2 Corinthians 12:2-10   NT p. 175 or 1433

12:2 I know a person 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.

12:3 And I know that such a person - whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows

12:4 was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat.

12:5 On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses.

12:6 But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me,

12:7 even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated.

12:8 Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me,

12:9 but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

12:10 Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

LET US PRAY:

INTRODUCTION:

Did you hear about the guy who was at home, sitting in his easy chair watching when the doorbell rang. He got up, went to the door and opened it. When he did he saw a six foot cockroach standing on the porch. Before he could do any more than grimace, the cockroach reared and clocked him right between the eyes. Then it skittered off.

He couldn't tell anybody. Who was going to believe him? A six foot cockroach? Well, the next night he was in his easy chair and the doorbell rang again. He ambled over and opened it. When he did, there was that same six foot cockroach. Before he could slam the door the cockroach karate kicked him in the leg and then karate chopped him on the neck and skittered off again.

The very next night, the doorbell rang. Only this time, the guy had the chain on the door. He peaked out the peep hole to see who it was and it was that same six foot cockroach. He went and got a can of Raid. Then he cracked the door to spray but before he could even get the door open, the cockroach kicked in the door, breaking the chain and sending the Raid flying. Then it jumped on the man, kicked him and punched him, pulled out a knife and stabbed him three times before skittering off.

The guy crawled over to the phone, called the paramedics and woke up in the hospital emergency room. The doctor was there looking at his chart. The doctor noticed he was awake and asked what had happened. The guy explained to the doctor about the six foot cockroach attacking. But the doctor didn't seem particularly surprised. The doctor thought for a moment and then said, "Yeah, I've heard that there's a pretty nasty bug going around these days." (1)

If you read this passage of Scripture, you notice that there must have been a pretty nasty bug going around in the Church in Corinth. Paul is pretty strident here, isn't he? Something was bugging him. Actually there was a feud going on. A regular donnybrook.

This passage comes in direct response to an Annie Get Your Gun kind of dispute. Remember the musical? And the song, Frank Butler and Annie Oakley are in love but their also in competition. They get into a bragging contest, trying to out do each other. Neither one of them wants to show any weakness and they sing: "I can do anything you can do better, I can do anything better than you."

Well, that's sort of what's going on in the Church at Corinth. You can almost hear the chest pounding. The people had divided up and decided that certain people and certain gifts were better than others. They tried to put the gifts of the Spirit and each other in a hierarchical set up. When in reality all gifts are equal when used to glorify God. And it takes all the gifts of the Spirit to serve God.

So, Paul wades in, smack dab in the middle of the fracas and calls a halt to it all. "No more chest pounding. No more braggadocio. Remember who you are," he says. "And remember Whose you are. You were sinners, lost and forsaken. You were bought with a price. The Son of God gave His life for you. You don't have any room to brag."

I. THORNS:

A. Paul then goes on to say: "Look, let me tell you about someone who really has a right to brag. This guy was taken to the heights of heaven, not once but twice. I'm not talking about me. Even though I could brag and not look as ridiculous as you all, I don't. God even gave me a way of remaining humble. Three times I begged God to remove it but I realized that it is really a gift."

Paul is talking about what he calls his "thorn in the flesh." Who would have thought that thorns could be called are viewed as gifts from God? We all have them but we don't like them. We all have them but who really calls or looks on them as gifts from God?

Paul R. Escamilla writes that he has "vivid memories of picking blackberries as a child near his grandparents' ranch. There is no way to remember the feelings of delight that came with filling a bucket with those wonderfully plump, juicy, purplish-black berries without also remembering the constant aggravation of thorns grabbing and snagging and scraping and pricking as they picked those luscious berries. He says, they developed a formula for determining the ratio of berries to thorns in a blackberry patch: lots of berries, lots of thorns; a few berries, lots of thorns; no berries at all, lots of thorns!

