Title Galatians 06:14-17 For me
Content Main text: Galatians 6:14-17
Title: For me
When Paul met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, his life was completely changed. Because of Jesus, I have a new life.
He now boasted only of Jesus Christ and the cross.
He preached the gospel of life to Jews, Greeks, and Gentiles alike.
Paul visited Galatia and founded many churches.
The Galatia churches accepted the gospel that Paul preached and grew up pure.
However, after Paul left Galatia, the Jews who maintained legalism began to teach false doctrines to the Galatians.
The legalists denied Paul's apostleship and argued against salvation through the cross of Christ, arguing that salvation can only be obtained through keeping the law and being circumcised.
Thousands of Galatian Saints began to be shaken by these claims of false teachers.
The Galatian church members were confused about the law and the gospel.
Therefore, the Apostle Paul rebuked those who lift up the pen and preach other gospels with a strong tone, saying, Cursed (1:8), not by works (circumcision), but by believing that salvation can only be obtained through faith in Jesus. What led to the re-declaration of the doctrine of good faith?
Therefore, Galatians is an alternative declaration of 'the law' and 'the gospel', and 'the great charter of Christian liberty'.
Today, I hope to hear God's voice under the title "For me", centering on the text we read together.
for me
1. The cross is everything.
Verse 14 says, “But I have nothing to boast about except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
Paul, who received the most amazing grace of God in the history of Christianity, said that as a person of the gospel of the cross thoroughly, he had nothing to boast about except the cross.
Because in the cross there is salvation, eternal life, freedom, and infinite grace. Because the cross is the gospel. Because the cross is the power of God for salvation.
But from a worldly point of view, the cross was a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks (1 Corinthians 1:23).
At that time, the cross was nothing to be proud of.
The cross was a sign of disgraceful punishment and death, a frame of complete destruction. That is why this cross is called the cross of the curse (Galatians 3:13).
But the day Jesus Christ died on the cross was the day when God's salvation was accomplished. It was also the day of victory, when Satan's head was broken (Genesis 3:15).
This mysterious cross was the basis of Paul's only boasting and the basis of all hope.
But the legalists tried to boast in the flesh (vv. 12-13).
These were those who boasted about the circumcision of the flesh.
They insisted on circumcision for fear of persecution because of the cross (verse 12). They were only seeking their honor and comfort.
Therefore, they argued that unless they were circumcised according to the law of Moses, they could not be saved (Acts 15:1).
In fact, Paul was a man who could trust in the flesh and boast about it.
He was circumcised on the eighth day, of the house of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, in his zeal, persecuting the church, and in the righteousness of the law he was blameless (Philippians 3:5). -6).
However, after he met Jesus, because of the noblest knowledge of Jesus Christ, he considered all things worldly and physical as harm and excrement (Philippians 3:7-8).
Why does Paul boast only of the cross and want to know only the cross?
It is because you have been born again. He also says that he has been created again in today's text (verse 15).
Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God and you cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3,5).
If you are not born again, you are only interested in the things of the flesh, and you only pursue the things of the flesh.
However, those who have received new life in Jesus boast only the cross and testify only to the cross.
May this grace be with you.
for me
2. There are no worldly things.
Verse 14 says, "...through Christ the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world".
After meeting Jesus, Paul abandoned the world.
The 'world' here means the totality of elements of unbelief and evil.
After knowing Jesus Christ, experiencing the grace of the cross, and being born again, Paul crucified the world that was trying to separate the soul from Christ.
Paul has already lost his charm for a world that seeks the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
All the pleasures, honors, and material things of this world could no longer shake Paul's heart. Because he was already dead to the world.
'Dead to the world' means indifference to the world.
Of course, being dead to the world does not mean indifference to the salvation movement of the elect in the world. Nor does it mean a life on the run as a pessimist.
It means that we have no purpose in a world that has nothing to do with the kingdom of Christ, a world that cannot give any hope to life, and a world that will eventually be destroyed by God's judgment.
As Jesus said, it now refers to the life we live in pursuit of 'His kingdom and His righteousness' (Matthew 6:33).
Previously, I was satisfied with the things of the world and found joy there, but now my values, my outlook on life, and my purpose have been changed to spiritual things through Christ.
That is why Paul is so powerfully confessing.
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20)
If we believe in Jesus and live by faith, the world seems trivial. The world that used to look so big now looks ugly.
How do you relate to the world now?
Even though you believe in Jesus, do you still like the things of the world, and are you attracted to the things of the world?
Or have you crucified your greed for the world or your heart drawn to the world?
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will become believers who are no longer bound by the world and crucify the world.
for me
3. He had the marks of Jesus.
Verse 17 says, "Let no one trouble me from now on, for I have on my body the marks of Jesus."
The word 'trace' here is 'stickmata', which is an archaic word from the verb 'stizzo', which means "to stab", "to shoot" or "to insert".
'Stikmata' refers to a case in which the name of the commander is engraved on a soldier's attire and indicated as a mark.
'Stikmata' was used to label cattle and sheep to indicate their owners.
'Stikmata' was used to engrave the master's name with a heated iron on the body of a runaway slave when caught.
Paul accepted this 'Stikmata' (trails) as an honor.
When quoting 'Stikmata' as this concept, Paul said that he had the marks of Jesus on his body.
In other words, now I am the eternal possession of Jesus, and I am a servant of Jesus.
It is now revealed that he is an unchangeable soldier of Jesus Christ and belonging to Jesus.
Here, 'I have' means 'I have on my back'.
Paul had the marks of putting the seal of Jesus Christ on the cross.
He had this indelible seal of life, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, Paul was a captive to Jesus, who from now on could not act as he wanted, and had to submit only to Jesus Christ, the Lord of life.
I knew that I could never escape from the arms of the Lord because of loving the world.
Indeed, he carried numerous traces of Jesus on his body.
The Bible shows us the countless traces of what has been done for the sake of evangelism.
"Are they Christ's servants? They are speaking frantically, but so am I. I worked too hard, I spent more time in prison, I was beaten many times, and I almost died. Beaten five times, beaten with rods three times, stoned once, shipwrecked three times a day and a night in the deep, and traveled many times in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from my own people, in danger from strangers, in danger in the city, In dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in danger among false brothers, and toiling and toiling, many times not sleeping, hungry and thirsty, often hungry, cold and naked” (2 Corinthians 11:23-27).
Of course, this is not all he suffered. This is because after writing 2 Corinthians, he continued to work for more than 10 years.
He also had mental pain as well as physical pain.
In 2 Corinthians 11:28 it says, "But there is daily pressure within me, anxieties for the sake of all the churches."
Colossians 1:24 says, “I now rejoice in the afflictions that I suffer for you, and fill the rest of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh for the sake of his body, the church.”
This is by no means the shabby and feeble figure of Paul as a loser.
This confession is a picture of a confident victor who was captured by Jesus, received his life, and willingly gave his life for him.
Dear saints,
Paul had something that only he had. For him, the cross was everything, he had given up on the world, and he was a person who had the marks of Jesus.
What do we have? What confession of faith can we make?
From now on, I hope that only the cross is your everything. And we must nail all of our greed and lust for the world to the cross of the Lord.
And today as a witness owned by Jesus, I have the blessing of giving your life to the Lord with a heart that I hope that Christ may be honored in my body, whether I live or die, by engraving on my body one by one the traces of Jesus. bless you in the name of the Lord.