Let The One Who Boasts, Boast in the Lord
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26 For consider your calling, brothers and sisters, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;
27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,
28 and the insignificant things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,
29 so that no human may boast before God.
30 But it is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
31 so that, just as it is written: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
26 Sapagkat tingnan ninyo ang inyong pagkatawag, mga kapatid: kakaunti sa inyo ang matatalino ayon sa pamantayan ng tao,[a] hindi marami ang makapangyarihan, hindi marami ang isinilang na marangal.
27 Kundi pinili ng Diyos ang mga bagay na kahangalan sa sanlibutan upang kanyang hiyain ang matatalino. Pinili ng Diyos ang mga bagay na mahihina sa sanlibutan upang kanyang hiyain ang malalakas.
28 Pinili ng Diyos ang mga bagay na mababa at hinahamak sa sanlibutan, maging ang mga bagay na walang halaga upang pawalang-saysay ang mga bagay na mahahalaga,
29 upang walang sinuman[b] ang magmalaki sa harapan ng Diyos.
30 Subalit kayo ay na kay Cristo Jesus, na naging karunungan para sa atin mula sa Diyos, at katuwiran at kabanalan, at katubusan,
31 upang ayon sa nasusulat, “Ang nagmamalaki ay ipagmalaki ang Panginoon.”
Greetings:
Magandang gabi sa lahat. Salamat sa inyong pagparito sa gawain ng Panginoon.
Title: Let The One Who Boasts, Boast in the Lord
Subject: Boasting, Glorying, Taking Pride in the LORD
I’d like to talk with you today about an ancient human practice that’s found anywhere you find people – boasting. People will boast about anything including how smart, strong, rich, talented, or even how humble they are. Folks will go on about their achievements or status, their looks, their kids, don’t even get them started on grandchildren – boasting is as old as humanity.
In the Corinthian church according to this letter, it is clear that at least some of the Corinthians were particularly conscious of status. They seem to have measured themselves and their leaders against one another in terms of spiritual giftedness, eloquence, knowledge, and other things. At the start of the letter, Paul calls this sort of score keeping into question.
What God Loves That Makes Him Hate Pride
What’s the beautiful thing that is replaced or ruined by pride? What does God love so much that he must hate pride with all his might? The answer is plain from all these texts.
He loves the heart that boasts in the Lord.
He loves the heart that gives him credit for what he alone can do.
He loves the heart that relies on his power.
He loves the heart that wants him to get the glory in all things and that wants the power of his Son to shine in our weakness.
And if you have caught on to the essence of Christian Hedonism, you will know that when God delights in this, he delights in the deepest, most satisfying human experience possible. Because:
We were made to boast in God.
We were made to give him credit for all good.
We were made to rely on his power.
We were made to magnify his glory and his all sufficiency in our weakness.
The Body
Main Point (CIT)
If we have something to boast, we will boast, take pride, glory in Christ Jesus becoming wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification and redemption to us.
Beware, NLH, of boasting in buildings, or music, or mission statements, or pastors. That was the warning of verse 29: “… that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” But here comes the concluding note, and it is totally positive. Christ is all! God has grafted us into Christ, and in that union with Christ, God made him to be our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
By God’s Grace Through the Gospel, the Message of the Cross, We are in Christ Jesus
30 But it is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
It is due to God’s Grace that we were chosen and called.
The point here is that the new life the Corinthians enjoy is not the result of their worthiness but a result of God’s determination to choose.
Not because we were born poor, we were born non-intellectuals, not because we were born weak and helpless, that’s why God chose us. Because marami namang mahihirap, mahihina, marginalized, nasa laylayan ika nga, salat sa kaalaman at edukasyon na ayaw din sa Mabuting Balita ng Diyos, ayaw sa Diyos, at kaya hanggang ngayon, ay nasa kahabag-habag pa ding kalagayan dahil nanatiling walang Diyos, walang Kristo, walang pag-asa, walang tunay na Buhay. But by God’s Sovereign Grace, God chose us, and by the message of the cross, the message of Christ crucified, God called us.
