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.”
So, in the pursuit of power and influence, Pastor Zahnd concludes, “You can take up the sword of Caesar or you can take up the cross of Jesus. You have to choose” (Tim Alberta, The Kingdom, The Power, And The Glory: American Evangelicals In An Age Of Extremism, Harper Collins Publishers, 2023, p. 293; www.PreachingToday.com).
So what will you choose? Superiority or Service?
Remember, Jesus “came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). It’s not like Christ to boast, but if you’re going to boast, boast about your service, not your superiority. More than that…
BOAST ABOUT YOUR SUFFERING, not your status.
Brag about your sacrifices, not your standing. Crow about your pain, not your lofty position. That’s what Paul does.
2 Corinthians 11:21b-23 But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death (ESV).
Paul tires to boast about his status as a Hebrew speaking Hebrew, as a native Israelite, and as a direct descendant of Abraham. He even tries to boast about his status as a servant of Christ, but it makes him feel like a foolish madman. So he goes on to boast about his suffering.
2 Corinthians 11:24-29 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? (ESV)—literally, and I am not burned with distress?
Throughout his ministry, Paul faced external and internal pressure. He faced depravation, danger, and distress.
Five times, Jewish authorities whipped him with 39 lashes (vs.24). The Law required no more than 40 lashes (Deuteronomy 25:3), so the scourger himself stopped at 39 in case he miscounted. In this case, the scourger bound the prisoner’s hands to both sides of a pillar, tore the clothes off the prisoner’s chest, and stood on a stone behind the prisoner with three straps of calf hide, doubled and re-doubled. The scourger then struck the prisoner, one handed with all his might, 13 times on his chest (leaving stripes from shoulder to navel) and 26 times on his back. This is what Paul suffered five times, a scourging so severe that it was liable to kill a man (Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians, 3rd ed.).
That was from the Jewish authorities. Additionally, Roman authorities beat Paul three times with birch wood rods (vs.25). The book of Acts records only one shipwreck Paul experienced (Acts 27), but there were two more, besides all the other dangers Paul experienced in his travels. On top of it all, besides these external pressures, Paul faced the internal pressure of concern for all the churches he started, especially in Corinth! To them, he had to write a tearful letter and make a painful visit (2 Corinthians 2:1-4).
Now, I don’t know which is worse—torture from those outside the church or attacks from those inside the church—but Paul experienced it all! The false teachers had experienced none of this suffering, so they chose to boast of their status. Paul, on the other hand, boasted about his suffering, which gained him far more credibility than the empty claims of his rivals.
During World War II, a German submarine struck a US Army Transport Ship carrying 902 servicemen. Panic and chaos quickly set in as men raced for lifeboats in the frigid waters off the coast of Greenland.
In the midst of pandemonium, four Army chaplains worked to calm the frightened men. One was a Jewish Rabbi, one was a Methodist, one was a Roman Catholic priest, and one was a Dutch Reformed minister.
On the deck of the ship, they worked to distribute life vests to soldiers escaping into the frigid waters. When they ran out, each minister simultaneously removed his own jacket and gave it to the soldiers. One survivor would later say, “It was the finest thing I have seen or hope to see this side of heaven.”
As the ship went down, survivors in nearby rafts could see the four chaplains—arms linked and braced against the slanting deck. They were offering prayers and singing hymns. Of the 902 men aboard, only 230 survived. Congress later conferred a posthumous Medal for Heroism, The Four Chaplains' Medal, upon the four chaplains.
Before boarding the Dorchester, the Dutch Reformed minister, Chaplain Poling asked his father to pray for him, “Not for my safe return, that wouldn't be fair. Just pray that I shall do my duty… never be a coward… and have the strength, courage and understanding of men. Just pray that I shall be adequate” (John Brinsfield, “Chaplain Corps History: The Four Chaplains,” Army.mil, 1-28-14; www.PreachingToday.com).
Oh, to be adequate for the task to which God has called me, to face it with strength and courage! Now, that’s something to brag about. So, if you’re going to boast, boast about your service, not your superiority. Boast about your suffering, not your status. And finally…
BOAST ABOUT YOUR SHAME, not your success.
