Reason to Boast

2 Corinthians 10:17 "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." 18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

17 Ὁ δὲ καυχώμενος ἐν κυρίῳ καυχάσθω· 18  οὐ γὰρ ὁ ἑαυτὸν συνιστάνων, ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν δόκιμος, ἀλλὰ ὃν ὁ κύριος συνίστησιν.

We seem to have a natural inclination toward boasting to some degree.  I suspect that we like to cover up our own insecurities with bluster.  This is pretty evident in the sports world.  I'm from Cleveland and I know what it's like to see your team lose time and time again.  The folks there want a championship because it is such a part of their identities.  They want to boast in one of their teams winning a championship because they feel like they're always looking up to other cities.  In the sports world that is certainly true.

I suppose that if you're a Yankee fan you can boast in your team.  After all, they have historically been the best franchise in baseball history.  A Cardinal fan can do the same.  Indians, Cubs, and Pirates fans can't do that as well.  This is one reason why LeBron's departure was so hard for the people of Cleveland.  They don't really care about the Cavs or about LeBron, but they desperately want a championship.

Paul turns this kind of thinking on its ear.  After all, even the Yankees don't win every year.  They even missed the playoffs in 2008.  This kind of boasting is always going to leave us empty.  Boasting in ourselves is going to do the same no matter how good we may be at something.  This is a truth that all athletes discover sooner or later.  Life is uncertain and bodies break down.

But the Lord is always worthy of boasting.  We can commend ourselves all day long, but it means nothing if we do not have God's favor.  How do we get God's favor?  We need to be in Christ.  Apart from Christ nothing we do is truly commendable.  It's nice when a Mother Teresa feeds the poor, but evangelism was forbidden at her shelter.  In other words, she was sending people to hell with full bellies.  And, based on her theology and testimony, I suspect that she did not really know Christ either.  In other words, even someone as seemingly selfless as a Mother Teresa has no reason to boast.

We are all sinners who are worthy of one thing -- God's righteous wrath.  Therefore, we must run to Christ.  At the cross we will find sanctuary.  Then we will receive commendation from the Lord because He will see Christ's imputed righteousness in us.  We need this righteousness that comes from outside of us or else we are still dead in our sins.

What is your reason for boasting?  Is it in a team?  Is it in yourself and your talents or works?  Or is it in the finished work of Christ?  If you are in Him then He died to save you.  It has nothing to do with your merit, but we certainly can boast in what He did to defeat death, amen?

Giving the Increase

2 Corinthians 9:10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

10 ὁ δὲ ἐπιχορηγῶν σπόρον τῷ σπείροντι καὶ ἄρτον εἰς βρῶσιν χορηγήσει καὶ πληθυνεῖ τὸν σπόρον ὑμῶν καὶ αὐξήσει τὰ γενήματα τῆς δικαιοσύνης ὑμῶν.

This is a great chapter for anyone who is in any kind of vocational ministry.  Paul makes clear exhortations for giving financially.  Everyone knows the line in verse 7 about how the Lord loves a cheerful giver.  This is certainly true.  However, I want to focus on this verse for a minute.

Here we see the promise that God will χορηγήσει καὶ πληθυνεῖ τὸν σπόρον ὑμῶν .  We have to be careful here.  There are plenty of teachers out there who will use this as justification for giving their ministry a "seed" with the promise that God will make you rich if you just provide that "seed" money.  That's not what this is saying here.  It is true that God does indeed make some people wealthy.  However, He does not do that for their benefit.  He does it to αὐξήσει τὰ γενήματα τῆς δικαιοσύνης ὑμῶν.

In other words, financial prosperity is something that requires wise stewardship because it is for God's glory, not for our own.  Any blessings we enjoy are for His glory as we use them for His service.  We may be able to enjoy some nice things as a result of these financial blessings, but ultimately that is not the goal.  The goal is that we may use them to further the kingdom of God.

If you are an American you are rich compared to most of the world.  Plug your salary in to this little utility.  It's pretty sobering.  What are you doing with your wealth?  How are you furthering God's kingdom?

Giving Proof

2 Corinthians 8:24 So give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men.

24 τὴν οὖν ἔνδειξιν τῆς ἀγάπης ὑμῶν καὶ ἡμῶν καυχήσεως ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν εἰς αὐτοὺς ἐνδεικνύμενοι εἰς πρόσωπον τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν.

I found this to be a somewhat difficult chapter in Greek.  However, this verse is pretty plain.  Paul has been exhorting them about giving and how they will receive Titus.  He's telling them to act according to his boasting about them.

I think that this is yet another verse speaking to the Lordship of Christ in the life of the believer.  You see, if we have love we will have actions.  Paul is basically making an appeal to their salvation.  If they are truly part of the church then they will behave a certain way.  The two go together like peanut butter and jelly.

