2 Corinthians 11:24-28; 12:7-10; Romans 8:38,39

I. For keeping our lives free from many troubles and hardships

The words I’ve chosen for this evening’s meditation might seem a bit strange for a Thanksgiving service. It’s not one of the suggested readings for this time in the church year, and this section of Scripture doesn’t appear to be suggesting any reasons for why people should give thanks. Instead we have a list from the apostle Paul of many of the troubles and hardships he was forced to endure while serving the Lord. A Thanksgiving text? Perhaps the pastor just put the wrong text in the bulletin and was too lazy to change it!

I mentioned on Sunday that we would be worshiping under the theme: “Thanks . . . for Nothing.” So often on Thanksgiving we express our gratitude for things that we have: our home, our health, our job, food, clothing, family, friends. All this is fine and good, but tonight I want to emphasize how we can be thankful for the things we don’t have, for all the things that God has kept out of our lives. By first looking at what Paul went through, we can learn why we can properly and respectfully say to our God:

“Thanks . . . for Nothing”

Let’s be clear that Paul isn’t complaining about the troubles and hardships he endured. He’s actually using them as evidence to refute those who were challenging his apostleship. From the list he gives us we can learn to be thankful to our God for keeping our lives free from many troubles and hardships.

“Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned” (vv 24,25). Whipped, beaten, and stoned – all because of his faith. Any of you ever go through anything like that because of your faith? Perhaps someone may have given you a raised eyebrow or a cynical smirk for something you said that sounded a bit pious and “religious,” but I doubt if any physical harm has ever been inflicted on you. Give thanks that you don’t face persecution for your faith, that you have freedom of religion to live your faith. Paul found himself “in danger from [his] own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country” (v 26) – all because he willingly and openly served the Lord. What’s stopping us from serving him? We face no such obstacles. Give thanks to God for keeping such suffering from our lives by seeking to live your faith each and every day.

“ . . . three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea” (v 25). I doubt if any of you have ever been shipwrecked before (and, no, you can’t count the time you tipped over your canoe on your last camping trip!). It happened to Paul three times, even leaving him floating out on the waters for a whole day on one occasion! We may not subject ourselves much to the possibility of boating mishaps, but what about other modes of travel? Any plane crash survivors out there today? Maybe a few fender-benders with our cars and trucks, but don’t you find it more amazing how many near-misses you’ve endured? How tired you’ve been while driving sometimes, and yet you haven’t hit the ditch or crossed the median? Give thanks to God for keeping you safe in your travels, for keeping so many accidents and tragedies from your life.

“I have been constantly on the move. I have been . . . in danger from bandits” (v 26). Paul was never safe during his time as a servant of God. There was always someone out to get him, eager to end his ministry. And he wasn’t just being paranoid! Do we have those same concerns? Anyone out there ever have to enroll in the witness protection program for safety? In his travels Paul always had to be on the lookout for “bandits.” How many of us have ever been robbed at gunpoint or had to suffer from someone breaking in to our homes? Give thanks to God for nothing, for not having to live in constant fear and danger.

“I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked” (v 27). What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep? Ever make it 24 hours? Longer? More than likely, it was by choice and not because you had so much work to do. Have any of us truly known what it means to be hungry (and not just when your stomach grumbles a little because dinner’s a little late!)? How long have you ever had to go without water? Have we ever truly been “dying of thirst”? Temperatures this morning were fighting to stay around 30 degrees, but being a bit chilly when you stepped into the shower this morning is not what Paul meant when he said that he had been “cold and naked.” Turn a dial or push a button on the thermostat, and the chill is gone. Gaze into our closets full of more than just a set or two of outfits, and we’re far from being in danger of being left naked. Thank God for nothing, for not having to endure hunger, thirst, cold, or nakedness.

Some families have the Thanksgiving tradition of going around the dinner table and having each person say something for which they’re thankful. Want a new twist on that tradition this year? Try thanking God for nothing, for something that he hasn’t given you this past year, some trouble or hardship that he has kept out of your life. You’ll find that you will appreciate the blessings you do have all the more when you also learn to thank God for nothing!

