Authentic Comfort

don't worry, everything will be fine. She'll be right. Don't be sad. It'll all work out.

Have you ever heard these kinds of words said to you before? Have you ever said something like this

before? Imagine the scene where something terrible has happened, a loved one has died,

something quite painful, and people keep coming up to you and they try to offer you comfort.

But it's not actually comforting. It's all a fake. Comments that sound nice, but actually just make

the person think they're doing the right thing. You know, imagine sharing a painful truth with a

friend and they say, I'll pray for you. Maybe you've been that person, you've said, I'll pray for you,

and you just totally forget to actually pray for them. We say things that sound good, but they can

have no substance. We can offer fake comfort. I've heard of people who don't like being with

their friends when they're sad because it's really tough. They don't like being with people when

they're grieving. So they just say, oh, don't be sad. Don't cry. Everything will be fine. And I know I've

said those things too. But they're not comforting. I think we give fake comfort easily. We seek

comfort in other places. Does anybody want to admit that they eat comfort food? Does anybody have a

preferred comfort food, Mark? What's your preferred comfort food, brother? Ice cream? That's a good one.

I always use a teaspoon these days. It's safer that way. There's retail therapy. We go shopping to make

ourselves feel better. But they're fake comforts. Do we know where real, authentic comfort comes from?

And do we know how to share authentic comfort with those in need? Today, we're starting a new series,

authentic. And we're looking at the book of 2 Corinthians. And Paul calls people to be authentic,

to have authentic relationships, to be authentic and real Christians, to have authentic love and

generosity and humility, to not pretend and not fake it, but to be real with one another and God.

And today, as we'll see, to have authentic comfort and to share it. So I'm going to pray for us.

Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, that you have made us people who are not alone and isolated,

but that we get to be in relationships with other people. Father, help us today to understand

what authentic comfort can look like and how you have given it to us, Lord. Amen.

Before we can get into the topic of authentic comfort, we need to understand where this letter is placed

and who the church of Corinth were. So we're going to do a bit of a brief history lesson for Corinth.

Corinth in the first century was, it was the hot new town. And they were pursuing money and

pursuits of pleasure. One commentator describes the society with five descriptors.

Individualism, that valued self-sufficiency, wealth as the key to status, displays of accomplishment

and possessions to get praise, competition for honour as a normal thing, and then pride in your

neighbourhood as a reflection of your social location. And so it creates this population who is

all about pursuing money and wealth. But that description of Corinth in the first century

doesn't really sound that different to us today, does it? And so into this city, God sends the apostle

Paul. Paul's message of the gospel confronts the materialism and individualism. And this city

in Corinth had a difficult pull of security and social status to ignore when following Jesus.

And so coming to the letter that we're looking at to Corinthians, it's actually at least Paul's fourth

letter to the church in Corinth. We just don't have the other letters. Paul initially stayed for about a

year and a half before travelling, but he stayed in touch as their apostle pastor via letters.

And it appears that after he leaves, some opponents come in. And Paul calls them the super apostles. And

we'll see them a little bit later in this series. And they come in and they preach a different gospel

with a different Jesus. One that looks a little bit more attractive to the world. One that doesn't look

so weak. A Jesus that maybe doesn't die on the cross because that looks a bit weak to humans.

And so Paul heads back. And in 2 Corinthians, he talks about visiting Corinth as a painful visit.

The church had questioned Paul and his authority and they'd attacked him. And so Paul leaves without

retaliating in a lot of grief. And then Paul sends his brother Titus with a severe letter of warning,

calling on the church to repent. And Titus comes back to Paul and Paul hears from Titus that the church

has indeed repented. And so Paul sends this letter to Corinthians. He defends himself and his job as an

apostle. And he defends the gospel that he's called to preach. And we see a hint of that at the very

start in verse 1. Often when we read Paul's letters, we can skip a little too quickly over his

introductions. But have a look at verse 1 with me. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.

He is not an apostle by the will of man, but by God's will alone. And so the themes of Paul's

authority and dependence on God in his weakness are going to continue right through this letter of

2 Corinthians. Having put that in place, kind of knowing the context and the relationship between

Paul and this church, we come to Paul praising God and describing who he is. Have a look with me

at verse 3 as we see the comfort he offers.

I think this is a really beautiful description of God. That he is the father of compassion and the

God of all comfort. From him comes compassion and comfort. To have compassion means to suffer with.

