Biblical Principles For Kingdom Living

This Sunday Dr. Dan continues teaching about our spiritual freedon in a message titled “From Bondage To Freedom” based on the story of Nicodemus from John 5:1-21.  Join him this Sunday at 1:30 Eastern Time and remember you can visit the Archives to listen to previously aired messages anytime. 

“A THORNY SITUATION”

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

I don’t know too many people who claim to have had visions; or at least they do not want to admit it.  When my brother and I were small boys visiting my grandmother’s cabin in Spavinaw, my mother took us to look for local produce when we passed an old Indian woman selling berries by the side of the road.  Despite the fact that it was a hot summer day, the old woman was wrapped in a blanket surrounded by baskets of blackberries and strawberries.   While she was visiting with us, her eyes glazed over briefly and then she told us of the vision she had.  Pointing to my brother she said, “This boy is going to be a wrestler.”  Pointing to me she said, “And this young man will grow up to be a salesman.”  “That’s nice,” mother said as she quickly made her purchased and whooshed us in to car and away to the cabin.  By the way, in the passing of time, the vision did not see fulfillment for either my brother or I.  I am reminded of the test of a prophet in the Old Testament that if prophesied events come to pass, the one claiming to be a prophet is true to his word.  But if it does not come pass, he is no prophet!  Unfortunately, many years must pass before claims can be proved to be true or false.

Paul apparently was subject to visions.  In the Scripture before us, he begins by saying, “Far be it from ne to brag, but I’ve got to tell you about some visions I’ve had from the Lord.” 

“I knew this man about fourteen years ago . . .”  Paul relates the vision in the third person, rather than taking credit for the experience himself.  But it is obvious he was the subject of the vision.  First, he knew the exact time the revelation took place.  Second, the revelation was related to a “thorn” to keep Paul from filled with pride.  Third, He was not clear if the revelation actually happened or if he truly had an out of body experience…  Fourth, Paul would probably not feel right about boasting about an experience that happened to someone else and finally, for Paul to relate an experience that happened to someone unknown to the Corinthians but only to him would not fit the context related to Paul being given some kinds of physical infirmity to keep him humble.

In sharing the vision, and assuming that the experience happened to Paul, he was taken “to the third heaven” about fourteen years earlier.  By the way, this would probably be the best reason to prove that the experience happened to Paul.  There may be some here today who, like me, can relate where they were and what they doing when something significant took placed in their lives.

Paul was a master in using the vocabulary of the audience to whom he was speaking.  The Greeks believed in three heavens.  The first heaven was where the birds flew containing the air they needed to breath.  The second heaven was the realm of the sun, moon and stars and the third place was the dwelling place of God.  In our understanding, the space shuttle and even the moon landings and crafts sent to Mars and Venus would fall in the realm of the second heaven.  But no one knows the location of the third heaven.  It is the dwelling place of God.  Paul called this third Heaven Paradise which is a Persian word meaning “a walled garden.”  When a Persian King wanted to bestow an honor on someone he made him “a companion of the garden” giving the recipient the privilege of spending time in the palace with him.  Paul then, experienced in his revelation a visit to the dwelling place of God where he briefly had to honor of spending timer with God. 

Paul then states that the experience is worth bragging about, but he is not going to do it.  He states he does not want his experience to overshadow his primary message which is to preach Christ crucified as our only hope.   I like the Good News paraphrase of II Corinthians 12:6, “I have plenty to boast about and would be no fool in doing it, but I don’t want anyone to think more highly of me that he should from what he can actually see in my life and message.”

Paul then speaks about his “thorn in the flesh” that he claims was given to him by God to keep him humble in the face of the revelations he had seen and heard.  We do not know what this “third” was, but we do have clues.  The most likely infirmity was poor eyesight because he later wrote to the Galatians in large letters.  The Galatians in fact replied that if they could they would give Paul their eyes!  Galatians 6:11; 4:15).  In any event, Paul claims this “thorn”  came not from God  from “a messenger of Satan”.  This makes good theological sense because God is not the source of evil, but the devil is constantly busying himself putting roadblocks before believers to defeat them and stop them from serving God. Often when bad things happen to us, we ask, “Why did God do this to me.”  In all actuality however, if we do not bring on our own problems, which is often the case, the culprit is certainly not God but the Devil!

