Boasting In Christ

Ten, as we sang this morning, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. I don't know what it would have been like to be a part of the Corinthian church, but it seems like the Corinthian church had a lot of issues and a lot of problems. I know when we talk about this, we think about some of the major issues that was at Corinth, the defaming of the Lord's Supper, which caused some to get sick and some even to die.

There in Corinth, believers that were sick and died, and we think that's a major issue, and it was, and the immorality that was going on there, and we've talked about that some. But there is another issue here, and I mentioned it last time, and it's actually in the first letter that Paul writes to the Corinthians. He addresses that one first, this issue he addresses first.

It has to do some with these divisions that Chris was talking about. But look here, we're going to look here at 2 Corinthians chapter 10. I'm going to do a little bit of review.

It's been two weeks, I think, since we've talked about this. But we are talking about Paul's apostleship, and evidently there was some questions, you see this throughout the two letters, about Paul's apostleship, whether or not he is truly an apostle. In verse number 7 of chapter 10, it says, do we look on things after the outward appearance? Now, Paul is setting things up here as he's going to talk about something.

In verse 10, he says, for his letters, they say, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is contemptible. And one of the things that Paul was struggling with regards to his apostleship was people questioned his apostleship because he seems to be a weak individual, small, frail, weak individual. As a matter of fact, his speech, they say, is contemptible.

It's not one of these people you like to hear speaking. And we also learned that he was blind, pretty much. His eyesight was very bad.

And so, why would God choose someone like this, to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, the Lord does choose the base things, the foolish things of this world, to confound the wise, and so we looked at that last week. But there is some comparison going on, and maybe we don't deal with that a lot, but in the early church here, there's a lot of comparisons, a lot of comparisons going on between apostles and the gifts, and all these things trying to measure each other by each other. But I'd like to go back to 1 Corinthians 1 here, if you could.

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 1, I want to read. This is the first thing that Paul actually addresses in his first letter, in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, starting in verse number 11, I'll jump in here. It says, For it has been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe.

So here he's starting the letter, and he starts out by saying, one of your families, the house of Chloe, is sharing their concern about a certain issue. That there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? Now, you know, Paul starts his letter out, and this is probably the topmost thing on his mind. He addresses this first, even though there's a lot of other things he's going to have to address. He addresses this one first.

There's these divisions, and one person is saying, I am of Paul, and others over here are saying, I am of Apollos, and some are saying, I am of Cephas, and there's this division going on. And he asks the question, is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius. So this is a big issue.

It's a problem in the church. He addresses it again in chapter 3. Let's turn over to chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians. Chapter 3, verse 3, and I'll start in verse 1. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

You're babies. I would like to speak to you on a higher level. But verse 2, I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able, for you are yet carnal.

That means you're fleshly. For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men? Meaning you're walking like the world. You're living like the world in your division, in your carnality.

You know, I was just this week listening to my little boys and I'm better than you. No, you don't do that right. I'm doing it better.

And it's just a childish thing. Children. Back and forth.

Verse 4, for while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believe? Even as the Lord gave to every man, I have planted and Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. And so you have a lot of this stuff going on and Paul is hitting it right up front, comparing, making comparisons.

And of course, Apollos is not even mentioned there. He's not an apostle, but he's being thrown into the mix and people are dividing up, having the party spirit and being schismatic and our little group over here and we're followers of Paul and your little group over there and you're followers of Peter and all these little groups, it's schismatic. So we talked about that last week and then we also mentioned here, I think it's verse number 12 here in 2 Corinthians chapter 10.

He concludes or we concluded last week with this idea of comparing ourselves. Verse 12, for we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. So I'm gonna compare you to Paul or Apollos or you to Peter and we're gonna make these comparisons and measure based upon each other.

And that's what's going on in the church. Comparing themselves, measuring themselves and brother Chris said it this morning. I thank God the Pharisee said that I am not as other men are comparing himself with other people.

I fast twice in a week and they don't. I give tithes at all and they don't. And it's in human nature to compare ourselves one with another.

And we learned last week to compare ourselves to who? The Lord Jesus. Comparing ourselves to Christ will keep us in a place of humility. Humility.

Paul says, I'm running a race and my sights is on the mark. I am pressing towards the mark. And what is the mark? The mark is the person of Jesus Christ.

Caleb chose that song this morning. Oh, to be like thee, blessed redeemer. Not oh, to be like brother so and so in our church.

