Route 66: 2 Corinthians - The Comfort Exchange: Suffering and Strength

Every Sunday night and we're in 2 Corinthians tonight, so go to 2 Corinthians, chapter 1.

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

I'm going to begin reading in verse number 1 and read down through verse number 7.

2 Corinthians 1, 1-7.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, and Timothy, our brother to the church of God at Corinth, with all the saints who were throughout Achaia.

Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.

He comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also, through Christ, our comfort overflows.

If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.

If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer.

And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will also share in the comfort.

Let's pray again.

Lord, we're thankful tonight that we're sharers together with the Lord Jesus Christ, sharers in his suffering and shar shares together in his glory, and we thank you for the glory of words that comfort us.

So bring that to us tonight through your scripture.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

It's hard to overemphasize how individualistic the world is that we live in.

I mean, we know that, we kind of have a sense of that.

But Doug mentioned earlier that Kevin is in town with his daughter Leah.

They're serving over in Indonesia.

When they're here next Sunday you get a chance to talk to Kevin Sunday afternoon, maybe in the gym.

You should say Kevin, tell me about what life in your village is like and how individualistic is it compared to things here in America, and just let him go.

He'll just go for a while.

We are focused on the kinds of career that we want to pursue, the kinds of clothes that we want to buy, the music that we like the most, the sports that we think is the best, and those things aren't wrong and there's a place to see ourselves as individuals.

Paul's going to say we have to all each appear before the judgment of God.

So there's definitely an individual component in Scripture.

We're made in the image of God, but and this is a very big but God has designed us to be beings that are not just individuals but communities at the most basic level, a community of humanity, of image bearers, but that's also, in a more narrow sense, a redeemed people and, at the most local level, a church.

A church is not just one person or this person, it's not just a group of individual people.

The parts make something greater than the individual, and a part of what we see here in Corinthians and a big part is seeing this sharing that Paul has with the people of Corinth.

Gospel leaders share a deep communion with their people.

So we're going to walk through this letter tonight, and this is a letter that Paul wrote to a church that he helped to start in Corinth.

You can read about that in the book of Acts, but I'm going to break it up as we think about this tonight we're going to look at the Corinthian church, these gospel people.

We're going to look at the apostle Paul, who is a minister, writing to them, and then we're going to look at the communion we share.

So those would be kind of our three sections for tonight.

We'll start with the Corinthians.

Notice there how he opens this letter 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, paul's writing and he says to the church of God at Corinth, with all the saints who are throughout Achaia.

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

The church of God is with all the saints.

He's saying that they're saints, they're holy ones.

That's how he starts You're people, not that they were perfect, not that they were holy, holy, holy in the same way that the Lord, god Almighty himself is but he does say you're people who are saints, you're in the Lord Jesus Christ, and because of that verse 2, grace and peace are coming to you.

You have that foundation and hope in the gospel.

These are gospel people assembling together.

We also see about this church and this is an evidence of the reality of that gospel work in their hearts that there are repenting people, and you can see that in chapter 2.

That there are repenting people, and you can see that in chapter two.

He talks about causing them pain and writing a letter Verse number five if anyone has caused you pain, he's caused pain not so much to me but to some degree to all of you.

Now we're already hinting at that sharing that they have.

When one suffers, all suffer.

But then he goes on to say in verse number six this punishment by the majority is sufficient for that person.

As a result, you should instead forgive and comfort him, otherwise he may be overwhelmed by excessive grief.

What's Paul talking about here?

Well, back in 1 Corinthians there was a man that was living in grievous sexual sin and Paul says he's not repenting.

You got to remove him from your assembly.

But now Paul seems to be saying look, if he's turning, if he's repenting, you don't just shun him indefinitely.

You embrace him, you welcome him.

That's what true repentance looks like.

So this is a church, and if you read 1 Corinthians, they had a lot of problems.

But as you read 2 Corinthians, you see Paul still calling them saints and still acknowledging the progress they're making and the reality that they're a repenting church.

Flip over to chapter 5.

These are people who are living their lives for Christ, chapter 5, verse 14.

Their lives for Christ, chapter 5, verse 14.

The love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion that one died for all and therefore all died, and he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for the one who died for them and was raised.

That's an admonition he gives them.

It's also I want to say charitably a description of what he sees from the whole.

