“It’s All About the Gospel (Galatians 6:11-18)”, Will DuVal | 11/16/25
Galatians 6:11-18 | 11/16/25 | Will DuVal
I have a confession to make: this is the first sermon for which I experimented with getting help from A.I.. I asked ChatGPT for stories of people who were SINGLE-MINDEDLY FOCUSED on a cause. And MAN, what a powerful tool! It instantly gave me a list:
For Jonas Salk, it was all about eradicating polio.
For Irena Sendler, it was all about rescuing children from the Holocaust.
For Chad Pregracke, it was all about cleaning up the Mississippi River.
But the story I found MOST compelling was that of Nikola Tesla, for whom it was all about wireless electricity. Here’s ChatGPT:
“Tesla didn’t want to merely improve electricity—he wanted to liberate it… Electricity, to him, was not a commodity but a natural force that should flow freely… No wires. No power companies. No limits. That belief became a powerful obsession…
[As a young boy,] the raw, uncontained power [of LIGHTNING] entranced him… Years later, after reading Faraday and Volta, Tesla realized lightning was electricity—nature’s own power grid. [And he languished to HARNESS it…]
Tesla worked daily from 3 a.m. to 11 p.m., stopping only when his assistants forced him. He slept only two hours a night, supplementing with short naps. Many nights, he simply didn’t sleep at all. He would take long walks (8-10 miles) to clear and sharpen his mind. He insisted on total silence and solitude during creative periods, ate sparsely and [practiced] a nightly routine of toe-flexing exercises he believed to improve brain function… He never married… [and claimed his only friends were] the ideas that lived in his mind…
Behind [his] obsession was a moral conviction: Tesla believed wireless energy would uplift humanity - eliminate resource inequality, reduce war, offer universal light and power… His cause had a spiritual dimension… And that belief gave him the endurance to persevere through ridicule, financial ruin, and physical exhaustion.”
For Nikola Tesla, life was ALL ABOUT wireless electricity.
Friends: what it’s all about… FOR YOU? What is your “OBSESSION”, the thing you LIVE for, worth suffering RIDICULE and ruin for? The object of your deepest HOPE, your greatest confidence, your utmost “BOAST”, to borrow the apostle Paul’s word from Galatians 6:14 for this morning. The Greek word here - kauchaomai (kow-KHAH’-om-ahee) - means so much more than just bragging; as John Stott explains, “it means to… glory in, trust in, rejoice in, revel in, to live for. The object of our boast or glory “fills our horizons, engrosses our attention, and absorbs our time and energy. In a word, it is our obsession.” (John Stott, the cross of Christ, p 349.)
What’s that for YOU? For PAUL, the answer was clear: “far be it from me [or God FORBID me] to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Paul’s boast, and the boast of EVERY true follower of Christ, is in the GOSPEL - the good news of Jesus’ sacrificial death in our place on the cross, to pay the penalty of our sins that we might be forgiven, saved, and reconciled to God our heavenly Father. For Paul, and for US, there is no greater cause to which we can give our lives, than the gospel. Wireless electricity, eradicating polio, rescuing genocide victims - all great causes. But only ONE obsession, one life-CONSUMING pursuit - reigns SUPREME over all others: our boast, our hope, our glory is in the cross of Christ.
This is the message, the final NOTE Paul wants to leave RINGING in our ears, as he wraps up his letter to the Galatians this morning, in ch6, vv11-18, where we turn our attention now together.
(SCRIPTURE:) I invite you to STAND with me as you’re able… Galatians 6:11-18 [Bibles… Info Bar…]:
“See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. 12 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. 13 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. 14 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. 15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16 And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.”
This is the word of God… Seated…
-
Now before we actually unpack Paul’s grand finale here, I wanna back up, as we do at the end of EVERY book of the Bible we study together, and do a brief RECAP. For THREE REASONS:
to better appreciate the CONTEXT for Paul’s ending here;
To fill in any big picture, important gaps in your study notes and your understanding of Galatians as a whole;
And most importantly, as is the primary purpose of ALL our Bible study, to heighten our awe and wonder and worship of the Lord as we revel in the glory of His word.
