When Our Faith Fail – Part 3
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Joshua 13:11-13; Judges 2:3
Introduction:
In my message last week I continued with the second and third faith equations:
o Faith + Unbelief + Action = No Results
o Faith + Wrong Belief + Action = Wrong Results
Last week my focus on was the how we teach unbelief in our Churches based on what occurred in the story of Job. I focused on the fact that God does not use sickness and calamities to get our attention. This morning we will examine the teachings that have evolved from Paul’s reference to his “thorn in the flesh.” There are many views of what his thorn in the flesh was, and I will share with you my thoughts on this but more importantly but I want to focus on where the thorn in the flesh it did not come from. Understanding Paul’s situation will allow us to really know that God is hearing us when we call out to Him. So let’s get started.
I. Paul’s Situation
Remember last week when I told you that God does not use sickness to get our attention? Well many have walked away with the idea that when we suffer sicknesses we are giving God the opportunity to show grace in our lives. They believe that we experience God’s grace when we are sick “if we go through the sickness the right way.” I do not know about you, but I do not know how to be sick the “right way” in order to experience God’s grace. I know that I could complain less, but is that really receiving God’s grace? In Paul’s situation we find a unique case of Paul having to deal with something that is not really explained to us in a very clear manner. Because it is not explained to us, we are left to interpret it according to what makes sense to us. So if what I share with you this morning contradicts what you have always been taught, you have the right to continue to believe what you believe and act thereon. So let’s examine Paul’s situation with his thorn in the flesh. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.
“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
How many of you have been taught or believe that Paul’s thorn in the flesh was a sickness or disease that God refused to heal him of? How many of you have heard this was what it was but you did not know enough about it to have an opinion? As you consider what you currently believe, this is a good time to set the foundation with a couple of definitions.
I want to give you a couple of definitions from Webster’s dictionary and from the Greek dictionary. I am giving you the definitions from the Greek dictionary because the English language does not have all of the individual and/or different words for a specific meaning as the Greek does. Therefore, to understand what was being said in the Greek (which is what the New Testament was transcribed from) we must know how the word was used originally. I want to share with you the definitions for thorn and infirmities as they apply to Paul’s use of the terms.
Thorn:
o Webster: “A source of constant trouble of irritation.”
o Greek: “Anything pointed. Something painful and/or humiliating.”
Infirmity / Infirmities:
o Webster: “Physical weakness or defect.”
o Greek: “Feebleness of body or mind; lacking strength, weakness.
Paul’s thorn in the flesh has been debated for many years and it will continue to be debated. Some think he suffered from an eye disease; malaria and/or some other type of sickness. Some think he suffered from a physical deformity or something that was specific to his body. Some think he suffered from lust and this is what was afflicting him. I had a minister tell me that he suffered from the same affliction as Paul in that Paul could not control his lust for women. Some think that it was not a physical issue at all and that it was someone that Satan used to hinder Paul throughout his ministry. As I stated before, there is much debate on what it was but from the books on my shelf, most believe it had something to do with his eyesight (an inflammation of the eyeball) as a result of his experience on Damascus road (Acts 9:3-9). Many refer to Galatians 4:13-15 as grounds or proof for this belief even though when you read this reference in context, it does not necessarily support this theory.
To identify the source of Paul’s thorn in the flesh and the possibilities of what it was or was not, I want to go back to the Scripture itself and let it speak to us. All I want to do is allow the verses to speak for themselves. The translation I am reading from this morning is the New King James and New American Standard versions of the Bible. Let’s start with verse seven of chapter twelve.
