Strength In Weakness

Transcript

GR 1826
01/24/2016
Strength in Weakness
2 Corinthians 11:30-12:10
Gil Rugh

We're working our way through Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, as we have it in our New Testament, and we are in chapter 11. So if you'd turn in your Bibles to
2 Corinthians 11. This is a section of the Bible that is of particular interest because it reveals more of the Apostle Paul's personal life and ministry than any other portion of the New Testament does. It's always interesting to find out some more personal information about an individual like Paul that gives us a greater appreciation of his ministry. In many ways it is a sad portion of the Word because Paul finds it necessary to talk about himself because the church at Corinth, which had been established by the Apostle Paul has been infiltrated by false teachers, false apostles. And they are bringing a corrupted message and Paul is concerned for the spiritual health and well-being of the church at Corinth. And these false apostles have compared themselves to Paul and they believe the comparison shows them to be superior, superior in a variety of ways. And they have made a point of showing Paul to be a rather weak, unimpressive apostle and in doing so attempt to undermine his message.

It is always surprising as we look back at a historical setting and think, I'm surprised that the church at Corinth, established by Paul, nurtured and nourished in the Word by Paul, would be so readily influenced by false teachers. But we never want to underestimate the craftiness of the enemy, the devil. Paul had said in 2 Corinthians 11:3, “I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” The impact of these false teachers, false apostles is being felt in the church at Corinth. The next verse says, “If one comes and preaches another Jesus,” we noted that this is part of the confusion. They are not denying Jesus Christ directly. In fact from what we know of other portions of Scripture about these that we call Judaizers, they agreed that He was the Messiah, that He died on the cross, that He was raised from the dead. The points of agreement are significant but the points of disagreement become overwhelming. So even though they are preaching Jesus, it's another Jesus, not the one that Paul preached, not the Holy Spirit at work and transforming their lives to bring them into conformity to Christ that is at work. It's a different Gospel.

The sad thing to say about the church at Corinth at this stage, the end of verse 4, “You bear this beautifully.” They had become antagonistic to Paul because you can't have the representatives of the devil and the representative of God having a mutual ministry. So they are attempting to push Paul out and take over.

Verse 13 says, “Such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, they disguise themselves as apostles of Christ.” Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it's not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. This is the problem, they are disguised as angels of light. They present themselves as servants of righteousness and in effect it's the work of the devil. And God's people get confused. It's the way the devil worked in the nation Israel in the Old Testament with false prophets. When all is said and done the whole nation had been corrupted and turned away from their God. We see that corrupting work in the churches down through history. Look at the major denominations. Started out battling for the truth and over time they are turned away from the truth, infiltrated by false teaching, false teachers and eventually corrupted.

So Paul views it as a crucial conflict. The problem with the church at Corinth is the problem we have until today—physical appearance. These false apostles came and they seemed to be the best speakers, the most attractive leaders. They are doing well and prospering materially, they are all the things that Paul is not. Turn over to 1 John 2. John writes, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world.” Now the world admires these things, they desire these things. These false teachers fit this mold. The physical things, the things that are attractive to people physically, they can boast of their accomplishments, their successes. We looked at the church at Laodicea. It seemed to be the most prosperous, most successful, but from Christ's eyes it is an utter failure spiritually. But this is what Paul is competing against, and the Corinthians' attention is being turned to have a greater appreciation for these kinds of leaders than for the leaders God has appointed.

We know that, we are in the midst of people competing to be Presidential candidates. And what are they doing? Selling themselves. They'll tell you everything they have accomplished. We hear them being evaluated—this one looks like a leader, he comes across like a leader. There are all these things that are attractive. And since we live in this world, if we are not careful that begins to shape our thinking of what we look for in ministry. We want successful people, people we can be proud of. I was reading in one of the news articles this week about the different evangelical pastors who serve as consultants to the different political candidates. Where are we? This is what Paul is dealing with in the church at Corinth, those whose attention has been turned more to external, physical things, physical appearances. In comparison Paul seems weak.

