PAUL’S HOLY THORN
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on October 31, 2021 under 2021 |
Bethany Bible Church Sunday Message; October 31, 2021 from 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Theme: We should rejoice when we are made weak for Jesus’ sake; because it’s then that Jesus’ power is perfected in us.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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This morning, I’d like to begin by reading the very last verse of this morning’s passage. Read all by itself, these words would seem to convey an idea that would be absurd to this world—even a little cynical. And yet, they declare to us the kind of confidence that God wants us to have in times of trial.
In 2 Corinthians 12:10, the apostle Paul wrote;
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:10).
Now; an unbelieving person might hear that and think, “What kind of crazy talk is that?—Taking pleasure in things that make you weak?—Thinking that when you’re weak, then your strong? It sounds like some kind of riddle at best—or a bit of delusional thinking at worst!”
But those of us who have sincerely walked by faith with the Lord Jesus for any length of time will know exactly what Paul was saying. We’ve experienced it personally. Maybe not to the degree that Paul did—but certainly to some degree. And it has made this morning’s passage very a precious source of comfort to God’s people whenever they go through times of trial.
The secret to it all is found in the words “for Christ’s sake”. It’s not just anyone who can take comfort from those words. It’s only for those who are in Christ by faith—who have believed on His cross and are born again. And it’s not just in the trials themselves that we take pleasure. Rather it’s for the sake of our Lord that we rejoice in them. We have learned that as much as our heavenly Father desires to bless us with comfort, He desires even more to see Jesus His Son is glorified in us. And if it takes our being broken, and made weak, and incapacitated in ourselves in order for the power of Jesus to be put on display, then our loving heavenly Father will allow us to be made weak and humble and incapacitated “for Christ’s sake”.
Let’s look at what Paul said in the whole passage. You’ll find it in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. The apostle Paul wrote;
And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
And so, as strange and as paradoxical as it may seem—and even as crazy as it might sound to the unbelieving world—this passage is teaching us that, as Jesus’ followers, we should rejoice whenever we are made weak for Jesus’ sake; and that’s because it’s then that the power of Jesus Himself is perfected in us.
Nothing could be greater than that.
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Now; I believe that this passage is one that is a benefit and blessing to God’s people all on its own. Just verses 7-10 by themselves have been a source of great comfort and encouragement to Jesus’ followers throughout the ages. Many have quoted them in times of trial, and have even memorized them. But even so, it’s also very important that we take a moment to understand these words in their larger context.
The apostle Paul wrote them because he was dealing with a very serious problem. The Corinthian Christians to whom he wrote were being drawn away from the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ by the insidious work of false teachers. These false teachers were trying to persuade the Corinthian believers that faith in the atonement of the cross of Jesus alone was not enough to save them. Those false teachers were trying to sell them on the idea that they could not be righteous in the sight of God unless they observe certain religious rules and regulations and rituals and ceremonies. They were presenting themselves to the Corinthians as the ‘true’ apostles—the ‘eminent’ apostles. They were boasting in their own superiority and in their own qualifications; and were, at the same time, discouraging the Corinthians from listening to Paul. “His letters,” they were saying, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible” (2 Corinthians 10:10).
This was making it necessary for Paul to do something that he truly hated to have to do. He wrote to the Corinthians about his own credentials as a true apostle of Jesus. He ‘boasted’ before the Corinthians. But it was a kind of boasting that was completely different from that of those false teachers. They boasted in their supposedly superior qualities; but Paul boasted in the things that made him weak, and frail, and that seemed foolish and small in the eyes of this world. He boasted in all of the things that he had suffered for Jesus’ sake—in all the beatings and shipwrecks and imprisonments he had suffered as a preacher—in all the hunger and thirst and nakedness and cold he had experienced—in all the labors and trials and threats that he had endured. This all served to demonstrate that he was a true minister of Jesus Christ—the real thing.
Apparently, those false teachers even boasted about having visions and revelations. And when it came to such things, Paul could make an even greater boast than they could. In our last time together, we looked at what Paul had to say in 12:1-6. That’s where he wrote;
It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me (vv. 1-6).
It’s clear that it was Paul himself who had this remarkable experience. But even then, he wouldn’t come right out and say so. He simply said, “I know a man …” And then, he made it clear that he would only boast in his “infirmities”; that is, in his weaknesses. And that’s when we come to our passage this morning. He said that if he must boast, he would only boast in those things that made him weak—and all so that the power of Jesus could shine through him.
Now; that was Paul’s experience. And what about yours and mine? This may be a very practical question for some of us here today, dear brother or sister. I speak right now specifically to those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus and have been redeemed by His blood. It may be that you are being made weak right now by some circumstance—perhaps, in fact, very weak. It may be a physical ailment or a chronic illness that is weakening you. It may be a financial need—a lack of resources. It could be that you’re experiencing the pain of someone else’s hostility toward you—someone who is attacking you, or misrepresenting you, or seeking to shame you, or hindering your walk with Jesus. You may be wondering why it is that, if you’ve trusted Jesus as your Savior, you’re experiencing such a dreadfully hard and crippling trial. And you may now even be wondering how it could be that such an infirmity could make you strong?
