Sufficient Grace, Part 2

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In 2 Corinthians 12, 7-13, Paul begs God to remove the thorn in his flesh. But God chooses to let it remain, encouraging Paul that God's own grace will be enough. None of us relishes suffering in our lives, but often it is the very thing God uses to wake us up and help us focus our eyes more intently on our Lord Jesus. Let's listen in on this message titled, Sufficient Grace. This is part 2 of a message first preached on August 17, 2014 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.

Every human authority figure needs the periodic slap in the face. Now, don't sit there thinking God has called you to that gift. Criticism is not a gift.

It is not a fruit of the Spirit. But the slap in the face is the Lord saying, wake up, focus, take your eyes off yourself and keep them on Christ. That's exactly the message that Paul needed day to day through this thorn in the flesh. You see, was Paul happy with it? Well, he pleads to the Lord three times, three different occasions, Lord, is there any way you can take this from me?

Do you remember somebody else who prayed that? Lord, can you can you take this from me? Three times, take it away, I don't want it in my life. Paul was afraid of this thorn being a distraction or an impediment to his ministry.

I mean, who wants irritation in their life anyway, right? But Paul pleaded three times, Lord, can you take this from me, please? What was God's answer? Paul, I'm going to leave it there. Christians, listen to me.

This is a Selah moment. Think about that. God in his goodness left the thorn there for Paul.

Why? Because that thorn had purpose. We want to see and experience ease, but suffering forms us. Frederick Buechner said this, and he speaks of using the word stealing, which means picture Iron Man, if you've seen those movies at all. You know, you've got this case of steel around you that protects you right from harm. I mean, this does more than that, but it protects you. And you put yourself in this shell that will keep you from being injured. And we all kind of want that shell, don't we?

And you know what? In our American culture, we are so good and used to having this protective shell around us that cushions us against the harsh realities of life. Here's what Frederick Buechner says. The trouble with stealing yourself against the harshness of reality is that the same steel that secures your life against being destroyed, secures your life also against being opened up and transformed by the holy power that life itself comes from.

Think about that. The Lord says to Paul, Lord, I'm leaving the thorn there. It has purpose. So we began with why and the first why was, lest Paul think more highly of himself than he ought to think.

Now, let's consider the other side of why. Three very important statements recorded in the scriptures, two of them come from the Lord. The three very important statements that are the other side of why this thorn was left there for Paul. The first statement is this, my grace, the Lord says, my grace is sufficient for you. My grace is sufficient for you. Paul, every day, I want you to remember what I have given you to endure and to persevere, not just to survive and make it through the day, but to thrive in the context of your adversity.

Paul, that comes from me. My grace is sufficient for you. You have my forgiveness, you have my acceptance, you have my very high opinion of you because you are in Christ. You have my word, you have my spirit, you have me, Paul. My grace is sufficient for you. Hear the Lord asking this morning, what am I to you?

What am I to you as your source, as your sufficiency? The psalmist understood it clear when he said, be still and know that I am God. Instead of preoccupying ourselves with fighting and resisting the thorn and being so focused on it because we want that thorn removed, instead of focusing my resources and my attention and my energy on trying to get the thorn removed, the Lord says, be still and know that I am God. The Lord says, who am I to you?

The Lord takes us back to the big picture, back to God because we can so easily, so quickly become myopic and become fixated on the here and now and the discomfort of the here and now and we lose sight of the big picture, we lose sight of who God is and what He has in store for us and what He wants to do through us. The Lord said, my grace is sufficient for you. He also said, my strength is made perfect in your weakness. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. Could it be that sometimes our abilities get in the way of God's purpose?

Look what I can do. Our strengths can become weaknesses when we idolize them or let them control us and a strength might even be a gift from God. But if that gift becomes the focus, then it becomes in the way of what God wants to do with that gift. The Lord says to Paul, you're an instrument in my hands.

My strength is made perfect in your weakness. And then the third phrase is one that Paul makes at the very end of verse 9, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. That the power of Christ may rest upon me, not just come upon me, but that the power of Christ may rest.

That word rest means to reside. It means that the power of Christ becomes a characteristic of my life, even in the context of adversity or whatever that thorn is. You see, God's work requires a strength and an ability beyond our own. And if I'm thinking I'm just going to do what I can do, that can be far less than what God can do if I get myself out of the way.

This is why Paul said what he did back in chapter 4 and verse 7. We have this treasure in earthen vessels, jars of clay. That's what an earthen vessel is. It's breakable. It's weak.

It's only meant to hold something. We have this treasure, the power of the gospel of Christ. We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. This is why Paul said I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I have learned to abound and I have learned to be abased. I can do it all through Christ who strengthens me. It was the Lord Jesus himself who said, without me you can do nothing.

The late Chuck Colson said this. The great paradox of my life is that every time I walk into a prison and see the faces of men or women who have been transformed by the power of the living God, I realize that the thing God has chosen to use in my life is none of the successes, achievements, degrees, awards, honors or cases I won before the Supreme Court. That's not what God's using in my life. What God is using in my life to touch the lives of thousands of other people is the fact that I was a convict and went to prison. That was my great defeat. The only thing in my life I didn't succeed in. Aren't you glad we have a sovereign and good God?

He's free to do stuff like that. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.