BIG IDEA:
BASIS FOR HIS BOASTING IN HIS AUTHORITY — THE MARKS OF HIS APOSTLESHIP
SEVERE PRESSURES IN THE MINISTRY MAKE WEAKNESS THE PLATFORM FOR EXALTING CHRIST’S GRACE AND POWER
(11:16-21a) INTRODUCTION: BOASTING IN THE LORD’S GRACE AND POWER CAN LOOK LIKE WEAKNESS AND FOOLISHNESS TO OTHERS
A. (:16-18) Foolish or Not . . . Listen to My Boasting
“Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, that I also may boast a little. That which I am speaking, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also.”
B. (:19-20) You Have Listened to the Boasting of the Truly Foolish
1. (:19) Sarcastic Rebuke
“For you, being so wise, bear with the foolish gladly.”
2. (:20) Specific Failures in Discernment
“For you bear with anyone”
a. Bondage — “if he enslaves you”
b. Destruction — “if he devours you”
c. Exploitation — “if he takes advantage of you”
d. Pride — “if he exalts himself”
e. Shame — “if he hits you in the face”
C. (:21a) Weak or Not . . . Listen to My Boasting
“To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison.”
I. (11:21b-33) PERSERVERANCE THROUGH SEVERE PRESSURES IN THE MINISTRY CANNOT BE EXPLAINED APART FROM THE GRACE AND POWER OF CHRIST
A. (11:21b) Introduction of Personal Testimony
“But in whatever respect anyone else is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am just as bold myself.”
B. (11:22) Impeccable Jewish Roots
“Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.”
C. (11:23-27) Itemization of Severe Physical and Emotional Pressures as a Servant of Christ
1. (:23a) Offered as Proof of Authentic Christian Ministry
“Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as if insane) I more so”
2. (:23b-27) Manifold External Pressures – every kind imaginable
“in far more labors”
“in far more imprisonments”
“beaten times without number”
“often in danger of death”
“Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.”
“Three times I was beaten with rods”
“once I was stoned”
“three times I was shipwrecked”
“a night and a day I have spent in the deep”
“I have been on frequent journeys”
“in dangers from rivers”
“dangers from robbers”
“dangers from my countrymen”
“dangers from the Gentiles”
“dangers in the city”
“dangers in the wilderness”
“dangers on the sea”
“dangers among false brethren”
“I have been in labor and hardship”
“through many sleepless nights”
“in hunger and thirst”
“often without food”
“in cold and exposure”
D. (:28-29) Incessant Pastoring Pressures in Christian Ministry
1. (:28) Heavier in Weight than Pressure of External Circumstances
“Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches.”
2. (:29) Empathy With Struggles of Others
a. Their Physical and Emotional Struggles
“Who is weak without my being weak?”
b. Their Spiritual Struggles
“Who is led into sin without my intense concern?”
E. (:30-33) Big Idea: Weakness Magnifies Divine Deliverances
1. (:30) Boasting in Weakness
“If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.”
2. (:31) Divine Witness to Veracity
“The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.”
3. (:32-33) Example of Divine Deliverance from Hopeless Situation
“In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.”
II. (12:1-10) PHYSICAL WEAKNESS KEEPS ONE DEPENDENT ON CHRIST’S GRACE AND POWER DESPITE THE MOUNTAINTOP PRIVILEGE OF VISIONS AND REVELATIONS
A. (12:1-6) Spiritual Privilege Can Go to Your Head
In Paul’s case, Spiritual Privilege = Direct Access to Divine Visions and Revelations
1. (:1) Visions and Revelations = New Theme for Necessary Boasting
“Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.”
2. (:2-4) Recounting the Incredible Experience
“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago – whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows – such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man – whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows – was caught up into Paradise, and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.”
3. (:5-6) Continued Apologies for Necessity of Boasting
“On behalf of such a man will I boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses. For if I do wish to boast I shall not be foolish, for I shall be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one may credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.”
B. (12:7-10) Physical Handicaps Can Bring You to Your Knees
1. (:7) God Can Get Our Attention — Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh
a. Privilege of the Revelations
“And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations”
b. Protection Against Pride
“for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself . . .”
“– to keep me from exalting myself.”
c. Pain in the Neck
“there was given me a thorn in the flesh,
a messenger of Satan to buffet me”
2. (:8) We Can’t Always Get Our Way — Prayer for Deliverance
“Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me.”
3. (:9) We Need to Learn the Big Lesson of Life = Embracing the Sufficiency of God’s Grace and Power
“And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
4. (:10) We Need to Practice Contentment in All Circumstances
“Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
III. (12:11-13) THE MARKS OF GENUINE APOSTLESHIP SHOULD HAVE MADE SUCH BOASTING UNNECESSARY
A. (:11) Commendation Should Have Come From Others
“I have become foolish; you yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have been commended by you, for in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody.”
B. (:12) Authentication Should Have Been Obvious
“The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.”
C. (:13) Sarcasm Has Become Necessary
“For in what respect were you treated as inferior to the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not become a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong.”
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PREACHING CHRIST:
1) In what ways would Christ’s detractors have accused Him of being foolish and weak?
2) What must it have been like to experience such “direct revelations of the Lord”? What subjects would have been covered?
3) How have we found Christ’s grace and power sufficient in our areas of weakness? What is God’s special program for humbling you?
4) How does a nobody like Paul become an eminent somebody in the service of Christ?