Glitch or Feature? Discovering Strength in Our Weakness

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:01] Okay, 2 Corinthians 11. If you got your Bibles, hopefully you already have them out. If not, grab them, 2 Corinthians 11.
[00:00:07] And would you stand with me for the reading of God's Word this weekend?
[00:00:13] We're going to begin in verse 30. You listen as I read God's Word over you.
[00:00:19] The Apostle Paul says, If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
[00:00:27] the God and father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever knows that I am not lying.
[00:00:33] At Damascus, the governor under King Aratus was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.
[00:00:46] Chapter 12, 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, I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught
[00:00:57] 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,
[00:01:08] God knows. And he heard things that he 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
[00:01:20] 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
[00:01:33] 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, three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But the Lord said to me, and by the way,
[00:01:55] could we all read this next verse together? It's such a powerful statement. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Again, one more time. My grace is sufficient for
[00:02:08] 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,
[00:02:22] I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God indeed. You may
[00:02:42] be seated. You may be seated. Does anybody else in here feel like it's super embarrassing when a Pixar movie really gets you in the feels.
[00:02:53] Like when Buzz rejects Woody's counsel and gets himself in serious trouble, but then Woody risks everything anyway to come and rescue him because you've got a friend in me.
[00:03:04] Or when Andy discards his toys and he goes off to college.
[00:03:08] Or how about the opening sequence of Up?
[00:03:11] I feel like that one should have come with a trigger warning because you're like eight minutes into a cartoon movie and you've got tears streaming down your cheeks and your kids are like, what is wrong with you?
[00:03:21] This is supposed to be my movie and you're supposed to be over in the corner quietly checking your phone.
[00:03:27] A lesser known get you in the feels moment for me occurs in Disney's Wreck-It Ralph when Vanellope discovers the truth about her glitch.
[00:03:36] Anybody track with this one?
[00:03:38] I know it's not as popular as the others, but if you haven't seen the movie, Vanellope is a character in a video game who has a glitch that makes her flicker and disappear.
[00:03:46] She hates it.
[00:03:47] It makes her weird and the mean girls in the video game make fun of her for it.
[00:03:52] She spends most of the movie just wishing that she could be normal. In the end, however, she discovers that her glitch, far from being her greatest liability, is actually the source of her greatest strength. That glitch enables her to evade attacks and teleport forward
[00:04:10] and recover instantly from crashes. In the end, the very thing that Vanellope tried to get rid of is what makes her unbeatable and what allows her to save the day.
[00:04:22] Turns out the glitch wasn't so much a glitch as it was a feature.
[00:04:28] That is exactly what Paul gets at in 2 Corinthians 12 when he talks about his glitch, except he didn't call it a glitch.
[00:04:35] He called it his thorn in the flesh.
[00:04:39] Paul hated this thorn, and he'd asked God multiple times to remove it from him.
[00:04:46] but every single time God said no. And by the time Paul writes the letter of 2 Corinthians, Paul has learned why. His glitch gave him access to great spiritual power. For when I am weak,
[00:05:00] he says, in this glitch, then I'm strong. Through this glitch, through my weakness, I am able, he says, to experience the sufficiency of God's grace and the sufficiency of his power made perfect in me. Let me remind you of the context for the whole book of second Corinthians. In this
[00:05:20] letter, Paul is defending himself against the attacks of false teachers. These false teachers have tried to claim superiority by appealing to their talents, their credentials, their accomplishments. And they've tried to diminish Paul's authority by saying that Paul doesn't
[00:05:39] have nearly as many of these things as they do. Paul has refused to respond in kind because Paul says when it comes to spiritual power, true power, those things like credentials and accomplishments and a pedigree, those things are utterly useless. Spiritual power, he says, true power does not flow
[00:06:00] from the strengths of your flesh. It flows from weak places, weak places where you've learned to depend on God. Then at the beginning of chapter 12, Paul suddenly reveals something about himself that should have established his authority over all these other false teachers once and for all
[00:06:22] time. It's like he suddenly plays the ace that has been in his hand the whole time. Verse one, I must go on boasting. There's some things you need to know, though there's nothing to be gained
[00:06:34] by it. I know a man who in Christ 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Third heaven, by the way, means God's throne. This was an old Jewish way of talking about cosmology. First
[00:06:47] heaven was the sky, birds in the clouds. The second heaven was space, the sun, the moon, and the stars. The third heaven was God's throne room. Paul says there, this man was literally there in the very throne room of God. Then he says, whether in the body or out of the body,
[00:07:01] I don't know. God knows. And I know that this man was caught up in the paradise itself. And there Paul goes on to say, this man saw incredible visions and heard unutterable words, literally in Greek, unwordable words. Now this passage is a little confusing, but it's like Paul starts
[00:07:22] telling you about some rando that he knows who had these incredible visions. And you want to know who is he talking about. He's actually talking about himself. We saw in verse 1 that Paul sets this whole thing up by saying that he is going to do some boasting. It's not boasting
[00:07:38] if he's telling you about somebody else. He's talking about himself. Verse 7 makes that crystal clear. Paul says, so to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations.
