2 Corinthians 1:1-11 Finding Comfort in a Crazy World

Intro

On Easter Sunday morning I woke up at 3:30 AM

I couldn’t go back to sleep because my mind was flooded with all of these worries

I was worrying about that mornings services

Then I started worrying about some initiatives we have coming in the future

Normally I would get up and make coffee and do my devotions but that morning I decided to stay in bed and pray

I ended up praying for close to an hour for everything and anything I could think of

During that time the worries went away

I chalked it up to the normal spiritual attack that comes on Sundays

During the second service the worship team sang a new song called “Even the Impossible”

During the second verse God really spoke to me

The words go like this

“I see a grave that hollow of power, I see a battle that is already won, and I see a church on the edge of revival”… and then it goes on

“Do what only you can do, move what only you can move, even the impossible is possible with you”

God spoke to me and reassured me that His Son had fought the fight, had won the battle, and that HE was doing a work in our church

As we get into 2 Corinthians we are going to see a God who is right there with you on your journey

He provides all the comfort you need

Read 2 Cor 1:1-4

Transition

If there was ever a messed up church Corinth was it

Planted church in 51 AD, Paul spent 18 months there

It was a strategic trade center

Sailing around the cape was very dangerous

Easier for people who were shipping to carry it over land

If ship was small enough they would drag it over ground the 4 miles

Corinth was an incredibly wealthy city

All trade north and south and east and west through the mediterranean

Market for exotic good and center for culture

Acts tells us that after Corinth Paul returned to Israel

While he was there he got a letter from Corinth

Issues had risen so they needed Paul’s advice

Sent a reply thru Timothy in 55 AD

A trouble maker had convinced people that Paul was a fraud

Paul makes a trip that doesn”t go well

He issues a follow up letter through Titus

Titus return took too long so Paul went looking for him

He found him and heard things were going well

Then he sent a third letter

That is what we have in 2nd Corinthians

It is his most intimate letter

I. The Secret to Finding Comfort vs. 1-2

The first way that we Find Comfort is by discovering the secret

The world will promise you a million ways to find comfort

Paul packs a little secret only available to Believers in his greeting

Which is appropriate since he was under attack from some in Corinth

They were questioning his apostleship and using his suffering as reason why he wasn’t

Paul wasn’t the polished speaker that was popular in that day

In Acts we saw that he got knocked on his butt by Jesus on the road to Damascus

It was there were Paul was anointed to be an ambassador for Jesus

Every church Paul planted was an embassy in every city to represent Jesus and the Kingdom of God

The Village Chapel is an embassy to represent Jesus in Vandenberg Village

Paul calls the Corinthians saints

That is amazing because there was some serious immorality going on

You are a saint of God

Turn to your neighbor and tell them “You are a saint.”

Don’t say “Well, aren’t you a saint?” Different meaning

Let me show you the secret to the Comfort of God

Vs. 2 Grace to you and peace from God

The spiritual siamese twins

Grace = Charis

Peace = Shalom

Jews still greet one another with Shalom

Hawaiians say Aloha

That means I respect you and want to live in harmony with you

Grace, or Charis, is rich in meaning

Grace means unmerited favor

The core of the word really means “That which brings joy.”

That which brings a smile and beautifies

Every smile beautifies your face

That’s why they tell you to smile for pictures

Some of you have been frowning so long when you smile it’s just awkward

Essence “I didn’t deserve this but thank you.”

Peace = Shalom

Shalom isn’t just quiet

Root = wholeness, lacking nothing

Your body, soul, and spirit are right where they are supposed to be

To be whole or complete

Peace is being utterly whole, being who God created you to be

Paul wants the Corinthians to full of joy and utterly whole

These are available to us because God made them possible through the work of Christ

The reason the world doesn’t have comfort is because they aren’t recipients of the grace and peace that Jesus gives his followers

II. Tapping into the Source of Comfort vs. 3-4

The second way we find comfort is by tapping into the its source

By any estimation 2 Corinthians 1:3–7 frames the Bible’s greatest text on comfort.

The word “comfort” occurs no less than ten times in its noun and verb forms in this brief paragraph—essentially one-third of all thirty-one occurrences in the New Testament.

Paul says more about suffering, and more about comfort, than any other writer in the Bible. And it is here that he says the most about it

There is a reason for this, and it was to answer critics who held that the sufferings that characterized Paul’s life were evidence that he was not an apostle, because if he was the real thing he wouldn’t be experiencing so much trouble.

Vs. 3 is actually a rewording of a synagogue benediction

Paul’s answer was that abundant suffering and abundant comfort are in fact signs of apostolic authenticity

Here in our passage the idea of comfort is “to strengthen much,” to encourage—to stand by another and encourage him as he endures testing

Paul wanted his hearers to understand that the merciful Father is the source of all possible comfort and consolation. There is no enduring comfort apart from him.

God is the source of true comfort

vs. 4 God comforts us in our affliction so we can comfort others

Paul was certainly one of the most afflicted men ever.

He suffered cold, nakedness, beating, imprisonment, criminal assault, shipwreck, betrayal, desolation, desertion, and more.

However, this said, he found that God comforted him in all his afflictions. Not in some but in “all” of them!

The result was that Paul was able to comfort those “in any affliction” (imagine, any affliction)—and he did so with the comfort with which he himself had been comforted by God.

So how do you tap into this comfort?

Listen to Paul’s words to the Romans

Rom 15:5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,

God is a god of endurance and encouragement

He takes a big picture perspective and settles in for the long haul

He is not as concerned with the immediate as we are

He is going to do what is the best for us in the long term

III. Finding Comfort in Suffering vs. 5-7

The third way we find comfort is by finding it in our suffering

This word suffering, or affliction, means pressure

Through all of the stress, persecution, and trials Paul experienced, he experienced God’s comforting presence

Affliction was the key to Paul’s effectiveness in ministry, and affliction is the key to effective ministry today.

How countercultural is this?

It even runs counter to so much “Christian” thinking that regards affliction as evidence of personal sin or deficient faith, and sleekness and ease as palpable evidence of divine blessing.

Affliction is the friend to authenticity and effectiveness

If you are going through affliction and suffering take comfort in Jesus’ own words

Matt 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

That comfort comes from the grace we were given at salvation

2 Thess 2:16-17 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

God’s comfort is eternal and it is capable of comforting your hearts

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ this comfort is available to you

If you are sharing in Christ’s sufferings you will be comforted

If you are afflicted it is used for you to find your comfort and salvation in Jesus

IV. Set Your Hope on Jesus vs. 8-11

The final way that you find comfort is to set your hope on Jesus

Paul is speaking from experience

He had suffered so bad in Asia that they despaired of life

tGod’s comfort has primary and secondary levels of application.

The primary application is to the Apostle Paul himself.

As an apostle, Paul had been allotted an extraordinary amount of suffering, as God had commanded his messenger Ananias to tell Paul after Paul’s conversion on the Damascus road. “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:15, 16).

All of the affliction just made Paul rely, not on himself, but on God

Comfort will never come if we put our trust in anything except Jesus

You can’t seek your own comfort and tranquility and avoid any discomfort if you are going to follow Jesus

If you seek the untroubled life you will have trouble with this passage

You have to set you hope in Jesus

1 Tim 4:10 For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

He delivered Paul and his companions from deadly peril so he put his hope in Jesus