Strength in weakness

A sermon preached by Paul Woodbridge on Sunday 6 June. Paul wanted me to acknowledge that some of his material originated with John Piper (www.desiringgod.org)
(Most of Paul's abbreviations are obvious, but "x" = "that").

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Nearly 4 years ago, a notable night occurred for Britain’s leading football team. Spurs were away to Charlton in the FA Cup. The signs were not promising. Spurs had a massive injury list, in fact 3 of their 4 forwards were injured and had no chance of playing, to say nothing of several other injuries to key players. So in effect, they were some way off full strength, a seriously weakened team. And when, after 5 minutes of the second half, they went 2-0 down to a goal that the Oak Hill football team would have been ashamed to give away, the writing was on the wall, and I began to prepare possible responses to the cynics in this place who feel it appropriate to mock at other’s misfortunes!

But, hold on a minute…2-1, 2-2, 2-3 , then 2-4, all in the space of a few minutes! The glory days were returning! What had happened? Simply that, despite being weak, the team had found strength in their weakness and while recognising their lack, not least in terms of key players, had battled together and by mutual encouragement and determination, had produced an amazing result.

On a more personal note, I have had to learn what strength in weakness means. About a year or so ago, a number of people made comments on the amount of weight I seemed to putting on, including being called ‘8 months’ by my sons! While for many people here, getting close to 11 stone is something that they exceeded a long time ago, for me it was a new experience! I thought X maybe something shd be done abt this, and so resolved to stop the Crunchies at morning coffee time, as well as reducing the amt of snacking in the evening! Also no puddings at lunchtime! I even went to look at Southgate gym, but seeing the people there in action made me feel quite tired! This has meant at certain times in the day feelg quite weak and having to resist the temptation to snack. However, I’m sure that strength through this feeling of weakness has been the result as weight has reduced and muscle power and fitness have returned!

And really, this is the spiritual principle that the apostle Paul is drawing out for us in the passage from 2 Cor we had read to us. How can we grow in our walk with God? How can we keep close to him? How can we minister in a way that brings glory to him and sees other people come to faith and then grow in that faith? How can we deal with trials that come our way, troubles, difficulties, that perhaps come upon us without warning and which we wish had never happened?

We perhaps shd be wary of people who offer us the ‘secret of the successful Xian life’ (eg ‘God’ channels on Sky, including being invited to do what the people of Ephesus did in Acts 19 in bringing their handkerchiefs for Paul to touch – I shd send my handkerchief to this evangelist, + a donation to his organisation also, of course!), but even so I blve our passage does have somthg very NB to say to us abt livg a positive Xian life. Some have even described it as puttg forward a formula for success, the way to be consistent in Christ-like living, the way to grow in godliness.

And that secret is to be found in v. 9 - WEAKNESS! Now X’s probably not what we’d expect. It’s certainly not the way of the world, is it? In the word’s eyes, to be weak is to be a failure, inadequate, useless. The way of the world is to be strong, confident, self-assured, certain, in control. And the way to achieve this, if we listen to the adverts on television, is to buy the right kind of car, or perfume, or after shave! That will get us what, or who, we want! it’s our culture, it’s us: we can’t be weak!

But the apostle P. tells us X, no, that is not the Xian way. The Xian way is to be weak, for it’s only in weakness X the power of Xt can dwell upon us and we can actually be strong and fruitful and successful in our lives as Xians.

But what led P. to say this? How did he come to this conclusion, X the way to be most effective in God’s service, the way to be a success for Jesus, is to be weak? That only when we acknowledge our weaknesses can we know God’s grace and thus be strong? What are the weaknesses P. has in mind when he quotes Jesus in v.9, My power is made perfect in weakness? And then says, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses? And then again in v. 10 says, For the sake of Xt, then, I am content, even delight in weaknesses?

Phps the best way the answer this is to let the other 4 words in v. 10 fill out what he has in mind. What he summarises as weaknesses in v. 9, he spells out in 4 other words in v. 10: insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties.

INSULTS: when people think of clever ways of makg our faith or our life-style or our words look stupid, or weird, or inconsistent.

