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2 Corinthians 12:1-10, 13:4
12:1 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. 2 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. 3 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—4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses—6 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. 7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,1 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] 12:7
(ESV)
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.
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Tonight, I've asked Jen DeVilaneu if she would come up and, share with us. So, Jen, as the kids are leaving, if you all wanna come up. I've known Jen since, I guess, she was a freshman at Samford, which was almost a while ago. Many years ago. Many years ago.
Joel Brooks:Now she is a mother of 3. She's married to one of our elders, Ryan De Villeneu. And, look forward to hearing how the lord's been, working in your life.
Speaker 2:So this past Thursday, I was doing a devotional with my boys. Like Joel said, we have 3 boys and we've been reading a book about the promises of God. And so that day, the promise that we were looking at was that God is, our strength when we're weak. And it told the story of Moses and Aaron, and then it told the story of, a little boy who hated to speak in front of people and, anytime he had to speak in class always was very nervous. And so I told that story to the boys and then, told them about a memory actually that I had about Joel, from when I was in college and he was starting UCF.
Speaker 2:And I just had remembered him sharing about how sometimes he would get so nervous before speaking that he would physically make himself sick. And for those of you who know me well, you know that I absolutely dread being in front of large crowds or speaking at all. So about 30 minutes after I got through with our devotional, I got a text from Joel asking if I would share this Sunday. And I was about to respond and say, look, this week is really busy. I knew I was not gonna have time to prepare in the way that I wanted to and, so could you just put me down for another Sunday in the hopes that he would move on to somebody else and forget to come back to me?
Speaker 2:But quickly the Lord brought to mind what I had just read with the boys. And, made me realize that he was preparing me for what he was gonna call me to do with sharing with you guys tonight. So I'm truly thankful to have the opportunity to share with y'all. And And I'll just start by sharing a little bit about myself. I grew up in Louisiana.
Speaker 2:I have 2 sisters. I'm the oldest of 3 girls. And growing up, my family was extremely close. I really could not have asked for a better childhood. I grew up going to church.
Speaker 2:I was exposed to scripture. I really don't have any memory of ever hearing the gospel fleshed out and what that looked like, but I always knew that I loved the Lord and wanted to follow him. I just didn't really understand what that meant. And being the firstborn and just the way that I am made, I'm a rule follower. I'm a type a personality.
Speaker 2:And looking back, this fed just my desire to do good things, to continue to strive, to try to do better and to be better and somehow make myself feel like I was doing a good job in God's eyes and in my parents' eyes. It was feeding this work based theology that I was creating for myself. And, as I when I was young in elementary school, I actually have a specific memory of waking up one morning and deciding, I'm gonna try my best to be perfect today. And at that time, that to me, my goal for that day was not to have to use my eraser on my schoolwork, which sounds ridiculous, but that's what it looked like. And as I, progressed into middle school and high school, discontinued.
Speaker 2:I tried to get the best grades I could, in order to please my parents or try to earn their approval. And I wanna add that this was not something that they put on me or required of me. They loved me unconditionally, and I knew that. But, of course, when I would do well in school, they were pleased, and it made me wanna do better and please them more. And just to somehow feel worthy of their love and of God's love.
Speaker 2:So not only did my striving to feel worthy of my parents' love and God's love present itself in the way that I performed in school, but, I remember when I was about 12 years old, I started to struggle with issues of body image. And that then turned into probably a 10 plus year battle of eating disorder and just issues, with exercise. So then I went to Samford for college and it was great. And the month after I finished at Samford, Ryan and I got married and we had been dating for more than 5 years. So I felt like we knew each other really well.
Speaker 2:Our whole dating time was long distance. He lived in Louisiana and I lived here in Birmingham. But, I was so excited to finally live in the same place together and, just be able to do life together. So we got married and our 1st year of marriage really just completely threw me for a loop. It was not at all what I had expected or anticipated or visualized in my mind.
Speaker 2:I thought that I was a girl who had it all together. I, had never had an argument or any sort of confrontation with roommates in college. I assumed that I was easy to live with. And so I assumed I'd be easy to live with in marriage. But God really used marriage to show me otherwise.
