July 19th, 2009
What’s So Great About Being Weak?
I. We Can See God’s Grace.
II. We Can Trust His Power.
Sermon Text: 11 Corinthians 12:7-10I. We Can See God’s Grace.
II. We Can Trust His Power.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
In the name of Jesus, dear fellow weaklings who trusting in God’s Strength,
The old comic books would often have an advertisement for Charles Atlas’ solution to the 98 pound weakling’s problems. Remember the bully would come walking the by the weakling and start kicking sand in his face. The advertisement would then have the weakling try Charles Atlas’ exercise program and soon the 98 pound weakling was not so weak anymore and he wasn’’t going to be bullied around anymore. The days of having sand kicked in his face were over.
It isn’t very much fun to feel weak. Whether you are the 98 pound weakling or just feeling weak because of the flu or some other problem, it isn’t very much fun to feel weak. But God’s word points out today that it is a great thing to be weak. That seems strange to us and so we ask, “What’s so great about being weak?” I. We can see God’s grace and we can trust in His power.
A number of years ago there was a popular song where the singer wished that “he could be like Mike.” The singer was talking about Michael Jordan. Throughout the ages many Christians could have rightly said, “I want to be like Paul.” By God’s grace Paul had some amazing thing happen to him in his life. At the time of his conversion a man named Cornelius said to Paul, “The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from His mouth.” We are also told in the Book of Acts that God did “extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” On top of all of that, Paul tells us that God gave him a vision of things in heaven so wonderful that they could not be expression in human speech. It would be hard to be humble when things like that had happened. Jesus knew that and used a thorn to keep conceit from filling his heart. “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.” Through this thorn God showed Paul that it was great to be weak because he could see God’s grace.
Have you ever seen one of the high heel races where the ladies race for prizes by running in high heels? I’d have to tip my hat to anyone who can walk in high heeled shoes let alone run in them. It’s much easier to walk in normal shoes. Whatever it was that was bothering Paul it must have felt like he was running in high heeled sandals.. Things would be so much easier without it. He calls it his “thorn in the flesh.” The Bible never tells us what the thorn was - some think eye problems or speech problems. Others think of the constant opposition to Christ’s message and others wonder if he had malaria. If it was a physical problem like that it helped him to see God’s grace. That God would use him warts and all to spread his message.
Others think that perhaps the thorn Paul is talking about was a spiritual matter like guilt. Imagine how you might feel if had been standing there nodding your head with approval at the stoning of Stephen. Even as young Stephen was calling out asking for forgiveness for his attackers, imagine you were offering to watch the coats of those throwing stones so that they could really wind up and get power behind their throws without having to worry about someone walking off with their jackets. Imagine how Paul must have felt when he went to knock on a Christian’s door and thought back upon all of the times he opened the doors to the houses of Christians to carry them off to jail. On the day Jesus stopped him on the road in a blinding light Paul was headed to hunt and kill Christians in Damascus. Imagine the burning pain those memories must have driven into Paul like a sharp piercing thorn that is driven deeply into the flesh. He knew he was forgiven but it must have been difficult to forget what he had done. That would fit well with what Paul called this thorn- a messenger of Satan. Satan must have come at Paul with the accusation, “You are a messenger of Jesus and you did that to his followers!” Those thoughts would have made any self righteous thoughts just sort of shrivel up.
Whatever the thorn was Paul felt he carry out his ministry much better if he didn’t have to carry it. Paul says, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.” Paul was a very smart man. He was a student of the world renown teacher, Gamaliel. That was sort of the “Ivy League” education of the day. He must have been quite a business man and salesman, able to support himself by tent making as he went on his missionary journeys. If anyone could take care of himself it was Paul. Yet Paul looked to the Lord for strength. He remembered the words of the Psalmist “In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.”
He called to the Lord for help and the Lord answered him with a “no.” We tend to think of a “no” answer to our prayers as a sign that God doesn’t like us and we stomp off all mad and pouty. But God makes clear that even in his “no” answers are filled with his grace. “But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." My grace covers your sin. My grace is strong enough to help you through this.
