Father, we, your word, Father, teaches us that we flatter ourselves too much to detect or hate our own sin,
that we do not see the true condition of our own hearts.
And so, Father, we ask that you would bring your gospel home very clearly to us this morning,
that we would have a better grasp of what your Son did for us to make us right with you and to make us your children.
And as we are gripped, Father, by the gospel, may you also reveal to us the true state of our hearts,
that we might turn to you for amendment of life, for wholeness and for freedom,
that in our day-to-day lives we might bring you glory.
And all this we ask, Father, as you pour out your Holy Spirit, we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Please be seated.
It's funny how many times I think about this fellow who, I think it was one of my last summer jobs before I was ordained.
I had a job working with a master painter, and we were in a big building,
and we went to one of the part of the building, you know, where there's all the heating units
and the air conditioning units and all of that type of stuff that virtually nobody ever goes to,
and we had to paint it.
And I was his assistant helping him.
And he liked taking long breaks.
And one of his, he very early on, somehow or another, I can't remember now how that happened,
but he discovered that I was a Christian.
And so for the whole summer, he would sort of grill me on it.
And, but one of the things that he kept going on over and over and over and over again,
especially if I brought in some type of argument or reason to deal with his objection,
he would say, you know, I just don't understand this God that you talk about.
Like, why doesn't he just give me a vision of him or just a vision of heaven or something like that?
If he just gave me some type of vision or something like that, then I would believe in him.
Why doesn't he do that?
You know, through the years, if I had a dollar for every person who said something like that to me,
well, I wouldn't be able to buy a house or a car.
It doesn't happen that much.
But I'd have quite a few really good state dinners somewhere
if I had a dollar for every time a person's asked me that.
And maybe some of you are thinking about that.
And I don't know if you noticed,
but the Bible text that Ken read in 2 Corinthians,
actually the Bible tells us why God doesn't do that.
So it'd be a great help to me and a help to yourselves if you open your Bibles
and turned to 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
Open your Bibles and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
And we're going to start looking at the first verse
because the Bible, in a very, very powerful way,
addresses this particular question.
And once again, if you don't have your own Bible,
you can get that one there or you can just listen along.
So, and just so you know where it is in the course of the letter,
we're coming to the end of the text.
In fact, one of the verses that we're going to read today,
most scholars say it's the basic message of the entire letter.
In fact, I'll just tell you what it is right now,
that most scholars, when they study this letter,
they say if you want to pick up one short little sentence
that describes everything that Paul's trying to do
in this part of the Bible, it's,
my grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.
But just in the context,
Paul is in the middle of what's called the fool's speech.
Just last week, we looked at how he said,
I'm going to play the fool.
And I'm going to play the fool and talk like a fool
and boast like a fool.
And Paul is doing it in the hope that by acting like a fool,
he'll sort of puncture the problems
and the opponents that he has in that church.
Because he's dealing with a group of people
who are very good looking.
Just think of George Clooney.
And they're very suave.
They're cultured.
They're sophisticated.
They know how the culture works.
And they've come into the church
and they're very impressive,
very well-educated, very well-spoken.
You know, they don't have a hick accent,
but they have a cultured, well-educated accent,
good diction,
very, very clever and smooth with words.
And they're trying to get the church
to be more culturally accommodating.
And they're also trying to get at the same time,
the church not only to be more accommodating
to the pagan culture that they live in,
but he's trying to encourage them
to take on rules and regulations
which they claim really go back
to a better way to understand
what we call the Old Testament.
And so they're trying to give them new rules
and new regulations to really up their life.
And the third thing that they're doing
is they want to go on and on
about the visions they've had.
And that's what we're going to see.
So that's where we are in the letter.
He's halfway through his full speech.
And that's why it begins like this.
He says, I must go on boasting.
See, by the way, you know, context is so important.
Like if you come across somebody who's going on boasting,
they say, no, I'm just following the Bible.
In 2 Corinthians 12, 1, it says, I must go on boasting.
No, if you go back a little bit,
he says, I'm going to be a fool
and I'm going to talk like a fool.
It's a full speech, okay?
I must go on boasting.
Though there is nothing to be gained by it,
I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.
I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago
was caught up to the third heaven.
Just pause here.
