Untitled Sermon (29)

Comfort That Conquers Your Crises

INTRODUCTION E. Stanley Jones (1884–1973), Methodist missionary to India during the first half of this century and prolific writer, made an intriguing statement in his autobiography.

He spoke of a time of difficulty in his life when despair threatened him.

Then he explained what saved him from that despair. He wrote, “I got hold of a principle and a power that was to be a very central and driving force in my life.

I wouldn’t just bear opposition and difficulties: I would use them.”

That was a defining moment in E. Stanley Jones’ life, the moment when he decided how to respond to trouble.

Since trouble comes to all of us (as the old quip puts it, “Everyone either is a problem, has a problem, or lives with one”), a defining moment for each of us is the moment when we decide how we are going to respond to trouble.

We can learn some lessons from the apostle Paul for he too was confronted by trouble, not just the common problems of every day life but a problem so serious it threatened his very existence.

He described this problem in verses eight and nine.

The significance of the event for Paul is evidenced by the opening phrase in verse 8: “for we do not want you to be unaware.”

Or as the KJV puts it, “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant.”

Paul used that phrase six times in his letters.

In every case, the phrase introduced a point Paul wanted to emphasize.

It was like ringing a bell or blowing a whistle.

It meant, “This is something important!” Paul said.

“I want you to know about my trouble.”

What was this trouble to which Paul referred?

Actually, we don’t know what this trouble was.

The text implies only that it was recent and that it was severe.

The severity of it is seen in the phrases used in verses 8 and 9.

Paul said that because of this trouble “we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength” (v. 8).

This phrase pictures a beast of burden which had such a heavy load packed on it that it could not move.

At the end of verse 8, Paul said, “we despaired even of life.”

The Greek word translated “despaired” means to be put in a position from which an exit is totally unavailable and from which there is apparently no way out.

In verse 9, Paul added that “we had the sentence of death in ourselves.”

A contemporary expression of that phrase is, “I came to the end of my rope.”

Paul had totally exhausted his own resources. Death seemed to be the only way out.

If you have ever had an experience when your load seemed so heavy you could not move,

if you have ever been put in a predicament from which there seemed to be no escape, if you have ever come to the end of your rope, then you need to hear what Paul had to say.

Paul reminded us that we have a resource in those times of trouble.

And then he explained what happens when we draw on that resource.

The Resource

Paul began with the good news that we do have a resource when trouble comes.

Where can we turn in the midst of trouble?

Peace comes not from the absence of trouble, but from the presence of God.

Jesus clearly cares for his disciples. He sees their distress and comes to them during the darkest part of the night, when they are having trouble in the deepest part of the lake.

Our clue comes when we see the difference between the usual greetings of Paul’s letter and this greeting to the Corinthians.

To the Romans (1:8), to the Ephesians (1:15–16), and to the Colossians (1:3–4)

Paul began his letter with an expression of gratitude for the ones to whom he wrote.

But in this letter to the Corinthians, he began with an expression of gratitude to God, for God is the one who delivered him from his trouble.

Paul began in verse 3 by calling God “the Father of mercies,”

• father in the sense that the mercies came from Him,

• mercies in the sense that God’s characteristic way of relating to us is merciful.

Then, in the last part of verse 3, Paul called God the “God of all comfort.”

Comfort is the key word in this passage. In one form or another, this word appears 10 times in verses 3–7.

And Paul related the word to God.

“God is the one who comforts us,” Paul said.

“He is our resource when trouble comes.”

Notice the comprehensive scope of this resource in verses 3–4.

God is “the God of all comfort” (v. 3) who brings comfort in “all our tribulations” (v. 4),

when we are “in any trouble” (v. 4).

When trouble comes, we have a resource.

We can turn to God, for He is the great comforter.

Here is the promise of God’s Word.

We will never face any trouble from which or through which God cannot deliver us.

Based on his own resources, Paul knew he could not win.

Based on the resources of God, Paul knew he could not lose. That’s good news.

The Result

But Paul develop the subject further.

