2 Corinthians1v3to11: THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT

(A) Introduction. (Read the reference)

Is there any reason that Paul should start his second letter to the Corinthians by writing about troubles? There is, perhaps, a clue in verse 7: And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. A shared experience, in this case sufferings and comfort, produces solidarity among the participants. The following anecdote illustrates this:

Sir Edmund Hillary and his Nepalese guide, Tenzing Norgay, were the first people to make the historic climb of Mount Everest in 1953. Coming down from the mountain peak, Sir Edmund suddenly lost his footing. Tenzing held the line taut and kept them both from falling by digging his ax into the ice. Later Tenzing refused any special credit for saving Sir Edmund Hillary's life; he considered it a routine part of the job. As he put it, "Mountain climbers always help each other."

A bond exists between mountaineers because they all know what it is like to be tested to the limit, to be in danger and to be reliant on the strength and skills of others.

This is true in many walks of life - particularly of those who suffered in the two great World Wars. Some Japanese prisoners of war are only able to talk about their experiences to those who shared the horrors with them because only they understand what it was like.

So Paul started off by referring to the troubles both he and the Corinthians shared to show solidarity with them and encourage a spirit of unity. Paul probably felt that several of the believers in Corinth were becoming alienated from him.

(B) A need for comfort.

Paul was in need of comfort or help because he was often in trouble. So let us look at:

(1) The nature of Paul's troubles.

The apostle's troubles were similar to those suffered by Jesus. He wrote: For just as the sufferings of Christ flow into our lives.... . v5. Now the pressure on Jesus was of a particular kind. On the one hand Jesus had the awesome responsibility of completing the work God had given him to do. On the other hand he was faced with huge hindrances in establishing God's kingdom. Such as:

    (a) Misunderstanding. The purpose of Jesus' ministry was misunderstood by his family, John the Baptist and even his disciples.

    (b) Rejection. John summed up the reaction of most Jews to Jesus by the indescribably sad comment: He came to his own and his own received him not. Jn1v11.

    (c) Opposition. Whenever Jesus ventured into Jerusalem he faced intense opposition from the religious establishment. (See my exposition on John10v22to42.)

    (d) Virulent hatred. The chief priests and Pharisees so loathed and detested Jesus that together they engineered his crucifixion. (See my exposition on Jesus' trial.)

It was the terrible burden of carrying out God's will combined with the fierce opposition of all God's enemies that produced Christ's intolerable distress in the Garden of Gethsemane. I would recommend the reader to look at my exposition on Luke22v39to46 for a detailed account of Jesus' suffering in the garden.

Paul's experience was the same as Christ's. He was called to preach the gospel to the Gentiles and to establish and build up churches all over the Mediterranean world. To fulfil this awesome responsibility the apostle had to overcome innumerable hindrances. In Ephesus, for example, many Jews refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. Acts19v9. Eventually the silversmiths, led by Demetrius, whose sales of the small statuettes of the goddess Artemis fell as a consequence of Paul's ministry, stirred up a riot in Ephesus that resulted in Paul leaving the city. In Corinth, Paul had other difficulties. Some of the believers misunderstood his teaching, others rejected his authority and visiting false-apostles belittled him. The difficulties Paul faced as he tried to carry out his commission stressed him out.

Anyone with a task they really want to complete successfully will become stressed if faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles to doing so. Many state teachers in Britain are in that position. They really want to teach their subject effectively but are hindered by the disruptive behaviour of antagonistic pupils. This is what leads to a large number of teachers leaving the profession totally stressed out.

The same is true for a pastor with a strong desire to minister to the spiritual needs of his people and build up the church. The pastor may well find his good intentions thwarted. All sorts of things can go wrong. People leave, discontent and disunity creep in and the young people stubbornly refuse to believe! The minister can easily feel a failure and begin to question his calling. It is for these sorts of reasons that pastors get stressed out. I know of a young man in his first pastorate where an emotionally unstable woman with a persecution complex has wrecked the fellowship. The church has been driven out of their buildings and has had to meet in secret in different people's homes. How must this young pastor feel?

Individual Christians in Britain are burdened because their attempts to witness to family, friends and work mates are met with either apathy or downright hostility. I know of a woman who hardly dare say grace in her own home because of the hostility of her son to Christianity.

