MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(REVISED: 2017)
TEXT: Jeremiah 2:32; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 (J.B. Phillips)
ILL. In 1923 a terrible earthquake hit Japan. The Literary Digest declared, “History knows no disaster which parallels the earthquake & fire that visited Japan this month & laid waste its capitol city & the chief seaport.” (Sept., 1923)
Virtually every building in Yokohama was destroyed. Three-fourths of Tokyo was burned & the entire city with 5 million inhabitants was shattered by the earthquake.
The New York Times reported that the area of devastation covered 45,000 square miles, & included 5 major cities with a population of over 7 million. The New York Tribune called the earthquake ”undoubtedly the greatest disaster in recorded time.”
A joint survey by Herbert Hoover & the Red Cross estimated nearly 300,000 had died, & 2 1/2 million people were homeless. In the face of such an over-whelming catastrophe, despair gripped the entire island nation.
And it seemed certain that many of those who had survived the awful tremors, the gigantic tsunami, & the terrible fires would end up dying from starvation or disease. But they didn’t.
Why? Because help came – help from America for a devastated Japan! Food, clothing, medical supplies, & volunteer workers came by the shiploads. At a time when the dollar was worth a whole lot more than it is now, the American Red Cross collected $10,000,000 from the people of the United States to aid the suffering & homeless of Japan.
The Japanese people were amazed & grateful for our generosity. They even put their appreciation into writing. Walter Kiernan, correspondent for the International News Service, recalled their very words: “Japan will never forget!”
But Japan did forget! Just 18 years later, American aid & American ships of mercy were all forgotten as, on Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese planes, in an act of ultimate treachery, brought death & destruction to our nation, forcing us into a terrible world war for our own survival.
But the Japanese aren’t the only ones guilty of forgetting past mercies. In Jeremiah 2:32 God Himself cried out, “Does a maiden forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.”
And again, in Jeremiah 3:21, “…they have perverted their ways & have forgotten the Lord their God.”
Now in my earlier years as a preacher I would have been inclined at this point to point out how much we as a nation have forgotten God. We have received His blessings, & then ignored Him. And that is still tragically true!
The terrible events of 9/11, the Boston Marathon bombing, the San Bernardino shootings, the Orlando nightclub massacre, the targeting of police officers, irrational mobs rioting in the streets, smashing & burning - all this & much, much more, proclaim the pervasive presence of hatred in our nation.
I am convinced that if we ever needed God, it is now.
With that in mind, let's consider what Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 1:3-11. By the way, I usually read from the New International Version of the Bible. But this morning I want to use a Modern English translation by J.B. Phillips because I believe that it will be a little bit easier to understand.
In vs. 3 & beginning vs. 4 of the Phillips Modern English Version, Paul writes, “Thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He is our Father & the source of all mercy & comfort. For He gives us comfort in our trials…”
Now remember that word, “trials,” & listen to vs. 8 where Paul says, “We should like you, our brothers, to know something of what we went through in Asia. At that time we were completely overwhelmed, the burden was more than we could bear, in fact we told ourselves that this was the end.”
When we gather together we often give thanks to God for our families, that we have food to eat, a roof over our heads, clothing to wear, & freedom to enjoy it all. In short, we thank God for all the circumstances that make life so pleasant.
But the apostle Paul had few of these blessings. Instead, he endured trials, persecution, & suffering. Problems were overwhelming. Burdens were more than they could bear. In fact, he was convinced that he could be killed at any time.
But yet, without those things which cause us to be thankful, here is Paul, thanking God. Maybe we can learn something from him. For what was Paul thankful?
I. GOD, I THANK YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE
A. Paul begins his 2nd letter to the Corinthians with thanksgiving - “God, I thank You for Who You are – the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, & our Father, too.”
ILL. You have probably heard this quote before. It says, “One of the greatest biological miracles is that the idiot who married your daughter could be the father of the most beautiful & brilliant grandchild in all the world.”
But you see, the strange young man won your daughter’s heart. He loves her, & she truly loves him, & that makes a difference. So now he has a very special place in your family circle.
Isn’t it much the same with us? Jesus loves us & died for us, & if we return His love, we, too, can have a special place in His family circle. God becomes "our Father” too. And Paul says, “Thank you, God, for loving & including me.”
ILL. Kathy Hamm told this story: “For a thanksgiving assignment, my cousin’s daughter, who is in the first grade, was to draw something she was thankful for.
As the teacher collected the drawings, she saw that Rachel’s paper was blank. When she asked why, Rachel replied, ‘I wanted to draw a picture of God, but He was too big to fit on the page.”
B. Not only is God our Father, he is also our source of mercy & comfort. He is the one who gives us strength to face the trials, & gain the victory.
He gives the Holy Spirit to be our comforter – to be with us. And because He loves us, He is merciful & forgiving to us. For all that, Paul says, “God, I thank you.”
II. GOD, I THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR ME
Then Paul goes on to say, “God, I thank You for What You have done for me.” Just a few moments ago we read in vs. 8 where Paul said, “…we were completely overwhelmed, the burden was more than we could bear, in fact we told ourselves that this was the end.”
