So, I don't know, you know, when I was reading 2 Corinthians, and I don't know if you noticed it when Jeremiah was reading it,
there was a particular phrase that really, really jumped out at me, and it's verse 30.
I don't know if it jumped out at you when you were listening to it.
You know, I know it can be hard to listen to Scripture, but it says this in verse 30,
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
And that's a bit of a complicated phrase if you think about it.
I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
Like, is this text saying to us that if Usain Bolt was a Christian, I have no idea whether he is or not,
but that Usain Bolt should say that he's actually pretty slow and terrible at running?
Should he actually try to become a worse runner so he could say this?
Like, is this telling us that Serena Williams should say that she has a terrible serve?
Or that Haley Wickenheiser can hardly play hockey at all?
Or that it's wrong for them to try to get better at their sports, that they should try to get, like, worse at it?
Like, when it says here, I will boast of the things that show my weakness,
like, is that one of these just, you know, religious or spiritual things?
And yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It just sort of means you confess your sins, but, you know, you go on living life.
Like, if you were to read this in your office or at your coffee shop, would people roll their eyes at it?
Is it one of those things?
Would people say, you know, George, I think texts like that are just the way that religion tries to sort of say,
oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm a rich, powerful person.
I'm just acknowledging my weakness.
But it's really just a way for rich and powerful people to keep poor people poor.
Because the rich and powerful don't believe it, but they want the poor to believe it.
And then they can stay strong.
Like, what's going on with that?
It's a very, it's an odd statement, isn't it?
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
In fact, you know, for some who might actually really be struggling with things in their life,
and they come maybe to a church service like this, where they come to read the Bible,
hoping that they can find some meaning in their life,
like, a text like that can end up making you think,
well, you know, George, I'm already really beat up by life,
and I'm already feeling pretty weak.
And I don't know, George, I'm looking for something that will give me some type of peace
and some type of inner calm and self-possession and strength.
I'm not really looking for something that's going to make me weaker.
So it's a very curious text, isn't it?
So let's look.
Let's just look at it in this context.
It'd be a great help if you open your Bibles.
And the text is 2 Corinthians 11, beginning at the 16th verse.
It'd be a great help if you open the Bibles, and let's look and see.
Maybe the context makes it better.
Maybe the context makes it worse.
Maybe what's going on in the text.
Is anything at all going on?
And just so you know, as you're starting to read the text,
just before this, Paul was talking about he was having trouble in the congregation.
And the congregation, part of the problem in the congregation was that there's this group of people
who are trying to lead the people astray.
And you can sort of imagine they all sort of look like George Clooney or take your favorite actress
who just looks good-looking and poised and knows how to dress and knows how to move
and knows how to charm.
And at the same time, they're sort of very culturally connected and culturally savvy.
And they're trying to recommend a way of living that's far more culturally sophisticated and culturally savvy.
And they're sort of convincing the congregation that Paul is a bit of a, you know, a bit of a rough hick type
whose gospel has too many rough edges and they want to smooth them out, you know.
And that's what's going on just before this.
He ends up saying that they're really more like the way the serpent was with Eve.
And if you remember the story in Genesis 3, the serpent says to Eve, did God really say?
Did God really say?
And what's going to happen after this, which we'll look at next week,
is Paul's talking about somebody who's had a spectacular vision of heaven.
And so anyway, that's what goes on on either side.
Look at, let's start with verse 16.
And here's how it goes.
I repeat, because he said this earlier, let no one think me foolish.
Okay, so he said, I'm not a fool.
But even if you do, accept me as a fool so that I may, but even if you do, in other words,
even if you actually do think I'm foolish, because you've been listening to these people
who've said that I'm a bit of a hick, accept me as a fool so that I too may boast a little.
What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would, but as a fool.
Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast.
Now, what Paul's sort of sitting up here is he's going to say, to try to make a point,
he's going to play the fool, to make a point.
It's a little bit like a, yeah, he's just going to play the fool in the hope that by playing a fool,
he's going to sort of disarm them and get them to sort of understand a few things.
And then in verse 18, just before we go any further, I'm just going to say a few things about this.
And I want to, they're going to be a little bit provocative,
but it's actually a really significant sentence to understand this whole thing about weakness.
And it's in verse 18, it's actually pretty significant.
Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast.
See, one of the things that we're going to see as we go on is that what Paul is doing in this full speech
and this statement about weakness, he's sort of, he's trying to understand,
he's going to help us to try to understand two different types of weakness,
and he's going to help us to try to understand what boasting, human boasting reveals about our hearts.
