Resources

This morning I want us to think about A CASE STUDY - and it is the case study of the apostle Paul. It comes in 2 Corinthians 12 and the first 10 verses. And I want us to focus first, on THE PRESENTING PROBLEM AND DIAGNOSIS; then, secondly, on THE SECOND OPINION; and, thirdly, on THE PRESCRIPTION.


First, THE PRESENTING PROBLEM AND DIAGNOSIS

Verses 7-8 of chapter 12 tell us about the problem Paul had. So we read (verse 7):

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me 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.

'A thorn in my flesh', says Paul, is the problem. Scholars have been divided over exactly what that 'thorn' was. It has been suggested that it was malaria. Some have said it was epilepsy. Others have said that is was an eye problem or some other chronic disease. On the other hand there have been those who have said the suffering was more general or psychological - it was the pressure Paul felt from people who opposed him or from persecution. Down the years there have been all sorts of conjectures.

The precise nature of this 'thorn' is not too important. What Paul is saying here is relevant to all ill health or any other form of suffering. For the sake of the argument, however, we will take it that this was some sort of disease or illness. But how did Paul view this problem? How did he think about it? Did he say, like a Buddhist might say, 'This suffering is basically a matter of desire. So I need to eliminate desire'? Did he say, like a Muslim might say, 'This is the will of Allah - so I must simply accept it'? Did he say, like a Hindu (or Glen Hoddle) might say, 'This is due to a previous incarnation. So it is what I have to live with'? Or did he say, like a modern materialist, 'this just happened by chance - it is just one of those things'? No! Paul said none of those things.

What he said, and what Christians have said since, was that the 'thorn' was 'a messenger of Satan.' Immediately that means, according to Paul, that disease and suffering is the enemy. So disease, illness or physical suffering are not to be either ignored, or accepted, but opposed. Action should be taken against it. It is not to be tolerated. And that Christian understanding has been a great motive in medicine down the centuries. It is impossible to understand the development of modern medicine without acknowledging the fundamental place of the Christian faith in this development.

Western Medicine - which is now the World's medicine - from the 4th century AD, when Christians received their freedom under Constantine until very recently - Western Medicine has owed a huge debt to the fundamental ethos and beliefs of the Christian faith and to individual Christian men and women. Yes, Christianity built on a Greek tradition; and Arabic Medicine has played its part. But the teaching of Jesus with his command to 'love your neighbour' and especially his parable of the Good Samaritan have had a profound effect. So when the Church has been truest to the gospel, its practical influence on the world of Medicine has been greatest.

That was seen during the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries at the time of the evangelical revivals and the missionary movements. Christians in Europe and North America responded to the medical needs of Third World countries with hospitals, clinics and missionary doctors. But before that there were the early Monastic Hospitals, the famous medieval hospitals like St Bartholomew's and St Thomas' in London; and the many 18th century hospitals - great Christian foundations. Some friends met together on 14 January 1716, for example. They explicitly based themselves on the Parable of the Good Samaritan for 'a charitable proposal for relieving the sick and poor and other distressed persons'. This led to their founding the Westminster Hospital.

Then there was Guy's Hospital - founded by a Baptist publisher. John Harrison, another Christian philanthropist, founded the London Hospital. The original constitution of that says, I quote, that 'prayers were to be read in the wards and patients on discharge are expected to go to thank Almighty God in their parish churches.' The son of a Baptist minister founded Great Ormond Street. And King's College Medical School was founded in the last century for people training for 'the Medical Profession' and to be ... 'an institution which has for its principal object to educate the rising generation in the doctrines of Christianity.'

And similar strong Christian traditions would have lasted in most of the hospitals until the late 1950s. The de-Christianization of Medicine in this country is relatively recent. And it is serious. An article in the British Medical Journal in the 80s bluntly said that: "as the influence of the Church declines until its effect is negligible ... a general lowering of standards seems inevitable."

The truth of that is now becoming apparent. Take Dr Peter Singer, the new Professor of Bioethics at Princeton. He argues that, I quote, "some members of our species are persons: some members of our species are not." And who are on the Singer's list as non-persons? Answer: the unborn, the new-born, old people with Alzheimer's, young people in some condition of unconsciousness, the mentally retarded, and the 'defective'.

The sanctity of life from conception to death comes from the belief that we are all made in the image of God. Singer doesn't believe that. He, and others like him, hold just two reasons for granting someone protection and safety: one, their usefulness to society, and, two, their capacity to cause grief to others by their dying. In Singer's view there is nothing inherently valuable about any human being. So why protect babies? He is now advocating infanticide. Nor is this science fiction; nor is this Nazi Germany. He wrote an article not so long ago entitled Killing Babies Isn't Always Wrong. You say that is just America. No! Singer is Australian!

But take Dr Jim Howe, the neurologist involved in the Tony Bland case - the boy injured during the Hillsborough disaster. He says that 'a new born baby probably doesn't [ have value as a person].' He seems to think that animals are as important. This is sinister. It comes from a rejection of God's rule and God's word. It does not see illness or defectiveness as a 'messenger of Satan' but just a chance happening that we can respond to it as we like. The Bible teaches that is wrong. You must not attack the patient to solve problem. You always have to attack the disease. How we need to claim back medicine for Jesus Christ in the West.

But, back to Paul and his 'thorn'. What did he then do? Answer: he prayed. 'Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.' Do you understand this sort of situation? Perhaps there is someone here this morning who knows just what Paul was going through. You have a problem that is 'tormenting' you like this thorn tormented Paul. It may be a problem at work, or at home, or in the family, or in your college. And you are praying for the Lord to take it away. Is that wrong - to pray like that? Of course, not.

