Receiving Credit: God’s Perspective vs. Worldly Views

Posted on by korgrocker

“But I do know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell. That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses. If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message,”
2 Corinthians 12:4-6 NLT

What do we pilgrims get credit for? It starts with our goals and aims in life, so a student will get credit for passing an exam, or an athlete for winning a medal. Someone with an unblemished payment record will be assigned a good credit score and, similarly, will be eligible for a credit card. In our employment, a good worker will be credited with a pay rise. A good preacher will receive credit for their oratorical skills or perhaps for their knowledge of the Bible. Receiving credit for something brings with it a glow of self-importance or self-satisfaction. But these are all worldly examples, and they do not apply in God’s Kingdom, where self-promotion is never valued. It is only God who gets the glory. 

In Genesis 15, we can read the story of Abraham and the covenant God made with him. It started with a vision which we can read about in Genesis 15:1, “Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great’”. But this was a problem for Abraham because he had no heir to his wealth, and he was concerned that it might instead go to one of his servants. But there then came the promise, “Then the Lord said to him, ‘No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir’” (Genesis 15:4). And just to confirm His promise, “… the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, ‘Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!’”. How would we have responded in such a scenario? Here was Abraham getting close to 100 years old, with a wife not far behind, barren as well,  and yet God was promising a son? I would think it would have been a miracle if the old couple were having sexual relations at that age, let alone seeing the fruit of it with a child. And yet we read in verse 6, “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness”. 

There are many spiritual blessings that we are credited with, not the least our salvation. And we mustn’t forget the physical blessings we receive as well, all credited to anyone created by God. So we have the environment around us, in a world just right to sustain the lives God has populated this planet with. We have our life, our health, our families, food on our tables, homes and clothing. God has credited us with many blessings. And all these things are there for us through God’s love and grace.

But back to Paul. He had much to boast about, with his vision of being taken up into the Third Heaven. Not many people, if any, can boast about such a thing. However, Paul wasn’t going there, and instead, he only wanted credit for the things he was doing for God and what God had done in his life. He didn’t even want to make claims about this, preferring to let people see it in the way he lived and acted, and through what he said. So it should be the same for us pilgrims. Self-promotion may be the way of those living a worldly life, but it is not the way for Christians. Paul was a very humble man, and he encouraged believers to be the same. He wrote, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (Philippians 2:3-5). Jesus said to His disciples, “… You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave” (Matthew 20:25-27). 

We pilgrims, to our credit, believe in God. The Apostles creed starts with “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth”. But it doesn’t stop there. A bit further down we read, “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord”. And it finishes, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting”. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our Trinitarian God, the One we worship. And every time we speak out that creed, believing what we are saying in our hearts, then our faith brings us credit with God. 

Dear Heavenly Father. We do believe, but please forgive us for the times when we have doubts and waver in our faith. Thank You for Your many blessings and provision, Your love and grace. And Your patience with us. Amen.

Paul’s Warning: Beware of Persuasive Fools

Posted on by korgrocker

“Again I say, don’t think that I am a fool to talk like this. But even if you do, listen to me, as you would to a foolish person, while I also boast a little. Such boasting is not from the Lord, but I am acting like a fool. And since others boast about their human achievements, I will, too. After all, you think you are so wise, but you enjoy putting up with fools! You put up with it when someone enslaves you, takes everything you have, takes advantage of you, takes control of everything, and slaps you in the face. I’m ashamed to say that we’ve been too “weak” to do that! But whatever they dare to boast about—I’m talking like a fool again—I dare to boast about it, too.”
2 Corinthians 11:16-21 NLT

There is something deeply unsettling about listening to someone who is clearly confident—but quietly wrong. Confidence has a way of persuading us. It carries weight, presence, and often admiration. Yet in 2 Corinthians 11:16–21, the Apostle Paul exposes a sobering truth: not everything that appears wise truly is. In this passage, Paul does something unusual. He begins to “boast”, but he does so reluctantly, even apologetically. He calls it what it is: foolishness. “Again I say, don’t think that I am a fool to talk like this. But even if you do, listen to me, as you would to a foolish person, while I also boast a little” (2 Corinthians 11:16). It’s clear that Paul is not comfortable with this approach. Boasting, in his mind, is not the way of Christ. And yet, he adopts this tone for a reason.

