Paul Knows Suffering
Tom Shrader walks through 2 Corinthians 11:16–32, unpacking Paul's reluctant 'fool's boast' as a direct response to false apostles who were enslaving, exploiting, and misleading the Corinthian church. Paul catalogs his imprisonments, beatings, shipwrecks, and constant dangers not to exalt himself but to expose the stark contrast between genuine suffering servanthood and self-promoting impostors. Shrader closes by pointing to Paul's climactic 'brag' — escaping Damascus in a basket — as the model for Christian boasting: glory in weakness, not achievement, because every gift and ability belongs entirely to God.
“Paul said, I have no choice but to respond to this. Not to preserve my reputation — that's not my concern. My concern is for the souls of the people in Corinth, and for the gospel itself.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: 2 Corinthians
Recorded: 2003 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 1 hr 19 min
Themes: suffering, weakness, boasting, humility, false teachers, servanthood, persecution, glory, struggling with pride, feeling unworthy, navigating conflict, pastor, new believer, questioning church leaders, facing persecution, mentor
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 11:1, 2 Corinthians 11:16-32, 2 Corinthians 12:6, 2 Corinthians 12:11, 2 Corinthians 10:1, 2 Corinthians 4:7, 2 Corinthians 4:8, 2 Corinthians 6:4, 2 Corinthians 2:17, Galatians 2:4, Philippians 3:4-6, Philippians 4:6, 1 Peter 5:3, 1 Thessalonians 2:9, 2 Thessalonians 3:8, Deuteronomy 25, Matthew 10, Luke 5, Luke 20, Romans 1:25, Romans 9, Acts 7, Acts 8, Acts 9, Acts 9:20-25, Acts 13, Acts 14:19, Acts 16, Acts 23
Theological Themes: apostolic authority, kenosis, boasting in weakness, false apostles, biblical boasting, servant leadership, spiritual discernment, gloria dei
Full Transcript
Paul's Reluctant Boasting
In 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 16, Paul says "again I say," indicating he is returning to something he has already addressed. Looking back at chapter 11, verse 1, Paul is requesting that the Corinthians bear with him in what he calls foolishness. If you take a red pen and circle the word "foolish" throughout this section, a clear theme emerges. It appears twice in verse 16, then again in verse 17, verse 19, verse 21, chapter 12 verse 6, and chapter 12 verse 11.
We have to keep this theme in mind, because if we forget it, we will not understand the passage. In 2 Corinthians chapters 10 through 12, Paul is responding to the charges of false teachers. The reason he is responding is that some within the church at Corinth — we do not know how many or to what extent — have begun to embrace those charges. So Paul says, "I feel foolish doing this. This seems really silly, but I am going to have to boast a little bit."
Right after becoming a Christian, reading through Paul's letters and seeing him say "be an imitator of me" can strike a reader as bold, even cocky. It sounds like: you want a role model? I am your role model. But Paul is very clear. He says, follow me as I follow Christ. Do not follow everything I do — he acknowledges his own sin — but to the extent that he is following Christ, follow him.
Paul is not someone who wants to brag. He has gone out of his way already to tell us this. His concern is not his own reputation. His concern is for the souls of the people in Corinth and for the gospel itself, and consequently he feels he must answer these charges. He even acknowledges in chapter 10, verse 1, that he is not sure Jesus would do it exactly this way — Paul said there that he comes to them in the meekness and gentleness of the Lord — but he feels compelled to boast nonetheless.
What Boasting Really Means
When we think of a braggart, nobody likes that. A blowhard, a self-promoter — someone talking about what they have done, who they are, who they know, how they can get front-row tickets to a sold-out concert. We are not typically attracted to a person like that. But when Paul talks about bragging, he makes clear that is not where he is going. As we will see by the end of the chapter, what Paul really wants to brag about is something entirely different.
In verse 18, Paul says, "since many boast according to the flesh." He is speaking of these false prophets, and he notes that many are boasting in that worldly way. Back in chapter 2, verse 17, he had already said, "we are not like many peddling the Word of God." We have no way of knowing numerically how large this group of false teachers was — whether it was five, ten, or a hundred and ten. What we do know is that it was large enough and potentially powerful enough that Paul interpreted them as a genuine threat to the welfare of the church at Corinth. So Paul concludes he has no choice but to respond.
