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This is day five together, our last day of looking through 2 Corinthians chapter
11. We're going to look at verses 28 to 33 today. I have a feeling this is one
of those weeks that some of you may want to listen through again.

You're going through a struggle, a difficult time in a relationship. It's hard
to catch on to all of this at once. You might want to just listen through again,
asking God to speak to you through His Word.

What should I do? What decisions should I make? What direction should I take?

God, would you show me? We've been talking about Paul's so-called credentials
these last few days. He talked about some of the suffering that he faced.

There is a final one. It would seem that the list that we had yesterday was more
than enough, but there is a final one that he talks about in verses 28 and 29.
He says, "Then, besides all this," that we talked about yesterday, "besides all
this, I have the daily burden of how the churches are getting along.

Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray and I do not
burn with anger? " Paul talks about the suffering of this concern that he had
for all the churches.

When someone was weak in their faith, he felt it. When someone was led astray
from their faith, he felt it. He felt it in concern for the person who was being
led astray, but here he talks about anger for the person who led them astray.

But then Paul says, at the end of this list of all these credentials, all this
suffering that he had gone through because he was a servant, at the end of this
list, Paul says the most amazing thing. What he says next is really at the heart
of how a servant survives, even thrives in this world. Listen to verse 30.

Paul says, "If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how
weak I am. " Now we're going to take a closer look at this next week. So
important.

Chapter 12 has much to say about this. Boasting in our weakness. But this week,
if we begin to take a look at this, Paul reminds us, we've been looking at
boasting all through these chapters, Paul reminds us that you boast in the Lord
and when you boast in the Lord, you're able to boast in how weak you are.

I don't have the strength to do this. I can't make this happen. Let's depend on
him.

One of the greatest things you can say, one of the greatest things that you can
do to set a relationship right is to recognize your own weakness, not your own
failings. You need to recognize those also. You need to recognize the places
you've gone wrong, yes, but you also need to recognize your own weakness, your
total inability to set the relationship right all by yourself.

And anytime you can get two people to recognize that together, I have great hope
for that relationship that's come together, sit down together and realize we
can't make this right on our own. God, we need your strength to do what we can't
do. There is so much we can do to make a relationship right.

There's so many ways we need to try, little things we need to do, big things we
need to do that sometimes we get caught up in just doing those things and we
forget this. I'd rather boast about the things that show how weak I am. I can't
do it without God's strength.

I need God's strength in my life. Now Paul, to show how serious he is about
this, immediately gives them an example of boasting on his own weakness. He
talks about an incident in his life right after he'd become a believer.

Goes to Damascus, he gets a little bit discipled in the faith, he's going to go
back to Jerusalem, but they hear in Damascus that there's this new believer Paul
and actually the very people that were persecuting along with Paul to go and
destroy the church in Damascus now want to persecute Paul, now want to kill him.
Now listen to what happened in verses 31 to 33. Now Paul is saying, "There was
no miracle here.

Look how weak I was. Peter one time was trapped in a prison and an angel came
and opened the door and led him out and set him free. Paul is trapped in
Damascus and they stuffed him in a basket and they lowered him to the ground.

" You know how that works, lowering somebody to the ground, dropped him a little
bit, oh he hit too hard. Some miracle Paul says. Paul's just being honest about
what happened here.

Now he doesn't mention the time that an angel caused an earthquake to set him
free from a prison. He doesn't mention when that happened to Paul and Silas.
Here he's talking about his weakness and he's saying, "It hasn't been all
miracles for me.

It hasn't been all, wow, look what a powerful person Paul is. We serve a
powerful God but I'm a weak person. " We all have this treasure, Paul said it
earlier in 2 Corinthians, in clay pots and he's just saying here, "Hey, I'm a
clay pot.

" You want to set a relationship right? Start being more vulnerable about your
weaknesses. When relationships are going wrong, everyone gets protective and
prideful and actually pride can cause you to become self-promoting or
self-protective depending on your personality.