I would really like to be like, no, it's oh, to be like thee, my blessed redeemer. And as you're running a race, if you've ever run in race and your eyes and focus is toward the finish line, how many of you think you're gonna win the race by kind of looking around as you're running, seeing how you're doing in reference to everybody else? It doesn't work well. And so when we run, we press toward the mark.

Here in Philippians chapter three, you don't have to turn there. Paul says this, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which I am also apprehended of Christ. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark.

I'm not perfect, Paul says. I am still seeking to attain the mark, but I keep pressing towards it. There's no comparisons here with other people.

Well, I'm doing better. I'm doing better than brother so-and-so over there and all these comparisons that we make. But no, I am pressing toward the mark for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

And you know, I thought about, as I was pondering this, the Lord's letters to the churches. And you know, he did not do any comparison. You know, he could have.

Church at Laodicea, why don't you be like a Philadelphia? Or why don't you be like Smyrna over there? They're doing this. No, he doesn't compare them. He just tells them, here's where you're short of the mark.

And he focuses their attention on that. And so that's a little review of what we talked about last time. And now we can pick up here and finish the chapter.

And we'll start here in verse number 13. And children, I know you like to count. And so I'd like to maybe ask you to count here.

There's two words that are prominent here in verse 13 down through verse 18. One is the word boast and the other is the word measure. And so maybe we can get a count on the word boast and on the word measure as I read down through these verses.

So I'll start in verse number 13. But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure as though we reach not unto you, for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ.

Not boasting of things without our measure, that is of other men's labors, but having hope when your faith is increased that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand. But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord, for not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. How many of you counted the boasts there? Who can tell me, children? How many boasts do we have when I read through there? Does anybody know? Any counters? Boasts? Three.

How many measures? Six measures. Three boasts and six measures right there in just six verses. And that's what we're gonna focus on, these two words here, of boasting in our measure, or in the measure here that Paul is talking about.

So let's start out with boasting. You know, we read that word, or at least I thought about that word boasting, and generally you think of boasting as a bad word, but it's not always a bad thing to boast. And we'll see that here in just a minute.

But boasting in yourself is always a bad thing. Boasting in yourself is always a bad thing. Anytime you hear someone start talking about themselves and lifting up themselves, then you ought to kind of put a check mark there.

This is not a good thing that's happening here. Boasting in ourselves is not a good thing. The Pharisees said, I thank God that I am not as other men are.

I fast, I give tithes of all that I possess. He was basically boasting in himself, in his religion, in what he did. And that comes from the heart of pride.

It's a human problem. We always want to lift ourselves up. Even when we make confessions, we try to cut the corners and try to make ourselves look as good as possible in our confession, because there's something deep down inside of us we're not willing to just be honest and say what really is true.

And so boasting, boasting is a negative word when it's talked about with regards to boasting in our own selves. One of the greatest or the biggest boast in the Bible is found in Daniel chapter four, verse 29. And it's Nebuchadnezzar.

As he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon, he spake and said, is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? That's a pretty strong boast there. The next few minutes, his mind was turned to jello and he went out and he started to eat the grass that the ox ate for many, many, many long days and months. Because of his boasting in himself.

Look over here with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 23. Now, Paul sometimes, it's interesting here, Paul sometimes wants to clarify things. And in order to clarify things, he has to speak about himself in a positive way.

But when he does this, he puts a little phrase in here to remind us he is speaking in a certain way. So look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 23. Here he's talking about these people who are comparing himself with other apostles.

Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more, in labors more abundant, in stripes of a measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often. And he goes down and he talks about all these things he's had to go through.

Now, if you take that little phrase, I speak as a fool out of there, we'd read it this way. Are they ministers of Christ? I am more, in labors more abundant, in stripes of measure. Say, Paul, you're boasting.

You're elevating yourself above other apostles. So Paul puts in there, before I say this, I just want to let you know I'm speaking like a fool. And so I think you can feel free then to say, hey, listen, if I am going to say something positive and lift myself up, I want to preface it by saying, I want to speak as a fool now.

Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 12 here in verse number one. And we're going to deal with this here as we go down through the rest of this letter. But he's having a hard time here.

You can see he's trying to convince them that he is an apostle and he's using many means to do it, but he doesn't want to exalt himself. And so he's trying to say things in a way that doesn't exalt himself. Look at verse number one of chapter 12.

