WEBVTT 00:00:01.410 --> 00:00:03.990 Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons, 00:00:04.370 --> 00:00:07.110 a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg. 00:00:07.769 --> 00:00:09.390 This fall, we're studying the book of Second 00:00:09.390 --> 00:00:12.429 Corinthians. Second Corinthians is a heartfelt 00:00:12.429 --> 00:00:15.330 and practical book calling us back to the life 00:00:15.330 --> 00:00:18.870 of the cross. We, like the Corinthians, so often 00:00:18.870 --> 00:00:22.350 pursue glory, admire eloquence, shun suffering, 00:00:22.670 --> 00:00:26.230 hide hurt, and hoard our goods. And yet the gospel 00:00:26.230 --> 00:00:29.230 of Jesus tells us that resurrection comes after 00:00:29.230 --> 00:00:33.149 a cross. that comfort comes after being crushed, 00:00:33.810 --> 00:00:36.090 that the way up is the way down, that the way 00:00:36.090 --> 00:00:39.210 to glory is through suffering, that his strength 00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:44.109 is made perfect in our weakness. We'd love to 00:00:44.109 --> 00:00:45.869 meet you, and we hope you'll consider coming 00:00:45.869 --> 00:00:48.090 and joining with us each Sunday morning at 10 00:00:48.090 --> 00:00:50.670 a .m. in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You 00:00:50.670 --> 00:00:53.189 can find us online at secondcitychurch .org and 00:00:53.189 --> 00:00:56.509 on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We hope 00:00:56.509 --> 00:01:02.850 you enjoy this sermon. God bless. Lord, would 00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:10.209 you meet us now and enliven our hearts more that 00:01:10.209 --> 00:01:17.209 we might desire you, you alone, and your coming 00:01:17.209 --> 00:01:26.189 to make all things right. God, would this season 00:01:26.189 --> 00:01:33.079 be a holy one. On this holy day, your Lord's 00:01:33.079 --> 00:01:40.420 day, where we desire you more fully, where we 00:01:40.420 --> 00:01:43.780 maybe even have a sense, a greater sense of our 00:01:43.780 --> 00:01:51.620 need for you more fully. God, now with the words 00:01:51.620 --> 00:01:55.680 of my mouth, with the meditations of our hearts, 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:58.280 be pleasing in your sight, our Lord, our rock 00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:03.019 and our Redeemer. Amen. All right, I'm going 00:02:03.019 --> 00:02:05.700 to try to sing this first, but I may give up. 00:02:06.739 --> 00:02:10.919 When I grow up, I will be tall enough to reach 00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:14.479 the branches that I need to reach to climb the 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:16.620 trees you get to climb when you're grown up. 00:02:16.979 --> 00:02:18.659 I'm not going to keep going. I practiced this 00:02:18.659 --> 00:02:21.560 song a little hard. I'll just read it. But it's 00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:23.580 not as much fun to read. And when I grow up, 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:28.340 I will be smart enough to answer all the questions 00:02:28.340 --> 00:02:30.479 that you need to know the answers to before you're 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:33.280 grown up. And when I grow up, I will eat sweets 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:35.979 every day on the way to work. And I will go to 00:02:35.979 --> 00:02:41.139 bed late every night. And when I wake up, when 00:02:41.139 --> 00:02:43.580 the sun comes up, and I will watch cartoons until 00:02:43.580 --> 00:02:46.939 my eyes grow square. And I won't care because 00:02:46.939 --> 00:02:50.789 I'll be all grown up. And I love this one, a 00:02:50.789 --> 00:02:52.509 couple of these, I'm gonna keep going. When I 00:02:52.509 --> 00:02:54.770 grow up, I will be strong enough to carry all 00:02:54.770 --> 00:02:57.050 the heavy things you have to haul around with 00:02:57.050 --> 00:03:00.569 you when you're a grown up. And when I grow up, 00:03:00.569 --> 00:03:03.030 I'll be brave enough to fight the creatures that 00:03:03.030 --> 00:03:05.909 you have to fight beneath the bed each night 00:03:05.909 --> 00:03:12.430 to be a grown up. When I grow up, I'll have treats 00:03:12.430 --> 00:03:15.969 every day and I'll play with things that mom 00:03:15.969 --> 00:03:19.639 pretends that moms don't think are fun. All right, 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:22.699 I won't say all of it. That's one of my favorite 00:03:22.699 --> 00:03:26.800 songs from, somebody knows this, right? Where's 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:30.319 it from? Matilda, thank you. And I love it in 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:34.060 part because it's sort of silly. It invites your 00:03:34.060 --> 00:03:36.219 laughter and it's a very wonderful tune that 00:03:36.219 --> 00:03:40.139 I couldn't keep going with. But another reason 00:03:40.139 --> 00:03:44.139 that I love it is that it shows how often we 00:03:44.139 --> 00:03:48.340 think that there is a grownup life. out there. 00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:50.240 Children sometimes might think this, but I think 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:54.740 we think this too. Where you have it all. You 00:03:54.740 --> 00:03:58.479 have it all together. You're able to do it all. 00:03:58.900 --> 00:04:04.939 It's almost like an adulthood that in theological 00:04:04.939 --> 00:04:08.419 language we would call an over -realized eschatology. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:11.219 Amen? Y 'all are like, what's that? I'll tell 00:04:11.219 --> 00:04:14.960 you. That is the idea. that the final events 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:18.240 in the Christian life and faith, when all is 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:23.360 good and right and as it should be, can be realized 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:28.180 here in this life. It's come fully now. It's 00:04:28.180 --> 00:04:32.240 just yours to be grabbed onto and to be lived 00:04:32.240 --> 00:04:43.220 into. And in that idea, there is no need to wait. 00:04:43.500 --> 00:04:50.019 for glory, to wait for Jesus to come. It's not 00:04:50.019 --> 00:04:54.360 needed. I want you to think about this with me 00:04:54.360 --> 00:04:58.860 for a moment in regards to Christmas carols being 00:04:58.860 --> 00:05:01.879 sung during Advent and November. I shared what 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:06.399 last week, what an angry preacher I am that right 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:07.980 after Halloween, all of a sudden there's Christmas 00:05:07.980 --> 00:05:10.879 decorations up in all the stores. And all of 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:12.920 a sudden there's Christmas songs being sung. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:16.040 Played all over the place. It was as though we 00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:20.620 went from October 31st That blessed eve of our 00:05:20.620 --> 00:05:28.000 Saints To December 25th candy and then presents 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:33.259 the good life We don't want to sort of sit in 00:05:33.259 --> 00:05:37.040 the need of how difficult life is how painful 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:42.639 it is how full of sorrow It can be I Don't like 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:48.740 to wait Paul in this chapter again is continuing 00:05:48.740 --> 00:05:50.639 this dynamic with these super apostles. This 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:52.639 is a major part of this, the theme of this book, 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:54.899 of course. These teachers had come into the church 00:05:54.899 --> 00:05:56.740 in Corinth with their letters of recommendation 00:05:56.740 --> 00:05:59.100 and their, you know, their know -how and their 00:05:59.100 --> 00:06:01.279 eloquence and all, and we're teaching another 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:04.600 Jesus as we looked at last week. And I posed 00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:07.120 to you last week that very likely the Jesuses 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:09.500 that they were proposing, the different messiahs 00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:11.740 corresponded to the messiahs that were on offer 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:15.339 at the day and are on offer in our own day. But 00:06:15.339 --> 00:06:17.839 here in chapter 12, our text we have before us, 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:21.459 it seems as though a lot of what Paul is arguing 00:06:21.459 --> 00:06:24.800 for here in this chapter is that these super 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:27.639 apostles were living and declaring, inviting 00:06:27.639 --> 00:06:33.579 others into the paradise life. They were teaching, 00:06:33.699 --> 00:06:37.439 you don't have to wait. And maybe you should 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:40.060 actually think less of those who have their thorns 00:06:40.060 --> 00:06:43.490 in their side, their sorrows that persist. Can't 00:06:43.490 --> 00:06:49.750 they just live into glory now? The pain and the 00:06:49.750 --> 00:06:51.509 weakness of this life, they would say, was an 00:06:51.509 --> 00:06:54.149 aberration of the Christian experience, not the 00:06:54.149 --> 00:06:58.430 norm. Proverbs 13 -12, I love this proverb. It 00:06:58.430 --> 00:07:03.449 says, hope deferred makes the heart sick. My 00:07:03.449 --> 00:07:05.689 guess is pretty much all of you know that experience 00:07:05.689 --> 00:07:07.509 on some level. Hope deferred makes the heart 00:07:07.509 --> 00:07:10.370 sick. Maybe what they were saying though, what 00:07:10.370 --> 00:07:13.790 was on offer is, well, don't be sick! Have it 00:07:13.790 --> 00:07:20.990 all or you can we should Don't wait you can grow 00:07:20.990 --> 00:07:23.009 up now you can have it all now you can climb 00:07:23.009 --> 00:07:27.629 the tree now you can eat the candy now Have all 00:07:27.629 --> 00:07:31.189 the Christmas songs now Sorry, I do love Christmas 00:07:31.189 --> 00:07:34.290 songs. There's something great in waiting. So 00:07:34.290 --> 00:07:37.029 what's Paul say? Okay, so the first thing I want 00:07:37.029 --> 00:07:39.970 us to consider is that he Paul actually does 00:07:39.970 --> 00:07:46.439 know the experience of the wonder of what God 00:07:46.439 --> 00:07:51.959 has done and will do. Paul knows this taste of 00:07:51.959 --> 00:07:56.180 glory, okay? So verse one, it begins like this, 00:07:56.199 --> 00:07:58.399 I must go on boasting, though there's nothing 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:00.339 to be gained by it. You remember, he's been kind 00:08:00.339 --> 00:08:03.019 of entertaining