Sermon Tone Analysis

Two Primary Categories of Suffering:

Suffering is a part of life.

Some suffer continual health struggles.

Others suffer financial hardships.

Still, others suffer family trials.

Yet, there is one category that we don’t want to overlook that is the suffering that comes for the advancement of the name of Christ.

The First Kind of Trouble:

The First Kind of Trouble:

This suffering [for the name of Christ] can be broken down into two different categories.

First, there is the suffering that comes to those who are taking the name of Christ to places where Christ is not Lord.

This kind of suffering can result from verbal persecution, and there are still cases where this suffering turns violent physically.

Today, in America, there is suffering that happens on college campuses when there is a student who is attempting to take the name of Christ where Christ is not worshipped.

Typically, this kind of trouble is verbal, and we do not hear of too many cases here [in America] that turn to physical persecution.

There are still places in the world where the name of Christ is not named, and there are individuals who have taken the name of Christ there.

In some cases, there have been physical responses in attempting to reject the message of Christ.

Consider the case of our Bro.

Volante who he, along with other brothers in Christ, were involuntarily held in a building by resident Muslims.

Any time you take Jesus to a culture, His message will, of necessity, challenge the gods of that culture.

This was the case as Paul traveled through Asia before coming to the city of Corinth in Europe.

See .

If this is a reference to Ephesus, then we know that though God did a mighty work there, it was also a city where a riot was begun.

A Second Kind of Trouble:

In addition, to this kind of persecution at the hands of an unbelieving world receiving the message of Christ, there is also the trouble that arises within the household of faith.

This trouble sometimes arises because professing Christians have been confronted with truth, and they simply do not want to change.

In other cases, when the truth is preached in a place, it is not uncommon that false teachers with false doctrines will be exposed.

seems to point to the need for some divisions for the sake of identifying those who are true and genuine.

See also , .

Outside and Inside (emotional) Trouble:

See, there are troubles from those outside the household of faith as well as troubles within the household of faith.

Another consideration is that these troubles were not merely physical; but they were emotional and spiritual.

Note what Paul says in .

Both of these kinds of troubles existed for the Apostle Paul.

In the first, there were certainly physical troubles that he encountered, and here in this letter, he will later be defending his apostolic authority against those who have challenged him.

These troubles were not merely external, but they were spiritual.

Thus, this letter is one in which Paul is quite passionate and comforting of the people in Corinth, but he is also going to address some of the trouble he’s received.

Paul is experiencing the comfort of God that he desperately needs; but Paul is also bringing both a message of consolation to the Corinthians and a message of corroboration.

Paul’s Salutation -

(i) God’s will & Christian brotherhood

Paul first makes a very clear claim that he is a sent one of Jesus Christ by God’s will.

This means that his coming to the Corinthians was by God’s desire and design.

He has partnered with Timothy, who is in the family together with Paul.

It is the Christian brotherhood into which God had called all of them.

Application: It is not uncommon for us to forget that, by the will of God, we have been brought into a family.

This forgetfulness often leads us to treat outsiders with greater care & respect than those in our own family.

Ill: Isn’t is amazing how when we have guests coming over to our homes, we will meet them at the door, invite them to sit, ask if they want something to drink; and yet, with those of our very own household, we often neglect the same basic givings?

Isn’t it amazing how when we see a visitor at church, we often will go out of our way to greet them and hold special times in our services to do so; but we often take for granted the wonderful brotherhood into which the blood of Christ as brought us?

This is one of the characteristics that I have noted growth in within our church is that after services, people enjoy spending time with each other.

(ii) The Church of God

Notice secondly, in Paul’s salutation, that the church belongs to God.

This is their identity.

No matter what apostolic authority will be proven later, and not matter what else may happen, God is the one who has purchased this assembly.

Application #1 - It is a sobering reality that the pastors must also take into consideration, so as to not claim an ownership that is not their’s to claim.

Notice how Paul addressed the Ephesians elders about the flock in .

It is God’s church.

Application #2 - Occasionally, there will be some member or a few who feel that since it is their church, they will be the ones who have their way.

All of us must remember that this is the church of God.

There was one such fellow.

His name was Diotrophes -

In addition, this is a particular church in Corinth, that is distinguished from all the saints in the rest of the provincial boundary.

In other words, this identifies:

A particular assembly

A particular culture

A particular culture

A particular accountability

We would do well to recognize the importance of an assembly in a particular location.

Being the church in Corinth is not the same as simply being part of all of the saints in Achaia.

There is more particularity with the assembly in Corinth.

Application: As the church who belongs to God, we recognize our accountability to Him, but we also recognize our responsibility to be part of an assembly in the midst of all of the saints in Butler/Warren County.

There is a particular culture here, whose idols must be confronted; and there is a particular assembly here that stands out of the general numbers of saints in the area.

(iii) Grace & Peace

What a blessing to confer upon these dear Christians!

He says, “Grace” be to you!

This is still unmerited favor.

In other words, Paul is calling for God to be favorable towards them in spite of them.

“Peace” is also requested for them.

This is a harmony that comes from God - who again is identified as “our Father”.

Of interest, the phrase goes beyond this and says, “…and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”

This is important because, how is it that God can be asked to give favor to those who do not deserve it and be at peace to those who give cause for war?

It is grace and peace that is accomplished by Christ.

Application: Grace and peace comes initially by Christ.

says, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

Initially, we are saved by grace; but what is wonderful for the Christian today is that we can pray for the grace of God upon each other not because others are deserving but because Jesus is deserving.

We tend to look at the lives of other people, and sometimes we are frustrated by their ignorance.

In their ignorance, they speak unkind words or they discredit what we say or they attack our person.

We then begin to think of them as unworthy of kindness; and possibly a slight feeling of vengeance enters into our hearts.

How can we pray for God to be gracious to those whom we determined to be unworthy?

We do not pray for God to be gracious or to act peacefully to them because of them; we ask that God would continue to show them kindness because of Jesus Christ.

After all, that is the only reason that God shows kindness to us.

If God is the origin of this grace and peace, Jesus is the Mediator of this grace and peace - once and for all- meaning, there is no need for more reasons to call for grace and peace upon people.

The God of all Comfort -

“Father”

What a marvelous truth that God is so good that he would be so gracious and peaceful with us.

It is on this foundation that Paul launches into a praise of this God.

In so doing, Paul wonderfully calls God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This significance of this cannot be overstated, since earlier Paul called God “our Father”.

He has now marvelously manifested that we are joint-heirs with Christ.

“the Father of mercies”

In describing this Father, he first calls him the “Father of mercies” or the “Father of compassions”.

helps us to understand what Paul is referring to in “mercies.”

In , Paul uses the same term here for the “mercies of God”.