1
“Grace”
Galatians 6
September 4, 2016, David M. Griebner, Riverside UMC
For the past few weeks we have been working our way through Galatians. Galatians is
one of Paul’s letters in the New Testament. Today we have arrived at the last chapter. To
finish this series I want to do three things. First I want to look back at the main message
of this wonderful book. Second I want you to see how Paul applies this message in
chapter six. And finally I want to talk about where we are going to go in the weeks to
come.
What is the main message of Galatians? Paul’s message in Galatians goes something like
this. The death of Jesus on the cross is enough. When you put your faith in Jesus, and in
His sacrificial death on the cross, that is enough. Period. The Galatians were gentile
believers but some Jewish Christians had been trying to tell them that it wasn’t enough to
just believe in Jesus, you also had to keep many of the Jewish ceremonial laws, including
circumcision. But Paul is adamant, and in fact often angry, in his defense of the Gospel
that God gave to him (Galatians 1:11-12). What God did in Christ on the cross is enough
for everyone, for Jew and Gentile alike. You don’t need to become Jewish. You don’t need
to keep any of the Jewish ceremonial laws, including circumcision. All you need to do to
be made right with God, all you need to do to fulfill all the requirements of the law, is to
put your faith in Jesus.
Let me see if I can’t paint a picture about what is at stake here. I had one of those days
this past week that you want to boast about. It was Wednesday, and it was a great day. I
mean it was almost flawless. I got so much done! I made some decisions about upcoming
preaching and worship. I accomplished some personal tasks I needed to take care of. And
all the lights I hit were green! I mean it was simply spectacular. And then it happened.
About five minutes to five in the afternoon I started to pack up to go home. And when I
opened my backpack there it was. I had promised my wife that I would take care of
something, something that needed to be done that day, and in all my excitement about
getting everything else done I had forgotten all about it. We belong to a kind of “flower of
the month” club at a local florist. For a yearly fee we get one bouquet every month. And it
was the last day of August. And we hadn’t picked up August yet. And the last thing I had
promised my wife before I left in the morning was “I’ll do it.” I called the shop. I got their
answering machine. They were closed. Now I’m delighted to tell you that this story has a
happy ending. I called the next day and, after giving them my sad story, they said it was
fine, they’d still give me the August flowers.
So what is Paul so concerned about? Think about the story I just told you and put it on a
bigger stage. In fact put it on the stage where eternity at stake. Do you want to stand
before God with your own checklist of “good days” and “good things” you have done,
hoping that you haven’t missed something important? Or do you want to stand there
covered by your faith in Jesus, knowing that by your faith in Jesus you are already
2
accepted, pre-approved! By faith you have been redeemed from slavery to sin and death
and have been adopted into God’s family. By faith God has given Jesus everything you
ever did wrong and given you everything Jesus did right.
This is what the cross of Christ is all about. This is the message of Galatians, and indeed
the whole New Testament. And there is a name for it – Grace. Grace is God doing in us
what we cannot do for ourselves. And what Paul has been saying over and over and over
again in Galatians is that the power and the beauty of God’s amazing grace only comes if
you trust in it completely. You can’t have it both ways. It’s not your good days and grace,
or your good deeds and grace; it’s grace, period. As Paul writes in Ephesians “For it is by
grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) This is what Paul has
been arguing for in every chapter in this letter. Miss the cross and you miss grace. Try to
add anything to the cross and you miss grace. Miss grace and you miss God.
How does Paul apply this message here in chapter 6? I think it goes something like this.
Share this grace you have received with others. What God has so generously offered to
you, offer that to others. He captures this beautifully in the very first verse. “Brothers and
sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person
gently.” The Greek word that is translated “restore” is the same word that is used for
putting a dislocated or broken bone back in place. How are we to deal with each other,
especially if someone has stumbled or fallen? The same way you deal with a bone that’s
out of place. Find a way to put it back together with as little pain as possible. Why? Why
do this? Why make this your priority? Because this is the grace and mercy God has
showered on you. And when you share this among yourselves, when this grace is what
you are known for, it shows everyone who has yet to taste it what this grace looks like,
and perhaps take a step toward it for themselves.
This week I was reading a review of a new book on Christianity in America and the article
began with this tag line: Our culture can’t remember what makes Christianity good... Our
culture can’t remember what makes Christianity good. This is so sad even if it is only a
little true.
I also read a blog that another pastor I know had posted a link to. The blog was from a
lifelong United Methodist who has decided to leave the UM church. He talks about
several reasons why, but at the top of his list he put “online interactions.” Apparently he
has been expressing his opinion online about some of the critical issues facing our church
and the responses from other believers have been, to put it mildly, less than kind. He
writes, “I am not talking about those times when a person gets heated in a passionate
debate. I am talking about consistent combative behavior that is rude, uncalled for, and
quite honestly mean spirited.” He adds that some of the worst offenders have been
United Methodist pastors who disagreed with him.
3
What do we need to do? We need to make sure that we have truly, truly placed our hope
in the grace of God, grace that is fully, sufficiently, and uniquely offered to us by faith in
Jesus, by His death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead, and the gift of the Holy
Spirit. And then, in the power of the Holy Spirit we must make it a priority to offer this
grace to one another, and also to those who have no idea what it is.
So that’s where we’ve been and that’s how Paul applies it in Galatians 6. What’s left?
Where are we going to go next? After spending all this time with Galatians and coming to
the place I’ve come to today I want to spend more time with you on grace. When I
thought about how to do that, the passage in scripture that jumped out to me was Jesus’
parable of the prodigal son from Luke 15. If we want to learn more about God’s grace I
can hardly think of a better place to spend our time than with this amazing parable from
our Lord. Outside of the office you will find a book on the prodigal by Timothy Keller that
you can buy if you wish. It’s a wonderful book.
Finally, let me leave us with some final words from Galatians 6. One more time, near the
end of the letter, Paul sums up everything he is so passionate about. “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.”
Every day, in all that we do and say, may the grace of God continue to shape us more and
more into the new creation in Christ that He has planned for us to become, so that the
world around us that does not yet know Him may be drawn to Him, even though they
know not why. Amen.