The good news

Oct 14, 2010

God's grace is sufficient for you.

The Apostle Paul was going through some hard stuff. He was pleading for God to change his situation.

But the Lord says to him "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Therefore Paul says, "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."

Our culture, like every culture, values strength not weakness. Some of this is Darwinian residue that tells us only the fittest survive. Would Paul share this worldview? In a shrinking economy everyone is on their best behavior to show off the value they add to their company. Weaknesses are hidden not "delighted in." 

In some sense this is just as it should be. The stronger you are the more of a support you can be to those around you. Becoming mentally tough, emotionally stable and physically fit makes each of us a stronger asset in the home and in the workplace. Seeking to become stronger is a way to fulfill the second greatest commandment of loving our neighbors as ourselves. If we are weak don't we just end up being a burden to others?

Yet Paul boasts in his weakness. The Greek word he uses here is "asthenia" It appears several times in the gospels. Jesus "heals" weakness, "bears" weakness, "frees" people from weakness, and "sympathizes" with our weakness. The Holy Spirit "Helps us" in our weakness by giving us the words to pray. 

Jesus says of Lazarus that his "weakness" will not end in death No,  it is for God's glory so that the Son may be glorified through it.

If you are feeling weak here are four things to do with your weakness.

1) Trust God's sovereignty.. Jesus says of Lazarus, "This weakness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God that God's Son might be glorified." Lazarus did die, but death was not the last word. Jesus got the last word. In fact Jesus always gets the last word. God in his sovereignty can and will get glory from our weakness. Lazarus did nothing to make that a reality. He was dead. Yet Jesus was able by his power to gain glory from his weakness. Jesus is able by his power to gain glory from our weakness too. 

2) Plead for strength... This is what Paul does in 2 Corinthians 12. Three times he "pleads" with the Lord to take it away. The word here is the Greek -parakaleo "para"-alongside of "kaleo"- to call. It is translated "encourage", "comfort", "beseech" and "plead."  Though God can get glory from our weaknesses we still need to call out to him to come next to us, put his arm around us and make us strong so that we can be strong for others. This is one of the reasons God allows us to get weak, so that we will draw near to him in prayer. The father is pleased to come alongside of us when we come to him for help. In fact Parakaletos is the name Jesus give to the Holy Spirit in John 14. The Spirit is "God-who-comes-alongside-of-us." 

3) Boast in your weakness... When God does awesome stuff in us and through us, we boast in our weakness. "Wow that must have been all God because I know I could never have done that!" I recently complimented a leader on the gospel community study that he prepared and led. His response was "It must have been the Spirit" this is boasting in our weakness.

4) Be content with weakness...Paul comes to be content with his weakness because he says "when I am weak then I am strong" This is a paradoxical statement that shows Paul's radical dependence on God.

Our weakness as humans is a permanent part of us that will not be transformed until God makes all things new at the end of the age. We look forward to that day , "when perfection comes then imperfection disappears." (1 Corinthians 13:10) 

On our own we cannot trust, plead, boast, or be content. But the Holy Spirit, who lives inside us as believers in Jesus, is more than able. For this reason, Paul prays...

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. " (Ephesians 3:20)

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