church

INI
Judica, The Fifth Sunday in Lent
April 10, 2011
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

THE CROSS IS OUR ONLY GLORY
Galatians 6:14

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus
our Lord, Amen. This morning we consider the Letter of Paul to the Galatians,
chapter 6, verse 14, as follows [KJV]:

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. So far the Holy
Word.

In the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, Whose cross towers o'er the wrecks of
time, Dear Fellow Redeemed,

A few years ago there was a popular song on the Top 40 called, "Glory Days."
In it, the singer rather cleverly describes how certain episodes in your life can
seem extremely important and glorious at the time they happen, but turn out to
be completely trivial and meaningless when you look back on them later. In the
song, a man who was the star pitcher on his high school baseball team ends up a
lonely drunk in a roadside bar. A woman who was the most popular girl in
school ends up a single parent, with a broken marriage and a houseful of kids to
feed. As the old Latin saying goes, "Sic transit gloria mundi." "Thus passes
away the glory of the world."

Nothing dies harder in people, though, than the desire for glory. The ancient
philosopher Tacitus once said, "The desire for glory clings even to the best men
longer than any other passion." Well, today's text is about glory. It's about what
is glorious and what isn't, what merits our attention and our aspirations, and
what doesn't. Perhaps a sense of glory has been missing from your life lately. Or
maybe you've been glorying, but in the wrong things. If so, our brief text for
today holds good news for you. This morning we consider the theme:

THE CROSS IS OUR ONLY GLORY
I.. It's the only glory we have.
II. It's the only glory we need.

I. The Christian congregation in Galatia was troubled by a group of false
teachers called the Judaizers. The Judaizers were glorying in the wrong thing.
They were extremely proud of the fact that they had compromised with the
world. They thought they had come up with the perfect solution to the hostility
that was being directed against the Christians by the Jews. They told the
Galatians, "You can be a little of both! You can be saved by faith and by good
works! You can be saved by trusting in Christ, as long as you also practice
circumcision, observe the Sabbath, abstain from certain foods, and keep all the
rest of the Law of Moses." The Apostle Paul said of them, they "…desire to
make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest
they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 13 For neither they
themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you
circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. Galatians 6:12-13.

So, in order to avoid persecution, they compromised with the world. They even
gloried in it, thinking that if they could get the rest of the Galatian believers to
go along with them, it would be a great accomplishment! A feather in their cap!
They take something shameful and repugnant and celebrate it as if it were
something wonderful. One thinks of recent church cases here in the Northwest
where church leaders have not only abandoned the clear teachings of God's
Word, but have taken the forefront in urging other Christians to follow them in
their apostasy. It brings to mind the words of Christ, Whosoever therefore shall
break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be
called the least in the kingdom of heaven. - Mat 15:19.

By contrast, Paul says in our text that he is not seeking to gain any kind of
glory from the world. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the
world. Paul knew very well that the cross of Christ is the only thing worth
glorying in. In fact, it's the only glory we have. Every other glory is an illusion.

Paul clung to the cross of Jesus Christ as his only glory, because he knew there
wasn't any other. And he didn't much care what the world had to say about it.
Why? He tells us: Because…the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the
world. That seems a rather odd thing to say. In order to understand him, we
need to realize what it meant to be crucified. One writer said, "Crucifixion
meant death, of course. But more than simple death, it was a death of shame
and abomination by which the dead one was cast out as one execrated and
rejected." Paul says that is now how he as a Christian views the world - as
something cast out, rejected, not worth considering. And that's also how the
world feels about him, and he's fine with that. The world is crucified unto me,
and I unto the world.

You're a Christian, let me ask you: is the world crucified to you? Have you
rejected the unholy influences of this world, or have you rather allowed them to
subtly shape your opinions and your behavior? And the other way: are you
crucified to the world? Do you care if the unbelievers among whom you live
consider you an odd duck because of your Christian faith? Do you let your
Christian differences shine forth as a witness? Or have you been hiding them
under a bushel, keeping quiet about your faith and doing the best you can to
blend in with the world?

Remember my friends, we have no glory apart from Christ. Any glory there
appears to be is merely temporary, an illusion. In fact, the Apostle John says
that the glory of the cross and glory of the world are mutually exclusive: Love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the
Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. I John 2:15-17.

