Rev. David Holwick ZF Galatians sermon series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
October 8, 2000
Galatians 6:14-18
START FRESH
I. The ultimate.
A. What one feature or experience defines you?
1) (You're in church so you're supposed to say,
"My relationship with God.")
2) Is it true?
B. How would anyone know? How are you sure YOU know?
II. The cross stands before us.
A. Rather grim symbol.
1) It confronts us with our guilt and sin.
2) The message is that you cannot save yourself. Only God can.
3) Many have a hard time swallowing this.
Paula Rinehart buckled her seat belt and breathed a sigh of
relief just as the plane prepared to taxi out of the gate.
Finally, a little peace and quiet.
In the middle of a long trip overseas, she was ready to
unwind.
"So where are you from, back in the United States?"
She turned to meet the man beside her, an animated New
Zealander looking for conversation with someone who spoke
English with an American accent.
In minutes he sketched out his life, and Paula forgot she
needed a nap.
She soon realized her seat mate could qualify as the poster
child of the secular man.
Well educated.
Great job.
Utterly confident.
Sincerely convinced he could do life his way.
He believed in God, he assured her, but he reserved the right
to define the parameters of that concept.
God was an influence in his life but a non-interfering one and
disconnected from anything associated with guilt or shame.
God was something of a cross between "The Force" and the
"Pillsbury Dough Boy."
Paula suggested tactfully that perhaps he'd picked up that last
part in one of those pop psychology seminars his company
sent him to on the West Coast.
His eyebrows furrowed, but he smiled.
She took off in a more deliberate direction.
"Remember how the actual story goes - I mean the one in the
Bible?
God allowed His Son to die on a cross between two thieves so
that He could bring you and me back into a relationship
with Him."
He admitted being stumped by that part of the story.
He just couldn't see the point.
In the cross, he meant.
Paula took his statement as her cue and launched into a fairly
elaborate explanation of how each of us needs Christ.
She used the "s" word-sin.
Then she came up with every poetic nuance for sin that she
knew.
Without Christ's death on the cross, she said, we are
estranged, cut off, alienated, outside the loop, separated.
We are, in short, lost.
Paula will never forget his response.
"I don't care how you put it.
Any notion of God being separate from me is pretty repulsive.
Telling me that I'm lost is an insult."
It was only later in the flight, in talking about his failed
first marriage, that the man could admit the incompleteness
of his life. [1]
B. The cross is all or nothing.
1) Without it, real Christianity collapses.
a) It is our boast.
b) It is our execution.
2) We cannot atone for our own sins.
a) Some people punish themselves, suffering for their sins.
b) Note Paul's comment in verse 17 - "the marks of Jesus."
1> Often taken to mean stigmata.
A> St. Francis and others have had it.
2> Not stigmata, but marks of persecution.
c) Not the marks on Paul, but the grace of Jesus saves. v18
3) It some way we must make a drastic break with the world.
a) We have to die to it.
b) But death is not the last world.
III. The power of starting fresh.
A. Real religion is not rituals.
1) Circumcision or uncircumcision don't matter.
a) We have to be re-created.
b) Not rituals - only God alone can bring it about.
c) Instead of circumcision (baptism) we need
transformation.
B. People can be re-made.
1) Many wish it.
a) Plastic surgery. (Joy Wittenstein - world record book)
b) Some are even trans-gendered.
2) Can God do it?
a) New creation is a new existence, not a touch-up.
1> In Galatians 5:6, faith expressing itself in love.
2> In 1 Corinthians 7:19, obeying God's commands.
b) It is not merely an invisible spiritual promotion.
IV. Has a real change of heart accompanied your faith?
A. Coming to terms with reality.
Thirteen years ago, James Corder was convicted of murdering
his stepmother and was sent to prison in Iowa.
From the beginning, Corder insisted they had the wrong man
-- a claim his family fervently believed.
Then James signed up for a special prison run by Charles
Colson's Prison Fellowship
(It was featured in prime time at the Republican National
Convention 2000 in Philadelphia.)
The 18-month regimen is far from easy.
Inmates spend all day working, studying, and attending
discipleship seminars.
Each day ends at 10:00 p.m. There is no TV, no wasted time.
During Phase 2 of the program, inmates perform community
service.
They are encouraged to repent and to make restitution to
their victims.
Prisoners are then matched with mentors from local churches.
Three months after James Corder signed up for the program
he found he could no longer live with himself.
Jack Cowley, the prison's director, said, "James felt the
Lord was telling him that if he was going to stay in
the program, he would have to stop living a lie.
He had to tell his father [1] he DID stab his stepmother to
death."
That was not easy, for after 13 years of lying, James was
concerned about how his [father] would react.
He asked his fellow inmates to pray with him.
When he told his [father] the truth, [he was] indeed
shocked, as he expected.
But [he] told James they would continue to love and support
him.
That confession had a tremendous impact on his fellow
inmates.
Jack Cowley says, "These were men who wanted to change their
lives through Christ.
But had no idea what a life in Christ looked like.
And here's a lifer who showed a dramatic proof of the
reality of Christ."
Charles Colson has met hardened criminals, including some
six-time losers, who have been transformed totally.
He has met men who turned down parole so that they could
stay in the prison and complete the program.
#16600
[1] Colson's original article has "parents" but I thought
this might sound confusing so I replaced it with "father."
V. Many believe, but fewer change.
A. Have you experienced it?
B. If there has not been a significant change in your life,
are you really a Christian?