Speaker 2:Our 1st year of marriage, I dealt with a lot of sin that I didn't realize that I even had. And looking back now after almost being married for 12 years, I can see that those first few years of marriage, God was really using to expose the hiddenness and sin that I didn't realize was there. And I really did not know how to react to that. I didn't know what to do with that. It really made me angry because the things that I'd always prided myself in, like being a moral person and being kind to others and being easy to get along with, that's not at all who I was.
Speaker 2:And that's not what I was seeing in marriage. And, I was very quick to become angry with Ryan, to say things intentionally to try to hurt him. And I don't want y'all to think our first few years of marriage were awful. They weren't, but they were definitely a really trying time for us. Marriage was just not looking the way that I had envisioned it.
Speaker 2:And during that same time, my parents, I realized, were starting to have marital problems. So the family that I had always pictured in my mind that was this happy family was not what I had always thought that it was. And at the same time, while all that was going on, my extended family, which is also very close, had a lot of sin that was exposed and, sexual abuse that had gone on that was coming to the surface. So, really, just the way for years that I had tried to earn love, that I had tried to, control the things around me, like doing well in school, controlling what I ate and how much I exercised. Acting in a moral way was not holding things together in the way that I had thought.
Speaker 2:It had always been really easy for me to see this work based system that I had created, that if I did well in school, I'd get to go to a good college, then I'd get a good job. If I ran a certain number of miles a week or ate a certain way, then I was happy with myself. If I was kind to others and if I was a good Christian, I would later have a good family and a good marriage, and the lord would be pleased with me. It's like if I could do all these things, I knew there would be a certain outcome. In my mind, I thought of it, a plus b equals c.
Speaker 2:Thought I could get certain results. But God and his grace was just not allowing me to manipulate his love or to earn his love by these things that I was doing. And I honestly did not like this. While some things got easier in our marriage and we could thankfully see the Lord growing us and sanctifying us, I was still trying and struggling with trying to control things in our marriage, trying to control Ryan, trying to do certain things that would guarantee us a good marriage. And my desire was for a good fruitful enduring marriage.
Speaker 2:But what I finally came to realize after these years of striving for that was that my desires was me idolizing our marriage and not trusting what the Lord had for us. And I remember it was like a light bulb went off in my head, and God said, you are not not trusting Ryan, but you are not trusting me. You are not trusting me for your marriage. You're not trusting me for salvation. You are trying to make a marriage and a family that you want, and you're trying to do things to earn righteousness that is not yours to earn.
Speaker 2:And so the lord is continuing just to teach me what that means. Hebrews 11:6 says, without faith, it is impossible to please god. And looking back in my flesh, I was continuing to strive to do things to please god that was not pleasing to him. Nothing that I was doing in my faith was plea I mean, in my works and in my own wisdom was not pleasing to him. Galatians 2:20 says, I have been crucified with Christ and the life I now live, I live by faith in the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me.
Speaker 2:And god and his grace has been teaching me what this means, and there's been such joy and such freedom in this. And I'd like to be able to say that once God revealed the root of, really what was going on in my heart, that things got easier and that, I started walking in the way that I should. But it's still a battle for me daily not to walk in the lies that Satan has given me, that he feeds me, that I'll be happier and more secure if I do things my way and trust in him and in myself as opposed to trusting in the promises of Christ. But it has been a battle and is a battle that has brought me such joy and just a deepening sweetness and intimacy with Jesus, and so I'm grateful for that. Psalm 21 6 says, you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
Speaker 2:And I'm thankful and feel like the lord has really given me such a joy in his presence and a freedom to be able to enjoy the blessings that he's given me and my husband and in my children as opposed to trying to control them and make them what I want them to be. So thank you guys just for listening. The body of Christ has been one of the main tools that the Lord has used just to bring truth in my heart and to bring repentance and to bring fruit and growth. So I'm grateful.
Joel Brooks:Alright. If you would, open your bibles. 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 2nd Corinthians chapter 12. If you don't have a Bible, you can look in your worship guide and I must go on boasting that there is nothing to be gained by it. I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.
