One of our pastors shared a story with me Thursday about a bittersweet moment that he experienced on Wednesday as he attended the funeral visitation of the mother-in-law of one of our former staff members. I wasn’t able to travel to the visitation myself but I have genuinely been praying for his family because I knew that this was the fourth death of a very close family member in three years…in fact, his mother-in-law passed away just days after his wife’s grandmother had died. One of our pastors was able to catch up on life and ministry and got to see his little boys that we haven’t see in a while, but when he offered his condolences to his wife on the passing of her mom, and to let her know how we have been praying on her behalf, she immediately responded with this statement. “It’s been so hard…but God has a purpose in all of it.”
Now, if you’re a Christian, and ESPECIALLY if you’re a pastor’s wife, this is what you are SUPPOSED to say. In fact, sometimes we say things like this so often that it becomes cliché. But not only did she say it with a resounding sense of joy, she then went on to specifically spell out how they have seen God’s purposes at work with some people actually coming to faith in Christ through her mother’s testimony in her final weeks of her life. And it was those tangible evidences of God’s purpose that brought her great comfort EVEN as she grieved the loss of her mother. “It’s been so hard…but God has a purpose in all of it.” And so this morning I want to ask you, do YOU believe this? That even in the midst of suffering and pain, that God has a purpose in all of it? Not in a cliché kind of way, but in a deep inner conviction that you will draw from on your darkest days.
This morning we are beginning a brand new series through the book of 2 Corinthians. And this morning, in the very first chapter, I want to encourage you with this truth – God really does have a purpose for your pain. As you are turning there, I want to give you a little bit of a challenge. As we begin this series, we want to encourage you to immerse yourself in the text by reading the entire book every week. If you do that math, that’s only two chapters a day for six days and one on Sunday.
In this series we’re going to explore the relationship the apostle Paul has with the church at Corinth…a church he actually started back in Acts 18. And this particular church is giving Paul fits. And Paul is now having to address the fact that they are abandoning some of the foundation truths upon which the church was built. In fact, they had started following some so-called “super apostles” who were flashy and gimmicky and preaching an eloquent, but false message. And these “super apostles” had to assault the character of Paul in order to clear the way for their own platform to teach a false gospel. And so Paul finds himself in a position where he has to defend himself to these people within the church.
2 Corinthians 1:1-11
[I’m just going to read the first three verses and we’ll read the rest of the passage in a few minutes.] 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.
Oddly, Paul starts his defense by directing people to the “God of all comfort” (verse 3). And since that’s an odd place to start, let’s look back at some contextual keys to what was going on for Paul at that particular moment. In fact, it’s always good to ask the Who, What, When, Where, and Why questions as we begin a new book study.
So Paul is with his understudy, Timothy. It’s roughly the year 55 or 56 AD meaning it has been about 25 years since Jesus’ resurrection. And when Jesus ascended into heaven, the global church had launched and local churches began to spring up all over Asia and Europe. And about three years earlier, Paul had started the church in Corinth (which was located on the European shores of Greece) and he spent nearly 18 months training the church leaders. After he left to continue to plant other churches, he writes them his first letter, and now he gets word from one of his partners named Titus that things were falling apart.
Now, if we go back to the book of Acts to trace the journeys of Paul as he started all these churches, we see that he probably wrote this letter from Philippi after he had to escape the region of Ephesus because a HUGE riot that nearly cost him his life. And now he gets word that people from Corinth are questioning his authority as an apostle because of his suffering and poverty…and he’s writing to let them know that these things are actually the very proof that he authentically represents the crucified and risen Christ. And so it’s against this backdrop of his OWN pain and suffering that he’s writing them to help them realize their errors and to convince them to return to the TRUE gospel. And in doing so, Paul starts off by giving us three principles about how God uses pain, like Paul was suffering, for his good purposes….
1. IN OUR AFFLICTION, GOD IS NEAR – vs 3-4a
Affliction was something that was on Paul’s appointment calendar most days, and maybe on yours too, so let’s define what it is. Affliction can be both physical and non-physical. Affliction is persistent pain or distress; great suffering. It’s hardship. Affliction is like squeezing grapes to make wine. There is something useful in the end, but in the moment, it’s no fun. Affliction is what ties knots in your stomach and keeps you up at night. It’s pressure and it’s stressful and it’s persistent. Most people spend considerable time dodging affliction, but God has a purpose in our affliction.
So Paul begins in verses 3 & 4 with a word of praise as he says, “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction…” Before Paul gets to any type of action steps, he begins with theology. Now some of you may hear the word theology and your first thought is BORING. But here’s why theology, (which is a fancy way to say “the study of God”) is so important. And here’s why it’s important – God’s character will sustain you when his activity confuses you. Let me repeat that. God’s character will sustain you when his activity confuses you.
