Title: Grace Upon Grace Sufficient Grace - II Corinthians 12:1-10 Aim: Exhort to depend upon God & trust in His all sufficient grace.

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1 1 Title: Grace Upon Grace Sufficient Grace - II Corinthians 12:1-10 Aim: Exhort to depend upon God & trust in His all sufficient grace. Intro: As I thought about this text & began to prepare this message, my concern was & still is that these would not just be easy words, a pat answer given for those who have gone/are going thru a deep valley, some overwhelming trial/struggle. All of us have traveled thru dark valleys, be it the death of a loved one, especially a child/spouse, or a life-threatening or debilitating illness, or an ongoing struggle w/no end in sight, the breakup of a relationship, bringing emptiness/hurt, or the wounds of a friend/bro in Christ, etc. Perhaps it s a battle you lose more than win against temptation or fear, etc. Whatever the struggle, it s left you weak, discouraged, hurt, & you may not be ready to hear the truth of God thru Paul in II Cor.12:9 My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. My prayer is that God will make each of us ready/able to hear this truth today & take it into our hearts & rest upon it. Theme: Grace upon grace we ve considered all this year how God has lavished His grace/favor upon His children thru our Lord/ Savior Jesus Christ. We ve considered how He wants us to be channels of His grace to one another & the world. One of the ways He lavishes His grace upon us & also uses us to pour out His grace upon others is by His grace given & power displayed in our weaknesses. I pray that you will believe & rest in the truth that God s gracious favor is more than sufficient for you, at all times, no matter what your need or concern or struggle. Do you believe that? Are you resting in that, experiencing that truth? II Corinthians 12:1-10 [READ]. In II Cor.10-12, Paul felt it necessary to defend his ministry & apostleship against the berating of some so-called super-apostles in Corinth. They claimed he was soft when in person, but harsh/bold thru his writings, & that he had no real authority. There were some who wanted to exercise authority over the church, leading them into erroneous thinking. The Corinthian believers were tempted to think less of Paul, & thus of the Jesus he preached.

2 Paul reluctantly boasted of his call to be the apostle to the Gentiles & the ministry of bringing the gospel to the Corinthians, & how he did so w/out asking anything in return. He spoke of his background pedigree, so to speak (of which in Phil.3 he wrote that he counted it all as loss). He spoke of his sufferings for the sake of Christ labors, imprisonments, beatings, near death experiences, 5 times receiving 39 lashes from Jewish authorities, shipwrecks, dangers, sleepless nights, hunger/thirst, cold/exposure, the pressure of his burden for the churches he founded, etc. (11:23-29). These things, he said, showed his weaknesses, which pointed others to the power of God. Then here in chap12 he turned his attention to visions & revelations of the Lord, not to exalt himself, but again highlight a particular weakness & his dependence on God. A vision (Strong s), an appearance presented to one whether asleep or awake. A revelation is a disclosure of truth, esp concerning things before unknown. Visions/revelations were somewhat common in the NT remember Zechariah (Lk1); or Jesus transfiguration (Mt.17) & His appearance w/moses & Elijah; or Stephen (Acts7); or Ananias (Acts9). Peter (Acts10), giving him the understanding that God wanted Peter to go the Cornelius house & preach gospel to Gentiles there. John (Rev.1) had vision of the exalted Christ, & the revelation of what Christ was saying to the 7 churches in Asia Minor. So, Paul was not alone in receiving visions or revelations. Paul recalled numerous visions as recorded in Acts. Here he relates, at 1 st in the 3 rd person, as if it happened to someone else, a remarkable spiritual experience he had 14 yrs before he wrote II Cor. I think he did this (3 rd person) because he didn t want to glorify himself. He wrote about a man he knew (in vs 7 he reveals that he was the man) who was caught up to the 3 rd heaven. In Hebrew tradition, the 3 rd heaven was beyond the visible, blue sky (1 st heaven) & the starry sky (2 nd heaven), generally thought to be the abode of God. Then, this man (Paul) was caught up into paradise. The wd paradise has its roots in the Persian language & means an enclosed, luxurious garden, often found only 2