The first half of the word compassion, com means with. And the second half, passion,

originally meant suffering. That's why Jesus' crucifixion is called the passion. I'm not sure

if you've seen Mel Gibson's movie from a number of years ago, The Passion of the Christ. This is why

the crucifixion is called the passion. Because passion originally meant suffering. Now we've taken it to

mean strong emotions. And so when we put these two words together, compassion means with suffering.

And so Paul praises God because he is the father of compassion. God's son Jesus came and was with us

and suffered. Jesus is compassion. He is with us in our suffering. Jesus knows what our suffering is like

because he has been there. He has lived with us in body and he has endured the pain of the cross.

And so he has been with us in our suffering. But not only that, God is our strength.

He is the God of comfort. Now the word comfort means to strengthen.

Imagine that moment when you were down in the depths.

To comfort someone is to lift them up, to strengthen them, to walk with them until they are strong enough.

That is our God. He has experienced our suffering and he walks with us to bring us back to our strength in him.

And Paul is not just referring to feelings.

It's not just a feeling of relief or being comfortable.

It's not God is comfortable like giving you a cushion on a chair.

But instead he can speak of being at peace.

All because God has comforted Paul in the past.

Paul knows God's comfort because he's delivered him.

We'll see this in verse 10, that his comfort comes from God being a deliverer.

And he trusts that the God who has delivered will deliver him again.

The experience of God's deliverance in the past gives him hope that he will be delivered in the future.

And that means that in the present, he has comfort.

His God is strong and he will deliver him.

Paul's comfort doesn't come from things that are fake,

you know, from comfort food or from retail therapy.

It comes from the God of comfort.

I really love this description of God.

I think it is just a wonderful summary of the gospel, these two titles.

The God of compassion and the God of comfort.

And it shows his fatherly affection for us.

And in verse 4, Paul describes what this God does.

Verse 4.

Now, reading this part of Paul, he uses the word comfort about seven times.

And it's very... he keeps using the word so it can get confusing.

So we'll go a little bit slowly.

So what happens is God comforts Paul, but not Paul alone.

God comforts Paul so Paul can comfort others.

God has been faithful to Paul and he's seen that through his hardship and struggles.

And God has strengthened him in all his troubles.

And Paul connects his suffering to Jesus' suffering in verse 5.

For just as we share abundantly in the suffering of Christ,

so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

Both Paul's suffering and comfort come through Jesus.

Now, this might seem like a strange idea,

but Paul views every kind of comfort and suffering

as an expression of the same kind of suffering and comfort

that Jesus himself experienced under God's hand.

Jesus was under the sovereign control of God

and he suffered death on the cross.

And Paul following Jesus, well, he's not killed on a cross,

but he has troubles too because he is seeking to obey God under his hand.

And so not only does Paul suffer like Jesus,

but he's comforted like Jesus.

Jesus trusted in God, that God was committed to him,

that he was following his plan,

and God would deliver him even from death.

And so Paul is able to be comforted and strengthened by his confidence

that God would rescue him, even if it's through death.

He has a hope in the resurrection.

And so Paul has this hope, and so he can pass it on to others.

God comforted Jesus, which gives Paul comfort,

and now Paul knows that he can share that comfort with others who follow Jesus.

Verse 6,

Paul is saying that there is this close family relationship

between those who follow Jesus.

We're more than just people sitting in a room together.

There is actually a close family bond.

There is this special relationship between believers in the church.

Our comfort and our compassion comes from Jesus to us,

but it also goes out from us to each other.

It doesn't and shouldn't stop with us.

I recently read about a widowed single mother,

and her name was Ashley.

She was in the middle of moving house

when she was taken captive by an escaped murderer

and held hostage for seven hours.

Ashley had been a drug addict.

She'd lost custody of her daughter.

But God had been working in her life.

She had begun to read the Bible and other Christian books.

And when she was taken captive,

she spoke to this murderer who had escaped.

She spoke to him

and read some of the Bible to him.

She offered the comfort which she had received to this man

so that her captor, this escaped murderer,

eventually released her

and he allowed himself to be re-arrested.

Ashley had begun to see God's compassion and comfort in her life

found only through Jesus,

and that meant she was able to offer it

with someone who was going through the same thing.

This comfort God offers isn't for us alone.

We can't hoard it.

This isn't fake comfort.

Imagine if, in this situation,

Ashley is being held for seven hours by this murderer

and she just tried to offer him fake comfort.

Don't worry.

You'll be fine.

Go and get arrested.

The police will take good care of you.

Imagine if she had tried to offer fake comfort.

The comfort she offers from God

is honest about sin.

There is no sugarcoating it.

But this comfort seeks help and hope

from the only one who can give it

and the only one who can give forgiveness.

