A. Last week’s sermon was the first lesson in a sermon series on 2 Corinthians that I’m calling – “Learning to Lean on God.”
1. Last week we introduced the city of Corinth and Paul’s relationship with the Corinthian congregation.
2. We discussed some of the problems the Corinthians had in their relationship with Paul that required him to write them on a number of occasions.
3. 2 Corinthians is, perhaps, Paul’s forth letter to them.
4. Paul has been suffering because of the conflict between himself and the Corinthians, and because of other persecution he was facing.
5. As I mentioned last week, one of Paul’s purposes for writing 2 Corinthians was to defend his apostleship against the many attacks of the false teachers in Corinth.
6. In this opening section, Paul defends himself against the false charge that his trials were God’s punishment for his sin and unfaithfulness.
7. The apostle makes the point that God was comforting him in suffering, not punishing him.
8. In so doing, Paul penned one of the most significant passages on comfort found anywhere in Scripture.
I. Understanding the Word
A. Let’s begin by walking through the first 11 verses of 2 Corinthians chapter one, so that we can understand what Paul has written, so we can apply it to our lives.
B. Look at verses 1 and 2: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. The opening greeting follows the pattern which Paul adopted from the customary letter-writing in the ancient world.
2. He started by identifying the writer – “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus” – his apostleship refers to his official position as a messenger representing Christ Jesus.
a. He points out that this was not his choice but was by the will of God – his mission was not a self-appointed one, or based on his own achievements – rather, his credentials were by divine appointment.
b. Paul also mentioned “Timothy our brother” – Timothy was Paul’s cherished son in the faith and a dominant person in Paul’s life and ministry – he was with Paul during the establishment of the church in Corinth – so he knew the Corinthians and they knew him.
3. Next Paul identified the recipients of the letter – “to the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia.”
a. We notice that the circle of readers has widened.
b. In the letter we know as 1 Corinthians, Paul simply addressed the Christians in Corinth.
c. But now in this letter, we notice that the letter is also addressed to the other towns and villages of southern Greece, known as “Achaia.”
d. This very address bears witness to the power of the gospel which was at work and was spreading. That same gospel is still powerful and is at work and is spreading.
4. Finally, Paul’s ends his greeting with “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
a. This was part of Paul’s normal salutation in his letters.
b. “Grace” is God’s unmerited favor, and “peace” is one of its benefits.
c. There are few things better than God’s grace and peace!
C. It was customary in ancient letters to follow the opening address with a brief thanksgiving to God.
1. Paul often began the main part of his letters with a prayer in which he laid before God the main theme he wanted to get across to his readers.
2. Paul’s main theme comes through clearly in 2 Corinthians - comfort.
3. Paul repeats the word “comfort” in one form or another 10 times in 5 verses.
4. The density of this concentration is even more striking in view of the fact that of the approximately 31 times these words are found with this meaning in the NT, 25 of them are in Paul’s writings.
5. And of these 25 occurrences, 17 occur in 2 Corinthians, and 10 in this short section.
6. If Paul is the apostle of comfort, then 2 Corinthians is the letter of comfort, and 2 Cor. 1:3-7 is the paragraph of comfort.
D. As its counterpart, the theme of comfort is matched by the theme of suffering.
1. The Greek word for “affliction” occurs 45 times in the NT, and is mentioned more often by Paul than by any other NT author.
2. It is mentioned 9 times in 2 Corinthians which is more than any other letter.
3. And it is mentioned 3 times in this small section which is more than any other section.
4. In other words, Paul talks about comfort more than any other author because he talks about suffering more than any other author, and he does so in 2 Corinthians more than any other letter.
E. As Paul discussed suffering and comfort in 2 Corinthians, he was not trying to generally address the problem of evil, nor was he intending to describe the character of Christian experience in general.
1. Rather, Paul’s desire was to defend his apostolic ministry in the face of those who called his legitimacy into question, primarily because of his weakness and suffering.
2. Paul’s ultimate goal in so doing was not to promote himself, but to strengthen the faithful, and win back the wayward.
3. As a result, Paul’s hope was that the Corinthians would come to understand the divinely ordained role that suffering was to play in his life.
4. If you recall, Jesus had made this known to Paul: “This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts. 9:15-16)
F. So Paul began his letter by praising God for the very thing his opponents maintain called his ministry into question – his suffering.
