Strength Through Weakness

Okay, good morning everyone. Lovely to see you. My name is Graeme, I'm the pastor here of the church and it's been wonderful to meet some new faces this morning.

You're so welcome. You are joining us at an exciting time. We're at the penultimate sermon in our series in 2 Corinthians.

So, if you have a Bible, come with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 12.

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, then you can grab one of the pews round about.

They are for that purpose. If you didn't bring a Bible, you can use them.

You can scroll on your phone, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, or failing that, the verses will be on the screen behind me and you can follow along as we read together.

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

But as you turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, know that you are turning to one of the most loved portions of the Bible for Christians down the generations all across the world.

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

And I think as we take in these 10 verses in chapter 12 together, we will see the beauty.

So, the invitation this morning is whatever's going on in your life just now, whatever you've brought in those doors with you, bring it and bring your soul to these verses.

And let's be refreshed as we take in once again who Jesus is.

So, in verse 1, chapter 12, Paul writes this,

I must go on boasting.

Although there's nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.

I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up in the third heaven.

Whether it was in the body or out of the body, I do not know.

God knows.

And I know that this man, whether in the body or apart from the body, I do not know, but God knows, was caught up to paradise.

And heard inexpressible things that no one is permitted to tell.

I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself except about my weaknesses.

Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool because I would be speaking the truth, but I refrain.

So, no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say because of these surpassing great revelations.

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from 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 about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me.

That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses and insults and hardships and persecutions and difficulties.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

And Lord, we just pray that you'd be with us this morning as we turn to your living and your active word.

Father, thank you that when we open our Bibles, we hear your very voice.

And so, Lord, I ask that your spirit, that he would take these truths,

that as we meditate on them and glory in them over the next half an hour or so,

that he would be at work in our hearts.

Whatever's going on in our lives today, Father, would you bring the perfect application of these verses to our lives?

Father, thank you for your love for us.

And we just pray these things in the strong name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

So, friends, here is a question to get us going.

Ready for it?

What does a powerful person look like?

It's a TV show currently airing on the BBC that's on its 19th series called The Apprentice.

It's dog-eat-dog in the business world.

There's 18 people.

They compete for Lord Sugar's 250 grand investment in their business proposal.

And it is all-out power.

Now, I'll give you a little example of this.

This is my favorite from a candidate from a few years ago.

He said this of himself.

He said, I'm a Swiss army knife of business skills and enthusiasm.

I've got everything highly tuned and highly chiseled.

Now, I've long given up in the hope of being highly chiseled.

But there's part of me that would love to be a Swiss army knife.

Would you not love that in your life?

That's the kind of person that oppresses me.

The kind of person that can do anything, that can turn their hand to everything.

Someone whose pitches are slick.

Someone whose qualifications are second to none.

Someone who's got more letters after their name than they do actually in their name.

Someone whose dress sense is top-notch.

I guess that's why in our culture we talk about power dressing.

Someone who's confident and capable at everything.

Able to cope with every challenge that life throws at them.

We love in our world and we celebrate the story of the self-made man.

We were around in the 90s.

I think it was 1999 from the top of my head.

You remember Destiny's Child had that song.

Independent Woman.

And we think these kind of people are mightily impressive.

And I look at people like that and I see them in my own life.

And then I look back at my own heart and life.

And I think to myself as I do, compare.com.

I wish I had it a bit more all together.

And so here's how this passage has acted in my life this week.

And it's an invitation I want to just extend to us all this morning.

It's about like this.

You know, from our house we've got a great view of King's buildings.

You know, on the university campus just in the south of the city.

Here's the thing about King's campus.

At the minute there's a massive building project going on.

So every day I take the kids to school and we look up and there's a massive yellow crane that's dominating the skyline.

What's happening at King's is there is a massive building there which has stood for decades.

And what's happened is it is gradually being deconstructed.

Deconstructed.

It's derelict.

It's being torn down.

Brick by brick, steel bar by steel bar.

They are deconstructing this thing.

And the plan I heard is once it's down is to build something else in its place.

Now that's a wonderful picture of discipleship and how it works in our hearts and lives.

Friends, we all come at this text having a standing building in our minds of what power looks like.

And what impresses us in this life.

And what God has done in my heart this week, and this is a long-term process,

is that that vision of what power is and what impresses me, he's began to slowly deconstruct it.

And in its place, he's given me this passage.

And he said, this is what true power looks like.

So here's chapter 12.

Here is, friends, the liberating paradox of weakness being the new strength.

Right?

Right?

Weakness being the new strength.

And here's the secret sauce of the Christian life.

