Watch What You Boast About

Watch What You Boast Over

I Corinthians 5.6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

I John 2.16 For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.


Remember last week we quoted:

Psalm 34.2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.
Galatians 6.14 May I never boast except in the cross of our LORD Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Boast=
I Corinthians 5.6 Glorying in something
Galatians 6.14 same word
Psalm 34.2 halal to shine forth light, to shine with God’s favor

Opposite of boasting is the state of humility.

Proverbs 11.2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
Foolish pride /Humble wisdom

We are told:
In Ephesians 4.2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Humility=
Having a deep sense of one’s moral littleness
Modesty, lowliness of mind
Servants must be humble

The Corinthian Church was boasting over men. Paul and Apollos.
They were boasting over their wisdom.
They were boasting about how open minded they were about a sexual sinful situation!

1. No More Boasting!
About men, wisdom or sin!

Men
I follow this one. I just love this guy’s preaching. Focused on the servant not the Master and LORD.
I Corinthians 3.5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.

Yesterday I made the mistake of telling Yelssy what a great job she is doing. She said, “Pastor Larry, it is not me. It is the LORD!”
She got me. I should have known better. Whatever is gain for me I count it loss for the sake of Christ. Forbid it LORD that I should gain save in the death of Christ my LORD.

Wisdom
Everyone want to know the secret of life.
How to be happy, content, rich, healthy. What will bring peace. They did back in Biblical Times. They do today.
The Greek Philosophers were in every city. Corinth had them.
Paul spoke about them:
I Corinthians 3.18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age,you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

Sin:
The problem in this chapter is that a person was living in sin and the Church was proud.
I Corinthians 5.1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?

Proud= inflate, swell, puff up
They were bragging about how open they were... how accepting they were... of sin!!!
The problem was that the church wanted to impress the city of Corinth, a center of philosophy. So they let sin go on in the church and then were proud how advanced they were, how accepting they were, how far ahead they were, not only among the churches but also among the philosophers.

They were thinking and probably saying among themselves, “No one will accuse us of being closed or narrow minded.” We will be out ahead of the current thought trend.
Far too often the church, in an attempt to be contemporary, compromises. We cannot go against the Word of God. We cannot go “beyond what is written.” I Corinthians 4.6
The Scriptures are our guide. They are our borders. Live within them and you will experience the rich full life of Christ within you.
Live outside of them and you will inflict pain on yourself and those you love.

Paul rebuked them and wrote, and of a kind (sexual immorality)that even pagans do not tolerate!


No more boasting about what we have (what do have that we didn’t receive?) or what we have done... without Me, Jesus told us, we can do nothing.

This is a great challenge for us in America. We do not depend on the LORD like our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world where they have no reserves, they feel and experience the need to depend on the LORD for their daily bread. We need to cultivate that dependency upon Jesus.
* Discipline ourselves to think about how very blessed we are and give thanks to the LORD.
* Stick our necks out.



2. Boast in the Cross of Jesus Christ

Your boasting is not good. There is good boasting


Our Passover Lamb
Unleavened Bread= Get rid of sin among you
What does leaven or yeast do? It puffs the bread up.
Sin and pride do the same thing.

Paul is speaking about the Passover Feast and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, both pointing to Jesus.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a feast that is generally mistaken for Passover. Passover however is only one 24 hour period while Feast of Unleavened Bread lasts for seven days.
On the evening after Passover God told the Hebrew people exiting Egypt not to allow their bread to rise, but to grab everything and leave. The ancient peoples used to gather yeast on grape leaves to leaven their bread if they needed to speed up the process, but God said "Don't even let any leavening touch the dough. Just bake it and go."
In their haste they grabbed the necessities and fled toward the land God was preparing for them.
God then told them that in the future they were to commemorate this feast by getting all yeast out of the house for seven days.
Paul is talking about the cross, the cross of Christ.

Focus on Christ!
I Corinthians 2.1 When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Galatians 6.14 May I never boast except in the cross of our LORD Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.



3. Boast In the LORD.
Think about His Love.
The Father has lavished His love upon us.
I John 3.1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Think about His Grace.
The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
I Timothy 1.14

Think about His Mercy.
His forgiveness

Think about His Return.
We need to do that more.
Mark 13.32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert[e]! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”


Think About The End of Our Time
Luke 12.16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Servants of God

Servants of God

I Corinthians 3.5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the LORD has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

This may be a difficult message to receive for some, especially if they are wrestling with pride. We like to think we are something.
Jesus tells us, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15.5

I think we throw the term servant around  today without knowing much about it. We have hired help today whether it is landscapers, or house cleaners or the like.

First of all these are jobs. A servant had no life of his own. He belonged to someone else.
I have seen a form of servants in Haiti. The poor people will give their children to wealthy people in exchange for food and a place to stay. I have seen the servants quarters. They are at the beckon call of the master. Their lives are governed by another. Literally their lives are not their own. They rise before dawn and sometimes work late into the night.