1. In so doing, Paul’s praise itself contains the primary appeal of the letter.
2. Rather than rejecting Paul for his suffering, the Corinthians should join Paul in praising God for the afflictions Paul continues to experience on behalf of Christ and the church.
G. Look again at verses 3 – 7: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.”
1. Paul began by praising God because God is “the Father of compassion” and “God of all comfort.”
2. Paul then moved from a statement of who God is in verse 3, to a declaration of what God does in verse 4a, then finally to God’s goal for doing it in 4b.
3. Because God is “the God of all comfort,” he comforts Paul in all his troubles so that, in turn, Paul has the ability to comfort others no matter what comes their way.
4. For this reason, God is the one who is to be praised, even though Paul is the one through whom others are comforted.
5. Paul’s hope for the Corinthians is that God’s comfort will produce “endurance” among the Corinthians whenever they undergo the same sufferings that Paul has experienced.
6. And Paul’s hope for them is certain because he knows that our sufferings can never outdistance God’s comfort – the God of all comfort.
H. Look again at verses 8 – 11: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.”
1. In verses 8 – 11, Paul not only draws attention to his suffering, but he reveals just how drastic the situation really was.
2. Humanly speaking, Paul was in over his head, both physically and emotionally.
3. His suffering was so severe that he saw no way out but death.
4. He felt as if he had received a “sentence of death,” which most likely refers to an official decision concerning his fate.
5. But God’s purpose was not to end Paul’s life, but to bring him to the end of his strength so that he would in no way rely on himself, but only “on God, who raises the dead.”
6. In Paul’s mind, Christ’s resurrection points forward and secures our hope in God’s final deliverance of all his people.
7. And Paul’s experience of God’s deliverance in the past points to God’s deliverance in the future, which results in God’s comfort of his people in the present.
8. Paul therefore ends in verse 11 where he began in verse 3 – with thanksgiving and praise to God.
II. Applying the Word
A. There are many lessons we can apply to our lives from these verses.
1. When we step back and look at what was happening to Paul and what he wrote about it, we can conclude at least three things.
B. First, we can conclude that Life is Full of Pain.
1. Life is hard.
2. That is the case for Christians and for Non-Christians.
3. The earthquake that just hit Haiti is causing suffering for all people – the old and the young, the good and the bad, the Christian and the non-Christian.
4. Troubles are going to come our way – some of them are of our own doing and some are not.
5. Persecution for our faith may come our way.
6. There is no way to escape all pain and suffering – certainly some of us have more or less than others, but we will all face some.
7. And in the end, if Christ doesn’t return before we die, then all of us will die.
8. For some their death will come after many years and after much suffering.
9. But for others their death may come suddenly and without suffering.
10. Death is our final enemy, and someday there will be no more death, or suffering or pain – we look forward to that day.
11. But in the mean time, life is real and it has its share of pain and suffering.
C. Second, we can conclude that God is Faithful.
1. God promises to be with us always, and being the God of comfort, He will extend His comfort to us.
2. As our faithful God, we can know that God will either remove our suffering or he will give us the strength to endure our suffering.
3. The only way we will ever discover that God is faithful, is to see His faithfulness in the midst of our suffering.
4. Personally, I don’t think that I have experienced a lot of suffering in my life.
5. Yes, I experienced the death of my father when I was young, and that was hard, but God faithfully provided what I needed through a good mother, and later a good step-father, and a good church family.
6. But as I’ve walked beside a number of people who have gone through a lot of suffering, they have told me how they have discovered God’s faithfulness in the midst of their suffering.
7. They have described how that they have become closer to God than they had ever been because of their suffering.
8. And for that reason they were thankful for what they had gone through.
9. God is faithful – we can count on Him.
D. The final thing we can conclude from our study of this passage is that God can use our suffering for good.
1. Suffering can do a lot of things to people – some good and some bad.
2. Suffering paralyses some people – they just get stuck and stop feeling or doing anything.
3. Suffering causes some people to become bitter – they become angry with God, angry at life and angry with everybody.
4. But in contrast to those two outcomes, suffering causes some people to become better and stronger.
5. And for some, suffering gives them an opportunity to minister in a way that they never could have before.
6. So many ministries have been born out of tragedy and pain.
a. Think of Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch – young Timothy had a dream of opening a ranch for troubled boys, but his life was tragically ended when he was hit by a car. His parents kept his dream alive by opening the ranch.
b. Think of Olphelia’s Place – the eating disorder clinic here in Liverpool. It was born out of Mary Ellen Clausen’s struggle to get help for her two daughters who suffer from eating disorders.