We are never more useful to the Lord than when we are completely dependent on him.

Weakness is the way.

To some degree, what we're doing is we're just looping back this morning to where we all started.

And the big thing of this book is weakness is the way.

And the thing is, this is the opposite of how Corinth thinks.

This letter written to the church in Corinth.

A city where the apprentice would go down a storm.

They would love the idea of the apprentice in Corinth in the first century.

Playing right into that are the super apostles who've shown up in Corinth

and have tapped into this whole idea of a city who loves the impressive.

And what they've done is they have dazzled the people in this church with their claims.

Right?

This is like our kids do this every time we go into Princess Street.

And they see that shop called Kingdom of Sweets.

You ever seen it?

And every time they say, Daddy, can we go?

What's attracting them to the Kingdom of Sweets?

Right?

Bright lights over here.

Shiny things over there.

Music coming.

Can we go?

Can we go?

It's like that.

If you imagine that emoji on your phone.

It's like the little yellow man with the stars in his eyes.

Right?

That's what's happened to the people in this church.

They've been dazzled by these false teachers who are tapping into the world's idea of impressiveness.

What they're doing is they are teaching and promoting this.

We'll come back to it in a minute.

And what they're doing at the same time is that they're discrediting Paul.

And you can imagine the lines.

This guy is so unimpressive.

He's yesterday's man.

Sure, he had that wonderful vision on the Damascus Road.

But that was almost 20 years ago.

Is he seriously still living off that?

We've got better visions.

We are giving better talks.

We've got better looking lives.

Paul knows exactly what they're up to.

And here's one of the key verses in this text.

Did you see how often it crops up?

It's the word boast.

That word comes up roughly 21 times in this letter.

Here's a little factoid for you.

It comes up 21 times roughly in this letter.

And five of them are in these 10 verses.

It's interesting, isn't it?

Paul knows there's a lot of boasting going on.

These false teachers, these super apostles are making big boasts.

And here's the thing.

Paul's going to boast back.

He's all up for a boast off.

He'll play their game.

But he'll play it on his terms.

So Paul's going to boast all right.

But he's not going to boast in himself.

He'll boast.

Come with me to the text.

Verse 5.

He'll play it on his own.

In the things that show his weaknesses.

And that is extraordinary.

It's one thing to admit that you've got weaknesses in life.

It's another thing completely to boast in those weaknesses.

No one says this better than D.A. Carson.

He's got a lovely little book on chapters 10 to 13 of 2 Corinthians,

if you want to get into it, talking about Christian character.

And he says this.

Try this insight on for size.

He says,

Most people go through life concerned that others will think too little of them.

Guilty.

Paul was concerned that others would think too much of him.

And you think to yourself,

How has Paul got there?

Well, that's where we're headed this morning.

Here's the game plan.

Here's the formation of this sermon.

Friends, I've got two points.

Two big truths from this passage.

And then one big application for us at the end.

Is that okay?

Two, one.

Here's the first truth, verses 1 to 7.

And really, it's the folly of boasting in self.

So when it comes to boasting,

here's the thing to see if you come to these verses.

It's not like Paul didn't have a card that he could play.

Do you see that?

He's had an encounter with the risen Lord Jesus.

But hear the awkwardness as he talks about it.

I know a man, he says, verse 2.

Now, here's the spoiler alert.

Paul is talking about himself in the third person.

Who 14 years ago, he says,

which if you're into your timelines,

it puts this somewhere between Acts 9 and Acts 11,

when Paul is in Tarsus.

Okay?

Paul has his vision, which takes him to paradise.

Now, again in the text, what he calls the third heaven.

Do you see that?

Jews of Paul's day often talk about the heavens and realms.

So the first realm, the first heaven is,

if you imagine this going up,

it's where the birds are.

Birds fly, it's the sky, right?

The second heaven is where the stars are.

Right?

You getting it?

Then the third heaven is the very dwelling place of God.

But notice how Paul goes out of his way,

given all of that,

to underscore just how passive he is in all of this.

As if to say, this was nothing to do with me.

This was not like a video game

where I unlocked a secret level.

Look what he says.

Was I in the body or out of the body?

I don't know.

No.

Completely passive.

Now, this isn't an outer body experience.

What this says is Jesus taking hold of his life

and showing him what Paul describes here,

inexpressible things.

Now, here's the thing to see.

Imagine they gave me top trumps.

If ever there was a card that Paul has

that he could play to beat the super apostles,

here's the card.

But Paul refuses to be drawn into that trap.

He doesn't want them to base their confidence in him

on the fact that he's claiming to see something.

That's what the super apostles are doing.

