Natural Weakness, Alien Strength

2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV

10 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.

This morning, we come to the conclusion of our exposition of this beautiful, humbling, thought-provoking passage of scripture. And I hope that the thoughts that this passage and our exposition of this passage have provoked have been thoughts that have caused us to reconsider what we view as strength and what we view as true blessing.

As I sat down to write this sermon, it reminded me of a conversation that I had with a man a few months back. He was telling me about how early on in his ministry he was teaching things that were very appealing to the flesh. He said that what he was teaching and preaching were things that were primarily directed towards man and the natural desires of man.

He said that he would tell his congregation that what God wants more than anything is for them to be happy, that He wants them to feel as though they are worthy of His salvation; that they need to repeatedly remind themselves that they are good enough, and that God found them so worthy that He sent His Son to die for them.

And this man told me that knowing what he knows now, he recognizes that what he was telling his congregation then was not true. They are not “worthy of salvation”, they are not “good enough”, that’s why they need salvation; if they were “worthy” or “good enough”, they wouldn’t have anything to be saved from.

But he said that at that time, he believed what he was telling his congregation, so he had no qualm about what he was telling them. And it appeared to be paying off too as he was always receiving compliments about his sermons and the attendance at church kept climbing.

But then he told me that one day as he was studying and meditating on the scriptures, God made it plainly obvious to him that what he had been teaching to his congregants were not scriptural doctrines… he was teaching his flock a false gospel.

And as God revealed this to him, God was also faithful, in the fullness of time, to reveal to him right, truly biblical doctrine that was so pure that he trembled as he received it. Indeed, this man had the truth revealed to him, from the Word of God, by God.

He told me that he could not wait to share what he had discovered with his church. And that is what he did. The reception that he received when he shared the truth that had been revealed to him was apprehensive curiosity. They didn’t know what to think about what he was telling them.

But after a few weeks of hearing that they are not worthy of God’s salvation, that what they truly deserve is condemnation, and that the only reason why they were saved is because God extended His grace to them, they began to get a little uneasy.

Then when this pastor began to tell his congregation that their sole purpose in this world is to glorify God and to worship Him in spirit and in truth, the leaders of that church had heard enough. They told him that they missed his old messages and his old form of worship wherein the people and not God Himself was the primary focus and object of worship.

But the minister told them that he could not go back to any of that because the Lord had revealed to him through His Word that that form of “worship” was not honoring to God, and what God had revealed to him was indeed the truth and thus, he had no choice but to follow the commands of God rather than man.

Church attendance began to dwindle, many of the people who used to respect him became not only disrespectful, but downright mean. Almost daily, he felt the pressure to water down the Gospel, yet he remained steadfast in his God-given convictions. And while this gained him the hatred of men, he nonetheless felt the blessing and the favor of God and deemed that he would willingly take on man’s hostility if it meant truly pleasing and worshipping his God.

In receiving the hostility of man, he recognized and admitted his weakness. And as he recognized his weakness, he leaned all the more into the power and the assurance that God had graciously given him, and he found more than ever that when he is weak, it is then that he is strong.

As we conclude our exposition of this particular passage of scripture, we see Paul reasoning the same way and recognizing the very same thing, and hopefully, by the conclusion of this message, we too will own our weaknesses so that we may lean into the power of God Almighty.

As we said at the start of this series of sermons, what we find prominently throughout the second epistle to the Corinthians is Paul correcting the misunderstandings and the backslidings of many in the Corinthian church.

And the reason why they had found themselves backsliding is because their church had been infiltrated by those who called themselves “super-apostles”. And what these “super-apostles” were telling those in the Corinthian church was that because Paul was not as outwardly impressive as they were and because he had often suffered in the course of his ministry, it proved that Paul was not inspired by God and that they, and not Paul were genuine apostles.

And beginning in chapter ten of this second epistle to the Corinthians, Paul proves both the falsity of the claims of these “super-apostles”, and he also proves the validity of his genuine apostleship. And he does so by revealing that the very weaknesses of his that these “super-apostles” were quick to point out are actually the channels through which the power of God works in his life.

And having said all of this, Paul now comes to his final, concluding thoughts on the matter in this tenth verse of second Corinthians, chapter twelve, when he first says at the beginning of this verse:

2 Corinthians 12:10a ESV

10a For the sake of Christ, then, I am content

Now, let’s first look at the word “then” in this portion of the verse. The “then” is indicative of what Paul had most recently said, and that was that though he made a full and complete plea with God to remove his “thorn” in the flesh, God had willed to let that thorn remain in Paul, telling him that His grace was sufficient, for His power is made perfect in weakness.

And the reason why God’s power is made perfect in weakness is because when God works through one who is weak, His power is most displayed and He is therefore, most glorified.

Thus, Paul says that “for the sake of Christ”, or, in order that God may be most glorified in him and his ministry, he is and will be “content”.

