The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 50; 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 "Heavenly Boast, Satanic Thorn"

The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 50 2 Corinthians 12.1-10 Heavenly Boast, Satanic Thorn What price would you pay to have mighty power to influence others? I'll never forget the day a number of years back. I was part of another church then. I was sitting in my office and in walks a couple on the knife edge of a divorce. Let's call them call them Fred and Wilma. A common, last ditch effort of couples right before they begin the divorce process is to "try counseling" to see if the pastor can work wonders to save their marriage. Should it not help, one or both can say, "Well, we tried, but it didn't work," so they could feel satisfied in their attempt. And without a doubt, this is where Fred was. As we began to talk things through, Fred's face was hard as a stone. Nothing neither I nor Wilma said could change him. He was dead set on walking out of what he saw as a dead marriage. Wilma was continually on the verge of weeping, like she was before they came to my office. It was a desperate situation. I was in the middle of a sentence, when all of a sudden, Fred's face softened. He literally changed right before my eyes. I don't remember what I said, but I do remember that look. It was as though Fred awakened from a nightmare. And, just like that, Fred no longer wanted a divorce. He admitted his sins. And that led Wilma to admit hers. To this day, it is my understanding they are still happily married. That is divine power at work. By the power of his Spirit, the Lord Jesus changed Fred. What an amazing thing it would be if every time we would serve a brother or sister in need, they would permanently change. Or that every time we would share the gospel, people would come to Christ. Oh, for the power of God to be on us that way! Of course, that is a pipe dream. No one bats 1.000 in the helping others department, not even the Lord Jesus in the days of his ministry. Though he had 12 disciples, even he lost one of them, labeling Judas as the son of perdition, one who apostatized, fell away from him. And Paul, in my opinion, the greatest Christian who ever lived, experienced many painful times. As I mentioned last week, there were at least 2 churches on the threshold of apostasy--the Galatians and the Corinthians. In those churches many were "that close" to walking away from the Lord. We saw how much Paul personally suffered for Christ as well. But Paul's suffering was a fulfillment of what the Lord Jesus told Ananias, not the one whom the Lord struck down because he lied about his giving! This is a different one. This Ananias lived in Damascus. On the day the Lord saved Paul, who was called Saul, Jesus appeared to Ananias and told him to help this brand new believer. Understandably, Ananias was not too keen on the idea. See, he knew Paul was on his way to arrest all the Christians in Damascus. The Lord Jesus told him not to worry, to greet Paul, and heal him of his blindness, blindness he acquired because he saw the risen Lord. Then the Lord told reluctant Ananias, "I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." And with that, Ananias obeyed the Lord. The Lord used him to heal Paul--he regained his sight. But how does that strike you? Part of the plan the Lord Jesus had for Paul was to show him how much he must suffer, for the sake of the Lord. That doesn't sound very nice, coming from Jesus, loving and kind, who is also the resurrected and ascended King of kings and Lord of lords! Today we will gain fascinating insight into how Paul handled suffering, ultimately by the oversight of the Lord. But it began with an unbelievable, heavenly, personal experience--an experience that the false teachers in Corinth could only dream about having. How did Paul describe his suffering? He called it a "thorn in the flesh." So, today, in 2 Corinthians 12.1-10, we will talk about Paul's heavenly vision and his attempted boasting about it, found in vv.1-6. In vv.7-8, we will see Paul describe a Satanic thorn given to him and his take on that. And in vv.9-10, we will discover how Paul's vision and his thorn interact to do a magnificent work in Paul's life. 2 Corinthians 12.1-6: 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 in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught 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, God knows- and he heard things that 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 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. In these verses we see Paul's conclusion of what we can call his "boastfest." Paul continues to let the false teachers have it. These false brothers were trying to woo the Corinthians away from the truth of the gospel. And Paul was doing everything he could to put up the roadblocks to prevent the Corinthians from walking away from Christ, so they would not leave the truth