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Second Corinthians chapter one is where we are together this morning. And I just want to remind you, did this first hour or second hour. Let me let me do it again. What a privilege it is to even have the opportunity to open God’s Word. You read the news today and you see Christians are being massacred, um, especially in the Middle East. Um, running and hiding for their lives. I watched a news clip of a organization that’s dropping relief to Christians in need right now, and one lady sent an email, um, to an organization that I’m connected to, that she said that her and her friends are in Iraq right now, and the ISIS group is within ten minutes of where they’re located, and they’re moving towards their village because they know that they have resources there. And none of the these Christian missionaries that are in that town, none of them are, um, going to leave. They’re all staying there and they’re just going to ride out and whatever happens, happens. And I know those people would be more than privileged to stand and hold God’s Word today. But here we are with the opportunity to do that. So it’s not just on my behalf that I’m thankful, but on their behalf that I get a privilege to look at this this morning, knowing throughout the centuries people have laid down their lives for God’s Word, and I reap the benefits of that, living in a country that was founded upon it and having the freedom to read it.
And so here, as we study together, any time we’re apart as a as a congregation, I want to tell you, just if you don’t have a Bible, take one from the back of our seat. And if you don’t mark in your Bible, mark it to pieces. Right. Just write in it, make notes, whatever it takes to get God’s Word in you, because that’s what it’s all about. It does no good stuck on pages. It needs to be in in our heart and in our lives. And so as a part of that, one of the things we’re looking at as a church family is the series called One Another. God has called us on mission together. Christianity isn’t about living on your own, but rather as a community. God desires for us to strive together in what he’s called us to do in this world. We find strength in him, and as we find strength in him, we also encourage and strengthen one another. We’ve looked at two of those phrases of one another as it relates to us as believers today, we’re going to focus on a third, which means which is comfort one another. God’s desire is for us to comfort one another. As we talk about comforting one another, few questions we’re going to answer as we we discover this passage of Scripture in first Corinthians. The two questions are how does God comfort you? And how do you know you’re taking comfort in God if he does comfort us? All of us in this world will experience affliction.
If you are a person on planet Earth, welcome this morning and you will experience affliction. In fact, Second Corinthians chapter one and verse three says this blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. This passage gives us an important thought as we we wrestle with this idea of comfort as it relates to God. And that’s this the Lord is the one that comforts us. But in addition to that, the Lord also will see in verses five and on uses people as his resource, his own people, to comfort those who need comforted. Comfort rests in the Lord and comfort. Rest in God’s people as they find comfort in him, therefore making them comforters to others. The other thought with this passage, as it relates to comfort and affliction, is God promises his followers comfort to all of their affliction. You will have affliction, but God promises comfort. In fact, he says it this way in all of your affliction. I love the way that it translates. In Greek, the word all means all, always, and so all affliction.
God becomes the God of all comfort. Doesn’t matter. The magnitude and the depths of your affliction, God’s authority and power rests over it in comfort. As we go through all affliction, he is the God of all comfort. The challenge then? It’s to rest in that in faith. I mean, if you don’t believe it. Take nothing and see how it goes. Or if you believe it. To learn how to focus on God. In your affliction. In fact, affliction oftentimes is what drives us to God. It’s been said the grace of God is most keenly experienced, not in the best of moments, but in what seems to be the worst of times. And the four of us in our lives. When things are going well, things are going well and God’s over there. But when things go poorly, that’s when we ask. God. Why? Our God. Where are you? And it’s important for us in afflictions to recognize where God is in that position, becoming the God of all comfort. And as Paul talks about the affliction that we experience in this passage of Scripture, it’s important just to note that in his description of affliction, he’s talking to believers. Mean the affliction that he specifically notes, his affliction that he’s facing because of his faith in Christ. So so to summarize that thought with us, it would be to say in this world we know that we will be afflicted. That’s that’s what this world offers.
