Finding Comfort Through Christ
We want to avoid troubles. Difficulties make our lives more complicated, they have a way of taking a toll on us emotionally, physically, relationally, and spiritually.
What an incredible promise:
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
Compassion –noun
a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.
Compassion is an emotion.
God feels for you – not only does he know what you are going through but he also has the ability to feel compassion for you.
I recently had a friend whose father died, and my heart broke for my friend – that is compassion.
Thomas Aquinas: I would rather feel compassion than know the meaning of it.
God not only feels with us, but he also comforts us – in all our troubles
To comfort is to lessen the sadness or sorrow of someone and to strengthen by inspiring with hope and restoring a cheerful outlook: to comfort a despairing person.
We can go through great hardships at time, we feel the pressure of life, and sometimes it is overwhelming.
Some have said “God will not give you more than you can handle”
That is a lie from satan
God will allow you and I to experience more than we can handle
Ask Abraham when he was about to sacrifice his son Issac about the pressure he was feeling. Sacrificing his son, sacrificing his promise from God. He did not save issac – God did
Paul writes
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,
Paul knew what it was to experience God’s comfort
5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows
How do the sufferings of Christ overflow into my life?
How did (does) Christ suffer?
He was separated from The Father – He laid aside hsi rightful glory, His creative power, His
He suffered persecution, not being understood, not being accepted. He suffered rejection. He was beaten, tortured.
He suffered the questioning spirit from the Pharisees, his own disciples, the crowd, strangers, Satan.
He suffered humiliation
He suffered bearing others sin
He suffered a wrongful death
Do these sufferings overflow into my life? - how, when, under what conditions
Until they do, what claim do I have on Christ’s comfort?
I must not be afraid of difficulties. We can not live our lives in fear of being hurt. We cannot avoid suffering.
How do we experience God’s comfort flowing through our lives?
1. We receive God’s comfort “with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (v4)
WE MUST RECEIVE GOD’S COMFORT
We can not hang on to our own pain –
We do – we justify ourselves by the pain we have endured.
a. We have to let go of trying to comfort ourselves.
i. We comfort ourselves by staying in control of our life situations
ii. By being very selfish with our own pain – “no one knows the troubles I’ve seen”
iii. By demanding comfort from others and not God
Story of Noah
Gen 5:29
28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 29 He named him Noahc and said, "He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the Lord has cursed."
Through Noah, God lifted us up above the soil that he had cursed and the painful toil of our hands. God’s salvation brings us comfort
2. We Live in God’s comfort “through Christ our comfort overflows” (v5)
a. Stop judging others, the world, or God for our pain
i. Meaning our pain is ‘unjustified’
3. We begin to Give comfort to others “if we are distressed it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort...” (v6)
a. Let our lives become a conduit for God’s compassion, comfort, grace, love
b. We experience God’s love by giving God’s love, we become compassionate for the troubles and concerns of others
4. We let God’s comfort build Strength “produce in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer” (v6)
1 Peter 5:10-11
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
a. The stress does not last forever, it comes in season
In the midst of difficulty- stress – challenge
Matt 11:28-30
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 3
b. Stress and rest = strength
Body builder – stress / rest
God will let stresses come into your life to make you stronger – by learning from him – learning to rely on his strength.
Begin to focus my attention on the strength He wants to build in me instead of the stress I live in
5. We live in a spiritual body of the saved.
“just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” (v7)
“as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.” (v11)
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a. We share what God is / has done in our midst
b. Pray for each others comfort
c. Find mutual encouragement and challenge to receive, live, give & grow in hope of our comfort in Christ.
6. We set our hope on God. “...he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope” (v10)