It was a great day yesterday at the Sells Ranch. I'm so thankful as we were able to explore new adventures together and make sound judgments on things like plums that we had no idea we were doing, but it was a great time. It's a good opportunity for growth for me and my family, city boy. If you turn with me to Galatians chapter 6, we're going to finish this book this morning, this sermon series. And I'll just give you a foretaste of next week. We'll be blessed to have Davis preach for us once again, I believe from Revelation. And then in July and August, I'll do a sermon series called Summer in Psalms. So we'll be in the Psalms. And then thereafter, unless God changes this, the plan is to preach through Daniel in the fall. So if you'll be in prayer for that as we accept, receive, hear God's word as he washes us and renews us both in mind, heart, and spirit, and ultimately in our actions as he sanctifies us with the reading and the preaching of his word. As you turn to Galatians chapter 6, the last section, verses 11 through 18, There are many scholars who believe that in chapter 6 verse 11 that Paul may be speaking of this thorn in the flesh that he mentions elsewhere. That's in 2nd Corinthians 12. That God gives him enough grace to hold up under that, but that this might be a clue that it's his eyesight because he begins this pericope or this section with with what large letters I write to you. So with that in mind, as we walk through this text in Galatians at the very end, I'd like for you to picture a scene with me, a scene as if the early church in Galatia is receiving this letter, this letter that was passed around. And as the word gets to the elders or the deacons or the people that this letter has just arrived from the Apostle Paul, And they find that they're going to meet that evening so that this letter can be publicly read to them in their midst. God's holy word. Think about the anticipation that might have occurred. And as the elder gets up and he starts to read this letter that we have now. They know that Paul has been instrumental in their conversion, that Paul is their father in the faith. And as the letter is read, as he reads, there is a sense, as they're reminded that this is scripture, that it's been filled with history, as we've gone through in chapter one, this sort of biography from Paul. And then in chapter two, that he's peeled back this curtain or this drama in the church as he's confronted Peter. who wants to side with the Judaizers over circumcision or even works righteousness. And then in chapter 3, as we've gone through, that Paul is breaking down barriers here, ethnic barriers between the Jews and also the Gentiles in this new church family. In chapter four, that he's challenged them to see the church differently, that they are not just identifying with their own ethnicity or their background, but they are truly spiritual Israel. They are children of Abraham and now of God. And lastly, in chapter five, that he's told them that they're free, but this freedom is a different kind of freedom. It's a freedom not to sin, This freedom is not just for themselves, but it's they're actually free to love one another. And now you can feel the hush. As they approach the end of this letter, they sense they sense. that Paul is bringing it to an end and in the stillness as they try to wrap their mind around all that he's told them and taught them each thought, each insight, each concept, each correction, each life changing and life giving instruction. You sense in his voice that this is where he'll pick up and end in verse 11. He says to us, 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 you, your spirit brothers. Amen. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Father, how pertinent. and life-giving your words were 2,000 years ago, and how amazing it is that they're life-giving to us even now. So teach us with them. Point us to the incarnated word, the embodied word, King Jesus himself today. Lift high his name in our midst. Refresh us. Renew us in our minds. and cultivate the affections that we need for him to be more like him and to be him to each other. We pray all of this in his name and to his glory. Amen. So why does Paul sum up this letter this way? Well, let me give you an example as we begin. For those who are late adapters like myself, I'm talking about technology. There are these things called apps. And these apps not only are on your phone, but they're also on these new things called TVs, these smart TVs. And it's interesting to me that as you purchase these apps, sometimes you can download them, but they require a subscription. But just having the app meaning the main app of any certain like ESPN or Hulu or one of those. It's just not enough. It's just not enough, right? I mean, not just ESPN if you're a sports fan like I am, but ESPN Plus. Not just the Apple operating system, but you can have Apple Plus These apps that are plus are essentially communicating to us that we can have what we enjoy, our pleasure, even more. We can plumb the depths if we just pay more. I want to say this about