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INDEX
PREVIOUS
NEXT
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COLLECTIONS
Commentaries,
Word Studies, Devotionals, Sermons, Illustrations
Old and New Testament. |
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ROMANS ROAD
to
RIGHTEOUSNESS |
Romans
1:18-3:20
|
Romans
3:21-5:21 |
Romans
6:1-8:39 |
Romans
9:1-11:36 |
Romans
12:1-16:27 |
|
SIN
|
SALVATION
|
SANCTIFICATION |
SOVEREIGNTY |
SERVICE |
NEED
FOR
SALVATION |
WAY
OF
SALVATION |
LIFE
OF
SALVATION |
SCOPE
OF
SALVATION |
SERVICE
OF
SALVATION |
God's Holiness
In
Condemning
Sin |
God's Grace
In
Justifying
Sinners |
God's Power
In
Sanctifying
Believers |
God's Sovereignty
In
Saving
Jew and Gentile |
Gods Glory
The
Object of
Service |
Deadliness
of Sin |
Design
of Grace |
Demonstration
of Salvation |
|
Power Given
|
Promises
Fulfilled |
Paths Pursued |
Righteousness
Needed |
Righteousness
Credited |
Righteousness
Demonstrated |
Righteousness
Restored to Israel |
Righteousness
Applied |
God's
Righteousness
IN LAW |
God's
Righteousness
IMPUTED |
God's
Righteousness
OBEYED |
God's
Righteousness
IN ELECTION |
God's
Righteousness
DISPLAYED |
|
Slaves to Sin |
Slaves to God |
Slaves Serving
God |
|
Doctrine |
Duty |
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Life by Faith |
Service by
Faith |
|
Modified from Irving L.
Jensen's excellent work "Jensen's
Survey of the NT" |
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Romans 15:17
A Right to Boast - Part 1
by Dr. Wayne A.
Barber |
|
Some
people mention the exchanged life, and they’re not teaching it like I
heard it years ago. It’s not the fact that I have a responsibility.
They’re saying that God does everything. We don’t even have to confess
sin. I want you to know that is just not so. We have a responsibility
under grace. Romans 12:1 through 15:14 talks about our responsibility.
It’s a two hundred percent relationship. One hundred percent is my
choosing to bow and serve the Lord Jesus Christ, letting Him use me as a
vessel. And then it’s one hundred percent His power and His presence in my
life. The two things work in tandem. That’s what we’ve been talking about
through Romans 15:14.
In Romans 15:14-16, Paul explains why he has spoken in such a daring way
to Christians who he’s never seen or met before. You see, he is an apostle
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He explains the fact that the Gentile world will
be his offering that one day he wants to offer back to God. So in the
likeness of an Old Testament high priest he’s willing to pay whatever
price that is necessary so that what God wants done through him can be
done and that would be his offering one day to the Lord. So he wrote very
daringly and boldly to people he’s never seen before, reminding them to be
sensitive to the Lord Jesus so that love of the Holy Spirit can make them
sensitive to others around them.
Now in verse 17 they were going to talk about a right to boast. Paul has
some boasting to do. There is a right that we have at certain times to
boast. To understand what I’m talking about, look at Romans 15:17. The
Apostle Paul is closing his letter and says, "Therefore in Christ Jesus I
have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God." Now the word
"boasting" there comes from the root word kauchaomai, which has as its
root the word "neck". It refers to the attitude of boasting, but it comes
from the word that means neck. That’s interesting to me.
Have you ever seen somebody just stick his or her neck out and just boast
and be arrogant? When I was growing up I had a duck named "Dippy." It
would chase me around the house. This duck was very territorial and very
proud. As a matter of fact, I can remember that duck strutting around that
yard as if to say, "This is mine. Don’t touch it." Now, that picture you
get in your mind of that duck with his neck stuck out arrogantly and
proudly walking around is exactly the root of the understanding of the
word kauchaomai, the word "to boast."