It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell.

God knows such in one caught up to the third heaven. Now, who was this guy that was caught up to the third heaven? It was him. Okay, but he doesn't want to acknowledge it because he's just said, you know, we should not boast in ourselves or exalt ourselves.

Verse three, and I knew such a man whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such in one will I glory, yet of myself will I not glory, but in mine infirmity. So he just goes out of his way here, not to self-exalt himself.

There's a lot of people today that exalt themselves on a regular basis. And we need to be careful not to speak of ourselves and to lift up ourselves. I think if you want to speak of yourself, just share your infirmities, share your weakness, share where you're struggling or you're having issues.

Jump down here to verse number 11. I am become a fool in glorying. You have compelled me, for I ought to have been commended of you.

That's where the commendation would come from, from others. For in nothing am I behind the very chief apostles, though I be nothing. You can see here, he's trying to convince them, I am an apostle.

All these things are going to show you I'm an apostle, but I don't want to bring glory to myself. I'm nothing. And so he's a struggle.

But he says here, I ought to have been commended of you. And that's what I told you last time. You know, Proverbs 27, verse two, let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth, a stranger and not thine own lips.

Now, I want to say this, boasting is good if it's done to other people. Boasting is good. Boasting is acceptable when it's done to others.

You know, that Pharisee could have had a whole different story written about him. We talked about him a lot the last couple of weeks, but that Pharisee could have had a whole different story written about him if he had gone up to the temple and he said something like this, Lord, what a blessing this publican is. So humble, such a blessing him crying out to God and praising this Pharisee and lifting him up, humility.

I like that. But he did not do that. He boasted of himself.

And so boasting is a good thing when it's done of others. You can just, we're not very far away. Jump back to 2 Corinthians chapter nine.

There's a lot of this that goes on. I'll just pull an example out here. 2 Corinthians chapter nine, starting in verse number one.

It says, for as touching the ministering of the saints, it is superfluous for me to write unto you, for I know the forwardness of your mind for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that a care was ready a year ago and your zeal has provoked many. Yet have I sent the brethren lest our boasting of you should be in vain. So Paul had no problem saying, boy, the church at Corinth, they're doing great.

They're generous. They're good people. And he had a lot of good things, a lot of boasts to say of those at Corinth.

Now we've had some boasting here and it's good. I like it. Brother Chad, the last couple of weeks has been boasting.

I think he did it this morning. He must be an exhorter. Is that your gift, Brother Chad, exhortation? But he's boasting this morning in someone that was having a part here in the service.

I think last week we were, or he was boasting in Brother Merlin and Merlin's gift. A couple of weeks ago, I think he was boasting in Brother James. Go coon.

He wouldn't even hear James. You weren't even here and you got boasted about, I think. Brother Thomas was boasting about, Brother Chris a number of months ago about some service that Chris was doing.

And that's a good thing to be boasting in each other. Appreciate this brother and what he's doing and this sister and what they're doing. And it's a good thing here for us, I think, to, and I try to do this.

You can check me out. You have someone come to you and, you know, they send a boast your way. You know, Brother Chris, such a good brother.

Took a load of wood down to someone down there in your area though. I just want to give honor and praise to Brother Chris. And then Brother Chris says, well, apart from the grace of God, I couldn't do it anyway.

And he deflects it. He deflects it. You know, he doesn't just soak it in because there's a tendency if you soak it in, it kind of can make you proud.

Well, I'm doing everything right. Everybody's talking well of me, but it's good to just say, praise God. You know, it's not me.

It's not me that I could do that. And Paul's going to do that. As we get down to the end of this, he's going to say, by the grace of God, I am what I am.

And so we can deflect it. God's praise. There's something we need to watch out for as thinking about that is the idea of flattery.

You know, some people come to you and say how great you are, wonderful person you are, but they have a motive behind it. And that motive is selfish. They want to get something from you.

That's why they butter you up because they're planning on eating you. That's what I do with my toast in the morning. I butter it up nice and buttery because I plan on eating it up.

I'm going to enjoy this feast. And so many people, they get buttered up because they have something they want from you. And that's called in the Bible, flattery.

Young men, let me share something with you about flattery. Here's some wisdom for you. Solomon, share a little bit about flattery.

Talks about this adulterous woman. At the window of my house, I looked through my casement and behold among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding. Passing through the street near her corner and he went the way to her house.

