Introduction & comfort

Good morning. We're reaching a milestone here. We've completed our study of 1 Corinthians beginning today into 2 Corinthians. And so we're going to be going to the Bible bookcase here and putting 1 Corinthians on the shelf for a bit and then switching to 2 Corinthians.

And just to kind of restore our memories about the time perspective here, Paul went on his first missionary journey, then took a brief break. Then his second missionary journey, that was the journey that he first went into Corinth and then on his third missionary journey he also went to Corinth but it was then on his third journey that he wrote 1st and 2nd Corinthians and so we're looking here at the second book on this journey. Here's a map, and I don't expect you to read all the details, but basically he included Corinth in that loop that he made through the churches. And it was while he was traveling in the midst of that journey that he wrote these books that we've been studying here. So here's Corinth on the isthmus, the narrow part. of this peninsula at the southern end of Greece.

Now, Paul left some indications in the two letters that we have, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, that this letter is actually the fourth letter to them. There are two other letters that we have evidence of, but in fact do not have those books. So we're reading 2 Corinthians, beginning that this morning. It is in fact his fourth letter, at least there.

But one of the things we're going to notice as we go through it, not immediately, but pretty soon, is that there's some things that have reached a progression in the church there at Corinth. Some things have developed since his prior letter and he is addressing those. One of those is there was a fellow that they needed to deal with with church discipline who had a moral issue and it appears here in 2nd Corinthians that he had realized his error and was wanting to be restored to the church.

So we will encounter that. Some of the major themes that we're going to encounter, there are a number of them, but will include suffering and comfort, and we're going to encounter that here in this morning's passage. Growing in Christ, and we'll see how that takes place. God's adequacy, a big theme, and even included in part in today's passage throughout 2nd Corinthians. God's sufficiency for these things. law and grace will be issues that will bring up again and finally godly giving it's one of the uh... a few books first and second corinthians or one of the few books uh... that uh... uh... give us principles for godly giving how does god want believers to be uh... to be giving in the church and in ministry uh... here we have some points to bring out they were brought up in the first uh... uh... book and as we started in the first Corinthians, it's not included in the slide set that you have in your handout, but I'll go through them briefly just so we stay oriented.

Born of Saul, the Jew, here is Paul, a Pharisee of Pharisees, steeped in the law. He persecuted the church to the point of death. Towards the end of Acts he says, any chance that I had, I voted for death for those Christians. He persecuted the church not mildly but vigorously. He was born again as Paul the believer, recorded in Acts 9.

He was the steward of grace, the one who had been entrusted with conveying and teaching grace to the people in the church. He founded and then established the first churches in the Gentile lands, including Galatia and also including Corinth. Here is Paul's earthly resume.

He's born a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin. He makes note of that in a couple of different places. Born in Tarsus, raised in Jerusalem, and educated in Judaism under Gamaliel, the son of Simeon, the son of Hillel. Famous rabbis, every one. And so he was brought along into Judaism by the best of the best, so to speak.

He was, as the book of Acts makes clear, a Roman citizen all the way through, becomes clear. A tent maker by trade, that's only revealed once, although he does make reference to it in not burdening the churches. He would carry out his trade in order to keep from burdening the churches financially. He was likely fluent in Greek, of course he wrote in Greek, Latin, being a Roman citizen, Hebrew, with his training under the rabbis, and Aramaic. And he even included an Aramaic word at the end of 1 Corinthians.

He was also, as we know it, an aggressive persecutor of the church. But beyond that, Paul had a special assignment as an apostle. He was an apostle as a special messenger to the Gentile lands. It's interesting that the Lord disappointed this one man to go to the Gentile lands initially. What we know of the disciples outside of the New Testament is that ultimately they all went to Gentile lands. But Paul was particularly appointed to make the first missions out into the Gentile lands. He conveyed some teachings not disclosed by the other apostles, or if disclosed, not explained.

Let me go through what some of those are. Believers have the adoption of sons. Not in 1st and 2nd Corinthians, but one that he brought out in Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians. He taught about the body of Christ. That showed up in 1st Corinthians. We'll see that it's not in 2nd Corinthians.

Believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit. That is something that only Paul revealed, and 2 Corinthians will be one of those books that will encounter that teaching. Believers have all been identified and united with Christ. That is something that we saw in 1 Corinthians. We'll see it again in 2 Corinthians as well. Listing and explaining the spiritual gifts. That was something we saw in 1 Corinthians.