So, Galatians in 5 minutes!:
Paul opened the letter with his CREDENTIALS - I’m “an APOSTLE, not through men but through Jesus CHRIST” - then a very short salutation, which included, significantly, the GOSPEL - “Grace and peace to you [Galatians] from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us…”- the GOSPEL!. But then just as quickly, Paul’s tone shifted to the REPROACHFUL - “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel”. And we flipped ahead to ch2 where Paul gives us more CONTEXT: that “certain men from Jerusalem”, known as the Judaizers, or “circumcision party” had snuck into the churches in Galatia that Paul had evangelized and planted, and were trying to persuade the new Christians there that Paul had only given them PART of the gospel - Christ crucified and resurrected for the forgiveness of your sins; sure, that’s PART of it - but to be a MATURE Christian you need to get CIRCUMCISED and follow the entire OT law of MOSES. To which PAUL replies, “NO! That’s a DIFFERENT gospel, which is actually no “gospel” - it’s not “GOOD news” - at ALL, because it says your status with God depends on YOUR works for HIM, instead of resting in Christ’s FINISHED work for YOU! Jesus plus NOTHING: THAT is the gospel”, Paul says, “and there IS NO OTHER! “If anyone preaches a gospel contrary to this one, let him be accursed.” Damned.”
Then in the SECOND half of ch1, Paul tells us more about how he RECEIVED the gospel: again, not from MAN, but through a direct revelation of Christ JESUS Himself, on the road to Damascus: “I was advancing in Judaism… so extremely zealous was I… persecuting the church… But [GOD] who had set me apart before I was even born, called me by his grace, [and] was pleased to reveal his Son to[e] me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles”. And we saw in Paul the quintessential example of God’s power to radically transform us from DEATH to LIFE by the GOSPEL - his unmerited, unbounded GRACE.
In ch2, Paul told us what it means to be “one IN the gospel”, with one another: it means we share one MESSAGE (Christ crucified), one MENACE (Satan is STILL trying to DIVIDE the church today, just as he sought to 2 millennia ago in Galatia), we share one MERIT (not our OWN, but CHRIST IN us), and we share one MISSION: to TAKE this gospel to every corner of the globe, til the whole world has heard the good news of JESUS.
Then in part TWO we observed Christ’s one STANDARD for His Church - there is NO room for double standards, one for Jews and another for Gentiles; there can’t be division in Christ’s body - we share one SOLIDARITY - when a Christian DOES try and make distinctions (like PETER did, in excluding the Gentiles from his LUNCH table), we REBUKE them (like PAUL did). Because we share one SALVATION - “a person is not justified [made RIGHT with God] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ”; circumcision… eating kosher… observing the Jewish festivals… they can’t add one BIT to your salvation! And in light of Christ’s sacrifice for us, we share one SACRIFICE now as well: our life for HIS. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me…. who loved me and gave himself for me.”
In ch3, Paul explicated further for us what it means that we are saved “not by LAW but by faith”. It’s by faith we are JUSTIFIED (“declared RIGHTEOUS before God”); by faith we are VIVIFIED (brought from death to LIFE); by faith we are FORTIFIED (strengthened with the Holy SPIRIT); and by faith we are NATURALIZED (or made CITIZENS of God’s heavenly kingdom; and not just citizens, but God’s SONS and DAUGHTERS by ADOPTION).
Which comes not just by faith, but by PROMISE. Paul argued: the law brings a CURSE, whereas God’s promise brings us BLESSING. The law can bring us conviction; but God’s promise offers us ASSURANCE of salvation. The law brings only imprisonment, while God’s promise offers us FREEDOM. And the law brings DEATH, while God’s promise brings us new LIFE.
And it is BECAUSE of God’s promise that we are no LONGER now slaves to the law, but we are SONS of the FATHER. No longer TAUGHT but BOUGHT (the law was a good TEACHER, but only CHRIST could redeem us, buy us OUT of our SIN). We are no longer SEGREGATED (“there is now neither JEW nor GENTILE, neither SLAVE nor FREE”, no RICH or POOR, BLACK or WHITE, Republican or Democrat… “for we are all one in Christ Jesus”!); we’ve been INTEGRATED into the unified family of God. No longer SLAVES, but SONS and daughters.
And AS God’s children now, “the old has GONE, the NEW must COME!” Paul exhorted us in ch4: “Now let’s LIVE like the blood-bought, born again, old-made-new children of God that we ARE!” No longer pursuing IDOLATRY (cheap substitutes for God), but rather INTIMACY with God. No longer operating out of SELFISHNESS, but rather self-LESS concern for others. Turning from ego and envy to invite both exhortation and encouragement from our brothers and sisters in Christ, “until [he] is formed IN [us]” (4:19).
