We're beginning a new series of preaching this morning as we go through the letter of two Corinthians over the coming weeks. This is a great letter and it's a letter in which Paul reveals more of his own personal struggles than any of his other letters and without going into much of the background at this point, it's just good to realise that he actually is writing into a situation in which he is enduring strong and widespread criticism of himself and his ministry. So that's the context in which he writes this second letter to the Corinthians. And the passage we're looking at particularly is from verse 3 to verse 11, this morning. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. This is one of the passages that is often read at a funeral. But I often feel when you're leading funerals as a pastor, you want to read something that is of comfort to the people, yet knowing that many of those who are there are unbelievers. And so this passage, as do many passages, come to those people totally out of context. It can give the impression to someone who is not in faith that if a God exists, he is there to comfort us in our misery and sorrow and make us feel the world is not as bad as it feels right at this present moment. Some would say they don't need such a God to lean on. Others are happy to have such a God by whatever name he's called. At least a little divine comfort at times of crisis can't hurt as long as you don't preach the gospel too much. You know what I'm saying? People like this God who might bring some sympathy to soothe our hearts and quite frankly, that's what the world is largely looking for and no more. Not a God who demands anything of us, but a God if he's there who can make things just a little bit better in the darkness. That's not the context of this word that Paul wrote and you know the thinking of some people is that God can't stop the bad things from happening but at least he can bring a little comfort to those who are hurting. But what you end up with is a God who is only sympathy and not the Holy One and whose only ability is to console us in our grief but has no power to deliver us from evil, whether it be the evil of others or if we're honest, our own evil. C.S. Lewis wrote in Me Christianity, I quite agree that the Christian Religion is in the long run a thing of unspeakable comfort, but it does not begin in comfort. It begins in the dismay I've been describing and it is no use at all trying to go into that comfort without going through that dismay. Now what he means by dismay? is the pain of discovering that we are thankless rebels against our creator and under his judgement and in dire need of being redeemed. So we only know the true comfort of God if we've gone through the dismay, the discomfort of knowing that we are sinners in need of a redeemer. So he goes on, says Lewis, says comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in it, in the end. If you look for comfort, you will not get either comfort or truth, only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and in the end despair. So we need to understand that this is not the kind of comfort that Paul is talking about, just the comfort from the pain of living in a world that suffers. The Old Testament gives wonderful witness to the fact that God is the God of all comfort, the father of compassion, particularly Isaiah. Comfort, comfort my people. in all their affliction. He was afflicted. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you." Oh, afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted. You can feel the great love of God for Jerusalem in all her afflictions. Psalm 103, as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. Now all these expressions of comfort come in the context of God's covenantal relationship with Israel. It's because of his unfailing love that he doesn't give them up. in spite of their persistent rebellion, but instead he shows his compassion and comfort by forgiving them and restoring them and renewing them after they've suffered his judgement. There's the context. Comfort and compassion in the midst of human sinfulness and judgement. So, biblical comfort is not just the promise of a life of comfort. If we assume that the gospel brings us a life free from struggle, then when things go wrong and there's no automatic release from that struggle, then we may doubt the reality of God. And so there are many believers who have had a gospel of comfort that now have a life of disillusionment in God and expect God to somehow prove himself, that he really is the good God after all, that they thought he was. But Jesus made it perfectly clear. One, that in him we would have peace. but also that in this world we would have trouble. He said, take heart, I have overcome the world. So you're going to have trouble, but don't be overwhelmed by that because I've overcome this world that is giving you so much heartache. So the peace of God that we have in Christ is stronger than the trouble that the world may bring upon us because he has overcome the world. The peace of God is not a calm and glassy sea that you're sailing on in the sunshine. It's more like the mighty confidence in the midst of a raging sea. And it's a confidence not in our ability or in the size of our yacht, but a confidence in the God who is with us and who is Lord over the wind and the waves. The word comfort comes from the Greek word paraklesis, one who stands alongside and helps. That's the thought behind that word. That's why the Holy Spirit is called the paraclete, one who comes alongside. But it's more than soothing sympathy. It has the idea of strong encouragement. 