Title: Bragging Rights
Text: II Corinthians 12:2-10
Thesis: If we must boast, boast in the sufficiency of God’s grace.
Introduction
Our story today reminds me of an incident told in E.M. Bounds’ book “On Prayer.” The storyteller said he woke one morning to the sound of hounds on the hunt. Looking out the window he saw an exhausted fawn crossing the field. He went outside just as the fawn jumped the fence and crouched in the grass not ten feet from where he stood. A moment later two hounds came into the yard prompting the fawn to run to him, pushing its head between his legs. He said, “I lifted the little thing to my breast, and swinging around and round, fought off the dogs because in that moment all the dogs in the west would not capture that fawn after in its weakness had appealed to my strength.”
The story today is about how human helplessness and weakness ultimately appeals to the strength of Almighty God in order to survive. (A.C. Dixon, quoted in E.M. Bounds “On Prayer,” Whitaker House, P. 107)
The setting from which the story emerges is one that seems to be causing the Apostle Paul considerable embarrassment. The circumstances in which he finds himself embroiled have him, and I use his own words, “talking like a fool.”
He was the founding pastor of the Church at Corinth. He was with the people from day one. He had loved them and led them and now his position or role in the Corinthian Christian community was being threatened by up-starts he referred to as “super apostles” in 11:5 and 12:11.
The KJV refers to the people of whom Paul writes as “the chiefest of apostles.” The term used in the NIV and the NLT is “super apostles.” And in the Message they are referred to as “big-shot apostles.”
It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you can put up with these “big-shot apostles," why can’t you put up with simple me? I’m as good as they are. It’s true that I don’t have their voice, haven’t mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I’m talking about. II Corinthians 11:4-6
This is not a new issue. In I Corinthians 1 Paul speaks to the divisiveness caused by their penchant for following personalities. Some declared themselves as followers of Paul. Others said they were followers of Apollos or Peter. And the most spiritual among them said they were followers of Christ. (I Corinthians 1:12)
We do not know who these “super apostles” were but we know there was a sense that the new guys are in and the old guy is out. So Paul, though against his better judgment, concludes that despite the fact that “bragging is not something the Lord wants… since the super apostles are bragging about their human achievement, I will too.” (II Corinthians 11:18)
He doesn’t want to boast. He hates boasting. He knows God doesn’t condone boasting. He is embarrassed to be boasting. And he feels foolish to be lowering himself to boasting. But non-the-less, he lets loose, asserting his own list of bragging rights.
Why would Paul be moved to do something he so detested?
I. Good and godly people need to feel good about themselves and want to be appreciated by others.
Paul wrote, “I don’t think I am inferior to these “super apostles.” I may not be a trained speaker, but I know what I am talking about. I think you realize this by now, for we have proved it again and again.” II Corinthians 11:5-6
We may not immediately be able to identify with Paul’s feelings of being threatened or unappreciated. But perhaps you remember when you were a respected athlete… a starter on a football or basketball team. And then a new kid moved to town and he was pretty good, maybe better than you and suddenly all eyes are on him. He is the new hope of a conference championship. Or maybe you have worked in a business for a number of years. You have been a diligent and trusted employee. Your co-workers like and admire you. Your opinions carry weight… and then the new hire comes on board and everyone loves him or her. Your co-workers and your boss think they are the cat’s meow. You are now among the adoring rather than being the adored. You are no longer the queen bee and but just another drone. Or perhaps you have been through a messy divorce and your spouse remarries and you feel like the new step dad or step mom is trying to steal away the affection of your children.
When those kinds of scenarios unfold we feel threatened and are jealous. Even Paul expressed feelings of jealousy when these “super apostles” came onto the scene. He said, “I hope you will be patient with me as I keep talking like a fool. Please bear with me. I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself…” (II Corinthians 11:1-2)
So he brought out his own list of bragging rights:
• He bragged of his own spiritual pedigree, 11:22
• He bragged of his job performance, 11:23a
• He bragged of his perseverance under pressure, 11:23b-29
• He bragged of his paranormal experience, 12:1-6
All of this by design was intended to reestablish himself as the spiritual leader of the Corinthian Christian community. He essentially says, “I don’t care what the ‘super apostles’ trot out… I have a better pedigree, I worked harder, I persevered under hardships and pressures none of them could ever imagine, and I have had a paranormal spiritual experience that surpasses even the wildest visions touted by the “super apostles.’”
Apparently, it was his paranormal experience that would have really impressed the Corinthians, who were seemingly attracted to signs and wonders, spiritual gifts and ecstatic experiences like prophetic utterance, speaking in tongues, as well as dreams and visions.
