"In Times Like These"

Chaotic Times

In times like these, we need a Savior…In time like these, we need a anchor that grips the solid rock…When we read Moses’ account of creation pointed out that the earth was thrust into “chaos,” but from that chaos came as Lucifer fell from heaven as lightning from heaven. Yet, God’s spirit still moved in the chaos, and through God’s word and work brought forth an amazing creation. Chaotic times came after the fall of Adam and men’s heart turned from God. He destroys the earth with water, yet the chaotic times continued, and here in 2022, we still have chaotic times. Depending on what perspective you subscribe to, the world is getting worse, or God has lost total control. We live a “cancel” culture time where people are self consciousness and less God conscious as men find their own way to righteousness. Times are not what they used to be, and truthfully times look better in the past because there was chaos in those times too. How can we handle this chaotic “cancel” culture? We handle the culture through embracing Christ and his lifestyle through. In these times, it appears the church is “sleep” while the culture is woke, insisting the church wake up to the ensuing chaos. If we embrace the Christ of scripture and live out the lifestyle He lived before his disciples and the known world, then, we can impact a “canceled culture” with the comfort of Christ. Our summer series will look at Comfort (Christian living), Collection (Christian giving), and Calling (Christian guarding).

2 Corinthians

Shortly after Paul had written 1 Corinthians from Ephesus, where he was in grave danger (2 Corinthians 1:8), he wrote 2 Corinthians from Philippi. Paul was in Ephesus approximately three years. He had sent Titus to Corinth because he could not personally go there at that time. Timothy was with Paul in Ephesus, and these two proceeded to Troas to wait for Titus to bring word from Corinth (2 Corinthians 2:12, 13). When Titus did not come, Paul and Timothy went on to Philippi were Titus brought good news from Corinth (2 Corinthians 7:5-11). Any breach between Paul and the Corinthian church was healed.

The epistle is difficult to outline, as it is less organized than any of Paul’s other letters — but it contains more personal details. In each chapter there is always a minor theme developed and generally expressed in some striking verse. This may explain the seeming difficulty in outlining and organizing this epistle. First Corinthians deals with conditions and corrections in the church. Second Corinthians deals with the condition of the ministry within the church.

2 Corinthians chapter 1

Paul often begins his letters by expressing his thanks to God for his readers and God’s work in their lives. This time, though, he begins by praising God for His comfort to those who experience affliction. Those comforted by God can respond by comfort to each other. Paul connects Christian suffering to Christ’s suffering and connects comfort from God in that suffering to the comfort Christ received, as well. The Corinthians seem to have been aware Paul’s most recent experience of suffering for Christ’s sake. Some apparently questioned why an apostle of Jesus should suffer so much. Shouldn’t he be protected by his connection to God’s power? Paul’s response is that his suffering as an apostle made it possible for the Corinthians to receive the gospel, and the comfort he has received from God in his suffering has allowed him to comfort them when they experience suffering as he has (2 Corinthians 1:1-7).

He Sustains Us

Paul identifies God as the “Father of all mercies and God of all comfort and implies that mercies and comfort are brought to realization through Christ. “Comfort” and “consolation” are used nine times in five verses. Comfort does not imply the sentimental, but rather sustains and helps. The Greek word for comforter here is paraclete, to cause someone to be encouraged or consoled, either by verbal or non-verbal means. It is the same word used for the Holy Spirit — the Comforter. He comes to the side of a child of God to dispel darkness and relieve loneliness. In modern cultures, the word comfort may connote emotional relief and a sense of well-being, physical ease, satisfaction, and freedom from pain and anxiety. Many our culture worship at the cult of comfort in a self-centered search for ease, but it last for only a moment and never full satisfies. Watson comments that the word “comfort” has gone “soft in modern English. In the time of Wycliffe the word was “closely connected with its root, the Latin fortis, which means brave, strong, courageous.” The comfort that Paul has in mind has nothing to do with a languorous feeling of contentment. It is not some tranquilizing does of grace that only dulls pains but a stiffening agent that fortifies one in heart, mind, and soul. Comfort relates to encouragement, help, exhortation. God’s comfort strengthens weak knees and sustains sagging spirits so that one face the troubles of life with unbending resolve and unending assurance.