Because that's always what the Bible is wanting to do.
The Bible is wanting us to understand our heart,
this sort of the command center of our lives in light of the reality of the living God.
That's what the Bible is always pushing us towards.
And so Paul is going to play the fool, but here's these, a couple of provocative statements.
If you could put the first one up, Andrew.
The flesh boasts.
And now what the Bible here means, it's not just, in this case, the flesh doesn't just mean,
you know, just our body, like the physical stuff,
as if there's somehow every human being is, there's a physical stuff,
and then there's some type of divine spark within us which is eternal,
or that the soul is closer to God and the body doesn't really matter.
That's not what he means.
In the Bible, one of the uses of the flesh, the most common in the New Testament,
is to describe that there's something in human beings which likes to either ignore God or rebel against God.
That there's something in every human being that loves to ignore God or rebel against God or resent God.
If God's not doing anything to bug us, that's fine.
We can just ignore him.
But once he starts to do something that sort of intrudes upon our interests,
there's a resentment to him, an enmity towards him, not a longing.
And that's what's meant by the flesh.
And so one of the things that the Bible teaches and that Paul is saying here in verse 18
is that the flesh boasts.
The next point, Andrew.
In fact, the flesh, that part of us which is in rebellion against God,
not, I mean, the soul, our mind, our heart, our will, our affections, our imagination, our memory,
there's part of everything that makes us us that is in rebellion against God and resents him.
And the Bible is also trying to tell us that the flesh, that part of me, is addicted to boasting.
Just as some people can be horribly addicted to crack cocaine and it can ruin and wreck their lives,
that the flesh in human beings is addicted to boasting.
And then the final controversial thing,
all human beings are addicted to boasting, myself included.
All human beings are addicted to boasting, myself included.
If any of you are interested in writing any of these things down,
it's all going to be on the webpage tomorrow if I go too quickly.
So in this little verse 18, behind it is this basic sense,
some of which Paul has been pointing out throughout the book of 2 Corinthians
and in 1 Corinthians, his first letter to Corinth,
is that all human beings boast.
All human beings are addicted to boasting, myself included.
And some of you think this is probably wrong.
I'm going to try to illustrate it later on in the sermon.
But I just want you to understand that this is a bit of a context within which Paul is playing the fool
and he's going to talk about weakness as being something that he wants to learn to boast in.
So let's continue on.
Let's continue on verse 19.
Sort of lost my place there for a second.
19.
Now he's still talking to the congregation.
For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves.
For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you or devours you
or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or strikes you in the face.
To my shame, I must say we were too weak for that.
Now just pause.
This is a combination of irony and sarcasm.
Many of us don't realize that sometimes the Bible uses irony.
You know, irony isn't just something that hipsters invented.
Like, it's something that goes right back.
Like, the ancients understood irony and sarcasm.
The hard part is that often Christians, you know,
who always think that the Bible has to be unbelievably serious,
that it never has a bit of a joke or never using irony or sarcasm.
And Paul is just going to, you know, because you see,
what these false apostles have been doing that have been causing the trouble
is they're getting paid lots of money to teach.
And who knows, maybe they're really all of a sudden,
as we're going to see in a moment,
if they're starting to put a whole pile of rules on them
and they're beating them up and poor Paul says,
you know, I was just too strong to take any money for you.
I did everything for free.
You know, he means,
it's too bad I was beating you up in such a terrible way
by only giving to you and never receiving a penny from you.
And it's too bad I was only trying to teach you about grace
rather than having you weighed down with a whole pile of advice you can't keep,
where people then mock you because you can't keep the advice.
So he's being sarcastic.
He's being, he's full of irony with them.
He's trying to use the irony and the sarcasm to make them think,
oh yeah, Paul did all of this for free,
but you want hundreds and hundreds.
I remember years ago, there was a guy who used to come to the church
and I mean, you know, he was like a lot of Anglicans.
I don't want to make anybody feel guilty here,
but he's like a lot of Anglicans.
I think he put like two bucks a week in the plate or something,
a hundred bucks a year,
maybe an extra 50 at Christmas, you know.
Anyway, he told me,
he had a really messed up life
and he told me that he'd just gone off on a weekend
and this is about almost 20 years ago
and he went off on a weekend
and he paid somebody 850 bucks.
I don't know what that,
like today in today's dollars,
that'd probably be like over two grand.
And he paid them this for a weekend
for the guy to just basically keep yelling at them
and the basic message is
you need to make a distinction
between women you just want to sleep with once or twice,
women you want to sleep with for six months,
and women you might want to marry.