2 Timothy, it gives us a word from Paul that may not use the word paraklesis, I haven't checked the Greek, but it certainly carries this idea of strong comfort. 2 Timothy 4.16, and my first offence, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them, but the Lord, the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength. so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth and the Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom." That's more than soothing sympathy. He's right there up against it and no one's there with him to help him. But Christ is there and the Lord stood at his side. So this idea of comfort in the Bible then is the idea of one who comes alongside to strengthen us in the battle, to enable us to stand, to face the enemies. Psalm 119 verse 50, my comfort in my suffering is this, your promise preserves my life. The arrogant mock me without restraint, but I do not turn from your law." So that comfort enables him to stand and to face those who are assailing him. So this is not just a little bit of TLC when we're feeling a little overwhelmed by the stresses of Christmas. This is not that context. This context is the sufferings and comfort that come to us because of our faith in Christ and because of our following of him. It is not about the sufferings that come to us and the comfort that comes to us in that suffering. It's not about the suffering that comes because of our own foolishness or rebelliousness or pride. That suffering also is used by God but this is not the suffering that Paul is talking about. This is the suffering that comes to us because we name the name of Christ as Lord and because we are seeking to follow Him and to be faithful to Him, not just when we gather here but wherever we are in life. It's the conflict, it's the battle. It may not just be the suffering that comes from the opposition of fellow human beings, but it will come. Anyone who seeks to be a person of faith will suffer for their faith. It will come. But it may come with the inner battle, the spiritual battle that we are under also, the evil attack. They can come through flesh and blood, but it can come in other ways too. And yet what Paul's talking about does seem to widen out so that the comfort we experience from God, because He comes to us when we're in the battle with the opposition, with the criticism, with the slander. We experience God's comfort strengthening us and that then we are enabled to bring comfort to others in whatever troubles they might have. He says so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received. So it may well be that Paul is saying, look, this comfort because of my faithfulness in preaching the Gospel, this comfort that comes to me in my suffering for Christ, with Christ, enables me to bring a comfort to you in any trouble that you are going through. So Paul begins this letter in praising God, the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He knows him as the father of compassion, and the God of all comfort. He could have begun with the problems that this church was giving him and he will deal with them in this letter. He's not afraid of bringing things out into the open and being direct. But he didn't begin with the conflict between them. And he didn't, he could have begun just with the problems that he suffered as a preacher of the gospel. And this letter shows just how much Paul went through for the sake of Christ. He could have said, look let me tell you what I've gone through in recent times. But he doesn't. He begins by praising God. for who God is, but more than that, for the way in which this great God of comfort and compassion has come to him in all his troubles for a purpose, in order that he might be enabled to comfort others with the comfort that he'd received from God. Now that's a different way of looking at our suffering, isn't it? This is something that we could maybe miss out on. In our own struggle, if we have gone through great pain, and Paul is not talking about small stuff. He's talking about, he'll tell us in a little while, a time when he went through suffering in which they felt they had no ability to endure. So much pressure was upon them. But Paul could see that this was a wonderful gift that he could then share with others because of the way God had come to him and what God had showed him in the fire, in the trial. So in other words, instead of complaining to God about the difficulties in his life, he was praising God because he could see great purpose in his pain. even if he couldn't see the whole purpose of what God was doing. I think there is something that we often fall into and that is the myth that if you are faithful as a believer that everything will work out for you. and that even if there's suffering, that it will all ultimately end out in blessing that is obvious to everyone, including yourself. And that God could never put you through a situation where all your effort and faithfulness seems to dissolve into nothing. And the work of years is suddenly just blown away in a crisis and it seems that there is no way to recover what is lost. Could that ever happen to us? Well, I'm afraid it does. It can and it does and it has happened to many faithful saints. You know, a life work of translating the scriptures into another language has all gone up in flames. Or where someone that you were relying on and the only person that could help you translate the scriptures into this language falls sick and you go to help him, an injection of penicillin there in the village and he has