II Cor. 1:3-7
It is good to be with you for another week. Today is our second lesson from II Corinthians. Each week we look at a few verses and hear what God is saying through those verses. There are many ways you can study the Bible and learn from it. Lord willing He will guide us and each week we will become more like Him as we study His word together.
We have just started working our way through Second Corinthians and last week we took some time to look at the actual city of Corinth. If you can, it helps to look at a map and see how Corinth is situated on a narrow strip of land between two seas. Look at the miles that were saved by the sailors taking their goods over this narrow strip of land instead of sailing way out around.
Now think about how that influence would change an area. They had sailors coming and going all the time. The many people brought lots of business and many different ideas. You can appreciate Paul’s vision to see a church in this spot. If they can get established and grow it would be possible for them to send the message of Jesus all over the world. What a great vision Paul had. However, as we know from First and Second Corinthians, it was not easy starting a church in this environment. It was hard work and from the discussions in First and Second Corinthians, we can see what this church was up against.
It was good to remember the kind of city Corinth was and what were some of the factors that shaped these people. Hopefully, we can keep this in the back of our minds as we study the rest of this book. Today we will take a closer look at 5 verses from chapter one. The title is, “What’s Your Comfort Level?” Here is Bible teacher J Mark to teach us the rest of today’s lesson.
As human beings, we find comfort in a variety of things in life. Comfort can be physical, like relaxing at the end of a hard day’s work. It can also be emotional, a state of contentment and well-being.
But what about comfort on a spiritual level? If you are a follower of Jesus, think back to the time when God was drawing you to Himself. What did you feel as you were confronted by your sinfulness and your inability to meet God’s righteous standard of living?
I remember the struggle in my own heart that resulted in physical discomfort. As I wrestled with admitting that I was an incurable sinner in need of a Savior, my chest felt tight, my palms were sweaty, and my heart began to beat faster. When I finally yielded to the call of the Holy Spirit, a feeling of incredible peace and comfort came over me.
Paul opens his second letter to the Corinthians with an emphasis on comfort. In five short verses, he uses the same Greek word 10 times! It is translated into two different English words, comfort, and consolation. Join me in our study from Second Corinthians 1:3-7 titled, “What’s Your Comfort Level?”
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our [b]consolation also abounds through Christ.
6 Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
7 And our hope for you is steadfast because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.
In this text, we observe several LEVELS of comfort and how each one impacts our lives and relationships.
The First Comfort LEVEL is,
The Source of Comfort
We all like comfort. But where does comfort come from? Until we find the source of genuine comfort, we’ll keep trying things that fail to provide what we need.
Paul begins his letter by blessing God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. He refers to God as the Father of mercies. You and I know God as the Father of mercies in His provision of Jesus Christ for our salvation. Paul expands this blessing by identifying God as the source of ALL comfort. This is the earliest passage in the New Testament where the word comfort is applied to God. Paul blesses God as the ultimate comfort giver.
The Greek word translated as comfort or consolation means one who comes alongside to help. Jesus used this word when He promised the disciples another Comforter – in John 14:16 and John 16:7. This “other” comforter that Jesus promised would be a comforter of the same kind that Jesus was. The Holy Spirit’s oneness with the Father and the Son enables Him to comfort and console us as no human being can.
You and I may associate comfort with ease, but as we continue our study, we’ll see that God’s comfort is focused on bringing encouragement, strength, and boldness to us through our difficulty and hardship. We are assured that God’s encouraging comfort always exceeds our discouragement.
Have you found God to be the source of your comfort?
The Next Comfort LEVEL is,
The School of Comfort
School is a place where learning happens; training in how to think and reason. Paul reminds his readers that the events of life are educational as well. He states that God comforts us in all our tribulations. Tribulation refers to crushing pressures and opposition from Satan and the world around us. The word is related to the crushing of grapes in a winepress. This ability to bear up under extreme pressure is possible only through the mercy and comfort of God.
God provides this comfort for us because He loves us and wants to draw us closer to Him. Secondly, He wants to teach us how to comfort others. So, the purpose of being comforted is so that we can give comfort to others. If we don’t experience the comfort of God in our own lives, how will we know how to extend comfort to others?
