In 1969, in a science lab in New Jersey, Canadian physicist Willard Boyle and his colleagues invented the concept of an electronic eye. Using their knowledge of mathematics and the behavior of light they provided the science behind digital cameras known as a charged-coupled device or CCD. The CCD technology revolutionized photography, as light could now be captured electronically instead of on film. Hubble telescope and the Mars Lunar probe used CCD technology. It was Boyle's invention that allowed us to see the surface of Mars for the first time. In 2009 Boyle was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
A few years after the original invention of CCD technology, Boyle walked into a store to purchase a new digital camera based on his invention. During the visit, the salesman tried to explain the intricacies of the digital camera, but stopped, feeling it was too complicated for his customer to understand.
According to one long-time friend, Boyle was normally a humble man, but on this occasion, he was taken aback by the salesman's arrogance and disrespect. So Boyle bluntly replied: “No need to explain. I invented it.”
When the salesman didn't believe him, Boyle told the salesman to type “Willard S. Boyle” into his computer and see for himself. A Nikon representative in the store heard the exchange and immediately came over to have his photograph taken with the famous inventor (Allison Lawlor, “Master of Light invents a photo revolution,” Globe and Mail, 5-21-11; www.PreachingToday.com).
I like the way Boyle handled the disrespect that arrogant salesman showed him.
However, you and I are not famous inventors with a Nobel Prize. So, how do we “regular people” handle such disrespect? How do we respond when we feel contempt? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians 12, 2 Corinthians 12, where the Apostle Paul handles the disrespect he felt from the so-called “super apostles.”
2 Corinthians 12:1 I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord (ESV).
The so-called "super apostles” claimed to have visions from the Lord. So the Apostle Paul will also describe a vision he had from the Lord. Only, he does it in the third person so as not to draw too much attention to himself.
2 Corinthians 12:2-6 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me (ESV).
Unlike the “super-apostles,” Paul could truthfully boast about seeing heaven itself, but he wants people to evaluate him based only on what they see and hear from him. In contrast to being “let down” in a basket (2 Corinthians 11:33), Paul describes being “caught up” to the third heaven (verse 2). The first heaven is the sky above. The second heaven is the universe of stars and galaxies. The third heaven is God’s home itself—a place Paul calls “paradise” (verse 3).
William Barclay says, “The word Paradise comes from a Persian word which means a walled garden. When a Persian king wished to confer a very special honor on someone especially dear to him, he made him a companion of the garden and gave him the right to walk in the royal gardens with him in close companionship (Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians, 3rd ed).
That was Paul’s experience with God! God invited Paul to walk in the royal heavenly garden with Him in close companionship. God honored Paul unlike anyone else! But the glorious news is God will honor every believer in the same way some day.
Paul talks about being “caught up” to paradise. It’s the same word he uses in 1 Thessalonians 4, where he talks about every believer being “caught up” to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17).
On top of it all, God has already blessed every believer with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). God has also seated every believer with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). And God in some mysterious way shares His glory with every believer, awaiting the day when we will see Him in all His glory (John 17:22, 24). God honored Paul, but God honors everyone who puts their trust in Christ. So, when you feel disrespect, like Paul…
BOAST ABOUT THE WAY GOD HAS HONORED YOU IN CHRIST.
Brag about the greatness you have found not in yourself, but in your relationship with Jesus. Take pride in the distinction God has given you as a believer in Christ.
I like the way Tim Keller put it in his book The Two Advocates. He writes:
Imagine you're a billionaire, and you have three ten-dollar bills in your wallet. You get out of a cab, and you hand the driver one of the bills for an eight-dollar fare. Later in the day you look in and find out there's only one ten-dollar bill there, and you say, “Either I dropped a ten-dollar bill somewhere, or I gave the taxi driver two bills.”
What are you going to do? Are you going to get all upset? Are you going to the police and demand they search the city for the cabdriver? No, you are going to shrug. You're a billionaire. You lost ten dollars. So what? You are too rich to be concerned about that kind of loss.
This week, somebody criticized you. Something you bought or invested in turned out to be less valuable than you thought. Something you wanted to happen didn't go the way you wanted it to—these are real losses. But what are you going to do if you're a Christian? Will this setback disrupt your contentment with life? Will you shake your fist at God? Toss and turn at night?
If so, I submit that it's because you don't know how truly rich you are. If you're that upset about your status with other people, if you're constantly lashing out at people for hurting your feelings, you might call it a lack of self-control or a lack of self-esteem, and it is. But more fundamentally, you have totally lost touch with your identity. As a Christian, you're a spiritual billionaire and you're wringing your hands over ten dollars (Tim Keller, The Two Advocates, Penguin Group, 2014; www.PreachingToday.com).
God has greatly honored you beyond measure! What does it matter that someone belittles you? Just shrug it off! When you feel disrespect, just boast about the way God has honored you in Christ. Then…
BOAST ABOUT THE WAY GOD HAS HUMBLED YOU IN WEAKNESS.
Brag about your dependence upon Christ in times of suffering. Take pride in your need for God in times of pain. You see, after God honored Paul, God humbled Paul.
2 Corinthians 12:7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited (ESV).
The Greek word for thorn (skolops) describes “a pointed stake,” upon which an executioner impaled a person (Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament). Whatever this “thorn” was, it was no small, minor irritation. Rather, God allowed Satan to “harass” Paul with it, literally, to continually beat him with a fist. It caused Paul a great deal of constant, debilitating pain.
