2 Corinthians 12:1-10 Living Life in Spite of Life's Struggles

Intro:

Imagine getting through your busy day without arms or legs.

Picture your life without the ability to walk, care for your basic needs, or even embrace those you love.

In 1982, Without any medical explanation or warning, Nick Vujicic was born in Melbourne, Australia, without arms and legs.

Although the early days were difficult, Nick’s family were determined to persevere

Growing up was hard because Nick didn’t understand and was often lonely

Nick constantly wondered why he was different than all the other kids.

He questioned the purpose of life, or if he even had a purpose.

According to Nick, the victory over his struggles, as well as his strength and passion for life today, can be credited to his faith in God.

His family, friends and the many people he has encountered along the journey have inspired him to carry on.

Nick has traveled around the world. He has shared his story with millions,

Today this dynamic evangelist has accomplished more than most people achieve in a lifetime.

He’s an author, musician, actor, and his hobbies include fishing, painting and swimming.

Paul reveals to us today that for the last 14 years of his life he has been dealing with what he calls a “Thorn in the flesh.”

While he wanted it removed, God tells him that His grace is sufficient to endure with it

I want to encourage you that you can go on living life in spite of Life’s struggles

Life might have dealt you some serious challenges, but Jesus shows us that we can still have a life

Read 2 Corinthians 12:1-5

Transition:

I’ve told you before that God often has me go through the message before I preach it

This week has been no different

Several times I told me wife “This is a real thorn in my side”

She told me “You need to stop referring to our kids that way.”

I’m just kidding of course, but we have been dealing with several issues that have been happening to our kids that have been draining

Paul shares a two part story with us in these first ten verses

First, he shares about how he was taken to heaven and saw and heard things he couldn’t repeat

Second, he shares how he was given a thorn in his flesh to keep him from being conceited

He weaves these together to show us how we can live life in spite of life’s struggles

This is something we all need to hear because life is going throw challenges at you

Do you cave and give up?

Or do you realize God’s grace is enough and we can keep going forward

Nick Vujicic din’t let his lack of arms and legs keep him from being used by God.

Are you going to let your struggles hold you back or are you going to move forward

I. A Glimpse of Heaven vs 1-6

Paul starts with a story about heaven

He is finishing comparing himself to the “super apostles”

He goes on to tell about the visions and revelations he has received from the Lord

Paul changes his method of writing to a Jewish form of referring to himself in third person

So when he says he knows a man, he is referring to himself

vs. 1-2 Third Heaven

This man was caught up into the third heaven

God honored Paul by taking him to heaven, and then sending him back to the earth again.

This marvelous experience had taken place fourteen years before the writing of this letter, which would place the experience in about the year a.d. 43.

Paul affirmed here the reality of heaven and the ability of God to take people there.

Paul wasn’t sure if it was in the body or a vision of heaven

The third heaven is the same as “paradise,” the heaven of heavens where God dwells in glory

The first heaven is the clouds, the second heaven is the stars, but the third heaven is the throne room of God and you can’t travel there

The interesting thing is that Paul kept quiet about this experience for fourteen years!

During that time he was suffering from a thorn in the flesh

Some of Paul’s good friends may have tried to encourage him by saying, “Cheer up, Paul. One day you’ll be in heaven!”

Paul could have replied, “That’s why I have this thorn—I went to heaven!”

vs. 3-4 Caught up in Paradise

Paul refers to heaven as paradise

Paradise is a Persian word adapted by the Jews to refer to the Garden of God

This, obviously, harkens back to the Garden of Eden but also refers to what the future will be like with Jesus

Paul was caught up into paradise

One day we will all be caught up into heaven

1 Thess 4:16-17 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

So we get this glimpse of heaven and it will be special

Sometimes, God will give us a glimpse of how good He is to keep us going

God spoke to me during COVID

Jesus knew what Paul was about to suffer so he gave him this experience of heaven where he saw and heard things he couldn’t repeat

