The Death of Convenient Religion (Gal 6:11-18)

Sermon Transcript

We are in the book of Galatians, family. This is the last one—the last sermon in the book of Galatians. All right. So, go ahead and turn to Galatians chapter 6. If you are a guest with us today, and you have a bulletin, inside the bulletin, you’re going to see a little sermon leaflet. You can follow along with our sermon that way.

All right, let’s go to the Lord in prayer.

Father, I ask you right now that you would come and show up and raise your servant. Will you please open my mouth and speak the words that you desire? Father, I thank you so much that you have given us this beautiful journey through the book of Galatians, and I ask that you would help us now to sufficiently wrap it up and to do it justice. Lord, I pray that you would cause our hearts to be resolved to walk in the Spirit and to let go of legalism, traditionalism, and man-made religion—to follow only the path of ancient Christianity as you intended it to be.

Will you help us to focus, to stay attentive, and to just do you proud? We ask you now: come, Lord, and help today’s service. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

All right. So, when I met the Lord, I met the Lord after Hurricane Katrina. You see, prior to Hurricane Katrina, I lived in New Orleans. I had a very dark childhood—not because of my parents, but just living in New Orleans. It was a spiritually dark and oppressive place to live.

And Katrina happened, and I was lonely. I was depressed. Our house was under, I think, 22 feet of water for 16 days, and I had nowhere to turn. All my friends were gone. Now my friends at school were abandoning me, and the Lord was isolating me more than ever. I decided that I was going to try something different. There was this little bitty Gideon’s New Testament that was sitting in this house where we were living. I decided, okay, finally, I’ll give this a shot.

You see, I had been indoctrinated in a public high school that was teaching me that Karl Marx was the hero and that we needed to rewrite American history because we didn’t know the full story. So the idea of finding joy and true freedom in Christianity and the Bible was completely foreign to me.

However, at this point, I was so desperate I would do anything. I decided to pick up this Bible, and I started to read it. I realized that Jesus was incredible—that he wasn’t just the Jesus I saw hanging up on the wall in our Catholic family’s households. He was more than just the pretty, fat Bible that we had sitting on a stand. Jesus was alive, and he was real. I wanted more of that. I wanted that Jesus. But better yet, I wanted to taste a church and a religion that I was reading about in the book of Acts.

You see, I had become a Christian in my bedroom with the Bible alone. It was just me and God. As I’m reading the book of Acts, I’m realizing how incredible God’s people are. They lay hands on people, and people are healed. They pray for people, and things move. When people are without food and they’re suffering, the church comes to their rescue, and they’re all empowered by God’s Spirit to pull it off. I could not wait to taste that.

So, I decided to go to church—and that’s not what I found. So I tried another church—and that’s not what I found. After Katrina, I had bounced around the country quite a bit, tried a few churches, and in every church that I had tried, I would meet pockets of really great people who were truly walking in the Spirit. But by and large, the churches that I was seeing were not the church I had read about in the book of Acts. It broke my heart because I had this radical encounter with Jesus in my bedroom.

I remember, I was going to the gym one day, and I hear the Lord tell me, “Go tell that person about my love and tell them that I see everything that’s happening in their life.” I’m trembling in my boots—I’m like, I’m hearing voices now! I went over there and I went to say what I believed the Lord was telling me. Sure enough, it was spot on. The Spirit was speaking to me.

One day, I was in a restaurant and the Lord is telling me, “Go tell that woman I have heard every prayer she’s prayed about her son.” I’m quivering in my boots. “Ma’am, do you have a son?” “Yeah. Why? Who’s asking?” I’m getting really nervous and I say, “Ma’am, this is going to sound really crazy, but I believe I just heard God tell me that he’s heard every prayer you’ve ever prayed for your son.” She just starts bawling.

This was the Christianity I was experiencing—and that was what I had hoped to see in the church. But instead, what I think has infected American churches by and large is we’ve gotten really comfortable because we have everything made for us. We have air-conditioned spaces, right? We have everything you could ask for, to the point where people don’t even see the church as a source of help, strength, hope, and ambition for good things in the world.

After I became a Christian, I was dedicated—I pleaded, “God, use me in whatever way possible to have the church just revitalize and mimic the church that we see in the book of Acts.” And it turns out, that’s exactly what Paul’s argument here is in the book of Galatians. You see, they started off good in the Holy Spirit, and Paul says that they’re now trying to complete it by the flesh. That is where churches will always go wrong. If you ever stop relying on the Holy Spirit to drive you to do great things for God’s name, you will continue in the flesh—and then all of a sudden, your church just becomes a Kiwanis club and there’s no difference between you and a local charity. But if you can stay in the Holy Spirit, you will transform the world.

