Bragging on Jesus [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. Pride is about the comparison to others. C.S.

Lewis said it well, pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next person. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series, Victorious Living, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It's a book written by Pastor Alan called God Moments, and it can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. Are you ready for some good news? You don't have to spend your life boasting about yourself. You've got Jesus, and so you can boast in Christ. The move from being always on your own mind and feeling like you always have to somehow elevate yourself, the move from that to finding that you can be free from thinking about yourself all the time and boasting in Christ is one of the most precious, liberating, joyful moves in the Spirit that you could ever make. And that's what Paul is talking about today. We're in 2 Corinthians as we continue our study of this amazing epistle in which Paul is addressing, at least in part, the complaints and criticisms that he's gotten from some so-called super apostles who must have loved to boast about their own spirituality and boast about their own accomplishments. And Paul's got some really strong words to say today about this, and there's going to be some deep insight for us into the gospel. I want to just first point you to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 17, just this one verse, 2 Corinthians 10 verse 17, where Paul says, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

And then I'm going to turn you to just the next chapter, chapter 11, 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 30, where Paul writes, if I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. We're going to be coming back and reading a good bit more of this text, but that's where I wanted to begin today. You know, it's very interesting. Our daughter was in a speech, a national speech league for four years of high school. And so I got to listen to many, many different speeches, not just for our own daughter, but sometimes we have the privilege and challenge of being a judge at these speech contests and sit there and you're trying to decide who's got the best speech. And one of the categories is called impromptu, where you just come into the room and there on a table are some pieces of some cards turned upside down. You select one of those cards and on the other side of it is a word or phrase, and you get four minutes to prepare a six minute speech that's just about that word or phrase. And you had no idea what it was going to be. So it's just impromptu speaking.

And as you can imagine, it's hard to always have something meaningful to say and to get it organized and just thinking about it for four minutes. Some of the kids are just incredible, but I was judging one at a regional tournament and the young man turned over his card and he began his speech this way. I think it was the best one I ever heard. I just delighted in it. He said, I have been an athlete and I want to talk to you about some of my athletic prowess. He said, I was a hurdler. He said, I remember my first meet where I jumped over every hurdle and I realized I was way ahead of everybody and I got over the last hurdle and I began to celebrate. I was so excited that I had won the hurdling race and my coach was yelling at me from the sideline.

I said, what? I didn't understand what he was yelling. And while he was yelling at me, all the other hurdlers came up and they raced past me. And I realized that once you go over the last hurdle, you still have to run a little while before you cross the finish line.

And I didn't know that. And so I came in last place and he pulled up his card. He said, I have been given the word success. And so I want to talk to you about success and why it is overrated. And he went on to list all the failures of his life and how somehow God had used this in his life.

It was just absolutely delightful. It's something like that, that Paul does in second Corinthians chapter 11, where he is listing out all of these failures. And what we're going to see today is the beautiful transformation that can take place in our lives, where we get liberated. It's what Tim Keller calls the freedom of self-forgetfulness. It is the ultimate expression of a worshipful life, where instead of thinking about yourself and how you're measuring up and how you compare to everybody else, you're lost in wonder at who Christ is and you find such security in Him. It is a wonderful liberating transition that if you've never really made this in your life, I want to show you something about that today.

It's very powerful. Paul began his ministry in a very humble way, and I'm quite identified with him because it seemed like, especially in all my early ministry positions, God had a way of letting me be humbled as I began. My very first job out of college was a youth ministry position. I did this two-year program called Tithe of Life, and there were about 20 of us, I think, that were participating. We were placed in churches all around the nation, and I was somehow just ready to get to work, and I had a vision of being involved in a big and busy church and going into the office and having, you know, collegiality. But it was actually a program that took us into a small church, a church I worked with. We didn't have a building yet. It was a new church, and we didn't have many youth, and I remember just feeling like, where's my, where's my office?

Where's my, what do I do? And I remember just feeling quite humbled by that. My second real ministry job I ever had was at First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. We were going to have summer internships during seminary, and a lot of people wanted to go to First President Atlanta because Paul Echol was the pastor, and Paul is one of the finest preachers I ever knew, and so I really wanted to go there, and I went and interviewed with their committee, and to my great delight was offered that position, and afterwards, as Paul was introducing me sometime, he said, you know, we don't select the person that is, you know, the most gifted or talented or whatever like that.

