Boasting
Now, a third thing we need to watch against when it comes to our speech is boastfulness. David said in verse three of Psalm 12: "May the Lord silence all flattering lips and every boastful tongue. Those who say, ‘By our tongues we will prevail, our own lips will defend us. Who is Lord over us?’”
The Futility of Human Boasting
Boastful lips that say, well, we don't need God. Do you know, there's really not much for us to boast about? We can't even state with any confidence that we're going to be alive tomorrow. James 4:14 says: "You don't even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You're a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."
Proverbs 27:1 says: "Don't boast about tomorrow. You do not know what a day may bring."
We definitely can't boast about our own good works. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 2: "It is by grace you've been saved by God, through faith, it's not from yourselves. That is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast."
You might have done all sorts of good things. You might think, “I'm a really good person”, but you can't boast about that in God's eyes because it is only His grace that saves you, not anything you've done.
Finding Joy in Christ Alone
There's an old saying that says, "Anybody who sings his own praise is usually off key." We've got no reason to praise ourselves, friends. Of course, it doesn't mean we beat ourselves up, but self-praise is definitely not what God has in mind for us.
In fact, we as Christians find our great joy in boasting about Jesus alone. Romans 5:11 says: "We boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
Boasting in Jesus doesn't mean you think yourself better than anybody else. What it means is that you praise Him, you glorify Him, you always turn attention to Him and not yourself. You recognize that everything you have comes from Him.
The Power of Weakness
In fact, Paul took it even further in 2 Corinthians 12 when he said: "I will not boast about myself except about my weaknesses," because God says to us, "My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness."
And so Paul says in verse nine: "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me." He was saying, I've got nothing but Christ; Christ has it all.
So if there's going to be boasting on your lips, friends, let it not be self-praise, but let it be boasting in the God who saved you and the amazing grace that He bestowed on you.