Most of the time we know that boasting is sinful, and it’s talked against
by the Word of God. Jeremiah the prophet tells us the things we are not to
boast in. This is a tremendous verse that shows us what we’re not to boast
about. He nails the three areas in which we do most of our boasting. When
this verse was translated into the Greek translation of the Old Testament
it used the word kauchaomai, so we’re using the exact same word here.
Jeremiah 9:23 says, "Thus says the Lord, ‘Let not a wise man boast of his
wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man
boast of his riches."
Now look at what he says here. First of all, "Let not a wise man boast of
his wisdom," or his intellect. Man is not to boast in what he knows.
Secondly, "and let not the mighty man boast of his might," or his
strength. Man is not to boast in what he can do. Thirdly, "let not a rich
man boast of his riches." Man is not to boast in what he has.
If you’ll think about it those are the three areas, whether in the
religious arena or the pagan arena, that men love to boast the most: what
they know, in what they can do, and in what they have. Put that in a
spiritual context. What we know is by revelation of the Holy Spirit of
God. What we can do is by the energy of the Holy Spirit of God. And what
we have is by the grace of God. We’re just stewards of what really is His
property. So therefore, you begin to see the foundation. Man is not to
boast in himself. Man is only to boast in the Lord.
Look at Jeremiah 9:24: "‘but let him who boasts boast of this, that he
understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness,
justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’
declares the Lord."
So there’s a wrong kind of boasting. James picks up on that. He says in
James 4:16, "But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting
is evil." The word for arrogance is the word alazoneia. It comes from the
word alazon. It’s a person who is an arrogant individual. Have you ever
been around people like that? What they’re doing is, they’re boasting
about what they really are pretending to have. Now you put that in a
spiritual context and it makes sense immediately. Here’s a person who God
has given strength to do something, but boasts of his own strength. Here’s
a person who has something, but thinks he’s gotten it himself. He’s a
person who goes around trying to boast of something that he should never
be boasting about. So there is a wrong kind of boasting. We’re never to
boast at what we can do, what we know, or what we have. God’s Word very
clearly tells us that.
As a matter of fact, that’s a clear picture of how God hates anything that
has to do with the flesh. That’s where most of our boasting is found. Look
over in 1 Corinthians 1:26. We find the word kauchaomai again. We see God
does not want anything of what man can do or what man has or what man
knows. God is the source of all knowledge and wisdom. God is the source of
all strength and God is the source of all riches. 1 Corinthians 1:26-28
says, "For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise
according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has
chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has
chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,
and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the
things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no
man should boast [kauchamomai] before God."
Then he goes on in verses 30 and 31 and says, "But by His doing you are in
Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and
sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who
boasts, boast in the Lord.’" So you see that there’s a boasting that can
be right but most boasting is wrong. Most of the times we boast of the
flesh—what we know, what we have, what we can do—and that’s not right.
We’re only to boast in God, in who He is, what He’s done, and what He’s
doing and what He’s going to do. That becomes a right context for
boasting. That’s what Paul is saying in Romans 15:17. I have found a
reason to boast in things pertaining to the Lord.
I think it’s important for us to understand when there is a right to
boast. When can we boast? What qualifies that? I want us to, first of all,
look at the character of the man who’s writing this. Now of course the
Holy Spirit of God authored the scriptures through Paul. I’ve told you
over and over again how awed I am with this man. I don’t praise him, but I
do appreciate him. He’s a man who did not get anything more than I got
when I got saved, nor did he get anything less. But it just thrills me to
see his life and how God used him, to watch his humility. He never points
to himself. He always points to the Lord. I want you to see his character
because the first point is "Who has the right to boast?" I want us to look
at the character of the man writing this in Romans 15:17.
There are seven things about his character that helped me to understand
what I must be in order for my boasting in the Lord to truly be pure and
right and not somehow secretly calling attention to myself. You see,
there’s a lot of right things being said these days but in the wrong
context. A lot of people say, "Oh, we give God the glory." But while
they’re using the right terms, they’re using them to draw attention back
to themselves. It’s like they’re at the Olympics and they say, "Oh God!
You’re here. We give you the silver medal, but we get the gold medal."
They’ll give token appreciation to God, but really what they’re
overwhelmed with is what they have done for God, not what God has done
through them.