We won't see it this time. Jews and Gentiles are both in Christ and dead to the law. What's interesting is that he will put that sort of across. He's going to have a different perspective on it as we get into 2 Corinthians chapter 3, where he talks about the law and the place that scripture has for us in the church.

Now, there are some necessary qualifications of an apostle. You also have this on your handout. But there's a particular reason why I want to include that here. And a number of these qualifications show up here in 2 Corinthians as we go through them. One is that apostles had success in evangelism. God particularly blessed their evangelistic efforts. They were founding the church. It was extremely important.

2 Corinthians 3, 1-3 is one of those passages that we'll be encountering here. He had the capacity to suffer patiently, to persevere in trial. We'll be seeing that of course in 2 Corinthians. In Acts chapter 9, when Paul becomes a believer, The Lord speaks to Ananias and talks about how much Paul must suffer.

It's an amazing thing. Being an apostle meant, yes, you have all these gifts and abilities, and you also get to suffer a lot. In addition to that, he received his gift and office by a sovereign decision of God. The first verses of both 1st and 2nd Corinthians spell that out. It is God's sovereign decision that Paul would be an apostle. So he spells out by the will of God.

Not in 2nd Corinthians, but in 1st Corinthians, had to have been an eyewitness of the resurrection of Christ. And finally, endowed with power to perform signs, wonders, and miracles. We will see that in 2nd Corinthians. So of the five critical points for an apostle, 2nd Corinthians is going to contain four of those. So it's going to be an important book from that standpoint.

What is an apostle? What is necessary in order for someone to be an apostle? He also says in the very first verse, Paul, an apostle by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother. He doesn't say Timothy is an apostle, doesn't give him that status. But Timothy co-authored, interestingly, six letters of Paul. Probably Timothy's place in most of these is acting as a scribe, writing as Paul spoke. And then what we made clear is towards the end of many of the letters, Paul would write some things in his own hand.

2nd Corinthians 1.1, one of those places where it's evident, and then in several of the other books.

In Romans 16.21, interestingly enough, it says Timothy sends greetings. So even though Timothy was not a co-author, at least at the front end like Paul was, he was apparently present when the book was written.

And finally, of all Paul's letters, only Galatians and Ephesians, and I would say only of all Paul's letters to the churches, Galatians and Ephesians do not mention Timothy directly, yet Timothy was from Galatia, Acts 16.1, and Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus. So essentially all the letters to the churches had some involvement with Timothy, plus two letters were written to him directly, so it's only Titus here that gets an exemption. of Timothy's own resume, and we have three slides on that.

He was from Lystra, which is a Roman colony. That's made clear from Acts 16, the first three verses where Timothy is selected. On Paul's first missionary journey, he went first through the island of Cyprus and then went up through southern Galatia, this district in the Roman Empire, and that included Lystra, where Timothy was. So that was when Timothy would have become a believer. So here in Acts 14, we find the record of where Paul went through Lystra, where Timothy was from.

So that's when Timothy would have become a believer. Then, we look at Timothy, we find out that he had a Greek father and a Jewish mother. Now that's very interesting because the Jews weren't supposed to pair up non-Jews and a Jew, but apparently At least Timothy's grandfather didn't seem to care.

So somehow or another that happened. He was well regarded, however, by the believers in Lystra and Iconium, a neighboring town. And so by the time Paul got there on his second missionary journey, here's Timothy having grown spiritually once he'd become a believer. And everyone was noticing it.

He was taught the Old Testament by his Jewish mother and his grandmother, named there in 2 Timothy. So here is Timothy, and he has at least some Jewish heritage. He is half-Jew. And he was likely in his late teens to early twenties when he went with Paul on his second missionary journey. Now think about someone who is in their late teens, or early twenties. Think of somebody in that spot. Maybe think of yourself when you were in that spot. Were you ready to do this? Apparently Timothy was.

On Paul's second missionary journey then, as he passed through Lystra, that's in Acts chapter 16 where he describes selecting Timothy to go with him on these journeys. Paul circumcised Timothy before they continued on the journey. Why? Apparently, Timothy having been raised in a home with a Jewish mother who taught him the Old Testament and his grandmother, but the father, being Greek, apparently didn't care for any of this stuff. And so Timothy, though of half-Jewish background, had not been circumcised. So he was circumcised then.

