I wonder if you have heard this statement. It goes something like this. “Christianity is only for those who are weak; it only offers consolation to life’s losers.”
Have you heard it or seen this criticism? Just watch TV or go see a movie sometime. Read comments under Christian Facebook posts. The world often portrays Christians as being somewhat weak and naïve—We are portrayed as the kind of people who need our faith as a “crutch” just to get through life. Some critics of religion (I don’t put us in “religion” but bear with me) suggest that non religious people are stronger because they are brave enough to face life without the crutch of “God/god.”
In fact, over the last few weeks I have visited some atheist websites to prepare for this message. And it was not uncommon for me to see the image of a weak, ham fisted Christian contrasted with one of a hardier, wiser atheist who has no need for such nonsense to get through life.
That portrayal has obviously resonated with American culture. After all, we admire strength and rugged individualism. Plus, we live on knowledge in an information heavy world. In our modern world, if you don’t know an answer to a question, you just look it up online. My oldest daughter who is training in computers has a teacher who tells her classes, “Make Google your best friend.”
Common Ground
If this is true in today’s society, then are we better off without God? Do we need him?
Is God just the machinations of weak minds? Are Christians pathetically naive?
Is religion as Karl Marx describes it, simply, “An opiate (a pain killer) for the masses”?
Is Christianity just a crutch?
I want to explore this topic today as we continue our series of messages “Alien Experience: Living in the World, but not of it.”
Our Text for today starts with 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Context:
As you turn let me offer a brief context. This letter was written by a man named Paul. He writes in part to address questions and concerns that were being asked by Christians in a city named Corinth. Now the church in Corinth had some serious issues. There was infighting and divisiveness; there were some who had a distorted view of grace. So Paul had written a first letter to them to address it. Now he writes this second. In this second letter, Paul reveals that some in the church in Corinth were questioning his authority as an apostle.
I'm guessing some did not particularly like Paul's advice. They are asking "Who does this guy think he is? It's not like his words carry the same weight as the apostles." So in the chapter before ours, Paul tells about all the things he could boast about, both good and bad, that make him an apostle. In chapter 12, he continues.
2 Corinthians 12:1-4
1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained (addition mine: in boasting about myself), I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.
All this talk about visions, and being caught up to paradise sounds strange doesn’t it? Most of us haven’t seen heavenly visions, or had dreams, or been caught up in the sky not knowing if we were in the body or out of it. It’s strange. It almost sounds like a bad drug trip. And we are also left asking, "who was this man Paul is writing about in verse 2?"
What we need to understand is that Paul is addressing their objections to his authority as an Apostle. You see, in order to be an Apostle, one would have had to have been an eye witness to the ministry of Jesus. One would have had to been directly trained by Jesus. We know that Paul was not one of the original twelve. In fact he came quite late to faith, several years after Jesus had ascended into heaven. So Paul was not physically present during Jesus’ ministry.
And what he is doing is putting his words on equal ground with Peter, and John, and James. He is establishing is credibility to address problems with the church in Corinth. And what Paul is saying is this. “I don’t qualify as an apostle because I physically witnessed the ministry of Jesus.” My experience was different.
“Fifteen years ago”, he says, “I saw the ministry of Jesus a whole different way.” (through visions and dreams and being caught up into heaven.) That’s why in other texts that Paul writes, he refers to himself as an apostle abnormally born.
And Paul makes this appeal using a literary technique where he writes about himself in the third person. It sounds weird to us when a person talks about themselves in third person, but I think Paul is trying to drive home the impact of the story without having to focus on himself.
Illustration
I would be like me saying, “There once was a man who failed his first time in Bible college, but now he is leading a church, isn’t it wonderful that God can use failures.” Oh, by the way the man who failed is me. Paul is driving home the point of his calling. You can see it when Paul writes further (verse 5)
2 Corinthians 12:5-7
5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. . . .
In his claim to have authority as an apostle (to be able to instruct the church in Corinth) Paul is careful to keep his humanity in mind. It’s almost like Paul is saying, “Not that the man Paul is anything special in himself.
Paul knows that he could quickly become conceited about his unique calling
So he writes starting in verse 7….
2 Corinthians 12:7-9
. . . Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”…
What is that thorn in the flesh? No one knows for certain. Many scholars believe it was some kind of physical ailment. Some believe Paul was losing his sight, but we don't know for sure. Paul did not find it necessary to give details so to me that discussion is unnecessary to understanding this text. Instead I want us to focus on God telling Paul, “My power is made perfect in your weakness.” Underline that!
Point One: Weakness is a crutch kind of word.
Illustration:
Most of you know a few years ago, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer - metastatic breast cancer. In other words it had spread. One of the places is spread to was her leg - it went to her femur bone. It caused that bone to become fragile and weak. And one day it broke. We rushed her to the Emergency Room where a surgeon eventually put a rod in her leg. Two days later that hospital had my wife up and walking about. Now she was a fall risk. He leg was weak so she pushed a walker in front of her; and they had gait belt around her. Weakness in her leg required a crutch. Weakness and crutch just naturally fit together.
In God's response to Paul’s request, God ties grace and weakness together. My grace is sufficient. When life is falling apart and going from bad to worse, God told Paul “My grace will support you.”
Grace is a hallmark word in Christianity. We love to talk about it. We have acronyms to describe it. Gods Riches At Christ’s Expense. But what God tells Paul is that grace is best expressed in weakness. In fact, Grace will not come without an expression of weakness. Have you ever said, "I cannot handle this on my own?"