“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.” (Vs. 7) The first sentence says that to keep him from being exalted because of the abundance of revelations he was receiving he was given a thorn in the flesh. It was not that Paul was becoming conceited, but as we all have seen, the people were exalting him. Right after this statement, the writers appropriately inserted a comma before the next statement. The comma let’s us know that there is a separation between the two statements. In the first statement Paul says he was given a thorn in the flesh. In the second statement, he states in my opinion, what it was to some degree. He called his thorn in the flesh “….a messenger of Satan” and then he tells what its purpose was “…to buffet me.” From this one verse we know that whatever Paul was dealing with it came from an evil source (Satan) and the goal was to hinder his ability to deliver God’s word. The thorn caused Paul a lot of pain as he described the attack of this messenger. Now here is a point that I need you to understand and you may want to go back and research it for yourself. Paul said the source of his thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan. The Greek word of messenger always describes an individual, not an object. Do you see this? Verse seven could be read like this: “I was given a thorn in the flesh WHO was a messenger of Satan.” Now if you read it this way it totally changes the meaning and how we have been interpreting it. One more point, the Greek word for buffet means to strike with a closed fist. This is something that a human would do to another human. If you read this at face value, it appears that Satan was using someone to hinder Paul and sometimes it became physical. Remember what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:25-27 when he listed just a short list of things he had experienced since stepping out into the ministry. All of these things were coming at him from others and sickness is not named in the list. He gave them a preview of what he had been through and why he would not boast about it. What he said in chapter eleven opened the door for his statement about the messenger from Satan. I mean just imagine stepping out to preach God’s word and suffering physical pain from others because of it. Many of us would give up and be quiet moving forward, but this was not Paul. So you may also interpret Paul’s thorn in the flesh as a sickness and maybe that it came from God – your decision. Let’s move to verses eight and nine because this verse has led many to believe that God ignores our prayers so we can suffer and receive grace.
“Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (Vs. 8) Paul prayed (actually pleaded) to God three times to be delivered from the thorn and it did not happen. The response that Paul received was that “God’s grace was sufficient for him.” So let’s think about this for a moment. If we believe that Paul’s thorn in the flesh was a sickness, then it become easy to understand why some people believe that in some situations God wants us to be sick. I am not saying that every one who gets sick will be healed because that will not happen. Remember, our ability to live forever was lost in the Garden of Eden so our bodies are continuing to decay and we will continue to die until the Lord’s return. However, what I am saying is that we all have access to God’s healing power all the time and that God is not ignoring our pleas for help. But let’s go back to Paul. If you land on the decision that Paul’s thorn was a sickness then you have to decide how to handle what he said about it being a messenger of Satan. But what if Satan was constantly using individuals or even one person to be a thorn in Paul’s flesh? How many times have you prayed to God that He would remove someone from your presence (maybe a supervisor; ex boy/girlfriend, etc) but you ended up with grace to deal with the individual? I have people right now who are a thorn in my flesh. When I am in their presence it pains me, almost like pins sticking within me. My response to them is to pray for them and for myself that I would respond appropriately to them. God has not removed them from me; He has given me the grace that I need to be in their presence. Paul’s statement that he received a thorn in the flesh has been interpreted literally by most, but consider if he was talking figuratively. I want to share a few verses from the Old Testament that might shed some light on why Paul termed his attack the way that he did. Remember, Paul was a Pharisee so he clearly understood the Old Testament. Turn with me to Numbers 33:55
“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those who you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell.” (Vs. 55) In this verse Moses is telling the people what will happen if they do not drive the people out of the land that God was giving them. He said that those who remain would be “thorns in your sides.” Now turn to Joshua 13:11-13.
When God brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt, He cleared out the land so that they would be able to focus on Him and not take on the religious practices of the other inhabitants of the land. So they had done what Moses had directed them to do back in Numbers. Now look down at verses 11-13 of Joshua chapter 13.
“Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God. Or else, if indeed you go back and cling to the remnant of these nations, these will remain among you and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you, know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.” (Vs. 11-13) Joshua told the people something similar to what Moses had said. He told them that if they began to intermingle with the former inhabitants of those lands and marry them, they would be “thorns in your eyes”. Let look at one more reference. Turn to Judges 2:3.
“Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side and their gods shall be a snare to you.” (Vs. 3) Again, this is in reference to the Children of Israel relationship with the inhabitants of the land God gave them.
