2 CORINTHIANS 12:1-10

Introduction

Good morning, church, and Happy Father's Day to all of our dads this morning.

If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians 12:1–10.

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. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of 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 becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave 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 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.

Prayer.

One of the great dangers of the church is becoming more like the world. It is a warning repeated throughout Scripture for good reason. It is easy for Christians to adopt the world's attitude about things, and one of the clearest places we see this is in how the world deals with suffering.

Christianity often has to be distorted to please the masses. The masses have become so preoccupied with escaping suffering, alleviating discomfort, and masking weakness that even Christians can be pulled into a worldly way of thinking and miss the point of trials altogether.

I will admit that weakness is not likely to be the newest topic on the biggest Christian podcasts this week. It probably will not become the theme word for Christian clubs this year. Christians are not lining up at tattoo parlors with plans to have "I am weak" permanently inked across their arms or backs.

And yet our text this morning speaks of weakness as an asset to the Christian life.

I wonder, when you were at your lowest, were you aware that God might have been doing something in you there? I will go a step further. Have you ever considered that your greatest limitations might become the places where you are most useful in serving Christ?

What we are quick to miss is that Christianity supplies the power to endure suffering, not merely a quick way out of it. If we are not careful, we can become functional atheists. We say we believe Christ has the power to help us overcome our deepest sorrows, yet we quickly forget Him and depend on our own abilities. We become desperate to escape suffering when, in reality, the thing we may need most is not escape.

When you live your life resisting adversity, you can miss the real need you and I have. You may feel right now, "I've got to get out of this. This has to end. I can't keep living like this." I understand that feeling. But my prayer this morning is that you would see a greater need. I want you to see what Paul saw in his weakness—more specifically, what God was doing through it.

Paul could have done what we are all tempted to do: focus on his accomplishments. Maybe your business success has blessed you and your family. Maybe you graduated this year with twelve thousand tassels around your neck. I did not even know they made that many tassels. I would have been lucky to have a shoestring draped around my neck at graduation.

Maybe you recently had a significant spiritual experience. Maybe there are many good gifts in life that you are experiencing. But as we will see, Paul does not boast in those things, no matter how good they are.

Instead, he boasts in his weakness because it is there that he experiences the perfect power of Christ and the sufficiency of His grace. His weaknesses become his greatest credentials as an apostle and his greatest evidence that God is at work.

The principle for us today is this:

We experience the power and presence of Christ most clearly when we are at our weakest. God, in His love and grace, works through weak people for His glory.

While the world avoids weakness, Paul teaches us three countercultural, seemingly counterintuitive lessons about weakness.

Background

Before we get there, we need to understand the context of Paul's writing.

Paul is corresponding with a difficult church. If you had to nominate a church as the poster child for the healthiest congregation in town, Corinth would not be your first choice. In fact, it might be near the bottom of the list.

Despite their many faults, Paul deeply loved this church. He had been there from the beginning. He had helped them navigate difficult situations and was working to strengthen the faithful majority among them.

However, there was a threat to Paul's ministry from within the church itself. A minority group had begun questioning his credibility as an apostle.

Their complaint was fascinating.

Paul suffered too much.

They believed that if Paul were truly an apostle, he would have more visible evidence of success and blessing. He would have more impressive credentials.

These critics, influenced by false apostles, loved to boast about their private spiritual experiences and ethnic heritage. Paul now responds to their accusations.

This brings us to our first lesson.

1. Better to Boast in Weaknesses (vv. 1–5)

Paul says:

"I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it..."

This conversation is awkward for him. He would rather be evaluated by his public ministry than by extraordinary experiences.

Yet he proceeds to describe an astonishing vision.

"I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven..."

We all know Paul is talking about himself. His readers knew it too.

Paul speaks of being caught up into the third heaven, which he identifies as Paradise—the dwelling place of God.

This was an experience beyond anything this world offers. Not the Grand Canyon. Not Hawaii. Not the Grand Tetons. Nothing compares.

Paul was so overwhelmed by the experience that he did not even know whether he was in the body or out of the body.

Yet despite how extraordinary it was, he refuses to make it the centerpiece of his ministry.

Imagine if several black SUVs pulled up to your house. Secret Service agents escorted you to a helicopter waiting in a nearby field. You were flown to the White House and ushered into the Oval Office.

