Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

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This month marks the 16th year of our marriage together as pastor and people of the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection. As I’ve said, it’s a good marriage because there’s a mutual love for one another and we share the common interest of coming to faith in Jesus Christ, growing in that faith and sharing that faith with others.

I think that St. Paul had had a good marriage with his congregation in Corinth. From his letters to them, we know that there was certainly a mutual love between pastor and people. And by his preaching and teaching, Paul led the Corinthians into the life of faith that is centered upon the all availing sacrifice of Jesus Christ through whom we are saved by grace alone through faith alone for Christ’s sake alone.

But Paul was not one of those pastors who stayed in one congregation for a long time. His calling was to move from place to place and plant as many new congregations throughout the world as possible. When Paul left, others would be called to take over as the pastor of the congregation. What Paul discovered was that it didn’t take long for new pastors to undo what Paul had worked so hard to establish.

For example, shortly after Paul left the congregation in Galatia, he wrote to them saying, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.” (Gal.3:1, 1:6).

The same thing happened with the Corinthians. Some clergy ‘wannabees’ started telling the congregation that Paul didn’t have it exactly right and that there were better ways to go about living the life of faith than those that Paul had taught. And rather than trying to prove their claims from the Scriptures, they tried to establish their credibility with the Corinthians by boasting about how spiritual they were. They talked a lot about the visions and revelations that they had from the Lord. They’d pepper their sermons with phrases like, “the Lord spoke to me,” or, “the Lord told me,” as though they had some kind of special connection with the Lord. They’d talk about their special revelations in which God showed them something that he hadn’t shown anyone else. The message was, ‘if you’re smart, you’ll listen to what I tell you because I’ve got a special connection to God.’

And evidently, the Corinthians ate this stuff up. Can you imagine that?

Paul was hesitant to boast about himself. He knew that the only thing a Christian has to boast about is Jesus Christ. He writes, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.” (2 Cor. 10:16-17)

You don’t have to be a Christian to know that people who love to blow their own horn are more interested in proving themselves than in proving the gospel. Only fools boast about themselves. But the Corinthians were being attracted to fools. And Paul cared more for the Corinthians than for himself, so if the Corinthians wanted boasting, Paul was willing to boast. The whole thing was ridiculous and he knew it, but he was willing to play the fool in order to win the hearts and minds of the Corinthians whom he loves.

“I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.” (vs.1). And so he tells them a real doozy about being “caught up” to heaven and paradise, as if to say, ‘let’s see you top that one.’

But Paul’s point in boasting like this is not to tell us something about heaven, but to show us just how ridiculous all boasting in ourselves really is. I mean, wouldn’t you think that the Lord would tell Paul to start every sermon and evangelism rally with his personal testimony about his vision or revelation? But in fact, the Lord wants to prevent Paul from this kind of thing.

“So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated.”

One of the marks of our fallen and sinful human nature is that we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. We think that God blesses us with this or that because we’re special. God blesses us and we become ‘elated,’ not with God but with ourselves for being so special to God. So the thorn in the flesh reminds us that God blesses us, not because we’re so special but because He is.

Paul and Job have a lot in common. Like Job, God gives Satan permission to take all the wind out of Paul’s sails. Once again, Paul doesn’t tell us what the thorn in the flesh was, so it doesn’t matter. It’s not the point.

But here is the point of all of this. Wouldn’t you think that if Paul was so special and spiritual as to be ‘taken up’ to heaven and paradise by the Lord, that Paul could certainly ask the Lord to remove the thorn in his flesh, and the Lord would do it? “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that is should leave me.” Paul was not only ready to pray, but he was also ready to tell the Lord how to answer his prayer. Can you imagine that?

But God’s ways are not our ways nor are His thoughts our thoughts. And as is so often the case, God’s answer to our prayer is not the answer we were hoping for. “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

There are two points that we want to take away from this text before us today. The first point is the primary point that Paul wants to make to the Corinthians and is very much applicable to us today. The second point we derive from Paul’s example of how he deals with the Lord’s answer to his prayer.

The first point that Paul wants the Corinthian congregation to understand is that they should not be led astray from what he has taught them and the message he has preached to them by those who claim to have a better message and a more reasonable theology, which they try to prove by backing it up with their boasts of visions and revelations rather than by the Word of God.