and cling to a false gospel. So, how does Paul describe his being snatched to the 3rd heaven? He's telling a story, but in such a way to make it sound like this was second hand--as though someone were telling him their story. But it is pretty obvious that the "man he knows" was him. But why would he tell it this way, especially in such a thinly veiled manner? It would seem that Paul, once again was way outside his comfort zone. He just could not put himself out there for long, like the false teachers could for hours on end. It just wasn't him to blow his own horn. Indeed. Remember the experiences Paul listed throughout this letter, were not good ones, on the human level. All the beatings. Imprisonments. Many dangers. And on it goes. They were quite pitiful. No one who wants to show himself to be great in the eyes of the world would actually boast about the things Paul suffered for Jesus' sake. But now, his heavenly experience! Now THAT was something to boast about! It was something to write home about! But Paul encountered a problem with this. The Lord did not allow him to give any details! So, he couldn't write home about it, except for the fact that he had the experience. We know the adage of those in secret lines of work, "If I tell you what I do, I'll have to kill you." Well, Paul was sort of saying, "If I tell you what I saw there in the 3rd heaven, God would kill me." So the only thing Paul could do was to simply say he had the experience. Which was more than what the false teachers could boast about. Because they would not get visions from the Lord. The best they could do was to get visions and revelations from their master--Satan. But Paul's telling of his experience changed things. The false teachers could no longer disrespect him. The Corinthians had all the more reason to stay with Paul rather than to side with the false teachers. Before Paul revealed his heavenly experience, the false teachers found it easy to write him off. Paul reminded them of their disdain for him in 2 Corinthians 10:10 For they-as in the false teachers-say, his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account." But there was far more to Paul than meets the eye. Just by looking at him, how could anybody know that Paul actually went to the 3rd heaven? There was only one way that the false teachers, and the Corinthians could know Paul's personal experience--he revealed it to them. He could have taken that experience to the grave with him and no one would be the wiser. And choosing to reveal ourselves to others is the only way anyone can know anything about us. For Paul, he revealed his experience so he could "boast" to the false teachers that he was in no way inferior to them, as he said in 2 Corinthians 11.5. He also let the Corinthians know that he has access not only to divine wisdom--something that the false teachers did not have, but even to heaven itself--again, the false teachers could not boast of this. And I see here a vital principle that we can apply as brothers and sisters in Christ here at Grace United. The issue is two-fold, trust and revelation. As we live together in love and unity, we must have these 2 things. How so? The only way we can get to know one another is to reveal ourselves to each other. Otherwise, there is no relationship--pretty obvious. But what is just as important is trust between us. And that too, is pretty obvious. Here's how it works. The Lord commands us as brothers and sisters to love one another. And love trusts as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:7 when he says, "love believes all things." We trust one another. But trust takes time. Rare indeed is the person who begins to share his or her heart to people they don't trust. The more we demonstrate love, described as trust--giving one another the benefit of the doubt, the more we feel safe with one another. And the more safe we feel, and the more trust we have with one another, the more of ourselves we reveal to each other. I think about Donna for example. I already asked her if could use her for this illustration and she said yes, just so you know that I wasn't calling her out! When she first came to us from Ohio, we loved her and she loved us in Christ. As we got to know her, and she us, a great level of trust was developed in our relationship between her and us. And her trust with us was such that one day she revealed to us how grieved she was over the issue of abortion. And she shared her vision of what she wanted to do to light her candle in the face of this horrendous evil. And even though she has no children of her own, she has a gigantic mother's heart. And how appropriate it is that we had commissioned her to the East End Pregnancy center on this day, Mothers' Day, that she might engage in this good work! So, back to the passage. Paul had an unbelievable heavenly vision. And it profoundly altered his life. How so? Let's find out in vv. 