Blessed Be Our Merciful and Comforting God2 Corinthians 1:1-7

We begin 2 Corinthians this morning. It’s always fun to start a journey through a new book. There’s a sense of anticipation, at least for me and maybe even some excitement that we’ll see some really neat things in the scriptures—new things that we’ve never seen before.

When I think about the book of 2 Corinthians I have a lot of loose ends in my mind.

I think of some of the incredible and meaningful verses in the book… ‘We have this treasure in jars of clay’ (2 Cor. 4:7); ‘For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2 Cor. 4:17)…. Our not heavy, not long troubles are preparing for us a really long, really heavy glory that can’t even be compared…or this one… ’For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens’ (2 Cor. 5:1)….We’ve got a tent now, but a building from God is on its way. (And all the people 60 and over said, “Amen!”) We could go on and on. There are some great verses in 2 Corinthians.

But I’ve never really had the big picture of the book—and the why of the book—in my mind. So I want to take you on a journey in the first part of the message this morning and let’s try to get the big picture of the book in our minds.

As we begin, here’s a provisional outline of the book up on the screen, that can at least get us started on understanding what the book is all about…

…and this is taken straight from the ESV Study Bible.

In the first seven chapters of 2 Corinthians, Paul defends his apostleship. It turns out that some false apostles came from Jerusalem and they cast aspersion on Paul and his ministry. They attacked his reputation, his integrity, his ministry, and ultimately his gospel. It was an incredibly painful experience for Paul. And so Paul uses the first seven chapters or so of 2 Corinthians to defend his apostleship.

Along those lines, one author suggests that 2 Corinthians as a book is basically an “apology for Paul’s apostleship”, and the word apology there means ‘a defense’ like in the word apologetics, the word we use for defending the faith. Well we’ll talk more about Paul’s opponents in a moment but make the mental note that chapters 1 through 7 are ‘Paul defending his apostleship’.

Chapters 8-9 are about ‘the collection’, a benevolence gift that Paul initiated among the Gentile Christian churches around the Mediterranean for the Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem. So make the mental note that chapters 8-9 are ‘Paul’s appeal regarding the collection’.

In chapters 10-13, Paul appeals to the rebellious minority. Again we’ll talk more about this in a moment but it turns out that between the time that 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians were written, Paul was able to win back the majority of the congregation to his side—so that when 2 Corinthians was being written, only a small minority resisted his authority as an apostle. And in chapters 10-13 Paul makes his appeal to the “rebellious minority”

So that’s a quick outline of the book. The outline is pretty simple…

Let’s review…

2 Corinthians 1-7… Paul defends his apostleship2 Corinthians 8-9… Paul appeals regarding the collection2 Corinthians 10-13…Paul appeals regarding the rebellious minority

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What’s the theme of the book?

…again from the ESV study bible.

And along those lines 2 Corinthians will give us a wonderful, extended opportunity to explore one of the key paradoxes in the Christian life—that there’s power in weakness, and that there’s glory in suffering.

Hear these familiar words from chapter 12 of 2 Corinthians…2 Corinthians 12:7–10

7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians is going to give us an extended opportunity to explore that paradox

In my reading I ran across a couple of phrases or lines that communicate this paradox. The first was just this simple phrase…. ‘an overwhelming word but an underwhelming presence’

■‘an overwhelming Word but an underwhelming presence’

These words were written to describe Paul’s ministry. Listen to 2 Corinthians 10:10…..10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”

an overwhelming word but an underwhelming presence

I couldn’t help but think of Jesus’s life, especially those hours he spent on the cross. Think about the overwhelming words that were true of him even while he was on the cross—“Behold the Savior of the World. All things were created by him and he holds all things together. He will die and rise again and rule at the right hand of God the father.” What overwhelming words to describe Jesus dying on the cross! But what an underwhelming presence that Jesus had at that moment.

Taking the idea further into the realm of our lives, I couldn’t help but think that these words describe us as we move through life and get older. I was visiting someone at the Willows

nursing home the other day. In fact it was Shirley Skidmore’s mother for those of you who remember Shirley. Shirley’s mother had a roommate who wasn’t doing well. The lights in her half of the room during my visit were completely off. She lay on her back in the bed kind of mumbling and moaning. I don’t think she has very much mental function. It was a very sad picture. There was no telling, no evidence that she was a Christian or not.

For just a moment in my mind’s eye I played out a scenario in my mind. I imagined that she was a Christian and I imagined a pastor or some other spiritual leader was giving a tour of the nursing home to a group of people and he entered this lady’s room with his entourage. He stood at the foot of her bed and he spoke to those who were on his tour something like this, “This beautiful lady is a Christian. …She is one of God’s chosen ones… In fact she was chosen before time. She has been adopted by God and will live with him forever and ever and ever. In fact she will one day reign with Christ…” Given the ladies appearance and situation, what overwhelming words this would be.

