by Pastor Daniel Cartier Replica

“Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”
 
Introduction
As we have celebrated the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ last month, it is not a celebration for a given moment but a daily celebration because of the resurrected life that God has given us.  Is the thought of the cross still captivates us?  Has its implications impressed upon our hearts and spirit and life?
 
Paul after having encountered many years with the Lord wrote in Galatians 6:14, that he would still boast in nothing except the cross of Christ, by which the world has been crucified to him and he to the world.
 
Selwyn Hughes (author of “Everyday with Jesus”) wrote, “What purpose does God have in leading us into situations which are uncertain and ambiguous? He does so in order that we might learn to depend on Him and not on ourselves. Just as in times of loneliness we learn to realize His presence, so in times of uncertainty we learn to realize His power.”
 
Pride in the Cross
The object of the Cross was the theme of Paul’s song.  It is like the song we sang, “In Christ alone, I placed my trust and find my glory in the power of cross.  In every victory, let it said of me, my source of strength, my source of hope is Christ alone.”
 
Every time Paul looks at the cross he seems to hear Christ saying with a clear voice when he was on the road to Damascus, “I am here because of you.  It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.  Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
 
I trust that we are hearing a similar kind of voice as it pertains to our lives.  There is nothing we could do to save ourselves and therefore nothing we could do to impress God today.  Remember, we are sons and daughters because of the cross - let us not revert to a life of a slave or orphan.
 
John Stott:
Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross.  All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary.  It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true self.
 
Partakers/Partnership of the Cross
Paul’s application and encouragement is this:  if my pride is in the cross, I will gladly associated myself with it - in partnership and in partaking of it - not avoiding it.
 
"Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." (Galatians 6:17)
 
Circumcision was a ritual scarring of the body. It had become a badge of self-importance, a religious way of promoting pride. But Paul shared that he underwent a different kind of scarring in the service of Christ: scars from the stones that had been thrown at him; scars from the chains and shackles that had been placed on his hands; scars from the whippings and beatings he had received; broken skin on his feet from the miles he had walked to preach Christ.  'Stigmata,' the term Paul uses, is a word that was used of the marking of slaves' bodies in the first century.  Paul uses this term to make the statement, 'I belong to Jesus. I got my scars legitimately, not because I wanted to impress anybody, not to promote my own religious beauty, but because my commitment to the Lord I love cost me something. My scars are the evidence of my service in his cause.'
 
How am I challenged by this thought?  What would be my scars?
 
Conclusion
Paul says that his brand-marks were testimony to his alienation from this world. He had made the choice to be different from the course of this world. He served a different Master; his citizenship was in a different city; he was destined for a different eternal home. As a result he was persecuted. We too are called to be crucified to the world and the world to us. We have a new destiny.  We are a new creation, standing for something entirely different.  May the beauty of Christ be seen in us now and forever  IWC Replica more.