And he paid 850 dollars to be yelled at about that.
And he put two bucks in the plate at my church.
I could have told him that for free.
Except that I would have said,
don't sleep with women, you know.
I mean, and that's what he wouldn't have liked, right.
So it's, you know,
the fact of the matter is that a lot of times
people will do all these crazy things with their money, right.
You know, I didn't say this when I was talking about money,
but you know, if our culture thinks
it's not messed up about money,
I learned this from John Maxwell.
Many people in our offices
and many people that we see on the street,
because they use credit cards and line of credit,
they spend money they don't have
to buy things they don't need
to impress people they don't like.
And then they think
that they have no problem with money
and Christians are uptight
about talking about money.
The Bible wants to free us
from doing all that stuff, right.
So that's a bit of a long aside.
But here, so get,
what's going to happen next?
Verse 21 again.
To my shame, I must say
we were too weak for that.
But whatever anyone else dares to boast of,
I am speaking as a fool.
I also dare to boast of that.
Are they Hebrews? So am I.
Are they Israelites? So am I.
Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.
Are they servants of Christ?
I am a better one.
I am talking like a madman.
Pause right here.
Two things about boasting.
Now, most of you couldn't give a hoot.
I almost said a bad word.
Couldn't give a hoot
about that list of qualifications.
Right?
Who cares?
In fact, in our culture,
with a bit of an increase in anti-Semitism,
it might actually be a bad thing
for many in our culture.
That's one of the things about all boasting, you know?
Like, it might very well be
that the thing that we put down in a resume
or the thing that we like to boast about,
if we went to another culture,
they'd go,
yuck.
Or that future generations will go,
yuck.
Like, you know,
couldn't you see that,
like in a certain point in time
in South Africa,
one of the things that they would put down
is that they've always maintained
the color ban.
Couldn't you see that Christians
in the American South
at one point of time
could have had,
in fact,
it's one of the things on Hell on Wheels,
if you've seen that television series,
is the guy gets a promotion
in the first season
because he was good at managing slaves.
How would we think about that
on a resume today?
So that's one of the things
about all these things
that we boast in
is that we boast in them.
We think they're really important right now,
but in another part of the world,
they'd go,
yuck,
or who cares?
And it might very well be
that for some of those things
that in 20, 30, 50, 100 years,
if they were to find it,
if your great-grandkids
were to find it,
they'd go,
oh, that's terrible.
I don't want anybody to know
my parents were like that.
The other thing about this
is it shows a little bit
about what Paul is dealing with here.
And some of you know,
there's certain types of Christians
who have like an unhealthy fascination
with Jewish people.
And it's almost like,
friends like Daniel Avitan
and Daniel Gilman can tell you
that if people,
like there's some Christian circles,
if they find out
that the person's Jewish,
it's almost like they want to touch you
because they're going to get extra blessed.
Or something.
And it's,
you ask them.
It's a real thing.
And so it looks as if
maybe one of the things
that's going on
with these false apostles
is not only do they look like George Clooney
or not only are they culturally smooth,
but they're probably trying to trade in
with their Jewishness
or some type of Jewish claim.
They're probably more like
that guy Boyden,
the author claiming native hair,
doesn't have any, right?
You know the guy.
And, um,
but they're trying to,
and it's probably something
a bit Jewish
and rule oriented
that they're going with
as opposed to grace.
Anyway,
that's,
that's just the thing
about boasting, right?
It's to try to,
just,
you see the Bible,
at first it can look boring
or irrelevant,
but if you actually spend
some time thinking about it,
you realize it's,
um,
sorry.
Anyway,
let's go back to 23.
Are they servants of Christ?
I am a better one.
I am talking like a madman.
I mean,
you should almost yell it
if you were reading it,
okay?
Now,
just pause.
What do you put in resumes?
Okay,
here's the fact.
If you,
in fact,
took nine years
to get your four-year degree,
you don't,
you usually try to figure out
some way to get around
that inconvenient fact.
Right?
You know,
if,
if grade nine
was the three best years
of your life,
you,
you tend to not want
to put that
in your resume,
okay?
And so,
how would a Christian pastor
want to,
like,
if you're looking
for a new pastor
after I,
you know,
I,
I move on,
and you know,
what would you want to say?
You'd want him to say,
well,
you know,
I planted six churches,
you know,
the last church grew
to 5,000 people
on a Sunday.
I don't know,
you know,
10,000 people
have come to faith
through my message.
You know,
some of the people
who've,
you know,
that I discipled,
you know,
they're now,
like,
Regis professors
of divinity
at Oxford.