Servants do the dirty work like taking out the trash, cleaning the bathrooms, etc.
Being God's servant is an honorable position. Throughout the New Testament, the word bondservant or servant is applied to someone absolutely devoted to Jesus. Paul, Timothy, James, Peter, and Jude all describe themselves as “bondservants of Christ” Every task takes on dignity if it is done for Jesus.

Bondservant= willing after a debt was paid staying on as a servant,  it enhanced and advanced the relationship with the Master.

Servants of God...

First look at this word Paul uses to put servants of God in perspective.

1. Only servants  v.5

It is human nature to have an affinity toward certain pastors and ministers of the Gospel. There are certain ones I can listen to and receive something each time.
Ron Posey’s statement, not my preference but who cares if God uses him to help our church?

The Corinthians carried this way too far. They began to elevate ministers, servants. It was inappropriate. It was wrong. You can tell how worldly or spiritual minded a person is by whether or not they put servants on a pedestal.

We have almost lost sight of what it means to be a servant in the church, particularly among pastors. Servant Leadership is a buzzword. You want to see the epitome of Servant Leadership?  Look at Jesus in the Upper Room, washing the feet of His Disciples!  John 13 More about that in a moment.

This whole idea of leadership bothers me. It is a spiritual gift for the church. It has nearly replaced the concept of the Pastor as a shepherd of the flock. I love my cousin’s husband, Herman, Dr. Herman Wapelhorst, “Larry, how’s the flock?” He knows. He gets it.

Programs, strategies, vision all have a place, a little place in the Kingdom. The church has elevated these things to the point of intoxication today so that a young “successful” pastor told me recently, “I really don’t like people.” If that is the case then go into business or some profession because you are not a shepherd.

The big issue of this section of scripture is elevating the human element far beyond what it supposed to be. That is precisely what they were doing in the Corinthian Church. I am not sure they even realized it.

Paul had to write to them and say we are only servants. Without that understanding men are elevated. When someone is elevated they can get the wrong impression of themselves. Romans 12.3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

The danger of treating servants of God for more than they are can make people feel that they are above the possibility of error.
There is only One Who is perfect. He is the LORD. Elevating servants as we see in this passage takes our eyes off the LORD and puts them on others. 21 So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ,and Christ is of God.

It is the LORD. It is God. It is all about God. He makes the seed to grow. We plant and water it. That is our part.

When we have done our part...
2. Jesus Put Servanthood In Perspective.

Luke 17.10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

That speaks to my heart and soul. Who do we think we are?!
We talk about worth of some of God’s servants that actually make me nauseous, what they have given up to serve Jesus, etc.

Meanwhile where is God in all of this? God help us. We have moved far beyond His Word today. Jesus is the One!
 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

Greatness is God’s Kingdom is in being the servant of all.
Matthew 23.11 The greatest among you will be your servant.
Mark 9.35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all."

He was going to demonstrate this when He showed them the full extent of His love.

These statements by Jesus were so opposite of the contemporary thought. The disciples argued over who would be the greatest. They vied for the position of sitting on His right and His left.
Mark 10.35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want You to do for us whatever we ask.”
36 “What do you want Me to do for you?” he asked.
37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in Your glory.”
38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
39 “We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at My right or left is not for Me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”


To be a servant was the furthest thing from their minds. On the contrary they dreamed of having servants and being part of the Kingdom on earth they thought Jesus was going to set up. I have read some Bible Commentaries where the writers believe no one in that upper room wanted to be the servant and wash feet. This was a common tradition and courtesy. This opened up the way for Jesus to do it. He knew their hearts and He knows ours!
We were reading about this in the Discipleship Group ‪on Thursday night‬. The account of Simon the Pharisee and the sinful woman and Jesus.
Luke 7.44 Then He turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give Me any water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.


One of the spiritual battles we face is just this. We are in the Kingdom of God, serving in the Kingdom of God. Yet our lives are lived on the earth. We wrestle against not against flesh and blood. Our battle is with principalities and power, of spiritual forces of darkness in the heavenly realms. We must submit to the cross. We must follow Jesus’ example as a servant. We must embrace the cross and our standing as servants. It is not something we do. It is who we are!

3. Jesus Set An Example of Servanthood Because He Was A Servant.

The Basin and the Towel
The dirt off the feet. The odors.
The lowest servant in a household would do this.
John 13.15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master,nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

The most distasteful tasks are dignified if they are done for Jesus.

Servants rise early and sometimes stay up late if necessary. They overlook inconveniences.

Recently I have been picking up the trash each day around the church. I used to grumble about how people are slobs. Now, I realize I am doing it for Jesus, to make the grounds dedicated to Him, beautiful.  I ride my bike and stop where there is trash and pick it up, then take it to the dumpster and place it in there.

Be encouraged you servants of the LORD.
Keep serving!
Serve the LORD with gladness! Psalm 100.2
Lots of joy!
And trials...
II Corinthians 6:4–5: “As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings . . . ” If you were beaten for Jesus, I would like to know who you are. Come up and tell me, “I was beaten for Jesus,” and I will bow down and give thanks for you and your faith.

Servants of God...
That is all we are.
Jesus is our example.







Servant