An uncomfortable comfort
2 Corinthians 1:1-11

Introduction

Where were YOU … when you heard Trump had been shot? Most of you hopefully were here at church. I was told the news JUST before the 10am service 2 weeks ago. And the world-wide response TO that news has focused on 2 things:

The first was the almost catastrophic failure of the Secret Service. Now GRANTED … they covered the former President within 2 seconds of the first bullet. Outstanding. But everything leading up to … and everything following that … was absolute amateur hour.

Why wasn’t the roof … with clear line-of-sight to the President … cordoned off?
Why wasn’t Trump pulled from the stage momentarily … while they checked OUT the suspicious guy with the rifle?
And why was the gunman allowed to get off 8 shots before being taken out?

Then AFTER the shots … why did the radio chatter have the Secret Service saying ‘what’s the plan … what do we do?’
Why did many of the agents look visibly flustered?
And why was Trump exposed … for a potential 2nd gunman … when being escorted from the stage?

Just before resigning as the Head of the Secret Service this week … Kimberly Cheatle told a Congressional Hearing that this was ‘The most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.’

The OTHER focus has been on Trump. Even his most vehement opponents … who have spent YEARS trashing him in the media or on social media … have admitted that Trump showed incredible courage that day. Now say what you want about Trump … because he DOES and SAYS some seriously questionable things … but MAN! To ORDER the Secret Service to STOP … his exposure was partly HIS fault … so he could pump his fist in the air and yell ‘FIGHT’! Say what you want … but that is extraordinary courage.

Now let me ask you; which of those 2 responses would YOU like to have … when everything goes wrong for you next? Because the thing about this world is … things WILL go wrong. God has cursed this world … as a punishment for Sin … Genesis 3. And that punishment means suffering is (i) inevitable, and (ii) indiscriminate. If you live long enough … you WILL suffer. Cancer … cost of living stress … work problems … relationship problems … death. Suffering is inevitable. And suffering is indiscriminate. You can live in the safest country on the planet … in the most affluent time in history … come from a loving and supportive family … and do NOTHING wrong in life. But suffering IS coming.

The question our passage today asks is … how are we going to respond WHEN that suffering hits? Are we going to panic? Retreat? Curl up in a ball? Are we going to LET that suffering defeat us? Or are we going to STAND … pump our fist … and fight? Our passage today has more references to suffering than any other passage in the Bible. And it’s written by a person who has suffered more than arguably any other person in human history. In 2 Corinthians 11 Paul tells us he’s been imprisoned frequently, flogged frequently, whipped frequently, beaten frequently, shipwrecked frequently, stoned, starved, stolen from, subjected to exposure and had SEVERAL attempts made on his life. Yet even through ALL this suffering … he says this in:

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles

And that’s our topic for today; God’s comfort. The word ‘comfort’ occurs 10 times in this passage. And what we find is … it is God’s COMFORT that gives Paul the strength to not just go on fighting … but actually praise God through the most horrible of suffering. And if WE want to have this same courageous response to inevitable and indiscriminate suffering … then there are 3 things I want us to understand about God’s comfort. And these are our 3 points today … which are (i) The NEED for God’s comfort … why is it needed in the first place, (ii) The CONTENT of God’s comfort … how does it help, and (iii) the GOAL of God’s comfort … what outcome does God WANT. So if we want to be the kind of people who show COURAGE in the face of suffering … then please come with me as we look at the why, the how and the what of God’s comfort.

The need for God’s comfort

And the FIRST thing we notice about this passage is the word ‘comfort’:

The God of all comfort
Who comforts us
So that we can comfort others
With the comfort we receive
Our comfort abounds
If we are comforted
It is for your comfort

Comfort, comfort, comfort! The question I have is … why isn’t the word ‘relief’? Like if I had a choice out of being comforted THROUGH my suffering … or getting relief FROM my suffering … I’d prefer relief … thank you very much. Like why doesn’t God just STOP my suffering altogether?

The reason is … God uses times of suffering to help us grow. Do you think people just wake up one day … and are all of a sudden able to stand in the face of adversity? No way! Take Navy Seal training for example. You take the fittest … toughest … most talented soldiers you can find … and you put them through 6 months of THE most gruelling and punishing training imaginable. And what do you get at the end? The greatest soldiers on the planet … who can be dropped into situations you wouldn’t trust anyone else with.