Well; here’s an amazing thing that we discover from the words of this morning’s passage, dear brothers and sisters: God loves you and me so much that He desires—most of all—for the glory of His Son Jesus Christ to shine through us. That’s the greatest thing that could ever happen to us. But unless we are made weak in and of ourselves—unless we are stripped away of our own self-sufficiency—then the power of Jesus cannot shine through us as clearly as God desires. And that means that, if we must be made weak in order for the power of Jesus to rest upon us, then God will—in great love for us—allow us to be made weak.
And as surprising as it may be to this world—if we will willingly submit to God’s process of perfecting the power of Jesus in us—we have great reason to rejoice in our infirmities!
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So then; let’s look together at what the apostle Paul tells us about this. First, in verse 7, notice that …
1. GOD ALLOWS US, AS HIS SERVANTS, TO SUFFER HUMBLING WEAKNESSES.
Paul wrote and said, “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.” Paul had just gotten through telling the Corinthians about the remarkable experience God had given him. He was that “man” that he spoke of who had been given a glimpse of heavenly glory. But that wasn’t the only remarkable revelation he experienced. Did you notice that he spoke of “the abundance of the revelations”? There must have been many more. In fact, it was by revelation that God gave Paul the content of the gospel message that has changed the world over the past two-thousand years. In Galatians 1:11-12, he wrote;
But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:11-12).
This man Paul could rightly be considered the most significant Christian theologian and preacher in all of human history. He was an utterly unique world-transforming force. He was—through his Holy Spirit-inspired letters—the primary human instrument through which the soul-saving doctrine of justification by faith has been given to us, and by which the life-transforming gospel of Jesus Christ has been spread around the world. Only heaven will be able to declare fully how much good God has done—and continues to do—through Paul. And a thing like that could give a man a pretty big head. So—as he says twice in this verse—lest he should be ‘exalted above measure’, he was given ‘a thorn in the flesh’.
What exactly was this ‘thorn in the flesh’? There’s been a great deal of speculation about it. Because he refers to it as ‘a messenger of Satan’, some have thought that it was a person—or perhaps a group of persons—who persecuted him and hindered his ministry. That may be. He certainly had plenty of those! But the fact that he refers to it as a thorn ‘in the flesh’ suggests that it was something physical—some disablement or physical infirmity that hindered his ministry. He wrote to the Galatian church and said;
You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me (Galatians 4:13-15).
It may have been a debilitating eye disease—such as glaucoma. He even ended his letter to the Galatians by saying, “See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand!” (Galatians 6:11). It may have even given him an unpleasant appearance. But all the speculation about it doesn’t do any good. We’re not told what Paul’s ‘thorn in the flesh’ was. And I believe that was intentional. The Holy Spirit led Paul to leave it undefined; because that way, the lessons he has to teach us in this passage apply to any type of infirmity that you and I might experience in the Lord.
But though Paul didn’t say what it was, he was quite clear about where it came from … and why. He said that it was “a messenger of Satan” sent to “buffet” him and to keep him from being “exalted above measure”. And just think of what a great lesson that is to us! Even when it came to one of God’s greatest and most useful servants, the devil was able to attack him and ‘buffet’ him. Does this mean that God was unable to stop the devil? No; not at all. Paul asked the Lord three times that this ‘messenger from Satan’ be taken away from him; and the Lord simply said that His grace was sufficient. And that means that while the devil did it for his evil purpose, the Lord allowed it in order that the power of Jesus might be perfected in Paul.
Dear brother or sister; if you are going through any kind of trial right now—if any kind of ‘thorn in the flesh’ is afflicting you—please know that it’s not because something is happening to you that is outside of God’s control. Nothing can come into your life except what your loving heavenly Father permits. We all remember Romans 8:28, don’t we?—where it says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose”? Of course we do. But let’s not forget what it goes on to say in verse 29; “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son …” That’s the great purpose that He has called us to—to be conformed to the image of Jesus.
Therefore, our loving, good, sovereign heavenly Father will permit us to have a painful ‘thorn in the flesh’—and will even allow the devil, to a certain degree, to buffet us—if that’s what is necessary to accomplish the glorious work of bringing us into the image of His Son Jesus Christ.
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So then; God allows us, as His servants to—at times; and perhaps for long periods—to suffer humbling weaknesses. And that leads us to the next point; that …
2. THESE WEAKNESSES ARE DESIGNED TO SHOW FORTH JESUS’ POWER.
Paul’s ‘thorn’—whatever it was—was painful. All thorns are. And Paul himself went on to tell us in verse 8, “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.”
