2nd Corinthians Week 4: Restorative Discipline

  I think we all have that one time that is etched into our minds of when we were disciplined as a kid. For other of us, they kind of all blur together because there was so many of them. My earliest memory of being disciplined was around five years old. I don’t remember exactly what I did, but I do remember the leather strap that my dad used to sharpen his razor blades. It’s a memory in a sea of memories that that included such disciplinary devices such as hands, shoes, belts, spoons, and I’m sure even more household items that I have blocked from my memory.

In those moments of discipline, they seemed to be a punishment for wrong acts. Yet looking back on it, I realize that my parents’ discipline were actually loving acts to correct the wrong choices I had made. And that’s what discipline is, corrective loving acts who’s purpose is to bring about good outcomes. 

And it’s this idea of this type of discipline that brings us to our fourth week in our summer series, where we’ll be picking it back up in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2, verse 5. And as we pick back up in 2nd Corinthians 2:5, let’s look at our first three weeks.

In our first week we looked at Paul’s opening greeting, and the joy he had for the restoration of the Corinthian Church. This is because, his last visit and last letter, were not a happy time in his life.

It’s the unhappiness that we talked about the next two weeks. Though it was a painful situation with the Corinthians that Paul didn’t want to happen, by him confronting the situation in a godly way, Paul showed how the least harsh route in dealing with such a situation can lead to both God’s comfort and Christian restoration. Because in this life we will always experience troubling situations, and so, God calls us to face them in his strength, by his wisdom, and by doing so, we can experience his peace through it all. It’s this very thing that Paul rejoices about in his greeting. 

It’s from this place of Paul’s rejoicing in restoration, that we now turn to 2nd Corinthians 2:5-11. Let’s read together.

5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

In these seven verses, Paul speaks of the restoration of an individual. In the past, I have to confess, that I have misinterpreted these verses. Before I sat down and began to really analyze 2nd Corinthians, I read these verses in light of 1st Corinthians. In chapter 5 of that letter, a man within the Church body is being sexually immoral. It’s Paul’s counsel to that he be removed from the Church community, “so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord (1 Corinthians 5:5b).” When reading that passage and then this one, I always assumed that Paul was seeking to restore that man. But he’s not. The person spoken about in 2nd Corinthians, is not the same as the one that is spoken about in 1st Corinthians. 

We know that Paul had a painful experience on his last visit to Corinth; an experience so bad, that he wrote a now lost letter where he laid out all that pain. We know that letter led to the Corinthians repenting and from that repentance, we have this letter. Paul now is bringing up the man who set all of this pain into motion. But Paul underscores something about that man here. Paul states, “Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me…but…to all of you (v.5).” This man’s actions, that led to Paul writing his painful letter, was not the cause of Paul’s pain, but rather caused the pain of broken relationship between Paul and the Church. In this letter Paul reveals that it wasn’t the man, but the lack of support from the Church itself that caused the pain. This man’s actions sent a wedge between Paul and the congregation, but it’s the inaction of the Church itself and not the man, that Paul points to as the source of the hurt. So Paul reveals that the man has pained the Corinthians, and not him, because there own inaction has brought about the rebuke and correction from Paul.

And yet, Paul’s goal is always restoration. It’s implied through Paul’s writing here, that the Church finally took action and dealt with the man. Yet Paul speaks of forgiveness and comfort for this person. Though this man has caused pain and division, Paul doesn’t want an overcorrection on their part. Paul doesn’t want an excess of sorrow in their disciplinary action. So Paul calls on the Church to reaffirm their love for the man.

Paul wrote to them to see if they would indeed seek godly discipline and wake up to their own sinful inaction. They did! So now, he wants to curtail their discipline so that they would not then fall to Satan’s designs of destroying Jesus’ Church. So Paul calls on the Church to forgive, letting them know, he personally has already forgiven the man. In taking this approach, Paul is helping the Corinthians in their faith and administrative duties in Jesus’ body.

It’s fulfilling what Paul said in verse 24 of the 1st chapter. “Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.” In the case of this man, Paul is working with them to bring about a loving and disciplined congregation.

This is an important seven verses, because it helps us see the word of Jesus from Matthew 18 in practice. In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus sets out a way for us to deal with sin between our brothers and sisters within the Church. It seems so simple as Jesus teaches that, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”

It seems so simple, but what we see in 2nd Corinthians is how hard it can be, when the rubber meets the road. And when we re-read Jesus’ words in Matthew 18, with 2nd Corinthians, we can see how muddy that painful that process can be. 

