Rev. David Holwick U 2 Corinthians sermon series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 20, 1999
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
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SERMON SUMMARY: Paul had tremendous spiritual experiences but God has a
way of balancing things out. His greatest vision was followed by a
"thorn in the flesh." Thorns have their purpose and lead us to
depend upon God's grace.
I. Your most incredible spiritual experience.
A. What is the most remarkable thing God has done to you?
1) Most in our church - nothing earth-shattering.
2) Some importance to us, probably boring to anyone else.
3) Then there's Oral Roberts and his "900 foot Jesus."
B. Paul was like Oral.
1) He had visions on a regular basis.
a) Acts 9:3-9,12 On way to Damascus, has two visions.
b) Acts 16:9-10 Man of Macedonia, "Come over here!"
c) Acts 18:9-10 Jesus - keep on preaching.
d) Acts 22:17-21 Trance in Jerusalem temple.
e) Acts 23:11 Jesus - you'll testify in Rome.
f) Acts 27:23-24 Angel - you'll survive storm.
2) One vision blew away them all.
II. I think I'm in Paradise.
A. Man in Christ. 12:2
1) Obviously Paul himself. "me" in 12:7
2) Trying to deflect conceit.
B. Caught up to heaven.
1) Third heaven. 12:2
a) Only reference in Bible.
1> Though often spoken of in plural, "heavens."
b) Objects associated with heaven:
1> Birds.
2> Clouds and weather.
3> Stars.
4> God and angels.
c) Usual interpretation:
1> First is atmosphere.
2> Second is outer space (stars).
3> Third is spiritual realm.
A> Location can't be pinned down.
2) Paradise. 12:4
a) Persian world for walled garden.
b) A place of natural beauty, like Eden.
C. Out of body?
1) OBE's nothing new.
2) Most of Paul's visions were dreams at night.
a) He wasn't sure about this one. 12:3
3) Caught up.
The use of the word HARPAZEIN (12:2,4) suggests
Paul suddenly lost any sense of physical
orientation.
It denotes a sudden rapture, not a gradual ascent.
Used in Acts 8:39 of Philip.
Used in 1 Thess 4:17 of believers at Rapture.
D. Sealed vision. 12:4
1) Inexpressible.
2) Even if he could put it in words, he wasn't allowed.
a) Similar statements in Daniel and Revelation.
E. But wait, there's more...
1) Many run after spiritual experiences.
a) Part of appeal of drug culture: LSD, etc.
b) "New Age" movement emphasizes it, as does Pentecostalism.
2) Paul says it was great but irrelevant.
a) His words and actions matter more than his visions. 12:6
b) In case he forgot this, God sent a balancing act...
III. The thorn.
A. In the flesh.
1) A long history of interpretations.
a) Catholic - spiritual temptations.
b) Eastern Orthodox - persecution. (support from context)
c) Protestant - physical illness.
1> Eye condition.
A> Galatians 4:13 uses same word "weakness" in
sense of illness.
B> Context suggests he had problems with his eyes.
2> Epilepsy.
3> Recurrent malaria.
2) Vague for a reason?
a) Had Paul revealed what his thorn was, future Christians
who didn't share it would find this irrelevant.
b) As it is, countless believers have been helped by his
reference to his "thorn."
B. Messenger of Satan.
1) Paul was tempted to have hard thoughts toward God.
2) Ultimately, God is behind the thorn.
a) "There was sent" is a theological passive, implying
God was the sender.
b) This is confirmed by the fact that the "thorn" was given
to achieve a beneficial purpose -- the prevention of
spiritual conceit.
c) Also, Paul asked God to take away the messenger. 12:8
C. Pleading with God.
1) Pleaded three times.
a) Reminiscent of Jesus' prayers in the garden. Matt 26:30
b) Paul then learned about God's grace, just as Jesus
learned as a result of his experience of suffering.
cf. Heb 5:7-10
JETS 3-94 (December 1996) 559-570
Redemptive Suffering and Paul's Thorn In The Flesh
Ronald Russell
2) Not every prayer is answered the way we want.
a) But this does not mean there is no answer.
IV. The Therapy.
A. Three reasons for the thorn.
1) To keep Paul from becoming proud because of his revelations
and visions. 12:7
2) To enable him to experience the power of Christ. 12:9
3) To teach him the true purpose of hardships, persecutions,
and personal difficulties. 12:10
B. The entire passage is more concerned with the power and grace
of the Lord than with the weakness of the apostle.