[00:07:54] See, he's admitting these revelations were given to him.
[00:07:57] In order to keep me humble, he said, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.
[00:08:07] So here's the question.
[00:08:09] If Paul's the guy who received these revelations, why does he at first present it in the third person like it's not really him?
[00:08:18] It's a humility move.
[00:08:19] he's creating distance from it Paul wants to make clear listen that these miraculous visions and the honor that came with them were not some kind of affirmation of his flesh some kind of validation that Paul is just amazingly
[00:08:37] awesome no Paul says these revelations were a special gift of God given to me for the purpose of building up the churches by the way two-thirds of your New Testament is written by the Apostle Paul a lot of that material would have
[00:08:49] come out of those revelations he's referring to there at the top of chapter 12. Now, let's be honest. For most of us, if we'd been the one to receive those kinds of revelations, we would do
[00:08:58] the exact opposite of what Paul did, right? We'd be like, God chose me for these amazing revelations and that proves that I'm awesome and that I should be in charge, so you shut up. And yet Paul holds
[00:09:10] the revelations at arm's length and doesn't want them directly associated with him, at least in the sense of them being some kind of validation of his flesh. And what makes this passage amazing is that Paul sandwiches his recounting of these revelations between two acknowledgements on either
[00:09:29] side of extreme weakness on his part. And he makes the point that it is from those weaknesses, those places of brokenness, and not those lofty visions that his true spiritual power flows from.
[00:09:44] Think of this passage that we read like a spiritual power sandwich.
[00:09:49] In the middle of the sandwich is the meat where Paul reveals these incredible experiences that he had in the third heaven.
[00:09:55] But on either side of that awesome experience is a thick slice of whole grain humility bread.
[00:10:02] Because Paul says those two always go together.
[00:10:05] Great spiritual power always comes through brokenness and weakness.
[00:10:12] I want us to look at both of those confessions of weakness this weekend.
[00:10:15] The first one in chapter 11 is fascinating and gives you a little glimpse, by the way, into Paul's ironic sense of humor.
[00:10:22] And I'm betting many of you are unfamiliar with what he says here.
[00:10:25] The second one at the end of chapter 12 is more familiar to us, if you've been in church at least.
[00:10:30] It's Paul's discussion of his thorn in the flesh or his glitch.
[00:10:35] You ready?
[00:10:36] Okay, let's go whole grain humility bread slice number one.
[00:10:39] the anti-corona moralis and i know that sounds like a covid thing but relax okay this is a latin phrase that literally means crown of the wall corona crown moralis wall the corona moralis was rome's highest military award think of it like our military's medal of honor you know to qualify
[00:11:01] for the medal of honor the u.s military says that you have to perform and i quote an act of conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty you have
[00:11:15] to show an act of bravery that sets you far above your otherwise brave comrades and the recommendation for the award has to be approved by every person every single person in the chain of command
[00:11:28] above you all the way up to the united states president himself the corona morales was similar to get that award you had to be the first soldier over the siege wall in a battle because the most
[00:11:42] dangerous part of any Roman battle the part where you were most likely to die was when you would put the ladders up and we're trying to get up over that enemy wall it was especially brutal for the
[00:11:51] first troops trying to climb up the enemy would push the ladders off the wall and send all the soldiers on those ladders toppling to their deaths they would they would they would fire arrows directly down at them as they're trying to climb up a lot of times they would pour vats
[00:12:05] of boiling oil on the guys climbing up the ladder maybe the worst part of the whole ordeal was if you were the first ones over to get if you were one of the first ones to literally make it over
[00:12:16] the wall it's literally you up there all by yourself against the entire enemy garrison i mean in fact i've often wondered when i watch these old shows what that was like you finally get over the wall and you're like whew i made it and now it's me verse all these guys very few
[00:12:33] soldiers who made it as the first one over the wall lived to tell about it but if somehow you survived then you were eligible for the corona morales the corona morales was a literal crown
[00:12:46] a literal crown fashioned to look like the walls of a city this is an ancient coin from the roman empire that has it on there looks like an actual crown with city and the battlements up top and the
[00:12:55] the castles and all that stuff.
[00:12:57] This is an actual, a picture of an actual statue found in Corinth that dates back to the time of Paul where somebody had received that reward, the corona moralis.
[00:13:06] The point that I'm making is that's an award the Corinthians were very familiar with.
