Comfort From Suffering

Intro

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

As I sat down and began to pray about what I was bgoing to present today, I felt the Lord leading me to search for scriptures on prayer and specifically to the passage we will be focusing on today. But as I read the passage and began to study it more in depth, the context began to lean in a different direction. To be sure, this message today should encourage us to pray more and to pray for one another, but the ultimate focus of the passage is about the contrast of comfort and suffering. We experience suffering and hardships at various points in our lives, and we search for comfort, but the real question is where are we searching? Are we looking for human comfort… comfort that will help us bear with our present circumstances, or are we looking for a greater comfort that only God can give… and often gives through the church!

Human comfort and divine comfort are of different natures: human comfort consists in external, visible help, which a man may see, hold, and feel; divine comfort only in words and promises, where there is neither seeing, hearing, nor feeling.

Martin Luther (Founder of the German Reformation)

There are significant differences between human comfort and divine comfort. We like to pursue comfort… a comfortable couch in a comfortable house in a comfortable neighborhood. We like a comfortable bed with comfortable pillows and a comfortable blankets. We use air conditioning and heaters to have a comfortable temperature in our homes and cars. We like comfortable clothes, shoes, etc… But while soft and luxurious feeling possessions might bring physical comfort, I think we all know deep down that there is a spiritual comfort that we need to. Those who mourn know the need for comfort beyond the physical.

But the thing with spiritual comfort is that it is not supposed to be the end result. It is a step on a journey to something greater.

God does not comfort us that we may be comforted but that we may be comforters. —Alexander Nowell

Alexander Nowell

When we receive divine comfort, whether directly from God, or through His church/body, we benefit from it in the moment, but that benefit extends beyond the immediate circumstances and it becomes a part of your story that you can then share with others who need that comfort too. But we have to be intentional about what kind of comfort we seek. C.S. Lewis talks about finding comfort in the pursuit of truth but cautions us that we need to set our sights on the right thing or we might miss the whole thing.

If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth—only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.

C. S. Lewis

He also cautions us about what kind of comfort to ask our Heavenly Father for.

It is quite useless knocking at the door of heaven for earthly comfort; it’s not the sort of comfort they supply there.

C. S. Lewis

We need to consider how God is the only one who can bring true comfort out of suffering. And He does it in unique ways. Prayer is central to our existence as Christians and it is a primary way through which God communicates to us. Additionally, the Christian community to which we belong (a.k.a. the church) is directly involved in our connection with God. And it is the Holy Spirit who dwells in us that enables us to have a positive impact on those around us to be able to comfort one another with that divine level of comfort that we need.

Blessings of Comfort

2 Corinthians 1:3–5 “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 so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.”

The introduction to Paul’s letter sounds like a general blessing like what you might read at the beginning of any of Paul’s letters, and yet if you are looking, it you will notice that Paul uses the opportunity of the greeting to teach his readers about blessings.

Paul talks about blessing God, in an almost Triune manner (remember that the doctrine of the Trinity would not be fully fleshed out and named until after the completion of the New Testament). But in calling for blessings to God, Paul acknowledges that blessings also come from God.

In our prayers, how many of us remember to thank the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort? We would do well to add these items to our daily prayers.

Paul starts right away by trying to get his readers to understand that afflictions and sufferings need not be seen as completely negative. Just as he starts off with a note of blessings, mercies and comfort, he quickly transitions into the more negative things, but not to dwell on the negative, but rather to find opportunity to turn to God for comfort and for blessings to arise out of the afflictions.

Notice that Paul is not shy of pointing us to Christ as the ultimate example. Christ came as God incarnate and He did not shy away from the afflictions, rather it was in a way, His ultimate mission to fully wade through them. That is all part of how He took upon Himself the punishment that should ahve been ours.

The comforts Christ offers through His death on the cross, are abundant because the sufferings of Christ were also abundant.

Afflictions for Comfort

2 Corinthians 1:6–7 “But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.”

Paul shifts his teachings to try an explain the nature of the afflictions that he was undergoing. Understandably, the Corinthian church would have been concerned about Paul, who was a central figure in their formation and development, and word would have reached them of all the troubles and tribulations that he would have experienced. Paul tries to keep them from giving into more negative thoughts, but rather tries to redirect that thinking so that they could see the benefit of it all. Paul’s sufferings drives the church to prayer. Paul’s sufferings are done such that the church doesn’t need to suffer. Paul has worked hard in his own life to realize that his suffering and afflictions are actually for the benefit of others. Perhaps it is just to encourage those who are experiencing similar cirumstances, or perhaps Paul suffers on behalf of someone else. But Paul wants his readers to know that they are for a purpose… that God has a reason behind it all. Not the least of which was to more closely idenfity with Christ, who of course bore our sin and shame in the ultimate suffering on the cross that would pay for our redemption.

