Weakness and Strength, Glory and Grace - 2 Corinthians 11:16-12:10

Here is the great Apostle Paul, in a basket, at night, being let down over a wall through a window. Well, there's not much to brag about, is there, or is there?

Verse 16: "I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if so, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little." In verses 16 through 33, we have two surprises. Surprise number one: that Paul boasted like a fool. Surprise number two: that when he boasted, he boasted about his weaknesses, not his strengths. Now, why did Paul boast? Why was Paul finding it necessary to boast? Proverbs 26:4-5 may give us the answer. "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit." 

Now, it looks as though Proverbs 26:4 contradicts Proverbs 26:5, but it doesn't. What the inspired writer is saying is this: you have to have discernment to know how to answer people. There are times when people are acting foolishly and you have to answer them according to their folly. There are other times when they're acting foolishly and you'd better not act according to their folly. Now, the Corinthians were acting like fools. They were following these false teachers. They were caught up with these super-apostles. They were wrapped up in the teachings and the glory of the whole thing. And Paul had tried to deal with them in a mature way. He had sent them a very severe letter. He had made a visit to them and they had given him trouble. Now he says, "All right, I can't deal with you as mature people. I can't answer you in the way you can accept it. I'm going to have to start treating you the way you're treating me. I'm going to have to start answering a fool according to his folly to show you how foolish you are."

So actually, Paul is using a psychological approach here, isn't he? In fact, he says in verse 17, "That which I speak, I speak not after the Lord." In other words, he's not denying inspiration. He's saying, "This is not what the Lord ever did." Our Lord Jesus never answered people according to their folly because He had much greater power than did the Apostle Paul. He said, "as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting." Now, why does he do it? "Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also." These false teachers were always glorying in something, boasting in something—boasting in their authority, boasting in their converts. All they did was walk in and steal converts from other people. 

Oh, I've seen this happen. I've seen people get a hold of some "deeper truth," and then they go out and try to steal other Christians to form a group to promote this deeper truth. Instead of going out and winning lost souls to Christ, they go out and steal sheep from other folds; they go out and steal converts. And Paul said, "All right, if they want to boast and glory, I'll do the same thing." Verse 19: "For ye bear with fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise." Some more sarcasm, isn't it? He said these fellows have come in, these super-apostles have come in, and you're putting up with them. Well, then you can put up with me. "For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage"—that's legalism—"if a man devour you"—taking your money—"if a man take of you," or "take you in"—that's false doctrine—"if a man exalt himself"—exploiting the church—"if a man smite you on the face"—arrogance.

You see, Paul wouldn't do these things. Paul when he came to Corinth wept over the people, and he loved the people, and he ministered to the people. Then this other crowd came in and put them into bondage, and took their money, and taught them false doctrine, exploited them, even slapped them in the face. Paul said, "Well, you'll put up with that." You've heard me say it before, you may hear me say it again: I have seen this happen in local churches where a man goes in and sacrifices to serve the church. Night and day praying and studying and visiting and ministering. And what does the church do? The church slaps him in the face and doesn't even appreciate him. Then some fellow comes in who's a "big wheel," a big important man, and he demands more money and he demands this and that, and he gets it! And everybody says, "Isn't this wonderful we have this great man here to be our pastor?" Where the fellow who really built the church is left out in the cold. Paul says, "All right, you want to brag? You want people to come and glory? I'll do it! But I'm acting like a fool; you're forcing me to it." 

"I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also. Are they Hebrews?"—they were bragging about their ancestry—"so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more." Now, let's see what Paul boasted about. Paul boasted about his weakness. Notice this: first he tells us how he suffered for the Lord Jesus. "In labors more abundant"—these men hadn't labored; they just went out and stole other people's labors—"in stripes above measure"—talking about being whipped—"in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft."

Now he gets specific. "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one." They used to beat with thirty-nine stripes. Five times the Jews whipped Paul. Now, these Judaizers had never gone through that. "Thrice was I beaten with rods"—the Gentiles, the Romans would beat a prisoner with rods. "Once was I stoned." The Jewish people used to use stoning to kill. Now here we have his suffering for Christ. He says, "If I'm going to boast, I'll boast in the fact that I have suffered." Not that I've gone around exalting myself. 