He was familiar with Jewish, having been raised in a Jewish home, at least as taught by his mother and grandmother. His father was Greek, so he'd have exposure to the Greek culture. And he was in Lystra, which was in a cluster of Roman colonies. So he had background in Jewish, Greek, and Roman culture, like Paul, and was well able to address these people in the various places that they would go.

He traveled with Paul on most of Paul's second missionary journey, obviously not the first leg of it, until he was selected to go with them. He also traveled with Paul on most of Paul's third missionary journey, where he didn't travel with them. It was often because Paul left him behind on special assignment to teach in the places that the churches had been established. And the third one, he sent to or was left at Corinth, at Ephesus, and at Thessalonica to Macedonia and likely to Philippi.

So he was an Apostle's gopher. An Apostle's gopher. Sometimes the more formal term is an apostolic delegate. At least two letters from Paul were directed to Timothy, the second being the last known letter from Paul. He spent at least some time in prison himself, possibly after Paul had been martyred.

Hebrews 13.23 refers to Timothy just getting out of prison. Before I go there, just one thing to note.

We have some supplemental handouts that you may want to avail yourself of. We have a three-page handout that talks about Timothy's life and his spiritual growth. It kind of catalogs through that. One of the reasons why I think it's an extremely valuable thing to look at is if you set aside the Apostles, Timothy is the guy about whom we have the greatest amount of information regarding the inputs he had into his life and his spiritual growth. So it's a great example for us to study and to look at. So anyway, that's available in the cabinet to the right as you exit this room. It's also up on the internet site. We have the ability now to have supplements on the internet. So it's up there as well.

Alright, so now let's talk about this word comfort. And comfort, we're not talking about how comfortable it is, right? That's not what we're talking about. This is instead a comforting of those who are hurting, a comforting of those who are grieving. So it's a different kind of comfort. This isn't being laid back in your recliner. So this word comfort here, it's a Greek word that is translated as comfort or consolation in many of our Bibles.

It has the root meaning to call alongside, and I'd like you to take particular note of that. The word's context determines whether it means to comfort, encourage, urge, and I put dot, dot, dot, admonish, exhort, all those words. In the original language, it's just this one word, okay? Keep in mind that the root idea of the Greek word is to come alongside another, to minister to another believer. That's the root word. How it's translated, comfort, exhort, urge, admonish, how it's translated depends on the context. The root idea is to come alongside. The ministry that gets carried out and the end result, the direction of the coming alongside That is translated from the context. But the root idea is to come alongside.

So one of the things that gets pointed out here is, what is biblical counseling? There are a number of seminaries around that offer biblical counseling classes, even Bible colleges, biblical counseling classes. But what it amounts to is it's really just secular counseling with some biblical passages kind of scattered through it. It's not truly biblical counseling. Biblical counseling is not about degrees and fees, appointments and offices and everything that goes with it. If you ever get an invoice from Holly Hills for counseling, call the police. I didn't send it. Biblical counseling is about a believer coming alongside another to minister the Word of God in love. That's biblical counseling.

It may involve our comforting or our urging, exhorting, admonishing, all those things, or any other ministry that has to do with coming alongside another believer. It is alongside and not standing over and looking down. It's not, I'm here to shake the finger at you, okay? In order that the understanding of this might be a little more clear, we have, can you handle it?

Another six-page supplement. on the cabinets of the right, and it goes through the words in the New Testament that have to do with biblical counseling. There are about seven of them in particular that it addresses. And I think it's real helpful because it makes a distinction between what the world calls counseling and what is biblical counseling, an important distinction. Anyway, avail yourself of that if you'd like.

Now, in this passage here, especially in verses 3 through 7, Paul addresses afflictions and sufferings. Very important topic. Along with those words translated comfort, this coming alongside, Paul has interspersed the words affliction and suffering, or related kinds of words, throughout the passage, and it is not by accident. Central to these words is the phrase, Sufferings of Christ. Interestingly enough, this is the only place that that phrase shows up in Paul's letters. Peter, in 1 Peter, brings up that phrase three times. At the beginning, somewhere towards the middle, and right at the end. So here is a real critical term. Why?

By the sufferings of Christ we were saved. By that I mean the sufferings of Christ as He was on the cross, and not only the physical suffering, but taking our sins upon Himself and suffering and then dying for our sins. Hebrews 13.12 puts it this way, Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate, outside the gate of Jerusalem. By Christ's sufferings we were saved. Very important. More than that, in them we were identified by his sufferings and his death. We were identified.

