God's Grace Sustains Us

Grace Under Fire – 3

God’s Grace Sustains Us

Good morning and welcome to worship today! What an amazing week we have had at the Awakening Conference…….

Grace Under Fire

Today we are continuing our Grace Under Fire sermon series. We’re looking at ways that God’s grace works in and through our lives. Specifically, we are looking at the refining times in our life… those times when things may not be going as well as we wanted, those times when we felt the stress off the world around us, those times of being under fire. In the Army, during training, there is a time where you are actually training with live rounds, you are having to complete an obstacle course while there are live rounds fired over your head and explosives go off and throw dirt and mud up and onto you. You are truly under fire, and it is in those moments when the training up to that point kicks in, when you realize that the experience of being under fire just made you a better soldier.

Last week we talked about how gold is purified through the refining fire – how iron is heated and stressed, then heated again to make it stronger - a different kind of fire, but the same outcome. The metal becomes stronger and more pure.

If you recall, we have talked about how God’s Grace is Always with Us, and then we followed that with the fact that God’s Grace is For US – God is with us and for us… there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love and grace. Even in the hard times, even when we are stressed and under pressure, even when the heat is turned up, God’s grace is with us and for us, and today, I want to talk about how God’s Grace Sustains us!

God’s grace Sustains Us

Today, we are going to be looking at a period of Paul’s life where he was being refined, a time where Paul reminds us that he was being sustained by God’s Grace.

Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 12. As you turn there I want to give a little back story on Paul so we are all on the same page. Paul was once known by the Hebrew or Jewish name Saul. Paul is his Greek name, Saul was his Hebrew name. When the Jews knew him as Saul, he was Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin – the elite of the elites. It was his job to search out and persecute the Christians. In book The Acts of the Apostle, we find much of his story detailed. In Acts 7 we see that Paul (or Saul) oversaw the execution of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. In Acts 9 we see that Saul was on his way to Damascus with letters, kinda like warrants, to arrest and imprison members of “The Way.” The Way was the name they used for the people who followed Jesus because Jesus had said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

So, he’s on his way to Damascus when he is suddenly stopped in his tracks by a blinding light. We aren’t sure if it was lightning, a pillar of fire like in the story of the Exodus with Moses, or some other form of light. What he know from the story in Acts and Paul’s later accounts of the event was that he had an encounter with the Lord that left him forever changed. He went from persecutor to persecuted as he began to follow and teach about Jesus Christ.

Isn’t it amazing that once you have an encounter with the Risen Lord, you are changed and you have to share about it and about the Lord with everyone you meet! I think one of the problems in today’s churches is that we have too few people having an encounter with the Risen Lord and even fewer talking about it!

But that’s another sermon for another time….

Paul’s testimony is powerful! For sure…

Pauls’ life journey highlights how truly amazing the grace of God is. And, because we have so many writings and letters from Paul, we get a unique view into his life, his struggles, and his triumphs.

One of the struggles that Paul shares about is his Thorn in the Flesh. We will get to Chapter 12 in a second, but I want to read my second favorite passage of Paul. It comes in Chapter 11 and I call it the Dangerman passage. If Paul had a Superhero name, it would be Dangerman!

2 Corinthians 11:23b-33 (NLT)

I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.

26 I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.

Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger?

If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am. God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, who is worthy of eternal praise, knows I am not lying. When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas kept guards at the city gates to catch me. I had to be lowered in a basket through a window in the city wall to escape from him.

He was Dangerman… and he told them all about it. But, then he goes on into chapter 12 and this is where I want us to focus today.

2 Corinthians 12:6-10 (NLT)

If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul is telling the Corinthian church about all the reasons he can boast about all the good things he has done and all the dangers he has faced… but what is most important isn’t what he has done, but that it was God’s grace that sustained him through it all as he dealt with this thorn in his flesh.

Now, we don’t know what that Thorn was… some think it was his eyesight. The blinding light experience may have damaged his eyes or something. We even see in Galatians 6 where Paul writes “See the large letters I use as I write these closing words in my own handwriting.” Some scholars believe he had to write in large letters because of his failing eyesight.

Another theory of the thorn in his flesh is that he had an unbelieving wife. As a member of the Sanhedrin he would have been married. Yet, Paul writes about his singleness.

Another theory is that it was a physical ailment – maybe the result of all the beatings he endured.

Another theory is that Paul carried with him the grief and sorrow, the shame and regret for watching the execution of Stephen and seeing an innocent man die while doing nothing about it.

The truth is, we don’t know what the thorn in his flesh is, and maybe we aren’t to know. Maybe we don’t need to know because we all have our own thorns. Our thorns are different. Maybe yours is a particular sin that you deal with. Maybe yours is a physical ailment or injury. Maybe yours is a mental of emotional disorder. Maybe yours is constant pain that you endure. We each have our own thorns that could separate us from God, or that could drive us closer to God.