their rhetorical dynamics to 00:08:03.019 --> 00:08:07.379 hear their boasting. I will go on to visions 00:08:07.379 --> 00:08:10.399 and revelations of the Lord. What he's doing 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:13.199 is he's introducing this idea that he has had 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:18.199 experiences of glory. He's hesitant to get too 00:08:18.199 --> 00:08:20.100 much into it. And maybe you heard this as Rebecca 00:08:20.100 --> 00:08:24.480 read it for us. He says a few times, I knew a 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:29.519 man. He doesn't want to sort of enter into the 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:31.259 discussion, but he eventually of course doesn't. 00:08:31.259 --> 00:08:33.059 We know from verses six and seven that he's the 00:08:33.059 --> 00:08:36.269 man. He does say eventually me. who he's talking 00:08:36.269 --> 00:08:38.710 about, but he's sort of pushing it off. But he 00:08:38.710 --> 00:08:41.169 then, he gets into this dynamic, he says, I know 00:08:41.169 --> 00:08:45.970 this experience. I know the idea of having tasted 00:08:45.970 --> 00:08:48.629 something so glorious that you just want to sit 00:08:48.629 --> 00:08:50.909 in that all the time. And you want to grab onto 00:08:50.909 --> 00:08:54.350 that all the time. The verses two and five, he 00:08:54.350 --> 00:08:56.610 says this, I know a man, there's that phrase, 00:08:57.070 --> 00:08:59.250 in Christ, who 14 years ago was caught up to 00:08:59.250 --> 00:09:00.870 the third heaven, whether in the body or out 00:09:00.870 --> 00:09:03.429 of the body, I do not know, God knows. And I 00:09:03.429 --> 00:09:07.340 know that this man, Was caught up into paradise. 00:09:08.460 --> 00:09:09.779 Whether in the body or out of the body, I do 00:09:09.779 --> 00:09:12.720 not know. God knows. And he heard things that 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:16.659 cannot be told, which man may not utter. Okay. 00:09:17.139 --> 00:09:19.340 What's clear is that this is not his conversion 00:09:19.340 --> 00:09:21.919 experience. Paul recounts that elsewhere a couple 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:25.100 different times. This isn't his experience on 00:09:25.100 --> 00:09:27.519 the road to Damascus where he's blinded. That's 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:30.360 not what's happening here. In fact, this is the 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:32.139 only time where he seems to talk about this experience. 00:09:32.259 --> 00:09:34.279 He says it happened 14 years earlier, which we 00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:36.700 would have known would have been actually quite 00:09:36.700 --> 00:09:38.360 a few years after his conversion. It would have 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:40.259 been probably right before his first missionary 00:09:40.259 --> 00:09:46.820 journey. And what is clear is that there's this 00:09:46.820 --> 00:09:50.220 experience that he had, and it was so significant, 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:53.759 it was so life impacting, it shaped him in such 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:56.000 a way that he actually can't even describe whether 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:57.820 or not it was actually a physical experience. 00:09:57.899 --> 00:10:00.740 Was he brought up into this place of paradise, 00:10:00.980 --> 00:10:04.600 maybe like Elijah or Enoch of old, like physically 00:10:04.600 --> 00:10:07.659 done, or was it just this spiritual experience, 00:10:08.379 --> 00:10:09.980 this out -of -body experience of his spirit? 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:13.779 What he knows is that it had happened though. 00:10:14.659 --> 00:10:18.559 He had actually had a glimpse, at least a taste 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:24.980 of glory and of paradise. He doesn't say much 00:10:24.980 --> 00:10:29.320 about it. He doesn't describe it. But he says 00:10:29.320 --> 00:10:33.019 he experienced this, this paradise experience, 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:37.159 this glimpse of glory. So it's Advent. We've 00:10:37.159 --> 00:10:38.539 mentioned that a couple of times, of course. 00:10:38.940 --> 00:10:41.480 This is the time when we remember the Lord's 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:43.639 coming, His first coming. We do more than that, 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:46.159 but we remember this first coming of the Lord's 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:51.779 in His incarnation. And I hope that each of you 00:10:51.779 --> 00:10:54.679 actually have tasted in a way of the things to 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:59.519 come. The life for which your heart longs. Things 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:02.440 that you want to hold onto and not let them pass 00:11:02.440 --> 00:11:07.639 you by, right? Just sit in that. Maybe a meal 00:11:07.639 --> 00:11:10.919 with friends where laughter permeated the whole 00:11:10.919 --> 00:11:16.580 time. Sorrow seemed to just not even be present 00:11:16.580 --> 00:11:18.980 in your mind or in your heart. It was so gone. 00:11:19.019 --> 00:11:23.000 There was such an experience of fellowship there. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:26.139 Fellowship that pushed out all of the disunity 00:11:26.139 --> 00:11:29.860 of our day. And maybe you've had moments of your 00:11:29.860 --> 00:11:32.200 relationships that seem so ecstatic that the 00:11:32.200 --> 00:11:36.110 union was so tight, the discord again, which 00:11:36.110 --> 00:11:39.870 we live in so often in our time, was just a thing 00:11:39.870 --> 00:11:42.970 of the past. It wasn't even on your mind because 00:11:42.970 --> 00:11:45.590 there was such a deep dynamic between others 00:11:45.590 --> 00:11:50.309 at play. Maybe you've had this sense of God's 00:11:50.309 --> 00:11:54.549 spirit within you that truly you actually have 00:11:54.549 --> 00:11:57.370 had that experience of the peace that passes 00:11:57.370 --> 00:12:04.370 your understanding. God with you. the Spirit 00:12:04.370 --> 00:12:08.950 of God making His habitation, His temple in you. 00:12:10.029 --> 00:12:15.470 And you had this ecstasy of grace which sort 00:12:15.470 --> 00:12:20.169 of blew your mind past your understanding. I 00:12:20.169 --> 00:12:22.210 hope you've experienced some of those things. 00:12:22.690 --> 00:12:25.289 But we can think back to the time when our Lord 00:12:25.289 --> 00:12:30.870 did come to us here on this earth, right? I think 00:12:30.870 --> 00:12:34.139 one of the reasons why so many uh, Christians 00:12:34.139 --> 00:12:36.539 and non -Christians alike are so intrigued, at 00:12:36.539 --> 00:12:41.779 least by Jesus, is because, because when you 00:12:41.779 --> 00:12:44.019 consider Christ and His coming, you look back 00:12:44.019 --> 00:12:46.379 at His first coming, you actually do see a glimpse 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:49.679 into glory, into things as they should be, right? 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:53.779 The lame, they're walking, the blind, they're 00:12:53.779 --> 00:12:56.960 given sight. Uh, the socially estranged, think 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:58.740 of the woman who had a bleeding for 12 years, 00:12:58.820 --> 00:13:00.720 right? She had to go around saying, unclean, 00:13:00.740 --> 00:13:02.399 unclean, and nobody would hang out with her. 00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:04.879 She's Far off, outside of the neighborhood. Think 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:06.639 of the woman there at the well, having to go 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:08.980 out to the well to get her water at midday when 00:13:08.980 --> 00:13:10.679 nobody would do that. And nobody's with her because 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:12.340 nobody would be with her because of her sordid 00:13:12.340 --> 00:13:16.200 past. What does Jesus do? He restores her things 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:18.919 as they're supposed to be, glimpses into glory. 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:26.940 We can say, we can truly say in a way that when 00:13:26.940 --> 00:13:29.639 we look at the first coming of Jesus, we get 00:13:29.639 --> 00:13:33.889 a little glimpse into paradise. We taste it. 00:13:33.970 --> 00:13:36.570 We have it a little you know, we touches our 00:13:36.570 --> 00:13:42.629 hearts and we want to grab on to it And we see 00:13:42.629 --> 00:13:45.289 in his resurrection that his resurrection Joy 00:13:45.289 --> 00:13:47.350 is our resurrection Joy think of the stories 00:13:47.350 --> 00:13:50.289 a little bit after the resurrection Jesus meeting 00:13:50.289 --> 00:13:55.210 not just Thomas's doubts, but our doubts With 00:13:55.210 --> 00:13:57.669 his nail pierced hands, right? Jesus feeding 00:13:57.669 --> 00:14:00.509 not just the disciples on on the beach there 00:14:00.509 --> 00:14:02.570 but in some ways he's feeding our hearts by saying 00:14:02.570 --> 00:14:08.909 well fellowship restored life with god with roasted 00:14:08.909 --> 00:14:14.490 fish jesus restoring peter despite his threefold 00:14:14.490 --> 00:14:19.250 denial glimpses into paradise what we most desire 00:14:19.250 --> 00:14:24.149 but these super apostles here in second corinthians 00:14:24.899 --> 00:14:27.500 They probably came in and spoke of their experiences, 00:14:28.179 --> 00:14:29.580 and Paul's saying, I don't want to have to speak 00:14:29.580 --> 00:14:33.639 about this, but I'll tell you. But I think the 00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:39.080 big difference that's going on is that they're 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:41.919 saying, grab onto it now. And if you're not experiencing 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:45.179 this now, you are living a lesser -than -Christian 00:14:45.179 --> 00:14:53.399 life. expect necessarily that all of you think 00:14:53.399 --> 00:14:55.840 this. So maybe some of you have heard this. And 00:14:55.840 --> 00:14:58.019 maybe not all of you think, man, I just need 00:14:58.019 --> 00:15:01.559 to live a life that is all together, that can 00:15:01.559 --> 00:15:05.700 have it all now. But I certainly think it's at 00:15:05.700 --> 00:15:09.480 least the temptation of our hearts to do this, 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:13.159 to think that it must be on offer. At least somebody 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:15.360 has it, right? And I need to grab it and I need 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:17.000 to desire it. And that needs to be the object 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:22.669 of my life. It's certainly the good life