#humblebrag

Introduction

The Strongman Trap (2 Cor. 11:16-21)

2 Corinthians 11:16–21 (CSB)

I repeat: Let no one consider me a fool. But if you do, at least accept me as a fool so that I can also boast a little. What I am saying in this matter of boasting, I don’t speak as the Lord would, but as it were, foolishly. Since many boast according to the flesh, I will also boast. For you, being so wise, gladly put up with fools! In fact, you put up with it if someone enslaves you, if someone exploits you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone is arrogant toward you, if someone slaps you in the face. I say this to our shame: We have been too weak for that!

Paul starts out what many scholars have called the “Fool’s Speech” by calling out a serious problem in the church. I call it “the Strongman Trap.”

He says, “listen, you know I’m not brainless, (apron), but since you accept this sort of knowledge-sparse bragging, I’ll play the game. But here’s the deal: you keep welcoming in and enduring these people who don’t know anything about Jesus, and it is messing you up! They enslave you, they exploit you, they take advantage of you, they are arrogant, they slap you in the face, and you guys push me away because I’m old and I’m not a good public speaker? I guess I’m too weak for you, then!”

I watched a documentary recently about a disgraced megachurch pastor, and it was heartbreaking to see how many individuals were reigned in by the allure of good looks and aspirational preaching, just be to be spit out later when they stopped being useful to the brand. One by one, members thought they were joining something grand, something powerful, when really it was just a vehicle of celebrity, fame, and self-serving. They were enslaved, exploited, taken advantage of.

The modern celebrity pastor all too often embodies this type of behavior. It seems as if the stories of pastoral scandals are happening at a breakneck pace, and they all follow a similar trajectory. Pastor starts young, skips training because he doesn’t need it—he’s gifted in speaking, motivating, and organizational leadership. The church quickly pushes out older leaders and starts putting all its resources into the leader. He gains control. He gains power. He gains money. He gains fame and admiration. And slowly the gospel message shifts. And you do know what the usual suspects are for fallen pastors? Sexual impropriety with church members (they enslave). Financial embezzlement (they exploit). Plagiarizing sermons and padding accomplishments (arrogance). Bullying and abusing, physically and emotionally (they slap in the face).

So here’s my question: why does the church keep raising up leaders like this? What is the pull within us to elevate the strong over the weak?

And by the way, it’s not just the modern church or the early first century church. Israel, since the beginning, has wrestled with this issue, and what they said that very first time is telling. Israel is following a man named Samuel who was raised up by God as a prophet, a mouthpiece of God. But then the people approach Samuel and tell him he’s getting old, so they want a king “to judge us the same as all the other nations have.” Samuel warns them, listen, a king will take your sons and use them to plow his ground and make weapons of war. Your daughters will become his servants. He will take your fields, your vineyards, your orchards. You will cry out for help, but YHWH will not answer you. And the people refuse and cry out “No! We must have a king over us. Then we will be like all other nations. Our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles.” (1 Sam 8)

Here’s the lesson from Israel. We fall for the strongman trap because we want to be strong. Not just strong, but comparatively strong. We want to be impressive to the people around us. We want to be proud of our faith.

So we go searching for someone who can fight the battle. We change the scorecard and choose wildly different criteria for leadership. We trade submission to Christ with subjection to strongmen. And we lose sight of God’s vision for our community, all in the name of pride.

What I have found is that it is the natural bent of people to choose leaders with competency and charisma. We believe these are God-given traits. A pension for public speaking, and strong organizational leadership skills. I’m not saying these are bad to have (I work on them all the time), but they are not what God uses to form leaders, and here’s why. God raises up leaders in the church that will multiply what he wants for everyone in the church. Do not believe that God will use any means necessary to grow his church, or that the institutional growth of the church is God’s only prerogative.

What are we here for? Why are you here? Is the church a business where you consume spirituality? If it is, sure, compare our services with the next place and give us a Yelp review. Is the church a club for Christians, exclusive to those who believe and say and do the right things? If it is, don’t bother with the weak, because they’ll never make it. But the church is not a business, it is not a do-gooders association, it is a not a showcase for your abilities and skills. The church is a community where the love and grace of Jesus are experienced and then displayed to the world. The church is a society commissioned with Christ to extend his reach to the least and to the lost. The church is a people who embody Jesus wherever they go.

This is why, time and time again, God does not raise up the strong—he raises up the weak.

How did Jesus show his love and grace? With power? With charisma? With popularism? With anger? He showed it with sacrifice, humility, and weakness, and the cross.

If we want God’s church to spread, we are not looking for competency. We’re looking for character, fruit of the Holy Spirit living in you. We’re not looking for charisma, we’re looking for character, a grounded trust in Jesus alone for everything.

So let’s go down the list of Paul’s #humblebrags and tell me what you see. Do you see competency and charisma, or character and conviction?

#humblebrag #1 - Heritage (11:21-22)

2 Corinthians 11:21b–22 (CSB)

But in whatever anyone dares to boast—I am talking foolishly—I also dare: Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the descendants of Abraham? So am I.

So the “super apostles” start by extolling their heritage. Look at my breeding! I have Jewish blood, that means I am a part of God’s chosen people from the beginning. Jesus was an Israelite, and so am I, so that gives me authority here.

In the Hellenistic society, breeding mattered. If you are an important person, a noble, you were born that way. In the case of Corinth, these people were touting their Hebrew credentials because that would make them bonafide “servants of Christ.”

