EPIPHANY 6
February
12-14, 2022
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text: 2
Corinthians 12:7-10 EHV
“GOD IS GOOD!”
1. Watching our welfare.
2. So we can welcome our weaknesses.
2
Corinthians 12:7-10 (EHV) “Therefore, to keep me from becoming arrogant due to the extraordinary
nature of these revelations, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of
Satan, to torment me, so that I would not become arrogant. 8 Three
times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that he would take it away from
me. 9 And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient
for you, because my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore I will be glad to boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the
power of Christ may shelter me. 10 That is why I delight
in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, for
the sake of Christ. For whenever I am weak, then am I strong.”
The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close
friend with whom he grew up. The friend
had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life and
remarking, "This is good!" If
the sun was shining he would say, “This is good!” If it started to rain he
would say, “This is good!” When they went fishing together and caught loads of
fish he would say, “This is good!” When they went fishing together and got
skunked he would still say, “This is good!”
One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting
expedition. The friend would load and
prepare the guns for the king. The
friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for
after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown
off. Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, "This is
good!" To which the king replied, "No, this is NOT good!" and in
his anger sent his friend to jail.
About a year later, the king was
hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibalistic tribes were known to be active.
Sure enough some cannibals captured him and took them to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set
up a stake and bound him to the stake.
As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king
was missing a thumb. Being
superstitious, they never ate anyone that was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his
way.
As he returned home, the king was reminded of the event
that had taken his thumb and felt awful for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with
his friend. "You were right,"
he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off." And he proceeded to tell the friend all that
had just happened. "And so I am
very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do
this." "No," his friend replied,
"This is good!" "What do you mean, 'This is good?' How
could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?" The king said.
To which the friend replied, "If I had NOT been in jail, I would have been
with you. This is good!"
Now that cute little story might sound a little
simplistic but did you know that you have the right to live that way? To look all
things but especially at the hard and difficult things in life as blessings?
You do. Not because you can simplistically say, “This is good!” but because you
can truthfully say, “God is good!” Let’s see how that played out in the life of
the Apostle Paul.
“Therefore, to keep me from
becoming arrogant due to the extraordinary nature of these revelations, I was
given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me, so that I would
not become arrogant.” Paul mentions some revelations. He was in some
way given a true taste of heaven, seeing things only perfect people get see and
hearing things you only get to know in heaven. Must have been awesome! Danger
Apostle Paul. What danger? He told us. Conceit. Arrogance. Arrogance is a way
our sinful nature’s show themselves and if left unchecked leads to declaring
independence from God. Paul’s salvation was at stake.
But God was watching his welfare. “Three
times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that he would take it away from
me. 9 And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient
for you, because my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul had what
he called a thorn in his flesh. People have speculated what it was. Was it a
severe painful condition like relentless headaches, crippling arthritis,
something affecting his eyesight? Was it, as our own Pastor Eckert suggests, a
more painful one, the inability to forget what he had done as a persecutor,
ripping Christian parents from their children, imprisoning them leading to
their deaths? Whatever it was, it was no fun, did not seem good so much so that
besides regular praying Paul made 3 special, earnest, agonizing appeals to God
to take it away. And God said? NO. Why? He was watching out for Paul’s welfare,
what was best for him to get him to heaven.
Just as he does for you! Brothers and
sisters, just as God deliberately chose Paul to be his apostle, He has chosen
you. He made you His own at your Baptism. He is committed to seeing you with
Him in heaven and watches over your welfare. Got some issue in life? Some thorn
in the flesh you have asked Him to take care of? Something you have pleaded
with God to take away? And He said NO? This is good because God is good! He is
watching over your welfare with the single-minded goal of having you with Him
eternally.
That’s a game changer. It allows us to
welcome our weaknesses as Paul did. “Therefore I will be glad to boast all
the more in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may shelter me. 10 That
is why I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in
difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For whenever I am weak, then am I
strong.” Did you catch the attitude shift here? Paul went from pleading,
pleading, for his weakness to be taken away, to boasting about it. The weakness
remained the same, the outlook, the attitude changed. Why? Paul was given good
news by God. Realizing he had weaknesses was a good thing because God is good.
Now Paul relied on Christ’s power to shelter him instead of his own. Now Paul
remembered to be God dependent not self-dependent. Now Paul was using God’s
power instead of his own. So he welcomed his weaknesses.
Because you have the same God as Paul
you can too! God is good so if He allows a weakness, a difficulty, a hardship
to continue in your life for a period of time or your entire earthly life know
this. It is best for you to have it to keep you in faith. So welcome it.
So what is it for you? What’s the
blessing in disguise you have been wishing away? What’s your thorn in the
flesh? For some it may be physical. For you senior saints it can be that
failing health. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard our members who
can’t physically come to church any more lament that thorn as a messenger from
Satan. They just want to be in their church with their fellow believers. Yours
might be some other physical difficulty with eye sight or hearing or… Maybe
your thorn is a real or perceived lack of something like friends, some ability
or money. Sometimes our thorns in the flesh walk and talk, people in our lives.
Maybe people close to us, a family member or a spouse. And you just wish they
would change but they don’t. I’m asking you to take a step of faith and welcome
those weaknesses, difficulties and thorns instead of wishing them away. In so
doing you tell God you trust His judgment more than your own. In so doing you
are relying on the power of Christ to shelter you.
There is another thorn we all have,
our sin. Do you have one that you agonize over? One that makes you feel shame?
One that no matter how hard you try to get rid of, you can’t? Some sinful
desires that lead you to sinful actions again and again? As odd as this sounds,
you may have to welcome it. That doesn’t mean justifying or excusing sin or
saying sin is not sin. God can stop sin and if its presence in your life causes
continual struggle it may be God is leaving it so you don’t become conceited.
So you will rely on Christ’s power to shelter you and make you right with God,
not your own. To humble you to bear with the sins of people around you. God is
good. So if you are praying and struggling and still it’s there. His grace is
sufficient for you. Grace. God’s undeserved love. The love He gives to those
who are not perfect, who are unworthy, and don’t deserve it. Pretty good
description of us, isn’t it? No worries. God is good. He’ll keep us. Amen.