God says, "Don’t you ever boast in what you know. Don’t boast in what you
can do. And don’t boast in what you have. You boast in Me, what I have
given you as far as understanding, what I can do through you, and what I
have personally been gracious enough to entrust you with."
Well, Paul, to me, shows the character of a man you can trust when he says
he’s giving glory to God. What makes the difference? You know, the thing
you’ve got to remember is the Apostle Paul was so religious when the
Damascus Road experience came. Then three days afterwards God sent him out
radically changed. Now listen to me. He had nothing left to brag about. In
all of his religious things that he did for God he had a lot to brag
about. He talks about them Philippians 3. He counts all of that as loss.
The only thing he has now to brag about is Christ—what Christ has done in
his life, what Christ has given to him to do in his life, what Christ has
empowered him to do. That’s all he has. His salvation has so radically
changed him, but I want to tell you, it also has radically changed us. But
some of us have not become aware of that yet. We still like to give God
the glory with one hand and on the other hand take all of the credit we
can possibly take. We haven’t come to realize we wouldn’t be saved had it
not been for the grace of God. And anything that gets done, He will do it
whether I’m with Him or I’m not with Him. He gives me the grace to
participate in what He’s doing on this earth.
Let’s look at the seven things that marked the Apostle Paul. We’ve learned
it from Romans; let’s go back and review it, just for the sake of
understanding. Who has the right to boast? First of all, turn back to 1:1.
The Apostle Paul was a man who wanted only what God wanted. That’s why I
can trust him when he says, "I’ve found things I can boast about
pertaining to God." I believe him. The Apostle Paul did not have an agenda
of his own. He did not have some ministry he wanted to deify. He only
wanted what God wanted in his life. He started the book with this and set
the pattern for everything we’ve studied. "Paul, a bond-servant of Christ
Jesus." Nothing can be more revealing of his love for Christ. Nothing can
be more revealing of his willingness to submit to Christ than the word
"bond-servant." He pulls it out of the Old Testament, Deuteronomy
15:12-17, particularly. It talks about the slavery of that day. Slavery to
us today and slavery to them is so far contrasting.
In those days, you treated a slave like you would treat your own son. You
had a responsibility towards those who were working for you. And on the
seventh year, the sabbatical year, they would set that slave free. Well,
that slave had a choice to make. Nobody made him make the choice. He had a
choice to make. That choice was, was he going to go free or stay and be a
lifetime slave to that master. Of course, he would evaluate how this
master had treated him, etc. When he chose to stay they would have a
public ceremony and put a hole in the ear of that individual. Wherever he
went from that point on, he would be marked as an individual who truly had
chosen to serve his master.
You’d see that person on the road and say, "You know that man was set free
last year, but in the freedom to make his own choice—not being made to—he
chose to become a lifelong servant to that man. Oh, how he loves his
master." That’s exactly what Paul is saying. "Nobody made me make this
choice. I made it myself. I made a choice to become a lifetime slave to my
Lord, Jesus Christ." You know, it says over in Matthew that nobody can
serve two masters. You’ll love one and hate the other. Paul says, "I know
what the other master will do to me. I lived under its power for so long.
But now I’ve been set free from it. I made a choice. I’m going to be a
slave to the Lord Jesus Christ."
He was a man who wanted only what God wanted in his life. Now, you can
trust somebody’s giving glory to God when you find out that’s what their
life is made up of. They don’t come before God with their agenda. They
come before God to surrender to His. All they want to do is to please Him.
All they want is to spend their life causing Him to have great joy in
their willingness to obey. That person truly can boast in the Lord.
Secondly, to follow up and build on that, he was a man who, as a slave to
Christ, was pure in his devotion to Christ. Look in Romans 1:9: "For God,
whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son." Now
that little phrase, "in my spirit," distinguishes Paul from someone who
does what looks good on the outside but has an ulterior motive behind it.
"The inner man," "from the heart," and "in the spirit" were all similar
terms to describe the inner motivation of why a person does what they do.