HARDSHIPS: circumstances forced upon us, things happening against our will, difficulties in our lives, pressures, stresses X we didn’t plan or even think wd be this way. But there we are, and it’s hard.

PERSECUTIONS: painful circumstances, or acts of prejudice or opposition from people ’cos of our Xian fth or our Xian moral commitmts. It’s when we’re not treated fairly and people take advantage of us.

DIFFICULTIES (or distresses or troubles): the idea here is one of pressure, or crushg, or being weighed down; circumstances X tend to overcome us with stress and tension.

So what P. has in mind here is not sin. He is not talkg abt a kind of behaviour – like we might say, X person has a weakness for greed, or X person has a weakness for over-eatg. P. is not talkg abt bad choices we make. He is not sayg, ‘The power of Xt is perfected in my bad choices’, or ‘I will all the more gladly boast of my bad choices’. Wknesses here are not wrong ways of behavg. They are circumstances and situations and experiences and wounds X make us look weak, thgs X we’d probably want to get rid of if we had the human strength:

If we were ‘strong’, we might take charge of our own fortune, and turn back the emerging hardship, and change our circumstances so they go the way we want them to, and not force us into discomfort.

If we were ‘strong’, we might use our resources to get out of the calamity or distress as fast as possible, or take charge of the situation so as to minimise its pressure.

But in reality, we don’t usually have that kind of human strength, and in any case, often these circumstances are beyond our control.

So these weaknesses X P. refers to are experiences and situations and wounds that are hard to bear and very difficult to remove.

But what is the SOURCE of such weaknesses? What happened in P’s situation X made him feel so weak? Did these thgs come from God or Satan? Or both?

If we take P’s ‘thorn in the flesh’ (V.7) as an eg, we can see what his answer is. In vv.1-4 of our reading, P. describes what amazg revelations of God and his glory he has been given – he was caught up into Paradise and heard thgs X cannot be told on earth (vv.3-4).

Wd X we cd all have such experiences of God! Is X not what we shd all be seekg to sustain us in our Xian lives?

How do you think P. wd’ve felt? Elated, renewed, excited! And how easy it wd have been for him to think X he was already risg above the ordinary hardships and troubles of earthly life because he was given such privileges!

But v. 7 shows us what actually happened: To keep me from being too elated or conceited, or to keep me from exaltg myself by these wonderful revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to keep me from being too elated.

Now this thorn in the flesh (whether it was some physical problem or some other problem) is one of the weaknesses P. is talkg abt. We know this because when he prays X God wd take it away in v. 8 (3 times I appealed to the Lord abt this, X it wd leave me, 3 times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me), the Lord answers in v. 9, ‘My power is made perfect in weakness. So the thorn in the flesh is one of the weaknesses we are talkg abt.

And where did it come from? P. calls it a ‘messenger of Satan’ (v. 7) given him to harass him and make life difficult for him. So one clear answer is X some weaknesses come from Satan, whose aim is always to undermine the Xian and make life as difficult as possible. He is out to get us, and his aim is destruction and misery and hindrance. He loves to try to get us to think X it’s all too much hassle, too much bother, too much hard work, and X really there’s no advantage in being a Xian, you’re no more protected from the vagaries of life than anyone else! So clearly some troubles at least come from the devil.

But it’s not that simple, is it? Satan is not the only one at work here. God is at work. This thorn is not just the work of Satan to destroy. It’s also the work of God to save, to have a +ve effect on P.

We know this for 2 reasons:

1st, ‘cos P. describes the purpose of the thorn in terms of preventg pride (7). But Satan’s whole design is to produce pride, not to prevent it. X’s how he damages Xians: either with pride in what we have done, or despair over what we haven’t done. P’s revelations in Paradise made him vulnerable to pride and exaltg himself. God uses the hostile intentions of Satan for P’s holiness, to make P. more Xtlike and humble. So God appointed this thorn of Satan for P’s spiritual good. This weakness, this obstruction, this hardship, was actually designed by God for P’s benefit.

So this thorn was a messenger of Satan – there was nothing intrinsically good abt it, and no amt of pious talk cd ever cover up the fact. Nevertheless, it was ‘given’ him by God for beneficial reasons.

