Summary 

Christians often fall into "over-realized eschatology"—believing they can achieve perfect lives now rather than waiting for Christ's return. This mirrors how children imagine adulthood will solve all problems, and how social media projects impossible ideals of having it all together.

Paul experienced a glimpse of paradise fourteen years before writing 2 Corinthians, yet God gave him a persistent "thorn in the flesh" that wouldn't leave despite his repeated prayers. This thorn prevented conceit and taught him dependence on God's grace. The "super apostles" in Corinth promised immediate paradise and viewed weakness as aberrant, but Paul embraced his weakness as the place where Christ's power becomes perfect.

Historical figures like Steve Jobs, Mozart, and Martin Luther King all had profound flaws despite their achievements. No adults truly "have it all together." The thorns in our flesh—our aches, hurts, and places of frailty—become the very locations of God's grace. These weaknesses keep Christians longing for Christ's second coming rather than settling for false versions of glory now.

Florence Chadwick's successful swim through fog to Catalina Island illustrates persevering toward an unseen shore. Christ remains the shore Christians swim toward, finding strength through weakness as they wait for true glory.

Transcript

Lord, would you meet us now and enliven our hearts more that we might desire you alone? And you're coming to make all things right. God, would this season be a holy one, on this holy day, your Lord's day, where we desire you more fully, where we maybe even have a sense, a greater sense of our need for you more fully. God. Now would the words of my mouth with the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

All right, I'm going to try to sing this first. But I may give up when I grow up I will be tall enough to reach the branches that I need to reach to climb the trees you get to climb when you're a grown up. I'm not going to keep going. I practice it some and it's a little hard. I'll just read it, but it's not as much fun to read. And when I grow up, I will be. See, now I can't. I'll be smart enough to answer all the questions that you need to know the answers to before you're grown up.

And when I grow up I will eat sweets every day on the way to work and I will go to bed late every night and when I go up, when I wake up, when the sun comes up and I will watch cartoons until my eyes grow square and I won't care because I'll be all grown up and I love this one. A couple of these, I'm going to keep going When I grow up I will be strong enough to carry all the heavy things you have to haul around with you when you're a grown up. And when I grow up I'll be brave enough to fight the creatures that you have to fight beneath the bed each night to be a grown up. When I grow up I'll have treats every day and I'll play with things that Mum pretends that moms don't think are fun.

All right, I won't say all of it. That's one of my favorite songs from Somebody Knows this, Right? Where is it from? Matilda. Thank you. And I love it in part because it's sort of silly. It invites your laughter. And it's a very wonderful tune that I couldn't keep going with. But another reason that I love it is that it shows how often we think that there is a grown up life out there. Children sometimes might think this, but I think we think this too. Where you have it all, you have it all together, you're able to do it all it's almost like an adulthood that in theological language we would call an over realized eschatology. Amen. Y' all are like, what's that? I'll tell you.

That is the idea that the final events in the Christian life and faith, when all is good and right and as it should be, can be realized here in this life. It's come fully now. It's just yours to be grabbed on, to be grabbed onto and to be lived into. And in that idea there is no need to wait for glory, to wait for Jesus to come. It's not needed.

I want you to think about this with me for a moment. In regards to Christmas carols being sung during Advent and November, I shared last week what an angry preacher I am, that right after Halloween, all of a sudden there's Christmas decorations up in all the stores and all of a sudden there's Christmas songs being sung, played all over the place. It was as though we went from October 31st, that blessed Eve of our saints to December 25th. Candy and then presents the Good Life. We don't want to sort of sit in the need of how difficult life is, how painful it is, how full of sorrow it can be. We don't like to wait.

Paul in this chapter again is continuing this dynamic with these super apostles. This is a major part of this, the theme of this book. Of course, these teachers had come into the church in Corinth with their letters of recommendation and their know, their know how and their eloquence and all, and we're teaching another Jesus. As we looked at last week and I proposed to you last week that very likely the Jesuses that they were proposing the different Messiahs corresponded to the Messiahs that were on offer at the day and are on offer in our own day.

But here in chapter 12, our text we have before us, it's. It seems as though a lot of what Paul is arguing for here in this chapter is that these super apostles were living and declaring, inviting others into the paradise life they were teaching. You don't have to wait. And maybe you should actually think less of those who have their thorns in their side, their sorrows that persist. Can't they just live into glory now? Pain and the weakness of this life, they would say was an aberration of the Christian experience, not the norm.

I mean, Proverbs 13:12, I love this proverb. It says hope deferred makes the heart sick. My guess is pretty much all of you know that experience on some level, hope deferred makes the heart sick. Maybe what they were saying, though, what was on offer is, well, don't be sick. Have it all or you can. We should. Don't wait. You can grow up now. You can have it all now. You can climb the tree now. You can eat the candy now. Have all the Christmas songs now. Sorry. I do love Christmas songs. There's something great in waiting.