I mean,
that's what you're
looking for,
right?
That's what resumes
do,
right?
So,
Paul is trying
to impress
these people,
right?
What does he say?
With far greater
labors,
far more imprisonments,
that would really
impress a search
committee.
I've been in jail
10 times.
My record
is as long
as my arm.
With countless
beatings
and often near death,
five times I received
at the hands
of the Jews
the 40 lashes
less one.
That means
he pissed off
the Jewish people.
Three times
I was beaten
with rods.
That means
he got the pagans
mad,
different punishments.
Once I was stoned.
Three times
I was shipwrecked.
A night
and a day
I was adrift
at sea.
That means
24 hours.
On frequent
journeys
and danger
from rivers,
danger
from robbers,
danger
from my own
people,
danger
from Gentiles,
danger
in the city,
danger
in the wilderness,
danger
of sea,
danger
from false
brothers,
and toil
and hardship
through many
a sleepless
night in hunger
and thirst,
often without
food,
in cold
and exposure.
And by the way,
in the original
language,
with the verb
tenses,
the implication
is this is just
a sample,
not exhaustive.
And apart
from other
things,
and in the
original language
as well,
it culminates
in verse 29
as the greatest
thing which
has beset him,
that's hurt him.
And apart
from other
things,
there is the
daily pressure
on me of my
anxiety for all
the churches.
Who is weak
and I am not
weak?
Who is made
to fall
and I am not
indignant?
If I must
boast,
I will boast
of the things
that show
my weakness.
The God
and Father
of the Lord
Jesus,
he who is
blessed forever,
knows that I
am not lying.
And we'll just
sort of pause
there for a
second and
think about it.
So,
it's a bit
of a weird
thing.
And we
need to
think a
little bit
about all
of these
things that
have happened
to him that
are very,
very hard.
In fact,
in the eyes
of the world,
many of these
things in this
list would show
that Paul's a
loser.
They wouldn't
be things that
show there's
any particular
excellence in
him.
It would show
that he's a
loser.
But Paul
goes and
puts them
all out
before them
as a
people.
So,
what on
earth is
going on
here?
And some
of you
might say,
George,
okay,
I can just
imagine one
of the guys
that I talk
with all the
time in
one of the
Starbucks.
Just the
other day,
he was
telling me
how,
he always
asked me
how many
people came
to church.
And he
sort of
nods,
you know,
and says,
well,
you know,
that's not
very many.
And he
really likes
to make
me feel
good.
And then
he says,
you know,
George,
like young
people are
all just
leaving the
church and
our whole
culture is
going away
from this.
And you're
on the
losing side
of how the
culture is
moving.
He just
said this
to me this
week,
actually,
and I
said to
him,
well,
I almost
said his
name,
we'll call
him Bob.
Well,
Bob,
first of all,
whoever thinks
that opinion
polls tell you
the truth,
that taking
a vote
will tell you
what's true
and false.
And there's
lots of
examples of
cultures leading
people astray,
you know.
And,
but he would
take a text
like this and
just say,
you know,
there's nothing
in this,
you know,
being boasting
of your
weakness,
George,
you gave me
the context,
but it's not
very helpful.
And it's
only made
Christianity
look a bit
weird.
Let's just
look at these
last,
the thing,
the culminating
thing in
the list,
29,
30,
and 31.
And just
keep in
mind,
in fact,
what I
remember I
said earlier,
that the
flesh boasts,
the flesh is
addicted to
boasting,
and all human
beings are
addicted to
boasting,
myself included.
Look at
29,
the pinnacle,
who is weak
and I am not
weak,
who is made
to fall and
I am not
indignant.
If I must
boast,
I will boast
of the things
that show
my weaknesses.
The God
and Father
of the Lord
Jesus,
he who is
blessed forever,
knows that
I am not
lying.
Now,
you see,
if you're a
very careful
reader,
you'd see
that Paul
is contradicting
himself.
You see,
in verse 29,
when it says,
who is weak
and I am not
weak,
who is made
to fall
and I am
not indignant,
and indignant
could also be
translated as,
have my heart
burn with
fire,
a hot fire.
he doesn't
think these
things are
good,
this type
of weakness
and falling.
And then he
says he's
boasting in his
weakness.
Well,
maybe he's an
idiot,
but maybe
it's wisdom.
God does not
desire the death
of the wicked,
but rather that they
would turn from
their wickedness
and live.
In fact,
the original
one is,
God desires
not the death
of the wicked,
but that he
would turn from
his wickedness
and live.
And that's a
very,
very powerful
phrase.