Sarcasm and the Seriousness of the Situation
Verse 19 carries a note of sarcasm. Paul says, "for you, being so wise, bear with the foolish gladly" — referring to himself. John MacArthur writes of verses 18 through 21: "These verses contain some of the most scathing sarcasm Paul ever penned, demonstrating the seriousness of the situation at Corinth and revealing the jealous concern of a godly pastor. Paul did not view his disagreement with the false prophets as merely an academic debate, but the souls of the Corinthians and the purity of the gospel are at stake." Paul's sarcasm is pointed: you are so wise, so smart, you have demonstrated your ability to endure foolish chatter. Now, he says, listen to me.
Verse 20 is a powerful verse because in it Paul lays out the specific accusations against the false teachers. "If you bear with anyone who enslaves you, devours you, takes advantage of you, exalts himself, or strikes you in the face." Paul is saying to the Corinthians: you are a very gracious people. You have been bearing with these foolish individuals in spite of the fact that they have enslaved you, devoured you, taken advantage of you, exalted themselves over you, and struck you in the face.
Five Accusations Against the False Apostles
Paul cites five specific examples of what the Corinthians have been tolerating from these false apostles. The first is that they were enslaved. The King James Version renders it "they bring you into bondage." That verb appears only one other time in the New Testament, in Galatians chapter 2, verse 4, where Paul, speaking of the Judaizers who came into town, says it was because of false brethren who sneaked in.
Paul's Rebuke of the Corinthians' Tolerance for False Teachers
To spy out our liberty, which we have in Jesus Christ, in order to bring us into bondage — it is the same idea. These people put you in slavery. They devoured you. They preyed upon you. They were like a parasite. Now, probably what Paul is speaking about here is the financial demands that these false teachers had put on the Corinthian church.
Remember what we said last week? Paul said he was never going to do that to them. There is a stark contrast here. Look at verse 7: "Did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge?" Paul said, "I don't charge you. Never have. I'm not going to take any money. I don't want it to be an obstacle." These other men, by contrast, had exploited the Corinthians. It is the same idea that Luke uses in Luke chapter 20, where Jesus speaks of the Pharisees and scribes and the way they devoured the widows.
Here is the third thing they did: they took advantage. Literally, you were taken. You were swept away. You were caught up. Again, it is the same idea that Luke uses in chapter 5 when he is talking about Peter and fishing — catching fish. You were caught up in this false doctrine. You were caught up in these lies about the Apostle Paul.
Not only that, you accepted these men as they arrogantly promoted themselves. They were presumptuous. They lorded it over you. 1 Peter 5:3 says that as godly leaders, as elders, we should not lord it over people — and that is exactly what they did. And Paul says they struck you in the face. Now, that could be a literal slap in the face, or it could be a figurative insult. It was not unusual for religious leaders to go to the extreme of actually striking people, using violent measures so that people would follow them. That is what happened to Paul himself in Acts chapter 23, when the high priest ordered him to be struck.
To think that this would happen to the Corinthian church, and that they would follow these men anyway, shows us how easily people can be duped. Paul is saying: listen to me. Be gracious to me. We are wise people, so listen to a little foolishness. After all, you have been enslaved. You have been devoured. You have been taken advantage of. You have accepted their self-exaltation. You have been struck in the face.
Paul's Sarcasm and His Refusal to Exploit
Verse 21 — and remember, we still have sarcasm running through this passage — "To my shame, I must say that we have been weak by comparison." The NIV captures it well: "To my shame, I admit, we were too weak for that." In other words, we did not have the nerve to try that. We would never even think to do that. We came to serve you, not to be served. That is one of the great ways of evaluating a leader at the front — are they there to serve, or to be served? Paul said, "We are here to serve you."
"But in whatever respect anyone else is bold — I am speaking in foolishness — I am just as bold myself." He says he feels foolish about this, and he says it again. There is a foolishness attached to boasting in this way. He feels silly, but it has to be done. The stakes are too high.
Paul's Heritage: Matching the False Apostles Point for Point
Verse 22: "Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I." Apparently one of the things that so impressed the Corinthian church was that these men came in and said, "We are Hebrews. We are Israelites. We are descendants of Abraham." Paul's response is: check, check, check. I have all of that. I am all of those things.
Keep your finger in 2 Corinthians and turn to the right to the book of Philippians — through Galatians, Ephesians, then Philippians. In Philippians chapter 3, Paul is dealing with a similar situation, and he is ultimately going to show the futility of putting your faith in the flesh, in your résumé. He says in Philippians 3:4–6: "Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church."
