Amen. Let us come now to the reading of God's holy word. We come now to the end of the book of Galatians which we have been working through as congregation for some time. Galatians chapter 6 verses 11 to 18. If you have not been with us for all that time, we have before us kind of the whole message in mini form. And so we get the whole idea of Galatians in mini form right here. And so this is a good place for all to join us. Galatians chapter six. page 1,240 in most of the Pew Bibles. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Let us hear now the very word of God. See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle comes to the conclusion of his letter by writing with emphasis. We're actually not exactly sure why he writes with large letters, but either way it's for emphasis. Either he's writing with large letters because his eyesight is so poor that's the only way he can write, but that would be emphasis because he's taking out his own pen to do it, though it's difficult. Or it might simply be an old way of writing in bold. You can't just hit Command B in 50 AD. And so the apostle writes with large letters. And so either way, the point is this, to emphasize the concluding words. And what does the apostle emphasize? He comes to this, he comes to the heart of the gospel. He gives Galatians in many summary and just as the truth of Jesus Christ being our only source of salvation stands at the center of the book of Galatians, so that truth stands in the middle of these concluding words. This is our theme then this morning, Our Boast in Life. must be our peace with God by Christ, by Christ and his work on the cross alone. And so we'll consider this and we'll first look at the worldly motivations, the apostle lists, and then we'll look at Christian motivations or that could even be in the singular, Christian motivation. And then we'll look at the very last words of this epistle. So first, the worldly motivations. The apostle in verse 12, he returns to his reputation of the false teachers. We've called them the Judaizers in chapter two, verse 12. The apostle calls them the circumcision party. They're saying that you must be circumcised to be saved. You must receive this external thing to be saved. And they have come in with this false teaching, and that's been part of the very reason why the apostle has written this letter. And he returns to them now one more time, though they faded to the background a little bit after the first two chapters. He returns to them one more time, and he details the very motivations of their false teaching, their worldly motivations. And we see especially three, motivations here. First, they're motivated to avoid persecution. And so in verse 12 we read, only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. We might think of the persecution of the early church as being that which came from the Roman authorities and As the early church grew, that became true, but first, it was persecution from the Jews. The first martyr, Stephen, is martyred, not by the Roman authorities, but by the Jewish authorities. And so, by coming in and making the Gentiles to be circumcised, these false teachers are thinking, well, if we do this, we can be just Jewish enough that we won't be persecuted. If we come in and we eat with these uncircumcised Gentiles, we will be an easy target, but let us not do that. Let us circumcise them and make that the very center of our new religion and then we can avoid persecution. They have a worldly motivation. The second worldly motivation is they want to put on a false and a good image of themselves. So verse 12 says they want to make a good showing. And then verse 13 speaks about how they desire, how they do not themselves keep the law. In other words, they want to look good. They want to look pious. They want everyone to see how great they are, but it's really just to make a good show. And they really don't follow the law anyway, even as the apostle has shown us that none of us follow the law. We are all sinners in need of grace. But this is their worldly motivation. They want to look good. And then a third worldly motivation is related to that, but it's especially personal fame. And so the end of verse 13 reads in this way, that they may boast in your flesh. the false teachers are coming in there they're spreading their false teaching in order to win people to that false circumcision version of Christianity that they can then Boston say look what we have done look who we have won over to this mixture of the old laws and Jesus Christ. They are not making their glory for God alone. They have a worldly motivation. Now, people of God, we should say this caution here, and that is that we must be very slow to judge the motivations of others. We might even say it this way, before getting to this section of Galatians, we had the fruit of the Spirit, which includes love. Love includes 1 Corinthians 13, 7, hoping all things, thinking the best about the thoughts and motivations of others, believing all things, thinking the best about what the words of others mean. In other words, it is our normal way of living as Christians that we should be very slow to judge the motivations of others. But the Apostle, first by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so he's doing it perfectly, and second, because he sees their unbiblical teaching, and their non-Christian actions says the time does come when we can judge motivations. The time does come when we call the false sheep false, when we point out the wolf in sheep's clothing. The time can come to judge motivations. People of God, let us be slow to do this, but let us be willing to do it when we have to, even as the apostle does it here with with gentle boldness seeking to bring the Galatians who are tempted by this false