Boast in the Lord Alone (Part 1)
This Lenten season we have been looking at the way of the cross. Last week we learned that Christ crucified and resurrected is the power and wisdom of God. God’s power and wisdom are stronger and wiser than human power and wisdom. He turns human power and wisdom upside down, on its head. He does not act according to the ways and the expectations of the world. He calls us to believe in Jesus Christ, to follow Him, to follow the way of the cross, and so live the kingdom life in this world.
For the unbelieving world, this message of the cross is foolishness and weakness. Like the Corinth society, the world is enslaved by sin and obsessed with self-worship, self-promotion, self-gratification, boasting in self and in their accomplishments. They chase after the good life. They strive to become somebodies.
Are we as believers any different? Are we like the Corinth church who brought the ways of the world into the church and into our Christian lives? Like them, we have a hard time following the way of the cross. It is difficult to deny self and to take up our crosses. It is difficult to be different, to swim against the current. It is much easier to follow the ways of the culture around us. It is easier to live the old life. It is easier to let go, float down the river with the current, enjoy the ride, and live the good life. But this is not the good life. It is not even life because it leads to death. It is not the way to life.
We have seen last week that the cross, death leads to real, abundant, eternal life. Jesus Christ, the power and wisdom of God, gave us this new life. We have done nothing to earn or deserve this new life. This is all God’s work. He made us, who were nobodies, into somebodies, children of God, citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, we should boast in the Lord alone.
And yet, even as we live this new life we can so easily become blinded by pride, bent by prejudice, and possessed by possessions. God gives us talents, skills, and gifts. He empowers and blesses us. By God’s grace and power, we are successful in what we do — in our work, career, sports, academics, ministry, and in living the Christian life. But gradually self takes over because we do not follow the way of the cross daily. Instead of remaining humble and boasting in the Lord pride takes over and we begin to boast in ourselves. Whatever our successes and accomplishments, they are gifts, by the grace and power of God alone. Therefore, we should boast in the Lord alone. There are four reasons. We should boast in the Lord alone because — (1) God is the all-powerful Creator and Sovereign Lord of all; (2) God chose and called us; (3) God’s power and wisdom, Jesus Christ, saved us; and (4) God’s power, God the Holy Spirit gives us faith. Today we will look at the first two reasons and next Sunday at the next two.
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 — 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. 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.”
1. God is the All-Powerful Creator & Sovereign Lord of All
We should boast in the Lord alone because God is the all-powerful Creator and Sovereign Lord of all. Rom 4:17 says that God gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. Here in verse 28, we see that God brings to nothing things that are. The all-powerful Creator created out of nothing the whole universe and everything in it. He spoke it into existence from nothing. The sovereign Lord holds everything in his hands, everything. Nothing exists that He has not created and He is not sustaining. The same God who made everything out of nothing can make everything into nothing. The somebodies, the world powers, human leaders, the wise and mighty, wealth and fame, everything that humans count as valuable and real, all these will be reduced to nothing. History has already demonstrated this. Nations, countries, empires, leaders, kings and queens, presidents, governments come and go, appear and disappear. In the end, there will be a new creation — all brought about by God.
Let’s go back to verse 25 — For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Next to the seeming “foolishness” of God, human wisdom is so tiny, inadequate, and fruitless. Next to the seeming “weakness” of God, human power is so impotent and powerless. It cannot begin to compete with God’s power.
How seriously do we take God as the all-powerful Creator and sovereign Lord of all? It seems that in this age of self-achievement and self-promotion, even among believers, God has become a by-product of our faith, a spare-wheel we turn to only in crisis, a personal deity who serves our needs. We expect God to bless us because of who we are, what we do, or how well we live as Christians.
When God blesses us as persons, as families, as churches, as a community or nation we must remember that those blessings are all gifts of grace and love. We have done nothing to deserve it. We can boast in the Lord only. Have you become skilled and experienced at what you do? Who gave you those skills and the strength to use them? Have you accumulated great wealth? Who gave you the wisdom to make wise business decisions and practice good stewardship of your money? Have you achieved outstanding academic success? Who gave you the mind, the wisdom, the insights to study, learn, and apply that knowledge well? Have you excelled in basketball? Who gave you the strength and the skills to play the game well? Who gave you the self-discipline to persevere in exercise and training?
