Gracious God, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, working through Your precious and Holy Word, get across to our hearts the paradox that comes through our text beautifully today-namely when we are weak, You will be strong through us. We know Your grace is sufficient for all of our needs. Help us rely upon You for all aspects of our lives from day to day. In Jesus’ precious Holy Name, we pray. Amen.
Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines the word “pride” in this way: ” To congratulate oneself because of something one is, has, or has done or achieved.” There was once a certain braggart, who after enumerating what he considered to be some of his outstanding achievements, exclaimed, “I’ll have you know I am a self-made man.” One of those who heard him remarked, “Well I’m glad to hear that. It certainly relieves the Creator of a tremendous responsibility.”
There’s an old fable about two ducks and a frog that lived in a farmer’s pond. The ducks and the frog were the best of friends. They played together all day long. But, when the hot summer days came, the pond began to dry up. The ducks realized they would have to move. They could easily fly away to another place, but what about their friend, the frog? Finally, the ducks decided to put a stick between them. Each would hold one end with its bill, while the frog hung on to the stick by its mouth. So the three friends set out for another pond. As they were flying, the farmer saw them and said, “How clever! I wonder who thought of it?” The frog said, “I did.” And that was the end of the frog. Indeed, pride goes before the fall.
In our text, the apostle Paul could have succumbed to the sin of pride had it not been for the Lord’s love for him. By giving him a thorn in the flesh, it counterbalanced the visions and revelations he had been having of heaven itself. Paul refers to himself as a man who was caught up to the third heaven. That is, a place beyond the immediate heaven of the earth’s atmosphere and beyond the further heaven of outer space and its constellations. Indeed, Paul was talking about a vision of the heaven to come, where the triune God resides. Now, the nature of the inexpressible things Paul heard remains unknown to us because these are things Paul was not permitted to tell. It was an experience that must have given tremendous strength to Paul’s apostleship.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me 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.'” Then Paul confessed: “Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so 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 a paradox! To be strong in Christ, one must be weak and not rely on the self. Now, we are not told what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was.
We just know it was bothersome enough that he pleaded with the Lord not once, but three times for its removal. But the thorn served God’s purpose, which was to get Paul to rely on Christ for all his strength.
When Peter was walking across the water toward Jesus, as the Lord had invited him to do, he was just fine until he began to look carefully at the wind and the waves. He then became scared and started to sink. In short, he was relying on himself for that “across the water” challenge.
To whom or to what do you turn for the help, hope, and strength you require to get through life? Do you turn inward, relying on yourself for the necessary equipment to face life’s challenges? Or is your gaze constantly centered on the One who gave us His only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Is that where you place your confidence today?
The scene is a courtroom. The judge, robed in a black gown, has taken his seat. A prisoner, handcuffed, is led into the room. As he sees the judge, his heart quakes, and he is filled with fear. He has good reason to fear since the judge must pronounce sentence on him for his crime. Suddenly, a young boy enters the room, makes his way through the seats filled with spectators, runs up to the judge and whispers something into his ear. The judge reaches in his pocket and gives the lad a coin. The boy exits in a happy mood. The boy had no fear of the man robed in black, for the judge was his father. And so it is with you. In Christ, God is not your judge. In Christ, God is to you what the judge was to the little boy – Your father. You can approach Him fearlessly. He will provide for your needs!
The psalmist wrote, “I lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence comes my help. My help comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2). When Martin Luther’s friends wrote despairingly of the debate at the Diet at Worms, Luther replied from Coburg he had been looking up at the night sky spangled and studded with stars, and had found no pillars to hold them up. And yet, they did not fall. The truth is, God needs no props for his stars and planets. He hangs them on nothing. So in the working of God’s Providence, the unseen is prop enough for the seen.
