West Main

PAUL'S  PARADOX

 

 

This coming Sunday we will be considering the tensions that exist between the power and weaknesses of the flesh in comparison to the power of God’s grace experienced in the flesh and spirit. One passage of Scripture that brings all these tensions together is where the apostle Paul speaks of how he had “heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter” (2 Cor 12:4). Paul had been taken up to paradise and given great revelations. However, in order to keep Paul from becoming unduly prideful due to what was revealed only to him, Paul says, “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. But 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” (2 Cor 12:7-9).

 

 

What I would like you to contemplate is the nature of Paul’s “weaknesses.” How exactly or in what ways was Paul “weak”? Now the cause of Paul’s weakness or at least the thing that prompted Paul to be acutely aware of his weaknesses was “a messenger of Satan,” a “thorn” in Paul’s flesh that tormented him. Now Bible students have speculated for centuries on how and what way this messenger of Satan manifested himself in Paul’s life. Truthfully no one knows the exact answer for Paul does not tell us. Nevertheless, there are a few things we can say about Paul’s satanic messenger. Most obviously we can say the messenger of Satan was not a pleasant experience. Paul uses the metaphor, “a thorn in my flesh” to describe this experience. Paul further says it was torment from which he pleaded three times for the Lord to remove to no avail. Now when a person walks barefoot and steps on a thorn, everything stops until that thorn is removed. Paul clearly thought he could not function as long as this “thorn in the flesh” was in his life.

 

 

Paul’s weakness seems to be his inability to change the state of his situation. Paul did not have the power to remove the “thorn in his flesh.” Paul was weak. Now here comes Paul’s paradox: “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” (2 Cor 12:10). Paul is strong when he is weak. How is this possible? God answers Paul’s plea by saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So Paul concludes, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me” (2 Cor 12:9).

 

 

Paul displays the power of God in his life not by the ability to remove suffering, but by being enabled by the power of God to endure suffering. Paul in weakness could not alter his condition and therefore had to trust in God’s presence to see him through his trial. Weakness therefore can more forcefully prompt us to seek God’s power and presence in our lives. On the other hand, there is a great wager here on God’s part. I say “wager” because God is making the wager that Paul will not continue falsely to overcome his weakness by his futile human efforts, but will trust in God’s grace that is more than “sufficient” for him. Yet if Paul were not to rest on God’s grace, then he would no doubt become bitter and fall into despair due to his own powerlessness to change his condition. Yet, like Job, God knows that Paul will pass this test and the power of God will be made manifest in Paul’s weakness! May we all be living examples of Paul’s paradox: Let us be weak so we can be strong.

 

– Terry

 

 

 

 

West Main Fall Seminar is scheduled for October 18, 20, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the auditorium and during our Sunday morning class and sermon times on the 21^st.   We will have a luncheon and discussion time following our morning service. Child care will be provided during our seminar times. Our theme this year is:

 

“Submission: Subordination or Freedom?”

 

Our general topics for the seminar will be:

1. The Theology of Submission - What it is and What it is Not

2. The Responsibility of Being Submitted To

3. The Responsibility of Submitting

4. Submitting to One Another in Matters of Faith and Disputable Matters

5. The Power of Submission

6. Living with Submission-Challenges and Prospects

 

Please plan to be a part of this seminar and invite your friends to come join us.

 

 

Upcoming Events

*Our Anniversary Sunday is coming up soon on October 28^th. Please invite your friends and former members as we celebrate Sixty-Two Years as a church family. We will have a potluck luncheon following the morning services.

 

Be watching for more details on the following events:

 

*Prayer Vigil and Fasting:  November 17 and 18

*Prayer Concert:  December 1

 

 

Fireside Room Furniture Needs – Our building is in constant use throughout the week and as a result the tables and chairs in the Fireside Room are worn out!

 

There are about one hundred chairs and about fifteen tables that need to be replaced. The cost to replace this number of tables and chairs is about $6,000.00. We are planning on replacing the chairs with a Lifetime brand stackable chair that will cost approximately $36.00 each. We purchased several of these chairs several years ago for the teen classrooms and they have held up very well. They are not cloth covered or as cushy, but they are much easier to clean and set up. The tables will cost approximately $155.00 each to replace.

 

The Elders would like to thank you for all your donations so far. This Sunday, October 7, will be the last Sunday that we will be asking for extra donations. After that time, we will order the furniture. Thank you again for your generosity - we certainly appreciate it.

 

If you would like to contribute toward the purchase of the furniture this week, please mark your gift so we know it is for the purchase of the furniture and put it in the regular collection (contribution envelopes are available on the information tables.)

 

 

 

Prayer Requests . . .  For Billie Kay Barnett who is in Avamere Three Fountains, Room 12, recovering from hip surgery...For Matthew York - he had a seizure this past Sunday and was airlifted to a Portland hospital. He is doing better and will return home before his scheduled brain surgery on Thursday, October 11, in Portland. Please pray for his complete recovery...Jenny Way - please continue to pray for her progress...For friends of David Mayes, Cora, for her spiritual growth; Barbara, that she will accept Christ; Layla for her continued recovery; and for David to be more Christlike in his ways...For Mike Eddy - he was released from the hospital on Monday evening and is doing well now...For Eva Loy Knight - that she will feel better soon and for answers as to why she cannot get well...For our President and all of our military men, women and families.

 

 

 

Our Sympathy is extended to the family of Gerry McCord who passed away this past Monday. Services will be held in Arkansas. Please pray for the safety and peace for the family as they travel to Arkansas.

 

 

Calendar of Events

Oct 5-7: Ladies Retreat in Bend, Oregon

Oct 28: Anniversary Sunday

Nov 17 - 18: Prayer Vigil and Fasting

Dec 1: Prayer Concert