There are two different thoughts on this. Some people equate the soul and
the spirit and you can do that. This would be fair with scripture. There
are many passages that equate the soul with the spirit. But I think
overwhelmingly, to me anyway, in the scripture the overwhelming context is
that man is body, soul, and spirit. Now I say that for a reason. In
Hebrews 4:12 it says, "For the word of God is living and active and
sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of
the soul [psuche] and spirit [pneuma], of both joints and marrow, and able
to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." This seems to be a
division there in this particular context.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Paul says, "Now may the God of peace Himself
sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved
complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." There are
contexts in scripture that seem to indicate that the soulish part of man
is the fleshly part of man. It’s the pagan mindset apart from the
influencing of the Spirit of God. So when a person does something
soulishly, he’s doing it out of the energy of the flesh. When he does
something in his spirit, he’s doing it with a motivation to serve the one
true God with a pure motive.
Over in 2 Timothy 1:3 Paul helps clarify this. He says, "I thank God, whom
I serve with a clear conscience." The word "clear" was surprising to me.
It’s the word katharos, which means that which has been cleansed, that
which is unspoiled, that which does not have any defilement to it at all.
What is he saying? To me, if you put the two together, he says, "I serve
God in my spirit unspoiled by any of the pagan interests of my soul. I
serve Him truly in the innermost part of my being. I have no ulterior
motive, no fleshly desire whatsoever."
It’s like the Psalmist said in Psalm 9:1, "I will give thanks to the Lord
with all my heart." All of me is committed to Him. There’s nothing that
I’m holding back. There’s no other side interest here. You know, there was
an Old Testament example of someone just like Paul, and that was the man
named Caleb. In Numbers 14:24, He says, "But My servant Caleb, because he
has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully." I love that. He
also says this about Joshua later on: "The two have followed Me fully."
It’s repeated in Deuteronomy 1:36: "because he [Caleb] has followed the
LORD fully." In Joshua 14:14 it reads, "because he [Caleb] followed the
LORD God of Israel fully."
In other words, there was no ulterior motive. There was no agenda other
than "God I want to serve you. I want to obey you. Your agenda is my
agenda and I push mine aside to do what you want in my life day by day."
That’s a man who’s qualified to give all the glory to God. He has not got
one ounce of flesh in which he can brag about. He doesn’t want it. He’s
decided against it. He only wants God to be God in his life.
Paul had that absolute pure devotion. He was a man who had only one agenda
as a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. How many times in ministry do you see
people with soulish motives? They use emotion to stir results. They use
oratory to stir the elect. Paul said, "I do not come with eloquent words
of wisdom but in demonstration of the power of the Spirit of God." They
use gimmicks to stir the flesh of others and turn around and have the
audacity to give God the glory. There is no glory in that. It’s what man
can do and they’ve asked God to bless it rather than what God alone has
initiated and what God has anointed.
Paul is a man you can trust when he gives glory to God. He doesn’t have
anything in it for himself. He is overwhelmed at what God can do. He is
not in any way infatuated with his own self.
Thirdly, he was a man who realized that he was a debtor to Christ and the
gospel. Look in Romans 1:14: "I am under obligation [or, "I owe a debt"]
both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish."
Now what he means by barbarians are not the cannibals. It means those who
do not have the Greek language. That’s what he’s talking about. He’s
talking about those who do not have the Greek culture. Paul said, "I’m
under obligation." I wonder how many of us who say, "Oh God, we give you
the glory" really live as if we owe a debt that we’re going to spend our
lifetime paying. Most of us are spiritual on Mondays. On Wednesdays,
forget it. On Thursdays, maybe. On Fridays, who knows. Then on Sundays,
"Oh God, we give you all the glory!" There’s no sense of the fact that we
didn’t deserve what we have and we are under a debt. We owe our fellow man
to take the good news of God’s Word to the uttermost parts of the world.
Paul understood what few Christians in America understand. They live as if
somebody else owes them. Paul lived knowing he owed others. He owed his
fellow man to let them know the good news had changed him. He lived that
way. There was no other agenda. All of this ties together. There was no
other agenda in his life. He lived as a man possessed to pay the debt of
taking the good news of the Gospel to others in the will of God.