This is a poetic way of referring to the highest heaven.
In a moment, we're going to see the word paradise,
which is sort of another way of saying the third heaven.
And it's where God actually is.
It's like going to the throne of God,
where God is, and the image of paradise
that we're going to see in a moment.
It's a lone word from another culture
that really is a way of saying like the Garden of Eden.
So it's trying to say that he's like the Garden of Eden
that's in heaven where God walks with people.
That's where I've been.
Okay, it's just some poetic language.
We'll read up again verse 2.
I know a man in Christ who 14 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.
And just sort of pause there for a second.
It's not immediately obvious here in the English,
but in the original language,
the idea is that God told him
he's not allowed to speak about it.
So it's not that he can't find words,
but that God told him after the vision
that you're not allowed to talk about it,
what you've seen and heard.
Verse 5.
On behalf of this man, I will boast,
but on my own behalf,
I will not boast except of my weaknesses.
Though if I should wish to boast,
I would not be a fool,
for I would 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.
And just sort of pause for a second.
I don't know if you've noticed,
it's very subtle,
and he's going to make it clear
in the very next sentence.
This man that he's talking about is himself.
So here we have the very thing
that I would say hundreds of people to me.
There would not be a year
where I don't have four or five or six people
tell me if God wants me to believe in him.
Why don't you just give me something
like a powerful vision,
like, you know, of him or of heaven,
or just something like that,
some type of vision or revelation.
You know, every year I have people
who say that to me
once we get into a conversation
and they find out that I'm a Christian.
And so here we see that
Paul is claiming that he had that very thing.
In fact, he's had more than one of them.
And so the question can be,
well, okay, if Paul had them,
and it's really odd that if Paul had them
that God told him he wasn't allowed
to talk about it,
but George, if it happened to Paul,
why can't it happen to me?
Why can't it happen to me?
Well, Paul goes on to talk about it.
And just note the first thing.
He says, verse seven,
so to keep me from becoming conceited
because of the surpassing greatness
of the revelations,
a thorn was given me in the flesh,
a messenger of Satan.
Some of you already,
you're a bit nervous about this.
to harass me,
to keep me from becoming conceited.
Three times I pleaded with 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.
Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly
of my weaknesses
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Now, it's a very, very,
it's a very curious thing, isn't it?
And just first of all,
let's just,
okay, you know,
I, you know,
God humbles me up here all the time
and it could,
it probably is the case
that I'm vastly more wicked
than everybody here.
But if you're,
if many of us are honest,
if we had a choice
to spend five minutes reading the Bible,
where God said,
you'd have five minutes reading the Bible
or five minutes of a vision of heaven,
what would we pick?
Unless I'm the only wicked person in the room,
I would pick the vision from heaven.
So you see,
on one hand,
part of the reason that we're so troubled
when people say to us,
if God wants us to believe me
and to believe in him,
why doesn't he give me some type of vision?
Part of the reason we're so troubled with that
is that we agree with them.
If you could put up the first point,
Andrew,
if we're honest,
the Bible and the gospel
seem weak and paltry
compared to my own vision of heaven.
And if those of you who've read,
I think it's called
A Series of Unfortunate Events,
by paltry, I mean,
weak, thin, gruel,
not very much,
very, very little.
That's what paltry sort of means.
I just had to throw it in.
But the Bible and the gospel
seem weak and paltry
compared to my own vision of heaven,
of me being able to have
a vision of heaven,
or a vision of God,
or of angels,
or of the supernatural,
or of the spiritual.
If we're honest,
that's how we think as Christians.
You see,
this is the wonderful thing
about the Bible,
that when you actually think about it
and meditate upon it,
all of a sudden,
not only is it going to be answering
a question that others pose to you,
it actually is starting
to pierce our own hearts
and reveal to ourselves
something about ourselves
that we did not know before.
In fact,
if you could put up the next thing,
Andrew,
here's the issue.
Remember in verse 7,
it says,
so to keep me from being conceited
because of the surpassing greatness
of the revelations,
a thorn was given me in the flesh,
a messenger of Satan asked me
to keep me from being conceited.
In the Bible,
when something said twice like that
so close,
it means we're supposed
to pay attention.
And here's the second thing,
private revelations and visions
make me think I'm superior.
