At the end of 1938, the British Prime Minister returned from a meeting with Germany which was held in the city of Munich. Chamberlin, the Prime Minister of Britain, declared that it was a victory that brought “peace for our time.” The Munich agreement allowed Hitler to take land in Czechoslovakia so that he may restore the former German lands lost in the First World War. Five months later, Hitler occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia. Two months later, Churchill, predicted that Hitler would invade, most likely Poland. By July, Churchill predicted a German Russian alliance. By September, that alliance was set and Germany invaded Poland. Instead of reaching out to the British Prime Minister, the Polish Ambassador reached out to Churchill. Chamberlin, wanted to negotiate again, his cabinet did not. The messages of negotiation were sent out, but there was no response from Hitler, two days after the invasion of Poland, Britain declared war on Germany. Churchill declared, “This is not a question of fighting for Danzig or fighting for Poland, we are fighting to save the whole world from the pestilence of Nazi tyranny and in defense of all that is most sacred to man."
If you’ve ever been bullied, you might have heard this, “Just ignore them, and the’ll go away.” On a small scale that might work. Bullies tend to pick on people who they can get a rise from. But on a larger scale, that doesn’t work. Ignoring the bullies, when those bullies are nations, is a loosing battle. If a leader of a nation sets their sight on war, standing up to them is the only way to stop them.
Appeasement and the turning a blind eye to Germany’s advances, allowed Hitler time to build his military, and consolidate his power. The avoidance of conflict, isn’t always wrong, but it’s also, not always right.
And it’s this idea of not shying away from conflict, that brings us back to our summer series, where we are going to pick it back up in 2nd Corinthians chapter 1, starting in verse 3. And as we open to 2nd Corinthians 1:3, let’s look back on where we are from our first week..
Last week we looked at the opening greeting of Paul’s fourth letter to the Church at Corinth. In that greeting, there was a slight change from his greeting in 1st Corinthians. That slight change shows us the purpose of the two letters. In 1st Corinthians, Paul is seeking unity, which is reflective in his desire that the church be sanctified. In 2nd Corinthians, Paul greets the Corinthians with the rest of the churches in the area, pointing to a restoration of unity, due to their repentance.
It’s with that restoration in mind, that we begin to make our way through the letter, as Paul expresses his care for this church. If this is your first time, or if you need a refresher, in these summer series, we look at large swaths of the Scriptures, to see the big ideas that flow from verse to verse and chapter to chapter. The big thought that Paul has after his greeting goes from verse 3 in chapter 1, to verse 4 of chapter 2. But within that big thought, there are two parts to it. So today, we’re going to look at the first part of Paul’s larger thought. Let’s read together, starting in chapter 1, verse 3.
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 affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
v. 3-7
After the greeting, Paul immediately dives into his desire to comfort the Corinthian Church. It’s why he begins with praise to the Father and Jesus. Paul praises God, because God comforts him in affliction, and that through that affliction, God comforts others.
Paul sees the afflictions that he endures because of doing the work that Jesus had called him to, as a means by which he experiences God’s comfort. So though Paul endures afflictions and hardships, he gets to know the comfort of God through it.
This type of comfort, rings with Jesus’ words in John 14:27, where Jesus states, “27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” This is the comfort or peace that Paul relays to the Philippians in his closing remarks in chapter 4, verse 7, where he writes, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Paul directly experiences this peace through the afflictions he faces because of the Gospel, even afflictions that are caused by those who profess to be Christians. And so if you have ever been hurt by the Church, know that Paul has also been hurt, and yet sees it as an avenue to experience God’s comfort.
And It’s not only an avenue of comfort for him, Paul’s afflictions is an avenue of comfort for the people of God, and in this case, the Church at Corinth specifically. Because Paul knows as he endures affliction and experiences the comfort of God, the ministry of reconciliation, something Paul will later speak on in this letter, will bring about comfort in afflicted areas. And as the Corinthians experiences affliction, they will experience comfort as well, since they are now in a position to receive such comfort.
What that means is that when looking at another person who is going through hardships, we can be encouraged by their steadfastness to God through it. It’s why testimonies are so important. When we hear what God has done in another’s life, we realize what he can do in ours. It’s why reading the book of Job is important; Job’s afflictions can bring us comfort in our own times of trials.
v. 8-11
It’s here that Paul wants the Corinthians to understand the length and depth of the kind of affliction he is talking about.
In Asia, Paul experienced mobs, false accusations, and being pelted with stones, to a point where he was on the verge of death. And in fact, Paul is very candid in this letter, sharing that he was “beyond” his “strength” and “despaired of life.” Paul is sharing just how far his affliction went. It wasn’t the inconveniences of life, but his life truly coming to the point of death in horrific ways.
But it was the reliance on God that brought him through. And here, Paul communicates how the focus on the resurrection, is what he relied on. Paul understood that God raised Jesus from the dead, and so the momentary afflictions that brought him to the point of death, was nothing to the eternal joy that was before him. So he could endure such afflictions, because of the work that God had already performed in Jesus.