Do you trust in what you cannot see this blessed day? Do you rely on the Lord for every moment of your existence? And, do you believe the paradox-that the weak are the strong and the strong are the weak? Napoleon once insolently sneered, “I observe that God is usually on the side of the strongest battalions” but in 1812, the glittering ranks of France and its tributary kings, numbering some 600,000 men, cross the Nieman to invade Russia. They captured Smolensk, won the bloody battle of Borondino, and approached Moscow. Then God sent on them the soft, feathery flakes of feeble, innocent, snow. The snows of God, the soft snows that a breath can melt, were too strong for the mightiest battalions. The French soldiers perished by the thousands and the Cossacks with their lances thrust out the frozen, famine stricken remnant the northern winter had not slain. God was not on the side of the strongest battalion that time. Alexander of Russia knew to whom he owed the victory, if Napoleon did not, and on his commemorative medal were these words, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name be the Glory.” Napoleon did not get the paradox right. He had it backwards. He thought might is might, and that’s that. He didn’t see things God’s way, the way of the cross. For how could God give Himself to save the world? That, in itself is a paradox!
It was 3:00 p.m. that first Good Friday. Now, at the end, Jesus again pulled Himself up to the top of His Cross. Again he spoke, “Father,” He cried, “Into Your hands I commit My spirit!” Then, from Jesus’ lungs came a final cry, “It is finished!” The body sagged on the cross. Jesus willed Himself to die. The centurion bowed his head and said, “Surely this man was the Son of God.” Yes, He was and He is. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the Life.” He did not say, I was. That means Jesus is living right now. He went on to say in that most blessed verse, “He who believes in Me, though he was dead, yet shall he live, and he who lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:24-26). To be dead and yet live is a paradox. Are you living out that paradox today? Or, are you seeing things your way? The way of self-reliance?
The ancient Greeks had a legend that Narcissus, the son of the river god, had fallen in love with himself after seeing his image in a pool of water. A seer had told his mother that her son must never see himself if he were to mature into manhood. For this reason, everything that threw off a reflection, such as metal, was removed. But one day he found a spring that formed a pool filled with crystal clear water. As Narcissus stooped to drink, he saw his reflection in the pool. He became despairingly in love with himself, and seeking to embrace himself, he fell into the water and drowned. The Bible says, “No one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it” (Ephesians 5:29). Jesus tells us if we want to love someone very much, we must love him as much as we love ourselves. The scriptures do tell us to “love your neighbor as yourself.” But there are many people that fall into love with themselves to such an abnormal extent, they even shun God and place Him on the bottom rung of their life’s ladder.
A New York telephone company analyzed 500 telephone conversations and discovered the most frequently used word was “I.” It was used more than 4,000 times in those 500 short conversations. By nature, we are all this way. We put “I” at the center. What “we” do is determined by what “I” want. And that attitude, driven by our sin, carries over into the confidence arena as well. That means when it comes to getting through life, we also at times turn to ourselves. We don’t get the paradox. We don’t buy into it. Truthfully, we have the paradox backwards! It is no wonder God at times does allow a thorn in the flesh or two to come in, to get our attention riveted back on Him!
Back on the cross of Christ. In the Old Testament, great people of God underwent heavy trials and tough times, which caused them to get the paradox and see things God’s way. Moses was slow of speech and slow of tongue, but God used Aaron to hold up the prophet’s hands as he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. Daniel was thrust into a lion’s den. He relied totally on the Lord and he survived. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the burning, fiery furnace, but an angel came and saved them. Martin Luther was known to have numerous physical ailments, but these only served to drive him closer to the Savior.
One troubled soul asked a friend, “What shall I do in all my troubles?” They both stood by a cow that was looking over a stone fence. The troubled soul was asked, “Why is this cow looking over the fence?” His answer, “Because she cannot look through it.” That’s a great example for us in all our troubles. Look over them and up to God, because we can never look through them. That’s getting the paradox right. That’s getting Christ right. And that’s only right since Christ is the One who first got you right with Him, through His suffering, death, and resurrection on the third day. He did it all so that you can see things His way.