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. Again, the false teachers had nothing on Paul. He had access to the very throne room of God, on par with Isaiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and their heavenly visions. And by the way, let's put ourselves in the moment with Paul. The Lord commissioned him as an apostle. This is all Paul knew. How could Paul know of his influence down through the centuries where Christians the world over continue to be built up through his letters. He had no idea of his eventual, powerful influence! Now, this vision was profound! If Paul had ulterior motives, if he wanted to make a name for himself, this would be the episode! The Lord snatched Paul away to heaven and he lived to tell about it! Think of how Paul could have exalted himself over this. He could have taken this on the road! He could have written a book and become a best-selling author on the Roman Times best seller list! But God has fantastic ways of using his choice servants to glorify himself--to keep the focus on him, not his servant. And for Paul, the Lord gave him a constant reminder of his humanness, so he would not exalt himself. He called it a thorn in the flesh. As one author put it, Paul's visit to heaven is accompanied by visits from hell. But what was that thorn? The short answer: anybody's guess. I have my ideas; many others have theirs. So it's no use speculating on exactly what that was. It's like a bunch of theologians sitting around making their case as to how many angels can dance of the head of a pin. In a very real sense it does not matter what the thorn is. But we can say what Paul said about it. He tells us the source of the thorn and the why of the thorn, but he does not tell us the what of the thorn. So the source. Paul states it plainly: a messenger of Satan to buffet him, to beat on him. Whatever it was, it was painful. And I can't help but think that from Paul's point of view it hindered his ministry. His mind was never far from this messenger from Satan. He could not merely forget about it; no, it definitely affected him. It affected him so much that he even prayed about it. Three times. And we will see the Lord's answer to Paul's pleading in a moment. So, let make a sharp point here about the source of Paul's thorn. Paul said this was a painful messenger from Satan. Though it was a messenger of Satan, ultimately it was from the Lord. How do we know this? We know how Jesus describes Satan: a thief whose area of expertise is to steal, kill and destroy. As always, the devil thinks he is getting his own way and destroying everything he gets his hands on. But let me remind us--and him, in the words of Martin Luther, "the devil is God's devil." And God will use the devil for God's purposes! Second, let's get more specific about the why of Paul's thorn. It was that he might not sin in light of his heavenly vision. Notice how Paul understood this: "To keep me from becoming conceited." Arrogant. Proud. And Paul could have become conceited. If Paul didn't have a thorn it would have been easy for him to consider himself just a cut above everybody else. After all, he was the great apostle Paul, visitor to heaven's top floor! But the thorn kept him on the ground. As we will see in a moment, not only could Paul say, "thank you, Lord for the thorn," he said it! Again, it was the Lord who ultimately gave to Paul this "precious thorn" to prevent him from sinning. How do we know? Because the last thing Satan wanted was for Paul not be conceited. Truly, Satan's instrument of pain was God's purifying power. In short, Satan meant the thorn for evil; God means that same thorn for good. And I think of us. Every one of us as followers of Jesus has limitations. Some of our limitations are painful. Like many of us here at Grace United. Some of our pains are chronic. Or perhaps our memory is not as sharp as we would like it to be. And all of us are getting older. How many of us have thought, "If I could only be rid of this pain, or could speak better, or have a more effective recall, how much more useful could I be to the Lord? How much more kingdom work could I do if I didn't have . . . ?" On one hand, even here at Grace United, we can recount miracles done in our midst. Praise Him! But on the other hand, devastatingly hard times. Multiple surgeries that we are still recovering from. Could these be Satan's thorns? And at the same time could these same thorns be God's purifying agents? Think about some of the great Christians in the past and in present day. According Michael Reeves, author of Spurgeon and the Christian life, when Spurgeon was twenty-two, as pastor of a large church and with twin babies at home to look after, he was preaching to thousands in the Surrey Gardens Music Hall when pranksters yelled "fire," starting a panic to exit the building which killed seven and left twenty-eight severely injured. His mind was never the same again. His wife, Susannah, wrote, "My beloved's anguish was so deep and violent, that reason seemed