They're alive and living for Christ and he wants to encourage that.

Turn over to chapter 9.

Chapter 9.

Just a couple more things, things, and we'll press on.

To Paul this is a very personal letter, chapter 9.

Look down to verse number 13.

Because of the proof provided by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ.

He's been talking about their overflowing giving, but the overflowing giving is an evidence of what the gospel is doing in their hearts.

So these are gospel people through and through, though not perfectly and though not without fault, but they're sharing what they've experienced in Christ.

So Paul can encourage them.

Chapter 11, last verse I want to look at here before pressing on to the next point.

Look at how Paul describes these people, these Christians, the Corinthian church, verse number two of chapter 11.

I'm jealous for you, with a godly jealousy, because I promised you, in marriage to one husband, to present a pure virgin to Christ.

And then he goes on.

Verse number four if a person comes and preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit which you had not received, or a different gospel which you had not accepted, and then he says, a little bit sarcastically but also bitingly you put up with it splendidly.

Wait a minute here.

What's going on?

Well, paul's acknowledging his longing for them.

He sees them as a pure virgin.

He wants to give them over to Jesus Christ.

He acknowledges they're married to Christ, but he's also warning them you've got to maintain that gospel.

Because if someone comes with a different gospel, different teaching, that's utterly false, you can't put up with it even for a moment or that puts you in danger and that brings us into Paul.

So there's the gospel people, the Corinthian church.

What about Paul, this gospel leader?

He calls himself an apostle.

Back in chapter one, verse one, flip back there.

I know we're moving around as we do in these sessions, but Paul is an apostle and I'm not an apostle.

We don't have apostles here in our church, but there is a reality of gospel leaders and the responsibility that they bear.

That Paul exemplifies and he has a burden for this people.

He has an obligation to help them, to consider them, and he's been appointed an apostle by God's will.

He's not only an apostle, he's an authentic apostle, he's a sincere apostle.

Look down at chapter 2.

Look at verse number 17.

We do not market the word of God for profit, like so many.

False teaching is not a new thing to our own day.

The Corinthian church had to face this, and Paul is distinguishing who we are as gospel ministers against the contrast of who some are.

And then chapter 3 continues that thought.

So try to ignore that chapter break and just read it as it is there Chapter 3, verse 1.

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again, or do we need, like some letters of recommendation to you?

There, apparently, were people coming into the church of Corinth with recommendations, with accolades, with pomp and circumstance, but they weren't coming with the true gospel.

Paul later in the letter says aren't we better than the super apostles, super apostles?

So there's a conflict here of people that are promoting themselves in the church of Corinth after Paul has left.

And not only are they promoting themselves, not only are they seems to have a different spirit and even maybe a different gospel, they're even attacking Paul.

They're trying to get the Corinthian church to discount Paul as a gospel leader.

Now imagine how hard that would be if you were Paul.

He helped to give birth to this church.

It was God who did the saving, but he was the agent who prayed over them, labored, evangelized first church of Corinth.

He didn't even inherit someone else's church.

He helped to found it and he pressed on his missionary endeavors.

And now one of his fledgling baby churches has conflict.

And a part of the conflict is other things you can read about in 1 Corinthians.

But a part of the conflict here is people are saying, well, that Paul guy, I mean, he wasn't.

It doesn't seem like he was really as great as some of these other guys that we have now.

Boy, that's got to hurt.

That's painful.

Look over at chapter 4.

Chapter 4, verse 1.

Therefore, since we have this ministry because we were shown mercy, we do not give up.

So he's again tying his authority as an apostle, his authenticity as a gospel leader.

It's God's mercy and God's call.

It wasn't his idea.

Instead, verse 2, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting deceitfully or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God, to everyone's conscience, by an open display of the truth.

And how does he do that?

Verse number five we are not proclaiming ourselves.

There's one test of a true gospel leader Are they proclaiming themselves or are they proclaiming Jesus Christ?

Paul is clear about the object of his proclamation.

And verse number five ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake, just like Jesus himself came to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

Now we know that Paul is a gospel man, not only because of his testimony to that effect, but also he can't even hardly go verses or chapters without rehearsing.

How glorious it is.

So verse number six, god, who said let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to get the light of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

Or you can see back at the end of chapter three the Lord is that spirit.