The Apostle Paul had a jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring paranormal experience that would have been nothing less than “money in the bank, or as former President Bush put it, “collateral” in terms of spiritual credibility among the Corinthian Christians.
Paul could have lived off of that experience for years and years.
II. Good and godly people can be tempted to “live off of” past experiences.
“I was caught up into the third heaven fourteen years ago… that experience is something worth boasting about, but I am not going to do it.” II Corinthians 12:1-5
Paul is rather sparse in his description of what happened to him. He isn’t sure if it was an in-body or out-of-body experience. All he knows for certain is that on an occasion fourteen years earlier he was caught up into paradise where he “saw and heard things so astounding that they cannot be told.” (II Corinthians 12:4)
One of the darkest days of my life was in 1972. Bonnie and I were living in Lincoln, NE in a neighborhood that was being redeveloped by the Lincoln Housing Authority. Our house was a nice little brick home built on a street where old houses had been razed and new houses built to replace them.
One night we had a heavy rain storm and when I checked the basement the next morning I found three feet of standing water… when the house was built the builders had not put a foot-valve in the drain so all of the water carried by the sewer came up through the floor drain and into our basement. Everything stored there was lost, including my box of high school memorabilia. All of my newspaper clippings, medals and ribbons were gone.
I carried my glory days out of the basement and placed them on the curb for trash haulers to take to the landfill.
Old athletes, old soldiers, old businesspersons and business establishments, old celebrities, old churches, old pastors, old apostles, and old whatevers… all may be tempted to live off of past glories.
One day I was having breakfast in George’s Restaurant and happened to be sitting across from a retired GM employee who was having nothing of the talk of the demise of General Motors. And I could tell by the fire in his eyes and the flare of his nostrils that it was a subject best left alone.
On June 3 I read an article by Rick Newman titled: GM Eulogies – Let’s Move On. The by-line read, “End of an era. Fallen titan. Epic decline. Death of an American icon.”
The writer went on to state, “It’s true that GM was a titanic, revolutionary company – 50 years ago – that did more to build the American middle class than any other single corporation. For 77 years GM was the world’s biggest automaker. For half that time, it was the biggest because it was the best. For the rest of the time, GM was the biggest because it used to be the best.” (http://seekingalpha.com/article/14097-gm-eulogies-let-s-move-on)
The Apostle Paul could have spent his days singing Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days.” He could have trotted out his out-of-body, paranormal story now and then to remind the good folks that even if he was not a “super apostle” he was the real-deal.
But he was not much interested in spiritual pedigrees, job performance, persevering through hardships or even his paranormal experience. Paul was not interested in basking in his old glory. Paul was not interested in spending his days boasting about his accomplishments. What Paul wanted to do was be a good and godly man who lived in his present reality.
Paul’s present reality was the experience of learning to live out of weakness rather than strength.
III. Good and godly people learn to experience the sufficiency of God’s grace in their weakness.
“So now I am glad to boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. Since I know it is all for Christ’s good, I am quite content with my weaknesses… for when I am weak, then I am strong.” II Corinthians 12:9-10
Paul certainly had considerable bragging rights but given his present reality he was reminded that anything he might have to offer as an apostle was because of God’s grace in giving him strength in and through his weakness.
Life isn’t always pretty! Life is lived in the tensions of, as the wedding vows go, for better or worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health. For Paul and for us, life is lived in tensions of strength and weakness.
We have experienced a media frenzy in reporting on the lives of several celebrities who died in the last week or so. We have relived the highs and lows, the riches and the poverty, the glory and the ignominy, the strengths and the weakness of pop culture icons like Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Bill Mays.
Our lives as well may be characterized by success and power. We may become famous and even iconic. We may look to be living the ideal life… but in all likelihood there is a bit of weakness woven into the fabric that keeps us humble.
Paul describes his weakness as a “thorn in the flesh” given him as a messenger of Satan to torment him and keep him from becoming too proud. (II Corinthians 12:7)
Just so we can more fully understand this thing he described as a thorn in the flesh, we need to be clear that this was not a splinter from a rough board or even a sticker. The Greek language distinguishes a briar or the thorns that were used to make the crown of thorns that was placed on Jesus’ head from the other word translated as thorn which denotes anything pointed like a tent peg or stake.
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the circus that came to our town every year during the county fair. As word traveled that the circus had arrived, my friends and I would ride our bikes out and watch as the circus came off the trucks and took shape on the fairgrounds. One of the most fascinating things to watch was the raising of the big top and the pounding of huge tent pegs, driven by what looked to be giant sledge-hammers, into the ground.
