The God of Comfort

Introduction

We often view it as excuses, especially when offered by someone else. But we are largely what we are and do what we do because of others. We’re affected by our environment. We’re affected by other people’s behavior. And while we’re not discounting the free will that God gave us to rise above our circumstances and to counteract the behavior of others, but we often do what we do because of what someone else has done to me. There’s a biblical premise behind that. We love him because he first loved us. But if that is true, that our attitudes and often our actions are molded and shaped by the attitude and actions that others have shown toward us, then the apostle Paul should have been the most bitter character on earth, because he was so mistreated.

He began by mistreating others as a persecutor, but then when he became a Christian himself, heaped upon him were innumerable hardships and persecution. You have your New Testament. Open up with me to the book of 2 Corinthians. Paul discusses, we might even use the word complains a lot in the book of 2 Corinthians. In at least four sections, start with me in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. In at least four sections in the book of 2 Corinthians, Paul will discuss the hardships of his life. Things that otherwise might have, and some would argue should have, caused Paul to be bitter in his spirit. And caused Paul in turn to lash out and be bitter and hateful toward others. Let’s look at those four sections just briefly. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, beginning in verse 8.

He says, we are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. He speaks generally there of being hard pressed and perplexed and persecuted. In increasing detail, then in chapter 6, he discusses again those things that might otherwise have embittered him. Chapter six, verse four beginning. But in all things, Second Corinthians six verse four, but in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, and in fastings. Paul had a hard life.

Then go to chapter eleven if we need more specificity of what Paul was going through, of what others were doing to him. In Second Corinthians chapter eleven, begin this time in verse 23. Speaking of his opposition, he says, are they ministers in Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often, from the Jews, five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. A night in the day I have been in the deep, in journeys often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils of my countrymen, in perils of Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness.

And beside the other things, what comes upon me daily? My deep concern for all the churches. And we haven’t even read in chapter twelve, where he talks about his thorn in the flesh, for which he asked God three times to remove. And so if we react in kind to the way we’ve been treated, what kind of man would Paul have been? And yet I will offer to you this morning that that’s exactly what Paul did. Paul reacted in kind to the way he was treated. He treated others the way he himself had been treated by God. Paul did not radiate the hatefulness and the antagonism and the persecution that was heaped upon him by others. Paul radiated the love and the grace and the mercy that had been heaped upon him by God.

You’re still in 2 Corinthians. Let’s back up to the first chapter. We did that brief survey of 2 Corinthians in looking at those lists of complaints by the apostle of how others had treated him because of his faith and his stand in the truth. And the only thing, I would argue, the only thing that kept Paul from being bitter about that. And doing exactly the same to others in return is because he did not mirror the hateful attitude of his opposition, but he mirrored the loving attitude of his God, the God that he called the God of all comfort. And Paul needed comfort, didn’t he? We read about why he needed comfort. And we went through those lists fairly quickly, but I encourage you in your private study to go back and read them very slowly.

Those lists in chapter 4 and in chapter 6 and in chapter 11 and his discussion of the thorn in the flesh in chapter 12. And to be reminded again why Paul needed comfort. And remembering one of those lists, he said, above all of those physical things that I am facing, for which implied he needed the comfort of God, there was this, he said, the anxiety for all the churches. Which church do you think was high on that list of causing Paul anxiety and concern? Was it not the church at Corinth to whom he’s writing this second epistle? In between the first letter and the second letter, he’s waiting for word to see how that first letter of condemnation and correction is going to be received. And certainly there is the anxiety and the sleeplessness that he talked about was surely experienced for this church, among many others.

But he says this in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, begin with me in verse 3. Notice how he begins this letter. The follow-up to a letter that would have caused him so much anxiety and concern. He says this, 2 Corinthians 1 verse 3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, 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. I want to break down those three verses and talk to you this morning about the God of comfort. And for us to reflect upon how we’ve been treated, not by the world, and not by our fellow man, but to reflect upon how we’ve been treated by God, and then in turn how we should reflect that in our actions.

1. Blessed Be the Father of Mercies

He first of all says, blessed be the Father of mercies. What a designation for our God. What an appropriate way to describe our Heavenly Father. That’s a common Old Testament theme that God is the Father of mercies. That means that He is a Father who grants and shows mercy and does so abundantly.

