SEXAGESIMA (prelent-2)

Hymns: 129, 373, 20, 46

2 Corinthians 11:19 - 12:9 — “My Grace Is Sufficient for Thee”

Grace, mercy, and peace to you all from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today is Sexagesima and the appointed Epistle reading is 2 Corinthians 11:19- 12:9:

     For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.
     Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
     Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.
     The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.
     It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.
     For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
     For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Introduction

The congregation in Corinth seems to be so much like what we observe in the churches in our midst today that this letter is one that we should read over and over again. I suppose that this is the very reason that it has been appointed for this day of Sexagesima. 2 Corinthians is the second of the epistles of St. Paul to the Corinthians that we have available to us. It appears that he very likely wrote other letters to them as well. The congregation in Corinth caused the dear apostle much heartache. They truly broke his heart, over and over again. They kept turning from the pure Gospel that he had preached to them with great care. They kept turning from the pure preaching of grace, imagining that they needed to advance and improve themselves and their understanding. They kept listening to those who came with messages of how to progress in the faith and how to live a better life and how to make onself more faithful and how to prove oneself faithful. In today’s text we hear St. Paul addressing these matters forthrightly and very powerfully.

I. Ye Suffer Fools Gladly

For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.

When the apostle Paul came to Corinth, he stayed there for more than a year and a half. A year and a half! But there was strong resistance to his preaching. As was his usual way, St. Paul began in the synagogue, reasoning with them every Sabbath. When the preaching of Christ was rejected by most in the synagogue he denounced them and went to the Gentiles with the Gospel. However, Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house, and then many other Corinthians believed and were baptized, too. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up trouble, trying to suppress the Holy Spirit’s work in Corinth.

This is the beginning of the congregation in Corinth. It was not an easy time. Crispus gave up his position as chief ruler of the synagogue. The others gave up their place as members of the synagogue. This would have been a time of great emotional upheaval. Much heartache would have accompanied their newborn joy in the Lord. Separation from extended family and friends is a painful experience. Yet the power of the preaching of Christ prevailed. St. Paul continued to preach and teach and the congregation was strengthened in the Lord as they continued in the true worship that they had been taught.

But in St. Paul’s absence, others came forward, claiming to be apostles of Christ. They began to give what many today call “personal testimonies.” Oh yes, these are presented as though they are to the glory of God, but the fact is, that these are promotions and exaltations of self. The works and efforts of individuals, the personal trials and struggles of those who give their personal testimonies, sound as though they are proclaiming what God has done, but in the end, the focus is upon the person giving the testimony. The Gospel is made to be a secondary matter while the personal experiences are held before those who are listening. Soon more and more personal testimonies are given until the preaching of Christ crucified is only mentioned as a footnote.

Concerning this departure from the preaching and worship handed down by the apostles St. Paul says: “For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.”

The same is true today. Just listen to those who rejoice in the giving and hearing of personal testimonies. Just try to explain to them that this is not true worship and see what reaction you will receive. Where such personal testimonies are commonly given as the pattern of worship, praise upon praise is heaped upon those who have given their testimony. Everyone leaves the worship experience talking about the wonderful experience of those who testified. And what of the preaching of the cross? What of the preaching of the Sacrament? What of the proclamation of the Lord’s death till He comes? What of the power of Baptism?

St. Paul did not do this. He knew nothing among them save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. St. Paul preached Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and the Holy Supper of the Lord’s body and blood for the unity of the Church and the strengthening of faith in the forgiveness of Christ’s blood. And so, those who came later, exalted themselves and their experiences, titillating the emotional responses of their hearers. Their message touched the heartstrings and evoked strong emotional responses. Such testimonies do not move the hearers to fall on their faces to confess their unworthiness and weakness and need for God’s mercy. Such testimonies move people to seek to tell of their own experiences and to hear the praise of those who slap them on the back and say, “Praise God, Sister. Thank you for sharing!”

Regarding these fools and those who counted themselves so wise, St. Paul says that he, too, will act the fool, so as to demonstrate how lacking in godly wisdom this practice is. So St. Paul sets before them what God has worked through him and in his life. Who among those giving their personal testimonies ever shared anything even close to what St. Paul has endured and accomplished. His testimony makes the rest of us look like absolute fools for thinking that we have anything in our lives about which we should testify. How tiny we all look when compared to St. Paul and the life to which the Lord called him! In Acts 19 Luke records that St. Paul’s handkerchiefs and aprons were taken to the sick and their diseases and even evil spirits departed from them!

Yet except on this occasion, St. Paul did not speak of these things. On this occasion he does so speak, calling this foolishness. Instead, St. Paul says that he will boast of his infirmities.

II. My Grace Is Sufficient for Thee

For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Rather than boasting of what great things he has experienced as an apostle, rather than giving personal testimony to what great things the Lord has done for him personally, St. Paul tells about his prayer to which the Lord gave an adamant answer of “Absolutely not!” After showing the foolishness of boasting of great things and personal testimony, St. Paul tells how he was given a special problem in his flesh, something that troubled him greatly and distressed him so that he prayed three times to be delivered of it, only to be told by the Lord that this was a display of God’s power.

Whatever this was, it certainly did not seem to St. Paul to be a display of God’s power. It certainly is not the kind of thing that people stand up and tell as their personal testimony. Can you imagine someone standing up and telling about how an ingrown toenail is a display of God at work in one’s life? Or how about taking off one’s shoes and showing how diabetes is causing one’s toes to rot away and having prayed to the Lord to take this away the answer was a resounding “No!”?