The church in Corinth had become enamoured with a different kind of leadership. Certain individuals, whom Paul later describes as “super-apostles”, had arrived with impressive credentials, persuasive speech, and a commanding presence. They measured success by outward standards. They spoke with confidence. They looked the part. And the Corinthians were captivated. Paul’s irony exposes the flaws in the Corinthian mindsets: “After all, you think you are so wise, but you enjoy putting up with fools!” (2 Corinthians 11:19). In other words, he wrote, you think you are being discerning, but you are tolerating what is actually foolish. In accepting their new leaders, they were taken in by their polished, persuasive words and outward appearances. The problem was that the Corinthians were taken in by these men, lacking discernment, and resulting in them ending up in a dangerous situation

The problem in Corinth is not confined to the first century. If anything, it has intensified in our own time. We live in an age saturated with voices in sermons, podcasts, videos, and books, with each one competing for attention. And often, the voices that rise to the top are not necessarily the most faithful, but the most compelling. We are drawn to confidence and apparent clarity, with the speaker or writer being a charismatic person who seems to say all the right things and who even comes across as a source of truth. But Paul reminds us that confidence is not the same as truth. It is entirely possible for someone to speak boldly, persuasively, and even attractively, and yet be fundamentally misaligned with the Gospel. The Corinthians fell into this trap. They confused charisma with authority, eloquence with truth, and self-promotion with spiritual maturity. And before we get on our high horses and claim that would never happen to us, we are no less vulnerable.

One of the striking elements of our verses today is how willingly the Corinthians accepted these “foolish” voices. Paul says they “enjoy putting up with fools”. We almost get the impression that they were very comfortable and accepting of what the “super-apostles” had to offer. There is almost a sense of eagerness and an appetite for what these teachers had to say, and that raises an uncomfortable question for us, because what do we, as Christians, tend to celebrate and promote? I know someone who spends a lot of time watching Christian speakers on TV, big names who tick all the charisma and charm boxes and confidently speak about Bible verses, even relating them to world events and what they believe is coming. They may even include appeals for donations, thereby manipulating their viewers’ emotions. It is easy for such people to present themselves with confidence and polish, but these are not the marks Paul points to as evidence of true ministry. In 1 Corinthians 2:2-5, Paul wrote, “For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.”

At the heart of Paul’s irony in our verses today is a call to discernment. The Corinthians believed themselves to be wise, yet their discernment was compromised. They were not testing what they heard carefully enough. They were not looking beneath the surface. And so Paul, almost reluctantly, met them on their own terms. If they valued boasting, then he would “boast” as well, but in doing so, he exposed how empty that standard really was.

What do we pilgrims make of all this? I think that Paul has put his finger on something we all need to consider – how discerning are we? When a speaker preaches a sermon, or engages with us in a Bible Study or prayer meeting, do we accept at face value what is said, or do we critically test and examine his or her words? Do we ask ourselves questions such as, “Is this teaching faithful to Scripture?” Or “Does this reflect the character of Christ?” And does the presenter provide the message with a spirit of humility, or is there a brashness or overconfidence present? In James 1:5-6, we read, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind”. We need wisdom whenever we hear messages or read books that contain confident, and even dogmatic, statements, and we should discard anything that has a whiff of falseness or overemphasis.

Paul ironically wrote, “After all, you think you are so wise, but you enjoy putting up with fools!” (2 Corinthians 11:19). This verse is a warning as much as it is a rebuke. In a world full of confident voices, the greatest danger is not always obvious error; it is persuasive foolishness. Beware the kind of message that sounds right, feels compelling, and gains traction, yet subtly leads us away from the simplicity and humility of Christ.

Dear Heavenly Father, we pray for wisdom in our world, where strident and competing voices clamour for our attention with messages of falseness and error. Guide us into all truth we pray, and we do so by looking to Jesus, who is the Author of truth. Amen

Understanding Boasting in the Context of Faith

Posted on by korgrocker

“I really don’t need to write to you about this ministry of giving for the believers in Jerusalem. For I know how eager you are to help, and I have been boasting to the churches in Macedonia that you in Greece were ready to send an offering a year ago. In fact, it was your enthusiasm that stirred up many of the Macedonian believers to begin giving.”
2 Corinthians 9:1-2 NLT

I’ve written about boasting before, but from a different angle to Paul’s words today, where Paul is boasting about the Corinthians’ willingness to send an offering to Jerusalem. The believers in Jerusalem were in dire straits, recovering from a severe famine a year or two before. The problem with famines amongst people who rely on crops they produce to stay alive is that they end up having to eat the very seeds needed for next year’s crop. So the impact of a famine lasts for years unless they receive assistance. It was essential that believers suffering in another part of the world were helped by believers elsewhere, those who had survived the famine and who had the means to help them. The situation in Judea must have been difficult, because the news of the situation had spread to the Macedonian churches as well. But such was the bond of love between the believers everywhere that there was a general willingness across the churches to help, and this was what Paul was boasting about.