It is at this point that we get to the heart of Paul’s message to the Corinthians as well as to us.  The message is that “God’s grace is sufficient.”  Paul prayed three times for this infirmity to go away but was told by god, “My grace is all you need.  My strength matures through weakness.”  Paul concludes that he would accept reproach and even persecutions for “when I am weak, then I am strong.”

The lesson form this Scripture for us is that God will always provide sufficient strength to sustain us regardless of the trials we face.  Just as the smallest of lights can diffuse great darkness, God revels His strength in the face of our helplessness.  Someone has said that Christians are kind of like tea; their real strength does not show until they are in hot water!  Our extremities are God’s opportunities!  To say that “when I am weak, then I am strong” sounds like an odd paradox, but its truth is more valuable than gold.

The thorns we may face have many names.  Health issues.  A failing marriage.  A job loss.  These and many other “thorns” come our way sometimes by our own doing or totally unanticipated.  But the result end result can be the same when we turn to God to sustain us and move us in the direction He wants us to travel.

Many years ago while waiting in a doctor’s office I was searching for something to read.  As you know, magazines in such places are usually out-of-date and in general it has been my experience that magazines in such places are appropriate business.  For example, when I am waiting for an oil change on my car, the magazines are all auto related.  If you doctor or dentist plays golf, he will bring his old golfing magazines to the clinic, or magazines that deal with health and medicine.

After search through something to read while waiting, I stumbled across what I thought was a children’s book.  It looked like a child’s book with large letters; a book that could be easily read in less than ten minutes.  “The Precious Present”, written in 1974 by a psychologist, has on its cover a gift box wrapped with red ribbon and a big red bow.  The reader was invited with appropriate clues to guess what the precious present might be.  “The precious present is only for you.  The precious present cannot be given to anyone else.  The precious present is the most important gift you will ever receive.   The precious present is the best present you will ever receive.” Page after page more clues were present until on the last page the package was displayed unwrapped with an open lid. Telling the reader that today is the precious present.  How you accept and handle what happens to you today will make the difference in your tomorrows.  It turns out that this little book was not written for children but for adults and its message had a profound and life changing impact on me.  I bought a copy and loaned it to someone, and you know what happens when you do that! 

I want you to know today that God’s grace is sufficient to see you through anything!  When the props of our lives are removed from us by one “thorn” or other, it is in our weakness of not knowing where to turn or what to do next that God breaks into our lives and says, “I’m here.  Let me help you!”  God knows, as Paul discovered, that it is only when we “let go and let God” in the face of our insufficiency that it is only at such times that God can use  and work through us opening the doors and windows of His graciousness to enter our lives and lift us from fear and despair. 

For the Christian the “precious present” is not just today, but realizing that with God and His grace all things are possible because God is with you today to work through whatever thorn you are facing to see God’s strength made manifest in your times of weakness.  Our task is to trust and obey!

Daniel Towner, a song leader for Dwight L. Moody, shared an experience he had at a revival service when a young man came forward at the end of the service who was looking for an answer in the face of a difficulty he was facing.  Sharing the story with Presbyterian minister John Sammis wrote these familiar words in 1887 to the tune Towner had written:

 

But we never can prove the delights of His love until all on the altar we lay;

For the favor He shows, for the joy he bestows, are for them who will trust and obey.

And echoing a similar theme, Charles Tindley wrote these words in 1906 reflecting on the story of Jesus calming the stormy sea:

When the storms of life are raging, stand by me;

When the world is tossing me, like a ship upon the sea,

Thou who rulest wind and water stand my me.

In the midst of tribulation stand by me;

When the hosts of sin assail, and my strength begins to fail,

Thou who never lost a battle stand by me.

In the midst of faults and failures stand by me;

When I’ve done the best I can, and my friends misunderstand,

Thou who knowest all about me stand by me.

So it is that when we are weak, God’s grace reaches us down and makes us strong, for God glories in weak things!

Methodist evangelist and missionary E. Stanley Jones prayed:

            “O Thou eternal Christ, understandable even to me, I thank You for putting the latchstring so low I can reach it.  I can reach the Highest, for You are the Highest become lowly, reachable.  And so I come, for In You I see everything I need.  I thank you, Amen.”

Dr. Dan Eischen

July 8, 2012