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So we left off last week with verse 7 where Paul said:
2nd Corinthians 11.8-10
Meat
March 17th 2019
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
And we talked all about this what this thorn was – amidst several other postulations presented by commentators over the millennia
Let’s continue forward with Paul as he continues to speak of the thorn given him, saying:
8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9 And he (the Lord) said to me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Let’s talk about these concepts for a minute. Back to verse 8 where, speaking of the Thorn given him Paul says:
8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
Now, we enter into another paradox of scripture. On the one hand, we have a precedence set in the Old Testament that if we pester God on some subjects that he may just get a little bit perturbed.
How can I say this?
In Deuteronomy 3:23-27 we read the following from the mouth of Moses:
23 And I besought the LORD at that time, saying,
24 O Lord GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might?
25 I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.
26 But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter.
So that’s one side of the paradox when it comes to asking the Lord for things. In Moses case, it can really bother him, and he can apparently get angry with us, even to the point where he will say:
“don’t speak of this anymore.”
But then we come to Luke 18 where Jesus is speaking and teaching a lesson and says:
2 There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
The point here is that if a judge who does not fear man or God will respond to the constant requests of a pesky woman petitioner then God himself would speedily respond to his own children who too, are apparently persistent.
Finally, when it comes to prayers and petitions being answered by God, we also read in James 4:3
“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
So, there is another qualifier on asking and receiving as James says that if you ask amiss we will not receive because in our asking it is in order to consume it in our own lusts.
Ps 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
We also know that the man born blind who was healed by Jesus, when questioned by the Pharisees about the nature of Jesus said:
John 9:31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
Add in Proverbs 15:29 which says:
The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.
Micah 3:4 adds
Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.
And then we have 1st John 3:22 where we read
“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”
And 1st John 5:14-15 which says
“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”
So bottom line, we have all sorts of angles to consider when we try and figure out if God hears our prayerful requests:
I mean, we have all heard the phrase that God hears and answers every prayer – but scripture does not confirm this friendly little country quote, does it?
Well, it doesn’t confirm it in the Tanakh but it does confirm it in first John for believers.
But then we know Moses was a believer and so was Paul, and they apparently requested things of God in the pursuit of goodness, but were still rejected – even to the point where God get’s angry with Moses and tells him to stop asking, and the Lord after Paul’s third request tells him: My grace is sufficient for you.
But then we are told a parable that the woman who is persistent in prayer was successful in having her request granted. But we also read that God tells Moses not to ask him again on a matter, and that Paul three times requests that his thorn be removed and the Lord says, “not gonna happen.”
And then James says that the prayers are not answered or fulfilled because the prayers offered are to consume our own lusts.
Bottom line . . . we really don’t know why some requests are answered OR why some prayerful requests are rejected.
Paul and Moses were certainly not wicked but their prayers were rejected.
There is no rhyme or reason to this from what I can tell and this leaves us with the following, in my estimation:
We trust the Lord. We can certainly pray and make requests. We can ask earnestly and in faith but in the end, if God does not want the request to happen it isn’t happening – wicked or righteous – won’t matter.
All the religious rhetoric is just that – rhetoric. We ask in faith, and whatever the result we accept as the will of God and move on.
So Paul has asked (three times) the Lord three times to have the thorn given him removed. What is interesting about this passage is ? ? ?
Who Paul asked.
In other words, who was the Lord that we are reading about here? Now I know I just talked all about prayer. But we are not being told here that Paul prayed.
The Greek is parakaleo and it is at times translated to prayed, but it better means “to ask, beg, petition.”
My point is Paul does not say thrice I prayed, but thrice I asked or pleaded.
It’s intriguing because Paul says in verse nine, “And he said to me . . .”
This sounds like a face to face conversation to me. Not praying. I know, it could be praying, and the response could have come by way of revelation couched in the phrase, “and he said to me.”
But I tend to think that Paul personally asked Jesus, did not pray to him but asked him to remove the thorn.
It is interesting that most respectable commentators, and even groups like the Socinians believe that it was Paul praying to Jesus – and that Jesus answered him.
The Socinians were a group who did not believe in the eternality of Jesus and that when John wrote in the beginning he was talking about in the beginning of the New Age Jesus brought to earth at his birth.