To show us the reasonableness of praying for relief in such circumstances, Paul tells us that he prayed 'three times' - presumably they were on three separate occasions. You see, if you believe it is right to take action to solve your problem - if you believe it right to go to the Doctor for treatment, you most certainly should pray about your illness. If it is your Bank Manager that you have to see, again you certainly should pray about your financial circumstances. Of course it is right to take action against suffering and to work to relieve it. But you must also pray about it. But is that enough? It wasn't enough for Paul. He needed a second opinion to put everything in perspective. That is my second heading this morning.


Secondly, THE SECOND OPINION

And the second opinion came from Jesus Christ himself. After Paul tells us that he pleaded with the Lord three times, he goes on in verse 9, 'But he [the Lord] said to me ... ' Paul needed to see another dimension to this whole issue. You see, it is true that disease and suffering come from Satan. But that is only half the truth. Disease and suffering are all under the control and the sovereignty of Almighty God. We saw that in our studies over the summer months in the book of Job. And Paul had to learn that disease - and other forms of suffering - cannot always be overcome.

Sometimes God says, 'No' to your prayers for relief or healing in the way you want. But if he does, be sure of this. It is for your good. Your situation will be better long term and from a true perspective, than had God done exactly what you wanted. Perhaps you're praying to get a job - you need it (or you think you do). Yet you don't get it. You are so disappointed. But God is being good to you. He knows, for example, that if you got that job all sorts of bad things would have happened to you in all sorts of different ways that you, at this point in time, cannot imagine. God is wanting to redeem every situation of suffering - or he wants his kingdom to be manifest there. But it is not always through the elimination of the presenting problems. You say, 'why not - if God is omnipotent, why doesn't he always take away the pain or the fear or the worry?' There are two very obvious reasons.

First, because sometimes suffering is due to sin and God allows you to suffer to bring you to your senses. In our Old Testament reading we heard how King Asa suffered militarily because he did not trust in God. Sin does lead to bad consequences. It is not always immediately, however, that the consequences have to be faced. But when you have to face them in this life, it is an opportunity to repent and change and submit to God and his will. Who needs to do that this morning? Perhaps there is someone here this morning who knows they are running away from God or defying him and they are suffering in some way or other as a consequence. Why not turn back to him? He is our loving heavenly Father. Remember the Psalm (103) we said earlier in the service:

Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

God wants to forgive you. And he has proved that in Jesus Christ whom he sent to die on the Cross, in your place, bearing the punishment for all that condemns you and drags you down - your sins. And God wants to satisfy 'your desires with good things.' He is not a heavenly spoil-sport. But he knows you won't find lasting satisfaction until you turn round and go his way and are strengthened by his Holy Spirit as by faith you unite yourself to Christ. Who needs to do that this morning? So God sometimes allows people to suffer to bring them to their spiritual senses.

But, secondly, he allows them to suffer as a spiritual prophylactic - or a preventative measure. This is not because they have sinned in the past, but to stop them sinning in the future. It was like this with Paul. Look back to those first verses in the chapter, verses 1-6:

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. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not 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.

We can't go into this in detail. But this is Paul talking about some private spiritual experience that he had. Nor did Paul himself want to go into great detail about this experience. He didn't write a book about it, as some people today might do. He didn't produce the equivalent of a video to get Christian people to copy his experience. He saw this as a private experience for himself alone that no doubt encouraged him. But he was not to think that having this experience put him on a different rank to other believers. He must not be proud. So how was he to keep his feet on the ground? Answer - he was to suffer and realize that he, Paul, wasn't the great one who could solve all his own problems. He needed the grace of Christ. That brings us to our final heading for this morning.


Thirdly, THE PRESCRIPTION

Look at verses 9-10:

'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.

Paul needed to prove God's power in his weakness. Paul's problem was not going to be solved by removing the symptoms but by Paul having new resources so that he could live with the symptoms in a way that would give him greater strength than he had before. This is a fundamental Christian principle. Paul had written earlier in this epistle, in chapter 4 verse 7:

'But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

There are Christians - I've met some of them - who've gone through harrowing times, but they are radiant in their confidence in God and in their hope of heaven. Who needs to learn that lesson this morning? It may be an illness - it may be some other problem, that you've got. You have prayed for it to go away. But Christ is saying to you, 'you needn't worry. I am going to be with you whatever happens. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."' That is one of the most wonderful promises in the whole Bible. You see, the power that is with you is the power that is at work holding this whole universe of space and time together. The Bible says of Christ that he is not only 'the image of the invisible God ... [and] by him all things were created' (Colossians 1.15); it then also says that 'he is before all things, and in him all things hold together' (Colossians 1.17). That is the power that is made perfect in your weakness.

I must conclude

At the famous Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota there was - and probably still is - a stained glass window with these words on it: "To cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always."

That is the way God deals with us this side of heaven. Sometimes there are total reversals of problems and they miraculously go away. That didn't happen this time with Paul, however, Often the problems remain in part but there is total relief. The pain goes, but the condition remains. But even if the pain still lingers on, you can always rely on the comfort of God, confident that as you trust in Christ there is that wonderful hope of a pain-free, illness-free, suffering-free heaven. As the Psalmist said, and with these words I close:

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. 17 But from everlasting to everlasting [that means, therefore, beyond death] the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children.

Amen.