to totter in her throne, and we sometimes feared that he would never preach again." Then, from the age of thirty-three on, physical pain became a large and constant feature of life for him. He suffered from a burning kidney inflammation called Bright's Disease, as well as gout, rheumatism, and neuritis. The pain was such that it soon kept him from preaching for one-third of the time. Added to that, overwork, stress, and guilt about the stress began to take their toll. And all this was in the public eye and was jumped on by his many critics, not making it easier to bear. The suffering, they argued rather predictably, was a judgment from God. And who doesn't know about Joni Eareckson Tada, who at 17 years old, fresh out of high school, dove into a pond, broke her neck and was paralyzed from her shoulders down. What a thorn. For Charles Spurgeon, Joni Eareckson Tada, and your life and mine, how many of us long to be released from the sting of the thorn? It seems that at least at some point, Paul thought that way, as in how much better life would be. And how much more he effective he could be for the Lord if it wasn't for his thorn. He prayed 3 times that the Lord would remove it. Here was the Lord's answer and Paul's take on the matter as found in vv. 9-10: 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. 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. Pretty straight forward answer from the all-powerful, all-knowing, kind and compassionate Lord of glory: in essence here is what Jesus said, "Paul, I am not removing your thorn. I will continue to allow it to stay right where it is. But I will supply you with my grace to bear your thorn." But there is more to it than simply enduring the pain, along with some nebulous "grace" that is sufficient. The Lord gives Paul his reason why the thorn remains, along with his grace: "my power is made perfect in weakness." How powerful of a statement is this! Notice what the Lord did not say: "My power is made perfect in your weakness, Paul." But "perfect in weakness." In other words, this is not merely a personal, tailor-made reason given just for Paul. It is for us as well. When we as his people suffer weakness in whatever form, the almighty power of the Lord is made perfect. In these jars of clay. In temporary human tents. In these mortal bodies that are so prone to disease, pain, suffering, and death. And as we know, the Lord Jesus knew a thing or two about suffering and power through weakness. His hellish death proved to be the most exquisite display of divine power ever! Also notice in v.9 at the word, "Said." This is what is known as a perfect tense verb. I find this significant. What this means is that the Lord with finality told Paul, "I gave you my answer. My grace is sufficient for you. I'm not changing my mind on this." Well, after the Lord told Paul in so many words, "my answer to you is final," what did he do? Did Paul mope around, despondent? Did he walk away from the Lord because the Lord said no to his request to have the painful satanic messenger removed, when the Lord Jesus easily could have done that? What did Paul do? Seemingly he pivoted. Eagerly accepted the Lord's answer. Because the Lord told Paul "No," he made some attitude adjustments. Instead of bemoaning his thorn, he boasted of his weaknesses. Instead of gritting his teeth and bearing the painful thorn, he gladly rejoiced. And this is huge! Paul's glad boasting of his weaknesses has its reward: the power of Christ resting on him. But what does this imply? To the degree Paul sulks and is depressed about his thorn, is the degree the power of Christ upon him is diminished. And the mighty apostle Paul becomes more like Eeyore than like Christ. We all remember Eeyore. If the glass is 9/10th's full, Eeyore will focus on the 1/10th that is empty! How easy it is to develop a complaining spirit when we fail to see the sufficiency of the Lord's grace and the power of Christ made perfect in our weakness! Paul's boast was not in his awesome experiences of heaven, or mighty spiritual exploits, but in his weakness. And here is what that boasting looks like in Paul's life: For the sake of Jesus, not his own sake, "I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities." When Paul knows that his circumstances are going south due to the fact that he is a Christian, when what is happening to Paul is exactly the opposite of what he expects things to be, Paul gets excited! He is content, as the ESV has it, and other versions render this as him actually taking pleasure in these difficulties. It's as though Paul is filled with anticipation as to how the Lord is going to use even this new, painful difficulty in his life to accomplish his good purpose. For when Paul is weak, then, and should we say, only then he is strong. See, our strength carries us only a little ways. But when our strength fails is where the Lord's strength begins. And so it is with us. When we recognize how weak we are, how