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Title: Pass along God’s Comfort
Text: 2 Corinthians 1:3-4;
The author of the book of 2 Corinthians is apostle Paul and possible along with Timothy
They were many things that had happened to the church when the apostle send the first letter and because of those circumstances the apostle wrote a second letter to express joy over the encouraging news of how his first epistle had been received and also to defend his apostleship.
Paul opens the letter with a usual greeting and thanksgiving. After doxology, he begins to tell his personal experiences and the troubles he had had.
The apostle begins with the narrative of his troubles and God’s goodness that he experienced in Asia
Experience is a good teacher.
Through his trials, he had known God better. Have you seen that sometimes God is made real to us in times of sorrow. That is when we find out that for sure, that he doesn’t fail.
Paul sufferings in Asia were of a very serious nature. He went through sickness dangerous enough to threaten his life. He appreciated the prayers of the Corinthians that help him.
In this verse he begins by glorifying God. He calls Him the blessed God. He describes Him with several glorious and friendly titles “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Paul learned that praise is an important factor in achieving victory over discouragement and depression. Praise changes things just as much as prayer changes things
1. Paul praises Him because he is God:
He praises God for the present; what he did and what he is going to do in future. He chose us in Christ and blessed us with all spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3-4). He gave us future blessings and a living hope (1 Peter 1:3).
In the Old testament He was addressed as The God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob in the new testament He is addressed as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies.
2. Praise Him because He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ:
It is because of Jesus Christ that we can call God ‘Father’ and approach Him as His children.
God is the Father of Christ’s divine nature by eternal generation of his human nature by miraculous conception in the womb of a virgin. He is the Father of Christ as God-man and our Redeemer, by covenant relation, and in and through him a Mediator our God and Father (John 20:17)
God sees in us as He sees His son. He loves is as He loves His son (John 17:23).
We are the beloved of God because we are accepted in the beloved (Eph 1:6).
Whatever God did for Jesus when He was ministering on earth, He can do for us anytime. We are dear to the Father because the Son is dear to him
We are precious to the Father and He will see to it that the pressures of life will not destroy us
3. Praise Him because He is the Father of Mercies:
All mercies are from God. He is the Father of all mercies. He delights in mercy.
The word Father means originator. God is the Father of all mercies because all mercies originates from Him
God is His mercy gave us and gives what we do not deserve. Lamentations 3:22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
God’s mercy is manifold, tender, great and inexhaustible. The bible frequently speaks of the multitude of God’s mercies. (Psalms 5:7; 51:1; 69:13,16; 106:7,45 and Lamentations 3:32)
Before you receive comfort, you need mercy. Mercies, Favor will facilitate comfort
4. Praise Him because he is the God of all comfort.
What is all: All is all. It means the whole quantity
The English word comfort comes from two Latin words, meaning with strength. In Greek the word comfort or consolation means to come along side and help. It is the same word used for the Holy Spirit
Indeed His comfort puts strength in our hearts, so that we can face trials and triumph over them
The God of all comfort. From Him proceedeth The Comforter (John 15:26). The Holy Spirit. All our comfort comes from God and our sweetest comforts are in Him.
The reason of the apostle's praise are because of the benefits he had received from God. He had been comforted from his tribulations. They had comfort in them all.
I want to assure you, in the world there are troubles but in them we will be give peace from our God.
When he is writing this passage, Paul says the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Which means the first thing before comfort He should be our Lord.
What qualifies us is Him being our Lord. We all qualified to receive this grace and comfort because He qualifies the unqualified.
The other benefit of receiving all comfort is that we can strengthen others that are going through some difficult times. If we communicating to others our experiences of divine mercy and His goodness, we encourage others. The suffering of a good people and men have indeed the tendency of good endings.
May the Lord give us enduring faith and patience.
Of course God can encourage us by His word but sometimes He uses other believers around us to gives us the encouragement we need (2 Corinthians 2:7-8; 7:6-7).
In Acts 4:36 God used Banarbas to encourage the apostle. His name means the son of encouragement. May the Lord use us all as sons of encouragement.
Whatever favors God bestows upon us are not mend to only to make us happy, but also that we may be useful to others.
Conclusion
When you are discouraged because of difficulties it is easy to look at yourself and your feelings. Yes, you can easily start to focus on the problem around you. But the first step we must take is to look by faith to the Lord and realise all that God is in us.
Psalms 121:1-2 David says; 1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help? 2 My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth
He is the God all comfort. Yes you might be going through some staff, but I want to keep trusting the Lord.
A young had been going to church with her parents for a lifetime. She had been in church as long as she remembered, from a very tender age. One day she asked Her a very important question with regard to her comfort because her mother was always worried. She asked whether her mother was certain she was going to heaven. Her mother said she didn’t know, but she hoped to go to heaven”. She asked her mother to trust in Jesus Christ for eternal life. From that day her mother changed from a worrisome person to a joyful, peaceful and smiling person. Her life had changed when trusted Jesus. She felt as is a huge wait had been removed from shoulders when she shifted her focus on Jesus. She didn’t worry about things anymore but trusted Christ completely.
I want you to trust in the Lord like never before. Trust Him, with your heart and stop worrying
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