In 2 Corinthians 11:6, “Even if I am unskilled in speech and not so in knowledge.” Evidently one of the criticisms, he is not a very good speaker. He is not eloquent, he is not the speaker you would be enthralled with. He didn't take money from the Corinthians. That tells you, as we looked at this remember, what his teaching is worth. He gets by hand to mouth. Later in the chapter we had looked at, he knew what it was to be hungry, to be doing without. These false apostles can come in and they are well dressed, you can tell they are doing well. Well, the Lord must be blessing them. Paul said in verse 7, “Did I humble myself because I didn't take money from you?” Amazing how people like to be taken advantage of. Sometimes you turn on a program on one of the TV channels and you see the false teachers talking about seed faith. I think I'll shoot the television the next time I see one. You need to sow a seed of faith and then God will multiply it. And even if you have little or almost nothing, get it together and send your seed. But where are you supposed to send it? Send it to me and God will prosper and then I can live in a million dollar mansion and fly in a jet. And people are glad. Peter writes, they make merchandise of you. And this is going on in Corinth, too. And it's a downer, it's a negative that Paul didn't charge them for his preaching. So the physical things have become prominent.

Paul said, if we are going to draw a comparison, I'll do what is foolish—I'm going to boast and brag about myself, my ministry. Let's do a comparison. But he says it is unpleasant to do this. But he's going to turn it in such a way that what he boasts and brags about is just the opposite of what the false apostles are boasting and bragging about. He boasts in verses 23-29 where we have looked, of his sufferings, of how much he has suffered. All right, let's brag, let's do a comparison. Who has suffered the most? Who has been persecuted the most? Who has done without the most? That's the test.

Turn back to Acts 9. In Acts 9 this is when Paul was on the Damascus Road going to the city of Damascus to persecute Christians in that city. And he is struck blind in the context of an appearance of the resurrected Christ. And then Ananias a prophet of God is told, you go to Damascus and there you will meet Saul. I have some plans for him. And Ananias has a problem, verse 13. He says, I've heard about this man and he does much harm to the saints and that's why he has come here to Damascus. Look at verse 15, “The Lord said to him, go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.” You think, you are going to put a man in this position, he has to be a man of importance and prominence. He is going to have to look the role, fit the part. I mean, you just don't have an impact on kings if you look like a beggar. You are not going to reach the Jews and be respected, and the Gentiles. And what's the next verse? “For I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake.” He is going to be used so greatly, he's going to have to suffer greatly. That's not the way the world does it. We talked about King Saul in the Old Testament after whom the Apostle Paul's name, Saul, came. He looked like a king, head and shoulders above. He was a powerful presence, he looked the warrior part. He looked the ruler part. Now we have a guy who is going to go before king, and what is the characteristic of him? Suffering, suffering in the context of being used greatly.

So you come back to 2 Corinthians 11. Paul boasted about what he suffered, how many times he had been beaten, how many times he had been shipwrecked. All of his life was living on the end of danger. Verse 26, “in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers,” dangers, dangers, dangers, dangers. Verse 27, “Labor and hardship, sleepless nights, hunger, thirst, without food, cold, exposure.” That's not the way men would do when you want to send an ambassador. We want him to look the role, to be dressed the role, to have the residence of the role. He has a dignity and respectability, yet Paul the ambassador for Christ, this is the description he gives them himself. Reminder. And let's draw a comparison between the genuine and the false, who suffered more for Christ, who has given his life more so you could hear the Gospel. And on it goes.

So he comes down to verse 30 and he repeats what he has said before, basically. “If I have to boast, I'll boast of what pertains to my weakness.” I'm going to emphasize my weakness, and here he is going to zero in on two particular areas of weakness. He has talked about persecutions, sufferings like that. Now he's going to use an example from when he had to flee from the city of Damascus. And then he's going to talk about the visions and revelations God had given to him. But he is going to give the same twist, as he said, when I'm going to boast. And we'll draw a comparison between the false apostles and me. But he ends up boasting about his sufferings. Now he is going to boast further about his weakness, he's going to boast about things that show he doesn't look that important. He says, “If I have to boast, I'll boast about what pertains to my weakness.” The rest of 2 Corinthians 11 will deal with the situation at Damascus, his escape from there, and then the first ten verses of chapter 12 will deal with his thorn in the flesh in the context of the revelations given.

Before he proceeds he takes an oath. And we know the Scripture gives warning about oaths, but he takes an oath here as he does on other occasions. That's what verse 31 is, “The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.” I'm not making this up, I'm not exaggerating my weaknesses. I'm telling you the truth. And he comes to the situation in Damascus. In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes “in order to seize me. And I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and so escaped his hands.” The city of Damascus, comes into the news even today, in Syria. The ethnarch under Aretas. Part of what we work with in the New Testament is trying to establish some dates. And Luke who gave the early history of the church in the book of Acts doesn't say, now in 47 the Apostle Paul did this; in 55-56 A.D, he wrote a letter, a second letter to the Corinthians. We don't have those kinds of dates. So what we do is pull out when he refers to secular individuals who can be dated. That helps us put things into context.

