Always Enough
Text: 2 Cor. 12:7-10
Introduction
1. Illustration: A man returns from a foreign holiday and is feeling very ill. He goes to see his doctor, and is immediately rushed to the hospital to undergo tests.
The man wakes up after the tests in a private room at the hospital, shuffles to the door & finds it locked from the outside!/Just then the phone by his bed rings.
"This is your doctor. We’ve had the results back from your tests and we’ve found you have an extremely nasty virus who’s progress, so far, we are completely helpless to destroy or even slow down!"
"Oh my goodness," cried the man, "What are you going to do, doctor?"
"Well we’re going to put you on a diet of pizzas, pancakes, tortillas & pita bread."
"Will that cure me???" asked the man.
The doctor replied, "Well no, but... it’s the only food we can get under the door!"
2. Have you ever had days like that, when Murphy’s Law (Everything that can go wrong will go wrong) seems to be in full effect?
3. Well, I’m here to give you some good news this morning. The good news is this: God’s grace is always enough.
4. It’s a fact of life that:
a. God sometimes allows difficulties to come our way.
b. God’s grace is enough to handle our difficulties.
c. God’s grace gives us strength when we are weak.
1. Read 2 Cor. 12:7-10
Proposition: God’s grace is always enough no matter what the circumstances may be.
Transition: It is an inevitable fact that...
I. God Sometimes Allows Difficulties to Come Our Way (7)
A. Thorn In the Flesh
1. In this letter, Paul is dealing with some false prophets who are trying to discredit his ministry by saying that they are more spiritual than Paul because they have had superior revelations from God than Paul.
2. However, Paul points out in the beginning of this chapter that he has had revelations from God that are indescribable.
a. He says in verse 2, that one day he was caught up into "the third heaven."
b. Heaven is the abode of God and of those closely associated with him.
c. In verse 4, he says that he heard "words that it is not lawful for a man to utter."
d. What Paul heard was so wonderful that he is enable to describe it.
3. Extraordinary religious experiences often come at personal cost.
a. When Jacob wrestled with God, he hobbled away lame (Gen 32:25).
b. When Paul entered paradise, he came away with a thorn in [his] flesh (v. 7).
4. He says in verse 7, "And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me..."
a. Scholars and theologians have debated over the years as to what was Paul’s thorn in the flesh.
b. Some say it was a physical aliment of some kind.
c. Some say it was a spiritual struggle.
d. Still others say it was persecution.
5. What do I think it was? I don’t know!
a. The bible does not tell us. Not in Greek or in English.
b. Any guess that I might have is just that, a guess.
6. However, that’s not the real issue. The real issue is where did it come from. The phrase "was given to me," tells us where it came from.
a. That phrase is what scholars refer to as a "divine passive."
b. What that means is that God allowed it to happen, just as He did with Job.
c. God allowed it to happen to keep Paul from becoming proud.
7. The rest of verse 7 says, "a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure."
a. The word "buffet" means to strike or beat with the fist, either once or repeatedly—Louw & Nida: NT Greek-English Lexicon
b. The context suggests that it did strike him repeatedly.
c. Paul’s thorn was not an isolated episode. It repeatedly came back to plague him--like the school bully who waits each day for his victim to round the corner.
8. God did this for Paul’s own good.
a. He knew that pride would destroy Paul.
b. He knew that pride would destroy Paul’s ministry.
c. He knew that pride would put an end to what He was doing through Paul.
B. God Allows Difficulties
1. Illustration: Suppose we go out here after church, and little Joshie sees a walnut in the middle of the highway. So he runs out in the middle of the highway to pick up the walnut, and a big semi, with Walmart written all over the side of it, comes barreling down the road. All of the sudden, Debbie becomes a track star and runs out to save him.
2. Do you think that God is any different?
3. Do you think that God, who is our loving Heavenly Father, would do any less if He sees one of His children heading for danger?
4. Sometimes we need to have a different perspective about the difficulties we face in life.
a. Maybe they are God’s way of keeping us out of trouble.
b. Maybe they are God’s way of getting the junk out of our life that doesn’t belong there.
c. Maybe they are God’s way of saying "I see that truck coming and I am on my way to save you.
5. James 1:2 Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.
Transition: Let the difficulties in your life be transforming!