It's a very
gospel phrase.
It comes,
it's said three
times,
virtually word for
word in the
book of Ezekiel.
So it's just
the book of
common prayer
quoting it.
And it's a
very,
very important
verse and
idea to
understand everything
in the Bible.
God takes no
delight in the
death of a
sinner,
but rather that
he or she
would turn from
their wickedness
and live.
And just to
paraphrase it
very slightly,
but in a way
which is in
complete congruence
with the text,
God does not
take delight in
anyone dying.
God does not
take delight in
anyone being
diminished.
God does not
take delight in
anyone being
beaten up.
God does not
take delight in
people understanding
how frail and
weak they are,
per se.
What he loves
is when,
whether it's
thinking of your
own mortality
and realizing
that one day
you die and
there must be
something more,
whether it's,
like in my
case,
it was my
weakness which
led me to
Christ.
It was my
diminishment
and my
brokenness
that led me
to Christ.
That's what
Christ loves.
That's what
God loves.
So you see,
there's a type
of weakness
and a type
of brokenness
and a type
of diminishment
and an attempt
and a type
of just getting
weaker and
weaker that God
takes no
delight in.
There's nothing
good or holy
about that.
This isn't
teaching us,
this text isn't
teaching us
to cut
ourselves or
whip ourselves
or beat
ourselves up
so that somehow
or another
we're more
holy.
It's not
talking about
that at all.
And this
other weakness
that Paul is
talking about,
it's talking
about,
it's a little
bit like this.
I know it's
a bit of a,
you know,
I don't know,
I was worried
about whether
this is going
to be an
analogy that
will help
you.
Humpty Dumpty
sat on a
wall.
Humpty Dumpty
had a great
fall.
All the
king's horses
and all the
king's men
couldn't put
Humpty
together again.
All of us
are Humpty
Dumpty.
Every one
of us
will fall.
And when
we fall,
all of the
ingenuity
of Apple
and of
Google
and all
of the
power,
whether it's
Trump and
Putin and
China and
all of the
power can't
put us
back together
again.
And one
of the
things that
the gospel
is all
about is
that God
sees that
we are
Humpty
Dumpty.
And God,
the Son of
God,
became weak
and he
became broken
and he
became poor
and he
dies the
death that
every human
being has
to die,
but he
dies it in
such a way
that it
is for us
that when
we receive
this gracious
act of
God's,
you know,
what is it
in Isaiah?
He was
wounded for
our transgressions.
He was
bruised for
our iniquities.
The punishment
that brought
us peace
was upon
him,
for by
his wounds
we are
healed.
By his
wounds
we are
healed.
And the
gospel is
this message
of unimaginable
grace,
that God
seeing human
beings that
are addicted
to boasting
and pretending
that they're
God and
walking around
as if they're
God and
wanting to
have only
intermittent
connections with
God and
God seeing
human beings
like that
and still
he loves
us and
still he
loved us
and sends
his son to
die upon
the cross
for us
knowing full
well what
we are
like.
And he
dies our
death and
dies our
and takes
our punishment
so that
he takes,
as I like to
put it,
our doom.
And as he
takes our
doom upon
us, he
offers us
his destiny.
In other
words,
another way
to put
it is,
and this
is sort
of something
that's all
the way
through the
New Testament
about changing
stories and
changing states
of being,
that in a
sense I'm
humpty dumpty
and as I'm
falling,
and before I
hit the ground
and fall into
all these
pieces,
and I call
out to Jesus
for mercy,
and he
comes and
grabs my
hand.
You ready
for this?
and he
turns me
into the
ugly duckling.
Here's where
I'm not sure
if the
analogy would
work.
But you
know, in
the ugly
duckling,
the story of
the ugly
duckling is
that you're
a swan,
and the
swan egg
breaks amongst,
opens up
amongst the
ducklings,
and the
ducklings make
fun of the
swan because
it's big and
gangly and
everything like
that, and
then eventually
the ugly
duckling becomes
a swan, and
the other
ducks are
just in
amazement at
this unbelievably
beautiful and
glorious creature.
And in a
sense, what
happens in the
gospel is that
God changes
the story of
our lives
when we
give who
we are in
the story of
our lives
into his
hands.
And God
takes
humpty
dumpties and
turns us into
swans,
who right
now we're
sort of living
like ugly
ducklings.
If you could
put up the
point,
Andrew,
when I
accept the
gospel, I
cease being
humpty
dumpty, and
God himself
makes me his
ugly duckling.
But some of
you might say,
well, the
ugly duckling
suffered abuse,
the ugly
duckling was
sad.