[00:13:10] All right, one more thing.
[00:13:11] To get the corona moralis, you had to go to Rome and appear before a tribunal and take a solemn oath.
[00:13:17] You had to invoke the names of your gods as witness, saying, I solemnly swear before the holy gods who know I'm telling the truth that when we were attacking the city, I was the first one over the wall.
[00:13:31] In verse 31, Paul says, the God and father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever knows that I am not lying.
[00:13:39] He's using the formulation of the Corona Morales oath.
[00:13:44] Then in verses 32 and 33 of chapter 11, he refers to a harrowing escapade whereby he was lowered down in a basket outside a wall.
[00:13:54] Paul is teasing the false teachers.
[00:13:57] This is like the anti-corona Morales.
[00:14:00] Paul had not climbed a wall to some kind of high honor that everybody praised him for.
[00:14:05] He was lowered down a wall in shame and dishonor because the powers that be wanted to kill him because he was a nuisance.
[00:14:14] That's why he said, verse 30, chapter 11, if I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
[00:14:22] In other words, if you force me to boast, I'm not gonna boast about my accomplishments or my talents or my honors.
[00:14:29] I'll boast about my weakness because it's through my weaknesses.
[00:14:32] That's where I receive the crown that really matters.
[00:14:36] Not the corona moralis, but the crown of my bravery.
[00:14:40] But the corona Christi, the crown of Christ, the crown of suffering, the crown of the Spirit's power.
[00:14:47] And that brings us to the second bread slice of humility bread in our spiritual power sandwich.
[00:14:53] jump down to verse 7 of chapter 12 if you're taking notes write this down whole grain humility bread slice number two Paul's thorn in the flesh on the other side of Paul's disclosure about the amazing revelations that he'd
[00:15:06] received in the third heaven he tells us about a thorn in the flesh the purpose of this thorn Paul says verse 7 is to keep me from becoming conceited and of course, we all immediately want to know what exactly was Paul's thorn in the flesh. I will
[00:15:26] tell you as a professional Bible studier, this is the kind of thing that commentaries spill great amount of ink, great amounts of ink over. Some say it was Paul's eyesight. Paul had an eye disease,
[00:15:38] they say, that caused his eyes to ooze. It was gross. It was painful. It made it really hard for him to see. There are several things written in Paul's epistles that seem to indicate that he
[00:15:47] had severe eye problems like that. So they say, that was his thorn in the flesh. Others say, no, no, no. He's referring to certain people who were a thorn in his side. And that's true. Paul had a
[00:15:57] lot of those people, bloggers and podcasters and documentarians who say all kinds of unkind, all kinds of unkind and untrue things about him. And Paul had asked God, God, please shut these people up because what they're saying is not true. And it's really hurting our ministry.
[00:16:14] But God had said to Paul, no, Paul, I'm not going to shut them up.
[00:16:17] I'm gonna let them keep running their mouths and let them keep publishing their books to cause you problems.
[00:16:23] So these commentators say Paul's thorn in the flesh that God won't take away, those were his haters.
[00:16:28] And maybe that's true also.
[00:16:30] The bottom line is we don't know exactly what Paul's thorn was.
[00:16:35] And that's intentional, I believe.
[00:16:38] Listen, okay, Bible study pro tip here.
[00:16:41] Whenever the Holy Spirit leaves something vague in your Bible, he leaves it vague on purpose.
[00:16:49] What do you think is the Holy Spirit's purpose in leaving this thorn in the flesh vague and not telling us what it was?
[00:16:57] Well, I think the answer is obvious when you think about it.
[00:17:00] I think he left it vague so that you and I could apply what Paul says about his thorn to ours.
