Sermon Manuscript

2 Corinthians 13:3-4 ~ 20210328 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

03/28 2 Corinthians 13:3-4, 9; Power in Weakness; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20210328_2cor13_3-4.mp3

Palm Sunday; Triumphal Entry

Today is Palm Sunday, the day we celebrate the triumphal entry, when Jesus rode in to the city of Jerusalem on a donkey to the shouts ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’ (Jn.12:13; Mt.21:9). But Luke tells us that Jesus also wept over the city of Jerusalem, predicting its destruction ‘because you did not know the time of your visitation’ (Lk.19:41-44). Celebration mingled with sorrow.

It was not even a week later that the crowds, possibly some from this same crowd, cried out before Pilate ‘Away with this man, ...crucify him!’ (Lk.23:18,21). The people wanted a king, but Jesus was not the kind of king they had expected.

In Matthew 16, Peter acknowledged Jesus as ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’ and Jesus promised ‘on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’ (Mt.16:16,18).

Jesus is God with us, the anticipated King, and his church will triumph. It was:

Matthew 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

This is when Peter rebuked Jesus, saying “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you” (Mt.16:22), and Jesus responded “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Mt.16:23).

Peter began to understand who Jesus is, that he is the one who is God, sent out from God, the promised Messiah-King. But he couldn’t connect the conquering King with the suffering servant. He wanted a King without a cross. And Jesus said this was satanic deception.

Crown Without the Cross

Corinth suffered from a triumphalism that wanted the crown without the cross; they wanted to reign as kings but avoid suffering. They wanted powerful charismatic leaders. They were ashamed of Paul and his suffering. He seemed weak, his speech was unimpressive. And their desire for an outwardly powerful ministry was leading them astray from a simple devotion to Christ.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul is not defending his ministry; he is ministering. He is re-centering them on the gospel, on authentic ministry that looks like and sounds like and feels like Jesus and the cross. Authentic ministry must resemble the gospel it proclaims.

Strength in Weakness

In chapter 10 he said (with a bit of sarcasm):

2 Corinthians 10:1 I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

The Corinthians accused Paul of being weak. Paul admits that he is meek, gentle, and humble – like Jesus, but that he also wages war with divine power. In chapters 11 and 12 he boasts in his weaknesses, and he concludes with a word from the Lord.

2 Corinthians 12:9 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The Corinthians assumed that strength and weakness are mutually exclusive; if you are weak, you are not strong; if you are powerful, you are not weak. You are either one or the other; you can’t be both. Paul contradicts this thinking. Christ’s power accomplishes its purpose in weakness. Paul’s strength was not his own; it was in his weakness that the power of Christ dwelt on him. It was precisely when he was weak that he was strong.

The Transforming Power of the Gospel

Here in chapter 13, he gets to the source of this power in weakness.

2 Corinthians 13:3 since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 4 For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

Christ, who speaks to you by means of me, is not weak toward you but is powerful in you. Did the good news I preached to you change you? Did Christ do a mighty work of transforming you by the gospel I preached to you? Were you changed? As he told them back in 1 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

The gospel, the word of the cross, is the power of God to us who are being saved. Jesus powerfully transforms sinners into saints through the gospel. ‘If anyone is in Christ, new creation! The old has passed away; behold, the new has come’ (2Cor.5:17). ‘Beholding the glory of the Lord, we are being transformed (2Cor.3:18).

If the Corinthians were transformed through Paul’s ministry of the gospel, they have to admit that something extremely powerful happened among them.

The Source of Power in Weakness

Paul gives them the foundation of this life-transforming power.

2 Corinthians 13:4 For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. ...

Jesus was crucified in weakness; literally out of weakness. Jesus, in his humanity, in his humiliation, was weak. He was not weak in the sense of inability;

Matthew 26:53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?

He has omnipotent power at his fingertips. Yet he did not count his equality with his Father a thing to be held on to, but he humbled himself. He became one of us. He chose obedience to his Father to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil.2:6-8). He was not inherently weak; he chose weakness in the path of obedience. He chose to surrender his rights. He took our weakness upon himself. He became weak, and it was out of that weakness that he was crucified.

