Gospel reading – Matthew 11:28
SERMON - Jesus came to comfort the Disturbed, and disturb the Comfortable.
One of the most well known verses in the Bible is Psalm 23 verse 4:
‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they COMFORT me’ and God does not only provide comfort in times of bereavement,
He is always there to raise us up when we are down.
One of the greatest things about the Christian religion
is that it gives comfort to its members,
because we believe that God is with us at all times,
giving us peace for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
This comfort comes to us by reading and believing the Bible,
the revealed and inspired Word of God.
The Bible is God’s way of assuring us of His steadfast love and support,
and His willingness to forgive,
no matter how far we have ‘fallen short’ of His moral standards
and failed to follow the teaching and example of Jesus,
providing we repent as the Prodigal Son did,
and return to our Heavenly Father.
God has spoken to mankind through kings and shepherds, fishermen and prophets, and most of all through His son,
and today He speaks to us through these printed pages,
which are brought alive to us, and to the situation we live in,
by the Holy Spirit,
the supreme Comforter
Who Jesus promised he would send.
The Bible contains many references to people being comforted
and I’d like to share some of them with you.
In 1st Samuel 17 David went to take food supplies to his brothers
who were serving in the Israelite army
and ended up facing a 9 feet high soldier called Goliath
who everyone else, the Israelite king Saul included, was afraid of.
Like any mortal David would have been afraid and afflicted
but God comforted and strengthened him so much
that he faced up to the enemy of Israel and killed him.
God’s word says that He can and He will help us to face up to our enemies
even a gigantic enemy.
Then we have the story of the prophet’s widow in 2nd Kings 4.
She was so desperately afflicted financially,
that her 2 sons were going to be taken and sold as slaves to pay her debts.
But Elisha knew that one of God’s names or titles is JEHOVAH JIREH –
God will provide.
He told her to borrow jars from her neighbours
and fill them with oil from the one little jar that she possessed,
and by a miracle of God’s provision,
the oil kept flowing from it
until she had filled every jar she could beg and borrow;
and she was able to sell the oil and pay her debts.
How she, and Elisha, must have praised the Lord for meeting her need.
God’s word comforts us with the promise
that Jehovah Jireh will provide for us in our situation
if we ask Him for what we NEED in the name of Jesus Christ.
The wise man Job lost his seven sons and three daughters,
thousands of sheep, camels, oxen and donkeys
and all his possessions and was physically discomforted by boils,
but never gave the devil satisfaction by turning away from God,
and in the end God comforted Job
and gave him a new family and more cattle and possessions
than he had in the beginning.
God’s word gives us comfort,
assuring us that whoever or whatever we lose,
He will fill that emptiness with peace and hope.
Isaiah 40 verse 1 says:
‘Comfort, comfort my people’, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for’,
and we believe that as Christians we are part of the new Israel,
so these words should comfort us also.
Our sins have been forgiven.
The Gospels contain many accounts of Jesus bringing comfort to people
who were suffering in many ways.
He made the lepers clean, and made the blind see,
the deaf hear and the dumb speak.
He made the lame walk, and brought back from the dead, Jairus’ daughter,
the widow of Nain’s son, and Martha and Mary’s brother Lazarus
after he had been dead for 4 days.
Chapters 14, 15 and 16 of John’s Gospel
contain what is called ‘The Last Supper Discourse’,
the last big speech that Jesus made before he was betrayed,
arrested, tried and crucified,
and in these 3 chapters Jesus comforted them
and told them not to be afraid
for he would be with them forever,
either in the flesh
or in and through the Holy Spirit.
They didn’t understand, then,
but they would on the day of Pentecost.
And in the Acts of the Apostles we can read of how God released Peter
from the discomfort of prison as a result of the first Christians’ prayers,
and of how Paul, sometimes in chains,
and once shipwrecked on a beach in Malta,
and once bitten by a poisonous snake, was comforted,
rescued and healed.
And many people over the last 20 centuries have recorded accounts
of how when they were afflicted and suffering, God brought them comfort,
and I am sure that many people here this morning
could testify to God being with them in their hour of need.