Then Paul interpreted the OT story of Hagar & Sarah allegorically, as a symbol of the OLD covenant vs. the NEW - the LAW (of Moses) vs. GRACE (of CHRIST) - and asked us, “Who’s your MOMMY?” Are you a child of the SLAVE woman, or the FREE woman? (“For freedom Christ has set us free,” we rejoiced, so “do not submit again to a yoke of slavery”!) We don’t look BACK to Mt. SINAI, and its law; we look FORWARD to Mt. ZION, the heavenly Jerusalem, and its glorious gates of GRACE.
In ch5, Paul reiterated his point about “standing FIRM” in our freedom in Christ, and REFUSING to look BACK to the old law for our hope and righteousness, which can only be found in Christ ALONE.
He spurred us on to now WALK in freedom, “serving one another in LOVE”, “crucifying the FLESH, with its passions and desires”, that we might LIVE by, be LED by, keep in STEP with… the SPIRIT.
Then Paul listed for us the WORKS of the flesh (“immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity… and things like these”; the list goes ON…) in contrast to the FRUIT of the SPIRIT: it’s not a COCONUT, but “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”.
FINALLY, in ch6 last Sunday, Paul showed us how this good “fruit” manifests itself in the context of our gospel relationships, gospel COMMUNITY within the Church: it’s through our gentle restoration of others caught in sin, our humble helping when their burdens are just too heavy, our conscientious carrying of our OWN loads, our grateful generosity, and our sowing to the Spirit which ought to result in selfless GOODNESS towards ALL.
…Which brings us to Paul’s grand FINALE, the conclusion and CULMINATION of this eminent epistle. What is the most momentous message Paul LEAVES us with here?
The GOSPEL. It’s all about the GOSPEL. And specifically, Paul leaves us with six significant truths - a combination of exhortations (“we MUST be… about the gospel”), declarations (“we ARE… by the gospel”), and expectations (“we WILL be… FOR the gospel”). 2 each.
#1- We must be EMPHATIC about the gospel (v11).
Paul begins his ending by writing: “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.” Scholars note “Paul’s custom, typical in the ancient world, was to dictate his letters to a secretary. But he would often personally write a short portion at the end, both to authenticate the letter and to add a personal touch” (David Guzik, Enduring Word Commentary, “Galatians 6”).
Now, as for the “large letters” part, some scholars speculate that Paul had poor eyesight. Others suggest this is Paul once again reprimanding the Galatians, treating them like little CHILDREN (“maybe y’all need PICTURES; like a cartoon, COMIC book gospel?”).
But I think the best explanation is simply that Paul writes big here for EMPHASIS. He saves his biggest LETTERS for his biggest POINT: the GOSPEL! Ancient Greek didn’t have capital letters, or exclamation marks, or italicized, underlined, bolded, ALL CAPS 72-point font. But this is Paul’s version of that.
What about you? What are you most EMPHATIC about? What do you reserve your BIGGEST LETTERS for?
Your SPORTS team?
Your POLITICAL party?
Your THEOLOGICAL hobby-horses?
Some Christians get so EMPHATIC about their views on creation or Calvinism, baptism or the end times - important issues to be sure, but not hills worth dying on (much less dividing the CHURCH over!). But friends: God DOES want us to be emphatic about the GOSPEL! Jesus’ final instructions to us were to ““Go into all the world, proclaiming the gospel to the whole creation”! (Mk 16:15). Paul said, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16) Just before he traveled to Jerusalem, where he would be arrested and sent to Rome to stand trial and ultimately be BEHEADED, Paul’s friends in Caesarea BEGGED him not to go, and he replied, ““What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die… for the name of the Lord Jesus!”” (Acts 21:13)
Paul was EMPHATIC about his Savior. May the same be said of us.
#2- We must be DOGMATIC about the gospel (vv12-13).
That is, “inclined to laying down principles as incontrovertibly true.” (Oxford)
Which is a GOOD thing… as long as those principles ARE incontrovertibly true. “Dogmatic” is often used pejoratively of someone who treats their mere OPINIONS as facts (e.g., my view on the rapture). But again: some things are WORTH being “dogmatic” about; there ARE hills that ARE worth dying on, namely, THE GOSPEL!
