The Sufficient Grace of God
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Introduction
Sermon Introduction
Good Morning Church.
Today’s message is called “The Sufficient Grace of God.”
We will be focusing on how God uses our weakness for His glory.
We will explore how in the mist of hard times, God gives strength to His followers.
So, please turn your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 12.
We will be examining verses 7 through 10.
From these passages, we will find three actions God does in the life of a believer:
1) God Kills Our Pride
2) God Gives Us Enough Grace
3) God Uses Our Weakness
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider the text, please join me in prayer...
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
I want to read you part of the lyrics to one of my favorite songs of all time.
The song is called, “Though You Slay Me”
And it is performed by Shane & Shane
The song’s chorus goes like this:
“Though You slay me
Yet I will praise You
Though You take from me
I will bless Your name
Though You ruin me
Still I will worship
Sing a song to the one who's all I need”
These words may seem shocking to some.
However, these words are based on Scripture.
Take a look at Job 13:15:
15 Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.
And this text leads us to our main text that we will be studying today, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
7 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.
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
9 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.
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.
1) God Kills Our Pride
1) God Kills Our Pride
Verses 7 & 8: 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.
The “thorn in the flesh” (or more accurately translated as “stake or spike in the flesh”) has a few possible explanations and even among hundreds of commentators, there is no agreement.
Some believe it is a physical ailment.
Or grief that Paul has over his past of persecuting the church.
Others believe the “thorn or stake” to be Jewish persecutors.
And yet other scholars and theologians believe the “stake” to be a demonized person who is also a false apostle and teacher.
This may be the best explanation due to the language that Paul uses.
The Greek verb Paul uses in this verse is always used to describe a person in the New Testament.
In addition, Paul’s use of the word “messenger” relates to an angel (in this case a fallen angel).
And the word “thorn” relates to how the Old Testament described Israel's opponents also as “thorns.”
This person was probably the leader of those who tried to invalidated Paul’s apostolic authority and caused division in the church at Corinth.
This was painful for Paul to see his beloved church torn apart.
Regardless of what the “thorn” is, this kind of oppression can be applied to any servant of God.
In fact, this torment is very much reminiscent of Job’s trials.
This torment of the “thorn in the flesh” was sent to Paul by God in order to keep him humble, especially since he was seeing amazing visions and revelations by God which could have easily lead to pride and boastfulness.
Likewise, Job being righteous and blameless before God could have easily lead to pride and boastfulness too.
But God protects Him followers using any means He sees fit.
In Job, Satan was the immediate cause of Job’s aliments, but God was the ultimate cause.
Remember, God started the conversation with Satan in Job 1:8.
8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
And again it is God who told Satan what we could and couldn’t do as seen in Job 2:6.
6 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”
Despite having his life thrown upside down, Job truly speaks truth when he responds to his wife's foolish comments about cursing God for his hardships:
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Let us consider what scholar Mark A. Seifrid has to say about God’s methods and how it relates to our passage with Paul,
“God uses evil, even Satan himself, for Paul’s good.
Who can explain this wonder?
Is there any story line that we might draw that can explore its depths?
It is the story of Christ’s cross being replayed in Christ’s apostle.”
Look throughout all Scripture and you will see an amazing pattern.
God uses the underdogs to do His work.
And there is a very good reason for that as we see explained in 1 Corinthians 1:27:
27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
Remember, we have a jealous God who will not share His glory.
In using the outcasts of the world, God reveals His power while also showing the prideful and arrogant how weak they really are.
And those whom God chooses to use, He equips.
God gives grace to the ones who are simple and humble, the ones who know they are sinners in nee of a savior.
But God opposes the proud as James says:
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
We also see that Paul asks three times to remove the “thorn in his flesh.”
Yet Paul understands that it is not his will but the will of God that we must desire and follow.
This is reminiscent of the threefold prayer of Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane as recorded in the Gospel of Mark:
32 And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”
33 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.
34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.”
35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
37 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?
38 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
39 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.
40 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him.
41 And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Just like in the case with our Savior, God’s answer was not to take away the “cup of wrath” or “thorn in the flesh” in Paul’s case.
The Lord’s response was to give Paul a much richer endowment of strength so that he may overcome his weakness.
This leads us to ask a few questions for ourselves:
What “thorn or stake or spike” do we have in our life?
What do we do when God answers differently than our will?
How can we endure our burden and torment?
How do we carry our heavy cross?
The answer is...
Grace
And this takes us to our next point:
2) God Gives Us Enough Grace
2) God Gives Us Enough Grace
Verse 9: 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.
What is grace?
Grace describes God’s undeserved favor to mankind.
It is a dynamic force, totally transforming believers’ lives.
It begins with salvation, the complete transformation individuals into a new creation with renewed minds.
It then continues through the whole life of a believer in a process called sanctification, where followers of Christ become more Christ-like over time and look less and less like the world they still live in.
Finally the ultimate result of grace is glorification.