He said, we just like to get the person we could help the most, and so I was like, thank you, Dr. Echol. I appreciate that, but none of this compares to my auspicious beginnings at my first church that I took as a solo pastor in Durham. I don't know, maybe I have shared this, but I don't know if I ever have shared this absolutely humiliating beginning to my ministry, but I will share it briefly. It could be a very long story, but it went like this. We interviewed with way too many churches at the conclusion of seminary, sort of afraid like you won't have a job, and so we interviewed places we knew we weren't really called to, and yet we just started interviewing with all these places, and so we did have some opportunities that people invited us to go, and there were some nice associate positions and nice places, and there were some of all that, but what we were attracted to was a little church in Durham, and we'd read about it, and something in it had just ignited a sense of hope in our heart that this little church could have promise for growing and impacting its community, and so we met with them, and we had the most delightful time in interviewing with this committee, and we loved them, and it seemed that they loved us, and the chairman of the committee, Jeff, he called me up after the interviews, and he said, we just love you very, very much, and we said, well, we love you guys too, and I thought he was getting ready to say, so we'd like to extend the call to you, but instead he said, the problem is we've already extended this call to another pastor. I said, oh, I said, well, why were we interviewing with you then? He said, because the other pastor has not said yes or no yet, and so we're kind of covering our bases here, and he went on to say, what we'd like you to do is we'd like for you to just hang on for a while and see if the other guy says yes or no, and this is the kind of thing that my wife goes, what? We're going to do what? And I say, well, honey, we've got to seek the Lord about this because, you know, I feel like the Lord's called us to this, and if so, then the other guy will say no, and they'll call us. Well, he said it's going to be about a week or so, and after about a week or two, he called and said, the other guy, he needs some more time.

Can you hang on for a while? I said, well, I've got other opportunities, and if I say no to the other opportunities and this doesn't work out, then, you know, we won't have anything, and he said, well, I understand that, but, you know, we do love you, and so we said we'll hang on, and eventually, beloved, what happened was we said no to every single other opportunity, and while everybody else was celebrating all their new pastorate jobs they were going to have and everything, we're just waiting to see if the other person they already offered the position to was going to say no, and then one day we got the call that indeed he had said no, and we're like, okay. They said, so come on up to Durham. We're going to have you preach in a neutral pulpit. Our committee will meet with you, and we're like, okay, we'll go up there, and we'll work out all the things, so I went up, and I preached in a neutral pulpit. The committee was there, and I preached on Psalm 23. How can you go wrong with Psalm 23? I mean Psalm 23. You can't, you know, I mean, it's Psalm 23, and I preached my heart out, and we were so excited because we were going to meet at this bed and breakfast in Hillsboro for lunch. They got a big family-style buffet there, and we're going to go and eat and eat and celebrate with the committee, and what we're eating, and I noticed the committee was just kind of eating like this, real slow and long faces, and I knew we were in trouble when we got to the apple cobbler at the end, and everybody just said they just wanted to pass, and I'm like, but it's included. You know what? I mean, and we went back. I am telling the truth.

This is how my ministry began. We went back to a little room, and we met, and I'm like, what is it? Why the long faces? And turned out, Jeff, the chairman of the committee, he said, I'm still not sure. This is, again, where if it were up to my wife, she just said, what? And walked out, so we just sat there.

I'm looking at Ann, and I'm just telling you the truth. This is what happened. The committee began fighting amongst themselves in front of us. This is exactly what happened, and so it was Melvin looks over at Jeff. This is the truth.

You don't even believe this. Melvin looked over at Jeff and said, well, if this young man's not the man, then that's it. I quit.

He quits the committee. Somebody else starts quitting the committee, and finally one lady said, well, why don't we just pray about this, and we're just sitting there like, I don't think this is a very professional way to do this right in front of the candidate who's made you the only hope now, and so they let us pray about it, and they prayed, and then at the end of it, Jeff, he said, well, the Lord spoke to me during the prayer, and I think you are the one, and we were like, okay, great, and then afterwards we were signing all the documents and everything, and he came up to me a week later, so he said, oh, and he said, the other guy was more experienced than you, so we're going to reduce the salary from what we originally had listed, and I said, I can't wait to get started here. That was nothing compared to the apostle Paul.