the 00:15:22.669 --> 00:15:24.490 life of having it all together certainly at least 00:15:24.490 --> 00:15:28.450 the life that we project is it not We want to 00:15:28.450 --> 00:15:30.690 show that we have it together that we are mature 00:15:30.690 --> 00:15:36.870 that we're adults We can climb all the trees 00:15:36.870 --> 00:15:39.669 and you know what I can eat the candy if I want 00:15:39.669 --> 00:15:42.870 I'll just go to the gym I can make it happen 00:15:42.870 --> 00:15:50.460 We project competence We display our experiences 00:15:50.460 --> 00:15:57.860 and our knowledge our know -how our book smarts 00:15:57.860 --> 00:16:00.580 Of course we do this on social media it's built 00:16:00.580 --> 00:16:03.440 on this experience right Or at least that we 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:07.120 know that this is how it works if the news cycle 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:10.039 is primarily about Catastrophizing and just showing 00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:13.559 you all that is wrong in the world. What is social 00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:21.139 media doing? posts about vacations and about 00:16:21.139 --> 00:16:24.100 The glorious food we've tasted the mountains. 00:16:24.100 --> 00:16:27.200 We've climbed the races. We've completed the 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:30.299 kids that have all of the smiles We don't need 00:16:30.299 --> 00:16:33.139 to tell anybody it was like the 20th picture 00:16:33.139 --> 00:16:39.340 Paradise here And we certainly think that at 00:16:39.340 --> 00:16:42.419 least some can have it all now, maybe it's not 00:16:42.419 --> 00:16:45.690 the people we know but in it In our minds, there's 00:16:45.690 --> 00:16:47.649 this idea that it exists out there. Maybe it's 00:16:47.649 --> 00:16:49.929 the greats of history. I don't know who comes 00:16:49.929 --> 00:16:53.970 to your mind. Steve Jobs, Mozart, Isaac Newton, 00:16:54.350 --> 00:16:58.710 Martin Luther King, John Calvin, we're in a Presbyterian 00:16:58.710 --> 00:17:02.870 church. If we were only just like them, we could 00:17:02.870 --> 00:17:09.730 live into the glory that is on offer today. Let 00:17:09.730 --> 00:17:12.500 me tell you about Florence Chadwick. She was 00:17:12.500 --> 00:17:16.480 born in 1918 in San Diego long before Title IX. 00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:19.119 She won her first swimming competition at the 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:23.480 age of nine. She was drawn more though to open 00:17:23.480 --> 00:17:28.519 water swimming and so at the age of 10, what 00:17:28.519 --> 00:17:30.500 have you been doing with your life? She became 00:17:30.500 --> 00:17:32.599 the youngest person to swim across the mouth 00:17:32.599 --> 00:17:37.579 of the San Diego Bay. In 1950, she became both 00:17:37.579 --> 00:17:41.170 the fastest woman to swim the English Channel 00:17:41.170 --> 00:17:46.490 and the only woman to swim it both ways. She 00:17:46.490 --> 00:17:49.069 went on to swim the Strait of Gibraltar. Then 00:17:49.069 --> 00:17:52.109 in 1953, she swam the English Channel again because 00:17:52.109 --> 00:17:53.789 somebody else took her record and she wanted 00:17:53.789 --> 00:17:58.190 it back. And then she swam the Bosporus and the 00:17:58.190 --> 00:18:02.589 Hellespont. Her career was one of success, right? 00:18:02.609 --> 00:18:10.299 There's those people out there, right? This idealism, 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:13.359 this over -realized eschatology exists, at least 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:15.319 for some people in our hearts, just ache and 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:20.240 we eat ourselves up. I think in some ways we 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:22.359 approach the Bible and its characters like we 00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:24.299 approach Francis Chadwick or Martin Luther King 00:18:24.299 --> 00:18:28.599 or Augustine or Calvin or whatever. Maybe we 00:18:28.599 --> 00:18:30.940 know that the social media count with all of 00:18:30.940 --> 00:18:33.900 the edited beauty, which is exactly what it is, 00:18:34.019 --> 00:18:37.619 edited beauty. We know that that might be a farce, 00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:40.099 but we have this idea of being set on this good 00:18:40.099 --> 00:18:41.779 life. And we hear of these super apostles. We 00:18:41.779 --> 00:18:44.220 say, yes, super apostle, give me that title. 00:18:46.339 --> 00:18:48.259 Some people can have it now. Strength and unending 00:18:48.259 --> 00:18:52.579 progress is on offer now. So what these super 00:18:52.579 --> 00:18:54.220 apostles were offering was something that of 00:18:54.220 --> 00:18:56.500 course the Corinthian church was like, yeah, 00:18:56.519 --> 00:18:59.839 give me that instead of this bumbling Paul figure. 00:19:00.220 --> 00:19:02.240 And of course that's what so many in our day 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:07.140 do. But Paul goes on, right? He goes on from 00:19:07.140 --> 00:19:08.900 speaking of his experience of what God has done 00:19:08.900 --> 00:19:11.720 and giving him this glimpse of glory, to then 00:19:11.720 --> 00:19:14.859 the second movement in this first half is speaking 00:19:14.859 --> 00:19:18.839 of his experience, actually, his real lived experience, 00:19:20.259 --> 00:19:24.200 which also speaks for the hope that he has, what 00:19:24.200 --> 00:19:26.299 God will do. So verses seven and eight, right? 