THE MINISTRY OF COMFORT
One of the hal1marks of a true Christian is that he or she can praise God even in times of adversity. This is illustrated no better than in the life of the Apostle Paul. It’s a keynote of his second letter to the church at Corinth. In the opening verses he delivers a great doxology or thanksgiving to God: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows" (1:3-5).
The Corinthians were quick to believe and to evangelise but they were slow to develop. They were Paul’s children in the faith, and like most children, they brought caused him heartache as well as joy. In reading Paul’s letters to them it’s like eavesdropping on someone else’s private correspondence. I suppose that all of us at some time or other have wished we might have been "a fly on the wall" to witness what went on in a meeting we weren’t permitted to attend. Well, it would have been fascinating to have been present as Paul discussed the situation at Corinth with Timothy his younger colleague, and especially with Titus when he reported back to the Apostle on the state of the church as he’d found it. No-where does Paul open his heart to his readers so completely as he does so in his letter.
News had reached Paul of the mixed reception of his first letter. There were those Christians at Corinth, a majority of the church, who had genuinely repented of sin, sadly present in the church and had dealt with it thoroughly, but there was a minority who challenged Paul’s authority, suspected his motives, and even questioned the validity of his ministry. A fly on the wall of Paul’s study would have witnessed a disappointed and hurt pastor. Paul refers to the episode as a "painful" one but the message that shines through is his resilience, his ability to bounce back. Later on in the letter he was to write in utter frankness of the fierceness of the spiritual battle which spilled out into his physical life as well: "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (4:8,9).
Someone has summarised the experience Paul had as "blessings out of buffetings". He had a strength that went beyond his own resources. What was his secret? It was his inner relationship with God. That’s why in even the most trying circumstances he could lift up his heart in praise to God. The
word "comfort" is repeated five times and so it was full of meaning to him. We can think of it in terms of the:
SOURCE OF OUR COMFORT
When a Christian is in trouble and distressed, when he or she is experiencing heartbreak of one kind or another, from where does true comfort come? Is it from the enjoyment of privilege or position or possessions? No it’s not. When real comfort is needed, these things count for little. The Apostle tells us that the source of true comfort is God. He’s "the Father of compassion and God of all comfort." God himself is our comforter, and there’s no comfort apart from him. How very wonderful this is. When the Christian is troubled and tried, God himself - the triune God - comes and stands by him. God is revealed in the Scriptures in three persons and all three are described as being engaged in this ministry of comfort.
When it comes to the vital role of comforting and sustaining the people of God, Paul sees God not only as our creator, but also as "our Father". The term "Father" shows a more intimate and tender relation-ship. Jesus spoke of the Father as knowing what our needs are (Matt 6:32), while the Psalmist confirms, just "as a Father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him" (103:13).
Paul describes him as "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Until Jesus came in the flesh God’s revelation of himself was incomplete and hard to understand, but now we know God as he’s disclosed in his Son. Jesus told Philip, "anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). Paul was writing to the Corinthian believers probably not more than 20 years after the ministry of Jesus. They would have a rich collection of the stories of Jesus’ actions on Earth, of his ministry of healing and deliverance. They would have many examples of his tender, loving, compassionate, sympathetic, acts to those in need, of how he was always ready to stand by those in trouble.
But we too, although separated in time by nearly 2,000 years, have the Gospel records to build up our faith in God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He’s the one who stood by the grieving Martha and Mary at the loss of their brother. He’s the one who was touched with compassion at seeing the sad funeral procession at Nain. The Gospel record says: "His heart went out to her; and he said ’Don’t cry’" (Luke 7:13). This is what God is like. He’s the God of all comfort, our Father, who stands by us.
One of the most moving passages in English literature comes towards the end of Charles Dickens’ "Tale of Two Cities", a story of the French revolution. Each day there was a grim procession through the streets of Paris, of prisoners on their way to the guillotine. In one of them was Sidney Carton, a brave man who had once lost his soul but had now found it again and was now giving his life for his friend, and beside him there was a young girl. They had met before in the prison and the girl had noticed the gentleness and courage of the man’s face. She said to him "If I may ride with you will you let me hold your hand? I am not afraid, but I am little and weak, and it will give me more courage." So they rode together, her hand in his; and when they reached the place of execution there was no fear in her eyes. She looked up into the quiet composed face of her companion, and said "I think you were sent to me by heaven". In all the dark valleys of life, God our Father, the God of all comfort, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, is at our side.
Paul’s life as an apostle of Jesus Christ meant that he was sent into the front line of the battle for the souls of men. The enemy had thrown all he could against God’s servant and many a time he had been utterly cast down and exhausted, but he could testify of his personal experience that God, our Father, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, was the source of comfort. But he has more to share as he tells us of the:
SUPPLY OF OUR COMFORT
When Jesus was taking leave of his disciples he was at pains to assure them that he wouldn’t leave them comfortless. He would send them another Comforter, another helper - the Holy Spirit. He’s the Executive of the Trinity. In religious denominations there’s often an executive council whose specific responsibility is to carry through the provisions of the constitution and the decisions of the annual conference. To enable the council to do this, considerable power and authority is entrusted to its members, specially chosen and trusted ministers. This is even more so in thinking of the work of the Holy Spirit. He’s the Third Person of the Trinity, part of the Godhead. It’s he who ministers this supply of our comfort. The illustration I gave of the executive council, like all illustrations, is rather imperfect, because however good the intentions of the council may be, they must be frustrated on many occasions by their inability to carry out all they want to, perhaps because of lack of resources. But the Holy Spirit, as a supplier of our comfort, is different. He’s all-powerful, he is God.