teaching back, that they might not slip into it. And let us also think about these motivations and notice that these motivations are the same kinds of things that we can be tempted into to this very day, are they not? Could we be motivated to avoid persecutions? Have we not already seen too many churches water down the truth of the word of God under pressure from the world? And if persecution of the church intensifies over the coming years, as it may, we do not know, will there not be more temptation to do that, to water down the truth of all of what God says? Could we not be motivated to keep a good outward image of ourselves? Don't we all desire to look good? Perhaps for a teenager, the struggle to look good is actually a desire to not look too good in front of ungodly friends. Perhaps for those who are middle-aged, it's struggle with not wanting to look too bad in front of anyone. And in short, we all can still struggle. with the desire to look good, to look how others would want us to look. We want to look good in the eyes of others. This motivation is not something which only a few false teachers struggle with. It's something we all must guard against. And then finally, we could be motivated to work for the kingdom of God, for our own glory, instead of for the glory of God. These are not new temptations. So what then is the answer? How do we guard against this when we come to Christian motivations or really the one central Christian motivation? And it is this, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so verse 14 stands in the middle of this summary, even as 3 verse 13 stands in the middle of all of Galatians. Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Philip Rikens summarized it this way. He said, quote, to be justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone means boasting in the cross alone. And people of God, let us never forget how strange a thing it is to boast in the cross. Now, two thousand years removed from the days of Jesus on earth, we put the symbol of the cross in many places. We put it on our baptismal fountain. We put it on top of our church. We put it on our jewelry. And that's not a bad thing. In fact, in many ways, it's working out what the apostle has said here. We're saying we're not ashamed of the cross. We boast in it. We put it front and center. But being so far removed from the days of crucifixion and witnessing that in the Roman world, We might be tempted to start to think of the cross as a clean symbol. But it is ugly. The only thing that makes the cross beautiful is when we say the cross of Jesus Christ. The only thing which makes the cross beautiful is when we say this is the horrible thing that Jesus did for me, a sinner, to take my sins upon himself. It's an ugly symbol. It's a symbol of death. Imagine if if you had a friend who wore a necklace with an electric chair on it. And that would just be bizarre. Imagine if you had a friend who wore a necklace with a symbol of a noose on it. That would just be, this would just be strange and bizarre. Why would we celebrate something so ugly? And certainly crucifixion is much more brutal than an electric chair or a noose in the gallows. Why do we do this? We do this because though it is an ugly symbol, When we speak about the cross of Christ, it becomes the most beautiful symbol because He did it for us. He died on the cross for all who repent and believe in Him. So let us put the cross front and center. Let the fact that none of us have ever witnessed a crucifixion not allow us to forget that it's an ugly symbol, only beautiful when we speak about one cross, the cross of Jesus Christ. Indeed, this was such a gross thing. In polite Roman society, you didn't use the word cross. Now on the day of Jesus' crucifixion, the crowds, the Jewish crowd shouted, crucify him, crucify him. But in polite Roman society, you did not use this word. It was unspeakable. If you did speak about someone being crucified, they would use euphemisms like, let him hang on the unlucky tree. And this unutterable word, the Roman citizen, Paul the Apostle, makes his only boast when we speak about the cross. of Christ. Let us not boast in anything else. And we could at this point give a long list of things that we might boast in, and the list is long and maybe just a little bit different from one of us to another, but let's focus on just one thing this morning. Let's think about family boasting. Now, Psalm 127, Psalm 128, make it very clear that family is an abundant blessing from the Lord our God. And perhaps if we were not so close to the end of Galatians that we wanted to bring it to a close, we could have paused and had a Psalm 127 sermon on a baptism day that would be appropriate. But an abundant blessing from God, the blessing of a family, the blessing of of a covenant child and the baptism of a covenant child. These are wonderful things, but it's never the foundation for our salvation. When we come before the heavenly throne room and we are asked the question, how are you saved? We cannot say, I'm saved because my family looks like it's got it all together. They all go to church. We all look neat. They all get good grades. We all get along wonderfully. You can't say that before the heavenly throne room of God. That boast means nothing there. No, you can only boast in the cross of Jesus Christ. You are not saved by how wonderful your family looks. People of God, the same is true on the other extreme. We are not unsaved by how ugly our family might look. Perhaps you'd stand before the judgment seat of God and say, I can't be saved. All of my children have wandered from the faith. I can't be saved. My family is just one big mess. No, we don't say that either. You do not fall into either extreme. We stand with one boast and one hope and one foundation