The only thing Paul deserved from God was the back of his flinging him into the fires of hell. That’s all we deserve too. We may never have killed a Christian but God says, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer.” How many times have hateful thoughts every about other Christians crossed our minds.” Have we given our approval as others were throwing the stones of nasty names and insults in the direction of another. We can take our place right next to Paul- the chief of sinners. We are weak and powerless before the consuming fire of God’s judgment. “Chief of sinners though I be, Jesus shed His blood for me.” The Savior’s blood washed Paul’s sins away. The Savior’s blood washed your sins away.
When the bombs exploded in the hotel in Jakarta the other night there were people there who held onto little statues of wood and stone tight and called out the names of “Allah” and Buddah to come and save them. And God in his grace has brought the Good News of Jesus who lived and died and rose again to you and me. That’s the second thing that is so great about being weak when it comes to our relationship with God. We can trust God’s power.
God answered Paul’s prayer, “for my power is made perfect in weakness." When it comes to troubles Paul was an expert. He talks about being beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked, in danger from bandits and even his own countrymen. But trusting in His Lord who loved him Paul could go on to say, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” When we are in the hospital or going through problems we don’t feel very strong. But Jesus is our good and gracious helper. He will take those thorns and use them in some way for our good. That’s why we can even delight in those thorns- sickness, set backs, trying conditions at home or work, we have the assurance from God that the cup of suffering does not contain poison, but medicine, medicine wisely chosen by the Great Physician of souls for our present and eternal welfare. His grace calms our hearts. He says in His word, “He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can and when you are tempted he will provide a way out so that you can bear up under it.”
The puffer fish I talked about in the children’s message is actually poisonous. A predator that manages to snag a puffer before it inflates won’t feel lucky for long. Even though if prepared exactly right they can be eaten, almost all pufferfish contain a substance that is up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. There is enough toxin in one pufferfish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote. Being all puffed up relying on our own strength instead of God’s grace can be eternally deadly. Let’s glory in relying on God. Let’s be weak when it comes to our own spiritual strength. Let’s rely on Jesus- for when we are weak, then we are strong. Amen.
In the name of Jesus, dear fellow weaklings who trusting in God’s Strength,
The old comic books would often have an advertisement for Charles Atlas’ solution to the 98 pound weakling’s problems. Remember the bully would come walking the by the weakling and start kicking sand in his face. The advertisement would then have the weakling try Charles Atlas’ exercise program and soon the 98 pound weakling was not so weak anymore and he wasn’’t going to be bullied around anymore. The days of having sand kicked in his face were over.
It isn’t very much fun to feel weak. Whether you are the 98 pound weakling or just feeling weak because of the flu or some other problem, it isn’t very much fun to feel weak. But God’s word points out today that it is a great thing to be weak. That seems strange to us and so we ask, “What’s so great about being weak?” I. We can see God’s grace and we can trust in His power.
A number of years ago there was a popular song where the singer wished that “he could be like Mike.” The singer was talking about Michael Jordan. Throughout the ages many Christians could have rightly said, “I want to be like Paul.” By God’s grace Paul had some amazing thing happen to him in his life. At the time of his conversion a man named Cornelius said to Paul, “The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from His mouth.” We are also told in the Book of Acts that God did “extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” On top of all of that, Paul tells us that God gave him a vision of things in heaven so wonderful that they could not be expression in human speech. It would be hard to be humble when things like that had happened. Jesus knew that and used a thorn to keep conceit from filling his heart. “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.” Through this thorn God showed Paul that it was great to be weak because he could see God’s grace.
Have you ever seen one of the high heel races where the ladies race for prizes by running in high heels? I’d have to tip my hat to anyone who can walk in high heeled shoes let alone run in them. It’s much easier to walk in normal shoes. Whatever it was that was bothering Paul it must have felt like he was running in high heeled sandals.. Things would be so much easier without it. He calls it his “thorn in the flesh.” The Bible never tells us what the thorn was - some think eye problems or speech problems. Others think of the constant opposition to Christ’s message and others wonder if he had malaria. If it was a physical problem like that it helped him to see God’s grace. That God would use him warts and all to spread his message.
