Comfort in Affliction

Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

This fall we're studying the book of Second Corinthians.

Second Corinthians is a heartfelt and practical

book calling us back to the life of the cross.

We, like the Corinthians, so often pursue glory,

admire eloquence, shun suffering, hide hurt,

and hoard our goods. And yet the gospel of Jesus

tells us that resurrection comes after a cross.

comfort comes after being crushed, that the way

up is the way down, that the way to glory is

through suffering, that his strength is made

perfect in our weakness. We'd love to meet you

and we hope you'll consider coming and joining

with us each Sunday morning at 10 a .m. in the

heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find us

online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook,

Instagram, and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

sermon. God bless. Lord, as we enter into this

new text and sit in it together this fall, Lord,

I pray that the distance between us 21st century

Christians and those first century Christians

would diminish, that we might see ourselves often

in them as you so often work in us through your

word, and that we would be attentive to your

spirit, Lord, speaking to your church not just

then, but now. Lord, that you would move in us,

God, that we would see the beauty of the affliction

of Christ and the comfort of his resurrection,

that we would see the wonder and also the truth

that your powers made perfect in weakness. I'm

God that our devotion to you would only increase,

that our love for you would only deepen. God,

speak to us now, please. In Jesus name, amen.

All right. This morning we are starting a series

in 2nd Corinthians. And I understand that may

seem odd to you. For one, the bulletin says 1st

Corinthians. That is entirely my fault. It also

may seem odd because we are not starting in 1st

Corinthians. Sounds like a natural place to start.

There are a number of reasons for that. I think

for one, my intent is to actually cover the book

and I think 1 Corinthians will be much harder

to cover in a few months. Maybe one day I'll

figure that out. Another reason though, and that

second reason brings up the third, which is why

it's audit. So we're gonna try to cover 13 chapters

in 13 weeks. And even as you probably listened

to Melisse read that, you thought there is a

lot here. So pray for me. There are downsides

to this approach, I admit it. Yet I believe there's

some benefits to it. One, the early church very

likely, one of the things you read as you opened

it up is to the church in Corinth, but also to

all the churches throughout the region of Achaia.

They're very likely would have received this

letter. They would have read it to the church

in its entirety, most likely, and would have

spread that letter around. eventually copying

it, which is why this text and 1st Corinthians

actually appear in our New Testament. In other

texts, we actually have good reason to believe

that there was at least one other letter written

to the church in Corinth, very likely, possibly

two. Those didn't make it into the canon of Scripture,

and so likely they would have copied those, but

at first it would have been read and people would

have digested it all together. I think there's

another good reason for taking it in this approach

and that's that I think oftentimes you can sort

of lose the larger story that's taking place

the larger points that are taking place as we

delve into the minutia as helpful as diving in

can be so anyway we are in second Corinthians

and we are in chapter one let me begin by telling

you a story that I read this week Feels like

this large ocean liner was headed across the

Atlantic from Portsmouth, England think at 1930

1931 to New York and as it neared its destination

there in New York a Lookout on the wing of the

bridge reported light bearing on the starboard

bow Is it steady or moving a stern the cop the

captain called back the lookout replied steady

captain, which meant they were on their way towards

a collision course. The captain then called to

the signalman, signal that ship, we are on a

collision course, advise you to change course

20 degrees. Signalman signaled back, advisable

for you to change course 20 degrees. The captain

said, send, I'm a captain, change course 20 degrees.

Reply from the signalman. I'm a seaman second

-class. You'd better change course 20 degrees

By that time the captain was furious. He spat

out send. This is the mighty ocean liner HMS

Franconia change course 20 degrees Back came

the flashing light. This is a lighthouse Suggests

you change course 20 degrees So this is not a

true story I read it and I kind of thought, this

is too, this is crazy. You can't have a lighthouse,

but, and it's not, you know, I like Google this,

the story about the lighthouse, does it look

true? No, it was, people think it was first published

in about 1931 in the British magazine, The Humorist,

but it does tell us something very important.

It tells us a life lesson that we know to be

true. And so does, so do the scriptures. And

that is this, that conflict, often reveals character.