Brag about your humiliation, not your achievements. Crow about your disgrace, not your proud accomplishments. That’s what Paul did.
2 Corinthians 11:30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness (ESV)—that is my incapacity, my limitations.
2 Corinthians 11:31-33 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands (ESV).
Like the false teachers, Paul had proudly entered Damascus with letters of recommendation to capture the Christians there (Acts 9:1-2). However, he met Jesus on the way (Acts 9:3-9), and Paul became a Christian himself. In fact, he so powerfully preached Christ that he caught the attention of the city officials, who wanted to kill him. So Paul had to sneak out of the city in shame and disgrace—as a wanted criminal (Acts 9:20-25).
Paul didn’t boast about his proud entrance into the city, or even about his powerful preaching, which confounded the Jews. No! Paul boasted about his shameful exit from the city, which embarrassed him no end.
Roman officers rewarded a Roman soldier, who was the first to scale the wall of an enemy city (Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary). By contrast, Paul secretly escaped an enemy city in shame, but Paul makes that the object of his boast. He served and suffered for Christ in shame.
Live to let that become your boast, as well. Don’t live to be popular. Live for Christ, which can be very unpopular in our day and age.
Christian author John White tells the story of his days as a medical student. For one of his classes, he missed a practicum about venereal disease and had to make it up at the clinic. When he arrived at the clinic, he ended up in a line with a bunch of patients who had actually contracted a venereal disease. White barged up to the front and told the head nurse, “I need to see the doctor.”
“That's what everybody says,” snorted the nurse, “now get in line.”
“But I'm a medical student.”
“Big deal,” said the nurse, “You got it the same way as everybody else; now you can stand in line like everybody else.”
John White writes: In the end I managed to explain to her why I was there, but I can still feel the sense of shame that made me balk at standing in line with the other men who had a venereal disease. Yet Jesus shunned shame as he [went to the cross]. And the moral gulf that separated him from us was far greater than that separating me from the men at the clinic… But he crossed the gulf, joining our ranks, embraced us, and still remained pure. He identified with those he came to save. He became like us (John White, Excellence in Leadership, InterVarsity Press, 1986, p. 24; www.PreachingToday.com).
Hebrews 12:2 says He “endured the cross despising the shame.” Jesus joined us in our shame so we could one day join Him in His glory!
Please, if you haven’t done it already, trust Christ with your life. Commit your life to Him, who died for you and rose again. Then live your life for Him no matter the cost.
If you’re going to boast, boast about your service, not your superiority, boast about your suffering, not your status, and boast about your shame, not your success.
Michael Nnadi was one of 270 students studying at the Good Shepherd Seminary in Kaduna, Nigeria. On the evening of January 8, 2020, an armed gang, disguised in military fatigues, breached the gate of the school, snagged four seminarians, including Michael, and made their escape.
By the end of the month, they had freed three of the four boys, but not Michael. A few days later, his kidnappers massacred him and dumped his dead body on the side of the road.
Michael’s twin brother, Raphael, spoke to the Nigerian press the week he and his brother would have turned 19. He saluted the path of faith and service that his brother had selected. “Michael was so much committed and loved the things of God… My consolation is that he did not die in vain, pursuing things of the world, but rather he died in the service to God, training for the [ministry].”
However, it remained a mystery why the kidnappers killed Michael and freed the others. The same negotiators had been working on behalf of all four abductees. Some Nigerians, as well as local and international authorities, thought that he may have been disposed of as a negotiating tool to increase the ransom for the others, but no one knew for sure—until April 30, 2020.
That’s the day a Nigerian newspaper reporter interviewed the murderer, Mustapha Mohammed. Mustapha brazenly told the press, “[Michael] did not allow me any peace; he just kept preaching to me his gospel. I did not like the confidence he displayed [in his faith], and I decided to send him to an early grave” (Rabbi Abraham Cooper & Rev. Johnnie Moore, “The Mass Murder of Nigerian Christians,” The Tablet, 11-20-20; www.PreachingToday.com).
That man is a hero in my book—not because of any great accomplishment, only because he endured suffering and shame for Christ, just like the Apostle Paul, who also gave His life, proclaiming the gospel.
My dear friends, if you want to have something to boast about, go and do thou likewise.
