or the teacher and whatever they choose to say, but on their teaching and preaching the word. And we believe, and this is in our tradition, our reformed tradition, that when the minister stands before the people of God and he accurately, and that is key, accurately lays out and opens up the very word of God and applies it, It is the Lord Jesus, the King and head of the church, who is teaching his church. It is the Lord Jesus who is teaching his church. And one of the things that this verse, verse six, is setting before us is that preachers can be shunned, right? Preachers can be fired. Preachers can be changed. But the word of God cannot be muzzled. God will just raise up someone else to teach and to preach the word. There is something here also, I would say, we live in a day and age where everyone has their favorite online preacher. And don't get me wrong, I listen to many other preachers and there's nothing wrong per se with that, but there is something to understand that in the providence of God, the main way that God has ordained for his people to get the word Week in and week out is not through some preacher who doesn't know who you are online and you've never met them, but through the man God has called to step into the pulpit to preach and teach week in and week out. You see, Paul says in another place that there is a foolishness to the cross and there is a foolishness to preaching. In many ways, preaching is truly an amazing thing that God would call a fellow sinner redeemed by the grace of God and the blood of Christ to stand up and open up the word of God. And yet preaching reminds us of the cross-centered life, that you and I are to die to ourselves and say that we are to submit. We are to submit to the word of God and to do so joyfully. This is part of what is being communicated here in verse six. But you know, as it goes on, what is mentioned is mocking God. because not everyone is gonna submit to preaching. I told someone one time, I said, if you hear of a house church in a foreign country, then you've probably heard of something good, Christians trying to get together in the face of persecution. But if you hear of a house church in this country, you've probably found someone who just can't sit under any other pastor or preacher. That's a reality. Not everyone is willing to receive the word as it is preached and taught. There is a humility that comes with it. And this verse that we find after verse six goes on to speak about mocking God. And the idea of mocking God here is the idea of turning up one's nose at God, essentially saying, I don't listen to what these people say. I know what's best. We see this idea in the Old Testament, and it's connected to the messengers of God in 2 Corinthians 36, verses 15 and 16. Listen to these verses from 2 Chronicles. The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets. "'until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, "'until there was no remedy.'" You see, the Lord is patient, and there are those who they may hear the gospel, and they may say, I don't wanna have anything to do with the gospel. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna find me a preacher I like, because this offends me, the cross offends me. And you can find one of those. But the question is, will that teacher be teaching the word? At the end of the day, what is being communicated here is that there will be a reckoning. And part of that reckoning, even though God bears with sinners now, He will not bear forever. He will not be mocked. He will not be mocked. And the only hope for sinners is in this very word. You can find another teacher, but the question is, will you submit joyfully to the word? Will you submit to the word? And the person who refuses to do so, Paul says, the Word of God says, do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. So the cross-centered life means a joyful submission to the Word of God. But it also means a patient hope of the harvest to come. Now, you just heard me read those words again. Whatever one sows, that will he also reap. And this passage goes on to look at that imagery, to expand on the imagery of sowing and reaping with this point in view, patient hope of the harvest to come. And essentially what we're being told in verses eight to 10 is this life, the life that you and I live, is a time of sowing. It's a time of sowing. Whether people realize it or not, that is the case. We're being told that this life is moving in a purposeful direction. It is moving toward an end point. It is moving toward a harvest to come. You think about the farmer. The farmer sows seed in the hope of a harvest to come. There is anticipation in which he's sowing to understand his actions. You have to understand the reaping, the harvest that is to come. Isolated, his actions of throwing seed on the ground may look random. They may seem insignificant. But in time, those very seeds will bloom into crops. What is unseen and future now will one day be seen in a present reality. And if the farmer forgets this fact, if he forgets somehow about the reaping to come and the harvest to come, he will grow discouraged and he will begin to think that his actions have no point. He will grow weary. The Bible is telling us that life is going in a God-ordained direction. The actions of this present life matter, and they matter for eternity. there will be a harvest to come. Now one question to consider is what is to be reaped? And to drive home this point, we see in our passage two fields laid out before us. And those two fields are the flesh on the one hand and the spirit on the other. on the other. What is meant by those terms, the flesh and the spirit? By the flesh, we don't mean the body. We don't mean skin and bone and muscle and those things. There's times in the Bible when that same Greek word, sarx, is used for the body. But here, Paul, and he was known for this, he took that word and he lifted it out and he said, I'm gonna use this and give it a technical meaning. And that's what he does here. And flesh here and in other writings in the New Testament means our sinful nature. It means our sinful nature. What is meant is that every person who comes into the world, Most of you know this. They come into the world in bondage to sin, enslaved to sin. The Bible even describes us as