What Do You Boast In? Finding Your Real Worth in Christ

Speaker A00:00:00

I want to ask you something that nobody asks anymore. What are you proud of? And I mean really proud of. Not in a humble way. Not in a, well, I want to brag way. What do you point to and think, that's me.That's who I am. That's evidence of why I matter. Now, maybe for you, it's what you've built. Maybe you've built a business. You're really proud of that business.Maybe you've built a career. You're proud of that career. Maybe you've built a track record of wins. Maybe for you, it's what you've proven.Maybe you've proven that you're smarter than people thought. People never thought you were going to get to anywhere, and you did. Maybe you've proven that you came from nothing and made something.Maybe you prove that you survived what should have broken you would have broken most people. For some of you, it's what you've maintained, a certain image, that reputation, a version of yourself that took years to construct.And here's the thing that nobody wants to admit. We live in a culture obsessed with boasting. Now, we don't call it that today. We call it something else these days. We call it branding.We call it personal development. We call it building your platform. And yes, we call it establishing your credibility.But underneath of all of it is the same question that Paul asked in Galatians 6:14. What are you boasting in? What is that thing that, if it were stripped away, would strip away your sense of worth with it?Because here's what I've learned. The things that you boast in today might be the things that imprison you tomorrow.And the thing that you think will finally make you feel okay about yourself, it probably won't. That's what we're going to talk about on today's show. Hello and welcome to Truth Unveiled with Ralph. I am so happy you're here today.If you're a first timer, welcome to the show. If you're a regular, this one is going to ask you to examine something new.I'm going to warn you ahead of time, my tone of voice is going to be a little different, and it might be a little uncomfortable for you today. But I want to assure you that discomfort that you're feeling today is the spirit knocking on a door you didn't even realize was locked.So the big picture today, the message today is, what do you boast in finding your real worth in Christ? And we're going to walk together through Galatians 6:14 in this three part teaching. And here's what I want to start off.I want to say something rather bold. The thing you're most proud of might be the very thing keeping you from real freedom. And I want to start with a bold truth.And if you don't accept this, you're probably not going to like this discussion today. Your worth doesn't live in your accomplishments. Your worth lives in Christ's accomplishments.That's where we have to start, because that's the key to what we're going to talk about here. And we're going to jump right into Galatians 6:14, because what this is, is Paul's personal declaration.It's not some command or some rule that we need to file. It's what he's chosen to build his whole life on. And if you go back to Paul's days, it was radical.Because in his culture, and dare I say, in the culture that we live in today, what you boast in for most of us is our resume. Your boast proved you had a seat at the table in Paul's days. But Paul walks into the system and says something different.He says, no, I'm done with that scoreboard.Now, before we unpack it, I. I want you to hear exactly what Paul wrote and I want you to pay attention to what he's refusing, because that's the key to this. Again, we're in Galatians 6, numbers 11, 14. And this is what Paul writes. He says, see what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand.Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. But as for me, may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.Hear that shift that Paul makes. It sets up this contrast for us.He's contrasting people who boast in the flesh those outward signs, in the proof that they're righteous, in the proof that they're accepted, and the proof that they are somebody. And what does Paul say? That's not me anymore. He says it bluntly. He says, may I never boast except in the Cross.Now notice what he doesn't say he doesn't say, not may I sometimes boast in the cross. He doesn't say not, may I balance that boasting between the cross and my own accomplishments? Not at all. That's not what he says.He uses the word never accept the cross. That's Paul's line in the sand. So let's get to part one of this. It's what I call the problem, the boast that costs everything.I want to start where most people live. Most of us live in the land of the boast. Now that doesn't mean it's this obvious boast.Like we don't go around telling everybody, well, I've done this and I've done that. Now some of us do social media, a lot of people do that. But that's not where we live. We live in a subtle kind of boasting.We live in a place where our self worth is tied directly to what's on the calendar for that day. You look at your calendar and you think, oh, I've got a meeting with this person. I'm important.I've got a meeting with this folks, these group, I'm important. It starts with our calendar, then it goes to our email. If we get those good news emails, hey, the day is great.You feel fantastic, everything is going well until you get that bad news email. And then you start to spiral. You start thinking, what does this mean? How could this person say that?You start thinking to yourself, what are people thinking about me? And you question, am I still somebody friend that's boasting in the flesh, that's making your worth hostage to circumstances that you can't control.And that's a dangerous place to be. I want to tell you about a consultant I work with. I knew this woman, she was brilliant. I'm talking about sharp.She built an entire consulting practice from scratch. She did it on her own. Nobody