for our salvation, and it is the cross of Jesus Christ. It is only the cross of Jesus Christ that we would trust in Him to wash us clean. Now let's move to our third point from the focus upon the one Christian motivation, the cross itself, to now thinking about the change that this should bring about in each one of us. And so the Apostle speaks about being crucified to the world. And then in the end of verse 15, about being a new creation. And these are now the very last words of the Apostle. And for those who have been with us for the whole march through Galatians, I think we can now see the mini summary of the whole book. Verses 12 and 13 in some way are a summary of Galatians 1 and 2, Paul's defense against the false teachers. The beginning of verse 14 is a summary of Galatians 3 and 4 detailing that we are saved by faith alone in the work of Christ on the cross alone. And now at the end of verse 14 through to verse 17, these are in many ways a summary of Galatians 5 and 6 that Having salvation in Christ does not mean that we then live in sin. On the contrary, we move from the cross to living as grateful, changed servants for Jesus Christ. The cross is our only boast, but it changes our whole life. And so when the Apostle speaks about being crucified to the world, being dead to the world, is this not the same as speaking about crucifying the passions of the flesh in chapter 5, verse 24, and putting off all those works of the flesh which are detailed in the same chapter? When the apostle speaks about being a new creation, is that not a short two-word way of saying that we are to put on all of the fruit of the Spirit, which are detailed in that same chapter? In other words, We now have a life to live for Christ. We have a new rule by which we would walk in Galatians 6 verse 16. And the word there for walk is just as it was in 5 verse 25. Not the usual Greek word for walking, but the one which speaks about marching, marching in formation, marching according to a rule. And so we have the word rule there also in that verse. We walk, we march by this rule. We march as the people of the Spirit, according to the rule of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, that which we are called to put on as God's new creation. And then the Apostle gives one last specific word about what this looks like and that's in verse 17. And in verse 17 we see that walking in the new rule as a new creation. It must involve respecting the Christ-centered true teacher. And so Paul, he's used personal language in this epistle, and he returns to it once more. And he essentially says this, to contrast it with the false teachers. Don't follow those who are motivated by a desire to avoid persecution. Listen to me. Do you not see that I have the very marks of persecution upon me? That I am willing to suffer even bodily for the message of salvation in Christ alone? 2 Corinthians was written after Galatians. And so some of these things may have been after this letter was written, but the Apostle summarizes his sufferings there in 2 Corinthians 11, 23 to 25. And we see this, are they servants of Abraham? So am I, and I am a better one. I am talking like a madman with far greater labors, far more imprisonments with countless beatings and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the 40 lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from the Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger in the sea, danger from false brothers. Again, some of these may have been after. He wrote Galatians, but one of those near-death experiences is probably that which is detailed in the book of Acts. And that would have been, in Acts 14, a near-death experience in the region of Galatia. Perhaps the brothers and sisters he's writing to now even saw him stoned and nearly dead at that time. Let us listen to the one who is willing to be persecuted to the Apostle Paul and to anyone who would be willing to suffer for the truth of Christ. And indeed persecutions may come. The scriptures speak about this so often but real peace is found in the midst of whatever sufferings come upon God's people. Real peace is yet found again in the cross and for all those who are really the Israel of God, which we know from Galatians 4 is not just ethnic Jews, but anyone who has the faith of Abraham. Peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God, the true Israel of God, all who have the faith as Abraham had faith in God alone. And then people of God, I love the last verse of Galatians and it has rich application for us. The New Testament church as it's being established has all kinds of troubles and problems because wherever there are people, there are problems. and struggles and sin. There is no perfect church. But it's not only Philippi and Ephesus which have their own lesser problems that receive the blessing from the apostle. It's also Corinth and the churches of Galatia which have big messes that receive the parting blessing. Again, this is true because we are saved by the cross alone. We are not saved because we're less messy people in some less messy church, and that's true. For no matter what church you go to, we are saved by Jesus Christ. And for all who trust in Him, who will then As His servants live for Him, the blessing is for you. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, all brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, we are brothers and sisters in Christ together in. A messy world. But we rejoice in salvation that we have. In the beautiful work of our Savior Jesus Christ. On an otherwise ugly cross. And so we give thanks. that we pray in his precious name. Amen. Let us stand, people of God. We'll sing from 127A, a reminder of our dependence upon God. God must build it, and also a preparation for baptism as well, and the abundant blessings that God can give. Let us stand together and sing 127A. ♪ The winter warm, the high-shelled billow ♪ ♪ The weary builders toil in vain ♪ ♪ Unless the Lord the city's still ♪ ♪ About to use my squashing teeth ♪ ♪ Give me new light, dear morning rain ♪ ♪ And bleach your nightly vigils keen ♪ ♪ And of the bread of toil partake ♪ ♪ A gift to his beloved sleep ♪ ♪ O children are a great reward ♪ ♪ A gift from God in very truth ♪ ♪ With their roses his swimmers poured ♪ ♪ Who joys in children of his youth ♪ ♪ And bless the man whose age is near ♪ ♪ By soulward sons and daughters fair ♪ No enemies by him are feared. No lack of love, no want of care. Well we come now to the celebration of that sacrament of baptism. I'll be reading the smaller Forms and Prayers book, beginning on page nine. We have the introduction through pages nine and 10, and then we get to the address of the appearance and the baptism itself on page 11. Again, Forms and Prayers book. Page 9, Baptism of Infants, Form 1. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, what the Lord has revealed to us in his word about holy baptism can be summarized in this way. First, baptism teaches that we and our children are conceived and born in sin. This means that we are by nature children of wrath, and for that reason cannot be members of Christ's kingdom unless we are born again. Baptism, whether by immersion or sprinkling, teaches that sin has made us so impure that we must undergo a cleansing which only God can accomplish. By this we are admonished to detest ourselves, humble ourselves before God, and turn to him for our cleansing and salvation. Second, Baptism signifies and seals to us the washing away of our sins through Jesus Christ. For this reason, we are baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When we are baptized into the name of the Father, God the Father testifies and seals to us that he makes an eternal covenant of grace with us and adopts us as his children and heirs. Therefore, he promises to provide us with everything good and protect us from all evil, or turn it to our prophet. When we are baptized into the name of the Son, God the Son seals to us that he washes us in his blood from all our sins. Christ unites us to himself that we share in his death and resurrection. Through this union with Christ, we are freed from our sins and accounted righteous before God. When we are baptized into the name of the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit assures us by his holy sacrament that he will make his home within us and will sanctify us as members of Christ. He will impart to us what we have in Christ, namely the washing away of our sins and the daily renewing of our lives. As a result of his work within us, we shall finally be presented without the stain of sin among the assembly of the elect in life eternal. Third, the covenant of grace contains both promises and obligations. Having considered the promises, we now consider the obligations. Through baptism, God calls us and places us under obligation to live in new obedience to him. This means that we must cling to this one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We must trust in Him and love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We must renounce the sinful way of life. We must put to death our old nature and show by our lives that we belong to God. If we through weakness should fall into sin, we must not despair of God's mercy, nor use our weakness as an excuse to keep sinning. Baptism is a seal and totally reliable witness that we have an eternal covenant with God. Our children should not be excluded from baptism because of their inability to understand its meaning. Just as without their knowledge they share in Adam's condemnation, so are they without their knowledge, so they without their knowledge received to grace in Christ. God's gracious attitude toward us and our children is revealed in what he said to Abraham, the father of all believers, and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. The apostle Peter also testifies to this with these words for the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord, our God calls to himself. Therefore, God formerly commanded that children be circumcised as a seal of the covenant and of the righteousness that comes by faith. Christ also recognized that children are members of the covenant people when he embraced them, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. Since baptism has replaced circumcision as the sign and seal of the covenant, our children should be baptized as heirs of God's kingdom and of his covenant. As children grow up their parents are responsible for teaching them the meaning of baptism in order that we may now administer this holy sacrament of God to his glory for our comfort into the edification of the church. Let us call upon his holy name. Let us pray. Almighty eternal God, Long ago, you severely punished an unbelieving and unrepentant world in her holy judgment by sending a flood. But in your great mercy, you saved and protected believing Noah and his family. You also drowned the obstinate Pharaoh and his whole army in the Red Sea, and you brought your people Israel through the sea on dry ground. In these acts, you revealed the meaning of baptism and the mercies of your covenant in saving your people. who of themselves deserved your condemnation. We therefore pray that in your infinite mercy, you will graciously look upon this, your child, and that you would bring Brynn Elaine Pausman to union with your son, Jesus Christ, through your Holy Spirit. May she be buried with Christ into death and be raised with him to walk in newness of life. We pray that Brynn, may follow Christ day by day, may joyfully bear her cross, and may cling to Him in true