You don't have to experience picking blackberries to know about the persistent presence of thorns in everyday life. There are thorns in our lives; physical, emotional and spiritual. They are constantly there jabbing at our lives, puncturing our happiness and scratching our faith. (2)

We all have those little things in our lives that prick at us and poke us and keep us scratched and scarred and filled with discomfort. It might be some physical attribute that we don't like about ourselves and can't change. It might be an ailment. It might be a handicap. Or it might be a group of people like relatives, in-laws or this group in Corinth. I've often thought that maybe Paul was talking about the Corinthian Church as being his thorn in the flesh. We all have thorns.

B. Yet in the midst of all of this brouhaha, Paul says he is content. Content? Why? How? It's because of his outlook on the problem and the thorns. It took him awhile to get there but through prayer Paul came to realize that his "thorn" was really a "gift".

That shift in thinking, that shift in understanding his circumstances, changed everything about Paul. He was able to see his weakness as a strength. Even if all it did was drive him to his knees in prayer to ask for relief from the pain or strength to go on in the face of the adversity, it brought him closer to God.

Why? How? Because he learned from Jesus where real strength can be found.

II. STRENGTH:

Who is the strongest person you can think of? The strongest person I know is Kay Laws. You may not know this but she and Pat went to the Circus a couple of weeks ago. They went into the Midway to see all the sideshow acts and saw the strong man. The strong man took an orange and squeezed it dry. Then he asked if anyone would like to come up and try and get any more juice out of the orange.

Well, Pat pushed Kay up on stage. The strong man grinned and gave the dried out, squeezed orange to Kay. Kay took it in her hand, looked it over and then squeezed. To everyone's amazement she squeezed out 10 more drops of Orange juice. The strong man was flabbergasted and asked, "How did you do that?" Kay said, "Oh, that was easy, I'm a church treasurer."

The world thinks strength can be found in power, position, good looks, the right clothes, money and things. Yet these things don't really bring any contentment. They may bring a momentary joy or thrill but before long it's just something else in the house. You can go out and buy the biggest baddest computer on the market but in six months there will be at least one and probably a dozen faster models and all you'll have is a fancy word processor and internet machine.

You can buy the biggest surround sound stereo system money can buy but after a few months it's just a stereo. The big screen home theater system becomes just a TV. The car or truck with all the features just becomes transportation. There really isn't any power or strength in things.

One night on the old "Merv Griffin Show", Merv interviewed some body builders. He was standing there, looking at these guys who had muscles on top of muscles on top of muscles, and he asked a very powerful question: "What do you use all these muscles for?"

One guy answered by flexing his muscles in one of those body building poses. "No, you don't understand me," Merv. said. "What do you USE all those muscles for?"

The guy said, "I'll show you." And he flexed again, posing in another way.

"No. No. You still don't understand my question. Read my lips. What do you USE them for?" And the guy posed again. (3)

The tragedy is, some people are just like those body builders. They collect power and position and money and things. But when asked what good are they. Or what they are doing with them. They show you another set of "Collector" something or other. Or another contract or piece of property or antique.

The stuff they have is guarded or kept out of sight and locked up tighter than a drum. But it can all disappear in a second if the right storm comes along. Stocks and bonds can become next to worthless over night. Contracts can be made null and void by a buy out. Positions can be eliminated.

The world's power and strength is really just dust in the wind. Paul says the world's strength isn't really strength at all. It isn't strength because it relies on the weakest part of human existence. The self. And when we rely on our selves, we miss the point of faith and creation.

III. STRENGTH IN WEAKNESS:

A. Paul says he is content. That's not something a lot of people will tell you. And then Paul tells you that he is content in his weakness. Paul is content in his weakness and we can't even be content with our stereo or computer? And it's not just his weakness that is a marvel. He writes, "I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ."

Paul understood completely where true contentment comes from. He saw it in the life of Christ.

God didn't choose for His Son to come as a mighty king. God chose His son to come as one of us, just an ordinary man, a carpenter, your everyday Joe. God even chose the most common name of all for his son, Jesus. It's the Hebrew equivalent of Joshua, which would be like naming him John or Joe or Bill

When Jesus started ministry, it was the same thing. Jesus chose fishermen, tax collectors, political and religious zealots not the leaders of the synagogue or temple. Not the learned, not those who were already vested with power. No! Jesus chose the least likely candidates, the powerless, the average ordinary guy.