Joel Brooks:I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the 3rd 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 under the body, I do not know.
Joel Brooks: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 weakness. 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.
Joel Brooks:So to keep me from being too elated by 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 being too elated. Three times, I pleaded with the lord about this, that it should leave me, 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 weakness 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.
Joel Brooks:Look at chapter 13 verse 4. For Jesus 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. Pray with me. Our father, I pray that you would honor the very reading of your word that even now through your spirit it would begin taking root into our hearts.
Joel Brooks:Lord, we bring so many distractions in this place with us. We bring a stubborn will, a hardened mind, a resistant heart. I pray that you would break through all of those things. Lord, allow us in this moment to hear from you. May my words fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore, but Lord, may your words remain and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Just so you know, next Sunday, we'll be finishing up the letter to the Corinthians. This has been a 20 week study. I wanna be looking, in in light of Valentine's Day being this week, and we're gonna look at greet each other with a holy kiss, next week.
Joel Brooks:If you're single, think carefully of who you sit next to next week. Tonight though, we're gonna look at chapter 12, which is really the apex of the letter. Verse 9, chapter 12 is what the entire letter has been driving towards. Last week, Jeff did a fantastic job explaining how we saw Paul boasting about a bunch of things that you would not normally boast about. And so with great sarcasm, Paul begins doing these boasts.
Joel Brooks:He boasts about beatings and shipwrecks and being, imprisoned and his poverty. And now he continues to boast, but the boast is different when we get to chapter 13, because Paul is gonna boast about something the Corinthians would actually care about. Something that would really impress them. And we know this from when we study first Corinthians that the the the church in Corinth put tremendous value on what we would consider the more supernatural gifts of the spirit. Things like healings or tongues or having visions or revelations from God.
Joel Brooks:And at the 14th chapter of that letter, Paul goes on to explain how in their service, they were to give regular time for these. You you can see how their service was marked by giving periods of time for visions, for prophecies, for tongues, these more supernatural gifts. And the problem was the Corinthians, they got obsessed with them. They they at the expense of all other gifts, they just thought those gifts were what really mattered. And so they placed tremendous value on visions and revelations.
Joel Brooks:So when Paul says here in verse 1 that he is going to speak on some visions and some revelations of the Lord, he's speaking their language. This, they want to hear. And he tells them about an experience he had 14 years ago in which he was taken up into heaven. Now, Paul, he initially is talking about himself in 3rd person. Don't think of him like as an athlete, you know, who talks about himself in 3rd person.
Joel Brooks:There there's a reason behind this, and he's gonna hint at that. And by the time we get to verse 7, he's gonna be talking in 1st person, but this is Paul here. Paul is the one who was caught up into the 3rd heaven. Let's look again at just a few verses. Look at verse 2.
Joel Brooks:I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the 3rd 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.
Joel Brooks:God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. And so Paul, he's telling the Corinthians here, you you wanna talk about supernatural experiences? You wanna talk about visions or some revelations? Well, well, try this one on for size.
Joel Brooks:I had an experience with the lord in which the lord took me up to heaven. Now it was so real. I think I was physically there, but I can't be sure if I was physically there, but it was It might have been in the body, it might not have been in the body, but regardless it was real. And I was caught up in the heaven. And when Paul here, he says the 3rd heaven, don't be confused by that.
Joel Brooks:He later he calls that paradise. Really, in their mindset, you know, heaven was just the sky, the second heavens were the stars, and the third heavens is God's place. He's basically saying he went up to paradise. He went to heaven. And Paul says he was caught up there.
Joel Brooks:The word means snatched. I like that. He was he was snatched up to the 3rd heaven. This was not a voluntary action. Paul was just minding his own business.
Joel Brooks:He wasn't planning to go to heaven. He wasn't seeking to go there. He wasn't praying for this experience. God just pretty much kidnapped him. Just out of the blue, kidnapped him and took him up into heaven.
Joel Brooks:Now, if this happens to you, if if you're now you leave this place and on your way home, you're kidnapped by god, and he takes you to heaven, you know what you're supposed to do. Right? I mean, you're you're supposed to write a book about it. I mean, that's that's that's the first thing you're supposed to do. You're supposed to maybe write about your 90 minutes in heaven, or to heaven and back.
