Series: Taming the Tongue
Sermon: The Boasting Tongue
Introduction: James uses a word to describe bragging and boasting come natural early on in our lives.
----My daddy can do this or that.
---- We beat you guys! We’re going to win!
We are told to not boast or brag to be good sportsmen and act humble.
We talk about “bragging rights”
---Boasting
1. We are given the proverbs and cliches---The proverb "pride goes before a fall" Book of Proverbs, 16:18) “Don’t count your chickens before the hatch.”
2. We are taught children’s stories about bragging and boasting!
Aesop’s fable --The Hare was once boasting of his speed before the other animals. "I have never yet been beaten," said he, "when I put forth my full speed. I challenge any one here to race with me."
The Tortoise said quietly, "I accept your challenge."
3.Of course the world Bible illustrations:
A--How a giant named Goliath stood before God and we can not help but cheer when that rock slams between his eyes! The young shepherd brings down the mighty!
B---According to 2 Kings 15-16,--- Hezekiah gave the Assyrian king all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the royal treasury. He also stripped the gold from the doors of the temple and from the doorposts of his palace and gave them to the king of Assyria. In addition to the silver and gold, Hezekiah also gave Sennacherib precious stones, ivory-inlaid couches, ivory-inlaid chairs, elephant hides, elephant tusks, ebony, boxwood, all kinds of valuable treasures, as well as his daughters, his harem, and his male and female musicians.
Sennacherib described his subjugation of Hezekiah by bragging that he shut up Hezekiah in Jerusalem “like a bird in a cage”: The deliverance of Jerusalem came through a divine intervention. An angel of the Lord struck down 185,000 Assyrians in their camp and as a result, Sennacherib went home to Nineveh without destroying Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:35-36). According to Herodotus, a Greek historian, mice destroyed the leather equipment of Sennacherib’s soldiers and a plague caused the high number of deaths.
C- Remember King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4? He exalted himself (my kingdom, my residence, I built, my splendor, etc.) and stole the glory that belonged to God. And for that he got to wander as an insane man in the fields for several years… until he acknowledged God as master of the universe in all His glory.
3. Real historical events about boasting and pride!
---Titanic,
With its sixteen watertight compartments, the ship was believed to be unsinkable even if two of those compartments flooded. The designer himself boasted, “not even God could sink the Titanic.”
On a much celebrated morning in April 1912, the Titanic set off from Southampton, England on its maiden voyage across the North Atlantic headed for New York harbor. At about 11:40 p.m. on April 14th, somewhere in the North Atlantic, she collided with a “small” iceberg that was believed to have torn a huge gash in the ship’s hull. About 2 ½ hours later, Titanic broke in two and plunged to its watery grave 12,500 feet below the surface, taking over 1500 passengers with her. The ship that “not even God could sink” was history. After the wreckage was discovered in 1985 and no gash was found, scientists concluded that the ship’s steel became brittle in the frigid water and fractured on impact. There is also reason to believe that in spite of warnings, the ship was travelling too fast for an area known to contain icebergs.
--Hitler and Mussolini
Despite all of these warning we still find it very difficult to tame our tongues to not boast or brag!
Many Christians believe that they can still boast about what they have done or what they have if they do so “in the Lord”
Let’s look at a few excuse that Christians use as an excuse to boast:
I.It is okay to talk about what you have (materially) as long as you give God the glory. Boasting is okay, as long as we're boasting about the Lord.
TO BOAST OF THE LORD IS BETTER THAN IN THE LORD!
The phrase “boast in the Lord” is found in 1 Corinthians 1:31 and is heard commonly today in the prosperity gospel and Word of Faith movement.
We may even cloak our boasting in ways that sound spiritual in order to avoid the appearance of pride.
We've all heard people who "give all the glory to God" when they get up to give a testimony, and of course all glory should be given to God. But sometimes even when people say, "It was only because of God," or, "I couldn't do it without the Lord's help," they are still trying to bring attention to the fact that they did something great.
ILL: James says that to assume that God is just going to let you go about doing whatever you want, whenever you want is boastful and prideful! He warns about those who assume that are going to always be able to go to such and such a place and make money as though that is all that is important.
Ill: In the parable of the Rich Fool 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.”’
Boasting about worldly possessions and portraying them as rewards for obedience to God’s will is most decidedly not boasting in the Lord. Not only is this not supported in Scripture anywhere, it doesn't even pass the common sense test.