And THAT’S what God wants for his people. He wants battle hardened soldiers … who can carry out his mission of making disciples of all nations … Matthew 28:19-20 … in even the harshest conditions. So if you’re suffering right now … please know that is God’s ‘Navy Seal’ training. And that’s WHY God’s comfort is needed. He’s NOT going to relieve our suffering. He’s going to use it to make us the best soldiers we can be. And this training has at least 3 aspects to it:

Number 1 … is to expose our sin and bring us to repentance. John Piper says ‘even the GODLIEST people in the world are like a clear glass of water with sediment at the bottom. And when the glass is struck … by suffering … that sediment … that Sin … is stirred up and exposed. And quite often … God will use suffering to expose OUR sediment. Why? Because he wants that sin removed. Sin makes us WEAKER soldiers. Now there are MANY reasons why suffering occurs. It might be the natural consequences of your sin … or someone else’s. But it MIGHT be that God is trying to expose your sin. We see this in 1 Cor 11. When CRITICISING the Corinthians for mistreating the Lord’s Supper … Paul says:

1 Corinthians 11:30 (NIV) That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

So IF suffering comes into our lives … the FIRST thing we should ask is … ‘what sin or idol might God be trying to expose here?’

The SECOND aspect of God’s Navy Seal training … is it’s preparing us for the inevitable suffering OF our mission.

2 Corinthians 1:5 (NIV) we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ

Now this doesn’t mean that we participate in the ATONING sacrifice of Christ. That suffering was His to bear alone. The sufferings WE participate in … stem from telling people they need a saviour. In John 7:7 … Jesus says the world HATES him because he testifies that it’s works are evil. And he says WE should no different. OK … people don’t like being told they’re works are evil. Yet that’s a NECESSARY part of making disciples. You CANNOT accept Jesus as your saviour unless you acknowledge that you NEED saving. And for every person who acknowledges their Sin … there will be 10 who will HATE us for testifying TO their sin. So suffering is inevitable if we’re being a part of the Great Commission.

The third and final aspect to God’s Navy Seal training is seen in:

2 Corinthians 1:9 (NIV) But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God

I remember watching a podcast many years ago ABOUT Navy Seal training. And the trainer said though the training goes for 6 months … the first 12 weeks are the hardest. And of THOSE 12 weeks … Hell week is the hardest … where the most people drop out. And this trainer said the soldiers who MAKE it through … are those who FOCUS on helping their fellow soldiers make it through too. Those who focus on themselves … wash out.

In the same way … the absolute BEST Christian soldiers … the Christians who can cope with the worst of suffering … are those who realise they cannot do it themselves. They are those who call out to God for strength and endurance. God doesn’t want PROUD soldiers … who think we can do it ourselves. He wants humble soldiers … who rely on Him.

And PART of that reliance … is God’s comfort. OK … we WILL experience suffering in this life. Yet God USES that suffering to make us the strongest and most battle-hardened soldiers we can be.

The content of God’s comfort

So that’s WHY God’s comfort is needed. We’re GOING to suffer. The next question is … HOW exactly does God’s comfort help us? Like what is the CONTENT of this comfort? Well God’s comfort comes … when we look at the past … and when we look at the present. And there are TWO past actions we are to focus on:

The first is the cross. When we UNDERSTAND the cross … it gives us comfort. Let me explain. There are some people today … who think the cross is God giving us an EXAMPLE of what love is to look like. It SOUNDS lovely … but it makes absolutely zero sense. Like imagine a young married couple walking beside a river together. And the river is flowing fast … due to recent rains. Then imagine the husband turns to his new wife and says ‘now I’m going to show you how much I love you’ … and he jumps in the fast-flowing river … and drowns. Does that make ANY sense to you … whatsoever? Of course not. But NOW imagine the same couple … walking along that same river … yet the wife slips and falls in. And her husband says ‘now I’m going to show you how much I love you’ … and he jumps in after her … and pushes her to the riverbank … just before he’s taken by the current and drowns.

Friends THAT’S what Jesus did on the cross. He didn’t die to give us an EXAMPLE of love. That makes zero sense. He died to rescue us … from the penalty of our sin. And when we look to what it COST Jesus to rescue us … it gives us comfort that he’s not just going to let us be crushed by suffering. It’s like when I bought myself a nice guitar for my 50th. It’s something I’ve wanted for several years. So I saved up … did my research … and went and got a nice guitar. Now do you think I’m just going to leave that nice guitar out in the rain? No siree. It lives in it’s hard case … with dehumidifiers in with it … to protect against warping. In the same way … when we look at the infinite price Jesus paid to rescue us from the rapids … we realise he’s not then going to turn around and throw us back into the raging river.

The SECOND thing we are to focus on … is how God has helped us through PAST hardships. There’s a poem called Footprints. We actually discussed it in our last Alpha course. And it’s about a dream this man has about walking along a beach with the Lord … as scenes from his life flash across the sky. And as he looks back … he notices the footprints behind him. And he notices that sometimes there are 2 sets of footprints … which is him AND the Lord … but sometimes there is only 1 set of footprints. And it BOTHERS him … because the times when there was only 1 set of footprints … were at the very lowest and saddest times of his life. And so he complains ‘Lord … you promised that you would walk with me always. So WHY when I needed you most would you leave me’. And the last stanza says this:

The Lord replied ‘my precious, precious child. I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only 1 set of footprints, it was then that I carried you’.

The simple FACT that we have survived past times of trial and suffering … gives us comfort that God will not abandon us in the present.