Application One:
When we express weakness, God’s works in the power of his grace.
Folks, there is a point in each of our lives when we must realize we are so broken that it takes the Master craftsman to fix us. We are so messed up by sin that it takes someone not sinful to fix us. That’s God’s grace. The rub is that we don’t like the word broken; broken things are seen as weak or with less value. But listen to what Paul writes in verse 9.
2 Corinthians 12:9
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Paul is telling his readers I am an apostle appointed specially by Jesus. I could brag about that; but what I want you to know is that I have needed a crutch. I couldn't do this on my own. I need the power of Christ.
He goes on to write….
2 Corinthians 12:10
10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
I think you all are educated enough in Scripture to understand that this letter was not written in a vacuum. When Paul wrote this letter, he didn’t pen in the chapter and verse designations. Those were added much later in history. So chapter 11 and chapter 12 are one continuous thought. Go back and Review 11 sometime.
In chapter 11, Paul writes about the suffering he has endured because of the name of Jesus. These are his metastatic breast cancer moments. He tells the Corinthians that he has been imprisoned for preaching the gospel; he has been whipped on several occasions; he had been beaten with rods. He tells them that on one occasion (which we know about from other passages), the Jews stoned him; and left him for dead. But Paul didn’t die; he survived (likely with deep lacerations and broken bones.) Paul was shipwrecked three times, spending one night in the open seas. He knew hunger and thirst. He experienced intense times of suffering when he felt weak, yet he found strength.
If you read about Paul in the book of Acts, you can see that he was courageous with the gospel despite all this. Paul was strong. We admire strength. Let me just illustrate.
Illustration:
Stop and consider this from the perspective of Prisoners of War. We admire and honor all our veterans because of the sacrifice they have made, but those who suffered as POW’s are particularly high on my admiration scale. In some theatres of war, (Korea, Vietnam, Japan) our POWS had to have a great deal of strength and perseverance. I know from stories that have been shared publicly that in some of those theatres of war, a good number of POWS were treated barbarically. Some did not survive! It’s what makes the survival of those who did so remarkable. If you are like me, you are left wondering where does that strength come from?
I don’t know in the case of our POW’s. But in Paul’s case, he writes, “I did not find the strength to survive in myself.” I found my strength in the Lord. He says, “I was weak, God was strong. It wasn’t me; it was my crutch that was strong.” Thank God for a strong crutch!
Paul this great, bold apostle was not afraid to admit to his weakness and to his need for strength outside himself. When times got tough, Paul says, “I needed the grace expressed in Jesus.”
He says, “When I nearly stoned to death and left on that mountain top with broken bones I needed Jesus. When I spent a night on the open sea after being shipwrecked nearly freezing to death, I needed Jesus. When I was beaten and whipped because I dared preach the story of Jesus, I needed Jesus.”
Paul was not ashamed to admit to needing assistance.
Eternal Truth
The truth of matter is this. Everyone needs assistance! We all suffer pain and injuries in this life.
It’s the way the world works. If it hasn’t happened to you, it WILL! In the process, we ALL experience weakness! We WILL ALL NEED a crutch to lean on at one time or another. And the problem that some people have is that it takes great humility to admit we need one for life.
Consider this. When non religious people claim that only religious people need a crutch, it is a false statement. It is a least misleading. Non Christians also have a dependence on a crutch. They lean on drugs, alcohol, tobacco, sex, money, or political power. They lean on intelligence or education or material possessions. Some even lean on other people using them as crutches to help them cope with life.
Eternal Truth: I don't think I am wrong in suggesting that
Christians and non Christians both have crutches they use when they feel weak..
I side with Josh McDowell when he responds to accusation of Christians having a crutch. He writes, “For the religious, there is no doubt that that there are possible psychological needs that could prompt us to invent God so that we can feel secure. We fear danger, or disease, or even death. However, it is true there are also psychological needs that might lead us to DENY that God exists.” He then asks, “Is it possible that the agnostic or atheist may be using his beliefs as a crutch to avoid the responsibility of God’s demands?
Just listen to the voice of an anonymous comment on an atheist website. I'm quoting him. He wrote in response to faith, “I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn't just that I don't believe in God and naturally hope that I'm right in my belief. It's that I hope that there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that.”
I think this quote speaks volumes about how desire can come into play when one denies God exists, not just “makes him up.”
So we started off with the question, “Is Christianity a crutch?”
Well let’s see? A Crutch assumes a person needs some kind of aid. Check that on the list as a crutch. It assumes a person is hindered and this crutch is there to help them get through life as they heal. I have made the statement that we all need crutches. If this is all true, then YES Christianity like other things is a crutch. But what makes it different is this. It’s okay to boast about it. Because when we boast about our weakness, the world sees God’s strength.
You see we can define crutch differently. Let me ask this question. What if the crutch we have is not just for minimal assistance to help us avoid the pain of an ever existing injury. What if the crutch helps us to heal?
Conclusion:
If the Bible is true, (I believe that it is), then Christianity is the only crutch adequate enough to support us long enough to get healthy.
The ultimate question we all have to ask ourselves is this. Which crutch is going to help us get healthy? Take a moment. Humbly ask yourself what crutch you are leaning on. Like I said, we all need one. And then listen. Christ is calling and saying, “Let me be your crutch. Lean on me when you feel weak. I have provided myself not for minimal assistance, but for maximum abundance.”
Through Him, we don’t just limp along, we are completely restored.
Invitation
