2 CORINTHIANS SERIES
Between a Rock and a Hard Case
2 CORINTHIANS 1:1-24
#2corandmore
PERSON FROM CONGREGATION READS 2 CORINTHIANS 1:1-24
READ 2 CORINTHIANS 1:1-24 (ESV)
“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, 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. 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. 12 For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— 14 just as you did partially understand us—that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you. 15 Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. 16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in Him it is always Yes. 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him. That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and Who has also put His seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. 23 But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.”
BACKGROUND OF 2 CORINTHIANS
The Book of 2 Corinthians is a letter that is only one part of an ongoing drama between the Apostle Paul and the Church in Corinth.
* It is a bit like checking in on a soap opera on TV after not watching for a while. We catch three or four episodes after having missed two seasons so we kinda get the gist of what is going on, but it can be confusing. Second Corinthians is kind of like that.
* It is a bit like starting an audio book in the middle of a series that you have read or listened to before. You know the main characters and some of the issues, but with the main plot of this particular story, you might be a little lost.
Let’s get a full view on what we are reading with 2 Corinthians. The church in Corinth during the Apostle Paul’s day was a troubled church full of hurting people in a city that was dedicated to immoral living. A simplified outline of Paul’s interaction with the Corinthians goes like this:
First Visit || Previous Letter || Timothy’s Visit || 1 Corinthians || Second Visit || Severe Letter || Titus’ Visit || 2 Corinthians || Third Visit
In 1 Corinthians (second letter to them overall), the Apostle Paul confronted them on all kinds of issues that Timothy had come to him and told him about. Think of Timothy has a tattletale if you want, but he reported to Paul, who started the church, that there were some big issues going on that needed correcting if the Corinthians were going to really follow Christ. They had divisions in their church, some immorality, were overrun with selfishness, and also doubt was a big issue. Unfortunately, after this letter, which we call “1 Corinthians,” the situation in the Corinthian church got worse.
Paul made what he called a “painful visit” to them to try and help. He also wrote a “severe letter” after that visit which we do not have in the Bible; to try to help them along in their faith. He later sent Titus to them to try and straighten out some issues which seemed to be effective. The atmosphere and direction started to change in their faith community for the better. Paul then sends what we are reading… “2 Corinthians” … when Titus comes back to him sharing what has transpired. Paul wrote 2 Corinthians before the three months visit that is recorded in Acts 19-20.
The Corinthian Christians have a tumultuous, but solid relationship with the Apostle Paul. He is the one to whom they go to for guidance in the Christian faith. He has sent Timothy, Titus, and others in his ministry to help them. He loves them. He wants the best for them. It is in this back and forth of leading and following, advice and life-change, that we have 2 Corinthians.
TRANSITION
We are going to plan to spend 13 weeks in 2 Corinthians as we focus on one chapter in this book each week for the next three months. This week is chapter 1. Next week is chapter 2. A great way to prepare for worship over the next few months would be to read ahead and be prepared for the Scriptures we will cover each week since you know the chapter we will be in each service.
What is our focus in chapter 1? I could not help but notice some obvious repetition of words in chapter one and so we are going to focus on 1:3-11 where Paul talks about being between a rock and a hard case. I want to re-read these few verses so they are fresh in our minds and the repetition of reading the Scriptures is good for us.
RE-READ 2 CORINTHIANS 1:3-11 (ESV)
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. 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.
THE ROCK AND THE HARD CASE
This passage from the Apostle Paul shows us that he is communicating to the Corinthians that he has been enduring a difficult season in his life. He mentions later in the chapter that he told them he would arrive for a visit, but has never come. He had not arrived to be with them because of this difficult season.
Notice the words Paul uses. He is not dealing with a splinter in his finger or a tooth ache, but rather an entire time of his life that has him upended in many ways. In verse 4 he uses the word “affliction” and in verse 5 he uses “sufferings”; repeating those words several times. In verse 8, he uses the word “burdened” and the phrase “despaired of life itself.” Verses 9 and 10 talk about “the sentence of death” and “a deadly peril.” When I see those words and those phrases, I get the sense that Paul’s life was very overwhelmingly difficult.
In verse 4, the word that Paul uses for “affliction” or “troubles” is a word that means “pressure.” It is the same word someone might use when they are crushing and grinding grain. In Paul’s day, grain would be put between two rocks and as the stone turned the pressure would crush the grain. That word came to be used for pressures people faced in life that were crushing. I noticed this about the words and thought that Paul felt like he was between two rocks being ground up into powder.
Because we do not know exactly what is going on with him, my thought was that Paul was between a rock and a hard place. Not knowing the situation, I then thought perhaps he was between a rock and a hard case. Lots of pressure. Life was grinding him down. Life was difficult.
This same type of language and image is used in Luke 22 in the life of Jesus during the last night of His life.