What does being circumcised on the eighth day tell you? Paul did not wake up on the eighth morning and say, "Okay, Mom, let's go get this done." He came from a godly home. He was from the nation of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. He was a Pharisee — it did not get any better than that. And if you want to talk about zeal, he was a persecutor of the church.
Paul is saying — and he does not mean this in a pejorative sense — that he was a super Jew. He had all the background, all the ancestry, all the training. He was from the right nation, the right tribe. When it came to the law, he was a Pharisee, and he was not a cultural Jew. He was not someone who sat at home and said, "That church is a threat to us." He was out there persecuting the church. Read Acts chapters 7, 8, and 9, and you will see Paul on the front line. In fact, as Paul is traveling to Damascus and is converted on the Damascus road, the very purpose of that trip was to wipe out the church — to arrest women, children, and men and take them back to Jerusalem. He was a zealot.
The Foolishness of Trusting in Pedigree
So going back to the text before us: Paul is saying that these men can talk about all this heritage, but when they claim to be Hebrews, Israelites, and descendants of Abraham, so is he. Put him down for yes on every count.
Ray Stedman offers an interesting insight on this point. He writes: "It is incredible how much stock people put in their pedigree. I've never quite been able to understand why some people feel they're better than others simply because their ancestors happened to come over on the Mayflower. From what I've been told about my ancestors, they met the Mayflower at the dock. Even clubs are formed, such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, as though it gave a mark of prestige to be descended from somebody who fought in the American Revolution. Yet it doesn't say a thing about the worth of the individual, does it?"
Boasting in Credentials
Paul knew Christians who brag about their spiritual pedigree. There is a tendency in Christian circles to boast about what school you have graduated from, how many degrees you have after your name, whether you have been to the right places and are in the right church. A friend of his was attending another church and went in to talk to the pastor about an issue. He was not challenging him — he was simply asking a question. The pastor became immediately defensive and said, "I have a Ph.D. in this, a Ph.D. in this, a master's in this. Do you have any Ph.D.s? No. Do you have a master's degree? No. You go and get those, and then you come back and talk to me."
That is so fundamentally offensive. You could hear some people groan audibly at how inappropriate that is. It is simply not right. That is exactly what was going on in Corinth with these false apostles.
Are They Servants of Christ?
Paul said, let us really get down to brass tacks and get past all this ancestry. Verse 23 raises the question: are they servants of Christ? Paul had already answered that. Back in chapter 11, verse 13, he wrote, "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness." They are servants of Satan — the very antithesis of a servant of Christ. They are out for themselves. Paul had already told the Corinthians as much: these men enslaved you, devoured you, exploited you, and took advantage of you at every turn. They are not about you; they are about themselves.
Paul says, "I speak as if I am insane." In his heart, he seems to be saying he cannot stand having to go through this list, but he must. Are they servants of Christ? He answers: I am far more a servant of Christ than they are. I have been in far more labors, far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, and often in danger.
A Life of Suffering Without a Complete Record
We do not have a complete record of Paul's activities, and we have no record at all of the activities of these false apostles. Paul says he has labored and been imprisoned so many times that he cannot even remember how many. At this point in our understanding of Paul's life, we really only have one imprisonment recorded — in Philippi in Acts chapter 16 — but apparently there were others, so numerous that he could not list them all. A partial list of beatings is found in Acts: Paul was beaten in Damascus, Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Philippi, and Thessalonica. But apparently that is only part of the story. The danger he faced was so severe that death was a real possibility on many occasions.
What we have in verses 23 through 29 is the most comprehensive, line-by-line list of this suffering. Paul had alluded to it earlier in the letter. In chapter 4, verse 8, he wrote, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed." He does the same in chapter 6, verse 4: "In everything, commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in affliction, in hardship, distress, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors." But now he lists it in detail. After the general introduction — so many imprisonments and beatings that he cannot even recall them all — he comes back and gives specific accounts.
Thirty-Nine Lashes, Five Times
Verse 24 reads, "Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes." Deuteronomy 25 set forty lashes as a punishment but prohibited exceeding that number. So when the Jews would punish someone by whipping, they would stop at forty minus one, so as not to violate the law by miscounting. Paul received that punishment on five separate occasions. This should not have been a surprise. Back in Matthew chapter 10, Jesus had told the disciples, "Beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the courts and scourge you in the synagogues." Five times it happened to Paul.