Perhaps P. remembered what happened to Joseph in the OT. The 11 brothers sold Joseph into slavery, an evil action. But reflectg on it years later, Joseph himself cd say to his brother, You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the savg of many lives (Gen. 50:20).

So in P’s case, the immediate reason for the thorn, from God’s point of view, was the exceptional revelations; and its immediate purpose was to keep P. from spiritual pride and conceit.

b) The other reason we know the thorn is God’s work and not just Satan’s, is X when P. prays in v. 8 X God wd take it away, the Lord says (9), No, because my power is made perfect in weakness. In other words, I have a purpose in what is happeng to you, Paul. This is not ultimately Satan’s destroying, a –ve work. It is ultimately my savg, a +ve work.

Satan may only do what God the Father allows for the ultimate good of his children. God controls Satan. The very thorn itself in the hand of God becomes X by which God gives P. gt spiritual blessg. It was intended by Satan to harm, but God intended it for good.

And of course, X in itself shd be a gt encouragemt for belivers. When thgs seem to be going wrg, difficulties keep occurrg, life seems to be negative and in effect the devil seems to be havg a field day, even then, in fact God is in control, he can be trusted to brg good out of even the most negative and depressg situation.

A few years ago, Rudi Heinze, who used to be vice-principal here and is now retired back to America, had a successful quintupal heart bypass operation. We were kept up to date on what happened by his daughter Lisa. In one of her emails, she reflected on God’s purposes and the way he interacts in our lives. This is what she wrote:

‘We are grateful to God for bringing Rudi through and granting him this measure of healing. But we realise that the situation could easily have gone in another direction. Other complications cd have occurred. My father might easily have been taken from us by death. But we cannot say that God is good based on the fact that our prayers were answered in a way that we are in agreemt with. Yes, we think God did the ‘right’ thing by pulling Rudi through this crisis. Of course. It is our will that he stay with us for a very long time to come. But even if God had chosen to reward this good and faithful servant with the ultimate gift, the gift of homecoming, we wd still have to cry out that GOD IS GOOD! Our lives are in his hands. We feel secure in that knowledge. Our desire is to love and serve him and live under him in his kingdom. Let’s never lose sight of God’s love and goodness.’

And this leads to our final question – what is the purpose of such weaknesses? Is there a goal or aim for why weaknesses, difficulties, problems come? Why insults, persecutions, difficulties, troubles? Why am I struggling in this way? Why do I or my relatives have this illness? Why are things so difficult? Why is nthg workg in my life?

P. gives 3 brief answers abt his own experience, which are NB for us all to live by:

1) He says X Satan has the purpose to harass and torment P., to batter him, to silence him, to hinder his work. And so it’s right to pray for relief. X’s what P. did until he got a word from the Lord (8). If the Lord had never said in response to Paul’s prayer, ‘No, it isn’t my will that you be relieved of this thorn, P. wd’ve been justified, indeed required, to continue to pray for his healing. One writer said, ‘Never cease praying for healing until you are shown otherwise either by divine revelation or death!’.

Pain is not a good thg in itself. God does not delight in our sufferg. Satan does, and must be resisted. P. knew Satan was houndg him, and so he pleaded with God, Lord, you are sovereign and have triumphed over Satan, and so Satan can do nthg without your permission. So I pray X you will prevent Satan from harassg me. Take Satan off my back, I want to get on with my work without feelg weak. Surely Lord, I would be a much better servant of yours without this handicap!’.

And P’s response is an example for us. Instead of gettg all down and desperate in the face of exhaustion and accident and hatred and danger, the apostle turns his eyes to his God and Saviour. He keeps lookg to the Lord and therefore doesn’t lose perspective, hope. And so when we face the struggles, sicknesses and sorrows X so often make up our daily lives, let’s turn immediately to the Lord and seek his face and ask for his healing.

And in Paul’s case, the only reason he ceased asking for healing was ‘cos God, in effect, told him to shut up. ‘No, Paul. I’m not going to heal you. It isn’t my will in this instance that you be set free from this affliction. Rather I have a higher purpose in view: your humility and my Son’s glory manifest in the context of your on-going weakness’.