So what's Paul say? Okay, so the first thing I want us to consider is that Paul actually does know the experience of the wonder of what God has done and will do. Paul knows this taste of glory. Okay, so verse one. It begins like this. I must go on boasting, though there's nothing to be gained by it. Remember, he's been kind of entertaining their rhetorical dynamics to hear their boasting. I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

What he's doing is he's introducing this idea that he has had experiences of glory. He's hesitant to get too much into it. And maybe you heard this as Rebecca read it for us. He says a few times, I knew a man. He doesn't want to sort of enter into the discussion, but he eventually, of course, does. And we know from verses 6 and 7 that he's the man. It does say eventually me who he's talking about, but he's sort of pushing it off. But he gets to this dynamic. He says, I know this experience. I know the idea of having tasted something so glorious that you just want to sit in that all the time, and you want to grab onto that all the time.

Verses two and five. He says this. I know a man. There's that phrase in Christ, who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven, Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise. Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows. And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.

Okay, what's clear is that this is not his conversion experience. Paul recounts that elsewhere a couple different times. This isn't his experience on the road to Damascus where he's blinded. That's not what's happening here. In fact, this is the only time where he seems to talk about this experience. And he Sundays, it happened 14 years earlier, which we would have known would have been actually quite a few years after his conversion. It would have been probably right before his first missionary journey.

And what is clear is that there's this experience that he had. And it was so significant. It was so life Impacting it shaped him in such a way that he actually can't even describe whether or not it was actually a physical experience. Was he brought up into this place of paradise, maybe like Elijah or Enoch of old, like physically done so? Or was it just this spiritual experience, this out of body experience of his spirit? What he knows is that it had happened though he had actually had a glimpse at least a taste of glory and of paradise.

He doesn't say much about it, he doesn't describe it, but he says he experienced this, this paradise experience, this glimpse of glory since Advent. We've mentioned that a couple times, of course. And this is the time when we remember the Lord's coming, His first coming. We do more than that, but we remember this first coming of the Lord's in his incarnation. And I hope that each of you actually have tasted in a way of the things to come, the life for which your heart longs, things that you want to hold on to and not let them pass you by, right? Just sit in that, maybe a meal with friends where laughter permeated the whole time. Sorrow seemed to just not even be present in your mind or in your heart. It was so gone. There was such an experience of fellowship there, fellowship that pushed out all of the disunity of our day.

Maybe you've had moments of your relationships that seem so ecstatic that the union was so tight. That discord again, which we live in so often in our time was just a thing of the past. It wasn't even on your mind because there was such a deep dynamic between others at play. Maybe you've had this, this, this sense of God's spirit within you that truly you actually have had that experience of the peace that passes your understanding, God with you, the spirit of God making his habitation his temple in you. And you had this ecstasy of grace which sort of blew your mind past your understanding. I hope you've experienced some of those things.

But we can think back to the time when our Lord did come to us here on this earth, right? I think one of the reasons why so many Christians and non Christians alike are so intrigued, at least by Jesus, is because when you consider Christ and his coming, you look back at his first coming. You actually do see a glimpse into glory and things as they should be, right? The lame they're walking, the blind, they're given sight, the socially estranged. Think of the woman who had a bleeding for 12 years, right? She had to go around saying unclean, unclean, and nobody would hang out with her. She's far off outside of the neighborhood. Think of the woman there at the well, having to go out to the well to get her water at midday when nobody would do that and nobody's with her because nobody would be with her because of her sordid past. What does Jesus do? He restores her. Things as they're supposed to be. Glimpses into glory.

We can say, we can truly say in a way that when we look at the first coming of Jesus, we get a little glimpse into paradise. We taste it, we have it a little, you know, it touches our hearts and we want to grab onto it. And we see in his resurrection that his resurrection joy is our resurrection joy. Think of the stories a little bit after the resurrection. Jesus meeting not just Thomas's doubts, but our doubts with his nail pierced hands, right? Jesus feeding not just the disciples on the beach there, but in some ways he's feeding our hearts by saying, whoa. Fellowship restored life with God with roasted fish. Jesus restoring Peter despite his threefold denial, glimpses into paradise what we most desire.

But these super apostles here in second Corinthians, they probably came in and spoke of their experiences. And Paul's saying, I don't want to have to speak about this, but I'll tell you, but I think the big difference that's going on is that they're saying, grab onto it now. And if you're not experiencing this now, you are living a lesser than Christian life.

Now. I don't expect necessarily that all of you think this, though maybe some of you have heard this and maybe, maybe not all of you think, man, I just need, I need to live the life that is all together, that can have it all now. But I certainly think it's at least the temptation of our hearts to do this, to think that it must be on offer. At least somebody has it right, and I need to grab it and I need to desire it and that needs to be the object of my life.