[00:17:06] See, if Paul had told us what his thorn was, inevitably we'd all play the comparison game well what I have is nothing compared to what Paul had mine's not even worth talking about it's a first world problem God probably doesn't really even
[00:17:21] care about it it's rather insignificant or if we figured out that our you know our pain was worse than Paul's we'd read about Paul's and say that's it that's all Paul was dealing with a little eye
[00:17:33] pain mine is way worse see nobody really understands my pain and there's no way that God could have a good purpose for me in something this bad. And of course, if you happen to have the
[00:17:44] exact same thorn that Paul had, well, then you would really boast about it. Well, you know me and Paul, we had the exact same pussing eye problem. So clearly that makes me like Paul and
[00:17:55] that makes me special. So the Holy Spirit leaves Paul's affliction vague so that you can apply what Paul says about his to yours. Our pastor of counseling here at the Summit Church, Dr. Brad Hambrick says, suffering is not a competitive sport. I love that. My suffering does not gain
[00:18:14] or lose meaning in comparison to yours. Suffering is suffering, and all of it's painful. And God wants you to learn to see your suffering, whatever it is, through the same lens that Paul looked at
[00:18:26] his suffering through. So the most important thing in this passage is to see how Paul processes his suffering first I want you to notice that Paul attributes his pain to three sources in verse 7 chapter 12 he calls it a thorn of the flesh which means it's
[00:18:47] some problem caused in the flesh by flesh and blood so it's from the flesh then second still in verse 7 Paul calls the thorn a messenger of Satan which means this physical thing had a intentionally spiritual component to it
[00:19:07] it was demonically empowered and demonically used Satan he says is using this physical thing whatever it is to attack me to discourage me to tempt me to slow me down and wear me out oh okay but wait there's more Paul then says
[00:19:24] still verse 7 that this thorn was given to me in the flesh given by whom you say well by Satan oh that can't be right because Paul says verse 7 the thorn was given to me for the purpose of keeping me from becoming conceited would Satan
[00:19:45] have wanted to keep Paul from becoming conceited hardly Satan would have loved for Paul to become conceited and prideful which means the thorn ultimately was from God in one verse Paul gave you three sources for his pain it's a thorn
[00:20:03] from the flesh it's from Satan and it's from God and maybe having one thing with three sources is hard for you to get your mind around but that's how Paul talks about it write this down my friend HB Charles says this the thorn may come
[00:20:21] through Satan but the thorn comes from God and that's good news now why is that good news why is anything Satan doing in your life good news well because it means that God is using even the afflictions of Satan to work good in you
[00:20:38] God is not the one inflicting the pain because God doesn't do things like that that's Satan's work but God commandeer Satan's destruction what the enemy intends for evil, God commandeers it and uses it for good. I'm talking about things like marriage
[00:20:55] problems, bodily afflictions, chronic pain, slow career advancement, and ongoing temptations, problems with your friends, a boss that does not understand you or overlooks you for promotion, financial frustrations, loneliness, problems with one of your kids, body image issues.
[00:21:15] in verse 10 Paul summarizes a whole grab bag of possibilities chapter 12 verse 10 a whole grab bag of possibilities for what those thorns might be he's like their weaknesses insults hardships persecution calamities blah blah etc etc some of you experience these things right here and you say
[00:21:35] this trial is caused by Satan I know it I can feel Satan's power at work in it it's bringing me down and destroy me yeah maybe and likely you do feel that but see if you are a
[00:21:47] believer Satan never has the last word in your life your affliction your weakness may be caused by your flesh may be caused by your failures it may be paused by your enemies it might even be caused by Satan himself but ultimately
[00:22:01] it's from God for your good hear me just because a thorn is from Satan doesn't mean you can anoint it with oil say an incantation over it invite your friends over, read Bible verses and get rid of it. God has a purpose in Satan's afflictions and sometimes
[00:22:18] he leaves them in place. The beautiful mystery of God's sovereignty is that even what others intend for evil, even what Satan intends for evil, God commandeers for good. Which always reminds me another one of my favorite stories, another classic summit story that you can chart your
[00:22:39] time here by how many times you've heard this story. It's a short one though. It's the one about the little bird who gets a late start flying south for the winter.
[00:22:46] Remember this one?
[00:22:47] Because he got a late start, the little bird, he's all by himself, he gets caught in a snowstorm.
[00:22:52] That's super relevant this weekend.
[00:22:55] The storm is so bad that ice formed on his wings and he couldn't even fly anymore.
[00:23:01] So now he's frozen and he goes down for a crash landing and he couldn't get back up.
[00:23:06] And he thought, great, now I'm just gonna freeze to death.
[00:23:09] Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a cow comes along and unloads manure on him.
[00:23:16] Could I say it that way in polite company?
[00:23:18] At first, the little bird thinks things have gone from bad to worse.
[00:23:21] It's bad enough that I'm freezing to death and I can't fly and I'm gonna die out here.
[00:23:25] But now I've got to die covered in manure and smelling like manure.
[00:23:30] But then he realizes that the manure has thawed his wings and he gets so excited that he starts to chirp and sing because now he's gonna be able to fly again.
[00:23:39] But this attracts a cat who comes along and eats him.
[00:23:44] And the lessons from this amazing little parable are three.
[00:23:48] Lesson number one, not everyone who drops manure on you is your enemy.
[00:23:53] Lesson number two, not everyone who digs you out is your friend.
[00:23:56] Lesson number three, when you're in manure, sometimes it's helpful just to keep your little chirper shut and see what God is up to, okay?
[00:24:03] And all God's people said, amen, amen.
[00:24:07] Paul says, I know Satan is at work in this trial, but I also know he doesn't get the last word.
[00:24:16] Satan's purpose in this may be to drop manure on me.
[00:24:20] It might be to afflict and destroy me but God has a greater purpose.