To which Paul, in effect, replied: ‘OK, Lord, I’ll shut up and submit to your merciful purpose in my life. I know you love me and desire what is ultimately of greatest good for my spiritual growth. Therefore, my prayer now is that you don’t let me miss out on any spiritual good that might come my way from this illness. Teach me everything I need to know and sustain me that I might be a platform for the glory of Christ and a source of comfort to other suffering blvers’.


2)God’s purpose over and through Satan’s harassmt is our HUMILITY. P. was in danger of spiritual pride and exaltg himself, and God took steps to keep him humble. And we might well think God’s answer to P’s prayer was rather a strange one – why didn’t he just remove the thorn? Why doesn’t he always remove difficulties, hindrances, thgs X come into our lives X make us weak? X’s certainly what P. wanted. And that’s certainly what I wd want.

But God’s answer to his request was not the answer X he – or we – wd wish. What we look for in our struggles and weaknesses is RELIEF from Satan’s harassmts, relief from sickness and sleepnessness, relief from fightings in the family and problems at work, relief from exhaustion and depression. P. sought it too – but did not receive it. WHY?

Well, it seems to be the case X God thinks humility is more NB than comfort. Humility is more NB than freedom from pain. God may give us a mountain top experience in Paradise, and then brg us through anguish and weakness lest we think we have risen above the need for total reliance on his GRACE. So his purpose is our humility and lowliness and reliance on him.

3)Finally, God’s purpose in our weakness is to glorify the grace and power of his Son. P. didn’t get what he expected or even wanted when he prayed X God wd take away the thorn. But he did get another revelation from God which we see in v. 9 – Jesus says, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Or, as The Message puts it, My grace is enough, it’s all that you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

God’s design, we might say, is to make us all showcases for Jesus’ power. But not necessarily in the way you or I wd expect or even want: not by gettg rid of all our weaknesses, but by givg strength to endure and even rejoice in the difficulties. Paul’s ministry would be even more effective ‘cos of this thorn, as people saw the grace of God so evidently at work in him, despite his natural weakness.

God made us to need him, and, he has offered himself to us. And X’s what we see in Paul. In 2 Cor., he speaks of himself and his struggles, his weaknesses, his vulnerability, and his message. And finally he says he has learned a lesson he wd never want to live without: When I am weak, then I am strong, ‘cos only then can I know God’s grace and power workg through me (10).

So what’s a key way to live our Xian lives? To acknowledge our weaknesses. To say to God, ‘I am weak, I have needs, I have distresses and struggles and pains and who knows what else? Of myself, I can accomplish nthg, I am WEAK’. And X’s what P. learnt. But he also knew this: X Xt uses precisely such brokenness to build his church! Those weaknesses? Those are the tools Jesus uses to make us effective in his service!

Probably we don’t like that! We like to be strong, we want to be healthy, likeable. We want to be able to accomplish, want people to acknowledge that we’re able, X we’re quite something. But in God’s kingdom, our ability ultimately counts for nthg. All NB is GOD’s workg, and our willingness to admit X his strength is made perfect in our weakness. Xian spirituality delights in weaknesses; only in the acceptance and confession of weaknesses does the Xian find the supernatural grace of God flowing to meet their needs.

I’m sure we wd all say it’s important that when we preach a sermon, we should also first preach it to ourselves. And I feel something of a hypocrite in preaching on this passage, as I don’t think I’ve learnt this lesson of God giving strength in weakness. Many of you know that over the past months, I have had some health problems in terms of various bits of me not working properly. In particular, and of most nuisance, I have had this ear infection since Xmas day, which has left me very deaf, which has got increasingly hard to cope with. So I have been feeling somewhat wobbly and vulnerable and inadequate and angry in recent days. So may I ask you to pray for me, that I would learn what Paul learnt in these vss, X when I am weak, then I am strong, that God’s strength is made perfect in my weakness, X I wd rely on the grace of God in this situation.

And may we all be able to accept and acknowledge our weaknesses, because only then will we find the supernatural grace of God flowg to meet our needs. Weaknesses can keep us pinned to the Lord, in trust and confidence. Then he can really use us. Jesus says, My power is made perfect in weakness. May we all know that to be true in the coming days, months and years.