Joel Brooks:Then you gotta line up the talk shows, line up the speaking engagements, be sure to tell about this incredible experience you had. I mean, if you think about it, Paul had the he had the perfect one upper for every occasion. I mean, he could one up anybody. If there's at party, and somebody's like, you know, hey, we just got back from France. And Paul said, well, wow.
Joel Brooks:You know, that kind of reminds me of the time I got back from heaven. You know, and just he he instantly could trump anybody. I mean, a person could win a Super Bowl. He was like, well, that's great. You know, I kinda went to heaven.
Joel Brooks:You know, it's just it's the ultimate one upper that you can always throw out there.
Jeffrey Heine:Paul doesn't do that.
Joel Brooks:This event happened 14 years earlier. This is when Paul was he was either in Tarsus or he was in Antioch, but this was before his first missionary journey that this happened. And since this event, Paul has traveled to Asia. He's traveled through Macedonia, all through Syria, and he's been writing. He's been planting churches.
Joel Brooks:He's been speaking everywhere, and we've never gotten a hint of this. We don't have any record of him speaking about it. We know he hasn't written about it. I mean, he's known the Corinthians for years now, and he he never once breathed a word about this experience that he had. And this is this is incredible.
Joel Brooks:I mean, you would have thought, especially with the Corinthians and what they longed to hear, that this would have been the very first thing out of his mouth. You know, they've been keep asking, give us your credentials. Give us your credentials. Bam. I went to heaven.
Joel Brooks:Okay? There's my credentials. But he doesn't pull that card out. It's what we would do. Actually, it's it's what we do all of the time.
Joel Brooks:I think all of us in here, you probably have a story or 2 or 3 that you keep telling over and over all the time. You know, it's the one that if you're married, it's your spouse who just kinda rolls her eyes, gets up and leaves the room when you start sharing it because you've told it a 100 times. You know, for me, I hate golf, just so you know. I hate golf. But I will tell find a way to tell people who like golf that I parred the first hole I ever played.
Joel Brooks:Poured it. Never hit a straight shot after that, but I I parred the first hole that I ever played. Now, I could care I couldn't care less about golf, but I really want to impress people. And so I pull out that card, that supernatural experience, if you will. I mean, I can remember everything about it.
Joel Brooks:I could tell you the way the wind was blowing, what time of day it was, the the location of the hole, and I can care less about golf. I really, really want to impress people. The spiritual version of this is name dropping. Oh, yeah. You know?
Joel Brooks:I know John Piper. You know, we we go way back. We we we talk a whole lot. Yeah. Just gotta kinda throw that out there.
Joel Brooks:You know, or, hey, you know, the other day as I was texting David Platt, I mean, he said the funniest things, you know, and, you you just you just kinda wanna put things out there. You you drop names because you want people to think you're a somebody. Shows your identity is not built on anything solid. It's so fragile and frail, you you've gotta build it on these these crazy things. If it's not name dropping, we might keep on telling about some incredible spiritual experience that we had.
Joel Brooks:Maybe it really was a vision or maybe it was a dream, but the bottom line is we tell these things because we're eager to impress people. We wanna build our credentials. We wanna we wanna show them our resume, why we are important, and so let me put this out there. Confess something to you. I meet a number of different church planters.
Joel Brooks:It's, one of the things I really enjoy doing. And, and I met a, another church planter recently here in Birmingham, and this is this is hideous. That's why I wanna confess it. After I met with him and as he was talking, you know what my first thought was? He's no threat.
Joel Brooks:It's my first thought. He's no threat. I couldn't believe I had it. I immediately went and I confessed that to the staff. I later went and I confessed that that to the elders, and now I'm confessing that to you.
Joel Brooks:It's hideous, but it shows how frail my identity was. That that I'm only okay as long as I can somehow be better than another pastor. We all do that. Well, Paul says he wasn't gonna do it. He wasn't gonna do this as he went around traveling and preaching and planting churches.
