Title: Don't brag about tomorrow
[Min Byeong-seok's Proverbs Exposition] 58
Text: (Proverbs 27:1)
1. There is nothing in life to be proud of.
When life truly discovers who you are, you know that you have nothing to brag about. 1 Peter 1:24 says, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of God abides forever.”
The foundation of the human body is nothing more than a handful of soil. God commanded Adam, “Dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” Therefore, the human body is like grass. No matter how much glory and honour is gained on this earth, this kind of life is just like grass, and the grass will wither soon and the flowers will soon fall off. Now, Mr. Roh Moo-hyun is enjoying the power he has longed for in the presidency of his life. But in the next few years, that authority will wither like a flower of grass, and who knows if he will be walking the same miserable path traversed by past presidents in the past? Therefore, there is nothing to be happy about being president, and nothing to be happy about being treated by the president.
People live on this earth without sparing much effort. But the fruits of such hard work are futile, and there is nothing to give to life. Regarding this, Ecclesiastes 1:2 says, “The evangelist said, Vanity, vanity, vanity, vanity, all things are vanity. What is the benefit of all that a man toils under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth endures forever.”
The evangelist who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes was a man of great wisdom, so he studied the things of life with all his wisdom in the Bible. As a result of a deep study of life, he concluded: ‘I, the evangelist, became king of Israel in Jerusalem, and with all my heart and wisdom, I searched and looked at everything that was done under the heavens, and it was painful. It is a chasing after wind.”
The years of life are like a twilight in the middle of the night. Therefore, Psalm 49 says, “Do not be afraid when a man is rich and his house increases in glory. For when he dies, he takes nothing, and his glory does not go down after him.” Despite the popular saying in the world, it is said that life is airborne. How could such lives be proud of what?
Then why is life so nothing to brag about? It comes from the penalty of sin. Humans are beings cursed by God because of their sins. And they became miserable beings who had to pay the price of their sins, death. It is because of this sin that death came to us, and it is because of this sin that sickness and suffering came into our lives. The reason there is not a single person in this world who can boast of himself is because all humans are sinners, and there is not a righteous one among them.
1. A life where you don't know tomorrow
You said that life doesn't know tomorrow In Luke 12, we find the parable of the rich fool. This rich man did not know that when the year's crops became abundant, the abundance was a blessing from God's hand. He thought to himself that he had planned his life, "Now, tear down this little barn, build a larger barn and store it full of this grain, so that you can eat and drink in peace for many years to come." So what happened to the rich man's delightful life plan after that? Then, listen to the written Word of God. “God said, ‘You fool, this night your soul will be required of you, then whose will your preparations be?’
There was a huge difference between the rich man's plan and God's plan. God never tolerates life's own plans, but guides and provides for people according to God's plan. Psalm 146 has some really good words. ‘Do not depend on princes, nor on people who do not have the strength to help, for when their breath ceases, they return to dust, and their plans perish in the same day. Blessed is he who makes the God of Jacob his help, and puts his hope in the LORD his God.”
In today's text, he said, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what will happen in one day." It is our lives that we cannot even know what will happen in a day. Even among Christians, there are many people who have fallen prey to the so-called mysterious life of faith. It's about letting you know what's going to happen tomorrow. There are people who are looking for people who prophesy just like the people of the world are divination to find out their future history.
However, if it prophesies about people's luck or tells them about the fate that they will face in the future, then such a prophecy is not a prophecy in the Bible. Fortune-telling is the work of a demon possessed by fortune-telling.
The fact that we do not know tomorrow's work may be a blessing in a way. Know ahead of time that students who take college entrance exams will not be accepted. He will become discouraged and throw away his books and notebooks before he even takes the exam. Anyone who wants to run a business find out in advance whether the business will be successful. If you say you succeed, you will be vigilant and you will cause a big failure. If you say you fail, you will have to spend your whole life doing nothing, and then you will end your life. Find out all about the future of the man who will be married to the virgin. There will never be a single marriage that will take place.
It is important to put away all the futile efforts to know what will happen tomorrow, trust only God, live according to God's will, and surrender your life to God. “A man plans his way in his heart, but the Lord directs his steps.”
Therefore, we need to know what is most precious and necessary in our daily life. It is a life of entrusting everything to God and following God's guidance. And it is the fact that our lives must always be in accordance with the will of God.
There are several things in the Bible for Christians to boast about.
In Galatians 6:14, Paul said that I have nothing to boast about except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. What we should be proud of is the cross of the Lord. Because this cross has set me free from the bondage of all sin and saved my mortal soul. Because it is this cross that has renewed my life and made my life worthwhile, Christians should live a life of pride in the cross.
Next, in 2 Corinthians 10:17, Paul said, let him who boasts boast in the Lord. Our boast is only in Christ. We should be able to boast in front of everyone that we are new in Christ. If you believe in Christ and continue to drink, what will you be proud of? If you go to church and fight for three days in your family, what are you proud of believing in Jesus?
I believe in Jesus and become a new person. In the old days, the sinful man died. See, have I not been changed anew in the Lord like this? Look at the changed me and believe in Jesus. In this way, we should be able to boast in Christ. Such boasting should always be aimed at the glory of God.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that I boast in my weaknesses. Paul had a difficult disease in his body. The suffering caused by this disease was so severe that he prayed three times earnestly for it to leave his body. But the disease still took over his body and tormented Paul. Paul came to understand the will of the Lord to leave the sickness to him in the pain that did not come even after praying.
It was to keep Paul from becoming proud, and he came to realize that the Lord's power would be fully revealed in Paul's weakness. At this time, Paul was overjoyed and decided to brag about his various weaknesses. Weaknesses refer to one's own ugliness. speaks of their own shortcomings.
Also, Paul said in Philippians 3:3 to boast in Christ Jesus. Only Jesus can boast with confidence. The boasting that we boast in Jesus with our mouths open is the most rewarding boasting. The pride of Jesus will soon become my pride. Jesus is our pride when we believe that such a person is what we believe in, that we have such a person, that such a person directs the path of my life and that such a person rules and blesses my life.
Conclusion: What have you been proud of? What are you proud of what you have? Do you have an academic background to be proud of? Even if you graduated from Seoul National University, it cannot be something to be proud of. Can you brag about your money? No matter how much money you have, it is of no use unless God allows you to earn and preserve it. May you be proud of the God who gives you all these things, makes you enjoy them, and makes you use them abundantly. The pride of life is in vain. There is nothing to be proud of. We hope that we can walk the path of true life by relying solely on God, who is the ruler of my life and the companion of my life, boasting about the cross and Jesus Christ, and boasting about me and my weaknesses that have been renewed in the Lord.