Boasting In The Cross Of Christ (Galatians 6:1-18)

[Read Galatians 6:1-19]

Well, we’ve reached the end of our series through the book of Galatians. I hope you’ve enjoyed participating in it as much as I’ve enjoyed studying and preaching through it. This is an amazing book of scripture, that we could spend years studying and meditating upon, yet all good things must come to an end. 

The overwhelming focus of this book is that we are saved by grace through faith and not by any works of our own. Paul says it one way, then says it another way, then says it another way. He keeps circling around and coming back to it over and over again. He keeps talking about it, then showing us how understanding this should work itself out in our daily lives. 

In my previous sermon, we talked about how there is a war going on in each one of us—our sinful nature is waging war against our renewed nature. This battle makes it difficult to follow Christ. At times we find ourselves messing up and falling into sin. At times this sin results in conflict between brothers and sisters in Christ, which makes it difficult to be in fellowship with one another. Paul doesn’t leave this topic when we get to chapter six. 

He begins chapter six by saying, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1, NIV). So, as we live in community with one another—in a community that has a war going on inside themselves—people are going to mess up and fall into sin. This should be expected. When people fall into sin, we will be tempted to bite and devour them. Yet, Paul says if we do that, we will destroy the church. Rather, than biting and devouring them, we should look to restore them. That’s the goal of any Christian rebuke or confrontation—restoration. We should never rebuke anyone simply because we are annoyed by their actions. We should never rebuke someone as a way of getting back at them, or “giving them a piece of my mind.” The goal should ALWAYS be restoration. 

It’s also important to understand what Paul means when he says, “…you who are spiritual…” because or temptation is to see this as saying, “…you who are better…” or “…you who are spiritually better…”. Yet, when we read this in the context of the previous chapter, we must understand this to mean, “…you who are currently walking in step with the Spirit…”. It is not placing some spiritual hierarchy in the church, saying that there are some who are better than others—and the better ones are the ones who need to restore the worse ones. No way! As we read the rest of this passage, we will see that he is saying the opposite of that. He is simply saying that those who are in a season of life where they are walking in step with the Spirit, they are the ones who need to restore those who have given into the sinful desires of the flesh. At various points in your life, you will be on both sides of this. At some points you will be the one doing the restoring and at other times you will be the one who needs to be restored. It’s not talking about hierarchy but seasons. 

He also talks about the manner in which we restore someone who falls into sin. He says, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:1–2, NIV). When we restore someone who has fallen into sin, we need to do it with gentleness. We also need to do it in a way that carries that person’s burden, rather than heaping more burdens upon their head. So, when we restore someone who has fallen into sin, we must do it in a gentle, burden-bearing way. This is what is means to “serve one another through love” (Galatians 5:13). 

Yet, again, it’s important to notice Paul’s wording. He says, “…if someone is caught in a sin…” (Galatians 6:1, NIV). Luther says, “The words ‘is caught in’ imply being tricked by the devil or by the sinful nature” (289). This is in contrast to someone who is willingly, disobediently living in sin. There’s a major difference. We need to be able to distinguish between those who are hard-heartedly, willingly disobeying God and those who have misstepped and fallen into sin. Luther says, “Those who are hard-hearted and obstinate, who fearlessly continue complacently in their sins, we must rebuke sharply. But those who are caught in a sin and are sorry for their fault must be raised up and admonished by those who are spiritual, but gently and not in the zeal of severe justice” (290). As you read through the gospels you will notice that Jesus makes the same distinctions. When he encounters people with hard-hearts, he rebukes them sharply, but when he encounters people with have fallen into sin and are broken as a result, the deals with them gently. 

It’s important to say this again. Both the sharp rebuke and the gently admonishment are for the purpose of restoration. The only reason we should ever rebuke someone sharply is because we desire them to be restored from their fallen condition. It’s the same reason we must gently admonish the one who is broken over their sin. Each of these “tones of voice” are tools to be used in their specific situations, if used improperly, they end up further hardening the hard-hearted or further breaking the broken-hearted. We must pray for wisdom. 