this plus stuff because I think that's maybe a good way to frame some of what Paul's been talking about in Galatians. that the underlying reason for Paul's entire letter to the Galatians was to tell them that when you add plus circumcision, when you add plus cultural identity, when you add plus works in any way to the once for all atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins, that you have now subscribed and are dependent on a completely different platform for your salvation. It's called the law. It's not bad. It is a good grace to us, but it's a different operating system for justification and only Christ can fulfill the obligations required for the salvation of his people. You and I, we can't afford it. We can't pay for it. It will cost us eternity if that is the platform with which we use because we'll never have enough righteousness. We'll never be good enough. We'll never be able to fulfill that contract that the children talked about earlier, the covenant of works or the covenant of life as some say. And Paul wants to drive it home, and so he says, see with what large letters I'm writing you. There are two reasons here, what you may be able to call, I might just call, the cross plus package. There are two reasons that someone might take those. And I think he unpacks it here. And then I'm gonna give you three main points from that. But in this cross plus package, in verse 12, it says, why would we subscribe to that? Well, maybe it is to those who want to make a good showing in the flesh. Maybe a reason might be to subscribe to this cross plus works or circumcision would be to show, to make a good showing. Paul is asking. What do I leave with you with these large letters? What does your church look like? What do you display, Galatians? Well, you have to go deeper than the external. Circumcision is too shallow. Parading your works around is making a good show. You may look right. You may look complete. But it's superficial. You'll completely miss the substance of the cross and what I've been teaching you. If the cross doesn't stand alone as your payment to reconcile you to God, then you will seek to make a good showing or add your self-dependent good works so as to soften the offense of the cross. This is why the Judaizers are wanting to make a good show of recruiting these Galatians into a works form of righteousness. They want to soften the offensiveness of the cross. Now, why would they want to do that? Well, Paul tells us here that they want to avoid persecution. the very cross of Christ, in verse 12, it says, so that they may not be persecuted for the cross. You see, if I can soften the reality of the cross, at least in show, if I can say, yes, I'm a Christian, but I have a respectable religion. If I can make it more palatable to the world, for here in this text, more palatable to the first century Jews, then some people might be more accepting of me. They may see me as reasonable and respectable. Now this might be confusing for us because in the 21st century we've sort of sanitized this idea of the cross, right? We've got them, you know, go to James Avery, we've got jewelry, we've got Hobby Lobby, you know, crosses or whatever, we've got bumper stickers. It's probably the most recognized symbol in the world, the cross. But you and I don't see people executed in Lubbock Town Square in 2024. To lift high the cross invited persecution for the first century Christian because it was brutal, it was shameful, it was torturous, it was something to seek escape from, to flee from even the mention of. I mean, we don't have a hard time with this because most of us have never even seen an execution. But imagine if executions were public. here and now. Imagine if we saw friends or family, loved ones executed in public. Wouldn't it be a topic at the dinner table? I can assure you that. I mean, in first century Rome, even the mention of the cross in polite society, they would use euphemisms, different words. It was a bad word. It was an ugly word. Clarence Jordan, who was a professor at Southern Seminary many years ago, wrote this interesting sort of translation of some scripture. It was called the Cotton Patch Bible. And in it he says, God forbid that I should ever take pride in anything except the lynching of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's his translation. Do you feel how unsettling the image is? I mean, the cross is offensive because it meant pain, but here's what Paul's gonna say. Boast in it. What? What? I mean, if I'm gonna boast in something, I'm going to glory in it. I'm going to revel in it. I'm going to immerse myself, declare it to those around me. How do you do this with the cross? How do you do it? Well, I think you'll give us three things here. Three expressions. Number one, how do we boast? We actually embrace or you could say engage the pain of the cross in reflection. Embrace the pain of the cross in reflection. And number two, That we plumb or maybe even promote the purpose of the cross. What was it for? And then number three, that we actually recognize the result of the cross