It seems, that since Paul mentioned first God’s calling sa ating mga mahihina, mga mangmang, mga dukha, kung kaya’t tila baga, based from those statuses sa buhay, pinili tayo ng Diyos. But no, the keyword is the word, “consider”. Meaning, observe, take a look of who are already here being the called. It is because, before the foundation of the world, in God’s infinite wisdom, God chose us in Christ Jesus.
And what’s the end of our boasting in the Lord? It is His glory, or it is to His own glory and honor, contrary to boasting according to human standards in order to deify man, to take pride in man and what they have, to magnify man. The context concerns God’s ability to glorify Himself even in our weakness, foolishness, lowliness and being despised. Whatever have we become, it is because Christ is becoming to us wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and any fruit of the Holy Spirit, all glory is to God and God alone.
True boasting in the Lord is actually boasting of the Lord—boasting of His great attributes, boasting of what He has done for us, of what He is still doing and of what He has promised to do.
Christ Jesus became to us, the verse says.
The word became is the same word in Greek used for the verse that says, “And the Word was made flesh”. As well as in Philippians when Paul said, “being born in the likeness of man”.
7 but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men.
It’s like the famous endtime line, we are the Word made flesh in our day. In other words, a facet of Christ which is the Wisdom from God became flesh in us. God’s Wisdom is being born in our lives. Being manifested in our lives, being God’s Wisdom expressed.
In four questions, let us get to our subject:
What’s worth boasting about Christ becoming wisdom to us?
What’s worth boasting about Christ becoming wisdom to us?
Our wisdom: All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in him (Colossians 2:3). But more to the point, remember , sinabi na sa
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness,
24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Christ is not just the source of wisdom for living our lives. His death is the highest expression of the wisdom of God. When we are united to Christ crucified and say, “I am crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20),
We are taken up into the infinitely wise saving work of God.
All his infinite wisdom is used to work all things together for our good.
Christ crucified is the sum(kapuspusan) and foundation(pundasyon) and price(halaga) and certainty(katiyakan) of God’s wisdom toward us.
And Oh, as the song says, Who can grasp His infinite wisdom, who can fathom the depths of His Love.
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has informed Him?
14 With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge, And informed Him of the way of understanding?
13 Sinong pumatnubay sa Espiritu ng Panginoon,
o bilang kanyang tagapayo ay nagturo sa kanya?
14 Kanino siya humingi ng payo upang maliwanagan,
at nagturo sa kanya sa landas ng katarungan,
at nagturo sa kanya ng kaalaman,
at nagpakilala sa kanya ng daan ng pagkaunawa?
Christ, the wisdom of God
Christ is the wisdom of God. We do not ponder enough all the virtually insurmountable problems that God had to solve in order to save us. They are mindboggling. Think about them with me:
Through Christ, God worked salvation for men and women while they were still in their sins. He figured out how people born once could be born again, how there could be a second Adam and a new race of people born to him whose sinful DNA was countered by God’s own indwelling Spirit. Christ, the wisdom of God.
Through Christ, God found a way for the infinite God and the perfect Man as one to die as a suitable sacrifice for sinners and for those sinners to be drawn to salvation without violating their free will. Christ, the wisdom of God.
Through Christ, God found a way to keep all his promises and prophecies to Adam and Noah, to Abraham and Moses and David and the prophets. God had to work all those things he promised out to come true, and he had to fulfill every promise pictured in the Old Testament. The Passover, the Promised Land, the Sabbath, the manna, the wine, the Lamb, and the lion all come true in Christ, all in one Man. Christ, the wisdom of God.
Through Christ, God found a way to trap the devil in his own schemes. He became the devil’s victim so that he might become the devil’s conqueror. God found a way to tie the mighty Satan in knots. Christ, the wisdom of God.
And through Christ, God found a way to make his enemies his beloved saints, to make spiritual orphans his own dear children, to make prisoners free, to make lame hearts leap, and he found a way to open death’s front door, for Jesus Christ holds the keys to death and Hades. Christ, the wisdom of God.
The sign-seeking Jews were blind to the significance of the greatest sign of all when it was before them. The wisdom-loving Greeks could not discern the most profound wisdom of all when they were confronted with it.
