‘HOLD THE LINE’ series
1 Cor. 3:18-23
Our text today regards “BOASTING in MEN”.
Paul concludes this long introduction to the Corinthians with finishing remarks about:
 Man’s wisdom vs. God’s
 Divisions in the church
 And that everything in life is a gift from God – use all God gives wisely.
Pray, read 1 Cor. 3:18-23
This is what is called a “sandwich” text.
 The meat is in the middle, surrounded by two contextual “buns”.
 The meat: “Let no one boast in men.”
o Today we will understand that BOASTING is a ROOT of ungodly wisdom and divisions.
 The context: 3 verses before, 3 verses after: Two solid reasons for this command not to boast.
o V18-20: The foolishness of following any man other than Christ.
o V21-23: Everything is ours.
s


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kauchaomai (kow-khah'-om-ahee)
to vaunt (in a good or a bad sense): boast, glory, joy,
e r
e ree r
r
euchomai (yoo'-khom-ahee) to wish; by implication
to pray to God: - pray
Did you catch that? Boasting is taken from the root word that implies praying to GOD!
So, let’s break down the text – take a good, hard look…
1Co 3:18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him
become a fool that he may become wise.
 Probably everyone in this room knows somebody who “thinks” he/she is wise.
 Most of the people I think of who might fall into this category are those who love to be heard.
 Jesus talked of them in Matthew 6 – “they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the
street corners,” – they loved the sound of their own voice.
 Paul experience many of them in Acts 17 – “the men in Athens would spend their time doing
nothing but telling and hearing something new.”
 And The Bible says such people should “become” a fool.
o
e
e
ginomai; to cause to be
o The sense here is that believers should put away – give to God – all they have thought to
be “wise” pre-Christ, so that God may CAUSE them to be fools again, that they might see
His wisdom.
o It is this same understanding Christ uses when speaking of becoming like children again.
1Co 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their
craftiness,"
1Co 3:20 and again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile."
 This quote is from Job 5:13.

Job cries out to God in the midst of his friends, “Let the day I was born be cursed! Why did I not
die at birth? Why did I survive childhood? Why was I given all these gifts and family and wealth
only for it to be taken away from me?”
o Eliphaz says, (paraphrase) “When this happens to others, you have given wise counsel
and encouraged many. But now it’s happened to YOU, and you are impatient. But God
is still God.”
o V10-13: “he gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields... He frustrates the
devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. He catches the wise in their
own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.”
1Co 3:21 So let no one boast in men.
In context, Paul warns against boasting in the WISDOM of others, and ourselves.
 Often, we think of boasting as bragging in a selfish manner.
 But Paul isn’t just warning against self-promotion.
 He’s warning against the boasting of the “wise” people – contextually – the boasting of Paul
over Apollos, Apollos over Peter, Peter over Paul, etc.
 Today, an example would be propelling
o Joel Olsteen over John McArthur
o Billy Graham over Chuck Swindol
o Francis Chan over David Platt
o John Calvin over Joseph Arminius
o John Welsey over Martin Luther
o Chuck Smith (Calvary Chapel) over John Wimber (Vineyard movement)
 These guys are sign posts! Pointing to Jesus.
 Any servant of God knows he/she is doing our job right when our index finger gets tired of
pointing to Jesus!
Best illustration: Bobble Head Dolls
 This phenomenon started about 15 years ago… I never really understood it.
 In the baseball world, Bobble Head Nights result in sell-outs.
 If the DBacks do a Randy Johnson BH night, forget about getting tix.
 Everybody wants a bobble head of their favorite players.
 Well, compared to Jesus, e’re ll bu
b bble e s (heads start bobbling).
 We might sell out stadiums, but we’re just bobble heads for Jesus.
 We’re not the main event.
 Don’t follow me! Jesus is the one true living God!
 I’m just his representative, pointing to HIM.
As we’ve heard today, David Platt is coming via simulcast to CRC March 29.
 I love the way David presents the truth.
 He’s truly anointed by the Spirit of God. God’s word penetrates in such a way through him as to
generate a genuine response from the hearer to worship God and desire to know Him more.
 But David is a bobble head. One of many.
 Francis Chan – one of the great communicators of our generation… a bobble head.
 A gnome.
 He stands for Jesus.
 But he is not to be followed, or set on a pedestal.
1Co 3:21b For all things are yours,
1Co 3:22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—
all are yours,
One of the ways God is going to illustrate this understanding of NOT BOASTING IN MEN is through the 6
different teachers throughout this 1 Cor. series.
 Brian, Craig and I had lunch after church last week.
 Craig and I discussed how each of us approached last week’s text from differing points of view.
 Craig would have gone a different direction.
 We weren’t in violent disagreement – it’s just he would have pulled out a different focus .
 At first this concerned us – but then it became clear it was beautiful!
o If only I taught through all 16 chapters, you’d get one man’s view.
o If 6 of us who are trusted men of integrity and handle God’s Word correctly, we’re going
to get 6 differing angles of the same Truth!
 But what if some of you disagree about the interpretation of the text???
o Praise God! We’ll be driven to scripture to seek out his truth all the more!
o This is PRECISELY what Paul was talking about:
 The foundation of Christ is the big deal.
 Others will build on this foundation.
 Gold, Silver, Precious stones – and yes, even wood, hay, straw will result.
 But God is in charge of the growth. Not man.
 God will preserve His bride!
 And I is
’s is
to use ALL THINGS to point us to HIM.
In my 20’s and into my 30’s, there were 7 mentors who had profound influences on my life as a man, a
husband, a father, and a pastor.
 Al C., Doc Bonner, Al H., Vern, Larry, Floyd, Terry
 All 7 were incredibly gifted and very successful
 But 3 of them had a moral failure – all within about 2 years of one another
 Totally rocked my world – extreme danger if I were to “follow” any one of them.
God has given EVERYTHING to us – to see His glory.
 Not to see it’s/his/her glory.
 But to see God’s glory.
 This perspective – that God created everything for our joy and His good pleasure – that we
would see HIM and give HIM glory for ALL things – will keep us sane, and from running into the
arms of charismatic, exciting, powerful teachers, authors, and popular figures of the day.
 God created them, too. Not to be gloried in, but to point to Him.
D es

is e I
’ pr ise
er?
Proverbs 27:2 says, “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not
your own lips.”
o This implies we should be praising one another so we don’t go around praising
ourselves.
o T ere’s i e line between flattery, honorable praise, and placing on a pedestal.
o And let us not forget the context: praising – giving God’s glory – to those who preach
the gospel. Paul, Apollos, Peter.
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In our day: Preachers, Authors, Popular Christian figures.
Glory in God’s gift of THEM and their service to HIM, and that God gives them all
to us that we might glory in HIM.
Closing:
1Co 3:23 and you are Christ's…
 You are not Kyle’s. Not Bruce’s, Craig’s…
 You are not your mentor’s.
 You are Christ’s.
 Theologian Albert Barnes writes, “You are his property - his people - his friends. You should
regard yourselves as such, and feel that you all belong to the same family, and should not,
therefore, be split up into contending factions and parties.”
1Co 3:23b and Christ is God's.
 Jesus said, “I came to do the work of my Father… I came to point to Him. To glory in Him.”
 We were bought with a price.
 Let us not cheapen the glory of God by ascribe it to any other.