Others think that perhaps the thorn Paul is talking about was a spiritual matter like guilt. Imagine how you might feel if had been standing there nodding your head with approval at the stoning of Stephen. Even as young Stephen was calling out asking for forgiveness for his attackers, imagine you were offering to watch the coats of those throwing stones so that they could really wind up and get power behind their throws without having to worry about someone walking off with their jackets. Imagine how Paul must have felt when he went to knock on a Christian’s door and thought back upon all of the times he opened the doors to the houses of Christians to carry them off to jail. On the day Jesus stopped him on the road in a blinding light Paul was headed to hunt and kill Christians in Damascus. Imagine the burning pain those memories must have driven into Paul like a sharp piercing thorn that is driven deeply into the flesh. He knew he was forgiven but it must have been difficult to forget what he had done. That would fit well with what Paul called this thorn- a messenger of Satan. Satan must have come at Paul with the accusation, “You are a messenger of Jesus and you did that to his followers!” Those thoughts would have made any self righteous thoughts just sort of shrivel up.
Whatever the thorn was Paul felt he carry out his ministry much better if he didn’t have to carry it. Paul says, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.” Paul was a very smart man. He was a student of the world renown teacher, Gamaliel. That was sort of the “Ivy League” education of the day. He must have been quite a business man and salesman, able to support himself by tent making as he went on his missionary journeys. If anyone could take care of himself it was Paul. Yet Paul looked to the Lord for strength. He remembered the words of the Psalmist “In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.”
He called to the Lord for help and the Lord answered him with a “no.” We tend to think of a “no” answer to our prayers as a sign that God doesn’t like us and we stomp off all mad and pouty. But God makes clear that even in his “no” answers are filled with his grace. “But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." My grace covers your sin. My grace is strong enough to help you through this.
The only thing Paul deserved from God was the back of his flinging him into the fires of hell. That’s all we deserve too. We may never have killed a Christian but God says, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer.” How many times have hateful thoughts every about other Christians crossed our minds.” Have we given our approval as others were throwing the stones of nasty names and insults in the direction of another. We can take our place right next to Paul- the chief of sinners. We are weak and powerless before the consuming fire of God’s judgment. “Chief of sinners though I be, Jesus shed His blood for me.” The Savior’s blood washed Paul’s sins away. The Savior’s blood washed your sins away.
When the bombs exploded in the hotel in Jakarta the other night there were people there who held onto little statues of wood and stone tight and called out the names of “Allah” and Buddah to come and save them. And God in his grace has brought the Good News of Jesus who lived and died and rose again to you and me. That’s the second thing that is so great about being weak when it comes to our relationship with God. We can trust God’s power.
God answered Paul’s prayer, “for my power is made perfect in weakness." When it comes to troubles Paul was an expert. He talks about being beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked, in danger from bandits and even his own countrymen. But trusting in His Lord who loved him Paul could go on to say, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” When we are in the hospital or going through problems we don’t feel very strong. But Jesus is our good and gracious helper. He will take those thorns and use them in some way for our good. That’s why we can even delight in those thorns- sickness, set backs, trying conditions at home or work, we have the assurance from God that the cup of suffering does not contain poison, but medicine, medicine wisely chosen by the Great Physician of souls for our present and eternal welfare. His grace calms our hearts. He says in His word, “He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can and when you are tempted he will provide a way out so that you can bear up under it.”
The puffer fish I talked about in the children’s message is actually poisonous. A predator that manages to snag a puffer before it inflates won’t feel lucky for long. Even though if prepared exactly right they can be eaten, almost all pufferfish contain a substance that is up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. There is enough toxin in one pufferfish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote. Being all puffed up relying on our own strength instead of God’s grace can be eternally deadly. Let’s glory in relying on God. Let’s be weak when it comes to our own spiritual strength. Let’s rely on Jesus- for when we are weak, then we are strong. Amen.
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