When trouble comes and we turn to God as our resource for help, what is the result? Notice several things in our text.

The first result which comes when we turn to God in our time of trouble is COMFORT.

Look at verse 4. Paul blessed God because He is a God “who comforts us in all our affliction.”

A retired pastor, looking back on his long ministry, divided it into three phases.

During the first phase the people of his congregation were in the river and he was on the bank telling them how to get out of the water and up to the bank where he was.

In the next phase, he was on the edge of the bank reaching down and out to help the people get up on the bank where he was.

In the last phase, after difficult inner struggles, he realized he was in the river with the people.

They were holding him up, and underneath them all were the everlasting arms of God.

If we look closely enough and deeply enough at every trouble we have faced, we will see underneath us and those with whom we share life the everlasting arms of God who brought deliverance.

Sometimes God delivered us from our trouble as He did for Jesus that day the crowd wanted to stone Him.

Sometimes God delivered us through our trouble as He did Jesus at Calvary.

When we turn to God in our times of trouble, He will bring comfort.

The second result which comes when we turn to God in times of trouble is a COMMISSION.

God “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.”

God’s comfort comes to us not to make us comfortable but to make us comforters, not to make us safe from our troubles but to make us sensitive to the troubles of others.

A man in a friend of mine church who was under treatment for cancer called his Pastor.

He asked him if I knew of anyone who was going through what he was going through, he would be glad to talk to them.

He had learned some things as he had gone through his treatments and he thought he could help someone else.

That’s what Paul was talking about in our text.

The experience of God’s comfort in our lives will in turn make us comforters of others.

The third result which comes when we turn to God in a time of trouble is CONFIDENCE.

Confidence radiates from verses 5–7.

Paul assured the Corinthians in verses 5–6 that God’s comfort is abundant.

It will greatly comfort you if you can see God’s hand in both your losses and your crosses.

In fact, the greater the problem, Paul implied, the greater the comfort.

When Isaiah says to us, “Be comforted!” it is not a word of pity but of power. God’s comfort does not weaken us; it strengthens us. God is not indulging us but empowering us. “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”

This confidence grew out of the experience with God’s comfort in his own life.

When Corrie Ten Boom was placed in a concentration camp during World War II she was afraid.

However, she came out of that experience with a confident faith that was never afraid again.

Why?

Because she discovered in that experience that, no matter how deep the suffering, God’s love was deeper still.

When we have experienced the comfort of God in some difficult time, it gives us confidence to face whatever life has to offer.

The fourth result which comes when we turn to God in trouble is COMMUNITY.

This sense of community is beautifully described in verse 11: “For much thanks and praise will go to God from you who see his wonderful answers to your prayers for our safety!” (TLB).

In January, 1966, a ground rescue party reached Captain Thomas D. Smith of Dallas and three other survivors of a crashed C-47 transport plane in Southern Greece.

They spent nearly 48 hours in the fuselage of a plane at the top of 7,6300 foot Mt. Helmos as a blizzard howled outside.

Though near freezing when they were found, they survived.

Captain Smith described what happened.

He said that he found some parachutes and packed them around him.

Then, he and another officer, cuddle each other like mother and child until our hands and feet were warm.”

By sharing with each other the warmth of their bodies, they lived through their freezing ordeal.

When we come together with others in the midst of trouble, not only does it help us make it through.

It also deepens our relationships with each other.

Community is both a resource for and a result of our trouble.

Conclusion

Will trouble come to our lives? You bet it will.

For most of us, it already has.

To whom do we turn when trouble comes? As a Christian, we turn to God.

What happens when we turn to God?

First, He delivers us from or through our trouble.

Then, He provides opportunities for us to be comforters to others.

Then, He creates a sense of confident assurance that all is well when our lives are in His hands.

Then, He draws us together in a fellowship with other Christians so that we can support and strengthen each other.

We also experience God’s comfort by caring for others even when we are in the midst of suffering.

That’s why E. Stanley Jones said, and why each of us as Christians can say, “I will not just bear my opposition and difficulties.

I will use them.”