Sermon Tone Analysis

A Proper Perspective

Good morning church!

It is so good to be back home with our church family, yet it was with some sadness that we left the state of Florida, to return to Maine, because we have family there too, brothers and sisters in the Lord.

For those of you that don’t know, we didn’t just sneak off to stick our toes in the water and feet in the sand, not that there is anything wrong with that, but the majority of this trip was spent attending a pastor’s conference, designed specifically for husbands and wives called to ministry together.

It was both challenging and refreshing as it should be.

For those of you that knew that and prayed for us, we want to thank you!

If you didn’t know it, you either haven’t been to prayer meeting on Sunday mornings, or we didn’t tell you because we thought you might break into out house if you knew we were gone.

I was blessed by the teaching that you received while we were gone, I expected a few more complaints about Nick ending early, but then realized he made up for it in the length of his Growth Group questions, so you all wouldn’t feel cheated.

Thank you to both Sean and Nick for loving this church and being faithful to the Word of God.

This morning we are going to begin the book of 2 Corinthians, one of my favorite books of the Bible, and no I don’t say that about every book, but I do about this one as it is true for a number of reasons.

I also think it is one of the most overlooked books in the New Testament.

One of the things that I love about this book is that of all the New Testament books Paul wrote, I think 2 Corinthians most reveals his heart to us as a pastor.

His love for the church, his love for the lost, and his love for his countrymen.

Before we begin, I want to pray for our study, but also for the people and events that are going on this morning in Europe.

Let’s begin with Paul’s greeting to the church...

I don’t want to spend a ton of time on background you guys know this church was located in the middle of two sea ports, it was the center of commerce in both goods and vice.

Known as a metropolis of culture as well as a sin city, if you desired it, it was there to be found.

This was a church that the Apostle had personally planted and spent 18 months with them, loving them, teaching and instructing them, and then moved on to other missionary journeys.

False teachers moved in, they began to question and challenge, not just the teaching of Paul, but even his Apostolic authority.

Portions of the Corinthian church, along with those in Ephesus, began to claim that Paul wasn’t even a legitimate Apostle, that he was self appointed, or self declared.

Similar to what happens today, when someone gets a little education, or attends seminary and then declares themselves to be a Pastor, when the Lord never called them to that ministry.

Well that was one of the accusations being made against Paul, and it was hurtful to him.

Many of you have been wrongfully accused, in your lives.

All of us have been accused, and when an accusation is earned and rightful, it may be embarrassing, or shameful, but it is owned.

When you are serving the Lord righteously, sacrificially, and someone makes a false accusation out of jealousy, or perhaps a desire to elevate themselves, and discount what the Lord is doing in you, that can be hurtful.

In some of Paul’s letters, he writes, Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, I believe Romans begins that way, as well as Titus.

But here he starts with reaffirming that he is an apostle, not by his own doing, but by the will of God, and he is writing with Timothy, writing to this church in Corinth, with all the saints in uh·chai·uh, and I believe he is writing to us here in Old Town as well.

I say that because Paul wrote other letters to the church in Corinth that we don’t have.

We know there was a letter written before 1 Corinthians that has been lost, then we have 1st Corinthians which I said a number of times when we went through it that it was a corrective letter.

History shows us that it wasn’t well received, there was a sorrowful visit that we read about in chapter 13 of this book, followed by a severe letter that chapter 2 tells us was difficult for Paul to write, it was written with tears, but they responded to it, and now Paul writes this letter, and the Lord thought it would be a benefit to us to read the mail sent to the church in Corinth, so it has been preserved in the Scriptures for us to learn from and apply to our lives.

If I had to pick a theme for this book, I would pull it from the next couple of verses in chapter one, and say it is God’s Comfort in the Middle of Our Suffering

It rhymes with Buffering, but has nothing to do with slow internet speeds....God’s comfort in the Middle of Our Suffering!

And there is no secret as to why Paul wrote the letter because he tells us in the last chapter of the letter…2 Cor 13:10

To build you up, not to destroy you, he wishes them grace and peace as Paul does in every one of his New Testament letters. 2 Cor 1:2

In every letter, and always in this order as you can’t experience the peace of God, until you’ve experienced the grace of God.

Charis or Grace was the common Greek

greeting of the day, and Peace of course comes from Shalom or the Hebrew or Jewish greeting in Paul’s day.

So grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

For the sake of clarity, that is not the First, middle and last name of Jesus.

Jesus is His name.

Lord is His title, He is Lord, and Paul wants Jesus to be our Lord, I often say that means He’s the boss of our life, He’s in charge.

Many of us want Salvation, Jesus you can save me from Hell and torment, but I’m the boss thank you.

Unfortunately, that’s just not how it works.

