After each session, Kelly shares a song she has written to encourage us in a worship time.
This series is well worth the time to watch and also the effort to do the homework each week. You will not be disappointed.
Session 7 deals with the "Thorn in the Flesh" taken from 2 Corinthians 11:30-33:
"If boasting is necessary, I will boast about my weaknesses. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows I am not lying. In Damascus, a ruler under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to arrest me. So I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands."
Paul has talked about all the trials he has gone through. He talks about these things to show the false teachers and those who are confused in Corinth that the Christian life isn't necessarily about suffering. There's an incredible grace that goes along beside it, Kelly said.
Why all of a sudden was Paul talking about being lowered in a basket at a time in Damascus? Look at Acts 9:23-25:
"After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him, but Saul learned of their plot, so they were watching the gates day and night intending to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the wall."
Paul is referencing a time very early in his ministry when he was in Damascus. Kelly asks this: "where did Paul meet the Lord?" Answer: on the road to Damascus. After his conversion, he stays there in Damascus and begins to preach Jesus.
The Jews are trying to kill him so they have a watch at the city gates. Thus, lowering him outside the walls in a basket. Great Plan!
Why is he telling this story to the Corinthian church?
He wants them to know he came from being the highest (intellectual, educated Jew) to being dropped down over a wall in a basket to escape. (ref. 2 Corinthians 12:1-6)
Extraordinary story that Paul is now telling.
Thorn in the Flesh
"....especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. But he said to me "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
What Was Paul's Thorn?
We don't know. It could be:
- Physical ailment
- Persecutions and oppositions
- Psychological or mental travail
It's not about the thorn, but it's about the grace and power of God working through us.
Why Was The Thorn Given?
Look at verse 7 ...."so that I would not exalt myself" - to keep Paul from becoming conceited. Pride keeps us from an intimate relationship with Christ.
Who Gave The Thorn?
Was it God or Satan? The term "was given", Kelly says, is typically used in the context of benevolance, goodness, grace....bestowed by God.
There is some tension here regarding God giving a thorn to Paul. We must remember the character of God and the heart of God - He can be trusted.
George Guthrie has said this "Paradoxically, the thorn was a gift from God and a goad from Satan."
Jesus' response to Paul about the thorn is in verse 9 "my grace is sufficient (it is enough) for you, for power is perfected (intended fulfillment) in weakness."
Jesus is saying to Paul that in this weakness, my power reaches its intended fulfillment, a place where it hits the pinnacle.
In verse 9 the word "therefore" is a turning point kind of word which means "for that reason, consequently."
The phrase "all the more gladly" means "with pleasure, with contentment".
Remember earlier Paul was pleading for this thorn to be removed. Now, his thoughts and response has shifted - "I will all the more gladly boast."
Why is he glad? Because this is when Christ's power completely enfolds him and may dwell in him.
Dwell: Hebrew meaning is to fix a tent or have a habitation on, to take possession of and live in the houses.
Scholars think Paul might be using an OT reference here found in Exodus 40:34:
"The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle."
Paul is saying "when I am weak, yes, I'm strong. I'm contented with it now because Christ's power is going to rest upon me like a tent, a covering, where His habitation is going to dwell."
Paul is making a very strong point that just like the glory of the Lord will come down and God would come to habitate among His people, in that powerful way in the OT, He will do that with this thorn and in his weakness.
If we could just get this revelation in our own pain, it is possible to turn to some rejoicing, Kelly says.
Don't think or believe that if you have a thorn God is angry with you or has forsaken you. Paul finishes in verse 10:
"So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Weakness in itself is not power. There was no power in Paul's weakness - so be careful not to exalt the weakness. It's the avenue through which God's power flows.
"I am full of hope that when God delays in fulfilling our little thoughts it is to have Himself room to work out His great ones" - Lilias Trotter
Kelly says, "I wonder if Paul wanting the thorn removed, not that asking was a bad thing, but I wonder if that was a little thought and God wanted to make room for His big ones."
Take heart that there's grace, there's power, God has His hand on you in those places of tension, those thorns.
"The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty" - Psalms 91:1.
Taken from my notes on Session 7
Next: Session 8 "Spending Ourselves for Others. Relationships."
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