Joel Brooks:He wasn't gonna do it. But you know what he did do? He preached the gospel, and he told how he came to know Jesus. He told his testimony over and over and over. Three times in acts, we have him telling his testimony, how God changed him.
Joel Brooks:He would tell people gladly, I'm a sinner. I used to persecute the church. I used to kill Christians. And then God saved me. I'm the chief of all sinners.
Joel Brooks:He doesn't use past tense. He doesn't say I was. He says, I am currently still chief of all sinners. And Jesus saves me. He'd always go back to the gospel.
Joel Brooks:He told people not of his supernatural experiences because they had nothing to do with his ministry of sharing the faith. They had nothing to do with his authority. God gave those things to Paul for private encouragement. I mean, Paul, we looked at this last week. I mean, when Paul was called, god said, I'm gonna show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake.
Joel Brooks:Alright? Nobody wants that calling. Okay? That of all the people who've ever lived, I'm gonna show this guy how much he has to suffer. So Paul needs a little extra.
Joel Brooks:Okay? He needs a little extra, and so god snatches up Paul and takes him up to heaven, and there he he hears things that cannot be told, hears things that he may not utter, and this doesn't mean that he's not physically able to do this. It means god told him not to. God's in a sense moving back the curtain. Paul, I want you to see what's going on behind behind the scenes.
Joel Brooks:He gets to see it. He's like, but, shh, you can't tell anybody. This is for you. I'd I'd love to know what Paul heard, whether it was said or whether it was sung, but that was for Paul. It was for his personal encouragement.
Joel Brooks:It wasn't for everyone. And I I realize that it's hard to comprehend to a you know, for a Facebook generation. I know what half of you had for breakfast this morning because you you you somehow, you really thought everybody had to know what you had for breakfast. I mean, we don't keep anything private anymore. We have to share everything.
Joel Brooks:So I know exactly how much some of your coffee weighed this morning. Alright? Why do I know how much your coffee weighed? I mean, if this happened now, we'd be tweeting, going up to heaven. You know, we we would be telling everybody.
Joel Brooks:Everybody's gotta know. This this whole idea of of Jesus doing something personal for us is a very foreign. Anything happening personal and private to us is a foreign concept for us. I realize that. But Paul doesn't feel the need to share this experience.
Joel Brooks:He's not trying to build an image. He doesn't really care what you think about him or anybody else thinks about him or whether he has an incredible exciting life. His identity is based on the gospel. He's reluctantly sharing this story because they have pushed him to it. But I want you to know that this didn't come easily for Paul.
Joel Brooks:Paul wants to boast. He wants to boast in this. I mean, how could he not? I actually think it's one of the reasons he is saying he begins the story with, I know a guy. Alright?
Joel Brooks:I know a guy who was who was taken up into the 3rd heaven. And, essentially, I think this is what he's saying. I'm kinda torn into there there's a guy, there's another Paul who would love to boast in this story, who would love to just tell everybody about it, to pat myself on the back, and say, look how amazing I am. There there's a Paul that wants to do this. There's a guy who would love to do that.
Joel Brooks:But I am not going to do that. I'm gonna boast in my weakness. Even though though Paul had nothing to do with this experience, it's not like he earned it, Even though he had nothing to do with it because this vision was so great, so fantastic, Had to be a huge temptation for Paul to just kind of pat himself on the back and think, man, I am something. I mean, walking into a room, that's right. You know, make way.
Joel Brooks:Paul's here. Paul the apostle, mind you, is here. I once I saw a pastor preach. He was a fantastic preacher, so gifted. And after the service, he stood up front and he autographed bibles for people.
Joel Brooks:I was like, now Paul could legitimately autograph at least some of those things, but not you. Paul needed to be brought down. So to keep Paul from boasting, to keep Paul from building his identity on an experience, god gives him a thorn in the flesh. Look at verse 7. So to keep me from being too elated by 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 being too elated.
Joel Brooks:Now, there have been volumes written as to what exactly this thorn in the flesh could possibly be. Bottom line, we don't know. I'm not gonna, like, give you some new great insight. Well, really, if you look at the Greek backwards, it kinda says this. It we we don't know.