This Aretas the king and the ethnarch, the ethnarch would be like we call them a governor, representing Aretas. He is the king ruling over the region with the city of Damascus. Now we know something about Aretas, he is called Aretas IV. And you don't have to commit this to memory like Scripture verses, but a little bit of history about him. We know his dates. He began ruling the Nabateans. Now you may not be familiar with the Nabateans, but the capital city of the Nabateans was Petra, the rock city of Petra. Some of you have been over in the Middle East and you have gone to Jordan and taken the trip down to the rock city of Petra. That was the capital of the Nabatean Empire which King Aretas IV ruled. Now he ruled from 9 B.C. to 40 A.D. and he died. So we know we are before 40 A.D. here because Aretas is king, and he is going to die in 40 A.D. So the events that are being recorded here are sometime in the late 30s—38, 39 A.D. or early 40 A.D. before he died, at least.

Just an aside, history is interesting when you read about it. Aretas has a daughter and she married Herod Antipas. Well, Herod Antipas decided he didn't want to be married to her, he wanted to marry his niece. So he divorced the daughter of Aretas and married his niece. Well, Aretas didn't like that, so he got his army together and went and attacked Herod Antipas, beat him up. Well, the Romans didn't like that because the Romans are ruling everything and they decide who rules. So Tiberius decides he will send the Roman armies to teach Aretas a lesson. But when the Roman commander is moving the armies to attack the Nabateans, the Roman Emperor dies. Now Caligula comes to power, but Caligula doesn't like Herod Antipas and he likes Aretas. So Aretas never gets punished by the Roman armies, but Caligula removes Herod Antipas and sends him into exile and gives the territory to Aretas. So we know that Aretas rules in this area, this particular area from about 37 A.D. to 40 A.D. Now remember the Romans are in charge, he is called King Aretas, but if the Romans decide you are out, you are out. Just like Herod Antipas. Caligula doesn't like him, he is gone. Because the Romans are the power, these are sub-rulers.

All right, you have the ethnarch, governor of Damascus under King Aretas since he has been given this authority over this region by the Romans. They are guarding the city, so Paul says I was let down in a basket. Come back to Acts 9. This historical account is in the book of Acts, it happened earlier. Remember 2 Corinthians was written during about the first three verses of Acts 20. So nothing after that is recorded, not everything before is recorded, but some, this event. Remember Paul went to Damascus, he is in Damascus, the end of verse 19. Verse 20, “Immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogue saying, He is the Son of God.” Remember Paul was a Jewish Pharisee, he is an expert in the Old Testament. So even though he hadn't been saved, he has a running start because he knows much of the content of the Old Testament. Now his eyes have been opened and the Spirit begins to enable him to see the truth concerning Christ and the Old Testament so he can engage the Jews. Now he can confront them with Isaiah 53 and many of the other passages like Peter used in Acts 2 to show that Jesus indeed was the prophesied One.

Verse 22, “Paul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that his Jesus is the Christ. When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him.” So now we have a little bit of the historical background that Paul doesn't go into in 2 Corinthians 11. Why is the governor under Aretas guarding the gates, knowing Paul is in the city but he is being hidden? Well, Aretas is not a Jew. What do they care? Well, you ruled under the Romans when you were appointed, and key to your maintaining your position was to maintain peace. The Romans didn't have particular religious interest, they had pantheon of gods. They were concerned about peace in the Empire. So Aretas has his position as long as he can control things. That's why the Roman governor like Pilate had issues in Jerusalem. On occasion he slaughtered a number. The Romans didn't particularly care if you killed Jews, they did care if peace was maintained.

So if the Jews in the city of Damascus are all upset and in an uproar about Paul, the governor there has reason to try to arrest Paul and satisfy the Jews. They have no interest in the message Paul is preaching and if this will pacify the Jews, because the governor there serves under Aretas. If he can't control the city, he'll be gone; and if Aretas can't control everything, he'll be gone. So that's something of the setting.