It’s takes faith to live the Christian life doesn’t it? The words in this book, the truth in this books is overwhelming. It’s so overwhelming—when everything we see speaks the opposite—that we need to walk by faith and not by sight.

Well there was another line I came across that communicated the same thing.

■ ‘God’s saving work is necessarily hidden under its opposite, not only in Christ but in Christ’s apostle—as well as all Christans.”

When Christ walked this earth, there was nothing in his appearance that set him apart….Isaiah 53 tells us he had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him.

And his death on the cross was the epitome of weakness and shame wasn’t it? But what this line on the screen is saying is that God’s saving work at that special moment was hidden from every eye. If you and I were standing at the foot of the cross we might have said, “Surely God has forsaken Jesus!”…that’s clearly what one could see and think, right? … But hiding under the appearance of being forsaken was its opposite… God was doing a stunning work of deliverance not just for the Savior but for the whole world.

You know there’s an implication here for you and me as we walk through life. A really helpful and important implication. Here it is--We really can’t judge and evaluate the work of God correctly. Things aren’t what they appear. Paul was an unimpressive preacher, but God’s power was in his ministry. You and I struggle with weakness constantly but God’s strength is most present when we are weak.

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Well Paul’s history with the Corinthian church was quite stormy. Though the church was wealthy and influential and gifted, many in the church were worldly and many had not made a break with sin. California pastor Ray Stedman—attempting to help his people see how relevant the Corinthian epistles were to our western culture—called them ‘First and Second Californians.1

By way of further introduction, I think it’ll be helpful to get a quick summary of Paul’s stormy history with the Corinthian church before we actually turn to the text. And I can almost guarantee that you, that when we do finally turn to the text you will be amazed at the words Paul begins with; they’ll stand out like a diamond against a very dark background.

On your sermon notes you’ll see a….

A Possible Chronology

■50 AD?2 -Paul founded the church and stayed in Corinth 18 months (Acts 18:1-11)

-Paul wrote a letter (letter 1) to the church (referred to in 1 Cor. 5:9)

Listen to I Corinthians 5:9 9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— So before the letter I Corinthians Paul had written a previous time to the Corinthians.

This first letter to the church has been lost. You and I shouldn’t let that worry us. We can be assured that God has safeguarded every scripture that we need to live a godly life.

Well about three years later…

■53 AD?- Paul wrote 1 Corinthians (which would be letter 2)

Around…

■54 AD?- Timothy visited Corinth—and the church was in disarray. It’s clear that some of Paul’s directives in his letter 1 Corinthians had not been acted on. There were those who

1 Mentioned by Hughes2 Most of these estimated dates come from the Baker Exegetical Commentary

continued to be involved in sexual immorality and divisiveness.3 And it’s clear that the false teachers were apparently gaining in influence. 4

Sometime that same year Paul made a visit to Corinth…

■54 AD?- Paul visited Corinth (referred to as the ‘painful visit’ in 2 Cor. 2:1)

What happened to Paul during the visit? We can only guess. We know that it was a very difficult visit for him—that he experienced a lot of turmoil and even humiliation. He was rejected by many in the church and at one point was “openly attacked by the false apostles and the majority in the church failed to defend him.”5 It seems that the false teaching of Paul’s opponents had led a great number, if not most, of the Corinthians to accept another view of Jesus, a contrary spirit, and hence a different gospel altogether.6

Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 11, and follow along with me as I read verses 1-5

I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. 5 Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. Well sometime after that Paul wrote a tearful and severe letter… ■54 AD?- Paul wrote a letter to the church (often referred to as the ‘sorrowful letter’, letter 3, as referred to in 2 Corinthians 2:3-4)

…..in which he warned the Corinthians of God’s judgment and called them to repent (2 Cor. 2:3-4 and 7:8-16)7….

And finally in our chronology… ■55-56 AD?- Paul wrote 2 Corinthians (letter 4) a little over a year after Paul had written 1 Corinthians.8

3 2 Corinthians 12:21 ‘This comment from Baker Exegetical Commentary’4 2 Corinthians 10:2, 12; 11:19-215 Baker Exegetical Commentary6 NIV Application Commentary7 NIV Application Commentary8 2 Corinthians 8:10

So it’s clear that the relational tension between Paul and the Corinthian church does much to shape the book of 2 Corinthians.

