This week we’re in one of the great texts of Scripture –
Galatians 6:11-14. And the reason it’s one of the greatest is because it’s all
about the power of the Cross – which is the Gospel. Here in these verses Paul
sets forth the centrality of the Cross,
the comprehension of the Cross, and the change that the Cross alone can make in our
hearts.
To set up Sunday’s message, I’ve decided to quote verbatim
the most recent newsletter one of my mentors, Dr. Steve Brown. It’s a little
long. It’s biting. And it’s a perfect introduction to Paul’s message of
Galatians 6. Steve writes:
A friend sent me a quote by C.F.W.
Walther, a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod founder and probably its best-known
theologian. I’ve thought about that quote all morning.
If
you don’t like the quote, just stop reading there. You’ll probably end up
outraged and offended…and that’s kind of “in” these days. Everybody is outraged
and offended, so you can join that very big club. (Another friend said there
ought to be a Sunday school class called The Outraged and Offended and
it would be the biggest class in his church.)
Here’s
the quote: “While it is indeed necessary to preach against gross vices…such
preaching produces nothing but Pharisees.”
You
want to feel guilty? (That’s neurotic but it is the gift that keeps on giving
and a place where some people like to live.) Read Romans 1-3 but don’t read it
at night before you go to sleep because it will keep you up. It’s in-your-face
about sin and, unless you’re dead, it will make you wince. Then Paul in Romans
7 confesses his sins so that everybody knows he’s not an outsider of the human
race. And then, just when you think Paul is writing a New Testament version of
the book of Ecclesiastes, he writes something so amazing and wonderful it will
take your breath away: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in
Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2).
I
teach seminary students they should preach the law to get people guilty enough
to run to Jesus. It’s God’s methodology of evangelism. Then they should preach
grace until people profoundly and deeply understand its unconditional and
radical nature. And I always add, “Preach it again so they won’t get
discouraged. Then, if you must, preach on sin.”
The
truth is that knowledge of sin is the least of a Christian’s problems…with
serious Christians anyway. I’ve never met a Christian who doesn’t want to be better
than he or she is. That’s true and it’s true of me too. I know about my sin
and, Lord knows, I have spent a good deal of my life trying to manage it, hide
it or fix it. And frankly, I haven’t been that successful.
The truth is
that knowledge of sin is the least of a Christian’s problems…with serious
Christians anyway.
I’m
writing this in January. Tomorrow morning I’m going to Birmingham as one of the
speakers (along with David Zahl and Dudley Hall) at a conference sponsored by
my friend, Jack Williams (among others), a state congressman who profoundly
understands grace and wants everybody else to understand it too.
The
conference is “Coming Back Stronger.” It’s a great name because it presupposes
that if one comes back…one has left.
And
we do leave, don’t we?
As
you know, in Jesus’ story about the prodigal son in Luke 15, there were two
sons. One went to live with the pigs in a far country. The other son stayed at
home, went to church, obeyed all the rules, and flossed every morning. Now let
me tell you the rest of the story (Jesus told me and he’s a friend of mine).
The
son who went to the far country went back there. They always do. Okay, he
didn’t stay as long this time, but he did go back. And that’s not all. The
“perfect” brother went to the far country too. He got tired of being good and
when he wasn’t, faking it. So in a fit of anger and frustration, he made his
way to the far country as well. They almost always do.
However
there is a difference. The rebellious son came back, perhaps more than once,
because they (i.e. those who have been loved and know they don’t deserve it)
always do. The other son went to the far country, built a house there and
stayed because they (i.e. those who are faking it) almost always do.
Steve,
you are so frustrating! Don’t you care about sin?
Actually,
I do. I’m an expert. I know the horror and destruction of sin. (It’s why the
Bible talks about it so much.) Almost all my life I’ve watched sinners sin and,
as a preacher/teacher, tried to do everything I knew to prevent it. But I know
it firsthand too. I know the darkness, destruction, and guilt of my own sin.
While I haven’t built a house in the far country, I regularly rent a place
there…and I’m ashamed to even admit that.
I
just got off the phone with a missionary friend with a large radio ministry in
Mexico. He has been criticized for being antinomian (not caring about sin or
the law) and asked me how to handle it. He knows I’ve been there and have the
T-shirt. Frankly, I gave him some good advice. (I’ve been doing this for a long
time and, while I may not be all that smart, I’m not stupid and have learned
some important things along the way.) I told him to not let it go, but to
address it over and over again. And then I told him to tell the critics that
sin is dangerous not only because of what it does, but because of how, when we
think we’ve conquered it, we can become Pharisees. That kind of
self-righteousness is the most dangerous place in which we can live. Walther
was right.
Did
you hear about the man who walked into a bar and saw a dog playing poker? In
his astonishment, the man asked the bartender, “Is that dog really playing
poker?”
“Yes,
he is.”
“That’s
amazing.”
“Actually,”
the bartender replied, “it really isn’t. He’s not very good at it. Every time
he has a good hand, he wags his tail.”
You
can always tell a Pharisee. (No, it’s not because he or she wags his or her
tail.) You can always tell Pharisees by where they live and set up permanent
residence. If it’s in the far country, don’t bother to kill the fatted calf or
prepare the party. They probably won’t show.
You
can tell when someone gets grace too. They often blush, sometimes are ashamed,
and on occasion lie about being in the far country. But watch them. You’ll find
they almost always run back to the Father because they know that living in the
far country is a dark place and remember the Father’s love.
And
each time they come home, as Lincoln said about the South after the Civil War,
“It will be as if they never left.”
Now that’s
the Gospel and only the Cross makes any of that possible. It’s the Cross that’s
center stage this Sunday – Confirmation Sunday.
In
preparation for Sunday’s message you may wish to consider the following:
- What’s your definition of grace?
- What’s significant about Paul’s handwriting in verse 11?
- Why has verse 14 been called “one of the greatest explanations of the Cross and its meaning in Scripture?
- What is the problem with linking the Cross so closely with conversion?
- How does I Corinthians 2:1-5 shed light on our text?
- How does Jesus’ rebuke of Peter in Matthew 16:23 prove that Jesus’ essential mission was the Cross?
- What does Paul mean in verse 14(a) when he says, “Far be it from me to boast except in the Cross?”
- Why does Paul reject this common Christian refrain, “It doesn’t matter what you believe. It only matters how you live”?
- What test does Paul suggest in verse 12 to determine whether you are comprehending the meaning of the Cross?
- How does the Cross alone change the human heart?
Steve’s
letter is reprinted from the Key Life website:
http://www.keylife.org/articles/how-to-spot-a-pharisee