this almighty reaction. and dies, and they're blaming you for his death. And the very means that you felt God had given you to bring the word of God to this people is suddenly taken away. Where is God in all this? Surely God promised that such things could never happen, would never happen, that all things work together for good. Well, what is the good? That we be conformed to the image of Christ. Not that everything we do is touched, becomes gold and it all works out beautifully because that's not the reality in which God has placed us. We can live with broken dreams and hopes that have been dashed on the rocks and yet still trust in this God of great comfort and compassion. Sometimes this comfort came to Paul and comes to us in the arrival of someone. There's a beautiful verse that the God who comforts the downcast sent Titus to him. You know, God's comfort came through a person and through their encouragement and sometimes, I know in my own experience, it's come through strange circumstances. I can remember, I think I've shared this before, but when I was living in Wayala and under some pressure and discouragement as I sought to proclaim Christ. Early one morning, I walked down to the jetty really quite flat and feeling very alone and there was an old fisherman at the end of the jetty and he was quite a rough fisherman and he had quite a sprinkling of swear words as he said hi to me and told me a few stories. But gee, I just wanted some human company and I was grateful that God had this rough fisherman on the end of the jetty. He wanted to talk to me. The next minute I looked down and there's a dolphin in the sea and I thought well I could go down the ladder and pat the dolphin. I went down and I thought I could just slip into the water. It was glassy calm, warm. But very early in the morning, so I just slipped into the water. I threw my shoes up and opened my head onto the jetty and I was in the water and there's the dolphin. And then I hear the fishermen yell out and I look up and a bag of pilchards in a plastic bag drops onto my head. And I'm swimming underwater feeding a dolphin and then another dolphin, two dolphins and I'm patting. No one told me they bite you. They can bite. I was patting a dolphin on the side of its face. And I swam there for 10 minutes with these dolphins. And no one could tell me that God did not send those dolphins at that time to lift my heart and bring comfort, strength to get up and go on. It just transformed, not just that day, that whole week, just through that encounter. So God brings comfort in all kinds of ways, strange circumstances in which you know that God hasn't forgotten you and he's with you. But more often than not, in this letter, Paul's comfort comes as a word of God. It's not just soothing words. It's not just a divine shoulder to cry on. It's not just the comfort of a mother cuddling its little child after it's banged its head. It's stronger stuff than this. It's more often the comfort of a word of God that comes to us when our heart is breaking, when we're beside ourselves with grief and anxiety, when we're worn out with pain, bereft of hope. And it's the Father's strong word that comes to us in the midst of despair. It's the way God spoke to Paul again and again when he's been under incredible pressure at the end of his tether. And this is the comfort that he's so thankful to God for, because he knows that what has come to him, he can take to others. He's got something to pass on. So through 2 Corinthians we have example after example of Paul simply sharing from his own experience how God comforted him so that his readers might find a word that will strengthen them in this same battle that they're in. Paul, in verse 5, Paul speaks of the sufferings of Christ flowing over into his life. Now, not the sufferings of the cross. Paul said, was Paul crucified? No. No, we are not called to share in what he suffered there for us on that cross. But we are called to share in the fellowship of his sufferings in the opposition. He said, if they hate me, they will hate you. And so these sufferings of Christ, there will be a fellowship of suffering with Christ and with one another as we participate in the sufferings of Christ. But even as they flow over into our lives and if we are faithful to Christ, they will. So also, through Christ, the comfort of God will overflow. In other words, the sufferings will not be outweighed. Sorry, God's comfort will not be outweighed by the sufferings. They will flow, but comfort will overflow into our lives. And Paul could see that if he went through distress, it was for their comfort and salvation. And if they were comforted, it was for their comfort. I've counted nine times the word comfort is in these verses, but I commented, I said ten times. I've counted them over and over and I can't find the tenth one, so you might be able to find it for me, but not right now. But that's amazing. Again and again, this word comfort. And if we are comforted, it is for your comfort which produces in you patient endurance. Can you see there's the outcome of this strengthening comfort. And so just as they share in Paul's sufferings, they will share also in his comfort. But then in verse 8, he wants to share an experience in which God comforted him in showing him something that God was doing in the midst of that suffering that was good for Paul. He talked about hardships suffered in the province of Asia. being under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure. That's interesting. In Corinthians, in this letter, we're told that God will not tempt us