If the Corinthians are going to be impressed by these men with their visions and revelations, they should understand that these things are from God. God gives these experiences to whom He gives them, just as He gave Paul his experience of heaven and paradise. This is not something you earn or achieve and not because they’re so special. So it’s ridiculous to boast in what’s been given to you by someone else and its foolish to think that this kind of thin should validate the preacher.

You might be very impressed with someone who owns a multimillion-dollar company and who is just 26 years old. But when you learn that the company belonged to his father who gave it to him, you’re not so impressed and frankly, you’re not sure if the kid knows what to do with what he’s been given. The same goes with anyone who boasts about visions and revelations.

But Paul’s point goes further than this. If you’re going to boast about the visions and revelations that the Lord has given to you, then you should also be ready and willing to boast about the thorns in the flesh that the Lord has given you, because they too come from the Lord.

And so, rather than listening to people who boast about their visions and revelations, listen to people who boast about the all-sufficient grace of God and His power to sustain them in their weakness?

Paul’s point to the Corinthians that is so relevant to us today is that as soon as you start fixing your eyes and ears on men and women and their personalities and testimonies, either good or bad, you’re being led astray from where your eyes and ears belong. Fix your eyes on Jesus and Him crucified and risen from the dead. Fix your ears on His Word, which does not promise you any vision or revelation other than the cross of Christ crucified and raised from the dead.

Every message and teaching that draws your attention to visions and revelations or signs and wonders is dangerous to your salvation because it draws your attention from the work of God in His Son, Jesus Christ who is the only vision and revelation that matters in your salvation.

The second point that we draw from what Paul writes here is simply what we may derive from Paul’s response to the Lord’s answer of ‘no’ to his prayer. The life of faith is not about visions and revelations or miracles and wonders. It’s about trusting in the love of God for you whatever the circumstances of your life might be. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

So, just how does Paul react to the Lord’s denial of his request? He writes, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (vs.9b-10).

Paul has learned one of the most valuable lessons of the life of faith. As long as we think that we rely on our own strengths and handle our own problems, we’re really weak. But when we realize just how weak and vulnerable we are to the forces and influences around us, then we are ready to let Jesus be our strength. Because if there is One who knows how to bear thorns in the flesh, trusting in the all-sufficient grace and power of God, it’s Jesus.

Here is a lesson that we all would do well to study hard and learn well. Too often, I’m afraid that we think we can only be content with our life if we get rid of all of our thorns in the flesh. If we could just hide our weaknesses, stop the insults, overcome our hardships, get free of our persecutors and escape the calamities and catastrophes that threaten to destroy us, then we’d be content.

But Paul learned how to be content, not by the absence of all these things, but in the presence of all these things. When Paul learned that the thorn in his flesh that came from the messenger of Satan could be borne by God’s strength, he then applied that lesson to every other weakness and problem in his life - weaknesses, insults, hardship, persecutions and calamities. He was able to bear them all, not by his power but by the power of God. Paul realized just how perfect the power of Jesus Christ in his life really was.

I think that this is exactly the lesson that Jesus was trying to teach the people in His beatitudes. Jesus boasts, not about strong and powerful people who’ve got all their problems under control, but about those who, in their weakness and troubles, have learned that the grace of God is sufficient for them and that His power is made perfect in their weakness.
* “Blessed are the poor in spirit - for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” * “Blessed are those who mourn - for they will be comforted.” * “Blessed are the meek - for they shall inherit the earth.” * “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness - for they will be satisfied.” * “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake - for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” So, the best thing that can happen to us is for those thorns in the flesh to do their job. Not the job that Satan put them there for - but the job that the Lord uses them for. By these thorns in the flesh, He keeps us from becoming elated with ourselves and He drives us to Him. And in being driven in our weakness to throw ourselves upon His grace, we discover over and over again that His power sufficient for us.

Related Entries:

» Sermon - 7th Sunday after Pentecost - “When I Am Weak, Then I Am Strong” - - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 - 7/23/06
» “Survival Of The Weakest”
» Sermon Index - Lutheran - LCMS
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This entry was posted on Sunday, July 5th, 2009 at 3:55 pm and is filed under Audio Sermons, Sermons - Lutheran - LCMS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.