Beaten with Rods
Three times Paul was beaten with rods — a different punishment from the Jewish lashings. Rods were Roman instruments of beating. The Romans would take very flexible sticks, bind them together, and beat the offender with them. That was how Rome punished. They were not supposed to punish a Roman citizen, and Paul was one, but they frequently forgot to check. In Acts chapter 16 in Philippi, the crowd rose up against him, the chief magistrate ordered them beaten with rods, and after inflicting many blows, threw them into prison. The Jewish punishment had a defined limit — forty minus one. The Romans had no such rules. They beat you until they were tired, bored, or you gave in. There was no ceiling on it.
Stoned
Paul then says: once I was stoned.
Paul's Suffering in the Flesh
It is important to understand that language changes over time. When Paul says "we were stoned," he is not using the word in any modern colloquial sense. This was a form of capital punishment. It took place in Acts chapter 14, verse 19, when the Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, won over the multitudes, stoned Paul, dragged him out to the edge of the city, and supposed him to be dead. The Jews were so stirred up against the Apostle Paul that they actually thought they had killed him. They took him to the edge of town, and he got up and was back at it the next day.
Three times, Paul says, he was shipwrecked. We do not have the specifics here, but we know that Paul took many journeys and voyages, and at least three times he shipwrecked. One was so severe that he spent a night clinging to the wreckage before being rescued the next day.
Dangers on Every Side
Look at verse 26: "I've been on frequent journeys." Journeys were dangerous in ancient times. Old Jewish tradition held that priests would actually pray and fast two days a week for those who were traveling. As you read that verse, the word "danger" just pops out at you. There were dangers from the rivers themselves — there were times when the rivers were not navigable and Paul was on them anyway. There were dangers from robbers, which was always a threat, with nothing near the protection and security we have today.
There were also dangers from the Jews. Time and again we see this throughout Acts. Acts chapter 13 records that the Jews aroused the devout women of prominence. In Iconium it was the Jews and the Gentiles together. The Jews came from Iconium to Lystra. The Jews of Thessalonica came to Berea. And there were dangers from the Gentiles as well — the Romans beat him three times, and the Gentiles were constantly threatening him. He was a threat even to them.
Paul said he found dangers in different places: dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the seas, and dangers among the false brethren — those who said they were Christians and really were not. He said, "I've been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights." That phrase, "labor and hardship," is exactly the same phrase he uses in 1 Thessalonians 2:9 and 2 Thessalonians 3:8, when he says, "For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how we kept working night and day."
Paul said they worked around the clock. Many nights they never slept. They were hungry. They were thirsty. They went without food. He is making a distinction there: sometimes they did not even have enough money to buy food, and other times they simply did not have time to eat. And they were in cold and exposure — inadequately covered, without enough to wear, and at times without a place to sleep.
Contemplating This List
That is an extraordinary list, beginning in verse 23 and running through verse 27. What comes to mind when you contemplate Paul's suffering? The first thing that comes to mind is: could I endure that? You may find yourself asking the same question. Thinking about that shipwreck — spending a night clinging to wreckage — is sobering enough. Beatings. Lashes. It makes you wonder how you would hold up.
Is that the normal Christian experience? Jesus did say, "They persecute Me, they will persecute you." Paul did say you will have tribulation. Is there something wrong with us that we are not experiencing that level of suffering right now? Likely not. We do have suffering in our lives, but it is minuscule compared to what Paul endured. The honest response is to thank God and say, "God, thank You for placing me where You have, and not somewhere I am not called to be."
The Greatest Suffering of All
Now, I do not expect you to immediately agree with this, and I do not even expect you to fully understand it. But it is in the text, and it deserves your attention. Verse 28 describes what may be the greatest suffering of all: "Apart from the external things, there's the daily pressure upon me, the concern for all the churches." This surpasses everything in the list before it.
Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6, "Be anxious for nothing." And yet there is an anxiousness described here, and I think there are instances when that kind of anxiousness is entirely appropriate. The anxiousness Paul warned against in Philippians is anxiousness rooted in the wrong motives — a selfish, self-centered worry. But there is another kind. If your phone rings and someone tells you your child has just been in an accident, there is an anxiousness for that child's well-being that is completely right. Paul is expressing something like that. When you read through his letters, he wants to know what is happening at Thessalonica, what is going on in the church. There is a genuine, loving anxiousness there.
Ray Stedman on the Burden of Ministry
Let me read again from Ray Stedman, whom I have not mentioned in a while. He is not a theologian — we frequently quote theologians — but he is a pastor. He pastored for many, many years at Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, California. When I first became a Christian...