Who were Paul’s opponents in the church? We know they claimed to be apostles (2 Cor. 11:13). We know they were Hebrews probably from Jerusalem(2 Cor. 11:22). We know they claimed to be servants of Christ (2 Cor. 11:23). We know they even claimed to be servants of righteousness (2 Cor. 11:15). And we know that Paul sarcastically called them ‘super-apostles’ twice in the book.9

What were their criticisms? They fell into four primary categories.

■You lack the proper credentials Paul!10

It seems that the so called ‘super apostle’s that had infiltrated the church came with superior credentials and letters of recommendation. And Paul had none of that. He writes in 2 Corinthians 3:1 “ Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Of do we need a letter of recommendation to you, or from you?” In other words, aren’t we beyond letters of recommendation Corinthians? Don’t you know me yet? Paul was never one to brag about himself or emphasize the initials after his name. And to the false teachers that had infiltrated the church that was a bad thing.

Secondly we could hear the opponents saying….

■ Your apostolic ministry lacks power!

Your preaching is dull Paul! Your ministry here in Corinth doesn’t seem very powerful! Listen to 2 Corinthians 10:10….10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”

Paul’s ministry was powerful, but it was powerful…. in weakness and that wasn’t acceptable to the ‘super apostles.’ They would boast of their abilities and skills. Paul would boast in Christ alone. 9 2 Corinthians 11:5; 12:1110 These four come from the Baker Exegetical commentary

Thirdly the opponents were concerned that Paul refused to take pay…

■ You won’t take a paycheck!

Listen to what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 11:7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge? It’s possible that Paul’s manual labor was seen as inappropriate and shameful for one who was supposed to be a leader.

■ You don’t have integrity!

Why do you change your plans Paul? Why don’t you follow through on the things you said you were going to do?

So that explains why Paul is on the defensive in 2 Corinthians. That explains why 2 Corinthians is his most personal epistle. You see the Corinthians were faced with a choice of rival apostles. Paul’s opponents regarded themselves as Christ’s apostles and Paul was an imposter.11 And Paul viewed himself as Christ’s apostle and his opponents were false apostles.12

But in spite of all that Paul had been through with the Corinthians, in spite of all the rejection he experienced he begins this difficult letter to a difficult congregation at a difficult time in his ministry by praising God.

Follow along as I read the first seven verses…

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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.

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11 2 Corinthians 6:812 2 Corinthians 11:13

Paul’s words are striking aren’t they? I can’t help but hear James 1:2 in the background, “Count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds.”

Imagine a husband and wife who’ve had a stormy marital life for many years—they’ve separated two or three times. When they have to talk to one another, conflict almost always intrudes. There have been lots of sleepless nights, name calling, and even rejection. And the husband sits down to compose a letter:

Dear Beloved Wife, Blessed be God for his mercies and comfort in all of our difficulties. He’s been the God of all comfort to us in every trial we’ve had….

Wouldn’t our jaws drop? “What graceful words! What hope-filled words! What faith! What a God-centered focus!” And that describes Paul’s love for this church who continually hurt him so deeply.

{And by the way, this might be the major help that our study of 2 Corinthians gives to us. As we seek to see Christ formed in the hearts of those we love, those we teach, those we disciple, there often is a lot of pain. It could be Awana kids. It could be our own children. At times our charges reject us. They are pulled lots of different ways. They become spiritually dull. What was Paul’s secret to the care of souls? How did Paul stick with it? How did Paul keep it up? We’ll find lots of help in 2 Corinthians.}

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Well let’s look at the greeting in verses 1 and 2. We learn in verse 1 that the author is no ordinary person—Paul is Christ Jesus’s chosen apostle by the will of God. Pretty significant credentials wouldn’t you agree? But not significant enough for the interlopers who had weasled their way into the Corinthian church.

Paul, an apostle from13 Jesus Christ…that is Paul is sent from Messiah Jesus as his official representative.14

We’re reminded of God’s words to Ananias in Acts 9, the Ananias who objected that surely Paul couldn’t be God’s choice for an apostle…15 But the Lord said to (Ananias), “Go, for he (Paul) is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

13 Genitive of source14 Baker Exegetical Commentary

The author of 2 Corinthians, the great apostle Paul, is no ordinary person.

Verse 1 also mentions Timothy either as a teammate, a co-author, or as a scribe.

We also learn in verse 1 that the recipients of the letter are not ordinary people either—they are God’s church, God’s assembly.

The “church” is no mere gathering of the pious, but rather “the church of God,” the gathering of those whom God has called as his people.36 The term ekklēsia signifies “assembly” or “gathering”; in secular usage it often referred to the assembly of the citizens of a city.

