California pastor says Bible's 'counter-cultural' praise of humility offers important lessons

"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 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" (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). 

These words come from the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, an epistle in the New Testament — and provide an important lesson for Christians to consider, Matthew Barnett told Fox News Digital.

Barnett is co-founder of the Los Angeles Dream Center, a faith-based nonprofit, and is the senior pastor of Angelus Temple in Los Angeles. 

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The Los Angeles Dream Center will mark its 30th year of ministry in downtown Los Angeles in September, something Barnett called an "incredible milestone." 

He also said, "But if I’m being honest, it’s one I was never fully sure that we’d reach. Yet God has been so faithful, often in spite of our weakness and failure." 

Throughout Pastor Matthew Barnett's 30 years of ministry in downtown Los Angeles, he has come to understand St. Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 "in a whole new way," he told Fox News Digital. (iStock/Courtesy Matthew Barnett)

Throughout his three decades in ministry, Barnett said that he has come to "understand 2 Corinthians in a whole new way." 

Consider, he said, when St. Paul states that he will "boast" of his weaknesses. "That's not something you hear people say every day," said Barnett. "Normally, people boast to cover up their weaknesses." 

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In Paul's case, however, "Jesus changes the narrative," said Barnett. 

Before proclaiming that he will boast about his weaknesses, "Paul recounts what Jesus said to him: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’" 

"God's power is displayed even more brilliantly against the backdrop of our weakness."

The grace of Christ, he said, "is what enables Paul to boast about his weakness. It's because God's power is displayed even more brilliantly against the backdrop of our weakness." 

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This is why, said Barnett, Paul describes the "insults, hardships, persecutions and countless obstacles" he faced during his ministry. 

"He was repeatedly beaten, mocked, stoned, harassed and thrown in prison," said Barnett. 

In 2 Corinthians, Paul demonstrates "the radical reversal at the heart of the Gospel" when he says he boasts of his weaknesses, said Barnett of Los Angeles.  (iStock)

But despite these hardships and setbacks, Paul "doesn't just say he can simply ‘endure’ these things; he says he can ‘delight’ in them, ‘for Christ’s sake,'" said Barnett. 

"Those words, ‘for Christ’s sake,’ are critical because they tell us about Paul’s motivation. He wasn’t in it for himself," he said. 

Instead, Paul, "was simply a servant seeking to make Christ known. So if it took hardships and persecution to do that, so be it." 

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The thought of someone boasting about their weaknesses "feels very counter-cultural to say in an era of highlight reels," said Barnett.

Yet "Paul understood the radical reversal at the heart of the Gospel," he said.

"When we have nothing left, we finally realize He’s all we need."

"When we come to the end of ourselves, God does His most amazing work. Because when we have nothing left, we finally realize He’s all we need," said Barnett.

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This lesson is one that Barnett told Fox News Digital he's learned "over and over again in nearly 30 years of serving in Los Angeles, helping families find a place to lay their head, encouraging those struggling with addiction to find their way out of the downward spiral, or lifting the spirits of a woman abused by her own family."

Part of the message in 2 Corinthians, said Barnett (not pictured), is "when we have nothing left, we finally realize He’s all we need."  (iStock)

"I’ve never felt perfectly qualified to help resolve any of these crises," he said. "But I lean on the one who is and always will be." 

He added, "If I leaned on my own understanding, and set out to tackle these challenges on my own, I certainly would have failed."

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"But like Paul, I am learning that because of Christ, when I’m at my weakest, it is in that moment He makes me strong."