The retail store flyer advertises, “The more you spend, the more you save.” Oscar Wilde wrote that life was much too important to be taken seriously. In the song Hotel California, Don Henley laments “You can check out, but you can never leave.” These paradoxes serve to emphasize an important opinion or truth by stating what appears to be a contradiction. If a person is spending more money, then she is saving less, not more. If life is important, then it ought to be taken seriously. You don’t check out of a hotel unless you are leaving. Yet upon further reflection, we understand the point being emphasized.
For these final three Sundays of this season of Epiphany, we will see several paradoxes in Scripture: strong weakness, loving hate, and visibly hidden. The intent is not to leave us confused or confounded, but rather comforted and confident, as powerful spiritual truths deepen our appreciation of and our connection to our Savior. Today we want to revisit – and if needed, rewrite – our understanding of what it truly means to be strong.
Our American view of strength has shifted somewhat in recent years, which in some ways is definitely for the better. We can much more openly discuss the matter of people’s emotional health without immediately viewing it as a weakness. In the past an Olympic athlete would not have considered pulling out of an event for anything other than a legitimate physical injury – to do so would have been viewed as being weak. At last summer’s Olympics however, a world-class gymnast was praised for being brave and strong for pulling out of an event because of concerns of emotional health. And in the past, victims of physical or sexual abuse were expected to stay silent; but today they are rightly encouraged and emboldened to be strong and speak up.
Yet the underlying problem remains nonetheless when it comes to the world’s view of strength because the world’s source of strength is the same: self. And no matter how much mankind progresses, we’ll never reach a level of advancement that can escape this reality: when self is the source of strength, it will eventually crumble.
Adam & Eve relied on their own strength and stumbled tragically. Sin has seen to it that the same result will inevitably play out every time we rely on self for strength. A husband and wife who rely on self for strength in their marriage are stacking the deck against themselves. The saint who leans on self for strength in the face of temptation is poised for a fall. The Christian who relies on self for strength instead of Word and Sacrament will not bear the name Christian for very long.
If self is the source of focus for strength, it will always come up short. Paul was aware of this, even warning the Corinthians of it in an earlier letter he had written to them. He said, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Cor. 10:12). Look in the mirror, look at your own two feet, look to self, and don’t be surprised by the inevitable fall.
So what is Paul’s solution? A paradox. He says, “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (v.10). He says that real strength is found in weakness. And he was speaking from experience! “Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness (vv.7b-9).” We don’t know all of the details, but we don’t need to. We can relate to being conceited – that’s us every time we mistakenly think we’re strong enough on our own! Then God allowed some hardship or suffering in Paul’s life as a “thorn in [his] flesh.” That thorn led Paul to plead for God to take it away.
And God gave Paul everyone’s favorite answer: no. But the next time you think God’s “no” will leave you worse off in your prayers, pay attention to why God said no to Paul. He said no so that Paul would see something greater than merely the absence of suffering. He said no so that Paul could more clearly see his need for grace, as well as the abundance with which God poured grace out on him.
Do not let that escape you this morning. God said no, and his no to Paul left Paul far better off than if God had given Paul the yes he hoped for. Maybe that’s something to consider in your prayer life. Instead of, “Lord, take it away,” what if our prayer was “Lord, let it stay?” What if we came to so firmly believe that grace was sufficient for us that our conviction in that truth equipped us to bear up under and endure any hardship?
Do you know what happens when God uses thorns to make us painfully aware of how good we have it in him? Paul gave us an example when he commended the Thessalonian Christians for getting it. He wrote to them, “For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord” (1 Thes. 3:8). What a contrast to the warning he had given in his earlier letter to the Corinthians, about thinking they were standing firmly in self. To really live is to stand firm in the Lord and his strength. And we simply will not do that until we are emptied of every sense of self strength; until nothing but our many weaknesses are exposed.
That’s why we confess our sins. We empty ourselves of sin so that grace can fill us up. But when we fail to confess, when we hold on to or hide our sin, when we repeat it willfully or persistently defend it, where is grace supposed to fill in? How can it fill up a vessel where sin refuses to budge? How can grace be sufficient while we also savor sin?
So we confess. We do it in church collectively as we worship, but if it is good and beneficial to do in God’s house, is it not also beneficial to do in our own house? If it is good to do on Sunday, is it not good to do every day? If it is good and beneficial in our relationship with the Lord, is it not also good and beneficial to do in every other relationship as well? But of course it is! In fact, one might rightly question how well anyone can know grace without equally knowing confession. When we know grace we have nothing to hide. When we know grace we don’t have to pretend. When we know grace we can admit to and own up to every sin and weakness, for grace has already covered it. Completely. That was Paul’s point in verse nine: “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Think about when you’ve had a nice dinner, followed by an outstanding dessert, and the portions were all just right. You’re satisfied – that sweet spot between not being hungry anymore, but knowing that eating any more will leave you feeling worse. What you’ve eaten is sufficient – you don’t need anymore but you didn’t eat too little. That is the idea behind Paul’s words, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” “Sufficient” and “made perfect” carry the same idea – when we have grace, we have exactly what we need. If we set grace aside, then we’ll be lacking what we need. If we insist on adding something to grace, then we nullify grace. Anything less than all of Jesus is not full power; anything more than only Jesus is an unnecessary and unhelpful addition, undermining the role of grace.
This applies to every area of life in our relationship with God. When Jesus called us to deny ourselves and follow him, he didn’t mean a portion of self or just one area of life where we admit our complete and utter weakness before him, but in every area of life. In work. In relationships. In marriage. In finances. In planning. In managing material blessings. All of it calls for us to acknowledge our weakness so that we might therefore depend on his strength. To the degree that we insist on our own strength in any one area of our life, we will be lacking. Grace cannot fill in and be our strength. Grace isn’t just for forgiving sin, it’s for renewing the whole self.
When I see that grace really is sufficient, my world changes and I can handle any thorn in my flesh. When another has gossiped or slandered against me behind my back, what if that person who wronged me is never corrected or rebuked, what if she never apologizes? What if justice is not carried out and others believe her slander or gossip against me? Grace is enough. What if my spouse doesn’t appreciate my sacrifice, express thanks, or ever bother to reciprocate it to me? Grace is enough. What if my superior at work either fails to credit me with my outstanding performance on the job or mistakenly believes that I am the one to blame for someone else’s poor performance? Grace is enough. No matter the struggle or the season of suffering, God provides strength in our weakness because grace is enough.
Grace jars us from seeing ourselves as victims in life and instead takes the view of victors that Jesus has made us by his own victory on our behalf. That’s when we look at things differently. That’s when the words of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts start to make sense. Here is a portion of the speech Roberts gave at his son’s ninth-grade commencement five years ago.
Now the commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you. I will not do that, and I’ll tell you why. From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted. I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either. And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes (access a transcript of the speech here. or watch it here).
That sounds similar to Paul’s summary in verse ten. “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.” Friends, grace is enough – and not only is grace enough, but there’s more than enough grace. God has at his disposal more than enough grace to cover anything needed in your life. Being confident of that then, go, and grow in your ability to find more of his strength in your weakness.