Isn’t it encouraging to know that the supply of our comfort, as far as its quality and origin is concerned, is divine not human? Because it’s a divine supply it’s dependable, unfailing and always available. In times of extremity human aid can fail, not necessarily because others fail us, or we fail them when in need, but simply because some needs are beyond human aid. How helpless we feel to help others, to comfort them and stand by them in their time of trouble. But God is never helpless. Hear the testimony of the writer of Lamentations - he’s mourning the destruction of Jerusalem and its aftermath of ruin and exile of the people to Babylon and yet there’s a note of trust in God and hope for the future. The writer confesses he’s utterly depressed and broken in spirit, yet he says "Because of the Lord’s great love … his compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness" (3:22,23).
Paul stresses that not only is the supply of our comfort divine in origin, it’s a sufficient supply. He’s the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles. Here’s a cast-iron guarantee of a sufficient supply - it’s a supply matched to our needs, whatever they may be. Paul had personal experience of life’s ills - suffering, bereavement, loneliness, illness, fears, anxiety and pressure of all kinds. He confessed quite freely that they were far beyond his ability to endure, to the point when he despaired of life itself. In fact, he actually felt as though he was condemned to death. It seems as if a black-ness and a darkness were trying to crush the very life out of him. It’s an experience that most Christians will be able to identify with at sometime or other. But Paul is able to say, "We do not loose heart." He can say this because he’d found that Christ was his sufficiency. It’s not that Paul was delivered and freed from his problems, but rather that in his tribulation he found God’s comfort and sufficiency, so much so that he could write, "In all these things God works for good with those who love him" (Romans 8:28).
The story is told of a former world chess champion player who was taken by a friend to see a picture which had been hung in a famous art gallery, and which had attracted much interest. The artist had portrayed a young man sitting despairingly at a chessboard, while opposite him sat the devil with a look of malicious triumph on his face. The title of the picture was a single expressive word: "Checkmated". For a long time the champion player stood before the picture, his brow furrowed by concentration. Suddenly his voice rang out in the art gallery: "Bring me a chessboard. I can save him yet!" Sure enough, the mastermind had discovered the way out. And just as surely Christ can give victory to the person who will trust him implicitly. Naturally speaking, there may not seem to be a way out, but never limit God for he’s the supply of our comfort.
Paul has identified the source of our comfort, in God our Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has told us very encouraging things as to the supply of our comfort, how it’s a divine supply and a sufficient supply, but he still has another important point to make - it concerns the:
SHARING OF OUR COMFORT
God has a purpose in all that he does. He has a very clear purpose in providing his people with comfort - it is, Paul writes "so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows." What he’s saying is this: God stands by us in our tribulation so that we may be qualified to stand by others in their tribulation. Someone has put it very well: "God does not comfort us to make us comfortable but to make us comforters".
Paul is speaking about a painful experience he’d suffered. It might be the hurt he received from some of the Corinthian believers who refused to accept his authority as an apostle or possibly the physical hardships that he had endured so often in the course of his travelling ministry as a pioneer evangelist. It could be the thorn in the flesh that he found so frustrating. He doesn’t specify the nature of his affliction - perhaps it was a combination of all the varieties of adversity that assaulted his body and spirit. What’s clear is that he links them to the sufferings of Christ being shared by him.
The heart of the Gospel is the message of the Cross. It’s that God’s Son suffered for the sin of the world. All the accumulated evil in the universe was heaped upon our Saviour and on Calvary he made atonement in laying down his life as God his Father required. It seemed a defeat, but in fact was a great victory for we know that the Father raised Jesus from the dead. This principle still holds good. Sharing in the sufferings of Christ is one of the mysteries of our faith. It isn’t that we can make any contribution whatsoever to our salvation or for anyone else because Christ’s atonement alone is sufficient. No one can add one iota to that sacrifice. Jesus cried out from the Cross, "It is finished". But there is a suffering in which we are called upon to share. Paul calls it "the afflictions of Christ" (Col 1:24).
These are the privations, pain and heartache caused by the world’s opposition to Christ. This suffering is something which will continue until evil is utterly put away at the end of the world. Christ experienced it first personally and then by his followers in the building up of his church. Painful experiences are hard to understand, but what’s quite clear is that Jesus is with us in every situation so that what-ever comes will be for our spiritual development and that of our fellow believers.
The blessings we receive, the comfort granted to us in times of difficulty, are entrusted to us as a ministry to be a source of blessing to others. God has willed it that his people should be part of the great struggle between good and evil but he hasn’t left us without help. He has revealed himself as "the God of all comfort ... who comforts us ... that we may be able to comfort others." He’s the source and supply of this comfort and he calls on us to be willing to share in its ministry.
"Comfort" is something we naturally long for - security, fulfilment and safety. The essence of the Christian life is that we sometimes have to leave our "comfort zone" in order to grow spiritually and to help others. But whatever comes our way we can be sure that God is with us. He’s the "God of all comfort".
