We are all hard wired to boast. We were made to boast. We were made to boast in Christ because we were made for Him (Colossians 1:16). The problem is that our boasting compass is off; off from birth. We boast in ourselves, in others, in things, and in accomplishments. The worst kind of boasting is religious boasting because it is blasphemous to exalt ourselves in the name of exalting God.
What corrects this boasting problem that we all have by nature? It is not fixed by ceasing to boast; that is impossible. The solution is to boast in Christ, the One we were made for. But how do we boast in Christ instead of ourselves? The only thing that rectifies our boasting is peering at the cross of Christ in faith. Paul displays for us this solution that transforms our sinful boasting into Christ-centered boasting:
But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians 6:14).
This is a week that we can and should make sure that our boasting is truly centered upon the Christ of the cross. True victory in the Christian life is always in tandem with a true boasting in the cross of Christ.
There is another way to say this from the perspective of the world: True victory in the Christian life is always related to our boasting in what is foolish.
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18)
The message of the cross, the gospel, is folly to those who are perishing. They look at the cross and merely see a martyr, a victim, or a madman; they certainly do not see any wisdom in Jesus hanging on the cross. It is very clear when someone truly grasps the gospel because they start delighting in what is foolish to those who are perishing. They start boasting in what is foolish to the world. They look at the cross and they do not see a martyr, a victim, or a madman, they see the Son of God in human flesh willingly laying down His own life for His enemies. Their eyes have been opened to the fact that on the cross there was a great exchange that took place:
His robes for mine: God’s justice is appeased.
Jesus is crushed, and thus the Father’s pleased.
Christ drank God’s wrath on sin, then cried “Tis done!”
Sin’s wage is paid; propitiation won.[1]
The very heart of Christianity is foolishness to the unredeemed human heart.
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe (1 Corinthians 1:21)
The message is foolishness and the proclaiming of the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but God is “well-pleased” to save those who believe.
Do you look at the cross of Christ and boast in God’s wisdom in providing for your salvation? On the cross do you see God’s holiness because His holiness must be satisfied? On the cross do you see your wretched sin because the very Son of God had to be lifted up to die in your place? On the cross do you see God’s love because the Son of Man had to be lifted up on account of God’s love for you (John 3:15-16)?
If you do, then be wise, keep boasting in the foolish. And as you consider the cross this week, remember, Sunday is coming. This One who is folly to the world did not stay on the cross and He did not stay in the tomb. Sunday is coming.