beyond our ability, but here he says that we could actually experience suffering that is beyond our ability to endure, beyond our human ability to endure. So much so that we despaired even of life. Would God put you through something like that? I wonder if your understanding of the love of God is as big as that, can encompass that. Indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. And he says, this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you. That sounds like cold comfort to me. Don't worry Paul. I know you're in a bad place but I am the God who raises the dead. It's okay. So if you die, I'll raise you or something like that. You know what cold comfort is? Cold comfort is something that makes the situation a little better but not much better. It's a bit like the guy who was riding his motorbike and he suddenly lost control and he hurtles off a cliff and as he is flying off the top of the cliff, he grabs a branch on the side of the cliff and he hangs on for his dear life and underneath him is thousands of metres of nothing. And he says, is anyone up there? and he hears the voice of God. Yes, I'm here. Trust me and let go. Is anyone else up there? It seemed like cold comfort. Now, if you can imagine the conversation, Paul, yes Lord, why are you panicking? Lord, you may not have noticed we're in a spot of bother and it looks like we're not going to get through this one. We're doing our best to keep strong but we've come to the end of our resources and quite frankly this looks like the end of the ministry you called me to and I didn't want it to end this way. I was wanting to go on. Paul's not a spiritual wimp. You'll see that through 2 Corinthians, what he goes through. It seems like he doesn't want his ministry, his longing to take the Gospel to the Gentile nations, to come to an end here, and yet he thinks it is coming to an end. And he says, I've come to the end of my own, I can't cope. It looks like this is it. And Paul, the Lord says, Paul, yes, Lord, did I ask you to rely on yourself, on your own resources? No, Lord, but I can't see any way out of this. Well, was there any way out of the tomb for my son? Am I not the raiser of the dead? That's Greek, the raiser of the dead, the God who raises the dead. Don't you know that I can rescue anyone even from the jaws of death? Have I not defeated death? So, if I want to get you out of this situation, am I not quite capable? So, who are you going to rely on? Yourself or me? So, can you see Paul? I now see. This is why I've been brought to the end of myself and to the end of the tether with nowhere to go, nothing up my sleeve, so that I can just see that God is the one I can rely on because there's no one else and he is worthy of my trust because he's the raiser of the dead, because he can defeat all enemies, even death itself. So this is the comfort that he received, not cold comfort, real comfort. If we know God in this way, the God of the resurrection, then we know that nothing, not even death, can separate us from his love, more than conquerors through him who died for us. Literally, what Paul says there is, A literal translation is, but we ourselves felt in ourselves the answer of death, that we may not be trusting on ourselves, but on God who is the raiser of the dead. In other words, it's Paul speaking to himself. It's not other people saying you're going to die. It's Paul saying, I'm going to die. He's saying, what's going to happen to us? And the answer coming from himself is, we're going to die. There's no way out. Some years ago, as a result of a real threat to my life, I found myself saying, I'm going to die. And it was real. I couldn't pray. I couldn't see any way out. In fact, I would confess that I actually felt angry That's why I couldn't pray because I found myself blaming God for being in this situation in which I felt the threat of death hanging over me. My wife and I just sitting there not knowing what to do and I felt impressed on my mind Psalm 118 and verse 17 and I wasn't familiar with that Psalm or verse. I got a Bible out of the bedroom and I read this verse, I will not die but live and proclaim the works of the Lord. The Lord has chastened me severely but he has not given me over to death. So I was saying I'm going to die but the Lord comforted me that night so that I could say, I will not die. And it was literally in a moment the terror was gone. I will not die, but I will proclaim the works of the Lord. We don't know the circumstances in which Paul and his fellow workers were under this great pressure, far beyond their ability to endure, so that they despaired even of life. What we know is that God did deliver them. And in that deliverance, he taught them not to rely on themselves, but to rely on God, because nothing is impossible with God. He's the God who raises the dead. It's tempting to rely on our own knowledge, our own gifts, even our own experiences, our own strength to meet a situation. Particularly if we're used to doing a certain thing, competent, we can handle that. That's good in any field, but when you bring that to your faithful service to Christ, then you're going to fall in a hole. Paul himself had to realise his own utter inadequacy when it comes to life and ministry before he could discover the adequacy of God. So we are tempted to rely on past faithfulness, past knowledge, past fruitfulness. But we can't. We can't assume. I remember hearing a preacher who I'm glad to listen to say one day that he never had an automatic word from God. Just ready there. I know I must have fresh bread from the oven otherwise