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Or let's turn over to chapter five to see a very clear statement of this in chapter five.

Chapter five, verse 20,.

We are ambassadors for Christ.

Since God is making his appeal through us.

We plead on Christ's behalf.

Be reconciled to God.

He made the one one, that is, god, the Father made the one who did not know sin, that's Jesus Christ, to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

It's been called this passage of a great exchange.

So Paul's crystal clear about what the gospel is.

It's not self-promotion, it's not self-help, it's not good works.

It's God's decision to send Christ to redeem.

It's Christ taking on sin of people like you and me and marvelously, we take his righteousness and God credits that to our account.

That's the good news.

Paul's a gospel guy.

But even though Paul is a true gospel minister, he's sincere.

He's got some things to learn as a minister about weakness and power and what that looks like.

Chapter 6, verse 4.

As God's ministers, we commend ourselves in everything by great endurance, by affliction, by hardship, by difficulty, by beating, by imprisonment, by riots, by labors, by sleepless nights, by times of hunger.

That's a lot of suffering as God's ministers.

He's not the only one who's suffered.

He suffered a lot.

He wasn't the only one who suffered and God had appointed a suffering purpose for Paul.

Even as faithful as he was.

He wasn't a perfect person.

No one is this side of glory.

But you don't read of any scandals about Paul after his conversion.

That didn't stop God from showering him with suffering.

That was God's purpose for Paul.

Go over to chapter 12, or chapter 11, sorry, let's go to chapter 11.

, verse 24.

Five times I received the 40 lashes, minus one from the jews.

Three times I was beaten with rods.

Once I received the stoning.

You gotta love how casual that is.

Yeah, I got stoned once it's when you get stoned.

They're trying to kill you like the object is not to like throw some rocks at your, at your, window.

So he managed to survive somehow with stoning.

Three times I was shipwrecked.

I have spent a night and a day in the open sea.

On frequent journeys I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from waters, robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea and dangers among false brothers.

So it's not only physical suffering that God allows him to face shipwrecks and beatings.

It's even people that stand opposed to him and that can be the hardest form of suffering, sometimes when it's people that he was passionate about, the Jewish people, his kinsmen according to the flesh.

He wanted nothing more for them to be saved, and they're the ones that are the ringleaders of his persecution and the lies about him.

Verse 28, not to mention other things.

There is the daily pressure on me, my concern for all the churches, and then verse 29, we start to see what Paul understands through some of these things.

Verse 29 of chapter 11, who is weak?

And I am not weak.

Verse 30, if boasting is necessary, I will boast about my weakness.

Paul was learning.

He couldn't do it himself.

In chapter 1, he said that he had the sentence of death in himself.

There was times when he despaired of life.

I was talking with another pastor friend who happened to be staying with me this week and we were talking about that passage and I said do you think when Paul says he despaired of life, was he talking about when he was out on the ocean and he thought, well, I'm out here, I guess I'm going to die?

Was this when he was getting stoned?

Or was he just depressed and like Elijah's, like you know what?

Lord, just kill me now.

I've had enough.

I'm not sure.

Maybe a combination of all those things at different times.

He doesn't go into great, great detail about the circumstances, but he's the spirit of life.

That's human weakness, but God has a purpose in human weakness.

Go over to chapter 12.

This is perhaps the most well-known passage of Corinthians.

But here, in the context of all that Paul is saying about who he is, he's truthfully writing to this church that he's an authentic gospel minister and they need to listen to his true gospel and reject the false gospel.

But he's acknowledging that he doesn't have anything in himself to sustain his own ministry, the very gospel power that gave him spiritual life when he was dead is what has to happen if anything's going to happen at all through him as a converted minister.

Verse number nine so Paul was praying for this thorn in the flesh to be taken away, and the Lord didn't do it, at least at this point.

But he said to me my grace is sufficient for you.

My power is perfected in weakness.

There's Paul just said, who is weak and I'm not weak.

If I'm going to boast, I'm going to boast about my.

He's acknowledging I'm weak At.

The super apostles say how strong they are.

Good on them.

I acknowledge I'm weak, but then now we have a chance for Christ's power to come in, and it's not my power.

Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may reside in me.

Verse 10, I take pleasure in weaknesses.

