Question???

We had a question on our Knowledge is Useless post that I thought would be good to post…here it is:

Hello Brother Andrew and my fellow siblings in Christ! I am so blessed to know you, truly. This site is a blessing! One reason is it lets us ask questions instantaneously! So with that said, in humility, I have a question. When you ask:

“Are you more prone to preach in the boldness of the LORD rather than cower back in fear by your weakness, forgetting that in our weakness He is made strong? (2 Corinthians 12:9)”

Does the bible not also say to be bold in the LORD (Psalms 138 and Acts 4:29)? Because the verse in 2 Corinthians talks about him having a thorn in his side to remind him of his weakness…I suppose I am confusing this as physical weakness. Is it trying to say that this thorn in his side his inherent sin nature? The commands he naturally breaks remind him of his weakness and in turn reminds him of how perfect and holy our LORD is? Because he is constantly reminded of Christ’s perfection he is only able to boast in (or maybe about) Christ’s works and not his own?

Now with that expressed, is this saying that we are to cower in our manorisms because we are weak creatures or do we boldly proclaim what Christ has done? I feel like it is both but I guess I am trying to put thought into action. I am unsure how we are suppose to act out this weakness so to speak.

Here is the response:

I am so glad you asked this question and it is a very good question to ask so I am grateful you took the time to ask it!

Let me start out by saying this:

You are very on target when you say that the bible calls us to be bold in the LORD. My statement “Are you more proned to preach in the boldness of the LORD rather than cower back in fear by your weakness, forgetting that in our weakness He is made strong?” is saying that very thing. When I read and re-read my statement, it sounded very confusing and I apologize for that. Let me break my statement down in different terms for you and explain it better.

The bible, as you pointed out in Acts 4:29 and others, is very clear about our command to preach and preach boldly. In fact, at one point the LORD tells the prophet Jeremiah to preach in boldness and if he doesn’t, God would make him cower before the peoples (Jeremiah 1:17-19). The scripture is filled with verses about preaching with boldness and we have just listed a few.

Now, where we need to make a distinction is on two possible reactions to this command:

1.) Preach with boldness in your power, ability, self help and strength.

2.) Preach with boldness in the LORD’s power, ability, help and strength.

To be clear, I completely reject the first one. While we might be doing a good thing by preaching the good news, we are still doing it in ourselves rather than God. Many pastors/preachers/teachers are very talented and can draw a crowd and keep everyone’s attention and preach with much boldness, yet they dishonor God by not leaning into and relying completely upon Him. It is a good thing that they preach (Philippians 1:12-20) but they are completely limited to man’s power. When you preach in human ability you can only expect human results. Without the power of the Holy Spirit (who does all the work) you are trusting in only yourself to open someone’s eyes to the glory of Jesus.

The second one is where I find my strength and where we should look to in our preaching/teaching/living. We are very weak creatures and very incapable to open up the eyes of a human to the beauty of Christ. God uses the gospel to open up peoples eyes to the glory of Jesus and not man’s ability to find some strength in and of themselves to preach boldly (Romans 1:16). The LORD is the only person who can change someone’s heart, not man’s boldness. This is why Peter was praying to the LORD for boldness in Acts 4:29; in his own flesh he saw nothing good or bold yet looked to the LORD for strength – “And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that Your slaves may speak Your message with complete boldness“. Notice how he calls himself a “slave”. This is a sign of weakness and service to someone else. It shows humility, but he looks to God for the power and boldness.

So what does Paul mean by when talking about the “thorn in his flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:9)? To be quite honest, I am not sure what exactly that “thorn in the flesh” actually was. I am led to believe it was a physical ailment that he possessed and cried out for physical healing but I cannot say for sure. What I do know is that either way, he was weak in the flesh. Instead of God restoring his strength to him and removing this “thorn” what did God do? He made Paul live with it! This is beautiful because Paul was then forced to constantly lean on God’s power, ability, and strength to give him boldness and authority in his preaching and teaching. God would never not help Paul because Paul was an ambassador of His Son, Jesus. Yet, God didn’t want Paul to lean on himself for the boldness but rather He wanted Paul to look to Christ. It is very important to understand your weakness next to God’s unlimited power and authority. The balance between walking humbly yet in God’s power is quite possibly best displayed by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians church.

“When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power, so that your faith might not be based on men’s wisdom but on God’s power.” – 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

You see that men preaching in God’s power allows their faith to be based on God’s power and not on men’s power. We want to be weak in ourselves but extremely strong in God.

In conclusion, you were very on target with your question and I hope this helps you. I want to be a people devoted to Him and not trusting in ourselves. I want us to be humble but filled with the Holy Spirit and with His power. You said you think it was a combinations of both humility and God’s power and that is exactly right. Let us only boast in Him and what He has done and will do! I pray He gives you power from on high to preach for His glory as you walk in submission to His will.