It’s fallen, it’s broken, it’s sinful. It will it’s not built to last. There is affliction to come. And since there is affliction to come, it’s better to face that with Jesus than without him. In fact, Peter said in first Peter three. But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear their threats. Do not be frightened, but in your hearts Revere Christ as Lord, for it is better if it is God’s will to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. Christ has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand with angels, authorities, and powers in submission to him. It’s best to go through the afflictions with the one who has all authority. It’s glorifying to go for the one who has all authority. So if you look at a passage like this and you see, okay, God is the God of all comfort, and you say to yourself, you know, I believe that the important question then becomes how? How does God comfort me in affliction? How is God the God of all comfort in affliction? Paul says in Second Corinthians one 3 to 4, let me just read it. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Ultimate comfort. Rests in the security of the one who promises it. Meaning. This morning, we can begin to lay the foundation of finding comfort and security in God because of the identity and nature of the one who promises it. When God says a promise, his authority, as seen in first Peter three that we just read, is capable of matching that promise. In first Corinthians. Second Corinthians one three. The reason he is the comforter in all afflictions, of all comfort, is because he has the authority to carry that promise. So just beginning to answer the question, how? How do we know? And how does God provide that comfort? The answer is this simply that God gets the ultimate victory over all circumstances. God comforts. Because God sustains and endures. Heard a story shared once of of a ship that was about to be wrecked. There was these individuals on a boat. This was some 100 years, over 100 years ago. They were. It was one of those style boats where everyone was in the hall, slept in the hall, and then on top of the boat was was the captain’s chambers and the wheelhouse. And everyone else stayed beneath. And a great storm came, and the storm began to throw this boat into the rocks. And so the captain, afraid that the individuals would be washed over on the ship, sent them all underneath to find security from the storm, while the captain went to the wheelhouse to take control of the ship, to try to ride it from from hitting the rocks, and one of the individuals in the hall began to be concerned with knowing whether trying to figure out whether or not the people should abandon ship.
So he risks his life. He steps out of the ship, and he crosses over the top of the ship, to the to the captain’s chambers and up into the wheel well where the captain is steering the ship. And the individual looks at the captain, who’s slowly inch by inch, turning the ship back out to sea, and the captain turns around and sees the individual, and he looks at the individual with the brightest smile on his face, and that that individual runs back down into the hall where people are resting from the storm. And he says to them, everything is well. I’ve seen the face of the captain, and he’s full of smiles. That’s what the security of God does for us. That’s what the nature of God brings to us. As you set and seek a foundation for comfort. That amidst of whatever affliction you’re going through the face of your captain. Rest and confidence over you. Popular Christian Christian quote says this. Don’t tell God how big the storm is. Tell your storm how big your God is. It doesn’t matter how big the storm is, if you turn it over to God, he he has the final authority.
There is no suffering in him that ever takes place in vain. God adds purpose and gives purpose to everything because all of it works for his glory. In first Thessalonians chapter four, the believers in this passage of Scripture were concerned with their resurrection resting in Christ. They needed comforted from the comforter. The story goes like this. When Jesus was on earth, he was crucified. He was resurrected. He promised he would return. And so in acts chapter one and two, the early church is meeting and praying. And it tells us, Jesus tells them all authority in heaven and earth has been given to them. Go into all the world, and he’s going to ascend, and he will return. And so when Jesus ascends the church, the early church is looking up into heaven as if Jesus would return immediately. And it wasn’t until an angel came and said, get busy, Buster, that they left. And so when first Thessalonians comes along, the believers are now concerned because it’s been a while since Jesus has come back and fulfilled his promise. And many people have begun to die. And they were living in that promise, and Christ hasn’t returned. So what happens to them? Are they gone? In first Thessalonians. Paul says this in verse 17, we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore comfort one another with these words. The foundation of our comfort rests in the one who is secure beyond the afflictions that we will endure, because his hand is far greater.
It’s not a matter of how big your storm is, but rather how great your God is as he watchfully stands concerned over you. When the word comfort is used in first Corinthians. Excuse me, second Corinthians chapter one. It’s a it’s a word in in the Bible that means to come alongside and help. Saying to us, comfort doesn’t mean that you get to be lazy. But rather it’s empowering you for the work. When we say comfort, we’re not saying this this morning that you get to sit back in your lazy whatever chair and your favorite seat in the house and watch football games all day, right? When God talks about comfort, he’s talking about comfort as you are living in light of him reflecting his glory in this world. And what what it states to us as people in his comfort. In the beginning, when God created you and he created me, he made us in his image. But then he said, be fruitful and multiply. Meaning God never made you as a person. That’s just to set. But to magnify his glory. As a matter of fact, if you’re a person that’s had any opportunity to sit very long, you may have found that you have become discontent at some point, or started to be a busybody or fidgety with your thumbs. Just looking for something to get involved in. God has created you that way. In his image and for his purpose and glory.