Paul told the Galatians back in ch1, “if even I should come to you preaching a gospel CONTRARY to this one” - “Jesus plus NOTHING”; Christ is SUFFICIENT for salvation - if even MYSELF or an ANGEL FROM HEAVEN contradicts it, let him be DAMNED! (1:8-9)
And Paul is EQUALLY dogmatic now at the END, in THIS case about his continued CRITICISM of the Judaizer’s FALSE gospel, and ESPECIALLY of their MOTIVES for preaching it. He’s already WARNED us about the WAYWARDNESS of their “Jesus PLUS” gospel itself - they’re trying to add to Christ’s finished work on the cross, to which Paul replied in ch5: “if you [try and ADD] circumcision [to the gospel], Christ will be of no advantage to you” (v2). NOW Paul chides the Judaizers’ MOTIVES; he says there’s only THREE reasons they’re even bothering with the Galatians: power, pride, and protection from persecution.
First, POWER. He says, “[they] would force you to be circumcised”. Paul says, “I didn’t even FORCE JESUS on you; and he (unlike circumcision) is NECESSARY for your salvation!” But Paul knows that true FAITH can’t be FORCED. Instead, as Paul reminded the Corinthians of his evangelistic ethos with them: “when I came to you, brothers,[a] did not come… with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified… my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men[c] but in the power of God.” (1 Cor 2:1-5) But the Judaizers just wanted to exert their OWN power over others.
Second: PRIDE. They “want to make a good showing in the flesh… they want to have you circumcised so they can boast in your flesh.” Now, that seems like a rather STRANGE thing to boast about to US - “Look how many Gentile FORESKINS I’ve collected, from my CONVERTS…” (hopefully they weren’t actually COLLECTING them!)... but they were sure keeping COUNT! And if they TRULY believed that these Galatians needed to keep the law of Moses in order to be SAVED, then it’s no wonder WHY - circumcision was their version of EVANGELISM. Paul was winning SOULS; the Judaizers were winning foreskins.
And yet their HYPOCRISY was obvious: “even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law”; they insist on Y’ALL keeping the very law that they themselves violate daily. They were no different from the Pharisees in Jesus’ day, hypocrites of whom he said, “observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice” (Matt 23:3).
Third, Paul says the biggest reason the Judaizers have LEFT the gospel in favor of the LAW instead, is “in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ”. Christianity was NEW and threatening to the Romans; 11 of the 12 apostles DIED for their faith. And even more than ROME, the earliest Christians faced persecution from the JEWS, who still viewed the Church as a Jewish heresy that needed to be SQUASHED. But the Judaizers had found a clever compromise - we can KEEP our Jesus (they thought), and just add him TO our JUDAISM. Our fellow JEWS will leave us alone; ROME will leave us alone; everybody WINS.
Except for the part where JESUS said, “whoever would save his life[g] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt 16:25). The part where he said ‘my TRUE disciples “will be HATED by ALL for my name’s sake” (Matt 10:22). But “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:10).
What do all THREE of these motivations have in common? Power, pride AND persecution-protection? They’re all SELFISH! The Judaizers didn’t care about the GALATIANS at ALL; only themselves.
Friends, this is NOT the way of the GOSPEL. The good news is that Jesus possessed ALL power, and could have lorded it over us, “forced” us to obey, but “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:45).
Jesus, who ALONE had REASON to “boast” and be prideful, but instead “emptied himself, by taking the form of a slave… he humbled himself… to the point of death, even death on a [shameful] cross.” (Ph 2:7-8).
Jesus, who LEAST deserved persecution, and who most EASILY could have AVOIDED it, and called down a LEGION of angels to his defense, but “for the joy that was set before him, willingly endured the cross” for our sake (Heb 12:2).
This is the GOSPEL. And we must be DOGMATIC about it. Even if it causes US persecution… or let’s be real: “slight discomfort”. In all likelihood, no one here is facing death or imprisonment for our faith any time SOON. But it COULD cost us a RELATIONSHIP. A JOB. Some social awkwardness. Phil Ryken notes (Galatians, 271): “Christians today inevitably face this same temptation (to COMPROMISE, that the Judaizers succumbed to) because the cross has a way of inviting persecution. It arouses opposition because it says that we are sinners under God’s curse. It tells us that we need someone else to die for our sins, that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves, only trust in Jesus.”
Friends, the cross is OFFENSIVE (Gal 5:11), “a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles… but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:23, 18). It is the GOSPEL.
And #3 - We are LAID BARE by it (v14).
If the Judaizers had 3 selfish motives for preaching circumcision (power, pride, & protection from persecution), Paul says here that the CROSS - the TRUE gospel - actually does just the OPPOSITE: it EXPOSES and STRIPS us of our pride, power and protection. Consider all three; Timothy George (Galatians, P437) notes: “There is a triple crucifixion… in this text: the crucified Christ, the crucified world, and the crucified Christian.”