Think about Paul’s own experience. On the road to Damascus, God humbled his proud heart and convicted him of persecuting Jesus. But Ananias was sent to him by God to comfort, encourage, and strengthen him. Similarly, God had convicted the members of the Corinthian church for their rebellion against Paul’s apostolic authority. Now, God was sending a message through Paul that would strengthen and encourage them.
All of us have been through hard experiences. Let’s not minimize these kinds of experiences but realize that God expects us to learn from them and use what we learn to comfort and encourage those who are going through those hard things right now. Personal experience of God’s comfort is necessary before we can pass it on to others.
Do you look at the hard experiences of life as the school of comfort? What lessons have you learned from your painful experiences that will help you comfort others?
The Final Comfort LEVEL is,
The Scope of Comfort
In verse six, Paul assures his readers that the scope or extent of God’s comfort reaches beyond time and into eternity. This gives greater meaning and purpose to our suffering. Without this eternal perspective, our suffering can seem to be pointless. But we have God’s promise that “…for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”
Paul reminded the Corinthians that his affliction should be a means of comfort to them. This, in turn, will empower them to endure similar experiences. The salvation Paul speaks of isn’t our acceptance of the gift at our initial conversion, but rather, the current process of our salvation being lived out, and then the culmination of our entire experience with Christ when we meet Him face-to-face.
Paul reminds us that our focus ought not to be on suffering or comfort. Instead, we should see every experience as moving us along the pathway of spiritual maturity, equipping us to help a brother or sister now going through a similar experience. So, whether one suffers or is comforted, the goal is the same, encouragement to live out the reality of your salvation.
Finally, Paul reminds the Corinthian Believers that he is steadfast in his hope for them. He isn’t being pushed back and forth by his feelings. He is firmly convinced that as they endure suffering or comfort from an eternal perspective, it will have the desired effect on their lives. I can think of people I know in whose lives I’ve seen this process working out so clearly. And they are a blessing!
So, “What is your comfort level?” Have you found the source of comfort by entering into a relationship with the God of ALL comfort? There is no genuine comfort outside Him.
If God is your Father, then you are currently enrolled in the school of comfort. Are you chaffing at the suffering you experience, hoping to escape the classroom? Are you seeing your difficulties as opportunities to learn how to comfort and bless those around you?
And finally, do you understand the scope of comfort? Are you using your experience of suffering to comfort others in similar situations? Are you aware that everything that happens to you is part of the process of working out your salvation? And have you embraced the hope through Christ that will never disappoint you? I pray this teaching will raise your comfort level and bring you much joy in the Lord!
Thanks, J Mark for sharing this teaching and for having us think about our comfort levels. Those are good questions you have left us to think about. You know the things we are going through are not random there are times it may seem like it, but our God is not random. He is a God of purpose, and nothing happens that he is not aware of and in control of. We choose to believe He allows us to experience what we are going through for a reason, even when we don’t understand those reasons.
I hope each of us can be that person who will use the hard situations we have been through to comfort others who are going through a similar situation. When this happens, it is incredible, and I see God redeeming the hard thing He has allowed our lives. As Romans 8 teaches us, “All things work together for good to them that love God.” This is what God desires to accomplish in us, may each of us be willing to go through those hard times without becoming hard. This is the struggle; can we keep our hearts soft when our circumstances are the exact opposite?
Thanks again for listening to Hope for Today. If you would like today’s teaching or if you want to contact us for any reason here is how you can reach us. The best way is by email. Our email is [email protected]. If you don’t have email, you can write to us, our address is Hope for Today, Box 3 Breezewood, Pennsylvania 15533. Or you can connect with us on our website. Our website is heraldsofhope.org. On our website you will find other helpful resources and more teaching programs like this one, so please look around while you are there. Again, the website is heraldsofhope.org.
We look forward to next week and hope you will join us then as we study the next section in Second Corinthians. Have a good week and as Romans 15:13 says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him.” Go, live in that joy and peace.
*This episode is an exposition by J. Otis Yoder, re-recorded by J. Mark Horst, with an opening and closing by Arlin Horst.