Message Notes and Group Study Guide
Date: January 20-21, 2023
Speaker: Dr. Kurt Bjorklund
Series: Virtue or Vice
Message: #3 - Weakness
Scripture
1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. —2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (NIV)
Notes
4 Statements About Thorns
- Thorns are given to those when God
- Thorns are from both God and
- Some thorns are taken
- Thorns are a means of
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Expanded Translation/Paraphrase
Because of the extraordinary unusually astute insights and opportunities, to keep me from being self- exalting and full of myself, I was given a deeply painful and consistent thorn in my flesh, which was a messenger of Satan (one doing Satan’s bidding), to beat and torment me relentlessly, in order to keep me from being self-exalting and full of myself. (v. 7)
Three times I begged God to remove it from me but instead he said definitively (Perfect tease) My Grace is enough for anything you are facing, and my power becomes perfected (comes to fruition) when you are weak. Therefore, I will boost in my weakness with the most happy realization that through my weakness Christ’s power abides with me. (v. 8-9)
Therefore I am content and take pleasure in weakness, in intentionally insulting or humiliating barbs, in hardships that bring constraints, in deliberate attempts to sabotage me, in the suffocating feeling of walls closing in on me when done unto or for Christ’s sake. Because whenever I am weak, it is then I am really powerful. (v. 10)
John Baille Prayer
Let me use… — As material for…
- Disappointment — Patience
- Success — Thankfulness
- Trouble — Perseverance
- Danger — Courage
- Reproach — Long-suffering
- Praise — Humility
- Pleasure — Temperance
- Pain — Endurance
Study Guide
Step One: Icebreaker (Optional)
Would you rather be uncomfortably cold or uncomfortably hot? Why?
Step Two: Open
Ask someone in your group to pray to open your time together. Ask another person to read 2 Corinthians 12:1-10.
Step Three: Discuss
- What stood out to you the most in this weekend’s teaching? What was challenging, encouraging, or confusing to you?
- What makes it difficult to talk about our weaknesses?
- In verses 1-4, Paul says that he doesn’t see value in boasting about his visions and revelations. Given how extraordinary they were, why do you believe he saw little value in boasting about those, and how might that be instructive for our own personal experiences?
- Paul says he will boast only about his weaknesses. He notes that one of the benefits of boasting about weaknesses is that weaknesses keep people from becoming conceited (verse 7). Explain how that could be or how you have experienced this yourself.
- In verse 7, Paul talks about being given a thorn in the flesh by Satan. Why don’t you think the text says exactly what that “thorn” was? What are some examples of different “thorns in the flesh?”
- What is the significance of the fact that Paul pleaded 3 times for the Lord to take away his thorn, and yet God did not?
- Paul says that another benefit of boasting about his weaknesses is getting to experience God’s grace, strength, and power (v. 9-10). How have you, or how could you, see this play out in your own life? How is the cross an example of the “weakness” of God becoming the strength/power of God? See also 1 Corinthians 1:18,25.
Step Four: Close in Prayer
Ask someone in your group to close in prayer.