Paul’s View of Affliction

God provides us the ability to comfort others....verse 4

The amount of suffering we share equates to the amount of comfort we share in....verse 5

Affliction provides comfort and salvation to others…verse 6

Affliction provides testimony of faith and reliance upon God…verses 8-11

Settles the Conscience

testimony (martyrion) —

Paul here provides the reason(s) for again writing the church at Corinth. In his first letter, he counsels against boasting in oneself and one’s group (1 Corinthians 3:21-22). In this chaotic culture, the church faces heavy criticism and scrutiny for a myriad of reasons, and it takes nothing for the culture to criticize and “cancel” ministers and ministries. The chapter speaks to Paul’s affliction, and instead of admiring and encouraging Paul, they denigrated the ministry of Paul and Timothy. In this chaotic culture, the faith of the church is denigrated and ridiculed. A boastful group of rivals has compounded the problem for Paul. They arrived on the scene, wormed their way into the congregation’s affections, and exalted them by portraying him in a negative light. His pride may have been hurt by the Corinthians’ rejection, but he disdains this shameless contest for honor. He does not want to be adored by them, and he does not need an ego boost. Yet, he also does not want to ignored by them. He wants to instill their confidence in him again because if he does not, he will lose the congregation to false apostles. The more you and I embrace Christ, the more enemies appear to diminish Paul’s apostleship. To some, this is Paul venting his hurt feelings, and there comes a season where people cannot contain the hurt inflicted on them, especially in leadership and ministry. It is only human nature to want others to appreciate us, even admire us. We normally become angry or hurt when they ignore us or pour contempt upon us. Some Corinthians had not properly appreciated Paul’s worth. Still, Paul is not venting his hurt feelings in this letter for being scorned. The problem is that they do not appreciate his work as an apostle because they have adopted a false means by which to measure apostles and spirituality. “When people are settled to misunderstand you, your position and your relationship with God, you must remain settled in the testimony of your consciences.”

“The problem is not God using people, its the people misusing God’s people that’s the problem.”

“If people can’t understand your ministry, they won’t understand the nature of the cross and how it should be lived out in the lives of all followers of Christ.”

Remain settled in God’s Word

The faithfulness of God’s word is most clearly manifested in the coming of his Son. All of God’s promises to Israel find their yes in him. Christ is God’s yes to the promise to Abraham that by his seed all the nations of the earth will gain blessing and to David to raise up David’s offspring and to establish his throne forever. In Christ we not only see all God’s promises coming to fruition but also God’s unqualified yes to humankind. The “yes” is in him; our yes in response through him. The yes is in him; our yes in response is through him. The only way we can clearly hear God’s yes is in Christ, and the only way we can respond fully to God is through Christ. No other way exists. The gospel is not yes, today one finds salvation in Christ, and no, tomorrow one finds salvation in someone or something else. Strachan comments correctly, “There is no hope for any civilization apart from acceptance of the Person and obedience to the teaching of Jesus Christ.”

Christ is God’s yes to all meaningful human hopes. Christ is God’s yes to human longing for life, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification (1 Cor 1:30). But we should be mindful that God also speaks a no “to every selfish and perverted longing of humanity, to every desire to ‘get rich quick,’ to dominate others, or to organize society for selfish advantage.”

Paul recalls for the Corinthians how they affirm their faith in God’s faithfulness through the “Amen” response in corporate worship. Most people today may understand the “amen” only as the last word one says in a prayer. They mouth it without giving any thought to its rich background. “Amen” is a transliteration of the Hebrew word ʿāmēn, which means “surely,” and it was a community response found in the Old Testament in which the congregation spoke their assent to a curse (Deut 27:15–16; or individuals in Num 5:5; Jer 11:5) or to the praise of God (1 Chr 16:36; Neh 8:6; Pss 41:13; 72:19; 89:52; 106:48; and 1 Esdr 9:47). In his letters Paul placed an “Amen” after benedictions (Rom 15:33; 16:27; 1 Cor 16:24; Gal 6:18; Phlm 25) and expressions of praise (Rom 1:25; 9:5; 11:36; [16:27]; Gal 1:5; Eph 3:21; Phil 4:20; 1 Tim 1:17; 6:16; 2 Tim 4:18). We can assume that the Corinthian congregation spoke it as the response to prayer and thanksgiving in their corporate worship (see 1 Cor 14:16), but Paul interprets it to be their affirmation of faith that God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ. Their chorus of amens in worship proclaims God’s faithfulness in making salvation possible for them through Christ. Proclaiming God’s faithfulness in worship brings glory to God, the very goal of human existence.

The implication is that if they affirm that the message about Christ is trustworthy, then they should also be able to affirm that the messengers are trustworthy too. How can they say yes to God while saying no to God’s apostle? Since they believed God endorsed the trustworthiness of the messengers in the proclamation of the gospel, then God will also vouch for their trustworthiness in the less serious business of making travel plans.