Then the hardships he went through in his ministry. "Thrice I suffered shipwreck." I went through the Acts and the epistles trying to trace some of Paul's movements. I have found eight different voyages he probably made, and there are probably more that were not recorded or suggested. Shipwreck, three times. "A night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often"—constantly on the move. These Judaizers moved into Corinth and just sat down, got comfortable. Paul said, "I'm always on the move; there's always a job to do." "In perils of waters, in perils of robbers"—the roads were not very safe those days—"in perils by mine own countrymen"—the Jews hated Paul; they thought he was a rebel, a traitor, when in reality he was not—"in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city"—that's not hard to understand—"in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren." Back in verse 13: false apostles, Satan transforming himself into an angel of light. 

So we have Paul's suffering for Christ, and Paul's hardships in the ministry, and then Paul's concern and burden for the churches. "In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." Here's a man who sacrificed for these people and they didn't even appreciate it. "Beside those things that are without"—the outside circumstances—"that which cometh upon me daily"—you see, it was only occasional that he had journeyings that were perilous, only occasionally was he in the deep, only occasionally was he beaten, but every day what did he have? "That which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches."

That word care means the pressure, the burden. I tell you, unless you have been in spiritual ministry, you don't know the meaning of that verse. The burden, the pressure, the care that a pastor, an elder, a faithful missionary bears in his life daily, daily. You can't turn it off; you can't run away from it. "Who is weak, and I am not weak?" He identified with those who had their burdens. "Who is offended, and I burn not?" He was angry when others were caused to sin. This had happened in Corinth. "If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities"—my weaknesses. 

Here's an amazing thing: if you ask the Apostle Paul to brag about the Lord Jesus, he could do it. He had no problem at all boasting about the Lord Jesus. But you ask him to boast about himself, he can't do it. He said, "I'll boast about those things that show my weakness." What he's saying is, "You know, if I were really a super-apostle, if I had the kind of spirituality that these men have that you're worshiping, I would never have been in these problems. I would never have been in prison or beaten or in shipwreck or peril. But I went through them, so it must mean I'm a pretty weak fellow." And after all, they had said, the Corinthian church had said, that the Apostle Paul was rather contemptible. His bodily presence was weak. He said, "All right, I'll accept that." And you'd think that the climax of all of this would be some great event.

But look at the climax: "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus"—he goes back many years now—"In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me." When Paul was in Damascus, they were going to arrest him. Now, how did he escape? "And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands." What humiliation! Here is the great Apostle Paul in a basket, at night, being let down over a wall through a window. Well, there's not much to brag about, is there, or is there? Paul is saying to you and to me: "If you're going to boast, boast of your weakness, boast of how the Lord has brought you through in the way you've suffered for Him. And beware, beware of those who would rob you, who have no scars to show how much they love the Lord."

When you're the Apostle Paul, you're never quite sure what your next experience is going to be. One night you're being let down over a wall through a window in a basket. How humiliating. And then you're being caught up to the third heaven. The Christian life is an exciting experience, isn't it? "And I knew such a man, whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth; How that he was caught up into paradise"—so paradise is the third heaven—"and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool." He says, "I may be acting like a fool, but I'm not going to be one." "For I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me." 

Of course, Paul is talking about himself. He speaks in the third person here—"I knew a man fourteen years ago"—but he was the man. And he had this marvelous experience of being caught up to heaven. Now the next thing he tells us in verses 7 through 10 is that this experience of going to paradise put him in danger. There was a danger he might be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations. And so what did God do? God gave him "a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory"—boast—"in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 

Now, here are two radically opposite experiences. One was an experience of wonderful glory, up in heaven, hearing words, seeing things, visions, revelations in heaven. An experience of wonderful glory. The other was an experience of amazing grace. God said, "My grace is sufficient for thee." One was an experience up in heaven. The other was an experience on earth being buffeted from hell. The experience he had up in heaven he was not allowed to share. That's interesting, isn't it? You'd think that if God would go to all the trouble of transporting an apostle up to heaven, letting him listen to these marvelous words, God would want this man to share it. But for fourteen years Paul kept quiet. Can you imagine? Fourteen years of splendor, fourteen years of silence, coupled with fourteen years of suffering. Paul kept quiet about it.

I can imagine some of his enemies saying, "You know, Paul suffers; there's something wrong with Paul. Paul must not be blessed of God." It's like Job, you know. Job's friends said, "Well, you must be out of fellowship with God. There's got to be sin in your life, you're suffering so much." Paul had a thorn in the flesh. Other people could tell it. Other people could tell that Paul was suffering from the buffeting of Satan. And they were saying, "Well, he must not be a real apostle. If he were really spiritual, he wouldn't be sick." Ever heard that? "If he were really spiritual, he wouldn't have this affliction." And Paul had this affliction not because he was not spiritual, but because he was so spiritual, God was afraid he would get proud and then God couldn't use him. 