In 1 Corinthians 9:15, Paul was boasting about his willingness to preach the Good News without charge. He wrote, “Yet I have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that I want to start now. In fact, I would rather die than lose my right to boast about preaching without charge”. In 1 Corinthians 1:31, Paul, quoting Jeremiah, wrote, “Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord””. Jeremiah recorded an important message from the Lord, which reads, “This is what the Lord says: “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord, have spoken!” (Jeremiah 9:23-24). In the light of this Scripture, was Paul’s boasting about the Corinthians ability to give a bit misplaced? I think not, because the offering for the believers in Judea was all part of the mission of the early church, as it put into action the words of Jesus, “love your neighbour as yourself”. To back up Jeremiah’s prophecy we find Psalm 20:7, “Some nations boast of their chariots and horses, but we boast in the name of the Lord our God”. The name of the Lord is an ultimate source of authority, because anything done in His name will happen. 

“Some nations boast of their chariots and horses,
but we boast in the name of the Lord our God”

Towards the end of Romans, Paul was boasting again. He wrote, “Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them” (Romans 15:18). Regardless of all his achievements, his privations, his ministries, the miles he had travelled, the number of churches he had established and so on, Paul was only prepared to boast about what Christ had “done through [him], bringing the Gentiles to God”. It wasn’t through his efforts, he said, but through the power of the Gospel, the message he preached. 

Boasting is a very worldly characteristic, because it is associated with the braggart with a new car, or a family with a new house. Perhaps they have booked a holiday somewhere expensive, or they have met someone they, and the society around them, feel is important, like the King or a well-known actor. Boasting is associated with people who, by their own efforts (and usually a huge bank loan), feel they have the right to brag about their achievements and their possessions. But none of it will find them a path into Heaven, and one day they will face into the reality that the life after the grave has no need for a Porsche or expensive jewellery. 

Do we pilgrims have anything to boast about? Somehow, it’s not possible to boast about our faith, and not just because those worldly people around us perceive it to be a weakness. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means”. So why would we want to boast about such a thing, because most of our hearers would consider it foolishness? We can do nothing to earn our salvation. Through faith in Jesus, we accept the free gift of God, His salvation. The very essence of our faith is God. It’s all about Him and what He has done for us, and not about us at all. In Philippians 2:3 we read, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves”. Humility is the way forward for Christians. We have an inner strength that comes from knowing that God loves us personally and individually. And because of that we don’t have to puff ourselves up in front of our peers. We don’t have to make inflated claims about our worth, to try and make those around us look up to us. The Lord Himself will lift us up at the right time. We read in James 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honour”.

Living in God’s Kingdom is a counter-cultural way of life. The world’s values don’t exist in God’s Kingdom, and worldly boasting is one of them. But we can boast about the virtues of God’s Kingdom, and especially about all that Jesus has done for us. If that involved working for God, as with the offering being collected, then we will boast about it, because in the process, all the glory and all the praise and all the honour go to God Himself. 

Dear Father God. We humbly give You our thanks for all the things You have done for us. Our efforts have been and will be an apt response to Your presence in our lives and the lives of fellow believers. Thank You. Amen.

Boasting

Posted on by korgrocker

“Yet I have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that I want to start now. In fact, I would rather die than lose my right to boast about preaching without charge. Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News!”
1 Corinthians 9:15-16 NLT

Paul said he had the “right to boast about preaching without charge”. Isn’t that a strange thing to do? However, I don’t think Paul was a man who would boast, because his humility and zeal ultimately overshadowed any personal accomplishments. He was just making the point that boasting was something that he could do if he wanted to. But what is “boasting”? A dictionary definition is “excessively proud and self-satisfied talk about one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities”. In that context, we are all familiar with many boastful individuals. If we stop and pause for a moment, we can see several world leaders who fall into that category. And if an election looms, we will hear politicians everywhere making boastful, idealistic, and plainly undeliverable claims about their abilities, their political party’s past achievements, and what they will do if elected. There are one or two examples of boasters in the Bible. Nebuchadnezzar was one of them, as we can read in Daniel 4:30, “As he looked out across the city, he said, ‘Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendour’”. If we read on in Daniel 4, we will find out what God thought of such a boaster!