It is striking, one author writes, that the earliest Christians chose a distinctively political (and yet, as we have noted, simultaneously biblical) term for their collective existence, speaking of themselves as an ekklēsia, a public assembly, rather than as a “religious gathering” like the “synagogue”.15

Well these recipients of the letter are not only God’s church, but they are saints, those who have been set apart, ‘those who have been called out from the ranks of sinners.’16

Now this word saints often throws us off, doesn’t it? We’re too familiar with the way our Catholic friends use the word—a saint being a super-spiritual person, almost an untouchable superhero of a person who might appear to be sinless. But that’s not how the word is used in the bible.

I shared this passage at the Henderson jail recently and I asked the men, sitting there in their loose large horizontal striped jumpsuits, ‘Who are the saints that Paul is talking about?’ If I remember correctly, only one guy had a suggestion and it was that the saints were the faithful ones in the congregation.

But Paul uses the term saints in describing the Corinthians not on the basis of their (faithfulness or) morality, or conduct, or progress, but solely on the basis of what God has done for them in Christ. They are saints because God has set them apart….Despite their worldliness, weakness, and many failures, they have been “sanctified [made holy] in Christ Jesus, called [by God] as saints.” I enjoyed sharing that with the guys in jail… “If you’ve put your trust in Christ you all are saints.”

15 Seifrid, M. A. (2014). The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Second Letter to the Corinthians. (D. A. Carson, Ed.) (pp. 6–7). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.; England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.16 New American Commentary

“If Paul had taken the lives and conduct of the Corinthians into account, it would have been impossible for him to describe them as saints. Christ alone is their righteousness, holiness, and redemption.47 … In Jesus Christ, to whom they belong, holiness is not a goal yet to be attained but a reality that has arrived, unconditioned by their works. The holiness that Paul hopes will come to perfection in the Corinthians is the very holiness that has been given to them already in Christ.50”17 “Holiness is a dignity attributed to them but it is at the same time a duty which they must discharge by making the gift a reality in their lives.”18

And notice at the end of verse 1, Paul is not writing just to the saints in Corinth; he includes all the believers in the province of Achaia,

Verse 2… 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace was the foundation of their Christian existence. Peace was the effect of God’s action in Christ.

Well Paul begins the body of the letter in verse 3 and he extols God as the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who, verse 4, comforts us in all our afflictions.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies…our Father in heaven who is moved with concern for our troubles19…that’s mercy…the God of all comfort…

{Notice God is not called the Father of all judgments and vengeances but the Father of all mercies and comfort.20 }

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…Because he changes our circumstances? No

17 Pillar Commentary18 Schelke as quoted in the New American Commentary19 The term ‘oiktirmos’ used approximately 30 times in the Greek OT and five times in the NT almost always occurs in the plural form, as here, and communicates a concern for the troubles of another person’20 Bernard as quoted in New American Commentary

Because he removes our afflictions? No. And the word ‘affliction’ here means ‘pressure’. It can refer to troubling circumstances (on the outside) or distress and anguish (on the inside).

{The apostle Paul uses the term nine times in 2 Corinthians and another fifteen times in his other writings when he has in mind the ‘harsh difficulties of life’21}

Do we bless God because he removes the harsh difficulties in our life? No

Because he shelters us from the sufferings of Christ mentioned in verse 5?…the sufferings of Christ being those sufferings we experience in association with Christ22?… when they overflow toward us? No

No it’s a given that our sufferings and afflictions are purposeful…and many scriptures drive that home. No God is to be blessed because He, verse 4, 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.

{Paul talks about comfort more than any (biblical) author because he talks about suffering more than any other author, and he does so more often in 2 Corinthians than in any other letter, and more densely in our passage than any other section of this letter.}23

Now when we use the word ‘comfort’ in our marriage work we define it as ‘coming alongside one with word, feeling, or touch; to give consolation with tenderness’24 It’s being sad with someone in their troubles. It’s really important in marriage and family life.

But the biblical word used some ten times in verses 3-7 is more than that. It’s more than being present or being consoling. It can include encouragement, practical help or exhortation.

