persecution
At Our Weakest Point
By Linda Rex
July 7, 2024, Proper 9 | After Pentecost—Are you in one of those seasons when it seems that the Spirit is constantly showing you ways in which you need to grow up in Christ? Or perhaps, events in your life keep occurring which cause you to feel powerless, weak, and afflicted? In times like this, we can allow ourselves to lose our vision of the truth that is ours in Jesus.
In our New Testament reading for this Sunday, 2 Corinthians 12:2–10, the apostle Paul goes back to an event which took place early in his walk with Christ. God gave him a vision of glory which was so sublime that Paul himself could not and would not put it into words. Paul had a genuine experience by the Spirit, which in comparison with his critics, was a real revelation of the Lord. Even though Paul could have bragged about it and impressed everybody with his spiritual prowess, he refused to do so. Paul found no pleasure in elevating himself in this way.
Rather, what Paul wanted to draw attention to were his weaknesses. In this sense, the apostle was focused on those areas in his life where he was most in need of Jesus. Indeed, when his life was filled with circumstances in which he faced insults, needs, persecution and struggle, Paul joyfully embraced these situations. It was at these weakest points that Paul most vividly experienced the presence and power of God. And this was what he preferred to experience and boast about. He had no desire to glory in himself or his own spiritual prowess. What he wanted to glory in was Jesus Christ living his life in and through him by the heavenly Spirit.
Many times, as we live the Christian life or follow Christ, we easily slip into the mode of rule keeping and trying to do the right thing. We get so obsessed about being good people that we don’t even realize that we have lost our sense of the most essential thing—the abiding presence and power of God at work in us and in our lives. We can be so intent on doing the ministry or mission we feel called to, and be using every technique and best practice we know of to try and do it well and get it right, and never realize that all we are doing is a self-directed, self-empowered effort we are able to take the full credit for. Yes, we may even give credit to God, but in reality, we are in full control of what is being done in the name of Jesus.
What we may forget is that in those times when life seems most out of our control, when our ministry efforts seem most futile and filled with opposition, that this is when we are in the best place we could possibly be. It is in this place where God can enter in and work most powerfully, bringing about the impossible and redeeming the unforgiveable. When we embrace our weaknesses, our frailty, and our limitations, and place them into the hands of our loving God, here is where he can and will go to work in a powerful way to bring about what we are unable to do on our own.
Indeed, God is always at work in this world, sharing the good news of his love and grace, and caring for all he has made. And he includes us in what he is doing. For that reason, we need to remember that all of life, and especially anything we may do in his name, is a participation in Christ, in his own life with his Father in the Spirit. How can we possibly take the glory for doing or accomplishing what first was done and is being done and will be done by Jesus in the Spirit, long before we were ever in the picture? And it is better this way, for our genuine life in Christ becomes so much more joyful and blessed when it is all up to him and not left all up to us. Jesus lives out our true response to God in the Spirit, and we join in.
So weakness, frailty, suffering, struggle—all these things we prefer to be without—become the very things which bind us firmly to the One who has made us his very own. At the moment of Jesus’ greatest human weakness, suffering, and loss he was actually at his most powerful position as the Lord of all—he died that we might live. Jesus entered into our depths to bring us up into the heights of glory. Now this is something to boast about!
Our dear Father, Jesus, and heavenly Spirit, thank you for including us in your life and love. Forgive our blindness to the spiritual realities. Awaken us to the truth of our participation in you, Jesus, by your Spirit. May we draw upon your presence and power, and ever give you, our Triune God, the glory. Amen.
“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows—was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. On behalf of such a man I will boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses. For if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me. Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:2–10 NASB
“I know of an encounter in Christ fourteen years ago, where a person was translated into the third heaven. Only God knows whether it was in or out of the body; it does not really matter to me! This person was caught up into paradise! There he heard words that could not be articulated into language; he understood a conversation that did not originate in human thought! Of this encounter I will confidently boast because it has nothing to do with anything that I did to promote myself! I would rather glory in that which emphasizes my failure to get it right by myself! Divine revelation is a gift, not a reward! Even though I have legitimate reasons to boast, I prefer not to. My life speaks for itself and I have nothing to hide! In sharp contrast to these spiritual revelations, the physical pain that I suffered and my severe discomfort momentarily distracted me. I was as if the old mindset of accusation (Satan) persuaded me that this affliction was actually God’s way of keeping me humble. I almost believed this lie and even implored the Lord three times to remove the thorn from my flesh. Finally it dawned on me that grace is God’s language; he doesn’t speak ‘thorn-language’! He said to me, ‘My grace elevates you, to be fully content.’ And now, instead of being overwhelmed with a sense of my own weakness, he overwhelms me with an awareness of his strength! Oh what bliss to rejoice in the fact that in the midst of my frailties I encounter the dynamic of the grace of God to be my habitation! I now enjoy a delightfully different frame of mind when I encounter things that would normally make me feel frail, whether it be from insults or when I am in situations where I’m forced to do things with my arms twisted behind my back; whether I am persecuted or feel squeezed into claustrophobic spaces. Because of Christ, every time that I encounter weakness I escape into the strength of my I am-ness!” 2 Corinthians 12:2–10 Mirror Bible
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The Mystery of Peace
Advent: PEACE
By Linda Rex
This past Sunday was the Advent service at our church during which we lit a candle for peace. As we moved into the time following the sermon, and we listened to Casting Crown’s powerful song “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,”1 I couldn’t help but think how feeble our words and efforts are at keeping peace.
