OUR GREATEST BOAST: The Joy of Knowing the Lord
OUR GREATEST BOAST: The Joy of Knowing the Lord • Sermon • Submitted
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Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,
but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
TODAY’S MESSAGE:
“Why the Lord is Our Greatest Boast”
There are some who reject this truth of the gospel, in either verbal opposition or by their indifferent to it. Paul says to both The foolishness of preaching the gospel is wiser than men
Those who reject the gospel prove not wisdom, but ignorance and foolishness that is part and parcel of what sin does.
“And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build,
and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full,
then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.
You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you—
MEANING OF THE TEXT – SHAPE THIS
The theme changes from indictments of sin and descriptions of judgment to an exhortation to seek what is truly worthwhile in life. The Lord rejects the usual grounds for boasting—wisdom, strength, and riches. Ironically, these are the things people like to boast about—how successful they are, how strong they are, or how rich they are. These verses put life’s values in proper perspective. When all the nonessentials are laid aside, the only appropriate basis for boasting is that a person knows and understands the Lord (see 1 Cor 1:31; 2 Cor 10:7; cf. Gal 6:14; Jas 1:9–10). Nothing apart from this fact has lasting worth. Whoever has that knowledge understands that the Lord exercises kindness (ḥesed, better translated as “loyalty” or “faithful love”; see note on Jer 2:2). He also is the God who exercises “justice” (mišpāt, a legal term suggesting God’s actions with regard to people are right because of his just nature). He also exercises righteousness (ṣedāqâ, that which measures up to the norm of what is right). These three terms express the very heart of Hebrew religion. They are not only the attributes of God; he delights in those who manifest these same qualities.[1]
I am concerned about the church that I pastor. The next three series flow out of this concern for their spiritual well-being. I am concerned that too many have an indifferent, common and weak relationship with the Lord because they have an indifferent, common and weak knowledge of God. I am concerned because what I see, in my church and in the broader church is an exchange of priorities and perspectives.
The Westminster Confession of Faith:
“What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever”
But this does not seem to be the way of many.
If there is in the mind of a professing Christian a greater, a more necessary or a more compelling desire above their desire to know the Lord we profess, we are most to be pitied. Not only are we most to be pitied, we are living, thinking and behaving less than God requires and demands.
Theologians put it this way: our orthodoxy – which refers in short to our right, biblical-historical understanding of God - informs, guides and promotes our orthopraxis – which refers to our right and ordered living according to the Word of God.
Herein lay the problem with so many in the church: Our lifestyles are not godly because our thinking about God is not biblical.
Herein lay the problem with so many in the church: Our lifestyles are not godly because our thinking about God is not biblical.
Consider these questions and your answers to them:
· When is the last time you were concerned about whether or not your thinking about God or your thoughts of Him were Biblical?
· When is the last time you read the Scripture seeking to understand the Character of God better?
· When is the last time you submitted a thought about God to determine if it needed to be corrected?
What is tragic is that many of us do not think about how we think about God.
What is tragic is that many of us do not think about how we think about God.
Most of us in our words claim a love and adoration of God YET give no time to contemplating His worth and glory.
Those of us who profess an unyielding commitment to never deny the Lord give little time or effort to actually knowing Him! Oddly enough, this is what it means to deny Him
Most, if not all of us, would be offended by professions of love from someone who did not show an interest in who we were. We would seek to have marriage counseling to fix what seems to be a desire to know us – all the while, professing love to the Father without a desire and commitment to know Him.
This is what we can call Pharisaical living. A contradiction between life and lips. This is how Jesus declares it:
“ ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
We need not imagine what the Lord thinks about professing Christians. It is clear from this passage that those whose honor of Him goes no deeper than their lips – or lip service, are hypocrits! They are play actors! Their prayers, their worship, their singing, their preaching, their serving, their giving – all of it is vain because it flows out of a heart that has not passion or desire to know Him!
Therefore, He calls such “vain worship.” How is your worship when examined by this assessment of the Lord?
A.W. Tozer put it this way in his small but very powerful book “The Knowledge of the Holy.” in his chapter: Why We Must Think Rightly About God Tozer says:
“This history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base (low) as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God” (page 1).
“This history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base (low) as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God” (page 1).
Worship is not be confused as singing: worship is a soul, seeing the Lord regularly, adoring Him and being transformed and changed by this sight. None who were changed by the Lord were the same. Too many of us are exactly the same way we were when we first claimed to have been met by the Lord.
The truth is this: if the knowledge of the Lord I had when I first believed - that it is a serious problem. There must be – and there will be – in the hearts of the truly transformed a increasing desire to know the Lord more and to know Him better and to conceive of Him rightly. This is why Peter says in
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
The call is to grow: to grow, not in mindless, thoughtless and careless ways: but in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. This is not a suggestion: it is a command, therefore, Growth in the knowledge of God was and remains an expectation for those who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (1 Peter 2:4). We must know that a committed and intense discipline to grow in the knowledge of the Lord is not exclusive to pastors and theologians; it is the call of all who claim to love Him.
So,
What does a lack of desire and or effort to grow in this way say about us?