Paul has been able to comfort

because he has first comforted in his sufferings.

And it's hard not to want to ask Paul the question,

well, what were your sufferings, Paul?

What had you actually gone through?

And he doesn't give us all of the detail,

but he mentions a little bit.

He tells us what has happened to him.

It's not the details,

but it's the process that he has gone through

and how God has shaped him.

Paul does this

and he reveals his own vulnerability and weakness

so that God would be seen to be strong.

Verse 8.

We do not want you to be uninformed,

brothers and sisters,

about the troubles we experienced

in the province of Asia.

We were under great pressure,

far beyond our ability to endure,

so that we despaired of life itself.

Paul is really clear and honest at this point.

He is not going to hide away the fact that he suffered.

He's not afraid of this church knowing the pain that he's gone through.

He doesn't care that it might lower him in their eyes.

I've heard people say to me,

James,

don't mention your sin when you're preaching.

People will think less of you.

And people want to put preachers on a pedestal,

so don't talk about that.

People want to put you on that kind of pedestal to follow.

And I say,

no,

I can't do that.

Paul certainly can't do that.

And I definitely can't.

Rather,

I would be,

I would far prefer to be honest with my own weaknesses

and how God is working in my life

and my vulnerabilities,

so that we can all see how God is working in my life

and encourage you and comfort you in yours.

And that's what Paul is doing here.

He doesn't want this church

to trust in rumors that they've heard.

He wants to inform them

so they know what's happening to him.

Paul and Timothy were under great pressure,

so much so that they despaired of life itself.

Now,

our understanding of mental health

has increased a lot since then,

since the first century.

But what Paul is sounding like,

it sounds like he is in depression.

They had no hope.

They were suffering and could see no way out.

Verse 9,

Indeed,

we felt we had received the sentence of death.

They saw no way out.

Only death is coming.

But God had a purpose.

But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves,

but on God who raises the dead.

He has delivered us from such a deadly peril

and he will deliver us again.

Paul says,

Is it possible that Paul

had not trusted in God?

Paul,

who had seen Jesus himself appear to him?

Paul,

the apostle,

who had planted churches

and seen miraculous deeds of God,

is it possible that this Paul

stopped relying on God?

Could he have gotten so caught up

in the work that he was doing

that he stopped relying on God?

And so God used hardship and suffering

to remind them that they only had God

to depend upon.

Paul shows his vulnerability,

his weakness for the benefit of the church.

He was distressed to the point of thinking

they were going to die.

But God has comforted him.

God has delivered

and God has been his strength.

Pulled him out of that situation

so that he depends on God

and shares that message of hope.

Paul's language here,

the language of being so close to death,

the sentence of death,

it's really evocative.

I think he's drawing a parallel here

between the sentence of death

that he received

and Jesus' sentence of death.

And he's saying,

Jesus was given a sentence of death

and Jesus was delivered from death

and I was given a sentence of death

and I was delivered.

Just like Jesus was saved from death,

God has saved me from death

and he will deliver us again.

This is so important.

This is,

as we'll see in this whole letter,

Paul reveals his vulnerability

and weakness

and the importance

of depending on Jesus

in these situations.

The Corinthian church

thought that it disqualified him

for being an apostle

but it is central to the gospel.

Paul has shared his weakness.

The church in Corinth

have an issue with it.

They think,

you know,

you shouldn't be weak.

You should be like our super apostles.

But Paul is going to take time

throughout this letter

to explain that he is living out the gospel.

That he might appear weak

but that the man that we worship,

Jesus,

well he appeared weak too

when he died on a cross.

All to show God's power

raising him from the dead.

And Paul,

in his weakness,

shows God's power

delivering him

as if he was dead.

And so it is this suffering of Paul's

which means that God's comforted him

so that he can now comfort the church

in Corinth.

As a church,

one of the things that we value

is humble authenticity.

Where we declare war

on our desires

to live independently of God.

Central to who we are

is a desire

to weaken our pride

and develop humility.

So we desire to be vulnerable

with our imperfections,

with our issues.

That shows that God's love

is greater.

To be authentic

in relationships

that are about knowing

and caring for others.

Not just about manipulating

and gaining power

from our relationships.

And also having a willingness

to confront sin,

being quick to confess.

When we are authentic

with one another,

we can share the comfort

that God gives us.

I think there are at least

four things

that are helpful for us

to be aware of

to help us

to share God's comfort.

So I think

there are at least four things

that are comforting

that are worth sharing.

So have a look at this list.

I'd encourage you

to write this list down.

