Blessedness that is Humbling
2 Corinthians 12:1-10 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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2 Corinthians 12:5-6 ESV
5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— 6 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.
I have always said that the chief attribute that should be found within a truly born-again Christian is the attribute of humility. A Christian ought to be humble, indeed, for a Christian to truly be a Christian, he must be humble.
There is a reason why the first Beatitude spoken in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. To be poor in spirit means that you place no trust in your own wisdom and abilities, that you know that you are naturally weak and therefore are not to be trusted. And because you recognize this, you place your trust in God alone.
I have often said that the greatest oxymoron which exists is a “proud Christian”. Pride should never be found within the children of God, those who are saved, because we have nothing to be proud of. And not only do we have nothing to be proud of, but having our eyes opened to our sin, to our natural rebellion against God, we know that we have nothing to be proud of.
We brought nothing to the table when God saved us, we continue to bring nothing to the table when it comes to the preservation of our salvation, and we will not bring anything to the table when He ushers us into glory.
And what is so unique about the Christian faith is that once God humbles us at the inauguration of our salvation it is not as though our humility begins to lessen with time as we grow in godliness and come nearer to God, but in fact, the opposite takes place.
What takes place as we grow in our sanctification, as we grow in our godliness is that we see more and more how small we are as God reveals more and more to us how great He is.
A great example of this is Moses, who, in the book of Numbers, chapter twelve, verse 3, is said to have been “very meek”. Other translations say that he was “very humble”. More humble than anyone on the face of the earth.
I’m sure that most of us have heard that throughout our lives, but what makes that statement most extraordinary is when we consider everything that Moses had experienced prior to this point in his life.
He had been called personally by God to lead His people from the house of bondage and into the land of promise. He had witnessed so many miraculous signs given by God and had even been used as an instrument in accomplishing some of these miraculous signs. He had even personally communed with God on the mount and as a result his face shone so much so that he had to wear a veil when he was in the presence of the people, Israel.
And what all of this accomplished in the life of Moses was not a puffing up, not pride, but an ever increasing humility, and ever increasing awareness of how great God is and how unworthy he is to be in the presence of God, so much so that he was considered to be the most humble person on the face of the earth.
That is remarkable! And one who I consider coming close to rivaling the level of humility which Moses possessed was the Apostle Paul. And one reason why I believe that Paul comes close to rivaling this humility is due to how he would personally describe himself in comparison to God and the unspeakable experiences that he experienced while in the presence of God.
And just like Moses was described as more humble than anyone on the face of the earth after he had experienced innumerable intimate experiences with God, so it is that in our narrative that we are working through in our series of sermons for this month that Paul displays the greatest amount of humility after experiencing a plethora of phenomenal experiences by the hand of God.
In our reading last week, Paul had spoken of what may have been the most phenomenal experience that he had ever graciously encountered. And in our reading for today, we will read of the beautiful description of how Paul humbly regards himself as a result of the amazing revelations that had been graciously given to him.
We begin to see this humble regard for himself in the first part of verse five in our reading, when Paul says:
2 Corinthians 12:5a ESV
5a On behalf of this man I will boast,
Now, when we read this, we may think that Paul is describing the experience of someone else by the language that he uses. He says, “on behalf of this man I will boast”.
Now, “the man” who Paul speaks of here is in reference to “the man” whom he had described in verses two through four of this chapter. “The man” whom he said was caught up to the third heaven by God and had heard things which cannot be repeated.
Now, though it sounds otherwise, this “man” whom Paul speaks of is himself. But he regards himself as being so unworthy of experiencing what God had caused him to encounter that he regards it almost as happening to someone else.
Indeed, he knew himself so well, knew his own natural unworthiness to such an extent that though he had been blessed to experience this, he still found it hard to believe that he had experienced it.
And so should it be that for the legitimate Christian that the farther that he advances in the faith the more that he is perplexed that God would choose to love and to save him, to make him of all people, one of His children.
Therefore, when Paul says that he will boast on behalf of this man, what he does is recognize that everything that he has experienced, he has done so only because God was pleased to have him experience it.
Therefore, when speaking of his own grand experiences, he speaks only of what God graciously does on his behalf. He speaks of what God does for him. When Paul boasts, he boasts only in the Lord.