And so when we talk about comfort as it relates to God, it’s not comfort in the sense that you get to be just lazy and sleep around all day, but rather that you get comforted and empowered to do the work that God has called you to. And so when God says comfort knowing that he’s called us to work, he also knows that this world is not easy to live in, that there are afflictions that come our way. And so that rather than remove us from the afflictions that God has called us into to reach, he brings his comfort to sustain you in those moments. To help you through them. To say, no matter how messy the moment may be. If you turn to him. He helps you. He sustains you. This word comfort in the Greek language is the word that Jesus used to describe the Holy Spirit that was promised to his church that pursues him. And John. Chapter 14 to John chapter 16. Jesus is spending his final moments with the disciples in the upper room. You can imagine in these moments how you would feel if you were a disciple. Knowing that Jesus is about to lose his life. I would call maybe for Jesus that moment of affliction. And if the disciples are being honest, they also feel afflicted by what’s about to take place. I mean, you could even imagine that moment of Jesus loses his life.
When are they going to come for us? Spend all your time investing in Christ. Now to find out that Jesus is going to leave and it shocks you in those moments. Now you feel abandoned and alone. You’re afflicted. What do you do? In John 1416, Jesus gives a promise to us and to the disciples. He says, and I pray the father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever. Jesus’s word of choice to present to him, and how he will comfort us is through the power of the spirit that will be a comforter, which means to come alongside and help us. As we trust in him. The moments, the disciples staring at the cross. They live in the promise of the power of the spirit. Now an opportunity of resurrection. When Jesus came and served in the earth, it says, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. He had comfort knowing what was awaiting him. Likewise, God provides us the same comfort by giving to us the spirit who empowers us for what he’s called us to do. I’ll share a little more about that in just a moment. But God, as we come to him and understand that his his, his comfort for us is promised. It’s a it’s a matter of of faith and believing this. And we’ll see, as Paul gives us an example in just a few moments, that as we turn to God and trusting in him and continue with the work that God has called us to do, that in those moments we find ourselves comforted by his strength.
God comforts us in our hour of need. God comforts us as we have need. I can tell you this morning that there is no pain. But what we can tell you by the promise of this passage is that Jesus cares, and he promises to come alongside of you and comfort in those moments. How does God comfort? One, he has the authority to comfort. Two he’s promised to not abandon you, but offer his comforter to aid you by his side. And three God works in his people to comfort us. If you were to read, continue on in the passage of Scripture, it says in verse five, for just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation, or if we are comforted, is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. And our hope for you is firmly grounded. Knowing that as you are shares of our suffering, so also your shares of our comfort. God uses his spirit of comfort. To move in the hearts of his people, who he is called to bear his image, to provide his comfort in this world for others.
God works supernaturally. And God also works naturally through the supernatural. I mean, when God moves many times, it makes sense. When there are miracles that God does that defies the laws of logic. But there are things that God does that makes natural sense. If God would create you and me in our image, and God would create us different than any other creature, being able to connect with him relationally, then you would expect the place, the one place we could go to see God in His comfort. It’s through his people. God uses his people to provide comfort to one another. God uses his people not only comforts and comfort to the body, but but and comfort in Christ to the world by proclaiming the gospel of hope. Showing up and joining together makes a difference. God, when he calls us in the world, he he never calls us as an individual left unto itself. But to understand how God moving in me has equipped me to to be utilized, that God could then move within you. To use my gifts and your gifts for his glory. As a church and use this as an example. I often think about this sometimes when it comes to our building project that we had when we first bought our facility. We in building this place? I could tell you there were days where we would come, where there would be 1 or 2 people here in days where we come, where there would be multiple people here.