There the President told you everything. North Korea. Iran. Area 51. The mysterious gas prices. Everything.

Then, before dinner, you were flown back home and instructed never to tell anyone what happened.

If something like that happened to us, we would probably write a book about it.

Paul did not.

Think Lightly of Your High Moments

Paul's point is not that spiritual experiences are bad.

I work in youth ministry. I intentionally try to leverage significant spiritual moments to help students respond to the gospel.

But profound spiritual experiences are not the same thing as Christian maturity.

These false apostles leaned heavily on their experiences. They treated them as credentials. Paul refuses to do that.

If you want to serve in our church, we do not ask when you were last caught up into the third heaven.

We do not ask how many demons you wrestled this week.

We should be grateful for meaningful spiritual experiences, but we should never build our identity upon them.

Why?

Because we can become trapped living in the past, always looking backward at what God once did instead of being faithful in what He is doing right now.

Because these experiences can produce pride.

And because some of us wrongly believe that we need another mountaintop experience before we can faithfully follow Christ.

Paul says otherwise.

Think Rightly of Your Low Moments

Instead of boasting in his spiritual experiences, Paul says:

"I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses."

This is the shift Paul wants us to make.

God often does His greatest work in our weakest moments.

Weakness magnifies Christ.

And that leads us to our second lesson.

2. Receive Gratefully the Gift of Weaknesses (vv. 6–7)

Paul had every reason to boast in the things God had shown him and done through him. Yet he understood the danger of pride.

After experiencing the heights of Paradise, Paul quickly experienced something else.

A thorn.

In Love, God Uses Thorns

Paul writes:

"A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me..."

The word translated thorn is much stronger than a splinter. It can even describe a stake driven into the ground.

Paul is describing real pain.

What exactly was this thorn?

Paul never tells us.

Some believe it was a physical illness such as malaria. Others suggest it was a lingering injury from one of his beatings or stonings. Some believe it was poor eyesight. Others think it may have been a speech impairment or another chronic condition.

Paul never identifies it.

And perhaps that is intentional.

If Paul had specified the thorn, we would immediately compare our suffering to his.

If he had said headaches, we would say, "Paul and I both struggle with headaches." If he had said poor eyesight, we would focus on eyesight.

Instead, God leaves the thorn unnamed so that every believer can identify with the principle.

A few weeks ago, my wife was reading aloud to me from Elisabeth Elliot's book Suffering Is Never for Nothing. In the opening pages she offers a simple but profound definition:

"Suffering is having what you do not want or wanting what you do not have."

That definition covers a lot of ground.

Some of you are facing serious health concerns.

Some of you are overwhelmed by responsibilities.

Some of you feel inadequate as a husband, wife, parent, or friend.

Some of you carry burdens so heavy that if someone asked how you were really doing, they might not be prepared for the answer.

Brothers and sisters, suffering is never meaningless.

Paul wrote earlier in this same letter:

"This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison."

God is doing something in your pain.

In His good providence, He uses difficult things for good purposes.

Paul himself ministered through prolonged suffering.

Think about that.

The greatest missionary in church history carried out his ministry while enduring pain.

Why?

Because God was accomplishing something through it.

In Love, God Keeps Us from Pride

Paul tells us exactly why the thorn was given.

"To keep me from becoming conceited."

The thorn had a divine purpose.

God was protecting Paul from pride.

Now notice something important.

Paul calls it a messenger of Satan.

So who was responsible?

Satan certainly participated in the suffering, but who wanted Paul protected from pride?

Not Satan.

Satan would have loved for Paul to become conceited.

Paul says the thorn "was given" to him.

The language points to God's sovereign activity.

Satan's actions are sandwiched between God's purposes.

God lovingly and sovereignly permits affliction for the good of His children.

The book of Job teaches the same truth.

God loves His people too much to allow pride to consume them.

Sometimes He gives us thorns to crush our self-reliance and deepen our dependence upon Him.

Many of us are walking through situations we do not understand.

We have prayed.

We have asked questions.

We have begged God for answers.

And unlike Paul, we may never know the specific reason for our suffering.

Job never received a complete explanation.

Yet even when we do not know the reason, we can trust the character of the One who allows it.

You may not know why God has allowed your suffering.

But you can know that He is at work through it.

And that leads us to the third lesson.

