“Powerful Paradoxes”                       II Corinthians 11:16 – 12:10

 

WISE FOOLISHNESS
tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting… (11:16)
(I Cor. 1:20 “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”)

HUMBLE BOASTING
              self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool… (11:17)
              (boasting in Christ, not in “self-confidence”)

MEANINGLESS SIGNIFICANCE
Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s
descendants? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like
this.) I am more…6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain… (11:22-23 & 12:6)
 (Phil. 3:4-11 “I have more… (but) I count it all loss/rubbish”)
POURED OUT FILLING
I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more
severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move… (11:23-26)
(Phil. 2:17 “poured out like a drink offering… I am glad and rejoice”)
CHAINED FREEDOM
King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me… I was lowered in a basket from a window… and slipped through his hands. (11:32-33)
(Prison escape / Phil.1:12-14 “advance the gospel…in chains for Christ.” / Rom. 6:18 “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness”)
HEALTHY AILMENT
to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me… “My grace is sufficient for you” (12:7 & 9)
            (Matt. 5:29-30 “better for you to lose one part… than for your whole body to go into hell”)
STRONG WEAKNESS
my (God’s) power is made perfect in weakness… when I am weak, then I am strong. (12:9-10)
            (I Cor. 1:27 “God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong”)
 CAN I GET HEAVEN’S PERSPECTIVE, VISIONS & REVELATIONS?

  • PAUL’S LIFE WAS FULL OF “THIRD HEAVEN” OPPORTUNITIES!

(“THIRD HEAVEN”: 1. SKY… 2. SPACE… 3. HEAVEN)

  • HIS PRAYER LIFE (“PRAYER CLOSET” INTIMACY IN I COR.)
  • HIS OBEDIENCE (GUIDED BY HOLY SPIRIT, MISSIONARY JOURNEYS)
  • HIS SUFFERINGS (BEATEN, LEFT FOR DEAD / PRISON DELIVERANCE)

I MUST BE ONE MORE POWERFUL PARADOX: “LIVING SACRIFICE” (Rom. 12:1)