New Creation and the Marks of Christ: O Freedom! (6) (2016-0814)

Call to
worship, Psalm 30
Children, 2
Kings 5.1-14 (Naaman)
Message, Galatians 6.7-18
This conclusion has the most
damning assessment of the preachers of this no-gospel that Paul is refuting:
They preach circumcision because it makes them more acceptable and removes the
risk from following Jesus: Galatians 6:12  only that they may not be persecuted.
      Again,
Paul points to the cross: Galatians 6:14  May I never boast of anything except the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to
the world.
      Again,
Paul points to the Spirit – “sow to the Spirit”, “eternal life from the
Spirit”.
Galatians 6:8-9  If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap
corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal
life from the Spirit.  9 So
let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time,
if we do not give up.
      Naaman
could have quoted these verses
            Sow
to his flesh – his pride
            Sow
to the Spirit – humility
Galatians 6:15  For neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything!
      Creation/new:
It is God’s work, not our work
            Neither
circumcision (purely outward, “spit and polish”)
                  (Mt
23.3, MSG)
            Nor
compulsive obedience and discipline
2 Corinthians 5:17-18  So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new
creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  18 All this is from God
      “I
don’t drink, smoke, or chew, and I don’t go with girls who do”

PARALLEL:
Galatians 5:6  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working
through love.
      Our
participation in God’s work of new creation
Ephesians 2:8-9  For by grace you have been saved through
faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God–  9 not the result of works, so that
no one may boast.
            Interior,
not exterior
The most important aspects of who
we are and who we become are mostly hidden
      Transformation
occurs from the inside out
      Multiplication
occurs from the inside out
      Squirrel
finding the seeds inside the
pine cone
Matthew 13:31-32  The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that someone took and sowed in his field; 
32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown
it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air
come and make nests in its branches.
Galatians 6:17  I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body.
      STIGMATA
            Hansen, 202, branding of slaves or
tattooing of devotees
            Lethal Weapon 3, scar
comparison
      My theory: pain and love
1 Corinthians 15:36  What you sow does not come to life unless it
dies.
      Naaman, enters the Jordan
River (a metaphor for death)
      Saint Francis (stigmata), traditional prayer
O Lord Jesus Christ,
two graces I ask of you before I
die:
the first, that in my lifetime I
may feel,
      as
far as possible,
      both
in my soul and body,
      that
pain which you, sweet Lord,
      did
endure
      in
the hour of your most bitter Passion;
the second, that I may feel in my
heart
      as
much as possible
      that
excess of love by which you,
      O
Son of God,
      were
inflamed to suffer so cruel a Passion
            for
us sinners.
Resources:

Hansen, G.
Walter. 1994. Galatians. IVP New
Testament Commentary Series. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.