The Glory of the Cross

tHERE IS NO VIDEO OF THE SERMON FOR THIS SUNDAY

TEXT: GALATIANS 6:11-16

PASTOR MIKE IMPERIALE, GUEST PREACHER

APRIL 2, 2023, PALM SUNDAY/SIXTH SUNDAY IN LENT

“See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!” Paul usually added his

signature to a letter after a scribe (an amanuensis) wrote it to his dictation. But here with love and

anxiety for the Galatians, he writes this whole last paragraph himself, maybe for its importance as a

summary of the main reason for writing this letter. “Always err on the side of grace versus the law.”

Galatians is probably Paul’s first letter to the churches that developed during his first

missionary journey. After he moved on, apparently some Jewish Christians began to insist that Gentile

converts, in order to be true Christians as followers of the Messiah, needed to follow Jewish customs

and laws, especially circumcision. When Paul heard about it, he wrote Galatians to refute these

mistaken teachers.

When Paul learned that religious leaders of the old school had come into these churches, had

called his views and authority into question, he was furious; furious with the old guard for coming in

with their religious tactics, intimidating the Christians to compromise their new life of grace in Jesus.

But he was also furious with the Christians for caving in to the intimidation.

Pastor Eugene Peterson introduces his translation of Galatians this way: “When men and

women get their hands on religion, one of the first things they often do is turn it into an instrument for

controlling others, putting them or keeping them ‘in their place.’ The history of manipulation and

coercion is long and tedious.” He notes how Paul the Pharisee had been doing his diligent best to add

to this dreary history when he was converted by Jesus to something radically different, entirely

different—a free, grace-filled life in God.

I. The Problem with Boasting (vs. 12-13)

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So, Paul reasons with the Galatians. “Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh

are trying to compel you to be circumcised. But not even those who are circumcised keep the law! Yet

they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh.”

There’s a problem with human boasting. Three times in my career I had to write up what the

Presbyterian Church calls a PIF (Personal Information Form). It’s meant to catch the attention of a

pastor search committee, but really it’s a “candidate boasting document” (a CBD). (Yeah, CBD: you

have to be high when you write one of these.) In it I described my gifts for ministry, my awesome

successes, and what great things I could do for their church. (Blah, blah, blah…) And then I’d receive

the many “No Thank You” letters from search committees. But somehow by God’s grace, three

churches called me to be their pastor. (Five years in NY, 12 years in NJ and 18 years here in UT; now

retired 4 years).

Paul outlined his credentials in Philippians 3:4-9: “If someone else thinks they have reasons to

put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the

tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the

church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.” (Blah, blah, blah…)

Then he shocks us: “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.”

(meaning, “What a freakin’ waste of time!”). “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of

the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider

them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that

comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God

on the basis of faith.”

II. The Only True Boast (vs. 14-15)

So, here in Galatians he writes, “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. Neither circumcision nor

uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.”

Did anyone see the recent movie “Jesus Revolution?” It’s a docudrama about hippies in the

‘60s who came to faith in Jesus during the drugs-sex-rock n roll era. (If you want, I’ll show you a

photo of me from back then). Kelsey Grammar plays Pastor Chuck Smith whose dying congregation

became the first Calvary Chapel. You can still see it in a few local theaters.

During this time, Annie Ward was a nightclub singer in L.A. and Buck Herring was a sound

engineer for record companies. They met and together got into all that destructive behavior. But then in

1969, Buck became a Christian. He knocked on Annie’s door and she was floored by the obvious

change in his life. She immediately asked him, “What happened to you?!?” Buck went on to tell her

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about being born again, becoming a new person by faith in Jesus. As Paul wrote, “What counts is a

new creation!”

Soon after, Annie also became a believer. Buck and Annie Herring were married and took

Annie’s high school brother and sister into their home when their mom passed away. Annie learned to

play piano as the three of them sang together every day after school.

Annie, Nellie, and Matthew became “The 2 nd Chapter of Acts,” an early Jesus movement band.

They set up in a park or at the beach and sang the songs that the Lord gave to Annie. Buck eventually

produced the many albums of “The 2 nd Chapter of Acts.” (I still have most of them on vinyl and CD).

All because “what counts is a new creation.” They too would say, “May we never boast except in the

cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul preached in the Galatian cities announcing the gospel of Jesus Christ and him crucified.

The Galatians had not seen Jesus die; nor had Paul. But by preaching the cross, Paul made the

historical event of the cross a contemporary reality. The New Testament does the same for us.

People could now see the cross in their imaginations. They could understand that Jesus had

died for their sins. They could receive from the risen Lord’s hands the gift of eternal life, absolutely

free and utterly underserved. That’s the glory of the cross.

But Paul discovered that preaching the cross is a stumbling block to human pride (as he wrote

in I Corinthians 1: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us

who are being saved it is the power of God.”) It insists that we cannot achieve our salvation by

anything we do. It’s a totally free gift of God. William Temple, an English Anglican bishop put it this

way: “The only thing of my very own which I contribute to my redemption is the sin from which I

need to be redeemed.”

This is why Paul confronted false teachers in the early church. They preached circumcision

(shorthand for self-salvation by obedience to the law). They escaped the stumbling block persecution

of human pride. “How dare you say I need my sins forgiven! I’m a good person! I show my faith by

what I do!”

Now, don’t get me wrong here. Is it good to obey God’s commands? Yes, of course it is. Is it

good not to take the Lord’s name in vain? Well, yeah. Is it good not to steal, lie, covet? Of course! But

here’s the problem: how good is good enough? We all fall short. I confess that I regularly break God’s

commands. (And so do you!) The Law was given to show that we can’t keep it. The Law was given to

show why we need a Savior, the one who forgives, the one who redeems, the God of grace, the glory

of the cross.

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III. The Cross of Grace and Peace (vs. 16, 18)

I stopped going to church when I went to college. My view of God was one of inescapable

judgment. My future was at best was Purgatory, at worst was Hell. But that all changed during my

freshman year at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ. For the first time in my life, I met and

enjoyed Christian friends. They had a vibrant Christian faith I’d never seen before. Singing in Chapel

Choir under a wonderful Christian conductor, I sang hymns I’d never heard before, like “Fairest Lord

Jesus,” and “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.”

I remember asking my parents for a Bible for Christmas. I’d never owned one or read one.

They didn’t know what to get. They bought me a King James Version. I quickly got frustrated trying to

read it, so I went to the university bookstore and found The New English Bible (sounded much better

to me). Reading the Gospel of Matthew over a few days, it was a transformative experience. So, in

March 1971, 52 years ago, I came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I was born anew, born again, born

from above. It all came together during one of our choir concerts, singing “When I Survey the

Wondrous Cross.”

“See from his Head, his Hands, his Feet, Sorrow and Love flow mingled down!

     Did e'er such Love and Sorrow meet, Or Thorns compose so rich a Crown?

     Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my Soul, my Life, my All.”

Conclusion - The glory of the Cross

Paul usually began his letters with the greeting: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The traditional Hebrew greeting is shalom (just “peace”). But Paul knew

that without the grace of God in Jesus Christ, there is no peace.

Here in Galatians, after proclaiming the gospel and dealing with some difficult problems, he

concludes with the same. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters.”

So, let us pray this with and for one another. The glory of the cross.