Pastor Slaughter

Epiphany 6

2-13-2022

Theme: Boast in Our Weakness

Text: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Isn’t life ironic at times? We find something that we are good at, something we take pride in, something that leads us to boast of but only to have it taken away from us. We may boast about our athletic ability, but only to lose it when injury strikes or age sets in. We can boast about our jobs only to be the first one on the chopping block. People may have boasted about their intelligence but are later plagued with dementia. Isn’t ironic that the things we boast about can be easily taken away?

How many of us boast about our weakness? Do you roll out of bed in the morning and thank God for a sprained ankle you have? How many of go on Facebook and Instagram and boast to all the world and take pride about how bad public speakers we are, how frail we are, how sad and alone we may feel? We may complain about those things, but we don’t boast of them.

But I do know somebody who finds delight in his weaknesses, in insults he received, in hardships he endured, in the persecutions he faced, and in the difficulties he went through. He delighted in all those things simply for one reason and one reason alone, for the sake of Christ. His name was Paul.

Paul had a lot that he could boast about. He was a former Pharisee an expert in God’s law and had an education. He was called to be an apostle by Jesus himself. He traveled and started new churches wherever he went. He was a good leader. People sought his advice and counsel. And man could he ever write! Even right before our lesson begins God gave him special revelations about heaven. There were a lot of things that Paul could have boasted about and a lot of things that could have led Paul to be arrogant, or conceited, exaggerating his own importance or abilities and thus diminishing the gospel in his life.

Don’t we find ourselves boasting in gifts that God has given? Don’t get me wrong. It is good to value those things. It’s great that God has given you good health! It’s great that God has given you the gift of public speaking. It’s great that God has given you the gift of empathy and compassion when someone needs to talk. It’s great that God has given the gifts of leadership, of service. The list can go on.

However, when we find ourselves boasting in the gifts that God has given us, it’s not a very big step to find ourselves becoming arrogant, or conceited, elevating our own importance, our own abilities. God has given us all gifts that are meant to be used for his kingdom. But when we elevate the gifts, he has given us and become arrogant of them, we begin to diminish the importance and the necessity of God’s grace in our own lives.

Do you see what happens? When we begin to elevate our gifts the focus shifts on our own abilities, and we diminish the most powerful thing in our lives…God’s grace. God’s grace, his undeserved love for us starts becoming (in our minds) something deserved. God’s grace which describes his unearned favor toward us, becomes something earned. The focus is taken off of God and placed on ourselves. It’s not like we intend to, it just kind of happens.

To keep the Apostle Paul from becoming arrogant, God gave him a thorn in the flesh. Paul said, “Therefore, to keep me from becoming arrogant due to the extraordinary nature of these revelations, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me, so that I would not become arrogant.” God gave the apostle Paul a thorn in the flesh. We don’t know exactly what this thorn of the flesh was that tormented Paul. Many commentators lean towards a chronic physical problem because it was hinted at in his letter to the Galatians. The truth of the matter is we don’t know. It’s one of those things that we can find out when we get to heaven. The fact that Paul describes it as thorn makes it seem like it was a sharp pain of some sort and that it kept on tormenting him, seems like a reoccurring, nagging pain.

But what we do know is how it came and why it came. The thorn was no accident but was given to Paul, a messenger of Satan. But it was used by God for his loving purpose. The purpose to keep him from being arrogant. Paul said it twice! To keep me from becoming arrogant and that I not become arrogant. The Lord had given him some kind of affliction which would constantly remind him that he was still a weak mortal, entirely dependent on the grace of God.

Have you seen this in your own lives? The thorns of the flesh that simply torment us. Those things in our lives that Satan brings to make us seem inadequate for the task at hand, the task of proclaiming the gospel to others. Do you find yourself like Paul and have some physical ailment that makes you feel weak? Is the thorn in the flesh fear, fear about what other people may say, what other people think when you share God’s Word with them? Does the thorn of your flesh prick you when you compare yourself with other people, I don’t have as much Bible knowledge, I can’t articulate my thoughts well as they can, I am inadequate to share God’s Word with people. I will only get in the way of the message. I will only mess it up.

Just like when we boast we run the risk of becoming arrogant and the focus in on ourselves, so too if we ONLY focus on our weakness then the focus is on ourselves. Just as dangerous for us to think that God CAN’T use us despite our weaknesses our flaws, our sins, our thorns in the flesh. Whenever the focus is taken off of Christ, we place it on ourselves, on our own abilities or lack thereof, we either place ourselves above God’s grace by becoming arrogant of our abilities or we look at weakness and think that God’s grace is not enough for us.

But it is at those lowest points in our lives, when we feel the pains of the thorns in our sides that Christ’s words ring the loudest, “My grace is sufficient for you, because my power is made perfect in weakness.” Not once, not twice, but three times Paul pleaded with the Lord to remove this thorn in his flesh. Instead of taking it away, Jesus points him toward his grace. His undeserved love toward Paul. His all-sufficient grace, which showed his favor toward Paul, toward you and me, by dying in our place, forgiving our sins.

God allows the thorns in our lives, whatever form they may take to remind us that we are weak, so that we turn to Christ and see his grace and receive his power. When we are at our weakest, when we can no longer rely on our own strength is when Christ’s power can be clearly seen in our lives. So Paul says, “Therefore I will be glad to boast all the more in my weakness, so that the power of Christ may shelter me.” Notice the reason why Paul boasts about his weakness. Paul’s focus is not in himself but his focus is on Christ. Let us follow Paul’s example and boast not in ourselves, not in our achievements, but in our weakness because when we do the focus is not on ourselves but instead, we focus on Christ, and his strength.

Paul moved from pleading with the Lord to remove the thorns in flesh to boasting in it and actually delighting in his weakness. Paul said, “That is why I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For whenever I am weak, then am I strong.” It is solely by God’s grace, his divine favor toward you and me that we can delight in our weakness, persecutions, in difficulties because our focus is taking off of ourselves and our boast is placed on the cross of Christ.

God uses us, weak and frail creatures for his work of proclaiming the gospel. Our boast is no longer in our strengths and abilities, but in something greater, weaknesses because when we our weak Christ power shines forth. So, we join Paul in thanking God for thorns, whatever form they may take, for they remind us that we are weak. And when we know we are weak, then we can be strong—in Christ. Those who find their strength in Christ can then, with Paul, be strong FOR Christ. We can be bold in proclaiming the gospel even if we feel we don’t have the right words to say, or have the best knowledge, because the power does not come from us but from Christ.

My Family in Christ, this is my favorite Bible passage in Scripture. I will be honest with you. During my time at MLC (undergraduate) and the Seminary. I really struggled with this. I looked at all my classmates and compared myself to them, many were simply brilliant, others were far better preachers, the list can go on. What was my problem? I wanted to Boast in MY achievements rather than boasting in my weakness. I focused on myself and not on Christ and his grace. It was like I was making God’s grace dependent on me and my strengths but when I looked at my weakness it was like God’s grace wasn’t enough. A good friend of mine shared that passage with me. “My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.” What comfort, what relief that Christ can use a weak frail creature like myself to be your shepherd! God can and will use your weakness to demonstrate his strength. Boast in your weakness because when you are weak then you are strong.  Amen.