These last two Sundays, Brett has preached on Biblical Masculinity and Holy living. Sadly many men live in a self-reliant mode where they think they can think, fight or buy their way out of any situation. In Elder Meeting 10-17 we talked about God’s view of this from Jeremiah 9: 23-24.
“This is what the LORD says:
‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.”
Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived and wasn’t afraid to show it off. He showed his wisdom and riches to the Queen of Sheba and started many projects and initiatives. But in the end his harem led him to idolatry which led to his downfall (I Kings 11). Though he was wise in his early years, his boasting pride was despised by God.
Consider Samson, the strongest man ever. Though he served as a leader of Israel for twenty years, his pride in his strength led him to make foolish decisions, arrogantly mocking Delilah and the Philistines. (Judges 13-16) Finally he went one step too far and paid the ultimate price for his sinful life and boastful pride in his strength.
And what about Hezekiah? One of the best kings ever, he rebuilt Judah and re-established temple worship. But in the end, pride in his accomplishments and riches (II Chron 32:25-29) and a boastful spirit about his wealth to representatives of a foreign power (Isaiah 39) brought God’s condemnation. And even then, hearing that the judgment would actually fall on his descendants, he complacently showed concern only for himself and his own comfort (Is. 39:8).
Go back to our text in Jeremiah. What does any man feel he really needs? If he is wise (intellectually brilliant and savvy), strong (sexual or physical prowess), and/or rich (in this world’s possessions), he feels that he can conquer the world and doesn’t need anyone or anything else, including God. But once a man loses one or all of these three things, he can fall into deep depression and lose his self-worth.
But God says in our text, that if a man is going to boast in anything it should be that he understands and knows God; that he is genuinely intimate with God, the God whose very character exudes kindness, justice and righteousness. Sadly many men are Sunday-go-to-meeting Christians but are totally self-reliant the rest of the week, hardly thinking of God and certainly not walking intimately with him day by day.
May we CrossPoint leaders and laymen examine our hearts for that self-reliant spirit of boasting in our wisdom, strength and riches, and instead seek a genuine intimacy with God in our daily walk.
1 comment:
Very well presented, however, really, if you are going to go work and build a career, this does not seem possible a bit "pie in the sky" or monasterial at best. Certainly we hold these concepts and truths high, but one can not function in real business with these kind of victorian ways of thinking. Haven't we gone a bit far and are we not getting into trouble or into an unbelievable situation here. Look, as a marketing and design guy, if I were to really behave like this in the market place I would be out of work. I think we need a reality check here. Either we are all to be preachers and stay in this mode, or we must believe these things and then have to go to a world to work that this seems insane to talk about. I'm confused here, does this mean if I practice being the person I was trained and have spent 37 years honing my skills at for business that I am out of line? I think we need to realize that there are two real worlds we live in. One is our personal self world and the other is the world we really live in that of a corrupt world. Just like our hearts in which we place Christ upon the thrones of our lives and yet our sin nature is still present with in us. This really boils down to ethics in business and walking a tight rope with our Lord... It is just the tension we are suppose to be suspended between. So no one said this walk with Jesus was easy, but it gets much harder when expectations upon us to be monks and isolated and cloistered is expected of our business lives. Sorry, I don't disagree with the scripture, I just disagree with the application and not to confuse our two worlds we must walk in. May be I am missing something here... but, I find this hard to recon with and realistically balance what the scripture says to our present age in which we live.
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