helped her. She had arrived, but she was miserable.Now, I'm not talking about exhausted, I'm not talking about busy, miserable. And I use that word intentionally. Every single day for her was a referendum on whether she was good enough. You ever felt like that?You ever felt like every day was this scorecard? Like Paul said, the scorecard, I'm not keeping score anymore. But for this lady, that's what it was.Every time she had a client win, she felt fantastic. She felt worthy of where she was. But if there was ever a quiet period, man, she just went dark. She felt everything was failing.Now, every time she got a compliment, she felt great, she felt safe, she felt reassured. In what she was doing. But if she got that neutral email, everything was at risk.She spent her days boasting in her business acumen and it had her on a leash. I gotta be honest with you, I felt this in my own life. So many times I've been living and dying with that next client interaction.Just worried about what are they gonna say? What if they say, Ralph, we're gonna go look for somebody new? What if they say, Ralph, we don't like the way you handle this?I took it as a personal destruction of who I was as a person friend. That's a horrible way to live your life. Because when you boast in the flesh, this is what it does.Boasting in the flesh means that your peace is always one bad quarter away. I live this, that one lost client, that one bad review from your boss.Maybe you don't have your own business, but you work for somebody and you just dread what your boss is going to say that morning he called you in, or she called you in for a meeting. You're just like Ralph, I don't know what to do. When you live in that boasting in the flesh, your self respect is always just one rejection away.That one person rejects you and you're like, oh man, I got nothing to boast in. Now.Your identity is always one failure away because if you fail at anything, your whole identity is crushed because your boasting is in that identity. And let me just tell you, you can have everything.You can have the title, you can have the salary, you can have the recognition, and yes, you can have the respect as well. And let me tell you right now, you can still feel like you're a fraud. I speak from experience. There, I've had it all.And there were days when I felt like a fraud because I was boasting in me. I was boasting in what I've done, what I've accomplished.And when you live like that, in that flesh, you still feel like one mistake away from being exposed and you still feel like you don't belong. Now you might be wondering, well, Ralph, why is that?The reason it is is because you're boasting in something that can be taken away from you, something that can be lost, something that has an expiration date. Let's talk about Paul's culture because I think we need to understand what was going on then. And let's compare that to where we're at now.In Paul's time, people boasted in circumcision. Now that might seem like a really strange thing to talk about. But if you think about it, it's literally flesh.People of Paul's time boast in religious markers, proof of belonging to what we would call today the in group. But it was a hollow boast, wasn't was based on something external. It didn't touch actual identity in any of those people.Friend, we're doing the same thing today. Look around. We boast in what we have. Well, I've got this car, I've got this house, I've got this wife, I've got this retirement account.We boast in what we've accomplished. I've done this, I've done that, I've won this award, I've won that.So many of us boast in what we look like, how we're perceived on social media, how the world sees us. Some of us boast in what we know and we're super proud of that. I catch myself in that. I've been doing accounting work for 30 plus years.I find myself boasting in what I know. We boast in what we've earned. We start to read our resume.And I had this degree and I worked for this company and I became this vice president and I did this and I did that.A lot of us boast in what we've survived and I'm not taking away from that because there is a part of survival that only people who have been through a storm can understand. And I'm not minimizing that. But we also boast on what we've built.I built this, I built this business, I built this following, I built this podcast, I built this revenue stream. But you notice something about every one of these boasts. It has a hidden cost and a lot of people don't see this.And it's taken me a long time to understand the cost of this. The cost is constant maintenance. Well, what's around the corner? What comes next?What's the next hill I've got to climb, what's the next thing I've got to do to be that? Go to person. It also has a cost of anxiety about losing it because you're constantly worried about what happens if.What happens if you lose that client, what happens if you lose that job, what happens if your health fails and what the other cost is, the fear of being found out. It's that imposter syndrome. That's not life. That's a prison that looks like a penthouse. And I know that's a strong thing to say, but that's not life.That's simply a prison that looks Like a penthouse. But let's get to the truth. This is part two of what I want to talk about today.It's the boast that holds because we've talked about the boast that doesn't work. We've talked about the boast of the flesh. But Paul does something radical here. Here. He doesn't say, stop boasting.He never says, you don't boast in anything. He does something very radical, and it's nuanced. He says, boast differently. What does he say? Get back to the text.It says, may I never boast except in the cross. The cross. Not his credentials, not his theological training, not his ability, which he could do to argue Scripture.And not his missionary success, which Paul was a missionary success. But that's not what he says to Boatswain. He says, just the Cross. Why