But why is
the ugly
duckling sad?
This gets to
what's going on
in this whole
text and the
whole issue of
human boasting.
The reason the
ugly duckling
was sad is
because she
did not
know who
she was.
And the
other reason
that she
was sad is
because she
believed she
should be or
needed to be
like a
duck.
Her
longings and
her yearnings,
the things that
she desired to
boast in,
were what going
around in her
culture, and
she didn't
realize that she
was a swan.
listen again to
verses 29, 30,
and following.
Who is weak
and I am not
weak?
Who is made
to fall and I
am not indignant?
He doesn't take
any pleasure in
just seeing
Christians persecuted,
having things
robbed from them,
having things
stolen from them,
seeing them fall
morally, seeing
them get confused
theologically.
That doesn't
please God's
heart, it
doesn't please
Paul's.
If I must
boast, I will
boast of the
things that show
my weakness, the
God and Father
of the Lord
Jesus, he who
is blessed
forever, knows
that I am not
lying.
In the context
of his weakness,
he makes this
great claim that
only the God
who really does
exist, who is
the Father of
the Lord Jesus,
he alone is
blessed forever.
I want to
share you a
terrible thing
about my
heart.
God, you
know, I
am quite
comfortable if
something goes
very well with
something I
organize or
something in my
family or
something in the
church.
You know, I
have to confess
before you, I'm
quite comfortable
if I get all the
glory and don't
think about God
at all.
Maybe I'm the
worst person in
the room.
And I have to
confess that
most of my
attempts at
holiness,
as I'm
trying to learn
to be gripped
by the
gospel, is
that at times
I realize that
that's wrong.
And so, if
I'm honest, what
I really hope is
that I still get
most of the
glory, but God
can get a
little bit.
And then as
the Holy Spirit
starts to convict
me, maybe I
think to myself,
okay, God, I
know you need to
get all the
glory as long
as I get a
little bit.
Yeah, yeah,
yeah, you're
blessed forever
in George.
That's the
story of my
heart.
And the
gospel wants
us to move
to this place
to understand,
George, you
were humpty
dumpty falling
towards a great
fall, and all
the king's horses
and all the
king's men
wouldn't be able
to put you
together again.
And you
called out to
me for mercy,
and I, in my
grace, no matter
how deep you
had fallen, no
matter how broken
you already were,
I went far
deeper still and
was completely
and utterly
broken, even
broken in my
relationship with
Almighty God, and
I bore all that
in myself.
By my wounds, you
are healed.
And when you put
your hands in me, you
could do nothing.
You were about to be
broken.
I did this
unbelievable miracle
in you.
I turned you into a
swan, a creature of
beauty and glory, who
can fly and can soar.
And George, shouldn't
the desire of your
heart be that God
gets all the glory,
and you are quite
happy and quite
content if you get
none?
George, isn't that
wisdom?
I want to just ask
you, remember
earlier I said that
people are addicted to
boasting and maybe you
think that that's not
true.
How many of us, maybe
even within these past
few days, have felt a
little bit beaten up
because we've said to
ourselves, I thought by
this point in time, you
know, I don't know,
here I am, I'm 24 years
old, the guys and
gals I went to high
school with, they're
already finished
university, they're in
law school, or they
have a job, and
they're, you know, maybe
they're an engineer,
they're doing something
making $75,000 a year,
and here I am living in
this crummy apartment
with a whole pile of
people, and I'm still in
school.
I thought it would be
better.
I thought I'd be done
by now.
How many of us are
beaten up thinking,
you know, I thought by
now I'd be healthier.
I thought by now I'd be
more popular.
I thought by now I
would be slimmer.
I thought by now I
would be stronger.
I thought by now I
would be richer.
I thought by now I
would have that special
person in my life.
I thought by now I
would have more
promotions.
I thought by now I
would be more
important.
I thought by now I
would be a more
superior Christian and
people would
acknowledge it.
I thought by now my
church would be bigger.
I thought by now I
would be more
talented.
Am I the only person
who ever thinks any of
those things?
you see, here's the
thing that this text,
if you take for a
second and say, let's
just assume for a
moment that Paul was
not an idiot.
Let's just take for a
moment if Jesus really
died and rose from the
dead and will come
again and that he was
able to teach his
apostles to write words
of wisdom that touch
our hearts, that reveal
our hearts, so that our
hearts would become more
tender and open to him.
Let's just assume for a
second that the Bible is
wise and spend some time
thinking and meditating
upon it.
What we see is this, if
you could put it up,
Andrew, boasting and
shame slash self-accusation
are two sides of the
same coin.