But amazingly, Paul actually thanks God for those trials. In vs’s 9 & 10 he says, “We believe now that we had this experience of coming to the end of our tether so that we might learn to trust, not in ourselves, but in God who can raise the dead.
"It was God who preserved us from imminent death, & it is He who still preserves us.”
ILL. One day a woman was rushing home from a doctor’s appointment. The doctor had been somewhat delayed at the hospital, & the lab work took a little longer than usual. So by the time she left the clinic she was running quite a bit behind schedule.
She still had to pick up her prescription, get the children from the babysitter, go home & make supper, all in time to make it to the choir practice at her church that evening.
As she began to circle the busy Wal-Mart parking lot, looking for a space, the windows of heaven were opened, as it says in Genesis, & a downpour began. While she wasn’t usually the type to bother God with small problems, she began to pray as she turned down the row closest to the front door.
“Lord, you know the kind of day I’ve had, & there’s still an awful lot to do. Could you please grant me a parking space right away, oh, & close to the building so I don’t get soaked.”
The words weren’t even completely out of her mouth when she saw the backup lights of a car come on at the end of the row. It was the best space in the whole parking lot, right next to the handicap spots & close to the front door.
She made straight for it, & as she pulled in, she said, “Never mind, God, something just opened up.”
That may be a rather corny story, but how many times do we ask God for something, & then when we receive it, we behave as though it was just a coincidence, & we fail to give God credit where credit is due?
You see, it is so easy for us to get to the place that we rely almost completely upon ourselves – upon our strength, our abilities, our possessions.
We need to hear again this warning found in James 4:13-15, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow, we shall go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business & make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.
'What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while & then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live & do this or that.’”
III. GOD, I THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU ARE DOING THROUGH ME
Now what is on Paul’s thanksgiving list? “God, I thank You for Who You are.” “God, I thank You for What You have done for me.” And then he adds, “God, I thank You for What You are doing through me.”
A. 2 Corinthians 1:4 says, “He gives us comfort in our trials so that we in turn may be able to give the same sort of strong sympathy to others in their troubles…”
Vs. 6 says, “This means that if we experience trouble we can pass on to you comfort & spiritual help; for if we ourselves have been comforted we know how to encourage you to endure patiently the same sort of troubles that we have ourselves endured.”
ILL. Many years ago I was in a terrible automobile accident, & I heard the doctor who examined me say to another doctor, “He’ll never make it.” I’ve learned what it is like to be on an examining table & wonder, “Is this it? Am I going to die?”
Well, it’s obvious that I didn’t die. But I also learned what it is like to spend days in ICU, & weeks in hospital rooms. I’ve learned what it is like to feel pain & be absolutely helpless to do anything about it.
ILL. I also learned what it is like suddenly to lose someone you love when my father was killed in an airplane crash. And I watched in helplessness & sorrow as my mother gradually wasted away with Alzheimer’s. For 7 years before her death she didn’t say a word, or give any sign of recognition.
So now I can begin to understand what Paul means when he says, “God, I thank You for the trials. I thank You for the suffering. Because now I can pass on to others the same comfort that I received from You.”
God, You have helped me, encouraged me, strengthened me. And I will do my best to give the same kind of help & encouragement & strength to others.
ILL. Sadhu Sundar Singh is a former Hindu who became a Christian. Late one afternoon Sadhu was traveling on foot through the Himalayas with a Buddhist monk.
It was bitterly cold & the wind felt like sharp blades slicing into Sadhu’s skin. Night was fast approaching & the monk warned Sadhu that they were in danger of freezing to death if they didn’t reach the village before darkness fell.
While walking on a narrow path along a steep cliff, they heard a cry for help. Down the cliff lay a man, fallen & badly hurt. The monk looked at Sadhu & said, “Do not stop. The gods have brought this man to his fate. He must work it out for himself.” Then he quickly added, “Let us hurry on before we perish, too.”
But Sadhu replied, “God has sent me here to help my brother. I cannot abandon him.” Shrugging his shoulders, the monk continued trudging off through the whirling snow, while Sadhu clambered down the embankment.
The man’s leg was broken & he couldn’t walk. So Sadhu took his blanket, made a sling of it, & tied the man on his back. Then, bending under his burden, he began a body-torturing climb. By the time he reached the narrow path again, he was drenched in perspiration.
Doggedly, he made his way through the deepening snow. It was all he could do to stay on the path. But he kept on, faint with fatigue & overheated from the exertion of carrying the man. Finally he saw the lights of the village ahead.
Just then, Sadhu stumbled & nearly fell over an object lying in the snow-covered road. Slowly he bent down & brushed away the snow to discover the frozen body of the monk, lying dead in the snow. The monk had almost made it. But Sadhu, in putting forth the effort to save someone else, had ended up saving himself, too.
CONCL. Now what about us? And how about you? Can you join in with the Apostle Paul & pray, “God, I thank You for Who You are, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, & for accepting me into Your family.
"I thank You for Your mercy & comfort. I thank You for what You have done for me, & I thank You for what You are doing even now through me. I thank You, & I praise Your holy name.”
INVITATION