In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and the dark night and behold there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot and subtle in heart. There's a lot of them out there. Young men, subtle in heart.

And then here's what happens. With her much fair speech, she caused him to yield. With the flattering of her lips, she forced him.

Oh, you're so good looking. Oh, you're so strong. Oh, you, oh yeah.

And she flattered. She has a motive behind what she's doing. He goeth after her straightway as an ox goeth to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks till a dart strikes through his liver as a bird hastens to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life.

So be careful of flattery. What's going on there? Flattery is something that is being done for a selfish purpose, a selfish motive. So praising others is good.

I just wanna throw that out. And we can do that, encourage one another. I just caution this.

I've seen this happen throughout the years also that don't often, yeah, we should praise, for example, praise our family members. But sometimes when you praise a little too close to you, it's done oftentimes to come back to you. Like I've seen some families praising their children on a regular basis.

And really what they're trying to get to is I'm doing a great job in raising my family. And again, a lot of it has to do with the motive. What is the motive behind that praise? But ultimately, and we get to this here in 2 Corinthians, ultimately, I'm gonna read to you the last two verses here.

Verse 17, but he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commended. And so there's a lot of glorying going on.

And yes, self-glory is no good. And well, if you wanna say Apollos is an eloquent man, he has great gifts and that's wonderful, that's okay. And if you wanna say that Paul is a great man because of all he, that's okay.

But if you wanna glory and really glory, glory in the Lord. And it's not so much what men say, it's really what the Lord says. Children's song, let's sing.

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty. There's nothing my God cannot do. That's a song of boasting.

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty. There's nothing my God cannot do. Now I wanna encourage you at all times to just boast in the Lord.

You can't go wrong with that one. Boasting in the Lord and making your boast of him. And that's actually where this whole chapter is going here.

That he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. There's a lot of glory of men today. A lot of glory of men.

Lifting up individuals, lifting up men. And I think sometimes, like that ladder, I've always said, I try to stay on the lower rung in case I fall. I don't have to go very far when I fall.

But if you're elevated and elevated and elevated and you get way up there and everybody knows you around the world, when you fall, it's a long way down. And so let's stay pretty low to the ground and stay pretty humble. Well, there's some lessons here in this passage and I'd like to share before we finish.

And a couple of lessons we can draw here. Look at verse number 13. Here's the main thrust of what Paul's trying to communicate.

He says this, but we will not boast of things without our measure. Now the word measure there means the line that God has drawn for me. For example, me, this ministry here is a line that God has drawn for me.

The Columbus area is a line that God has drawn for me. Where I am laboring, where you're laboring, that is your measure. That is your ministry.

He says here, we will not boast of things outside of our measure. Jump down to verse 15. Not boasting of things without our measure.

And then right in the middle of verse 14, it says, for we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure. Now I don't know what's going on here altogether and what he's trying to contend. I know there's a lot of glorying in men.

There's a lot of comparison of men. There's a lot of viewing things on outward appearance and all of that. But Paul is trying to bring this thing down to a conclusion.

But he says, I do not boast outside of my line, outside of my pleasure. It's kind of like Brother Conrad. I saw him here this morning.

He's got a roofing crew. And you know, he can look at a roof that his crew has done and he has put labor into, and he can say, you guys did a great job. And you can boast in your own labor, in your own line, but you have no right to boast in another man's line of labor or line of work.

Now, my son, I remember he was starting a business. I think Brother Caleb here helped out with his website. He started a business building mini houses.

And you know, the temptation there is to take pictures of someone else's mini house and use that as your advertisement. And people have done that. Like, okay, here's another man's work, but I'm gonna use that man's work to boast or to lift up my work.

Well, that's what he's talking about here. No, I only, he says, I only boast within my measure. I boast about the church at Corinth because I'm laboring there.

I boast about the churches of Macedonia, about the churches at Ephesus because I am laboring among them. And that word measure there, it means the area where we're laboring. Look what it says here in verse 13.

But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God has distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. And that you there refers to Corinth. Verse 14, for we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure as though we reach not unto you, for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ.

So not boasting. Not boasting in other men's labor or in other men's line of things. Taking credit for another man's work.

Now we're gonna see how sometimes this can get rather complex, but you know, sometimes Paul would come into a region, he'd preach the gospel, he'd win souls, gather them together, then he'd go off. And then Apollos comes in, just like at Corinth, he comes in and he starts teaching the people. And then there's this back and forth here.