That the afflictions, the trials that we go through

reveal how eager we are to listen, how eager

or how willing we are to change course. Our conflicts

are revealing. Our affliction, our trials, our

crosses, they reveal us. There's not one person

on this earth who does not experience what we

might consider to be trials beyond what they

could bear. And this is true for you if you're

a Christian or not, okay? But this is certainly

true in the Christian life, trials that make

us consider if, you know, are we on the right

track? Do we need to hear a warning? Sometimes

they are trials that actually shake kind of the

bedrock of our faith. They caused us to shift

in a direction away from the Lord Often trials

and conflicts afflictions reveal not just our

character but our faith So Paul's writing for

a number of reasons that we're gonna get into

he's he's writing this church in Corinth to sort

of reestablish What was the relationship that

had been at odds? So reestablish a positive and

healthy relationship with these churches. He's

writing for their comfort. That's one thing we

hear quite a bit here. We're going to get into

that. But he also is writing for their commitment

to be convinced of the truth of God and Christ

in this cross. He's writing for their reconciliation

with him, certainly, but also with one another

and with the churches more broadly speaking.

Encouraging them to be reconcilers of the estranged.

But at the heart of all of this is that they

had gone through their own trials their own afflictions

their own challenges We'll get into this but

you can think with me a little bit those of you

who know first Corinthians all the challenges

they'd gone through and And they lived in a world

like our own actually we'll talk about this in

the future but Corinth in some ways was very

very modern city and a very affluent city, okay

and So like our own Their culture prized success.

It prized ease. And they had initially, of course,

been presented with Jesus, the one who dies on

a cross through affliction. And yet others who

had come in and said, you don't need to go that

route. Followers that eschewed weakness, that

shunned discomfort, that saw trials and crosses

and giving up oneself as an affront to faith,

not the bedrock of it, not the center of it.

And so, beginning right here in the beginning

of 2 Corinthians, beginning of this letter, Paul

lays this out for them again, this sort of core

idea of Christian faith, that power is made perfect

in weakness. And he's going to unpack this in

all kinds of ways. But he says, this is at the

center of it, that comfort comes in our affliction.

The deflection is not something to simply be

shunned, but it is actually often the way of

the church because it is the way of our Lord.

No doubt, I hope actually you were listening

attentively and you noticed how central comfort

is in these verses, particularly verses three

through seven. But as central as comfort is,

affliction seems to be just joined right next

to it. And so, what I want us to do is actually

begin in verse 8 kind of walk our way down and

Consider some of the afflictions of Paul that

are presented here and they kind of work their

way out by the way in the rest of the book and

very at various times and then we will Speak

a little bit to comfort also. So Look down with

me at verse 8. We're gonna start with the idea

that first that Paul is experiencing an affliction

in the body Okay, meaning actually in himself,

in his body. So I'm going to read verse eight

and then just the first half of verse nine. By

the way, Corinth is more a part of modern Greece.

Asia would be Turkey more in the ancient world.

that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we

felt that we'd received the sentence of death.

So we could read in Acts chapter 18 about Paul

Acts 18 · chapter mention

establishing that great church in Corinth. Paul

was actually there for about a year and a half.

And like I said, he wrote other correspondences

to the Corinthian church. He wrote sort of in

terms of chapters, more chapters to the church

in Corinth than any other. a church. He spent

a lot of time there. He went back and visited

them, those kinds of things. He had quite the

relationship with the church in Corinth. But

after his initial year and a half there, he went

on to Ephesus. We could read about that in Acts

Acts 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19. And there's this initial kind of

amazing power that goes out in the name of Jesus

as they're establishing the church there and

he's meeting Christians there in Ephesus. And

yet it moves on to a riot breaking out. Because

the message of Jesus challenged that thing that

was prized in the city, partly their deities,

but mostly their commerce, because of course,

where your heart is and where your pocketbook

is, where your treasures are, there your heart

will be also, there your gods will be. But anyway,

we don't know. One thing that's certainly true

about the book of Acts is that Acts doesn't tell

us all that happened to Paul. We read elsewhere

of other things that took place that happened

to Paul. And here he says that he despaired unto

life itself while in Asia. One of the things

that we do know later on in the book of 2 Corinthians

in chapter 11 that we're gonna read about is

that Paul says he went through many imprisonments,

that he went through beatings that he says were

often near death. He was beaten with rods, he

was stoned, he was shipwrecked, all the rest.

But I thought what was so interesting here is

that his affliction in the body, which is most

certainly actually literally ailments and other

people's actually hurting his physical body,

was also a mental anguish, a mental affliction.

Because he says there in verse 9, we felt that

we had received, we felt that we'd received the

sentence of death. And some commentators actually

say what we could really be talking about here

is that Paul is actually experiencing a mental

breakdown. that the afflictions of his body were

also the afflictions of his mind, of his spirit

in a way. Again, one commentator says this, his

natural human resources, his natural human resources

of energy and strength were worn down to nothing.

