Foolish Boasting Series

When women get together, one might say, “I was hit by a car today," and all the other women will say, “You're kidding! What happened? Where? Are you all right?”

When men get together, their conversation is very different. One might say, “I was hit by a car today," and I guarantee that at least one other guy will say, “Wait till I tell you what happened to me” (Phil Donahue, Marriage Partnership, Vol. 8, no. 2; www.PreachingToday.com).

It’s like they’re in a competition, trying to outdo each other. Now, there is nothing wrong with this. Guys do it all the time. Some just do it better than others.

The question is what boasts carry the most weight? What blusterous claims impress the most? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians 11, 2 Corinthians 11, where the Apostle Paul gets into a boasting contest with some so-called “super-apostles.” You tell me who makes the most impressive claims.

2 Corinthians 11:16-21a I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would but as a fool. Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! (ESV)

With great irony, Paul boasts like a fool, because his audience is impressed with such boasting. In fact, they’re so impressed that they let such braggarts enslave them in legalism, devour them like parasites, and take advantage of them or deceivingly exploit them like a fish on a hook. Those same braggarts “put on airs.” That is to say they put themselves above others and shamed their students (figuratively slapping them on the face).

The false teachers the Corinthian believers welcomed into their church boasted of their superior status, demeaning all others. Unlike them, Paul ironically says we were too “weak” to do that to you. On the contrary, he served and elevated them.

So who makes the better boast? Those who claim superiority or those who claim to serve? I think the answer is obvious, so if you’re going to boast…

BOAST ABOUT YOUR SERVICE, not your superiority.

Brag about your assistance, not your ascendancy. Crow about your humble support, not your hyped-up credentials.

On January 15th, 2009, US Airways flight #1549 departed New York City’s LaGuardia’s Airport. Within a few minutes, the plane collided with a flock of geese, taking out both engines. Captain Sully Sullenberg made an emergency landing in the chilly waters of the Hudson River. Before he left the plane and got to safety, he walked the plane twice to make sure no one was onboard. As the captain, he knew that he must be the last person on the plane. “Sully” became a national hero.

Three years later—almost to the date—on January 13th, 2012, a massive Italian cruise ship called the Costa Concordia crashed into the rocks and started to sink. The ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, was trying to impress a younger female dancer on board when he veered too close to danger. The ship started sinking with its 4,000-plus passengers on board.

In the confusion and chaos, Schettino escaped on to a lifeboat before everyone else had made it off the ship. Schettino later claimed that he fell into a lifeboat because the ship was listing to one side, but the court found that story incredulous. Instead, the court found him guilty of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning the ship with passengers still on board. The judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison (Alan Greenblatt, “Captains Uncourageous: Abandoning a Ship Long Seen As a Crime,” NPR, 4-18-22; www.PreachingToday.com).

Captain Sullenberg was a servant, putting his passengers ahead of himself. Captain Schettino was a showoff, putting himself above everyone else. Which one impresses you more? My dear friends, if you’re going to boast, boast about your service, not your superiority.

Some American Christians seek to make Christianity the dominant culture, but “Christianity is inherently countercultural. That’s how it thrives,” so says Pastor Brian Zahnd of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri.

He goes on to say, “When [Christianity] tries to become a dominant culture, it becomes corrupted. This is one major difference between Islam and Christianity. Islam has designs on running the world; it's a system of government. Christianity is nothing like that. The gospels and the epistles have no vision of Christianity being a dominant religion or culture… [In fact], the Bible is written primarily from the perspective of the underdog: Hebrew slaves fleeing Egypt, Jews exiled to Babylon, Christians living under Roman occupation.”