Title: The Exception and the Rule
Text: II Corinthians 12:2-10
Thesis: The proof of God’s activity in our lives is not so much about the magnificent and the miraculous as it is about the grace that sustains us even in our weakness.
Introduction
When he was born his mother named after gospel writer Mark in hopes that he would tell the gospel truth. But 13th Century Europeans found his tales of faraway places impossible to believe. He claimed that at the age of 17 he began an epic journey that lasted a quarter of a century. He traveled across the steppes of Russia, the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, the wastelands of Persia and over the top of the world through the Himalayas. He was the first European to enter China and through an amazing set of circumstances served in the court of the Kublai Kahn, the most powerful ruler on earth. What he saw in China absolutely dwarfed anything he had ever seen in Europe.
When he returned to Italy loaded down with gold, silk and spices people dismissed his stories as mythical. His family priest rebuked him for spinning lies. At his deathbed, his family and friends begged him to recant his tales of China. But setting his jaw and gasping for breath, Marco Polo spoke his final words, “I have not even told you half of what I saw.” Ironically, history has proven that Marco Polo was truthful about his adventures.
1300 years before Marco Polo wrote about his adventures there was another man who wrote of his vision of the glories of heaven in the Book of Revelation and it may well be that he only told of half of what he saw. And I suspect that like Marco Polo, history will prove that John was truthful about his vision as well.
Our text begins today with a similar tale. The Apostle Paul wrote:
I. The Exception
“…I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.” II Corinthians 12:2-4
Our text begins with the Apostle Paul offering up a disclaimer for what he is about to write. He seems embarrassed by the fact that he is actually going to tell about his spiritual experience because he knows it will sound like he is bragging. But he feels compelled to tell his story non-the-less. It seems some other spiritual teachers have come to town and telling the people who made up the church at Corinth how important they were. In II Corinthians 10:12 Paul’s words almost drip with sarcasm where he wrote, “Oh, don’t worry; we wouldn’t dare say that we are as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are!”
Seemingly people were getting all giddy about the arrival of the latest proponent of the health, wealth and prosperity gospel, compliments of Sweet Jesus. And the Apostle Paul, who was not exactly chopped liver, was feeling pressured to defend himself as a worthy representative of Jesus Christ. He feels embarrassed to have to defend himself. He is embarrassed that he needed to produce his credentials and drag out his resume’ in order to get a little respect.
But he reluctantly brought to mind and told the a story he had kept to himself for fourteen years… a story so magnificent that it forever cemented in the minds of the people in the church at Corinth a lasting appreciation for who he was and how God had intervened in his life. He described his experience as having been caught up into the sky where birds fly and then to the higher heavens of the stars and planets and then beyond… to third heaven or paradise.
British tycoon Richard Branson is quite the entrepreneurial adventurist. He has been talking about using Virgin Galactic space craft to mine precious metals from asteroids and to launch small satellites into orbit. This week at the Farnborough, England Air Show, he announced his intention to launch his Virgin Galactic Spaceship the SS2 into space early in 2013. They will launch from Spaceport America in New Mexico, fly 60 miles into space on a two hour cruise before returning safely to Spaceport America. 529 people have already signed up at $200,000 a pop to take the ride.
However, what Paul describes far outreaches the vision of Richard Branson. Paul’s adventure took him well beyond the 60 mile mark into the depths of the universe to that place his listeners understood to be paradise. Remember when Jesus spoke to the thief on the cross assuring him, “Today, you will be with me in paradise?” Jesus was speaking of the place Paul wrote of in this text.
I would place Paul’s experience in the category of the paranormal or preternatural. The Ancient Christian Commentary suggests that the reason people do not talk about these kinds of experiences is because they are either too horrible or too glorious. We know people who will not talk about things that are too horrible to recall, much less retell. And sometimes people have experiences they are reluctant to tell because they are just too fantastic to believe. And the experience Paul retells is in that category… he went to Paradise.
After fourteen years Paul still could not freely speak of his experience. The word paradise means a walled garden. It is typically understood to be a place of beauty and serenity. It was a place where kings walked and to be invited to walk with the king in his paradise was an unspeakable honor. So what Paul was saying was essentially, I was invited to walk with God in his heavenly garden… and of that experience he simply wrote, “I was caught up into paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.” What he saw and heard were not things too horrible to tell but things too sacred to speak of.