Now, when we think of the word “content” or the act of “being content”, we probably think first of all, of being resigned to something. Maybe we think of passively saying to ourselves, “Well, there is no changing this situation, so I just need to grow used to it.” and then in fact, getting used to it.

But being content means a lot more than just resigning yourself to a certain situation, and Paul most certainly intends that it mean more than that when he speaks here of his contentment.

The Greek word that Paul uses for “content” is “εὐδοκῶ” which could be translated as “be satisfied”, “think well of”, or even, “take pleasure in”.

So, when we translate this in the proper sense, Paul is saying, “Because God is glorified in the manifestation of my weakness, I am satisfied to, I think well of, I take pleasure in the following”.

And that which Paul says that he is content with, that he takes pleasure in are listed in the next part of this verse, where we find listed:

2 Corinthians 12:10b ESV

10b weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.

Now, these are things that people would never naturally take pleasure in. They are not things that, on the surface, would not be desired by anyone. But when Paul looks at these in the broad sense, he sees how these things are in fact blessings. How they are channels which God uses to bless him abundantly through His own glorification.

Paul speaks first of being content with, or, taking pleasure in “weaknesses”. As we have been saying, this indicates the revelation that God is faithful to give to Paul, ever reminding him of how weak he is, of the many natural incapacities that he has.

In this, Paul is ever humbled, seeing once again that he cannot depend upon himself, but must draw every ounce of his strength from God. For this reason, Paul says that painful as it may be, he nevertheless takes pleasure when he is reminded in some form or another of how weak he is.

The next thing that Paul speaks of being content with, or taking pleasure in, is “insults”. Obviously, an insult denotes mistreatment by others, typically with words, but sometimes they include actions as well.

And we may wonder how anyone could ever be content with or take pleasure in being insulted. And I will admit, it’s a real head scratcher for sure, but what I believe one could take pleasure in as a result of receiving insults is a reminder that ultimately you cannot depend on others. We may typically have good intentions, but at the end of the day, in one way or another, people, all people will ultimately fail you.

And as we receive the insults, the mistreatment of others, we can and should be reminded that our only hope is Christ Jesus, that in the end, as pilgrims and strangers in this world, He will never leave us or forsake us, even when all others do.

I, like Paul the apostle, have found myself many a time feeling abandoned, rejected, and betrayed, yet at receiving the recognition that I am His, a comfort, a peace that surpasses all understanding overcomes me. And in this, God’s love is gloriously magnified.

Then we see, as we go along here that the next thing which Paul speaks of being content with or taking pleasure in is “hardships”. And hardships indicate experiences which squeeze you, which force you to uncomfortable limits.

And I’m sure that all of us are in agreement when we say that hardships are not things that we look forward to. Hardships are just what the name indicates; they’re hard. But again, while we endure our hardships, we are forced to flee to the One Who can and will see us through our hardships, and thus, it is in those hardest of times that we cling most tightly to Him.

Paul then goes on to speak of being content with or taking pleasure in “persecutions”, which of course, indicate afflictions which come at the hands of hostile enemies. And Paul saying that he is content with or takes pleasure in afflictions and persecutions reminds me of what he says in his epistle to the Colossians, chapter one, verse twenty-four, where he says:

Colossians 1:24 ESV

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

What Paul means here is that the sufferings, the persecution that he faced because of his faithfulness to proclaim the gospel actually worked towards the spreading of the gospel. As Paul was persecuted for the faith, the faith itself became more and more well known. And for this, he rejoiced.

And the last thing that Paul speaks of being content with or taking pleasure in is “calamities”. What a calamity indicates is an overwhelming experience that comes at the hands of devastating circumstances. So, what calamities remind us of is that we live in a fallen world. And because we live in a fallen world, there are calamities.

And finding ourselves being helpless from preventing calamities from happening reminds us that not only do we live in a fallen world, but that we hold no control and are extremely weak. And of course, the recognition of our weaknesses, as was said before causes us to place no trust in ourselves or our lack of power, but instead, leads and compels us to lean into the all-powerful strength of God.

And Paul sums his argument up perfectly as we read at the end of this verse that he is content, that he takes pleasure in these weaknesses and difficult circumstances because:

2 Corinthians 12:10c ESV

10c when I am weak, then I am strong.

You see, what Paul has come recognize and what he communicates to his readers here is that; contrary to what his opponents say, human weakness is not an obstacle to God’s strength.

God does not say that He desires to work through certain people, but He can’t because they are too weak. No, human weakness is not an obstacle to God’s strength, but rather, human weakness is the gateway for God’s strength to be gloriously put on display.

Indeed, my friends, I am a very weak man. I know myself very well and I know that without the restraining hand of God, without the supportive, sustaining hand of God, I could plunge into the deepest depths of depravity. Today, I recognize that. I recognize that I, little old me, your pastor, has the capabilities to wander into boundless depths of depravity.

And it’s not just me, we all are like this, none of us are off the hook. We are all naturally that depraved. And as we recognize that today, as we see our weakness, may we be quick to lean into the power of God. For when we are weak, it is then that we are strong!

Amen?