[00:24:24] What is that greater purpose?
[00:24:26] Verse seven, to keep me from becoming conceited.
[00:24:30] That's so important to him.
[00:24:31] He says it twice.
[00:24:32] He says it once at the front of the verse and once at the back.
[00:24:35] In other words, he is really clear on that.
[00:24:36] This is God's purpose for this trial.
[00:24:40] You see, the greatest enemy in your life is not Satan.
[00:24:45] It's not your critics.
[00:24:46] It's not your spouse.
[00:24:47] Some of you need to hear that.
[00:24:49] It's not your boss.
[00:24:50] It's not your circumstances.
[00:24:53] Greatest enemy to you is your pride, your sense of self-sufficiency, that sense that you got what it takes to overcome all the challenges in your life.
[00:25:02] Three most dangerous words in the English language.
[00:25:06] I got this.
[00:25:07] Pride is the queen mother of all sins because it leads to a whole colony of other sins.
[00:25:14] When you're proud, see, you're not desperate to know God's will.
[00:25:16] You don't really pray a lot.
[00:25:18] Truth is, you don't have a recurring daily prayer time because you just don't feel that desperate for his help.
[00:25:23] If you felt desperate for his help, we wouldn't have to motivate you to pray.
[00:25:26] We wouldn't have to have accountability partners.
[00:25:27] You would just do it because you'd be desperate for it.
[00:25:30] You're not afraid of getting separated from God's will.
[00:25:33] See, somebody that's truly humble is terrified of being separated from God's blessing.
[00:25:37] They're like Moses who said, look, I won't go anywhere.
[00:25:40] even if you're promising me success, I won't go anywhere if you won't go with me.
[00:25:48] My guess is that if you're proud, you haven't taken these 21 days of prayer and fasting that seriously.
[00:25:54] You might do a little stuff.
[00:25:56] You might've given up carbonated drinks or highly processed foods or something for 21 days, but you're just not that desperate to know what God wants.
[00:26:05] A lot of your spiritual problems, prayerlessness, laziness, disobedience, see all of them go back to pride.
[00:26:13] And so God allows certain kinds of suffering to keep you from pride.
[00:26:19] Sometimes he lets you continue to struggle with sinful temptations to keep you from pride.
[00:26:26] Here's some honest talk, but you won't hear a lot in church.
[00:26:29] You ready?
[00:26:30] You ever wonder why God lets you continue to struggle with certain temptations, even after you've asked him to take them away?
[00:26:37] You wanna know the answer?
[00:26:38] It's to keep you from becoming conceited.
[00:26:41] Listen, I don't know about y'all, but if I walked around victorious over all my temptations immediately, my sinful heart would for sure conclude that I was really awesome at this obeying Jesus thing.
[00:26:54] And I'd be telling myself, there ain't never been a Christian like me.
[00:26:57] I'm the greatest Christian who ever lived.
[00:26:59] I am the man after God's own heart, move over David, which would fill me with pride, which ironically would make me more like Satan than it would like Jesus.
[00:27:10] I love how C.S. Lewis said it.
[00:27:13] He said, God sometimes even lets us struggle with lesser sins like lust or lack of self-discipline with our bodies.
[00:27:23] He lets us struggle with lesser sins to keep us from the greatest sin, pride.
[00:27:28] I figure God lets me struggle with some recurring temptations so that I can say with Paul, oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?
[00:27:37] I'm convinced that is in me, in me, that is in my flesh.
[00:27:40] There is nothing good.
[00:27:41] I need the resurrecting power of Jesus because this body of flesh that is known as J.D. Greer is not worth anything.
[00:27:48] I need resurrection.
[00:27:50] In my library, I have this book of letters, old book by John Newton, the writer of the famous hymn, Amazing Grace.
[00:27:58] Just a collection of his letters he wrote as a pastor.
[00:28:00] One of my favorites is one he wrote to a pastor friend who had confessed to John Newton that he was having some sinful struggles and he was really discouraged by these struggles.
[00:28:09] John Newton, who was in his 80s by this point when he wrote this letter, wrote this young pastor back and said that he had always assumed that by this point in his life, when he was in his 80s, Newton said,
[00:28:22] I assume that after walking with God for 50 or 60 years, that I would have left most temptations behind.
[00:28:29] He said though, at 80 years old, some of those temptations felt stronger than ever.
[00:28:35] And at first, Newton said, that made him depressed, wondering if something was fundamentally wrong with him.
[00:28:41] Maybe the salvation they hadn't took, maybe he'd never been filled by the Spirit.
[00:28:46] But in this letter, he said, now he realized that God, listen to this, let him continue to struggle with some of those sinful temptations and probably would until the day that he died to keep him, to keep John Newton
[00:28:57] from the worst sin of all, and that is pride.