Rarely do you see anyone touting their Jewish heritage around here, but you do see comparative breeding.

In America, 63% of people identify as Christians. By this, they mean they believe that Jesus is divine, and died for their sins. Well over half the country. Now, how many say they follow Jesus, meaning are seeking to obey Jesus, become like him, walk in his ways? That number is a little bit smaller—4%.

Christian identity: 63%

Follower of Jesus: 4%

For how long have we allowed the nomenclature of “Christian” to be a sufficient factor of authority? How long have we allowed this heritage of American Spirituality to define our churches, our mission, our leadership, our lives?

I’ve heard a version of this as a leader off and on forever: I’ve been a Christian for _______ years. My family grew up in this Church, my uncle fixed the ceiling over there. I’ve lived in this area my whole life. I often hear this when people want to assure me that they’re good with God, but I’ve also been told this as preface to some complaint about something I did. Now, you’re new here, so let me tell you how things work. The moment I need to get my point across that I’m right and you are wrong, the heritage card is the first to be played.

What do you think? Competency? Or Character? Competency. My birthright qualifies me to speak.

Now, Paul plays the game for a bit here—and he admits, it’s dumb. Oh, you’re Hebrew? Me too. You an “Israelite?” Check. A Descendant of Abraham? Sure.

There’s a point here. Paul has the same qualifications, the same breeding, the same history, but he doesn’t use them to build himself up. His upbringing has informed him, given him insight, wisdom, experience, sure, but Paul does not tout these, because it won’t serve the church. What will? The surpassing grace of God. The confession of the gospel of Christ. The way God uses a people who have no other name but Jesus tattooed on their hearts.

We see this now in the mission field. For years it was a common practice that White, American missionaries needed to go and bring Jesus to foreign cultures, not because they didn’t know Jesus, but because their culture versions of Jesus weren’t comfortable enough. So missionaries brought Jesus, along with their church organs and western liturgies. The gospel was not Jesus, but American Christianity. We touted our heritage as much as our belief. But in the last couple decades, a tectonic shift has taken place in the Christian world. The center of the church is now south, in Africa and South America. As the number of real Jesus followers dwindles in the Western world, we’re seeing a new trend of “reverse missionaries,” Christians from developing nations and countries with high persecution rates who are sending people here, to proclaim the gospel. We have depended far too much on our heritage.

God does not need your heritage. He wants your heart.

#humblebrag #2 - Heroism (11:23-29)

2 Corinthians 11:23–29 CSB

Are they servants of Christ? I’m talking like a madman—I’m a better one: with far more labors, many more imprisonments, far worse beatings, many times near death. Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers; toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing. Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?

Here’s crazy Paul again. He’s paraphrono, beside his mind. Servants of Christ they say? It’s foolishness to compare our war stories, but here we go.

Apparently the super apostles move from bragging about their bloodline to boasting about their street cred. Here’s what I’ve done for Jesus and for the Church! Here’s my bio, my curriculum vitae, my greatest hits.

I’ve been asked to speak at camps a few times in my life, and there’s this weird thing they always ask you to do. They ask for your bio. How long have you been a Christian? Did you go to seminary? Did you write any books? Did you have a position at a church? What kind of position? What kind of church? How big was the church? Did the church do anything great or grand?

In other words, what about you makes you worth listening to? What makes you the great hero of faith that I can glean from and get inspired by to do great things for God just like you?

We love heroes, and we love hero stories. We want our leaders to have hero type credentials—degrees earned, books written, baptisms performed, churches grown, godless empires toppled, courages acts of valor.

But does Jesus need you to be the hero? Is it a great testimony to the saving power of Jesus if strong, capable people make a name for themselves? Or is the power of God displayed when the weak, through Christ, are made strong?

So Paul starts his list. And it is a doozy.

Flogged (5x)

Beaten (3x)

Stoned

Shipwrecked (3x)

Dangers from: rivers, robbers, Jews, Gentiles, wilderness, sea, Christian pretenders

Gone without sleep, without food, without warmth, without clothes

Constant concern for God’s people (this is a bigger stressor than you might think!), particularly those who are physically struggling and spiritually gullible.

I read this list, and I think of Jesus’ words in John’s gospel:

John 14:12 CSB

“Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

Paul’s list of “accomplishments” as a leader would stand out among the typical Jesus follower/church leader, and not in a good way. If I told you that some form of Paul’s experience is what you can expect when across the course of your life, I suppose you might walk right out the doors and go find a super apostle of your own, one that promises a bit more success and individual ease. And as a human, a conflict-avoidant, pain-avoidant human, I kind of wouldn’t blame you. But what if this humility filled, challenging, boundary crossing, self-sacrificial life is what the way of Jesus and the life of the church is all about?

We don’t need leaders and representatives of Jesus who are just here to pad their resumes. We need people who set aside their resumes and walk out the love of Jesus with everything they have.

Roatan: Kids, Old, Young, serving, sharing, loving.

I’m going to end with verse 30 here today. Paul’s going to keep #humblebragging, but he puts a little truth in the middle of it:

2 Corinthians 11:30 CSB

If boasting is necessary, I will boast about my weaknesses.

Conclusion

The point is not, be weak, don’t be strong. It’s make Jesus known. If you are weak to compare your weakness, if you are strong to compare your strength, the gospel is not proclaimed, and the world will not experience true life.

PRAY