"Actually there is neither foolishness nor weakness with God. But the apostle is saying in verse 25 that what seems to be foolishness on God’s part, in the eyes of men, is actually wiser than men at their very best. Also, what seems to be weakness on God’s part, in the eyes of men, turns out to be stronger than anything that men can produce."
23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
23 Siya, na ibinigay sa takdang pasiya at paunang kaalaman ng Diyos ay inyong ipinako sa krus at pinatay sa pamamagitan ng kamay ng mga makasalanan.
The death of Christ on the cross, the Christ crucified message of the gospel was not an afterthought of God, and your and my salvation was not an afterthought of God, we were not a Plan B of His great salvation. In God’s infinite Wisdom, he planned in advance for us, he predestined us to adoption as children of God in Christ Jesus, he predestined us to be conformed to that same image of the Lord Jesus Christ. O Hallelujah.
Such a message would have been near nonsense to many who heard it: crucifixion was a torturous death, a manner of execution we believe to have been reserved for convicted slaves and terrorists. Paul claims that God chose this way of being in the world precisely to subvert human wisdom and strength.
To support his argument that “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:25), Paul asks the Corinthians to consider how they themselves came to be numbered among those who are “in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:30). He reports that God’s choice of them was not based on their status but rather on God’s determination to choose the foolish and weak precisely to shame the wise and strong.
Oh in praise and in boasting in God’s infinite Wisdom, and why He chose me, called me? I can only say as the song goes,
“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretched like me, once lost but now found, once blind but now I see.” Amen.
In God’s infinite wisdom, if when, where and how Niya tayo tinawag, that was the best place, time and manner of His calling us. Di man like ni Apostle Paul na hinulog sa kabayo, ang ilan sa atin nasa sitwasyong so down, and hopeless na na mga sitwasyon ang buhay, and then Jesus came, the gospel came which is the power of God to everyone who believes. Hallelujah.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!
34 For Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?
35 Or Who has first given to Him, that it would be paid back to him?
36 For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
Simply put, church, that we are God’s infinite wisdom in salvation manifested in the endtime. He has become wisdom to us. Glory.
What’s worth boasting about Christ becoming righteousness to us?
What’s worth boasting about Christ becoming righteousness to us?
Our righteousness: Once we have seen in Christ crucified the wisdom of God instead of foolishness, we are believing and by believing we are justified—that is, Christ becomes our righteousness.
Imagine someone broke into your house and destroyed some of your most valuable belongings, and when they get caught and stand before the judge, they begin to argue about how committed they have been at the PTA and how often they recycle. How would you respond? Even if you were charitable, I imagine it would be something like this:
“I’m so glad you’re doing your part for the community. Seriously, that’s good stuff. But, um, that doesn’t restore what you destroyed of mine.”
In the same way, sin destroys God’s glory in the universe and overturns his righteousness and justice, which the Bible tells us is the foundation of His throne,
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before You.
Our sin leaves us legally guilty before God. And our good works, relative to this massive damage, are even less impressive and relevant, and cannot pass God’s standard of righteousness which is His very own righteousness.
For creation to remain good and sustainable, justice has to be upheld.
(Skip this verses)
21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 but it is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in God’s merciful restraint He let the sins previously committed go unpunished;
26 for the demonstration, that is, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
“Justification” is the word that Martin Luther said launched the Protestant Reformation. The Roman Catholic Church in Luther’s day taught that justification was a process whereby God made you into a righteous person by infusing his righteousness into you, bit by bit, by means of the seven sacraments—baptism, the Eucharist, confirmation, last rites, etc.
Eventually, through observing the sacraments and confession and doing good, you would become a righteous enough person that God would declare you justified. And, if by the time you died you weren’t quite righteous enough (pretty common, I suppose), you’d go to purgatory, where your sin would be purged from you through fire and suffering. Eventually, you’d make your way to heaven, but it might take a few thousand years.
This, the 16th-century Catholic church taught, was the process of justification.
But Luther pointed out that this isn’t what the word “justified” means, nor is it how the Scripture writers talk about it being accomplished. Justification is a legal declaration, and legal declarations aren’t progressive.
They happen all at once.
Justification does not refer to the transformation of the heart (sanctification). It is not a process whereby we become righteous. Justification is a pronouncement whereby we are declared righteous all at once.