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Ever been facing a problem when a well-meaning Christian friend said something like, you just need to have more faith? The problem with such an exhortation, of course, is that telling someone that they ought to have more faith doesn't actually help a person have more faith. We all want more faith, but what can we do to get more faith? In his highly acclaimed book, God Moments, Pastor Alan Wright describes one of the most important biblical pathways to building your faith, remembering God's presence in your life. When you see God's faithfulness yesterday, you'll find it easier to trust him tomorrow. Your life is full of God moments, and through Alan Wright's teaching series and book, you'll have a treasure map to help you discover them all. When you make a gift, we'll send you a very special bundle. It's Alan Wright's faith-building book, God Moments, and the CD album of the series that he has preached on the subject. We'll send you both when you make your gift today. It's time to discover your God moments from yesterday and be filled with fresh faith for today. Call us at 877-544-4860, or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues.

Here once again is Alan Wright. He was Saul of Tarsus. He had studied under Gamaliel, one of the finest teachers in the ancient world. He was really one of the most erudite men, and he was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was in a place of leadership amongst the religious elite, and he had taken it upon himself personally to try to stamp out this new movement of the followers of the way of Jesus. And he was on his way to Damascus there to arrest and imprison some Christians.

And as he was making his way, there was a blinding, glorious light that came. The whole account is recorded in Acts chapter 9. It says in verse 1, Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord went to the high priest and asked him for letters. In other words, he wanted to have official documentation that he had carte blanche to arrest and prison persecute Christians. Letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. He's going to go bring them in shackles and bring them back to Jerusalem for their punishment. As he went on his way, he approached Damascus and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him and falling to the ground. He heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you're persecuting, but rise and enter the city and you will be told what you're to do. And verse 7, the men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. And Saul rose from the ground. Although his eyes were open, he saw nothing.

So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank. So you got to understand, maybe if you've been without sight for your whole life, you learn how to cope.

You learn how to, but this is sudden blindness that has come. And he has been overwhelmed by this and he doesn't eat, he doesn't drink. And this mighty Saul, you just got to envision who'd come in like with authority to arrest anybody he wanted, all this power. And now he comes in and he's just like led by the hand stumbling and he can't even see the people that he formerly thought that he was going to come and arrest. That was the auspicious beginnings of Paul the apostle's ministry that would change the whole world. Never ever, ever did Paul forget that. He mentions that initial encounter with Jesus over and over and over. There's something about who God is and the way that He wants to use our lives that He can really, really move in the midst of deep understanding of our need for God, of our own humility. And this is the way it happened for Paul. And it's such a powerful scene that sets the context for everything Paul has to say in 2 Corinthians 11. Remember, there are these so-called super apostles that are evidently criticizing Paul.

He's not dazzling enough. He has had too many weaknesses and seemingly failures and too many, just too many moments in his life where he doesn't seem to be this grand apostle. And so others are trying to assert themselves and they're boasting all the time. And I think what Paul does here is he essentially just boils over really into sarcasm.

I mean, you know, it's so hard when you don't know the tone that he really meant to have here, but I really think that's what the tone ultimately is here. Let me pick up reading it, the second half of verse 21 in 2 Corinthians 11. But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, he's speaking of those super apostles, I'm speaking as a fool, he says, I also dare to boast of that. So he starts out like, okay, they boast about their Hebrew lineage.

So he starts out with that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham?

So am I. And elsewhere Paul describes himself as a Hebrew of Hebrews and he's got a perfect lineage if that's important to you. These apostles who are saying, yeah, it's important to follow Jesus. You remember the Judaizers he had to address in the Galatian heresies? And he said, you know, yeah, these people are saying, yes, you need Jesus, but you also need to be Jewish.

You also need to be circumcised. And Paul is just so mad about that because he didn't want people to be separated because of their lineage or because of their ritualistic practices or their heritage, but yet people are boasting in this, right? And they're missing the gospel when he does it. He says, I'm a Hebrew, I'm Israel, so am I. And then he goes, are they servants of Christ?

I'm a better one. And it's almost like right here where you would expect Paul would say, I've had more miracles through my ministry than they've had. I have had more churches that I have planted. I have had more people except Christ.

