Overcoming Adversity 2 Pauls Thorn Scripture 2 Corin

Overcoming Adversity 2: Paul’s Thorn Scripture: 2 Corin. 12: 7 -10

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations,

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. ”

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.

Overcoming Adversity 2: Paul’s Thorn

Most Christians believe God is in full control of all things at all times.

So, does He give us the adversities in our lives?

At the very least He allows these things to happen. (Example: Job 1)

But why would He allow bad things to happen?

A. To teach us valuable lessons

Our whole life is a training ground. You learn far more from failures and sufferings.

B. He wants to make us better vessels for Him.

Jeremiah 18: 1 -4 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

“Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message. ”

So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.

But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands;

so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

What is Paul’s thorn in the flesh? An illness that bothers him continuously?

A demon who tormented him?

It is most likely an illness, and that may be why Doctor Luke went on mission trips with him.

Three times he asked the Lord to remove it – so maybe it is not a constant struggle.

God’s answer is not what most of us want to hear…

2 Cor. 12: 9 a - But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ”

What God said was: No, but I will give you power and grace to survive.

I want you to depend on me, not on yourself.

This will help you grow and be strong through God.

Paul realized several things through his experience:

God allowing this thorn in the flesh is actually a gift for him.

There is a God-given purpose in this. It helps Paul to be humble and not rely on himself.

1. He was a Pharisee and a student from the top Jewish school. He had the right to be proud.

But the thorn in the flesh made him look and feel weak so he would be humble.

2. He had to rely on God because his knowledge, name, and pride could not save him.

3. God’s power is shown through his reliance on God.

And Paul came to boast about it after he understood why.

Romans 5: 3 -5 - Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame,

because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

But why did Paul have to go through this kind of pain?

God had a special plan for Paul. He used Paul to elaborate the Christian thinking.

Jesus taught a lot in the Gospels, but a lot of the messages were hidden in the parables.

Also, before his crucifixion, Jesus did not clearly explain the concept of “grace”.

That is because at that time, Jesus’s substitutionary atonement had not been achieved yet.

The early church had to define a lot of the doctrines for this new faith born out of Judaism.

God wanted to use Paul, a Jewish scholar, to write down the “New Covenant” clearly.

It takes a Jewish scholar to really explain the change in thinking.

Paul, the Jewish scholar who understood law and experienced grace, can best do this.

God used or allowed circumstances and adversities to inspire Paul in the right direction.

Jewish faith is focused on “guilt” but Christian faith is based on “grace”.

Grace is the only way for human sin and guilt to be removed before God.

At that time, Jews thought they can compensate for their guilt by observing their laws diligently.

They did not understand their laws foreshadow the grace that comes from Jesus.

Paul, more than any other apostles, understood grace because of his experiences.

He used to persecute Christians, but Jesus appeared to him, saved him, and called him to serve.

He was the worst sinner but God saved and used him.

That is GRACE!

Paul lost his prestige among Jews and possibly his family connection when he became a Christian.

He used to despise and persecute the new Christian community.

It was by the grace of God that he could be comforted and accepted into this community.

The thorn in the flesh was a constant reminder of grace for him.

By understanding grace, he learn not to rely on himself but fully trust God for everything.

His Jewish training and his experience with grace enabled him to fully explain the Christian thinking.

Paul will come to write about half of the New Testament and 13 or 14 of the 21 epistles.

By number of words, he wrote between 72% - 83% of these doctrinal epistles.

Paul influenced the Christianity we know today more than any other person aside from Jesus.

The Book of Romans defined Christianity and explained grace more than any other book in the Bible.

Only Paul can write such a masterpiece because of his Jewish training and experience with Christ’s grace.

He took the Gospel to Europe where it began to spread to the whole world.

The Christian faith and thinking shaped the Western culture and then the modern world.

You and I are Christians today because of Paul.

Paul’s thorn in the flesh thus had strongly influenced the development of Christianity.

Paul’s thorn in the flesh may have change the world history!

Once we see how God uses adversities, they suddenly do not look so bad after all…

Romans 8: 28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love

who have been called according to his purpose.

Do you have thorns in your life? Maybe God can use it to do something great!

May the Lord bless you all!