A. One day a teacher was getting her Wednesday night children’s class started.
1. She asked if anyone had any prayer requests.
2. One girl asked that they pray for her because school would soon start and she was going to a new school this year.
3. Another girl asked that they pray for her family’s health needs.
4. A boy requested prayer for a friend.
5. Then one girl asked that they pray for her family because they recently suffered the death of an extended family member and also the death of a close friend of the family.
6. When the teacher asked for a volunteer to pray a little boy volunteered and prayed: “God, thank you for all these blessings...,” then he hesitated before continuing...“and we thank you for all these not-so blessings.”
B. Let me ask you a really hard question: Which things in life are the “blessings” and which are the “not-so blessings”?
1. Sometimes it takes some a while to clearly see how something is a blessing.
2. But in the meantime, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says: “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
3. God wants us to be thankful for all things…the blessings and whatever we may think are the “not-so” blessings.
4. Can we believe and trust that God knows what He is doing even when things happen that we think are “not-so blessings”?
C. This reminds me of an old fable about a humble farmer who had only a wife, a son and a horse.
1. One day, his horse ran away.
a. His neighbors said, “I'm so sorry. This is such bad news. You must be so upset.”
b. The man just said, “We'll see.”
2. A few days later, his horse came back with twenty wild horses following. The man and his son corralled all 21 horses.
a. His neighbors said, “Congratulations! This is such good news. You must be so happy!”
b. The man just said, “We'll see.”
3. One day one of the wild horses kicked the man’s only son, breaking his leg.
a. His neighbors said, “I'm so sorry. This is such bad news. You must be so upset.”
b. The man just said, “We'll see.”
4. Soon thereafter, their country went to war, and every able-bodied young man was drafted to fight, but the farmer's son was spared, since his broken leg prevented him from being drafted.
a. His neighbors said, “Congratulations! This is such good news. You must be so happy!”
b. The man just said, “We'll see.”
5. So what we think may be a “not-so blessing” may actually be a very big blessing.
6. When God is involved, some of our biggest hurts become our biggest helps.
D. Any study of the life of the apostle Paul requires a serious look at the subject of pain.
1. Suffering is not the easiest or most pleasant subject to explore, but it is a subject that we need to clearly understand and know how to handle.
2. We live in a time and culture when we are addicted to creature comforts and we try to avoid suffering and the subject of suffering at all costs.
3. Also, we live in a time when some of the biggest churches in the country and the most famous preachers on TV peddle the false doctrine of “health and wealth.”
a. It should come as no surprise that it is easy to attract a crowd by telling them what they want to hear.
b. And so some folks make the promise that if you just believe, or send in your dollars, then God will make you healthy and wealthy, and that God will fulfill all your dreams.
c. Ultimately, they say that God’s will for every person is a life of prosperity and abundance, a life free of pain and difficulty.
4. But only a cursory survey of the Bible would put that notion to rest in a hurry.
5. My desire is to help equip you and me for what life will inevitably sling across our path.
a. I also want you to know that I realize that you may be presently bearing a burden or heartache the likes of which I’ve never known.
b. You may be living with pressures or some debilitating physical disease or emotional pain that I couldn’t even begin to imagine.
6. I am so thankful that God’s Word prepares us for these kinds of life struggles.
a. God’s Word tells us clearly that we may face suffering of all kinds, but that God cares and that He comforts and helps us in our times of need, and God promises that we can benefit from our suffering – that our hurts can become our helps.
E. All this brings us back to Saul of Tarsus.
1. It appears that after he became a Christian and was engaged in ministry, a day rarely passed when he didn’t face intense pain, suffering, and pressure related to the harshness of life and the hardships of ministry.
2. Does that reality surprise you? In our own thinking or in the thinking of the modern prosperity Gospel, wouldn’t we expect that the apostle Paul’s life, more than anyone’s, should be filled with health and wealth, not pain and suffering?
3. Thankfully, Paul doesn’t hide the reality of his life with God from us, but he bares his soul and lets the unedited truth flow.
F. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he reveals the most about his life and struggles.
1. Let me share with you a few passages from that letter where Paul reveals his personal suffering.
2. After his initial greeting in Chapter 1, Paul jumps right into the subject of suffering: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. (2 Cor. 1:3-4)
a. What important point did Paul make here?
b. He wants us to understand that God doesn’t take away all our suffering, rather, God comforts us in our suffering so we can comfort others when they go through what we have gone through.
c. So immediately we see that our hurts can be of help.
3. A few verses later Paul describes the intensity of his suffering: We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. (2 Cor. 1:8-9)
a. Can you believe it? Paul – the man God used so mightily – despaired of life!
b. Life was so hard that Paul didn’t want to have to live any longer – ever felt that way?
c. But why did all this happen? What was the benefit?
d. Through what he faced, he learned to rely not on himself, but on God who has great power.