3 among royalty. Again, it describes the upper regions of heaven, & I think points to the throne room of God. Note that Paul said, in essence, I don t know whether this literally happened or was an out of body experience (vision). But Paul evidently had a throne of God experience, like Isaiah did (Is.6) I saw the Lord, sitting upon a throne And Paul said that he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. I don t think that means that he didn t understand what he heard, but that he was not permitted to tell others. Not told why Paul was given this experience or heard what he heard, but perhaps it was to encourage him & buoy him up thru all the difficulties he faced. Perhaps it was to give him courage to carry out the ministry to which God called him. This was something to boast about I bet none of those who opposed him & sought to undermine his ministry had any such experience. Paul had reason to boast, but he didn t relate this remarkable experience to make himself look good, but rather to set the stage for what he was about to share. God gave Paul this wonderful vision/revelation to buoy & encourage him, & it would have been natural for Paul to boast about that & think himself special & better than others who had no such experience. But to keep Paul from being too elated by (or glorying in) this vision/revelation, he was GIVEN a thorn in the flesh some sort of debilitating struggle. Now, a thorn, in our understanding, is a briar, a small, sharp barb that pricks the skin - & that s bad enough. But the wd Paul used for thorn is no small barb, no minor irritation, but a pointed piece of wood, a sharp stake, a major irritation, to say the least. We re not told what this thorn in the flesh was maybe a physical ailment, such as eye problems referred to in Gal, or a permanent disability as a result of being stoned or beaten, maybe persecution, or spiritual harassment (the guilt of his prior acts of murder, hurt), perhaps even a struggle w/temptation. But I think it s intentional that Paul didn t disclose what this thorn was. If we knew for sure, we would tend to compare our own struggles/irritations w/it. Ours would either be far worse & God s grace would not be sufficient, or not bad 3

4 enough for God to care about or help w/. Note again that this was given to Paul by whom? By God! But this gift from God was also a messenger of Satan. The reality is that in every difficult circumstance or struggle there are 2 forces at work. God is at work, to keep us humble & dependent on Him, to shape us into the image of Christ. But God also gives Satan permission, like He did w/job, to harass us in the midst of/thru the struggle. Tho Satan thinks he s gaining the upper hand, God is even thru him accomplishing His purposes. But easy for us, it s not! That wd translated harass means to strike w/the fist, give one a blow, treat w/violence (Strong s) in other wds, to beat or beat up. Anything beating you up lately? Paul prayed about this, as we should all pray about the struggles of our lives. He took it to His Lord. Always, in every situation, one of God s purposes in our struggles is to drive us to Him. Cry out to God. Paul pleaded w/the Lord about this, asking God to take it away, that it should leave him. Not sure if 3 times is literal (probably so) or simply means repeated again & again, as in Jewish culture, repetition emphasizes the intensity. But the point is that Paul prayed about this earnestly & for at least 2 times received no clear answer. Sometimes it s like that isn t it pray & pray & pray, & seem to get nowhere, no answer. But then God spoke to Paul, either audibly or in his mind/heart, not to say, Ok, Paul, I m going to take this thorn away, but to say, in essence, No, I m not going to take it away, but I will carry you, help you. My grace favor, kindness, My holding you in My grip is sufficient for you. That wd sufficient means being all that is needful, adequate, enough. What we usually think about when we say sufficient is just enough; adequate, but nothing more. But think about it. W/God, that wd grows not just enough, but more than enough, not just adequate, but plentiful, all that is needed & more! Or, as Strong s puts it, possessed w/unfailing strength. At the same time, God is saying that His grace is enough even if we have nothing else. He s all I need, & in reality, all I have! Everything else is temporary, transitory, even the people we might depend upon. What God is 4

5 promising Paul & us is that no matter what we face, no matter how hard it is, He will graciously carry us, strengthen us, guide us, provide for us, help us. What He wants us to do is to depend on Him. That is a gift of grace in itself. Our dependence upon God is the life-giving foundation we need. Humility before God, throwing ourselves on God that alone leads to life. And, what seems to be a strange thing, weakness leads to strength! God said to Paul, My power is made perfect in weakness. Paul wrote in response, Ok then, let me be weak I ll gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. When we are weak, which we always are, but the point is to recognize our weaknesses & look to God in regard to them when we are weak, God is strong, meaning that His strength/power are seen as He works in us despite our weaknesses. His power rests upon us that means takes up residency literally pitches a tent makes itself at home, takes possession of its dwelling (us). That means God s power, the resurrection power of Christ, is working w/in His children, in the midst of our weaknesses! So, in reality, when we are weak, but are depending on God, then we are strong, because we are in Christ & He is in us & at work, to carry out God s purposes in us & thru us, to show the world that He is real & there is salvation in Christ, there is hope in the midst of this dark, difficult world. God s power being displayed in our weaknesses gives hope to those around us. It is a witness. How do you do it? How do you find the strength? How do you maintain such peace? How do you make it thru such difficulty? The answer is simple but profound only by the sufficient grace of God. It s all grace grace upon grace! Let s be faithful to pray for our bro/sis in Christ as they go thru trials/struggles, but don t just pray for deliverance from the problem (sometimes God graciously does that). Pray for God s grace to carry them, guide them, help them in the midst of it, show forth His power thru their weakness. We boast not in ourselves, but in Christ & in His all sufficient grace & His strength/power displayed in our weaknesses! To God alone be the glory! 5