This stands in stark contrast to the watered-down message given to many who are left to languish in their sins with a false assurance of salvation.  If there is no life change then there probably is no heart change.  We do not work to merit anything, but if we have no desire for good works then we should check our hearts.  Too often we get this backwards and do good works hoping to earn something or change something.  The works are the result of the change.

Where are you?  Does your life reflect a changed heart?  I pray that mine would more and more each day.

Godly Grief

2 Corinthians 7:9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. 10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

9 νῦν χαίρω, οὐχ ὅτι ἐλυπήθητε ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι ἐλυπήθητε εἰς μετάνοιαν· ἐλυπήθητε γὰρ κατὰ θεόν, ἵνα ἐν μηδενὶ ζημιωθῆτε ἐξ ἡμῶν. 10  ἡ γὰρ κατὰ θεὸν λύπη μετάνοιαν εἰς σωτηρίαν ἀμεταμέλητον ἐργάζεται· ἡ δὲ τοῦ κόσμου λύπη θάνατον κατεργάζεται.

I'm not sure why, but I don't get a ton out of 2 Corinthians when I go through it.  However, this short passage is one of the most important passages in my life, so I guess it kind of balances out.  I think that this passage tells us much about effective Christian discipleship as well as what the Christian life should look like.

First we see how Paul addressed the Corinthians.  He knows that he caused them pain.  He does not rejoice because of their pain, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι ἐλυπήθητε εἰς μετάνοιαν.  What I get out of this is that there is a time when our message must cause a little pain.  My stepdad just had a hip replaced. It hurts.  But it will ultimately hurt a lot less than his bad hip did.  In the same way, we need to preach a tough message sometimes.  In the same way, we need to hear a tough message sometimes too.  What does this buy us?

It brings us to godly grief.  Paul contrasts τοῦ κόσμου λύπη with ἡ γὰρ κατὰ θεὸν λύπη (it's hard to pick apart the phrase for godly grief from Greek to English).  Worldly grief leads to death.  Godly grief leads to repentance, which leads to life.

My daughter provided a good example of worldly grief this morning.  She had a terrible attitude and eventually called her mother an "idiot," which is something that leads to a spanking in our house.  Then she hit me after I spanked her, which led to another spanking.  We went through this about four times total, which was not much fun for either of us.

What was interesting is that she yelled "Sorry!" when she realized that each infraction was leading to another spanking.  I later explained to her that if she was truly sorry then she would stop doing it.  She had worldly grief in that she wanted to avoid the consequence of her actions, but she wanted to keep doing it.

Frankly, that's where most of us are most of the time, aren't we?  We hate the consequences, but we don't mind the intrinsic sinfulness of some action.  Godly grief is getting to the point where we realize how our sin offends a holy God.  I believe that we get to that place as a result of the Spirit's work in us.  Also, I can tell you from experience that it is quite dangerous to pray for godly grief because it is terrible to experience.  Yet it is something we must go through if we are to walk with Christ.

Testimonies

2 Corinthians 4:5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.


5 Οὐ γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς κηρύσσομεν ἀλλὰ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν κύριον, ἑαυτοὺς δὲ δούλους ὑμῶν διὰ Ἰησοῦν.

I was tempted to write on the verse before this that speak to how God is sovereign in election, but I decided to go with this because it is something that has been on my mind lately.  The name of my blog comes from my own journey out of habitual sin.  Roughly eight years ago I was a slave to pornography as well as gluttony and laziness.  God first set me free from sexual sin then about six months later He set me free from gluttony and laziness.  I am certainly not perfect with respect to either of these temptations, but I would call myself walking in freedom. 

That's my story in a nutshell.  I worked with the ministry that helped me find freedom for six years.  One part of that ministry is the testimonies.  Every lesson in every course ends with a testimony.  These testimonies are tremendous encouragements in the pursuit of freedom from habitual sin.  You begin to realize that God works in the lives of regular people and it is by His Spirit that one finds lasting freedom.

However, there is an element of proclaiming ourselves when we give a testimony.  No matter how much we try to give God all the glory, we are still telling the story of something that happened to us.  We want for God to be magnified and glorified in that story, but ultimately it is our story.

I do not think that testimonies are the best way to witness to someone about the gospel.  There are a myriad of ways to lose weight and stop surfing porn.  I could wear a rubber band and snap it on my wrist and I could change my behavior.  I could look to an amorphous "higher power" and find sobriety.  Ultimately my witness is based on the fact of the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  If that was a true historical event then we can talk about testimonies.  If not, then it doesn't really matter what happened to me.

I think Paul certainly used his very powerful conversion story.  It's written in Scripture, after all.  But I think that was secondary to the story of Christ's resurrection.  That is the real story and that is what we must remember as we proclaim Him.