Joel Brooks:It's it's something physical in nature because he says, in the flesh, a thorn in the flesh. If if I had to guess, and this is a guess, I would say it was something with his eyes. I think he had probably some some eye disease that looked bad and probably hurt even worse. You get hints of it. To the Galatians, he tells them, if you could, you would have plucked out your very eyes and given them to me.
Joel Brooks:Elsewhere in scripture, he says, I'm writing this. See with what large letters I am writing this with my own hand. So it seems that Paul had some kind of vision problem. That's that's that's a guess. Bottom line is I'm glad he doesn't tell us because now we all can relate to it.
Joel Brooks:We all have our own thorns in the flesh. A thorn in the flesh can be a difficult marriage. It could be a job you hate. It could be infertility. It could be a chronic sickness.
Joel Brooks:A thorn in the flesh could be that really annoying friend who always comes by to complain or brag or do both, complain about, you know, renovating their second house. And and you get those those thorns in the flesh. The word thorn here is it's okay. It's an unfortunate translation. It it really just means a sharp instrument, a steak.
Joel Brooks:You could you could translate it steak, if you will. It was used to describe an instrument for surgery, which possibly is the better image to have in mind here for what's going on with Paul. You know, if I told you the other day that somebody got me, grabbed me, pinned me down, cut me open with a knife, and left me in pain, you'd be like, let's did you call the police? You know, we got we gotta get this guy. You alright?
Joel Brooks:If I said, well, it was actually a doctor, and I was in surgery. Your whole perspective changes. What was being done to me was not being done by some thug trying to hurt me, but it was being done by somebody very wise trying to save me. Same amount of pain, but completely different motives, completely different outcome. That's what's going on here.
Joel Brooks:Think of pride. It's it's like a cancer in Paul. It's it's in danger of killing him, and so the lord is gonna put a thorn, a stake, a surgical instrument, and he's gonna cut it out, and it's going to hurt. The thorn in the flesh is actually sent to Paul by a messenger of Satan. Messenger is the same word in Greek as the word angel.
Joel Brooks:It's angel of Satan or you would I mean, it's a demon. A demon was sent to harass Paul. This is actually a comfort here because it shows us that Satan is god's pawn. God uses Satan for his own purposes. The best illustration I can think of to, to explain this is just the life of Joseph.
Joel Brooks:You know, Joseph, like Paul, was given visions, revelations. I mean, Joseph had these dreams of everybody and everything bowing down to him. And in his arrogance, he goes and he tells that dream to the people who hated him, his brothers. I mean, he already spiritual pride was really building up in him. And so his brothers throw him into a pit.
Joel Brooks:He goes to prison. Ultimately, god raises him up. And when he's raised up and his brothers come before him and they're trembling and they're kinda begging for forgiveness, Joseph says, You meant this for evil. God meant this for good. You meant this to hurt me, to destroy you.
Joel Brooks:God used this as a surgical tool to turn it out for his good and for all of our salvation. That's exactly what's happening to Paul. Satan is trying to destroy Paul's life. But what Satan is meaning for evil, god is meaning it for good. God is using he's using the hard marriages.
Joel Brooks:He's using the infertility. He's using that horrible job. He's using all of those things as surgical tools in your life. God loved Paul so much. He said, I would rather wound you to keep you close than to leave you unwounded and to let you wander.
Joel Brooks:And so I'm gonna give you a thorn or a stake pinning you in my side. I'm not letting you leave. Paul prays about this three times, I mean, he's he's he's crying out to it because he's in pain, and he he doesn't understand what's going on. When when you're in pain, you're blinded. I mean, you know what I think when when my shoulder really, really hurts at times?
Joel Brooks:All I could think is, I'm in pain. I want it to stop. That's all Paul can think about, is I'm in pain. And so he's crying out for this to stop. He's embarrassed by it.
Joel Brooks:He thinks it's a hindrance to his calling. He can't do what god's called him to do. So three times, he petitions god to have this removed. Verse 8 says he actually pleaded with god about it. And every time god says no, which for Paul, I mean, Paul heals everybody.