In Romans 1:16 he says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel." The word
"ashamed" is the word epaischunomai, which comes from epi, upon, and
aischunomai, shame. He has not brought shame upon himself. There’s no
humiliation to him that he’s out preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There were some places in Acts when he went into a city, and they threw
him out, beat him up, and left him as dead. You’re thinking, "Paul, go
home." Paul gets up, wipes the blood off, shakes the dust off, and goes
right back in the city. And you’re thinking, "No, Paul, don’t go there."
Every time he’d go into a city he’d go to the synagogue, and a riot would
break out. And you think, "What’s this guy doing?" He was not ashamed,
folks. He was not ashamed. It didn’t matter where he was or what
circumstance was there, he was in no way humiliated by the message that
had radically changed his life. When a man has that kind of vision and
that kind of devotion, then, when he praises God, I can accept what he’s
saying. He truly is giving glory to God. He doesn’t have an ulterior
agenda of somehow calling attention to himself.
Well fourth, he was a man who was conscious of the wickedness of his own
flesh. Oh folks, it is the man who understands how wicked his own flesh is
that I believe God uses. He knew the wickedness of his own flesh. I used
to think in Romans 7:14-25 that Paul was lost during that time. It sounded
right to me with the tenses and everything he’s saying. But going back now
and studying Romans I’ve changed my mind completely. Of course, that’s not
the issue of chapter 7. It’s the law, being under the law. To me, I think
he’s just being flat out honest. He says in verse 14, "For we know that
the Law is spiritual ([pneumatikos], that which pertains only to the
spirit); but I am of flesh [sarkikos], sold into bondage to sin." Paul
says, "There’s something that happened back here. I wish I were just
purely spiritual. But I’m not. I’ve got something about me that’s called
the body of sin, my flesh, and it is lured to sin. It still wants to sin.
I’m living daily understanding the wickedness of my flesh."
He says in verse 18, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is,
in my flesh." Then he says in verse 21, "I find then the principle that
evil [kakos—inherent evil] is present in me, the one who wishes to do
good."
I think somehow over the years God has over and over again tried to show
me, "If you don’t understand how wicked your flesh is, how are you ever
going to learn to depend only and purely upon Me?" Several years ago a
speaker at a Gideon Conference got up to speak. When he walked over to the
platform there was a beautifully decorated box with a big bow on it. He
thought, "Man, this is nice!" He had spoken at a lot of places, and he
said, "These people are appreciative of what I’ve done and somehow they’re
going to honor me with this gift." He took the wrapping and the bow off
and then he took the top of the box off and looked inside, looking for
something really nice so he could thank the people for it. When he opened
it up, there was nothing there but filthy, soured, smelly rags and a
little note that said, "We did not come to hear you. We came to hear from
the Lord." He said that for the first time in his life it dawned on him,
"It’s not by might and the power, not in what a man can do, but it’s by my
spirit," says the Lord.
That’s the key. A man that understands the wicked and deception of his
flesh is a man who God can use. That’s a man, when he gives glory to God,
there’s nothing in himself he’s bragging about. He knows the wickedness of
his own flesh. He understands that, and he’s so appreciative of what God
has done.
Fifth, he was a man who was conscious, not only in the wickedness of his
flesh, but also that suffering played a role in the light of eternal
reward. He was willing to pay whatever price that came. Look at Romans
8:18: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." He’s a
man who was willing to endure the pain. Here’s a guy who the Jews did not
trust at all. They even brought the accusation when he went over to
Jerusalem that he brought a Gentile behind the wall of petition, which
caused five years of imprisonment on a false charge. They hated him. They
said he was preaching against their law. He wasn’t. He was just trying to
help them understand it. He was preaching against the temple. He wasn’t.
He was just trying to show them the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
He was taking what they had always seen as the shadow and was trying to
show them the substance that was pointing to. But they all accused him.
