Galatians 6 - Vain Glorious

Galatians Chapter 6 Verses 3 – 5

·    It’s not what everyone or anyone else is doing or not doing… That’s not what is primary for me in my life. Its what I am doing… Am I looking for and concerned with goodness from others…, or am I concerned with goodness from me!? I wish this was something one could just realize and change but perhaps not. This is something that stems from the heart…

·    Paul said back in the end of Chapter 5 in verse 26, “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” That word for conceited in the Greek is “kenodoxos,” and it means vain glorious. In other words, one that is eager for or looking for or concerned with their own glory. This is the universal natural state of every person. Let me develop this and it becomes eye-opening!

·    We have a deep need for approval and affirmation however that need cannot be satisfied by the world. The need is for approval and affirmation of God. We were designed that way. That was our original state of design. Each of us are designed to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Each of us are actually designed to hear God and directly from God!) Because we don’t have that as all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, we are born into sin, born dead in the spirit, there is a desperation to get it and where else is there to turn but to others.

·    So, instead of entering a relationship or a situation to serve, we go out into all relationships with the logic of a market. How can I profit from this person? How can I bolster my fragile sense of being a good person and build myself up with the affirmation I am so desperate for through this interaction… No one has this conversation within themselves, this is the natural state of everyone…

·    This results in a person who transacts on the human level not to serve but rather with the deep-down question of how does this make me feel? Paul says provoking and envying. Every interaction is either provoking which means I sense that I am superior and I can beat you and that becomes the flavor of the relationship. There’s always a greater than air about you… Envying is the opposite which is the sense that I am not as good as you so there is a sort of resentment.

·    Both are market strategies and not good. This is natural, not thought through, this is just what happens, this natural question of not how do I serve this person but how does this benefit me or how does this bolster my self-image to make me feel better about myself because I am missing that deep down, super internal, “well done, good and faithful servant.” Deep down I am missing the approval and affirmation of God which is central to my design…

·    A conceited, vain glorious person goes into every relationship with a cost benefit analysis. Am I going to get out of this the same that I put in, or am I going to get more out of this than I put in? Is this person going to help me feel better about myself. If you weren’t vain glorious, you would move out in every relationship, the jumping off starting point, would be to serve them. Not to get something for yourself.

·    Paul is calling for a relationship type and approach and natural inclination of humility which is a person that has been healed of the greatest need we all have. The need to be approved and affirmed. But what happens is you use people to make up for the fact that you don’t have God saying constantly to you in your heart of hearts, healed in your heart of hearts, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” So, you look for and surround yourself with people that need to be rescued so that you can feel good about yourself or you look for people that make you feel good about yourself.

·    Here’s where that is healed. In the Gospel. In the receiving of the cross and what has been done for you and staking your identity in that foundationally/primarily. That is why later Paul will say, and he has said this several times before, (verse 14), “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Boasting is not bragging. It is representing. It’s like a name tag. I am Matt, the one saved by grace and the blood of Jesus Christ.

·    It’s a military term. It’s the weapon we wield. Some present intellect. Some present their past. Some present their personal toughness. Some present their success. But to boast in any of that, to make that your identity, is vain glorious. To boast in the cross means that is my identity. It’s a decision AND a work of the Spirit. The gospel is justification by faith alone, it is not sanctification by faith alone….

·    When you surrender your heart to the work of the cross and what has been done for you, that “well done good and faithful servant” is heard within you heart of hearts. You need to understand, because of what Jesus has done for me, accomplished for me, when God looks at me, no matter what my day, moment, season or attitude looks like, underneath all of the chastising and correcting and urging me towards goodness which is just part of sanctification, that is all founded upon a solid rock that cannot be moved or changed of, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Jesus on the cross called out “Tetelestai,” it is finished. It is accomplished. Paid in full…

·    Have you yet heard that from the Father? If not, I understand, I understand why you’re business-case transactional with the people in your life. Vain glorious. Because you are not yet healed of your most basic need of being affirmed and approved and applauded by God Himself because of your understanding and acceptance of Jesus Christ. Not based on your own merit but because of what Jesus has done in your place. And that heals your need for others to affirm and approve you… Call it self-esteem, call it humility, call it confidence, call it whatever you want. You heal. And now you aren’t needing some person to give you the generic version when you are already affirmed and approved by God Himself… The most basic need of everyone. So, naturally, no more business case for folks to be allowed in your life… You serve them… Because your boast, the presentation of YOU is a reflection of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…

·    What is in the very center of the tabernacle and or the temple? There’s no image…, what’s there is a slab of gold over top the law and it’s the mercy seat. That means in the center of all reality, the principal presented is my life for yours. Your life to serve mine, you sacrifice your needs to serve mine, all that is against God, that is the flesh and it is vain glorious. All real love is substitutionary sacrifice. Paul says you can go into relationships like that or you can go into relationships the old way.