One of the ways I like to put this is when Christ died on the cross, you can imagine there were some people around, We have record of even some of the names of the people around. There were several Roman soldiers. There was even a centurion there that was in charge of the soldiers. And when people looked up, they just saw one person up on that cross. What nobody there had any idea about is that that cross that Jesus was on was crowded.

It was crowded. What's amazing is I was there. You were there. Every believer that you've ever known or known about was there. There were lots of people on that cross. It was a crowded cross. We were identified with Him in His sufferings, in the sufferings of Christ. The cross was a crowded place. This is the amazing thing. This is mind-boggling. We share in them. We share in them. In Philippians 3, 9, and 10, it reads this way.

Through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. The sufferings of Christ. Now, downstairs we have a fellowship hall. When you go down there to fellowship, when you think of having fellowship with other Christians, do you think of fellowshipping and suffering? That's usually not what we have in our thoughts, right? But there is a fellowship in His sufferings. There is a fellowship in His sufferings. We share in the sufferings of Christ.

Now that might be a little puzzling. But be puzzled for a little bit longer, then I'll explain. So here in 2 Corinthians 1.5, the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance. Lots of them. Abundance. Sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance. Oh, and here's the fun one. This is the one I get asked about sometimes several times a year. We also, we, We complete the sufferings of Christ. Now, before you all get up and leave, let me explain myself.

Paul wrote this in Colossians 1.24, And now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body, the church, which is the church in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. What? Lacking? How could they be lacking? That sounds like heresy, until we understand something.

Remember in Acts chapter 9, the account, here is Paul on the road to Damascus. He is going to Damascus to take more Christians down. And boy, he is set like flint to take these Christians down. We already said, wherever he had a chance, he voted for death. He wanted as many dead Christians as he could get. Okay? He's on his way to Damascus and suddenly he is blinded on the roadway. Here is part of what happens and what Jesus tells him.

He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting, get this, me? Was Saul, the guy who later gets called Paul, did he ever directly persecute Christ? No. We have no evidence that he ever did. And in verse 5, and he said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom, very directly, you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city and it will be told you what you must do.

What we often don't realize is the sufferings that we go through, the Lord takes that personally. You see that? We think, oh, I'm going through this, and we might even get mad at God. God, why are you having this happen to me? And all the while, Jesus says, what do you mean it's happening to me? The sufferings that we go through, the afflictions that we go through, Christ takes it personally.

He is participating in it. You are, as you go through various things, fulfilling and completing the sufferings of Christ. It is not that Christ's death on the cross and every suffering moment up to that was insufficient. No, he said it was finished and he meant that.

But the sufferings of Christ through his body will not be complete until the very day he calls the church home. The sufferings you are going through, don't think that you're going through them all by yourself and woe is me. The sufferings that you and I go through are sufferings that the church will experience and Christ takes personally. He joins with us in that until the day He calls the church home.

You, as a believer, are filling up the sufferings of Christ. And you are not alone in that suffering, whatever it is. Whatever the pain, however it may be physical, it may be a pain of heart. He is going through that with you, and you need to know that. Why are you persecuting me See that?

These sufferings and afflictions are also something that we share together as believers in Christ. One person hurts, and we hurt with them. One person rejoices, and we rejoice with them too. But we don't just independently feel these things, we share them. And why? Why not? We have the same head, even Christ Himself. And it can be something intensely painful, or it can be something that just is nagging. We share it. Christ shares it. I have this fellowship of the sufferings again.

2 Corinthians 1.6, the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer, a sharing. The next point is these sufferings and afflictions are also part of the believer's qualifications for then coming alongside. Do you know one of the reasons why we go through the sufferings and afflictions we do?

So you'll be qualified. People want to go for counseling, they want to make sure this guy's got his degrees and his licenses and all that sort of thing, and that they're qualified. You know what God says qualification is? Suffering. If you've suffered, then you're qualified to come alongside another.

What that tells us, that's one reason why we're going through the things that we are. And that's very important to know. It's very important that the things we're suffering are not without purpose. And one of the reasons we're going through the things that we are, that are painful, that are difficult, it may be a sharp pain. It may be a nagging pain. It may be a dull thing. It may even disappear as a frustration. But one of the reasons we're going through it is in order to be qualified to come alongside and minister to others. That's what the suffering is also for.

This passage here in 2 Corinthians is a perfect example of exactly that. The Father of mercies and the 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. It is so that we will be qualified to comfort others. And if you're going through something, What can be better than to have another believer come alongside with understanding and sympathy and compassion and say, I've been there. I've been there. They're qualified by afflictions and suffering.