And the demeanor of the people when there were multiple people here was far greater than the demeanor of the people when there were two people here. When, when, when you’re just one person hammering by yourself, you just kick a ball and you think, oh, shucks, one of my friends going to be here. It’s like having a birthday party by yourself, you know? But but when multiple people show up for the same purpose and the same cause and doing this together. It’s glorious to him. God works in his people to comfort. But in addition to that, God comforts us as we comfort others. Look what it says in verse five. Paul, as he begins to describe, says, for just as the sufferings of Christ are ours and abundance, so also are our comfort is abundant through Christ. And so Paul is saying this we were afflicted, we were afflicted, and we kept serving for your game. And you’re going to discover in verse 8 to 11 that in serving in his affliction, Paul finds that the Lord shows up and provides him comfort as well. When it comes to comfort. There is a place where we need to rest in the Lord. There is a time you feel beat up. And there’s a time you need security in him. God’s also created you to get off your rear end. To reflect his glory. And as you reflect his glory, you find his comfort.
I recently. The last few years started doing a lot of hiking in Utah. Mountains and other people are far greater than me, but when I have time, I like to do it. But one of the things I do enjoy about it is that I do it with other people. This past weekend, I took my son on like a little mile hike up the side of the mountain, and we ran into like eight moose along the way. Don’t tell his mom if she’s in here and I’ll shoot. Some of them were on the path. Those things are dangerous. Oh, well. But climbing a mountain. It’s fun when you get to the top. But it’s not nearly as fun as if you were to do it with other people. Because together you can look back at the valley you left behind and look at the glory of what is to come. And that’s the same thing with comfort. Jesus doesn’t take you out of your afflictions. But he does promise to walk with you in them. And when you gather together as a group of people in the valley. As you climb the mountain. When you get to the top. How much greater of an opportunity it becomes, and giving God glory and rejoicing as people to see the hand of God that had carried you in that moment. It’s far greater to celebrate with others who take the image of God and comforting one another in the affliction to rejoice together on the mountain top of what God has done.
When we talk about our facility together. Just to be in this building. It took us three years to get here. Two years of just praying and hoping, driving onto this lot, standing around. It was funny because the bank had this on sale for years, and one day they called me and said, we can’t sell this place. We have dropped it way low and we can’t figure out what’s going wrong. I was like, well, we might be praying. It might be our fault. But through the valley. Of looking for a home. And a place to gather. As people collect in that. And then we move into a facility and we continue to see what God is doing and what God has done. We stand on the mountaintop just rejoicing, and we get to do that together. And the same thing is happening today. And we think about not not just taking care of our needs on the inside, but to fix up our facility invitational to the world. And having a church that that will sustain here into the future. It’s a it’s a statement of valley. It’s a statement of serving. It’s a statement of doing something. But to know. On the back end. Together as a community, we get to see how God works in us, to comfort and to reach and to stand on the mountaintop and rejoice over what God has done.
We are comforted. By our comforter. As we comfort those in need. Paul’s about to give an illustration in verse eight to just call us to that, to show how in his affliction as he served, God comforts. God shows up vertically in our relationship to him as we connect horizontally for his goodness and glory in each other. Matter of fact, it’s through our circumstance. And in our adversity. We truly begin to see Jesus for who he is. Paul’s example starts in verse eight. Let me read it. If we do not want you to be unaware, brethren. Of our affliction which came to us in Asia. That we were burdened excessively beyond our strengths, that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great apparel of death, and will deliver us he on whom we have set our hope, and he will yet deliver us. You also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many. You get to a place as you read a text like First Corinthians, second Corinthians, chapter one, verses 3 to 7. And there is just an honest statement where you’ve got to say to yourself, what God desires to do here is is supernatural.
God’s comfort in my afflictions is something he will do supernatural in me through my circumstance. How do I know? How do I know he’s going to do that? Well, Paul says, listen, if you don’t believe it, just listen to my situation. Listen how desperate it is. I was to the point where I felt so depressed, so, so distraught by the circumstances that I was. I was despaired of life. Have you ever been there? Life just pounding on you. I love what Paul says in this passage. Because what he mentions in this passage is dishonesty. Saying, as Christians there is no Superman. If anyone would have been Superman in the faith, it would have been Paul. If anyone didn’t need people, it would have been Paul. But even Superman. It’s Jesus. We’re created for that. And in that finding comfort in Christ and through each other as Christ works within us. And Paul comes this moment and says, here, here’s the great part when you’re in affliction. You can be honest. I mean, an apostle is saying, I’m serving Jesus and I feel like death. Do you know what Paul is also saying? He’s saying you don’t have to fake your circumstance, but here’s what you do need to do. You need to turn it over to Jesus. Don’t sit idle in it. But walk with God through it. As people. Sometimes I pride. I think our pride hinders us from that.