Well, this is Apollos' work. No, no, no. No, Apollos is the one who started this work.

It's Paul's work. And you have these brothers and sisters of the church competing and comparing and glorying in men. Paul's gonna deal with that here in a little bit.

We're gonna go back and read, but you can see some of the problems. The apostles are going around different places, planting churches, and people are being raised up to teach and feed those churches and all these personality contentions back and forth. Everyone looking for credit.

You know, you see this in politics. It's all over the place. It's human nature.

You know, right now, for example, if the economy goes and takes off, you know whose credit's gonna be? Donald Trump's. If it goes sour, you know what he's gonna say? Well, that's what Biden left me. Right? That's human nature.

And it's all because of trying to lift ourselves up. It's pride. It's down in there.

It's rooted in there. Everyone's looking for credit. But I think Paul's gonna get to the end here and he's gonna say, let's just put our nose to the grindstone and forget about credit.

And someday God is gonna reward us based upon what we've done. And looking around and comparing ourselves and measuring ourselves among ourselves is not wise. Now, I think we would be wise to look around and say, brother, you're doing a good job.

Brother, I appreciate there what you did and boast in each other. And then that one who gets the boast, maybe you'd be wise to say, well, it's only by the grace of God and deflect it up to the Lord. It's God's working in me.

That's all it is. It's not me. So that in everything, God gets glory.

Look at 2 Corinthians here, chapter 10, verse 17 and verse 18. It says this. But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord, for not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.

What we need to go after, obviously, is the Lord's approval. It's not about being commended by men. It's about someday standing before the Lord and hearing those words, well done, thou good and faithful servant.

And if you're gonna be in the ministry, if you're gonna serve people's opinions, if they make you go up and down and up and down, you're not gonna make it. If you're looking for a praise, if you're looking for a commendation, like the word is mentioned here, if you're looking for those things, you're setting yourself up for a fall. What you need to do is not look for those things, not compare yourself among yourself, but just serve the Lord, just serve God.

And yes, take counsel, but evidently here in Corinth, this is a big issue. Now, I want you to go back to 1 Corinthians again, and I wanna look at this thing with Paul and Apollos because it starts out here in the first letter that he wrote, 1 Corinthians chapter three, and we'll finish with this here this morning. 1 Corinthians chapter three, verse one.

