Sermons | Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, IL

What Ultimately Counts?

Pastor Todd Wilson
Jul 3, 2011
Galatians 5:1-6
Series: Galatians: Gospel Rooted Living

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

²Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. ³I testify again to every man who

accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. ⁴You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. ⁵For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. ⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

Introduction

God wants you to be free. In fact, freedom is the clarion call of Galatians, and it is the clarion call of today’s passage: “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (5:1).

But there is a mortal enemy of freedom; he is a great tyrant who would seek to have you bend your neck to the yoke of spiritual slavery. And that enemy is legalism.

Legalism is a threat to freedom. But what is legalism? A simple definition would be this: Legalism is when you take something good and give it ultimate importance. Christians lose their freedom when they turn something good into something ultimate.

This is what we call legalism: taking something good and making it ultimate, so that you start believing that you can’t be in a right relationship with God without it. On the other hand, when you keep the ultimate things truly ultimate, you find that you live in freedom. The only way you can protect and preserve your freedom in Christ is if you let what ultimately counts to God be what ultimately counts to you.

You protect your freedom in Christ by prioritizing what ultimately counts; that is, by letting what ultimately counts to God be what ultimately counts to you. When you treat something that’s not ultimate as though it were ultimate, you soon become enslaved.

The Agitators were trying to convince the Galatians that circumcision ultimately matters. Paul doesn’t quote what they were saying to the Galatians. But we know from the Book of Acts that they were no doubt saying this: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (15:1).

Some of you come from legalistic backgrounds. You grew up in a church where lots of things—perhaps everything—seemed to be ultimately important. People could get just as bent out of shape about the color of the carpet in the Fellowship Hall as they would about someone denying the Deity of Christ.

Legalism lurks in the corners of every Christian community. And you can go for days without even noticing it’s there. Did you hear about the incident where a dead woman's body remained in a pool for several days while the pool remained open, with life guards on duty, and people swimming in the pool? It was finally discovered by a 9 year old boy going down a slide and bumping into it as the body was becoming more buoyant! Health inspectors said the pool was murky, hence why they couldn't see body at the deep end of the pool.

A dead body lurking in the murky waters of a pool—that’s the way legalism works in the life of a church and in the life of a Christian. This is because legalism lurks in the corners of every Christian heart. And it is often the case that the most susceptible are the most intensely religious.

Legalists lose sight of what ultimately counts. They start thinking that non-essentials are essential; they begin to insist that good things are in fact necessary. And the result is that they look with pity or suspicion on anyone who would think or do otherwise.

When You Lose Sight of What Ultimately Counts (5:2-4)

What happens if you lose sight of what ultimately counts is, legalism sets in, and you slip back into slavery? What happens is you lose Christ!

You lose the benefit of the blood Christ shed (vv. 2-3). Christ is no longer of benefit to you; he’s no advantage because you have sought spiritual benefit somewhere else. The Galatians sought spiritual benefit from the act of circumcision. Paul says that if they do that, then they should go all the way and embrace the whole law; that is, they should become Jews. But if they do that, they’re turning away from the New Covenant, purchased with Christ’s blood, and back to the Old Covenant, as though Christ had never been slain.

You are cut off from the life Christ gives (v. 4a).

You fall away from the grace Christ offers (v. 4b).

If you try to do it yourself, you will be left to fend for yourself. You won’t have Christ’s blood. You won’t have Christ’s life. And you won’t have Christ’s grace. All you’ll have is your sinful, silly, little, dissatisfied self, which isn’t all that much comfort.

And you know you’ve lost sight of what ultimately counts in the Christian life, when you begin to lose the joy of living the Christian life. This is the telltale sign.

The Methodist movement began in the mid-eighteenth century with a small band of intensely devout students at the University of Oxford. These were towering figures like John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield. They would meet regularly for study and devotion; they were known as the Holy Club, because they practiced strict methods of increasing their spiritual zeal for God. Yet amidst all the religious devotion and moral striving, these men had lost sight of what ultimately counts.

