Sermons

In the Name of our Savior Jesus, who shared our humanity, who endured death caused by our sin and who rose from the dead to give life to all who believe, Dear Christian Friends, Why is God doing this to me? How long do I have to endure this? Where is God when you really need him? If God knows all things, and he does, then he surely knows that I’m hurting so why doesn’t he do something about it? What am I being punished for? How come I have it so rough in life and others, who don’t know what the inside of a church looks like, have it so good? It just isn’t fair. Why doesn’t God listen to me and answer my prayers. Questions! Questions ! And more questions! These may be questions that we as believers are tempted to and even do ask ourselves and God. Why? How come? How long? Are they legitimate questions? Do we have good reason for asking them? Well if there ever was a believer who might we be tempted to ask these questions with what might seem to be “good” reason, it was the Apostle Paul. In the verses just preceding our text Paul mentions some of his afflictions in life: he was imprisoned frequently, flogged severely, exposed to death again and again, 5 times he received 40 lashes minus one, he was beaten with rods 3 times, stoned once, shipwrecked 3 time, he knew hunger, thirst, peril, cold and nakedness. Maybe we feel a commonality between Paul’s life and that of our own. If we would list our afflictions as Paul did we might find ourselves as victims of abuse, verbal or physical, an innocent party in a home where chemical abuse is destroying everything, a parent struggling to make ends meet, a person standing in the unemployment line, a wife or husband of a quarrelsome and unforgiving spouse, a parent of a child whose actions and lifestyle show little or no regard for God’s Word, or a person persistently plagued with one illness after another. Maybe we have been tempted to and even given into asking God those “Why” or “How come” or “I thought you loved me” questions. In the words of our text God through his dealings with the Apostle Paul answers all of our questions. We learn that Paul had a problem. He describes his problem as a thorn in the flesh. As we listen to the Word of our God, we hear God’s Response To A Thorny Problem It’s a response that is not all unlike the Lord’s response to our thorny problems in life. As mentioned just a minute ago, Paul was a Christian with a problem. In this opening verse he provides us with a lot of information. By way of background we should know that false teachers were troubling the Corinthian congregation. These sought to elevate their status in the eyes of this young Christian church by destroying Paul’s good name and credibility. They engaged in character assassination and put a negative "spin" on everything Paul said and did. In the section that precedes our text, Paul defends his ministry. And in the verses immediately preceding our text, Paul speaks of special visions and revelations which the Lord granted to him and him alone; experiences that "proved" his genuineness as an apostle over against the "pretenders" who were slandering him. However, lest these special revelations and visions he experienced become an object of sinful pride for the Apostle, Paul tells us that the Lord allowed a particular problem to be a part of his life. Paul’s problem, therefore, was not an accident. It was not the natural result of his labors or his way of living. It was sent by God. Why? To keep me from being conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations. What was it? What was Paul’s problem? Paul describes it only as "a thorn in the flesh" and furthermore as "a messenger from Satan." This is all he says. What exactly his problem was, we don’t know. Some think it was a physical problem. Among the theories: poor eyesight, epilepsy, malaria, leprosy and depression. Others think it may have been a spiritual affliction. Again, we don’t know exactly what it was. But we do know the effect this "thorn" had on him. It "tormented" him. That’s a pretty strong term. He doesn’t say it bothered him or it annoyed him; he says it "tormented" him. Its constant presence in his life – at least as he first perceived it – was only bad. And because Paul obviously felt that such a "thorn" was a hindrance to his ministry and, furthermore, that it held him back from being everything he thought he could be or should be for the Lord, he specifically and pointedly prayed for the Lord to rid him of it. And not just once. Not even twice. But on three separate occasions. THREE TIMES I PLEADED WITH THE LORD TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME. The word "plead" is significant. It indicates that this was not just a passing thought in his bedtime prayers, but the specific subject of what were, no doubt, intense periods of prayer in Paul’s life. Because we are not told, we can again only speculate on the approach Paul took in these prayers. Perhaps he confronted God with logic – something along these lines: "Lord, if this is lifted, I can serve you better" or "Lord, it this is lifted, I can be much more effective in carrying out the calling you have given me." Or maybe he played on God’s sympathy: "Lord, I am your child whom you love. This is bothering