So what happened? While they are trying to keep Paul blocked into the city, verse 24, Saul, Paul (same person of course), “they were watching the gates day and night so they might put him to death.” This is a serious plot. “But his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket.”

So come back to 2 Corinthians 11. Paul says he is boasting about his weakness. How does this fit? He escaped. The point is it's a rather humiliating and undignified way to exit a city. I mean, you are hiding, you are sneaking out. You have to be put in a basket and lowered down at night to get out of town. That doesn't look like a very important or powerful person, certainly not a super hero. You know what Samson did in Judges 16 when they tried to close the gates and keep him from escaping the city. He just walked up to the gates, picked them up, crossbar and everything, put them on his shoulders and left town. Now that's a statement, something you can look up to. Or at least Peter in Acts 12. He is in prison, an angel comes in the middle of the night, opens the gate and out he walks. All the guards have happened to fall asleep. What can Paul say? When they imprisoned me in Damascus, in the power of the Lord I put those guards to sleep, the gates opened and I walked out. That's not the way it happened. I was just like a common criminal when slinking along in the darkness, my followers got a basket, they lowered me through a window and I got out of town. Paul uses it as a mark of weakness, it doesn't display any special power. It looks like a lowly, unimportant, uninfluential, powerless person trying to escape. Not covering it up, I'm telling the truth before the Lord. That's how I had to get out of Damascus in those early years of my ministry. There is nothing great about it.

But now we move to something great. “Boasting is necessary,” he keeps coming back to this, “but not profitable.” How many times has Paul said this in chapter 11 and now into chapter 1? Not what I would like to do. As he said he shouldn't have to do this with the Corinthians, but he does. So more comparisons, more explanation. I'm telling you about my weakness. He didn't compare himself to these false apostles in the basket escape situation, because they could probably tell stories about how they just used their influence and got around, and so on. Well Paul says, I'm going to tell you about visions and revelations of the Lord. Now we move to an important area, we'll see something about this in the next study. He has moved to the third person, but it becomes clear he's the person as he moves along, but it's like he is telling you about something, someone other than himself.

“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago.” Now we do have a date here, fourteen years ago. Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, we've compared other things, that's how they come to the date, somewhere around 55 or 56 A.D. So fourteen years ago and it's possible to translate this more than fourteen years ago because of the preposition that precedes it, but fourteen years or more ago, we might say. So sometime in the early 40s, because if it is 56 A.D. and you went back fourteen years, you would be to 42 A.D. Now we get another at least time period in there when this revelation happened. And then they look to compare, was this the time when he disappeared in the desert for a time and God revealed. But at any rate it was fourteen years ago, so we can at least put some dates in your mind because sometimes we wonder when is all this happening.

He qualifies, “whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.” He was caught up to the third heaven. Then he repeats what he just said. “I know such a man, whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows.” You would have thought that maybe after fourteen years Paul could have just asked God, was I really in the body? Or was I out of the body? The point is he doesn't know whether this was a dream and vision that transported him to heaven or he was actually physically removed from the earth and taken to heaven. Doesn't change anything and he wants to make clear, he is not making one claim or another. He's not claiming I was bodily in heaven and then that's something of his greatness. It's all about the visions and where I was, and how this was I am not sure. But there is no doubt about the vision.

“Such a man was caught up to the third heaven.” The third heaven is the presence of God. We normally talk about the atmospheric heavens, the stellar heavens and then the heaven of God. We know that's what he is talking about because down in verse 4, he “was caught up into Paradise.” Paradise, the third heaven, is the presence of God. Remember when the thief was on the cross at the crucifixion and Jesus said to the believing thief, “today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Different views on where Paradise was, but I understand Paradise to mean the third heaven. It is also mentioned in Revelation 2, the promise to the church, I believe, at Ephesus that their destiny is the Paradise of God. And ultimately that will be when heaven comes to earth and God will dwell with His visible manifestation of His presence on the new earth, Revelation 21-22.

At any rate Paul was caught into the third heaven, into Paradise, into the presence of God, and note, “he heard inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak.” He is not permitted to speak. Now there could be some of this revelation that was, but the greatness of the revelation, there were at least things in that revelation so great that he wasn't allowed to convey them. So Paul knew more of the glories and splendor of being in heaven, either by vision or body, than even is revealed in Scripture.