The significance that even the Socinians believe that this was Paul praying to Jesus is significant because they diminish Jesus role completely in soteriology and ontology.
Whether it was prayer or whether it was a conversation through a vision we don’t know. What we can conclude with some certainty is that when Paul says, the Lord he is speaking of Jesus.
And since Jesus says, “My Grace is sufficient for you,” then we know that Jesus post ascension had truly been given all things of his Father.
The point is , if this refers to the Lord Jesus, to whom all things have been given in heaven and earth, then it proves that it is right to go to him in times of trouble, and that it is right to worship him.
I am not so sure we could rightfully say this prior to his death and resurrection. And this is important. Jesus taught his disciples to pray to the Father in his name, to be sure.
But in overcoming all things on our behalf, and having God the Father place all things in his hands, it seems that now it is entirely appropriate to call out and speak to him directly.
I mean, if Paul asks or prays (and the difference between the two is not really distinguishable) Jesus to remove the thorn in His side and Jesus responds that His grace is sufficient for Him, I think we have our answer in scripture on the question is it appropriate to pray and worship Jesus.
By the way, thrice (three) can mean often in scripture or it can mean specifically three times.
We know that the Lord prayed three times in the garden of Gethsemane that the cup might be removed from him, and then after the third time (Matthew 26:44) he submitted to the will of God.
Of course among the Jews three was a sacred number, and there are a numbe of instances where an important transaction is mentioned as having been done three times. (Numbers 22:28; 24:10; 1st Samual 3:8; 20:41; 1st Kings 18:34; Proverbs 22:20; Jeremiah 7:4; 22:29; John 21:17).
I’m not so sure that we should be limited to exactly this number in our petitions but one thing this situation and Jesus situation proves is that there should be a limit and a time when the praying stops.
I can say this because the Lord stopped in Gethsemane and submitted, Paul was told indirectly that his calamity would not be removed, and then he submitted, and King David did the same.
There are people who we pray for who will die no matter what. David prayed most fervently for his child when it was alive but when it was deceased, and it was of no further use to pray for it, he bowed in submission to the will of God, and got up and ate. (2nd Samuel 12:20).
This surprised the people who thought that he ought to then mourn and fast at the passing of the child, but I think David had the right approach.
So at verse nine, the Lord response to Paul’s request
9 And he said unto me, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (and Paul adds) Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
His adding that the power of Christ may rest upon me is further evidence that when he was told, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness, proves that it was Jesus that he was speaking to.
Let’s talk about this phrase, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Wow – that is powerful – in so many ways.
First of all, Paul does not tell us HOW Jesus said this to him, does he?
He could have appeared and said this in conversation. He could have heard it by inspiration, or he could have heard it audibly. If by inspiration, perhaps it was through what the Hebrews referred to as Bath-qol or the “daughter of the voice”) which seems to be akin to what 1st Kings 19:12 describes as, “a still small voice.”
Cannot tell.
Whatever it was, Christ was talking to Paul about his own personal problems.
Will Christ talk to us? I don’t see why he wouldn’t. He is certainly not a respector of persons and if we also bear issues, I do not see why Christ would not speak to us.
I cannot say that he has spoken to me in such a direct manner very often but I certainly had one definitive moment when he gave me instructions to ride – and he would do the rest – something I have lived by ever since receiving it.
Another interesting thing about Paul’s request is that it must have caused him some sort of discomfort – physically or spiritually – and I go with a trial in the Spirit of some sort personally.
But The Lord did not see fit to remove it.
So it was with the Lord when he prayed to his father to remove the cup from Him – no go.
And so we must be cognizant of the fact that the Lord will chasten those he loves, and will not always remove the crucible from us which serves to refine us and keep us wholly reliant upon Him.
For this reason I am not so sure that our prayers ought to be to escape calamity but rather that we are able to bear the trials he will give us or allow is to experience.
In Paul’s case, Jesus tells him that his grace, in the face of the thorn, was sufficient to cover the thing in question.
This is another remarkable fact about this situation.