And Paul himself found great comfort in the fact that the church in Corinth could experience the comfort of God because of what Paul was experiencing, and we need to reconsider our stance on suffering and affliction too. For too long our culture has pursued the easy life and has put away hardship and difficulties. Sometimes, it is only through those hardships that we grow stronger so that we can be better prepared to face the next task on the journey.

Paul’s Troubles and the Prayers of the Saints

2 Corinthians 1:8–11 “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.”

Paul goes from talking about things in general to talking about specific things that happened to him. Perhaps this is part of the letter where Paul gives them the update and let’s the people know some of what has happened. It’s kind of like our missionary update letters. It’s nice to hear how things are going, good or bad, but it is better to get some details. Those details help inform our prayers. And yet still, Paul doesn’t give much by way of details beyond where something happened, and the degree to which it was burdensome.

This burden in Asia was so intense that Paul says they “despaired even of life” and that they had “the sentence of death.” This strongly worded language leaves no doubt that whatever they experienced, it was a hard thing to go through.

And yet the reason why Paul is sharing about it is not to spark an emotional response from his readers in Corinth, but rather to demonstrate to them that even in the midst of the darkest valleys of life, Paul and his companions figured out that perspective meant more than circumstances. Their circumstances were bad, but by the grace of God, they discovered that there was purpose behind what was happening.

Through their suffering and difficult circumstances, they were reminded not to trust in their own abilities and power, but to fully trust in God. And Paul underscores/highlights that by saying “but in God who raises the dead.”

Think about that line for a moment. Think about how they thought their circumstances were life threatening. But if you have God in your corner… the God who can raise the dead, what should we fear? Even death loses the ability to frighten if we could keep hold of that persepctive!

And indeed, Paul shares that they were delivered from life threatning circumstances and declares trust that God will continue to do so. It is in God that they have foujd their hope and through all of that, Paul is now uniquely qualified to encourage the Corinthian church to likewise trust that God is good and in control and can and will deliver His people from horrible circumstances.

Verse 11 gives us a great encouragement that I would love for us to consider as a a call to action. Paul shares that he was greatly blessed by the church because they were praying for him and his companions. He declares that they helped him through prayer.

If you’ve ever thought that your prayers don’t feel like they accomplish much, that’s just not true. It’s not something that can be explained through physical or even scientific means, but faith is not a natural phenomenon is it? We have faith in a supernatural God… a being that transcends the natural order… a being that put the natural order in place. Your prayers are powerful and effective. Your prayers make a difference. You might not see it. You might not feel it. You might not understand it. But it’s true. Prayers work because God is real and He loves you! He listens to your prayers and answers them!

Conclusion

As I bring this message to a close I want to encourage each of us to keep the faith. Paul’s letters to the Corinthian church were written for us to read and learn from. They were written for a purpose that transcends time. You know that I like to try and trace a line from the original text through history to us.

This letter was written to a church still figuring things out. It would have been a congregation of a variety of individuals, both Jews and Greeks, and perhaps people from all other parts of the world too. They needed further instruction because they were a troubled congregation. If you are to consider both letters to the Corinthians as context for the church itself, it was a congregation that needed someone to further guide them.

As Paul shares about the sufferings he and his companions were going through, we need to remember that Paul is a teacher, a preacher, and an evangelist. He wants his readers to learn, to apply and to believe. He wants them to learn that suffering and afflictions aren’t the thing that should stop the church.

He wants them to remember that Christ is faithful and knows the afflictions and that He even has purposes in them. And so often, our hard times act as reminders to draw strength from God, rather than from ourselves.

He wants his readers to believe in Christ because through Him we have salvation of our souls and if God wanted to, He can even raise people from the dead to accomplish His purposes.

Ultimately we need to consider where our comfort comes from. Paul’s recommendation for the Corinthian church is to consider the way of the cross… the paths of Christ… faith in God. Being a believer, a Christian, is a way that even in suffering, we can be comforted.

And finally, Be encouraged to pray! Prayer connects us with God and those things that concern us can be laid at His feet. Prayers help our loved ones and make a difference.