And he's not saying he takes pleasure in any sinful mind or action that he does, but this inadequacy that he recognizes.

He doesn't have to hide behind it or from it, because he wants Christ's power to be on display.

He's already said his whole goal is to display and proclaim Christ on himself.

And here's how that can happen through weakness.

I take pleasure in weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ, for when I'm weak then I'm strong.

So last thing I want to come to tonight is that, yes, paul's learning some personal lessons, but all throughout this whole letter he's weaving together the you and the me, the me and the you, this church and my care.

What I'm doing is for you and what happens to you is for me.

So it's not merely a personal testimonial about some things God had to teach him.

A personal testimonial about some things God had to teach him, it's his understanding and realization that God's doing something for the Corinthian church through him.

Let's go back to chapter one and we'll just scan a little bit and see how this language of communion between Paul and the people, this sharing, is talked about.

Verse number four of chapter one God comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction through the comfort we receive from God.

Do you hear that he doesn't say God comforted us so I could learn about my need for comfort, although he did.

God's giving me something that I have to pass along to somebody else.

It's this great whirlpool of grace.

That.

That's what's going on here.

Verse 5, just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

So in his weakness, the power of Christ in him.

He's a channel that others experience power in weakness.

Verse 6, there's this word share in verse number seven.

That's a word you might have heard before koinonia.

It's okay if you haven't heard it, but it's this idea of communion.

That's where we get the word communion.

It's a sharing, but it's a deep, normally a deep spiritual fellowship.

And in verse number seven he acknowledges that the Corinthians, they have a koinonia, they have a communion in suffering.

Well, I don't like that spiritual communion.

Let me have a spiritual communion with we're all praising the Lord and beautiful music, the suffering part.

But there's a camaraderie that he sees in the suffering that he's experiencing with them and alongside of them, because they're all part of one body, the body of Christ.

So when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.

When one member rejoices, all the members rejoice with it.

Verse number 11.

While you join in helping us by your prayers, then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gift that came to us, for the prayers of many.

So prayer is a form of togetherness, because God uses the prayers of others to help us and our prayers to help them.

Verse number 14.

Just as you have partially understood us, we are your reason for pride, just as you also are ours.

In the day of our Lord Jesus, you say, well, these people weren't as mature as Paul.

But he sees, I can take pride in you because you belong to Christ, and I hope you take pride in me too.

We're together in this.

Go over to chapter three.

Chapter three, it's so fascinating.

So he begins by that statement in verse one do we need, like, some letters of recommendation?

So okay, I didn't come with all the accolades that some of these guys do, but do we need letters of recommendation?

Verse number two you yourselves are our letter written on our hearts, none read by everyone.

I don't need a fancy calligraphy on the wall about where I went to school or what I did.

I've got you guys, and if people want to know about my ministry, they need to look at you, they need to talk to you.

But he uses this imagery of a letter and says you're a letter written on our heart, and that's the same exact metaphor that he's going to use later in the chapter to speak of the gospel work that originally happens.

Look down again, verse number 13.

We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from gazing steadily until the end of the glory that what was being set aside.

So there's a veil on the heart, but if you look back up, in verse number 7, he says there's a ministry that brought death, that was chiseled in letters on stone.

But now, when the veil is lifted, he's saying here the law of God is written on our hearts.

The Spirit of God brings freedom.

So it's the power of Christ shining on them that then gives them this beautiful partnership with Paul to be able to take pride in each other and that they can be his letter of recommendation, because the Spirit's already written the letter of the gospel on his heart.

They're together in Christ.

Verse number 12 of chapter 4.

So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.

Paul is allowed by God to see that, even when he's suffering, even when he's despairing of life, even if he's not feeling strong in himself, at the exact same time God is pouring out life to others.

And God's not doing two entirely different things.

It's through the very death of Paul that others are receiving this life.

And unless the corn of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it doesn't bring fruit.

But if it falls to the ground and dies it produces much fruit.

That happened for Christ and only he can redeem sinners.

But Paul understood that sharing in Christ's suffering meant that there would be dying in him, even as others are receiving comfort through his sufferings.

And he doesn't actually die.

But that sentence of death he has in himself Go down to chapter 8.

Chapter 8 and 9 can be a little tricky to fit into the structure of this letter.

I didn't talk a lot about the structure of this letter, but in chapter 8 and 9, he gives this appeal that hey, we need money.

