Bragging on God

Introduction

Have you even walked into a room and their is this one kid with an over inflated ego? When its time for games, he tells the other kids “I am better than you are at this?” When it is lesson time, he tells his teacher she is wrong and he knows the right answer. Every time someone else says something positive about themselves, he has to interject with how good he is. Such children are manifesting an insecurity in their own lives and have most likely been raised to think the world revolves around them.

Unfortunately, this behavior problem does not necessarily go away with age. That boy can become an adult who has to one up everyone. When someone else has just got something nice, he has to talk about how his is better. If others are doing something, he has a better way of doing it. If he can’t compete, he puts down their achievements. No one likes someone who is always bragging or trying to one up every one else. This is why the bible tells us in

Proverbs 27:1–2 “Boast not thyself of to morrow; For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; A stranger, and not thine own lips.”

And in Romans 3:27 “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.”

As we come to the conclusion of the first section of chapter 5, Paul brings it all to an application. I have mentioned this in the past that not all application is you need to get right about this sin in your life, sometimes application is here is a truth you should believe or here is a promise you should claim in your life but here, the application is here is something you should rejoice about.

Romans 5:11 “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”

Rejoicing is both an action and an emotion tied up together. It is also a command. It is one of those affections that we need to stir up within our own hearts by meditating on God’s goodness.

That phrase joy in God literally means to boast or to show off verbally. While we are told not to brag about ourselves, Paul has actually told us three things to brag about in this passage. In all three places though a different English word is used it is the same Greek word which means to boast or brag. In vs 2, it is rejoice in vs 3 it is glory and in vs 11 it is joy.

Finding Joy in God is the key response to seeing all the benefits we have in Christ. Think about this scenario:

What if you went through all the effort to throw an amazing party for your 16 year old daughter. You have invited all of her friends, baked her favorite cake and meal; planned an activity that she has been talking about for weeks. You get to the party and she sits off in a corner all to herself playing on her phone, ignores her friends, refuses to play any of the games and then when she gets home she goes straight to her room and never says thank you. How would you feel as a parent?

After all the amazing things we saw in vs 1-11 that God has given us, the proper response is to thank him. The proper response is to enjoy what he has provided for us. To rejoice, be excited about it and express that joy. Not to be like the 16 year old who just sits and plays on her phone. So t is appropriate for us to spend some time bragging on God. Today we are going to look back over the things we should be boasting about.

Rejoice in the hope of Glory

Back in Romans 5:2 “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” I preached on the hope of glory being the benefits of salvation. That hope of glory included our future hope of being made like Christ, seeing Jesus in all his glory and the elimination of all suffering and sin in the world. Let’s just think back over those points with a focus on rejoicing, bragging on God for these things. I am not going to repeat the points from the previous message with details explaining them. You can listen to the message on Apple podcasts, the website or the facebook page if you would like to go back and refresh them, but I am going to focus on what rejoicing in these truths looks like.

the future of being made like Christ

Seeing Jesus in His glory

the elimination of sin and suffering

The future of being made like Christ- The thought of being made like Christ should thrill our souls; the absence of sin in our life bring delight. I remember once reading a book by William Law on “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life” in that book Law took the position that Christians could be perfect this side of heaven. I disagree. I think we will be constantly changing until we see Jesus, but in my high school class I expressed that I wished this was true and most of the class acted like this was some strange desire I had. Let me ask you, wouldn’t you want to live your life never causing grief to Jesus, never hurting others with your words, never suffering the consequences of the sin in your life because their is no sin to begin with. Have you never felt the grief of the guilt and shame your sin has brought? If you have ever been there, then you should be able to know the longing for sinlessness that exists in my heart. As I wrote these words I was on the verge of tears thinking about it. But what brings me joy knowing that I will not be perfect now, is that there is coming a day when I will never disappoint the one I love because of my sin. I will never hurt anyone else ever again, I will never have to face the death and destruction of sin ever again. And I rejoice because I know by faith that this will happen. If you can say, Pastor Jason, I long for this and I am so glad that this is what I look forward to will you say Amen with me this morning. Now why did I ask you to say Amen, I am pleading with you to put into practice this very thing. Let’s rejoice in this truth.

Seeing Jesus in his glory- Have you ever spent some time just thinking about how beautiful Jesus is? Our culture defines beauty in all the wrong ways. What is it that makes a person beautiful? We look on the outside and that is good to an extent, but true beauty must come from the inside. Imagine a beautiful women who constantly screams and yells at everyone. She is a shrew. Would any of us really think she is a beautiful person? But on the other hand all level of physical flaws can be overlooked when you have someone who is beautiful on the inside. True beauty is more about who someone is than how they look. so what is it that make Jesus beautiful? It is his goodness, it is his love, it is his kindness, it is his forgiveness and mercy. It is his sense of justice. Think about the type of person Jesus was. When you see true beauty what do we do? We sit and wonder at it. Remember the first time you drove up into the Colorado Rockies: the awe of seeing their beauty? The fact of Jesus’ goodness isn’t something we just accept and move on from. It is a beauty we behold. We spend time delighting in it, thinking about all the ways he has been good to us. And if I can rejoice in His glory now, think about what it will be like to actually be in his presence.

