PERSPECTIVES ON SUFFERING, Part 2 January 27, 2008
Series: 2 Corinthians- Strength through Weakness
2 Corinthians 1:3-7
Introduction- C.S. Lewis said that God speaks to us our well being, but shouts to us in our sufferings… I don’t think he means that God raises his voice… I think he means that when things are going well for us, and life is hitting on all cylinders, we can become content with God and have Him “in His place,” a neat little part of our lives… But when suffering comes, and we have nowhere to turn but to God, and He has our full attention, it is then that we hear His voice most clearly, and have a greater understanding and appreciation of His purposes.
And this is the basis of Paul’s message in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7… Paul is beginning his letter to the Corinthians and referencing his own sufferings… and as I said last week, he doesn’t begin to attempt to answer the philosophical questions of “why does God allow suffering” or “can there be a God if so much suffering exists”… instead, he accepts suffering as a reality of this present, fallen, sinful world, and looks at God’s purposes in suffering and our relationship to God in the midst of suffering… he looks at the purposes of God that are accomplished through suffering… He says that God comes to us in our suffering… to walk with us and encourage us, so that His purposes might be more fully accomplished in us.
We continue with PERSPECTIVES ON SUFFERING, 2 Corinthians 1:3-7.
(We began this passage last week and looked at the comfort that God gives, and how he comes alongside in the midst of our suffering to comfort us… )
Review: God is a God who comforts His people, vs. 3-4a.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our affliction…
Paul begins his discussion of his sufferings with his praise of God… for Paul there no sense of abandonment of God in the midst of suffering… instead he praises Him that He is a merciful and compassionate God that comes to us in our afflictions… I suggested five ways that God comes to us, alongside of us, in our afflictions…
• Through the truth of His Word.
• Through His mysterious presence
• Through His people
• Through the hope of heaven
• Through the assurance that faithfulness will be rewarded
(so let’s continue now to look at the other perspectives and purposes in suffering that we find in this passage…)
1. God comforts us so that we can comfort others in their affliction, v. 4b.
so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Let’s look at this verse carefully… begins with so that- do you see the connection??... God comforts us so that, for the purpose that, so we might be able to… we see here the clear plan, purpose, and design of God for the suffering we experience… not necessarily the “why,” but certainly a use of it… God’s design: we are able to comfort others with that comfort that we have received from Him in our afflictions… it is important to realize that we are not the comfort, but that we are able to be the vehicle of God’s comfort… it’s like we are the middle man between the producer and the consumer… and the comfort that we have received from God we can then pass on to others…
Illus.- Many of you know Ed and Brenda Flowers… in 1988 Brenda’s husband died suddenly of a heart attack… this left Brenda and her 14 yr. old daughter Kimberly all alone… Kimberly struggled with the loss of her father over the next few years, her behavior changed, she struggled with depression… and then on Nov. 3, 1992 she took her own life… Brenda wasn’t a Christian at the time, but through this loss and search for the truth she later came to know the Lord… and as she still struggled with the pain and grief of losing Kimberly, she found comfort and hope and peace in knowing God through Jesus Christ…
Since then Brenda has begun a ministry to comfort others who have lost loved ones to suicide, a ministry called “Memory Tree of Lights”… it is a ministry during the Christmas season, when the loss of loved ones is often most acute…
She says, “We are people who hope to be a blessing in the lives of others even though we, most likely, will be the ones who are blessed… we should not run from nor ignore the needs of survivors who believe in Jesus Christ, but we should rally around and address the pain we struggle with, which may over shadow such a sacred and holy celebration as our dear Lord’s birth… May the shadows of our departed loved ones gently yield to the Light of truth and the glorious events surrounding our dear Savior’s birth. He understands the true miracle of forgiveness and unconditional love . . . for it is He who embraces each of one of us and takes upon Himself our excruciating pain and our sorrows. May our loved ones who rest in our hearts, also rest in peace, and in His loving arms.
A beautiful expression of how the God of all comfort comforts us so that we might comfort others… and God has used others of you, as well as countless Christians across the country and around the world to bring comfort to others out of their suffering.