We think in our circumstance we’re capable of doing it on our own. What can I tell you? You’re robbing the body of Christ from being the body of Christ. God gave us his comfort. So that we could comfort. God showed us how to walk with him in our circumstance, so that in your hour of need. We could be there to. Paul mentions that about his circumstance in these moments and being honest, but to just simply say, and he turned it over to Christ, and this God who supernaturally provides the power of His Spirit ministered through his life, not not just solely through the Lord, but the Lord working through his people as his people prayed on his behalf, on Paul’s behalf. When it comes to affliction in our life. I remind us constantly, or I hope I do. Maybe this stick in your head, if not right now. When it comes to affliction, this is what we need to know. We need to know two things that someone cares and everything will be okay. More specifically, the Lord cares, others care for our need in the Lord and everything will work out for his good. When the Apostle Paul worked for ministry in this in this world, he always traveled with individuals. He never did it on his own. In fact, a couple of famous people are bolded there for you Epaphroditus and Tychicus. They always stick in my head because they have the weirdest names out of all of Paul’s friends.
Tychicus is just just. You can’t forget that, can you? And Paul would use them to encourage his life. And they would. And Paul would encourage their lives. But not only would Paul use him for encouragement to him, Paul would then send them out to be an encouragement to others. To pray for others. To be there in their time of need. God is the God of all comfort. And there’s a trusting in that. If God is the God of all comfort. You know what that means for us as people. That we don’t have to bear the burden. God’s the one who brings the comfort. It’s saying to us that he wants our circumstance turned over to him. You ever been in that place in your life where you’re stressed out, and then all of a sudden you just realize, I’ve just been walking around stressed out? Why in the world have I not taken this to the Lord? He’s the God of all comfort. The question. Maybe I’ll end with this in the summation. How do you know you’re really taking comfort in Christ in your afflictions? And from this passage, I think Paul points to something important in recognizing for us as believers that we’re taking comfort and afflictions. Keep in mind, as I give you this answer. Paul’s talking to believers who are facing trials because of their faith in Christ. How how do you know you’re taking comfort in Christ in your afflictions? Answers this.
You quit being concerned about what others think about you and your circumstance, and you rest in God’s promises instead. You serve him and you live your life for an audience of one. You’re taking comfort in other things. When those pressures dictate your living and you’re taking comfort in Christ when his promises dictate your direction. There’s plenty of affliction in this world. But you have a God of all comfort who stands on your side. Understanding what it means to be a tichicus or a aphroditus in the lives of people is is so important for us as believers because gathered together, there are people who feel like giving up. Just this past week, a friend of mine from the East Coast took took his life. If you just knew. And the truth is, you never know when that last moment might be. But. But to understand what God has called you to be in this world by providing the hope and comfort that he promises. There are people who want to give up. I want to give up on life. They want to give up on others. They want to give up on work. They want to give up on marriage. I’ve got nothing left. And they need people in the valley with them. It’s not an invitation to say, hey, let’s all get together and just suffer and have a horrible time. But it’s to say this to recognize we meet people in that valley so that we can walk to the top of the mountain and celebrate what God has done.
There are people who feel like giving up. But here’s what also this morning. There are also people here that have given up. And they’ve given it over to Christ. Because you’ve begun to realize exactly what this passage is saying. It’s him that comforts. It’s him. We’re hopeless. It’s he who in my afflictions is trustworthy in that moment. And it is he who has promised to provide me his comfort if I just turn it over to him. When we talk about comfort. I’m never. I’m never saying to you, just be better at being comforting. What I’m saying is be better at giving up and turning it over to Jesus, because he is the one who comforts you. It’s his burden to bear. As is his concern rests on you. The promise of this passage. Is demonstrated in the Life of Paul. If you don’t believe it. Paul says, look what Jesus has done for me. God becomes a God of comfort for us because of his authority. Because he comes to our side. Because he moves within his people to offer us comfort. That as we go on this journey. I may look back together what God has done. And just give him the glory. Teaching us to walk with them through the afflictions, to understand who he is in the midst of those moments, and to trust in him all of our days.