Comfort
Doxologies, Salutations and Benedictions • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
What gives you comfort? The word comfort means to soothe, console or reassure. Sometimes you and I need comfort. What do you go for comfort?
Magazine and internet articles suggest several things we can do for comfort. We can do stretching exercises that help restore blood flow. We can take hot showers. We participate in some activity in nature. We can visualize good peaceful things. We can even go find things from our childhood that brought us comfort and touch and feel those things. The logic is that if they helped us then they can help us now. Do you feel better now?
I found it interesting that even in articles and websites that spoke about finding sources of comfort, not one that I looked at made mention of God and His Word. We live in a society that stresses everything to do but spending with God.
Our scripture today gives great insight to turning to God for comfort. In fact, you will see that our scripture calls our Lord the God of all comfort. We need not to look anywhere else but to Him as for our comfort. Listen to :
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. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
Several points are made in this passage, but look closely as we look at the source of comfort, the strength of comfort, the security of comfort and the sharing of comfort.
Paul uses the word comfort here to bear witness that God is the source of all comfort and is ready to comfort us in all our troubles. Paul certainly experienced troubles and knew what it meant to have physical hardships, dangers, persecutions and anxieties.
First, however, let’s look at what comfort means in scripture. Comfort comes from the Greek word paraklesis that is from a group of words that means to ask, to exhort or encourage, to comfort. Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit being the great comforter and the Greek word for that is paraklete.
We see the word comfort in various places of scripture, many of which you may have turned to for comfort:
Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
The Lord will surely comfort Zion
and will look with compassion on all her ruins;
he will make her deserts like Eden,
her wastelands like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
Isaiah
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
Isaiah 61:
As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
Isaiah 66:13
We celebrate all those passages because as we have seen in
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
2 Corinthians
God is the SOURCE OF COMFORT.
The Source of Comfort
The Source of Comfort
It can’t get any plainer than that. The source of all comfort is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says He is the God of all comfort. He is the God of every comfort. Each one. There is evidence of God’s comfort throughout His word.
But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever.
2 Corinthians 7:6
A righteous man may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
When anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought joy to my soul.
How can God be the source of comfort? Well again in His word, we see that every good and perfect gift comes from Him.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
The Lord will indeed give what is good,
and our land will yield its harvest.
Psalm 8
It is the Lord who imparts the only true and perfect comfort.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save.
the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Not only is God the source of comfort, He is the strength of comfort.
The Strength of Comfort
The Strength of Comfort
How strong is God?
One of His many attributes is His strength and how mighty He is!
Psalm 21:
Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength;
we will sing and praise your might.
The Mighty One, God, the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
Job 36:
“God is mighty, but does not despise men;
he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.
If God provides comfort, you can count on being comforted. If the Creator gives you comfort, you can be assured of great comfort.
If the One who spoke the world into existence speaks comfort in to you and me, we can rejoice in that comfort!
Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
That gives us great security!
The Security of Our Comfort
The Security of Our Comfort
We see in our text that the God of all comfort is capable of giving us comfort in all our troubles.
In the Peanuts comic strip, there was one character that carries around this blanket and he calls it his security blanket. There are many attempts to help him get rid of his blanket. Lucy tries to shame him and call it a stupid blanket. Others make fun of him. Snoopy wants to constantly use the blanket to lay on. But there is one time in the comics that we see Linus lay his blanket down. When Linus shares what Christmas is all about in Charlie Brown’s Christmas, he lays down the very thing that provides him comfort and places his comfort in the God of all comforts. You see, this takes place precisely when he utters the words, “Fear not.” Charles Schultz was pretty smart in helping us understand the security of our comfort does not come in the form of an object bu in the One who is the God of all comfort.
Our security is not knowing God can provide us comfort. Our security comes from the fact the God is our comfort!
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Colossians 1:
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
That is security!
Jesus said in John 10:28-29:
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
There is security in our God and great security in His comfort! As a result, we can share comfort with others!
Sharing of Our Comfort
Sharing of Our Comfort
Paul writes from the perspective of a man who knows and had experienced trouble. The Greek word for troubles here is thlipsis. It has to do with actual physical pressure. There is no greater pressure than the pressure of a trouble or affliction that becomes heavy and burdensome. When you and I experience that pressure, we can become downcast and weary. However, God’s design and His desire is that we receive comfort.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the word used in this text to help us understand that there is a remedy for our troubles and affliction is what we have translated as endurance.
2 Corinthians
If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.
The word for endurance here comes from the Greek word hupomone. It is not a state of being grim and just getting by, but rather it means triumph. The comfort we receive is one that is victorious! It is not only victorious, but takes us to another level. In taking us to another level, we are equipped to share the victory others! Now that is comfort! Not only do we receive comfort, but we can share the hupomone with others!
My mother has had a sunflower grow in her front yard this year. It seems that sunflower seed fell from the bird feeder and developed into a beautiful flower. I was reading about sunflowers and learned something new. I was aware that the sunflower always turned toward the sunlight, but what happened when it was a gloomy day. I thought perhaps that the sunflower would just hang its flower down toward the ground but it doesn’t. The sunflower will turn to another sunflower. What a beautiful picture that is of what we can do as brothers and sisters in Christ.
When we experience the gloominess of our lives and we need comfort, we can realize the source, strength and security of comfort coming from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we can in turn, share it with each other victoriously!
And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
What a hope that you and I can walk this journey together!