Sermon by Dr. Jeffrey Jeremiah
September 18, 2005

"Superheroes Not Welcome"
II Corinthians 12:1-10

Cindy and I were able to spend a few hours at the "Great Escape" retreat last weekend in Olympia. The theme of the retreat was "Being Incredible," a take-off on the popular 2004 movie, "The Incredibles." "The Incredibles" tells the story of the exploits of Mr. Incredible (who has superhuman strength), his wife Elasti-girl (who has the ability to turn her body into a rubber band), daughter Violet (who can change her form), and son Dash (who has blinding speed). As I was enjoying the skit and video the youth staff presented, which included these superheroes and a number of others, I thought about what makes superheroes so popular. One reason is that superheroes have something we don’t have: superhuman powers, the ability to win all the battles, the ability to protect themselves from getting hurt. That’s very attractive to us. We’re all very aware daily of our lack of strength, our weaknesses and vulnerabilities. While superheroes hide their powers until they’re forced to use them, we human beings tend to hide our weaknesses until we’re forced to confront them. Being a superhero is the exact opposite of what’s taught in the passage just read. In verse nine Jesus said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." In weakness? If we’re honest, we’ll admit, "I don’t want power in weakness, I want escape from weakness." A critical element of God’s great desire for you is found in this passage. I’d like to talk today about the weaknesses in which Jesus’ power is made perfect, the source of these weaknesses (as shown in Paul’s "thorn in the flesh"), and the purpose of these weaknesses in our lives.

First, in verse nine Paul quotes Jesus as saying, "My power is made perfect in weakness." And then he writes, "I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses." What are these weaknesses? Verse 10 answers this question with four words: insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties. Insults: when people say things to your face that have the sole purpose of hurting you, or they spread malicious gossip behind your back. Hardships: this includes circumstances that are forced on you that you have no control over. You feel trapped or helpless. Then there are persecutions, abuses, wounds, or acts of prejudice from people who have targeted you because you’re a follower of Jesus Christ. Difficulties: the idea from the Greek word is that you’re under intense, crushing pressure, you feel you’re being overwhelmed. Weaknesses are insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties. What Paul is not talking about are the bad choices we make. Weaknesses here are not what we do, they’re situations we have little control over that make us look and feel weak, feeble, and pathetic.

Second is the source of these weaknesses. Let’s take a look at Paul’s "thorn in the flesh" as an example and see what he says. In verses one through four Paul describes what could be called a "superhero" experience. Among the many special, supernatural experiences he had enjoyed (he calls them "visions and revelations"), there was one in which he was caught up into what he calls the "third heaven" (in verse two) and "paradise" (in verse four). In Paul’s day it was understood that there were three levels to creation. There was the world, called the first heaven by the Jews. There were the sky and the stars, which was the second heaven. And then there was paradise, the "third heaven," that could not be seen. In paradise, Paul had been in the very presence of Jesus Himself. As a result of this incredible experience, Paul writes that "there was given to me a thorn in my flesh." He doesn’t identify this thorn. Through the centuries there have been many suggestions as to what it might have been: malaria, epilepsy, bad eyesight, a speech impediment. Some have argued that the thorn was a nagging wife. I was intrigued to learn this summer that John MacArthur believes the thorn was false teachers who constantly attacking Paul throughout his ministry. Regardless of what this thorn really was, it was clearly one of the weaknesses Paul is talking about. Where did it come from? Paul calls the thorn a "messenger of Satan," given to torment him. As believers in Jesus Christ, we know we’re targeted by Satan and his allies. He afflicts pain and suffering in our lives with the goal of our destruction, misery, and death. Certainly some of the weaknesses we may face in life come from the evil one.

But it’s not that simple. Satan is not the only one at work here. God is also at work. We know this because when Paul prays in verse eight that God would take the thorn away, the Lord says, "No." In other words, God says, "I’m doing something in this weakness, too." Jesus says this thorn is not ultimately Satan’s work, but His work. These weaknesses that Paul speaks of come not just from the evil one, as a part of the spiritual warfare the apostle—and all of us—face each day. These insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties also come from the Lord. What I just said can be unsettling, alarming. "You mean that God doesn’t care when I’m weak, when I can’t find a job, or that my spouse has cancer, or I can’t find a spouse, or the money is always running short? If that’s the case, what’s the point?" In the midst of insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties, I think we’ve all wondered about, even doubted like this, haven’t we? Paul gives two brief answers to that question, "What’s the point?" from his own experience that I think can be tremendously helpful for us to remember and live by. The first answer is that Satan is going to attack you. He’s going to torment you, to wreak havoc and doubt in your life, He’s going to attempt to destroy your faith, and he’ll do that by bringing pain into your life. Pain is not a good thing in itself. God does not delight in your suffering. Satan does. He delights in your suffering. He must be resisted. It’s right, appropriate, okay to pray to God for relief from those attacks. That’s what Paul did until he received an answer from the Lord. Second, God has a purpose over and through Satan’s attacks. It isn’t that God didn’t love Paul. He loved him greatly, as He loves all of us in Jesus Christ. It isn’t that God was indifferent to Paul, not at all. The Lord was personally involved in Paul’s life to shape him into the man he ought to be. Part of that was to give Paul these visions and revelations. Unlike superheroes, who are almost always presented as humble superheroes, God knows better when it comes to human beings. He knew these visions and revelations made Paul vulnerable to being conceited. Who wants to be around someone who’s conceited? No one! I think you’ll agree that that type of person is not a very good representative of Jesus Christ. So what God did was use the hostile attack of Satan, the thorn in the flesh, to keep Paul humble. And Paul is clearly humbled by this thorn. And so he goes to the Lord three times and asks, "Jesus, take that thorn out of my flesh. It’s crushing me. It’s breaking me." I’m sure he did this with the right motivation. "Don’t you know I’ll be a more effective Christian, a more effective minister if you take this away, God?" And Jesus replies, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (verse 9). He tells Paul, "I’m not going to take that thorn away. I’m going to leave it there, and I’m going to pour on my grace, and in the midst of my grace you’re going to endure and you’re going to give Me the glory and people are going to see the greatness of your God and the strength of your faith."

And that leads to God’s second purpose in our weaknesses, which is to glorify Him. The main point of verses nine and ten is this: God’s design is to make you a showcase for Jesus’ power, not your own power, Jesus’ power. And He showcases that power not by getting rid of all our weaknesses, but by giving His power, and with it the strength and peace and confidence and hope and yes, even joy to endure and prosper in weakness.