“In fine, the Holy Club men knew little or nothing of grace as taught in the Scriptures. Their iron-clad régime was one of human effort that provided no assurance and left the all-important salvation of the soul a distant uncertainty. Its practices brought little joy . . . These ardent men strove on and on, yet saw no point of arrival.”[1]

As Whitefield himself later on, after his conversion, acknowledged: “God showed me that I must be born again, or be damned! I learned that a man may go to church, say his prayers, receive the sacrament, and yet not be a Christian.”[2]

What Ultimately Counts – And What Doesn’t (5:6)

You see, then, why nothing ought to be more important to you than being crystal clear on what ultimately counts. You stand firm in freedom and avoid spiritual slavery or legalism by being crystal clear on what ultimately counts. Whenever you lose sight of what ultimately counts, you make yourself more susceptible to spiritual slavery.

Paul is crystal clear with the Galatians on what ultimately counts—and what doesn’t: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (v. 6).

This is one of the most surprising arguments in the Bible. Why? Because Paul has just told them that if they get circumcised, they’ve fallen from grace. It doesn’t get more serious than that! Yet notice how he supports that bold statement in verse 5: notice what he does not say: You shouldn’t get circumcised because circumcision is bad or sinful or stupid or old fashion. You shouldn’t submit to circumcision because it ultimately doesn’t matter.

When Paul says that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, he has quite something specific in mind. Obviously, the Galatians might say: “Are you kidding? Getting circumcised would count for a whole lot, Paul.” But what Paul has in mind is that neither counts for anything on the Last Day. Whether you’re circumcised or uncircumcised, whether you’re a Jew or a Gentile, won’t make any difference on the Day of Judgment.

Here, then, is a revolutionary insight: What ultimately counts in this life is what ultimately matters on the Day of Judgment.

What will make a difference on the Day of Judgment? The same thing that made a difference on the day you were justified: namely, faith.

But the kind of faith that makes a difference on the Day of Judgment, indeed, the kind of faith by which you were justified, is a certain kind of faith. It’s not the kind of faith the demons have: mere mental assent, an intellectual agreement to the facts of the Christian faith. Instead, it’s the kind of faith that so trusts in Jesus that it inevitably expresses itself in love for God and for other people.

This is the only kind of faith that counts on the Last Day. This is the only thing that ultimately matters: faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love for God and for others.

You see, here’s why this is so relevant to Bible-believing Christians. Because no Bible-believing Christian is going to insist that what ultimately counts is stealing or lying or cheating or murder. But we might insist that water baptism ultimately counts; or your political views ultimately count; or the kind of church you go to; or the kind of view you hold on some interesting point of doctrine ultimately counts. Like those good Bible-believing Christians in Galatia, we are tempted to turn good things like circumcision and biblical fidelity into ultimate things.

Neither premillennialism nor amillennialism ultimately counts, but only faith working through love. Neither Arminianism nor Calvinism ultimately counts, but only faith working through love. Neither congregationalism nor Presbyterianism ultimately counts, but faith working through love. Neither traditional music nor contemporary music ultimately counts, but only faith working through love. Neither tee-totaling nor enjoying a glass of wine ultimately counts, but faith working through love. Neither voting Republican nor voting Democrat ultimately counts, but faith working through love. Neither six day young earth creationism nor old earth progressive creationism ultimately counts, but faith working through love. Neither pre-tribulational rapture nor post-tribulational or even mid-tribulational rapture ultimately counts, but faith working through love.

Now, this is not to say that you shouldn’t care about these things. Nor does that mean that these things are unimportant, or that you shouldn’t care about them. Not at all! Instead, it’s a way of saying that these things are only important insofar as they promote faith and produce love, love for God and for others. If they don’t, then you’re missing what ultimately counts.

You see why it’s vitally important to live with the End in mind. Not only because it’s going to be the biggest day of your life, but also because it has a way of putting everything else in its proper perspective. In fact, I suspect that the less we think about the Final Judgment, the more we will be tempted to turn good things into ultimate things; that is, the more tempted we will be toward legalism.

