Series: Do You Not Know?
Sermon: The Leaven of Boasting
Text: 1 Corinthians 5:6-10.
Introduction:
Paul warns of some of the dangers in boasting. He asks the rhetorical question, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” Boasting, like leavening working its way through the bread dough, works its way through the church. But we need to sweep that kind of boasting right out the door. Christ, our Passover lamb, is the only sacrifice for sins. The scriptures have much to say about boasting. Let’s take a look.
Lesson:
Vain Boasts
Boasting of a victory before the battle has started (1 Kings 20:11). 11 And the king of Israel answered, "Tell him, ’Let not him who straps on his armor boast himself like he who takes it off.’" This is one of the wisest sayings that evil King Ahab uttered. It is one thing to put on the armor and be willing to go into battle with confidence. But is another matter to be able to take off the armor after the victory has been one.
Boasting of one’s riches. 23 Let not the rich man boast in his riches. (Jeremiah 9:23). Riches are fleeting. You see the people who are on the infomercials trying to persuade you to their latest scheme? What they don’t tell you is how many times they have filed for bankruptcy. Think about it, if their system was so good, why would they waste their time and money trying to convince you? A fool and his money are soon parted.
Boasting of Evil. 1 Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day. (Psalm 52:1). Do you think that God has not seen what you have done? Do you think you have gotten away with something? God sees the evil in the world and he will judge; maybe not today or tomorrow, but the Day of Judgment is inevitable.
Tooting your own horn. 4 I say to the boastful, ’Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ’Do not lift up your horn. (Psalm 75:4). What is accomplished by tooting your own horn? When we toot our own horn and brag about our accomplishments, everyone sees that for exactly what it is. Wouldn’t it be so much better to have someone else toot your horn.
Boasting about tomorrow. 1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. (Proverbs 27:1). Who knows what may happen tomorrow? Do you remember the movie “Frequency”? And how Johnny (“Chief”) talks to his friend over a time-warped CB transmission to his life long friend Gordo, and tells him “Yahoo!” In the movie, Gordo buy stock in Yahoo and becomes quite rich. Six months after the movie came out, the internet stocks all took a plunge and Yahoo! went on a huge downward spiral. Who’d have thought?
Boasting of another’s troubles. 12 But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress. (Obadiah 1:12). I guess in today’s lingo we would say, “Don’t kick a man when he’s down.” What satisfaction is their in gloating over someone else’s troubles. Don’t we all have enough troubles of our own?
Boasting in the Law. 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. (Romans 2:23). It would be one thing if we were any good at keeping the Law. Anyone can make himself look good if he is selective enough in the criteria.
Boasting about being justified by our works. 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. (Romans 4:2). Don’t dare stand before God and tell him he owes you anything. We’ve all fallen short, if we are seeking justification by works. Don’t boastfully ask for justice, because you’ll get it. Plead for mercy.
Boasting of one’s tolerance of sin. 2 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? (1 Corinthians 5:6). In the context, we have a man who is bragging about his sin before the church—he was committing adultery with his step-mother. And the church was boasting, “See how tolerant we are!” This seems to be the state of affairs in our world today. We are called intolerant because we call sin, sin! We are called intolerant because we believe that there is a difference between right and wrong! The world is so tolerant—except with those who are intolerant of sin. There’s a big difference between forgiveness and tolerance.
Boasting of one’s own salvation. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9). If we could be saved by works, we would only have cause to boast if we were perfect in every way. But we are not. Fortunately for us, God does not save us on the basis of our works. He saves us by his grace. All cause for boasting is eliminated. We’ve all fallen short and are only saved by God’s mercy.
Boasting in one’s outward conformity to the will of God, while the heart is not in synch. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. (James 3:14). This is nothing more than hypocrisy—looks ok on the outside, but not so good on the inside. You can fool people but you can’t fool God. Let me say something about hypocrites. I’ve heard people say, I don’t want to have anything to do with the church because they’re all a bunch of hypocrites. Do you mean to tell me that everyone who’s not in the church is honest and sincere? You’re going to have to affiliate with hypocrites of one stripe or another anyway. Why miss out on all that heaven has to offer because of someone who most likely won’t be there anyway?
Something to Boast About
Boasting about what God has done. 2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. (Psalm 34:2). I may not have all the answers, but God does! God is good! I’ll boast all day long about his goodness.
Boasting about knowing the Lord and his ways. 23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24). Isn’t it a great thing to understand how much God loves us? Isn’t it a great thing to know God? Isn’t it a great thing that God is loving and just and righteous? Isn’t it a great thing to know that God delights when his children practice steadfast love, justice and righteousness?
Boasting of a life lived by grace. 12 For our boast is this: the testimony of our conscience that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. (2 Corinthians 1:12). Simplicity and godly sincerity, we don’t often talk of such things, yet Paul says that these are things of which it is good to boast. Not about how much we have, but about how simply and sincerely we live. Not about what we have accomplished but about a clear conscience before God.
Boasting of others who have lived their lives in service to others. 14 that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you. (2 Corinthians 1:14). You know, it’s a good thing to honor those who have done well. I want you to know how I boast of you when I talk to others. I say this not to flatter you, but to lift your spirits, I thank God everyday that he brought us here. There are a lot of good things going on at the Pocatello Church of Christ.
Boasting in the efforts of those who are leading others to faith in Jesus. 15 We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged. (2 Corinthians 10:15). People are sharing their faith, people are coming to faith in the Lord, our sphere of influence is increasing. I want you all to pray that that sphere of influence will be enlarged all the way to American Falls.
Boasting about the things which show our weakness. 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. (2 Corinthians 11:30). . . 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9). The moment we think we are something we are not, Christ’s power just leaves us. To experience the power of Christ, we must surrender all. Strength in weakness, victory in surrender, leadership through servanthood. Sometimes it seems like the kingdom of God is upside down. But it’s not. It’s this world that’s upside down. We’ve just been living here so long we don’t notice it sometimes.
Boasting in the Cross of Jesus. 14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14). That cruel instrument of torture, so despised by the world has a wondrous attraction to me. It was on that Cross that my burden was lifted, my sin forgiven, my life renewed.
Boasting of Christian’s faithfulness. 14 Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. (2 Thessalonians 1:4). Are you going through some tough times, but your faith is steadfast? I’ll boast about that. Are you steadfast in your devotion to Christ even when the world thinks you’re being ridiculous? I’ll boast about that!
Conclusion:
Paul compares the life of a Christian with the Jewish feast of Passover. But here the leaven that we are to sweep from our houses is the sin and corruption and evil we must rid from our lives. An innocent lamb died so that God would in his mercy pass over our sins. That innocent lamb is the Lamb of God, who not only passes over, he takes away the sins of the world. Boasting and evil and malice are to be replaced with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
I’ve always been fascinated by emeralds. It’s my birthstone. But I have learned that natural emeralds that are truly beautiful stones are one of the rarest gems. It’s because emeralds are brittle and tend to have lots of flaws, they’re fragile and easily damaged. But when you go to the jewelry store they look beautiful.
The reason they look beautiful, is because the jeweler has treated the gem with a wax, to fill in all the cracks and flaws. He’s polished it up so that it shines. He’s covered all the flaws. But take that ring out of the store and expose it to heat or light or chemicals and the wax melts or dissolves and you are left with a much less attractive stone.
The word sincere literally means “without wax”. God would rather have us flaws and all than for us to disguise ourselves with the wax of outward appearances and phoniness.
Let’s celebrate God’s forgiveness with sincerity and truth. Let’s stop boasting about things that don’t really matter. Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.