Ray Stedman on Bearing the Burden of Churches
One of the few authors Larry would let me read was Ray Stedman, and we had the chance to meet him a couple of times. He was just a cool old man. Looking at verse 28, here is what Stedman wrote: "Through the course of these thirty years that I've been the pastor here, I've been having the privilege to bear some of the burdens, the sorrows, the pains, the heartaches, the tears of many of you and share them with you. I confess that it has been a great strain, and I have not done it very well. So I'm amazed even more to think of the mighty apostle bearing the burden of dozens of churches that he founded, being open to their needs and praying for them daily."
Paul had never been to Colossae. He didn't start that church, and yet he prayed for it daily. What a tremendous ministry of mercy he had.
I said I don't expect you to fully understand that, and it's not fair to ask you to. But I have to tell you, I understand what he's saying. You can't describe how hard this is, and I'm getting cautious even saying it. I've been in the business world. I've done that. I know what it's like to lose a deal, and I know how hard it is. But if you lose a deal, you go get another one. Something goes south, it doesn't work, you move on. When you make a mistake in ministry, you are dealing with somebody's life.
The Weight of Ministry
We are leaving this Friday morning — around 500 kids heading over to the coast. And you, the people sitting here, have a tendency to minimize what that means, because you see the games and all the fun. But do you know what is going to happen over there? Friday night, there is going to be a group of church kids, for the first time, saying, "I am not a Christian" — finally coming face to face with that reality.
Based on history, there are kids who are going to get on that bus as sinners headed for hell and get off it coming home as saints headed for heaven. That is significant. This is not like a Y summer camp. This is not like basketball camp or cheer camp. What we do here is very important. This is serious — your soul is at stake.
This staff carries that burden. And not just the staff — the leaders, the small group leaders, the growth group leaders, all the way through. I am not looking for anything other than to at least lift the curtain a little and give you a sense of how difficult this is.
Weakness and Intense Concern
How attached is Paul to these churches? Look at verse 29. He says: "Who is weak without me being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?" He is saying, when they are weak, he is weak. When they sin, it breaks his heart.
I have sat and watched the elders at this church cry as they hear about the sin of someone in the congregation — frequently people they don't even personally know — because they understand the destruction it brings to that person, that family, and this church. It is serious. We are all linked together. We are all partners.
Boasting in Weakness
Paul now says, "If I must boast, I will boast about what pertains to my weakness." He takes an oath in verse 31: "The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever" — Paul uses that same term, "blessed forever," here and in Romans 1:25 and Romans 9 — "He knows that I am not lying." Paul is saying, I swear to God I am telling you the truth. God knows I am telling the truth.
So Paul is going to brag. Think about that for a moment. If you are a businessperson and you are going to brag, what do you brag about? Do you brag about the deal that never happened? Do you brag about the investment where all the investors lost their money? No — you talk about the one that put you on the map. I see those ads all the time: here is our investment portfolio, here is what we have done over the last four years. And then at the very end, in small print: "Past performance does not guarantee future results." In other words, we have made some mistakes too, and you may be walking into one of them.
If you are a baseball player, are you going to brag about the time you came up with the bases loaded and took three called strikes? Of course not. You brag about the time you came up with the bases loaded, worked the count, and slapped it through the gap for the winning run. You talk about the last-second shot that left your fingertips just as the buzzer sounded — good! You do not talk about the turnover in the final seconds. Nobody brags about that.
Paul's Unlikely Boast — Acts 9
So Paul is going to brag. What does he brag about? Turn to Acts chapter 9, and we will close with this. Paul says he wants to brag about something, and it is the equivalent of bragging about the time he struck out with the bases loaded.
He says he wants to brag about the time he was in Damascus, when the Jews influenced the ruling authorities to plot against him and to kill him. Now go to Acts chapter 9. The chapter begins with Paul's conversion — it would be worthwhile to go back and read that on your own, the account of how Saul of Tarsus becomes Paul the Apostle. We are going to pick up at verse 20: "Immediately…"
Paul Begins to Preach
He began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogue, saying, "He is the Son of God." Paul's teaching — he knew enough already to know that truth. How much do you need to know to begin to share your faith? You need to be able to articulate it. If you know enough to be saved, you know enough to share your faith. You will learn more. You will be able to answer questions. You will be able to direct people through Scripture better. But if you know enough to be saved, you know enough to share your faith.
The people were amazed. They said, "Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on the name of the Lord, who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?" Wait a minute — isn't this the Saul of Tarsus who came to destroy the church, who hated the church, and now he is the one promoting the cause of Christ? Is this the same man? Indeed it is.