Anyone who has been in a long distance relationship knows this truth. After months of writing letters and phone calls, it is nice to finally be in their presence. It is exciting and I look forward to that day.

3. the elimination of sin and suffering- That glorious day will also be the day when sin and suffering are abolished. The tyranny of death will be over. That which is broken will be healed. That which is destroyed fixed. While we languish under the pain of suffering today, there is coming a day when we will never have to face it again. Psalm 30:5 “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” There is light at the end of the tunnel. When we think about that we can rejoice even when life isn’t going our way. This ties in directly to the next point because Romans 5:3 “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;” we boast in tribulations.

Glory in Tribulations

Is Paul being sadistic in telling us we can boast in tribulations? No, Paul doesn’t stop there. He tells us we can rejoice in our tribulations because we know what they will produce. This is the same lesson that James 1:2–3 “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” tells us. We can rejoice in the tribulations because we no that our pain is not wasted. God is accomplishing something in our lives.

If you have ever done a renovation project, it could make you cringe to see the demolition team sledge hammering down walls and cabinets. All the mess as the work is done can put you on edge. Maybe things are just looking a little off to you in the middle of the project, but when you know that all that mess is going to produce something amazing, you can be excited about all the work that is being done.

The sufferings we face are often likened to a cross-stitch pattern or a mosiac. With a mosaic you have a bunch of tiny little pieces and they look all broken. If you pick up each one individually, it doesn’t make sense. You might ask why was this good piece of clay broken like this, but when you put the mosaic pieces together, you see a breath taking piece of art. The Mosaic on the screen is from a Muslim Mosque in Isfahan Iran. It is millions of little broken tiles placed together to make a beautiful piece of art. I don’t have to be a muslim to appreciate the beauty I see.

I may not see the whole picture now and so it is hard to stand in awe of that picture. But I have a part of the picture. I can look back over the broken pieces of my life and see how God put them together. The lessons I learned from the failure of my first engagement led me to Katy, being kicked out of India led me here as your pastor. God has been weaving together many different circumstances to makes something beautiful and I would not be the man I am today without God doing that work. In the moment, those circumstances were hard. They were broken pieces; but looking back I can see what God was doing and I am grateful. Paul says in

2 Corinthians 11:30 “If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.”

Not only can we look back, but we can look forward. We have been given a glimpse of what that picture will look like. I can read throughout the scriptures of what that will be like. The older we get the more we look forward to heaven. I love that Mr. Tillman is teaching through what heaven is like and the way he goes about it spurs on meditation about how great it will be. Things we never thought about, but the great hope is that God is going to finish what he started Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

Joy in God

Finally, our text verse says we joy, but not in what God has done for us; but in who God is. It is easy to focus on the blessings themselves and forget the giver of those gifts. James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” describes God as a giver of gifts. All of our joy and rejoicing needs to be turned toward the one who gave us all these benefits.

I know many parents have been here on Christmas day. You went out of your way to buy the present that your kid has been asking for all year. To see the joy in their eyes as they open up their gifts is every parents delight. And this is God’s delight too, to see us enjoying what he has given us. But all parents have probably felt a little let down when their kids got so focused on playing with that present that they never said thank you. We provide a lot of things that our kids enjoy, but it would be nice every now and then to know that our kids enjoy us too.

Every good gift is a reminder of the heart of God. Which is more important, knowing I got some blessing or knowing God Himself loves me. So in our boasting and bragging about what God has done for us, lets not forget who have it to us. All these benefits are through our Lord Jesus Christ. Without him, we could never enjoy them at all.

So our rejoicing is not really about all our priviledges but about what he has done for us and is doing for us. Our worship is not about us but about Him. John Stott in his commentary says

The Message of Romans f. We Also Rejoice in God (11)

So to exult in God is to rejoice not in our privileges but in his mercies, not in our possession of him but in his of us.

1 Corinthians 1:31 “That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

If we are going to glory, boast, brag, rejoice; let it be in the God we serve.

Conclusion

It should make sense that rejoicing, bragging on God should be the expected application of all these benefits of our justification. Not only is this something that we should be doing as believers, but it is a key mark of being a believer. Stott goes on to say

The Message of Romans f. We Also Rejoice in God (11)

For the new community of Jesus Christ is characterized not by a self-centred triumphalism but by a God-centred worship.

Earlier in the book Paul condemned the Jews for bragging in their relationship with God. Romans 2:17 “Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,” So what is the difference here? The Jew was proud of having secured his relationship with God by his own works. It was all about his triumph and success and not Gods.

So when it comes to bragging, we have nothing to brag about. It is all about Jesus Christ. The application I am going to ask you to do today is to shepherd your own heart and train it to rejoice.

To do that I want us to sing a hymn expressing our rejoicing to God.

Praise to the Lord (have it put into the slides during invitation)