being dead in sin. And that nature that we follow, where sin just seems natural, that is what is meant here by the flesh. The person who does not know Christ is said to be in the flesh as opposed to being in Christ. Of course, even a Christian, when Christ saves a person, When a person becomes born again, even that person, while they are not described as being in the flesh, because they're now in Christ, they still have much sin in them. As has been said, a Christian is not in the flesh, but the flesh is still in them. We all still struggle with sin. For the believer, the penalty of sin has been dealt with. The power of sin has been dealt with, but the presence of sin still remains. So that is what is meant by the flesh, and that's laid out as a field in which seed can be sown in this life. The other field is the spirit, and by that is meant the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the other field by which a person can sow seed in this life. There are many people who believe, and apart from the grace of God, this would be all of us, who believe that this life is only about themselves, and that's it. They are the starting point and they are the end point. They have, whether they realize it or not, a godless view of life, at least functionally. There is no love for God. There is no seeking the kingdom of God. Every day is spent, to use the language of our passage, sowing to the flesh. They may not realize that's what they're doing, but that is what they are doing. They don't think there's any accountability. They don't think there is something to come, that one day there will be a reaping. And yet, there will be. And maybe that's just you today. Maybe that description fits you if you're honest, that you deep down believe there will be no reaping. Life is not going anywhere. Life is for me and my pursuits and what I want to do. And we have to understand that the Bible gives us an accurate view of things. The Bible shows us the way the world really is. that you may think there is no reckoning one day and no reaping, and that you can live life unaccountable to anyone and do as you wish, but the accurate picture is here, that whether you realize it or not, you are sowing every day of your life. You are sowing to the flesh if you don't know Christ. You are sowing to the flesh. Now deep down, you know deep down that it is true that there will be a reaping. What does our passage say is the thing that is reaped from sowing to the flesh? Corruption. Corruption is what is reaped. For the one who sows to his own flesh will, from the flesh, reap corruption. That's the only thing the flesh can give, is corruption and misery. And misery is all around us in this world. Sometimes it shows up on your front doorstep, but it's all around. Sin begets more sin, and sin is never full. Never full. It will always ask for more. And the thing that you thought you would never do or the thing that you thought you would never think of doing all of a sudden crosses your mind one day. This is what comes of sowing to the flesh, corruption, misery. And the point here is it comes in this life and it comes in the life to come. Do you believe this today? There will be a reckoning one day. The Bible is very clear that the wrath of God is a reality that cannot be ignored. And the cross of Christ shows this to us. When we look at the cross of Christ, we need to see the wrath of God. But we need to understand that the wrath of God fell on another. And if you view your life completely as centered on yourself, you need to know that you cannot skirt the wrath of God. You cannot get around the wrath of God, but by the cross. The wrath of God has to fall. God cannot ignore sin. This is part of what's being said here. He will not be mocked. He cannot ignore sin. And so the very way of salvation, the very way of hope even involves the wrath of God falling. But the beauty of the cross and the beauty of the gospel is that it fell on Christ. It fell on Christ. And if you know Christ today, you know that that is your hope. And if you don't know Christ, know that that hope is offered to you. That if you call out to this one, he will set you free. And he will forgive all of the sowing to the flesh that you have done in your life. Now, while there is a warning here, this section, verses eight to 10, really is directed to the believer as a way of encouragement. It's meant as an encouragement to the church, to the individual disciple of Christ. And what is our temptation as believers but to grow weary, to grow tired? And it's mentioned here. Verse nine, let us not grow weary of doing good for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. you and I are tempted to grow tired of following Christ because it's hard to follow Christ in this life. We have to deal with our own sin, we have to deal with temptation from our enemy, we have to deal with this sinful world. It is easy to grow weary, and in growing weary, we can similarly forget that this life is a period of sowing. we can forget that there is a harvest to come, that there is a day of reaping. And for us who know Christ, that harvest is not a harvest of judgment. It is not a reaping of wrath, but it is a harvest of blessing and life evermore. But we forget that too easily. And this is what Paul is getting at. He's trying to encourage us that our lives as Christians are lived sowing, but where are we sowing? We are sowing to the Spirit. We are sowing to the Spirit. Listen to these words from Romans chapter eight, verse nine. You, that is Christians, speaking to Christians, you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him, but if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. What we are being reminded of here is not just that this life is a time of sowing, that there is a harvest to come, but that we have the Spirit. that we are not left as orphans in this life, that we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Going back to that Romans 8, 9 verse that I just read, the contrast is in the flesh, we are not in the flesh if you're a Christian, and in the Spirit. Being in Christ means also being in the Spirit, because if you are truly in Christ, you have the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so what is meant when it is said that we are to sow to the Spirit? It is this, it is