Why?
Because I'd like to
boast.
You should see my
promotions.
You should see the size
of my church.
Boy, am I ever
articulate.
Boy, do people ever
like me.
Next point, Andrew.
The idols which
shape my longings to
boast shape my shame
and self-accusation.
If we make an idol of
having that special
person in our life, if
we make an idol of
having the right type of
relationship, we make an
idol of having a certain
amount of power, if we
make an idol of
popularity, if we make an
idol of money, if we
make these things, some
of which are not bad in
and of themselves, but
they become the source of
our identity.
They become the source
that gives us meaning.
They become the thing
that we surrender
ourselves to, become the
things that we want to
give ourselves to.
And they are just
ephemeral things.
Some of these are
things that if we put
them down in our
resume or if we were to
actually say them out
loud in public, people
would want to turn
from us, especially in
Canada.
Some parts of the
world you can go ahead
and boast in Canada
it would be viewed as
tacky to say a lot of
these things out loud.
And some of the things
that we might put down
in our resume that we
wish that we'd had this
by now, you know, if
we're 20 and by the
time we're 50 we look
back and we think that
was so ridiculous.
Or if our kids or
grandkids were to see
it, they'd look, gosh
is that ever lame, dad.
And yet we give our
lives to that.
We think that is
important for our
meaning and our
identity.
Next point, Andrew.
The boasts which I
base my identity on
become my relentless
and merciless accuser
as we suffer shame
and four o'clock in the
morning times that just
go on all night because
we can't fall back
asleep.
Too bad the gospel is
too weak.
And wants to tell us
about God's grace.
What is it that the
Bible wants us to tell?
Here's the thing.
Andrew, if you could put
up the next point.
To my fallen heart, I can
only be a god or garbage.
To my idols, I can only be a
god or garbage.
And what is the gospel?
Next slide, Andrew.
To the gospel, in the gospel,
I am never a god and I am
never garbage.
I am always a jar of clay
redeemed by God's grace
alone through faith alone
in Jesus and his saving
death alone.
I am always a jar of clay
who will live loved by him
for all eternity.
Just turn back in your
Bibles to 2 Corinthians 4.
2 Corinthians 4.
And listen to what Paul says
just earlier.
Therefore, having this
ministry, and the ministry
is telling people about
Jesus dying on the cross,
about the fact that we're
jars of clay.
Having this ministry by the
mercy of God, we do not
lose heart.
But we have renounced
disgraceful, underhanded
ways.
We refuse to practice
cunning or to tamper with
God's word.
But by the open statement
of the truth, we would
commend ourselves.
He's commending the
message to everyone's
conscience in the sight of
God.
And even if our gospel is
veiled, it is veiled to
those who are perishing,
humpty dumpty.
In their case, the God of
this world has blinded
the minds of the
unbelievers to keep
them.
What is it to keep them
from?
What is it that the
serpent wanted to keep
us from?
To keep us from seeing
the light of the gospel
of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God.
For what we proclaim is
not ourselves.
I boast in my weakness.
But Jesus Christ is Lord.
Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who is blessed
forever with ourselves as
your servants for Jesus'
sake.
For God, who said, let
light shine out of
darkness, that's in
Genesis, has shown in our
hearts when we receive the
gospel to give the light
of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in
jars of clay to show that
the surpassing power belongs
to God and not to us.
We are afflicted in every way
but not crushed, perplexed
but not driven to despair,
persecuted but not forsaken,
struck down but not
destroyed, always carrying
in the body the death of
Jesus so that the life of
Jesus may also be
manifested in our bodies.
That when Jesus takes us
into himself, he takes us
into himself.
He takes us into his death
for us and into his
resurrection.
That enters into us and we
enter into him.
Verse 11.
For we who live are always
being given over to death
for Jesus' sake, we always
stay jars of clay.
So that the life of Jesus
may also be manifested in
our mortal flesh.
So death is at work in us
but life in you.
Since we have the same
spirit of faith according to
what has been written, I
believed and so I spoke.
We also believe and so we
also speak knowing that he
who raised the Lord Jesus
will raise us also with
Jesus and bring us with you
into his presence.
For it is all for your
sake so that his grace
extends to more and more
people it may increase
thanksgiving to the glory
of God.
You see, Usain Bolt should
never say, I'm going to
hurt my legs so I run
slower.
Einstein, if he was still
alive, should say, I'm
going to start taking, I'm
going to start smoking lots
of marijuana because it
will make me dumber.
That's actually true by the
way.