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul wrote, “For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred” (2 Timothy 3:2). Was that the church people he was writing about? It might have been, because in verse 5 of this chapter, we read, “They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!” We will find people who have a tendency to boast in all parts of society, including our churches and fellowships, and we pilgrims will need to be wary in their company, because boasters want those around them to affirm their identity and listen to their hubris. Mostly, people boast about their quantity and quality of their “stuff” but they often forget that they can’t take anything with them when they die. And even those who have little to boast about sometimes tell everyone who will listen about a “celebrity” whom they happened to meet on some occasion.

Paul wrote earlier in his first letter to the Corinthians that no one should ever boast in God’s presence, because they were not in a position where boasting was an option. 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, “Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God”. And so we pilgrims are never boasters (with one exception), and instead we present the Gospel to those around us from a position of grace and humility, dispensing God’s Word with love.

One of my favourite hymns is “When I survey the wondrous cross” and verse 2 reads, 

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

We sing this hymn every Easter season, and it touches even the hardest, boastful heart present, with Isaac Watts’ gracious lyrics. But he was right. If we feel a tendency to boast, there is one thing that we can boast about, and that is what Jesus has done for us. The world may consider it foolish, but my hero is Jesus, and I will boast about knowing Him whenever I can.

Dear Heavenly Father. Your Son is indeed our hero, and we worship and praise Him whenever we can. There is no one greater and no one better than Jesus. We love You, Lord. Amen.

Boasting

Posted on by korgrocker

“God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.””
1 Corinthians 1:28-31 NLT

Who are the “boasters” in society today? usually, these are the people, men and women and even children, who think they have something significant in their lives to boast about. Perhaps they are great sportspeople, with a string of awards for athletic prowess, being the fastest at running, or the highest long-jumper. There is much boasting going on after a goal is scored in a football match or for the winner in a boxing match. Or consider a bore at a social gathering, boasting about his success in the business world, or a woman boasting about her wonderful new house. In the academic world there are boasters who brashly brag about the paper or book they have just written referring to some obscure mathematical theory, or medical procedure they have invented. Yesterday I met a man who was a great boaster. Recently retired, he outlined all that he was doing, and he talked much about his boat moored in the Forth Estuary, his camper van and where he’s been, his motorbike and sports bicycle. Sad really, and the first thought that came to my mind was the parable of the Rich Fool, who tore down his barns and built bigger ones to store his bumper crops, and then said to himself, “ … You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19). and then we read in the next verse, ““But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’” But all these boasters have two things in common – they think they are better than their fellow members of society, and consequently God has no time for them. Psalm 5:5, “The boastful and the arrogant will not stand in Your sight; You hate all who do evil“. Paul wrote about the foolish people who have rejected God, and with them those that boast, “They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents” (Romans 1:30). 

Yesterday we considered ordinary people, the majority in our societies, who go about their daily business with little, if anything, considered of value to society. They would be struggling to find anything to boast about at a significant level, although there is always something that could be found. Perhaps they could boast about having met a member of royalty or they have a certain number of great grandchildren. But the one thing that Paul singled out was those people in society who boast about their wisdom and knowledge. 1 Corinthians 1:20, “So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish”. These people who the world considers wise and knowledgeable have to work very hard to avoid being labelled “boasters”, but they fail to realise that in God’s sight such attributes are worthless because He considers them “foolish”. We read more about Paul’s perspective in Philippians 3:3b-5, “ … We put no confidence in human effort, though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law“. In Acts 23:6 Paul claimed he was a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees, promoting himself upwards into the elite in his society. But in Philippians 3:7-8 he wrote, “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ“. Paul got it, and his life was a living example of a man who had rejected all that the world considered of value and instead he started right at the bottom, on his knees, before the cross of Christ.

There is a sober lesson for us pilgrims today. It doesn’t matter what we have done or think we have done. It doesn’t matter how well we were educated, or what job we have, or where we have lived and so on. We have nothing to boast about because before God our human achievements don’t impress Him at all. Jeremiah wrote, “This is what the Lord says: “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord, have spoken!” (Jeremiah 9:23-24). We humans always like to have something to boast about because, so we think, it makes us look better than those around us. In a secular society with many people, anything that somehow elevates them above their fellows is to be sought out and promoted. But not us pilgrims. We instead promote our faith and belief in Jesus, because this is the only wisdom or knowledge that is worth anything. And, paradoxically, such eternal knowledge and wisdom is thought foolishness to those around us and unbelievers discard it as being worthless and to be pitied. Such people, fully of their worldly boasts, puffed up with pride, will find one day that when they cross the Great Divide, they can’t take anything with them. Before God, they have empty hands because all the rubbish that they used to contain has been burnt up and not even ash will remain. God doesn’t need human prowess and knowledge – after all, He created it in the first place. The only knowledge worth anything is the knowledge of Christ. As Paul said, “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!” (Philippians 3:10-11). 