The Gentiles were afraid of him because he was the one persecuting the
Church. So all of a sudden, he’s a believer. The Jews won’t have him. The
Gentiles won’t have him. He’s a man without a country. He’s a man who’s
suffered greatly, tremendous persecution. I Corinthians 11 talks about all
the marks that he bore on his body. But he’s a man who says, "I’m not even
willing to talk about it. Because it’s not worthy to be compared with the
glory that is to come."
In Philippians 3 he was sick of all that religious stuff that he used to
be in. Folks, I wish some times we could just get sick, sick, sick of
religious stuff and understand that Christianity is a relationship. I
don’t know what it’s going to take. I wonder what it’s going to take to
get us so sick of religious garbage, baggage, that we start walking in a
love relationship with Christ, just seeing what He and He alone can do in
and through us, becoming a part of what He’s up to in our lives. I
guarantee the persecution that comes will be well worth it because you’re
living in the promise of what’s to come in the future. You know the
earnest of your inheritance is now but the down payment. The full payment
is coming later on. Paul was willing to make that kind of choice. He was
willing to be laughed at and embarrassed because he so loved Christ. He
accepted that as part of the turf. He knew it was coming. He was willing
to be light in the midst of a dark world because he knew the hope of the
calling that God had given to him. So therefore, when he said, "I have
things to boast about pertaining to the Lord," I perk up. He doesn’t have
any flesh. He doesn’t have any agenda other than what God wants in his
life.
Sixth, he was a man who had learned the secret of surrender. That’s why he
could say in Romans 12:1, "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to
God, which is your spiritual service of worship." Why could he say that to
them? That’s what he had done. That’s his whole life. He says in Galatians
6:14, "But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I
to the world." The world has been crucified to me. I’ve been saved. I’m
not of it anymore. But I crucified myself to the world. I have chosen not
to be a part of it. I’m in it, but I’m not of it. Paul had learned the
secret of surrender. He was a man who knew that Christ was the only one
worthy to bow to.
The seventh thing is, he was a man who knew that only by God’s grace would
he be involved in the wonderful ministry to the Gentiles. I’ve said it
over and over again; I’m going to keep saying it: Paul did not get there
by his personal striving. He got there because of the grace of God. It was
not something he planned. It was something God planned and allowed him to
be part of. He says in Romans 12:3, "For through the grace given to
me...." He’s the apostle to the Gentiles but only by the grace of God.
Listen to Galatians 1:1: "Paul, an apostle (not sent from men, nor through
the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father)."
Ephesians 1:1 says, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God."
Colossians 1:1, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." 1
Timothy 1:1 reads, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the
commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope." 2
Timothy 1:1 repeats, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of
God."
He was the man who knew that the ministry that God had assigned him to the
Gentile world was something he had received. It was not something he had
achieved. When you understand that, that’s when you can give all of the
glory back to God. That’s when you can boast in God. Paul said, "I didn’t
come up with this. God came up with this. My ministry is received. It’s
not something I personally have achieved. I give all glory unto Him."
You know, it just doesn’t make any sense to me to get up and praise God
with one side of my mouth but wanting the personal credit in the other
side. It doesn’t make any sense. But yet that’s what I’ve done many times
in my life. You have. All of us have. Pure praise, boasting only in the
Lord comes from integrity of a character that has been broken just to know
that if he doesn’t do it it’s not going to get done. Yes, I’m willing to
obey. Yes, I’m willing to surrender. But God, it’s you and when you do it,
I’m going to give you the glory for what you’ve done. You’re the one
that’s doing it in my life. Paul had no agenda but Christ. He wanted only
what Christ wanted. He realized he owed a debt to his fellow man. He was
conscious of the wickedness of his flesh. He was willing to pay whatever
price of suffering he must for the sake of Christ. He knew that the only
way to be free from himself was to surrender to Christ daily. He knew he
was involved in the ministry because of the grace of God, therefore, he
had found reason to boast in things pertaining to God.
Who is it that really boasts in the Lord? The person who just comes to
understand that if it gets done, God alone is going to have to do it. It’s
a person you could trust his giving glory unto God. Look at his life and
his character. That’ll tell you something about whether or not he truly is
boasting in the Lord |
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