Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
February 7, 2010
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is
made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast
in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2
Corinthians 12:9
Today we come to the hardest part of Christianity. To put it simply:
God doesn’t do whatever we want Him to do, whenever we want Him to do
it, no good father does.
We have abundant grace because we are cleansed from sin by the blood
of Jesus, but that grace does not always work the way we would think
it should. Some Christians say that to be a child of God means
instant health, happiness, and an a generous return on our offerings.
They like to ask, “isn’t our good always God’s will?” If you listen
carefully to that question you can hear the serpent of Eden hissing
again. Of course God desires our good, but temporal blessings may be
the very worst thing for us. We don’t know whether they are or not,
so we learn over time to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand.
St. Paul tells us that he prayed three times for good health, for
deliverance from a malady which he called the “thorn in the flesh,”
but he didn’t get what he wanted. Instead he got something better:
God’s grace to accept his cross, endure it with patience, and bear it
to His glory. May we, by grace through faith, do the same.
We don’t know what the malady was that afflicted the apostle, but
whatever it was it distracted him! It disturbed his peace of mind!
It made an already difficult life that much more complex. Like Jesus
in Gethsemane, Paul prayed three times that it might be removed from
him. But as Jesus had to drink the cup to achieve our salvation, so
Paul had to put up with his affliction. Never did he suggest that the
affliction made him anything other than a child of God. He knew his
sins were forgiven. He knew that a crown of life was waiting for him.
Those were never in doubt. But he wanted something practical for day
to day help, and so do we all. It’s true that we rely on God to give
us all things, but He will never give us things that will harm us; and
what we consider weakness, God uses to teach us how to rely on His
perfect strength.
Not everyone is going to have the exact same pattern that Paul had,
nor is it always a single malady. We suffer from a variety of
physical problems, social problems, financial problems, dysfunctional
families and never-ending harassment by the devil, the world and the
flesh. When these things test us does God lose credibility? We can’t
afford that, no one can, and there is none quite so pathetic in the
face of trials as the agnostic or the atheist. All sinners must trust
God. Jesus did not say we would have a comfortable life here.
Material blessings are good, but Jesus taught us that God’s kingdom
takes priority. He showed us what He meant by that. The thorns that
pierced His head were sharper and deadlier than any we have to bear.
He may ask us to keep our thorns, but be assured Beloved that He has
something so glorious and so hopeful in store for us that we need not
worry about pains of body or spirit. He holds before us His easy
yoke, “My grace is sufficient for you.” We are cleansed from the sins
of the flesh, and now all things are working together to bring us to
our certain hope of glorious life with Christ.
Whenever we suffer as Christians our first question is: what did I do
to deserve this? We might ask in anger or in bewilderment, but in
either case it’s the wrong question. If God dealt with us on the
basis of our sins we’d all be rubbed out of existence. But the
penalty of our trespasses was fully paid on the cross, and if there’s
no double jeopardy with man, you can be certain there is none with God
who is perfectly Just. The thorns are not punishment but rather
admonition. Fatherly discipline. Blessings in disguise. A sign that
we are children and heirs of God. Yes, He blesses us abundantly, but
as He does our sinful hearts get caught in the thorns of life. We get
distracted by the cares, riches and pleasures of life and miss the
grace itself. So by the thorn in the flesh God says, “Look at me!”
By grace He loved us before the foundation of the world. By grace He
had compassion on us while we were yet sinners. By grace the Son of
God left the company of adoring angels to come into the flesh. By
grace He bore our sins on the cross. By grace He provided the Word
and Holy Sacraments to create and sustain faith in us. By grace God
demands nothing of us but gives us everything. He did not spare His
own Son but delivered him up for us all. Will He not give us all good
things along with Christ? Rest assured that He will.
Why did Jesus tell Paul My power is made perfect in weakness? That
seems like a contradiction, but it isn’t. God’s mercy permits those
thorns to bless you with the virtues of humility, spiritual honesty
about yourself, courage you didn’t know you had, and patience. In
Paul’s case it was because he had had so many revelations from God
that He might have been tempted to act with some independence or
become self-righteous. Besides, if we think we are well we might not
visit the Great Physician. In the Gospels there are stories of people
who would never have met Jesus if they had been normal. But God in
His mercy made them lepers, or blind, or lame, or in the case of
Zacchaeus, short. Jesus paid attention to these people because of
their maladies. Far from being evidence that God has deserted you,
such afflictions are a sign that He has His eye on you.
Whether you are young and have just begun to walk with God, or older
and have already crossed over a mountain range or two, you are still
going to have weaknesses. Through such weaknesses you will see the
power of God at work. His grace is constant, do not doubt this! It
makes you able to face your troubles head-on, battle temptation, and
to find spiritual blessing in your afflictions. Of ourselves we are
nothing, but with God’s sufficient grace we are everything, and the
Will of God will never take us where the Grace of God will not protect
us. Amen.
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