Do we pilgrims truly know the Lord? Are we able and willing to boast about His saving grace and love? Are we aware of the dangers of focussing too much on our human abilities and in the process boasting about the wrong things? One day we will be, and of course we won’t want to look back in regret at what we left behind. With Paul, we cast aside our human inclinations and ” … press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us”(Philippians 3:12b-14). Paul also wrote, “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

Am I labouring the point? Probably, but human wisdom and knowledge has no place in the Kingdom of God, and He has labelled such attributes foolishness. But along with Paul I am looking ahead, in the knowledge that the past contains much that could skew my faith. At every opportunity I will tell people about Christ and all that He has done for me. I don’t care much for those who consider me foolish, but the important thing is that I can hear Jesus cheering me on, and that is all that matters. And one day will I hear those words, “well done …”? I hope and pray that this will be the case, and I know that all pilgrims everywhere hope to hear the same.

Dear Father God. You are the only Source of knowledge and wisdom that really matters. So we praise and worship You, asking that Your reveal to us all that we need for our lives lived in this world. And as we journey on in our faith, we look forward, reading Your Word and marvelling about finding all that we need to confound the wisdom of the wise. Thank You. Amen.

Boasting

Posted on by korgrocker

“Now I know that the Lord rescues his anointed king. He will answer him from his holy heaven and rescue him by his great power. Some nations boast of their chariots and horses, but we boast in the name of the Lord our God. Those nations will fall down and collapse, but we will rise up and stand firm. Give victory to our king, O Lord! Answer our cry for help.”
Psalm 20:6-9 NLT

To boast about something is not normally a good thing to do. As the old saying goes, “pride comes before a fall”. We are all aware of the children in the playground trying to outdo each other with stories of their families, toys, prowess at sports and so on, boasts abounding. But in a less obvious way, boasts take place in the workplace or the pub. Fishermen boast about the size of their catch. Gardeners boast about the size of their prize marrows. Boasting is a human trait that spans many generations. And here we have David writing about how he “boasts in the name of the Lord” when other nations “boast of their chariots and horses”. 

In the Bible, boasting is considered to be evil, with one exception which we will come to later. James 4:16 is a verse in the context of a man making business plans and arrogantly saying what will happen. James wrote, “As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil“. Proverbs 27:1-2, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth; an outsider, and not your own lips“. On a national level we are familiar with the boasting of nations with their stories of armaments, their modern equivalents of “chariots and horses”. The Psalmist wrote, “How long, O Lord? How long will the wicked be allowed to gloat? How long will they speak with arrogance? How long will these evil people boast?” (Psalm 94:3-4). On the world stage today, we are familiar with the boastings of leaders in all sorts of disciplines, but we know that they rise and fall, much as we read in Isaiah 40, “ …  And so it is with people. The grass withers and the flowers fade,  … ”.

However, it is acceptable to boast in something that is invincible, indestructible, and all-powerful, as David wrote in our Psalm today. In confidence, and in the face of boasting from others, he could “boast in the name of the Lord our God”. Paul clarified the situation over boasting in 2 Corinthians 10:17, “As the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”” Paul also wrote, “As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died” (Galatians 6:14).‭‭ And that is the important distinction. We can boast about Jesus because there is something eternal and complete to boast about. No other person, nation, or religion can match the claim that God came to this earth as a human being and died on a cross for the sins of mankind. That was an event so significant that it can never be exceeded. 

Dear Father God. At every opportunity I will boast about You and Your saving grace. There is nothing like You and never will be. Amen.

Boasting

Posted on by korgrocker

“Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum.”
Romans 15:18-19 NLT

Boasting is usually an objectionable trait. I’m sure we have all met a person who doesn’t stop “blowing his own trumpet” about his achievements, his lovely garden, his latest car, his sporting prowess, his … All things that are materialistic or worldly, and relatively unimportant in the Kingdom of God. Boasting is a form of pride, which is a sin. Solomon, thought to be the person who wrote Proverbs, recorded the following, “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). But Paul confessed to being a boaster, about something far more significant. His testimony was impressive. He could talk about the wonderful things that God had done, by “bringing the Gentiles to God”. 