It's like wait a minute, isn't that what the false teachers do?

Why are you asking about money?

Well, there's a genuine need that saints have and he's going to highlight the grace of God in other churches, in one church in particular that had contributed very sacrificially, and he's going to appeal to the Corinthians.

There's some other saints in need.

We need help.

But it's still continuing the same theme of you're sharing together with these people because you belong to Christ.

Verse number four of chapter eight.

They begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints.

Chapter nine, verse 13.

Verse 13.

Because of the proof provided by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone.

Paul shares life with the Corinthians.

He appeals to them share your life with other churches.

There's this whirlpool of grace.

Again, what I've experienced, I'm passing on to you Now you experience it.

This other church they shared.

And look at the blessing that they got.

Because God loves a cheerful giver.

He's been able to make all grace abound because of the Lord, jesus Christ, who was rich and became poor for our sakes so that we, through his power, would become rich.

And now you've received that.

Money's not that important.

You can share your money because you're already sharing your whole lives with me and with them.

Chapter 12.

Going back into chapter 12.

Going back into chapter 12.

He compares his relationship to them as a parent to children in verse 14 and 15.

And then in verse number 19,.

He reiterates what he's driving at.

Have you been thinking all along that we were defending ourselves to you?

He has been doing that a lot in this letter.

He has been saying you're gospel people, I'm a real gospel minister.

Here's how you know.

Here's my testimony.

Here's what the gospel is.

Here's what you've done.

In one sense, he has been commending himself to them.

He's been defending himself.

But is that really the main thing he was wanting to do?

Verse number 19.

Have you been thinking all along we were defending ourselves to you?

No, in the sight of God, we are speaking in Christ and everything, dear friends, is for building you up.

Why did Paul have to suffer?

Because this church needed to be built up.

Why did he have to face harassment?

Because the Corinthians could look at him and see what it looks like to die to yourself and look around and think about how they might die to themselves even a little bit.

He's seeing the good of the whole, not just his own instruction and lessons.

So what about you?

What about us?

Again, we don't have apostles here, but do we have this expectation that God's doing something in me for other people?

We often hear people say I want to know what God's teaching me in this, and that's a good question.

Nothing wrong with that question.

But what if God's teaching other people something because of your life and your suffering.

What if you don't always know what he's teaching you and maybe you don't see all that he's teaching you and you might not even see all that he's teaching others?

Paul is not, at this point in time, right there among the Corinthians.

He's writing a letter to them.

He doesn't have video calls, he doesn't have, you know, nice things like that.

So he doesn't know in perfect detail all that they're hearing, learning, doing.

But he knows it's happening because he trusts in God.

So when we're suffering we can trust.

God's got a purpose in this for New Hyde Park Baptist Church.

God's got a purpose in this for Christians.

I know maybe in other places that would hear about what I'm going through and say, wow, isn't God's power perfect in weakness?

And isn't it better when we can hope that there's joy overflowing to other people, even if we're not feeling the joy every Monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday morning morning?

2 Corinthians 13,.

This is how the passage ends.

The letter ends Verse 12, greet one another with a holy kiss.

All the saints send you greetings.

There's the whole again, and it's grounded in Father, son and Spirit and the communion that they have, the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship, or sharing or communion of the Holy Spirit.

Be with you all of the Holy Spirit, and be with you all.

Paul learned some beautiful lessons.

He learned a lot about what it means to share with the people of God.

God wants us to share with each other.

Let's pray, lord, give us endurance.

We're in need of patience.

We're in need of patience.

We're in need of endurance.

Forgive us for our complaining spirits.

Even the spirit that doesn't complain to others but complains to ourselves, complains to you, lord.

Help us to see that you're working in us a far more eternal weight of glory.

And the weight of glory that you're working in each one of us is so that the weight of glory in all of us together can be magnified in the day of the Lord Jesus.

And so we're waiting for that day and we're trusting that, though suffering abounds in us, and in different times, in different ways, to different degrees, all of us we share in the sufferings of Christ, but we share for the comfort of others, for the joy of others, and everything is for building up one another.

Give us that heart, give us that mind.

Oh, how good it is when the family of God dwells together in spirit, in faith, in unity.

We pray this in Jesus' name Amen.