The Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

February 16, 2025

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Epiphany Moments—

Blessings are Cursed; Curses are Blessed!

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. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But 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. 10That 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. (NIV1984)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

At one time or another most employees go through what is often called a performance review. One part of that review may include answering questions like: “What have you accomplished over the last twelve months?” and, “What are your goals for the coming year?” Another part of that review is one that many people may dread. It is the part of the review where they are asked to list their strengths and their weaknesses. Strengths are relatively easy. One can always list something like: hard worker, team player, conscientious. Who could argue with those? They’re general enough to not cause any questions. But what about weaknesses? Whatever we write, we’re admitting that we aren’t up to par. We don’t measure up. We are, well— we are weak in certain areas!

No one wants to think of themselves as weak. In our culture weakness is bad and strength is good. The physically strong win in athletic competitions. The mentally strong excel in academics. As a result, we’re taught to cover up anything about us that can be interpreted as a sign of weakness. For example, I know fathers who will look at their son after he gets hurt and starts to cry and say to him, “Big boys don’t cry!” Crying means weakness. Crying shows that we’re too fragile, too emotional and too vulnerable.

Today we’ll see that if we were to equate strengths with blessings and weaknesses with curses, the apostle Paul would want us to remember this Epiphany Moment—­ Blessings are Cursed and Curses are Blessed!

Paul was a man who had received unprecedented blessings from the Lord. Recall how Jesus personally appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus and brought him to faith in Jesus as his Savior. Recall how Jesus himself transformed Saul the Persecutor into Paul the Missionary. In the verses leading up to our text Paul reveals that he has received “visions and revelations from the Lord,” and that he had been “caught up to the third heaven.” While he doesn’t explain to us exactly what that means it could be that Paul was “caught up” past the heaven that we can see from earth, past the heaven that we call the universe and into the heaven where God and all His angels and all His saints dwell. Paul also reveals to us that he “heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.”

Humanly speaking Paul had every right to boast about these blessings! Humanly speaking Paul had every right to be proud of the unique blessings God had granted specifically to him! What was Paul’s rection to all of these unique blessings? Look at what he tells us in the opening portion of our text. Paul writes, “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.’”

There has been a great deal of speculation concerning what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” may have been. Many people think it was some painful physical condition such as severe headaches, epilepsy or malaria. Others— myself included— think it was some kind of eye condition that resulted in poor vision. (See Galatians 4:15; 6:11) And still others think it was a particular temptation that Paul struggled against or even a person that was hindering Paul’s ministry. No matter what it was, Paul knew that his “thorn in the flesh” was not an accident. It was given to Paul as a “messenger of Satan to torment me (him.)” This “thorn in the flesh” had one purpose— “to keep (Paul) me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations.”

While we don’t know exactly what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” may have been, Paul considered it such an impediment to his ministry that he prayed three times for the Lord to take it away! And what was God’s answer? “No!” To be more specific, God said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you.” God’s purpose for allowing Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was to keep Paul focused! While Paul had many “gifts” that enabled him to criss-cross the Roman Empire and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God wanted Paul to understand that he can not depend on those gifts to carry out the work that God had given him to do! Paul needed to depend on— God’s “grace”! Just as God’s “grace” was “sufficient” to secure Paul’s eternal salvation (Pointing to the cross), so also God’s “grace” was sufficient to support Paul and to strengthen Paul as he shared the message of God’s “grace” with others!

The fact that Paul was to be completely dependent on God’s grace as he carried out the work that God gave him to do, is made even more clear when God says to Paul, “For my power is made perfect in weakness.” The verb that is translated here as “is made perfect” is the verb that emphasizes “to reach one’s goal.” It is the same verb that Jesus used when He said from the cross, “It is finished,” or “I have reached my goal” (John 19:30). In other words, what God was saying to Paul is that when Paul recognized the depth of his own “weaknesses,” then Paul would be able to experience and recognize the depth of God’s “power”!

God’s “goal” was indeed reached in Paul’s heart and in Paul’s life. That becomes very clear in the closing verses of our text. Paul writes, “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.”

This is where we see that the apostle Paul was a real-life example of our sermon theme for today: Blessings are Cursed; Curses are Blessed! Paul was given many gifts and many opportunities that could easily be classified as “blessings.” But instead of allowing those blessings to instill pride into Paul’s heart, God gave Paul a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him from becoming “conceited.” Paul had also experienced many things that could easily be classified as curses— “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, difficulties.” And yet, Paul was able to see how God used each and every one of those “curses” to serve as a “blessing” in Paul’s life and in Paul’s ministry. Those “curses” gave Paul the “blessing” of relying even more on God’s grace and God’s power.

Blessings are Cursed; Curses are Blessed! Apply that to your own life, my friends. Sometimes we or someone we know has received tremendous blessings from the Lord. A person may receive impressive intellectual abilities or amazing athletic abilities. Someone might be given the ability to make investments that bring tremendous returns. Someone might be given physical attributes that attract a great deal of attention. How could those “blessings” turn into “curses”? Look at it this way: Any one of those “blessings” could turn into a “curse” by leading a person to depend on their own abilities instead of God’s grace or by leading a person away from their Lord. A person with an impressive intelligence may strive to answer questions that the Bible simply does not address. A person with amazing athletic abilities may get so involved in sports that they neglect coming to church. A person whose investments are skyrocketing may get to the point where they are doing so well on their own that they don’t think they need God. A person who is so pretty or so handsome that they attract attention wherever they go may eventually find their heart hardened by pride and consumed by conceit.

On the flip side of that very same coin, a person who does not have an impressive intellect or an astounding athletic ability, a person who has no idea how to invest or doesn’t attract attention wherever they go is less likely to be focused on themselves and what they are able to do all on their own. The blessing in this is that they recognize how much they depend on God.

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” Those are words that we would all do well to take to heart. If we are honest with ourselves, we would all have to admit that there are some things in life that we have a hard time dealing with. This may include a physical affliction— like Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” This may include emotional trials or family challenges or vocational stress. And while we might pray repeatedly for the Lord to take it away or at least change the situation, it may be that this is something that won’t go away because, for now at least, it is a way for the Lord to help us to understand what He helped Paul to understand, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” or, “My power reaches its goal, in weakness.”

By means of that “thorn in the flesh” the Lord draws you closer to Him and encourages you to lean on Him for strength. By means of that “thorn in the flesh” God leads you to lift up your eyes to the cross, to peer into the empty grave in the garden and see His undeserved love for you. By means of that “thorn in the flesh” God helps us to understand that His “grace” is indeed “sufficient” for us both here in this life and forever in heaven. When our weaknesses get overwhelming, that is when we run to the forgiving and powerful arms of our God and discover just how much He has done and is doing and will do for us!

Our daily life brings constant reminders of some of our greatest weaknesses— impatience, greed, selfishness, thanklessness and so on. All of these and more are characteristics of our old sinful nature. The effects of sin in this fallen world also weaken us as our health is threatened, our loved ones die, our relationships with family and friends unravel, and our bills pile up faster than our resources. All of these are also characteristics of the imperfect, sinful and weak world in which we live. Over and against life’s weaknesses— which we embody— is the all-sufficient and all-powerful grace of our God. He gives to us the power and the strength of his love and His mercy, His forgiveness and His peace. While some of the weaknesses that we bear may never go away in this life, we have the blessing that comes from knowing that our true strength is found in the One who is both our God and our Brother!

May God grant that we will always keep our eyes fixed on the cross of Jesus Christ so that we will always know that our greatest weaknesses are His greatest strengths! (Pointing to the cross)

To God be the glory!

Amen.