Good weekend to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Have you ever considered our sometimes passionate pursuit of ‘strength in weakness’? Education and sabbaticals; fitness workouts and healthy eating; counseling and therapy; medications and sometimes surgery… are all intended to strengthen an area of weakness in our body, or our thinking, or even our character development right?
This weekend we’ve come to one of the apostle Paul’s most profound statements: “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Jesus Christ’s sake, I delight in my weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:9,10)
Paul, you may recall, was one of the most educated, passionate, self-motivated, overachiever men of his generation, perhaps of the first century. And this profound statement is one of several secrets to Paul’s remarkable life which so amazingly impacted the Roman empire. Still today, 2000 years later, Paul powerfully touches a huge portion of humanity through his 13 letters in the New Testament. So what did Paul mean by this radical statement of strength in weakness?
Paul had memorized large amounts of the Old Testament, in his years of Pharisee training and pursuit, and this statement from the prophet Jeremiah, written more than 400 years before Jesus was born, had a profound impact on Paul’s life: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, or the strong man boast of his strength, or the rich man boast of his wealth, but let the man who boasts boast about this: that he knows and understands ME, that I am the LORD God who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on the earth, for in these I delight, declares the LORD.” (Jer. 9:23,24)
Paul makes reference to this guiding life principle in 2 Cor. 10:17,18 and elsewhere in his writings. It was Paul’s passionate pursuit to KNOW GOD and live a life that honored God, especially when facing difficulties and opposition.
While all the disciples and close followers of Jesus were mocked and most were persecuted in those years after Jesus returned to heaven, Paul’s long list of suffering is so outrageous and notable that Paul took a large chunk of 2 Cor. 11 to recount his suffering. (2 Cor. 11:24-28) Paul was not seeking sympathy. Rather Paul had discovered some powerful secrets in how God worked in Paul THROUGH Paul’s suffering.
What secrets?
First… Paul realized his suffering had been what Jesus had foretold when Jesus first encountered Paul in their Damascus Road encounter. Do you remember Jesus had given Ananias this clear message for Saul/Paul: “I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.” (Acts 9:15,16)
Paul had profound respect for God’s Sovereignty over all things, and in his case, Paul accepted that his greatest effectiveness as an apostle would include great suffering.
Saul the Pharisee had been a persecutor of Christians and his conversion and commissioning by Jesus to be an apostle, especially to the Gentiles, would result in great suffering for the rest of Paul’s life, far beyond what he had done to the Christians in Jerusalem!
Now, that should not be viewed as ‘payback’ from God nor ‘getting even’ but rather as the price Paul, and all the apostles, paid as followers of Jesus in bringing the Gospel into the darkness strongholds of our world. That same price has been paid by millions of Jesus followers from that day to this!
Second... Paul came to understand that significant, personal character development is a major byproduct of managing suffering in a God honoring way.
Paul wrote about it several times, including Romans 5:3-5 “…we glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
This calls us to consider how well we have handled our suffering and what character growth has resulted? How have we explained this to our children and grandchildren as we coach them in how best to handle disappointment or suffering or opposition or even outright conflict?
Third, Paul learned that sometimes his suffering was the direct result of dark kingdom opposition to Paul and the Gospel of Jesus, led by Satan himself!
In 2 Cor. 11:13-15 Paul wrote these powerful words: “Some people are false prophets, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Jesus Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”
Paul experienced almost daily opposition from Satan’s kingdom of darkness from which Paul and all Christians have been rescued. (Col. 1:12-14) An important part of Paul’s teachings included understanding spiritual warfare, and our identity in Christ, and our spiritual weapons with which we defend ourselves and fight against the dark kingdom! (2 Cor. 10:3-5 & Ephesians 6:10-18)
Oh my, we need to pause and reflect deeply on all these important truths through this weekend. The “lessons learned” study notes will be very helpful to you, and the worship song will be a great blessing to your soul, and let’s meet here again on Monday for more! OK?
Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:9,10.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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