II Corinthians 11:29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?
30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.
31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.
32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:
33 And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.
Spiritual weakness is a reality. A young church could be expected to be weaker than a church that has been around longer. That is not necessarily true because an older church may have become careless. The apostle Paul noted that when there was a weak church or a weak church member, it affected him. He did not rejoice in such weakness, but longed to see weak saints grow stronger. That had been God’s focus with the church in Corinth.
Paul also noted that if one saved person was offended, it also affected him. We are seeing an advancement of the sodomite agenda in Canada. Places like Steinbach or Winkler are being attacked by the sodomites. The governments have passed laws that try to make it almost impossible to oppose this wicked agenda. Steinbach has fallen to this pressure. Currently, Winkler has not yet collapsed. The rhetoric from the city officials does not sound promising. What is needed is some men who know the Lord and who are not ashamed to speak the truth. True Christians do not lay down and play dead. They speak up because they love the Lord and want to see others come to know His love and peace.
In verse 30 God continued to direct Paul to address the faulty boasting of the false teachers. The apostle Paul would glory in his infirmities. His glorying was not in his abilities, but rather in Christ’s goodness and greatness. His record was clear. It was very evident that he was a true servant of God. The false teachers did not have that testimony. They had big mouths, but they did not have a record to support their boasting.
In verse 31 Paul continued to point to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God knows the heart. He does not rely on outward performance. He knows the intent and the desire of the person. Paul was not afraid nor ashamed to trust in the true God’s assessment. He knew he was not lying and he knew he could count on God to prove him right. True saints need to be trustworthy. The lost need to know where the truth is found.
In verses 32-33 Paul referred back to an event first recorded in Acts 9:23-25. Paul had faced danger there. The governor of Damascus determined to arrest him. Aretas was the king of Petra, and the father-in-law of Herod Antipas. The governor had authority and had the support of the king in what he was attempting to do. The governor did not want Paul to preach the truth. He was not concerned about Saul coming to Damascus to arrest Christians. He did not want Saul/Paul proclaiming the truth. Paul was a bold man. He had not been ashamed of being a Pharisee prior to being saved. Now, as a saved man, he renounced his Pharisaism and proclaimed the truth. The truth was welcomed by the saints, but it stirred up the emotions of the lost. The same is still true today. Lost people do not want to hear the truth. They despise the truth. They don’t mind false teachers, but they certainly do not want to hear the truth.
The governor wanted to silence the converted Saul/Paul, but God had other plans and God’s plan always supersedes man’s imaginations.
There were true saints in Damascus at that time and they were convinced that Paul had been truly saved and they risked their lives to help him escape the wicked designs of the governor and the king. God had reached out and showed Saul/Paul the necessity of salvation. Saul was broken and saved. He had been aggressive as a lost Pharisee. God did not break his character. He reformed him and purified that character and used it for His glory.
God changes the nature of the lost person when that person is saved. He refines the nature of the lost person and guides the person into being a useful servant of God.
There are lost people who demonstrate boldness; however, they are crude in their character. The saved person needs to be bold, but that boldness is for the glory of God.
We certainly lack that today. Most professing saved people look for a way to compromise with the lost. True saints do not mock God by trying to find a way to make sin look palatable. True saints show sinners how to know the true peace of God. The world does not want to know the truth, but they need to know the truth. We are living in a time now where true saints could end up in prison and facing fines because wickedness is abounding and the wicked are becoming more vocal. The laws of this country are favouring wickedness. Our P.M. is not interested in truth. His cabinet is also not interested in truth. They are working hard to pass legislation that will make it easier to go after anyone who would speak the truth.
The truth is still just as important today as it ever has been. True saints do not need to be ashamed of serving the true God. Without His salvation there is no hope for anyone. We, those who are saved, have the only message worth proclaiming. We need to keep that message clear so that the lost can be saved and know God’s peace.
Pastor Bartel