In justification, God’s righteousness, fulfilled and lived by Jesus Christ through His Perfect Life of obedience and fulfillment of the Law is not infused into us; it is imputed or credited to us.
In the gospel, because Jesus’ righteousness is credited to us, we are declared justified. This is where Luther’s phrase simul iustus et peccator comes from—“simultaneously righteous and a sinner.” It’s not that I become righteous enough that God declares me righteous but that while I am still sinful, God declares me righteous because of my faith in Jesus.
If I am accused of a crime and hauled into court, and the jury decides I am innocent of all charges and the judge declares me not guilty, I’m not cleared bit by bit.
I’m cleared in an instant. I am justified.
The judge hasn’t given me a seven-step program through which I can become innocent. He declares me innocent all at once, and I walk out a free man.
21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
But besides having the Perfect Righteousness of Christ by faith, in Christ, we became God’s righteousness.
What does it mean?
Simply, the church, the righteous people are the manifestations of God’s righteousness through righteous living. Living righteous lives among this crooked and perverse and ungodly generation. Preaching this gospel of God’s righteousness everyday to yourselves every day.
9 And this I pray, that your love may overflow still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,
10 so that you may discover the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ;
11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, for the glory and praise of God.
What’s worth boasting about Christ becoming sanctification to us?
What’s worth boasting about Christ becoming sanctification to us?
Our sanctification: Once we have seen Jesus as our wisdom in the cross and been counted righteous with his righteousness, he becomes the power by which we are sanctified (see Romans 15:18). Keep these in the right order while I am gone. First, we see him crucified as our wisdom, then we stand righteous before God in him, and only then do we start becoming righteous in behavior (sanctification). We pursue holiness by the power of Christ because we are holy in the holiness of Christ (1 Corinthians 5:7).
When your conscience speaks to you, what voice do you hear? Is it an inner lawyer or an inner grandma?
This is the question of Australian missiologist David Williams. The inner lawyer is interested in right and wrong, good and evil, guilt and innocence. As you weigh your future options or consider your past actions, that inner lawyer will ask questions such as “is it right or is it wrong?”. He (I’m making this lawyer a man, mainly because my imagined inner lawyer looks and sounds exactly like Atticus Finch) is either your defence (“you were right!”), or your prosecutor (“that was wrong!”). Either way, the inner lawyer deals in categories of guilt and innocence. He judges you and your actions according to fixed categories of right and wrong.
The cross, which deals with our guilt, also deals with our shame. This is very good news.
The inner grandma is different. She is not so much interested in guilt and innocence as in honour and shame. “What will people think?!” “You can’t go out in that!” “How could you look them in the face again?” “Shame on you!”.
The inner lawyer deals with evidence. Once the facts are in and the case is made, who cares what other people think. The inner grandma, on the other hand, is very much interested in what other people think. Indeed, that’s how she’s making her decisions. What will the neighbours think? Will this bring honour, or will it result in shame?
The Cross and Shame
The cross, which deals with our guilt, also deals with our shame. This is very good news. If no one’s ever told you about this before, allow me.
Guilt and shame are related but not identical experiences. Guilt is something you may or may not feel. It’s possible to be guilty but not feel guilty, just as it’s possible to feel guilt and not be guilty. A criminal may walk away from the courtroom with the objective status of “guilty”, but may personally feel defiant, numb, or even cheerful. Conversely, a tender-hearted person may experience feelings of guilt for things that were just mistakes or for nothing at all. All our consciences are like faulty alarm systems, sometimes sounding off when there is nothing, other times failing to alert us to a major problem.
Shame tends to be subjective. Shame is felt, and it is felt by our whole person. Guilt says, “I did the wrong thing”. Shame says, “I am the wrong person”. Guilt is able to focus on a specific event or action, shame takes over our sense of who we are.
Guilt is personal. A young boy can kill a frog for fun and then feel terrible about it. No one needs to have seen it or objected to it. But shame is social. Shame is about how others see us. It has to do with our standing before others. To be humiliated or defiled before others is to be shamed. Even when shame is personal, we construct a little community out of ourselves and speak of ourselves in the third person: “I feel ashamed of my Self”. A miserable little party of two: me, and the Self I am now heaping shame on.