4. And the somber beat goes on in Chapter 4: We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Cor. 4:8-9)
a. That was the physical and emotion reality, but listen to the spiritual perspective: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (4:16-18)
b. How’s that for the right perspective on the temporary and the eternal?
5. And the somber beat continues in Chapter 6: Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger…(2 Cor. 6:4-5)
a. Imagine if that was your lot in life – troubles, hardships, distresses, persecution, hard work and sleepless nights!
b. Would you consider yourself blessed by God or would someone conclude that you must be walking in sin or in disobedience?
6. In Chapter 11, Paul gets even more specific about his suffering: Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. (2 Cor. 11:24-28)
a. Paul’s theology of suffering was developed in the awful crucible of suffering.
b. He knew first-hand what it meant to be misunderstood, mistreated, forsaken, starving, imprisoned and left for dead.
G. In our modern way of thinking, if someone were to say that they had suffered as much as Paul had suffered, would we conclude that they were walking in God’s blessing?
1. Yet that’s how Paul was able to view it.
2. Paul learned to glory in suffering without retaining in his soul one ounce of blame or bitterness toward God.
3. How could he do that? I believe the answer lies in what Paul reveals in 2 Corinthians 12.
H. One Paul’s purposes for his writing the second letter to the Corinthians was to defend his authority as an apostle.
1. As a part of his defense, Paul includes a description of a supernatural revelation he received from God.
2. Here is how Paul described it: I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, 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. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. (2 Cor. 12:1-4)
3. Though mostly shrouded in mystery, this passage is one of the most remarkable in all the Bible.
a. Paul realizes that he can’t explain everything, and yet he doesn’t hold back the truth.
b. Let me try to summarize what we learn about Paul’s experience.
4. First, we realize that Paul is writing about himself.
a. Even though he says, “I know a man who…” (vs. 2) - that man is him.
b. In verse 7, Paul says, “to keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations…”
c. Paul certainly is the man.
5. Second, Paul knew where he went, but he was not sure about what form he was in when he went there.
a. He identified the place as the “third heaven” (vs. 3) and as “paradise” (vs. 4).
b. Somehow, Paul was transported far beyond the conscious limitations of time, space and matter, and was escorted directly into the presence of the Lord.
6. Third, what Paul heard and witnessed were beyond his ability to express in words.
a. Standing in God’s presence, Paul received profound and wonderful truths and experiences, too deep for human expression.
I. Let’s think about all that Paul experienced in his heavenly visit for a moment.
1. Think about seeing God face to face and hearing God speak to you!
2. Now answer this question: What would be the most natural human response to experiencing such a phenomenal, unique experience?
a. The answer is: Pride. Enormous pride. Spiritual conceit of the worst magnitude.
b. Did any of the other apostles get to have that kind of experience? No.
c. Had any other Christian man or woman had that kind of experience? No.
3. Can you imagine bearing that sort of privileged burden?
a. Can you imagine being in that kind of exclusive club?
J. God understands the peril of such spiritual pride.
1. And in His grace, God solved the pride problem for Saul in the form a painful affliction, which Paul called a “thorn in the flesh.”
2. Paul described it this way: To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. (2 Cor. 12:7)
a. The word translated “thorn” comes from a Greek term meaning a sharply pointed stake.
b. What exactly was this “thorn in the flesh”? Suggestions abound, but no one knows.
1. Some suggest spiritual temptations or carnal temptations.
2. Some suggest it was the relentless opposition and persecution.
3. Others suggest a physical deformity or condition, like epilepsy, migraines, chronic eye trouble, or malaria.
c. Nobody knows for sure, and do you know what that means? It doesn’t matter. God doesn’t want or need us to know the particulars.
d. Paul called it “a messenger of Satan” and perhaps the devil hoped to use it to cause the apostle to defect or to retreat from his calling.
e. God, however, used it to keep this gifted servant on his knees.
f. Paul not only understood the nature of the thorn, he grasped the reason for it – it was to ensure a humble spirit.
3. Even though Paul understood the reason for the thorn, that didn’t keep him from asking God to take it away.
a. In verse 8, Paul reveals that he begged the Lord on three separate occasions to remove it from him.
b. Are you surprised the Paul would repeatedly ask such a thing? I’m surprised he only asked for it to be removed three times!
c. If you are like me, then we would have prayed and prayed for relief. Right?
4. But what was God’s answer to Paul’s request for relief? God answered, “No.”
a. We don’t really like that answer, do we?
b. But God offered something far better than relief from Paul’s suffering – God offered sufficient grace.
c. Paul reports: But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9)
d. This is where Paul got his remarkable perspective on human suffering.