First, and MOST importantly: the crucified CHRIST strips us of our PRIDE; “far be it from me to BOAST except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”. We can’t come to the foot of the cross unless we are EMPTY-HANDED, ready to cling to Christ ALONE; HIS righteousness, not my own.
But as we’ve already noted, to “boast” means much more than “brag”; it means to GLORY! David Guzik points out (“Galatians 6”): “It is hard for us to appreciate just how strange Paul’s words are here. For people who knew what crucifixion was all about, the words “cross” and “glory” just did not go together. They were direct opposites because there was not a more humiliating, shameful way to be executed than the cross…The word crux was unmentionable in polite Roman society… even when one was condemned to death by crucifixion the sentence used [in court] was… aa sort of euphemism: arbori infelici suspendito, ‘hang him on the unlucky tree.’” (Bruce, cited in Morris) But Paul not only used this unmentionable word; he gloried in it.”
As do WE, Church.
“It is done, it is finished, no more dеbt we owe!”
Because “Jesus paid it ALL…
O PRAISE the one
Who paid my debt
And raised this life up
From the DEAD!”
“What could wash away our sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus…
O precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow”
“Now the curse it has been broken
Jesus paid the price for me
Full, the pardon He has offered
Great, the welcome that I receive”
“Singing O How marvelous, O how wonderful
Is my Savior's love for me”
So “I will not boast in anything,
No gifts, no power, no wisdom;
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection.”
And CHRIST’s crucifixion, secondly now, results in the WORLD’S crucifixion as WELL - “by which,” Paul continues, “the world has been crucified to me”.
Ryken explains (277): “the “world” here refers to all the godless values and hopeless pleasures of the present, evil age. It is unredeemed humanity dominated by sin. It is the world apart from God, the mindset of the self seeking its own desire.” And to ALL of that, Paul says: “CRUCIFY it!” He told us back in ch5: “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (5:24). Ryken (277) notes: “In both of these verses the word ‘crucified’ occurs in the perfect tense, which is used for a past event that has a present consequence. This is precisely what the cross is... Our sinful nature was crucified when Christ died on the cross. The present consequence… is that the world is gradually losing its hold on us.”
We boldly declare “this world has NOTHING for me anymore”; “the cross BEFORE me, the WORLD BEHIND me - no turning back, no turning back.” We declare with the disciples, whom Jesus asked, “Are you SURE you wanna keep following me?”, Peter proclaimed: ““Lord, WHERE else would we even go? You ALONE have the words of eternal life” (John 6:67-68).
But LASTLY, not just the crucified CHRIST, and the crucified WORLD, but the crucified SELF: “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
““If the world hates you,” Jesus prepared his disciples, “know that it hated ME before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (Jn 15:18-19)
“In this world you will have tribulation,” Jesus warned, “But take heart”, he assures us, “ I have overcome the world.”” (Jn 16:33)
But the good news doesn’t stop THERE. We are not ONLY “laid bare” by the gospel - STRIPPED of our pride, power, and protection - God’s purpose in stripping all that away is that he might dress us in CHRIST instead and make us NEW!
#4 - We are MADE NEW by the gospel (v15).
“neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only a new creation.”
“if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.[c] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Cor 5:17)
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2:20) We are made NEW.
And HOW does Christ make us new? Well, that phrase, “neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything” should sound FAMILIAR to you; Paul repeats it here word for word from ch5, v6, where he told us, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.”
Now, I don’t know if you remember the transitive property of equality from elementary school MATH (“If A=B and B=C then…” WHAT? A=C! Right!).
If the only thing that counts is “faith working through love”... but the only thing that counts is ALSO “a new CREATION”... then ERGO, ipso facto, that means we must BECOME, be MADE “new creations in Christ”... BY faith working THROUGH love.
“God… because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, made us alive [NEW!] together with Christ—by grace you have been saved… through FAITH. This is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph 2:4-9)
And AS new creations in Christ, what do we now look FORWARD to? Paul’s given us his EXHORTATIONS - “we must be EMPHATIC and DOGMATIC about the gospel” - and his DECLARATIONS - “we are LAID BARE so we can be MADE NEW by the gospel” - now we end with his EXPECTATIONS for all believers.
First, #5- We will be PERSECUTED for the gospel (v17).