The opposite of guilt is innocence; the opposite of shame is honour. And honour, like shame, is something bestowed on us by others.
With the rise of social media, cancel culture, and public shaming, grandma’s back. And she’s not happy.
Since the work of anthropologist Ruth Benedict, western culture has commonly been understood as a guilt-innocence culture, non-western cultures as honour-shame cultures. The truth, of course, is more complex. But as a rough rule of thumb, it holds up well enough—at least since the enlightenment. In the west, we tend to hear the inner lawyer. We are driven by an individual conscience. We seek innocence and avoid guilt. In other cultures people are more likely to be driven by a communal voice, the voice channelled by grandma, calling us to seek honour and avoid shame.
Of course, non-western cultures know guilt, just as western culture knows shame. It’s a matter of degrees. But for whatever reasons, the cross and shame haven’t got the air-time they deserve. The Bible, in general, and the cross, in particular, have a lot to say about shame. We have been underselling a key achievement of the cross. With the rise of social media, cancel culture, and public shaming, grandma’s back. And she’s not happy. We need to know what the cross does to address our shame.
Shame in the Bible
Shame, it should be noted, is acknowledged in Scripture; like guilt, it can be a completely appropriate and useful response. Shame gives the wider community a vote on my actions. To never feel shame is to be a sociopath. The person who is completely impervious to the judgement of the community is not generally someone you’d want running your country, teaching your children, or joining you for your summer holidays. Shame can be a good thing.
Or at least a good thing in a fallen world. In the garden Adam and Eve were naked but felt no shame. They were not embarrassed. Or threatened. They anticipated no rejection or mockery, or judgement from the one to whom they were exposed. Shame is only good in the way that locks on our doors or police on our streets are good. Shame (along with door locks and police officers) was unknown in the garden and will be retired from use in the new creation. It is a feature of the fall.
The Shaming of Jesus
It is a feature of the world that Jesus experienced too. Although he never internalised people’s contempt by becoming ashamed, he was certainly shamed. Deeply. Profoundly.
If you look at the world through a guilt and innocence framework, it’s possible to miss the emphasis on shame in the crucifixion of Jesus. Consider the event itself. Jesus was spat on (Matt 26:67), his head and face were struck (Matt 26:67), his clothes were stripped off (Matt 27:28); he was verbally mocked and insulted (Matt 27:28–29). None of these actions was in itself physically painful. Being spat on doesn’t hurt. It shames.
Jesus’ associated with contagiously shameful people: bleeding women, tax collectors, prostitutes, gentiles and the like. These people were a threat to your social standing.
Yet in the case of Jesus, the contagion seemed to go the other way. Rather than them bringing him shame, he brought them honour:
The bleeding woman is healed and Jesus calls her his daughter (Mark 5:25–29);
Zaccheus is presented back to the community as a “son of Abraham” (Luke 19:9);
The prodigal son in the story is welcomed back into the family (Luke 15:21–32).
In the crucifixion, however, the traffic moves in the opposite direction. Jesus, who moved so many from shame to honour, is himself humiliated, embarrassed, degraded, and shamed.
Exchange: Jesus takes our shame and gives us honour
Jesus bore our shame for us. He took our shame and exchanged it for his honour. He who knew no shame became shamed for us so that in him we might become the honoured ones of God.
Theologically, this is necessarily true. As the church fathers never tired of reminding us, that which Jesus did not assume, he could not heal. Jesus came to reverse the curse of the fall. He did so by entering into that curse, by assuming to himself, not just bits here and there, but all of it.
As we read in Hebrews:
12 Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the gate, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood.
13 So then, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
Jesus suffered “outside the city gate”. That is, his suffering included exclusion from the esteem of the community. He bore our disgrace to make us holy. But the encouragement is to “go to him outside the camp, bearing this disgrace he bore.”
When we stand in solidarity with the people of God as they are being shamed; when we allow our social credit to diminish by refusing to disown them, we bear shame for the sake of Christ.