So, rise with me as we read our last verses in the book of Galatians, verses 11-18:

Look at what large letters I use as I write to you in my own handwriting. Those who want to make a good impression in the flesh are the ones who would compel you to be circumcised—but only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even the circumcised don’t keep the law themselves, and yet they want you to be circumcised in order to boast about your flesh. But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world. For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation. May peace come to all those who follow this standard, and mercy even to the Israel of God! From now on, let no one cause me trouble, because I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. Brothers and sisters, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. (CSB)

This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated.

Quick Summary of Galatians

So, for those who are guests today, a super quick summary for the book of Galatians: In Galatian churches, there were what we call Judaizers who had snuck in and started preaching a different gospel to the people. They were telling the people, “I know you say that you are a child of God, but you’re not Jewish. And because you’re not Jewish, you’re not circumcised. And if you’re not circumcised, you’re not really a child of God. If you want to be a child of God, you have to get circumcised. And not just circumcised, you have to start following the rest of these commandments—all these other…—I know one of y’all knows the number. What’s the number of commands? 613 commandments in the Old Testament.

If you really want to walk with God, these Judaizers, these agitators, they start telling them, you’ve got to get with the program and start following the law. And Paul is saying, I don’t think so. Jesus has set you free from all of that. The way of the law is over. You see, the law was just a guardian to get us to Jesus. Now that we have Jesus, the law is fulfilled, and you are free.

Now you no longer need this outside standard and all these traditions telling you what to do. Instead, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, and the Holy Spirit is going to be your moral guide. The Holy Spirit, if you confess that Jesus is Lord—if you have repented of your sins and you turn to him and confess him as your Lord—then the Holy Spirit dwells inside of you. We confess, church, that the Holy Spirit is God himself. And now God is telling you what is right and what is wrong.

They were forgetting all about this because they started to believe the Judaizers. That is the summary of where we are at. So now we are in this point of the book where Paul is going to basically give them a summary application.

So here’s the point, church: Paul is telling you today, you’ve got one of two options. Either you go with the convenient Christianity, or you go with the true Christianity—the Christianity of conviction. So which is it?

You see, the church of conviction will follow Christ to their graves. They’re willing to give up their lives for it. But the Christians—the self-proclaimed Christians who follow the spiritual path of convenience—they’re not concerned for everybody’s well-being. They’re only concerned about externalities. Right?

Legalists will not boast in Christ because…

So let’s first look at verses 12 through 13. We’re going to see: what do the convenient Christians look like? You see, these legalists are people who are focused on the legalities, the external practices—what you see: the “don’t eat that, don’t drink that, don’t watch that, don’t listen to this, don’t wear that, wear this instead, use this music, don’t play that instrument, don’t wear those shorts, don’t wear these pants, wear your hair like this, don’t wear those jewelries.” And it’s just exhausting. Those are legalists.

They are more concerned with the here, now, and externals (12a)

These are the people that we’re first going to look at in verses 12 through 13. You see, the legalists have a thing to boast in, but they’re not boasting in Jesus. And so, if you’re following in the bulletins, the legalist will not boast in Christ because, point A, they are more concerned with the here, the now, and the externalities.

And how do we know that? We know that because it says in verse 12 that these agitators, these Judaizers, are only interested in making a good showing in the flesh. Guys, this is legalism. Legalism does not care about your soul. It does not care where you spend eternity. They care about how you look in front of other people—that’s all they give a rip about. They’re not interested in your relationship with God. They’re more concerned with, “Well, this is the way we’ve always done it, and I just want to know, are you going to keep doing it the way we’re doing it? Because if you’re not going to do it, then you’re going to make us look bad, and you can leave.” That’s a legalist.

So, they are worried about the here and now. You see, they only wanted to circumcise the Gentiles so that the Zealots, when they would come in from Jerusalem and they’re rummaging through these churches, they’re looking for those who are not circumcised and they are persecuting, sometimes even killing them. That’s how much legalists care about how you look on the outside. That’s how much they’re focused on the here and now.

When I say they’re focused on the here and now, I’m talking about this world. They’re not concerned about the coming world. They’re not thinking about the return of Jesus. They’re only thinking about how well you’re faring today and how much you make us look bad.

Legalists are motivated by convenience (i.e., people pleasing; 12b-13a)

The next reason legalists cannot boast in Christ is because they are motivated by convenience. That’s the next point in your bulletin: they are motivated by convenience. And this is very clear when Paul says they only want to circumcise you so that they won’t be persecuted.