the Cross?Because in the end, it's the only boast that doesn't require maintenance. Think about that for a second. Picture the cross. The cross is death. The cross is weakness. The cross is shame.The cross is the moment the most powerful person in the universe chose to become powerless. Jesus didn't boast in his divinity. He had every right to do that. He was the Son of God. What did he boast in? Jesus boasted in his willingness to die.Look at Philippians, chapter 2. He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man.He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. I don't know about you, man, but I'm grateful for that decision. Jesus boasted in his obedience to death. It seems very radical, doesn't it?He didn't boast in his power to stay alive. He didn't boast in his ability to call down legions of angels, which he could have done. Think about this.When Jesus is on the cross, he could have called down legions of angels. What did he boast in? He boasted in death. And when you root your identity in the death of Jesus, something shifts.Now, I'm going to tell you three lines of what the cross says. And I think we need to imprint these on our hearts. The cross says three things. The first thing the cross says is, you don't have to earn your value.A lot of us think that if we are going to boast in something, we've got to earn that. But the cross says that's not true. The cross says, you don't have to earn your value. It's already been paid for.I can just picture Jesus on the cross. What did he say? It is done. He already paid the price. He paid the price that you and I could never pay.The second thing, the Cross says you don't have to prove yourself. Listen to me very carefully. You don't have to prove yourself. Someone else already proved himself for you. He already paid that price.You don't have to prove anything. And the Cross says you don't have to maintain your worth.That is anchored in something that happened 2,000 years ago in and changed the total trajectory of eternity. That's what the Cross does. And when you boast in the Cross, you're not boasting in something you did.You're boasting in something that was done for you. And when you do what Paul suggested to us, it changes everything about how you move through this world. Think about Paul's example.The Pharisees were the religious scholars of the day. They persecuted him, but he didn't have to defend his credentials because he didn't boast in him. He boasted in the Cross.Churches failed Paul, but he didn't have to prove himself again. Because his boast wasn't in leadership success. It was in the Cross. Paul's life was horrible. He was beaten, he was shipwrecked, he was left for dead.But he didn't crumble. Because Paul's boast wasn't in circumstances. His boast was in the Cross.And, friend, as you watch, or listen to this, right now, the Cross is untouchable. The Cross is complete. The Cross is finished. You can never earn more of it. And you can't lose it. You can't improve it. It just is.And you're either anchored in it or you're not. What are you anchored in? Seriously, what are you anchored in now?We're going to come back to that shortly, but be thinking about what you're anchored in. Now let's talk about the life, what I call building on rock. What does it look like when your boast is in the cross instead of yourself?There's a lot to gain here, friend. Here's what you gain. Let's talk about freedom.In your career, when you boast in the Cross, you can still be ambitious, you can still work hard, you can still pursue excellence. I think you should do all of those things.But you're not doing it to prove your worth, because you already know what your worth is, because it's in the Cross. You're secure enough in your job that those failures don't shake you. When you get passed over for promotion.Absolutely, you're disappointed, you're upset, but you're not destroyed. If you make a mistake on a project, you own it. Okay, I made a mistake. But you don't go down this shame spiral that just sucks your life out of it.And you also can leave a job that doesn't fit because you don't see yourself as a failure because you're not boasting in that job. How many of us have put our whole identity and everything we boast in that job, and that job just did not fit you anymore?Well, if that's what you're boasting in, it's hard to leave that job, isn't it? Here's another thing we need to talk about.When you boast in the cross, not yourself, you can actually have honesty in relationships because then you're not boasting in your image. And when you're not boasting in this image, this picture of what you want people to think, you don't have to maintain it.You can be your real self in a relationship. How many relationships have you been in where you were playing a role so afraid the person was going to find out who you really are?It's not a very successful relationship, is it?But when you have that connection to the cross, when you boast in the cross and not yourself, not in this role you're playing, you can admit when you're wrong. Hey, if you've been in a relationship, if you've been in a marriage, in any kind of partnership, you are going to have times when you're wrong.But how can you admit that if you've been boasting in self? But when you boast in the cross, you can admit when you're wrong. You can ask for help. You can say to your partner, I'm broken right now.I need help, friend. That's a true relationship. And your worth doesn't depend on anyone else's approval.You don't need your partner to approve of you because you're already got that rock solid boast in what Jesus did for you on the cross. But bigger than that, when you boast in the cross, you'll have peace. When life gets hard. Here's a truism about life. Life is going to get hard.You are going to suffer loss, maybe unimaginable loss. You're going to have seasons of illness. You're going to make failures, you're going to get rejected.And I can't tell you those