That title and that description befits the character of God. That He is merciful. It’s hard in our finite minds at least to distinguish between the definitions of the word grace and mercy. And of the all-encompassing word love. Their definitions, their understanding, surely overlap. The idea of grace is God giving us a gift. Mercy is the idea of God showing us compassion. Someone said that mercy is seen in the Father of the prodigal son, giving him a second chance. And that grace is seen in throwing him a feast. And I would add to that, love is seen in all of the above.

Hold your finger or your bookmark there in 2 Corinthians and look at Paul’s experience in 1 Timothy chapter 1 of how he talks about the Father of mercies and how that Father of mercies was merciful to him. You know, sometimes, maybe not always, but sometimes it’s easier to see God’s mercies in others’ lives, isn’t it? Especially when we get so inward focused and so inwardly negative that we fail to see, although they’re there, the bountiful mercy and grace and love in our own lives, it might help me to look at others and to see God has blessed you so abundantly. And hopefully I’ll be able to then see the abundant mercy in my own life that was there all along. And so let’s delight in the way that God showed mercy to Paul.

1 Timothy chapter 1, begin with me in verse 12. He says, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me in the ministry. Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. Let’s pause there. Paul, near the end of his life, drawing to the end of that life, could reflect upon his experience as a preacher of the gospel, as an apostle, an ambassador of Jesus Christ, and say, I didn’t deserve this honor, this work, because of who I used to be.

Continue reading. Finish verse 13. But although I was undeserving, because of who I was and what I did, but I obtained mercy. Because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy. That in me first Jesus might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life. Paul said, maybe, just maybe, God did this to me, showed me this mercy so that I could be set on a shelf as an example of how merciful God is to people.

2. The God of All Comfort

To undeserving, insolent, blaspheming people. I see the Father of mercies in Paul. And then I’m forced to admit that I see the Father of mercies in me as well. He’s the Father of mercies, and He’s the God of all comfort, Paul would say in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and in verse 3. The God of all comfort. Let’s talk about that word comfort. We like that word comfort, don’t we? We seek that word or the meaning of that word in so much of our life. We want comfort to bull shoes, don’t we? And chairs and couches and beds, we seek comfort in our life. But what does this word comfort mean as used here? It maybe doesn’t mean exactly what we mean by the word comfort. But it’s close.

Literally means the idea of to cause someone to be beside you. To stand or to sit beside. Now that carries with it a couple ideas, both that are comforting. Number one is it might be somebody to help you. The idea of having someone stand beside you in your day in court. Let’s imagine that you’re accused of some terrible crime and you didn’t commit that crime. You want somebody. An attorney, a lawyer, a representative who can stand beside you to help you in that day of trial, don’t you?

But also in your day of trial or grief or hardship. You want someone to stand or sit beside you. To help you in a different way. You remember the story, we won’t turn back there. You remember the Old Testament story of Job? Job had had the two worst days of his life. He’d lost everything. His health, his family, his children, at least, and all of his possessions. And you remember his three friends get together and they go see Job. And what a sweet story that would have been if it would have ended after the first week, because those three friends first just come and they just sat beside him. I don’t know that they were literally beside him when he was sitting in the pile of ashes and scraping the open sore wounds, but it says that they just came and they sat beside him and they didn’t say a word.

The problem with those three friends happened, you may remember when they opened their mouth and started to say something. They made it worse. But what a comfort and help that was initially. That they were just there. I’ve had to learn that lesson. When called to the hospital or someone’s bedside in the most deep moment of need and grief, it’s always run through my mind. What can I say? I need to say something to make this better. I need to say something to brighten their spirits or to help. And I’ve learned, sadly, through trial and error, that many times saying something only makes it worse. What they need is just somebody to be there beside them. That’s the word comfort. He is the God of all comfort.

Because he is there with us.

Nor forsake you. This is the same word, by the way, that Jesus used in John chapter 14. You remember, as Jesus is getting ready to go back to his Father, he tells his apostles, I’m not going to leave you alone. In fact, he used more graphic language than that. He says, I’m not going to leave you as orphans. Your translation may say there in John chapter 14, I’m going to send another comforter. Or maybe your translation reads, I will send you a helper in the person of the Holy Spirit.