So, whenever you’re tempted to turn something good into something ultimate, ask yourself this question: What good will this do at the Final Judgment? Apply the faith-working-through-love test to everything you believe and everything you do. That will help you to stand firm in freedom and avoid submitting to a yoke of slavery.

Living In Light Of What Ultimately Counts (5:5)

Living in light of the Final Judgment might sound off-putting to some; perhaps even oppressive. But here’s the thing: it actually opens up the pathway to freedom in this life. This opens up to you the way of freedom which Paul describes: “For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness” (v. 5).

How do you live your life now in light of what will ultimately count then? You eagerly wait for God to work. You realize that God is the only one who can secure our relationship with him. You recognize that a right relationship with God is a gift. And that improving your relationship with him is something for which we hope. Not with resignation, but with expectation.

That is why it is by faith, trusting in God’s promises.

And that is why it is through the Spirit, relying upon God’s power.

Here is where you see the stark contrast to the way of life of the legalist. When you think of a legalist, you don’t think of someone filled with hope, eagerly awaiting God to work, trusting in the promises of Jesus, and relying upon the power of the Holy Spirit. Instead, you think of someone who anxiously worries, rather than expectantly waits. You think of someone who strives to do things in his own power, rather than one who relies upon the powerful working of the Holy Spirit. You think of someone who trusts in his own resources and will power, rather than rests in the promises of God.

Yet we often treat good things as though they were ultimate things. Why do we do that? Because we’re hoping that it will enhance our relationship with God. Whenever we take something good and begin to think that it puts us into a right relationship with God, we are in dangerous territory. What the Bible says is that God puts us into right relationship with him when we place our faith in Jesus Christ—and him alone.

What ultimately counts is what puts you in right relationship with God. Paul has a very special word for this: righteousness. This is Paul’s way of referring to those who have a right relationship with God; they have righteousness.

The Bible says righteousness is something a person can receive now. But the Bible also says that righteousness is something for which we hope for the future; as Paul says here: “we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness” (v. 5). Don’t mistakenly conclude from this, however, that someone who hopes for righteousness cannot at the same time already have received righteousness.

Conclusion: What Ultimately Counts To You?

“Faith working through love”—this is what ultimately counts. This is what ultimately counts to God. And this is what will ultimately count on the Last Day.

But is this what ultimately counts to you? It certainly will then. But does it now?

Paul Johnson said this of Churchill: “Of all the towering figures of the twentieth century, both good and evil, Winston Churchill was the most valuable to humanity, and also the most likeable. … No man did more to preserve freedom and democracy and the values we hold dear in the West” (p. 3).

What was the key to his remarkable success as a statesmen, leader and champion of freedom? According to Johnson, “Churchill had an uncanny gift for getting priorities right. For a statesman in time of war it is the finest possible virtue. 'Jock' Colville, his personal secretary, said, ‘Churchill's greatest intellectual gift was for picking on essentials and concentrating on them’” (p. 123).

What are you devoting lots of your time and energy to? What have you placed much of your hope in? What gets a rise out of you when other people aren’t doing it? Is it faith working through love?

There is great freedom in letting what ultimately counts to God be what ultimately what counts to you. How liberating it is, in fact, to know what really matters at the end of the day, indeed on the Last Day!

But how encouraging is this knowledge, as well. If it is true that faith working through love is what ultimately counts, then do you realize that anything you do that expresses your faith in Christ and your love for God and for other people is something that ultimately counts. Just think about what this means and how this revolutionizes the way you view everything. The tediousness of motherhood can be redeemed when you see it all as a way of expressing faith working through love. The meaninglessness of your job can be redeemed when it becomes the way in which you express your faith working through love. And you may not even have a job, or a family, or a home for that matter, but nevertheless you can let your faith work through love and thus find in every moment of the day that you’re doing something that ultimately counts because it will count on the Ultimate Day.

Amen.

[1] Arnold Dallimore, George Whitefield, Volume 1, p. 72.

[2] Ibid., p. 73.

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