You know,
that's what happened to Paul.
He started to think
he was superior to other people,
that he was better than other people,
that God loved him
more than other people,
that not only that he just
had this vision,
but it probably meant
he thought he had
far better views on politics,
on food,
on all sorts of things,
because that's what happens
when we get conceited,
when we're full of pride.
And, you know,
that's one of the reasons
why Paul says in the text,
if you just go up a little bit
here in the text,
in verse 6,
though if I should wish to boast,
I would not be a fool,
for I would 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.
You see,
it's,
because one of the things,
I've met people
who claim to have
many, many visions
and stuff like this,
and here's one of the
characteristics of a lot of them,
not all of them,
but a lot of them,
their lives are a train wreck.
Their lives are a train wreck.
And in many cases,
if you were to ask me,
would you like to go
on a drive to Armprior with them,
if you're from out of town,
that's like a 45 or 50 minute drive,
I'd say no.
No.
And so,
but often people who've had
or claim to have these visions,
or maybe they have,
and, you know,
because God did it to Paul,
he can do it.
But what they want
is they don't want us
to look at what they actually say
and how they actually,
what they actually say
and what they actually do.
They want us to somehow
evaluate them
as, in fact,
being somehow superior
because of the vision.
You see,
it's a human problem.
It's a human problem
that Christians share
because the problem
of being conceited
is a Christian problem
and a Muslim problem
and a Hindu problem
and a Buddhist problem
and a secular problem
and an atheist problem.
It's a human problem.
But let me tell you,
it stinks
very deeply
for a Christian
to be conceited.
And so here's the thing
as well
about this same idea,
right?
If the Bible
and the Gospel
seem weak and paltry
compared to my own
vision of heaven
and if private revelations
and visions
make me think
that I am superior,
hope that says,
yeah, okay.
Then here's the third thing
if you could put it up,
Andrew.
The Gospel
and the Bible
are an open,
public revelation
from God
which humbles me.
Go back
to that first thing.
Okay, George,
God says to me,
you want five minutes
reading my word
or five minutes
of a vision?
vision,
you know,
because,
you know,
often God,
the Bible
puts me to sleep,
God.
It does not get me
all fired up.
And here's part
of the problem.
You see,
the Gospel
and the Bible
are an open,
public revelation
from God
which humbles me.
The other day
I was in a meeting
and I know there's
a lot of lawyers
in the room.
I was going to give
this example anyway,
even if there were
no lawyers in the room.
So I'm not picking on you
but I was in a meeting
with a lawyer
and it turned out
that there was a bit
of a question
amongst the committee
meeting that runs
an organization
as to what was legal
or not
and he said
what he thought
he gave,
he told us.
And so I then said,
you know,
I always,
I hate being in a room
in a meeting
where there's only
one lawyer present
because in my experience
if you have
one lawyer present
he or she
will tell you
what the law says
and we all think
well the law is
pretty esoteric
what are we going
to say against
a lawyer
and we go along
with it.
But in my experience
when there's two lawyers
in the room
they disagree
about what the law says
and everybody
in the room laughed
and then the lawyer
who was a really good fellow
he said,
George,
you got that wrong
and he said
when there's one lawyer
in the room
he gives you a ruling
when there's two lawyers
in the room
they give you three opinions.
And part of the issue
is,
you see,
is that for many of us
law is esoteric.
It seems like
there's lots of big books
and then if you get
whatever number
of big books
there are for the law
if you go for
government regulations
you can like
triple it
or make it ten times
with a number
and who can read it all
so it's very esoteric.
But you see,
here's the thing
and visions are very esoteric
it's special knowledge,
right?
But the thing
about the Bible
is it's a public
open revelation
from God
that in that Sunday
school class
two-year-olds
are having the Bible
read to them.
They don't even know
how to read
but they can hear
the Bible
they can learn it.
And,
you know,
it's one of the great
problems for theologians
and pastors
is they can give
their great learned
things about
what's going on
in the Bible.
And then over coffee
you know,
some working class
guy or gal
who hasn't finished
grade 10
can say,
well,
George,
that was all
very interesting
but in this text
it says this.
And it can be humbling
because the Bible
and the gospel
is an open
public revelation
from God
for us
to read
and to hear
for the illiterate
and for the literate.
