The Cross & The Thorn

2 Corinthians 12:1–10“Boasting is necessary, though it is not beneficial; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ, who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows—was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. In behalf of such a man I will boast; but in my own behalf I will not boast, except regarding my weaknesses. For if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me. Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.10 Therefore I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in difficulties, in behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Luke 9:23 “And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

Today, by the grace of God and power of the Holy Spirit, I want to speak to you from the subject, “The Cross & the Thorn.” <PRAY>

“Father, speak to every heart, challenge every mind and renew every spirit. Do not let a living soul leave this place in the same condition that it arrived in. Because your Word will never fail to accomplish what it was sent to do, we declare NOW that we will never be the same again. InJesus’ Name, amen.”

Introduction For centuries, the cross, in various forms, has become the symbol of the Christian Faith. We fix it above our houses of worship; we wear it on chains around necks, stitch it into clothing and so on. I have no objection to any of these things; so long as we revere the One who triumphed over the cross more than the symbol, ans so long as our outward expression of our Faith is backed up by an authentic walk with Christ personally. But it is not my intention to speak extensively on the cross, other than to state plainly the meaning of Jesus’ statement in Luke and to make sure we come to an understanding of what the taking up the cross is- and what it is not- so that we can understand Paul’s reference to the thorn, what it represents in scripture- and what it does not- and then we will juxapose the two in order to fully understand them both.

So let’s begin by considering this statement of Jesus. Matthew also records these words in his account (Matt 16:14), but Luke specifially says we must carry the cross DAILY. Just moments before this statement, Peter answered the famous question, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter says, “You are the Christ of God!” The response of Christ: “Shhhh!!!” followed by, “I must suffer, be rejected, killed, and come back 3 days later.” Oh and, “If anyone wants to come after me, deny yourself, take up you cross, and follow me.” I can just imagine the disciples, “Ummm…come after where Jesus? ‘Cause you kinda lost me at the dying part!”

But what does the Lord mean when He says that we must take up our crosses? We tend to immediately think of denying ourselves of some THING- I can’t have this or that, I can’t do this and so on. Or we think the cross as some undesireable THING we take on- an illness, a dilemma or external burden or ongoing suffering. For some reason we overlook the obvious in the text. We are called first to deny OURSELVES. We don’t think of ourselves as the THING- the object that we must deny.

If I may be so bold, let me provide you with a simple explanation of what it means to take up your cross: According to Jesus Himself, Taking up our cross is to cease making SELF the object of one’s life and actions. God- not self- must be the center of one’s life. The way of the cross is dying to self- to be so surrendered to Jesus that is at the heart of all we think, say or do. When we deny ourselves, we can clearly see both the TRUE purpose and meaning of the gift we call life. We accept the gift of salvation ONCE; we are baptized into the Body of Christ ONCE; but this act of surrender- following Him, obeying Him- is something we must strive to do DAILY.

There’s another myth that I need to clear up and then we will move on. The cross we carry is universal- meaning, my cross and your cross are fundamentally the same. Simply put, each of us is responsible to bring all that we are to Jesus Christ each and every day.

The thorn is a different matter entirely.

In Paul’s 2nd letter to the church in Corinth, Paul is defending his ministry to a church that he himself established 14 years prior. While defending himself against false accusations, Paul exposes a true weakness to his critics. It was like saying, “I see you’re looking for a flaw, a chink in my armor. This ain’t it; let me point you in the right direction- here you go.” There was no reason for him to do this- aside from giving  God the glory- and the credit- for all that he has accomplished. Paul describes his issue as a thorn. We’re not told what it is, we just know that no amount of prayer, fasting, or other efforts could change his condition. God gives him peace in revealing that He has a purpose for the thorn. But God also makes it clear that He will not take it away.