E. Although we cannot understand fully God’s ultimate intent in the tragic events of life, it is possible to trust God in every circumstance.
1. It is possible to let God use what has happened to us to bless us and others.
2. In Romans, Paul wrote: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)
3. King James Version reads: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
4. And the New Living Translation: And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
5. On New Year’s Day, 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “I believe God can and will bring good out of evil, even out of the greatest evil. For that purpose he needs men who make the best use of everything. I believe that God will give us all the strength we need to help us to resist in all time of distress. But he never gives it in advance, lest we should rely on ourselves and not on him alone. A faith such as this should allay all our fears for the future. I believe that even our mistakes and shortcomings are turned to good account, and that it is no harder for God to deal with them than with our supposedly good deeds.”
6. That bedrock faith enabled Bonhoeffer to endure his subsequent imprisonment and eventual death at the hands of the Nazis.
7. We too can experience and express that kind of faith.
F. Somerset Maugham, the English writer, once wrote a story about a janitor at St. Peter’s Church in London.
1. One day, a young, new appointed priest discovered that the janitor of the church was illiterate and so he fired him. He didn’t want any illiterates working for him.
2. Now jobless, the man decided to invest his meager savings into a tiny store.
3. The store prospered and so he bought another store.
4. The former janitor ended up with a chain of stores worth several hundred thousand dollars.
5. One day the man’s banker said, “You’ve done so well for an illiterate, but where do you think you would be if you could read and write?”
6. “Well,” replied the man, “I’d be the janitor of St. Peter’s Church in London.”
7. There’s no telling what good things can come out of the bad things that happen to us.
G. One of my favorite illustrations of the purpose of suffering is the illustration of the butterfly.
1. You’ve probably heard this illustration before, but it’s worth hearing again.
2. One day a man found a cocoon and thought he would watch the process of metamorphosis.
3. Several days later, he noticed that a small opening appeared in the cocoon.
4. He sat there for several hours watching the butterfly struggle to force its body through the little hole.
5. It seemed to stop making progress and appeared as if it was not going to be able to come completely out of the cocoon.
6. So the man decided to help the butterfly.
7. He took a pair of scissors and snipped the remaining bit of the cocoon.
8. The butterfly then emerged easily and the man felt good about what he had done.
9. However, something was strange – the butterfly had a swollen body and shriveled wings.
10. The man continued to watch the butterfly, because he expected at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body in flight.
11. Unfortunately, that is not what happened – the butterfly spent the rest of its short life crawling around with a swollen body and deformed wings, and was never able to fly.
12. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand, was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the small opening in the cocoon, are God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom.
13. It is the struggles in life that help us to become all that we can be for ourselves, others and God.
14. If God allowed us to go through all our life without any obstacles it would cripple us.
H. That’s why Paul wrote this statement later in 2 Corinthians: To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But 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. 10That 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 Cor. 12:7-10)
I. So how will we react to our suffering?
1. Will we allow it to cause us to reach out to God and learn to depend on God alone?
2. Will we allow it to teach us and grow us into the beautiful butterfly God wants us to be?
3. Will we allow it to become a way for us to minister to others?
4. Will we allow it to ultimately be our reason for praising God?
J. The apostle Paul did all those things in the midst of his suffering, and we can follow his example and do the same to the glory and praise of God.
Resources:
Paul for Everyone, 2 Corinthians, Tom Wright, Westminster John Knox Press, 2003
2 Corinthians, The NIV Application Commentary, Scott J. Hafemann, Zondervan, 2000
2 Corinthians, John MacArthur, Nelson Impact, 2007
“How Do You Respond During Times of Trouble?” Sermon by Paul Fritz, SermonCentral.com
“Every Scar Tells a Story” Sermon by John Harvey, SermonCentral.com
“God’s Purpose in our Ups and Downs” Sermon by Steve Shepherd, SermonCentral.com
