What Do You Take Pride In?

This week, we are looking at the concluding section of a letter in the Bible called the book of Galatians. Yesterday we discovered that we are to vote no n religion because religion results in a life driven by the wrong motivations. We saw Paul reveal for us the reality that a religious centered lifestyle is often driven by the motivation to please men. A religious centered lifestyle is often driven by the motivation to avoid persecution. And a religious centered lifestyle is often driven by the motivation to take pride in their performance.

And that is why we must vote no on religion. Today, as Paul continues to conclude his letter, we will see him contrast the motivations that drive a religious centered life with the motivations that drive a gospel centered life in Galatians 6:14:

 But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

Paul explains to the members of the churches of Galatia, and followers of Jesus throughout history, that the only boast, the only thing that those who live a gospel centered lifestyle should take pride in, is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. But what does that mean? When Paul uses the phrase, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is referring to the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel.

In other words, our source of pride should not be in what we have done for God by living a religious centered lifestyle that is based on keeping a list of rules for God. Instead, our source of pride should be in what God has done for us through Jesus life, death, and resurrection. Paul then states that as a result of placing his confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Paul’s point here is that the follower of Jesus who is living a gospel centered life that places their confident trust in what Jesus has done on the cross has died with Christ on the cross to the kind of life that belongs to this world. The follower of Jesus who is living a gospel centered lifestyle is driven by different motivations. They are not driven by the motivation to please men. They are not driven by the motivation to avoid persecution. They are not driven by the motivation to take pride in their performance for God by keeping a list of religious rules. Instead, a follower of Jesus who is living a gospel centered lifestyle is driven by the motivation to please God and bring glory and honor to God.

Paul then reinforces this reality in verse 15 by stating that “neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation”. In other words, Paul is reminding the members of the churches of Galatia, and us here this morning, that what you attempt to do for God by keeping a list of religious rules does not mean anything when it comes to experiencing a right relationship with God. Instead, what matters is whether or not you are a new creation. What matters is whether or not you have experienced God’s transformational intervention and activity in a way that results in you placing your confident trust in Christ and are living your day to day life by faith in Christ.

You see, it is not that a gospel centered lifestyle does not strive to live a life that meets a standard of faithfulness and obedience. The difference between a gospel centered lifestyle and a religious centered lifestyle is the motivation that drives their lifestyle. But that is not the only difference between a gospel centered lifestyle and a religious centered lifestyle.

Tomorrow, we will see Paul reveals another difference when it comes to the motivations that drive a gospel centered lifestyle and a religious centered lifestyle…