----God allows wicked people to prosper as clear evidence that He d----God allows wicked people to prosper as clear evidence that He does NOT care for the things this world offers. God cares about things that are eternal, not things that are here today and gone tomorrow.
Jesus never told us to ask for wealth: He tells us to ask for “our daily bread,” or enough to live on (Matthew 6:11; 1 Timothy 6:6-10). Perhaps more appropriate than Jabez’s prayer for Christians today is, “God, help me give generously as you provide more than I need.” Or, “Lord, help me to do kingdom work with the time, talents and treasure you richly provide.” Nor does Jesus teach us that we will never be harmed; he tells us to pray that we won’t be tempted, and to ask for strength in difficult times and deliverance from “the evil one” (Matthew 6:13).
Ill: Mrs. Saenz and the only thing her friends and the priest talked about was how dedicated she was to working for the church. How she took communion to the sick and shut-in.
Ill: Acts recounts that when she died, she was mourned by "all the widows .. crying and showing (Peter) the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them." (Acts 9:39)
II. A second excuse we use to brag is this: It is okay to boast about what I do or give as long as I am setting an example:
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ...
III. A third excuse we often use to boast and brag is this: It is okay to talk about what I used to in order to show God’s redemptive power!
Your old man of sin is hanged; do not talk about him, but thank God it is so; and as he blots out the remembrance of it, do you the same, except so far as it may make you humble and grateful.
- Charles Spurgeon
taken from: The Old Man Crucified,
Drugs, sexual sin, alcohol, fighting,
We should not be proud of our sinful past.
Ill: Three ladies were sitting around and bragging about their children. The first one says, "You know my son, he graduated first in his class from Stanford, he’s now a doctor making $250,000 a year in Chicago."
The second woman says, "You know my son, he graduated first in his class from Harvard, he’s now a lawyer making half a million dollars a year and he lives in Los Angeles."
The last woman says, "You know my son, he never did too well is school, he never went to any university but he now makes 1 million dollars a year in New York working as a sports repairman."
The other two women ask "Vos is a sports repairman?"
She replies, "He fixes hockey games, football games, baseball games,...."
We boast because we believe it will make us popular and improve our standing in life—
But was does boasting really do?
1. ---Boasting always has a cost!
When we brag of our accomplishment we are doing so at the cost of downplaying the value and importance of others. 1 Cor. 12 reminds that everyone is important and has value.
2. ---Boasting never tells the whole story.----the TV Preacher family
---Boasting is a barrier to real relationships.----Without being real about our failures..
Prior to his becoming the minister of First Baptist there was a terrible power struggle that took place within the church. One of the deacons actually punched Charles in the face. In 1993 Charles wife separated and eventually divorced him. Many called for him to step down from the pulpit. Charles Stanley felt his son Andy was leading a revolt against he and his church. For 19 years the father and son barely spoke to each other.
Ill:----Issac Newton was undoubtedly a genius when it came to math, but he had some failings early on. He never did particularly well in school and when put in charge of running the family farm, he failed miserably, so poorly in fact that an uncle took charge and sent him off to Cambridge where he finally blossomed into the scholar we know today.
Ill:----- Honda was turned down by Toyota Motor Corporation for a job after interviewing for a job as an engineer, leaving him jobless for quite some time. He started making scooters of his own at home, and spurred on by his neighbors, finally started his own business.
----------Perhaps better known as Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, Sanders had a hard time selling his chicken at first. In fact, his famous secret chicken recipe was rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant accepted it.
---------Abraham Lincoln-- In his youth he went to war a captain and returned a private (if you're not familiar with military ranks, just know that private is as low as it goes.) Lincoln didn't stop failing there, however. He started numerous failed businesses and was defeated in numerous runs he made for public office.
---------After that, Disney started a number of businesses that didn't last too long and ended with bankruptcy and failure. He kept plugging along, however, and eventually found a recipe for success that worked.
---------- Charles Schultz: Schultz's Peanuts comic strip has had enduring fame, yet this cartoonist had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff. Even after high school, Schultz didn't have it easy, applying and being rejected for a position working with Walt Disney.
---------Winston Churchill struggled in school and failed the sixth grade. After school he faced many years of political failures, as he was defeated in every election for public office until he finally became the Prime Minister at the ripe old age of 62.
The greatest sin of Boasting ignores the contribution of others.
1. God
2. Other people
When we boast of our accomplishments we ignore God’s hand in our lives.
---We with be nothing accept for the grace of God!
---Our family, opportunities are gifts from God!
CONCLUSION: “I did it my way!” If I glory let me glory in what Christ has done!
