COMFORT IN AFFLICTION 2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Introduction

Affliction.  Suffering.  We’ve all been there, or we will be.  Suffering is an inevitable part of the Christian life.  The more I explore the Scriptures, the more often I see God’s Word addressing affliction and suffering and pain.  Each of the difficulties we face is an opportunity to observe just how our merciful God meets our needs—our every need—through the gospel of grace.

There are many types of affliction that come to the lives of believers in Jesus…it can be affliction resulting from simply believing in Jesus, affliction resulting from living out our faith, affliction that results from our own bad choices—our own sin—or suffering that results from relationship problems or the sin of others.  Our children may walk away from us.  Our spouse may have a problem they are struggling with.  Our boss at work may have a goal of making us as miserable as possible. 

Then there is the affliction that comes seemingly randomly.  That is, affliction that comes to our lives that in our view has no apparent reason; affliction that comes to our lives only because it is part of God’s overall plan for our lives.  And no, we will not necessarily understand the “why” of it.  We will not necessarily understand God’s purpose.  In fact, more often than not, from a human perspective, we will see no good reason for the random suffering that comes to our lives—period.

Even though what we will be examining this morning applies to all forms of affliction, I would like you to be thinking about affliction that seemingly comes out of nowhere, suffering that is not the result of the sin of others, affliction that is not a consequence of our own sin.  Comfort in that affliction is an important part of that discussion. 

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴who 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.  ⁵For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.  ⁶If 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.  ⁷Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.  (2 Corinthians 1:3-7, ESV)

How does Paul start out this section of his letter to the Corinthians?  He intentionally praises God, even though, as we will see, he had gone through an extremely difficult time in his life.  He made the time to praise God, thereby demonstrating his confidence in God.  Again, he had gone through an intense time of affliction, but he knew for certain that God was with him through it and that God would never forsake him, no matter what!  God gives you and me that same assurance in the midst of our affliction…

Paul knew that praising God in the midst of trouble causes us to focus on him, rather than on our affliction.  Doing so will tend to keep us from replaying in our minds, over and over again, the difficulties we are experiencing.  I have observed that praising God enables us to see, as Spurgeon talked about, the fact that God uses our troubles for our good and for his glory.

In v. 3, Paul referred to God himself as the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.  He saw God as full of compassion, as a God who felt pity at the sight of the affliction of one of his people.  He knew that only God is the source of all mercies, the source of all compassion.  God alone can provide divine deliverance from our troubles and difficulties.  Remember that—we’ll come back to it in a few minutes.

It is worth noting that Paul mentions the mercies of God before he dives into the afflictions we experience.  He also refers to God as the God of all comfort—the word for “comfort” has the same root as the word for Holy Spirit and conveys the idea of encouragement.  Comfort here is not referring to mere support or some kind of inspiration.  Instead, it refers to God’s transformative compassion.  His love for us and his kindness to us comes in the form of encouragement, and it changes us.  It changes how we view the suffering we are in.  It causes us to understand and recognize that only his compassion can have any impact on the affliction we experience.  It results in us being able to do what Paul talks about in v. 4, comforting, encouraging others with the same comfort God has provided to us.  In Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, David Powlison wrote, “What we learn from God in our particular affliction becomes helpful to others in any affliction.”[1]

Finally, understand, God is not only the God of some comfort, but the God of ALL comfort.  He is the one who encourages us in the midst of our afflictions.

The comfort or encouragement that God provides us is comfort that is accomplished by God presently, that is, currently and actively, in the midst of whatever difficulty we face—and it is not something that we can cause to happen.  Not only that, but God encourages us through our afflictions, through our tribulations.  Nowhere are we told as believers

WHEN YOU COME TOGETHER AS A CHURCH

INTRODUCTION

The primary gathering of the church each week is specifically intended for (1) the worship of God and (2) for the edification of believers—the primary gathering of the church each week is not intended to evangelize the lost.

This discussion must be had not only because of misconceptions that have infiltrated the church over the centuries, but also because of practices and traditions that have crept in among the ecclesia, the “called out ones”, the church. Among the misconceptions, practices and traditions are:

• Preaching to the “Margins”

• Abandonment of Theology/Doctrine 

• Man-centered view of evangelism/salvation 

• “Crusades” held in large venues 

• The “altar call” 

• “Revivalism”

Each of these will be addressed very briefly, in order to illustrate why many have come to believe that the primary gathering of the church is for the purpose of evangelism, and why such a view is Biblically indefensible.

PREACHING TO THE MARGINS

In most evangelical churches today, the preaching is “to the margins”, that is, the man in the pulpit will preach the truth only to the point that he thinks will not offend the “marginal” Christian or the possible unbelieving visitor in the pew. The goal is to make sure nothing offends, so the marginal believer or the unbeliever will possibly return the next week. This watering down of the Scriptures, in order to not offend an unbeliever or a supposed believer at the edge, is a serious misstep by the preacher, and is undertaken with the misguided belief that the goal of the primary meeting of the church is evangelism.