We’ve seen it already: they persecuted PAUL (“I bear on my body the marks of Jesus”), they persecuted JESUS, and he GUARANTEED us that “if they persecuted me, they WILL persecute you also.”
Remember, that’s the whole reason Paul’s writing this letter in the FIRST place; a LOW-grade form of persecution anyway: the JUDAIZERS were causing Paul TROUBLE, by troubling his beloved CHURCHES. But now he warns them: “From now on let no one cause me trouble”. I tried being PATIENT; “love is slow to ANGER… it BEARS all things.” But it’s not actually LOVING - to yourself OR to them - to allow someone to go on ABUSING you. So Paul warns the Judaizers: “Consider this your FINAL warning.”
“For I already BEAR on my BODY the marks of JESUS”. Paul has already been STONED and left for DEAD in Lystra, one of the CITIES in this region of Galatia (see Acts 14:8-20). And that was just a TASTE of what Paul would have to endure throughout his earthly ministry. By the time he wrote 2 Corinthians, Paul recorded, “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness… danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” (11:23-28) Amidst all his PERSONAL sufferings, Paul still found time to be worried for the spiritual condition of his CHURCHES! Like the Galatians.
But brothers and sisters: this is what it MEANS to belong to Christ. Maybe not the beatings and stonings, but we WILL suffer some strained relationships. Some promotion pass-overs. And like Paul, we OUGHT to suffer some “daily anxiety” for the spiritual condition of OTHERS as well. It would be really GREAT at times, to subscribe to a worldview that DIDN’T cause me to lose sleep over, stay up PRAYING for, Polly’s 93 year old grandfather who, in all likelihood, judging from the spiritual “FRUIT” (Gal 5:22-23), is NOT saved, and who is therefore, every night when HE goes to bed, at 93 in poor health, playing rush and roulette with his ETERNAL FATE. I don’t ENJOY believing that. But that doesn’t make it any less TRUE. And we ALL have our crosses to bear, our unbelieving LOVED ones to lose SLEEP over, PRAYING for.
“In this world we will suffer tribulation.”
“...But,” Jesus assures us, “take heart; I have overcome the world.””
And friends, BECAUSE Jesus overcame… the WORLD, the ENEMY, the CROSS, our SIN, death and HELL!... because he overcame it ALL, for US, WE now get to receive…
#6- BLESSING. We will be BLESSED for the gospel (vv16, 18).
Notice: Paul OPENED his letter with a CURSE upon anyone who preached a different gospel (1:8-9); now he ENDS it with a BLESSING for all who hold to the TRUE gospel: “And as for all who walk by this rule [this PRINCIPLE; the Greek word is “canon”, as in the “canon of Scripture”; it means STANDARD; the GOSPEL is the STANDARD for all Christian BELIEF and BEHAVIOR. As for all who WALK by it…], peace and mercy [BLESSING] be upon them”...
“...and upon the Israel of God”. Ryken explains (279): “This is a way of saying that the Church is the new Israel. There is continuity between the old covenant and the new, between the Old Testament people of God and the New Testament Church. The promises God made to Israel, are fulfilled in the true spiritual Israel, which is the Church”. Remember what Paul told the Galatians back in ch3, when they were so OBSESSED with being JEWISH, being circumcised, being “sons of Abraham” - “It is those of faith who are the [TRUE] sons of Abraham... if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.” (3:7, 29)
Galatians began in ch1 with GRACE (1:3) and now it ENDS with GRACE - “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” (6:18). For Paul, it is all about the gospel, and the gospel is all about GRACE!
But FRIENDS, don’t miss THIS: Tony Merida points out (p139) that this is the only one of all Paul’s benedictions, to all 13 of his NT letters, that is CONDITIONAL: “as for all who walk by this rule” – in OTHER words, “Only SOME of you are gonna RECEIVE the blessing, of God’s peace and mercy, Christ’s GRACE in your SPIRIT… it is ONLY for those who BELIEVE! By GRACE we are saved through FAITH. “Whosoever BELIEVES in me shall not perish,” Jesus promised, “but have ETERNAL LIFE”.
Have you BELIEVED, friend; have you TRUSTED in Jesus Christ, as YOUR only hope in life and death, as YOUR “all sufficient merit”. Are you trusting in Jesus plus NOTHING?
[CONCLUSION]: For all who do, I can offer you no better benediction and ending to this glorious letter than the one Paul himself offered the church in Galatia. So for all those who trust in Christ and Christ alone, hear and receive this blessing:
May “Peace and mercy be upon you… [and may] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.”
Let’s pray…