He's saying, my claim, my message's claim,

what backs it up is my character.

Maybe think about it like this.

Why won't he be drawn into the trap?

There's a statue in the city of Corinth

that depicts a famous story from history.

And it features Alexander the Great.

And the story goes that he rides back into town one day

after another victory on the battlefield.

And he does what victorious emperors, kings,

would do back in the day.

Imagine if you're a football fan,

you saw Newcastle do this yesterday.

What they do is they parade through the city.

So Alexander's parading through the city

so that everyone can see him in his splendor and in his pomp.

Everybody's into this.

But Alexander, from his horse,

spies a man at the side of the road

who looks mightily unimpressed.

So what he does is he goes over in his horse.

This man's name is Diogenes.

And he goes over in his horse to Diogenes

and simply says, what can I do for you?

And Diogenes sitting there replies,

I just want you to get out of the way of the sun.

Here's what I think Paul's understood in this passage here.

The devil would love him to get in the way of the sun.

Satan would love nothing more

than for Paul to block the glory of Jesus.

Friends, what a lesson for us

that the devil rubs his hands with glee

when we boast in us.

When we are self-reliant,

when we are dazzled,

when we are drawn

to play the boasting game on the world's terms.

When that happens,

he has got us exactly where he wants us.

And that takes us just to the second truth.

This is verses 8 to 12.

And really it's the beauty of resting in grace.

And this all centers on

what Paul refers to here at verse 7.

Just see it in the text.

He talks about his thorn in the flesh.

And you get the figurative image there

that Paul's using.

This is something in his life

that weakens him and causes him pain.

Now people have got their theories

on what exactly this is.

Maybe it's to do with his poor eyesight.

Maybe it's to do with a difficult person

who keeps showing up.

I say they're all speculative.

And the fact that we aren't told

precisely what it is,

can I suggest that's a really good thing?

Because it means that the principle

that we are going to unearth here

is a timeless one for the Christian life.

But before we get there,

just notice the precision.

Notice the clarity with which he writes.

They always say that that's the aim

of a good public speaker,

a good writer,

is to be so clear that you are understood.

And yet to be so clear

that you cannot be misunderstood.

So see what he's doing here.

Notice the precision.

Paul is not calling evil good.

Nor is this anything to do with his sin,

as if he's blaming God

for the sin in his own life.

Verse 7, this is a messenger of Satan.

So Paul understands the source of this.

But nor does he glory in the pain

that comes from it.

It's so important that we see that.

Verse 8, what does he say?

Three times,

I pleaded with the Lord

for this to be taken away.

So he's praying.

He's pouring his soul out to his father.

Lord, would you take it away?

And yet he's content in the fact

that the Lord says no.

Do you see how Paul is no

massacist?

This is not a hit me again,

hit me again.

Reveling in the hits that he's taken.

It's not that.

And yet here's what he does perceive.

Verse 7,

I was given it.

And that word given,

it invites us,

it is the portal

to a galaxy of theology.

Do you see the word given there?

Paul has only got that word given

because he gets the gospel.

gospel.

The gospel,

the gospel,

what Christians call the good news

because it announces

that there is a way

to be right with God forever.

And to stand before him,

our creator,

spotless and forgiven of our sin.

Not because of our deeds,

not because of our works,

but because of the blood

that Jesus shed for us

on the cross.

It is there that Jesus

pays the price

to make us

through faith

his own.

So he

buys us.

It's where the Bible gets the word

redemption from.

It's the slave market term.

Jesus buys us.

What that means is

when he buys us,

he fully commits himself

to us.

And what that means,

friends,

is that nothing happens

to us

that is out

with his

say-so.

Jesus never drops

the ball.

Nothing sneaks in

under his radar.

We've got this song

from Colin Buchanan

that we sing

with the kids at night

and it really simply

goes like this.

God never says oops.

Here's what Paul senses

that over and above

Satan's worst

stands an all-sovereign

Jesus

who loves him,

who holds him,

and is fully committed

to Paul's

best.

So Paul can say

to the devil,

you mean it

for evil.

But Paul can say

to Jesus,

but you

mean it

for

good.

Why?

Just follow the logic

in the text.

Why?

Paul recognizes

that he

gave me it

to stop me

becoming

conceited.

Do you see that word?

So Paul recognizes

that God has given him

something to keep him

humble

and keep him

weak.

Maybe Paul knows

his own heart.

Right?

Maybe the temptation

to drift towards

self-reliance.

Or actually,

maybe I could claim

just 2%

of the limelight

for myself.

And he's learned

in the words

of Charles Spurgeon

to kiss the wave

that throws him

back

against the rock

of ages.