You become self-promoting, "Hey, look at me," or you become self-protective,
"I'm going to hide out. " Either way it pushes you apart. Either way it destroys
a relationship.

As you read through Paul's writings, he is honest about his weaknesses. You see
him calling himself the least of the apostles. You see him calling himself in
other books the greatest of sinners.

You see him talking about his physical ailments. You see him talking about his
spiritual struggles with despair. No wonder God used him in such a mighty way to
lead so many to find a relationship with Jesus and to grow in that relationship
with Jesus.

Now we're going to talk about this next week but this is number six. The sixth
thing you do to set a relationship right, be weak. Recognize you need God's
strength.

You can't do this on your strength. on him individually but then if there's any
way you can sit down and depend on him together, that's how you set the
relationship right. I want to go through this list again, these six things that
we've talked about this week.

I know if you're going through a tough time in a relationship, this has probably
been a tough week for you because it's scary to think about having to set it
right, trying to set it right because you know it might not work. The other
person has a choice and they may not choose the right thing. They may not choose
the godly thing and it's scary to open yourself up to that.

You've gotten to a more protected place, a safer place. How do you get to the
place that God wants you to be? Do these six things that Paul talked about.

Number one, be jealous. Just right now in your mind, think about the good in
that relationship that was in the past but also think about the good that could
be in that relationship in the future. The ministry that you could do together,
the family that you could raise together, the friendship that you could
strengthen together, the advice that you could give to one of your children, the
advice you could get from one of your parents.

Think about the good that God wants to do and be jealous for that for just a
moment. And then be afraid. Be afraid of the evil one and the fact that he is
working to destroy that relationship.

He wants to destroy your relationship with God in the midst of this. He wants to
destroy your relationship with other people. Now as we've said many times, you
can't force the other person to choose but there is one thing that you can be
certain of.

You can be certain of God's love for you and you can continue to make every
choice in light of that love. He will never fail you. Nothing can separate you
from the love of Christ.

You don't have to be afraid of losing his love. Be afraid of the evil one and
his temptations. Be aware and afraid.

Number three, be humble. No relationship ever changes except someone chooses to
humble themselves. Jesus humbled himself for us.

What's the humble choice that you need to make? I know you don't feel like being
humble. I don't either in the midst of an argument or relationship.

I feel like proving my point. I feel like being right. Can't tell you how many
relationships have failed just because someone didn't have the strength to be
humble enough to say, "I admit I might be wrong here.

" Be humble and then be foolish. I again can't tell you how many relationships
have failed just because two people are so self-protective. No one person can
say, "Hey, is there a chance this could work again?

Hey, is there a chance we could solve this? " Be foolish. Be a servant.

Now I say to you that whether that relationship comes back together or not, the
choice is to be a servant no matter what. Even in a strange relationship, you
still continue to choose to be a servant because Jesus chose us to serve, to
serve those who love us and who respond to us, but also to serve those who
reject us. Love your enemies even, Jesus said.

Be a servant. And then number six, and we'll talk about this more next week, the
power of where this comes from. Be weak.

Be weak. Recognize the strength not in you, the strength in him. Our Father, if
our relationship with you is going to be set right, it's only through your
grace, only through your power, only what you did for us, and thank you for
doing it.

Thank you for being jealous for our relationship with you. Thank you for coming
against Satan and humbling yourself, being willing to look foolish on a cross,
serving us, Jesus, so that we could find your strength. And in your example, I
pray we would find not only a relationship with you, but an example for our
relationships.

Lord, we need your strength to do these things. And we need to know what's the
first thing to do? What's the first prayer to pray?

Would you show us through a friend? Would you show us through your word? And
then Lord, give us the faith to take that first step.

We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Well next week, chapter 12, I consider it to
be one of the great chapters in all the Bible about how to live the Christian
life.