Here are some theological truths that Paul highlights:
• God is the Father of Jesus. That’s pretty important.
• And God is also the Father of mercies – which means God does not give us what we really deserve. And what we really deserve is separation and death because of our sin.
• And Paul also tells us that God is the God of all comfort who extends comfort to us in our affliction.
Right off the bat, Paul is driving home this idea that God is not a distant God. He’s near. If you like big theological words, this is describing God’s imminence. The fact that he operates outside of earth’s normal limits (transcendence) can make us feel like he is so far above us. But his imminence means that he draws near to us. He is not a cosmic watchmaker who wound up the universe and then stepped away only to check back in occasionally. He’s not asleep at the wheel. In fact, he sent his own son to earth so that we could have a Savior who could identify with the very pain and suffering that makes God feel so far away.
The author of Hebrews says that it was necessary for Jesus to endure affliction so that he could help US when WE endure affliction. Later in Hebrews 4, he says this: "14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."
Here’s why theology is so important…because I need the weight of THESE truths to battle the heavy weight of my emotions. I don’t know about you, but God doesn’t always feel near to me. Sometimes he seems distant…and I get PAID to be spiritual. But if I’ve learned anything in the last two decades of my Christian journey, it’s that I can’t trust my feeling…because sometimes my feelings lie to me. Here are the first three words of most of the bad decisions that you will make in life: “I just felt…” But here are the first three words of WISE decisions: “God’s Word says…” And the truth of God’s Word reminds us that he is NEAR no matter HOW we feel. The late pastor Vance Havner said, “Don’t doubt in the dark what God has revealed in the light.” And in the darkest days of affliction, we cling to the truth that God is near to us as revealed by the light of his word.
So first, let’s move beyond the cliché. Paul reminds us that God is the God of all comfort. Okay, if I’m honest, that sounds at least a little cliché, and definitely a little mystical. So let’s ask a real life question. HOW? How does this happen? How does God use affliction to come near to me? How does this work? I am glad you asked. Let me just give you four (this is not an exhaustive list):
How does God comfort us?
• God hears us when we pray. Proverbs 15:29 | “The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.” If you are a Christian, the Bible says that you have been made righteous. And if this is true of you, God hears every single one of your prayers. He’s near. My daughter call me or her mother almost every single night. And I’m not gonna lie…there are nights when she stops and says, “Dad, are you even listening?” We NEVER have to worry about that with God. He comforts us by ALWAYS listening to us.
• Not only does he listen to his people, he dwells in his people! If Jesus is your Savior, God the Holy Spirit dwells in you and acts as comforter and counselor.
• He offers us promises from his Word. God’s promises are as sure as His character. There are literally thousands of promises in the Bible relating to God’s provision and his presence.
• He providentially puts people into our lives at just the right time to come alongside of us with comfort and encouragement, to remind us of truths we have forgotten and to teach us truths we have not learned.
And I am not minimizing anyone’s suffering, I am simply magnifying God’s character and activity in the midst of your affliction because fewer things cause us to battle unbelief than painful and prolonged suffering. In a phrase, suffering shouldn’t destroy your faith, it should refine it. And as your faith is being refined, God is actually doing something else in the midst of affliction…
2. IN OUR AFFLICTION, GOD EQUIPS US FOR MINISTRY – vs 4b-7
Last week we taught on the central priority of pastors to equip people for ministry. This passage tells us that God has a purpose in our pain to accomplish that same task…that through our suffering, God better equips us to minister to others. Let me read the next part of Paul opening remarks starting back in verse 3 (through 7).
"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort."
Paul is reminding us in these verses that there’s another purpose for our pain. Not only is pain meant for you to get really close to God and experience HIS comfort, you’re supposed to take the comfort YOU’VE received and give it away. You are comforted to comfort others. It’s saying, “I’ve been there, and I know how you’re feeling right now.” Retired pastor Rick Warren used to say that God will often use your greatest place of pain to become your greatest potential for ministry. I have two friends from the original campus that every year lead a Bible study called Grief Share…and their passion for helping others deal with grief comes from their own painful journeys of losing their own spouses decades ago.
But have you ever been around someone that was suffering terribly and you didn’t quite know what to say because you’ve never experienced anything like it. I’ve heard from people that have buried their children that it is the greatest pain a human can endure. But I’ve never experienced that. And we’ve ALL been there…unsure how to care for others, not sure how to respond.