limiting our limitations make us, we are in the perfect place to discover that the grace of Christ is sufficient for us. And we can then say about our struggles for the sake of Christ, that when we are weak, we are strong--strong in the strength he supplies. You know, Charles Spurgeon and Joni Eareckson Tada discovered what Paul did, that when they were weak, they were strong in the strength of Christ. Let me give you more of Spurgeon's insights, according to Michael Reeves: Spurgeon saw that our heavenly Father ordains suffering for believers. Though our trials may come from the world, the flesh, and the Devil, they are overruled and ordained by God, who treats them as an important part of our new life in Christ. For a start, we simply could not be like Christ if we are not treated like him, if we have a life of ease when he had so much pain. Spurgeon said, "Do you expect to be crowned with gold where he was crowned with thorns? Shall lilies grow for you and briars for him?" Joni Eareckson Tada also experienced profound insight, not in spite of, but even because of her accident. She said, "God loved me enough to put me in this wheelchair." And as many of us know, it is exactly because of what Joni went through, not in spite of it, not that she simply made the best of things, that an international ministry called Joni and Friends was born. On her website, joniandfriends.org, one of her entries simply says, Joni celebrates 50 years of God's faithfulness to her in her wheelchair. And multiplied millions have been impacted, all because, in her words, "God loved me enough to put me in this wheelchair." In John 9, we read about the man who was born blind. The disciples asked Jesus, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him." This man. Born blind. So that the works of God might be displayed in him. Let me give us one more thought before we finish the message. The watchword is humility. Paul was given a thorn in his flesh to keep him from getting conceited. The Lord answered Paul's prayer that he might get rid of the thorn with a no, because his grace was sufficient. Paul knew what the Lord was doing because the Lord told him what he was doing. But when was the last time, the Lord Jesus actually appeared to you and told you what he was doing? How often do we think that when we go through hard times, or even what appears to be times of profound blessing that we conclude, "I know why God did this." May I be blunt and say, "no you don't!" The best we can say is "I think I understand something of what the Lord is doing here." The reality is, unless the Lord Jesus has actually told us why, we simply don't have a complete answer as to what he is doing in our lives. Let's not forget that we are dealing with the only all-powerful, all-knowing, thoroughly good creator of the universe. Try playing chess with him! Plain and simple, let's not try to conclude we really understand why a good or bad situation comes into our lives. For without a doubt what is going on in our lives is far more grand, far more glorious than we can imagine! Think the crucifixion of Christ. What appeared to be absolute devastation has resulted in the salvation of multiplied billions of souls. Truly, what God does is far more than meets the eye. Now it is our turn. What are the limitations in your life? What thorn, or thorns, has the Lord given you? Could it be that the limitations which we think are great hindrances are really the agents which purify us and serve to makes us even more useful, more powerful for his purposes than we could ever be without them? Let's finish out the message with the lyrics of a song--bet you didn't see that coming! A guy by the name of Steve Green, no relation to Keith Green sang the song, Refiner's Fire. Some of you experienced it for our count down before the service began today. Let these words be our prayer of commitment as we reflect on the limitations our lives, and of his power that he perfects in our weakness. There burns a fire with sacred heat / White hot with holy flame / And all who dare pass through its blaze / Will not emerge the same / Some as bronze, and some as silver / Some as gold, then with great skill /All are hammered by their sufferings / On the anvil of His will The Refiner's fire / Has now become my souls desire / Purged and cleansed and purified / That the Lord be glorified / He is consuming my soul /Refining me, making me whole No matter what I may lose / I choose the Refiner's fire I'm learning now to trust His touch / To crave the fire's embrace / For though my past with sin was etched / His mercies did erase / Each time His purging cleanses deeper / I'm not sure that I'll survive / Yet the strength in growing weaker / Keeps my hungry soul alive The Refiner's fire / Has now become my souls desire / Purged and cleansed and purified / That the Lord be glorified / He is consuming my soul /Refining me, making me whole No matter what I may lose / I choose the Refiner's fire