I Will Give Thanks
10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as 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.” 2 Corinthians 1:10-11 NIV
Intro: The Apostle Paul had visited the city of Corinth and had started a church there.
After he left to continue on his missionary journey
there was a lot of division in the church at Corinth.
He wrote several letters to them which became the book of 1 Corinthians.
One member was living with his step mother.
Some members question Paul Apostolic Authority
There were still some who practiced the pagan sexual rituals to Aphrodite.
Others wanted to isolate themselves from all outside influence like living in a monastery.
The problems and the conflict were not solved
The divisions were not healed
And less than a year later Paul visited Corinthians again.
That visit was very painful for Paul and it was very painful for the church at Corinth.
Paul talked about being disciplined and spiritual and not being puffed up.
To forgive and comfort those who were willing to make changes.
Even after his second visit things still did not get much better
and Paul planned to visit Corinth a third time
but he was not able and so he wrote the letters of 2 Corinthians instead.
In these early verses of 2 Corinthians chapter 1 Paul uses the words trouble, suffering, danger, death, or dying, at least 10 different times.
Paul says that he himself knows what it is like to be in trouble.
Paul explains that he has suffered in many ways.
Paul has often been in danger.
Paul has faced death many times.
He is no stranger to problems and conflict and difficulties.
So Paul is giving some advice to the church on how to get well spiritually and win the spiritual battles.
Paul does something here that makes him vulnerable.
I think we need to learn a lesson from Paul.
That it is ok to show our weakness when we are doing it to show others the strength of God.
Paul bares his soul and tells the church he loves them.
But then he says, you have not been trusting in the power of God
You are not turning things over to the source of help that you need to deal with your troubles.
You don’t have an attitude of dependence on God.
Problems are designed to drive us toward God not drive us away from God.
John Wesley was on his death bed when he said,
“Children, as soon as I am released, sing a Psalm of praise to God.”
Everywhere we go, in everything we do, in whatever state we are in,
let us sing a song of praise to the One who made us,
the One who sustains us,
the One who will see us through.
I have always felt sorry for people who are born in pessimism.
They look for the dark and gloomy side of life,
never able to do much of anything but grumble and criticize.
It is easy to have a disapproving spirit in our lives.
But we are not called to be critics, to be negative, or live in doom and gloom.
We are called to praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow.
There is story about two taxidermists who stopped at a window in which an screech owl was on display.
Immediately they began to criticize the way it was mounted.
Its eyes were not natural.
Its wings were not in proportion to the head.
The feathers were not neatly arranged
and the feet could be improved.
They looked at each other and said, “You know, whoever did this job didn’t do a very good one.”
As they continued their critique, the old owl turned its head and flapped its wings and flew away.
Learn this lesson: Praise God wherever you are!
No matter what your circumstance.
The Apostle Paul says: 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again.
On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,
God has delivered us before.
God will deliver us again.
We solve our problems by staying in touch with God.
We overcome our troubles by coming into the community fellowship in church and worshipping God.
We get better by accepting the altar as a place to repent, pray, receive forgiveness,
and to give our thanks and praise and worship God who is our help.
There is nothing better than knowing that no matter what I have to face,
No matter what I have to go through
The mountain may fall.
The waters may roar
My world may be shaken.
The danger may be all around us.
There is a refuge.
There is a safe place.
There is a sanctuary.
“I Will Give Thanks” because I know that this earth was not created by human hands.
I know that Christ the eternal lives in me.
I will Give Thanks.
That is what Paul is talking about.
In these same verses that use the words trouble 10 times
These same verses use the words comfort, mercy 10 times.
God will shower you with comfort
God is your benefit and salvation
We are confident even when suffering
God is our comfort
We expected to die but as a result we learned not to rely on ourselves, but on God who can raise the dead.
He delivered us from mortal danger
We are confident he will continue to deliver us.
He will deliver us into immortal life.
You are helping us by praying for us.
As a result many will give thanks to God.
You see when it comes right down to it
You can be broke and still give thanks
You can lose your job and still give thanks
You can find drugs in your kids room
and be concerned and be involved and ground them for the rest of their life. But you can give thanks.
So I searched through the bible to find out if this is really true.
And so I asked David when he was getting ready to fight Goliath
I said, really?
You are about to go up against the strongest mightiest man in the Philistine army.
Goliath is nine feet tall and has an armor that weighs more than you do.
David said, when a lion or a bear comes down to attack my flock of sheep
I take a stick and rescue the lamb from the mouth of the lion and I club the lion to death.
How? I can do it because I know the living God.
When David faced Goliath he did not face this giant alone.
Goliath came at David with a sword, a spear, and a javelin.
David came at Goliath with five stone and sling shot and the Lord Almighty.
How do you face your troubles?
I will face them in the name of the one who promises to comfort me.
I will be encouraged by the one who promises to deliver me.
God has delivered me before and when it is my time to die God will deliver me again.
For sixty-nine years Roy lived in an mental institution for mentally handicapped people.
Then a few years ago he was moved to the L’Arche Daybreak Community in Toronto, Canada
a place where the handicapped are treated with dignity and personal attention.
Many people thought Roy would not make the adjustment, but they were wrong.
Within weeks this exuberant, warm-hearted man had friends eager to take him fishing or out for a cup of coffee.
He delighted in the unlocked kitchen refrigerator, where he could have all he wanted to eat.
Roy could have been bitter for all those years of being confined.
Instead he found himself rejoicing in all that he discovered, becoming a delight to himself and others.
Trouble can either make us better of make us bitter.
I do know that it is not what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you
that makes the difference in the long run.
I do know that the stripes of Jesus and the nail prints of his hands are sources of comfort for the wounded soul. I want to take my suffering like Christ took his,
seeking every way possible to find something redemptive about it.
Don’t ever let a trouble go to waste. I know Christ didn’t.
Christ did not come to save us from suffering,
but he came to teach us how to bear our own suffering.
Paul later wrote the letter to the church at Phillipians chapter 3:10
“I want to know Christ,” said Paul.
I want to know Christ--yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death,
Not to know about Him
and not even to read the Bible
and not even to know some history about Him,
I want to know Him like I would know the most intimate friend of my life.
You and I are on a pilgrimage that will only get better as the years go by.
As surely as our birth ushered us into a brighter, better world,
so our death will transport us to an eternal home not made with human hands, eternal in the heavens.
Because of the resurrection of Jesus:
I plan to rise again.
Ain’t no power on earth gonna tie me down.
We are Christians, not because we are good, not because we are concerned,
and certainly not because we are nice,
though hopefully we are as decent as ordinary people.
We are Christian because we believe in God as God is made known to us in Jesus Christ.
To know Christ is to know God.
So with heart and soul and mind and life, let us determine to Give Thanks.
If you are breathing, you need to be praising God.
Let the women say praise the Lord – “I Will Give Thanks!”
Let the men say praise the Lord – “I Will Give Thanks!”
Let the choir say praise the Lord – “I Will Give Thanks!”
Let all who breathe praise the Lord – “I Will Give Thanks!”
If we could see how much God is Worth, His Power, His Might, His Endless Love, His Gracious Favor
The many prayers he has answered: Then surely we would never cease to say “I Will Give Thanks!”
