The God of ALL Comfort
October 13, 2024 Preacher: Phil Courson Series: Stand-Alone Messages
Topic: Comfort Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:3–11
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The God of ALL Comfort
Sunday, October 13th 2024
2 Corinthians 1:3-11
Introduction
Your Father Loves, Comforts and Strengthens You in Every Season
- Blessed Be the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Even though Paul is in his own affliction, he starts off with the praise toward God.
- The Father of Mercies and God of All Comfort
Comfort – parakaleō, gets translated one of three other ways: “encourage,” “exhort,” or “urge,” but only rarely as “comfort.”
The word comfort appears 10x in verses 3-7 and it doesn’t mean just sympathy. It gives the idea of a person who is called alongside his friend and encourages them.
The same root word is used to describe the Holy Spirit and even Jesus.
“And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper (Comforter) be with you forever.” John 14:16
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2:1
Paul’s point is not merely that God soothes us when we experience hardship. His point seems to be that God comes along side us and spiritually strengthens us during our affliction. Paul’s focused on that, rather than on soothing.
So let’s retranslate the first two verses of this paragraph to make Paul’s likely intention clear, replacing the English word “comfort” with something else to bring out the appropriate nuances (see bolded words):
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all encouragement, who spiritually strengthens us in the midst of all our affliction, so that we may be able to spiritually strengthen those who face any affliction, with the encouragement with which we ourselves are strengthened by God.”
Paul sees God's hand as having sent these very things into his life; he never prays to have them removed so that he might escape from them. He sees them as opportunities for the release of the strength of God.
Our afflictions will never exceed the ability of God to comfort
Our greatest comfort in affliction is knowing that God is in control
- Who Comforts Us in All Our Afflictions
He now continues that God comforts believers in all our affliction. Paul intentionally uses the word "all" three times in a row to show that God provides for Christians completely in every possible kind of suffering. God is never a partial solution to our pain, though He helps us in a variety of ways. He is the source of all mercy and comfort for those who are hurting.
The affliction Paul describes likely has something to do with persecution for faith in Christ or opposition to the gospel. We don't need to limit the application of these verses, though. God comforts His children when they are suffering, no matter the cause. Comfort here means more than just a temporary relief from pain or being at ease, as in the modern sense of the word. It involves being able to rest because God carries our burdens and gives us strength to keep going.
Suffering in this life often feels meaningless. Scripture immediately brings a sense of purpose to our suffering. Those who have been comforted by God—strengthened, encouraged, relieved of the burden—have opportunity to pass along comfort to others who are suffering. In that sense, God's comfort is reproducible and repeatable. God remains the source, but believers can keep distributing God's comfort to others who suffer as they have.
When God permits trials, He also provides comfort
- So that We may be able to Comfort Those who are in any Affliction
v.4b – “so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any afflictions, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
One of God’s purposes in allowing you to pass through whatever you are experiencing is that you will be able to bring spiritual help, strength and encouragement to others in the future who face affliction. Not merely comfort…
God doesn’t comfort us to make us comfortable;
He comforts us to make us comforters
“But God who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.”
2 Corinthians 7:6,7
Let’s be channels of comfort to others.
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