things aren't going to hurt. Those things are going to hurt. But when you're Anchored and boasting in the cross. Those things won't destroy you.They're not going to attack the foundation of your worth, because your foundation is firmly in the cross. It's not in your health. It's not in success. It's not. It's not in relationships. It's not in reputation. It's in the cross.Let's talk about generosity for a second. As I was planning for today's discussion, I thought, you know what else this does?It allows us to be more generous because you're not boasting in what you have. You can give it all away. It's not yours to begin with. You don't need it to fulfill this belief, this identity of who you are.You're not boasting what you know anymore. You can teach other people.You can impart those skills, the life things, the survival things that you've been through on somebody else, because that's not your identity. You're not boasting in what you've accomplished. And you can actually celebrate others.You know, one of the things that I thought about as I was preparing for today, one of the greatest freedoms that you will find when your boast isn't in yourself is the ability to celebrate others because you're not threatened by their success. You no longer boasting in comparison. You're boasting in the cross.And you can have something else, too, something that a lot of us don't have, frankly, and that's rest. Talking about actual rest. Now, I'm not talking about being lazy. I'm talking about true rest.The rest of someone who stopped trying to prove something because the proof already happened and it happened at Calvary over 2,000 years ago. Now, you might be thinking, Ralph, you're really talking about weakness here. I'm not talking about giving up.This is the strongest position that you can stand in because you're not defending anymore. You're not protecting anything. You're not proving anything. You're just standing on what's already been done for you.Now, let me ask you to sit with something uncomfortable for a moment. I said at the beginning, today was going to challenge you. Today was going to make you uncomfortable. But let me ask you this.What are you currently boasting in now? I'm not talking about what you think you should be boasting in, because a lot of people will go to that and say, well, Ralph, the answer is.You already said it. I should be boasting in the cross. No, for a second. I don't want you to Think about what sounds spiritual, not what you think the answer should be.But right now, in this season of your life, where is your boast? I'm going to pause for a second because I want you to think about that. What is your boast right now? Is it your income?Are you boasting in about how much money you make, all the stuff you have, all the toys you've got? Is it your appearance? How you look, how you feel, how other people you perceive, how other people see you? Is it how together you have it?Oh, Ralph's got it together. Joe's got it together. Sally's got it together. Maybe you're boasting in your discipline, man. You're a real disciplined person and you just boast.And I got this together. I'm a good planner. I'm a good organizer. Maybe you're boasting in church attendance. I don't miss a Sunday.I'm there twice on Sunday, Wednesday night and even some mornings. Maybe you're boasting in a scripture, you know. Well, I can quote scripture. I can read the Bible from COVID to cover.I can tell you everything it says. Okay, maybe you're boasting in how you parent. I'm the best father. I'm the best mother. I'm the best aunt. I'm the best uncle. I'm the best sister.I'm the best brother. Or maybe you're boasting at how people perceive you. I said this is a tough question, but let me ask you the harder question.What happens to your peace if that very thing is compromised? Just think for a second what you said a minute ago. Here's what I'm boasting in. What happens if that gets compromised?What happens if your income drops? Maybe you get sick and you can't work, but your income drops? What happens to you then? What happens if your appearance changes? Guess what?You're getting older. Your appearance is going to change. What happens if you actually fall apart?What happens if that discipline that you led your life on, that you boasted in, fails? What happens if you just stop going to church? What if you forget something you knew? What if parenting gets messy?Having raised two boys who are adults now, parenting gets messy. And what if someone has a different perception of you? Does your worth crumble or does it hold? Does it crumble or does it hold?Because that's the difference between boasting in yourself and boasting in the cross.If you're boasting in yourself, you are always under threat, always in a defensive position, always wondering what's the next shoe that's going to drop. But if you boast in the cross, I said it earlier, that's untouchable. And here's the most important question.Have you actually believed that the cross is enough? Or are you still trying to add to it? Are you still trying to add what's already been earned? Are you still trying to prove what's already been proven?Because if you look back, Paul's declaration in Galatians 6:14 isn't a nice spiritual idea. It's actually a choice. It's Paul's choice. He says it may. I never boast except in the cross. It's that line in the sand.And standing on one side of that line means letting go of every boast on the other side. You can't live in both. You can't live in the world and make that decision to boast. You can't live in both. And it's harder than it sounds.But hear me on this. That's where freedom is. Now I want to share with you what I call today's truth unveiled moment.That thing that you're most proud of might actually be the thing keeping you from real freedom. But the cross can never be taken from you. The cross can never be lost, and the cross can't be improved.And when you boast in the cross, you boast in the only thing