[00:29:00] And then he said this, he said, true growth in grace, true growth in grace, this side of the resurrection doesn't mean getting to a place where you no longer feel like you need God's grace.
[00:29:12] True growth in grace means growing in your awareness of just how desperate for God's grace you really are.
[00:29:20] God may let you struggle with certain sins and weaknesses so that you will stay closely tethered to his grace.
[00:29:26] That didn't mean you ever stopped praying for victory.
[00:29:28] That didn't mean you ever stopped fighting for victory.
[00:29:31] That's a huge part of what God wants you to learn to do in this time.
[00:29:33] It just means that God is up to something good even when he delays the answer for deliverance from your temptations.
[00:29:41] What Paul screams at us in this passage, church, is this, the place you experience God's power the most is not in your strengths, it's in your failure.
[00:29:53] Ironically, the place you lose in the fastest is in your successes.
[00:29:57] We always assume that success in life and ministry or success in family or marriage, that that's a blessing from God and it can be.
[00:30:05] But failure in those things can also be a blessing.
[00:30:09] The worst thing God can do for you is let you succeed in a way that untethers you from him.
[00:30:17] I think in my own world of the ever-increasing, seems like every single week, the slate of mega pastors who have fallen in ministry morally.
[00:30:30] And honestly, I think what happens to many of them is their success gets them to a place where they lost their dependence on God.
[00:30:38] See, the problem with ministry, I'll just tell you as a professional minister, the problem with ministry is that you can get good at it.
[00:30:45] Do A, do B, pull the lever, outcome C.
[00:30:49] And their success makes them forget how desperate they are for God's sustaining grace.
[00:30:54] They need it as bad when they're pastors of churches, of mega ministries, as they did when they were a teenager who had just discovered the gospel for the first time.
[00:31:03] And see, that makes me, as your pastor, thank God for those places that he has let me struggle.
[00:31:10] He makes me thank God for those places he lets me fail.
[00:31:14] Because within those places, I'll learn to lean on God and trust his grace.
[00:31:17] My question is, where is that for you?
[00:31:20] Where have you succeeded?
[00:31:22] Where have you succeeded in your success that's got you to the point where you say, I built this, I've got this.
[00:31:29] And you're no longer desperate for God's grace.
[00:31:31] Look at my kids, look how well they turned out.
[00:31:33] Look at my marriage, look at this amazing property that I've built and this other thing.
[00:31:38] And look at the portfolio I've built up.
[00:31:39] I got it.
[00:31:42] So to keep me from becoming conceited, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.
[00:31:53] Write this down.
[00:31:55] If dependence is the objective, weakness is an advantage.
[00:32:01] If dependence is the objective, and it is, well, then weakness is an advantage because your weaknesses are the places you're more likely to lean in on God.
[00:32:09] And that will mean, like Paul says, when I'm weak, those places where I'm weak, then I will be strong because that's where I will have learned to depend on God and it's his power, not mine, that's ultimate strength.
[00:32:21] Listen, church, scripture tells you to beware your strengths, not your weaknesses.
[00:32:25] because your strengths are those places where you're most likely to forget God.
[00:32:30] And that's why God allows some failures to happen to teach you more to depend on him.
[00:32:35] Thank God for your weaknesses.
[00:32:38] Thank God for your glitches because there you'll learn to depend on God.
[00:32:42] A.W. Tozer famously said, it is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has first hurt him very deeply.
[00:32:49] And I always wanna be super careful with this quote because I don't want to imply that God is the one hurting you.
[00:32:55] Paul says it's literally Satan who's the one abusing him.
[00:32:57] And God is grieved when you're hurt by somebody and he weeps with you and he's angry on your behalf that it happened.
[00:33:03] And one day he will execute full vengeance on the sin that hurt you.
[00:33:08] But even in the worst abuse experienced by a believer, Paul says, God overrules with a good plan.
[00:33:16] And that's good news for the abused.
[00:33:18] Nothing is outside the arc of God's redemptive power.
[00:33:23] Friend, this weekend, maybe like Paul, God's allowed you to experience some brokenness or hurt.
[00:33:30] He's given you a thorn in the flesh, so to speak, so that you can lean more fully into him.
[00:33:37] Y'all, I look back on my life now, now that I've gotten a little bit older and I got a little perspective, I look back from 38 rich years of living on this earth and I recognize, I recognize
[00:33:49] that some of the most growing seasons of my life happened when I failed.
[00:33:54] Like, ooh, tell us, tell us about, I know that's what you want, but I'm not gonna tell you that.
[00:34:00] Some of it's just too personal, some of it's embarrassing.
