The Bible uses the word “comfort” in thirty-one places, and more than half appears in 2 Cor. In just today’s passage alone, it appears for ten instances. Paul is sharing with the church in Corinth about the true comfort he has experienced amidst his suffering.
Today’s passage is very practical, because we, or our friends might need comfort. Often, we struggle to comfort sufferers and we don’t know how to help or what to say to them. How do Christians comfort and suffer?
God has made us a promise, and all the promises find their “Yes” and “Amen” in Christ. If you are looking for comfort tonight, you are looking for Jesus. Remember how we started last week, with the salutation of “Grace and peace”. Paul is calling us tonight not to do better or buck up, but to receive, to receive this grace and peace. This is not just for the individual, but also for the body of Christ.
(A) Comfort is from God the Father: suffering invites us to the source of comfort (2 Cor 1:3-4)
This letter is different in its opening from many of Paul’s other letters. After his usual introduction of grace and peace, Paul usually gives thanks for God’s gospel work in the church he addresses:
“I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you” (Rom 1:8)
“I give thanks to my God always for you” (1 Cor 1:4)
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you” (Phil 1:3)
“We give thanks to God always for all of you” (1 Thess 1:2)
“We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers” (2 Thess 1:3)
“We always thank God.. when we pray for you” (Col 1:3)
“I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers” (Philemon 1:4)
However, this prayer of thanksgiving is missing in 2 Corinthians. After his greeting, he proceeds straight to praising God (2 Cor 1:4).
Before we understand the significance of this, we need to see that the prosperous church of Corinth was hearing rumors about Paul and his life in persecution. The Corinthian church might have thought that Paul was weak and not blessed, different from their expectations for the life of a Christ follower.
Although Paul knew about these rumors, he doesn’t start off the letter by any sort of rebuttal. Paul is not refuting their criticism - he confirms it. In fact, by starting the letter with a praise of God of mercies and all comfort, he affirms that that he has been in affliction, more than they thought (2 Cor 1:8). Paul’s focus is not on defending himself. Instead he draws the Corinthians’ eyes to the source of true comfort: God himself. Suffering doesn’t have the last word. Instead, he points them to what he has found in his suffering – “Father of mercies” and “God of all comfort” (2 Cor 1:3). Every good and perfect comfort comes from this God.
Mercy and comfort have a source, and he welcomes & points the rebellious Corinth church to that source. This passage shows us how to pray for people! When fruit is slow in appearing, and people’s heart seem cold and our hearts our full of grief and we don’t know what to do, Paul encourages us to lift our eyes up to look at this God who is the God of all comfort! Friends, if your life does not look glamorous at all, if you are going through misery of whatever sort, Paul understands you in your scars. Jesus of the wounds understands you and He is the source of all comfort.
(B) Comfort is through Christ the Son: the comfort of Christ comes to those who suffer with Christ (2 Cor 1:4-7)
In 2 Cor 1:4, Paul writes to the church in Corinth. He is talking about those who have suffered with him: Timothy and the rest. He is making a promise to them that those who belong to Christ will suffer but will also receive comfort. Affliction is not an ‘if’ to Paul. It is a certainty to Christians as the gift of comfort comes only to sufferers. Through this letter, Paul is correcting the mindset of the Corinth church that Christians will not suffer.
And Paul makes them a promise: those who belong to Christ will suffer, and will receive comfort. Affliction is not an ‘if’ to Paul. It is a certainty for Christians - the gift of comfort comes only to sufferers. We don’t say this lightly. Notice the logic here: we want comfort, but it comes with affliction and suffering. Affliction and suffering and intertwined. We experience both.
In his letter, Paul was trying to correct a certain mindset and some misconceptions that people might have about the Christian life.
“Christians will not suffer”
But in 2 Cor 1:4a, he assumes that Christians will! Christians will experience suffering, but we will, through that, experience a comfort that comes from God! Suffering is not a marker of secret sin or weakness. It is not punishment for sin for those in Christ Jesus!
As this COVID season has shown us, we are really blessed and enjoy lot of comforts, but it seemed to have made us more fearful of losing control and even death. When everything is removed, what stays with us?“Suffer = sin”
Instead, suffering can be seen as union with Christ! At the heart of suffering is not loneliness, but Christ! He alone can turn your grief away. It is God’s plan to present His Son to the world in the lives of His followers who suffer. It is impossible to loved and serve others if you are unable to suffer with them. Just as Jesus lived sacrificially and laid down His life for us, so too, are we called to do so for others.
