Embrace Nothingness

Much has been going on and I'm amazed at the grace of God experienced in my local church. Aren't you glad that Christ is the Head of the Church and no one else! I have been finding myself camping out in Galatians 6 lately. It's actually been wrecking me quite a bit. Up to this point, Paul had been defending many things, but primarily justification by faith alone.

The Galatians were found to be viewing their works as additions for salvation, which accompanied the work accomplished by Christ on the cross. Namely, circumcision was being put forward as neccessary, along with faith in Christ, for someone to be converted. Though Paul's love for the church is great, he quickly breezes through an introduction, and we find that he, biblically, pierces through this lie and contends for the gospel. Chapter 5 deals with reminding the church not to "submit again to the yoke of slavery" and seek justification by keeping the whole law, which they could never do. Rather, he calls them to "walk by the Spirit" and put on the fruits of the Spirit (Gal.5:16; 5:22).

Now...chapter 6 is striking to me. As I've read it...it would seem that the pace slows down. I'll include this one specific passsage in which Paul, in encouraging the church how battle with sin, states this in chapter 6:1b-3:

"Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself."

That last verse is particularly sobering to me, because it tells me that I am DAILY deceived. Everyday, multiple times a day...I think that I AM SOMETHING! And I am completely blind to the fact that in all reality, I AM NOTHING! And when I think that I am something, I say to myself "Well, since I'm something great, what I do must be great!" - then, I am deceived. So often, I take that into my relationship with God... the One who is truly Something! At times I will do the very thing Paul, here, is trying overcome earlier in Galatians! Because I think I'm something, and because I think what I do is something, I assume that God is somehow impressed with that and that it places me in greater standing with Him. How wrong I so often get it! I must constantly confront myself that to have a "Gospel plus ______ (fill in the blank)" mentallity - I nulify the work of cross. Another way to put it is we "mute" the cross when we add to it's work. CJ Mahaney, who uses this illustration of muting, said: "If you mute the cross, you have no hope." The Gospel is the foundation of our hope before a Holy God...may we never mute our hope through our own futile works. I think is was Spurgeon who said our greatest works are "shot through with sin".

Often I try to boast in my "sin-shot-through" works...but it's worthless. At the end of chapter 6 of Galatians, Paul gives us something to boast about. Chapter 6:14 states, "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."

May we be people who embrace nothingness so that we can boast in one thing...the Cross of Jesus Christ!