A New Year has begun and we are off on another orbit around the sun. By the way… how are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions? This annual ‘reset’ is an opportunity to contemplate what we should be about personally, and I would argue as a church family as well. Each year at St Mary’s a verse is chosen to collectively consider, meditate on in prayer, memorise and live out. Hopefully by now you’ve picked up the colourful card to display on your desk or fridge perhaps. This year, our verse comes from 2 Corinthians 12:9:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
While in our Bibles this letter is labelled as 2 Corinthians, we know from various clues within the letter that this is not just the second time the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth. In this letter, Paul is pouring out his heart for them, to reassure them of his love and commitment to them, preceded by a ‘painful visit’ (chapter 2:1). In the final chapters 10 -13, Paul addresses a lingering problem of outside false teachers. They were impressive on the surface but not in Christ. Paul plays along with a comparison and proceeds to ‘boast’. With all the credentials, as the Jew of all Jews, he puts himself up against these counterfeit ’super apostles’. He in turn says he could boast about ticking all the boxes but he’d rather boast in his weaknesses. This upside-down argument should stop us in our tracks.
A major expression of Paul’s love was his continual pointing of the Corinthian church to Christ. Paul presents his weaknesses as his credentials so that the church might regard his apostolic ministry to them as legitimate and truly powerful. So how could power come from weakness? The key to Paul’s power, and likewise our power, is that Jesus is at work in our weaknesses. In our verse of the year are the words of Jesus to Paul, not Paul’s words to the church. Jesus is there in the midst of our weaknesses and our dependence, offering grace for whatever may lie ahead. That is when Christ is on display and is present with us through all the weaknesses, insults, persecutions and difficulties of life. This year and forevermore, we can rejoice in our weaknesses, because he is enough. As we boast in weakness, we can rest knowing Jesus offers us the greatest power – himself.
You can download the verse of the year postcard, by clicking on the image on this page, or listen to Jason’s sermon on 2 Corinthians 12: 1 – 10 via the links below.
Watch the service on YouTube below. (Bible reading and sermon start at 12 mins 19 seconds into the video)