I think what Paul wanted his readers to know and what God wants us to know is that paranormal experiences are real and there is a place called paradise that is very much real. But his experience is more in the category of the exception than the rule. He and we may be able to pluck an experience from fourteen years ago that may raise eye-brows and make people wonder what we’ve been smoking. And those kinds of experiences may perhaps even make people think more highly of us… but while those kinds of experiences may certainly change our lives it is the living of life in the real world that establishes and makes us who we are.
You can learn a whole lot more about God in the thorns of life than you will in your third heaven experiences.
II. The Rule
“So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.” II Corinthians 12:5-7
Paul was an unusual man. He was embarrassed to speak of his credentials for ministry. He did not want to be known as some special kind of Christian and most certainly he did not want people adding more to his stature than was his to own.
He did not want the plaudits and praise of people. He specifically said in 12:6 he said, “I do not want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my messages.” But he was also very much a human being.
In my reading this week I came across an interesting comment, “The average person believes he is a better person than the average person.” Most of us kind of identify with the folks in the fictional Lake Wobegon where Garrison Keillor says, “All the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are above average.” Social science research reveals we are proud. We think better of ourselves than we really are. And we assume the worst in others while assuming the best in ourselves.” (PreachingToday.com, “Study: Self-images Often Erroneously Inflate,” ABC News, 11/9/05)
The Apostle Paul was apparently not immune from having a “touch of the pride.” I suspect that if I were the rare exception of the rule who is privileged to get a round-trip to third heaven, my head might be a bit inflated too. We understand, as Paul did, that pride has a way of showing oneself to be above others. To be a proud person is to be arrogant and high-minded. So God allowed Satan to bring into his life what he described as a thorn in the flesh for the very purpose of keeping him humble.
The word for thorn is more like a pointed stake than a splinter.
While in Michigan our little grandniece got a splinter in her finger from the deck. She was not happy. She was not happy to have the splinter in her finger and she was even less happy by the prospects of having someone remove the splinter. But the next morning I observed her grandmother working patiently with her instructing her to push on the splinter while she used a tweezers to remove it. We’ve all had splinters… they aren’t pleasant and none of us is lining up to be given one.
What the Apostle Paul experienced was no mere splinter or thorn… the word here refers to something that is piercing and deeply imbedded in the body. What he experienced was deeply physical. It was obvious and apparent and had an undeniable affect on him physically, emotionally and spiritually. It was the kind of thing Paul believed was detrimental to his ability to function and serve God. He believed he could serve God better without the affliction than with the affliction.
Commentators are quick to offer up ideas as to the nature of his torn. Some think he was ugly or disfigured. Some think he had chronic flare-ups of Malaria. Some think it was poor eye-sight. Whatever it was it must have been disgusting and debilitating and a constant and humbling reminder. Some translations even use the word “buffet” to speak of the unrelenting way, blow by blow, battering after battering the malady affected him and humbled him.
The vision of heaven was the exception in Paul’s life… ongoing suffering was the rule in his life.
I would guess, as a rule, everyone in this room has a thorn of some sort. I would guess that nearly every one of us is living with a circumstance or a situation that we would dearly like to be rid of. I would guess that nearly every one of us has been struggling with that something for a long time. And I would guess that nearly every one of us believes we would be better off if we were rid of it. We would be happier, healthier and better fitted to serve God if life were different.
The Apostle Paul did not like it either. In fact he said he begged God to remove his thorn three times. I think that meant there were three extended periods of time when he grappled with it and prayed that God would take it away. But God didn’t!
Larry Crabb tells of a time when he was ten years old when he heard about how Jesus never lies and how Jesus said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” He said it was the “whatever” that impressed him… just believe, ask and receive… boom, it’s yours.
He said he ran out into the driveway and prayed that God will make him fly like Superman. He closed his eyes and hopped and hopped and hopped down the drive way but he never flew. Larry Crabb said, “Thus began my 50-year confusion about prayer.” (Larry Crabb, “Great Expectations,” Pray? Magazine, November/December 2006, p. 34)
Paul’s prayer wasn’t answered either…at least not the way he had hoped. Instead he was given an insight into the purpose and usefulness of his thorn in the flesh. It was to keep him humble.