Of course the problems we face in Britain are nothing as compared to the persecuted church in countries with militant Muslim or Hindu extremists who oppose violently any effort to spread the gospel. The pressure felt by evangelists in parts of India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran and the like must be very similar to what Paul experienced. They face a terrible choice: obeying Christ and being imprisoned causing terrible hardship to their families or disobeying Christ, remaining safe and able to support their families.

(2) The effect of Paul's troubles.

He:

(1) Was stressed out. He wrote: We are under great pressure. v8. Paul felt crushed as in a vice. A heavy weight bore down on his spirit.

Acute stress is always experienced when you take on a task and begin to wonder whether you will be able to accomplish it. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was Britain's greatest ever engineer. His accomplishments are legendary. But in 1852 he took on the task of building the Great Eastern, the largest iron steamship in the world. The project was plagued with one problem after another - engineering, management and financial. In the end the stress and the strain of building and launching the Great Eastern affected Brunel's health and while watching the huge ship in her trials he suffered a stroke and died. He was only 53.

Many of Christ's servants have experienced immense stress: Adoniram Judson, William Booth and Charles Spurgeon. Booth and Spurgeon both needed to withdraw from their work from time to time to recover from stress and depression.

(2) Found them too much to bear. We were under great pressure far beyond our ability to endure. v8.

Paul came almost to the end of his tether in Ephesus. He wondered if he could keep on going on.

I've felt like this sometimes - as a teacher, carer and church worker. I spent four years caring for my father as he entered the terminal stages of Parkinson's disease. His condition got worse and worse. Towards the end it took me three hours to get him dressed as he fought against me. I kept thinking, how much worse is it going to get? If it does get much worse can I manage? It is a very unpleasant situation to be in. I have also shared setbacks in church life. People leave, the church gets weaker, there are no encouragements and Satan tempts you to ask, is it worth carrying on?

(3) Was in despair of his life. He wrote: So that we despaired even of life.

Things got so bad for Paul he questioned whether life was worth living. Pressure can build and become so intolerable that death seems preferable to life. Paul told the Corinthians: Indeed in our hearts, we felt the sentence of death. v9.

There is no doubt that this is how godly men feel sometimes. When Elijah fled from Jezebel, notwithstanding his great victory on Mt Carmel, he sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. 1Kings19v4. After Jeremiah had been beaten and put in the stocks by Pashur for proclaiming the word of the Lord he was pretty downcast. He said, "Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?" David wrote in Psalm 69 v19and20: "You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; all my enemies are before you. Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy but there was none, for comforters, but I found none. They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst."

Many of us have been with Elijah, Jeremiah and David. Jesus was there in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death." Mk14v34.

(C) A recipe for comfort.

(1) Praise.

Paul praised God for who he was:

    (a) The Father of compassion. v3. God is not remote, unfeeling, disinterested or unconcerned. Even after Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from Eden the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Gen2v21. Isaiah wrote: "Can a mother forget her baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands ... ." Is49v15and16.

    Compassion makes a huge difference! You don't ask or expect help from someone with no compassion. The man who fell afoul of thieves on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem was never going to be helped by the priest or the Levite - but the Good Samaritan had compassion on him and came to where he was.

    (b) The God of all comfort. Christians have a God who gets alongside to help in time of trouble. Jesus told his disciples that he would not leave them as orphans; the Father would send them another comforter, the Spirit of truth.

    It is a long time now since I visited a fair at Langres in Eastern France on my way home from a camping holiday on the Riviera. I shall never forget a small boy trying to drive his dodgem car. He couldn't even get started. He was stuck against the perimeter boards. Other dodgems crashed into him. The little boy turned black with rage! Everything changed when his father - who had been watching anxiously - got into the car with him. The father didn't get into the driver's seat. He sat alongside his son and with a couple of twists of the wheel got him going.

    God is like that father. He does not leave his troubled servants comfortless. God counselled Elijah, reassured Jeremiah and invariably delivered David from his distress. The psalmist of Israel wrote: "I will praise your name O Lord, for it is good. For he has delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes." Ps54v6and7.

    On one occasion when my father's dementia was very bad I had trouble getting him to bed. He sat on the bottom stair refusing to budge. I picked him up and carried him to his bedroom. Unfortunately my father grabbed hold of a banister and ripped his little finger open. A few days later, on a Saturday, I noticed his finger had turned white. I was very worried and felt guilty because I had pulled him roughly away from the banister. I needed to get my father to casualty but in his demented state this was not possible. Then late Saturday evening a strange calm came over my father. I got him to casualty; there was hardly anyone else there - something of a miracle! The nurses and the doctor were very kind and understanding. My father was patched up. I got him home and to bed with no difficulty at all. Most importantly - my troubled mind was at ease. God took mercy upon me.