To me, like it was to __________ last week, I cannot help but see that Paul’s issue had to do with some sort of temptation because it would be Christ’s grace that would override it and receive him as his own in spite of the temptation or the failure to resist it.
This is the basis for the good news, folks! He has overcome all, we have not – nor will we. So no matter what he allows to remain in our lives – by faith in Him we overcome it all through His manifest grace!
His grace is sufficient! He HAS ALREADY paid the price for the product of temptation, failures, sins – His grace is entirely sufficient to overcome the wile and temptations of the darkness, of the all the things this world can throw at us.
Look to Him and live.
This passage serves as one of the great reasons why I do not believe it is our duty or job to focus on the sins of others.
His grace is sufficient.
We do not need to discipline believers for the failures of their flesh!
His grace is sufficient.
We do not need to alienate those who in faith trust that God is working with them and will not let them go; that His grace takes the lowest of low and says:
By my grace you are saved through faith – look to me in faith and live – and we will work out all the minutia along the way, your proclivities, your carnal nature, your deeply rooted depravities – come to me – my grace toward to is sufficient!
How could it be – because the price for all of it has been paid. The perfect lifeblood shed, and those who look to him in faith will live.
See, in our flesh, we twist it all up and get it backwards. We (again WE) think that in and through our strength we show that we are saved, forgiven and worthy of His Kingdom.
We think that when we are powerful in the spirit over the temptations of the flesh that God is glorified.
Not so!
He is glorified in weakness not in strength. Of course I didn’t make this up, Jesus himself said it to Paul!
“My grace is sufficient for thee: for . . . my . . . strength . . . is . . . made . . . perfect . . . in weakness!”
Huh? What?
Nietzsche came forward with the idea of the Ubermench or overman – the superman.
In his book, Ecco Homo, his idea is that God is dead and it is high time for the Overman to rise up and lead as God. That this is power and might and right and good is mans ultimate destination – to be god.
Of course, the Third Reich borrowed from these thoughts in their creation of the mythical master race. But he was not alone.
Ayn Rand exalted men and women of total selfishness, total self indulgence, and consummate strength. In them there was no room for weakness – weakness was a profound blight on the human race. Men and women too, should become their own gods, not feebly fumbling toward some mythical god who demands allegiance and humility of them.
Even here in Utah we have a religion that exalts the successful and strong men of this world. Their goal is to become Gods. This group excoriates the weak and sinful and frail and uplifts and promotes the rich, the handsome and the accomplished.
It speaks of love for the sinful and lost and forgiveness for the wicked, but only from the position of being gods in miniature and giving such once the sinful individual has proven that they are worthy.
These things are actually antithetical to what Christ lays out here.
Interestingly, this religion pulls strongly from Old Testament characters of strength and nobility and depicts other characters of manly fleshly strength as the heroes of the faith – Nephi, Alma, Captain Moroni.
It is no surprise then that these views and the heroes they create are the same views in the world –
That overcomers and heroes and superstars deserve the attention and accolades – not the fallen, weak and broken.
But I gotta tell you, the scripture is pretty clear –
Those who come to God broken, and in faith allow Him to take them and mold them, and who are not out to make for themselves a name in this world but instead are out to make a name for God through Christ – look out.
We cannot escape the fact that these are the ones who will be the heroes of the afterlife – and from what Paul is saying here, from what Jesus perspective is,
He is perfected in weakness NOT human strength.
What is your weak calamity? Has God worked it out in your life? Give Him the glory for it was only in and through Him that it was worked out.
But even moreso, has God allowed it to REMAIN in your life? His strength is made perfect in weakness! Give him the glory and humble yourself into the dirt for what your flesh is capable of doing.
The model of God’s strength being made perfect in weakness is illustrated all through the Scriptural record, isn’t it?
Think about all of the examples:
Let’s work backward and start with Paul, formerly known as Saul.
SAUL
He was a religious zealot who had no trouble putting people to death for following Christ. He was small and unattractive but unlike many before him he was educated and trained. Nevertheless, he was accused of great boasting (and accusation which may have been true AND in our study of 2nd Corinthians he was willing to really put the pressure on believers to get what he wanted – admitting that it was not inspired of God. Here Paul admits to a thorn in his side originating from Satan to buffet him. In all likelihood it could have been some sort of proclivity toward sin.
his grace was sufficient and in weakness his strength is made perfect.