And right from
the early days
of the New Testament
because of Jesus'
command to go
into all of them
every single people
group on the planet
and tell them
about Jesus
and make disciples
teaching them
to obey
all that I have
told you
and from that
from the very,
very early days
the early Christians
understood that
they were to
translate the Bible
into the words
of the people group
and not have
the people group
have to learn
their language
because it's
a public
open revelation
from God
which humbles us.
It's the complete
opposite almost
of any type
of a vision
which is private.
So that's
exactly here
what's going on
in the text.
But now some of you
might say
well George
okay that's
very, very interesting
but you know George
you often do this
it seems.
What about the thorn?
What about the messenger
of Satan?
Like let's just be honest
it's not just Christians
but for many, many,
many, many people
in our culture
we have a great
there is a great fear
that if you get
too close to God
God will tell you
to do something
like wear a suicide vest
and blow people up.
God will tell you
to go and shoot people
in a mosque
or a church
that God will tell you
to behead somebody
in a bus
like it is a great
great fear
in our culture.
And some of us
can just easily imagine
what it would be like
if we went back
to our university
or our workplace
and we were to read
this text
and the people
in the office
might not feel comfortable
but if they noticed
if they hadn't fallen asleep
they'd go
whoa
a thorn in the flesh
a messenger of Satan
they'd miss all that
other conceited stuff
it would be an elephant
in the room.
So George
what about that?
Well let's look at it again
look at verse 7
so to keep me
from being conceited
because of the surpassing
greatness of the revelations
a thorn
was given me
in the flesh
a messenger of Satan
to harass me
to keep me
from becoming conceited.
Three times
I pleaded with 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
therefore I will boast
all the more gladly
of my weaknesses
so 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
in other words
he's just described
his thorn
we'd say
George
weaknesses
insults
hardships
persecutions
and calamities
are not a thorn
that actually
the word thorn
can also be translated
as steak
I don't mean
the type of steak
that you eat
I mean
you get one of those
really rough
things
where it hasn't been
sanded
and it's nice and long
like this
or even longer
and it's just roughly
cut at the bottom
and you can hammer it
into the ground
the very same word
that's translated as thorn
can be translated as steak
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
so is the Bible here
just telling us
to be masochists
what's going on
thankfully
it's quite a few years ago
but my only brother
had a season in his life
where he had some heart trouble
and he had to go in
for some surgery
it was a bit of
an emergency surgery
and unfortunately
it was one of those cases
that he ended up having
the doctors
had to go back in twice
I believe
and in each case
they had to open him up
my brother is a joker
the first time
he
after his first surgery
when he was going
to his own
to a doctor
a specialist
to check on some
you know
there was a bit of
an infection
or something
anyway
he went to the office
and they were doing
an intake interview
with him
and they said
you know
are there any
serious things
in your family history
that we should know about
and my brother said
yes
everybody in my family
history has died
and the nurse said
oh
what was their problem
and he said
well they're all mortal
human beings die
after the doctors
had cut him open
a third time
and he had to go in
for a checkup
he taped a zipper
, uh, onto his body
from here to here
so that when they
opened him up
they saw the zipper
and he said
I'm tired of you
hammering my body open
I thought next time
just install a zipper
and it will make it
a lot easier
uh, but anyway
here's the thing
uh, you know
we all know this
that, uh,
if we have a little kid
and they've, uh,
they really scraped
themselves
and, uh, uh,
it, you know
you put a bandage
on it
and you need to keep
taking the bandage off
and putting new cream
and ointment on it
and washing it out
so that the cut
will get better
and if the cut
is maybe over here
or, you know,
somewhere where there's
hair on their body
they cry
because it hurts
to take the thing off
and those doctors
to save my brother's life
and to save his life again
and then to save his life again
they had to crack open
his sternum
and make a huge big cut
and go in and do
all sorts of cutting
and it would have really hurt
and it was really inconvenient
but they did it
to keep him alive
and we all understand that
but here's the problem
with this text
if you can put up
the next point
here's the problem
not with the text
but with us
I see conceit
and pride
in others
as a problem