II. God’s Grace Is Always Enough to Handle Our Difficulties (8-9)
A. My Grace Is Sufficient
1. At first, Paul reacted to his "thorn in the flesh" as would be expected from one who knew of God’s sovereignty over evil and of God’s love for his children: He prayed that the Lord would remove the "thorn" ( Hafemann, NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: 2 Corinthians, 464).
2. He asked the Lord three times to take it away from him.
a. The Greek is literally "to cause to stand away" (aphisthmi).
b. Paul wanted nothing more to do with it.
3. The fact that Paul prays three times shows an event that is now over and done with, having gone through its beginning, middle, and end (Hafemann, 464).
a. Paul’s threefold prayer parallels Jesus’ threefold prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, which also culminated in confidence that the prayer had been answered, even though the cup of suffering remained.
b. Sometimes God answers our prayers in one of three ways: yes, no, and be patient!
c. Realize, though, that if the answer is no, it doesn’t mean that God has not answered our prayers, but that He has another way in mind.
4. In verse 9, the Lord tells Paul the reason He will not take the thorn away. ""My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."
a. The noun grace occurs eighteen times in 2 Corinthians but only once in chapters 10--13.
b. Most frequently it refers to God’s unmerited favor. Here it most likely refers to divine power.
5. This grace, Paul is told, is sufficient for him.
a. The verb sufficient means to "suffice for," "satisfy" with the idea of being enough (Kittel 1964:464).
b. The promise is that whenever the messenger of Satan afflicts him, he will be given sufficient strength to bear up.
B. Always Enough
1. Illustration: “Grace means that God is on our side and thus we are victors regardless of how well we have played the game.” (Brennan Manning)
2. Ps. 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.
3. Paul didn’t need Christ to take that thorn away because His grace is always enough.
4. No matter what difficulties you may be facing right now, God grace will always be enough.
a. If you need financial help, His grace is enough.
b. If you need healing, His grace is enough.
c. If you need help in a relationship, His grace is enough.
d. If you have an unsaved loved one who is running from God, His grace is enough.
5. It doesn’t matter what the devil or the world throws at you, because God grace will always be enough.
6. His grace is enough:
a. On the highest mountain
b. In the deepest ocean
c. In the most barren desert
Transition: No matter what, His grace is always enough.
III. God’s Grace Gives Us Strength When We are Weak(10)
A. When I am Weak
1. Look at how Paul looks at his difficulties as a result of God’s grace. He says "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake."
a. Although Christ did not remove Paul’s affliction, he promised to demonstrate his power in Paul’s weaknesses.
b. Knowing this, Paul saw insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities in a different light.
c. When he had no options left, he would be forced to run to Jesus. Paul’s utter dependence on Christ came into clear light.
2. The promise of God’s grace and power leads Paul to be pleased in his sufferings rather than continuing to pray for their removal, because he now knows that "when" he is weak, "then" he is strong (Hafemann, 465).
3. Paul knows that when he is weak and relies on God’s grace, then God’s power rests upon him.
4. 2 Cor. 4:7-10 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed-- always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
5. Paul claims "For when I am weak, then I am strong."
a. His statement has the character of a settled conviction rather than a rote repetition of God’s answer.
b. We often think that without human strength we are destined to fail and without personal courage we are bound to falter.
c. Yet good as these are, such qualities tend to push us to self-sufficiency and away from God-dependency.
d. Human strength is like the flower of the field that has its day in the sun but then shrivels up and dies. Enduring strength lies in God alone.
B. God’s Strength
1. Illustration: Hudson Taylor had definite convictions about how God’s work should be done. We can make our best plans and try to carry them out in our own strength. Or we can make careful plans and ask God to bless them. “Yet another way of working is to begin with God; to ask His plans, and to offer ourselves to Him to carry out His purposes.”
2. God’s grace gives us strength.
a. Strength for the battle
b. Strength for difficulties
c. Strength to endure
d. Strength to trust
3. If God’s grace is enough, then the strength that comes from His grace is also enough.
a. Enough when things are going wrong
b. Enough when we think we cannot stand
c. Enough when we don’t know what to do
d. Enough when we don’t know which way to turn
4. 2 Cor. 13:4 For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.
Transition: God’s grace is always enough!
Conclusion
1. Have you been given a thorn in the flesh?
2. Do you have difficulties that seem like they will never go away?
3. Do you feel so weak that you don’t know how you can continue?
4. Remember, God’s grace is always enough!