Think of the kid rejected at high school for their brave (even if ham-fisted) stance for Jesus. Or the CEO who loses a board position because of their association with a local church. Or the teacher ostracised in a rural community for politely declining to wear a rainbow badge in pride month. In these situations, we have a choice: stand with our sister or brother, and lose social credits—or distance ourselves from them and be ashamed of Jesus.
Trajectory: Jesus pioneers the path from shame to glory
Finally, when it comes to shame, Jesus blazes the trail for us—the path from shame to honour. And it’s a path he invites us to follow.
The author of Hebrews encourages us to fix our eyes of Jesus, calling him …
2 looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Jesus was able to endure the cross because of the joy set before him. What was he enduring? Specifically, the shame of the cross. And yet he was able to endure that shame in light of the joy ahead of him. Jesus didn’t enjoy the shame (who does!?). But the glory and honour of the other side of shame kept him going.
The word “despised” is a translation of the Greek word kataphroneo, which is a compound of the words kata and phroneo. On their own, the word kata means down, and the word phroneo means to think. However, when these two words are compounded, the new word means to look down upon, think poorly of, despise, abhor, detest, disdain, or loathe. This carries the ideas of contempt, aversion, or something so repulsive that one is almost unable to stomach the idea of it. It is something that is simply repelling, revolting, and disgusting. Thus, the Greek word kataphroneo used in Hebrews 12:2 emphatically lets us know that Jesus looked down upon the Cross with repugnance. He literally “despised” it.
The word “shame” is the Greek word aischune, which describes something that is base, ugly, revolting, and grotesque. By using this word, the writer of Hebrews was telling us that Jesus’ experience on the Cross as He hung naked and broken in full view of the world was disgraceful, deplorable, despicable, and reprehensible. Paintings and sculptures of the Crucifixion always portray Jesus with a towel wrapped around His waist, but this was simply not the case. Romans were not so kind as to cover the male anatomy — Jesus was stripped of all clothing and hung naked before the jeering crowd. For a Jew who respected the human body as something made in the holy image of God and who abhorred the naked idols of paganism, this indignity was utterly repugnant and embarrassing.
In this, Jesus is our pioneer. Knowing that he went through shame to joy helps us to know the destination when we face similar trials. He mapped out the V-shaped path of the cross from shame to honour. The apostle Peter makes a similar point:
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though something strange were happening to you;
13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of His glory you may also rejoice and be overjoyed.
14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, and of God, rests upon you.
15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler;
16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.
12 Mga minamahal, huwag kayong magtaka tungkol sa mahigpit na pagsubok na dumarating sa inyo upang kayo’y subukin, na waring may isang kataka-takang bagay na nangyayari sa inyo.
13 Kundi kayo’y magalak, yamang kayo’y nakikibahagi sa mga pagdurusa ni Cristo, upang kayo man ay matuwa at sumigaw sa galak kapag ang kaluwalhatian niya ay nahayag.
14 Kung kayo’y inaalipusta dahil sa pangalan ni Cristo ay mapapalad kayo; sapagkat ang espiritu ng kaluwalhatian at ang Espiritu ng Diyos ay naninirahan sa inyo.
15 Ngunit huwag magdusa ang sinuman sa inyo bilang isang mamamatay-tao, o magnanakaw, o gumagawa ng masama, o bilang isang mapanghimasok.
16 Ngunit kung ang isang tao ay nagdurusa bilang Cristiano, huwag niyang ikahiya ito, kundi luwalhatiin niya ang Diyos sa pangalang ito.
Suffering as a Christian (which Peter carefully disentangles from suffering for being a jerk) is, in fact an honour, a glory to us, because we bear Christ’s name. And that means we are on the same trajectory as him, awaiting the crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4), trusting that God’s mighty hand will lift us up in due time (1 Peter 5:6).
Conclusion
So, what’s worth boasting about Christ our sanctification?
I will cling to the old rugged cross, the emblem of His suffering and shame and I will cling to Him who wrapped me with His holiness positionally, who only not cover my sins but washed them white as snow by His precious Blood. O anong galak kaya ang naramdaman ng dalawang babae sa Bible na may kanya kanyang kwento. Ang isa, adulterer, caught-in-the-act at ang isang woman at the well. Jesus went to them, and in the midst of shameful lives, Jesus said, neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,
10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
The only way we can live His holiness in this shameful generation, to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. No other way.