Paul had much to boast about. In 2 Corinthians 11, we read about Paul’s concern that the Corinthian church was being corrupted by false apostles. These were people who claimed to be just as good as Paul, but he accused them of delivering error, as we read in 2 Corinthians 11:4, “You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed”. Paul was quite scathing about these people. About his message he wrote, “But I will continue doing what I have always done. This will undercut those who are looking for an opportunity to boast that their work is just like ours. These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:12-14). He went on, “And since others boast about their human achievements, I will, too” (2 Corinthians 11:18). Referring to the false apostles, Paul went on, “ … But whatever they dare to boast about—I’m talking like a fool again—I dare to boast about it, too” (2 Corinthians 11:21b). 

Paul then went on to list all the privations and danger that he had experienced while disseminating the message of God’s Good News. And then he finished this list with, “If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am” (2 Corinthians 11:30). We turn the page to the next chapter and read about an experience he said he could boast about. 2 Corinthians 12:1, “This boasting will do no good, but I must go on. I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord”. His visit to the third Heaven (where God and His angels live) must have been so amazing that it would have done his street cred no harm at all. But he wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:5, “That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses”. We know of course what Paul’s weakness was – he wrote, ” … So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me” (2 Corinthians 12:7b-9).

Paul was kept from being conceited by having to dependent on Jesus. But in it all he directed the glory to God. His life was totally sold out for Jesus. He didn’t boast about his tent making skills, or the number of miles he walked every day. His boasting was a testimony of God’s grace and love and the power of the Holy Spirit. At every opportunity we too should “boast” about what God has done in our lives. Our testimonies of God’s saving grace surely count for much and will shine as bright as a beacon in this sad and dark generation.

Father God. You have done so much for us, but please forgive us for holding back on speaking out our testimonies of Your love and grace. Please lead us to the right person today, so that we can give them too the opportunity of sharing what You have done for them. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

No Boasting

Posted on by korgrocker

“Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”
Romans 3:27-28 NLT

In this life, it is easy to find people who boast about their achievements. The general on a battlefield. The captains of industry who claim that they have built their companies from nothing, through sheer hard work. The aid worker who has helped large numbers of people. A charity that has influenced government legislation. The neighbour down the street who has purchased a new car. The list is endless. But all these achievements have one thing in common – a boast that their claims depend on human effort, and particularly theirs. 

What does this word “boast” mean? A dictionary definition is to “talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities“. There are two words in this definition that are worth noting – “pride” and “self“. In God’s eyes, both of these can be considered to be sins. There are some Bible verses warning against boasting. James wrote some words about misplaced self-confidence in James 4. Here is one of the verses he wrote, verse 16, “… you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil“. But James was not the only Biblical writer warning about boasting. Another verse from Proverbs 27:1, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring“. Boasting is associated with evil people. Psalm 94:3, “They pour out arrogant words; all the evildoers are full of boasting“. 

In our verses from Romans 3 today we see that, in our relationship with God, we have nothing to boast about. The Apostle Paul wrote a list of all the challenges he had experienced in his life, and how he could boast about them, if he wanted to. We can read about them in 2 Corinthians 11. But in verse 30 he comes from a different angle. He wrote, “If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am“. In the following chapter, he referred to having “a thorn in [his] flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7). After asking God to take it away, he wrote ““Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). 

Somehow, it’s not possible to boast about our faith, and not just because those worldly people around us perceive it to be a weakness. Why would we want to boast about such a thing? We can do nothing to earn our salvation. Through faith in Jesus, we accept the free gift of God, His salvation. The very essence of our faith is God. It’s all about Him and what He has done for us, and not about us at all. In Philippians 2:3 we read, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves”. Humility is the way forward for Christians. We have an inner strength that comes from knowing that God loves us personally and individually. And because of that we don’t have to puff ourselves up in front of our peers. We don’t have to make inflated claims about our worth, to try and make those around us look up to us. The Lord Himself will lift us up at the right time. We read in James 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honour”.

Living in God’s Kingdom is counter-cultural for most of the time. The world’s values and virtues mostly don’t exist in God’s world. And boasting is one of them. 

Father God. Please help us to have a Godly perspective of ourselves, and not one dictated to by worldly people and values. Amen.