Paul's troubles and Comfort

Paul’s Troubles and Paul’s Comfort

2 Corinthians 1:8-11

Introduction:

Last week we began to think about comfort in 2 Cor.

We saw that:

               It is God that we need to turn to in our times of need

               It is God who is able to comfort us in our times of need

               It is God who is able to use our times of need to comfort others in theirs

This week we take a brief look at Paul’s troubles and the benefit that he saw

I.                   The Description of Paul’s Troubles in Asia v. 8

1.      The reason that Paul shared his trouble:  He did not want them to be ignorant

When Paul shared about comfort in trouble he wanted them to know that he knew what he was talking about.  He knew personally that God was:

ð     The Father of Mercies

ð     The God of all comfort

ð     One who was able to give comfort in all tribulation

ð     One who could use those trials to help comfort others

Paul certainly know what it meant to face trouble:

ð     Various places in the book of Acts we see Paul literally kicked out of cities as a result of his preaching, many times fearing for his life

ð     Many of Paul’s letters were written from behind the walls of a prison.

ð     Acts 20:19 he refers to serving the Lord with tears because of the trials caused by the plotting of the Jews against him

ð     1 Cor. 16:9 He refers to the fact that he has many adversaries

ð     2 Cor. 2:4 he wrote out of much affliction and anguish

ð     2 Cor. 7:5-7

ð     2 Cor. 11:22-33

2.      The extent to which Paul suffered:

1)      He was burdened beyond measure:  The trial seemed to be more than he could bear

How often have we faced trials that simply seemed to be more than we could handle?  Sickness, loss, etc.

2)      He was burdened above strength

To the point of saying, “I cannot go on any more.” Or “This is all that I can take.”

3)      He was burdened to despair of life

He fell into such agony that he hardly hoped to survive.

He didn’t care to continue on

How often/many times have we felt that way?

3.      The strength in Paul’s suffering:

      Important to realize that even thought he felt that way, Paul did continue

2 Cor. 4:8-9

II.                 The Benefit of Paul’s Suffering

1.      It enabled him to console others

**That was the whole purpose of Paul’s writing this letter

**V. 6 If we are afflicted it is for your benefit

            If we are comforted it is for your benefit

This is in contradiction to what we often think:  Often our focus is “How can this benefit me?”

Paul was able to look at things from a godly, eternal perspective.  As he saw eternal benefit in the lives of others he was comforted to know that God was using even his own suffering.

            *Not an easy place to get to

            *Comes from walking in a relationship with Him

            *Comes from seeking His glory not our own

I have tried to explain this mentality to people who just cannot understand it, only to have them later in their Christian life come back and say, “Now I get it.”

2.      It caused him to trust in the Lord vv. 9-10

“Yes we had the sentence of death that we (for the purpose) might trust in God.”

It is interesting that when things go well we trust in ourselves or at minimum our things.

*When we have money in our account we do not call on God to meet our needs, we do not feel like we need to.

*When we are healthy we trust our dr. or our own healthy lifestyle to keep us that way; yet when the dr. says there is nothing else that he can do, then we call on God.

Paul is saying, “thank God that I have had tribulation because it has made me trust in God!!”

1)      Trust God because He can do the impossible

            “Who raises the dead.”

-Elijah raised the widow of Zarephath’s son

-Elisha raised the widow who helped him’s son

-Jesus in Matt. 9 raised the ruler’s daughter

-Jesus raised Lazarus after 4 days in John 11

-Jesus raised Himself after 3 days

God can do what is not possible for anyone else. 

He can therefore, comfort in any trial; He can use any difficulty, and He will!!

2)      Trust God because He delivered us from so great a death v. 10

I would think that this must be referring to spiritual death

Without God the Bible describes us as:

·         “dead in trespasses and sin.”

·         Helpless to do anything about it

·         Condemned by God to eternal damnation

Yet God delivered us from that and made us alive in Christ

Point is:  If God was willing to do this, how much more will He care for us now?

If God cares for us now, and is able to do the impossible, is there any trial that He cannot help us through?  NO!!

3)      Trust God because He will still deliver us

·         This is not necessarily talking about physical deliverance

·         If it was then God was not faithful to Paul, because he was eventually put to death as a result of the tribulation he faced.

·         This is the deliverance referred to by Paul in Romans 8:18, 35-39

1.      Suffering allowed Paul to comfort others

2.      Suffering caused Paul to trust in the Lord

3.      Suffering caused prayers to be offered up to the Lord v. 11

1)      You prayed for us

2)      Thanks was given by us

Suffering gave an opportunity for the Church to work together as the body of Christ.

*So often it is tribulation that brings a Church together and causes believers to “need” one another.

*Ever notice how we do not need each other until trouble comes?

Paul was thankful that the body was able to work as a body.