    (c) The father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God helped Jesus complete the work he gave him to do. The crushing pressure Jesus felt in the Garden of Gethsemane eased. God sent angels to minister to him. Jesus was able to carry on and complete his saving mission.

    Many have shared Christ's experience. Paul, too, was enabled to carry on. He finished the vital work God gave him to do. Innumerable others can testify to God's enabling grace: Adoniram Judson, William Booth and Charles Spurgeon being among them.

(2) Consider.

Christians in trouble should consider what a great High Priest they have. Paul wrote: For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. v5.

The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that we have an advocate in heaven: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. Heb4v15and16.

Robert Louis Stevenson tells of a storm that caught a vessel off a rocky coast and threatened to drive it and its passengers to destruction. In the midst of the terror, one daring man, contrary to orders, went to the deck, made a dangerous passage to the bridge and saw the pilot, at his post holding the wheel unwaveringly, and inch by inch, turning the ship out, once more, to sea. The pilot saw the watcher and smiled. Then, the daring passenger went below and gave out a note of cheer: "I have seen the face of the pilot, and he smiled. All is well."

Jesus knows what it is like to be on the roughest seas off the most dangerous coasts; that is why we can have every confidence in him - a confidence expressed in Edward Hopper's well loved hymn:

          Jesus, Saviour, pilot me,
          Over life's tempestuous sea;
          Unknown waves before me roll,
          Hiding rock and treacherous shoal;
          Chart and compass come from Thee;
          Jesus, Saviour, pilot me!

(3) Remember.

We need to remember God's help on past occasions when we have experienced trouble - especially of the sort Paul is dealing with, namely, the pressure and stress involved in doing God's will in the teeth of opposition.

Sailors going into battle with Nelson as their commander had every confidence of victory because of his past successes. Life boatmen venturing into stormy seas do so with courage under the command of an experience Coxswain who has brought them through many encounters with perilous conditions.

So Paul was able to write to the Corinthians: He has delivered us from such deadly peril, and he will deliver us. v10.

This was Samuel's testimony after the Israelites defeated the Philistines in battle at Miz-peh. He took a stone, and set it between Miz-peh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, "Hitherto hath the LORD helped us." AV. 1Sam7v12.

David took immense confidence from God's help to him in the past. As he prepared to take on the Philistine champion, Goliath, David said, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." 1Sam17v37.

I can honestly say God has helped me in times of difficulty as a teacher, carer and church leader. I can say with Robert Robinson:

          Here I raise my Ebenezer,
          Hither by Thine help I'm come,
          And I hope by Thy good pleasure
          Safely to arrive at home.

(4) Share.

It is vital to share your troubles with God's praying people. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. v10and11.

Paul invariably shared his troubles and sought the prayers of his fellow Christians. The apostle believed in the efficacy of prayer. God wants to work in partnership with us and one of the ways we become God's partner is through prayer. See exposition on Luke8v1to8.

I belong to a small association of Grace Baptist churches in East Anglia. I am sometimes critical of its exclusive attitude in this website but it does have some good points! If anyone is in serious trouble all our churches are informed and there is a united outpouring of prayer for God's help to the one in need. I can remember when my younger brother Peter was taken to Papworth Hospital nearly 50 years ago with a large cist on the lung. He was very, very ill. Within days all the churches in the association were praying for him and thankfully my brother made a good recovery.

(D) A source of comfort.

Paul, to use an expression much in vogue amongst professional sportsmen, took some positives from his time of great stress. He reckoned the experience:

(1) Equipped him to help others.

Paul wrote: Praise be to .... the God of all comforts, 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. v3

If we have come through trouble we can empathise with and help those who share the same experience. I like this story taken from an article by Bob Greene in the Chicago Tribune, August, 1987:

Douglas Maurer, 15, of Creve Coeur, Missouri, had been feeling bad for several days. His temperature was ranging between 103 and 105 degrees, and he was suffering from severe flu-like symptoms. Finally, his mother took him to the hospital in St. Louis. Douglas Maurer was diagnosed as having leukaemia. The doctors told him in frank terms about his disease. They said that for the next three years, he would have to undergo chemotherapy. They didn't down play the side effects. They told Douglas he would go bald and that his body would most likely bloat. Upon learning this, he went into a deep depression. His aunt called at a florists to send Douglas an arrangement of flowers. She told the shop assistant that it was for her teenage nephew who had leukaemia. When the flowers arrived at the hospital, they were beautiful. Douglas read the card from his aunt. Then he saw a second card. It said: "Douglas--I took your order. I work at Brix florist. I had leukaemia when I was 7 years old. I'm 22 years old now. Good luck. My heart goes out to you. Sincerely, Laura Bradley." His face lit up. He said, "Oh!"