But Paul helps us think this through too. The word “comfort” in the original language means “a calling to one’s side.” It’s that simple. Yes, there will be times when you’ve been through exactly what the other person is going through. But, even if you haven’t gone through exactly what another person is going through, you can still provide comfort. Paul says that you don’t have to be an expert…that you don’t have to have gone through the same circumstances…that you don’t have to have all the right answers.
Look at the middle of verse 4: "…so that you can comfort those who are in ANY affliction" (underline the word “ANY”). And the reason this is possible because of the very definition of the word comfort…by coming to one’s side. Your faithful presence is your best ministry. In their worst days, some people, because of the pain, will never remember the WORDS you said, but they’ll never forget that you were there.
And eventually, over a long period of faithful presence, you will have an opportunity to comfort them with a testimony of how God came alongside of YOU in your worst moments. That’s a part of the purpose of our pain – Paul is literally saying that God equips us for ministry by offering US comfort that we can later pass on to others…this is one of God’s purposes in your pain. Listen to verses 6 & 7 from the Living Bible Paraphrase: "But in our trouble God has comforted us—and this, too, to help you: to show you from our personal experience how God will tenderly comfort you when you undergo these same sufferings. He will give you the strength to endure."
God gives you the strength to endure so that your pain can be redeemed…and it’s redeemed when we comfort others who are weak from affliction. We ALL have been called to ministry…and one of the most needed forms of ministry is the ministry of comforting the afflicted. God equips you to do this by taking your greatest place of pain and using it as a platform for ministry. How awesome is our God!
There’s a strange thought that I want you to see buried back in verse 5: "For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too." We said earlier that Paul wrote this letter from Philippi, and about five years after he wrote this letter, he would write a letter back to the church at Philippi. And Philippians 3:10 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible: "I want to know Christ, and the power of the resurrection, and to share with him in his suffering." To be honest, when talking about the suffering of Jesus who was murdered on a cross, it almost seems sacrilegious, even sinful, to say that we share in HIS suffering.
But Jesus said in John 15:20: “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” Right before his own death, the Apostle Paul would tell his protégé Timothy that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus WILL suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). And what this actually means is that we, like Jesus Christ himself, will endure much suffering, but subsequently much comfort if we are truly following God.
Persecution is different in different parts of the world and in different eras of church history. In America, I think much of the suffering that we endure as Christians is being labeled as being intolerant or a bigot for preaching an exclusive gospel in a culture of radical inclusivism. It will come from holding fast to Biblical sexual ethics in a culture that is still being radically affected by the sexual revolution of the 1960’s. But to follow Jesus, which was HIS invitation in the gospels, is to agree to participate in suffering at some level. But the good news, church, is that God has a clear purpose in our pain. Our suffering is not punitive, it is redemptive. God is not moving AWAY from us in suffering, he is working inside of us.
The temptation in suffering is to run away from God, not towards him. And for this reason, I think we would all do well to memorize James 4:8 which says: "Draw near to God, AND (cause and effect) he will draw near to you." But the temptation is to run away in bitterness, or to run to the temporary comfort that idols offer. But in the midst of your affliction, when you run TO God, not only will he be near to you, he will equip you to help others, and according to verses 7-11, he will also do one other thing…
3. IN OUR AFFLICTION, GOD RESETS OUR HOPE – vs 7-11
"7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. 8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many."
One of the phrases we have said over the years is that “blessings can be more spiritually dangerous than adversity.” And the reasons we say this is because seasons of blessings can make us quickly forget just how dependent on Jesus we are. Paul is wrapping up this initial section of his letter and he briefly describes all the suffering that he’s been experiencing in Asia. He says that he and his companions were so burdened and afflicted that they despaired life itself…that dying felt like the better choice. They LITERALLY felt that God had given them a death sentence.
And here’s what they came to learn right there in the middle of their suffering. Look at verse 9: "Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead." During the worst moments of Paul’s life, when he was on the brink of death, he doesn’t rely on himself and he doesn’t rely on his companions. In the midst of what felt like a hopeless situation, his suffering FORCED him to set his hope on God. His suffering reminded him to focus on God’s resurrection power INSTEAD of his problems. Paul was LITERALLY saying that his affliction was a gift from God to reset his hope.
And church, anything that causes us to fix our eyes on Jesus is a profitable thing, even if it is a painful thing. Those in Christ experience comfort, not by avoiding affliction, but by going through it. John Bunyan, the author best known for writing Pilgrim’s Progress, once said: “In times of affliction, we commonly meet the sweetest experiences of the love of God.” Church, may this be our testimony—may this be YOUR testimony—as you draw near to God, that you would experience the sweetness of his comfort, and minister to those around you who are hurting.
