Be careful what you boast about.
Text: Romans 4:1-5,13-17 for 3/12/2017 by Pastor Bolwerk
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. 13 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15 because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
If you are familiar at all with the cartoon “Dilbert” then you may be familiar with a character from that cartoon who goes by the nickname “Topper.” Topper is someone who is always bragging about how what he has done is better than something someone else has done. If someone says they created a new invention, then Topper would say he created five. If someone says they completed a marathon then Topper would have come in first in a Triathlon. If someone says they donated blood Topper would say that he donated a kidney. He was always trying to “top” people’s best. No matter what a person did, what Topper did was always better.
That’s the problem with boasting about something, isn’t it? It seems like no matter how well you have done something, or how great an accomplishment, there is always some else who has done something just as great, if not better. Yet, we still find ourselves boasting about things from time to time, don’t we? Often we try not to make it seem like we’re boasting. It’s more like we are just humbly stating the facts. The fact that our child aced that math test when everyone else in the class was lucky to pass that test. Or the fact that if it had not been for our extra effort the project we were given would not have been completed on time. We try to act like what we did was no big deal, but deep down inside we can feel ourselves beaming with pride.
Boasting is something we enjoy doing because we like to feel important and be important. But as we hear what God has to say to us through his Apostle Paul we start to realize that, before God, there are some things we should not be boasting about. Paul warns us to …
Theme: Be careful what you boast about.
1. Don’t boast about good works.
2. Boast about God’s grace.
Of all the people in the Bible who could have boasted before God you would think Abraham would be at the top of the list. Abraham was the father of the Jewish nation. When God asked him to leave his homeland and move to a foreign country Abraham followed the Lord’s directions to the Promised Land. Abraham openly worshiped God, and when God asked him to, Abraham was ready to sacrifice his own son Isaac to show God just how much he loved and trusted him. If anybody was a prime candidate for boasting about being saved by their good works, it was certainly Abraham.
So where did Abraham stand with God? As the Apostle Paul points out, “If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God” (v. 2). For as much as Abraham had to boast about, he had just as much to be ashamed about: Abraham twice lied about Sarah being his wife. And when God waited to give Abraham the child he promised him Abraham had sexual relations with another woman to try and speed up the process. If Abraham was aware of anything it was that he had nothing to boast about before God.
Abraham was a sinful human being, just like you and me. Yet, God did something special for him. God gave Abraham promises. God promised Abraham, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3). Those promises moved Abraham to trust God, and God credited Abraham’s faith as righteousness.
So what about us? Where do we stand with God? God has given us a promise: He has promised us forgiveness of sins and eternal life through his Son, Jesus. Through those promises God created faith in us. And because of that we really would not boast about our own goodness, would we?
Let me ask you this: If someone said to you, “Prove to me why God would think you’re so good,” what proof would you give? What would you say? Would you say, “I go to church regularly. I pray. I give generously to my church. I don’t use bad language. I read my Bible every day. I’m nice to people, I help people, and I am always ready and willing to help out around church.” Now ask yourself this: Do any of those things really make you good in God’s eyes? If you have ever pointed to any of these things as proof you are good to God, then be careful what you boast about! What Paul said about Abraham is also true of us: When it comes to being justified by the good that we do we might have something to boast about to the world, but not before God.
All of these things we often boast about, things we hold up as proof we are good before God, these things are nothing more than a breaking of God’s law! Now you might be thinking, “But these are all good things! How can pointing these things out be breaking God Law?” God First Commandment is that we have no other gods before him. God goes on to say in his word, “I will not give my glory to another” (Isaiah 42:8). When we boast about the things we do, things we believe make us good before God, then we are stealing God’s glory because we are not giving him the credit for making us good in the first place. When we point the finger at ourselves as the source of our goodness then we are pointing in the wrong place.
The only thing that makes anyone good before God is God’s promise of forgiveness through faith in Jesus. It is faith in Christ that makes you “good” before God. And that faith comes from God through his word of promise, just as it came to Abraham.
It is what Jesus did that makes you good in God’s eyes. What makes you “good” to God is Jesus perfect keeping of God’s law. It is his innocent life which he fully submitted to God’s will. It is his sacrificial death which he used to pay for our sinful boasting. Jesus suffered hell in our place, died in our place, and then rose from the dead so that he could cover us with his perfect life. Only when we are covered by Jesus’ righteousness are we right before God. That righteousness is only our by faith, and we only have faith because God worked that faith in us. Our goodness is completely God’s doing! What God does almost seems backwards, doesn’t it? God gives us faith, and then he turns right around and says, “Since you have faith in my Son I will credit you as being right with me.” He gives us credit for doing something when we never did a single thing!
If anyone has any right to boast before God, it certainly isn’t us. So, be careful what you do boast about. Don’t boast about your good works because that won’t get you anywhere with God. But if you really feel like you need to boast about something then boast about God’s grace.
It is by his grace that God freely offers you his gifts of forgiveness and eternal life. Now, when our sinful nature hears that God’s forgiveness is free it questions if that is really true. It’s always thinking that there must be some kind of catch. Our sinful nature believes that when it comes to salvation there must be something we have to do. So it turns to God’s law, his Ten Commandments. Our old, sinful self looks at those commandments and says, “If I can just keep those then God will certainly think I am a good person and let me into heaven.”
But we do not receive God’s good gifts through the law. To help us understand this, the Apostle Paul points us back to Abraham. Paul writes, “It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath.” (vs. 13-15).
If you are required to work for your inheritance, it’s not really an inheritance is it? Just as Paul said earlier, “Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation” (v. 4). An inheritance is supposed to be a gift. If you have to work for it that inheritance is no longer a gift. It is now something that is owed to you.
Trying to use God’s law as a way to “earn” our way into heaven will never work because as Paul pointed out, the “law brings wrath” (vs. 15). All the law can ever do is condemn us. It simply keeps reminding us that because of our sins what we have earned for ourselves is hell! So when we try to keep God’s law as a way of gaining God’s favor, then all we do is make God’s promise worthless because we are living as if God’s promise does not apply to us.
As it was said earlier earlier, the only goodness we have is the goodness that comes from God himself. And the good things we have from God come to us purely by his grace. Paul writes, “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring […] to those who are of the faith of Abraham” (v. 16).
Grace is God’s undeserved kindness to us. Through faith in Jesus God guarantees us everything he has promised us. By the grace of God we have faith in Jesus which guarantees us forgiveness of sins, peace with God, a new life right now and an eternal life to come. In Christ we are guaranteed freedom from guilt, the answer to our prayers, guidance for our lives, and the power for living lives of thankfulness to God.
Because of our sinfulness we did not deserve any of these things from God. In fact, because of our sin we came into this world dead to God. We were completely worthless to him. But God dealt with our sinful deadness because, as Paul pointed out, he is “the God who gives life to the dead” (v. 17). God made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our sins. It is by grace you have been saved. This new life we have truly is a gift of God’s grace. That is certainly something to boast about!
When it comes to salvation God has done it all. So, be careful what you do boast about. Don’t boast about your own good works. Boast about God’s grace, the grace that not only saves you but guarantees you that salvation. It guarantees that you are right with God just like Abraham.
Abraham trusted God’s promises and it was credited to him as righteousness. We trust God’s promises: The promise that Jesus has fulfilled all the law demands from us. The promise that we are forgiven because of Christ’s saving work. The promise that we have a perfect unending life waiting for us in heaven. Trusting in all God’s promises, God credits Jesus’ righteousness to us. Let Christ’s “rightness” be your joy and strength as you boast about your gracious God to the world! Amen.
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