I read much of this, so I'll just jump down to verse number three. For ye are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying and strife and division, are you not carnal and walkest men? For while one saith, I am of Paul, another, I am of Apollos, elevating these men, are you not carnal? Who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Now, notice here in this church, Paul says, I came to Corinth, I preached the gospel, I planted the seed, and those who in Corinth heard the gospel, they believed the gospel, I baptized them, or others were baptized, Paul even says later on, I don't know if I baptized any of you, but you were baptized and you formed a church, and a church was raised up, and I don't know how long he stayed there at Corinth, number of months, but after he left, God raised up this teacher, Apollos, and Apollos was there, and for how long Apollos was there, I don't know, but Apollos was there just feeding the sheep, and doing a very good job of feeding the sheep, and so in the human heart, those who are fleshly, those who are immature, they're comparing the two, comparing them, and saying things like, well, this is Apollos' work, no, this is Apollos', this is Paul's work, and I don't know where Cephas gets involved here, but Peter's also thrown into the mix, you know, we've had that here in the church, you know, if Apollos wasn't here, the church would fall apart, some people would say, well, if Paul didn't start it, there wouldn't be no church here, and all these things are happening, but then Paul gives them the answer here in verse seven, so then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that waters, that's where we ought to get to right there, church, listen, you glory in men, men are nothing, they're nothing, and he even says himself, I planted, but I am nothing, Apollos is there, and we're told in the book of Acts that Apollos is an eloquent man and fervent in the scriptures, Apollos is nothing but God that giveth the increase, it's God's work, amen, by the way, it's God's work, whoever God raises up here, you know, in 20, 30, 40 years, and this work goes, if God's not in the work, it's not gonna go anyway, amen, but if it's God's work, it'll go, and if it's God's work, it won't be built on men, it won't be built on names, it won't be built on Apollos and Paul and Peter, because these individuals are nothing, truth of the matter is, the Lord, if he wants, he could bring a donkey up here and speak to that donkey, he did that already in the past, verse eight says, now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and we need to understand that, this is where the division comes from, it's not about competing, it's not about comparing, it's about realizing that we're all on the same team, we're all working together, we all have a different place, Apollos, you're a teacher, you're eloquent, Paul, your speech is contemptible, but Paul, you're just as important as Apollos, because we're all working to the same end, and I like verse eight, it says, now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor, and that's important, it's not about your successes or failures, it's not about how much fruit, it's not about how much commending from men, it's about your labor, how much you're working, some people will work and work and work and work and work, and not have a lot to show for it, and in the day of judgment, God will say, here's what you're gonna be rewarded on, not what you have to show for it, but how much you labor, that way it brings it all down level, you're rewarded based on how much work you do, there are people like Isaiah who came to the Lord, in Isaiah six, and said, Lord, I wanna go, and I wanna serve you, here am I, send me, and the Lord said, I'm gonna send you, but I'm gonna send you to a place where they're not gonna hear you, and it's desolate, and you're gonna preach, and nobody's gonna get converted, and Isaiah asked the question, well, Lord, how long do I have to do this? Well, until the cities are waste and everything is desolate, okay, so I go and I don't see anything, well, am I ever gonna get a reward? Yes, you're getting rewarded based on what you work, your labor, your labor, not how it all worked out, so I've taken heart in that over the years, it's not about how many people respond, or not about how many college students get converted, it's about just getting out there and laboring, working, not looking at the responses or the fruit of it, yes, sometimes God gives fruit, but I just need to get to work, verse nine says, for we are laborers together with God, you are God's husbandry, and you are God's building, now this whole thing, and I'm not gonna read through the whole thing, it's talking about building on another man's foundation, but jump down to verse number 21, and here's how he concludes it, the same way he does conclude it in chapter 10, in verse 21, therefore, let no man glory in men, ah, oh, brother so-and-so is such a great preacher, brother so-and-so is such a great man of God, brother so-and-so this, brother so-and-so that, and we end up following men, let no man glory in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours, and you are Christ, and Christ is God, is God's.

You know, I thought about this this week, we oftentimes get on these young people about hero worship, you know, sports figures, or rock stars, or business people, make a lot of money, the basos, and the muscle, the world, and a lot of young people make heroes, but yet there's a lot of older people, in religious settings, they make heroes out of religious figures, they glorify men, elevate men, and I don't think we ought to be doing that, Paul says, neither he that planteth is anything, neither he that waters, but God gives the increase, I think we ought to rejoice in what God is doing in people's lives, and saying, you know, apart from him, you wouldn't be in that place, and that's the truth, and so let's avoid politics, let's avoid the praises of men, glorifying men, comparing men, comparing women, judging according to appearance, all these things, although it must have been very prevalent in the church at Corinth, and I can only think about Corinth being a Greek situation, where they have philosophers, and all these great philosophers just come out of this Greek culture, and the praises of these philosophers, and lifting men up, I think it's even in the book of Acts, when Paul is there, is it Mars Hill, I think it is, where he has all these statues of men, men, this man, that man, and all these great men, and the deification, the glorification of men, so the end of 2 Corinthians, it simply says, but he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord, for not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends, and that's good counsel for us. So let's not boast in ourselves, let's boast in each other, but more importantly, let's make our boast in the Lord, because whatever God is doing in any of you, it's him that's doing it, would you acknowledge that? If he's making you holy, you ought not to boast in your holiness, because he's the one who's making you holy, if he's giving you gifts that are amazing gifts, you ought not to boast in the one who has the gift, but in the one who's given the gift, and so that all that glory is to him. All right, let's finish here, we'll close, we'll have a word of prayer, then we'll open it up for anyone who'd like to share.

Lord, we want to give honor and glory to you, we acknowledge that, even as we read here this morning, that we are nothing, and that everyone here has got a place in building up the church, and the body of Christ, and we have a ministry, and that we ought to labor in that ministry, Lord, in the end, we'll all be brought to the same level, and be judged on the basis of our work, our labor, and so Lord, let us not glory in men, but in you, and let us encourage one another, Lord, we see good things in our brother and sister's life, may we praise them and give honor to them as they seek to do your will, and may we encourage them, but Lord, deliver us from our self-boast, and from lifting our own self up, and may we not participate in those things, so we look to you, thank you, Lord, for all that you've done in each of our lives, in our midst here, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.