No, they should say, I'm a
jar of clay.
God has blessed me with
this speed but he is the
one who is blessed forever.
I will die.
My legs will become
crippled and not able to
move.
They will become dust.
But my hope is found in
the one who has defeated
death, who died for me,
who has loved me and loves
me now and will love me for
all eternity.
And I do not get my
identity from my speed.
I am so grateful for God
for my speed.
It doesn't make me special
but I'm so grateful for it
that God has blessed me
with such a thing.
Keep going.
Let's go to verse 12 again.
Since we have the same
spirit of faith according to
what has been written, I
believed and so I spoke.
We also believe and so we
also speak, knowing that he
who raised the Lord Jesus
will raise us also with
Jesus and bring us with you
into his presence.
For it is all for your
sake so that as grace
extends to more and more
people it may increase
thanksgiving to the glory of
God.
So we do not lose heart.
Though our outer self is
wasting away, our inner self
is being renewed day by day.
That part of us which
belongs to Jesus, which will
become more like him, which
will be glorified and live in
the new heaven and the new
earth for all eternity.
For this, verse 17, this
slight momentary affliction is
preparing for us jars of clay,
an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison.
As we look, not at the things
that are seen, the ducklings who
say that we're an ugly duckling,
but to the things that are
unseen, to the God who does
exist and who lives, to Jesus
who is now, who died for us, we
can no longer see it, we can
only hear about it.
For the things that are seen are
transient, but the things that
are unseen are eternal.
For we know that if the tent that
is our earthly home is destroyed,
we have a building from God, a
house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens.
For in this tent we groan, longing
to put on our heavenly dwelling.
If indeed by putting it on we may
not be found naked.
For while we are still in this
tent we groan, being burdened, not
that we would be unclothed, but
that we would be further clothed, so
that what is mortal jars of clay may
be swallowed up by life.
He who has prepared us for this
very thing is God, who has given us
the Spirit as a guarantee.
In the gospel, I am never a God, and
I am never garbage.
I am always a jar of clay.
I am redeemed by God's grace alone,
through faith alone, not my works, in
Jesus and his saving death alone.
And I am always a jar of clay who
will live loved by him for all
eternity.
As the gospel grips me, the Holy
Spirit frees me up to say, if I must
boast, I will boast of the things that
show my weakness.
I invite you to stand.
If you're here and
maybe you've heard the gospel explained
in a way which has touched your heart
for the first time, and maybe you
wouldn't call yourself a Christian, or
maybe you'd say you're a lapsed Christian,
if God is, there might be a pressure in
your heart to do something in terms of
God, and what that pressure is, is God
is inviting you to surrender and let go.
And to lift your hands to him and say,
Jesus, save me.
Thank you that by your wounds I am healed.
Thank you that your punishment has brought
me peace.
I want to be yours forever.
I want to get off of this treadmill of
either being a God or garbage.
I want to know I'm a jar of clay saved
by you and eternally loved by you, and I
want to have my identity formed by that.
I give myself to you.
Just don't have to use my words.
Just say, Lord, I give myself to you.
I give myself to you.
I never want, I just only want to give
myself to you.
Your own words.
There's no time better than now to say it.
And for all of us who struggle with being a
God or being garbage, there's no better time
now than to just say out to God, Lord, I want
to be gripped by the gospel.
I want to be a disciple of Jesus who's so
gripped and rooted by the gospel that it so
forms my affections and my identity and my
longings that I can live free in this life.
It's time to just surrender to the Holy Spirit
and do that as well.
Just bow our heads in prayer.
Father, if there's those here who are maybe
crossing the threshold of hope to put their
faith and trust in you, pour out your Holy Spirit
upon them.
Guide their words.
May your Holy Spirit flood them so they know
your peace and assurance and receptivity as
they surrender their lives to you.
Father, for those of us who are maybe here and
we're still searching, we're not ready for that,
pour out your Holy Spirit and your love upon
them.
Make the gospel real to them.
And Father, for those of us who have put our
faith and trust in Jesus, and we know that he
is our Savior and Lord, but Father, we struggle
with boasting.
We struggle with being either a God or garbage.
Father, we struggle with idols.
And Father, you know the struggles of our heart,
and we thank you so much that you have saved us,
that you will never let us go.
And we ask that your Holy Spirit would move a mighty
work in our heart, that your word would do a mighty
work in our heart, that we would become, grow day by day
to be ones who say no to idols, that are gripped by the
gospel and are learning to live day by day as jars of clay,
confident in your love and living for your glory and not our
own.
Father, do this work in our hearts, we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.