You see, the Zealots in the first century were these bombastic, supercharged political adversaries against the Roman state and how the Roman state was ruling over Jerusalem and all of Israel. They about had enough and formed this new sect called the Zealots. The Zealots would carry around these daggers and start murdering people—anyone who sympathized with the Roman state.

So the people—the Jews—scholars believe that what Paul is referring to here, “in order that they may not be persecuted,” is that they were feeling the pressure to circumcise Gentile believers so that when the Zealots come to town, they don’t kill them. Guys, this isn’t Christianity. We don’t buckle under the threat of persecution.

You see, Jesus said, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt 16:25, ESV). The one who is willing to lay down his comforts in this life today will find eternal life. But if you are afraid to follow the true gospel, where you only boast in Christ and not your works, then you are going to lose your soul. It’s either all Jesus or it’s nothing. You either find comfort in the world today or you find comfort in the world to come. You cannot have both.

In Luke 16, we see this beautiful parable that is incredibly scary because you have the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus has suffered all his life in the parable. He dies, and when he dies, he gets to go to this place of paradise. The rich man dies, and he goes to the place of torment. He asks Father Abraham in the parable and says, “Please just wet your finger and touch my tongue.” And he said, “You had your life of comfort.” That is the detriment. That is what awaits anybody who thinks that this life—the here and the now—is all there is to live for.

If you truly live and believe that Jesus is coming back, that he is building a kingdom, and that he is your Lord and your King, then you are living for the next world. But convenient religion cannot live that way because that’s too inconvenient. It is not easy for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, but neither is it easy for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. That is why it is highly inconvenient.

So legalists cannot boast in Christ because they are motivated by convenience. They are worried about people-pleasing.

Legalists like to take credit (13b-c)

The next is they cannot boast in Christ because they like to take all the credit. You see, legalists love to boast in their own works. People who are always focused on following the rules and holding up tradition like to say, “Look at me.” That’s what Paul is saying here about these agitators, the Judaizers in verse 13: they want to circumcise the non-Jews just so that they can boast in their flesh.

But we boast in Christ alone because…

But, church, that’s not who we are, right? We are not a people who boast in our flesh. We’re not a church that follows convenient religion. Amen. We follow Christ even unto our death. Amen. That’s right. Because our Savior did the same thing for us. He loved you so much that he went to the grave for you. The greatest thanks you can give is doing likewise for him.

Christ set us free from the world’s systems (14)

So church, we boast in Christ alone because—the first point—Christ has set us free from the world’s systems. That’s in verse 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” (ESV).

You know, at first glance, you look at this and you might think, “Um, Christ has crucified me to the world,” meaning that I’m no longer susceptible to alcohol or pornography or gambling. What does he mean by “to the world”? Well, if you’re reading the entire book of Galatians, you’re going to see he uses “the world” to refer to a system of law-following. And this is the world that Jesus has set us free from. Check out Galatians 4:3. He said, “In the same way, we also, when we were children, we were enslaved to the elementary principles of the”—and here’s our word—“the elementary principles of the world.” In the entire context of Galatians 4, “the world,” the elementary principles of the world, refers to the system of laws that they were following, the 613 [laws]. But it is not just the Jewish people; it is also the non-Jewish people. And you see that in Galatians 4:8-10. They were enslaved to their idols and also their own elementary principles of the world. So “the world” refers, in the book of Galatians, here for Paul, to a system by which you try to stand righteous before God. And all it is, is idolatry [because you are putting faith in yourself for righteousness].

If you try to be right with God by giving everything you’ve got, never buying anything for yourself, always trying to be selfless, always trying to do right, never doing wrong—if you follow all these rules—I’m sorry to break this to you, but all that means nothing. Because Paul has made it clear that no one can stand before God and be righteous by trying to follow all of God’s laws. Every single one of us is a sinner, and it’s already done. You cannot undo your sin on your own. You cannot defeat the flesh with the flesh. No one will stand before God and hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant, you followed all my commands.” That is why Paul can say that he boasts in Christ alone, in the cross of Christ—because on the cross, Jesus has paid for all of our sin. Amen?

There is not a sin you have committed that Jesus cannot pay for on the cross. I don’t care how many affairs you had, how many bad movies you’ve watched, how many bottles you’ve swallowed, how many pills you’ve digested—I don’t care what you’ve done. Jesus can pay for it today on the cross, and you can stand before God completely whole, completely clean, and he will stamp on your record, “You are righteous.” When he looks at you, he will see his Son, Jesus. That’s why Paul says he will only boast in the cross of Christ—because there is nothing that you or I or Paul can do to boast in before God.