Now here is what I want you to see. In each of these instances the term was a figurative term, similar to how we say someone is a “pain in my neck”. These phrases in the Old Testament convey the exact same meaning as what I believe that Paul was trying to convey when he said a “thorn in the flesh.” I believe that there was someone or several people being used by Satan to be thorns in Paul’s flesh as he tried to minister God’s word. Maybe it was a non-believer who always argued with him while he taught. Maybe it was the false apostles and teachers whom he always spoke about. Whoever it was it is clear that their role was to buffet Paul – to beat him down spiritually, mentally and physically.
Having said all of this, I want you to look closely at what Paul says in verse ten. “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” In this verse he says that he is willing to deal with several things in order to accomplish what Christ would have him to do. He said infirmities, reproaches, needs, persecutions and distresses. Based on the Greek definition of infirmities, he could have said “Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in reproaches, in needs…..” Do you see how that one change could change the whole sentence and change the understanding that some have that Paul rejoiced in sickness?
Everything Paul listed you can have and not be sick! All of these can be caused by others that he was dealing with. If you take out the word infirmities then you would not interpret any of the others as a sickness. When you factor in what Paul said about the “messenger from Satan” we know through Scripture that Satan has always used people to try to hinder those who are doing God’s work. People are his most useful and resourceful tool and he always have plenty of them to choose from. When we examine Paul’s reaction to the Lord’s response to his pleading, he was not mad, he rejoiced! He had a new perspective on what he was dealing with! When you think about it, I cannot think of a reason why I would welcome sickness for Christ sake – unless a non-believer poisoned me to shut me up. This was definitely not Paul’s situation. He praised God for the opportunity to be persecuted for Christ’s sake.
Conclusion
I know that I have dedicated two sermons to the second and third equations so let me conclude them this morning. The reason that I have spent so much time on unbelief is that what we believe about God is crucial to our faith. If we want to have results from our faith, we must walk with a level of understanding about God so that when things happen we do not waver. When you get sick you know God wants you well. If you die from your sickness you can come into God’s presence thanking Him for just being there versus fussing at Him because you died early – as some would have us think.
What we believe about God impacts everything that we stand for before Him and everything that we do for Him. If you have unbelief in an area then you are handicapped in that area. It does not matter how many times someone tells you that God can do something, you will not believe them. If you have the wrong believe, someone can come along and try and tell you the truth, but because you are very comfortable with what you already believe there is little desire to change now.
I chose to focus on sickness and calamities as my examples for the 2nd and 3rd equations because our beliefs around these two areas of our lives directly impacts how we respond to God in other areas of our lives. Some people go through their whole lives as if everything is ordained by God so matter what happens to them it must be by the will of God. So if they pray and the prayer was answered it was God’s will. If they pray and the prayer was not answered, it was God’s will. If it snows, rain, floods, or anything else pertaining to our weather, it is all God’s will and ultimately the results His fault. When we believe this way it tests our faith because how can I ask God to change something that I believe He wanted to happen.
Whether you believe in something or not directly impact your actions. If your belief about something is right or wrong, it will directly impact your actions. The actions that you take which are based on how and/or what you believe will give you a different result. This is the reason that we must consider our beliefs when we go before God. If you are praying for someone to be healed, do you pray with the understanding that this is God’s will or do you pray thinking that maybe the will or will not be healed? I believe that when we pray we should believe in the outcome that we are seeking. To not do this is like going up to someone and making the following statement: “I know you’re going to say no, but I am going to ask you anyway.” With this statement the desire is that the person will fool us and say yes, but in the statement lies what we really “believe” will happen, that the person is going to say no. What would happen if we made a similar statement: “I know you’re going to say yes and that is why I am asking you.” Similar statements, but the setup and actions are totally different. This is where God wants us to be.
We have all read where Jesus said if we have the faith as large as a grain of mustard seed we could move mountains and this is where we strive to be. What we seldom talk about is the belief that is combined with the faith. If you are questioning your faith right now, let me tell you that you have faith. What you need to be questioning is not your faith, but your belief. This may be where the problem lies.
Next week I will address the fourth equation: Faith + Some Belief + Action = Some Results. In that message I will focus on the faith you already have and the beliefs that have enabled you to get to where you are today. Until then, may God’s riches blessings be yours.