What the Apostle Paul means when he refers to a “thorn in the flesh” is more likely a tent peg driven deep into his flesh.
This week I read a quote from Alexander Maclaren who said, “Please be kind to everyone you meet because everyone you meet is fighting a battle.” Nearly everyone I know has a “cross to bear” or a “thorn in the flesh.” If only the crosses and thorns were simple things like a broken arm that comes out of its case in six weeks or indigestion that is cleared up with a handful of antacids. But generally they are much more debilitating and deeply painful physically or emotionally.
We can learn some things about appropriating the grace of God in our weaknesses from the Apostle Paul.
• The first thing we can do is pray that God will take it away.
“Three different times,” Paul said, “I begged the Lord to take it away.” II Corinthians 12:8
The most desired solution to a debilitating weakness is to simply make it go away.
I imagine Jenny Sanford is praying that her philandering husband would stop pining over the loss of his Argentinean soul-mate and his public goings on about his hope to once again fall in love with his wife. I would understand if she were simply praying that it would all just go away… far, far away.
We pray that the cancer will go away. We pray that our impending divorce will go away. We pray that the threat of foreclosure will go away. We pray that the migraines will go away. We pray that dementia will go away. We pray that the compulsive and addictive impulses will go away. We pray that the unemployment will go away. We pray that our crazy neighbor or relative will go away. We pray that the worry will go away. We pray that the bipolar disorder will go away. We pray, we pray, and we pray that our crosses and our thorns will go away.
Sometimes God answers our prayers and they go away. But sometimes God says, “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.” II Corinthians 12:9a
Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church in Frankfort, KY tells of a little town in western Kentucky where he grew up. He said it was a place called Lickskillet on Watermelon Road next to Whippoorwill Creek. He said that when they built the bridge over Whippoorwill Creek they did not build the Golden Gate Bridge because they didn’t need a Golden Gate Bridge to get across Whippoorwill Creek. They just needed a big enough bridge. (Hershael York, “The Strangest Gift,” PreachingToday.com)
That is precisely what the grace of God is like, it is big enough to get us across our Whippoorwill Creek, so to speak.
So the second thing we can do is:
• The second thing we do is learn to let the power of Christ work through our weakness.
“So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me.” II Corinthians 12:9b
Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between Satan’s torments and God’s grace.
Barbara Brown Taylor told a story about an experience she had on a barrier reef one summer. One night while the tide was out she watched a huge loggerhead turtle heave herself up the beach to dig her nest so she could lay her eggs. It was a long and tedious process. The next morning Barbara said she returned to discover that the turtle’s tracks did not lead back to the ocean but into the dunes. So she followed the tracks until she found the turtle exhausted and half-baked, her head and flippers caked with dried sand.
She ran and found a park ranger who returned with her to the giant turtle. She said she winched in horror as the ranger flipped the turtle onto her back, wrapped his tire chains around the turtle’s front legs and hooked her to the trailer hitch on his jeep. He then took off, yanking the turtle over the dunes and down to the water’s edge at the beach where he unhooked her, turned her right side up and left her.
She said she watched as the loggerhead lay motionless in the surf with the water lapping at her giant body. As the water lapped and lapped the sand began to wash away and then a particularly large wave broke over her and she lifted her head slightly and began to move her back legs. She was reviving and as another wave broke over her she seemed to come back to life and gaining a new foothold she pushed off, back into the ocean where she swam slowly out to sea.
Barbara Brown Taylor said of the whole episode, including the ride through the dunes, it is sometimes hard to tell whether you are being killed or being saved by the hands that turn your life upside down. (Barbara Brown Taylor, “Preaching the Terrors,” The Art & Craft of Biblical Preaching, Zondervan, 2005)
God’s grace is not killing us... God’s grace is saving us.
Conclusion:
Twenty-five years ago, while still a pastor in Minnesota, our Conference Associate Superintendent Rick Mylander had an experience here in Colorado that left an indelible impression on him. He said he was traveling a major highway when he overtook a slower moving freight train going in the same direction. The train was being pushed by two locomotives that sounded as if they were straining at full power. Having never seen a train being pushed before left him wondering if that is how trains get around in the mountains. A few minutes later he came alongside the front of the train where he saw that the train was being pulled by five engines. Such a sight is a marvel for those of us who have grown up in the relative flatness of the plains states.
Sometimes we feel like a little engine that really can’t push any more train… it is just too long and too heavy. But just when we feel like we cannot push any longer, God reminds us that he is in the lead, pulling with the power of five engines saying, “My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.” (Rick Mylander, Leadership, Vol. 15, NO. 2)
So it is that we emulate the life and echo the words of the Apostle Paul saying, “Now I boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me!”
