Comforting others with our comfort Preaching Notes 2 Cor 1

“Comforting others with our comfort”

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

Byron Hand

May 4, 2008

Introduction - 1:1-2:

1. Suffering prepares us to comfort others – 1:3-7

a. Focus on who God is.

i. He is God – Blessed be the GOD – Charles Hodge wrote ““Adored be God! is the expression of the highest veneration and thankfulness.” – He is creator and all powerful one.

During the horrors of the Thirty Years’ War, Pastor Martin Rinkart faithfully served the people in Eilenburg, Saxony. He conducted as many as 40 funerals a day, a total of over 4,000 during his ministry. Yet out of this devastating experience, he wrote a “table grace” for his children which today we use as a hymn of thanksgiving:

Now thank we all our God, With heart and hands and voices, Who wondrous things hath done, In whom His world rejoices!

ii. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ – It is because of Jesus Christ that we can call God “Father” and even approach Him as His children. God sees us in His Son and loves us as He loves His Son (John 17:23). We are “beloved of God” (Rom. 1:7) because we are “accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1:6).

iii. He is the Father of Mercies - God in His grace gives us what we do not deserve, and in His mercy He does not give us what we do deserve. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed” (Lam. 3:22). God’s mercy is manifold (Neh. 9:19), tender (Ps. 25:6), and great (Num. 14:19). The Bible frequently speaks of the “multitude of God’s mercies” so inexhaustible is the supply (Pss. 5:7; 51:1; 69:13, 16; 106:7, 45; Lam. 3:32).

iv. He is the God of all comfort - “Comfort” (Gr. paraklesis) is the key word in this section (vv. 3–7) occurring 10 times as a noun or a verb. It means much more than mere sympathy. It communicates the idea of one person standing alongside another to encourage and support his friend. The same word describes the Holy Spirit (“Paraclete”) who strengthens and guides us (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). Christ, too, provides encouragement and support as our Advocate (1 John 2:1) and Helper (Heb. 2:18). Here it is the Father who comforts and consoles the afflicted.

We must never think that trouble is an accident. For the believer, everything is a divine appointment. There are only three possible outlooks a person can take when it comes to the trials of life. If our trials are the products of “fate” or “chance,” then our only recourse is to give up. Nobody can control fate or chance. If we have to control everything ourselves, then the situation is equally as hopeless. But if God is in control, and we trust Him, then we can overcome circumstances with His help.

b. Focus on what God wants to do through us – Observations

· Our comfort from God is not self-serving

· Note verse 4 “So that” = Purpose – The comfort we have received from God enables us as believers to comfort others

· We minister out of overflow of relationship to Christ and in overflow – v:5 “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”

· God’s comfort is channeled through His people – Look at 2 Corinthians 7:6-7

6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.

· Look also at Acts 9:10-19

· Comfort is experienced when we patiently endure v:8

· Comfort is experienced when we have someone who believes in us.

2. Suffering keeps us from trusting in ourselves – 1:8-11a

3. Suffering teaches us to give thanks in everything – 1:11b

APPLICATIONS FOR LIFE:

Instead of focusing on ourselves now, think of how we can help others later.

Rather than fighting, surrender to God. (Stop resisting, start resting.)

Getting even is a natural response. Try giving thanks … it is supernatural.