2 Corinthians 12.7-10: How Afflictions Become Blessings

INTRODUCTION

Are you afflicted? Tormented with pains that just won’t go away?

I never thought old-age would be like this.

Jesus said he came that we might have life and have it abundantly. But didn’t say that life would be comfortable. He never said we wouldn’t experience afflictions.

St. Paul wrote that neither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, … or peril, or sword…or anything else in all creation will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

But he didn’t say we wouldn’t experience those things.

I have a little prayer that I use. It was written by St. Bernadette of Lourdes, who lived from 1844-1879.

This is the prayer:

Christ Jesus, we beg you by your loneliness,

not that you will spare us affliction,

but that you will not abandon us in it.

When we encounter affliction,

teach us to see you in it as our sole comforter.

Let affliction strengthen our faith,

fortify our hope, and purify our love.

Grant us grace to see how we can use our affliction to your glory,

and to desire no other comforter but you,

our Savior, Strengthener, and Friend.

Afflictions don’t mean that God has forsaken us.

The prayers in the Bible are full of cries to God from hurting people.

I want to talk about a part of scripture that has been especially important to me lately.

It’s in the 12th chapter of 2 Corinthians.

I. About seven years after met the risen Christ on the Road to Damascus, St. Paul had a wonderful experience.

A. This experience was a great honor and a great inspiration to him. But it appears that he didn’t tell anyone until years later.

People today who have such experiences write books, or go on TV with their stories. But God didn’t let Paul to fall into that trap. Instead God permitted Satan’s messenger to send a humiliating affliction that brought Paul down to earth.

Here’s how Paul recounts his visit to Paradise:

“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. and I know that this man was caught up into Paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know God knows—and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.

“On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.”

(I need to take time out to explain what the word “boast” means here. My dictionary defines “boast” as “to talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements, possessions, or abilities.”

But Paul isn’t boasting of his own achievements. He is boasting in his weaknesses. God shows his power by working through our human weaknesses.

What Paul calls “boasting” is an expression of confidence, joy and thanksgiving to God.)

The spiritual experience God gave Paul earlier in his life as a believer was the greatest experience he had ever had. His visit to Paradise was a great honor and inspiration to him. This revelation from God helped him to endure the difficulties and dangers he would face as he continued on his journey of discipleship.

B. This visit to Paradise was for Paul alone, not for him to brag about to other people. So Paul had kept quiet about his experience for 14 years. Now he writes about it. He mentions it to tell his friends the lesson he had learned from it.

When God is especially gracious and honors us with some unusual experience of his goodness, it is easy for us to get the idea that we are virtuous and take the credit that belongs to God.

God uses weakness and pain to keep us humble.

II. So God allowed Paul to experience an especially painful affliction immediately after his glorious experience.

A. He writes:

“To keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated.

“Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’

“I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

B. Paul doesn’t say what the “thorn in the flesh” was, and through the ages, people have speculated what it might have been.

Some think it was a disease of his eyes because in one letter he comments on how large his handwriting was. Charlotte’s mother had trouble with her eyes, and she liked to think that that was what Paul was referring to.

A famous archeologist and Bible historian—Sir William Ramsay—speculated that Paul had attacks of malaria, which was common in some of the areas he visited.

Two chapters before, in this same letter, Paul quotes some of his detractors as saying, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptable” (10:10). So some speculate that Paul had a speech impediment.

C. Paul’s affliction was a thorn, not a prickle, and it was embedded in his flesh. The Greeks used the same word for a stake.

It hurt. It tormented him. It was persistent and humiliating—something he would have to endure the rest of his life. And he hated it and prayed that that God would take it out.

D. Notice that Paul called his thorn “a messenger of Satan.”

Some people think that our troubles come from God. They say things like, “God never sends you anything you can’t handle,” as if God torments his children to test their faith and love.

But even though God doesn’t send our troubles upon us, he can still use them to make us better people than we would be if life were always tranquil for us.

Every affliction is a “messenger of Satan” because Satan uses afflictions to pry us away from God. We all know people who have been so weighed down by their troubles that they have given up on God.

But it is also true that sometimes when people are afflicted they draw near to God and cling to him all the more tightly.

E. An example:

Craig the leader of our Sunday school class is a young man in his 30s. He has been a believer for only three or four years. He found Jesus as his Lord and Savior only months before his kidneys failed and he had to go on dialysis. He said his faith saved him from despair and helped him through that experience.

I asked him why that difficult experience so soon after he had found faith didn’t make him doubt God. He said that thought hadn’t occurred to him.

But sometimes afflictions destroy weak faith and cause the sufferer to wonder whether there really is a God, after all.