READ LUKE 22:39-46 (ESV)
And He came out and went, as was His custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed Him. 40 And when He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 And when He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
It may not be obvious at first why I mention this passage, but in this time in Jesus’ life He is about to be betrayed, falsely accused, and killed. That put much physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual pressure on Jesus. I want to remind you, which is why I mentioned this passage, where Jesus happens to be on this last night before all that happens. Jesus is on the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane. On the Mount of Olives, they did not just grow olives, but they processed them. “Gethsemane” means “oil press.” Olives are pressed to produce the oil. Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane is a perfect biblical image of pressure. Jesus was under intense emotional and spiritual pressure before the crucifixion. Just as olives are crushed to release oil, Jesus was crushed in sorrow, even sweating blood.
I feel like the intensity of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is similar to the language Paul is using in 2 Corinthians 1. Pressing. Pressure. Grinding. Difficulty. Life for us can at times be pressingly difficult.
Life can be grindingly difficult at times when you are caring for a loved one. You may feel like you are holding the world together for someone else. The emotional toll, the sleep deprivation, and even the medical decisions—all of it can feel like a heavy stone pressing on your chest, and there is often no relief.
Being crushed by debt or a financial crisis can weigh us down. Bills pile up. The car breaks down. We can't afford medicine. Each notice or call feels like another rock added to our back. We try to smile, but anxiety eats away every peaceful thought.
Whether it's a friend, spouse, or a family member, betrayal brings a pain that sits in the gut. Relationships can at times grind our hearts into dust. The weight of confusion, heartbreak, and disillusionment can feel suffocating and the more important the person the more suffering we feel.
Chronic illness or a chronic disability also weighs heavy on us. Waking up every day to pain or limitation wears us down. It's not just physical—there’s emotional and mental exhaustion too. It feels like trying to run a race with a boulder tied to our ankle while everyone else sprints ahead.
Unemployment brings not just financial stress but a loss of identity at times. We question our worth because many times our worth is tied up in what we do for a living. Each day without a lead or callback feels heavier; like a stone pressing deeper on our chest.
I can imagine that being a single parent without support grinds and grinds without any hope of it getting better. Trying to raise children alone, possibly working multiple jobs, and making every decision without help is relentless. We get exhausted, stretched thin, and feel invisible It’s like trying to hold up a collapsing wall with our bare hands.
There is also grief that doesn’t go away. When someone we love dies, the pain lingers. It may feel like the world has kept spinning but we are stuck under the weight of sorrow as the oil press just keeps on pressing. Even laughter feels distant or wrong.
Each of these represents different kinds of pressure you and I can face and I just scratched the surface of ways life can be difficult. We all, like Paul, can be overwhelmed emotionally, physically, or spiritually. We all can have the feeling of being between a rock and a hard case.
ILLUSTRATION… Pressure in My Life (p)
It could be because Kelly and I’s 27th wedding anniversary is next week or because I just officiated Matthew and Lindsey’s wedding last week, but I have been thinking about my first year in marriage. The word I would use to describe my first year in marriage is pressure. I could use other words, but I am in church and this is a sermon.
I felt intense grinding in my life during my first year of marriage because I worked from 6am to 10pm with no breaks and I could not make ends meet. I felt pressure because I had taken a semester off of school and I felt like I was letting God down and stepping away from my calling. I felt like I was trapped and suffering because I was not emotionally ready for marriage and I mistreated Kelly because of my immaturity. I felt stretched thin because I was away from the friend group to whom I had become accustomed. The weight of being an adult pressed on me and I did not handle it well. I wasn’t under a sentence of death, but I sure acted like much of my life was put to death when I married Kelly. My immaturity and inability to cope with the changes in my life have left permanent scars. My actions and words, if I dwell on them, still bring me shame.
When I think about the phrases and the pressure that the Apostle Paul was under, I think of that time in my life as well as other times that were overwhelming. Perhaps as I describe these things, you can remember a time like this in your life or perhaps you are in a grinding-pressing season right now.
TRANSITION
I am thankful for the Apostle Paul because he not only shares his struggle, but he also points out how he is coping with affliction”, “sufferings”, feeling “burdened” being under “the sentence of death” and “a deadly peril.”
Life is grinding Paul down, but he has comfort.
Life is pressing Paul down, but he has Someone to rely on.
Paul is between a rock and a hard case, but he knows the One in charge.
The Apostle Paul lays out very clearly that God is our comfort.
THE COMFORTER
In verse 3, Paul calls God the "Father of Mercies and God of All Comfort." This is not just a description or a title for God. It is a declaration of God’s nature. God is mercy. God is comfort. Paul begins with worship in these verses saying words that describe God. YHWH God is not just Someone Who gives mercy occasionally, but rather mercy flows from His very identity. YHWH God is not just Someone Who gives comfort occasionally, but rather comfort flows from His very identity. He is the source of all real and lasting grace.
ILLUSTRATION… Pope Francis, The Name of God is Mercy
In 2023, I read Pope Francis’ book, ‘The Name of God is Mercy.’ In it he says: “The fragility of our era is this: we don’t believe that there is a chance for redemption; for a hand to raise you up; for an embrace to save you, forgive you, pick you up, flood you with infinite, patient, indulgent love; to put you back on your feet. We need mercy.”
