We have been talking about suffering as being an ordained part of God’s will. Yes, I said and ordained part; suffering is not just allowed, in some or many cases it is ordained. If we hold that God is sovereign, then we must also hold that He ordains things that we might find distasteful. Otherwise, God is subservient to our preferences and therefore not sovereign at all. In 2 Corinthians chapter 7 we find the apostle Paul saying this, “So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. Therefore we are comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true. And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you.” (2 Corinthians 7:12–16, ESV) We see in this text the idea that boasting about Christ is Christ centered. That is boasting in Christ does not focus on us but on God’s purposes. Let me say that again. Christ centered boasting does not focus on us, it focuses on God’s purposes. Again, Paul says "I wrote to you not for the sake of the one who did the wrong nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God." We know that there was a problem in the church at Corinth. That Paul addresses this problem in his first letter to the Corinthians; the man who had his father’s wife. Paul says, “Look, you need to get rid of him; you need to remove him from your from your midst, from your congregation. Get him out of here. His presence is not good; it is divisive; it is simply immoral and it is an abomination to God." We seem to see here in second Corinthians that the church did exactly what Paul told them to do. They got rid of this man who had his father’s wife and guess what, he repents. He turns from that way of living and part of second Corinthians Paul devotes to restoring that brother into a right fellowship with the church. He says do not necessarily give him the keys to the hen-house. Do not let him have a lot of responsibility but we do allow him back into fellowship. But, Paul says in this text, “Look I did not write what I wrote for the sake of the one who did the wrong. It was not necessarily that I’m trying to correct him. And I did not necessarily write what I wrote about the one who suffered the wrong; I wasn’t trying to console him. But I wrote what I wrote so that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you and made evident to you in the sight of God.” What Paul is saying is “I’m writing these things to you to highlight the purposes of God.” Paul’s focus at this point is the very purpose of God within the life of the church Corinth and Paul is boasting about them in Christ for at the end he says “I rejoice because I have complete confidence in you.” Well, that is a pretty good boast. His boasting is not based upon the people. Even though they had removed the man, it was still their lack of action that had allowed him to stay in the first place. Rather, Paul's boasting is based on what Christ is doing in the lives of the people. They are seeing conviction, repentance and restoration. 2 Corinthians 2: 4 says, “…for I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.” We see in the whole letters of 1 and 2 Corinthians that Paul is speaking to the things that Christ is accomplishing within the body, within the church; boasting about the things of Christ. Christ centered boasting does that; it focuses on the things of God, the purposes of God and not us. Christ centered boasting does some other things to and the second of these was that Christ centered boasting must be founded upon the truth of the gospel. Christ centered boasting must be founded upon the truth of the gospel. Listen to what Paul says in second Corinthians 7:13 ff, “…therefore we are comforted and besides our own comfort we rejoice still more at the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all for whatever boasts I made in him about you I was not put to shame and but just as everything we said to you was true so also our boasting before Titus has proved to be true.” Well, what was Paul talking to Titus about? What was Paul talking to the church at Corinth about in regards to Titus? Simply, the gospel. You see, Paul was highlighting Titus as being an ordained minister of the gospel. Much like he did with Timothy, he was telling the church of Corinth that this person, this man, Titus what was a real, true ambassador of Christ. And he was telling Titus that even though there were some problems within the church, and that they had stubbed their toe in some places, they really seem to have a heart that loves Christ. And so what Paul is doing is boasting to Titus about the church and boasting to the church about Titus. The foundation of all those boasts was not that Titus was a really neat guy or the Corinthian church was a really cool church. But that Christ was at work in both of those places; in Titus and in the church. So we see that Christ centered boasting is founded upon the truth of the gospel. As we go into the world and we share Christ, we can boast about the truth of the gospel. I believe that in many ways revival has already fallen on Edgewood. Because we see the truth of the gospel taking root in the hearts of the people that are here. We can see a growing interest in the world around us as they are beginning to see these things in Edgewood. Now I am not saying that we are super special. I am not saying that we are the only place that this is happening. I don’t know if this is happening in other places or not. But, the truth of the gospel is this. That as the word is proclaimed, as the word of God is held up by a church, by a body of believers and is held as being central to everything that they do. When the Spirit of God is being allowed to do His work and conviction is coming, and confession is coming, and repentance is coming; then faith, joy, belief, trust and unity comes. This is a work of the Holy Spirit. It is the true work of the gospel and I have no problem saying I believe that revival is really working very, very strongly within the lives of the of the people that are here at Edgewood. This is a boast but it is a boast of the transformative power found in the gospel. I would not go into our community and say you know what you really ought to come to Edgewood because we are some of the best singers in town. Folks at Edgewood are good singers, don’t misunderstand. I love to hear our congregation belt out those old-fashioned hymns a cappella. The strength of the human voice is a beautiful thing but I am not going to go into the community and tell everybody that our folks are great singers. I am not going to go into the community and tell everybody that our folks are great evangelists. Edgewood folks are great evangelists and I have no doubt in my mind that they are sharing the gospel with the people that they meet; in the circles they move. We are not doing it perfectly, none of us are doing it perfectly but I am not going to go out into the community and tell them that our folks are great evangelists. I might go into the community and tell them that our folks are a bunch of great cooks but that goes outside the point. However, I have no problem going into the community and telling our community; those friends and neighbors across the street, our loved ones and the people we work with. Those people we go to school with, those people that we meet every day; I have no problem going into that world and saying, “You know what? God is doing a work here.” I know He is doing a work and I see Him doing a work. You see, Christ centered boasting must be founded upon the truth of the gospel. Christ is doing work at Edgewood. It is a beautiful work, a wonderful work which is exactly the point. Christ centered boasting must focus on the work that Christ is doing; it is a work founded on the gospel truth and nothing else
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