It's certainly the good life, the life of having it all together. Certainly at least the life that we project, is it not? We want to show that we have it together, that we are mature, that we're adults, we can climb all the trees. And you know what? I can eat the candy if I want. I'll just go to the gym. I can make it happen. We project competence. We display our experiences and our knowledge, our know how, our book smarts.

Of course we do this on social media. It's built on this experience, right? Or at least we know that this is how it works. If the news cycle is primarily about catastrophizing and just showing you all that is wrong in the world. What does social media doing. Posts about vacations and about the glorious food we've tasted, the mountains we've climbed, the races we've completed, the kids that have all of the smiles. We don't need to tell anybody it was like the 20th picture paradise here.

And we certainly think that at least some can have it all now. Maybe it's not the people we know, but in our minds there's this idea that it exists out there. Maybe it's the greats of history. I don't know who comes to your mind? Steve Jobs, Mozart, Isaac Newton, Martin Luther King, John Calvin. We're in a Presbyterian church. If we were only just like them, we could live into the glory that is on offer today.

Let me tell you about Florence Chadwick. She was born in 1918 in San Diego. Long before title nine, she won her first swimming competition at the age of nine. She was drawn more though to open water swimming. And so at the age of 10, what have you been doing with your life? She became the youngest person to swim across the mouth of the San Diego Bay in 1950. She became both the fastest woman to swim the English Channel and the only woman to swim it both ways. She went on to swim the Strait of Gibraltar. Then in 1953 she swam the English Channel again because somebody else took her record and she wanted it back. And then she swam the Bosporus and the Hellespont. Her career was one of success, right? There's those people out there, right? Like this idealism, this over realized eschatology exists at least for some people. And our hearts just ache and we eat ourselves up.

I think in some ways we approach the Bible and its characters like we approach Francis Chadwick or Martin Luther King or Augustine or Calvin or whatever. Maybe we know that the social media account with all of the edited beauty, which is exactly what it is, Edited beauty. We know that that might be a farce. But we have this idea of being set on this good life and we hear of these super apostles. We say, yes, super apostle. Give me that title.

Some people can have it now. Strength and unending progress is unoffered now. So what these super apostles were offering was something that of course the Corinthian church was like, yeah, give me that. Instead of this bumbling Paul figure. And of course that's what so many in our day do.

But Paul goes on, right? He goes on from speaking of his experience of what God has done and giving him this glimpse of glory to. Then the second movement in this first half is speaking of his experience, actually his real lived experience, which also speaks for the hope that he has what God will do. So verses 7 and 8, right? 7 and 8. So to keep me from becoming conceited. Because isn't that exactly what happens? Look at what I did. Look at my pretty blah, blah, blah. You know, look at the experience I had. So to keep me from becoming conceited, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given to me in the flesh. A messenger from Satan to harass me to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

And we don't know what this thorn is. The word for thorn is scallops, like how some people pronounce scallops. Scallops, which can mean a stake which is driven down, sort of immovable, a one event kind of thing that is just in you. Or a splinter which just is constantly irritating, right? And you just can't get it out. But it's something sharp and it's painful and it defies eradication. Its effect was crippling, draining of energy.

Was it his constant persecution? Was that maybe the thorn in his flesh? Some people have said, given the context of 2 Corinthians where he brings it up, was it a speech impediment, a stutter or a Slurpee? Was it deep mental illness, the ongoing slot of depression? Was it? We have some reason to believe that Paul may have been married. It's possible. Was it the loss of his loved ones at some time? We don't know. And I think it's God's grace. We don't know. But just like our Lord prayed in Gethsemane for his cup to be taken from him, Paul did this and it was not.

And I want to suggest this to you this morning, that this thorn not being taken away was that he would look for and hope for all the more the coming of Jesus for his second adventure. Because there's a dynamic at play that if you can have it all now, why wait? Why long?

You know, adults don't exist. I wish the kids were up here to hear that. It's actually a kind of important lesson. I mean, like the perfect social media pictures aren't real. Please hear me. No super apostles that have it all together do not actually exist. They don't.

So I heard this quote this week from an essay from George Mack. The essay is adults don't exist. Steve Jobs delayed nine Months of medical treatment for pancreatic cancer to try carrot juice diet. Mozart spent his income and lived miserably in mountains of debt and regularly wrote letters to friends begging for money. Nietzsche lost his virginity in a brothel and caught syphilis and only saw his work sell 300 copies in his lifetime. Martin Luther King had extramarital affairs with over 40 women, including spending his last night with two women who were fighting the last night of his life. Isaac Newton spent 30 years of his life writing 1 million words. The great scientist Isaac Newton spent 30 years of his life Writing 1 million words on the pseudoscience of alchemy which were hidden for years by his heirs because they were too embarrassed to publish them.

