Boast in the Lord
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
1) He Nullifies Our Boasts
2) He Becomes Our Boast
In 2019, I was blessed to attend a pastoral retreat in San Antonio where Seminary classmates gathered to celebrate their 3-year, 10-year, and 25-year graduation. We had activities that combined all the graduates and others that focused on specific classes. In the closing session with my fellow 3-year alumni, we were to write down what we hope people would say at our retirement reception. While I don’t remember what I specifically wrote down, our answers mostly said the same thing: selfless service to the Lord, faithful shepherding of our flock, and a good example of how to balance work, life, and family commitments
Suppose you were to do the same. What would you hope people would say when you’ve reached the end of something like climbing the career ladder, raising children to adulthood, or hitting a new level of friendship with another? If you’re like me and many of my Seminary classmates, your answers will probably feature you in some way. However, where is the Lord in all of this?
As sinful humans, we have a natural tendency to highlight ourselves rather than our Lord. The Christians in 1st century Corinth were no different. So the Apostle Paul writes these words to correct their boastful spirit. Rather than boast in ourselves, we boast in the Lord! Not only does he nullify our boasts, he becomes our boast which is the best of all.
1) He Nullifies Our Boasts
The Christian congregation in 1st century Corinth was typical of many Christian congregations today. Many of its membership were not what the world considers to be wise, powerful, or born with high status. To be wise from a human point of view means to have knowledge that can be applied for practical purposes or to have an original answer to age-old questions. To be powerful means to be prominent, that is, able to accomplish big tasks effectively and efficiently. To be born with high status is to have a commendable reputation so that wherever you go, you’re respected and listened to. Over the centuries, it hasn’t been God’s MO to typically fill his churches with humanity’s best thinkers, titans of industry, or world-renown figures. For the most part, it’s regular and broken people like you and me.
That doesn’t mean we don’t still find reason to boast about ourselves. Look at our wisdom! Some of us have or are working on getting a college degree which is a feat in and of itself. Others of us have received a masters in the school of hard knocks so we know how to navigate life’s pitfalls, traps, and drama. Look at our power! Your personal achievements or unique stories that has others listen because they have nothing to compare it to. As friends and members of Grace, we’ve built and are running what is possibly the largest childcare ministry in our entire church body down in Sahuarita. Look at our high standing! A family name that has others respect and listen to us in certain circles. Part of a church that is older than Arizona as a state and that has given a good impression to countless winter visitors, current and former Tucsonans, and English students who’ve returned to their home countries.
There’s a lot that we can boast in of ourselves! But those boasts have nothing to do with God. In fact, we have no boasts before God. He nullifies our every boast and gives us the reality check we desperately need. And he does that with his MO of who he typically chooses to be his own. Picture yourself back on the school yard during recess. You’re team captain and you’re choosing who will be on your team for pick-up basketball. Who do you choose? The athletes who are tall, quick, and can handle a basketball. Suppose you were team captain for your school’s team for Knowledge Bowl, that is, competitive trivia on school subjects. Who do you choose? The straight-A students, history buffs, and sadly bullied nerds. Suppose you were team captain for a Christian congregation. Who do you pick to be this visible family of God’s larger family of faith? Wouldn’t you choose the wise, the powerful, and those born with high status?
Yet who is it that has God typically chosen to be his own? What is his MO? As our verses say, “But God chose the foolish things of the world…the weak things of the world…the lowly things of the world and the despised things, and the things that are not.” (1 Corinthians 1:27-28 EHV) He chose someone like you and me. And why? As our verses say again, “to put to shame those who are wise…to put to shame the things that are strong…to do away with the things that are, so that no one may boast before God.” (1 Corinthians 1:27-29 EHV) God didn’t choose the world’s foolish, weak, lowly, despised, and just plain not because he couldn’t do any better. With his incomparable strength, God can do anything he wants. He doesn’t have to stack his team with the first-round favorites or settle for the leftover, undrafted free agents. In keeping with his MO, he typically chooses the world’s foolish, weak, lowly, despised, just plain not, and those you and me so that he may nullify every boast of themselves. So that no one may boast before God.
And that’s a joy to hear! Because it means that God, with in incomparable strength, willingly and lovingly chose you to be his. Think again of that team captain situation. This time, God is the captain and he’s choosing who will be on his team of faith. Lined before him is the sinful human race. You’d expect him to choose the world’s wise, powerful, and high status. And does to a certain extent. But mostly, he chooses those you’d least expect. When he calls your name and rips you from your sin to his forgiveness, you know it’s not because of you in anyway. And that’s true no matter how well you fit God’s typical MO. Your place in God’s family of faith is because of the Lord and his strength alone. As such, he nullifies our boasts andm at the same time, graciously becomes our boast.
2) He Becomes Our Boast
In these opening chapters from 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul riffs on wisdom and foolishness from a godly and human perspective. Humanly speaking, wisdom is often understood as applied knowledge for practical purposes or a new take on an age-old question. Godly wisdom, however, differs in that it is given by God to us and is grounded in who he is for us. We see godly wisdom personified in Christ Jesus who became it for us when he still walked this earth. And this godly wisdom consists of righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
To be righteous means to be right with God. Christ Jesus was this by living a perfect life in complete obedience to God’s law. To be sanctified means to be made holy, that is, pure from sin and set apart for God. Christ Jesus was this by remaining pure from sin his entire existence and holding to his mission to be our Promised Savior than conforming to people’s popular expectations. To be redeemed means to be bought back from our captivity to sin by paying a price. Christ Jesus did this when he died on the cross and gave his life as the price to free us from our sins. This is what godly wisdom consists of: righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
And we get to have this wisdom because God chose us to share in what Christ Jesus became for us. We are wise in a godly sense for we know and trust in the Lord whose strength accomplished our salvation. We are righteous because Christ has covered over our sins with his perfect obedience of God’s law. We are sanctified since the Holy Spirit forced the gift of faith into our dead hearts through the hearing of the Word and the waters of Baptism. We are redeemed because Jesus’ death on the cross has cancelled our debt of sin. So who do we boast in? The Lord! The Lord becomes our boast because who we are and what we have is all due to him!
If you’re going to boast at all, follow the command given in Jeremiah chapter 9(:24), “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:31 EHV quoting Jeremiah 9:24) It’s God’s strength that made you his child through faith. It doesn’t depend on how much the world calls you wise, powerful, or born with high status. It depends on God whose MO typically chooses the world’s foolish, weak, lowly, despised, and just plain not. He does this to nullify our boasts about ourselves. It’s because of God, and him alone, that you are his child through faith and have full access to his every promised blessing.
If you’re going to boast, boast in the Lord for he is the one who makes you blessed in every situation, even the trying ones. Though we didn’t talk about it in our sermon, go back and read our Savior’s sermon from the Gospel today. You are blessed in every circumstance for God’s incomparable strength will make it happen as described in those verses.
If you’re going to boast, boast in the Lord for he chose you to share in everything Christ Jesus became for you. You are wise, righteous, sanctified, and redeemed through God’s gift of faith in Jesus as your Savior. And that godly definition of wisdom will remain yours through that same faith.
Concluding Encouragements
As my 3-year class reunion showed, we sinful humans have a natural tendency to boast of ourselves than of the Lord. Though we may have legitimate things to boast about, they are nullified by God and his typical MO in who he chooses to be his own. As the Lord nullifies our boast, he also becomes our boast. For he connected us to Christ Jesus and everything he became for us. As such, if we’re going to boast, let us boast in the Lord. For who we are and what we have is all because of him. Amen.