it is hard for me
to see my own conceit
and pride
it's even
it's hard for me
to see it
or see it
as a problem
you know
one of Jesus'
most famous sayings
is
it is so easy
for us to see
a speck
in our own eye
and not see
the log
in another person's eye
in other words
I have this little speck
you know
I see this little tiny speck
I have a huge stake
sticking out of my eye
and I can't even see it
I just think it's normal living
and I think I can see better
than other people
I think I'm more healthy
I think I'm more whole
I think I'm more wise
and if I'm one of those
two lawyers in a room
and we give three opinions
I told the right one
every time
and unless we have
a really good husband
or wife
who reminds us
when we were wrong
we don't even remember
when we're wrong
and that's what it means
to be a human being
but in God's eyes
our conceit
and our pride
is unbelievably deadly
unbelievably deadly
because it keeps us
from grace
it keeps us
from God
you know
there's an old saying
you can't look up to God
when you're looking down
your nose
at other people
it is humanly impossible
to look down your nose
at other people
and look up to God
at the exact same time
even if I do this
I'm still just looking down
my nose
my eyes aren't up there
Andrew if you could put up
the next thing
here's this great verse
which is so important
in the text
the Lord said to me
my grace is sufficient
for you
for my power
is made perfect
in weakness
my grace
is sufficient for you
for my power
is made perfect
in weakness
and in the original language
the way this is expressed
it's expressed
a little bit
almost like Hebrew poetry
so that grace
and power
are seen as synonyms
because as we all know
in this life
a lot of times
people have power
but they have no grace
and a lot of times
people want to offer us grace
but they have no power
but in this text
it's telling us
that God's grace
is powerful
and God's power
is always
full of grace
and my grace
is sufficient for you
for my power
is made perfect
in weakness
and in fact
in a very very
subtle
and subtle way
Paul is pointing to this
even as he's telling
the story
you might have noticed
a little bit
this odd thing
about praying three times
like is the Bible
telling me George
that okay
you know I have this
I have this knee problem
God heal my knee
didn't do it
God heal my knee
doesn't do it
God heal my knee
okay now I'm not allowed
to pray for it anymore
like is that what the text
is saying
no no
it's a very very subtle thing
it's a bit of a literary thing
to make us think
see you know
one of the problems I have
when I read the Bible
is I like to gallop
through the Bible
and galloping through the Bible
is good to get a bit of
you know a big sense
of what's being said
in God's word
but also we need to
to pause with the Bible
and we need to think about
the different choice of words
and to realize that
God is not an idiot
when he had his Bible
put together
that there's subtleties
there in the Bible
that he wants us to see
and to notice
and so go back
and look at verse 8
three times
I pleaded with the Lord
about this
that it should leave me
who
for those of us
who are Christians
who prayed about something
three times
Jesus in the garden
of Gethsemane
you see on one hand
three times
is just a bit of a synonym
of say
it's just a sort of
a bit of a poetic way
of talking about
a season of prayer
because that's one of the
interesting things
about this text
it's telling us
that there's a season
whereby we pray something
and then at some point
in time in the season
we might come to a realization
that God has in fact
given us an answer
but it's not the answer
that we had hoped for
but he has in fact
given us an answer
but at the same time
that he's communicating
that with this language
of three
he's also pointing us
to another person
who asked the father
for something
and the father
did not say yes
to the request
and if you are here
and you're a seeker
you don't know the Bible
very well
in the garden of Gethsemane
Jesus leaves his disciples
he goes to a place
to pray
he knows
that the soldiers
are even now
heading towards the garden
that he's been betrayed
by one of his friends
that the soldiers
are coming on behalf
of civil and religious authority
that they are going to
arrest Jesus
they know that he's going
to be found guilty
and he knows
he knows that he's going
to die upon the cross
the very very next day
he knows that
he does not even have
24 hours to live
and in the garden
he says
father
if it be your will
may you take this cup
from me
father if it be your will
may you take this cup
from me
father if it be your will
may you take this cup
from me
and
the cup
there's lots of imagery there
it's
you know
one way to understand
the state of our lives
is if you could just imagine
that all of a sudden
it would be like
a little bit like
a horror movie
or a science fiction movie
and you have the really