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:30.789 Seven and eight. So to keep me from becoming 00:19:30.789 --> 00:19:34.529 conceited, because isn't that exactly what happens? 00:19:35.269 --> 00:19:39.069 Look at what I did. Look at my pretty blah, blah, 00:19:39.369 --> 00:19:42.769 blah. Look at the experience I had. So to keep 00:19:42.769 --> 00:19:46.029 me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing 00:19:46.029 --> 00:19:50.430 greatness of the revelations. A thorn was given 00:19:50.430 --> 00:19:53.049 to me in the flesh, a messenger from Satan to 00:19:53.049 --> 00:19:55.250 harass me to keep me from becoming conceited. 00:19:55.390 --> 00:19:57.349 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, 00:19:57.390 --> 00:20:01.049 that it should leave me. And we don't know what 00:20:01.049 --> 00:20:05.509 this thorn is. The word for thorn is scallops, 00:20:07.410 --> 00:20:10.289 like how some people pronounce scallops, scallops, 00:20:11.170 --> 00:20:15.069 which can mean a stake, which is driven down, 00:20:15.910 --> 00:20:18.980 sort of immovable. A one event kind of thing 00:20:18.980 --> 00:20:24.680 that is just in you. Or a splinter which just 00:20:24.680 --> 00:20:27.240 is constantly irritating, right? You just can't 00:20:27.240 --> 00:20:31.200 get it out. But it's something sharp and it's 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:35.319 painful and it defies eradication. Its effect 00:20:35.319 --> 00:20:41.740 was crippling, draining of energy. Was it his 00:20:41.740 --> 00:20:43.900 constant persecution? Was that maybe the thorn 00:20:43.900 --> 00:20:47.960 in his flesh? Some people have said, given the 00:20:47.960 --> 00:20:49.460 context of St. Corinthians and where he brings 00:20:49.460 --> 00:20:52.299 it up, was it a speech impediment? A stutter? 00:20:52.460 --> 00:21:00.599 A slur? Was it deep mental illness? The ongoing 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:06.839 slot of depression? Was it, we have some reason 00:21:06.839 --> 00:21:08.660 to believe, that Paul may have been married? 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:11.680 It's possible. Was it the loss of his loved ones 00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:16.720 at some time? We don't know. And I think it's 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:20.180 God's grace we don't know, but just like our 00:21:20.180 --> 00:21:24.319 Lord prayed in Gethsemane for his cup to be taken 00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:29.859 from him, Paul did this and it was not. And I 00:21:29.859 --> 00:21:32.579 want to suggest this too this morning, that this 00:21:32.579 --> 00:21:38.259 thorn not being taken away was that he would 00:21:38.259 --> 00:21:43.180 look for and hope for all the more the coming. 00:21:43.450 --> 00:21:50.369 of Jesus. His second Advent. Because there's 00:21:50.369 --> 00:21:52.289 a dynamic at play that if you can have it all 00:21:52.289 --> 00:22:02.470 now, why wait? Why long? You know, adults don't 00:22:02.470 --> 00:22:05.450 exist. I wish the kids were up here to hear that. 00:22:06.230 --> 00:22:10.660 It's actually a kind of important lesson. I mean 00:22:10.660 --> 00:22:13.859 like the perfect social media pictures aren't 00:22:13.859 --> 00:22:22.079 real. Please hear me. No, super apostles that 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:27.200 have it all together do not actually exist. They 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:32.019 don't. So I heard this quote this week from an 00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:34.400 essay from George Mack. The essay is, adults 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:38.039 don't exist. Steve Jobs delayed nine months of 00:22:38.039 --> 00:22:40.460 medical treatment for pancreatic cancer to try 00:22:40.460 --> 00:22:48.460 carrot juice diet Mozart spent his income and 00:22:48.460 --> 00:22:50.720 lived miserably in mountains of debt and regularly 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:56.779 wrote letters to friends begging for money Nietzsche 00:22:56.779 --> 00:23:02.839 lost His virginity in a brothel and caught syphilis 00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:05.279 and only saw his work sell 300 copies in his 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:08.460 lifetime. Martin Luther King had extramarital 00:23:08.460 --> 00:23:10.619 affairs with over 40 women, including spending 00:23:10.619 --> 00:23:13.259 his last night with two women who were fighting. 00:23:14.619 --> 00:23:17.599 The last night of his life. Isaac Newton spent 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:20.460 30 years of his life writing one million words. 00:23:22.009 --> 00:23:24.450 The great scientist Isaac spent 30 years of his 00:23:24.450 --> 00:23:27.150 life writing one million words on the pseudoscience 00:23:27.150 --> 00:23:29.910 of alchemy, which were hidden for years by his 00:23:29.910 --> 00:23:32.730 heirs because they were too embarrassed to publish 00:23:32.730 --> 00:23:38.769 them. Don't put any adults on pedestals. Kill 00:23:38.769 --> 00:23:44.230 your gurus or a more useful belief. Your adults 00:23:44.230 --> 00:23:47.930 aren't going to save you. They don't even exist. 