2005-06-12 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church
Galatians 4:12-18
12 Brethren, I beseech you, be as I [am]; for I [am] as ye [are]: ye have not injured me at all.
13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.
14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, [even] as Christ Jesus.
15 Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if [it had been] possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.
16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
17 They zealously affect you, [but] not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.
18 But [it is] good to be zealously affected always in [a] good [thing], and not only when I am present with you.
In Acts chapter 9, we can read about a man named Saul, whose job was to lock up and destroy Christians. Saul believed he was doing the right thing. One day, as he was heading down the road to Damascus, a bright light from heaven surrounded him, and he fell to the ground. The Lord spoke to him as he lay there, and for three days after that, Saul didn't eat or drink, and his eyes were shut.
In John chapter 3, Jesus told Nicodemus that unless someone is born again, or born from above, they cannot see the kingdom of God.
The blinding glory of Jesus caused Saul to temporarily lose the sight he was physically born with, and it would seem that his eyes received some permanent damage, because in the Galatians 4 passage, we learn that if it would have helped, these people were willing to pluck out their own eyes and give them to Paul.
Why did the Lord see fit to give Paul a "thorn in the flesh"? Wouldn't Paul have been a more effective minister if he had no "temptation", or affliction in his flesh? In my mind it would seem so, but not with God. His strength is made perfect in weakness (1 Cor 12:9).
We know the strength of God was made perfect in Paul because zealous people were actually following him around and trying to harm him and his ministry. Paul told the Galatians that it's good if the persecutions and false teachings continue when he leaves town, because that means the truth is with them. If we're not experiencing the zealous slings and arrows of false teachers and those who hate the church, then we should be asking ourselves, "Have I become too strong?" "Have I become friendly with the world, and an enemy of the truth?" Am I following Jesus, or something the world calls Jesus?"
Blind us with your light Lord, that we may stop seeing with our physical eyes, and let your strength grow in us.