“Paul said: ‘When I’m weak, then I’m strong’”
II Corinthians 12:10
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Born in August of 1942, Max Cleland grew up in a little town called Lithonia, just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Not only was he named outstanding senior of his high school class, he went on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree, then a Master’s Degree from Emory University. When duty called in 1965, he served in the Vietnam War.
Then in April of 1968, with just a month left in his tour, he was ordered to set up a radio relay station. A helicopter flew him and two other soldiers to the top of a treeless hill.
But just as he jumped out of the helicopter, he saw a grenade lying at his feet. Thinking it had fallen out of his flak jacket, he reached down to pick it up. That’s when it exploded, slamming him backwards, shredding one of his arms and both of his legs.
He should have been dead. Shrapnel pierced his windpipe. His right arm and both legs were gone. For the next eighteen months, he was in and out of hospitals. Doctors told him he’d never walk again.
His worst moment, he said, was when a former girlfriend came to visit him. And as they were crossing a street, he hit a crack in the pavement, then fell out of his wheelchair, and into a gutter.
He said, “I flailed helplessly like a fish out of water, lying in the dirt and cigarette butts. Two men rushed up and lifted me back into the wheelchair. My companion was almost hysterical, crying over and over, ‘I’m sorry, Max! I’m sorry!’ The shame and embarrassment of the spill seared me like a burn that continued to throb.”
He said, “I couldn’t forget the first time I met her. I was twenty-four, and stood six-feet two inches tall. Now I was in a wheelchair. I thought, ‘Is this all that’s left for me--to be hauled around like a sack of potatoes for the rest of my life? No! I’m not always going to be helpless. I’ll need a lot of help from God, and my family and friends, but I’m going to make a difference in this world.’”
And so he did. After first serving in the Georgia Senate and as the head of the Veterans Administration, he went on to serve in the United States Senate, representing the State of Georgia.
You can read his story in his book, Strong at the Broken Places.
So it was for the apostle Paul. Please turn in your Bible to page 1233. II Corinthians chapter 12, starting at verse 1: “I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows--and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses--though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
If you know anything about the life of the apostle Paul, and I’m sure you do, you know that just as soon as he came to Christ, he preached Christ in countless places, first in Antioch, then later in Thessalonica, Corinth, Athens, and finally Rome.
But it was never easy. Look at chapter 11, verse 24: “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?”
And if all that wasn’t enough, he said in verse 7: “To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.”
“A thorn in the flesh,” he said. “A messenger of Satan.” What was it? Was it migraines? Malaria? Epilepsy? Malta Fever? We don’t know. The Bible doesn’t say.
But whatever it was, it so troubled him morning, noon and night, that he prayed, three times, that God would please take it away. Verse 8: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave.”
But what did the Lord say? Verse 9: “My grace is sufficient for you.” To put it another way: “My grace is all you need.”
So now what? What would he do now that he was so weakened in mind, heart, body, and soul? Verse 9: “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
It seems that our lives, as Christians, are so very full of paradox. Jesus said in the book of Matthew: “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). He said: “The last will be first, and the first will be last” (Matthew 20:16). And He said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
And when He came to live and work among us, He didn’t come for the righteous, but sinners, not for the healthy, but the sick, and not for the found, but for the lost.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything” (II Corinthians 6:8-10).
So it is here in the words of verse 10: “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
As much as we might hate to admit it, this doesn’t make much sense to us at all. We admire the strong, the talented, the wealthy, and the successful. We want to be on the winning team.
And so it was for the people of Corinth. They liked winners too. They respected honor, money, credentials, and success.
But while we look at what’s on the outside, God looks at what’s on the inside. We value popularity, God values character. We value money, God values integrity. We look at what we own, God looks for what we give away. We boast about who we know, God notices who we serve. We value education, God values wisdom. We seek fame, God seeks humility. Our view is temporary, God’s view is eternal.
So what does it mean for us? It means the church isn’t a club for overachievers. It’s a fellowship of failures, for, as one author wrote, “It is only through suffering that God’s grace is made clear.”
And nowhere was that made more clear than in the cross. For what was despised, rejected, and counted the least worthy of all, what was stricken, smitten, and afflicted, became our only salvation.
As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
You’ve heard of Jordan Spieth? Sure you have. He’s a professional golfer, ranked, for a time, as the number one player in the world. Time magazine called him one of its “100 Most Influential People,” who “exemplifies everything that’s great about sports.” He’s tied records set by Tiger Woods, and is the second youngest golfer, (behind Woods), to win the Masters. His net worth is $100 million!
But if you’ve ever watched him play on TV, you might have noticed that he likes to use words like “we” and “our team.” And that’s unusual in the game of golf, because golf is such an individual sport.
But in spite of it being so “individual,” he likes to give credit to those who’ve brought something to his game--his wife, his parents, his coaches, and his caddy.
But there’s one more person that stands behind him every step of the way. It’s his little sister, his little autistic sister, Ellie. In fact, every time he wins, he hugs her first. He says she keeps him grounded and focused, as well as keeping the game of golf in perspective. He said, “I try to get back home all the time to be with her and regroup. She sets everything in perspective for me. She is so happy for the littlest of things.”
And it’s because of her that he set up a foundation, to care for children with special needs.
As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
One more thing. It’s a poem found on the body of a soldier at Gettysburg. This is what it said: “I asked God for strength, that I might achieve; I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey. I asked for health, that I might do greater things; I was given infirmity, that I might do better things. I asked for riches, that I might be happy; I was given poverty, that I might be wise. I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men; I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life; I was given life, that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing I asked for, but everything I hoped for. Despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am, among men, most richly blessed.”
Dear Father, when we sought out the great things, the powerful things, and the strong things, You showed Your glory in the cross. Help us to follow in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus, so that when we’re weak, we may be strong, for His sake. Amen