II. Turning our backs on the world can be frightening. It's a little daunting to
declare that, from now on, we will no longer value and extol the things that
everyone around us values and extols. It's a bit like saying that we're not going
to use the same money that everyone else uses - we're going to make up our
own. But my Christian friends, let's not be afraid to abandon the so-called glory,
the illusionary glory, that this world has to offer. Let's join the Apostle Paul. Let
the world be crucified to us, and us to the world. It may be true that the cross is
the only glory we have, but it's also true that it's the only glory we need.

Yes, the cross is the only glory we need! Think for a moment: when you strip
life down to its essentials - when you look at life from an eternal perspective -
what needs do you have that your God does not supply? He gives you daily
bread. He guards and protects you from danger. He delivers you from every evil
of body and soul. Isn't it true? When you look back on the record of your life,
can you cite a single instance in which the Lord failed to strengthen and sustain
you in time of need? Can you? Neither can I! Rather, when you start thinking
about your past life, the pattern that emerges is one of constant love and mercy
poured out upon you by a gracious God. What a glorious thing it is to be able to
rely absolutely upon that comforting promise in Isaiah: Fear thou not, for I am
with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea I will
help thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. - Isa
41:10.

Well might we Christians glory in our God, who so richly protects us and
provides for us. But we haven't even touched on the real glory yet. The glory
that surpasses every other. I mean the glory of salvation. The glory of the
righteousness, forgiveness and eternal life which belongs to you in the cross of
Jesus Christ!

Our world of today is so inglorious and informal, it’s a little hard to think of
examples of glory from everyday life. But one that came to mind was weddings.
Weddings are still pretty glorious, aren't they? Even people who never dress up
get dressed up for weddings. The music is glorious, the flowers are glorious. The
groomsmen are glorious in their tuxedos, the bridesmaids are glorious in their
satin and chiffon. But the height of glory is the bride, decked out as she is in
what may be the most beautiful dress she'll ever wear in her life. And you know
what's interesting? If you look back in the Old Testament, you'll find that this is
the exact picture Isaiah uses to describe the glory that is ours in Christ: I will
greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath
clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of
righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride
adorneth herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10.

We don't glory in ourselves, of course we don't. We're done with that. That's
what the world does, and the world is crucified to us. But you can glory all day
long in the cross of your Savior Jesus Christ. With His suffering on that cross,
Jesus redeemed you from all your sins. He purchased for you the garments of
salvation. With joy you can fling off the filthy clothing of your flesh, and of your
own pitiful good works. The cross entitles you to glorious clothing. The cross of
Christ entitles you to wear the pure white robe of His righteousness

"Christ was crucified for me!" If you're going to be proud of something, be
proud of that, and of nothing else. Point to the cross and say, God loved me so
much that He was willing to do that to His Son in order to save me! If you want
glory, here's all the glory you could ever ask for and then some! "Christ was
crucified for me!" If you want to brag about something, here's something really
worth bragging about! Through the cross, you have been pardoned. Through the
cross, you have been delivered from eternal death. Through the cross, you have
been promised a mansion in heaven. Don't hide that from the people you know
and meet. GLORY in it! Share it with them! It's the only thing you can do,
really, for the love of Christ compels you. It reminds me of that man of the
Gadarenes whom Jesus healed, you remember? By the Sea of Galilee? He
GLORIED in his deliverance. After he was healed, he went his way and
proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.
That's your job, my Christian friends. Simply to communicate to people the
great things Jesus has done for you. To glory in the cross of your Savior!

Now that I think of it, an even simpler example of glory comes to mind. We
don't have to look any further back than yesterday. Wasn’t yesterday a glorious
day? After all the rain of the past several months comes a day of warm weather
and bright sunshine, not a cloud in the sky, temperatures in the 60's. You could
almost hear the grass growing. We haven’t had many days like that recently.
And I'm sure that when you first stepped outside into the sunshine you said the
same thing I did, "What a glorious day!" But the most glorious day there ever
was would pale in comparison with the glory of the eternal day that will dawn
for you and me in heaven. That is an everlasting glory, one that God has
promised us through the cross of His son Jesus Christ. In his Revelation, the
Apostle John had a vision of that glorious day. He saw heaven, And the twelve
gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of
the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 22 And I saw no temple
therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23 And
the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory
of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Revelation 21:21.
AMEN.