Bible Guys Classics: 2 Corinthians 12

Well today, if you live in church world, there's a common phrase called the thorn in the flesh. Yes, and today Paul's going to uncover that and talk about his own life. And it's a real problem, it is, so he gives us some solutions. So he's Chris and I'm Jeff, and we're the Bibble guys, all right. So Chris, yes, you know that we are always looking for the very best news and information to share with our listeners. Absolutely, and we found our best favorite sources the Babylon b Yes, which is for those of you who don't know, it's a satire website, and we like satire. I think it's funny. Yeah, it's not real. This isn't real. But here's the headline. Thousands of Spirit Airlines passengers disappointed their flights weren't canceled. Have you phoned Spirit before it can be Realugh Man. So a harsh winter storm has swept the nation, disrupting travel plans, canceling flights and leaving thousands of disappointed and stranded at the airport. Passengers for Spirit Airlines, on the other hand, were disappointed to learn that their flights had not been canceled. And we're move along its scheduled. You gotta be kidding me. Our Spirit Airlines flight is not being canceled or even delayed. Our planes arrived just unscheduled, complained Derek Johnson to his family. Well this is just great. Instead of being safely stuck in the airport for days like all these other folks, we have to actually board that thing and fly thousands of feet up in the air. According to sources, one passengers boarded Spirit Airlines, many asked the flight attendant several questions before takeoff. Are you sure the inspection came back all right? Can we check it again? Is the pilot starting to feel ill? Are you sure we don't need to delay this thing another hour or five, said multiple concern passengers. No, really, we don't mind. It's not too late to cancel this thing altogether. At publishing time, people flying Southwest who'd been stranded the airport for days were told that there were finally dozens of flights available for departure, but unfortunately they were all through Spirit Airlines. It's so funny, hey man. Sometimes it can be rough, that whole passenger thing, and but you're flying. So Trey Thomas is our worship leader at our church and on Christmas Day. On Christmas Day, he was supposed to fly back to Louisiana and he actually got stuck at the airport for I think it was nine hours and he was flying Spirit and his flight I canceled, so he ended up driving to Louisiana. Wow, so think about this Christmas Day. I know that you've had a bad Christmas Day before, but I can't even imagine that being chalked up in the books for me. Well, it may have been a blessing to get his Spirit Airlines flight canceled. Oh, that might have been a blessing. Yeah, maybe, Well. It's just a miserable flight usually anyways. So okay, well, hey, we are going to continue. We're getting close to wrapping up Corinthians. Yeah, second Corinthians here, and so I'm trying to find my email just disappeared. Here is to the chapter twelve, verses one through twenty one. Yeah, my phone is sticking. So we're just going to read all the way through it. Here we go, chapter twelve, verse one. It says this boasting will do no good. Remember he was kind of had to go through his resume here, but I must go on. I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord. I was caught up to the Third Heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or on my body, I don't know. Only God knows. Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know that I was caught up to Paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words. Things no human is allowed to tell. That experience is worth boasting about, but I'm not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses. 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. 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. Three different times I beg the Lord to take it away from me. Each time he said, my grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness, So now I'm 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 and hardships and persecutions and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. You have made me act like a fool. You ought to be writing commendations for me, for I'm not at all inferior to these quote unquote super apostles, even though I am nothing at all. When I was with you, I certainly gave you proof that I'm an apostle, for I patiently did many signs and wonders and miracles among you. The only thing I failed to do, which I do in the other churches, was to become a financial burden to you. Because please forgive me for this wrong. Now I'm coming to you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you. I don't want you what you have. I want you. After all, children don't provide for their parents, Rather parents provide for their children. I'll gladly spend myself and all I have for you you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me. Some of you admit I was not a burden to you, but others still think I was sneaky and took advantage of you by trickery. But how did any of the men I sent to you take advantage of you? When I urged Titus to visit you and sent our brother with him, did Titus take advantage of you? No, for we have the same spirit and walking each other's steps, doing things the same way. Perhaps you think we're saying these things just to defend ourselves. No, we tell you this as Christ's servants, and with God is our witness. Everything we do, dear friends, is to strengthen you. For I am afraid that when I come, I won't like what I find, and you won't like my response. I'm afraid that I will find quarreling and jealousy and angered selfishness, and slander and gossip and arrogance and disorderly behavior. Yes, I'm afraid that when I come again, God will humble me in your presence, and I will be grieved because many of you have not given up your old sins. You've not