Don't put any adults on pedestals, kill your gurus or a more useful belief. Your adults aren't going to to save you. They don't even exist. What she means is that there's this idea that just when we get there we'll be able to carry the heavy loads that we have to carry around when we're adults. Or we'll get to do what we want. Or we can climb the trees, right? We can get to the high place. There's this possibility. But there is something really wonderful in coming to this admission.

Listen to this. There are 4.9 billion people on social media throughout the world and the average person spends 145 minutes a day, day on social media. That's the average. That's a lot of time. 2 hours and 15. No, sorry. 2 hours and 25 minutes. And what has it done for us? What has it done for us? Unbelievable increases in anxiety and you know, the constant FOMO fear of missing out dynamic that we live in. Looking at the highlight reels of everyone else's lives. The super apostles over realize eschatology doesn't do us any good.

Whereas the thorns in our flesh, the places where we ache and hurt and know our frailty often are the very places of God's grace. Let me say that again. The thorns in our flesh, the places where we ache and hurt and know we don't have control be the very places of God's grace in our lives.

Think with me back to Matilda. If you know the story, you know that most of the adults in that story are not the adults that they sing about. Not even close. They're living self serving lives. They're hurting those about them. I mean her father is an absolute awful father. The headmaster of the school, One who is to tend to and care for the children under her care. Mrs. Trunchbull is like a hell figure. And yet who is the one who brings Some redemption? Ms. Honey? Who knows heartache, who knows loss, who knows pain? Who has this deep seated thorn?

After Paul speaks of the thorn in the flesh, he says, what is at the very heart of this whole book, Second Corinthians, this is the heart of this message. But he said to me, the Lord said to Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. Then Paul goes on, therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then I am content. I'm content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities. A wild thing to say. Content with insults and calamities. Why, when I am weak, then he is strong. Then I am strong.

Which is to say, it's in our weakness. The power of God is made strong. It's in our weakness where our faith in what God has done right, this glimpse of glory that he gives us in his first Advent, moves in us that our faith might grow and our hope might abound. What he will do in his second coming is in these places of waiting and longing and desiring God, where we find strength, where we grow up into Christian maturity.

Let me go back to Florence Chadwick. So she was this unbelievably masterful swimmer. I mean, her story is remarkable records throughout the world. And in 1952, keep in mind, she grew up in San Diego, Southern California. She attempted to swim the distance between LA, Los Angeles and Catalina island, which is 26 miles. I ran two half marathons and I couldn't walk after the second one for like three days. And she swam a marathon, 26 miles of deep, choppy, cold, shark infested water. And she was doing very well until the fog came and settled in and she couldn't see where she was going, she thought. And eventually she loses heart and she stops and she climbs in the boat. And when she got to the boat, she realized the people there in the boats, she only had one mile to go, 25 miles of swimming.

You think of this church, right? The Corinthian Church. They're so desirous to get there and all this about them is just clouding their vision. The temptation is to go along with these super apostles and to give up on the true Christ.

It may be easy to look at her life and see what a loss she had, such a great career anyway. But then a couple months later, she said, I'm going to give It a go again. She tried. And you know what? The same thing happened. Well, sort of. She's swimming and the fog descends again and she see where she's going. You can say in a way that the thorn in her flesh persisted. But give up, she said no, Glory was in front of her. She couldn't see the shore and she wasn't at the shore. And she keeps going and she makes it. She makes it.

And of course the question is, what's different? What's different from being so blinded by all that's around you and giving up or being blinded with solid around you and continuing on? She said she kept a mental picture of the shore in her mind. She just focused on that mental picture as she swam and swam.

And we are in Advent and we have had brothers as we have this recorded for us in Holy Scripture. We have had this glimpse of glory, Christ among us. Kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus says, and he is saying keep going despite the thorns, despite the pain. It may actually be the grace of God for you that causes you to continue to long for him and have your eyes fixed on what is to come in Christ's second coming, his resurrected life, true paradise, true glory, not these fake ones that we are so tempted to grab onto. Christ is our shore.

God in the flesh, the one who for our sake actually drank the cup that he pleaded would be taken away. And in his cross and his resurrection we wouldn't have this temporal life hope. We'd have an eternal glory set before us. Brothers and sisters, Christ power is made perfect in our weakness. And your thorns are the very grace of God, helping you to cling to him and to fix your eyes on Him.

Let me pray for us. Lord in heaven. What a lesson. We need to hear God, how tempting it is to grab on or to be blinded by these fake lights, these flashing lights that grab for our attention, these beautiful posts, beautiful people and hagiographies of the people of the past. God, would we be a people that that own our sorrows, that are acquainted with grief like our Lord was, who know that often actually it is our thorns which are your grace. Would we fix our eyes on Jesus, both the author but also the only perfecter of our faith? Amen.

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