Faith Column: Boasting Only in Jesus

Galatians 6:11-18 is an interesting passage to read considering our modern situation. It deals with the problem of leadership we see in the modern church where we have everybody and their brother wanting to lead and no one wanting to follow. Where we have a lot of opinions and not a lot of boots on the ground. I always think it’s funny that a book that is 2000 to 4000 years old can speak to us today in a way that seems like it was just written yesterday.

We start off in the passage with Paul showing them that this is him writing, him identifying himself as caring enough that he isn’t even dictating this to his secretary, he is writing it himself.

Paul wants the people in the church in Galatia to know that what he is getting ready to talk about is super important.

After this Paul gets right down to the meat of the situation. He starts telling them that they have had false leaders, leaders with axes to grind coming into their church and trying to make them submit to non-biblical practices and extra man-made rules. What Paul is talking about here is

circumcision. Now, since Jesus has come into the picture Christians are no longer required to be circumcised, but there were these leaders that tried to go back and make everyone get circumcised even though they didn’t have to.

Now, you might be saying, “preacher, what does circumcision have to do with today? I thought you said that this lesson was applicable to our times?” I did and it has everything to do with today. What if we replaced the word circumcision with a three-piece suit, or a skirt that had to be so long? What if we replaced circumcision with, we must follow the hottest trends and don’t want the church to look like a church? What if people said you had to have a band and a coffee bar even though the church has gotten along without them for 2000 years just fine? I could g on and on. We have lots of leaders today that try to import their opinions and feelings on things into the bible when they have nothing to do with the bible.

If we were to go back a generation, I am sure all of you have heard no drinking, no smoking, no card playing no dancing for Christians, they made a whole movie about it, Foot Loose. Would you be surprised to hear that the bible doesn’t condemn any of those things? Paul told Timothy to drink some wine and Jesus first miracle was turning water into wine. Cards and cigarettes aren’t mentioned in the bible at all, and the bible says David danced before the Lord. I don’t know if you know this but hired hands make up stuff that isn’t there to grab power and to fill in where they don’t really know what they are talking about.

Paul says they want to boast about their “flesh.” They want to show themselves as holier than others, or cooler than others. These false leaders want to be looked at as being better than those around them. So, because they don’t know what the bible text says they make things up to fill in the gaps and exercise power over those around them in an ungodly way.

Paul gets to his point when he says he would never boast about anything but the cross of Christ. Our only hope, our only true power, our only perspective on God comes from us looking to the cross, what Jesus did for us on the cross.

A true leader will always put Jesus first and realize all these other things mean nothing in the bigger picture. A true leader will give up his life, his security, his comfort for the sake of the flock that Christ died for. A true leader doesn’t want obedience to him; he wants obedience to Jesus.

The rest is just set dressing.

Paul is basically calling out the entirety of the modern church, left, right, contemporary, traditional, the whole enchilada. We must quit focusing on our desires, our opinions, our feelings, ourselves ultimately and start focusing on Jesus. We must start asking how we are sharing the gospel, how are we showing people Jesus.

Remember, it isn’t about you, it isn’t about me, it isn’t about anything but Jesus and Him glorified. Well, that’s what I got for today, see y’all later if the Lord wills and the creeks don’t rise. God bless.