Power vs. Weakness
So what would happen if we had the humility and the courage to follow the way of Christ? To stop pretending, stop hiding our weaknesses and allowed those around us to know that we are not fine and we are not always right!?
The church in Corinth was started by a man named Paul. We talked about Paul before when we talked about the Secret to Contentment.
Paul started numerous churches in different cities. He’s writing this letter to the church in Corinth in part because there are men who claim to be super-apostles (11.5) who are boasting about all they had done for God and for the church and they were criticizing Paul for his weakness.
Here’s what they said about Paul: “For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” – 2 Corinthians 10:10
In other words, Paul can write but he can’t preach!
I don’t know about you but when I think about Paul, when I think about the person who planted church after church, who led so many people to Christ for the very first time, who wrote over half of your New Testament, who suffered and endured so much for the sake of Christ, I don’t think about a man who is weak. I don’t think about a person who can’t preach! But this is the criticism Paul is under.
Just a side note, if you are doing God’s work you will come under fire. If you are working your tail off in the Kingdom of God you will face criticism and resistance. Do not get discouraged. Keep going! It probably means you’re doing something right!
Boasting About the Right Things
Paul tells the church…
2 Corinthians 12.6-10
If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God.
By the way, people are often critical of people in leadership. Especially church leadership. But before you or I criticize someone who has given their lives to serving the church, we should take stock of what we “can see in their life and hear in their message.”
Paul continues…
So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.
Paul could have boasted about his strength. He could have gone on and on about all his accomplishments. He could have said, do you know how many churches I’ve started? Do you know how many people I have led to Christ? Do you know how many mission trips I’ve been on? Not those one-week trips where you get to go shopping on the last day and then fly home. I mean real, long-term, you got to walk from this city to that city, you have to be rejected and endure physical harm for preaching the gospel kind of mission trips. Do you know how many cities I’ve preached in? How many nights I’ve gone to bed hungry?
But Paul doesn’t boast about his strength.
Instead, he says let me tell you about my weakness. Let me tell you where I’m struggling right now. Let me tell you my problem. I’m not fine. I’m not alright. I’m not strong. Listen to this. “I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.”
The Thorn
What was the thorn in the flesh? What is Paul talking about? What was his struggle, his difficulty, his problem?
The truth is we don’t know. Some people think it was the criticism and persecution he was receiving from other people. Some people think it was some temptation or personal struggle in his life. Some people think it was some kind of health issue. Whatever it was, in Paul’s view it was such a problem he called it a “messenger from Satan!”
Have you ever had that kind of difficulty? That kind of struggle? That kind of battle going on in your own personal life?
Criticism
Maybe for you, it was dealing with criticism. You felt like you were under attack. I don’t know about you but it is incredibly difficult to stand up under personal attack. When people are are unkind, when they say things that are untrue, words hurt.
Temptation
Maybe for you, it was dealing with temptation and sin in your life. It seems like no matter what you did, you couldn’t conquer the reoccurring sin and constant temptation in your life. When you’re in that kind of battle, knowing what is right but continuing to fall and struggle and lose the battle against temptation, it hurts.
Sickness
Or maybe for you, it was some kind of health issue. It could be anything from a nagging injury or problem that just won’t go away to a debilitating disease. When you’re facing physical pain and real health issues that don’t have quick solutions and continue to cause you problems, it hurts.
I think one of the reasons Paul didn’t specify his weakness is because it allows all of us, no matter what we’re dealing with, to identify with him in this moment.
Take it Away!
This thorn in the flesh, this problem that he called a messenger from Satan, was so bad that Paul says…
Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.
Over, and over, and over again Paul prayed for God to take it away. Three times. But…
Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
When I am weak, then I am strong? What is Paul talking about?
We’ve been taught and programmed to believe that it’s weak to show weakness. This is why I try not to cry during Hallmark movies. I actually don’t cry during Hallmark movies, it’s those Hallmark commercials that get me!
But Paul says… You want to boast about your strength? Do you want to flaunt your power? Do you want to flex your muscles?
Go ahead. But let me tell you about my weakness. And let me tell you what I heard Jesus say when I was praying three times for Jesus to take away my struggle. Let me tell you what I heard Jesus say when I was begging him to make me strong. This is what I heard Jesus say, He said… “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”
What is the power found in weakness?