Now Craig is living with a kidney-pancreas transplant and the kidney is gradually failing. But Craig is strong in his faith. And he lives his faith. He works at church with the high school youth, and the young people love him. He works with our church’s ministry for mentally-challenged adults. He coaches 6-year-old soccer. He serves in other ways as I can’t remember just now.

I have followed Jesus for 68 years, but I look up to Craig as an example of discipleship.

III. God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

A. “Grace” is God’s free, active love—the gift that makes us children of God and gives us strength to live for Jesus to the very end. By grace we experience the life of Christ in our own bodies. By grace we have assurance that this life is not all there is but that God has reserved for us a resurrection life that is joyful beyond all imagining.

B. So Paul gloried in his infirmities—his weaknesses—he rejoiced that his afflictions gave him a way to honor God—to become strong in faith.

He writes, “I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; or when I am weak, then I am strong.”

APPLICATION

This story has become important to me because I am feeling increasingly the pains of old age. I try to remember that afflictions become blessings if I can learn from them.

Here are some of the things I think about when I am hurting:

When I am hurting, I ask God to use my pain to draw me close to himself. I offer my pain to God and ask him to teach me the meaning of the afflictions that I am called upon to endure.

I ask God to use my afflictions to prove the reality of my faith. If I can suffer and remain faithful, that proves that God is real to me.

I think of others who suffer far worse than I do—the blind, the paralyzed, the deaf, the homeless, those afflicted in their minds—and especially those without Christ. I pray for them.

And I remind myself that this world is not my home. Afflictions help me get in the mood for putting off my tired, hurting body and putting on the new one I will receive from the Father in the Paradise of God.

Here are some of my favorite words from the same letter to the Corinthians:

So we do not lose heart,

Though our outer nature is wasting away,

our inner nature is being renewed every day.

For this slight momentary affliction

is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure,

because we look not at what can be seen

but at what cannot be seen;

for what can be seen is temporary,

but what cannot be seen is eternal.

(2 Cor. 4:16-18)

Ephesians 5:4, Philippians 1:3, and 2 Corinthians 9:15: Some Ideas about Thankfulness

INTRODUCTION:

When Thanksgiving comes we all know that we should take time out to be thankful. We thank God for good food and warm clothes and a comfortable place to live and for the beauty of the world and the love of friends. Today I want to talk about some other ideas for this Thanksgiving.

I have been reading about the psychological benefits of gratitude

Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for the good things in life.

Psychological studies show that gratitude is strongly associated with happiness. Being thankful helps us feel positive emotions, enjoy good experiences, improve our health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.

Source:  http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/in-praise-of-gratitude

In one study, psychologists divided the participants in their study into three groups. Each group was instructed to write a few sentences each week, focusing on a particular topic.

One group was instructed to write about the things they were grateful for that had occurred during the week.

Another group was instructed to write about irritations or unpleasant experiences during the week.

The third group was simply instructed to write about any events that had affected them.

After 10 weeks, those who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. They also had made fewer visits to doctors than those who focused on unpleasant experiences.

In another study, a psychologist asked a group of people to write and personally deliver a letter of gratitude to someone who had never been properly thanked for his or her kindness. Other groups were asked to perform other tasks that were believed to have a positive effect on the person doing them.

The group that wrote and delivered letters of gratitude showed a huge increase in their happiness score in a follow-up questionnaire.

Another study showed that couples who took time to express gratitude for their partner not only felt more positive toward the other person but also felt more comfortable expressing concerns about their relationship.

One of our granddaughters went far away from home to college several years ago to a university in a strange town where she didn’t know anyone. She became discouraged right away because things weren’t going as she had expected they would.

She was lonely. She wanted to come home. She called home and told her mother about her troubles and worries.

Her mother suggested that she make a list each day of the good things that happened.

She began to do this and soon found that there were more things to be thankful for than she had realized. Eventually, she became enthusiastic about college, made many friends, graduated with high honors, and found a good job doing what she loves.

Remembering to be thankful for good things helps us to be happy.

But for us, who are followers of Jesus, there is something more we need to think about.

It isn’t enough simply to “be thankful.”

We don’t need to be satisfied with a vague feeling of gratitude.

We have someone to actually thank for the good things in our lives.

We know the source of all the good that comes to us through other people. So we not only thank the people who do the kind, thoughtful, generous deeds—but we thank our Savior from whom all blessings flow.

So, we thank God for all good things—the things that come from other people and the things that may come from the happenings of life.

And as we thank God, our gratitude draws us close to God as our friend, and connects our lives to his.

Thankfulness is a kind of praise. The Bible tells us that we should praise God, but it is hard to find the words for praise. But we can always think of something to thank God for.

Four times in the Bible we read in our Bible: “O Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his faithful love endures forever” (Psalm 107:1, Psalm 118:1, Psalm 136:1, and 1 Chronicles 16:34).