Truly we are so dependent upon something outside ourselves to live at peace with one another. I think that we all recognize our inability to be at peace with God, ourselves and one another—if we don’t, we ought to. Our do-it-yourself peace nearly always falls short in some way.
In Romans 12:18, my New American Standard Bible says this: “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” The New International Version is very similar: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” This particular verse says that to the best of our ability, whatever depends upon what we say or do, we are to live at peace with one another.
And truly, that is often our approach to how we live in relationship with one another. We just do the best we can, but we can’t always guarantee there will be peace, especially if the other party doesn’t want to live at peace with us. They might be nasty, horrible people to be around, and living at peace with them is just an impossible thing to do. So sometimes we can’t help but be nasty back.
But there is another translation that kept coming to my mind as I thought of these things. The King James Version, which is taken from the Latin Vulgate, puts it differently: “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” The Catholic Bible, which has the same source, puts it this way: “If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men.”
The thing that struck me in these translations were the words, “as much as lieth in you” or “as much as is in you.” From this vantage point, this seems to be a call by Paul for us to draw upon an inner peace that lies within us.
So that brought up another question. What did Jesus mean when he told his disciples, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27)? In some way, Jesus gave us his peace and this peace is in us, and as much as that peace lies within us, we are to have peace or live in peace with one another.
Indeed, the Apostle Paul talked often about a mystery he was given by God to preach to the Gentiles—the mystery “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27) He calls this same mystery “the mystery of godliness.” (1 Timothy 3:16) It is Christ in us, by the Holy Spirit, who enables us to be the peace-filled people that we were meant to be. It is Christ’s peace in us that we draw upon so that we can and will live at peace with God and others.
Our ability to live at peace is a participation in Christ’s peace. The question then, is not in our ability to live at peace with others but in our willingness to respond to the Holy Spirit’s gift of the peace of Jesus Christ placed within us. Paul says to the Colossians, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts….” The peace of Christ has been given to us—the question is, does that peace rule in our hearts?
God has shown us great love and grace—extreme good will. He has even shared with us his very own nature, his life in Christ through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension. And that was not enough for him—he sent the Holy Spirit so that we could participate in Christ’s perfected humanity. Therefore we have God’s peace within us by the Holy Spirit. The peace of Christ is in our hearts. But do we let Christ rule?
Our struggle is with the reality that sometimes being at peace means that we have to suffer, to be taken advantage of, to be harmed and devastated by the evil others do to us. We forget that Jesus Christ took everything humanity could throw at him and bore it on the cross. It is not enough that we only take the good from others—to share in Christ’s sufferings and in his glory requires our willingness to take the evil as well, and to respond with love and grace.
We have many brothers and sisters today who are willingly sharing in Christ’s sufferings for his sake. They believe that to respond to the atrocities being done to them with violence is to participate in the evil themselves. They refuse to deny the Savior who rescued them and drew them into relationship with the God who loves them. God has poured into them by his Spirit the ability to bear with grace severe persecution and genocide.
Jesus Christ did not give us his peace as the kind of peace the world gives. Our human peace exists only as nation forces another nation into submission, or buys another’s cooperation through trade agreements. Or we silently allow ourselves to be destroyed while others take advantage of us, use us and abuse us. When these fragile methods of peace fail, we are often at war with one another again. This kind of peace is false and futile. It is not the divine shalom God calls us to and has given to us in Christ by the Spirit.
There is the peace of God present in the world today—this mystery of godliness—Christ in us, our hope of glory. This peace that God gives us passes all understanding when we turn to Christ in the midst of our struggles, disagreements and suffering. There is a capacity to live in peace in impossible situations that comes from beyond us and fills our hearts and minds. This is the gift of God poured out on us in the Holy Spirit.
The question is not, is peace possible? The question is, will we let God’s peace rule us? Will we, as much as lies within us, live peaceably with one another? When God’s peace rules us, and we live with all that is within us of Christ in the Spirit—there will be a change in the whole fabric of our human existence.
In the meantime, we only see the surface—the wars, the suffering, our broken humanity. The mystery, though, is at work. Deep beneath it all is a peace that passes understanding, that we can draw upon now to live at peace with one another in difficult and impossible situations. This is the true peace we have in Christ and in the Spirit. May you experience that peace in a real way this Christmas and on into the New Year.
Heavenly Father, our Prince of Peace, remind us again of the peace you have given us in your Spirit that passes all understanding. Renew our hearts and minds, and enable us to live in your peace with one another. Thank you for being gracious to us in the midst of our refusals to live in peace with one another—grant that we would surrender to your peace at work in us and in our world. And grant your grace and deliverance to all to suffer today because others near them refuse to live in your divine shalom. Through Jesus and by your Spirit, we pray. Amen.
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.” Colossians 3:15 NASB
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