If a brother or sister sins against us, we would hope that we could easily approach them and tell them how we’ve been hurt, and they would ask for forgiveness and we could all move forward. But, what if they don’t recognize their fault? Then more people have to get involved, and if that does’t fix it, then the whole Church has to get involved. If that doesn’t fix it, then they are not to be part of the Church body. 

But what if it’s Paul’s case? It was the whole Church body that had committed the sin? How does Jesus’ words in Matthew 18 work then? Church discipline, whether that be on a small scale of two people working out an issue, or on a larger scale that involves everyone, it’s not a fun situation to be in. 

A few years ago, we hired a guy to be our youth pastor. Through the process everything looked good. A few background checks were performed, and came back clean. The congregation was for it. And other than a feeling of uneasiness with the wife, due to it being a hard ministry for people so far from home, we moved forward with hiring him. 

About a month after the couple moved into the parsonage, on the way up to Kingman for an Alliance Pastor meet up, I received a phone call. A disciplinary action from the district against the young man had been enacted. A letter had been sent to the district, that the young man we just hired, and sexually touched a young boy several years earlier. 

It wasn’t a phone call that I wanted or was prepared to receive. When I got back to Quartzsite, I immediately met with the elders, and then with the couple. They were suspended from all ministerial duties and we had to address the situation with the church body. 

If you were here when that happen it wasn’t fun, nobody was happy about it. And the worse part of it all, was that in the type of situation that occurred, unless one party confessed that they either made it up, or that it did happen, there most likely would never be a conclusive end to the situation. There would always be that question, did he?

But from the start, I thank our elders that their mindset was that of truth, healing, and restoration. Because, like Paul told the Corinthians, we don’t want to be outwitted by Satan; we don’t want to be ignorant of his designs. Satan desires that the body of Christ be hampered in any way possible. So he finds any chink in the armor and uses it to bring affliction. 

And if we bow to the pain of the affliction, if we try to sweep the problem under the rug, or if we over discipline to the point of the destruction of people, we fall prey to those designs. Restoration, forgiveness, mended relationships should always be the goal of the Church. 

Handing out grace, as much as possible, needs to be the end goal of a disciplinary action that we have to take when situations such as these come about.

I saw, when our congregation went through our split back in 2013, how much was done without grace. There were individuals who sought reconciliation, but there was a large group that didn’t. And the pain it brought continued for years. There has been some healing since then, but it took a while’s and not all of that situation is resolved even today.

Paul is encouraging the Corinthians to not go to far in their discipling as to give Satan another place to work. But rather to bring about forgiveness and restoration. But this type of restoring work can only come from a place of personal acknowledgement of our own sin.

Early in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 7, verse 5, Jesus states this, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” Jesus’ teaching on judgment starts with ourselves. We must recognize our own motivation before we move forward in correction. If our motivation is from a sinful place, restoration becomes a jagged rock face that we cut ourselves on trying to overcome it. But if we go before the Lord and seek him to open our eyes to our own fault, we can then move forward in correct judgment.

Jesus states three verses earlier, “For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you (Matthew 7:2).” When we move forward in correction, in discipline, in judgment, we must temper ourselves with restoration in mind. Because if we judge from a place of vengeance or wrath, the uphill march to restoration, will be hampered by our own sinfulness. And in the end, we will be judged by our own gracelessness.

God is calling us to restorative work. Paul is showing us how to do this work. God desires that we are confront pain, in the least harshest way we can, all the while working with the intention of restoration. If we’re approaching the harmful situations we encounter with this three step approach, we will see more restored relationships, and less long terms hurts. This will then lead us into greater Gospel work, as we’ll see from Paul in the weeks to come.

So my challenge for you this week is two-fold. First, go before the Lord and ask if there is anything in you that is keeping you from restorative work. It could be a past hurt that needs to be forgiven. Or it could be a sin that needs to be confessed. Second, if you’re dealing with a bad situation, seek the Lord in approaching it as Paul did; confronting the problem, seeking the least harsh approach, and faithfully desiring that the relationship would be restored. 

It starts with calling out to God just like David did in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

Let us be a people of restorative work, that the world would say of us, that they sought the grace and peace of their Lord in all things. Amen.

2nd Corinthians Week 3: 0-60 Slow Down

 There’s been a few times when I was able to get behind something that could really move. I’ve shared the one time my friend forgot her wallet and I had to drive her car on that straight away just outside of Stockton, going just a bit over the speed limit, Why dumb kid plus fast car. Then there was the first time I took out my sport bike on the empty desert roads, swerving around those corners as fast as I could, because I just got life insurance. Then another time, when I got to drive a Porsche, and saw what it could do out there on the freeway. 