In our culture, we see the experience of shame as entirely negative—but we see the strategy of shaming as powerful, useful, and (thanks to social media) easily achievable. Shaming is everywhere.[1] Grandma is back. Shame can be useful. It can alert us to things that need to change. But only by the cross can we hear the words of honour on the other side of shame. Only through the death of Jesus can we now stand before God, knowing Jesus is not ashamed of us but honours us before the Father as his brothers and sisters.
What’s worth boasting about Christ becoming redemption to us?
What’s worth boasting about Christ becoming redemption to us?
Our redemption: And once you have seen Christ crucified as your wisdom, and been counted righteous in his righteousness, and pursued sanctification by his power, you will one day obtain through Christ the redemption of your bodies at the resurrection of the dead. As Paul says in
23 And not only that, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and daughters, the redemption of our body.
The world take pride and rely on their wealth, and can do everything possible to live long lives, and well, they may prolong their years of life, pero sabi ng Bible fleeting pa rin ang buhay dito sa lupa. As in Psalms says,
4 “Lord, let me know my end, And what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am.
5 “Behold, You have made my days like hand widths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Certainly all mankind standing is a mere breath. Selah
6 “Certainly every person walks around as a fleeting shadow; They certainly make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.
7 “And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.
O, the glory, the joy of this final phase of God’s great salvation sa atin, the redemption of our lowly bodies, mortal bodies. corruptible bodies. Yes, I will forever thank God that in this lowly body, he is pleased to live, to dwell, as a pledge until that day of redemption. In this body, I can offer it to Him a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable which is my spiritual service of worship. But far beyong this present reality, my hope is to have that what Paul said in,
1 For we know that if our earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For indeed, in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven,
3 since in fact after putting it on, we will not be found naked.
4 For indeed, we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.
5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a pledge.
54 But when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.
55 Where, O death, is your victory? where, O death, is your sting?”
This is my hope, my joy, my boasting. Wala akong pera, yaman pampatagal or pampa-extend ng buhay ko sa lupa, and If I live more years, my prayer is to invest this life, this body for eternity, and that will be when Christ my soul’s Redeemer will become my body’s Redeemer.
As I close, we will read
1 Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
He’s worthy of our highest exaltation, boastings, glorying. We will exalt, we will praise, we will bless, we give thanks the Lord who have worked wonders sa ating mga buhay, na may mga maiinam lamang na plano mula pa simula, or kahit nung di pa naitatag ang sanlibutan na may sakdal na katapatan. O Halleljah!!!
CONCLUSION
Make Christ Jesus Your Boast because actually in doing so, it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is glorified. It is God who is magnified, because foremost, these are all God’s wondrous works sa ating mga buhay, and as explained by Pastor, worthy to proclaim as testimony to the glory of God.
Therefore, we conclude with Paul in verse 31—and is there any wonder?—”Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” Make Jesus your boast, NLH. Not the preacher, not the church. Let no one say, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas.” But let all say together with me through sickness, through health, and through the next year (if God wills), “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death”.
20 according to my eager expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
So, let us boast in the Lord, magnify the Lord, let us exalt the Lord, let us rejoice in the Lord, let us bless the Lord. Because whatever we’re boasting about Him, we will not be ashamed because it is true sa ating mga buhay. Hallelujah.
SONG:
WONDERFUL MAGNIFICENT GOD
Verse 1:
At Your feet I bow
There is none like You
For all that I have found
All I want is You.
For all the wonders You do
And all that You are
What I can bring to You
I offer my heart.
Chorus:
Wonderful magnificent God
I’m humbled by the life You gave
Beautiful Redeemer You are
Worthy of my highest praise.
(Repeat Verse 1 and Chorus)
Coda:
What can we give to You o God
For everything You have given to us
What can we give to You o God
For everything You have given to us
What can we give to You o God
For everything You have given to us
We offer our lives to You o God
For everything You have given to us. {3x}
Repeat Chorus 2x
Wonderful, You are Wonderful
Wonderful, You are Wonderful
Wonderful, You are Wonderful
Wonderful, Magnificent God.