But then, the Lord’s answer was not merely “No.” St. Paul says, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”

A more accurate translation would be: “is sufficient to you the grace of me, for the power of me in weakness is made complete.”

What does this mean? First is the assurance from the Lord, “is sufficient to you the grace of me.” We encounter many difficulties in our lives and we imagine that we need to be set free from these. But what do these really matter ultimately? Death comes to us all. We fret and cry about everything that we endure in our lives, but do we realize that these are reminders of the one thing that we truly need? If the cancer that the doctor finds in our body suddenly disappears, will we be safe? If the arthritis in our joints suddenly fades away, will we be safe? If suddenly our fear and weakness in speaking is gone, will everything be OK?

If however, we have cancer, which causes us continually to remember how much we need God’s forgiveness so that we turn in faith to the promises God gives in our baptism and so that we eagerly desire to partake of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus to be renewed in His grace, is this not a good thing? If our arthritis causes us to turn to the Lord with eager expectation for the everlasting life that He has purchased for us, beginning now in His Church on earth and continuing into the age to come when such things caused by sin no longer plague us, is this not a good thing? If our poor communication skills cause us meekly to declare the grace of God in Christ, is this not wonderful?

What does the Lord mean by saying that His power in weakness is made complete? What is the Gospel? Is it not that God almighty humbled Himself to be born of the virgin as a helpless little baby boy, to be persecuted by Herod and by the unbelieving Jews, to be betrayed by His own disciple, to be denied with cursing by another disciple, to be falsely accused, tortured, mocked, spit upon, crucified, and buried? Is this not how the power of God unto salvation is made complete?

So then, in our lives, as we face the weaknesses of our own bodies, minds, and spirits, are we not reminded how the Lord Himself has born our weaknesses and endured our sorrows and carried our sins and failures? Do these things not remind us of the things that we would face everlastingly if not for the willingness of our loving God to take these things for us in His own body and to die in our stead? Is this not what the words of the Lord Jesus call us to hear and to receive and to believe?

III. Most Gladly Therefore Will I Rather Glory in My Infirmities

This most assuredly is what St. Paul understood and conveys in this letter. He writes, saying,

Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Does this not call to mind the Lord Jesus telling of the publican and the Pharisee in the temple? Or how about the Samaritan woman at the well, who came to the well afraid of being seen but after hearing the words of Jesus ran and called everyone to come, boasting that Jesus knew all of her sins. Is this not the personal testimony that we are called to confess at the beginning of the divine service? Is this not the power of Christ resting or tabernacling upon us? From beginning to end, is this not why we are gathered together into the name of Jesus, to be brought forward to partake of His mercy and grace and life in the blessed Sacrament of His body and blood? It this not the testimony that is to be given, the testimony of Christ’s power among us, as together we humbly proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes?

What one of us can honestly stand and testify saying something like how God has changed us? Can any of us testify saying that we are no longer sinners according to our own actions? Can any of us show what great strength we have been given so that our lives are now all that they should be? No, of course not. Not if we are honest. If we are honest, when we examine ourselves, we will find only weakness of which to boast. How long will such boasting continue if this is all that we testify concerning ourselves? Surely not long, as we will move as quickly as we possibly can to testifying to the power of Christ, namely, the Gospel and the Sacraments. Even though to the world and to our sinful flesh these seem mundane or ordinary and of little consequence, these have the power to convert and to justify and to sanctify. These have the power to make saints of sinners and to lift away the unbearable burdens of sin and guilt and shame. These have the power to make beloved children of God from those who were born as the devil’s bastards. These have the power to bind unto God in the life of freedom those who previously were bound to the slavery of sin and death.

Conclusion

Personal testimony is truly the way of fools, even as St. Paul powerfully demonstrates in today’s text. What do we gain by telling others about ourselves? What good do we do anyone else by such personal testimony? No, honest self evaluation will always lead us not to stand before others telling how we have been changed, but will bring us to our knees, confessing our weaknesses, so that we and all who observe will see how the Lord works through His means of grace to keep us in the way that He has set before us, the way of everlasting life, forgiveness, joy, and peace. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus forever. Amen.

SEXAGESIMA (prelent-2)

Hymns: 129, 373, 20, 46

The Introit (Ps. 44:23-26; 44:1)

P:     Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord?
C:     Arise, cast us not off forever.
P:     Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face;
C:     and forgettest our affliction?
P:     Our soul is bowed down to the dust;
C:     arise for our help and redeem us.
P:     We have heard with our ears, O God;
C:     our fathers have told us what work Thou didst in their days.

The Collect

O God, who seest that we put not our trust in anything that we do, mercifully grant that by Thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

The First Lesson Isaiah 55:10-13

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

The Gradual (Ps.83:18,13)

P: Let the nations know that Thy name is Jehovah; Thou alone art the Most High over all the earth.
C: O my God, make them like a wheel and like chaff before the wind.

The Epistle 2 Corinthians 11:19 - 12:9

      For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.
      Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
      Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.
      The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.
      It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.
      For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
      For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

The TRACT (Ps.83:13,18; 60:2,5)

P:     Thou, O Lord, hast made the earth to tremble and hast broken it.
C:     Heal the breaches thereof, for it shaketh.
P:     That Thy beloved may be delivered,
C:     save with Thy right hand.

The Holy Gospel St. Luke 8:4-15

      And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:
      A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
      And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
      Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
      And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
      But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

2 Corinthians 12:9