I've got no bread at all. like the Israelites in the wilderness. They had to collect manna that fell each day. They needed to rely on God daily, often when God gives us a word, whether it's a preacher or, you know, as you've been given a word to share with others. We take it, we use it, and in using it we begin to think that it's our word and we can feel a certain cleverness in the way we handle that word and slowly we begin to take pride in that word as though it was something that we had come to of ourselves and not something given to us. Paul, towards the end of his letter, actually confesses that he could have become conceited because of the surpassingly great revelations that God had given him. He could have begun to see himself as a cut above the rest. So God gave him a thorn in the flesh and we'll hear about that later in the series. And it made him weak and it made him dependent. But with that word came this With that thorn came this wonderful word that's probably enabled countless believers down through history to stand strong in the midst of debilitating trials and that word is my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness. Power made perfect in weakness. Christ was crucified in weakness but now lives by the power of God. Weakness and power. Not power in spite of weakness, but power through weakness. This is a strong word of comfort and it gave him a reason to delight in every weakness, every difficulty as he sought to proclaim the gospel. For when we are weak, we are strong. And when we are made weak, we are qualified for the power of Christ to rest on us. So it's better to be disabled and cast on God's power than to be confident and proud of what we bring and left to our own power which is no power at all. So, this is the theme in a sense of 2 Corinthians. Power and weakness and not relying on ourself but on God. Treasure in old jars of clay. We're not Captain America. We're not bulletproof. We get bruised. We bleed. We grow old. We know weakness and struggle. We're not immune from the frailty and weakness of our mortal body. You know, how much more could I do for God if I was healthier, if God gave me a better body to work with, if God could keep me young and, you know, can you hear that sometimes it's our own fault. We don't look after the body that God's given us. But Paul said outwardly we're wasting away and often through the knocks of ministry in the Gospel. I'm not just talking about preachers. We are all in the ministry of the Gospel. And if we're in that ministry, we will get knocked, and it'll leave a mark. And it'll bring weakness. Hard pressed on every side, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not abandoned. Struck down, but not destroyed. We're not invincible. But because He is strong, we're unable to stand. Why? This treasure in old, frail, weak clay pots. Why? To show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us. As we come to the close of another year, we might be tempted to think we can do it again. We've done it. We can survive a new year. Business as usual. Often the Lord upsets our apple cart, doesn't he? And he brings us to the place where we need to know again that he alone is able to keep us. He alone is able to keep us in this ministry of his love, of sharing, witnessing by word and deed to the truth of Christ. Let me finish in reading the words of John Newton and this hymn that P. C. Forsyth describes as a wonderful theology in this one hymn. It shows that often it's difficult to untangle that suffering that comes because we've been faithful to Christ and that struggle in our own hearts. In other words, has suffering come because of our obedience to Christ or come because there's too much of me in that ministry? or that relationship, you know? Is it my own pride that's bringing me into conflict with someone or is it the gospel that I profess? Sometimes we don't know. I ask the Lord that I might grow in faith and love and every grace, might more of his salvation know and seek more earnestly his face. It was he who taught me thus to pray and he, I trust, has answered prayer, but it has been in such a way as almost drove me to despair. I hoped that in some favoured hour at once he'd answer my request and by his love's constraining power subdue my sins and give me rest. Instead of this he made me feel the hidden evils of my heart and let the angry powers of hell assault my soul in every part. Yea, more, with his own hand he seemed intent to aggravate my woe, crossed all the fair designs I schemed, blasted my gourd and laid me low. Lord, why is this? I trembling cried. Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death? Tis in this way, the Lord replied. I answer prayer for grace and faith. These inward trials I employ from self and pride to set thee free. and break thy schemes of earthly joy, that thou mayest seek thy all in me." Strong comfort. Thank you, dear Father, that you so speak to us to cause us to stand, but not stand strong in who we are, in our great knowledge of you, or our faithfulness but Father to stand strong in Christ, who is all we have. We can ourselves, but Father, overcome us in Him and through Him who loved us. Father, thank you that your great comfort comes again and again in so many ways. And thank you, Father, that this is what we can bring to others in all their troubles. Bless us, your people, dear Father. Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints and every little death along the way. You're near and you love us, you know what you're doing and we can entrust ourselves to you. In Jesus' name, Amen.