First, It Says That Our Faith Is Weak and Elementary
At one level it may show that our faith is weak, elementary in essence. That we are merely infants, still, even though we have claimed to know the Lord for years. Some of us are no more knowledgeable of the Lord than what we were told at the beginning of our walk. We are still saying the same things because it’s really all we know:
He woke must us this morning
He will make a way out of no one
He is a lawyer in the courtroom
But note something that is true about each of those terms: The are all self or man focused. They speak to what God has don’t for man and who He is for man. They do not speak about Who He is, as laid out in the scripture. This is because when you are a child you can only speak like a child. Therefore, one can be numerically old and profess a lengthy relationship with the Lord while, what at the same time, being spiritually immature with respect to who God is and His character.
Second, It Says That Our Life Is Being Lived on the Basis of False Gods
Second, It Says That Our Life Is Being Lived on the Basis of False Gods
If I do not know who He is then I am not living on the basis of who He is but, rather, on the basis of what my heart assumes Him to be. This is idolatrous.
“Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they are true” (Tozer 4).
“Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they are true” (Tozer 4).
When I live on the basis of what I assume Him to be my life can only reflect that god. We live to the level of our highest ideal and if our ideal is what we know about God and if that knowledge is wrong or low, so too will be our living. This is the foundation of the rampant immorality that is running around in the church from those who profess to know Him. They are living on false ideals: that God is only forgiving, merciful, loving and kind. The low thoughts of God have no place for Him being:
A Holy God– pure and unable to even look upon sin (Hab…)
A Jealous God – (text)
A Judge – (text)
A Consuming fire – (text)
These don’t match our personal sensibilities. These do not represent what We Think God ought to be and certainly don’t square with who We Think God is. We take our cues from society about who God is and how He behaves. Whatever is “normal” to us and society we think must be normal to the Lord! Why would it not be? God is for us exclusively, right? Thus we live in ways that are contrary to His name and His glory and, sadly, we consider such things as not being offensive to Him.
“The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him…” (Tozer 4).
“The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him…” (Tozer 4).
This is exactly what God is rebuking through Jeremiah. Their boasting reflects that being successful, strong and rich are not only the priority of their lives but are their motivation for all that that they do. In this way they become gods and this is what is happening to so many in the church today. Too many are seeking the true God, not for who He is but as the genie whose sole function is to help them to become successful, strong and or rich.
But such boasting is weak because they are less than God and they do not, truly, satisfy. How many who have achieved power have shown themselves weak to their passions and emotions? How many who have become successful are empty while surrounded by wealth and popularity? How many have gained wisdom and have lived as fools? But how is this the case?
Because wisdom that claims Christ and the gospel to foolishness
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Because success that comes at the expense of God does not last
Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,
but righteousness delivers from death.
Because power that is desired for personal ends - The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11)
God is and must increasingly become OUR GREATEST BOAST if we would consider ourselves saved.
So from the text what is OUR GREATEST BOAST?
So from the text what is OUR GREATEST BOAST?
Jeremiah calls us to BOAST in:
I. That I Have Been Called Into An Intimate and Transforming Relationship with the Lord
I. That I Have Been Called Into An Intimate and Transforming Relationship with the Lord
but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
This relationship with the Lord Jeremiah sums up in this way: that I understand and know Him. These words together stand to intensify the reality that our boast should be that we are able to know Him. That we have the heart to know Him.
By knowing the Lord Jeremiah is not speaking of knowledge about God.
By Knowing the Lord Jeremiah is speaking of an intimacy with God that has so filled the passions and the desires of an individual that they are consumed and controlled by this love for the Lord.
By Knowing the Lord Jeremiah is speaking of an intimacy with God that has so filled the passions and the desires of an individual that they are consumed and controlled by this love for the Lord.
This is an important distinction because knowing or acknowledging true things about God does not necessarily mean that such truths have penetrated our heart and are presently and consistently shaping our worldview and worship. EXPAND THIS…. WITH PACKER’S DISTINCTION:
But why should I boast in the reality that I know the Lord?
But why should I boast in the reality that I know the Lord?
Very simply:
That I Know the Lord is a gift from God the Father through God the Spirit, made possible, only through the death of God the Son and faith in Him.
That I Know the Lord is a gift from God the Father through God the Spirit, made possible, only through the death of God the Son and faith in Him.
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
Here is where true and authentic knowledge of God is found: in an ongoing, vibrant, and transforming relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here is where true and authentic knowledge of God is found: in an ongoing, vibrant, and transforming relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord who spoke through Jeremiah is the same Lord who revealed Himself in the incarnation of the Son. We understand and know the Lord because of Christ
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
JOHN 5.22-23
For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,
that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
The Apostle Paul highlights the beauty of this gift in this way
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Therefore, we boast in God the Father by boasting in His son, Christ who, through His life, death and resurrection made knowing God possible; we boast in the God the Spirit who has imparted our faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) and opened our eyes that we could see His glory (Ephesians 1:18).