Sometimes suffering and pain are not punishment for sin; they are balance for blessing. You know, if all God did was fill your hands with blessing, you'd fall right on your face. Right now, just hold out your two hands and pretend that God is filling your hands with blessing. You'd fall right on your face! But when God fills our hands with blessing, you know what He does? He puts burdens on our back. And that balances us. That keeps us from falling over, and that enables us to walk. And the blessings and the burdens balance each other.

Now, it's interesting that the experience Paul had in heaven he could not share. But the experience he had on earth he was able to share. He said, "Let me tell you what God did for me when I was suffering." He said, "My grace is sufficient for you." Paul, when you're weak, you're strong. When you're suffering, I'm going to help us. Up in heaven he had a marvelous experience of ecstasy, but on earth he had a wonderful experience of the grace of God meeting his need: sufficiency. Only once did he go to heaven and see the glory of God, but moment by moment by moment, day by day on earth, constantly he was experiencing the grace of God. 

When God took Paul up to heaven, I think He was preparing him for all the suffering he was going to go through. Now, he tells us these experiences in chapter 11, doesn't he? Stripes above measure, he was in deaths often, the Jews beat him five times, and the Gentiles beat him with rods three times, he went through shipwreck, he was a night and a day in the deep, perils in the water and on the road and in the city and in the country, all these problems. Just read it there in 2 Corinthians 11. How was Paul able to go through all of this? Well, I'll tell you how: he had been to glory. He had seen the glory of God; he had heard the glory of God spoken. No wonder he wrote, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." And so whenever Paul went through these sufferings, he thought of the glory of heaven. 

You say, "Well, I haven't been to heaven." My friend, if you are saved, you are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. And one of these days you're going to be caught up. The word that Paul uses in verse 12 is the same word that he uses in 1 Thessalonians 4: "we shall be caught up to meet him in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." When you live with heaven on the horizon, you can stand anything. When you look for the glory of God on the horizon, when you say, "I may go to heaven today," you can put up with the burdens and the problems and the persecutions and the difficulties. I think this is the reason God took Paul to heaven. He said, "Paul, you're going to go through so much; I want to prepare you." 

Our Father did a similar thing with the Lord Jesus. Before our Lord went down to Jerusalem to suffer and die for us, He had that experience of Transfiguration. Remember that? When the glory of God just radiated out from Him, and the cloud of glory came down around Him, and the voice from glory said, "This is my beloved Son, listen to him." I think God prepares us for the experiences to come. But you know, when He gave Paul that thorn in the flesh, He was preparing him for temptation. The glory in heaven prepared Paul for trial, for testing, for tribulation; but the thorn in the flesh prepared Paul for temptation. God said, "Paul, you're going to be tempted to be proud. Lest I should be exalted above measure, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh." 

Now, which of these two experiences would you want? You see, God balances life. I'm so glad of that. God holds the key of all unknown and I am glad. For if some other held the key or if He trusted it to me, I might be sad. Joseph Parker wrote those words and I've quoted them to my own heart many times. I'm glad that God mixes the ingredients of life. I'm glad that my Father in heaven knows when I need an experience of glory, and He knows when I need an experience of grace. But if I had to take my choice, my friend, I would choose not to go to heaven the way Paul did—oh, I want to go to heaven when Jesus comes and I look forward to that—I think that his experience with the thorn in the flesh has been a greater blessing to people than his experience in heaven.

When Paul went through this experience of the thorn in the flesh, he had a message to share with us. He said, "Let me tell you what God did for me when I suffered." You know, you're suffering now. You're lying in that hospital bed; you're suffering, you hurt. Maybe it's not physical suffering in the body, maybe it's that painful suffering in your heart. You're carrying heavy burdens; you've got trials, brokenhearted, disappointment. And God says to you: "My grace is sufficient for you." You know, that little message that God gave to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you," has done more good than all the wonderful things Paul heard up in heaven that he couldn't share with us. 

And I really believe this is why God has done it this way. God balances suffering and glory. God balances grace and glory. "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." But you know, I think that out of our experiences of suffering, we have something to share with other people. It's good to have these private experiences of ecstasy, but those are hard to share. You say, "Oh, God, make me a blessing, make me a blessing." And then you start suffering. You say, "Lord, how can I be a blessing when I'm suffering?" That's the way you become a blessing! "My grace is sufficient for thee." God is putting you through what you are going through because He wants to give you a message for somebody else. He wants you to be able to say to someone else: "Look, I have learned by experience that God's grace is sufficient for every need."