[00:34:04] The point is, when I look back, I realize that those were the times I grew the most when I felt like I was at the end and that I was insufficient for the task, when I was wounded, when I was limping,
[00:34:14] relational betrayals, unfair accusations, frustrated plans, family struggles, ongoing pain, but it was there that I learned to depend on God.
[00:34:24] I've learned to love this quote by Hudson Taylor, the famous missionary to China.
[00:34:27] He said, God wants to give you something far better than riches and gold or personal charisma and talent or preaching ability or a big church or a huge budget.
[00:34:35] And that better thing he wants to give you is helpless dependence on him.
[00:34:40] That's the greatest gift that he can give you.
[00:34:42] Again, if dependence is the objective, believer, if dependence is the objective, then weakness becomes your advantage.
[00:34:51] Thank God for the glitch.
[00:34:54] Verse 10 is widely acknowledged by scholars.
[00:34:56] Chapter 12, verse 10, to be the high point of this entire letter.
[00:35:00] Chapter 12, verse 10.
[00:35:01] It's a good one for you to memorize.
[00:35:03] If you want one verse to memorize, say, encapsulate all of 2 Corinthians.
[00:35:06] For the sake of Christ then, I am content with weaknesses.
[00:35:10] I'm content with insults and hardships and persecution and calamities.
[00:35:13] For when I'm weak, that's when I'm strong.
[00:35:16] By the way, that word for content right here in Greek doesn't just mean stoically resolved to something.
[00:35:23] That word for content is the Greek word eudokio.
[00:35:26] and it literally means to delight in.
[00:35:29] It's the same word the father used when Jesus was baptized.
[00:35:32] This is my son in whom I am eudokio, well-pleased.
[00:35:36] Paul is saying, I don't merely tolerate these sufferings.
[00:35:39] I step into them.
[00:35:40] I embrace them.
[00:35:42] I am well-pleased with them because these are the places that I experienced my savior's power.
[00:35:49] Now, one caveat, some of you need to hear this.
[00:35:52] There's nothing wrong with asking God to take away your pain or your thorn.
[00:35:55] And Paul did, verse eight, three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
[00:36:01] And by the way, that's likely not a reference to three quick one-off throwaway requests.
[00:36:05] Like I asked him once two Fridays ago during my quiet time and then once before dinner last Thursday and then I mentioned it as a prayer request last week at my small, no, he's not talking about it like that.
[00:36:13] No, Paul is referring here to three extended seasons, three 21 days of prayer and fasting kind of seasons where he prayed intentionally, he got others to pray with him, he had people lay hands on him,
[00:36:23] he probably fasted And in each of those seasons, Paul was hopeful that God would finally remove this thorn, maybe even expecting God to let him see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living
[00:36:33] so that he could be more freed up for ministry.
[00:36:36] Three times he did that.
[00:36:37] And I'm telling you that because some of you, I don't, don't wear your spiritual pants so tight.
[00:36:42] You don't ask God to take the thorn away.
[00:36:43] Don't try to out spiritual Paul.
[00:36:47] Ask him to take it away.
[00:36:49] But the point is when God said no, Paul understood that God was not ignoring him.
[00:36:55] God wasn't putting him off.
[00:36:56] If it wasn't that God didn't care, God just had a greater purpose in his trouble.
[00:37:00] H.B. Charles again, when you pray, sometimes the request is just wrong, so God says no.
[00:37:08] Sometimes the request is right, but the time is wrong, so God says slow.
[00:37:14] Sometimes it's you that ain't ready, so God says grow.
[00:37:20] The point is not to not ask God for relief.
[00:37:23] The point is to be content, to be pleased, to be okay even when he doesn't, even to eagerly step into the suffering.
[00:37:33] And that's because you understand that it's not through the mountaintop experiences in the third heaven, friend, listen, it's not through the mountaintop experiences in the third heaven where true power comes.
[00:37:44] It's through your weakness and humiliation.
[00:37:46] It's through your corona moralis, your crowns of shame, your thorns in the flesh.
[00:37:51] That's what opens up gateways to great spiritual power.
[00:37:54] It's your glitch that turns out to be the source of your greatest strength.
[00:38:00] Listen, every thorn in your life comes with dueling messages.
[00:38:05] One's from Satan, one's from God.
[00:38:09] Who you listen to determines whether or not you're gonna be discouraged and overwhelmed in that trial or strengthened and thriving.
[00:38:18] Many of you are in a season of suffering right now.
[00:38:20] I know that.
[00:38:22] Maybe it's an extended season.
[00:38:24] Maybe it's lasted for years.
[00:38:27] Listen, it's not the suffering that's killing you.
[00:38:30] It's the narrative that you're believing about that suffering.
[00:38:34] See, there's a subtle voice inside you.
[00:38:38] It's the enemy's voice.
[00:38:39] And that voice says, you'll never be happy.