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Since Paul was both a student and a master teacher of the Hebrew scriptures, we can say with certainty that the sacred texts directly shaped his thoughts and the verbage used in his own writings. There are many references to thorns in the OT; I won’t list or read them, but I want to state 3 common features that can help us to understand what Paul intends to convey to his readers:

The thorn is used to describe an obstruction- something that limits movement by causing discomfort. You can move in that direction if you want- but it will cost you something. The thorn reminds us that isobedience always exacts a toll. {Elab. the pain of delay.}

Nearly all usage of the word thorn pertains to the nation of Israel or a group, not to an individual. Even the 1st mention of a thorn in Gen 3:18 is a joint consequence for their sin, to be shared by both Adam & Eve, as well as their offspring & the generations that follow. The call that is given to us is always much bigger than us. The thorn reminds us that the consequence of our actions will not only impact us, but have the potential to impact many others.

In the Hebrew texts, God allowed the thorn to be placed there for His glory, and only God could remove it- for His glory. Paul certainly understood that what God did to correct the nation that was called by His Name, he could and would do for the Church- the members of the Body of Christ, who are called by His Name.

Paul turned his own life and issue into an object lesson for the church- while still defending himself.

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The NT word used for thorn is “ἄκανθα (akantha)- In a figure of speech used by Jesus in Matt 7:16, when He teaches us how to determine authenticity by fruit inspecting (you will know them by their fruits) thorns represent that which can be identified by its appearance (meaning it can be seen, like it or not) to be unfruitful. Tell somebody, “I’m not judging you, I’m just fruit inspecting.” In other references still, thorns were used as fuel for the fire due to their flammability (Ps. 58:9 ; Eccl. 7:6).

The thought of being unfruitful sounds counterintuitive, unless you are familiar with a process called pruning. Pruning is the process of cutting away dead or overgrown branches to increase fruitfulness. Dead branches take away nutrients that can be used in heathy parts of the tree; overgrown branches can create an imbalance in the tree, causing it to lean to one side or another, putting strain on the trunk and roots.

The pruning process in your life is not a punishment- the Lord is removing things that no longer produce, and bringing balance to your life to reduce the strain. It is not God’s will that you be a public success and a private failure; tell somebody, “balance is coming”. So Lord take away whatever does not give you glory- and let it BURN!!!

The scriptures say that Paul asked the Lord three times to remove this thorn, echoing the number of times Jesus asked the Father to keep Him from going to the cross. God’s response in V. 9 is so powerful:

“My grace is sufficient for you- the word sufficient is defined as, “Enough; you will not need more” God says my power is enough for the task at hand- you will NEVER need more!

My power is perfected in weakness- They need to see me, not you; you can’t rescue them, but I can- My power is perfectly demonstrated in YOUR weakness- because they will know that this must be God! Your weakness provides the opportunity for God to show His power.

Paul understood that the thorn was a necessary part of God’s process.

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In His human experience, Jesus was never given a formal title. He was called Lord, but didn’t possess land or official title; He was called Rabboni (master teacher), but didn’t hold an accredited degree from a university. So how ironic is it that when His earthly ministry is coming to an end, it an attempt to mock Him the Romans inadvertently initiate His coronation- they crowned Him King!

From mockery to majesty- Jesus the Servant King who suffered and died on behalf of His subjects!

Some of the people who mock you are unintentionally prophesying into your life. They sense the greatness that God has placed in you, and their attack is actually an acknowledgement of this. So instead of getting angry, tell your haters thank you for seeing the God in me!

Conclusion

Each of us is called to bear the cross; but those who have answered a greater call will likely also have to deal with a thorn.

The cross reminds us of the price that was paid; the thorn insures that there is a return on investment.

The cross is your call to die to self; the thorn is your reminder that you Lord did it first.

The cross is your call to do things God’s way; the thorn is your reminder of the cost for doing it your way.

The cross is the means by which my God rescued the world; the thorn is there to make sure you tell the world that He did it!

After all that the Lord has done for me, I will gladly take up my cross; and if it enables me to do something for Him without my flesh getting in the the way- then I will thank God for the thorn too.

God, I bless you right now for the things that you have placed in my life to give you Glory. In my strength, get your glory; in my weakness get your glory; in my mountain experiences get your glory; in my valley experiences get your glory! If it means that I can serve you more, then I thank you for the thorn- get you glory!!!!

Lift those hhands ..Lift those hhands ..hands ..…