It's bad to hear a magistrate declare that you

are sentenced to death, which Paul experienced.

It's far worse. when a voice deep inside yourself

tells you that you might as well give up and

die. What I'm saying is that Paul was not speaking

outside of the Corinthian experience. He's not

speaking outside of your experience when he speaks

of affliction. He's saying, I know this experience

in my body, deep down to the point that I felt

like I could die. It may be better for me. Paul

experienced afflictions in the body that made

him despair, even of life itself. And think about

this. Here is the great apostle. Apostles were

those that laid the foundation of the church.

All of them suffered in various ways. But here's

the apostle that went throughout the known world,

establishing churches, planting churches, encouraging

churches, writing letters. We have more of his

writings than anybody else's in the New Testament.

You think of one of the great heroes of Christian

faith, Paul. Affliction's in his body to the

point where he says, I think I might as well

die. I'm despairing unto life itself. What I'm

saying is that for Paul, the call to seek comfort

in affliction is not divorced from his personal

experience, but is actually felt in the deepest

part of who he is. He goes on though, there's

another kind of affliction and he moves towards

so. This I'm going to call the affliction in

his person, which is not just his body, but in

who he is, there's an affliction of what they're

saying about him. Look with me down at verse

12. I'm going to read to verse 14, okay? I'll

have to explain this. I don't think this will

be as clear initially as I read it. For our boast

is this, the testimony of our conscience. that

we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly

sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the

grace of God, and supremely so toward you. For

we are not writing to you anything other than

what you read and understand. And I hope you

will fully understand, just as you did partially

understand us, that on the day of our Lord Jesus,

you will boast of us, and we will boast of you."

Now, probably what you noticed here as I read

that is the word boasting. It kind of begins

and ends that paragraph, little envelope there.

And it again is beginning something that we're

going to see later on. But part of what we're

going to see is that there were those other teachers

who had come to Corinth. They'd come after Paul

and very likely they had come after he had written

his first letter. We're going to consider some

of the themes of that in a second. And they had

given the church more of what their ears tickled

to hear. More of what they really just wanted

to hear and how they wanted to hear it. The message

that eased their minds and their hearts. We know

that in the ancient world, like our own, people

fancied great rhetoric, eloquence. Well -spoken,

well -crafted words. And these guys were actually,

Paul will call them later on, super apostles.

Superman, the Avenger apostles. People that kind

of did the flashy and the showy. And they, it

seems as though actually they kind of lived along

the lines of the ancient patronage where they

would do this and they would receive money for

it. They were so good at it that people would

pay to listen to them. And Paul, in contrast

here, showing his heart for the people of the

church, but he says, I came to you with simplicity.

And I came to you with a clear conscience, with

godly sincerity, but then he says, but not with

earthly wisdom, with the grace of God. He says,

I'm not writing to you anything other than what

you read or understood. But he says, I wrote

to you simply. In some ways, he's saying, I intentionally

want you to know that this is for everybody.

And so I'm not trying to use lofty words. And

your ears are being tickled by the fanciful.

But it wasn't just that they were sort of interested

in eloquence, they were interested in ease. And

doesn't this sound like today? which was to say

that the people then said, it's not just how

you do it, but that we want us to give you a

life where it's not so hard. We want you to give

us commands that are not so difficult. So anyway,

part of the beauty of 2 Corinthians is how personal

it is. It's very personal. And we see and we

actually feel Paul's heart for the people there

at the church. And it is a masterful piece of

literature. And of course we understand that

his other writings He was great with words. And

yet Paul says, this is not how I come to you.

And you are desirous for this other kind of thing.

And so here's what was happening. Picture this,

right? He had established this church. He had

left. He had written them this other letter.

And now there are people that are saying, that

Paul, he doesn't even know how to talk very well.

He came to you with too much simplicity. You

ought to listen to us. And he's saying that you

don't care for me. You're not going to boast

of me because I'm too simple among you. Meaning

that there were attacks on who he was, how he

communicated, what kind of person he was. Part

of Paul's affliction was in who he was before

them. And they saw it as weakness, as inability,

and now likely as something to be discarded.