And that's why

he's unashamed,

verse 10,

about the hardships

that he goes through

as a result

of following Jesus.

We saw the catalogue

of them last week.

We just got a few

of them here.

Do you see how

Paul's life is the

opposite of

Instagrammable?

Everyone on Facebook

set on telling you

about their best

moments.

Paul's game

for telling us

about his toughest.

We've just got to

get this right.

He is no constant

rock of emotional

stability.

I think we're so

often guilty

of talking about

him like that,

as if nothing

phases him.

Nonsense.

Every time he feels

the ouch of that

thorn, it reminds

him of what God

said to him.

And we just get

it at verse 9.

If you're looking

for a memory verse,

you do worse

than this one.

God said to him,

my grace

is sufficient

for you

for,

because

my power

is made

perfect

in weakness.

Now that word

sufficient,

maybe our English

translations don't

quite get it.

Everything.

My grace

is sufficient.

My grace is

everything you'll

ever need.

Paul,

as you reach

the end of your

resources and

turn to me,

you'll find me

to be a God

who draws

alongside you,

full of power,

full of love,

abounding in

kindness,

mercy,

and compassion.

And this is one

of the deepest

mysteries of the

Christian life,

that in our

darkest hours,

when we cannot

fathom how we're

going to make

another step,

Jesus,

our good shepherd,

holds us,

is with us,

and he will

not fail us.

Jesus,

the divine man

of sorrows,

fully acquainted

with grief,

knows perfectly

how to draw

near to his

people in

times of

trouble.

Maybe think of

it like this.

Friends,

when we boast

in our own

abilities and

capabilities,

when we try to

work it out,

when there's a

problem,

when something's

gone wrong,

the devil has

us exactly

where he wants

us.

But flip it.

When we run

to our

Father,

completely out

of resources,

Lord, I've

got nothing but

you, help me

to know you

more.

Friends, our

Father has us

exactly where

he wants us.

Isn't it amazing

when you read

the Gospels?

Something I

asked my kids

this week to

read in the

chapter of Luke

every night.

Just go away,

tell me something

fascinating, really

interesting you

found out about

Jesus.

They come back

and they tell

me, and I

see things I've

never seen

before, but

here's the

thing, some

of the most

compassionate and

loving words that

Jesus has in the

Gospels are for

people who

realise they've

got nothing but

him.

Our Father has us

exactly where he

wants us.

And so on that

note, and as we

begin to draw the

threads of this

passage together,

here's the big

application.

Friends, I

wonder if God is

calling some of

us to embrace

our dead ends.

I'll do the

way here, okay,

just dead ends.

You're stuck.

Maybe that's

exactly where you

are just now.

You're stuck.

You feel like a

chess piece backed

into a corner.

You've got no idea

what your next move

is.

You've got no idea

what the future

holds.

I just cannot see

ahead of me.

You feel like one

of those days last

week when the

hard just came in

over Edinburgh,

but couldn't see a

thing.

I don't know

what's up ahead.

Did you not laugh

a little bit the

other day, was it

Tuesday or Wednesday,

I forget, that was

the five-year

anniversary of that

COVID lockdown.

How did you

celebrate?

I keep finding

masks and jacket

pockets and jean

pockets.

It's funny.

It just reminds me

of those days.

It feels like a

lifetime ago, and

yet that was only

five years ago.

I remember that

lockdown being

announced on the

Tuesday and

thinking to myself,

I have not got a

clue what we are

going to do.

And Gary rings me

and says, I've got

an idea, brilliant

idea.

I've not got a

clue what to do.

Friends, when was

the last time you

found yourself in

that place?

Have you ever

considered, if

you're facing a

dead end, that God

might have you

exactly where he

wants you so that

you would learn

this?

Are you saying

to yourself, I'm

finishing uni this

summer, I have not

got a scooby what

the future holds?

And God says, good,

I want you to come

to me and remember

that I am the one

who is eternal and

knows the end from

the beginning.

I'm not sure what

job to do.

Good, come to me

and know that I am

the one who has

got good works

prepared in advance

for you to walk

in.

I just worry so much

as a parent for my

kids, I just want

them to make the

right decisions.

Good, come to me

and know that I am

the perfect father.

I get so tired, I

need my eight hours

sleep a night, I

wish I could burn

the candle at both

ends, but I can't, I

just get so tired.

Good, lay your head

on that pillow, take

an evening off and

know that I am the

God who holds you

and I am the God

who doesn't slumber

nor sleep.

Friends, what is he

teaching us about his

all-sufficient grace?