This reminds me of a peanuts comic strip I like to use in my class on Basic Beliefs of Christianity. In the comic strip, Lucy and Linus are looking out the window as rain pours down outside. In the first box, Lucy says, “Boy, look at it rain…what if it floods the whole world?” Linus responds in the second box, “It will never do that…in the ninth chapter of Genesis God promised Noah that would never happen again, and the sign of the promise is the rainbow..” Lucy’s expression of hopelessness is replaced by a smile in the third box, where she states, “You’ve taken a great load off my mind…” And the comic strip ends with Linus stating, “Sound theology has a way of doing that!”
The sound theology of Jesus’ resurrection gives comfort in times of affliction, because we can trust Jesus’ words in John 11:25, “…I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die…”
Paul trusts his God, his Jesus, that any affliction can be endured, because the comfort of the resurrection is heavy on his thoughts and actions. And through that, Paul tells the Corinthians that God delivered him from that peril, and he will continue to do so.
Paul’s determination in trusting God, reminds me of the story in Daniel 3, where the king, Nebuchadnezzar, set up a golden image that all the people in his land were required to bow down to. But the three friends of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, would not bow. Though the king felt hesitation in doing so, he carried out their punishment and threw them into the fiery furnace. But before they entered furnace, they boldly proclaimed to the king, “If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up (Daniel 3:17-18).”
Like these three who trusted in the God they served, and who’s death was not something to be feared, because their God was the God of resurrection, Paul too hopes in that same God. And even greater so, because he has seen the Risen Savior for himself, and so hopes even greater.
By Paul laying out his struggles in affliction with the Corinthians, he is giving them an example of how to trust in the Lord, and how that trust brings about comfort, even in the extreme moments of affliction to the point of death. So, if God can bring comfort there, he can bring comfort even to the less extreme, yet still painful afflictions of our lives.
But Paul then asks the Corinthians for something. He asks them to pray. Pray for him and his companions that people will give thanks on their behalf for the blessings that God has given them in this comfort through affliction. Because those blessings are the blessings of transformed lives. It’s the lives of the lost sinner that repents and trusts in Jesus as Savior. It’s lives of the wayward Christian, who comes back to their first love. It’s reconciliation of believers, who have to overcome the hurt they inflicted on each other. It’s restored marriages, and families. It’s forgiveness, where the hurt was too deep, and it’s new beginnings, where dead ends seemed inevitable.
Paul is calling on the church, who has been recently restored to fellowship within themselves and with the greater body of believers, to pray that this story of affliction, comfort, and restoration might be given thanks by the Church of God.
It’s here that we can see the application for us today. Who in here desires affliction? None of us. It’s something we desire to avoid, and we will do a lot, to avoid it. In our society we say things like, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say nothing at all.” Yet the Scriptures say, “Speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15),” and “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy (Proverbs 27:6).”
The avoidance of conflict, can led to an exasperation of it in the long run. It’s one of the reasons that in Pre-marital counseling, there’s a session where we talk about fighting. Conflict, affliction, is a part of this life, Jesus, the all-knowing God, told us that in John 16:33. But Jesus also gave us good theology to trust in, so he states, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
We tend to want to avoid conflict and affliction, because, as the saying goes, “sometimes, you have to go along to get along.” But how’s that doing for us today. For along time, we have had these sentiments in our society, and now we are having greater upheaval of central values than ever before. We fear conflict, because of what it could do, but there comes a point, where we have to trust our Lord that conflict is the way to salvation, the way to restoration.
And so, a word spoken in love that leads to conflict, is better than a word gone unspoken, as to not rock the boat, which will lead to greater conflict down the road. That is the position that Paul is in, a word of love spoke to the Church of Corinth that caused pain for him, yet through that, restoration occurred.
We are called to that same comfort in affliction that Paul experienced through his ministry, and in this letter. For us, it might not be a brink of death affliction, it might be a conflict of personality, of misunderstanding, of different leadership/parenting styles. It might be a conflict of values, or political ideology. You might be the afflicted in these cases, or you might be the afflicting. What we need is God’s comfort in the affliction. Comfort in the conflict of society, of personal relationships, and things that are out of our control. That comfort only comes through a trust in Jesus, and on a reliance of his word. God gives us his word that we may be comforted, and that we might be solid in our trust.
My challenge for you this week is to memorize one of these three verses: Daniel 3:17-18, where the three friends trusted in the Lord no matter what the outcome. Proverbs 27:6, as a reminder that our words need to be spoken in love, even if conflict comes from it. Or John 16:33, that we may trust Jesus in a world of conflict. Wherever you need help, take that verse to memorize. And if you want an additional challenge, try to memorize all three.
Let us be a people who do not seek to avoid conflict, just because it’s unpleasant, but rather seek the Lord to comfort through any affliction we encounter. Amen.
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