What was seen as the greatest moment of weakness by some, turned into the most powerful event in all of history. God transformed the scandal of the cross and crucifixion into a glorious life saving, life changing, life giving story of faith triumphant.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit didn't wait and only fill those who were ready. The Holy Spirit filled those who were the least ready, those who were empty. The Holy Spirit filled them with God's power.

B. So, how did Paul and the disciples get all this? It was only through surrender that they were able to receive this power. Paul writes: "I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong."

In our weakness, we have to rely on God and then we are made strong. For it's then that we experience the power of God's Grace.

There is a wonderful movie out on video, Walking Across Egypt, starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Ellen Burstyn. It is a wonderful retelling of the story of the prodigal. Ellen Burstyn plays Mattie, an older woman who is "slowing down" as she puts it. She has a heart of gold that reaches out to the strays of the world. Her heart is filled with hope and she has a deep, abiding faith that sees the good in everyone. She tries to put her faith into practice.

Jonathan Taylor Thomas plays Wesley, a 16 year boy in a Youth Rehabilitation Camp. There doesn't seem to be an ounce of good in him. He started off life with two strikes against him. He doesn't even know where his parents are or who his grand parents are. He's a boy with no hope, no future, and no one who cares. Mattie finds out about him through a hilarious encounter with his uncle, the local dog catcher. After hearing a sermon on "the least of these" Mattie decides to visit Wesley one day at the Youth Rehabilitation Camp. It turns out to be a visit that changes both of their lives.

A short time later, Wesley and his buddy escape one night and head to Mattie's house because he thinks she'll be easy pickings. His buddy won't go in but Wesley concocts a story about being out on leave. The trouble is, Mattie believes him. And even more important, she believes IN him, something that nobody else has ever done. And for the first time in his life, Wesley experiences joy and hope. And he experiences what it is to love and be loved.

This child of God who was lost in the wilderness, finds redemption in the promised land through the love of this old woman. How? Through surrender. Through weakness, something you can't show in prison. Wesley discovered Forgiveness, Redemption, New life, Salvation, Hope and Love all through surrendering to what he thought was weakness.

Yet, in the midst of that weakness, he found not only strength but resurrection and new life.

CONCLUSION:

Hal Brady likes to tell a story from the sports world about Bill Parcells, one of the most celebrated coaches in professional sports today. Parcells, started out coaching in the mid-'70s at Texas Tech in Lubbock. Parcells said he began noticing a middle-aged man who started dropping in at their spring practices.

The man wore a brown jacket with a gray border and a "B" on it. Most of the time, he just watched Parcells coach. Every now and then, he'd lean forward and ask Parcells some questions. One time the man said, "You know, you're a pretty good coach." Out of 20-plus spring practices, this man showed up at a dozen of them.

Only later did Parcells find out that the man in the brown jacket was Gordon Wood of Brownwood High School, who was on his way to winning 400-plus games, more than any other football coach has won in the history of the sport. In Brady's words: "Gordon Wood was a legend and Bill Parcells was a nobody, but Wood made the five-hour trip to Lubbock in the hope of picking up something new and useful." (4)

Gordon Wood understood what Paul was writing about. He knew that even though he had won so many games, there was still more to learn. He knew that there were weaknesses he had, and in recognizing those weaknesses he was made strong.

Sure, sometimes life bugs us. Sometimes other people bug us. Sometimes our weaknesses and short comings bug us. But if we will look at our weaknesses as a gift from God. Then, like Paul, we will be able to surrender those weaknesses, those gifts to God and God will strengthen us. That's called Grace. And in grace we find contentment.

1. Parables, Etc. (Platteville, Colorado: Saratoga Press), July 2000

2. (Paul R. Escamilla) POWER IN OUR WEAKNESS, Abingdon Worship Software (Deluxe)

3. Parables, Etc. (Platteville, Colorado: Saratoga Press), April 1996

4. "Footwashing," Dallas, Texas, 13 October 1996.