(Paul then gives another perspective on suffering…)
2. The comfort of God is always sufficient for the affliction, v. 5.
5For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
When Paul says for, he is giving the reason or basis that God can use our sufferings… the sufferings of Christ??- some would suggest that Paul is only referring to those sufferings that come about as the result of persecution… that is certainly part of it, but it is not limited to that… I think it refers to the host of suffering in this world that brings grief to the heart of God… ex.- Jesus weeping at the grave of Lazarus… not for Lazarus, but for the pain and sorrow of His people living in a sin-cursed, death infected world… but more than that… as Christ suffered in the midst of the fallen world, so we should expect to as well…
And so there are those times when sufferings are ours in abundance… it means excess and great overflow… But just as certain as there are those times, so also is it certain that there is the abundant comfort in Jesus Christ… the word means to abound, overflow… the word picture is a balance sheet… one column is suffering, in abundance… other column is comfort, and the comfort column always shows a surplus… and this is the way God is… He is not stingy, penurious…
• Romans 5- where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more!
• Eph. 1- the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us
• The return of the prodigal son- ring, sandals, robe, fattened calf!
And so the comfort that God gives is always sufficient for the affliction.
(a third perspective…)
3. God uses our suffering for redemptive purposes, v. 6.
6But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;
Paul is very possibly responding here to an accusation that if he were truly an apostle of God he wouldn’t suffer so much… his defense is that his suffering was for their benefit: if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort- the same truth we saw in v. 4… but he also says it is for you salvation- he means that it was only through the endurance of the suffering he experienced that he was able to bring the Gospel of salvation… so through his afflictions and comfort he was able to bring them salvation and comfort…
But he adds, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer- what does this mean?... the comfort which he has brought to them has been effective in enabling them to withstand some of the same sufferings that Paul had endured… he came to them in suffering… he brought them the message of salvation… as believers they then encountered suffering as Paul had… and he shared how God had comforted him, it brought comfort to them, AND thus enables them to endure their sufferings faithfully for Jesus Christ… the patient enduring of suffering is Paul’s focus… it means they endure their sufferings steadfastly in their faith…
So he takes the principle of v. 4 and takes it a step further… God’s comfort in our suffering enables us not only to bring comfort/encouragement to others, but it enables us to encourage their steadfastness and perseverance in the faith…
Illus.- it is kind of like a trainer on a football team… the players in the game get injured and go to him… his job is not simply to make them feel better… but to make them feel better so they can get back into the game!!...
And God can use our sufferings for a redemptive purpose of helping others stay in or get back in the game of following Christ.
(Paul continues this idea in the final perspective on suffering…)
4. God provides comfort that we might continue in the faith, v. 7.
7and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.
Our hope for you- Paul does not mean by this expression “our wishful sentiment”… but rather that confident expectation… firmly grounded- it is fixed, solid, unmovable… and the “firmly grounded expectation” is that in the midst of their sufferings the Corinthians would remain steadfast and true in their faith… they would indeed have that steadfastness of faith of v. 6, and that as Paul says in v. 14, he would be proud of them on the day Jesus returns…
And the reason Paul has this hope is that as they share in sufferings, they also share in the comfort that God gives through Jesus Christ… because God is the God of all comfort and father of mercies… and because Paul is able to bring God’s comfort and encouragement to them… and because His comfort is always sufficient for the affliction… and because the comfort of God provides that sustaining endurance to stay in the game… all of this gives Paul the confident hope that they will continue in the faith until the day of the Lord Jesus…
Illus.- Charles Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities is a story woven around the events of the French revolution. Each day, a grim procession of prisoners would make its way on the streets of Paris to the guillotine. One prisoner, Sidney Carton, a brave man who had once lost his soul but had now found it again, was now giving his life for his friend. Beside him there was a young girl. They had met before in the prison, and the girl had noticed the man’s gentleness and courage. She said to him, "If I may ride with you, will you let me hold your hand? I am not afraid, but I am little and weak, and it will give me more courage."
So they rode together, her hand in his; and when they reached the place of execution, there was no fear in her eyes. She looked up into the quiet composed face of her companion, and said, "I think you were sent to me by heaven."
Along our journey in the Christian life, God does sometimes send us someone from heaven to help/encourage/and keep us in the game… maybe you can think of people God has used in your life… But also, you may be the one God would “send from heaven” to bring that help/encouragement to keep someone else in the game…
What an awesome God… He can use our sufferings and the sufferings of others for His glorious purposes.