Traditions mean nothing on judgment day (15a-b)

So, the next reason why we boast in the cross of Christ alone is because, on judgment day, traditions and man-made religion all mean nothing. You see, he says in Galatians 6:15, “For neither circumcision counts for anything, but neither does uncircumcision.” So maybe you’re a young whippersnapper and you believe, “Well, I’m not a legalist, so I’m doing all right.” You see, that’s also not going to count for anything. Saying that you’re not following the rules and feeling proud of that is just as bad as saying, “Look at me, I follow the rules.” On judgment day, circumcision and uncircumcision—you don’t get credit for that. At the end of the day, it all boils down to: Was Jesus your King, and were you following him on earth? Was he your greatest joy? Because that’s all that is going to count for the cross of Christ. Was that your point of hope or not? Because everything else does not count.

The new system of faith is our righteousness (15c)

So, what counts? It’s the new system of faith. And that’s where we find our righteousness. That’s the last point, or point C: the new system is why we can boast in Christ alone. Because this new system of faith is where we find our righteousness. When he says “new creation,” you might think, “What does he mean by that?” Verse 15—you see, he says none of it counts for anything but a new creation. So, what does he mean by that? I will posit three things to you. The new creation, one, it refers to a new system. And by system, I’m talking about how we get right with God. It also refers to a new person. You are a new person in Christ. And last, he is creating a new humanity. So, his new creation are those three things.

The first one is a new, new system, and that is seen in Galatians 2:19–20. Paul says, “I died to the law so that I might live to God.” Right? In that passage right there, you have the passing of the old system. The law—he is dead to the law now. The old system is pointless. But he is now able to live to God. How is that possible?

Continuing on in Galatians 2:20, he says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And 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” (ESV). And that’s our new system. This is the new system that counts. This is the new creation.

You don’t have to follow the rules for God to love you. Praise God for that. Every day you wake up, you’re going to mess up. And guess what Jesus does? It’s gone if you proclaim Jesus as your Lord. And you are also a new person.

This is most clear in 2 Corinthians 5:17, which is one of our favorite verses that we like to talk about on Wednesday nights—Wednesday nights, 6:30. Please come.—“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (ESV). I probably will preach a sermon on that verse because I could just camp here all day long, and spend hours just delineating how the old Josh is dead. And I hope that you have the same story, that there is an old you, and you just praise God that that person has been slayed by Christ on the cross, and that he has made you a new person.

And the last new creation element here is the new humanity. And apart from the few Jewish people in this room, us Gentiles—us non-Jews—we praise God for this, because look what Paul says in Ephesians 2:12–15. He’s speaking to non-Jews at this point. He says, “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

What he’s saying is, as non-Jews, we had no access to God because God had first reached out through the Jewish people in Abraham. And Paul continues, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments…[so] that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two” (Ephesians 2:13–15, ESV)

What he is saying is, you used to have Jews over here, Gentiles over here. When Jesus came, he grabbed that wall of hostility separating these two, yanked it down, brought them together, and now we are a new creation as a people group. Jew and Gentile are no longer Jew and Gentile. We are in Jesus, God’s people. We are the new creation, church.

And that is my hope for this church. And my hope for you is that some of you would leave and go plant new churches, and have the true vision of what God has created in this new creation. We are a new people, with a new race, with new morals, with a new spirit—going out and becoming a new world in our communities. It’s my hope for this church, and it’s my hope that you would make your own disciples, and that they would go out and create new churches.

If I remember right, I calculated on Wednesday nights: if six people—just six people—created one new Christian disciple every year, and then kept doing that, including the new people every year, after 10 years, guess how many disciples you would have? It starts with six. Ten years—guess how many? 6,144. And that starts with six people. Six. That’s unbelievable. I’ve lived in towns with less than 6,000 people.

We are what the prophets before Christ yearned for; we get that. We are a community where God’s Spirit dwells in us, and we have the power to do great things—great things.

I want to remind you: in Galatians, he says that in Galatians 3:7, who were the children of Abraham? It’s all those of faith. Doesn’t matter if you’re a Jew, doesn’t matter if you’re a Gentile; you are a child of Abraham if you are a child of faith in Jesus. Galatians 3:26: “For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith.”

And maybe you’re sitting there and you’re like, “This is new to me. What do—what is the benefit of being a child of Abraham?” It means everything. And here’s why: you see, in Genesis 1 through 11, humanity really screwed things up. In fact, when Eve decided to first rebel against God, God looked at her and he said, “There’s going to come a day, Eve, where you’re going to bear a son, and that son is going to crush the serpent.” And so, the generation after that, they’re like, “Is this it? Are we getting the good seed? Are we getting that seed of Eve who’s going to crush the serpent—our enemy?” Nope. Doesn’t come. It doesn’t come. It doesn’t come.