me and I am in pain and I ask that you please lift this burden from me." Whatever the approach may have been, Paul undoubtedly had a dozen good reasons why the Lord should remove this burden from him, so he prayed long and he prayed hard. And, true to his form and his many promises, the Lord heard his child’s prayer, and he answered it. And the answer was… No. Not once. Not twice. But "no" all three times. However, we hasten to add it was not just a plain "no." It was a qualified "no"; a "no" with provisions attached to it… "But He said to me, MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU, FOR MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS. How God communicated this message to Paul is not told us, but what a beautiful answer the Lord gave him! In effect, the Lord said, "No, Paul, I am not going to take this problem away from you. But what I am going to do is give you an outpouring of my grace. What I am going to do is provide you with the strength and ability to handle this problem… Furthermore, Paul, your ‘thorn’ and your ability to be effective and carry on in spite of it will serve as a powerful example of the strength that God works in and through his children. And all this will then give ultimate glory to God – which is really what you wanted in the first place." With that answer and that understanding in mind, Paul concludes: THEREFORE I WILL BOAST ALL THE MORE GLADLY ABOUT MY WEAKNESSES, SO THAT CHRIST’S POWER MAY REST ON ME. THAT IS WHY, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE, I DELIGHT IN WEAKNESSES, IN INSULTS, IN HARDSHIPS, IN PERSECUTIONS, IN DIFFICULTIES. FOR WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG. The point: Knowing and having experienced the fact that God’s grace was sufficient for him whatever the situation, and knowing that in the midst of all his troubles Christ would uphold him and ultimately be glorified in the process, Paul says he willingly and joyfully "delights" in his weaknesses… "For when I am weak," meaning: when I personally am weak and troubled and in situations over which it is evident I have no control… "then I am strong," meaning: God will provide me with strength as I shift from relying upon myself to relying upon God. The lesson Paul learned is that he could count on God’s help in every situation and problem he faced in life. Furthermore, when, humanly speaking, he was the weakest (meaning it was evident that he could not change things by his own power), then he was, spiritually speaking, actually the strongest (because he had to rely totally on God’s sufficient grace to see him through any and every situation.)The lessons that we learn from this interesting and thought-provoking text are the same ones discovered by Paul. What is God telling us here? #1: When it comes to our prayers and even our most earnest desires, God sometimes says no. This doesn’t mean He doesn’t hear us or love us or care for us. The cross of Jesus Christ and His shed blood for our forgiveness and eternal life, sinners though we be, is ample proof of God’s loving and caring nature. No, it simply means that in His providence God may choose to let a situation or a burden remain in our lives. Sometimes God may choose to answer us with what appears to be silence. Which leads us to the following thought: #2: When God does say "no," it is a qualified no which has attached to it the promise that He will give us the strength to bear up. The promise of God that Paul records in our text did not just apply to his circumstance. When God says "My grace is sufficient for you," He is speaking to every one of His children. It is along much the same lines of another promise He gives us, this one in First Corinthians, where we are told God will never give us more than we can bear, but will either provide a way out or give us the strength to deal with it. Paul’s confidence in this shines through in his letter to the Philippians where he says of himself and every Christian, "I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength." #3: When we are personally our weakest (meaning not able to control the situation or handle the problem by ourselves), we can be spiritually the strongest. Why? Because we shift finding the solution to our problems away from ourselves and to God, who never lets us down… whose grace is sufficient for us… who promises never to leave us or forsake us. Let us pray that we see things this way. When we do, problems become opportunities for growth and burdens become exhibitions of God’s sustaining power in the life of his children. Too often we fret, we stew, we worry, we try different things to handle a problem and nothing seems to work. Defeated, we take it to the Lord in prayer… and the Lord steps in with the necessary solution or necessary strength to cope. And we again discover how much God does love us and how He does respond to us. Having examined it through the life of Paul, of this we can be confident: GOD RESPONDS TO THORNY PROBLEMS. His response may vary according to our needs, but, nonetheless, of this we can be sure: God is always at work, and God is always responsive. May this be our comfort and confidence as we continue our pilgrimage on earth: God’s grace is and always will be sufficient for our every situation. Amen