Paul teaches us one thing here—we need humility. We are so easily blinded by pride that we begin to boast in ourselves. We are so easily blinded by the things of the world that we begin to boast in them. “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” In verse 31 Paul quotes only part of Jeremiah 9:24 but he had the Lord’s whole statement in mind. Let’s read it — This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
2. God Chose and Called Us
We should boast in the Lord alone because God chose and called us. Verse 24, “to those who are called (that is, whom God has called), both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom.” Then in verse 26, Pauls says, “Consider your calling.” Think about who and what you were when God called you. Not many of you were wise according to human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Yet God chose and called them. And even if some of the Corinthian believers have achieved something that is not why God chose and called them.
Remember God’s words to Israel — For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deut. 7:6-9) God reminded Israel that they are God’s people, not because they were anything special in themselves, but despite the fact that they were not special. He called them to love and serve the one true God out of gratitude for what He has done for them. And so He calls us also.
Think of what we were before God called us and the Holy Spirit empowered us to believe. We were nobodies. In this life, we were on paths of self-destruction. We were on the road to eternal damnation in the next life. No matter what our worldly accomplishments might be, they cannot save us. They will come to nothing. We were lost, without hope.
But God stepped in, reached out, acted in history. He chose us, called us, and saved us. And He did so purely and solely because of his extraordinary love and amazing grace. We have done nothing to earn or deserve this. No one should boast that he has gained salvation by his own effort and power, by his own wisdom, birth, social standing, or anything else. No one should boast that he has gained God’s favor by his own ability. No one should boast that he is superior or better than someone else.
The cross always remains a scandal, a stumbling block, and foolishness for the unbelieving world. It exposes the human illusion that we can transcend ourselves and achieve our own salvation. It exposes the folly that we can all by ourselves maintain our own strength, our own wisdom, our own righteousness, our own piety, and our own self-praise even towards God. In the light of the cross God shows all this, and ourselves as well, to be foolish, vain, and godless. For everyone is foolish, vain, weak, and godless who wants to do what only God can do. Only the Creator God can save his creation. Only the Savior God can be the salvation of his creatures, of the people He chose and called.
In Jesus Christ, God puts to shame and brings to nothing the wise, the strong, the somebodies of this world, the things viewed as something. He did so that day on the cross on that hill when Christ was sacrificed for us. He continues to do so by choosing and calling his church, us, to proclaim the message of the cross and to live in the way of the cross, in radical discipleship, radically different than the world. Throughout history whenever and wherever the church followed the way of the cross, the power and wisdom of God, the way of self-giving, self-sacrificing love and service, God’s kingdom was proclaimed, people believed and the world was put to shame. But, whenever and wherever the church has forsaken its calling and followed human wisdom and power, it led to failure and disaster. Its witness discredited. The coming of God’s kingdom hindered. The church stopped being the true body of Christ, and in some places even disappeared.
Ephesians 2:8–10—For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
A biblical theology of grace counters any thought of earning salvation. Salvation in Christ is not a human self-help or self-improvement scheme. It is God’s radical rescue of us from slavery out of which we cannot earn or buy our way. Boasting in anyone or anything but God and God’s work is totally wrong. Salvation did not come to us because of our social status, wealth, or achievements. Grace and the cross are the great unifiers and levelers in the Christian community. It doesn’t matter who we are in this world or what we have achieved, before God we are all sinners. We all deserve death, God’s wrath and judgment. Without Christ, we all are lost. But, in Christ and because of the cross, we are now saved, no matter who we were before or what we have done. In Christ, we all now have this new, eternal life as a gift of grace from God. We all are children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, one new humanity, one new people, equal before God. No one is better or worse, wiser, or stronger than the other. This should cause us to pause and reflect when we, for whatever reason, think we are somebodies who are better than others, when we begin to look down on others, when we begin to boast in our achievements.
We were nobodies. Now we are somebodies because we are in Christ. Yes, we are heroes in God’s story but we are not heroes because of any heroic deeds we have done. We are heroes because God called us, chose us, saved us, and turned us into heroes in His kingdom. Christ, the power and wisdom of God, the cross, achieved this. He made us, who were nobodies, into somebodies, children of God, citizens of the kingdom of heaven. We can and should boast in the Lord, our Creator and Savior, alone.