It’s a tendency in guys to look at something fast and say, I want to drive that. Not to say that women don’t do that either, but I’ve been a half-mile from a stopped car, and been told by my wife to slow down. There’s something about the allure of speed. There’s a country song that sings, “I’m in a hurry to get things done, I rush and rush until life’s no fun, all I got to do is, live and die, but I’m in a hurry and don’t know why.” This rush, this hurry to go from 0 to 60, is something that wants to break out of us.

Nascar is a perfect example of people watching speed for speed sake, even though it’s just a bunch of people going around in circles. The other day I saw something that said, the Kentucky Derby is the Nascar for the Amish. In other words, it does’t matter if it’s steads, or muscle cars, speed awakes something in us that says, get there before the other guy.

But what happens when we go too fast? Accidents, tickets, angry spouses, and some things that are even worse. And that 0 to 60 comes in a lot of areas in our lives, not just behind the wheel. Love, anger, passions, desires, all can feel that rush of speed, and can leave us in a wreck.

And so it’s this idea of going from 0 to 60 that brings us back to our summer series, where we’ll be picking it back up in 2nd Corinthians chapter 1, starting in verse 12. And as we open up to 2nd Corinthians 1:12, let’s look back on our first two weeks in this series. 

In our first, week we talked about how the greeting at the beginning sets the the tone of the entire letter. Unlike 1st Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians is all about how Paul was hurt by the church, yet is joyful at their repentance and restoration. Both to himself and the greater Church of Christ. 

Last week, we then talked about how this letter lays out the pain Paul felt from the Corinthians when he last visited them. Yet through that pain, and the pain of being in ministry, Paul has learned to be comforted by God. It’s that comfort that Paul wants the Corinthians to experience as well. To know that pain isn’t something to necessarily to avoid, because if done in a godly way, that pain can bring about God’s comfort and restored lives. So even though Paul has been hurt by the Corinthians, he tells them that he is currently rejoicing in their repentance, because it brings a greater work in all of them.

With this in mind, we turn to read 2nd Corinthians 1:12-2:4,

12 For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— 14 just as you did partially understand us—that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you.

15 Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. 16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no’ at the same time?

18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

23 But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.

2:1 - For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

Last week we saw Paul transition from talking about his comfort through this situation, by ending with a call to the Corinthians to pray for him, as he and they continue to deal with the situation at hand. 

It’s after this call to prayer, that Paul then speaks of what he boasts in. In short, it’s simplicity and godly sincerity. The reason he boasts in this, is because his opponents were boasting in their earthy wisdom. As we’ll see later on in the letter, the false teachers that Paul has had to deal with in Corinth, were basing on their teaching on earthy wisdom that had it’s roots in Greek philosophy. They were unbiblical teachers trying to pull the Corinthians away from the Gospel. 

In doing so, they were not being insincere in their presentation, because they were saying that they were teaching the Gospel, but were doing the opposite. In addition to this, Paul speaks of simplicity. This is both in the message, and his way of living with the Corinthians. The message was simple, Jesus crucified for the forgiveness of sin and resurrected to open eternal life for anyone who trusts in him. Paul’s living was also simple, in that he was bi-vocational as to not burden the fledgling church. Again, the false teachers were seeking excess amounts of money from the congregation. 

So Paul’s boast is that he conducts himself as Christ would have him, so that on the Day of Judgment, the Corinthians will boast of what Paul did for them, as Paul will boast about the work that was done in the Corinthian Church to bring about restoration between him and them, and within their own community.

It’s here that Paul then changes topics, yet keeps within the same idea of restoration. 

Paul speaks of the thought process for his journey. His original desire was to visit them multiple times; one time on his way up to Macedonia and then again on his way back. However because of the hurt he experienced on the way up, he decided to not go through Corinth on his way back.

Because he didn’t see them a second time, Paul addresses the Corinthians who might be wonder why he didn’t come back like he said he was planning to. In addressing this, Paul asks the church if they think he was vacillating, which means if they were thinking he was unsure, or fickle, or going back-and-forth in his plans because he only visited them the one time. 

To answer this, he lets them know that they wouldn’t have experienced his grace if he would have returned to them in the state of hurt he was in. He wouldn’t have returned in grace, but with harsh rebuke on his mind. Paul sought to take the advice he would eventually give the Ephesians in chapter 4, verse 26 of their letter, where he tells them, “Be angry and do not sin…” Paul’s third lost letter, was his way of dealing with the situation, without having to be overly harsh in his dealings with the church. Paul reveals all of this in verses 1:23-2:3.