The Apostle Paul says that God is the source of the mercy we need.
In verse 4, Paul says that God “comforts us in all our affliction.” When I read that, I feel like Paul is saying that God meets us where we are at. God does not wait until we’ve cleaned ourselves up or the pressure eases, but is with us when the grinding is at its worst. He enters the affliction with us offering comfort during suffering. King David says this in Psalm 23 as well:
READ PSALM 23:4 (ESV)
“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.”
When I was reading and praying over this passage, in verse 9, the word “rely” jumped off the page and danced on my forehead. In verses 8-10, our grinding pressure and stress leads us to rely on God. I really wish God would relieve us of pressure and stress, but He does not. In fact, He rarely does. He didn’t for Jesus. He didn’t for Paul. He doesn’t for us.
What God does is give us His solid never-ending never-failing presence based on His mercy and comfort. For the Apostle Paul, God’s comfort came in shifting his reliance away from himself and onto God. Verse 10 repeats the word “deliver” three times.
RE-READ 2 CORINTHIANS 1:10 (ESV)
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.
God could leave us alone in our lives and leave us to chance, our choices, consequences, and the whim of other people. He could leave us alone, but He does not. Ever since the Garden of Eden He chases us down and offers mercy and comfort:
God send Moses to comfort His people and lead them from slavery in Egypt
God gives mercy to Israel even as they rebel and abandon Him frequently
God confronted King David through Nathan about Bathsheba and showed him mercy
God sent words of comfort though Isaiah that after judgment would come restoration
Jesus describes God the Father running to give us mercy in the Parable of the Prodigal Son
Jesus describes God the Father as a shepherd looking for lost sheep in His Parable of the 99
Jesus met Peter on a beach to offer comfort and mercy after he denied Him
Over and over again in the Bible in the Old Testament and in the New Testament we see God drawing near to us and offering mercy and comfort. He does this because, like the Apostle Paul says, He is the "Father of Mercies and God of All Comfort."
APPLICATION
How does the "Father of Mercies and God of All Comfort" do this for us?
God firstly offers mercy and comfort through his Word. The Bible contains verses offering solace and reassurance. Reading and meditating on these promises brings strength and hope. If you are not daily in the Bible, then you are cutting yourself off from the mercy and comfort that has already been offered. The Bible contains the very words, passion, love, and thoughts of the God of the Universe. Soak in the mercy and comfort in His divinely inspired words.
Part of His Word are the promises that He makes us. God is faithful to His promises including comfort and provision. The knowledge that God never leaves or forsakes His children and that He will work for our good offers hope and comfort.
God also offers mercy and comfort through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called the Comforter (John 14:16) on purpose. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, He dwells within believers as a permanent Helper to provide guidance, strength, and comfort. He helps believers in Jesus feel secure in God's love and reminds us of God’s shepherding mercies. I have often found that music and worship is a way to slow down and listen to the voice of the Spirit in my life. Mercy and comfort comes through worship and worshipping in the Spirit and in Truth.
God also responds to us with mercy and comfort when we pray to Him. Prayer is a conversation with God. Prayer is a back and forth way of communicating with YHWH God. Many times we just check in and give out laundry list of what we want and check out. That is not what I am talking about. That is leaving God a voicemail and hoping He checks His messages. I am talking about communicating with Him. Prayer allows direct communication with God, leading to a peace that surpasses understanding. Prayer takes time, effort, concentration, quietness, and intention. It is in meditation with God that He gives mercy and comfort.
God offers mercy and comfort through other believers. God can use other Christians to share His comfort and mercy. Sharing burdens and receiving encouragement from fellow believers offers support. Having a community around us that listens and prays is comforting. God can provide comfort through the actions of others.
His Word.
The Holy Spirit.
Prayer.
Others.
In these ways and so many more the "Father of Mercies and God of All Comfort" offers Himself to you and I when we are between a rock and a hard case. God does not leave us alone, but draws near and encases us in His love. I’d like to pray over us this morning as we close:
PRAYER / BLESSING
Gracious and Compassionate God: We come before You, resting in the shadow of Your wings, knowing that You are the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. I speak Your blessing now over this congregation—Your people. May the Lord bless you with mercy that renews each morning. When guilt rises, may His forgiveness meet you. When shame whispers, may His grace silence it. When the road is broken, may His compassion guide every step. May the Lord bless you with comfort that sustains. In seasons of sorrow, may His peace surround you. In moments of weakness, may His strength uphold you. In the valley of trouble, may His presence be your refuge. May you know the nearness of Christ, who is gentle with the weary and kind to the brokenhearted. May the Holy Spirit breathe life into dry bones, hope into the discouraged, and joy into those who mourn. And may you go in the confidence that you are never alone— for the One who comforts you also walks with you, and the One who shows you mercy calls you His own. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit—Amen.
INVITATION
