* The people in Jeremiah’s day were prospering well.
* But they started looking to themselves, which led to their boasting.
* They had forgotten Isaiah 48:17 - “I am the Lord, who teaches you to profit…”
* As God’s kids, they experienced God’s blessing on the earth.
* Why? So they could prepare the way for the Messiah!
* However, as they grew bigger and stronger they forgot their “why” and started started falling away from the Lord.
* How? By focusing on themselves and no longer on God.
* Same thing happened in Romans 1:21 - “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him…”
* Look how God responds:
* vs 23 - “This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches…”
* They boasted in three things.
* We have to make sure we don’t boast in these:
* 1) Intellect - “the understanding or mental powers of a person.”
* You see all over Twitter intellectuals arguing with each other.
* 1 Corinthians 8:1 - “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”
* You’ve elevated your intellect when you demand others to believe just like you.
* 2) Influence - Israel had grown mighty in the world, so mighty that all the kingdoms of the world knew about them.
* Social media has created “platform lust.”
* People elevate Likes over Lives.
* Ultimately, the platform is what keeps them silent about things that matter.
* If God increases your influence, don’t forget why He’s done it.
* 3) Income - Money represents your source of sustainability.
* It’s not the source - God is.
* Income can become your idol when impact isn’t your goal.
* It cuts both ways:
* Pride because of your surplus - this is dangerous because you don’t feel like you need God.
* Fear because of your lack - this is dangerous because you don’t feel like God will come through.
* But we are not to boast about any of these things.
* vs 24 - “…but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.”
* EX: What’s better to brag about, the amount of money I make or the number of houses I have or the types of vacations I take …or that I was an intimate friend of Billy Graham and traveled everywhere with him since he was a teenager?
* The same is true in our relationship w/God.
* Let’s not boast about our life - Let’s boast that we know the Giver of Life!
* That keeps the focus on Him and not on the "things" of Him.