evil person there
and the evil person
takes a bit of a cut
or something
and something black
and foul drips out
and it's some of their evil
and it goes into a cup
for another person
to drink
and you know it
well it's somehow
communicating the evil
through the cup
and there's these
Old Testament
Tanakh images
of somehow
another
one other way
to understand
that my sin
my shame
the evil
that I've done
the evil that I've thought
the good that I should have done
that I didn't do
and if you could just imagine
that every time
that's a little bit of
black foul stuff
that goes into a cup
and a bit of
black foul stuff
that goes into a cup
and if you're at all
honest about your life
you know
eventually it would be
like a lake
it would be too big
to drink
so just imagine
that every time
it happens
the moisture
drips
you know
fades away
and it just becomes
more and more
and more and more
and concentrated
and one of the ways
to understand
what Jesus does
for us on the cross
is that the cross
is not just about
his death
but that God
the Son of God
whose own cup
would have nothing
black or foul
in it
because he has
never sinned
but that on the cross
he takes my cup
all of that
black foul stuff
from my life
all now represented
in a cup
and on the cross
when Jesus dies
three times before
he dies
he says
Father I don't know
if I can drink
this for George
and for
and for Deborah
and for Daniel
and for Jonathan
and for Yasmin
and for Shirley
and for Dick
and for Shannon
and for Dana
and for Carl
and for Earl
and for Jeremiah
but if that is what
you are calling me to do
I will drink it
and on the cross
what you see
with him dying
is him
in a sense
figuratively
drinking
my cup
and
you know
if you could put up
the next thing
Andrew
the God
remember I told you
how the great fear
of our generation
one of the many great fears
of our generation
is if you get too close to God
you're going to end up
with a suicide vest
blowing innocent people up
or you're going to
behead a person on a bus
or you're going to do
all these horrible things
here's the thing
in our worldly imagination
the gods of this world
either abandon us
or tell us to kill people
but the true and living God
revealed in an open public revelation
which reveals God's gospel to us
the true and living God
who has revealed himself
in his word
loves people
and dies to save them
the gods of this world
either abandon us
the gods of this world
that we fear
tell us to kill people
the God revealed
in the Bible
the true and living God
doesn't tell his people
to kill people
but it tells a story
of God drinking
the cup of wrath
the cup of evil
from each life
he dies to save them
that's why you see
the gods of this world
cannot understand the cross
the gods of this world
in many cases
like in Islam
they don't believe
that such a great prophet
like Jesus
could actually die
upon the cross
they believe that God
did one of two things
but it was another person
who died there
not Jesus
because Jesus
is the second greatest prophet
and the gods of this world
that love money
and power
and wealth
and prestige
and boasting
inevitably
as they start to look at Jesus
they say
oh you know
that stuff about the cup of wrath
is so
you know
it's so
it's how Hicks talk
it's how uneducated people talk
and they want to make Jesus
into an example
but not a sacrifice
because the gods of this world
love power
and cannot get their mind
around the idea
that the true and living God
the creator
and sustainer of all things
the one who is sovereign
and will bring all things
to their proper end
that he would love
people like you and me
and that what characterizes him
is not just power
but grace
and that out of his power
and his grace
seeing you and me
he loved us
even though we were at enmity with him
even though we feared him
even though we believed lies about him
even though we didn't want him
to come close
even though we're mad
that he doesn't do what he wants
and in face of all of that
still he loves us
and he
he rescues us
by becoming weak
and dying upon the cross
and that's what's revealed
in the Bible
so you see
here's the thing
we're going to wrap this up
very quickly
with three little
simple points
if you want to try
to write them down
later or something
go on the webpage
if I go through them
too quick
but here's the thing
you see in the eyes
of the world
text like this
my grace is sufficient for you
verse 9
for my power is made perfect
in weakness
therefore I will boast
all the more gladly
of my weaknesses
so that the power of Christ
may rest upon me
enter if you could put
the next one up
oh sorry
that's not the one
I wanted to put up
but anyway
put it up anyway
we'll get that in a moment
this text
we're going to see it more
in the prayer
that we're going to do next
therefore I will boast
all the more gladly
of my weaknesses
so that the power of Christ
may rest upon me
