Centerstage:
The Cross
Galatians 6:14-18

† Jesus, Son, Savior †

May God’s peace and mercy be upon you, as you live knowing this, you are a new creation, the very people of God

Where do we find contentment?

The Apostle Paul desired that he would never, ever boast in anything except the cross of Christ.

Not in His favorite sports teams

Not in a promotion, or an award given at work

Not in his citizenship or Nationality

Not even in the academic grades or the sports accomplishments of his children or grandchildren.

That makes some sense, even as we know we do those things regularly.  When we look a little deeper at the word behind the word “boast,” the lesson gets a little harder.

The Greek word means to be proud of or to be satisfied and content with your situation or accomplishments. 

Should I go back through that list? 

We find many things that we find contentment, many things in which we find satisfaction.  Paul would have us only find contentment, only find satisfaction when we looked there, at the cross which reminds you that God loves you enough that Christ died… for you!

Nothing is more important in your life than to know God loves you.  Seeing the cross at the center stage of our lives, yet…

The Law – The world rules

That is why Paul talks about the need to see our interest in the world crucified, and the world’s interest in us terminated.  This is hard to comprehend at times, for how do we live in the world and yet, as Jesus tells us, not be of the world?  How can we deal with the family and friends we might lose, the jobs we might have to turn down, all because they do not understand?

It is not easy,

I need to say here we don’t lose them because we annoy them with our condescension, or pretend we are holier or more special that they are.  We better not lose them because we condemn their sin, while ignoring our own.

But the ability to dwell miraculously in peace, and receive God’s mercy will create a difference, and not understanding that is challenging.  As is the change in priorities that occurs when we are transformed by the presence of God in our lives.

The Transformation

You see, God starts transforming us, the moment He claims us in baptism.  We might not even realize the difference He is making, But we become something new, something different, as we experience His love.

We live differently, what the Apostle talks of, to live by this principle, the principle is this: that we are the new people of God.  In Greek, this is the word canon. Not the kind I would like to play with, but canon as in the Biblical Canon.  It means the rule, the form, the standard that we can be measured by. 

Luther talks about something similar when he talks about the third use of the law, that we live in a peace and mercy that affects our life, causing us to live as new creations.

While the world may not understand it, God changes us.  It is why kneeling here is so incredible.  It is why Al when he stood here and baptized his granddaughters was crying for joy.  It is why people, when they hear that they are forgiven, every sin from murder to those little white lies that haunt us, feel as if they were released from the greatest of burdens.  This is the transformation!

It is something the world just can’t understand, this remarkable peace and grace of God which defines us, when we remember that we have been made the children of God.

The Mark How does that happen?  Paul describes it this way, “I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus.

The stigmata in Greek.  A Reference to the marks, the wounds of Christ.  For it primarily means the mark left by the healing of injured tissue, in a way, a natural tattoo.

But it is deeper than that, because Paul says it is a mark that shows that he belongs to Jesus.  A mark that tells us we are His, that we are united to Him and His death on the cross. We bear that mark of the cross, the stigma of it, for with it we were baptized , marked and sealed, so that not only do we die with Christ.

We live with Him as well.

Which is why I make the sign of the cross during the creed, because of His cross, and our death with Him there, we will rise from the dead and living in the glory of the Father forever! 

And until that day comes, when all men will be judged, the Holy Spirit dwells with us, comforting us, transforming and guiding us, as we live as the new people of God… AMEN!