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:51.779 Which he means is that there's this idea that 00:23:51.779 --> 00:23:53.559 just when we get there We'll be able to carry 00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:54.799 the heavy loads that we have to carry around 00:23:54.799 --> 00:23:56.500 when we're adults So we'll get to do what we 00:23:56.500 --> 00:23:58.720 want. We can climb the trees, right? We can get 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:02.359 to the high place. There's this possibility But 00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:05.119 there is something really wonderful in coming 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:09.359 to this admission Listen to this there are 4 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:11.420 .9 billion people on social media throughout 00:24:11.420 --> 00:24:15.799 the world and the average person spends a 145 00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:19.960 minutes a day on social media, that's the average. 00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:28.019 That's a lot of time, two hours and 15, no, sorry, 00:24:28.619 --> 00:24:33.680 two hours and 25 minutes. And what has it done 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:37.880 for us? What has it done for us? Unbelievable 00:24:37.880 --> 00:24:41.460 increases in anxiety and, you know, the constant 00:24:41.460 --> 00:24:43.700 FOMO, fear of missing out dynamic that we live 00:24:43.700 --> 00:24:47.759 in, looking at the highlight reels. of everyone 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:52.019 else's lives. The super apostles over realized 00:24:52.019 --> 00:24:58.240 eschatology doesn't do us any good. Whereas the 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:01.019 thorns in our flesh, the places where we ache 00:25:01.019 --> 00:25:07.960 and hurt and know our frailty often are the very 00:25:07.960 --> 00:25:14.140 places of God's grace. Let me say that again. 00:25:15.570 --> 00:25:17.750 The thorns in our flesh, the places where we 00:25:17.750 --> 00:25:22.509 ache and hurt and know we don't have control 00:25:22.509 --> 00:25:25.930 can be the very places of God's grace in our 00:25:25.930 --> 00:25:30.809 lives. Think with me back to Matilda. If you 00:25:30.809 --> 00:25:34.130 know the story, you know that most of the adults 00:25:34.130 --> 00:25:39.789 in that story are not the adults that they sing 00:25:39.789 --> 00:25:43.450 about. Not even close, their living self -serving 00:25:43.450 --> 00:25:47.289 lives. They're hurting those about them. I mean, 00:25:47.369 --> 00:25:52.309 her father is an absolute awful father. The headmaster 00:25:52.309 --> 00:25:54.329 of the school, one who is to tend to and care 00:25:54.329 --> 00:25:57.670 for the children under her care, Mrs. Trunchbull, 00:25:59.269 --> 00:26:03.529 is like a hell figure. And yet, who is the one 00:26:03.529 --> 00:26:07.529 who brings some redemption, Miss Honey? Who knows 00:26:07.529 --> 00:26:10.430 heartache, who knows loss, who knows pain, who 00:26:10.430 --> 00:26:18.279 has this deep -seated thorn? After Paul speaks 00:26:18.279 --> 00:26:21.599 of the thorn in the flesh He says what is at 00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:23.660 the very heart of this whole book second Corinthians. 00:26:23.880 --> 00:26:29.079 This is the heart of this message But he said 00:26:29.079 --> 00:26:35.099 to me the Lord said to Paul My grace is sufficient 00:26:35.099 --> 00:26:41.059 for you My power is made perfect in weakness 00:26:41.059 --> 00:26:44.460 then Paul goes on therefore I will boast all 00:26:44.460 --> 00:26:50.609 the more gladly in my weakness, so that the power 00:26:50.609 --> 00:26:53.029 of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ 00:26:53.029 --> 00:26:56.069 then I am content. I'm content with weakness, 00:26:56.430 --> 00:27:00.750 insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. 00:27:01.650 --> 00:27:05.210 A wild thing to say. Content with insults and 00:27:05.210 --> 00:27:11.369 calamities. Why, when I am weak, then He is strong, 00:27:12.009 --> 00:27:15.519 then I am strong. Which is to say, it's in our 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:17.880 weakness the power of God is made strong. It's 00:27:17.880 --> 00:27:20.500 in our weakness where our faith in what God has 00:27:20.500 --> 00:27:24.500 done, right, this glimpse of glory that he gives 00:27:24.500 --> 00:27:30.079 us in his first advent, moves in us that our 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:35.400 faith might grow and our hope might abound. What 00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:39.880 he will do in his second coming is in these places 00:27:39.880 --> 00:27:42.980 of waiting and longing and desiring God. where 00:27:42.980 --> 00:27:47.420 we find strength, where we grow up into Christian 00:27:47.420 --> 00:27:50.099 maturity. Let me go back to Florence Chadwick. 00:27:51.099 --> 00:27:54.759 So she was this unbelievably masterful swimmer. 