“But the Lord has 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 about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, I will gladly accept weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
These words are taken from Second Corinthians in the New Testament, and they teach us an important lesson. For Christians Matthew Barnett told Fox News Digital that it’s something to consider.
Barnett is co-founder of the faith-based nonprofit Los Angeles Dream Center and senior pastor of Angelus Temple in Los Angeles.
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The Los Angeles Dream Center in Downtown Los Angeles will celebrate its 30th anniversary in September, which Barnett called “an amazing milestone.”
He also said, “But to be honest with you, I was never sure if we would get there. But God has been so faithful despite our weaknesses and failures.”
The Rev. Matthew Barnett, who has been pastor in downtown Los Angeles for 30 years, told Fox News Digital that he has come to understand St. Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 “in a whole new way.” (Courtesy of iStock/Matthew Barnett)
Barnett said his 30 years as a pastor have led him to “understand 2 Corinthians in a whole new way.”
Burnett said to think about when St. Paul said people “boast” in their weaknesses. “That’s not a phrase people say every day,” Burnett said. “Usually people boast to cover up their weaknesses.”
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But in Paul’s case, “Jesus changed the story,” Barnett said.
Before he declares his boasting about his weakness, “Paul relates what Jesus told him: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'”
“God’s power is made all the more glorious in the face of our weakness.”
“The grace of Christ enables Paul to boast in his weaknesses, because against the background of our weakness, God’s power is made more glorious,” he said.
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That’s why Paul describes the “insults, hardships, persecutions and innumerable obstacles” he faced during his missionary work, Barnett said.
“He was repeatedly beaten, jeered at, stoned, harassed and thrown in prison,” Barnett said.
Burnett, of Los Angeles, said the account of Paul boasting about his weaknesses in Second Corinthians shows “a radical inversion at the heart of the gospel.” (iStock)
But despite these difficulties and setbacks, Paul “is not simply saying we can ‘endure’ these things, but that we can ‘rejoice’ in them ‘for Christ’s sake,'” Burnett said.
“The phrase ‘for Christ’ is important because it speaks to Paul’s motives. He was not acting for his own gain,” he said.
Rather, Paul was “simply a servant who sought to make Christ known, and if that required hardship and persecution, so be it.”
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That someone would brag about their weaknesses “feels like a very countercultural thing to say in the age of highlight reels,” Barnett said.
But “Paul understood the fundamental reversal at the heart of the Gospels,” he said.
“When we have nothing left, we finally realize that God is all we need.”
“God works most beautifully when we reach our own limits, because when we have nothing left, we ultimately realize that God is all we need,” Barnett said.
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Barnett told Fox News Digital that it was a lesson he learned “time and time again during my nearly 30 years working in Los Angeles, helping families find safe haven, encouraging those struggling with addiction to find a way out of a vicious cycle and lifting the spirits of women abused by their families.”
Barnett (not pictured) said part of the message of 2 Corinthians is that “when we have nothing left, we ultimately realize that God is all we need.” (iStock)
“I have never felt that I am a perfect contributor to solving these crises,” he said, “but I am leaning on the One who is and always will be.”
He added, “If I had tried to tackle these challenges alone, relying on my own understanding, I certainly would have failed.”
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“But like Paul, I am learning that because of Christ, in those moments when I am at my weakest, He strengthens me.”
