1:8-14

Boasting is my Testimony
1 Corinthians 1:8-14


How do we live the Christian life in a way that we would be willing to boast about it? Is it even possible to live it in such a way as to boast? The best place to go to find the answer is in Paul’s writings because (for one reason) they are inspired, but also because Paul exemplified the manner of Christian living that would make him willing to boast… in writing. Let’s see how we can do that: Read 1 Cor 1:8-14

A. Paul’s Suffering: vv. 8-10

Fortunately for us, Paul puts his letter into historical context so that when he talks about suffering, we can understand how bad it actually was for him. According to verse 8, Paul is writing some time after the riot that occurred in Ephesus in Acts 19 and before his final return to Jerusalem.

(Aside) This is the thing that makes the Christian faith different from every other religion. Christianity is an historical religion and the Bible is historically accurate. We don’t just have Paul’s testimony, we have the corroboration of Luke in the book of Acts and for many years, scholars tried to downplay the role of Luke as an historian. But time and time again, modern archaeology has backed up Luke’s description of the first century.

Luke describes the first century Roman Empire in a way that only a person living in the first century could have done. That matters because, Luke could not have falsified the events he describes if the people he described were still living. The credibility of Luke’s record testifies to the credibility of Paul.

This matters not because we Christians need proof to support our faith (God has revealed to us the divinity of His Word); this matters because it silences the voices of those who attack the credibility and historical reliability of the Bible. We have a true account that stands up against any criticism.

So let’s read for ourselves an eye witness account of the trouble which came upon Paul in Asia. Turn to Acts 19 (Read vv. 19:23-20:1).

Paul had to leave Ephesus in a hurry and because of that (as well as for other reasons) he had to change his travel plans and break his promise to go to Corinth and now people are using that to criticize him and attack his leadership!!!

Imagine being Paul, you almost get killed in one city for serving the Lord and so you change your plans and the people whom you risk your life for actually use it against you as though it were a testament to your bad character. I think most of us would be disheartened, dejected and possibly angry. But not Paul! Instead he writes this letter of humiliation as an opportunity to give glory to God: “we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead” (v. 9).

B. Paul’s Testimony V. 12

And this is Paul’s Testimony, look what he writes in v. 12:
For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.

I want to unpack Paul’s testimony here a bit because I think it’s loaded with godly character building advice that comes from someone who has lived it out in the furnace of the worst kind of affliction- including violence and the abandonment and rejection of friends.

1. Boasting
Notice Paul calls it boasting. He’s using shock therapy when he chooses the word boast, which always has negative connotations (both to Greeks and Jews). To the Greek mind, this implies trumpeting one’s own renown. One of the best examples of this prideful, self aggrandizing kind of boasting is Daniel.

I preached on this a few years ago: you might remember that God had warned Nebuchadnezzar not to become proud and boastful about his wealth and power (he was the most powerful ruler in the world at the time). In spite of that warning, Nebuchadnezzar boasted saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?” [1]

Because of that foolish boast, Nebuchadnezzar was driven to the threshold of complete madness and spent a year living like an animal. But his boasting changed after he regained his sanity and he testified,
…[God’s] dominion is an everlasting dominion,
And His kingdom is from generation to generation.
All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing;
He does according to His will in the army of heaven
And among the inhabitants of the earth.
No one can restrain His hand
Or say to Him, “What have You done?” [2]

Scripture warns against Nebuchadnezzar’s prideful kind of boasting. For instance, Proverbs says,
Do not boast about tomorrow,
For you do not know what a day may bring forth.
Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth;
A stranger, and not your own lips.[3]

And Psalm 5:5 warns
The boastful shall not stand in [God’s] sight;
[He] hate[s] all workers of iniquity.[4]

So knowing what common sense, custom and revelation all say about boasting, why does Paul do it so often? For instance, in 7:14 Paul says that he boasted to Timothy about the Corinthians’ generousity; and in 11:17 he says, “As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.” So what’s going on?


2. Conscience
Paul is not boasting in his arrogance like those whom James rebukes (James 4:16). Paul's boasting is not evil because he qualifies the type of boasting he is performing- his boasting is the testimony of his conscience.

Conscience literally means seeing together- it means when your heart and your mind are in agreement. Paul’s boasting is the testimony of the fact that his heart and mind are seeing together in the way that he has behaved.

C. Application

And this is the application: How to live in such a way that we might not be evil in our boasting because our conscience testifies to the fact that our behaviour is nothing to be ashamed of. And Paul is not just talking about his conduct when people are watching; he’s talking about his conduct before the only audience who matters: God.

Two things that Paul lists: simplicity and sincerity (godly sincerity or sincerity towards God). So if simplicity and sincerity are the ingredients of a conscience about which we would boast, it helps for us not to just skim over those two words. They’re the key to being able to boast without sinning.

1. Simplicity
Simplicity has a range of meaning from generousity to obedience. It has to do with a purity of heart towards others in the motives for our actions. Lets look at the range of meaning:

First, Generousity. Romans 12:8 describes it as giving with liberality (abounding in rich generousity in 2 Cor 8:2). In fact, in that context, simplicity is a charisma (spiritual gift). Certainly, if we boast in our simplicity, we are not boasting in something that is natural to ourselves, so it makes sense that simplicity would be a charisma, a gift from God.

Another meaning of simplicity is Obedience. This has to do with the way that we relate to others, especially those in leadership such as our employers, your husbands, as well as in the household of God.

It means not just obeying outwardly, but also with an inner motive of simple joyful obedience. This is best captured in Paul’s advice to servants in Ephesians 6:5 ff.
5 Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; 6 not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.

2. Sincerity
Now let’s look at the other side of the coin of Paul’s conscience. Paul also acted with sincerity. The Greek word for sincerity is an obscure one and it’s only used three times in the New Testament (all three by Paul). Because of the obscurity of the word, it is hard to get a full understanding of the complete range of meaning of this word.

But Paul gives us a clue because every time he uses the word, he always puts in a sentence where he is contrasting it to its opposite. For instance in 1 Corinthians 5:8, the opposite of sincerity is the leaven of malice and evil. Malice is meanness, spite, and cruelty. So sincerity must be its opposite: goodness, gentleness, and benevolence.

Paul also contrasts it with the motive of some people in preaching the word; he calls them peddlers of the word of God. They preach the word, not with sincerity, but for personal gain. The television has been a great tool for this breed of preacher. In contrast, Paul preaches the Word with sincerity, without regard for his own gain. In fact, he often suffered personal abuse, loss, hunger and poverty in order to preach the gospel.

The best contrast for sincerity is found right here in the context of our verse: Paul contrasts sincerity with worldy wisdom. That’s the wisdom of man which God calls foolishness. Paul does not appeal to human conventions and man made wisdom but to the wisdom of God, no matter the cost and he does it not in meanness, or anger, or hostility, but with sincerity.

And notice this is godly sincerity- or sincerity towards God? We can hide our true motives from others and pretend sincerity, but we can never hide our motives from God. He is the one who judges the true sincerity of our hearts and that’s all that matters- that’s true integrity worth boasting about.

Conclusion:
Let’s be like Paul. Let’s boast. But before we can boast, we need to ask ourselves if we have truly conducted ourselves with simplicity and sincerity. God knows the answer. Would you boast before him? If this is a truly humbling question to ask yourself this (and even if the answer is no) then you are off to a great start.


Notes
[1]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Da 4:30.
[2]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Da 4:34-35.
[3]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Pr 27:1-2.
[4]The New King James Version. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ps 5:5.