Some commentators suspect that Paul caught Malaria on his first missionary journey (Acts 13:13; Galatians 4:13) with aftereffects of severe migraine headaches and weakness. One who suffered from such malarial headaches described them like “a red-hot bar thrust through the forehead” (Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians, 3rd ed).
Now, why did God allow Paul to suffer like that? Well, Paul says God allowed it “to keep me from being conceited” or puffed up with pride. God wanted Paul to depend on Him, not on his own strength and ingenuity. Now, that’s what suffering does for the believer. It forces you to depend on God. It humbles you so God can use you for His glory!
Barry Zito was once known as one of the most dominating pitchers in Major League baseball. But in 2010 Zito had reached his lowest point: his manager removed him from his team's starting roster. The next season he was plagued by injuries and poor performances. By the end of 2012 he had returned to his peak performance, winning his last 14 starts and playing a pivotal role in the San Francisco Giant's World Series victory.
In a 2012 interview Zito explained how God had used suffering to get his attention and to lead him to commit “his life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.” Zito said:
Sometimes you have to go through difficulty and physical trials to really get broken down. In 2011, I got broken down physically as well as mentally. In August of that year, I had this very odd injury in April of 2011… I came off the field that day after never being hurt in 11 years, and I said, “All right, something bigger is going on here. A message is being sent, and I've got to listen.”
A few months later, I realized I'd been doing it alone. My best friend told me an old story I really love. A shepherd will be leading his sheep, and one of the sheep will be walking astray from the pack. The shepherd will take his rod and break the sheep's leg, and the sheep will have to rely on the shepherd to get better. But once that leg is completely healed, that sheep never leaves the side of the shepherd ever again.
That's a really beautiful metaphor. A lot of things happen to us as people, and we realize we've been relying on our own strength for too long… I used to kind of dig attention. Now I'm seeking deeper fulfillment (Tim Keown, “A Man in the Game,” ESPN Magazine, 12-1-12; www.PreachingToday.com).
Suffering brings you to your knees, but that’s where you find God and deeper fulfillment in life.
Pastor John Piper once said, “The difference between Uncle Sam and Jesus Christ is that Uncle Sam won't enlist you unless you are healthy, and Jesus won't enlist you unless you are sick. What is God looking for in the world? Assistants? No. The gospel is not a help wanted ad. It is a help available ad. God is not looking for people to work FOR him but people who let him work mightily IN and THROUGH them" (John Piper, Brothers We Are Not Professionals p. 39; www.Preaching Today.com).
So, when the world knocks you down and you feel disrespect, 1st, boast about the way God has honored you in Christ. 2nd, boats about the way God has humbled you in weakness. And 3rd…
BOAST ABOUT THE WAY GOD HAS HELPED YOU IN WEAKNESS, as well.
Brag about God’s strength in your shortcomings. Take pride in the way God empowers you when you feel powerless. When God honored Paul, God humbled Paul, but He also helped Paul.
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong (ESV).
Paul is not only pleased with weakness. He takes pride in it, because it allows the power of Christ to rest on him, literally, to spread a tent over him.
Warren Wiersbe said, “Paul saw his body as a frail tent (2 Corinthians 5:1-5), but the glory of God had come into that tent and transformed it into a holy tabernacle” (Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary).
Oh, the grace of God! It is more than sufficient. It is perfect! It empowered Paul to complete the task God called Him to do. By God’s supernatural power, Paul’s suffering was no longer “a tyrant that controlled him, but a servant that worked for him" (Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary).
Have you ever wondered why there are pockmarks or dimples covering the surface of a golf ball? An aeronautical engineer who designs golf balls says that a perfectly smooth ball would travel only 130 yards off the tee. But the same ball with the right kind of dimples will fly twice that far. These apparent “flaws” minimize the ball's air resistance and allow it to travel much further (Jimmy Karuniadi, Our Daily Bread, 5-27-99; www.PreachingToday.com).
In the same way, God uses your so-called “flaws” to help you fly twice as far towards bringing Him the greatest glory.
Think about Elon Musk. By his own admission, Elon had a difficult childhood. He was bullied during high school, spending time in the hospital after getting pushed down the stairs and beaten until he blacked out. His home life wasn't much better. He described his childhood as “nonstop horrible.”
One day, when he was ten years old, he saw a computer at an electronics store in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was love at first sight. That Commodore VIC-20 had five kilobytes of memory and came with a workbook on the BASIC programming language. That language was supposed to take six months to learn, but Musk learned it after three sleepless nights (Mark Batterson, Win the Day: 7 Daily Habits to Help You Stress Less & Accomplish More, 2020, Multnomah, page 35).
And as they say, “The rest is history.” Elon’s pain pushed him to accomplish far more than most, and your pain can do the same for you if you can see it as Paul does, if you can see it as a gift of God’s grace that makes His power perfect (or complete) in your weakness.
So when you feel disrespect because of your weakness, boast about the way God has honored you in Christ, boast about the way God has humbled you, and boast about the way God has helped you in that weakness, as well.
When Handel wrote the “Hallelujah Chorus,” his health and his fortunes had reached the lowest possible ebb. His right side had become paralyzed, and all his money was gone. He was heavily in debt and threatened with imprisonment. He was tempted to give up the fight. The odds seemed entirely too great. And it was then he composed his greatest work—Messiah (Peter Marshall, Sr., “Who Can Take It?,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 131; www.PreachingToday.com).
Just think of the “beautiful music” you could make if you let God work through you in your weakness. Trust Him to do it for you today. Trust Him to perfect His strength in your weakness. Then you can boast about what He has done for you.
