Bible Passage: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: February 16, 2025

Bulletin – February 16, 2025

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Paul once experienced something I am not sure anyone else ever experienced.  Paul got to go to heaven before he died.  That’s right.  He tells about it in the verses just before our text.  He flashes back fourteen years.  He tells of the time he was caught up to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2).  This is a Jewish way of speaking.  They spoke of three heavens.  The “first” heaven was the air around us where the birdies fly.  The “second” heaven was out there where the sun, moon, and stars are.  The “third” heaven was the dwelling place of God.  Paul says he was caught up to the third heaven!  The dwelling place of God!  He also calls it paradise. (v. 4)  Remember how Jesus had promised the thief on the cross next to him, Today you will be with me in paradise? (Luke 23:43)  Paul went there!  He got to see the paradise we call heaven!

Questions flood our minds!  What did he see?  What does Jesus look like now?  Did he meet the saints of old?  Did he meet Adam and Eve or Abraham or David or the thief on the cross?  What are they all doing there?  What language did they speak?  Was there music?  What does heavenly music sound like?  Why doesn’t Paul give us more detail?  He tells us why.  He says that he saw and heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. (v. 4)  He didn’t have God’s permission to tell!  This was an experience that was meant for Paul and Paul alone.

Imagine for a moment that it was you.  Imagine God took you up to heaven and gave you – and you ALONE – a private, personal, all-access tour of heaven.  What would you think?  You might start to think things like, “Wow!  I’m on God’s A-list!  I must be pretty special to get to see heaven!  Wait until I tell everybody at church about this!  They won’t treat this guy like a nobody any more.  No siree!”  That’s the way human nature works.  We become easily impressed with ourselves.  We can’t wait to have it all over someone else.

God didn’t want that to happen to Paul.  And that is where our text begins.  Paul says, Therefore, to keep me from becoming arrogant due to the extraordinary nature of these revelations, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me, so that I would not become arrogant. (v. 7)  To keep Paul humble, God gave him a “thorn” in his flesh.  God gave Paul something physically painful or debilitating!  It was something Satan was going to leverage to tempt Paul to doubt and despair!  This “thorn” was going to torment Paul.  Literally, it was going to bare-knuckle-punch him in the face!  And God GAVE it to Paul!

Just what was Paul’s “thorn”?  We don’t know with certainty.  There is some evidence in his writings that Paul may have had trouble with his eyes.  Was that the “thorn”?  Maybe.  Did Paul have a speech impediment?  He confesses to the Corinthians that he is not much of a public speaker.  Is that the “thorn”?   Maybe.  We don’t know, and really don’t need to know.

Here’s what we know.  We know Paul didn’t like having it.  He says, Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that he would take it away from me. (v. 8)   Paul pleaded with the Lord!  Paul begged the Lord Jesus to take the thorn away.  Seems a reasonable request.  After all, Paul was only doing the work the Lord had called him to do.  Why would the Lord give Paul something that made that work more difficult?  Makes no sense!  The Lord should just take it away.

But the Lord answers Paul:  My grace is sufficient for you, because my power is made perfect in weakness. (v. 9)  It is a stunning answer to Paul’s plea!  In essence the Lord says, “I’m not going to take your thorn away.  But I will give you the grace to live with it.  And my grace will be enough.”  The Lord says his power is made perfect in weakness.  That doesn’t mean the Lord’s power is somehow flawed.  The idea of “made perfect” is that it reaches its goal.  It’s kind of like this.  I could point to a man and ask you, “Is he tall?”  We can only know if there is a referent.  Have him stand next to another person and now I can tell you if he’s tall.  Put the Lord’s strength up against man’s weakness and we see just how powerful the Lord is!

That comfort of the Lord’s promise of “sufficient grace” cannot be overstated.  How often when the Lord gives us a “thorn” in our lives don’t we lash out?  We howl.  We complain.  Thorns hurt!  We plead, “No, Lord!  This is all wrong!  Take it away!  Take it away!  If you love me, you will take it away!”  Then comes the answer soft, “I DO love you!  And I’m not going to take that thorn away.  You may not understand my ways now.  But I want to use this thorn to keep you humble and to keep you close to me.  And because I love you, I will give you my strength to live with it!  And my grace will be enough!”   And that grace is enough!  The greatest demonstration of that grace, that undeserved love, is Calvary’s cross!  There on the cross is sufficient grace!  Enough grace is there in the death of Jesus to save you from sin, death, and hell!  If his grace has overcome caskets and graves and demons from hell, it will most certainly be sufficient for thorns!  Dear friend, whatever thorn is jabbing into your flesh, Jesus will give you grace to live with it.

That is why Paul did not mope about because of his “thorn.”   He says, Therefore I will be glad to boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may shelter me.  That is why I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, for the sake of Christ.  For whenever I am weak, then I am strong. (v. 10) Grace caused Paul to be a cheerful thorn-bearer!  His weakness was a foil for Christ’s power.  Paul was a weakling, but he was strong in Christ!  Don’t be afraid to admit, “I am nothing.  I am a weakling.  I can’t do this.  I am not enough.”  You AREN’T enough!  But grace is enough! To you Christ says,  My grace is sufficient for you.  In that grace, we live and die.

Amen.