Can you imagine what kind of a rascal I would be if I looked like Tom Selleck and had the boyish charm and the ability to spin hope and happiness like Joel Osteen? My ego is already inflated… what would it be like if I could sell out The Pepsi Center to an adoring crowd of television viewers?
What would you be like if you were rolling in good health and loaded with money and had a great job and a loving spouse and perfect children and grandchildren, lived in a schmancy house, drove a high-end automobile and everyone was telling you how wonderful you are and how important you are and how deserving you are and how much better you are than all the less fortunate and obviously less blessed by God people around you? And what if you actually believed it?
Paul wasn’t going to be rid of his thorn anytime soon. In fact God pretty much said, “Paul, you are going to have to learn to cope with it but I will help you do just that.”
III. The Grace of God
God said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” II Corinthians 12:8-10
God assured Paul that though he would not be free of his thorn, God’s grace would be sufficient to help him cope with it.
I grew up on Sky King, The Lone Ranger, The Little Rascals, Tom Terrific and his mighty wonder-dog Manfred and Popeye.
In a typical scenario Olive Oyl or Swee’Pea would be in distress or Bluto would be moping the deck with Popeye when suddenly Popeye would reach into his shirt and pull out a can of spinach. He would then squeeze the can, the spinach would pop into the air and into his mouth, power would surge through his body and with muscles bulging he would give Bluto a good thumping.
Sometimes we think the grace of God is like Popeye’s can of spinach. We give God a little squeeze and he pops a little spinach into our mouths and we are off and running. But what if you haven’t the strength to even give God a little squeeze?
Joni Eareckson Tada broke her neck in a diving accident that left her a quadriplegic. Her thorn is a most unusual and particularly debilitating one. No teen-ager wants to face a lifetime of paralysis. But she went on to be an author, artist and noted conference speaker. She married.
She tells of being in the ladies room during a women’s conference when a well-meaning woman, who was putting on lipstick in front of the mirror said, “Oh Joni, you always look so together and happy in your wheelchair. I wish I had your joy!” Several other ladies agreed and one asked, “Yes, how do you do it?”
Joni replied, “I don’t do it. Let me tell you how it works. After Ken leaves in the morning at 6 a.m., I’m alone until I hear the door open at 7 a.m. That’s when a friend arrives to get me up. While I listen to her make coffee I pray, “Oh Lord, my friend will soon give me a bath, dress me, sit me up in a chair, brush my hair and teeth, and send me out the door. I don’t have the strength to face this routine one more time. I have no resources. I don’t even have a smile to take into the day. But you do, Lord. May I have yours? God I need you so desperately.”
“So what happens, then when you’re friend comes through the bedroom door?” one woman asked.
And Joni replied, “I turn my head toward her and give her a smile straight from heaven. It’s not mine, it’s God’s! And so, “ she said gesturing toward her paralyzed legs, “whatever joy you see today was hard won this morning.”
And so coping is not merely muddling by… it is openly welcoming and receiving the grace of God for a smile you do not have.
It is an interesting and ironic thing to find that in times of grief, you can be sad and by joyful at the same time. It is an ironic thing to be weak and strong at the same time. That was God’s promise to Paul, weakness and strength will exist simultaneously in your life! When we are weakest, God is strongest.
I think we can readily agree that the power of grace sufficient comes from God. But as Paul finishes out his thoughts on his weakness and God’s power, he says something that really grabs my attention. After having prayed three times for God to rid him of his thorn and after God, rather than removing the thorn promised to give him grace sufficient to cope with it and through it… Paul said, “So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” Paul was actually finding pleasure in his weakness. He found joy in his suffering because were it not for the challenges in his life that humbled him and made him weak and needy, he would never know what it means to experience and live out the power of God.
Conclusion
Paul was not nearly as excited about telling and retelling his moment of ecstasy fourteen years ago as he was about acknowledging the presence and power of God in his day to day life. The proof of God’s activity in our lives is not so much about the magnificent and the miraculous as it is about the grace that sustains us even in our weakness. It really is more about the rule than the exception.
It about doing what Joni Earekson says she does every morning. “I turn my head toward her and give her a smile straight from heaven. It’s not mine, it’s God’s! And so, “ she said gesturing toward her paralyzed legs, “whatever joy you see today was hard won this morning.”
So now we too may say, “I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.”