·    Galatians 6:15 says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision not uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” You are a new creation if and when you learn to boast in Christ alone. This is what happens to you, you heal, and then the world can’t control you anymore. Remember when Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” And Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” And Jesus said, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, Peter, but My Father who is in heaven.” Then almost immediately after that Jesus starts talking about the cross and Peter rebukes Him. Then what did Jesus say, “Get behind me, Peter?” No…, “Get behind Me, Satan…” Why? Because if you miss the principle of the cross, the central theme of all creation, the mercy seat, my life for yours, then you are in the ministry of the kingdom of Satan…

·    To understand the doctrine of the cross you must accept and feel the offense of the cross. And that offense is yours…, and it is gone, dealt with, by the love and the blood of Jesus and the giving of Himself for you, His personal sacrifice for your personal freedom, Him transferring His to you,“Well done, good and faithful servant,” and then you begin to boast in it. It becomes not on the outside, but on the inside, your identity.

·    Where you get your strength to face what you have to face. The applause and affirmation and approval of the cross of Christ is upon the true believer and that becomes your identify so that you don’t need the applause and affirmation and approval of people around you. It’s nice…, but you don’t hunt for it, you’re not as eager for it, no longer vain glorious… Conceit is healed and provocation and envy aren’t there any longer… That is the power of the saving gospel unto a new creation in the heart and life of a true believer in Jesus Christ…

·    How do you deal, by the way, with self-deception? Paul says in verse 3, “For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” Self-deception is fooling yourself, tricking yourself, manipulating yourself to accept something as good and acceptable that is in opposition to God (who is perfect). How do you do with that? It’s a super interesting question to ponder…

·    When someone else deceives you…, and you discover it…, is there anything that stings worse than that? That’s a deep cut especially if it is someone you should be able to trust. Someone close to you… Why is it that we have an intense visceral response to being deceived by others but when it is ourselves, “well, that’s just how I am...” When cast in that light, self-deception is actually far worse… And so many just go on about their business being besties with their own self-deceiving ways… Isn’t that just a wild situation!?

·    I want to go back and talk about one more thing in the first set of verses of this chapter, please. Verse 2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Think of one person carrying a 50-pound weight. Doable, but heavy…, and over time that would get very heavy. Weight carried in the heart, you get stronger, but the majority of the strength is not muscle, it’s not necessarily helpful…, it’s a hardening, a callousing… We actually aren’t designed to carry burdens. To be burdened was a piece of the curse of the fall…

·    If I am carrying a 50-point load and you step forward and take one side of it and I take another, now it’s 25 pounds each. If five step forward in kindness and fellowship to help me continue on, now it’s 10 pounds each. And so on…, you get the picture… This is the idea of bearing one another’s burdens… Now, I don’t necessarily know what you’re carrying. I don’t know what’s happened to you and you don’t know what’s happened to me…, or frankly, what I myself has done to cause a heavy-laden heart…, but it’s kindness, its agape love, it’s a person who is healed in heart, not vain glorious, not looking to get from me but to serve me, this is what lifts the load off of a heart…

·    Now, here’s what folks typically do with burdens. One of three things. We carry it, we bury it, or we marry it. (And that is not a dig on your spouse, HA!) Many of us choose to carry our loads throughout our lives. Callousing and hardening to be able to bear the load and get back up to speed…, we will come back to that one in just a moment. Others choose to bury it. Hide it deep down and allow their heart to just be harmed and that is how life is going to be for them. Then there are those that marry it…, live with it in the open and its happened and it has shaped who I am and no one is going to change that. In fact, touch it, try to correct it, and you will be punished. I will exit you from my life…

·    What we are supposed to do is take our burdens and take them to the Lord. Jesus said in Matthew 28:28-30, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Jesus says, bring that 50 pounds to me and let Me take one side… Learn from Me…, when they would yoke two animals together, they would choose one that is well experienced and one that was not so that the one that was not would learn and learn quickly from the more experienced, calmer, more effective animal…

·    One of the reasons that folks don’t bear the burdens of others…, not your favorites, not the ones you get along with, not the ones that bear your burdens…, others is ALL others, everyone you come in contact with even those that are spots in your love feasts (focused on self and ignorant and annoying) that is who verse 2 is talking about, one of the reasons, the main reason why Christians are not fulfilling the law of Christ is because you are carrying your own load without the help you need and truly want…, and you’re out of capacity to have the desire to grab one end of the yoke of others…

·    Here’s the code too, the pattern, the hidden truth…, Jesus has a bunch of mini-me’s running around on this earth. They’re called Christians…, they’re healed, and although their past was filled with hurts, mistakes and regrets, their load is light…, and they are burden lifters… When you bring your burden to Jesus, He deploys His army… You yoke with Jesus, you yoke with His bride, that’s how it works… Why is Jesus’ burden so easy and yoke so light? Because the hidden truth is through humility and brokenness, the heavenly host rallies in your life and 10 come, 20 come, 100 come to take a pound of that weight for the day.

·    You say, “I’m not adding any weight to them! I stay away from them. I don’t hurt them…” Paul did not say make sure you don’t add to their weight, make sure you stay away from people who are abrasive, make sure you don’t harm them, do no harm…, that’s not what he said. The law of Christ is to serve them, bear one another’s burdens…, which is not really a go-do but a heart check… As those that are healed, those that are laying their burdens at the feet of Jesus through prayer and trust and obedience, those that have the constant, “Well done good and faithful servant,” being heard in their hearts, those folks have excess capacity and are actually watching for how they can honor the Lord and serve others… It’s not a go-do, it’s a heart condition.