repented of your impurity, sexual immorality and eagerness for lustful pleasure. Ooh yeah, it's so interesting because you know, when you read the Word of God, I think that people, for the most part, they don't mean to be, but they're sort of selfish. Like when you come to church, you have no choice sometimes but to be just a little bit selfish. And here's what I mean by that is like when I walk in through the door, let's just say it's a church I don't know about, right, and I sit down. What I'm really really hoping is how can this help me? Right? I want to learn something that helps me. You know. It's it's not just like, oh okay, well that that was interesting, but completely irrelevant to my life. And those times do happen, right, because you know, you read you read God's word and you're like, well that's interesting, but I'm not sure I could really apply that too much. But that's why we sort of crave, you know, like everybody loves going to series that revolve around felt needs, like like marriage or you know, or you know, or just feelings of forgiveness and anger and these kind of things. And all I have to say this, there are certain law passages of the Bible that seem to be us observing something that's going on that has absolutely nothing to do with us. Yeah, right, And it feels like this whole passage is like, okay, so this has this was going on in the first century? Why am I reading this? It's like, I'm going to get through this passage and I'm not. I'm just being very very very honest here, So like, if not careful, you can say this doesn't have anything to do with me, but think about it this way, so I know this is just bear with me here. Have you ever seen Parenthood? Yes? Okay, so Parenthood is this series that I just have absolutely loved and you know, and and it's years since it's been done. Sure, But what ends up happening is you sort of get involved in the LIFs, in the lives of these people, and you watch them and everything you watch has nothing to do with you, rite nothing, right, But here's what happens. You you sort of understand how they respond to situations, you understand their character. You know, you can't put yourselves exactly in their shoes, but you you sort of draw out of it so many great and valuable things, and you relate to it in different ways and say, geez, my situation is not like there's but the way they responded that really challenges me or encourages me things like that. Anyway, I just want to say this, It's not it's not necessarily important to keep on focusing on Paul's you know, rants about super apostles, false doctrine and and you know, being a burden financially because he says that so many times, yeah. Like four times every every couple of chapters he comes back and brings it all up again. Right, And what I'm saying is is like it's like when we read the Word of God, instead of saying this again has nothing to do with me, it's it's it's important to say, Okay, God, what is it in these passages that you have for me to learn? You know? What is it about Paul and and about you know, his godly character and about his responses and about his Holy Word? You know? It was written for a reason that I can draw out of it. And there's a lot today, Yeah, I believe, Well, I think one thing that we can draw. Let's set aside the thorn in the flesh and my grace suspiciony for you for a minute, because that's the really, that's the gem of this passage. I think, yes, I agree, but the rest of it, I think that there is something that we can take from this. He keeps bringing it up. There's some significant issues in this church, right, and Paul knows it. Paul finally kind of gives them a laundry list of things that he thinks is going on. That kind of because he's already sent Titus, and he sent that other guy with Titus, and he sent other people down there, and they've all come back and given him reports. And on one side they come back give him some good reports, but then clearly they give him some bad ones. Because he says, what I'm expecting when I get there is there's going to be still You're going to be quarreling and jealousy and anger and selfishness and slander, gossip and anger and arrogance and disorderly behavior, and you're living like wicked lives. So and he said, you know, you haven't really repented of a lot of your sins. Paul is recognizing the fact and pointing out the fact that there's a lot of problems in this church. But there's never anywhere in this book that he tells them that they should leave their church, right right, Yes, So these people are there's a few. He says, some of you you are faithful, and you're faithfully following what I've taught you and doing those things. Some of you are and some of you are being jerks back and forth. And he doesn't tell the faithful ones to leave the jerks, and he doesn't kick the jerks out. He's saying, change your direction and go. You know, the local church is worth it. It's worth putting up the struggle. It's worth going through the tough things. It's worth dealing with the fact that there's other sinners attending the same church you attend, and they, you know, maybe rub you the wrong way. In his mind, it's not even an option to divorce this family and move on to another family. In his mind, it's we've got to do the heavy lifting to make it through this, and it's going to be worth it because the bride of CHRISTI is the local church. So he tells us in Ephesians is that the local church is a bride of Christ. And you know, I know Christians sometimes who just get burned by other Christians, or they get tired of trying to navigate all the relationships of all the sinners that attend the church that they go to. And it comes, I think, sometimes from what can I get from my church versus what can I give? How can I help serve the people in my church? And so he's commending those that are being faithful, he's challenging those that are being unfaithful. But it's never an option in his mind to leave