PETER
Weak of weak, impetuous, and full of mistakes even after being regenerated by the Holy Spirt. A fisherman by trade, not a great linguist, and capable of making decisions out of Great fear.
his grace was sufficient and in weakness his strength is made perfect.
MATTHEW a hated tax collector. Hated. Chosen and used.
his grace was sufficient and in weakness his strength is made perfect.
Our LORD AND SAVIOR
Born in a manger from a woman through questionable reputation (according to some). Nothing that men would desire of him. Son of a carpenter. A Galilean. And a physical lineage of reprobates, adultarers and schemers. Not an unbermench but one who forgave his tormentors who hung him naked outside the city gates. Lowly, mild, meek, good.
In his ministry He appealed to means that were meager to accomplish the will of God:
* An animal stall for his initial home
* No place to rest his head in ministry
* Took a couple fishes and loaves and fed over 5000
* Rode into town on a donkey not a chariot
* Took eleven men and changed the world
* Died on a cross
* Buried in a borrow tomb
And through his life God’s grace is shown sufficient, and his strength in His only human son is made perfect.
Of course we have JONAH . . .
Given a directive from God and actually ran from the fight!
his grace was sufficient.
NOAH
Dude build an ark at the hand of God, gathers all the animal from that areas, saves his family while the rest of the world around him drowns, lands on a new world and the first thing he does is plant a vineyard and get plastered!
his grace was sufficient.
ABRAHAM AND SARAH
Not young and virile – sterile and dead of seed. From them comes the Nation of Israel, from whom the Messiah who saves the world would be born. And again, his grace was sufficient.
MOSES
A stutterer. So badly that even though God told him that he wanted him to go and speak for him Moses wanted a spokesman, Aaron, whom the Lord gave him. Had a problem with anger which manifested in striking rocks when he shouldn’t have, and he seemed to have the tendency to tick both his wife and God off to no end and the latter wanted to kill him for delaying the circumcision of his son and his wife, having performed the circumcision herself, took the foreskin and threw it at Moses calling him a bloody husband.
But His grace is sufficient.
What about RAHAB who was a prostitute! Mentioned in the hall of fame of faith in Hebrews 11!
That’s how she is described – Rahab the harot – but through her heroism of faith the COI were saved. Not only that, from her marriage to Salmon, who had Boaz, who married Ruth, who became the Great Grandmother of a guy named King David.
To the harlot, his grace is suffient, and through her weakness His strength is made perfect.
And while a great man in many ways, we cannot overlook the thorn in the flesh of David which made him an adulterer and a murderer.
But His grace is sufficient.
We have so many instances in scripture where God takes the weakest things
Samson using the jawbone of an ass to slay his enemies
Gideon narrowing his army from thousands to 300
Trumpets dropping the walls of Jericho
A brass serpent on a stick healing deadly bites
The principle Jesus made is clear:
My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
See, we read that it is impossible to please God except by faith.
For some reasons the smallest amount of faith in His Son is able to extinguish the greatest amount of sin.
This is the principle. Weak sinful men and women who choose faith in His Son make His strength perfect.
His strength, not our own.
The Greek for perfect is tele-o-o, and it means fulfilled, complete.
In our weaknesses Jesus strength is fulfilled, completed. He came to save the lost and weak, and by and through Him and His strength, to overcome the Law, sin, death, the grave, Satan and hell, to overcome every principality, power and darkness, He is shown victor.
The weak cannot show victory. But in their faith in him, the weak – by virtue of being weak – take His strength and make it complete.
In other words, “the strength which I impart to my people is more commonly and more completely manifested when my people feel that they are weak rather than when they believe that they are strong.”
Think about this as we wrap it up today, folks.
In our most desperate moments is not Jesus and His victory realized more than when we are personally strong, and rich, and in charge and victorious in various things?
This is the point.
The strong of this world, the ubermench, the Randian heroes, do not typically realize their need on the divine.
In the face of all of this, Paul responds, and says something profound – something we would all do well to embrace as difficult as it is. He says:
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
And we will stop here and pick it up at this point next week.
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