And when we read this, we are so scared. We are stretched and we don’t want to be tired, afflicted and take on this additional burden. But so many of us are more chained to our jobs etc than Paul was in his jail cell. Suffering has a purpose if we are suffering with Jesus Christ. What changes the nature of suffering was that Paul knew what he was suffering for and who he was suffering with. In his suffering, his Saviour was with him. Christ is our companion in our suffering (‘share’). The assurance here is the presence of Christ!“Comfort or Affliction”
Instead of pitting it as 2 separate categories, 2 Cor 1: 4a actually sees comfort in affliction. Paul is sharing his experiential comfort with fellow believers (2 Cor 1:6) and urging them to go forth and share this God-given comfort with more who are suffering.
Paul goes on even further to say that the purpose of his suffering is to comfort the Corinth church (2 Cor 1:6). Suffering and comfort draw us into the community of the suffering to create a community that is comforted. If you are suffering, and wondering why this is happening, Paul is presenting one of answers: it is for the comfort and salvation of community. When we see friends in pain, we can confidently draw near to them and share what we have received. Even when we lack words to heal or experiences to empathize with, our confidence lies in knowing Jesus of the wound surely comforts and cares.
2 Cor 1:4 comforts us because we know that because we don’t go alone with Jesus behind our back. We go with Christ. The message we bring is not our own compassion and comfort or self-care. We are telling them the message of the cross of Christ. Before we weep for them, Jesus wept. Before we grieve and love them, Jesus grieved and loved.
(C) Comfort is setting all of your hope on God (2 Cor 1:8-11)
In 2 Cor 1:8b, we read of how Paul was so utterly burdened beyond his strength that he and his fellow brothers despaired of life itself. If you thought that Paul’s admission earlier was startling, Paul is so completely exhausted from what happened in Asia that he wanted to give up on life. In a culture where weakness is looked down upon as something to hide, Paul doesn’t take away a single drop in describing his pain. He knows that as deep as his pain was, God’s comfort and Christ’s strength was even more abundant and real.
If they did not accept the suffering apostle of Christ, they cannot receive the Christ who suffered. Our Saviour despaired of life too. There is no need to be ashamed of this deep grief that comes when we love people so much and are burdened.Complete weakness makes way for all of Christ for all of life. Our trials serve to wean us from the world and forces us to set our reliance on nothing else but God.
This message is not the easiest to hear. We live in world that tells us that only the fittest will survive. All of mankind has been trying to be the best version of ourselves. The cross reminds us that if we are in Christ, we no longer live but Christ lives in us. And He is a God who sacrifices the fittest to bring in the weakest. In God’s Kingdom, our weaknesses don’t disqualify us, but He transforms it.
Hope in Christ is not just for now, but is also a future hope. Deliverance isn’t just immediate, but it is dependent on God’s timeline. We don’t know what deliverance will look like! Notice that though Paul doesn’t know, he doesn’t just remain apathetic. Because he is certain of his future, he has security and safety in the present to wait for God and to wait for the gospel. Suffering, affliction and setbacks don’t discourage Paul because he knows that God is working for the good of all who love Him.
This provides an encouragement for those of us that are discipling and trying to love and serve God’s people. We can continue in ministry because we know this God of all comfort! We have received a real hope and can go on to serve His people. Take heart also because there is more than one way to love those whom God loves.
Paul invites them to pray with him in 2 Cor 1:11. And he promises that if they pray, they will also share in his joy, and that they will give thanks to God for His deliverance.
Sickness and adversity make us rely on God. Prosperity and health are great mercies, but the rock of Christ is better than both. What is God doing in our season of suffering? He is placing more and more of our lives with Him. He is taking away the parts of us that is placing our hopes on the things of this world – jobs, life, our dreams, our youth. Suffering takes the pieces of our heart that holds on to this world, and places it in the safe hands of our Saviour. It is safe there. And when it hurts, we can flee to Him. What else is salvation but having all of us safe in Jesus!
Paul was not discouraged by suffering because he knew that through it all God would work for the good of those who love Him. Let’s surrender our sorrows and our plans and accept Jesus to guide us to green pastures and quiet waters where He restores our souls.