3. Live Expectantly Through Weaknesses (vv. 8–10)

Paul's suffering drove him toward Christ.

His heavenly vision brought him into God's presence.

His thorn did the same thing.

The affliction forced him to pray.

Some of us do not pray nearly as much until suffering enters our lives.

For prayer alone, suffering can be a gift.

Paul writes:

"Three times I pleaded with the Lord..."

The thorn was not something Paul wanted.

He repeatedly asked God to remove it.

God's answer was not what Paul expected.

Expect Sufficient Grace

Jesus replied:

"My grace is sufficient for you."

These words should end any notion that Christians always receive exactly what they ask for.

Paul asked for removal.

God offered grace.

Notice that Christ's answer is in the present tense.

His grace is sufficient.

Not merely yesterday.

Not only tomorrow.

Today.

The suffering may last for weeks, months, years, or even a lifetime.

But Christ's grace remains constant.

Church, God did not fail you when that phone call came in the middle of the night.

He did not fail you when the diagnosis arrived.

He did not fail you when the pain remained.

He is doing something.

He is drawing you to Himself.

When suffering drives us toward Christ, we discover an ever-flowing fountain of grace.

We begin to understand that Christ Himself is enough.

And when we understand that, we can truly sing:

"It is well with my soul."

Not because life is easy.

But because we know who holds our soul.

Expect Perfected Power

Jesus continued:

"My power is made perfect in weakness."

This power does not come from within us.

It is not self-confidence.

It is not positive thinking.

It is not merely trying harder.

It is Christ's power.

This is the heart of the gospel.

Christ suffered in weakness on our behalf.

Then He rose in power.

Now His power is displayed through weak people.

Some of us believe our weaknesses disqualify us from usefulness.

Paul teaches exactly the opposite.

Weakness does not disqualify us.

Weakness becomes the stage upon which Christ displays His strength.

What qualifies someone for fruitful ministry is not sensational experiences.

It is maturity.

And one of God's primary tools for producing maturity is suffering.

Brothers and sisters, God is not finished with you.

He intends to use you.

He intends to deploy you for His purposes.

Expect Unwavering Presence

Finally, Paul says:

"Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

That word rest is incredibly significant.

It is related to the language of the tabernacle—the dwelling place of God among His people.

It is the same idea John uses when he writes:

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us."

Paul is saying that when he is weak and dependent upon Christ, Christ tabernacles with him.

Christ pitches His tent beside him.

His presence is not far away.

His presence is not distant.

His presence is in the middle of the suffering.

He sits with us in the thick of it.

And He is not going anywhere.

That is why Paul can say:

"For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities."

And then he concludes:

"For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Paul lived in continual awareness of his weakness.

But he also lived in continual awareness of Christ's strength.

That perspective changed everything.

Conclusion

It is remarkable to meet believers who have walked through deep suffering with Christ.

They emerge with a depth, joy, and confidence that cannot be manufactured.

One such person is Joni Eareckson Tada.

Many of you know her story.

At seventeen years old, she became a quadriplegic after diving into shallow water.

She has openly admitted that after her accident she struggled with despair and even wished for death.

But God met her in her suffering.

And He used her weakness to display His strength.

Years later, Joni spoke with a pastor who had recently become paralyzed.

He had retreated into discouragement and self-pity.

His world had become defined by what he had lost.

Desperate for help, his wife arranged a conversation with Joni.

During their discussion she asked him if he had ever seen The Shawshank Redemption.

In that film, one character leaves a message containing a memorable line:

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

That statement struck a nerve.

Joni challenged the pastor to stop measuring life by what had been taken from him and begin looking at what God still had for him.

In other words, he had a choice.

He could spend the rest of his days dying.

Or he could get busy living.

Eventually, he chose hope.

His circumstances did not change.

He was still paralyzed.

The limitations were still real.

The suffering was still difficult.

But instead of focusing on what he could no longer do, he began looking for ways to serve and honor Christ.

That is Christian hope.

Christian hope is not wishful thinking.

It is confidence.

Confidence that God is at work.

Confidence that Christ is present.

Confidence that His grace is sufficient.

Confidence that His power is perfected in weakness.

When weakness tempts us to quit, hope reminds us that God still has purposes for us to accomplish, people for us to love, and grace for us to display.

The question suffering places before every believer is this:

Will we surrender to despair, or will we cling to Christ and get busy living?