C. Inner change ALWAYS produces outward evidence.
1) The renewal is a day-by-day experience. 2 Cor 4:16
=======================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] "Talking Foolishness," by Paula Rinehart, Discipleship Journal
#110, Mar-Apr 1999, page 68.
#16600 "Everyday Miracles: The Innerchange Program," by Charles Colson,
Breakpoint Commentary for August 1, 2000; copyright (c) 2000
Prison Fellowship Ministries.
These and 16,500 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/illust.html
=======================================================================
Other possible illustrations:
HOLWICK COMBINED COLLECTION Number: 725
SOURCE: Internet: Chicken Soup Of The Day
TITLE: Let's Start Over
AUTHOR: Richard Porter
DATE: 3/15/99
ILLUSTRATION:
Some time ago, I had a direct experience of what I describe as "High
Performance Customer Service." It occurred on a Saturday, on a cold
winter's day in Toronto.
The weekend began, as with many other second-family situations, with my
children visiting their mother. My wife, Kate, and I had a weekend
alone. Saturday was an exercise in leisure and tranquility. We got up
late, and everything in the day was a pleasurable three or four hours
late.
After browsing shops and galleries, we arrived at a prominent four-star
hotel at around four o'clock in the afternoon, ready for a late lunch.
The restaurant staff was most accommodating. Kate ordered a stir-fry of
some sort, and when it arrived, the real adventure began.
Nestled neatly in Kate's stir-fry was the tip of a finger from a latex
glove. I called the waitress. "What is this?" Kate inquired with an
appropriate level of indignation.
"I'm not sure," replied the waitress as she whisked the plate away to
the kitchen.
In less than a minute the waitress returned with the maitre d'.
"Madame, we have made a dreadful mistake and apologize sincerely." So
far so good. "Let us start over," the maitre d' continued. "Remove
everything from the table," he instructed the waitress. The waitress
proceeded to remove everything - the wine, the cutlery, my food, the
tablecloth - everything! "Let us erase the memory," said the maitre d'.
The table was reset, menus presented and new wine and food ordered. We
were on our way once again to a fantastic lunch.
The maitre d' took a bad service impression and replaced it with an
outstanding one. He did not deny the experience, but substituted a
higher, richer one in its place. The food was good, the service
superlative. This was theater.
And the meal was complimentary.
----------------------
By Richard Porter, from A 4th Course of Chicken Soup for the Soul,
Copyright 1997 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Hanoch McCarty &
Meladee McCarty
#725
*
___________________________________________________
HOLWICK COMBINED COLLECTION Number: 1648
SOURCE: Internet: Chicken Soup Of The Day
TITLE: Start With Yourself
AUTHOR: Anonymous
DATE: 9/9/98
ILLUSTRATION: The following words were written on the tomb of an
Anglican bishop in the crypts of Westminister Abbey:
When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of
changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world
would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to
change only my country.
But it too seemed immovable.
As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I
settled for changing only family, those closest to me, but alas, they
would have none of it.
And now as I lay on my deathbed, I suddenly realize: If I had only
changed myself first, then by example I would have changed my family.
From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to
better my country and, who knows, I may have even changed the world.
====================
By Anonymous, from Condensed Chicken Soup for the Soul, Copyright 1996
by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Patty Hansen
#1648
*
HOLWICK COMBINED COLLECTION Number: 4539
SOURCE: Internet: Rev. Brett Blair's Illustrations By
Email,www.sermonillustrations.com
TITLE: Encountering The Crucified Risen Lord
AUTHOR: D. T. Niles, Preaching The Gospel Of The Resurrection
DATE: 4/7/99
ILLUSTRATION:
ENCOUNTERING THE CRUCIFIED RISEN LORD
In a Lecture Series given by D. T. Niles, he finished by saying, "Let me
conclude with a story told by a famous French bishop to his
congregation."
Three university students of Paris were walking along the road one Good
Friday afternoon. They noticed crowds of people going to the churches
to make their confession. The students began to discuss this custom of
the "unenlightened," and talked in rather cynical terms about the
survival of religion which they described as superstition. Suddenly two
of the students turned to the third, who was the leader among them, and
said to him, "Will you go into this church and tell the priest there
what we have been saying to each other?" "Sure, I will," he said, and
went in.
He stood in the same queue of those who were going to their confession,
and when his turn came, he looked at the priest and said, "Father, I
have come here merely to tell you that Christianity is a dying
institution and that religion is a superstition." The priest looked at
the young man keenly and said, "Why did you come here, my son, to tell
me this?" And the student told him of his conversation with his
friends.
The priest listened carefully and then said: "All right, I want you to
do one thing for me before you go. You accepted the challenge of your
friends and came here; now accept my challenge to you. Walk up to the
chancel and you will find there a large wooden cross and on it he figure
of Jesus crucified. I want you to stand before that cross and say these
words: "Jesus died for me and I don't care a damn."
The student looked diffident but, to save face, agreed. He went up and
stood before that cross and said it: "Jesus died for me and I don't care
a damn." He came back to he priest and said, "I have done it." "Do it
once more," said the priest; "after all, it means nothing to you."
The student went back and looked at the cross for some time and the
figure on it, and then he stammered it out: "Jesus died for me and I
don't care a damn." He returned to the priest and said, "I have done
it; I am going now."
The priest stopped him. "Once more," he said, just once more and you
can go." The young man walked up to the chancel and looked at that
cross again, and at the Crucified. He stood there for a long time.
Then he came back to the priest and said, "Father, can I make my
confession now?"
The bishop concluded the story with these words: "And, my dear people,
that young man was me."
===================
D. T. Niles, Preaching the Gospel of the Resurrection.