In the book of Romans Paul writes, Romans 10:9

He is the Master and I am His servant, and finally, Christ is His mission, He was sent by God as the Savior, the prophesied Messiah, He is the fulfillment of God’s promise of Salvation, He is the Christ.

I want to point something else out here again in verse 2, 2 Cor 1:2

That in this letter that Paul is his most vulnerable, His desire over everything else is that we would experience grace and peace that comes from allowing Jesus to be Lord of all, Lord above all.

Last week Nick shared about hindering the Holy Spirit and holding back, well that describes the bulk of the Christian church today gang!

I want to show you one thing from the first letter for a couple of reasons.

The biggest is just to show you that this book is living and powerful.

That all the time I see things that are brand new, but they’ve always been there.

1st Corinthians 9 is where I’m going with this.

Just a few weeks ago I taught this passage from this stage, about Paul’s willingness to lay down his wants, his desires, his preferences to reach the nations, to win them to Christ and I talked about it, simply in the context of getting them saved, but I think there’s more to it than that…look at it with me. 1 Cor 9:19-21

Now check out verse 22 with me…1 Cor 9:22

He doesn’t say to win the sick, or to win the lost, Paul says that I might win the weak, the weak Christian, the just barely, the one still drinking milk.

Paul says that’s not good enough, he wants to win them completely!

To disciple them and grow them into full maturity and full surrender in Jesus, that they wouldn’t resist all that God has for them and settle for less than His very best.

That’s the heart of Paul the pastor, and that’s the heart of this pastor.

Look at verse 3 with me. 2 Cor 1:3-5

Who does He comfort?

It rhythms with Bus.

Who comforts US in all our tribulation, US means us Brothers and Sisters, Christians.

If you want to find the comfort of God, it starts with a personal relationship with Jesus.

Does God love everybody?

Yes, For God so loved the World that He sent His Son Jesus, But…to who does He promise to comfort here?

Those that are saved, His comfort is for those that follow Him.

Can you ask God for comfort in a time of trial if you are not one who follows Him?

Of course you can, you can ask, but be aware of this…Proverbs 28:9

The New Living Translation that is supposed to be easier to understand, makes it plan, but no less harsh.

Prov 28:9

So if you are looking for the comfort of God, begin by asking, have I entered into a personal relationship with Jesus?

That’s the place to start.

Notice it doesn’t say He’ll take all your problems away.

He will provide you comfort that can be found nowhere else.

SO am I part of the US that Paul is talking about?

Do I just believe there might be a God in Heaven or do I have a personal relationship with Jesus and I am following Him, obeying Him?

And look what he says again in verse 4, why does He comfort us?

Is is just so we won’t feel yucky anymore?

No, we find out it’s not about us.

In fact if life is all about you, it’s going to be yucky, most of the time!

The world and the people around you won’t live up to your expectations.

2 Cor 1:4

Remember I titled our message today

A Proper Perspective...

I want you to see that Paul was a man that suffered, and he’s real about it.

He didn’t pretend that life was a rose garden, but he had a proper perspective.

A proper perspective and expectations.

He knew that as a Christian there would be suffering, and not just consequences for doing stupid stuff that we bring on ourselves, everyone gets that, but as a Christian, one of the promises that we get, it there will be suffering.

But we have to have a proper perspective to know what that is.

There are some that think they are suffering, and I’m not just talking about Yankee fans here, some that think they are suffering when their team gets knocked out of the playoffs, or their vehicle breaks down again, or things don’t go their way.

That is not suffering, and again, Paul is not telling us to bury our heads in the sand and see everything through rose colored glasses, bad new is really bad news.

A diagnoses can be bad news, can be tribulation.

In fact the word that he uses here if far greater than bad news, but it speaks of pressure, anguish, a crushing, some Bible scholars relate it to a form of ancient common law punishment, where an offender would have a board put across his chest as he laid on his back and had stones or weights added, until they would have to expel breath, and the crushing of the weight wouldn’t allow them to take in any new air.

Sometimes a heart attack is described as feeling like an elephant is sitting on your chest, that kind of pressure where that is the only thing you can think about, pressure that is all consuming, Paul says when you’ve got nothing left but God, that’s right where He’ll comfort you, so you know it could only be Him.

Perspective matters.

Paul’s perspective was about two things, the Kingdom of God, and getting as many people in as possible.

When our perspective is all about the trial and how it effects us, we begin to assume the worst can scenario is right around the corner.

When our perspective is messed up, or our focus is on us, it can turn our greatest fears into our present reality, with no actual change in circumstances.

Paul is talking about crushing tribulation and in the same sentence says God comforts us for the sake of others, so we can serve others.

When our perspective is messed up all we see is us and how yucky everything is.