The Lord Himself has provided for you the means to get His view of life. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe, to the Jew first, and also for the Greek.” When you go to God’s Holy and blessed Word, might isn’t right. You see things His way, the way of the cross, and not the way of glory for yourself. You see the arrow of your life’s attention focused on Jesus, where it belongs.
But now what? Put the paradox into practice. Rely on God’s mercy and strength to help you every day. One poet wrote, “It is strange we trust each other and only doubt our Lord. We take the word of mortals and yet distrust His Word. But, oh, what light and glory would shine o’er all our days, if we always would remember-God means just what He says.” Yes, He does. Jesus once said, “Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the world.” Faith in those words, as God gives you that faith, will get you the paradox. You will see Christ up front and you behind. St. Paul once said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
How about you? Will you do all things through Him? Why not get the paradox right today. Go to God’s precious Word. The psalmist once wrote, ” Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105). The apostle Paul urged the Colossians to “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.” So, read the Word. Meditate upon it. Soak it up because when you do, you’ll apply Paul’s words to you: “When I am weak, then I am strong.” Indeed, it’s a paradox! Get it today! In Jesus’ Holy name, we pray. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for July 27, 2003
ANNOUNCER: What does the Bible teach concerning the resurrection of the body and how does this uniquely Christian hope compare with cultural notions concerning the afterlife? I’m Mark Eischer and that will be our topic today as we talk about the resurrection of the body with Dr. Jeff Gibbs of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. Dr. Gibbs, thank you for being with us.
GIBBS: It’s a pleasure to be here, Mark.
ANNOUNCER: What does it mean in the Apostles’ Creed when we talk about the resurrection of the body? Specifically, what does that mean?
GIBBS: Well, it refers to the great promise God has given us. Because His Son, Jesus Christ died for us to take away our sins and rose from the dead. When Christ comes again in glory, God will raise our bodies physically and restore us to what can rightly be called eternal life.
ANNOUNCER: And this body resurrected is not the same sort of body, as we know it now?
GIBBS: Well stated. You said the same “sort” of body. Now, it is the same body, because the example we have is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. His body was buried in the tomb on Good Friday and Easter morning He was raised to resurrection and life. So it’s the same body, but we can see it’s not the same “sort” of body because He appears, disappears, and passes through locked doors and does all kinds of wondrous, miraculous, eternal kinds of things. And so, when the Apostle Paul is discussing this very issue in 1 Corinthians 15, he brings up a question just the way you said it. ” What sort of body will we have in the resurrection?” And the answer is a mysterious one – it’s a wonderful one. We can almost define it best by saying things it will not be.
ANNOUNCER: OK.
GIBBS: It’s not mortal but immortal; not perishable, but imperishable; not weak but powerful. Then again, the Lord Jesus Himself is our firstfruits. He is the first to be raised from the dead and on the last day, all who trust in Him will also be raised-their bodies, the same body, but not the same sort of body. That’s not a bad way of saying it.
ANNOUNCER: During the introduction, I referred to this as a uniquely Christian hope. I’m wondering how does the Christian teaching of the resurrection of the body compare to other cultural notions of an afterlife?
GIBBS: In our culture, especially 21st century North American culture, if there is a future, it tends to be thought of in terms of a disembodied future. You know, we even speak of life after death. But that implies you still stay dead. If unbelievers have a hope, it doesn’t involve the body. It doesn’t involve the creation. It’s almost kind of what we might call a Greek philosophical notion of escaping from the body or leaving the creation behind.
The Christian hope, on the other hand, is most focused on the Creator God who is also then the Recreator. Again, this is a God who is not ashamed of His own creation. In fact, He came down and became part of it. The incarnation of Jesus, the eternal Son of God becoming a Man and not just dying again. His death is the price He paid. But His own resurrection is also the beginning of God recreating our bodies as Paul teaches in Romans 8: Not only our bodies, but the whole creation, which is still, he says, like a woman in the pains of labor waiting, waiting for that final great day. ANNOUNCER: We’ve been talking with Dr. Jeff Gibbs, Professor at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. The next Lutheran Hour message is titled, ” Approaching God.”