We could end the sermon here
and many would say that it was a ‘nice message
and thank God it is a true one,
for Jesus does bring comfort to those lean on his rod or staff.
But the Bible, the Word of God,
is described in Hebrews 4:12 as ‘a two-edged sword’
because it contains not only words that comfort the afflicted
but also words that afflict the comfortable.
You see, God wants us to be comforted,
but not to become so comfortable,
that we don’t need God or feel any desire to praise Him or thank Him.
The Bible definitely contains words from God
to comfort those who are suffering,
physically or financially, socially or spiritually, oppressed or weary,
but it also contains words to make uncomfortable
those who are too comfortable
because of their positions and possessions.
The Bible contains many accounts
of how “comfortable” people such as King David, were afflicted by God,
either deliberately, or by Him permitting it,
to ‘knock them off their pedestal’ and punish them for their pride or wrongdoing.
David sinned by falling in love with beautiful Bathsheba,
who just happened to be married at the time,
but who became a widow after David ordered her soldier husband
Uriah to be sent to the front line, where he was killed.
David was comfortable with Bathsheba and his other wives,
enjoying all the pleasures that this world had to offer,
until God sent Nathan to discomfort him
by telling him that God knew all about David’s sin,
and that if David did not repent
he would suffer both in this world and the next.
Fortunately, David did what was right
and God did forgive him and bless him
and He is willing and able to bless us
with comforts that this world cannot give, and cannot take away,
providing we do what is right,
and humble ourselves whenever we have done wrong.
In the book of Exodus we can read about how the Hebrews
having been led out of captivity in Egypt by Moses
showed very little appreciation for what God had done for them,
and moaned continually even when God gave them manna from heaven.
As a consequence, God allowed them to wander in the wilderness of Sinai
for 40 years, before allowing them to enter the Promised Land.
And people today are similarly warned
that if they don’t appreciate what God has done for them in creation,
and through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection,
and only use His name as a swear word
they will similarly suffer.
Yes, God is a God of love
but for the sake of His holy name and honour,
He will not allow Himself to be mocked.
In the Book of Daniel chapter 4 we can read the story
of the great and powerful Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.
One day, walking on the roof of his royal palace
he let being a great conqueror and ruler go to his head,
boasting to himself about his mighty power and majesty,
so God struck him with madness for 7 years, during which time
he would eat only grass and have the hair and fingernails of an animal.
The message is if we want to boast, we should boast of what God has done
and of the talents and blessings He has given us.
So, God gives us comfort through words like
‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’
but promises discomfort to those like the self-important, Saul of Tarsus
who oppressed the infant Church of God.
God afflicted him with blindness on the road to Damascus,
until he became a baptized believer.
The message of the Bible, contained both in the Old Testament and the New,
is that God comforts the afflicted,
but also afflicts those who are too comfortable.
What does this mean for us today?
It means that for those who are afflicted and suffering from illness,
unemployment, bereavement, loss, bullying at school or in the workplace,
or at the hands of a relative,
those suffering from debt or a neighbour-from-hell,
for those who are discomforted by famine, war or floods, THE LIST GOES ON –
that God knows, and cares, and does hear our prayers,
and He will act at the right time according to His plans and purposes.
And the message for those who are too comfortable,
secure in their bank balances, in their social contacts,
in their cupboards full of clothes,
in their latest model car or labour-saving gadget, is:
there is nothing wrong with these things, but they are only “Things”.
They cannot save us; and we can’t take them with us when we go.
It is much better to build up TREASURE IN HEAVEN.
So the full message today is that we should appreciate the comfort He brings
when we ‘are in the valley’,
and that we should accept the discomfort God sends
when we neglect to give Him first place,
and accept it with humility and even thanksgiving,
realizing that it is for our long-term good.
In closing let us pray that God will help us to find
what Aristotle called ‘The Golden Mean’,
the middle way between being comforted and being too comfortable,
and that with the help of the Holy Spirit we will follow it every day, in Jesus’ name,
Amen.