So he wasn’t going back on his no, but rather saying yes to Jesus in not dealing with the church from a position of anger and pain.

This is why Paul calls upon the faithfulness of God. By seeking God’s faithfulness, Paul is showing that he isn’t fickle in what he does. Instead, he seeks the glory of God. In going about this whole situation the way he has, Paul reveals how this has actually helped better establish both the Corinthians and Paul with Christ. This establishment was done through Jesus’ anointing and seal of the Holy Spirit, by way Paul’s honest sharing of his hurt, without being harsh, and the repentance of the Corinthian Church in their response. Paul’s communicating that he has moved beyond needing to be harsh with them, because of their repentance, and because of this, he speaks an “Amen,” a “let it be,” that both their church community and Paul are fixed in Jesus.

Paul closes his thought, that began in verse 3, about how this pain has brought comfort with the reconciliation between himself and the Corinthians, with the words of, “For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.”

It has always been Paul’s desire, from 1st Corinthians 1:1  through the love chapter of that letter, through the harsh third lost letter, and to this moment as his words are being penned, that he has an abundant love for this congregation. That type of love comes from the grace of God, which Paul extended at the very beginning of this letter.

It’s the type of love that the Psalmist said about the Lord in Psalm 103:8-10, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.”

It’s the type of love, that Jesus displayed on the cross when, in Luke 23:34, he spoke to the Father, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” 

It’s the type of love that Jesus told his disciples to extend in forgiveness in Matthew 18:22, when asked how many times we were to forgive and Jesus replied with, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

And it’s the same type of love that Paul has learned to extend, that he would eventually tell the Philippians to walk in, at the start of chapter 2 of their letter. “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind (2:1-2).”

This is why Paul treats the Corinthians so kindly, and seeks different avenues of correction, rather than imposing his apostolic authority upon them, which could possibly cause more division in the long run. 

This is what God is calling us to as well. Last week we talked about how God calls us to speak truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), and wound as a faithful friend (Proverbs 27:6). This week we take the next step, which is seeking the least harsh approach in dealing with a situation. Solomon, as he writes and collects ancient wisdom, writes in Proverbs 15:1-4, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. 2 The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. 3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. 4 A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”

In my own life, I have always been quick to anger, quick to take the harsher of paths in dealing with situations. It’s taken many hurt moments, where I have flown off the handle, and took a bad situation and made it worse, for me to begin to attempt to reign in my wrath. With my kids, I have tried to curb my discipline, as to not produce more hurt than necessary. And it has been an almost twenty-four year process to get me from where I was, to where I am today. But I know I’m not where God wants me yet.

Knowing myself, if it was me in Paul’s shoes, I would have been harsh with the Corinthians. I would have made that trip back and not shown any grace. I would have called out the guy that hurt me in front of the church, I would have called out the false teachers, and I would have done it in a way that would have caused deeper hurt in that congregation. A hurt, that no letter would have fixed. In other words, I would have gone from 0 to 60 in my anger, and wrecked a whole lot of people in the process. And if you don’t think that’s possible, Jim got to see a glimpse of my anger last spring, right before I went on my sabbatical. It wasn’t good and it wasn’t godly.

That’s why, we need to seek the Lord. We need to seek him, that the Holy Spirit would reveal these underlying problem areas. That he would bring them to our attention, and that we would be faithful in apply God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit, that we may react, and respond in godly ways. That at the Day of Judgment, there would be rejoicing in how we handle ourselves in the assembly of God’s people and the world around us. That how we respond to hurt, brings about comfort and restoration to not only ourselves, but the people that God has placed us around. 

And when we don’t, that we seek the forgiveness of others and the moving forward in grace. God is calling us to a life that seeks the unity of the Church, in such ways, that even in hurt, it can grow together. 

My challenge this week, is to read Proverbs 15:1-4. Internalizing the step of dealing with hurt, by responding in the least harsh way possible. This isn’t to say there isn’t discipline, and that we don’t confront the issues of hurt, we talked about that last week, and how we are to deal with afflictions. But in dealing with those situations, we don’t go from 0 to 60, bringing our wrath and anger to a situation that is already on the brink of destruction

Let us be a people who don’t seek our validation in harshness, but God’s restoration in true repentant lives. Amen.

2 Corinthians Week 2: Sound Theology = Peaceful Comfort

  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.