It's funny: Douglas Maurer was in a hospital filled with millions of dollars of the most sophisticated medical equipment. He was being treated by expert doctors and nurses with medical training totalling in the hundreds of years. But it was a salesgirl in a flower shop, a woman making $170 a week, who--by taking the time to care, and by being willing to go with what her heart told her to do--gave Douglas hope and the will to carry on.

It is the teacher who has made mistakes and had a rough time with a difficult class who is best able to sympathise and counsel the probationary teacher who is going through a difficult patch. It is the mother who has suffered the agony of losing a child who can get alongside another bereaved parent and share the pain. It is the pastor who has worked for years without much apparent success who is able to commiserate with and encourage a young man starting out in the ministry who experiences early setbacks.

(2) Produced endurance.

I associate the quality of endurance with fitness, stamina and strength. Endurance can only be acquired through suffering.

When a baby giraffe is born it rests on the ground with its legs tucked under it. After only a short while its mother kicks it and keeps kicking it until it slowly rises on shaky legs. The baby giraffe soon collapses to the ground again. The mother does not give it any time to rest. She kicks her baby again. This procedure is repeated until the baby giraffe learns to rise quickly. If the young giraffe is to survive in an environment where predators abound it has to learn to get to its feet rapidly when danger threatens.

Young men who want to join the Marines or the SAS have to go through an oppressive, stressful period of training. They have to cope with one ordeal after another. Some do not last the pace but those that do build strength, stamina and tremendous confidence. They become supremely fit for purpose.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians: If we are distressed .... it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. v6.

Christians need to be tested over and over again if they are to be fully equipped to do great things for God. The Old Testament is full of characters who had to overcome difficulties before they were qualified to do God's will; Joseph, Moses, Mordecai, Nehemiah and Daniel to name but a few.

Corrie ten Boon's books have been a great blessing to me and many others because she was able to write of God's help in the many difficulties she faced. Corrie, like Paul, patiently endured suffering.

(3) Encouraged reliance on God.

Paul wrote: But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. v9.

The little apostle claimed that he experienced such acute pressure and near despair so that he was forced to rely solely on God - the God who can raise the dead, the God who can revive sinking spirits, the God who can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

I hate it when I have a problem that I am unable to fix myself. Recently I had trouble with my phone and broad band connection. I didn't know what to do. I was so pleased and relieved when a member of our congregation, Ron Moody - an electronics engineer - offered to come and sort the problem out for me. I was glad to rely on him - a friend and brother.

No-one can help us more in Christian work when things are difficult and getting us down than God. I used to call out to him when I had a particularly difficult time caring for my father. I would say to God, "You must help me. I'm getting near to the end of my resources - so you must help if I am to carry out your will. My father and I are both your sons - have compassion on us and help us." Well I am pleased to say that I was helped to finish the task God gave me to do - just! See Eulogy to my Father.

(4) Rejoiced the heart.

The sufferer is happy to prove God able. When I cared for my father I proved God able.(See above.) On completion of 37 years as a teacher I proved God able. During my time as church secretary I endured difficulties and proved God able. Such has been the experience of countless Christians.

Roy Hattersley wrote of William Booth: The Church of England denounced him. The Wesleyans ostracised him. The Establishment derided him. The brewers and publicans assaulted him. Booth and his wife suffered much opposition and many trials to their faith - but God was more than able to bless abundantly the great ministry they started.

Others rejoice when their prayers are answered and a Christian brother experiencing great suffering proves God able to deliver him. Paul wrote: Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted us in answer to the prayers of many. v11. Christians rejoice when they know their prayers have resulted in a troubled soul being comforted.

            O God, our help in ages past;
            Our hope for years to come,
            Our shelter from the stormy blast,
            And our eternal home.

ANY COMMENTS FOR JOHN REED: E-mail jfmreed@talktalk.net

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