it. Right, that's right, and I think there's a really great that's a great principle to take in that. Yeah, and and constantly, just like you mentioned in Ephesians and also in Philippians, he always asks for harmony, he asks for unity. Right, he begs the church and said, and he uses the word beg. You know, I beg that you know, you'll be helpful to one another, you'll submit to one another. And he has to do that because that's not what they're doing. Right, That's why he's bringing it up. Right, that's great. Well, then let's go ahead and talk about this thorn in the flesh. I think it's an interesting comparison. Again, it's another visual aid. And think about this, how many times have I said visual aid over the past several weeks. Right. So Paul yet again says, you know, everybody knows what it's like to get a thorn. You know, you hit, you swing by a rose bush, right, or something worse, you know, and then you get these pricklies in your flesh, and it's like, oh, it's so small, and yet that small little thing causes a lot of irritation, a lot of pain. It's the thing that you sort of focus on. And he's saying in the same way, this is what's happened to me, And I've had a thorn in the flesh. I was out hunting and I harvested a deer, and then that the deer had gone just I was hunting round the edge of a swamp and it had about three hops four hops out into the swamp. It gets into some thick brush. So when I went to go get it, I tripped and fell, and I fell on a bush that had all these thorns, and when I came up in three of my fingertips I had deeply embedded thorns in there. So you know, I pulled him out and that that just hurts because it's on your fingertips like that. But one of them I didn't get the whole thing out, you know what I mean. And have you ever had that where you can see it under your skin and when you touch it, it's I'm okay, But then you hit that just right, that little thorn, and it hits that nerve and just sends you through the roof. It got so bad, fine, I had to get my knife out, and I had to think it out that way, because it was just it would seem fine, and I'd be going along fine and all of a sudden, just brush it in the wrong way and it sent me through the roof with pain. That's that's what I'm envisioning when he talks about that. And so the best I think it's the best part about this. I really do that Paul never identifies what the thing that he prayed about was. I wished he had, no I wish. I love the fact that he didn't. I'm always wondering, I wonder what that Yeah, of course. Yeah. So some people think that it's malaria. Some people there's a theory out there that it's epilepsy. Right. Some people say that, you know, he references having bad vision something with his eyes, right, because that's mentioned later on in one of the epistles. Sure, so, so people have theorized those are probably the most three common most theories, but nobody knows. I've also heard some significant that sinful temptation. Oh yeah, yeah, it's. A messenger of Satan and the solutionist God's grace. Okay, right, so I've heard people talk about that that he had some kind of temptation. He was a single man in Greece. And I've also heard about something like a hunchback or something. Yeah yeah maybe. Yeah. So anyway, so the point is is that he doesn't list it. I love the fact that he doesn't list it because it could translate for us into anything. Well, that's the benefit of it. We just gave like seven things that could be a couple of physical things. Maybe a sinful temptation. Yeah yeah, yeah, but but it doesn't matter sort of what it is. Really that's the application, because he says he goes to God and says, God, if you're gonna heal me, okay, or take or remove something from my life if it's not physical or medical or whatever. So you know, it's this one thing. And he said three different times, I went to God, I beg God, please take this away, and God didn't, and so instead, you know, the words are read in my Bible where you know, and he said to me, my grace is all you need, and we memorize it as my grace is sufficient for you, right or for the for power works best in weakness. So that number one is just an unbelievable statement that Paul unpacks about being strong. When I'm weak, then I'm strong. But the fact that remains is that the heart of that gem is that my grace is sufficient. In other words, my grace is all you need. Right, It's enough. Grace is enough. And I would even argue and say it's more than enough, right, so, which is why it's enough. And so so Paul doesn't get his prayers answered. Now, let me just talk about this for a second. I only have a few things that well, he. Does get it answered. He just doesn't get an answered the way he wants it. That's right, that's right, that's right. It doesn't give his request his specific request answer. Okay, So, uh so there are people who have a physical ailment. Sure, so my struggle my son struggles with his mental health. There are people who struggle with you know, cancer and and and different things, and uh, In fact, I just got to notice today somebody who just went and prayed with I referenced in a podcast just a couple of weeks ago. I remember actually it was like five six days at whatever it was. Uh she just passed last night, and uh, they thought she had a few months. But anyway, the point is is that you can go to God and say, Okay, God, I know you can do it, so take this away. And then sometimes it happens miraculously and it's wonderful, and you're like the doctors are so confused. Uh you know, or it's a or it's a miracle, or you know, I've overcome this thing, whatever it is. But so many times it just doesn't happen that way. And and then we just lean on God's grace, which is sufficient and uh and it's and it's it's enough. It's not just a crotch. It's it's actually enough. Anyway, Here's here's what I want to say. I want to say my soapbox is this years ago, I had a girl who had a friend who had who had a girl