II. For letting nothing become too much for us

Yes, it’s true – God hasn’t kept every hardship or trouble from our lives. But we can still thank him for “nothing” – for letting nothing become too much for us.

That’s the lesson Paul learned with his infamous “thorn in the flesh.” We’re not sure what this “thorn” actually was. Some say that Paul had contracted malaria on one of his trips and that it continued to flare up often enough to affect his ministry. Others speculate that Paul had trouble with public speaking. Still others think that Paul’s physical appearance left something to be desired and hindered his preaching. Finally, we don’t know what it was. But it was something that bothered Paul enough to admit (v 8), “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.” Paul’s logic was simple: “Take away this hindrance from my life, and I can serve you better, Lord.”

Paul knew he was given a great privilege to be one of the men used by the Holy Spirit to put down in writing the very words of God. So he understood why that thorn had come (v 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.” God allowed this thorn into Paul’s life to keep him humble. But now Paul thought that the time had come for him to be relieved of this burden, so he went to the Lord on three different occasions, pleading for him to take it away.

God’s answer? “No.” God had his reasons for saying no to Paul’s request (v 9), “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” God was keeping Paul humble through his affliction, teaching him to rely on divine power instead of on himself. God’s “grace” – his undeserved love and mercy – was all Paul needed. Every time his “weakness” made itself known, Paul would remember the perfect, almighty power of God.

This changed Paul’s attitude about his human limitations (vv 9,10), “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 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 learned to take pride in his shortcomings and in his sufferings, understanding that his true strength didn’t come from within – it came from the Lord! That’s why in Philippians Paul could confidently proclaim (4:13), “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

We have that same God who makes his strength evident in our weaknesses, the same God who promises to let nothing become too much for us. You have that promise in writing (1 Co 10:13), “And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” That’s quite a promise, one that only the almighty God could make! Only he has the power to reach down from heaven and bail us out of the many troubles and hardships that come our way. And when bad things do come, God promises to use them for our good (Ro 8:28), “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”

God used Paul’s thorn in the flesh for his good, and he does the same for us today. He keeps us humble. He keeps us dependent on him. He keeps reaching down to deliver us with his powerful and loving care. That’s why we can thank him for nothing – for letting nothing become too much for us!

III. For letting nothing separate us from your love

One of the loneliest and most depressing feelings in the world is to feel unloved — thinking that nobody cares about you, that no one wants you around, that you’re all alone and totally on your own. That will never happen as long as you are a child of God (vv 38,39), “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

There was a time when man chose to separate himself from God’s love. Back in the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve were persuaded to believe that God was holding back on his love. So they left his family. They found a new love, a false and misleading love, offered by the devil. They took his bait, thereby ushering sin into the world. And with sin came a wall of separation between God and his creation.

But God never stopped loving us. He wasn’t about to let sin keep him from bringing us back into his family. He refused to discard us, to start over, to give us what we deserved. Instead he gave us Jesus (Jn 3:16), “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” That was his plan to restore mankind, to bring us back to where we belong, to once again make us his children.

And it worked! Jesus won, the devil lost, and now we share in the victory. Nothing will separate us from God’s love. Nothing in this life can stop him from loving us. When we stumble and fall into sin, he lovingly calls us to repentance and welcomes us back. And when we die, not even death itself can pull us away from the love of God, because in death we are given life. What appears to many as the end is really only the beginning. For those loved by God, death is the beginning of life eternal in heaven.

It doesn’t matter how much or how little you have by way of material blessings, as long as you have the love of God. With that you have every reason to be thankful. You have a God who loved you enough to give up his Son for you. You have a Savior who loved you enough to give his life for you. You have the Holy Spirit who loved you enough to work saving faith in your heart. And you have God’s promise that he won’t stop loving you, that nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

So again it is good to make time to say “thank you” to our God. “Thank you for keeping our lives free from many troubles and hardships. Thank you for letting nothing become too much for us. Thank you for letting nothing separate us from your love.” That’s why it’s appropriate, tonight and always, to praise our God by saying, “Thanks . . . for nothing!”

–Rev Jonathan Rockhoff