for us. Recognize the result of the cross. The Judaizers found the cutting of the flesh in circumcision more palatable than the thought of the pain of the cross. The pain of the cross brought persecution because it was offensive. And they wanted to escape this persecution. Today, the cross really is still, it still is offensive, I'll say that. But it's offensive in a deeper way than just physical. Maybe you're a Christian, maybe you're here, maybe you're not a Christian, but either way, you may say, I'm not offended at this cross. But the message of the cross of Christ is initially offensive to the human heart. It can be insulting to be told that we are weak, that we are dead, that we are sinful. The message of the cross is that we need a savior who died for us on this cross, and that can initially be offensive to the theologically progressive mind, It speaks of intolerance because it says it's the only way for us to be saved. To the theologically conservative mind, the cross is offensive because it states that good people are in as much trouble as bad people. Maybe we haven't suffered persecution for our faith. I don't think I have, really. Not when I look around the world. But even the universal experience of pain of life is understood differently at the cross. To have been saved by Christ because of the cross, we can know pain differently because we know the underpinnings of all pain. That the world is not the way it was created to be, but that the cross of Christ presents a doorway through our pain. That's why we can boast in it. Listen, because of the cross, we don't have to avoid persecution or pain like the Judaizers by compromising the message of the cross. The reality is that to boast in the cross is not to trivialize pain. but it's to give us a perspective from God's view of pain. It tells us that God himself suffered in Jesus and that in his pain, and if this is Ephesians four, that he is being matured in the stature and the fullness of who God wanted him to be. When pain in life comes, when it's emotional, like disappointment, or physical, like a diagnosis, or spiritual, like doubt, the cross tells us that it's simply not to hurt us, or to teach us a lesson, or to whip us, it is to heal us. It is to heal us. It is to make us more like Jesus himself. And I don't say that lightly. Because there's fear when you see pain in the future. But it makes us mourn the fullness of Christ. I love Dane Ortlin. He's written excellent books. But he says this, he says, if you want to be a solid, weighty, radiant old man or woman someday, let the pain in your life force you to believe your own theology. Let it propel you into deeper fellowship with Christ than ever before. And we can boast in that, that God used bad stuff like the cross to bring glorious life. So what does it mean to boast then? It means not running from. but embracing the pain of the cross in our reflection. Facing pain through the doorway of the cross. It means that the pain we experience will be paid for, remedied, and transformed in the glory because of the cross. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians, for this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. That's what he says. So not just embracing or reflecting the pain of the cross, but also number two, promoting the purpose of the cross. Look at 14 with me. It says, he says, but far be it for 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. Another translation says, may I never boast except in the cross of Christ. What is the purpose of the cross? The purpose is that the wrath of God is satisfied. The wrath that we have earned, it is satisfied and paid for on this cross. God satisfied, us justified. And here's the motivation for the promotion or the boasting of this cross, that I don't have to take credit for my satisfaction or my justification because it would be misplaced. And out of grace, God's glory is realized, that I don't have to take that glory for myself. I don't have to live up to that. I don't have to pretend that I'm owed anything from this world because I haven't earned anything from God. You might say, well, but John, what about where Paul talks about boasting in other things? He does that. He does it in Romans 5. He says, boast in the hope of glory, boast in tribulations. He says in 2 Corinthians, boast in weaknesses. In 1 Thessalonians, boast in your church, in your family. So then how can Paul say that far be it for me to boast, to exalt, to glory in anything but this cross? Well, It means that for Christians, all boasting must actually fall under this cross with an eye towards, with reflection upon. All that I revel in, all I rejoice in is given an eye to the cross because it was made possible by the cross for the Christian. Every good thing that we experience, every blessing, every gift, every love is carried into eternity. because of the cross. Every suffering that matures us to become like Jesus is only made possible by the payment of Christ's death on the cross. The small things in life, even the blessings, they're made possible by the cross. Why? Well, there