It was not always this way. Charles Spurgeon, for example, preached expository messages from the Word of God in a profound, intentional manner, without worrying about offending anyone.

George Whitefield did the same in the fields of colonial America. God used both men mightily to further his kingdom.

Nowhere in Scripture do we see an example of preaching to the margins; instead, we see preaching to believers for their edification, for their building up, to equip them for the work of ministry.

ABANDONMENT OF THEOLOGY/DOCTRINE IN THE PULPIT

Again, men in the pulpits of most evangelical churches today are preaching “how to...” messages, “when you feel...” messages, “what to do when...” messages, as well as messages from Bible study guides, messages revolving around psychology, “felt needs”, or even “messages” that are made up of stories and jokes, rather than expositing the Word of God for the benefit God’s church. They will talk about what movies or books their people should avoid.  Coming across certain accounts in Scripture, they will inject legalism into the discussion, addressing issues such as tattoos, piercings, the use of alcohol, or mode of dress in church, rather than expositing the doctrine and/or theology that begs to be addressed. These men in the pulpits, as well as the congregations in their care, seem to view theology and doctrine as something for the academics, and not useful to the church body. They could not be any further from the truth. How is the preacher in the pulpit going to fulfill the mandate to “equip the saints for the work of ministry” without teaching theology and doctrine? Failure to do so will result in anemic believers who become stagnant. Failure to do so is to send the flock out into the field unprepared and ill equipped to declare to others the good news of Jesus Christ.

This writer can recall attending a “revival”, where a guest preacher was brought in. This man, a leader in a large denomination in California, spent the time in front of the church telling stories, and making people laugh. Even children in attendance recognized he was not teaching the Word of God. The sad thing is that at the State Convention a few months later, where he had the opportunity to expound on theology and doctrine to that gathering of believers, he chose to tell the same silly stories.

The exposition of Scripture naturally includes theology—the “study of God”—and doctrine—“the study of the Scripture for the sake of instruction”—both of which Paul not only did, but also exhorted other pastors to do. Failure to do so is to fail—period.

MAN-CENTERED VIEW OF EVANGELISM/SALVATION

James Arminius—whose theology is taught in the majority of evangelical churches—held that salvation is accomplished through the combined efforts of God, who takes the initiative, and man, who must respond, with man's response being the determining factor in salvation. Further, that God has provided salvation for everyone, but His provision becomes effective only for those who, of their own free will, "choose" to cooperate with Him and accept His offer of grace. At the crucial point, man's will plays a decisive role; thus, according to this body of teaching, man, not God, determines who will be recipients of the gift of salvation. Such teaching cannot be supported Biblically.

As a result of this teaching, many people in churches in America today believe that they must get their friends to church with them so they will “get saved”. They believe that if their friend hears the word preached, they will come under conviction and will be saved. The all-important altar call will be the time that they “surrender to Christ”. This is a man centered belief system as opposed to being God centered. The fact of the matter is, God is the author of salvation, not man. What takes place in a man’s heart is the work of God, not of man. Man is utterly unable to rescue or save himself. (See Ephesians 1, Ephesians 2, Romans 9)

God has charged the church to go out and evangelize, but he never charged the church anywhere in Scripture to stay within its doors and evangelize. Every time God charged the church with respect to preaching, he did it in such a way as to give the charge to preach to believers. For example, in 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul instructs Timothy to “Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. One does not reprove, rebuke and exhort, and teach unregenerate people, but those covered by the blood of the Lamb.

THE ALTAR CALL

Under Charles Finney, a Pelagian1 heretic, the “altar call” came into use in the church. In order to get people to “make a decision”, Charles Finney and those who followed him in his thinking used what they called “techniques” or “new methods” to accomplish that end. Finney’s “new methods” included emotional tactics that resulted in fainting and crying, and other "excitements," as Finney and his followers called them, as well as the “Anxious Seat”.

In approximately 1835, Finney instituted the use of the “Anxious Seat”. Finney held that the Anxious Seat took the place of baptism in the days of the apostles “as a public manifestation of their (new converts) determination to be Christians". The Anxious Seat was not rooted in Scripture and was not rooted in the early church.

The Anxious Seat evolved into what it is today—the walking of an aisle, the raising of a hand, or the praying of a prayer, which, it is believed, is the public manifestation of one’s belief in Christ. It is typically referred to as an “invitation” or “altar call”.

Finney—and altar calls—misconstrue the actual Ordo Salutis, the Order of Salvation and make salvation something that man accomplishes for God rather that what God accomplishes in the hearts of men.