The FINAL content of God’s comfort is seen by looking to the present. So the word ‘comfort’ means to strengthen, stand by and help during testing. And if we open our eyes and LOOK … we can actually see evidence of that IN the present. For example:

You might feel unable to go on. Yet as you drag yourself out of bed … and simply put one foot in front of the other … that’s God strengthening you to do so. The thing is … you have to get out of bed to FEEL that strength.
You might feel utterly alone. Yet as you reach out to a trusted friend … they have some words of encouragement for you. Or perhaps they have nothing to say … but just sit with you … or weep with you. That’s God standing by you. The thing is … you have to reach out in order to FEEL that support.
Or you might feel the hurdles before you are insurmountable. Yet as you face each of them … one at a time … you get through them … one at a time. Now they might not go according to your PLAN. There might be some serious setbacks. But unless they end up killing you … you WILL get through them. That’s God helping you. The thing is … you have to face each hurdle to FEEL God’s help.

And that’s HOW God comforts us. When we look to the cross … we see a God who paid a steep price for us … we SEE how valuable we are to him. When we look to the past … we see God carrying us through past trails. And when we look to the present … we see God strengthening us … standing by us and helping us face those trials … one by one.

The goal of God’s comfort

But here’s the thing. Focussing on the past and the present will help us SURVIVE our trials. But how is it that Paul was able to THRIVE in his? How is it that Paul could PRAISE God … say ‘WOW God’ … in the midst of his trials? Well he did so by focussing on the future. He focussed on the GOAL of God’s comfort. And we see that goal in:

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, SO THAT we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Paul Barnett says God’s comfort does not terminate in the one who receives it. The GOAL of God’s comfort … during our inevitable suffering … is that WE can then pass that comfort onto others. Now what this means … and if you only take 1 thing away with you today … this is the crux of this passage! What this means is … Affliction is NECESSARY for authentic Christian ministry. And this is where the prosperity gospel gets it categorically wrong.

One of the things we’re going to see across this series … and I am REALLY looking forward to this series … is that the occasion of this letter was that certain false teachers … certain FALSE apostles had arrived in Corinth … and had started bad mouthing Paul. They claimed that they’d been sent by the Jerusalem Apostles … the REAL Apostles … according to them … and that PAUL was a second-RATE apostle. And they’d brought up a LIST of charges to try and SHOW that Paul was second rate. And one of those charges was ALL the trials … ALL the affliction Paul had suffered. OK … they were saying ‘IF Paul really was an Apostle … SENT by Christ … then SURELY life would be going better for him’. And that SOUNDS legit … on the surface.

So how does Paul ANSWER such a powerful argument? Well … he completely flips it on it’s head. It’s like the current parenting principle … known as bulldozer parenting. Bulldozer parenting is where you flatten ALL hurdles for your child … so they NEVER have to suffer growing up. It stems from the legitimate sounding argument that ‘how can a loving parent possibly stand by while their beloved child suffers?’ Yet what has been SHOWN is … bulldozer parenting has produced arguably the weakest and least resilient generation in centuries. Affliction is NECESSARY … if you want resilient kids. In the same way … affliction is NECESSARY … if you want to be an affective soldier for Christ. Why?

2 Corinthians 1:4 (NIV) … SO THAT we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

And the WAY we pass that comfort onto others is this. When they SEE our life … and SEE us fighting on … and when they HEAR our words … and HEAR us praising God through suffering … THEY feel strengthened … supported and helped in THEIR affliction. Let me ask you … what was the FIRST response to the crowd seeing Trump pumping his fist? They all started shouting ‘U.S.A’. They were comforted … strengthened … supported by seeing Trumps courage.

Friends if we desire to be of ANY use to God … if we desire to be effective ministers of Jesus’ Great Commission … then affliction is necessary. That’s Paul’s message in this passage. Affliction is necessary for authentic ministry.

Conclusion

So what do we do? Well let me close by summing up our application. When suffering comes next … perhaps it’s already here … don’t FOCUS on your affliction. I’m not saying ignore it … or pretend it isn’t there. I’m not saying don’t think about it at all. Just don’t FOCUS on it. Rather:

Focus on the cross. Focus on how if Jesus jumped into the river to save you … at infinite cost to himself … he’s not going to turn around and throw you back into the rapids.
Focus on the past … on how Jesus has helped you … carried you … through past trails.
Focus on the present … how God IS strengthening you to put one foot in front of the other … supporting you through words of encouragement … and helping you face each of your hurdles … one at a time.
And focus on the future. The comfort you are receiving from God in this affliction is for the expressed purpose of making you an authentic and useful minister of the gospel down the track sometime.

Now this argument of Paul’s is very counter-cultural. No one wants to hear that affliction is necessary. But it allowed Paul to do something even MORE courageous … even more unearthly than pumping his fist in the midst of affliction. It allowed him to rejoice in his affliction … knowing it was God’s Navy Seal training … to make him THE most effective minister who ever lived.