He was not the boast of Corinth, he was actually

in some ways their embarrassment. Part of the

affliction that we engage with is others looking

down on our ability, pushing us aside, thinking

we'd rather have something a little bit more

fancy than you. Somebody who has it all together,

has a greater education, whatever it is. Part

of his desire in writing this book is they will

come to boast in the weakness of the gospel and

also the weakness of the communicator of the

gospel that they will see that there's beauty

in weakness and in being lowly. So what I'm suggesting

to you though here is that there is this affliction

that Paul is presenting to them that it has to

do with how he was afflicted in his body and

his mind and spirit. But also part of that affliction

was actually from them saying no thanks. All

right, a third way in which Paul was afflicted

I'm gonna call this that he was afflicted communally.

So in his body and personally and communally.

So what we know from 1 Corinthians, which again

is not the text of this morning, is that Paul

had planned to come and visit them. In fact,

this morning our text, so he says this kind of

thing at the end of 1 Corinthians, but he also

says this here, right? With this dynamic of Macedonia.

He's like, I'm gonna visit you here and there.

in this next section. And we know actually that

Paul had spent probably three different visits

with the Corinthian church. So he visited them

a few different times. But here it says that

he didn't visit them to spare them. He didn't

come and visit them when he had originally said,

and it was for their good. that he didn't do

this. But they took that as his words being,

hey, I'm going to come and see you. No, I'm not

going to come and see you. I'm going to come

and see you. That's kind of not to be trusted.

He wasn't faithful to his words. His yes wasn't

yes. His no wasn't no. And in some ways, that's

an affliction of his person, like I was just

saying, of his character. But there's something

else that's going on and it's this communal conflict

that's taking place, okay? So. A lot of you have

read 1 Corinthians. I hope all of you have read

1 Corinthians. If you've read 1 Corinthians,

you know that it is a letter full of division.

It's the letter that I think a lot of churches

read and they're like, well, they're still Christians.

I guess we're not that bad. It's a pretty rough

letter, okay? It's a letter about divisions.

Some of them are divisions about saying, hey,

I'm of Paul and I'm of Apollos, and you put teachers

of God's word against each other. It's a letter

where you have wild sexual escapades being done

in the life of the church. It's just crazy. There's

Christians taking other Christians to court against

one another. The Lord's Table, which is supposed

to be the table of communion, of common fellowship

together, is a table where there's great division.

Some people are coming before other people get

there. Some people are getting drunk at the Lord's

Table, by the way, not on little thimbles, right?

That's not happening. Before other people are

even there, it's just, it's mayhem. Some people,

as you read on in 1 Corinthians, are using the

very gifts of the Spirit of God. over and against

other gifts of the Spirit of God in unloving

ways. That's why you find the great chapter on

love sandwiched between two chapters on the gifts

of the Spirit there in that book. Like I said,

if there is one book in the New Testament that

can show just how messy church life can be, it's

the book of 1 Corinthians. He doesn't really

pull any punches in that book either. He corrects

and corrects and corrects. And of course this

was for them, it was for their growth and their

good and their greater commitment to the Lord

and them to see the folly of sin and turning

away from him and living a life for themselves

and against one another, to have a time of repentance.

But he says, I restrained myself from coming

in a way because I actually want you to grow.

I want you to sit with this. I want you to understand

my words to you and I don't want my coming to

you just full of tension. And yet here he is,

once again, he's writing to them and he's saying

that my yes is not no, my no is not yes, it's

yes and yes, but I'm being led by the spirit

and it is for your good. But here's one of the

really interesting things, right? So he writes

them this letter. This is why I'm saying that

there's this affliction within community. He

writes them this letter of 1 Corinthians. It's

all this correction. And we know from 2 Corinthians

7 that Titus comes and he gives Paul this report,

and he has other people ministering, and he understands

what's happening in life for that church. And

he knows that if he were to come to them, there

would be this intense affliction, this intense

conflict. And so he restrains going to them because

he knows that the community there in Corinth

and him are at such odds. Why? Because they don't

want to receive his correction from them. I mean,

you've probably experienced this. Some friend

comes and tells you, hey, I see this pattern

of sin in your life. And you're like, I don't

want to talk to you anymore. Please get out of

my house. You know that kind of thing? And he's

like, that's what's going to happen if I go over

and knock on your door, you're going to be like,

no. Paul, get away. He's like, I'm restraining

myself right now for your good and for our good

together. But what's happening is this intense

communal conflict, this intense affliction that's

taking place. For Paul, part of the affliction

that he's suffering is the affliction of the

care for this community. And the wild thing is

that they're seeing that and they're saying,

oh, you're duplicitous. You're not to be trusted.

It's just the conflict and that the affliction

is growing and growing And one of the things

that we hear in in first and second Corinthians

is it almost if it's not one kind of affliction

it's another if it's not, you know sexual escapades

and taking one another to court and Fighting

over gifts of the spirit and who's superior and

all that Well, what we'll see in second Corinthians,

it's hoarding your goods It's you know, disdaining

the brother Paul, because you're going to say,

oh, you're a duplicitous, you're not to be trusted,

you're unfaithful. It's not one thing, it's another.

Chapter 2, 4, the last verse that Malise read

for us tells us that Paul wrote his first letter,

out of much affliction and anguish of heart,

with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to

let you know the abundant love that I have for

you. That is what he says. But he even says,

now I'm writing this instead of coming to you

because there is still a continual conflict between

us. We communally are still afflicted. There's

a communal affliction which Paul carries in these

words here in this letter. And here's probably

what I want to say. Brothers and sisters, isn't

this our life? What do I mean? We all bear afflictions

in our bodies and in our minds, in our hearts,

our mental distress. We all bear attacks on who

we are, on our person, lambasting us for one

reason or another, our character, our abilities,

not just middle school bullying, and we all know

communal strife. We know that in the context

of our families, but also we know that in the

context of church life. These are crosses that

you and I must bear, bodies that ail us, friends

who assail us, not just the foes who assail us.

And what's part of what's taking place, I think

part of what's happening here is, it's almost

as though Paul is saying, if it's not one thing,

it's another. Job tells us in chapter 5, man

is born to trouble as surely as the sparks fly

upward. And Paul is sort of just listing these

out, these afflictions out again and again. And

I guarantee you can do the same. And maybe, in

God's grace, you have not despaired unto death

itself, but my bet is that many of you have.

You have wondered. Life worth living. Should

I continue on? And in that, you also are wondering,

as the church in Corinth did, do I press on in

the faith? I have been shot at again and again.

My body has hurt time and time again. Does God

love me? Is there comfort for the afflicted?

Part of what's happening is that Paul has experienced

as we have this trouble that can just cause to

a despairing life He also knows that those experiences

cause many others to give up the faith the life

of following Christ Faith is being shot at through

our physical experience and through our personal

experience and our communal experiences. And

life here on this side of glory seems to just

be full of it. You know, we desire, you know,

greener postures. If only this thing would change,

if only I could get rid of that cancer, another

comes. If only that person wouldn't say this

to me, then another person starts saying something

else. If only I had kids and then you find out

that your sin is shown to you in ways that you

never imagined. Only if I had a different vocation

and then you find that once again there's an

affliction in that new one. I know it is tempting

to wish for the next stage of life. Dream of

a time when some affliction All affliction will

be gone. But one leads to another. It seems like

they just compound. As one passes, another comes.

I hope you know that I love being the pastor

of this church. I really do. But let me tell

you, without naming any names, As soon as one

seeming church trial seems to go to the wayside,

man, another comes. It's just the way things

are. It is. It is the way of this life. Affliction

trial crosses. And I know it's the case for you

as well. And Paul knew it was the case for the

Corinthian church. And their temptation, and

I guarantee it is your temptation, On one hand,

it's to say, I'm just gonna despair. And then

on the other, it's, I'm gonna listen to somebody

that says, no, the good news is not one of affliction.

You are for ease. Eloquence. It's all about the

good life. He says, this is a different kind

of gospel altogether. For many of you, the seeming,

Attack on your character and the dynamic at play

in your body. It does cause you to despair of

life But for many of you it also says maybe maybe

this whole good news of Jesus. It's not true

I need to find my life somewhere else But in

some ways I want to suggest to you this is where

comfort comes in For Paul here in these verses

comfort and affliction are intertwined You know

that those that chat that paragraph verses three

to seven there. It's full of comfort, but it's

also full of mentioning affliction. Because for

Paul, and for me and for you, if you are a Christian,

affliction and suffering is sharing in the afflictions

and sufferings of Christ. It is part and parcel

of the Christian life. God walking with us, us

living into the reality of Christ and His suffering

for us. And I want you to think about this. Our

Lord went from one trial to the next. Think with

me how He began His ministry there in the desert,

in the wilderness, being tempted by Satan. No

doubt a trial and affliction. And yet He goes

back to His hometown, to Nazareth. What happens

there? Out! A communal affliction. prophets not

welcome in his hometown, the unwelcome prophet.

And of course we could go on and on. But of course,

most of all, we can think about how he was lied

about at his crucifixion, how he was abandoned

at his crucifixion, how he was mocked at his

crucifixion, how he was spat upon at his crucifixion,

how the very community that looked to him as

the great leader abandoned him. Why? A desire

for ease. Thinking that glory can come without

a cross, that was their temptation, just like

it was the Corinthian temptation, just like it

is our temptation. In Christ's afflictions and

his suffering, we are told he brings comfort,

and it is the only way he does it. It is not

away from the cross, but it is only through the

cross that comfort comes. It was in his trials

that he was able to help those who are going

through trials. It was in his afflictions that

he meets us in our affliction. It is in his cross

where we know that we can patiently endure our

crosses. It is in his resurrection that we know

that we will not only share in his sufferings,

but brothers and sisters, you will share in his

glory. You will. We know this on an earthly level.

We know, I hope you know this actually, that

those who have borne suffering themselves are

so much better at walking into, sitting in, sympathizing

in, meeting you in your suffering. How much more

our Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself, can meet

you in your suffering, care for you attentively

in your suffering? And this is the good news

of Jesus. It's not a message that eschews affliction,

rather that seems as though it's those who are

actually being shot at, those who are being beat

down in mind and spirit. It seems as though he's

saying, it's actually right there that you know

my grace most fully. It's not throwing it aside,

but it's entering into it with my power, that

my power is made perfect. As Paul says here,

as we share abundantly in Christ's suffering,

so through Christ, we share abundantly in comfort,

too. That is the way of the Christian. Paul says

he knows it. He's speaking to the way the church

wants to say no to that. And he's saying this

is the way of life because it is the way of the

cross and the way of our Lord Jesus. Let me end

by sharing an illustration that I heard from

my pastor growing up. He says, historians tell

us that one of the reasons for Napoleon's remarkable

military success was the ability and fighting

spirit of his marshals, which were his senior

commanders. Napoleon knew how much he owed these

men. And here's the thing, Napoleon made these

marshals fabulously wealthy. unbelievably wealthy

in return. Virtually all the men were brave.

They were on the front lines and they were actually,

they were those who had fought and sort of earned

their rank. They were the furthest from sort

of the armchair soldiers, right? They were in

the battle themselves. One of them who was much

wounded was Francois Joseph Lefebvre. He had

come up through the ranks himself. He had been

a lowly sergeant and eventually got to this rank

of marshal and had been rewarded immensely for

his devotion and his courage to Napoleon. Anyway,

he was once asked to justify Napoleon's generosity

to his marshals. And this is what he said. We

will go down into my garden. I shall fire at

you 60 times. And if you're still alive at the

end, everything I have shall be yours. You think

that man took him up on that? Highly unlikely.

But conflict reveals character. Affliction reveals

faith. The crosses that we bear in a way show

how committed we are. to the cross of Christ.

So if a man like Napoleon knew the value of loyalty,

of bravery, of courage, of commitment in the

face of trial, brothers and sisters, how much

more our Lord Jesus? And if Napoleon knew the

afflictions that his soldiers went through out

of commitment to him, and he lavished on them,

all that He did. The scriptures tell us our Lord

will do so much more. I mean, the truth is affliction

in this life seems to never end. One cross seems

to be done, another is before us. And yet, our

Lord says that while this is the life that we

live now, there is a comfort beyond our imagining.

awaiting for us who hold fast to the cross of

Christ. Let's pray together. Lord, how tempted

we are, just like the Corinthian Church, to find

that it is in our trials and it is in our physical

ailments, it is in our personal afflictions,

it is in our communal distress that we want to

throw it all away. Because we long, in a way

Lord, we long most of all is for the peace of

Eden, the wonder of the new heavens and the new

earth. And yet God, so often we want it here

and we want it now and we think that the trials

of this life are not pictures of your grace for

us, but hindrances of it. God, I pray that we

would hide these words in our heart, that we

would not sin against you, that it is in our

affliction that we know the sufferings of Christ

and we receive the comforts of Christ. God, teach

us these things, Lord. Please. God, I pray that

we hear listening now. but maybe spend time this

afternoon contemplating how our trials have moved

us away from you. And yet, God, I pray that even

in those contemplations, that you would move

us toward yourself. That we would see that your

power is made perfect in our weakness. That the

afflictions of this life only serve Bring your

comfort and a greater desire for the life to

come For there will be no more crying or tears

or pain anymore They will be the former things

and you will reign as the lamb who was slain

who received Affliction here in this life on

our behalf that we might know the comfort of

the resurrection Pray this in Jesus name Thank

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