that our lives are to be characterized dominated by dependence upon not our own strength, but dependence upon the Holy Spirit. We are to live in dependence upon the very Spirit of God who has been given to us. As we open the Word, as we pray, as we gather for worship, as we encourage one another, we need to remember that we do not do it as a person who has been saved and covered by the righteousness of Christ and nothing has happened in here. but we've been given the Holy Spirit who is with us as we read the Word, who is with us as we pray, who is with us as we encourage one another. This is to encourage us to not grow weary in doing good, in following after Christ in this life. Sowing to the Spirit leads to eternal life, our passage says. The Holy Spirit, we confess in the Nicene Creed, is the Lord and giver of life. The Lord and giver of life. In our weariness, it is easy to have too big of a view of our sin or even to envy the world. because it is hard to be a Christian. But we are told, once again, to look at ourselves through the lens of Scripture, to remember that we have the Spirit. And one mistake that you and I make, I think, I could be wrong, I've made this mistake, so I'll stick with myself maybe here. One mistake is that we begin to think about eternal life as though it is 100% future. that the harvest to come is 100% there, and there is more to come. But what the Bible says is that when we come to know Christ, and this is where the cross-centered life comes into our day-to-day, the cross is not just for the entrance of the Christian life, the cross is for the day-to-day Christian life. That when we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, we are united, we might say, to the cross and to the empty tomb. That Jesus puts our sin to death on the daily, but here's the thing. He grows in us new life daily, that the eternal life that is held out in the gospel begins in this life. When we get the Holy Spirit and what is He working in us day in and day out, but more and more life. More and more life. Where sin worked more and more death, where the flesh only yields corruption, look at what is said here. The one who sows to the Spirit will, from the Spirit, reap eternal life. The Spirit is the source of this life, day to day, and this should encourage us as we think about that this is merely the down payment of more to come. Romans 6, five and six puts it this way, for if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. You see, what we're being called to, we talked about this in Sunday school this morning, we're being called to the Christian virtues of patient endurance and hope. Patient endurance and hope. Look at the language in our passage there in verse nine again. "'Let us not grow weary of doing good, "'for in due season we will reap.'" Due season. There's two words in Greek that could have been used there for time, okay? One means just the ongoing nature of time, okay? Chronos. We get the word chronological, easy for me to say, right? From that word, okay? The ongoing passage of time. But the other word, kairos, which is the one he uses here, is the word for a season, a limited amount of time. And why did he use that word here? Why does God put this word here? Because when we think about our weariness, when we think about this time of sowing that is hard, we need to be reminded that it's a limited time. It's a season. It's a season. And like all seasons, it will come to an end. And we've gotta keep our eyes on that, and we've gotta encourage one another in that hope. We must not let one another live as though life were about cashing in before we die. That's the mindset of the person who sows to the flesh, whether they realize that's what they're doing or not. Remember that Christ is growing you in His image. Remember that you have the Spirit, but remember that reaping, that harvest to come, that this is but just a due season. It is just a limited amount of time. Lastly, this morning, the cross-centered life has an honest assessment of the present world, an honest assessment of the present world. Now, by speaking about the flesh and the spirit, you need to understand that the Bible is not just speaking about two facets of our lives. There's a sense in which it is speaking about two ages. There's an age of the flesh that is passing away. There is an age of the spirit that is to come. And in this present life, there's overlap. There's overlap. The kingdom is here, but not in its fullness. The Holy Spirit has come, but there is more to come. And with respect to the flesh, the flesh is here, but it is going. It is going. It is passing away. Believers, we might say, in Christ live in two places. We live in this fallen world, but we also live as citizens of the kingdom of God. We have the flesh still in us, but the spirit, as we heard in our call to confession this morning, is going to war against that flesh and putting it to death day by day. We live, in a sense, in two places. How are you and I to think about the fallen world around us? Well, our passage says that we should view this world in light of the cross. We should view this world in light of the cross. And what does that mean? We'll read it in verse 14. Look there down to verse 14. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then we see the world mentioned, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. By which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. What is meant there? What is meant by those words? Paul says that the world to him has lost its luster. The sinful fallen world, that's what he means by world, okay? The sinful fallen world has lost its appeal. It doesn't have the appeal to him that it once had. It doesn't capture him the way that it did in the past. His cues don't come from the world anymore. His values don't come from the world anymore. And the Word of God is saying that this is true of every believer. Everyone who has been united to the Lord Jesus Christ, this is true of their relationship to the world. Can you say this of yourself? As you think about yourself as a Christian, as you think about the cross of Christ, can you say, the world is losing its luster and appeal, little by little. It's losing its grip on me, you might say, and I find what it likes to be things that I dislike more and more. Philippians 3, 7 and 8, Let me read these words to you. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things. Count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. What's being said here is that as you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, as you call out to him, and He takes you in and He unites you to His cross, to His death, but also to His resurrection, He's saying to you, this world will lose its appeal, that you will begin to count the sinful values of this world as rubbish. Even the good things, the gifts of this life will pale in comparison to Christ Himself and what you have in Him. One of the things that we are to consider is do our lives mirror the values of this world when other people look at us, or do they mirror the values of the kingdom of God? Because what is being said here is not just that Paul was now dead to the world, but when the world looked at Paul, they essentially said, you are dead to us. because they looked at him and they said, you are no longer one of us, because you now belong to Christ. In other words, there's a two-way street here, that when you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, and back at the beginning of the sermon, we quoted from Luke 9, where Jesus says, take up your cross and deny yourself daily and follow me. Jesus is saying, when you begin to follow me, Not only will this world lose its appeal, but this world will begin to look at you differently as well. Some of you know this firsthand. Old acquaintances and friends, after you became a Christian, things just don't jive like they used to. Why is that? Because you've been united to the cross. You've been united to the cross. The words of verse 14 are true of your life and you are seeing it. Let me read them again. By which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. The cross teaches us to assess the present accurately. This world and our relationship to it and its relationship to us. And also where is our boasting? Paul says that his boasting is in the cross. His boasting is in Christ, but it's especially in the cross. Now, if you were here today and you say, well, I'm still interested in some of this. I'm intrigued by this message of the cross. Let me warn you of a temptation, and we read about this in verses 12 and 13. This is where Paul mentions these false teachers. who said that a little bit of flesh, that's not how they were saying it, but really what they were saying is a little bit of flesh thrown in there with Jesus will get you right with God. But what does the Bible say here? 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. The temptation, if you are outside of Christ today, and this is appealing, is to think you can have a little of Jesus and a little of yourself. but you can't have it that way. The temptation is to make a good showing in the flesh. You know, the problem is I've just sinned too much. And if I make a good showing in the flesh, God will let me in, right? He'll let me in. No, He will not. The only way is the cross. Your boasting must be in the cross. You must lay it all down at the cross. The cross stands as a testimony to the futility of human sinful efforts to earn acceptance with God. The cross stands over against all the monuments of human pride and it wrecks them all. and says you gotta walk away from all of that and come to the crucified and risen Savior if you are to be right with God. That is the hope that is offered to you. That is the hope by which we live and that is why our boasting must be in the cross. Brothers and sisters, we are not saying that we are not to love the people of this world. We are called to love our neighbors. But here's the deal. If we do not boast in the Christ, we will not love people as we should love people. If we do not boast in the cross of Christ, we will not love people. We will, if we are not boasting in the cross of Christ, still believe that somehow we can bring heaven to earth, that somehow we can bring some kind of utopia in our own little way. Maybe not on a grand scale, but I can bring it to my neighbor's life. You cannot. Only Christ can. And so we must boast in the cross if we are to love people well. And our passage mentions the new creation. It's this passing mention, it seems to us. But there in verse 15, for neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. We want resurrection. We want new creation, but that has to come on God's terms, and only He can bring it to pass. And how do we assess ourselves? Here's that language, that even now in those who know Christ, and I pray that you today, even now in those who know Christ, the new creation has begun in you. What does the scripture say? 2 Corinthians 5, 17, if anyone is in Christ, he is, a new creation. Literally, it says, if anyone is in Christ, new creation. If you know Christ, the new creation has come. It is God's doing. We are to be a people of the gospel. And if we are to love people well, and to love each other well, we are to be a people of the cross. May we boast in the cross by the grace of God, and may we understand as we look around that the field of the flesh, we might say, is diminishing day by day. It is passing away. But the kingdom of God is growing and growing and growing. And the only way we will really appreciate that is by living a life that is centered on the cross. Because when we forget the cross, our pride swells up and we begin to forget the very reason why God has brought us together. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your grace and mercy shown to us in the cross. We see there how seriously you take sin. We see there that you will not be mocked. Forgive us for not valuing the cross as we should. Help us to boast in it. We know that if we belong to you, you will not allow us to boast in our flesh for long. You will always bring us back to the cross. We thank you for the hope of the empty tomb, the new creation that even now is being worked in us. May we take hope today that we are new creatures in Christ, that we've been given the Spirit. And may we sow to the Spirit daily. And may we keep our eyes on the harvest to come and encourage each other, help us to not grow weary and help us to love this Christ who died for us and who rose from the dead and who is returning soon. And we pray all this in his name, amen.