Joel Brooks:Paul's raised somebody from the dead. Here, Paul's asking for a little help from me, and god says, no. No. It's only in retrospect as Paul's looking back does he actually understand and appreciate this thorn in the flesh? But not at the time.
Joel Brooks:This brings us to verse 9, this beautiful, beautiful verse, which the entire letter has been leading up to. But God said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all more gladly of my weakness so that the power of Christ might rest upon me. Paul, my grace is greater than any affliction. Paul, my love for you is what is bringing this here.
Joel Brooks:And notice that God says his power is made perfect in weakness. He he doesn't say my grace can overcome weakness, or my grace can work despite your weakness. But he says that it's actually made perfect in weakness. So he's not trying to avoid weakness. He's not trying to overcome weakness, but weakness is the actual tool that god will use to make his power perfect in our lives and in Paul's life.
Joel Brooks:And what that is is the gospel message itself. Crucifixion leads to resurrection power. It's the gospel. Paul tells us as much when you look at chapter 13. We look at verse 4.
Joel Brooks:It says, for he was crucified in weakness, but he lives by the power of god. Paul is saying, what's happening to me is nothing short of the gospel. And so he no longer sees this thorn in the flesh as a hindrance, but he sees it as this new powerful tool that god has given to him to proclaim this dear message. And when Satan says that a messenger of Satan was sent to harass him, he uses that word very deliberately. That word harass, it means to torment, it means to abuse, it means to slap around, and it's the same word that was used to describe what happened to Jesus at his trial.
Joel Brooks:Jesus was slapped around. Jesus was harassed. And when Paul says that he prayed 3 times for that to be removed, he's alluding right back to Jesus, praying 3 times in the garden. God, remove this cup from me. God, I don't wanna go to the cross.
Joel Brooks:I don't wanna be crucified. Paul is saying that same experience that Christ had, being harassed, being tormented, pleading for deliverance, going to the cross, that's becoming a reality in my life. And what it's leading to is resurrection power. And I want you to think if you were thrown in the flesh the same way. You know, only 1 generation in the history of all mankind actually got to to see Jesus come in weakness.
Joel Brooks:Only one generation, out of 1,000 and 1,000 of of of years, only one generation actually got to see Jesus physically walk on this earth, walk in humility, walk in weakness, become a man of sorrow, go to the cross, and endure it all with joy. And of that generation, only a small minority of people within that generation actually got to physically see it. And so the question is this, how can people now see the gospel? How I know they can read about it. I know they can hear it, but how can people actually see the gospel?
Joel Brooks:It's only through our weakness, our suffering resulting in resurrection power. That's how they actually get to see it again. So it's it's only when we suffer, yet we have this indescribable joy that people understand the gospel, that when when we have no money, yet we're going around acting like we've inherited the world, and we're filled with joy, and people see the gospel. If you're stuck in a job that you hate, yet you joyfully can go there, and you show people that your identity is in Christ and not in what you do, you show people the gospel. If you're in a marriage that's difficult and yet you humbly and you lovingly serve your spouse, you're physically demonstrating the gospel.
Joel Brooks:So these thorns in the flesh, they they keep us always relying on God's grace and they give us the very tool we need to proclaim in a powerful way that Jesus is real and the gospel is real. That's why Paul didn't boast in his incredible visions. He didn't boast in his revelations, but instead he boasted in his weakness and that weakness became God's tool for his glory. Pray with me. Lord Jesus, I'm reminded of Jacob wrestling with you.
Joel Brooks:And I think some people here wrestle with all their strength. It's not till you made them weak. It's not till he walked the rest of his life with a limp. Was he ever blessed by you? It's not what until he wanted to just hold on to you even if it meant his death, he would hold on to you, that he got blessed.
Joel Brooks:And I pray that us here in this room, Lord, that we'd be blessed by you. We would hold onto you in weakness. Lord, whatever thorns in the flesh are out there, and I know that there are many, Lord, may we understand in this room that your grace is sufficient, not to just, not to overcome them and not to work despite them, but for that thorn on the flesh to actually be a platform for your glory in the gospel. Through your spirit, I ask that you would make that happen. We pray this in your name, Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen.