Boasting in the Lord

At least a couple of times in his letters to the churches, the apostle Paul talked about boasting in the Lord. He paraphrased the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "Let the one who boast boast in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:31, 2 Corinthians 10:17; compare to Jeremiah 9:24). 

And in his letter to the church in Galatia, Paul says, "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).

So what does it mean to boast in the Lord? Usually, when a person boasts, they are glorifying themselves for some supposedly great thing that they supposedly did. But when a Christian boasts in the Lord, they are doing something different. He or she is not boasting about anything that he or she did. 

The Christian who boasts in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, is boasting about what someone else did. He or she is boasting about what Jesus did. And so the Christian is not glorifying his or her self. The Christian is glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is appropriate, since Jesus Christ is the One who saves us from our sin. We didn't do anything to save ourselves. All we can do is trust in Him to forgive us, take away our sins, and help us become the men and women that He created us to be. As Jesus Himself said, "I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). 

And as the prophet Isaiah wrote, "LORD, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our works in us" (Isaiah 26:12). The New International Version words it this way, "all that we have accomplished you have done for us". 

In verses 18-19 Isaiah says, 

"We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to the wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life. But Your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise - let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy - Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead".

This prophecy is then echoed by Jesus who said, 

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those that hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.

 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth - those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me" (John 5:24-30).

Some wicked, blasphemous people have mockingly compared the resurrection which is to come, with depictions of zombie apocalypses in Hollywood films. And perhaps it is silly to even give a response to such childish mockery. But the resurrection of life will certainly not consist of rotting corpses coming out of the graves. On the contrary, those who participate in the resurrection of life will be fully restored to the vibrancy of life. No tattered clothes, no deteriorated cells, tissues or organs. Just vibrant, healthy life.

Consider this excerpt from my other blog, Dr. Wreath, where a girl who has been dead and embalmed for three days is prayed over and rises from the dead:

And placing a hand upon Cor's overlapping hands, he began to pray:

"Most High God, give back the spirit of this daughter of Yours. And let the breath and blood of natural life be in her once more. I ask this of You in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ, who was dead and is alive".

Just as he spoke that last word, the whole congregation clearly heard Cor draw in a deep breath. The heart that lay in still silence, now resumed the rhythm of life. In place of the embalming fluids; warm, living, healthy blood began once more to make its round course through her body. And every deteriorated cell was restored.

But the resurrection that is to come will actually be greater than Cor's temporal resurrection, described above. That resurrection is comparable to those of Lazarus, the widow's son at Nain, or Jairus' daughter in the Gospels. All of those people, having died and been brought back to life; were restored only to this mortal life that you and I have today. And that means that they eventually died again.

But in the resurrection of life that is to come, those who have trusted faithfully in Christ, will be given something entirely above this mortal life. It will be like the resurrection of Jesus Himself, after He had been crucified. Christians will be raised to immortal, eternal life. There will be no more pain, sorrow, or mortality for those who partake of this resurrection.

Again, there is nothing that any one of us could do to earn this salvation. It is entirely by His grace and forgiveness of our sins. This is why we Christians ought not to boast in ourselves, but in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the resurrection and the life. Without Him, we can do nothing. So it is to Him that we give thanks and praise - forever.

Now these things may seem far out to some readers. But I find Christianity with all its teachings to be far more believable than that irrational myth that atheists tout. Their myth claims that the universe, which operates according to orderly sets of laws, encoded with complex information in its cells and atoms, came not from an orderly Creator and sovereign Lawgiver, but from random, mindless, unguided processes.

Born Sinners, Reborn In Christ

"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, 
And in sin my mother conceived me.
Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom" (Psalm 51:5-6).

"Jesus answered and said to him, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God'" (John 3:3).

Many people try to excuse their particular type of sin by saying that they were born that way. It has even been claimed by some geneticists that a person can be born with a genetic propensity toward a particular kind of sinful behavior; such as domestic violence, adultery, promiscuity, or homosexuality. I don't know if that's true though. And I think some, including creation scientists dispute that claim.

But whether genetics has anything to do with it or not, the Scriptures do teach that we are all born sinners. But the psalmist, David did not use that as an excuse for his sin. He realized that God "desire[s] truth in the inward parts". And so, from a biblical standpoint, it is laughable for any person to try to excuse their sin by saying they were born that way. 

Our holy God, who is love, created us in His perfect image. But sin (disobedience toward God) has corrupted the image of God in us. We are all born with corrupted human nature; handed down to us from our first-parents, Adam and Eve. 

The Bible calls it the "old man", or "old nature", or "sinful nature". It is just a part of the brokenness that disobedience toward our heavenly Father has caused to the created order. This corrupt nature, by nature, alienates us from God; who created humanity in the image of His own Divine nature (Ecclesiastes 7:29).

But we are not without hope. As the Scripture says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Christian life is a continual process of surrendering to Christ to put away the old nature, and have the new nature brought to fruition in our inmost being (Romans 6:6, Ephesians 4:22-24, Colossians 3:8-10, 2 Peter 1:3-4). 

And all the while we have reason to be glad and rejoice. The more we put off the old nature, and put on the new nature; the more we grow to delight in the things in which God delights (Philippians 3:1, Philippians 4:4, Psalm 9:2, Psalm 28:7, Psalm 32:11, Psalm 118:24).

Because of the sacrifice of love that Jesus made for us on the cross, we are able to receive forgiveness of, and freedom from sin. All we have to do is trust Him.

If we do trust Him, we have this promise in the Scriptures:

"Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been reveal what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him, purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:2-3).

Forgiveness vs. Reconciliation

As Jesus was dying on the cross, He prayed:

 "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34). 

He was praying for everyone involved in His trial and crucifixion. And so it only makes sense that He was praying for all sinners.

The question for some then arises: Why do we need trust in Jesus for salvation, since we are already forgiven? Why even think about our relationship with God, since He has already forgiven all sin?

This is actually not a very good question, because it shows the depravity of the one who asks it. But we all are sinners, and there is a very good answer in the Bible:

 "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God" (2nd Corinthians 5:20; emphasis added).

Jesus paid the penalty for all sin. God has forgiven you, me, everyone. But it takes two parties to reconcile a relationship.

God spoke through the prophet Isaiah saying:

 "All day long I stretch out my arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths, and their own crooked schemes" (Isaiah 65:2; New Living Translation).

So we see that His arms are open, but we still have to turn and be reconciled to Him. We must repent - turn away from sin. It was sin that severed our relationship with God in the first place. And it is God's forgiveness that makes it possible to turn away from sin and be reconciled to Him. As the Scripture says:

"In mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity; and by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil" (Proverbs 16:6, also see Psalm 130:3-4, and Romans 2:1-4). 

Why did sin sever our relationship with God? Because God is holy, righteous, immaculate. God and sin are diametrically opposed, so it is impossible to be living a life of sin and simultaneously be right with God. And God will never stop being holy. So we must stop being sinners. As He has said to His people:

 "Be holy, for I am holy" (1st Peter 1:16, Leviticus 11:45, 19:2, 20:7).

"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).

The Christian life is a process of sanctification (becoming holy). We begin by admitting that we are sinners in need of being reconciled to God; trusting that Jesus died for our sin, and rose again. We make a personal decision to let God begin the process of making us holy, just as He is holy. As the Scriptures say:

"If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him" (1st John 2:29). 

"being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in [us] will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:16, also see 2:13 and Isaiah 26:12).

We do not practice righteousness by our own power. Nor can we. Our sinful, fallen nature makes it impossible to become holy by our own effort. As the Son of God said:

 "...for without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). 

By faith we must trust in Him so that His righteousness becomes our righteousness. Just as He wore our sin, having no sin of His own; we wear His righteousness, having none of our own. And by His working in us who trust in Him, we will become like Him. Our fallen nature will be restored to perfect, Christ-like holiness. As the Scripture says:

"...we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1st John 3:2-3).