Come over to Revelation 10. The Apostle John is caught up to heaven as chapter 4 opens up, and he is given revelation and he was writing it all down. Then in the revelation in Revelation 10:4, “When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write,” had been spoken in the thunder, “I heard a voice from heaven saying, seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.” So they are not included in the record that John has because John was privileged to hear something and be told something while there in heaven that it was not God's intention to have made known on earth.

So a similar situation with Paul as you come back to 2 Corinthians 12. The point is the revelation given to him is of such magnitude that at least a portion of it was not revealed on this occasion. We don't know how much would have been, if any. He says then in verse 5, he's not going to concentrate, because he talks about the greatness of these revelations, but that's not where the focus is. And you'll see this as we move along, the focus is on his weakness. So he says in verse 5, “On behalf of such a man,” still talking about in the third person here, “I will boast.” But now the twist in the boast. “But on my own behalf I will not boast except in regard to weaknesses.” There is our word, weaknesses. Going to come up in verse 9, weaknesses; weak in verse 10. The whole conversation now turns to show Paul's weaknesses. You think, you've been to heaven and certain things you couldn't reveal, but tell us what you could tell us. Let me tell you, magnify himself. He said I won't boast on my own behalf except in regard to my weaknesses. That's the whole point of telling you about the greatness of the revelations I was given in heaven is to tell you about the weaknesses that characterize me.

“For if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.” Paul brings it right out here. He says, “I''m not ashamed of what I am physically, I'm not ashamed of my weaknesses, I'm not ashamed that I'm not the eloquent speaker that these false apostles are, I'm not ashamed of all these things that you look at physically. I don't want to be credited any more than what you see—a weak, frail, unimpressive physical person.” The end of verse 6, “so that no one will credit me with more than he sees or hears,” sees in me or hears from me. I'm not looking for any honors to myself is his point.

Now he moves on to elaborate the weakness. “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,” the revelations were of such magnitude, “for this reason to keep me from exalting myself.” That's why Paul had a proper perspective on people honoring him, he had a proper perspective of himself. As soon as we lose that, and we start to think more highly of ourselves that we ought, pretty soon we are thinking other people ought to think highly of us as well. But Paul, I don't want you to think more highly, what you see. Yes, I am not very attractive, in fact I can be repulsive in my physical appearance as we'll see in a moment. I'm not that great a speaker, I don't want credit for any more than what you see.

But why am I like this? “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations. For this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself.” Let's start at ground level, talk about sin, it's s-I-n. Make the picture of the “I” in the middle. That's what we battle with. As soon as “I” gets out there, you know if I think highly of myself, I begin to think you ought to think highly of me. I think, I preached a wonderful sermon, why wouldn't you think it was wonderful? What is wrong with your perception? We think about ourselves and then we think people ought to honor us in some way, give us credit. God's plan was to keep me humble.

“A thorn in the flesh.” Now we're in a passage, what do you think about when you think about Corinthians? Well one of the first passages that comes to your mind, one of the more familiar in the Bible is the thorn in the flesh. How many times have you been going through difficulty or you had a problem and you say to somebody, I guess it's my thorn in the flesh. Just becomes a proverbial expression. Interesting how what stands out in all of this is the point of weakness, suffering. And this thorn in the flesh is said to be a messenger of Satan to torment me. Now this is a physical affliction of some kind because it is a thorn in the physical flesh. That's what he's talking about here when he says flesh in my physical body. That's the point. But it has a spiritual cause. God had planned and ordained that Satan would have the liberty to have one of his demonic beings bring physical affliction to the Apostle Paul. And it is great. We read some of what Paul suffered back in 2 Corinthians 11. Being beaten five times with thirty-nine lashes each time is not pleasant; beaten three times by the Romans with rods was not easy; and all the other suffering. So when Paul says this particular thorn in the flesh tormented me, he's not somebody exaggerating. He knows what suffering is and this is something going beyond.

We know something of what the devil can do physically because we have the book of Job. You go back and read the physical miseries that Satan could inflict on Job so that even his friends said you'd be better dead. His wife said he'd be better dead, Job said he'd be better dead. This is a serious matter. A thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to keep me from exalting. He keeps coming back to that. To be greatly used of the Lord you have to be kept with a proper perspective of yourself.