who was a teenager at the time, and she was going to these healing services, right, and what she was being told is the reason why she wasn't being healed is because her faith wasn't strong enough. Who's her fault. That's just not true. It's not true. So it's spiritual manipulation. And I guess what I'm trying to focus on is the fact that sometimes when we pray to get healed, it doesn't happen. Well, the better answer for Paul in this moment was rely on my grace. Right, Well, be we me and you know God, and you will be closer if you learn to rely on me in this You've mentioned the band New Song a few times, right, because we're both that old yeah world they have they have a song. One of the lyrics says, when you believe He's all you need, that'll be your defining moment. And that's that's this phrase right here. That's when he said, you know, God, take it away. God take it away, God take it away. Look all I'm doing for you, Why don't you take this away from me? And God goes, I'm all you need. Yeah. That then Paul says, from that moment, so now I'm glad to boast about my weaknesses. Now he's saying God uses me in spite of my weakness right right. In spite of that specific thorn in the flesh. Right So when you finally do realize that he's all you need, then whatever God does is good. That's fine. So we all have an appointment. You know, your friend, the lady that just passed away. We all have an appointment. It's appointed under humanity once to die and after this the judgment, we all have an appointment. So that's not because God is mean, but because sin exists and because of sin death right, So death comes. So then God says, I'll deliver you from this body of death and disease, and I'll take it. I'm telling you right now. She a Christian. She's not regretting the fact that that was her last breath here on earth. She's delighting in eternity, right. So God's grace to take her through that journey from this life to the next. That was all she needed and she's delighting in it. We are looking at it from the opposite direction, but from her. That's why in the Book of Psalms it says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of one of his saints. It's precious, like we think birth is precious. Always in that precious look at that precious baby, and God's like the death of one of his saints here on earth is precious to him because you're birth into heaven, and so it's a beautiful thing. It's not I think that this is part of the This is why Paul wrote in one Qrinthians fifteen when he writes death, where's your sting? Right? When you change your view to an eternal view, all these other things begin to change. It's you have a totally different perspective. And so Paul says, listen, I wanted these things to be taken away, and he was frustrated. It feels frustrating the way he writes it, and then he goes, But now I realize he is all I need, and that was a defining moment for him where he went, Then fine, I'll delight in my weaknesses, because then he gets all the glory, he gets all the praise. I am totally dependent on him and that's enough for me. And learning to be completely dependent on God even in your struggles sets you free from so many of the things that distract us or or seem to be a threat, but turn out to not be any real threat at all that's awesome. And by the way, when he goes on and he says, this is why I take pleasure of my weaknesses. And it insults hardships, persecutions and troubles that I suffer for Christ. So he really is sort of connecting it to his resume, isn't he, Because you know, again, these are chapters, but for him, it's just an extension of a thought. I love that passage where I love those phrases. He says, I delight my weakness. I delight in these insults. So I knew a guy. He was a supervisor. He wasn't super rich, but he had okay kind of okay. He would be you know, middle solid, middle class in this city, in this town we lived in Texas. But people would poke fun at him being a little tight. He was a little tight within money sure, and so you know, we'd all take shots at him. And he said, oh, go ahead, keep making fun, keep making fun, keep making you say that all the time. So everybody always make jokes about it. Now, he was a generous person, but when it came to anything, you know, he'd drive his pickup truck too long, and you know, all these things, and so Finally, one day, I said, you always say keep making fun and I said why and he says, oh, I love it when you guys make fun of me. And I'm like why. He says, because I know something you don't know. And I said, what's that? And he said, I have more money than all of you combined, and he did, He's worth millions of dollars. But it wasn't because he had such a high paying job. It was that he invested well, he saved well. He said, man, I remember back when my wife and I first got married, all of our friends went out and they financed furniture. And he said, we made we may do with orange crates and a little card table until we could afford to pay for our couch, and then we bought it couch. And he said, so it was hard early on, but now I've never carried debt in my life. And never having carried it, he said, I loan money for interest rather than taking, rather than paying interest. And he said, so I know what you don't know. And that's kind of this phrase here, he said. So now I take delight in my weaknesses. I take delight and insults because I know something you don't know. God's grace really is sufficient. Yeah, it's that position of knowing something nobody, nobody knows, right, so Paul is having he's giving us an insight about hardships and trials and the things that he's went through, you know, having been through them and having the right perspective, right, which is really cool. It's so cool. Yeah, And uh, I think that's probably a good place to end because our time's right about there. And tomorrow we're wrapping up with Sewo Corinthians. Yes, so we will see then on the Bible. Guys,