I have had more people who have, who have discovered their gifts. I have had, he could have gone on and said, I've preached a bigger crusade. He could have gone on with all of that, right?

But instead it just pivots right here. And he says, I'm a better one. And then it's just like pivots and he says, I'm a madman. I'm talking like a madman with far greater labors.

And then he just starts, I think he gets sarcastic. Instead of listing all his accomplishments, he starts listing all his difficulties, far more imprisonment with countless beatings, often near death. Five times I received at the hand of the Jews, 40 lashes less one. 40 was the legal limit within Judaism. And so they'd always do 39, because if the person who was administering the punishment went over the legal limit, then they'd broken a log and they would be punished.

So they'd just do 39. Three times I was beaten with rods. That's the Roman form of punishment. 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 of false brothers, eight dangers, and toil and hardship through many a sleepless night and hunger and thirst, often without food and cold and exposure. And apart from other things, there's a daily pressure on me of my anxiety for the church.

The thing that on top of all of this is that I care so much for all the churches. Who's weak and I'm not weak. Who is made to fall and I'm not indignant. If I must boast, verse 30, I will boast of the things that show my weaknesses. There's five near-death experiences that he lists in danger everywhere. Truth of the matter is great leaders are humble.

A very dear brother, a parishioner here, and a very dear friend, Merwin Hayes, went home to be with the Lord this week. He and his colleague Mike Comer have written a book for leaders called Start with Humility in which they say that both the Greek and Latin words for humility have essentially this connotation, not far off of the ground, not getting too much in the ivory tower, getting too far away. Comer and Hayes say humility is humanness, vulnerability, keeping one's accomplishments and talents in perspective. It's not low self-esteem.

It's not an inability to assert yourself, but humility is, as they say, not becoming so high on yourself that you lose touch with who you really are. When you see someone who is in a position that could be lofty who yet keeps their feet on the ground, so to speak, there's something very moving about it. I love this show The Undercover Boss. You ever watch The Undercover Boss? Well, it takes like an executive in a big corporation. It goes incognito like one of the workers at the ground level of the organization, and it's so funny because oftentimes they'll go in there, and they might run the company, but they don't even know how to use the forklift. They go in, but they don't know how to make the donut or whatever it is, and it's funny to watch them be sort of incompetent, but it's really moving to see it because what we're seeing is someone who could try to stay above everything instead comes and is with it. That's, in a sense, what humility is all about.

Alan Wright, and I'm a fan of that show too. I like that. It's good. Hey, we're going to talk more about this in a moment from today's teaching, Bragging on Jesus. Stay with us, Sal, and is back with additional insight on this for your life and a final word as we continue in our series on 2 Corinthians. God's always been there. In every moment, you narrowly escaped from danger. In every moment, you were surprised by a blessing.

In every moment, you just knew the direction to take. God was there. Your life is defined by countless moments of God's grace.

Perhaps they've been covered by the sands of time or have just gone unnoticed in the rush of life, but your life is full of God moments. When you make a gift, we'll send you a special bundle, both Pastor Alan's heart-stirring book, God Moments, and a CD album containing all his audio messages on the subject. Make your gift today and start your spiritual treasure hunt to uncover your God moments.

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That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Alan, the title today is Bragging on Jesus, and we're going to pick back up. It certainly is amazing to see how he served, how he, the king of all, came down and was acquainted with grief, a man of sorrows, that's what it sure says. You know, it is, this is, again, a message, Daniel, where we are drawing distinction between the sort of worm theology that says, oh, I'm nothing and thinks that humility is thinking less of yourself. And instead, we're seeing what true humility really is. It's more about taking us out of the picture where it's not so much thinking less of ourselves as it is thinking of ourselves less, less on our own minds, less preoccupied with self. That's the kind of freedom that Paul experienced and which God is inviting us into. And there's really only one way, as we'll see, the way out of this is by a new system that your self-assessment is not really based on the affirmation of others or even your own self-affirmation, but it is the grace of the gospel of the new covenant. And this is where we're healed.

This is where we're set free from performance mentality. So you can have a way where you can be truly humble. And that doesn't mean that you get a poor self-esteem. It just means that your life is shifted to where you're excited so much about yourself. So much about what Jesus has done. It's very important. Today's Good News message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.