Boasting Turned Upside-Down

It’s common to hear people claim they’re biggest, strongest, and best. We hear it in ads. Advertising is all about bragging. Nobody says, “Come to Crosspoint; it’s kinda okay, I guess.”

Then there’s social media. Social media is designed for boasting. Every pic and story is posted for a reaction: likes or hearts. It’s all about extremes: best or worst!

Boasting is built into sports. In soccer, baseball, rugby, few athletes say, “Both teams are good; it’ll be a hard-fought match. We’ll have fun.” No! Fiery, competitive athletes say, “We’re the best. We’re gonna crush the other team.”

Competitive bragging and disrespecting others entered the church w/ false teachers in Paul’s day. They carried reference letters listing accomplishments. These rabble-rousers boasted that if Paul was an apostle; they are “super-apostles.” They trash-talk Paul, “He writes powerful letters, but in person he is unimpressive. His speaking amounts to nothing.”

Inspired by God the HS, Paul defends his ministry, going toe-to-toe with braggards: “You want to boast? I can boast better than you can!” But Paul boasts about all the wrong things. He boasts about things that show his weakness. Instead of glowing reference letters from Ephesus or Jerusalem, Paul gives his resumé of hard work, prison, beatings, and dangerous travel.

He writes about an arrest warrant in Damascus. All roads out were guarded. If it was a Hollywood script, there would be a sword fight and a chariot chase through the Damascus market before Paul left the guards in his dust. But no, Paul boasts about getting lowered in a basket from a window in the wall.

Even when Paul boasts about the man-in-Christ who “was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things” he begins by saying, “I’ll boast about it, but there’s nothing to be gained.” Commentators generally agree that Paul is talking about himself. Seeing Jesus on heaven’s throne should confirm your religious credentials: I visited Jesus in heaven “whether in the body or apart from the body I don’t know but God knows” and saw amazing things. I just can’t talk about it.

As an aside, I hear people’s stories. God gives some people encouragement in a dream or vision. Most are reluctant to talk about it. You don’t want to cheapen an intimate experience with God by boasting any more than you’d brag on Broadway about intimate moments with your family, your children, or your spouse.

Paul says, “I refrain (from talking about what I saw in heaven), so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say or because of these surpassingly great revelations.”

Why do you think Paul boasts about his weakness?

He’s determined to show that Jesus is the hero of his life.

The way Jewish Pharisees kept score, Paul was doing okay in terms of holiness:

Hebrew? check

Israelite? check

Abraham’s descendant? check

But Paul says that stuff doesn’t matter. Ethnicity doesn’t give him assurances of God’s love and forgiveness. Regardless of background, there’s nothing Paul can do to live up to God’s standards of holiness.

Being raised in a household among believers doesn’t make you better than anyone else. It probably gives your faith journey a head-start. Being baptized and raised as a child of God’s is a benefit and a gift – but it’s nothing to brag about. It’s an example of God’s grace.

The gospel that Paul proclaims, the victory of Jesus at the centre of our faith at Crosspoint, points to God’s grace and Jesus’ righteousness as our only comfort in life and in death.

· w/ Paul, we admit we can’t be holy or righteous on our own

· But, b/c Jesus came into his own creation,

b/c he’s 100% and 100% God,

b/c Jesus took human sin, guilt and shame on the cross,

and b/c Jesus rose from the grave,

we are assured that God forgives human sin and shortcomings.

You hold your hands open and gratefully receive God’s grace, God’s forgiveness, and citizenship in the Kingdom of God.

Even our work as servants of Jesus Christ is made possible by God’s grace – particularly the work of the HS – helping us to become more and more like Jesus and live w/ faith.

Paul boasts about his weaknesses, so credit goes to Jesus. Paul boasts about his weaknesses like the thorn in his flesh. We don’t have any more info about this than Paul gives here. There’s lots of speculation about this “thorn,” but the specifics are not the point.

In order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

II Corinthians 12:7b–9 (NIV)

God responded differently than Paul hoped. Thorn wasn’t removed. God said:

My grace is sufficient for you,

for my power is made perfect in weakness.

God’s response shows the reality of the Kingdom of God

What is “the Kingdom of God”? Wherever God is ruler

What is “grace”? a good thing you don’t deserve

God’s forgiveness of sins is grace. Jesus received punishment he didn’t deserve to rescue us from punishment we do deserve. That’s not all, God lavishly promises eternal life with him and citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven. The assurance to all who believe is that they will eternally enjoy the paradise of God that Paul only received a brief glimpse of. We are guaranteed a forever-home with God in his kingdom, not b/c we deserve it, but b/c God is generous and full of grace.

But that doesn’t mean citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven don’t face problems, obstacles, and hardship. Jesus wasn’t spared problems. Paul faced adversity.

At Crosspoint, we often pray for each other when we face challenges:

Cancer and other sickness, mental illness, financial problems, barn fires, worries about parents, children, or grandchildren, concern for people you love who are far from God . . .

Whenever you actively follow Jesus in faith, you can expect opposition. There will be resistance. Life in Christ gets messy.

Sometimes, even when we pray fervently, we don’t get the answers we want. Sometimes God answers us the same way he answered Paul:

My grace is sufficient for you,

for my power is made perfect in weakness.

What does that mean?

God, in his generosity, has already taken care of our biggest needs. By faith in Jesus, your sins are forgiven and you have been raised to life w/ Jesus. The rest of God’s gifts are like a cherry on top. God’s generosity, his grace, is sufficient to supply all you need.

Any success we have in weakness, shows God’s power.

In fact, that’s one of the things we look for in leaders here at Crosspoint – both in staff and volunteers. It makes me nervous when people say, “Oh yeah, preaching, or leading KBC, or teaching Sunday School is easy. I can do it in my sleep.”

I would much rather hear, “I’m not sure I can do it myself. But if I depend on the HS, it’ll probably be okay.” There is room for competence and confidence in ministry, but not for boasting in your own ability. In both letters to Chr. in Corinth, Paul says, “Let those how boast, boast in the Lord!”

I don’t think it’s just about church work. I think that’s the same in whatever task we tackle. If we are citizens of the Kingdom of God, we approach parenting or caring for our parents and grandkids and our daily work as an important job we’re doing for the Lord. And so we work at it with all our effort in the strength the Lord provides.