Life is
good. Life is tough.
Life is
rewarding. Life is challenging.
I can see
clearly. I don’t know the next step.
I’m on top
of the world. I’m carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.
I am strong.
I am weak. And at my age, my mind says strong
and my body says ouch!
I am running
the good race. I am down for the count.
I am beaming
with confidence in the Lord. I had better keep a low profile today.
I trust in
the Lord with all my heart. But I am still swayed by my own understanding.
I am in
great health. I ache from my afflictions.
Today’s
message begins in Philippians
3. It was a letter to another church
but very much in tune with this part of Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth,
though time and geography separated the two epistles.
What is the common thread? Paul said that he had good reason to boast in
the things that this world counts as important. Those who opposed Paul were
looking to discredit him. Paul said, ok, let’s have a measuring contest. We will start with resumes.
If someone
else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised
on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew
of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for
righteousness based on the law, faultless.
In his life
before professing Jesus and becoming his apostle, Paul—then known mostly by
Saul—was a go-getter. He was a rising star. He had been granted authority and
his bloodline was established.
He had the
inside track on rising to the top.
Even then—at
the time he wrote to the church in Corinth—he was an icon in the Christian world
and in the Hebrew world alike. Some
might say famous and others might say infamous depending upon where you stood
on all this Christ, the Law, and traditions business.
Paul had a
resume that boasted for itself. Paul was the man! You da man, Paul.
Paul didn’t
need to bolster his resume. What do I mean?
A week ago,
I added the following statement to my resume. It’s good to keep it current.
Assisted government and private entities in profitability.
All that I
did was pay for my post office box for another year, but Assisted government
and private entities in profitability sounds way better on the resume.
Paul didn’t
need to bolster his resume, but God added to it with a preview of heaven—not the
sky, not where the stars are, but the highest heaven.
Paul
hesitated to share this information because some might think him conceited, but
he wasn’t. He counted
all of his personal accolades as trash, junk, or manure.
He said that
he had no confidence in the flesh, but sometimes your flesh hurts. Sometimes
your bones hurt. Sometimes your eyes hurt. Sometimes that arthritis hurts and
hurts and hurts. Does anyone have something where the pain or discomfort or
uneasiness is just the gift that keeps on giving?
Eventually,
we all have something that we think could use some fixin’. Some hurt more than
others. Some are constant annoyances. Some come and go but all of us have asked
God to fix something or take away our pan at some point.
Sometimes,
it seems like God would take away my affliction so I could go about his
business. I want to be known as his disciple by my love, just without the aches
in my knees or my back or my shoulder, or other parts that hurt from time to
time.
I want to be
a light unto the world, but I would like to be able to stand up straight and
not have to deal with my lower back pain.
I want to
take the gospel to this community and to the world, but it would be so much
easier without these allergies.
Sometimes,
we get the same answers to our requests that Paul did. My grace is sufficient
for you. The fact that we are saved from our sins and live in the Lord’s
favor is just going to have to be enough in some cases.
Great—well it
really is. I’m saved from sin and death. I will be with the Lord for all
eternity. Any suffering that I am going through now will be nothing
compared to the glory that is to come.
One day we
will realize that waiting on God to do things in his time was so worth it.
OK, I get
it. When we all get to heaven what a
day of rejoicing it will be. I get that, I do, but sometimes I need some
help in the moment.
Paul’s response
to his present suffering—and we can only speculate as to what his affliction
was—was unique but applicable to us. The fact that the lack of specifics of the ailment
makes it easier to apply across a broader spectrum of trials and challenges in
our lives.
He said my
resume is like few others—it's top shelf—but I don’t boast in it. I do boast in
my weakness. I will say it with a smile on my face and joy in my heart, I am
weak.
What kind of
mantra is that? Paul was never going to
coach a football team. Hey! Look at me. I am weak. That doesn’t intimidate the
opposing team.
Therefore
I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power
may rest on me. 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.
What is Paul
saying? We are not in this alone. God is
not a vending machine that dispenses goodies, including healing. He is our
companion in this thing called life and sometimes what hurts is just going to
keep on hurting so we can get to know our Savior better.
Sometimes,
we have to deal with hurt—physical and emotional, pain—mental and physical,
separation—physical and spiritual, and stuff that just doesn’t make sense to
us.
The stoic
would just press on and do his best to ignore the suffering. My observation is
that men more often than women are more stoic. It’s not that men experience combat more than
women. It’s that we have to contend with this thing called the man cold. We just
tough it out with three or four days in bed and 14 bottles of Nyquil.
God tells
us, don’t be the stoic. Be my partner in this thing called life.
God says,
watch me work through your weaknesses. In our weakness, we will know God’s
strength all the more.
The less
that we can do ourselves, the more we rely on God. At least that is the message
here.
Some choose
hopelessness when it seems that God is not answering your prayers. Understand
that God
does hear and answer our prayers and sometimes the answer is that his grace
is enough.
Sometimes God’s
answer is not what we wanted. Sometimes, it’s not even close. C’mon, God, that wasn’t even close. You are
God. How could you miss by so much? Sometimes we don’t get the answer that we
wanted.
Why? Why would God not simply remove this pain or
remove this cancer or take care of those payments or restore my vision?
Why?
Let’s
understand our premises and foundation for this answer.
1. God loves you.
2. God will never leave or forsake you.
3. God has good plans for you.
Children of
God, understand this. When we ask and don’t receive what we asked for, expect
God to work in your weakness, situation, or circumstance to bring you where you
need to be.
God works in
our weakness.
When we feel
great, we should boast in the Lord. When something is working against us, we
should boast in the Lord.
Sometimes,
God removes the pain. Sometimes he works with us in the pain.
Sometimes,
God removes the affliction. Sometimes he works with us in our affliction.
Sometimes,
God changes the circumstances. Sometimes, he works with us through those
circumstances.
Sometimes—no,
all the time—we need to embrace the Spirit of God that lives within us in our
victories and in our trials and afflictions. Understand:
1. God loves us.
2. God is with us.
3. God is for us.
Keep on
asking God to remove the pain or the affliction or the thing causing disruption
in your lives, but be ready to put a smile on your face and joy in your heart
and press
on towards the goal when he says my grace is sufficient for you.
When we ask
God to help with our pain or affliction, remember:
1. God loves you.
2. All affliction is healed in the age
to come.
3. God will show his strength in our
weakness in this present age.
God answers
our prayers. Sometimes that answer is my grace is sufficient for you.
We need to
be good with my grace is sufficient for you and expect God to work in
our weakness. This is a paradox but it is also a divine dynamic that is so
powerful when we embrace it.
We need to
embrace this divine dynamic. God works in our weakness as he continues to shape
us like him.
Sometimes,
trusting in the Lord with all of our hearts gets tough. It’s not that we are
tougher, but our God is and he is with us and he is for us and he is working in
our weakness.
Sometimes, my
grace is sufficient for you seems like God doesn’t care, but he does. He
loves us and has good plans for us. We
might only be able to see the next step but God sees all the way to whatever
light is at the end of the tunnel.
That could
be an hour or a day or the rest of our earthly lifetimes, but he knows what
we need. Who would have thought that
God would explain this through Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
You can't
always get what you want
But if you
try sometimes, well, you might find
You get
what you need
Paul had
reason to boast in his own resume. He was da man.
Paul chose
to boast in his weakness for God was demonstrating his strength through Paul’s
affliction.
How about
us?
Can we
boast, celebrate, seek his kingdom, and know how much God loves us in our strengths
and in our weaknesses.
My prayer
and my hope is that we can.
I am
confident that we can trust the Lord enough for him to work in our weaknesses.
Amen.
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