Make a note of these things

in your phone.

Write it on the back of your hand,

on someone's leg next to you,

whatever you like.

In our lives,

when the Holy Spirit

puts our sin to death,

that is worthwhile sharing.

Share the joy

that God is working

and that He changes our lives.

So that's the first thing.

When the Holy Spirit

puts our sin to death,

tell someone about it.

When you have endured hardship

and God has delivered you,

share that God comforts you

and has helped you endure

to help others endure.

Third,

when God provides

in miraculous,

last-minute ways.

When God just,

you know,

if it's a time

of financial hardship,

you're not sure

how you're going to afford

the next meal for your family,

and God provides

in that last minute,

share the comfort

from knowing

that we have a God

who provides for us,

who knows our needs.

when God brings

reconciliation

between you

and someone having conflict,

share that,

that God

not only reconciles us

with Him,

but that He reconciles

us with each other.

Share the comfort

that comes from the outworking

of the God

who forgives us.

Share these

and many more

to remind each other

of the compassion

and comfort

our God

gives us

in Jesus.

But I have a concern,

brothers and sisters.

I'm concerned for us

as a people

and as a church.

We might hate it

when people

show fake comfort,

but are we

willing

to show

real,

authentic comfort?

Paul could only

comfort the church

because of what

he had gone through,

how he had been

delivered,

and it's the same

for us.

There are barriers

to us showing

and sharing

how God is working

in us.

There are barriers

that want to stop us

from being vulnerable

with each other

and allowing

other people

to actually

comfort us.

If you hadn't noticed,

I'm an Aussie male

and I know

the temptation

to not show

or share weakness.

other Aussie males

can be like predators

where they see weakness

and so they jump on it

and they joke about it,

usually to make

themselves feel better.

It comes from

a fear of being

weak

and so we always

have to act

as the alpha male.

We always have to

pretend that we have

everything together.

We can't share

or show weakness.

Now there are many

different cultural

ways of behaving

that show

our desire

to protect

ourselves

and to not

be vulnerable.

So we try

and protect

ourselves

in a multitude

of different ways.

But both Jesus

and Paul

are an encouragement

to us.

They are both

willing

to be seen

as small

and weak

and vulnerable

because it shows

how big

and how powerful

our God is.

That was totally

against the culture

then,

especially in Corinth

and it's totally

against our culture

today.

How is the

cross of Jesus

clashing

with your preferences

to protect yourself

and to look

strong

and in control?

we need to have

a willingness

to be vulnerable

and to appear

weak with other

people.

And then there's

the matter of who.

Who can I be

vulnerable with?

Many of us

aren't just going

to go out

over a coffee

or a tea

and a biscuit

and start

opening up

deep issues

and being vulnerable.

That's not

who we are.

Remember that

woman Ashley

who was held

captive?

She was held

for seven hours

with him.

Maybe that's

what we need.

You know,

we just divide

each other up,

lock each other

in rooms

for seven hours

and we'll have

close relational

bonds.

Maybe not.

But we're here

every week

sitting next

to each other.

To share comfort

we actually

need to spend

time with

each other.

Paul lived

with the church

in Corinth.

He knew them

and they knew

him.

How well

are you connected

here at church?

Would you like

to know people

more deeply?

Would you like

people to know

you more deeply?

It is going

to take time

and a willingness

to be vulnerable.

Why don't you

invite someone

to lunch today?

Why don't you

invite them over?

It doesn't

really matter

the food.

I think

the willingness

to spend time

with people

is more important.

And why don't

you share

maybe one of

those four things

that we looked

at a moment ago.

Why don't you

share one of

those about

how God has

worked in your

life to comfort

others.

It will take

time and effort

and a willingness

to be vulnerable.

C.S. Lewis

said that friendship

is born at the

moment when one

person says to

another,

what?

You too?

I thought I was

the only one.

How much more

with the gospel?

You have gone

through hard times

in your life.

I thought I was

the only one.

God has comforted

me knowing that

Jesus has died

for me and has

forgiven me.

How much of a

comfort is he

for you?

Let me pray.

Heavenly Father,

thank you again

that you do not

make us as

people to be

isolated and

alone.

Father, we are

people made to

be in relationship

with others and

we all crave

deep relationships

with other

people, Lord.

Father, we ask

that you would

not let us

leave this place

without seeking

to get to

know someone

more.

Give us a

willingness to

be vulnerable

just like Jesus

was and just

like Paul was

so that we

can show how

much you have

loved us and

comforted us in

our lives,

Lord.

We ask this in

your son's name

all for your

glory.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.