1) Physical infirmity is evidence that the body "is sown in
weakness" (1 Cor 15:43).
2) It reminds us we are creatures and dependent on the Creator.
C. Similarity with Jacob in Old Testament.
1) He learned to depend totally upon God only after he had
been inflicted with a physical injury (hip). Gen 32:24-32
2) These instances of illness suggest that the real issue
in the matter of human suffering is man's relationship
to God rather than his own physical condition,
as painful as that may be.
V. God's grace is good enough.
A. Our power doesn't come from being perfect.
A professor at Harvard once said to Rebecca Pippert, "I admire
the fact that you are devout, but in the end it doesn't make
any difference whether you believe in God or not.
Life is essentially the same for everyone.
Don't Christians get cancer, get divorced, long for their
children to do well?
Don't Christians fail, morally?"
She said yes.
"You're proving my point," he responded.
"God DOESN'T make a difference."
She told him that one of the difficulties is that Christians
have tried to pin the difference in the wrong place.
Sometimes we try to make it seem as if we are no longer human
when we follow Jesus.
What is the difference that God makes?
It begins to show, she told him, in HOW WE HANDLE problems and
personal failings - not in freedom from them.
She has seen that there is nothing we do that does not contain
some corruption, that does not have some self-serving motive.
God shows us the problem of human nature and He gives us a
diagnosis for the condition: SIN.
"If I was that hard on myself," he interrupted, "I'd be
depressed!
But you seem so joyful."
So then she told him the rest of the story:
"That's because I've also been given a solution.
It's the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy
Spirit to help me overcome."
"Has the cure worked?" the professor asked.
"I'm not a finished product, if that's what you mean.
But I'm learning to live in recovery from sin and I'm growing
in amazing grace, and that would make anyone joyful!"
#1195
B. We have a new perspective.
1) Suffering caused Paul to enter into a new understanding,
a deeper faith.
a) While there are many things you can do without,
There is one thing you cannot do without: Grace.
b) Sufficient grace - sufficient for what?
1> He doesn't say. Just sufficient.
2> Enough to make it possible to endure.
3> Enough to keep you going on the journey even though
you have stumbled.
4> Enough to keep you moving when all spiritual stamina
is spent.
2) Delighting in weakness.
a) Joni Eareckson Tada, who is in a wheelchair, says:
"Our weaknesses are megaphones that shout,
'This person is nothing without God!'" #2862
b) God sometimes works THROUGH our human weaknesses,
rather than eliminating those weaknesses.
C. Getting our strength from God.
Mike Hawkin's father was an executive for the Southern Baptists
in Oklahoma.
They were a close family, but they had a secret - their son
Mike was a homosexual.
What is more, he had developed AIDS.
He said his parents told him they could not accept his
lifestyle, but they would never stop loving him."
Other Christians would read 1 Corinthians 6:9 to Mike -
"Homosexuals don't enter the kingdom of heaven."
But they never read verse 11 to him - "he can be washed."
When he realized God could set him free, he gave his heart
completely to the Lord.
Hawkins said it was the love of his parents that first
inspired him to make a change.
"No matter how much I hurt them or deliberately made them cry,
they were there for me."
In December 1991, Hawkins was hospitalized with an AIDS-related
disease.
He said he has occasionally had trouble dealing with the fact
that he has AIDS.
"I would say to God, 'Why me? You knew beforehand that I was
going to come out of this lifestyle; why did you let me get
this disease?'"
"But Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:7, that when I am weak, then
I am strong.
For me, AIDS doesn't stand for Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome.
It stands for Adventure In Divine Submission."
#3604
VI. Assessing our strengths and weaknesses.
A. Many in congregation are going through tough events right now.
1) Illness.
2) Legal problems.
3) Family problems.
B. We should pray that the problems will be solved.
C. We should also learn whatever lessons we can, and trust in God.
1) He will see us through.
2) He will be our strength.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#1195 "When You Don't Have It All Together," Rebecca Manley Pippert,
Discipleship Journal #57, May 1990, page 17.
#2862 "Wanted: Sinners, Weaklings, and Misfits," by Joni Eareckson Tada,
Discipleship Journal #84, November 1994, page 64.
#3604 "He Became Homosexual-free Via Parents' Love," Ray Fink, Online
Christianity Today (America Online), May 2, 1995.
#4688 "Paulus Infirmus: The Pauline Concept of Weakness," David Alan Black,
Theological Journal Library (Galaxie Software): Grace Theological
Journal, Spring 1984, page 80.
These and 4,500 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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