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Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father, through our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. Amen. Our text today comes from the Epistle lesson
just read, especially these words, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in
Christ. A thorn in the flesh was given
to St. Paul. Something to torment him,
to keep him from trusting in himself too much, something that made him look
only to Jesus Christ for salvation. I
mean, lets face it, if anyone could boast about themselves, it would be St.
Paul. He had brought countless people to
the faith. He had travelled the entire Roman
empire, preaching his gospel in the face of persecution and torture. He’d been beaten, and stoned. He’d been snuck out of a city over the
wall. And yet still he remained faithful
in preaching the unadulterated word of God to all who would hear.
But he had that
thorn in the flesh. Something that kept
him grounded in the reality of his sin.
Something that reminded him that he was not, in himself, good enough to
make God happy. We don’t now know what
the thorn in Paul’s flesh was. Some
suggest it was an eyesight problem from his conversion – when he was blinded by
scales covering his eyes. Some think it
may have been an ongoing injury from a beating he received. Some believe it was ongoing guilt from his
persecution and murder of Christians, including St. Stephen. We do not know for sure what Paul’s thorn in
the flesh was, but it was there.
Three times, Paul
prays, “Lord take my affliction away from me.”
And each time the answer the same, “My grace is sufficient for
you.” You see, Paul’s salvation wasn’t
based upon his holiness, or the people to whom he preached the Gospel, or the
number of towns that he visited. His
salvation wasn’t based upon his overcoming the trials of this world, or the
thorns in the flesh which attacked him.
He didn’t get heaven because he made himself a better person, dressed
nicely, or touched thousands of lives.
He was saved only because of the grace of Jesus. That grace was sufficient for him. And that grace promised him much more than
any thorn in the flesh could take from him.
Today, dear
friends, we too have thorns in the flesh.
We have sinful pride, and fits of unbelief. We have all sorts of ideas about how we can
be saved, or why we can’t be saved. And
we suffer. Cancer, aging, forgetfulness
and more. We ask God, over and over –
please Lord not me, please Lord take away my affliction. Please heal me! But God’s answer is the same – My Grace is
sufficient for you.
And we are
persecuted in this world. No where have
we seen that more clearly than in the last week, when the United States
Government ruled that we could no longer exercise our religion freely in
regards to our belief on marriage. We
are laughed at and mocked. We are
disparaged on facebook and by friends when we don’t hang up rainbow flags. And we pray, Lord have mercy, Lord fix our
nation! And his answer is the same – My
grace is sufficient for you.
And our greatest
afflictions are within. Our sin is
huge. It is ever present. We do what we do not want to do, and the good
we wish to do we do not do. We fail in
thought word and deed, we beg God to allow us to live more holy and up right
lives, perhaps we even lie to ourselves saying, “No longer do I sin,” even if
we know our sin continues. Lord, help us
not to sin, and the answer comes again.
My grace is sufficient for you.
His grace is
sufficient. His grace came at great cost
and it came for you. It was won on a
cross, with suffering and dying by the very Son of God in fleshed. His blood was poured out. His life was given over. And he did it all for you. That is his grace – to save you not by what
you have done, or not done, but only by what he has done.
He shares his
grace with you, through the precious means of grace – through the Word and the
blessed sacraments. He gives you all
that you need day in and day out – grace wise.
When you are persecuted, you know that Jesus has overcome and given you
his grace. When a particularly bad sin
is present in you, Confess it knowing Jesus blood has covered it. When you grow
old and sick in this world and your body begins to die, know that it is by
grace you have been saved through faith.
The Grace of Jesus
is enough for you. Every day. In
persecution and in joy. In sickness and
in health. The grace of Jesus will carry
you through, because that grace is sufficient for you, and always shall
be. In the name of Jesus.
Amen.