That's exactly what God has in mind. Rather than being just something we try to avoid or get past as quickly as possible, grit our teeth and get away from it. Affliction and sufferings are basic to who we all are in Christ. If you're a Christian, guess what you signed up for? Yeah. Guess what you signed up for?

It's basic to His will in and through us. It's exactly what He had in mind. He has a purpose in it. That's how He will carry out His will in each of us. It is also how we're going to be conformed to Him. The key here is, I think, as you look at Romans 8.28, God causes all things to work together for good, and those are the circumstances that we find ourselves in. To those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.

As believers, think about this. There are two processes in motion, in parallel, that are conforming you to the image of His Son. Both of those we're addressing here this morning. One of those is the circumstances that we find ourselves in. God is using it to conform us to the image of His Son.

All things work together for good doesn't mean that all the things that happen are good. Oh good, this tragedy just took place, right? Oh good, this pain just came into my life. No, that's not the point. The point is that all things, whether they're good or bad, are worked together for good by God in order that we be conformed to the image of his Son.

The other thing that we're doing here this morning, and we'll see it in 2 Corinthians 3.18, And that is we're going to be transformed as we behold the Lord through his word. And that also conforms us to the image of his Son. Excuse me, transforms us into the image of his Son. Conformed by the circumstances, transformed by his word, both to the image of his Son.

And finally, what is your suffering capacity? Is your suffering meter pegged? Are you fully loaded on top of your head? Paul expressed that he and even others had suffered greatly and even beyond their human capacity. He's rather emphatic in these verses. Even to the point where it appeared that death was imminent, And there were places, I mean, Paul had recorded in Acts, they stoned him and left him for dead, figuring he was dead. He had some death-threatening experiences multiple times in his ministry as an apostle. And so, this is a question people ask again and again. Why would God allow such great suffering? Why? Why would God do that? Paul spells out another reason aside from qualifying us in this passage, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God.

Oh, if the trial is something I can handle, you say, don't worry, Lord, I got it. I got this one, Lord. Don't worry. I don't need you. I appreciate the help. I appreciate the offer. I don't need you. This one, I've got you covered. We'll see you when we get there. No, what he says here is sometimes these things come and they are heavy.

A heavy trial. Just really overbearing. That trial. Why is that there? so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God. It is beyond our capacity intentionally. It is not an accident that this is an overwhelming trial. It's so that we can trust in God and not in ourselves. Trusting God, you see, isn't just desirable, sort of a nice idea. It's just exactly what God has in mind.

As we put it here on the last slide, there's more to delivery than UPS, USPS, and FedEx. Deliverance can take place from the circumstances. Sometimes the Lord may say, I'm going to take you out of the circumstance that's causing the trial. He may do that. In fact, that is our inclination to pray first off. Lord, get me out of this. He may do that. And he could do that. We have an example here. Here's Peter. He's in prison. He's been doing the right thing, preaching the gospel, right? So an angel comes and lets him out and tells him to go right back to preaching the gospel that put him in jail. But he got out of the circumstances.

So that's one possibility. And the Lord may do that. He may take us through the circumstance. Does the pain go away? Difficult circumstances disappear? Nope. Through it, He may take us. Through it, He may take us. There is the ultimate deliverance. We're out of here. The Lord may take us out of the difficulty altogether by removing us from the earth. So all three of those possibilities can take place.

In each case, what Paul makes clear in this passage, the prayers of the saints are to join the prayers of those who are in the circumstances for whatever kind of deliverance he has in mind. I have here a few of our troops over the Middle East praying together.

I don't know what's happening next, but my guess is it's possibly a little scary. But whatever the circumstances, whatever the situation, praying for one another is exactly what the Lord has in mind. We do, after all, share the sufferings. We do, after all, share in the afflictions. Praying for one another, praying with one another. That's a good thing, isn't it? It's part of that comfort. If we share in the sufferings, if we share in the afflictions, let's also share in the praying, lifting one another up. Let's pray.

Lord, as we look at this passage, how appropriate this is in our lives, in the various places that we are at, what valuable insights we have. And the things that we go through, some of them light, some of them heavy, some of them short and some of them long.

We're just thankful that you have your purpose, multiple purposes in each one of those things. We thank you for your sufficiency. Thank you for your complete adequacy for all these things. We thank you that you have actually an eternal purpose in these temporal things that we go through. We thank you for your amazing grace and your marvelous love. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen.