PROPER BOASTING

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

You are judging by appearances. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do. So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it. I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.” Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.

We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God Himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you. We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else’s territory. But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

2 Corinthians 10:7-17

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

It can be very difficult to not fall into the trap of self praise.

A person can work hard in all aspects of what they do, not settling for average but intentionally trying to excel. This life attitude usually leads to success and that success will garner the accolades of others who won’t hesitate to tell you how great they think you are.

They’ll tell you that you’re a top performer in your vocation.

They’ll admire you for the talents you possess, talents you committed yourself to hone to the place of greatness.

And then they will add up all the things you do well and sometimes almost want to deify you and if you’re not careful, you’ll let it all go to your head and lose your humility. You’ll actually believe you are superior to others and carry yourself as such.

Note here that all the attention is on the person with the gifts and not the gift Giver. The people doing the praising and admiring aren’t first giving thanks to the Lord for granting you the abilities you have. In fact, they are so busy shining the spotlight on you that it leaves God in the shadows. And when we start to believe those who glorify us, then we too stop bringing honor to the One who truly deserves it all.

Yes, it’s easy to be so built up by the world that we boast improperly, focusing our bragging on ourselves. We incessantly talk about everything we have accomplished so to continue fueling the fires of those who hold us in awe. We can’t stop telling others about every good thing we are doing and the center of attention is on ourselves.

As we look at our passage today, we are reminded as to how we are to boast and who that boasting should be directed to. It seems the Corinthians were tiring about Paul talking about all the great work he and his fellow missionaries were doing for the cause of Christ. Paul wanted to make it clear that he was unashamed of detailing the work that was being done. There was absolutely nothing wrong with bragging about how the good news of Jesus was saving and transforming lives, as long as the attention was on Christ.

Paul intentionally proclaimed that there was a big difference between his boasting in the Lord and those who only seek to “commend themselves”, behavior he classifies as “not wise”. The Apostle was very aware that there were “proper limits” for bragging and he would not exceed them. Instead he would confine his boasting to “the sphere of service God” had assigned. In other words, he would only boast about what the Lord has led him to do.

In the end translation, Paul’s hope for the Corinthian believers was that their faith would continue to grow and that the missionaries’ “sphere of activity among” them would “greatly expand” so that the church in Corinth would grounded solid in Jesus. This would then allow Paul and his team to “preach the gospel in the regions beyond” Corinth.

In today’s message, we see how the Lord has allowed Paul to achieve great results through his Gospel-spreading evangelism but the Apostle wouldn’t allow himself to be the one who was lifted up and placed on a pedestal. Rather, he conscientiously worked to make sure the Lord was praised and honored above all else and in doing so showed us what proper boasting looks like.

For anyone who boasts, boasts inappropriately unless they first boast in the Lord and give Him the credit He is worthy of.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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