K. Now let’s notice when all of this happened in Paul’s life.
1. Notice that Paul says that this took place “fourteen years ago.”
2. Paul wrote 2 Corinthians between late A.D. 55 and early A.D. 56, so 14 years ago is around A.D. 41, which places this experience in Saul’s life after his return to the safety of Tarsus, but before the commission with Barnabas in Antioch in Acts 13.
3. That’s the reason we are addressing this subject of Paul’s suffering from the thorn in the flesh at this point in this sermon series.
4. This moment in Saul’s life - when he went into the third heaven, and then received his thorn in the flesh - it occurred early in his Christian life.
a. For the most part, Paul received his thorn the flesh before he did much of anything in his long and illustrious missionary career.
5. It happened before any of his missionary journeys and that puts his missionary journeys in an even more interesting perspective, doesn’t it!
L. So perhaps this is a good time for us to correct the faulty thinking that we and others sometimes have – let me say it bluntly: It is not always God’s will that we be healed and freed from our suffering in this earthly life.
1. It may surprise us to realize, but our happiness and comfort are not God’s chief aim.
a. Contrary to what many have been told and have bought into, God does not have a healthy and wealthy plan for everybody’s earthly life.
b. As with Saul, God’s answer is often not what we pray for and hope for.
c. But keep in mind that God’s plan for us is to help us grow in Christ and be saved for all eternity – God’s intention is our long-term good not short-term relief.
d. Health and wealth may bring short-term relief, but they may not do us long-term good.
2. And thankfully, in the midst of our suffering, God gently whispers, “My grace is sufficient for you.”
a. As with Saul, God’s grace supplies more than we need to endure whatever it is that threatens to undo us.
3. God’s grace is more sufficient than our strength and God’s power is perfected in our weakness.
a. And all this time many have bought into the idea that God’s power is perfected in success and in health and wealth.
4. No, those things tend to make us proud and self-sufficient and independent.
a. The painful thorns make us weak, and when we are weak, then God can pour His strength into us, if we let Him.
5. Ultimately, life is not about us being comfortable and happy, successful and pain free, rather it is about becoming the man or woman God has called us to be.
a. Amazingly, the very things that we dread and run from in our lives often are the very things that are the most helpful in conforming us to the image of Christ.
M. As I try to bring this lesson toward a conclusion, let me say again that I recognize that the subject of suffering is a delicate subject.
1. I do not want to give the impression that it is easy to endure suffering.
2. Many of you have gone through or are enduring a depth of suffering to which I may never face.
3. But I want to do my best to help all of us to have the right perspective on suffering that we might be able to persevere through it and benefit most from it.
N. Let me, quickly and briefly, share three principles about suffering that can help us.
1. First, remember that suffering is nothing new.
a. The oldest book in the Bible is the book of Job and we know that Job’s story is all about suffering.
b. God hasn’t changed and neither have God’s ways of refining us.
c. Resist the temptation to abandon or rethink God when hard times come.
d. Rather, look deeper and cling to Him tighter.
2. Second, remember that suffering plays a beneficial role.
a. The suffering we endure can ultimately turn into our benefit – the hurt can help.
b. We must believe that God can use all things for our good - that He can work through it.
c. C. S. Lewis, who was someone who had experienced a lot of suffering wrote: “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us, we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”
d. One mentally challenged young man once explained suffering like this: “In this life God places us in His oven. In here it is hot and it hurts. No one likes being in the oven but when life is over, and the bell dings, God takes us out of the oven and says, ‘Well done...good and faithful servant.’ ”
3. Third, remember that we don’t have to be comfortable to be content.
a. Contentment is possible no matter how difficult are our circumstances.
b. The secret to Paul’s contentment was knowing that Christ’s strength was perfected in his weakness.
c. In Phil. 4:12-13, Paul wrote: I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
N. Allow me end with this story.
1. One day a professor and theologian named Richard Niebuhr (Knee-bur) ended a lecture to his university class with these words: “Whatever comes into our lives, God allows for good.”
2. Present in class that day was a student, who just few weeks before had been involved in a boating accident that took the lives of his father, mother, sibling & fiancée – he alone survived.
3. The class members couldn’t believe the insensitivity of Dr. Niebuhr’s statement.
4. The accident survivor immediately approached the professor, and the other students watched expecting to see the grieving young man’s angry response to such a theological statement.
5. But what happened surprised them all – the student shook Dr. Niebuhr’s hand and said, “Thank you, sir. That is the only thing that makes life worthwhile,” then he turned and walked away.
6. Knowing and believing that God can turn our hurts into our helps should make all the difference in the world - It is what makes life and suffering worthwhile.
7. Paul was blessed by learning that lesson, the hard way, and we can be blessed through our suffering as well.
Resources:
Paul: A Man of Grace and Grit, by Charles Swindoll, Word Publishing, 2002, Chapter 7.