00:27:54.819 --> 00:27:57.740 I mean, her story is remarkable, records throughout 00:27:57.740 --> 00:28:01.579 the world. And in 1952, keep in mind she grew 00:28:01.579 --> 00:28:04.720 up in San Diego, Southern California. She attempted 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:07.859 to swim the distance between LA, Los Angeles 00:28:07.859 --> 00:28:12.529 and Catalina Island, which is 26 miles. Right, 00:28:12.809 --> 00:28:15.410 I ran two half marathons and I couldn't walk 00:28:15.410 --> 00:28:17.630 after the second one for like three days and 00:28:17.630 --> 00:28:22.450 she swam a marathon 26 miles of deep chop choppy 00:28:22.450 --> 00:28:28.470 cold shark infested water And she was doing very 00:28:28.470 --> 00:28:34.190 well until the fog came and settled in and She 00:28:34.190 --> 00:28:38.710 couldn't see where she was going thought And 00:28:38.710 --> 00:28:42.059 eventually she loses heart and she stops and 00:28:42.059 --> 00:28:46.059 she climbs in the boat. And when she got to the 00:28:46.059 --> 00:28:50.039 boat, she realized the people there in the boats, 00:28:50.940 --> 00:28:56.680 she only had it one mile to go. 25 miles of swimming. 00:28:58.119 --> 00:28:59.819 You think of this church, right? The Corinthian 00:28:59.819 --> 00:29:04.900 Church. They're so desirous to get there and 00:29:04.900 --> 00:29:07.180 all this is about them is just clouding their 00:29:07.180 --> 00:29:10.529 vision. The temptation is to go along with these 00:29:10.529 --> 00:29:13.849 super apostles and to give up on the true Christ. 00:29:18.170 --> 00:29:20.569 And it may be easy to look at her life and see 00:29:20.569 --> 00:29:25.710 what a loss. She had such a great career anyway. 00:29:26.250 --> 00:29:27.650 But then a couple of months later, she said, 00:29:27.650 --> 00:29:29.750 I'm going to give it a go again. She tried and 00:29:29.750 --> 00:29:33.529 you know what? The same thing happened. Well, 00:29:33.710 --> 00:29:37.529 sort of. Swimming and the fog descends again. 00:29:38.369 --> 00:29:44.410 And she can't see where she's going. You can 00:29:44.410 --> 00:29:49.250 say in a way that the thorn in her flesh persisted. 00:29:50.690 --> 00:29:53.930 But give up? She said, no. Glory was in front 00:29:53.930 --> 00:29:59.430 of her. She couldn't see the shore. And she wasn't 00:29:59.430 --> 00:30:04.049 at the shore. And she keeps going. And she makes 00:30:04.049 --> 00:30:07.009 it. She makes it. And of course the question 00:30:07.009 --> 00:30:13.500 is, What's different? What's different from being 00:30:13.500 --> 00:30:18.660 so blinded by all that's around you and giving 00:30:18.660 --> 00:30:21.319 up or being blinded with solid around you and 00:30:21.319 --> 00:30:26.259 continuing on? She said she kept a mental picture 00:30:26.259 --> 00:30:30.839 of the shore in her mind. She just focused on 00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:36.839 that mental picture as she swam and swam. And 00:30:36.839 --> 00:30:40.819 we are in Advent. And we have had, we have this 00:30:40.819 --> 00:30:43.920 recorded for us in the holy scripture. We have 00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:47.619 had this glimpse of glory. Christ among us, kingdom 00:30:47.619 --> 00:30:51.640 of God is at hand, Jesus says. And he is saying, 00:30:52.700 --> 00:30:57.700 keep going despite the thorns, despite the pain. 00:30:57.799 --> 00:31:00.359 It may actually be the grace of God for you that 00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:03.579 causes you to continue to long for him and have 00:31:03.579 --> 00:31:07.569 your eyes fixed. on what is to come in Christ's 00:31:07.569 --> 00:31:12.930 second coming. His resurrected life, true paradise, 00:31:13.109 --> 00:31:16.730 true glory, not these fake ones that we are so 00:31:16.730 --> 00:31:24.130 tempted to grab onto. Christ is our shore, God 00:31:24.130 --> 00:31:29.390 in the flesh. The one who for our sake actually 00:31:29.390 --> 00:31:32.089 drank the cup that he pleaded would be taken 00:31:32.089 --> 00:31:35.279 away. And in His cross and His resurrection, 00:31:35.579 --> 00:31:39.420 we wouldn't have this temporal life hope, but 00:31:39.420 --> 00:31:42.619 we would have an eternal glory set before us. 00:31:43.059 --> 00:31:45.940 Brothers and sisters, Christ's power is made 00:31:45.940 --> 00:31:50.039 perfect in our weakness, and your thorns are 00:31:50.039 --> 00:31:53.720 the very grace of God, helping you to cling to 00:31:53.720 --> 00:31:57.039 Him and to fix your eyes on Him. Let me pray 00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:00.619 for us. Lord in heaven, what a lesson we need 00:32:00.619 --> 00:32:09.130 to hear, God. how tempting it is to grab on or 00:32:09.130 --> 00:32:18.109 to be blinded by these fake lights, these flashing 00:32:18.109 --> 00:32:22.130 lights that grab for our attention, these beautiful 00:32:22.130 --> 00:32:25.210 posts, beautiful people and hagiographies of 00:32:25.210 --> 00:32:30.250 the people of the past. God, would we be a people 00:32:30.250 --> 00:32:33.589 that own our sorrows, that are acquainted with 00:32:33.589 --> 00:32:39.630 grief like our Lord was? You know that often 00:32:39.630 --> 00:32:43.549 actually it is our thorns which are your grace. 00:32:44.910 --> 00:32:48.730 Would we fix our eyes on Jesus, both the author 00:32:48.730 --> 00:32:54.390 but also the only perfecter of our faith? Amen. 00:32:54.799 --> 00:32:57.259 Thank you for listening to Second City Sermons 00:32:57.259 --> 00:33:00.000 podcast. We hope this sermon has encouraged you 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:02.200 to worship God and to celebrate the gospel of 00:33:02.200 --> 00:33:05.240 Jesus. Please consider subscribing to this podcast 00:33:05.240 --> 00:33:07.980 and joining us in person each Sunday at 10 a 00:33:07.980 --> 00:33:10.819 .m. You can find us online at SecondCityChurch 00:33:10.819 --> 00:33:13.880 .org and on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. 00:33:14.279 --> 00:33:16.279 Thanks again for listening. God bless.