Paul kept on increasing in strength. He was confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus — and in my Bible I have it yellowed — by proving that this Jesus is the Christ. Paul is going back to what he has. He is taking that Old Testament that the Jews knew and saying, "All right, let's turn to Isaiah." He goes to Isaiah and says, "This is talking about a Messiah. Who is the Messiah?" They said they were still waiting. Paul answered: No, it is the man you scourged, crucified, and buried. That is Him. That is Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah.
Obviously the Jews were threatened by this. Verse 23 tells us, "When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him." They brought in the ruling authorities of Damascus. Paul found out and wanted to get out of town, but they had the gates covered day and night. Verse 24 tells us why — to put him to death.
Bragging in a Basket
Here is the Apostle Paul — the super Jew, the man we know today as probably the most influential person in the history of the Christian church aside from Jesus Himself. And he says he has an opportunity to brag about something. Here is what he wants to brag about. Acts chapter 9, verse 25: "The disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket." That is what he wants to put on his résumé.
That just brings these whole chapters to life for me. I can see how much Paul hates having to go through this. He is not enjoying saying, "Look at this, and look at this, and I did this, and I have been in danger, in danger, in danger." He does not want to do it, but he has to. And when he is finally free to brag, what does he brag about? I came out of town in a basket. As he says himself, if anyone is going to brag, let him brag about the Lord.
Paul knows who he is. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 7, he says, "We have this treasure" — this gospel treasure — "in earthen vessels," common vessels. The phrase he uses there describes a common pot used not even necessarily for cooking, but most frequently to store garbage and human waste. That is me, Paul says. Let me expand that — that is you.
What Do You Boast About?
So let me ask you this as we close. Do you boast? And if you do, what do you boast about? Are you one of those who loves to get carried away talking about all the successes in your life, all the things you have done, how sharp you are? Maybe God has given you extraordinary gifts and talents in some area.
We spent the last two days — all day Friday, all day Saturday — in room 100, going through training in a Bible program. There were about forty or fifty men in there. And if there is this much to know, I know this much. It was interesting to sit in that room and watch the other men. Some of them were operating at a level where I was looking around thinking, where is the page down button? I could not find it. Control, Alt, Delete — that is where I was. If you are one of those people God has wired that way, or one of those ladies God has given that gift, do you understand that He gave you the gift?
I have something I do, and every time I do it I walk away thinking about it. I will see someone — especially little girls. I am a sucker for little girls. Little boys, not so much — I know what boys are like because I am one. But I will be walking across campus and see a little girl in her dress with her hair done, maybe a hat. And I will say, "Oh, you look so pretty." But what did she do to look pretty? Nothing. Not a thing. And yet we live in a world that reinforces those kinds of things all the time.
This is absolutely true — I was in a bookstore the other day, and God is so good. There was a shelf with what had to be a thousand books on it, and one book was sitting facing out, just screaming illustration. This is the title of the book, and I am not lying: *How to Be Your Own Soulmate.* That is how we are wired, is it not? Pride is an ugly thing. I hate it when I see it in someone else, and it makes me sick when I see it in my own life.
You want to brag? It is fine to brag about your weakness. And if you do something good, something visible and obvious, and someone comes up and tells you it was really good, it is okay to say —
Giving God the Glory
Praise Him, because He did it. You cannot take a breath without Him. When you start to see yourself as God sees you, doesn't it begin to change everything? It does. Begin to understand who you really are and who He really is, and everything begins to change.
Think about the suffering. Think about the pain, about the hardship. Think about the truth of this. Think about the way God has blessed you, and understand that it is all from Him. Resist the temptation — from the culture around you and even from your own instinct — to try to take any sort of credit for this.
It is all of God. It is a gift from Him, and He could take it away at any minute. If He has given you much, you better understand that much is expected.
Closing Requests and Prayer
Will you pray for us this week? This is a big week — in many ways the most challenging week of the year for me. We head over to summer camp, and I get seven chances to teach in front of the junior high and high school students. Please pray for us.
Also, let me invite you — and I know the vast majority of you won't do this, but it is your loss — to come back tonight for the baptism service. It will be about 20 minutes, and they are terrific services. We will start around 7:20, right after the six o'clock service.
Let's pray together. Father, thank You for this truth. We pray that You would continue to use it to change our lives — that we would become men and women who boast about our weakness in Your strength. We pray that to You in Jesus' name. Amen.