We make it all the way to Genesis 11, and humanity is—they probably were more advanced than what we are today, even with AI, because they were able to build a tower to the heavens. They said, “Well, look at us. We’re doing great.” They got away from God so far and so completely they were now making themselves into gods. God says, “I can’t let this happen. If humanity learns how to live life apart from me, they’ll decimate themselves.” So, he destroys all their technology, all their buildings, and he scatters them and confuses their language, so that he would slow the fall of humanity.

Then, in the next chapter, we find out why. He called a man named Abram out of this city and said, “I have chosen you to be the father of many nations, and through you a seed will come who will bless everything. Your son will make you the father of many people groups.” That was the second most pronounced prophecy in all of Scripture, and it all banks on who belongs to Abraham. Because if you belong to Abraham, you get to dwell in the promised land where God’s people dwell—where there is no more sin, no more death, no more disease, no more destruction, no more pain, and no more sorrow. It says in Isaiah that the lion lays with the lamb, the child plays with the cobra, no one’s beaten, no one struck. There’s no more genocide, no more drug abuse, no more alcoholism, no more adultery, no more pain, no more murders. It’s gone for those who belong to Abraham.

After 4,000 years, we come to understand that the children of Abraham are those of faith. It’s always been that way. We know that, because in Galatians it says that God preached the same gospel that you and I get to Abraham. So, when Abraham believed and it was counted to him as righteousness, he was already putting his faith in Christ. How incredible is that? That’s why it is so important for us to lean on Abraham, or to be children of Abraham.

There is the blessing of peace and mercy for those who live by faith in Christ (16)

Now, in this new system, our last point—for all those who live in this system—we have the promised blessing of peace and mercy. This is the fruit of the Spirit. We went through this a few weeks ago: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Good, I think I got all of them. This is the fruit of the Spirit dwelling in you if you live in this new system of faith and the Spirit lives in you. You walk around with peace. Right, brother? That’s right. Nothing’s taking you down. You have peace. I don’t care how dark and dire your situation looks, because even if you die, you know that you go to be in paradise with Christ Jesus immediately. There is nothing that should thwart you in this world, because you walk in peace if you walk with Jesus—even if a gun is put to your head. We’re not a religion of convenience, right? We look violence in the eye and we say, “I am worthy to suffer like Christ. Are you kidding me?” It’s a joy. And then we get mercy, because at the end of the day, for those who boast in the cross of Christ, we do not receive the punishment we deserve, and that is why we can rejoice.

Conclusion to Galatians (17-18)

Now, the last verse—verses 17 and 18, the last verses—Paul says, “Let no one cause me trouble.” By this trouble, he is referring to, “I don’t want to hear any more stories about people trying to take you away from Jesus.” Then he tells you why: “Because I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” He’s talking about his sufferings; he’s been beaten, bruised, stoned, shipwrecked—all these marks of suffering. But here’s the beautiful part: that word is where we get our word ‘stigma’ from. Paul has been stigmatized. He’s now marked as a disciple of Jesus, and the world hates him.

I was talking to a brother this morning who’s struggling with getting a job because they keep asking him all these questions: “Do you belong to the world? Are you up and with our way of doing politics or not?” He knows he can’t get these jobs because he’s been stigmatized—he bears the marks of Jesus. A true Christian is not afraid to bear the marks of Jesus. Paul is saying, “Don’t cause me any trouble because I belong to someone else. And if you mess with me, you’re messing with him. You won’t have to answer to me—you’ll have to answer to the King that owns me.” I can rejoice in saying, that’s everybody who is in Christ. You have the same disposition. You are not your own, and you have a King that loves you, and he’s over you.

Then Paul ends his letter with verse 18: “Brothers and sisters, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.”

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer.

Father, I thank you so much for the sweet, beautiful letter. I know that this was Paul’s roughest letter that he’s ever written, but it has shown us great beauty and peace that we find in it. We have been set free from a list of dos and don’ts, and we can live and abide in the Holy Spirit, who will lead us and guide us into this glorious freedom where we are set free from these systems and from our flesh in its desires.

We have the beautiful privilege of being imperfect and making mistakes. Help us to love our brothers and sisters when they make mistakes, and to show them the same freedom that you have given us.

I pray, Lord Jesus, for those who don’t know you that are here today, that they would come to know you in the same way that I did in my bedroom in 2005. Help them to see that Jesus brings a religion of freedom, forgiveness, peace, and mercy. In Jesus’ name, amen.