Irony of Good Friday

And this is the great irony. The irony of Good Friday was that the crowds were eager to embrace Jesus as a conquering King. But when he failed to meet their expectations, when he was publicly displayed in weakness, flogged, beaten, mocked, clothed in a purple robe and wearing a crown of thorns (Jn.19:1-6), they rejected him, crying out ‘Crucify him, crucify him!’

When he was crucified, hanging helpless between heaven and earth,

Mark 15:29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

Jesus Christ was crucified in weakness. The crowds and the religious leaders, the soldiers, and even those crucified near him mocked him in his weakness. He claimed to be king, messiah, savior. He can’t even save himself. He cant’ come down from the cross.

The irony of Good Friday was that as God in the flesh, he still possessed all power and could have come down, could have made a spectacular display of power, could have wiped out those who mocked him with a word, but he ‘came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’ (Mk.10:45). He was not sent ‘into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him’ (Jn.3:17). The irony of the cross was that he possessed the power to come down from the cross, but that would have condemned the world. In order to save us, he could not save himself.

The mighty power to save was unleashed in his embracing the weakness of crucifixion.

The Resurrection Power of God

Crucifixion in weakness was not the end of the story.

2 Corinthians 13:4 For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. ...

Jesus now lives out of the power of God. Paul prays for us in Ephesians that we might know

Ephesians 1:19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

It was God’s power that raised Jesus from the dead. God’s resurrection power was displayed in Jesus precisely because Jesus was crucified in weakness. Had Jesus not willingly laid down his life as a substitute for sinners, there would be no resurrection. God’s power is displayed in Christ’s weakness. And it was precisely when Christ was weak that he was mighty to save. The cross is a picture of simultaneous weakness and strength. This is what Paul patterns his ministry after in 2 Corinthians.

Just as Christ was crucified out of weakness but lives out of the power of God, so also Paul is weak in him but will live with him out of the power of God. Paul is in Christ. He was crucified with Christ. He no longer lives, but Christ lives in him (Gal.2:20).

Paul gladly boasts in his weaknesses because it is in his weaknesses that the power of Christ encamps upon him. Paul says:

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (lit. ‘out of us’)

Outward Show of Power

The Corinthians are not content with God’s power hidden in weakness. They want an outward show of power. That outward show of power is coming. 2 Thessalonians speaks of the time:

2 Thessalonians 1:7 ...when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

That outward show is coming, but it will mean condemnation and not salvation. Jesus was crucified out of weakness, but lives out of the power of God. Now is the day of salvation. He will return ‘on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory’ (Mt.24:30), but then the day of salvation will be past, and he will be coming in judgment, and the people of the earth will mourn.

Paul says he is weak in him, but he will live with him out of the power of God toward the Corinthians. This future living with Christ out of the power of God is not pointing to the resurrection on the last day, but to Paul’s upcoming visit to Corinth. The crucified and resurrected Christ is mighty to save, but he has also been given all authority to execute judgment (Jn.5:22, 27). If they refuse to repent, he will come in judgment out of the power of God toward you.

But this is not what he desires. Paul does everything he does to build them up, not to tear them down. He doesn’t want to come in a show of outward power. He says down in verse 9:

2 Corinthians 13:9 For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for.

Paul is praying for their wholeness, their full mending and restoration. It would bring him joy if this letter brought about repentance and restoration so that he could continue to be seen among them as weak, and they be seen as strong. Paul desires that his ministry always be shaped by the cross. He desires to come in weakness, with the meekness and gentleness of Christ. He wants his ministry to look like Jesus, who paradoxically was crucified out of his weakness, but in that very weakness he is not weak toward you but is powerful in you. The seemingly weak and foolish message of the cross brings about powerful life transformation in all who hear and believe.

What is the message we bear? With our words? With our lives? Do we rejoice when we are seen to be weak and Jesus is seen to be strong? Do we never seek our own advantage, but that of the many, that they may be saved (1Cor.10:33)?

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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org