That happens when we are finally in the presence of our Savior, when we are finally in heaven.
In addition to our new minds that we recieved at salvation, we also receive brand new bodies that no longer whats to commit the sins of the flesh.
Grace was always included in God’s plan for the salvation of those He chose before the foundations of the world.
Don’t take my word for it.
Look at what God has to say about the matter.
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Theologian David E. Garland says in regards to this text,
“Illusions of our own strength cause us to overlook divine power and results in our rebelliousness against God.
For this reason God brings low the proud who lift themselves up and believe their own hype that they are special in and of themselves.
God requires total, unconditional surrender of our pride.”
Paul understands that he is most powerful when he is least reliant on his own resources and instead depends on God.
As we just read in Romans, God is the author of our individual salvation so we have nothing to boast about.
But as long as we still as believers have a body of flesh, we are tempted to sin and forget ourselves and boast in things we have no right to boast in.
In Paul’s case, he could easily boast of the revelations he has had (which are recorded earlier in the epistle, in Acts, and in other letters he wrote) yet God, through the “thorn in the flesh” keeps Paul humble.
So, you see, that “thorn in your side” that thing that is tormenting you, if you are a believer, then God is using it to keep you humble.
But be encouraged.
God may have left the “stake” in Paul’s flesh, but He also gave Paul sufficient grace to endure.
And he has done the same with you.
This is why Paul can boast of his weakness.
So, church, start boasting, start boasting in your weakness.
Remember the words found in 2 Corinthians 9:8:
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
You see, God’s grace is sufficient for you.
Remember, grace defines who we are since it changes us from the core.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
You see again, God’s grace is sufficient for you.
Despite the struggles and toils in your life.
29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
You see, God’s grace is sufficient for you.
Yes, God’s grace not only helps you get through hardships, but it completely preserves you in this life.
Jesus said He will never lose one of His sheep.
Nothing can ever snatch you out of His hands.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Church, again I tell you, God’s grace is sufficient for you.
And we are now at our final point:
3) God Uses Our Weakness
3) God Uses Our Weakness
Verse 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.
So, why should we be content with weakness?
Why should we be content with insults?
Why should we be content with hardships?
Why should we be content with persecutions?
Why should we be content with calamities?
Because, when we are weak in the eyes of the world, God gives us his strength and we become strong.
Consider the words of the prophet Isaiah:
29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Consider also the words of Paul:
13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
In all areas in our like that we have weakness, God provides strength for His children, the ones that call upon His Name.
For example, we see this even in the way we communicate with God.
In our weakness, we struggle in our prayers but what does God do to strengthen us?
He sends us the Holy Spirit to pray as we should.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
So, you see, we should in fact rejoice over our weakness.
We should rejoice in our suffering.
As Paul in his letter to the Romans writes:
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
And what happens after you have lived a life of many sufferings?
Peter answers that question for us nicely:
10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
I promise you, that as a believer, you do not suffer in vain.
I promise you as a believer, your suffering is not meaningless.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
There is a version of the Shane & Shane song I mentioned earlier were they include audio from a John Piper sermon called “The Glory of God in the Sight of Eternity.”
In it, Piper says,
“Not only is all your affliction momentary, not only is all your affliction light in comparison to eternity and the glory there, but all of it is totally meaningful...
I’ll venture this:
every millisecond of your pain — from fallen nature or fallen man — every millisecond of your misery in the path of obedience is producing a peculiar glory you will get because of that suffering...
I don’t care if it was cancer or criticism. I don’t care if it was slander or sickness — it wasn’t meaningless...
It’s doing something.
It’s not meaningless.
Of course you can’t see what it’s doing...
Don’t look to what is seen.
When your mom dies, when your kid dies, when you got cancer at 40, when a car careens onto the sidewalk and takes her out, don’t say that this is meaningless.
It’s not.
It’s working for you an eternal weight of glory.
Therefore — therefore — do not lose heart, but take these truths, all the ones you’ve heard in every message, and day by day, focus on them.
Preach them to yourself every morning.
Get alone with God and preach his word into your mind until your heart sings with confidence that you are new and cared for.”
Closing of Service
Closing of Service
As we closeout our service, please consider Romans 8:28:
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
To my brothers and sisters in Christ, God has made a promise to you.
That all the events of your life are working towards a greater good.
For your ultimate benefit.
To those who refuse to bend the knee and surrender to Christ.
You are staring down the barrel of God’s wrath.
I implore you to repent and turn.
Repent and turn to Him.
The only One who can save you.
Remember, it is all about grace:
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Please, don't say God doesn’t understand.
God does understand.
God sympathizes with your weakness:
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Don’t you know that Christ was crucified in weakness for the sake of His followers:
4 For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.
His power makes us live.
So, stop running and live.
Put your trust in the only Name that saves.
Put your trust in Jesus and live
All the Glory to God.
Amen.
Now if you will all stand to your feet...