One author describes the word this way…. God’s comfort strengthens weak knees and sustains sagging spirits so that one faces the troubles of life with unbending resolve and unending assurance.25

Another author describes it this way… “The whole idea of the word is that one person is being with another, speaking words which change their mood and situation, giving them courage, new hope, new direction, new insights which will alter the way they face the next moment, the next day, the rest of their life. And when you put all that together in a bottle, shake it up, and pour it out for someone who is in the middle of deep suffering, the best word we can come up with to describe the effect is probably ‘comfort’. If we said ‘console’ or ‘consolation’ that

21 Baker Exegetical Commentary Rom. 2:9; 8:35; 1 Cor. 7:28; Phil 1:7; Eph.3:13; Col. 1:24; 1 Thess. 1:6; 3:322 Baker Exegetical Commentary23 NIV Application Commentary24 Top 10 Intimacy Needs, Ferguson25 Garland, D. E. (1999). 2 Corinthians (Vol. 29, p. 60). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

would pick up one aspect of it; but when you ‘console’ someone you simply bring them back from utter despair to ordinary unhappiness. The word Paul uses here, over and over again, does more than that. It meets people where they are, and brings them right on to the point where they are strong enough to see new hope, new possibilities, new ways forward.”26

God’s comfort is encouragement, sometime it’s practical help, and sometimes it’s a good exhortation.

God comforts us so that we can be a comfort to others. We’ve got to keep God’s comfort in circulation….

Charles Spurgeon the great English preacher who lived in the 1800s tells a wonderful story:

One Sabbath morning, I preached from the text, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” and though I did not say so, yet I preached my own experience.

I heard my own chains clank while I tried to preach to my fellow-prisoners in the dark; but I could not tell why I was brought into such an awful horror of darkness, for which I condemned myself.

On the following Monday evening, a man came to see me who bore all the marks of despair upon his countenance. His hair seemed to stand up right, and his eyes were ready to start from their sockets. He said to me, after a little parleying, “I never before, in my life, heard any man speak who seemed to know my heart. Mine is a terrible case; but on Sunday morning you painted me to the life, and preached as if you had been inside my soul.”

By God’s grace, Spurgeon writes, I saved that man from suicide, and led him into gospel light and liberty; but I know I could not have done it if I had not myself been confined in the dungeon in which he lay.

He continues, I tell you the story, brethren, because you sometimes may not understand your own experience, and the perfect people may condemn you for having it; but what know they of God’s servants? You and I have to suffer much for the sake of the people of our charge.27

Spurgeon elsewhere said this: “If our hearts learn sympathy they have been in a good school though our teacher may have used the rod most heavily and taught us by many a smart or many a sting. To teachers of others, this is of first importance…For none can bear with the infirmities of others if they have not been made compassionate and filled with a fellow feeling for the faint and trembling.”28

26 N.T Wright, 2nd Corinthians for Everyone27 Guthrie, G. H. (2015). 2 Corinthians. (R. W. Yarbrough & R. H. Stein, Eds.) (pp. 69–70). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.28 Alister Begg Sermon, “Sweet Fruit from a Thorny Tree” 2 Cor 1:1-7.

Listen again to verses 3-4, and listen for the words ‘all’ and ‘any’ as I read again verse 3-4…. 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.

God has sufficient comfort to comfort us through all of our afflictions so that we can comfort those we come into contact with, no matter what afflictions they face.

Let me try to illustrate the idea that ‘comfort’ needs to stay in circulation—the idea that God comforts us so that we can comfort others.

Here’s the biggest piece of PVC pipe I could get my hands on—4” Schedule 40… Bobby give me a man card!

Why so big? Well we’re going to use it represent the comfort that flows to us from God. So I’m holding it over my head vertically. This is the pipe down which God’s comfort comes. And God isn’t stingy with his comfort; He’s the God of all comfort. And we can be assured that His comfort will be sufficient for us when we need it.

Now we’re going to cap it off here to illustrate what sometimes happens in our lives. We receive the comfort of God but we keep it to ourselves. The problem with that is that God doesn’t comfort us to make us comfortable but to make us comforters.29

So we take the cap off and add an elbow. Voila! Comfort comes down, accomplishes its purpose and then goes out to others. God has comforted us and we comfort others. Let me show you an interesting verse on the screen… this is Paul talking….

The Corinthians comforted Titus and Titus comforted Paul and his companion and in this letter Paul is comforting the Corinthians.

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29 Jowett

Well as we close let’s just savor some of the verses that we’ll come to over our journey. Let’s turn to these together.

2 Corinthians 4:7 --7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. …We have treasure in these jars of clay!

2 Corinthians 4:16–18--16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. …Our afflictions are preparing for us a tonnage of glory!

2 Corinthians 5:17--17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. …When we put our faith in Christ he makes us new creations!

2 Corinthians 5:21--21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. …Jesus took our sins upon himself!

2 Corinthians 8:9 --9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich….Jesus died to make us spiritually rich!

2 Corinthians 12:1–4 I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. Our author was caught up into paradise…

2 Corinthians 13:5 --5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! …Examine yourselves….Are you really born again?

And then the very last verse of the book that makes a “pre” benediction for our benediction!… 2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.

Amen!