that will never let you down. The world will let you down, but the cross will never do that. And maybe right now you've been listening and you realize something.You realize, I've spent my whole life trying to be somebody. I've been trying to prove something. I'm trying to earn what you thought you had to earn. And I'm exhausted.And you know, really at this moment that you need something, but you're not sure just what it is. Friend, let me tell you something. Jesus didn't die on the cross because you weren't good enough yet.A lot of people think, well, I've got to refine myself before I go to that. Before I get that. That feeling of meeting Christ, I got to make myself better. That's not why Jesus died on the cross.He died on the cross because you were worth dying for. Right now, broken, you are worth dying for as you are. Jesus Christ is God. He lived a perfect life. He died an unjust death.And he paid the price for every sin that you've ever committed and that you'll ever commit for the rest of your days. But he did something bigger than that. He rose from the grave on the Third day. That's the historical fact of the gospel.And the personal truth of the gospel message is this. He did that for you.Not for someday when you get your life together, not when you become more impressive, not when you've proven yourself right now, just as you are. Romans 6:23 says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Friend, you can't earn that gift.You can't work for it. You can't boast your way into it. You can only receive it. It's a gift.And if right at this moment you want to trade your boast for Christ boasts, if you want to stop trying to prove yourself and start resting in what he proved, why don't you pray this with me right now, Just wherever you are, in the quiet of wherever you are, stop what you're doing. Let's pray together right now. If you want to get past this, if you want to start boasting in the cross, it's really this simple.Lord Jesus, I've been trying to be somebody on my own, and I'm just tired of proving myself. I believe you died for me, and I believe that your death is enough. I believe that you rose from the dead. So right now, I surrender my life to you.I'm done boasting in myself. Make me like Paul. Make me someone who boasts only in you. And I ask this in Jesus name. Amen, friend.If you prayed that and you meant it, if you were sincere about it, the most important thing now is to connect to somebody. I want to encourage you to tell somebody. You can write to us. We'll put in the links to the show how to get in touch with us.Go find a church, get a Bible, get into scripture. Because coming to Christ is just the start of this journey. It's not the end. And let me just tell you right now, the best is yet to come.Getting Back to Galatians 6:14. Paul's personal vow was a declaration of allegiance. And he's inviting you into that same vow that he made. What did he say?May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.So I want to challenge you this very week, this very day, when you feel the pressure to prove something, when you feel that urge to show someone what you're worth, and when you feel the anxiety that something you're boasting in is slipping away, remember that declaration. There's another boast available to you. And that boast doesn't require maintenance. It can't be Taken, and it will hold.When everything else fails, may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world is. Has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Friend, that's the victory we're called to walk in.It's not the victory of what you accomplish, but the victory of what he already accomplished for you. Let's pray together as we close today.Father, in the name of Jesus, thank you so much for Paul's declaration, and thank you for showing us a different way to live our lives. And we confess that we've boasted in things that can't hold us.We confess that we've built our identity on things that crumble and that we've measured our worth by standards that shift and change. But right at this moment, Lord, we remember the cross.So for the person who just realized they'd been boasting in the wrong thing, Lord, open their eyes to the cross. Show it to him, Lord. For the person whose boast just fell apart, show them that that cross is still standing on that hill, Lord.For the person that's terrified that if they stop performing, they're going to stop mattering, I just ask right now that you reveal to them that they already matter. For that person who thinks they're too broken to boast in anything, Lord, let them know that's exactly who the cross was made for.For that student, that worker, that entrepreneur, that artist who's measuring worth by those external metrics, Lord, recalibrate their soul towards the cross.And for anyone here who's never made Jesus their boast, draw them to the foot of the cross right at this very moment, Lord, make us all people who boast only in the cross. Not arrogant people, not fake people, not exhausted people from trying, just rooted, just secure and just free.And we ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Friend, if this episode spoke to you, I want to encourage you to do something for me. Share it with somebody.Share with someone who needs to stop proving and actually start resting. Share with somebody who's built their identity on something shakeable. Share with somebody ready to exchange their boast for the cross.And I'm also going to encourage you to subscribe and follow our show at Truth Unveiled with Ralph. In a world that says prove yourself, you need the voice of Scripture saying, you've already proven enough. Remember what I said.The thing you're most proud of might be the very thing keeping you from real freedom. But the cross can't be taken. And I want to encourage you right now to walk in truth. This week and until next time, keep seeking the truth.Keep walking in grace and keep your eyes on Jesus. God bless you.