What then do we see? We see that our boast is a boast in the God-head for their work of redemption. Ephesians 1:3-14 shows it this way:
What then do we see? We see that our boast is a boast in the God-head for their work of redemption. Ephesians 1:3-14 shows it this way:
We were chosen by God the Father from the foundation of the world for the praise (boast) of His glorious grace (Ephesians 1:3-6)
We were chosen by God the Father from the foundation of the world for the praise (boast) of His glorious grace (Ephesians 1:3-6)
We were redeemed by Christ through adoption for the praise (boast) of His glorious grace (Ephesians 1:7-12)
We were redeemed by Christ through adoption for the praise (boast) of His glorious grace (Ephesians 1:7-12)
We were sealed by the Holy Spirit for the praise (boast) of His glorious grace (Ephesians 1:13-14)
We were sealed by the Holy Spirit for the praise (boast) of His glorious grace (Ephesians 1:13-14)
Therefore, since all of this is a gift and since the Triune God has made this a reality in my life herein lay my boast: That,
“My” understanding the Lord is not MY understanding – but a gift from the Lord
“My” knowledge of the Lord is not MY knowledge – but a gift from the Lord
I boast in these things because the understanding and knowledge I have are proofs of A MOST IMPORTANT REALITY: THAT I AM KNOWN BY GOD!
I boast in these things because the understanding and knowledge I have are proofs of A MOST IMPORTANT REALITY: THAT I AM KNOWN BY GOD!
Do not miss this point. We speak often and boldly that we know God and that we love the Lord; BUT THIS IS NOT THE POINT NOR THE PRIORITY. Paul says,
But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
It is not so much that I know God but that I am known by God!
It is not so much that I know God but that I am known by God!
There are many who know Him who are not known by Him. Here the word means love with regard to a relationship. We can know God (meaning know about God) and still live in opposition to His glory and miss eternity – even though we know every aspect of orthodoxy, we lived a very sacrificial life, we served better than most, we preached sound and doctrinal sermons in which people were blessed, moved and even converted: We can do all of that and still miss eternity because while we knew about the Lord He did not know us.
Consider the sober reality of the Lord’s words in Matthew 7:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
The work of the Lord in me and through me in the power of the Holy Spirit should not lead me to seek what belongs to the Lord – praise and adoration and acclaim. IT SHOULD LEAD ME TO BOAST IN CHRIST ALONE.
The work of the Lord in me and through me in the power of the Holy Spirit should not lead me to seek what belongs to the Lord – praise and adoration and acclaim. IT SHOULD LEAD ME TO BOAST IN CHRIST ALONE.
Paul says in Galatians,
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
The God who calls us to boast in Him through Jeremiah is the same God who calls us, through Paul, to boast in the cross of Christ. So, the call to know and understand God in increasing ways is the call to know and understand the cross of Christ.
Here are two reasons the God of the cross is OUR GREATEST BOAST:
Here are two reasons the God of the cross is OUR GREATEST BOAST:
First: This Great and Awesome God Has Actually Drawn Near to Me In Love
First: This Great and Awesome God Has Actually Drawn Near to Me In Love
It is right to say that God has drawn near to us since we are a body and a fellowship and cannot see or live life in isolation from one another. The covenantal aspect of God redemption is clear and understood. However, I do believe that there are times in which it is appropriate to think of our relationship with God in personal ways. Yes, He did come and for us but He has also, and truthfully, come for me!
So, understand this point in a very personal way. No one is around. You are alone and before the Lord having been gripped by the call to boast in Him. You see Him a bit clearly and, therefore, see yourself more clearly. You are before Him, in your present space, contemplating these great truths. Boast in Him at this moment; praise Him without reservation in the moment that He, the glorious and awesome Creator, come for you! You.
I remember the day when the Lord opened my eyes to the doctrine of sovereign election. I was in my bedroom, alone and in the Word. When my eyes were opened to this truth I remember falling to my knees in complete shock and adoration of this amazing grace of God and thanking God that He had chosen me. He had chosen others for sure, but in that moment, I received this personally and I believe that is a way the Lord wants us to understand His work on our behalf.
So, this God – the Lord of the Universe came to you in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to you as a holy God but, because of Christ and your faith in Him, it was not in wrath that he came. He came in love, the very opposite of what we would expect because of our sinfulness. It’s like watching a movie and anticipating the end and then, at the end, it is totally different than what you thought, but it all makes sense at that point.
This God came to me, not because of me, but for His glory. He came to me, in Christ, so that I, being transformed by the Spirit would BE HIS BOAST (2 Corinthians 3:18). That I, in my life, my resolve to be devoted to Him and even in my weakness might be a vessel - a cracked vessel for sure (2 Corinthians 4:6-7) – for reflecting the brightness (holiness) of His character (Philippians 2:14-16). This is why Paul, grappling with the thorn in his flesh, could conclude the following in his own weakness,
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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Second: This Great and Awesome God Actually Desires For Me To Be With Him In Glory.
Second: This Great and Awesome God Actually Desires For Me To Be With Him In Glory.
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
NOTES:
· Boasting is a passion given from the Lord but, being infected by sin, is now defective and destructive
[1] Huey, F. B. (1993). Jeremiah, Lamentations (Vol. 16, pp. 121–122). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.