But that power, that grace, will never be revealed, will never be experienced, as long as we keep pretending to be strong. As long as we keep pretending to have it all together. As long as we keep saying we’re FINE and insisting that we’re RIGHT!
But here’s maybe the most powerful question we could ask today:
What changes about us when we, like Paul, center our lives not on what we’ve done but on what Christ has done?
Not on our strength, but on Christ’s strength.
Not on what we’ve accomplished, but on what Jesus accomplished on the cross!
When you leverage your strength to get your way, you make everything all about you.
When you leverage your weakness for the sake of others, you all allow Christ to make everything about Him.
One uses power to get its own way.
The other uses humility to follow the way of Christ.
Gus and Hal
In his book, Canoeing the Mountains, Todd Bolsinger tells the story of Gus and Hal.
Gus is an amputee confined to a wheelchair. Hal is blind. Alone they would be what we sometimes call shut-ins. Neither of them can get around very easily on their own. But every Sunday they would show up for church. They would make their way through the parking lot and into the building. They would find their place together to sit in the auditorium for worship. Gus sits in a wheelchair and gives directions. He can’t walk, but he can see. Hal pushes the wheelchair and follows Gus’s directions. He can’t see, but he can walk. And together, and ONLY TOGETHER, they come to church. They worship. And they inspire everyone who sees them. And they remind people what happens when we don’t cover up our weaknesses, but we allow others to come alongside of us and where we are weak, they are strong.
This is not only a beautiful picture of how things are supposed to be in the church, this is also a beautiful reminder of what Jesus does for us.
Not only should we come around those around us who need our help and be their strength, not only should we allow others to come around us and be our strength, but we have to allow Jesus to come alongside of us and remember that wherever we are weak, HE IS STRONG.
God’s Greatest Opportunity to Demonstrate His Power
And His greatest opportunity to demonstrate to us and to the world around us what His strength, what His power, what His love looks like is to allow His strength to shine through our weakness.
Here’s what I want you to know today…
The power of God is the grace of God revealed in your weakness!
This is the blessing you can count and you can count on today.
But remember, the grace of Jesus can only be revealed in you when you are humble enough to allow others to see your weakness.
You can’t keep pretending you’re fine. You can’t keep pretending you’re right. You have to be honest and humble enough to allow others to see where you are weak and see what God has done for you!
Let People See the Power of Christ in You
Here’s a question… What weakness do you have that, if you had the courage to share, would encourage someone else and bring glory to Jesus?
How has Jesus come alongside you and helped you and been your strength? What’s keeping you from telling that story. From saying… I was blind and could not see a way forward, but Jesus could see the way forward and He led me right where I needed to be.
I was completely paralyzed by the situation in my life but Jesus, He carried me through, there was only one set of footprints in the sand and they were not mine. I could not walk. But Jesus carried me.
What stories have you been reluctant to tell because you think they highlight your weakness, but in truth, they highlight the strength, the power, and the grace of God?
What if you had the courage to tell those stories? Like Paul, to say let me tell you about my weakness, about my thorn in the flesh. But let me tell you what I heard Jesus say… “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”
What if?
By the way, the World’s Strongest Man this year is not Matins Licis. It’s Jesus. He wins the competition every year. Jesus is stronger.
So what would happen if we quit pretending and competing to be strong are were able to share where we are weak? What if we were humble towards each other, and kind to each other, and real with each other. What if it wasn’t uncommon for us to share our weaknesses? What if we were free to share the sins we’re struggling with, the ways in which we’re prideful, the health concerns we’re facing, the trouble we’re dealing with, what’s really going on with our kids, what’s really going on at our work, what’s really happening in our marriages? What if we could talk about our weaknesses?
I think if that happened, we might have a church. I think if that happened, I think Jesus would be revealed as our true source of strength.
It was Jesus who, remember, was born in a manger because there was no room in the inn. It was Jesus, remember, who grew up in a little town of Nazareth that no one had even really heard of. It was Jesus, remember, who was known as a carpenter’s son. And it was Jesus, remember, who died on a criminal’s cross.
Show me where in the story you see power, wealth, entitlement, or pride. It’s not there. It’s a story of weakness. But it’s a story that reveals the mighty power of God.
Paul would go on to say it this way, “For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God.” – 2 Corinthians 13:4
Today, because of the amazing grace of God, we too live by the power of God.
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