Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, powerful blessings of the Holy Spirit to you all, on the basis of the Epistle lesson this morning, “God Qualifies.”
Ever know someone who was awfully full of themselves all the time? You know the type I’m talking about. Any new item that came out they had to have. They could do anything, or at least thought they could. They were the best at everything they touched and even things they haven’t yet touched. I kind of grew up with a kid like that going through Sunday School and Confirmation. He played the sax like our man Anthony over here. He would brag and brag and brag about just how great he was. How he was one of the best in the whole state of New York at playing the sax. But his boasting didn’t just stop there, he would also boast about his brand new sneakers and waltz around bragging about his kicks and how he could never dirty them. I remember once when they had recently paved the street our church is on he refused to go across the street to 7-11 with us because he had his brand new kicks on. You know he was just that kinda guy. A fun loving goof ball whom everyone was friends with, but a bragger of self nonetheless.
It seems like it was quite the opposite idea for St. Paul. Paul even admits in the text that if he chose to boast, he would be right in doing so, but he doesn’t so that no one would think more of him then what he is. So St. Paul chooses not to boast in himself and the things he has, unlike my childhood buddy. We read and gather from several of St. Paul’s writings that he was about boasting in things not of himself. He would talk about boasting only in the cross, in his weakness, anything and everything but a positive reflection of himself. Paul recognized his abilities as little as nothing and as most a weakness. But he did not even seem discouraged by thinking so lowly of himself. He realized the greater good that was brought forth in him, namely that God was the one qualifying him, and not the other way around.
You see St. Paul was not always a friend to Jesus and the church. Just last week at Deacon Scott’s commissioning service we heard from scripture in Acts 6 that a young man named Stephen had been chosen among six others for service to the Lord. Well that same man Stephen is largely thought to be the first martyr of the Christian cause. Tradition says he was the first person killed for the faith. And guess who oversaw his execution and was “breathing murderous threats” against the church as Acts also records? Yup, it was the same very Paul, formerly known as Saul of Tarsus. How could it be possible that a man such as this became the churches greatest apostle? Because it is not man who qualifies, but it is God who qualifies.
Unfortunately we all try to qualify ourselves in life don’t we brothers and sisters? Isn’t it the case that in life we try and qualify ourselves? It is definitely the case that humanity works against God. Humans are always running around doing their own thing and relying on themselves. But if we’re honest with ourselves we realize we are weak. We understand our thorns in the flesh as St. Paul alludes to his own. Paul’s personal concern is that he is guarding against becoming conceited or “too puffed up.” Paul’s concern for that is good. It is not the case that we would want someone pasturing a congregation who was too puffed up and felt or gave off the impression that he felt he was above the people. Certainly a man like St. Paul could have taken a little credit for all the sufferings he underwent in the Name of Jesus. Yet he kept on suffering. The text says he even pleaded with God three times to remove the thorn in his flesh.
Isn’t it true in our own lives that we like hearing compliments? Don’t we seek to do things to get glory and praise showered down upon us? You better believe we seek to do those things. I know I certainly have in the past. And I am sure I will once again. So instead of letting our light-shine to others so that they may see our good works and praise our Father who is in heaven. We try shining our own crafted light. Especially when serving others who are our neighbors or when rising up to serve in the church we want to be good right? We have to be good. This is no place for beaten down sinners, we have to put on a face!
Ever since I started vocalizing to others that I wanted to become a pastor I ran into these instances of feeling puffed up because people kept telling me how great that was or worse how great I was. And I would buy into it, because I knew the truth was not what needed to be seen in church. Church is not a place for the weak, but the strong, right? Isn’t it? How could I be a messenger for God? How can I be a messenger for God in my community if I am weak? I must be strong! Better yet in this community right now where a young father and beloved son was taken from us, I have to be strong to witness to that family don’t I? Brothers and sisters that was how I’ve thought. It came to a crashing halt my last semester at college when I realized everything that lay ahead of me was coming close. I’m a believer in Jesus and Satan was gunning for me. Most nights I went to bed feeling isolated and alone. I tried to carry on in my strength and in my time but was unable. Realization of my weakness and recognition of my sin drove me crazy. I couldn’t fathom what God wanted with a wretch like me. How could God want to call someone such as myself to a life of ministry and service in the Name of Jesus? I had to be strong, and yet I was weak. So there I found myself boasting in what I could do, and when it was evident that what I could do was nothing, I cracked.
I’m sure many of you are feeling weak today. If it isn’t mentally it is physically. Try as we might, high as we aim, we never can get it quite right, and we are exposed for what we truly are, sinners in need of saving. Maybe this neighborhood feels weak, and has sought other means to boast in itself to hide that. Maybe some in this neighborhood in this prominent city think life is a dangerous game and the only way to get out alive is to look out for number one.
Many centuries ago there was another prominent city and neighborhood that was out to mind its own business and find its own way. Then one night this city called “House of Bread” was invaded by the Bread of Life. This city was minding its own business when the greatest event in the history of mankind took place. In the helplessness and weakness of a baby, our savior was born.
Three times St. Paul pleaded with God to remove the thorn from his flesh. And God responded by saying, “My grace if enough for you, for my power is fulfilled (made perfect) in weakness.” Brothers and sisters the point I am trying to get across here today is that the church is not a place for the strong; For the puffed up or conceited. No, the church is a place for the weak. The church is a place for those who are sinners and recognize in their very sin that they are helpless and weak. So we come here. We came to the waters of baptism to be united in the powerful weakness of the cross, but even more than that the resurrection from the dead. And each Lord’s Day we come to this table here and partake in the meal from the one who was strong, yet became weak; Was rich, yet became poor for our sake. See the cross was not some symbol of strength, certainly not for the person hanging on it. No, the cross was a symbol of the power of Rome and the absolute weakness of the one who would hang there, as many did. Yet God used something as the cross to show His power. God used mans weakness to display His might. And through that cross our boasting is redirected from a life of sin and boasting in ourselves to a boasting only in the cross that has the power to save. It’s remarkably inconsistent to the world’s thinking because to the world only the strong survive, and here in the church we say “Come all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.” The world says don’t get bogged down with the weak, look out for yourself. The church says boast in your weakness! St. Paul explicitly stated that when he said, “For the sake of Christ I am content in weakness, in insults, in distress, in persecution, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
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