So, we really don’t know what this thorn was that Paul keeps referring to. However, his posture through the “fire” is one we can still learn from today. You see, when we understand God’s grace sustains us each and every day, there are three specific responses I believe are important to talk about…

1. We Deepen Our Prayer Life

Paul prayed over and over that the thorn would be taken away. He actually uses the word “Begged.” Friends, when was the last time you went to the Lord in prayer, begging? When did you last plead with the Lord. When was the last time you returned to God over and over, trusting that God’s providence would be best.

Who remembers the Blue Laws? These were these laws that said, you could only purchase certain things on Sunday. They had to be essential items like food or clothing. Once when I was about 6 years old… and yes I still remember this… we were in K-Mart in Longview, TX. As we were checking out I was standing in the parent torture section of the store – you know, the check out line where all the candy and little toys and stuff are displayed. Well, there happened to be a display of Hot Wheels, and I wanted one of them. I begged over and over for it. I said, “I’ll never ask for anything again.” I cried for it. I did every thing a brat kid could do… You’ve seen kids throw a fit in the store, right? As a parent you think everyone is looking at you thinking you are a terrible parent… but as an onlooker who has raised their kids… you commiserate – and laugh all at the same time, right?

Well here I was, this kid being a brat, and my mom wanted to get it for me, if for no other reason that to shut me up… but legally, she couldn’t.

I tell that story to ask: Are we begging God for the right things?

John 14:13 (NLT) says,

You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father.

At the surface it looks like God will answer any prayer if tag it with “In Jesus Name.” right?

I know, your saying, that’s why I didn’t win the $1.35 Billion dollar Lottery Jackpot, I didn’t say, “In Jesus Name.” Ok. It doesn’t really work that way. I don’t think slapping a couple of extra words on our begging makes it so God is required to answer the prayer. No, I think it means that when we ask according to God’s will, according to Jesus plan for our lives and our churches and our family and all God’s creation… then God grants the wish.

In Paul’s case, God seemed to have a higher purpose behind the pain Paul was facing. And so, even though Paul was doing it “right,” God’s plan and purpose for the pain was bigger.

In Isaiah 55:8, (NLT) God reminds us that

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD.

“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

God was looking beyond the pain Paul experienced, and reminded him that His grace was sufficient… that His grace would sustain him.

Which means Paul had to learn the same thing we must learn today:

2. We Learn to Be Weak

Ok, that probably goes against everything we have been taught in our “Pull your self up by your boot straps,” society of independence. But in order to allow God’s grace to truly sustain us, we must learn to identify and accept our weaknesses. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging our weaknesses.

Personally, I am not good with accounting. I have one F on a transcript from my days in college and it was in Accounting. That’s why we have a finance secretary with a degree in accounting. That’s why we have a Finance Team with members having accounting and finance background from both the church and the business world. I acknowledge my weakness, I learn what I can to limit my weakness, and I surround myself with people who are strong where I am weak.

What Paul recognized was the fact that his weakness, his thorn, kept him humble.

We must understand our weaknesses so we can grow spiritually. And here’s the good news: God’s power is strong enough to not only meet us in our weaknesses, but also use us in spite of them.

What did God say to Paul?

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

So, when we are weak,

3. We Find True Strength

When we recognize our weakness, when we deepen our prayer life, then we find our true strength.

Philippians 4:13 (ESV) reminds us that we can do all things through Him that strengthens us.

Exodus 15:2 (ESV) reminds us that the Lord is our strength and our song, In Him we find salvation.

Psalm 28:7 (ESV) reminds us that The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.

I could go on and on, passage after passage, story after story of lives changed when they found that their true strength was in the Lord.

Paul is telling his readers that God’s grace is all we need. We don’t need to know the answer to every questions. We don’t need to have it all figured out. We don’t need to be perfect, because God’s grace works best in our weakness!

And speaking of Grace, Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians,

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NRSV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast.

What Jesus did for you and for me is the greatest picture of God’s grace we can find. Jesus, God in the flesh came to be with us, to show us how to live and to love, how to be in relationship with one another and with God, then he became the bridge that allows us to return to God. He gave himself as the sacrifice for you and for me. He was beaten, humiliated, abandoned, and eventually killed. All by the hands of the very people that He’d come to save. It was grace that Jesus gave himself for the redemption of mankind. It was grace that sustained Him when the journey became difficult, and often impossible.

I want you to hear me. Jesus came for you. Jesus came to give you life, abundantly. Jesus gave himself for you… and the grace of God offered in life, death, burial and resurrection of our Lord is all you need.

I know, you are struggling with the thorn in your flesh

– that sin that so easily entangles you

– that pain that won’t go away

– that ailment the limits you

– that sorrow and grief that keeps you down

– that guilt for what you did or didn’t do…

Whatever your thorn is… hear these words:

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

And so, when I am weak, then I am strong.

Go and be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Amen.