But when speaking of himself, he speaks much differently. And we see this in the remainder of this fifth verse, where we read Paul saying:
2 Corinthians 12:5b ESV
5b but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses—
One thing that I will hear people say from time to time that makes me cringe is when they will say that God was able to do this or that in their life because they let God work through them.
I will admit that there was a time in the course of my Christian walk, early on when I would use language like that, but now it makes me shudder. And the reason why it makes me shudder is because of how prideful language like that is. And even more, how dishonoring to God language such as that is.
I mean, when we think of us, who we really are, what is it that we can possibly contribute to the work of God?
It reminds me of a funeral that I officiated several years ago when one of the honorary pallbearers was a small child, maybe three or four years old. Now, obviously this honorary pallbearer was not nearly as tall as the other pallbearers, in fact, when he walked along, he raised his arms up and his fingertips were just barely able to touch the bottom of the casket.
Now, saying that that little boy who barely had his fingertips touching the bottom of the casket made it possible for the casket to be transported, and unless he was there with the help of his fingertips, there is no way that the casket could have been transported would be a pretty ridiculous thing to say.
But saying that God can’t do this or can’t do that unless I cooperate is infinitely more ridiculous than saying that that little boy is what made all the difference in carrying that casket.
And as Paul speaks of himself, he almost likens himself to that little boy who was carrying the casket. He says that he will boast in what God does, in what God graciously does in him and through him, but as far as he is concerned, all that he will speak of, all that he will boast in are his own weaknesses.
In this, he confesses that he is blessed not because he “cooperates” with God or “obeys” God, but he is blessed, he has experienced what he has experienced because God freely willed to take one who brought nothing to the table and not only bless him with blessed experiences, but also gave him and in fact, made him do what was necessary to experience these blessed experiences.
Thus, like Moses, the more that Paul experienced with God did not puff him up and make him proud, but rather, it brings him to an ever-increasing realization that his God is everything, that he is nothing, and without the grace of God, he can do nothing.
In the ESV Expository Commentary on this portion of the verse, Dane Ortlund brings this beautifully to the forefront when he says,
“Paul’s instincts have been turned inside out by the gospel. While those outside of Christ long to boast in their strengths and hold their weaknesses at arm’s length, Paul longs to boast in his weaknesses and hold his strengths at arm’s length.”
But those false apostles who had come to the Corinthians did just the opposite of what Paul does here; they boast in their strengths and use their strengths as “credentials”, saying that their strengths are their qualifications for the legitimacy of their supposed authority.
And more than likely, many of the “strengths” that these false apostles boasted in were strengths that they did not possess and incidents that had never actually occurred. And in so doing, they had actually made themselves out to be fools.
But Paul, on the other hand, says,
2 Corinthians 12:6a ESV
6a though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth;
You see, Paul had actually experienced those things which he speaks of, therefore, he says that if he were to openly “boast” of these experiences, if he were to go into great detail concerning these experiences, it would not be foolish of him.
Indeed, as he himself admitted, these experiences reveal not his own greatness, but his own weakness and the greatness of God. Therefore, if he did “boast” of these experiences he would in no way be acting like a fool.
But though that is the case, Paul has decided to take a different course, which he reveals in the last half of this sixth verse, when he says,
2 Corinthians 12:6b ESV
6b but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.
So, though Paul could, in good faith, “boast”, go into greater detail concerning those things which he experienced by the gracious hand of God, he says that he refrains from doing so. He doesn’t do it.
And the reason why he does not do so, is, as he says, “so that no one may think more of me than he see in me or hears from me”.
While these false apostles had proudly boasted of themselves as “super apostles”, Paul does not want anyone to think of him as a “super apostle”, he wanted them to think of himself as a weak individual that God has been pleased to use, not because of his abilities, but in spite of his natural inability.
He recognizes that that glory belongs to God and only to God. Like any sincere believer, he wants any focus to shift away from himself and shift to the God Who loved him and saved him through His gracious intervention.
Beloved, we as members of the human species have a natural tendency to be proud and puffed up, to want glory to come to ourselves. This is especially true in the society in which we live, where a prideful mindset is fostered at every turn.
The message that we hear in our society is, “You deserve it!” “You are perfect just the way you are!” “Life is about getting what you want and being happy!” when in fact, nothing could be farther from the truth.
The people of God are to be a humble people, therefore, may we, as the people of God, never seek to take the glory for ourselves, but attribute all glory, honor, and praise to the God Who lovingly blesses us so.
Amen?