Paul also says in the process of restoring someone, “But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted…If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” (Galatians 6:1,3, NIV). We must be careful when we restore someone who has fallen into sin. As I’ve studied this passage, I’m convinced the temptation Paul is talking about here is the temptation to pride. That’s why he says, “If you think you’re a big deal, think again. You are deceiving yourself.” There’s a strong temptation to correct someone out of our own pride—our own sense of self-righteousness. There’s a strong temptation to correct someone with an attitude that says, “I can’t believe anyone could ever do something like that! I’ve never sinned in this way! I’ve never sinned THIS bad!” Paul says two things about this way of thinking. First, if you are thinking this way you are deceiving yourself. You shouldn’t be surprised that someone could sin like this because you should be aware of your own tendency to sin. You most like have sinned in this way before and have most likely sinned in far greater ways that this. So, get over yourself. Second, Paul says that we must be very careful to NOT have this attitude when we restore someone in their sin. It is NOT a helpful way to restore someone. 

This is what Jesus is talking about in a well-known passage from the Beatitudes. He says, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1–5, NIV). I’ve had many people quote the first three words of this passage to me over the years. They angrily look at you and judgingly say, “Jesus said, ‘Do not judge!’” Yet, what does Jesus actually say? Look at the last line again: “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5, NIV). Take the log out of your own eye before you take the speck out of another’s eye. Take an honest look at the sin in your life, and your struggle with sin, before you begin to address the sin in other people’s lives. Don’t make excuses and rationalizations for your own sin but then hold other people to a much higher standard. He says look at your own sin, be humbled by that sin, THEN, after being humbled and put in the right spirit, THEN approach your brother who is in sin to restore them. 

Pride is always crouching at our door, waiting to pounce on us. It’s very possible for us to read chapter five, understand that battle raging within us, realize the difficulty of following Christ, then begin to notice that we are making some progress in the faith. At the same time you realize how hard it is to follow Christ and that you are actually following Christ—a little more each day. As a result, you begin to stand up straighter, puff out your chest a bit more, and strut your stuff saying to yourself, “Man, this Christian life is hard, but look at me, I’m doing it. I’m giving up a chunk of my income to the church. I’m devoting a bunch of my time to ministry. I’m actually overcoming some of the sins in my life. I’m doing pretty well!” And the whole time you are bragging yourself up in your head, you are actually sinning! 

There is no boasting in ourselves. Paul says, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14, NIV). When you begin boasting in yourself and your abilities, you have forgotten the gospel. When you begin to boast in yourself, you are showing that—to some degree—you think you are saved by your own works. When you begin boasting in yourself, you have forgotten that even your ability to obey any command from God is a gift of God. Remember what Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5, NIV). So, if the only reason you are able to obey is because of Christ, what do you have to brag about? Nothing! 

The only thing that you can ever brag about is the cross of Jesus Christ. It is only through the cross that you have been freed from your sin. It is only through the cross that you receive any power to live your life in that freedom. Apart from Christ you can do nothing. But, through the cross of Christ, you have been freed from your sin and given the ability to walk in that freedom. So, when you start walking in freedom, give credit where credit is due—Jesus Christ—and then boast away. 

Paul says, “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.” (Galatians 6:15, NIV). You see, in the Galatian church some were boasting about being circumcised and others about being uncircumcised. In the church today, we have people boasting about their giving, their volunteer hours, their sacrifices for the faith, the music in their church, the size of their church, the number of programs they have, etc. And Paul looks at all of these things and says, “None of it means anything; what counts is a new creation.” He doesn’t mean that these things are completely unimportant, but he means these are not things to boast about. If you are giving a lot of your money to the church, you wouldn’t have that money if it wasn’t for Christ and you wouldn’t have the desire to give it apart from Christ. What is there to boast about? If you are bragging about the size of your church, it actually has nothing to do with you but everything to do with what Christ is doing. So, what are you boasting about? The only thing we can boast in is the cross of Jesus Christ. That’s it!

This should bring us humbly before the Lord. Whenever we find ourselves doing something good, we should look to the cross and say, “Thank you Lord for that gift! Thank you Lord for giving me the ability to live in freedom.” Whenever we find ourselves falling into sin, we should also look to the cross and say, “Thank you Lord for the gift of the cross! Thank you for freeing me from sin and forgiving my sins. Thank you that I don’t have to earn my salvation, but simply have to look to you in faith and I will be forgiven.” Whenever we find another brother or sister in Christ who has fallen into sin, let us also look to the cross, being reminded of our own sins that were forgiven, our own temptation to sin and our need for the Spirit’s power, and his ability to do that work in them, then approach that person—in gentle humility—to restore them to the freedom that Christ has won for them. In all of these situations, we are boasting only in the cross of Jesus Christ. May He alone receive glory and honor and praise. Amen!