This was all before Barnabas came and found him and took him to Antioch to start his public ministry

No matter how bad it got, Paul had that experience to get him through

vs. 5-6 Speaking the Truth

Finally, Paul goes back to default mode: Boasting in weakness

That was the Genius of this style of Jewish writing

The Apostle John wrote his Gospel this way. He never refers to himself, but as the apostle who Jesus loved

Paul won’t brag about his revelations and visions, except in third person

One thing he will do is continue to speak the truth

Although we don’t know what he saw and heard in heaven, we do have a whole section of Scripture where Paul speaks the truth

1 Cor 2:2-4 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power

Paul wasn’t flashy, but he operated under the truth of God’s Word and the Power of the Spirit

If you are sitting here today, thinking God can’t use you, you are wrong

He is able to use your weaknesses through the truth of God’s Word and the power of the Holy Spirit to impact the world you live in

II. Thorn in the Flesh vs. 7-10

To keep Paul humble, God gave him a thorn in the flesh

Imagine having a heavenly experience

You would want to revel in it, tell everyone about it.

People would come from all over to hear it and you might write a book about it

This experience was for Paul only

How could Paul have such a great experience and still remain humble?

Because of the second experience that God brought to his life.

We know it as the thorn in the flesh

It was with him for 14 years

vs. 7 Keep from Being Conceited

Paul understood the purpose of the thorn… to keep him from being conceited

This is the only time in Scripture we hear of this

Yet, while he is ministering he is dealing with it

God wanted to keep Paul humble

1 Cor 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

God knew that unless Paul had this thorn he would be ruined

Paul’s thorn in the flesh was given to him to keep him from sinning.

Had Paul’s heart been filled with pride, those next fourteen years would have been filled with failure instead of success.

We don’t know what the thorn was

Some think it was a group of people harassing him

Most likely it was a physical ailment

Satan was permitted to buffet Paul.

The word means “to beat, to strike with the fist.” The tense of the verb indicates that this pain was either constant or recurring.

This gives us a good picture of what it is like to live life in spite of life’s struggles

The Lord knows how to balance our lives. If we have only blessings, we may become proud; so He permits us to have burdens as well.

The mystery of human suffering will not be solved completely in this life.

Sometimes we suffer simply because we are human.

Our bodies change as we grow older, and we are susceptible to the normal problems of life.

The same body that can bring us pleasures can also bring us pains.

The same family members and friends that delight us can also break our hearts.

This is a part of the “human comedy,”

Suffering also is a tool God uses for building godly character (Rom. 5:1–5).

.When God permits suffering to come to our lives, there are several ways we can deal with it.

Some people become bitter and blame God for robbing them of freedom and pleasure.

Others just “give up” and fail to get any blessing out of the experience because they will not put any courage into the experience.

Still others grit their teeth and put on a brave front, determined to “endure to the very end.”

While this is a courageous response, it usually drains them of the strength needed for daily living; and after a time, they may collapse.

vs. 8-9 God’s Grace is Sufficient

We don’t know what God said to Paul in heaven, but we do know what he said to him on earth

My grace is sufficient

What is grace? It is God’s provision for our every need when we need it.

Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

It was a message of sufficient grace.

There is never a shortage of grace.

God is sufficient for our spiritual ministries and our material needs as well as our physical needs

When God spoke to me

It was a message of strengthening grace.

God permits us to become weak so that we might receive His strength.

Isaiah 40:31 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.

Strength that knows itself to be strength is actually weakness, but weakness that knows itself to be weakness is actually strength.

vs. 10 Content in Weakness

Paul learned to be content in weakness

In the Christian life, we get many of our blessings through transformation, not substitution.

When Paul prayed three times for the removal of his pain, he was asking God for a substitution: “Give me health instead of sickness, deliverance instead of pain and weakness.”

He does not remove the affliction, but He gives us His grace so that the affliction works for us and not against us.

2 Cor 11:30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.