[00:38:42] This is the end.
[00:38:43] God doesn't really care about what's going on with you.
[00:38:46] That's the narrative that your enemy is putting forward in this trial.
[00:38:50] But see, God has a greater narrative.
[00:38:52] And that narrative starts with this statement.
[00:38:54] My strength is made perfect in weakness.
[00:38:56] And when you're weak, there you'll be strong.
[00:38:58] You feel like a moral failure?
[00:39:00] He says, yeah, but if any man is in Christ or woman is in Christ, he's a new creation.
[00:39:03] and old things are passed away.
[00:39:04] Behold, all things have become new.
[00:39:06] You feel like you're paralyzed.
[00:39:07] You're unable to walk forward into the next place that God has for you.
[00:39:11] He says, well, I chose you though.
[00:39:13] And I appointed you that you would go and bear fruit.
[00:39:16] And I appointed you that your fruit should abide by this as my father glorified that you bear much fruit.
[00:39:22] And I'm not gonna let you not glorify my father.
[00:39:24] Don't go forward in your own power.
[00:39:26] You can go forward in mine.
[00:39:27] You feel like a bad parent?
[00:39:29] Feel like a bad parent?
[00:39:30] He says, yeah, well, where you're weak, That's the exact place I'm strong.
[00:39:34] You say, but God, I feel so incapable.
[00:39:36] And he says, yeah, but I'm so infinitely capable.
[00:39:39] You say, God, I'm so dysfunctional.
[00:39:41] He says, yeah, but I'm so whole.
[00:39:43] You say, I'm so deficient.
[00:39:45] He says, yeah, I am so sufficient.
[00:39:47] You say, I'm so sinful.
[00:39:49] He says, but I'm so graceful.
[00:39:51] You say, I feel so dead.
[00:39:52] He says, I raise the dead.
[00:39:54] You say, I'm at the end of my rope.
[00:39:56] He says, well, I got another rope and it's as long as eternity and it's woven with the strands of the power of the resurrection. For in that glitch of yours is not a flaw. It's a platform for grace. And God
[00:40:10] is ready to give you that grace if you're ready to ask him for it. So my question this weekend is where are you afflicted? I want to end our time just by inviting you to pray. I want you to pray
[00:40:25] for relief. Like Paul, three times I asked God, take it away. And God might do that. Okay. But I also want you to be aware that God might be doing some of his most important work in and through
[00:40:35] that thorn. And so in addition to asking for relief, I also want you to pray like Paul, Lord Jesus, even if my enemy means this for evil, I know you're going to use it for good. Help me to
[00:40:45] be content. Help me to be eudokio in this weakness and let your strength be made perfect in my weakness. I don't want to be single, but let me be content in my singleness because you're doing
[00:40:55] something in me. I don't want this kind of family, God, but I know you're doing something to me. I don't like being stuck at my job, but this is what you're doing to me. I don't like this physical
[00:41:04] pain, but this is what you're doing in me. I don't like these problems I have. I don't like my body.
[00:41:09] I don't like my lack of discipline, but this is what you're doing in me. You're teaching me to trust in your grace and lean into your power. Strength and weakness are paired in the Christian
[00:41:19] life. If you want one, you got to go through the valley of the other. Are you content with that?
[00:41:24] Can you lean into it? Why don't you bow your heads? I have no idea where you're listening to this from. It might be one of our campuses. You might be snowed in an eight foot of snowdrift
[00:41:38] somewhere. I don't know, but I want to invite you to turn wherever you are into a place of prayer.
[00:41:43] If you're at one of our campuses, I'm going to open up our altar because there are some of you that need to come and pray for deliverance from an affliction, or you need to pray for the grace
[00:41:51] to believe and embrace that. And I just want you to come forward right now. Don't wait. Just come and take around this altar. As always, I'll ask prayer team leaders and elders to go over to the
[00:42:01] side. In case you want to pray with somebody, you can just go over to them. So they're moving into place right now and you can go to them but otherwise you just come and take your place around
[00:42:08] this altar if you're there at home in your living room maybe you just want to pause me right now and maybe you want to turn your family group into a time where you pray over this there's usually
[00:42:17] people in the chat while these services are going on that can engage with you leaders and pastors and volunteers i would love to be a prayer partner with you you can just jump in and start talking to
[00:42:25] them right now i want everybody at all campuses i want you to stand to your feet if that's you stand to your feet. Our worship team is going to come and we're going to sing a song about God's
[00:42:35] goodness. And I want you to lean into it. I want you to believe it. I want you to open your heart to it. And some of you need to flee to the altar to find help that he's ready to give. If you're
[00:42:45] ready to humble yourself and ask, grab a friend and come and pray. Let's sing about the goodness of God.