I always love how C.S.

Lewis puts this, you'll

be surprised to hear

that.

Captures this so

wonderfully in his

book Prince Caspian

and it's this scene

where Lucy sees

Aslan again after a

long break and here's

the script.

Aslan, said Lucy,

you're bigger.

That is because you

are older, little one,

he answered.

Not because you are,

said Lucy.

I am not child, but

every year you grow,

you will find me

bigger.

bigger.

You know, a test I think

of whether I find him

bigger and more

sufficient and all

loving and knowing.

Is my quickness when

things happen in my

life that my default

position is to just

try and fix on my own,

do I find him bigger?

The test is whether

how quickly I run to

him all out of

resources.

Or if I could spin a

cheesy phrase, and

that's why you came

this morning, wasn't

it?

Friends, we live in a

world that says when

the going gets tough,

the tough get going.

Paul was telling us

that when the going

gets tough, the

strong get pleading.

Progress in the

Christian life isn't

realizing we need

Jesus less.

How often we think

of it like the

stabilizers on a

bike.

Like Jesus was a

great start and yet

we'll kind of figure

this Christian life

out as we grow and

as we grow and as

we grow, we stand on

our own two feet.

No, no, no.

Progress in the

Christian life is

realizing that we

need Jesus more.

Where is God's

power seen today?

It's seen in

weak people

who throw

themselves upon

a strong

Christ

and who

receive grace

and are

strengthened by

him

to keep

going.

What does that

speak of?

And this is one of

the big challenges

that came from this

text as well.

What does it speak

to me of?

It speaks of

contentment.

I always love

what a woman

called Elizabeth

Elliott.

You've not ever

heard about

Elizabeth Elliott.

She's got a

wonderful story.

Biography is

written about her

wonderful.

She just said

this about

contentment.

She said,

the secret is

Christ in me,

not me in a

different set of

circumstances.

Resting in our

Father's complete

knowledge of us

and our Savior's

complete hold of

us.

Friends, God

wants us this

morning to

redefine where

strength is to be

found.

And to find

his grace to

us,

Jesus, who's

given himself

to us,

to find him

all

sufficient.

And just

maybe to bring

us home,

just as we

close,

let me tell you

about my

favorite film

starring Brad

Pitt.

Now, I

think this was

a book that

was originally

written by

F.

Scott Fitzgerald,

but I'm one

of those guys

that doesn't

read the

book, just

watch the

film.

It is called

The Curious

Case of

Benjamin

Button.

Decent film,

it's okay.

I was more

captivated by

the concept.

Benjamin

Button, this

man born with

a very rare

condition,

one that makes

him age

backwards.

Now, get

your head

around that.

He is born

because of

this condition,

a really

old man.

So he

comes out

all covered

in wrinkles

and shriveled,

and you get

the idea.

And the

midwives hand

his mother

this baby,

and here it

is, here is

Benjamin born.

He's born an

old man, and

yet Benjamin

dies at the

other end of

his life at

the age of

85.

He dies a

young baby.

And I

remember watching

it for the

first time and

thinking to

myself, what a

wonderful picture

of the Christian

life.

The more we

go on with

Jesus, and

the more we

realize his

heart, friends,

the more

like dependent

children we

should look

like.

The message

of this

passage, the

message of

this book, is

that weakness

is the

way.

We would

normally have

questions on

the screen at

this point, but

because it's

communion, we're

just going to

miss it this

week.

But friends, if

you have any

questions, is

anything you

want to tease

out or pray

about, that's

just the most

natural thing to

do in response to

this passage this

morning.

You can grab

the person that

you came with,

grab somebody

you've seen up

the front, we'd

love to do

that.

But friends,

let's not pass

up this

opportunity to

taste and see

that Jesus is

good this

morning.

So let me

pray and then

we're going to

sing once again

before we move

into a time of

communion.

And Lord

Jesus, we

thank you so

much for what

you said,

that it is the

poor in spirit

who will inherit

the kingdom of

God.

And Father, I

pray that whatever

is going on in

our lives right

now, Lord, we

bring to you our

fears and our

troubles and our

hardships.

We bring to you

our griefs and

our pains and

our memories.

And we ask,

Lord, that in all

of this, that your

spirit would be

teaching us the

beauty of knowing

that your power

is perfectly

shown in

weakness.

Thank you so

much that in

Jesus we have a

saviour who

knows, who

cares, and who

has given his

life to save

us.

So Father, be

with us now as

we move to

remember him in

this time of

communion.

Father, we love

you.

Be with us now,

we ask.

In Jesus' name

we pray.

Amen.

Amen.