The Only Legitimate Boast Text: Jeremiah 9:23-24
Introduction: The Magna Carta of All Boasting
Every man has a resume. Every man has a list of accomplishments, a source of pride, a thing he points to when asked who he is. We are inveterate boasters. The question is not whether you will boast, but what you will boast in. Our hearts are idol factories, as Calvin said, and they are also resume-printing presses, churning out justifications for our existence. We do this because we were created to glory in something, to find our meaning and identity in something transcendent. The tragedy of the fall is that we took our eyes off the only legitimate object of glory and fixed them on glittering, transient absurdities. We traded the Fountain of living waters for broken cisterns that can hold no water.
The world encourages this foolishness. It has established three great pillars of pride, three categories of vainglory that men pursue with a religious fervor. They are wisdom, might, and riches. Think of the modern university, the Pentagon, and Wall Street. These are the cathedrals of secularism. You can get your doctorate, you can get your black belt, you can get your portfolio in the black, and the world will applaud you. It will tell you that you have arrived, that you are a success. It will hand you a trophy for the mantelpiece of your soul.
But the prophet Jeremiah, speaking for Yahweh, comes to us with a divine declaration that functions as a wrecking ball to these pillars of human pride. He tells us that these three great achievements of man are, in the final analysis, nothing to boast about. They are smoke. They are vapor. They are less than nothing and vanity. God does not simply regulate our boasting; He redirects it entirely. He does not say, "Boast a little less about your wisdom." He says, "Do not boast in your wisdom at all." He then provides the one, central, all-consuming, legitimate ground for all boasting. There is one thing, and one thing only, that a man can glory in. And it is this: that he understands and knows the living God.
This passage is a divine confrontation. It forces us to take out our resumes, the things we secretly pride ourselves on, and hold them up to the light of God's Word. And when we do, we find that they are written in disappearing ink. God is jealous for His glory, and He will not give it to another. He will not allow us to find our ultimate worth in our own cleverness, our own strength, or our own acquisitions. He invites us, commands us, to find it in Him.
The Text
Thus says Yahweh, “Let not a wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast in his might; let not a rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Yahweh who shows lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares Yahweh.
(Jeremiah 9:23-24 LSB)
The Trinity of Human Pride (v. 23)
Jeremiah begins with a divine prohibition, a threefold demolition of man's proudest achievements.
"Thus says Yahweh, 'Let not a wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast in his might; let not a rich man boast in his riches...'" (Jeremiah 9:23)
First, "Let not a wise man boast in his wisdom." This strikes at the intellectual pride of man. This is the pride of the philosopher, the academic, the pundit, the man who believes he has figured the world out. He has read the right books, he has the right degrees, he can win any argument. But what is the wisdom of man? The apostle Paul tells us that the world through its wisdom did not know God (1 Cor. 1:21). Man's wisdom is a flashlight in a dark cave, searching for an exit, all the while refusing to acknowledge the sun shining outside. It is foolishness. It is like boasting about your intricate knowledge of the deck chairs on the Titanic. The wisdom God condemns here is not practical skill, but autonomous reason that sets itself up as the ultimate arbiter of truth. It is the pride that says, "I will not believe what I cannot understand." God's response is blunt: your understanding is not the center of the universe.
Second, "let not the mighty man boast in his might." This is the pride of strength, power, and influence. This is the boast of the warrior, the politician, the CEO, the athlete. It is the confidence that comes from being able to impose your will on the world, to move things, to make things happen. But what is human might? It is a fleeting vapor. The strongest man is laid low by a microbe. The most powerful empire crumbles to dust. Goliath boasted in his might, and a shepherd boy with a sling brought him down. Nebuchadnezzar boasted in the might of his Babylon, and God turned him into a beast of the field to teach him that the Most High rules the kingdom of men. To boast in your might is to forget that your every breath, every heartbeat, is a gift from the one who holds your life in His hands.
Third, "let not a rich man boast in his riches." This is the pride of possessions, the security that comes from a healthy bank account and a diversified portfolio. This is the rich fool in the parable, who boasted in his barns full of grain, saying "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry." But God said to him, "Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" (Luke 12:20). Riches create the illusion of autonomy. They whisper that you don't need God, because you have your 401k. But as Proverbs says, "Riches do not profit in the day of wrath" (Prov. 11:4). You cannot bribe the grim reaper, and you cannot use your gold to buy your way into heaven. It is a fool's currency in the economy of God.
These three things, wisdom, might, and riches, are not evil in themselves. They can be good gifts from God. But they become deadly idols the moment we boast in them. The moment they become the source of our identity and security, they become our damnation. They are the counterfeit trinity of the world, offering a false salvation that cannot deliver.