Paul prayed three times, “I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.” I mean, think about it, think of how much more effective I could be, how much more I could do, how much more I could accomplish. Well, guess not. Isn't that what we think? If I only didn't have this what could I do? If this only wasn't the situation, how much more effective could I be? We talk about we believe in the sovereignty of God, I believe God controls the nations. Just working and reading the history of this little section about Aretas and how he was put in place just at the right time and the Roman Emperor and the new one comes and he likes this man but not this ruler. And he . . . Controlling everything. And we talk about times are in the Lord's hands and when we trouble comes we say, Lord, what is wrong? Lord, I could be much more effective for you if . . . As though the Lord doesn't know what He is doing. But Paul is human. Nobody likes to suffer. He is aware the Lord could remove this just like that, but the Lord says no,

What does He say? “He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Amazing, just the opposite of the world. Now you can appreciate what Paul was doing—boasting about his weaknesses because God's power doesn't work the way men think it should work. We think when I am strong, then I am strong; when I am eloquent, then I am effective. We adopt the world's standard. Well, we live in the world, don't you think we are going to have to fit? If you are going to really minister to important people, you're going to have to be important.

When I was candidating churches, I went to a church in the South. It was made up of well-to-do people. We went out to dinner while the maid cleaned, and we went out to dinner in a place you can only get in by wearing a coat. They said, we need a church down here for the well-to-do. There are churches ministering to the average people. I don't think this is where the Lord is calling me. We think, well, to reach important people we have to be important people, and have a church that important people would want to be a part of. And look. We battle it. If someone unimportant comes in, they can sit and be unnoticed, but if someone known and recognized—do you know who was here Sunday? Yes, another lost sinner, another in need of salvation. Think about his influence if he got saved. It just naturally comes to our mind because of the world we live in.

Turn over to Galatians 4 as we wrap this up. Paul talked about what brought him into Galatia. He was having physical problems. He evidently had to make a stop. Verse 13, “But you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the Gospel to you the first time.” So some kind of bodily affliction caused him to make an alteration in plan and carry the Gospel into this region. And note verse 14, “And that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe.” Now I don't know if this is the thorn in the flesh, but something, may have been reoccurring, some say could have been eyes because Paul tells them later that you would have plucked out your eyes. Verse 15, the end of the verse, “You would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.” Certain kind of eye affliction that sometimes happens in parts of the world where the eye oozes and it just becomes unpleasant, something that reoccurs. We are not told for sure because it doesn't matter, but it is some kind of affliction. Here is an example. And whatever was afflicting him, it afflicted him in such a physical way that the normal reaction would have been to despise or loathe him. And it had such an impact, his physical appearance with what he is going through is you didn't even want to look at him, you want to stay away from him. He said you didn't react that way, “you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Himself.”

Paul asked, “what happened?” Now with the passing of time they are going through what the Corinthians are going through—maybe we don't want to follow Paul anymore and submit to his teaching. But you see how serious it can be. How are you going to be effective with people if you have the kind of affliction that can make you loathsome and despicable to look at? I mean, this is the kind of instrument, God, you are going to send out to represent you? An ambassador for Christ to go to kings and those in authority as well as slaves and the lowly as somebody that people are going to have special grace even to want to look at, let alone listen to him? Isn't it amazing how God works just the opposite of what the world thinks?

Come back to 2 Corinthians 12. So what is the answer? No the minister of Satan, the messenger of Satan, the thorn in the flesh is not going to be removed, “but my grace,” verse 9, “is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” It brought to its maturity and its strength in weakness. Amazing. God's grace will sustain him, enable him to keep going. You can appreciate all Paul was through, now he has to deal with some kind of bodily affliction that creates this kind of situation. Yet God says you draw on my grace, you get through the day. You can understand why John Mark went home on the first missionary journey—I just don't think this is going to go anywhere, I can't take it. But here it is, you want power? God's power? We pray, oh, God, use me, use me and often we get caught up in the trial or difficult of one kind or another. We get so caught up in it, we forget this may be our greatest opportunity. Some of you have gone through that, going through it now and you talk about being in the hospital or going through . . . But what an opportunity you have. That's what Paul is saying.

So what does he say? I guess I'll have to put up with it. I could have been more effective but if this is what God wants, it's what He wants and I'll deal with it. No. “Most gladly, therefore, will I boast about my weaknesses.” So now you understand why he says I'll boast about my weaknesses because we want to compare the true apostles and the false apostles, let's talk about power. And “I'll gladly boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” Anybody know anybody who has been more powerful in the ministry of the Gospel than the Apostle Paul? Anybody want to be like Paul? I'd like a little bit like Paul, I don't think I want his thorn in the flesh, I don't think I want the beatings, I don't think I want . . .