is a lasting joy or lasting memory or lasting hope as we work through and look through these good gifts through the doorway of the cross into eternal life. But without the cross, unbelievers are still under condemnation. I know we don't like to think about that, but Paul says that there is certainly a common grace for all. common grace that gives good things and riches and blessings to those who are not his. But in Romans 2, he says the kindness of God, the forbearance of God, the patience of God is to lead us to repentance. Boasting in the world seeks to find a place in the world. It's all there is. It's all you get. You want to hold on to it for your own sake. We'll do anything to preserve it at times. But Paul says the old way of thinking, the old world of trying to preserve righteousness, paying for own eternity died for him at the cross, that the world has been crucified to him and he did the world. So lastly, what does it mean that the world has no power over him? If there is nothing in the world to ultimately boast in apart from the cross, and there is nothing in the world that controls us, I can still live in the world. I still have relationships. I still get good gifts. God still blesses. But I'm actually free to enjoy every good gift He gives me. Because it doesn't have power over me. Because I'm not bound to it. I'll give you an example. You know, our kids. I think Lila's gonna go to Naomi's art camp this week. I hope that was public. I just made it public. And Lila loves art. She loves, she draws, hours, draws, cards. It's wonderful. You know, sometimes a little abstract, outside the lines, you know. But what is it about the things she gives me all the time? What is it about those things that make them just meaningful? It's because there is a reflection of her in them. There is a motivation or intent, a sealed envelope of love for me to enjoy from my child. And so, when I see it, when I think about it, The gift is an expression of her. So I don't have to fear the loss. Of good gifts. I don't have to be obsessed with them. Because they're not an Indian of themselves. They fall into the work of Christ on the cross that all that is could is reflected at. This barbaric cross. The gifts always point to the giver. How do we know this? Lastly, because the results of the cross. Paul calls it a rule in verse 16. Walking by the rule of the cross in this broken and sinful world with a new freedom of power from the old order. What is the result of the cross? He says, well, in verse 16, that may peace and mercy rest upon us. Isn't this a longing of every one of our hearts? That peace and mercy would rest upon us, to be at peace, to know mercy when condemnation is presented. We can boast, we can have confidence in the cross that brings peace with God. But the cross not only opens the door of peace with God, it is the picture of mercy. It's not just a disposition. Mercy is the only descriptor of God given in the Bible. We're given that He is rich in it. So to boast in the cross is to shed tepid thoughts of the mercy of God. To boast in the cross is to recognize that God is rich in unending mercies flowing out of His action for Son at the cross. There's no limit to the currency of God's mercy. One pastor put it that he is a billionaire of mercy. As Christ is high and lifted up on this cross, his mercy descends to us. Some of us come this morning and you know, I mean, we feel the pain of condemnation, at least in our minds and our hearts. We feel the pain of uncommon, the pain of not yet realized pain that may be coming our way. We might think that maybe our life is not evidence of the mercy of God, that we don't seem to experience Christ's compassion and action. But the answer for us here in this text is that this is not for our lives. The evidence of Christ's mercy, the reason we can look at, boast in, find confidence in the cross of Christ is the evidence of his mercy found in his life. that he was mistreated, that he was misunderstood, that he was rejected, that he walked through pain. And that the result of that, when we experienced those same things, is that the confidence of the cross is that he's catching the shattered pieces of our lives and he's making a new creation out of them. And that is why, that is why Paul can say at the very end of his letter, don't boast anything but the cross. All good. comes out of and under it, as we're reconciled to God. All right, let's pray. Father, because what you've done to your Son, once for all, in all of human history and creation, Would you not give us all good things? You have given him for us and now to us, and as we meet him, as we come to the table. We ask for more of him. Help us to look through the doorway. Of the cross and the true life. Father, I pray for everyone here. that in pain or sorrow, in joy, and in the good times, God, that we would know that it is the cross of Christ that transforms, that makes beautiful things, that creates a weight of glory for us, most of all, though, for Jesus. Help us to hold on to Him. Help us to hold on to Him. We pray this in His name. Amen.