that word rest
is the same word
that's used in the Old Testament
of God
through the tabernacle
being present
in the center
of his people
so that he would
guide them
protect them
speak to them
love them
it's an image
of pitching his tent
amongst them
to be fully
in their presence
though same word
falls many times
in the book of Revelation
when it talks about
the day
when there's
the new heaven
and the new earth
and we dwell
with God
and he dwells
with us
it's the exact
same word
as is used
in John 1 14
the word
the word became flesh
and dwelt among us
dwelt
rest upon
read it again
my grace is sufficient
for you
for my power
is made perfect
in weakness
therefore I will boast
all the more gladly
of my weaknesses
so that the power
of Christ
may rest upon me
that Jesus
himself
will pitch
his tent
in my life
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
see what this text
is calling us
to is not
resignation
is self-centered
and passive
Jesus did not
resign
himself
to going
to the cross
this text
is calling us
not to be resigned
to being a jar
of clay
but to accept it
resignation
is self-centered
and passive
acceptance
is other-centered
and active
and that's what you see
with Jesus
with the cup
for God
in his love of God
and for his love
of you and me
he accepted
the cup
and he walked
towards those
who were going
to kill him
and as Christians
have famously said
for generations
it was not the nails
that held him
to the cross
but his love
for you and me
that held him
to the cross
so you see
from the eyes
of the world
and the eyes
of the powerful
to say
that somehow
or another
accepting
that I am
a jar of clay
that God
can use me
even though
I am a jar
of clay
and that I am
weak
and that God
can use me
and that it's
his power
well if
that doesn't sound
like I have
healthy self-esteem
but if it's true
it means I'm actually
living in the real world
I was born powerless
I lived the first
nine months
of my life
in my mother's womb
I lived as a child
for a long time
and even now
you know
for many of the things
that are most important
I'm very powerless
and when I die
I will be completely
powerless
and our addiction
and love
of power
is mostly
just conceit
in pride
that we see
and hate
in others
but we do not
see and hate
in ourselves
and the fact
of the matter
is
is I am a jar
of clay
who had a beginning
and a jar
of clay
who will have
an end
but this is not
to leave me
to be depressed
because God
the son of God
died upon the cross
to redeem me
to live in me
and to live
and walk
with me
always is a jar
of clay
his is always
the power
so just in closing
yeah here's the one thing
the quicker I stop
flapping my arms
and trying to fly
and let him
strap me into his plane
as his passenger
the quicker I will fly
so it's a bit corny
but what the heck
next one
Lord help me
to grow
in accepting
that I am
a jar of clay
whom you redeemed
and with whom
you will live
you will forever
pitch your tent
that's what the text
is telling me
promise of the gospel
you see it's
it's only in the context
of the gospel
that we are to understand
that we're jars of clay
and not be depressed
but to understand
we're living in the real world
I am a jar of clay
book of Ecclesiastes
describes human beings
as a vapor
with a longing
for eternity
in their heart
isn't that beautiful
a vapor
that has a longing
for eternity
a longing for heaven
in its heart
that's us human beings
next one Andrew
final one
dear Lord
please help me
to be gripped
by the gospel
and then die
to my conceit
and pride
and live free
as a jar of clay
in the embrace
of your grace
and power
all to your glory
and praise
this is what the text
is inviting us
to pray
could you please stand
if the Lord
has touched your heart
would you pray that
with me
and you know
if you're here today
and you don't know
where you are
with the Lord
and maybe you've been
thinking that just
reading the Bible
isn't as good
as having a vision
I don't know
maybe this is
God has touched
your heart
if you have not
given your life
to Jesus
and you feel
a bit of a pressure
inside of you
stop fighting
the pressure
surrender
stop running
and turn to Jesus
and say
Jesus
may this prayer
be my entrance
into your kingdom
may this prayer
be the prayer
that begins me
as your child
forever
I encourage you
if you feel that pressure
to not push it off
but to say yes to it
please join with me
in praying
dear Lord
please help me
to be gripped
by the gospel
and then die
to my conceit
and pride
and live free
as a jar
of clay
in the embrace
of your grace
and power
all to your glory
and praise
Father pour out
your Holy Spirit
upon us
make us these jars
of clay
embraced by your grace
and power
and learning to live
whether we are lawyers
stay at home dads
or stay at home moms
or pastors
or missionaries
working in the government
wherever we are
learning to live
for your glory
and praise
in Jesus name we pray
Amen