He says, verse 10, this is not just I'll put up with it, I'll endure. “I am well content with weaknesses.” And now he expands it, it's not just the thorn in flesh that tormented him, it's everything he has talked about in 2 Corinthians 11, all these weaknesses. “I am well content with weaknesses, with insult, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake.” Why? “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” That's the bottom line. So realize God is sovereign. We don't all go through the same thing, we are thankful. God has provided men that faithfully proclaim His truth and they do it in an especially effective way, they are eloquent. But they have other things. God works his purposes with each of us. We believe in the sovereignty of God, but then when things happen all of a sudden our view of sovereignty gets skewed and we just can't put up with this, we can't deal with it, I can't handle it. Wait a minute, I am here by the appointment of my God. Everything is under control. “All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Just as He called the Apostle Paul, appointed him, and his most difficult times of suffering and trial and pain and insult and rejection were part of God's plan so that His power could flow through him in greater ways, that's true for everyone. That's part of the reason we are not told anything particular about the thorn in the flesh, so we do pick it up. Yes, this is a thorn in the flesh. And there are comparisons. Why is this written? Just so we can admire Paul? Why did God preserve this? Paul wrote an earlier letter to the Corinthians that was not preserved. This is important for us so we can learn to say, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, whatever Christ brings into my life. It's for His sake, my life is about Him. Lord, bring into my life, put me in whatever situation, whatever it be that I would be most effective for you. Do you think Paul has any regrets about being an instrument of God's power? We're 2,000 years later, so mightily used of God that the Scriptures that he was used to write are used to bless us. If we had traveled with him, this is not what I thought it would be like, this is not what I would have thought Paul would be like. I can hardly look at him What is he going through here? He looks terrible, it's almost repulsive. And yet you have to tell kings and those in authority, I am here representing Christ. Any wonder the false apostles could make inroads with the Corinthians, when the Galatians and others began to look at physical things? Yes, you are right, you look a lot more what I would expect an ambassador for Christ to be like than Paul. And you are right, there were times we had a hard time even looking at what he was teaching us. Was repulsive. And evidently it was something that may come and go, he didn't have control over. I don't know. But everything else that goes with it.

So just a reminder. Easy to study these things and I'm always reminded and having been a believer for many years and a pastor for many years. Talking to a pastor a number of years ago and we were having lunch. He said, Gil, do you ever feel like quitting? Not me, I'm spiritual. He says, sometimes I feel like I'm not accomplishing anything. He says, people sit under my ministry for years, then they go out and they do the opposite. Something comes up and it's like they never were taught anything. We have to be careful, all of us could be like that. So we are encouraged whatever the Lord brings into our lives, it may seem like, I can't see any good in this. This is a messenger of Satan. Can it be good that a messenger of Satan is used to afflict someone? It's God's plan. Paul says, I am well content with weaknesses, bring them on. We'd have to say the power of God flowed through Paul. Everybody didn't get saved. It's not like, we don't read there were 30,000 people responding to the Gospel on that occasion. Might have seemed like every step was a trial. You'd have to say I know difficulties lie ahead of me, I know chains are ahead of me, imprisonment, but keep going.

So an encouragement for you individually, for us as a church. And whatever God brings into our lives, into our ministry. If we only did this, didn't do this; if we only had this, we didn't have that. We have the Word of God, we have the Spirit indwelling, now we have the willingness to be used of God in every situation, every circumstance. There is not a believer here who is not in the place God has put them to be used in the way God wants to use us. That's our confidence, that's assurance, that's our blessing. So Lord, whatever it takes, use me in the greatest possible way.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your grace, a grace that brings salvation to lost souls, a grace that opens blind eyes to recognize the guilt and defilement of sin. When a person turns to the Savior, they experience the cleansing, the forgiveness, a new life that is now lived under Your control, Your authority, empowered by the indwelling Spirit. Lord, how blessed we are. May our lives personally and the life of our church family manifest the attitude that will enable You to use us in the greatest possible way. Whatever weaknesses, whatever difficulties, whatever trials, whatever insults, whatever physical afflictions come, may we as a body be a testimony. We are content with these difficulties because we want the power of God to be strong in and through us. We pray in Christ's name, amen.