The One True Boast (v. 24a)
After tearing down the false grounds for boasting, God establishes the one true ground.
"...but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me..." (Jeremiah 9:24a)
This is a staggering redirection. The only thing in the universe worth glorying in is a personal, experiential, covenantal knowledge of God Himself. Notice the two words used: "understands and knows." This is not merely intellectual assent to a set of doctrines. You can know about God without knowing God. The demons know about God, and they tremble. The Hebrew word for "know" here is yada, which implies intimacy and relationship. It's the same word used for a husband knowing his wife. This is a knowledge that transforms. It is to have your mind rewired to think God's thoughts after Him, and your heart reshaped to love what He loves.
This is the great project of our existence. This is eternal life: to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent (John 17:3). This is the pearl of great price, for which a man would sell everything he has. Compared to this, the wisdom of Socrates is babble, the might of Caesar is pathetic, and the riches of Croesus are bankrupt. Paul, who had more to boast in than any of us, a resume of wisdom, might, and status, counted it all as rubbish for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord (Phil. 3:8).
To boast in this is not arrogance; it is the height of humility. Why? Because this knowledge is not something we achieve. It is a gift. We do not find God; He finds us. We do not ascend to Him; He condescends to us. Therefore, to boast in knowing God is to boast in His grace. It is to say, "My only glory is that the glorious One has stooped to make Himself known to me, a fool." It is a God-centered boast, not a man-centered one.
The Content of That Knowledge (v. 24b)
What is it that we are to know and understand about this God? Jeremiah gives us a summary of His covenant character.
"...that I am Yahweh who shows lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,' declares Yahweh." (Jeremiah 9:24b)
When we know God, we know Him as He has revealed Himself. We don't get to make up a god that suits our preferences. We must know Him as He is. And here, He reveals Himself as the God who acts in history, "on earth." He is not a distant, deistic clockmaker. He is Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God, and His actions are characterized by three glorious attributes.
First, He shows "lovingkindness." This is the great Hebrew word hesed. It is covenant loyalty, steadfast love, mercy that will not let go. This is the love that caused Him to choose Israel, to deliver them from Egypt, to bear with their rebellion, and to promise a Redeemer. It is the love that sent Jesus to the cross while we were yet sinners. To know God is to know that you are the recipient of an unmerited, unrelenting, covenantal love.
Second, He shows "justice." This is mishpat. It means that God always does what is right. He is the ultimate standard of fairness. He rights wrongs, vindicates the oppressed, and punishes evil. Our world is drowning in injustice precisely because it has rejected the only source of true justice. Men cry out for justice, but they mean envy and revenge. God's justice is perfect and restorative. At the cross, His justice and His lovingkindness met. God's justice required that sin be punished. God's lovingkindness provided the substitute, His own Son, to bear that punishment.
Third, He shows "righteousness." This is tzedakah. It refers to the moral purity of God's character and the rightness of His actions. He is not just the standard of right; He is the source of right. Everything He does is in perfect accord with His holy nature. And in the gospel, He gives this righteousness to us. We are declared righteous in His sight not because of our own works, but by being clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.
And notice the conclusion: "for I delight in these things." God is not reluctant in His mercy, justice, and righteousness. He delights in them. This is who He is. This is His joy. And when we come to know Him, we begin to delight in these things too. Our hearts are tuned to His. We begin to love lovingkindness, seek justice, and walk in righteousness.
Conclusion: A Transferred Resume
So, what is on your resume? What do you boast in when you are being honest with yourself? Is it your intellect? Your position? Your bank account? God's command here is to throw that resume in the fire.
The gospel is the great exchange of resumes. We come to God with our filthy rags, our proud boasts that are really just a record of our rebellion. We hand it to Him. And in return, He hands us the resume of His Son, Jesus Christ. On it is written perfect wisdom, ultimate might, and infinite riches. It is a record of perfect lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness.
He nails our resume to the cross, and He clothes us with Christ's. This is why our only boast can be in knowing Him. Because to know Him is to know what He has done for us in Jesus. The apostle Paul sums up Jeremiah's point perfectly for the Christian: "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that, as it is written, 'He who glories, let him glory in the Lord'" (1 Corinthians 1:30-31). Notice how Paul quotes our very passage from Jeremiah.
Christ is our wisdom. Christ is our might. Christ is our riches. Therefore, our boast is not in ourselves, but in Him. We boast that we know the God who, in His lovingkindness, sent His Son. We boast that we know the God who, in His justice, punished our sin in that Son. And we boast that we know the God who, in His righteousness, raised that Son from the dead and gave us His perfect record. That is the only boast that will stand on the last day. It is the only boast that is not vanity. It is the only boast that is eternal life.