This is the second post in our ongoing Church Near Me series. We are asking what does it look like to be the church in Manchester? What will people find when they search “church near me”? What are people looking for when they search for the church?

This particular focus is about our own weakness. 2 Corinthians 4 teaches us that the church is a place where people have Jesus in their life. If Jesus is in our life, then He’s certainly also in our weakness.

Why are we weak?

Paul teaches us in 2 Corinthians 4.7 that we are weak. A jar of clay is easily broken. Why is that, why are we weak? Paul tells us in the second part of this verse: to show that this all surpassing power that Christians have is from God and not from us. We have a treasure, we have an unbelievable power, but it’s not from us.

The reason this treasure is in something that breaks is so that we won’t be full of ourselves. So that we would recognise that the power we do have isn’t from us. That means there’s no room for pride, we are required to be humble. Humility isn’t an option for a Christian, it’s our actual state of being.

We have an all surpassing power from God, not from us. Our weakness is there to reveal this. We are weak so that we can better reveal where our power comes from. Not revealing weakness inevitably means going against this truth and putting ourselves on a pedestal where we don’t belong.

The reality of our weakness

In verses 8 and 9, Paul gives us a reality check. Things are bad but they aren’t the worst.

The Bible is realist. We are hard pressed, but not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. We are persecuted, but not abandoned. We are struck down, but not destroyed. Things can be bad, but they will never be the worst.

Without Jesus, we will be crushed, plunged into despair, abandoned, and destroyed. In this life and the next. It will be the worst. But because we have Jesus in our life, even in our weakness, it will get bad at times but it won’t be the worst.

Jesus has crushed being crushed and our despair. Jesus has destroyed us being abandoned and our destruction.

This is a huge part of the gospel, the good news we say we live by, and that means if we follow Jesus, whatever we go through it will not be the worst because the resurrected Jesus has already taken the worst by the neck, put it in a tomb, never to rise again.

Knowing that the worst won’t be on us can free us to talk about our weakness. These are topics worth talking about and if it doesn’t happen in the church, where is this going to happen? We need to talk through the reality of our weakness and the reality of what Jesus has done.

Why is revealing weakness so difficult?

Revealing weakness is generally not a first instinct of ours, right? Everything we learn from this world from the womb to the tomb is about protecting yourself. Maybe there are lies in your family that have stuck with you. We don’t talk about weakness. Weakness is shameful. Or the other side of having an identity of weakness: this is who I am.

We can sometimes downplay our weakness. We do this when we aren’t honest with our own pain, when we only present a stiff upper lip, it’s when we say “it can be worse” in a way to wipe away the reality of the pain we feel. Of course it can be worse, it can always be worse, but just because that’s true doesn’t negate the difficulty we might be going through.

We can also be more dramatic with our weakness. We think every trial is the worst thing ever. When we go through things the world has to revolve around us. We think we’re crushed, but it’s really just being hard pressed. OR: we do something we shouldn’t have, experience the consequences of that thing, then complain to God that He’s punishing us.

I wonder which you are more prone to go towards? Downplay our weakness, or be more dramatic with it? Family systems are set up around these. When it comes to our weakness, we either overcompensate or run away. We overcompensate through talking about our accomplishments, we give ourselves big ups, and use comparisons to make ourselves look better than what we are.

We can also run away and let weakness run our life for us. We cede responsibility and let weakness run our life for us. It’s in control. We either easily play the victim, the martyr, end up not truly giving ourselves and stay lazy.

Both versions are quite narcissistic, and we are all both. And both reactions miss out on Jesus.

I think for all of us, we fear being crushed, despair, abandoned and destruction so much we don’t venture close to being hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, or struck down. That means our experience of suffering in this world is limited. And since we don’t really experience suffering we mistake being hard pressed for being crushed. For being persecuted as being abandoned. But as Christians, we need not fear being being crushed, despair, abandoned and destruction: Jesus has already taken all of that from us: He has crushed being crushed and despair itself. He has destroyed destruction and any kind of abandonment we will experience.

The more we get that, the more we will be free to risk and go boldly into areas that just might lead to suffering. And when that suffering comes, and it will, the better equipped we will be to go through it.

Let’s nor downplay or overdramatise our weakness, and let’s also not overcompensate or run away from it, either. Let’s see Jesus in our life, in our weakness, and let’s also act as if it’s true.

Death brings life

In Christianity, there is this massive theme that comes up over and over again: death brings life. This is true of Jesus’ death and our life in the future, but it’s also true of the little deaths we experience in this world, in the present. That’s what verses 11 and 12 are all about.

We carry around death so that life will be revealed: there’s something about the little deaths in our life that can reveal life. The weakness we experience (neediness, trials, suffering, even consequences for our own sin), they all have the opportunity to bring out the life of Christ. They all have the opportunity to bring out the life of Christ. Will we take that opportunity? We only can if we are open and honest with our weakness.

Two takeaways here:

1. We will all experience weakness, but through Jesus it can be transformed into something more. Death brings life. We are given over to death, so that life would be revealed. We all experience weakness, let’s not waste it. Let’s let our weakness do its thing, so that we experience life! If we keep our weakness hidden or try and flee from it, we will waste our weakness and we won’t be able to get what this verse is talking about. We’ll miss out on Jesus revealing His life through us.

2. Your weakness isn’t just about you. It’s about Jesus and about others. We are given over to death, not for our sake, for Jesus’ sake. God gives us weakness. Remember, the first point, so we would be filled with him and not ourselves! So your weakness isn’t about you, it’s about Jesus. And if it’s about Jesus then it’s also about others: Paul went through some suffering himself, he talks about it in the first chapter. Paul said he and his team despaired of life itself! Have you ever been there, despairing of life itself? This is Paul, the author of the most of the New Testament, church planter, demon slayer, rockstar for Jesus, and look, he’s weak, too. But Paul didn’t waste his weakness. Death at work in Paul meant life at work for those in Corinth. Death brings life.

We’re not told exactly how that worked out, but we’ve been gleaning the principles of that in this message. Sharing your weakness is, ironically, a sign of strength. Not in yourself, but in the Lord. Only people who are confident in Jesus can be open with their weakness in this way. So maybe that’s a sign for you: how open are you with your own weaknesses towards others? How are you telling the story of walking in your weakness? Is it about you? Or is it about Jesus meeting you when you need it, even when you despair of life itself?

Jesus and weakness

The way of Jesus is to embrace weakness. Jesus, the most powerful being to walk on this earth, embraced His weakness. When Jesus was presented with death, something He could have avoided if He wanted to, He embraced that opportunity. The all powerful God, dying at the hands of corrupt men, to slowly suffocate on a roughly hewn cross, outside a city.

When we go to Christ in our weakness, we get to experience His wholeness. We don’t have to big up ourselves and live off a superficial wholeness. We also don’t have to give in to weakness and let it choose our life for us.

Because Jesus died and rose again, death can bring life. Jesus’ death on the cross brings life for those who have faith in Him. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead brings life for those who  have faith in Him. If you want to know life, this kind of life, we must be acquainted with our death.

Jesus in our life means Jesus in our weakness. The great news is that it means this, all of this, is for normal, regular, messed up humans. This is all for people who stumble, who don’t have what it takes, who aren’t good enough, and who are racked by shame. All of this is for needy and weak people. So there might be some parts of your life that you have together, but there are parts you don’t. Jesus wants it all. The good, the bad, the ugly, and everything else. He has new life to give to you. And if you follow Him, you get it. You have it. Let’s not hold it back by not letting the cracks show. It’s how the light gets out.