My wife and I can identify with Paul on that one. She suffered a dreadfully debilitating illness that afflicted her for almost 13 years—much of that time being spent confined to bed; and almost all of it confined to home. It has permanently changed our lives. We had gone to twenty-one different doctors during that time. Some of them were able to help only a little; most of them were not able to help at all, and none of them were able to cure her. And we called upon the elders of the church to come and anoint her with oil and pray for her healing. We called on them three separate times—asking them to plead with us that the Lord take this ‘thorn’ away from her. We wanted so desperately for this terrible trial to end. Our Lord understood how that felt too. He prayed in the garden three times that His horrible ‘cup’ of anguish be taken from Him.
But Paul only asked three times. Apparently, after that, Paul didn’t need to ask anymore. We’re told in verse 9 that the Lord spoke to him (how and in what manner He spoke is again something that the Holy Spirit has kept from us), and said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” The Lord—in whose service Paul was being afflicted with a trial—absolutely could have taken Paul’s trial away. But He didn’t. Instead, He gave Paul something better—something that, in fact, has been a blessing to God’s people ever since. He gave Paul the promise of His all-sufficient grace in the midst of that trial; and the assurance that His strength was brought to complete fulfillment in Paul through Paul’s weakness. Later on, in Philippians 4, Paul was able to testify—even while he was in prison for the Lord;
I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:12-13).
Dear brothers and sisters; you’ve often heard people say, “God will never give you anything that you cannot handle.” And I know that the people who say that certainly mean well. But I really think it would be better if we revise that to instead say, “God will never give you anything that He cannot handle—and that we can only handle by His grace.” That would be far closer to the truth. Our Lord gains no glory in what you or I can handle on our own. Instead, His strength is made perfect in our weakness—as others look at our time of suffering under the pain of ‘the thorn’, and yet see His sustaining grace at work in us.
That’s what the thorn is for. It made Paul’s thorn holy. It was why the enemy of our soul is permitted to buffet us for a time. It’s so that our Lord’s strength will be made perfect in our weakness. That’s why Paul was able to go on to say in verse 9, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest [or literally, 'tabernacle'] upon me.” It’s in the midst of our times of weakness—not in our times of personal sufficiency and self-reliance—that Jesus Christ’s gracious and all-sufficient power takes up residence upon us and abide in us.
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And just think of that! When it came to boasting—when it came to ‘bragging rights’ in opposition to those self-exalting false teachers—Paul said he would “most gladly” rather boast in his infirmities. It may seem strange to the world. But it makes perfect sense to those of us who are in the Lord.
And that leads us to a final and very practical point …
3. WE SHOULD REJOICE WHENEVER JESUS’ POWER IS MADE TO REST UPON US.
Paul went on to get specific. In verse 10, he said, “ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake.” These are all different types of thorns. And Paul suffered every one of them. “Infirmities” is just another word for “weaknesses”. Paul had been afflicted with many of them—perhaps many of them being physical in nature. But others were personal. He suffered “reproaches”; which, in the original language, speaks of violent, wanton attacks. He suffered quite a few of those—sometimes almost to the point of death. He also suffered “needs”. There were lots of times when he was without money, and without warm clothes, and without a roof over his head, and without food. He also suffered “persecutions”. He was often on the run; and he spent many, many lonely nights in a dark prison cell—not knowing if he would be allowed to live or be executed the next day. He also suffered “distresses”. That speaks of narrow situations—dire straits—times in which he didn’t know what to do or where to turn.
These were among the many ‘thorn-like’ experiences that he had. And he didn’t even say specifically what his particular ‘thorn in the flesh’ was in this morning’s passage. And yet, these were the things that he took “pleasure in”. And so should we. It’s not that we celebrate the ‘thorn’ as a thing in and of itself. That would be crazy. Rather, we celebrate what results from it. It makes us weak in our self-sufficiency and self-reliance so that the power of Jesus may shine through.
And that’s a great gift from God; for as Paul said, “when I am weak, then I am strong”
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Dear brother or sister; are you experiencing the pain of the thorn right now? If not—and you are a follower of Jesus—you will. But don’t despise that thorn. One of the great examples we see in the life of Paul is that he gained the benefit that came from the thorn—that is, the experience of the power of Christ resting on him—by the fact that he willingly embraced the thorn had been given to him by the goodwill of the Father.
Pastor James gave us some great advice on this. In James 1:2-4, we’re told;
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-4).
We are made “perfect and complete” by the power of Christ resting upon us. And so, we can ‘count it all joy’ when we first ‘know’ that the thorn is there to make us grow into the image of Jesus, and then ‘let’ it have its work in our lives. There’s nothing wrong in asking for that thorn to be taken away, of course. But when the Lord does not do so, then we need to learn to take pleasure in whatever it may be that God uses to cause the power of Jesus Christ to rest on us.
That’s when our ‘thorn’ truly becomes ‘holy’.
EA
