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Wallingford Presbyterian Church May 4, 2008 |
Rev. Ken Sunoo |
A few years ago, I preached a series of sermons on 1 Corinthians. This year, we’ve been going through 2 Corinthians. If you read these two letters side by side, you’ll notice that they emphasize very different things.
1 Corinthians is a more inward-focused book, where Paul grapples with what’s happening internally within the Corinthian church, while 2 Corinthians is more outward focused, where Paul is more concerned with how they relate to those around them (remember last week – we saw how Paul was concerned with the Corinthians fulfilling their pledge to help the suffering in Jerusalem; also, ambassadors for Christ passage).
The problem in 1 Cor. was they were beginning to drift away from Jesus Christ as their center. So that book is mainly focused on the church itself and the relationships within the church. Sometimes this is exactly what we need, to spend time to examine our own souls.
But there comes a time when we can become too preoccupied with ourselves, when our inner focusing becomes simply naval gazing and we forget about others. That’s Paul’s main worry in 2 Cor., where he wants them to look out into the world (e.g., be ambassadors for Christ). He wants to send them out and get them in touch with other people with the ministry of reconciliation. We really need both halves (both inward and outward focused) to be a church – if we’re only inward focused, we lose our sense of mission and become a self-contained club, while if we’re only outward focused, then we become simply social workers and not the Body of Christ in the world.
But Paul has had a difficult time convincing the Corinthians to listen to him. As I’ve mentioned before, the church at Corinth is the largest, richest, most successful church Paul ever established. The danger of being big and powerful is that you tend to become too proud to listen to anyone else.
And although Paul was the one who started the Corinthian church, apparently he is not an impressive figure to meet in person. He admits what people say about him, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” (10:10) Ouch!
The oldest physical description we have of Paul goes back to the second century. It may or may not be accurate but it’s the oldest one we have. This is how the writer describes Paul: “Paul was small in stature, bald headed, bow-legged, a vigorous physique with meeting eyebrows and a slightly hooked nose.”[1]
There’s one other phrase in this description, which I will read to you later. So stay tuned. But this is what Paul looked like.
Furthermore, he shares with the Corinthians that he has a thorn in his flesh which torments him. A thorn is obviously something which causes great pain – “even a thorn in a sensitive place, as under a fingernail, can be extremely painful.”[2] Paul says he’d like to get rid of it, but he can’t.
Over the centuries there have been many theories about what exactly Paul’s thorn was because he doesn’t say. Luther and Calvin thought it was certain temptations that he suffered. Some people think that it stands for the persecutions that Paul had to go through. Some other theories are more physical – that he suffered from epilepsy or malaria or a speech impediment or depression. Others think it may have been his defective eyesight – at the end of his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes, “See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand” (Gal. 6:11). But the fact is, we don’t know what it was. What we do know is that Paul desperately wanted to get rid of his thorn.
I for one am glad that we don’t know what Paul’s thorn is, because it makes it easier for us to identify with him. Many people have thorns in their lives – a difficult or broken relationship, a physical disability, an addiction, a struggle with depression. If even the great Apostle Paul had to struggle with his thorn but was not forsaken by Christ, then there’s hope for us as well.
And there’s no question that Paul struggled. Paul says he begged and pleaded with God to take that thorn away. The Greek word he uses is the word parakaleo. That’s the same word Paul used at the beginning of this letter when he wrote about the God who encourages us. The word means to call upon, to come alongside. Paul is pleading for help with desperate urgency.
Paul says in verse 8: Three times I pleaded with the Lord.
The number three is also an indication of desperation. Remember in the Garden of Gethsemene where Jesus is facing the cross and he’s praying that God would have the Cup taken away from him? Three times he prays. It’s an indication of desperate pleading with God. What Paul is saying here to God is, “God, I’ve poured my heart out to you. I’ve tried to serve you the best I can, and I’ve faced many challenges like beatings, shipwrecks, and prison. And now I have this thorn which you’re not taking away. Why are you leaving me in so much pain?”
And God remains silent. His thorn is not removed.
John Ortberg says that “you can imagine Paul’s confusion and disappointment. What’s going on here? Have you ever experienced that kind of silence from God? And then finally God speaks, ‘Paul, I have something for you – it’s not thorn removal; it’s better than that. It’s not pain elimination, it’s stronger than that. I have something for you, Paul, and it’s called grace.’”[3]
We talked about grace last week. The Greek word for grace is charis. We noted that one of the young people in our church, Carris Clarkson, got her name from this word. Charis comes from the root word chara – joy. Literally, charis means a surprise gift of love.
God tells Paul, “I’ll give you my grace. You may have a thorn, you may be in pain, but know that I will never leave you on your own. I’m going to give you my grace, my presence, my power, my love, my mercy, my forgiveness. My grace is sufficient for you. Whatever it is you are going through, my grace is enough. My grace will be sufficient.”[4]
Before Paul met Jesus, he was known for many things, but he was not known for grace. He was known for being a Pharisee, for being zealous for the Law, for being a religious fanatic. That all changed when he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus.
All of a sudden, grace is all he could talk about. He starts every one of his letters with the words, “Grace to you.” He ends this second letter to the Corinthians with the words, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ…be with you all.”
Paul just never got over grace. Previously, I read for you the earliest description we have of Paul: “Paul was small in stature, bald headed, bow-legged, a vigorous physique with meeting eyebrows and a slightly hooked nose.” It contains one more phrase in it, “and full of grace”.
And full of grace. Now how’s that for an extreme makeover? Before Paul met Christ he was short, bald, bow-legged, and unibrowed. After he met Christ he was short, bald, bow-legged, unibrowed, and full of grace. And he carried that grace with him all around the ancient world and turned it upside down. Two thousand years later, we’re meeting here in this church largely because of Paul’s work.
The thorns in our lives still hurt. There’s nothing wrong with praying to God and asking him to remove our thorns – Paul himself did it three times. But the other thing we can pray for is that God would make our lives full of grace.
I don’t know what your thorns are, but I do know this: Jesus knows all about thorns. On the cross, he wore a crown full of them. On the cross, he took our weaknesses, our pain, and our sin upon himself. And because of that, I can assure you that no matter what thorns you’re struggling with, God’s grace is sufficient for you. God will never leave us alone, and his grace is sufficient for us. Thanks be to God. Amen.