I. I would like to point you to some New Testament scriptures that instruct us in our duty to be always thankful.

A. In Ephesians 5:4 St. Paul warns his readers to avoid filthy talk and silliness, “which are not fitting: but instead let there be thanksgiving.”

St. Paul is telling us here that the keynote of our conversation shouldn’t be foolish talking or filthy talking but rather a sense of all we owe to God.

Remembering to be thankful for the good things helps us to be happy.

And remembering to thank God for the good things also brings God into our lives, and with God come the joy and peace and comfort of his presence.

And the joy of the Lord in our life lifts the spirits of those around us.

B. The opposite of thankfulness is grumbling and complaining.

In Philippians 2:14-16, St. Paul writes to his friends in Philippi: “Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”

Whether we grumble or are thankful depends a lot on how we look at life.

Years ago when we used to have church at Village Ridge, we had a woman named Dorotha who told stories as part of our services. Dorotha was totally deaf, but she had a good voice and could tell stories.

One of Dorotha’s stories was of a 94-year-old blind man who had lost his dear wife and was taken by a friend to the nursing home where he would now live out the rest of his days.

As they ascended in the elevator, his friend described his room.

The blind man exclaimed, “I love it!”

“How can you say that?” his friend said. “You haven’t been there yet.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” the old man said. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged—it’s how I arrange my mind. I have decided to love it.”

That man had learned the secret of gratitude.

I would like to have him for my friend.

Some of you may have heard me tell the story of the man in Budapest who went to his rabbi and complained, “Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?”

The rabbi said, “Take your goat into the room with you.”

The man was could hardly believe his ears, but the rabbi insisted.

A week later the man came back looking more distraught than ever. “We can’t stand it,” he told the rabbi. “The goat is filthy. He stinks!”

The rabbi then told him, “Go home and let the goat out, and come back in a week.”

The man came back a week later beaming. “Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there’s no goat—only the nine of us!”

Sometimes just thinking how much worse it could be, will help us to give thanks.

When we get old, we experience losses. There are things we used to enjoy doing that are impossible for us now. But we should thank God for what we still have.

You’ve heard the saying: “I complained about the shoes I had to wear until I saw a man with no feet.”

Remember: other people cope with worse problems. Pray for them.

Some of us live with constant pain. When you begin to feel sorry for yourself, thank God for your long life. Think about how your pain connects you with the sorrows of the world. Thank God for your assurance of heaven. It's not so far off for some of us. That can be a comfort.

II. Here are some ways to make this a Thanksgiving thankful.

A. One of the most precious letters of St. Paul in our New Testament is the one to the believers in Philippi. In it Paul writes: “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” (Philippians 1:3).

These believers had made Paul very happy. Not only had they responded enthusiastically and faithfully to the gospel message. They were keeping on in their faith, and when they heard that Paul was often hungry and in need, they sent him gifts of money.

So Paul wrote to them that every time he thought of them, he would say a prayer of thanks to God and pray for them.

It’s good to thank God for the people important in your life.

Here’s an idea I use.

Sometimes when I wake up in the night and can’t go back to sleep, I think about the people who have loved me and encouraged me and helped me in my life for God. And I thank God for each one.

I think of special relatives and teachers and pastors and good friends who have blessed me.

Some of those I am most thankful for are still living, so for those I say a little prayer for them.

Some of them are now with Jesus, so I just thank God for what they meant to me.

When I run out of people I have known, I thank God for the men and women who have written the books that have nourished my soul.

B. Another thing we can bring to mind for thanksgiving are the opportunities we have had to do something for other people.

It’s a great privilege to be useful—to be a blessing to someone else.

To serve others is a gift because that is what we’re here for.

Maybe you offered hospitality, raised children, taught Sunday school, visited sick people, contributed to good causes. Give thanks for those ways God has given you to express your faith and love for God by serving others.

C. I have told you that I write out my morning prayers. I fill a page each morning—sometimes a little more.

I try to begin my prayer with thanksgiving. Maybe I thank God for a good night’s sleep. I thank my Father for the love I have experienced in Christ…and for Charlotte…and for our children. I thank God for opportunities to be useful. I thank God for the measure of health I still have left, and for my hope of Glory. I think of different things on different days.

Then after I have given thanks, I tell God about my needs and the needs of others.

CONCLUSION

At the end of 2 Corinthians 9, Paul writes about the surpassing grace that God has given us, and then exclaims: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (v15).

Is the indescribable gift the gift of salvation?

Is the indescribable gift to be a child in the family of God?

Is the indescribably gift our assurance of resurrection with Jesus in glory?

I think the inexpressible gift is Jesus Christ himself, because when we have him we have everything.