3. Who Comforts Us in All Our Tribulation

You can’t do this alone. You need somebody beside you helping you. And to the apostles, he says, that’s the Holy Spirit. A helper. A comforter. And while we do not receive that Holy Spirit in the sense the apostles did, we still have the same God who would help the afflicted and persecuted Paul, we have the God of all comfort. The Father of mercies. Standing beside us, comforting us, he says in 2 Corinthians 1 and in verse 4, comforts us in all our tribulation. Remember, that’s the introduction. That’s the prologue of the letter in which Paul, in at least four instances, is going to list his grievances, his complaints, his persecutions, his hardships that he’s going through. And he says, blessed be the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our tribulation.

Paul says, I’ve been through it. Perils and persecutions and abandonment, and hunger and thirst, and shipwreck and imprisonments and beatings and other types of beatings and stonings, and the anxiety of the massive weight of responsibility this placed upon me as an apostle of Jesus Christ and my concern for you, Corinthians, and all the churches. I’ve been through it, but not alone. The Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, has been beside me and has comforted me in all my tribulation. Go with me back to 2 Corinthians and now this time to chapter 4. How does God comfort us? How did God comfort Paul through his tribulation? What was God doing as he was standing beside Paul and helping him through this? He obviously didn’t help him by taking them away, because Paul said, I’ve been through them.

I’ve been through the tribulation. So how did God help me if he’s not going to take away the tribulation? God helped Paul through knowledge. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and in verse 16. This same letter where he lists his tribulations in the same letter where he says, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, has comforted us in our tribulation. Therefore, 2 Corinthians 4 verse 16, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is renewed day by day, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but to the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. God was with Paul in providing him knowledge. This we know. That the outward man is perishing, but the inward man is being renewed and prepared for an eternity. God comforted Paul and us through hope. The hope of that far more an exceeding weight of glory. The Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our tribulation. But then look again there in chapter one and in verse four. Paul never limited his words or his vocabulary. He Paul would use six words when one word would have said it. And he does that for a purpose, as a poet does, to paint a picture and to overflow the words to show the power of the experience.

4. That We May Be Able to Comfort Others

Read with me again, 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. The Father of mercies, the God of all comfort was standing beside me, Paul said. But I don’t just experience that and eternalize that and hang on to that and even just praise God for that. But God has comforted me that I might comfort others in their tribulation. You see.

And we do what we do largely because of what others have done to and for us. But we get to choose. Paul had a choice. Was he going to reflect and imitate those who had mistreated him and hated him? Or was he going to reflect and imitate the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. And we have a joy.

And to recognize that that’s not a light that generates from within us, but it’s a light that we reflect. The light of God and of Christ Jesus who abides in us. Let’s finish our reading in 2 Corinthians 1. We look at verses 3 and 4 about the God of all comfort who comforts us so that we may comfort others in their affliction. But look at verse 5. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now, if we’re afflicted, it’s for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for the enduring of the sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we’re comforted, it’s for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that you’re partakers of the sufferings.

So also you will partake of the consolation. For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened above measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us, in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, and you also helping in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift that was granted to us through the many.

Conclusion

Paul says, God delivered me and comforted me, stood beside me and helped me, so that I might help you, so that I might reflect his mercy and grace and love and comfort you as the God of all comfort has comforted me. What a wonderful God we serve. That gives us something else to focus on. That gives us something else to reflect in our lives rather than reflecting back the hate and the hardship that we so often experience in this life. Would you worship and serve and obey the God of mercies, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort this morning? Let Paul be that beacon of example that no matter what you’ve done, no matter how unworthy and unlovable you may feel, the Father of mercies can forgive you and give you a place of honor in his kingdom as he did the Apostle Paul.

And you’ll be comforted by the good in this life, so that you might comfort others also. Would you come to the Father of mercies this morning and let him forgive you of your sins as you obey him and are baptized into the blood of his Son this morning? Can we help you? Why not come as together we stand and as we sing?