MAKING INVESTMENTS IN MUTUAL COMFORT
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on March 14, 2021 under 2021 |
Bethany Bible Church Sunday Message; March 14, 2021 from 2 Corinthians 7:2-7
Theme: There are certain relational investments we must make in each other to experience comfort from one another in the household of faith.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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When 2 Corinthians was written, it was written by a very happy man. He had gotten some very good news from some friends in a faraway city. He writes about it in this morning’s passage—in 2 Corinthians 7.
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Now; the story of what happened is important to our passage. And so, before I read it to you, it’d be a good idea to quickly review that story.
In his first letter to them, the apostle Paul had dealt with some very serious matters within the Corinthian church. One of the problems was that there was a man who was engaged in sexual sin; and the church wasn’t dealing with it as it should. (That part of the story wasn’t happy.) Paul had promised that, in his missionary travels—when he was passing through Macedonia—he would come and spend time with the Corinthians and help sort out this problem.
But it turned out that he couldn’t come to them when he had planned to. And as a result, they were questioning whether Paul was a man who kept his promises. And to make matters harder, he had to write another very harsh letter to them about the sin problem. And you can just imagine how the tensions were rising. (That part of the story wasn’t happy either.) He loved them and was very concerned for them. He wanted to know how the Corinthian Christians were doing—and if they still loved him. And so, he sent his assistant Titus to them to find out.
But it got to the point that Paul just couldn’t wait any longer. His heart of love for the Corinthians was burdening him too much. In fact, even as he was having a very successful ministry elsewhere, he couldn’t have peace about it. He temporarily left a very fruitful work and went to Macedonian—searching for Titus and hoping for some news about the Corinthians. And finally, Titus met him and told him the good news. The Corinthians had very sincerely repented before God of their disobedience in this sin matter.
And best of all, they still loved Paul. (That’s the part of the story that was very happy.)
Paul was overwhelmed with joy. And that’s when he wrote this letter. In Chapter 7, he expresses how much the news had comforted him. In fact, the word ‘comfort’ or ‘consolation’ shows up over and over in this chapter.
So, with this background in mind, let me read the whole chapter to you. Paul wrote;
Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one. I do not say this to condemn; for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulations. For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more. For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you.
Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort. And we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I am not ashamed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our boasting to Titus was found true. And his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him. Therefore I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything (2 Corinthians 7:2-16).
Clearly, Paul was a very happy man. In fact, he said that he was overflowing with joy. And he was also—as he said in verse 4—“filled with comfort”.
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Now; this idea of “comfort” or “consolation” shows up a lot in this chapter. It’s mentioned a total of seven times. And it wasn’t just that Paul was comforting the Corinthians, but they also had comforted him in all his tribulations about the situation. They also comforted Titus, and Titus comforted Paul with the comfort that he’d been comforted with by the Corinthians. Comfort and consolation was being passed on all around.
That’s as it should be among those who have been redeemed by the Lord Jesus. And that’s because God Himself is the source of all such comfort; and He gives that comfort so that it can be shared among His people. At the very beginning of this letter—in 1:3-7—Paul wrote;
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 in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation (1:3-7).
Church is a place where we should be real with each other in the sight of God. And that means that we will have to deal with hard things within the church family. There needs to be confrontation of sin, and calls to repentance, and confession when we’ve done wrong, and the giving of forgiveness when we’ve admitted the truth. Those things often hurt. If we are growing together in holy devotion to Jesus Christ within the church family, then it can’t be any other way.
But it should also be that church is a place where we receive comfort and consolation from one another in the midst of all those hard things. That’s how love shows itself to be the real thing in the family of God. Jesus said that the world will know we are His disciples by our love for one another. If love is going to be able to show that we genuinely belong to Jesus, then it can’t be fake love. It’s got to be real. And the hard work of faithful repentance and mutual comfort is how that kind of love shows itself to be from God—the real thing.
The great lesson we learn from Paul in 2 Corinthians 7 is how that comfort is brought about and shared. In verses 8-12, we read about the way that true, genuine repentance from sin in the body of Christ is a necessary part of what leads to a mutual sense of comfort. And in verses 13-16, we see the joyful results of sharing that mutual comfort through those hard realities of life together. The blessedness of the comfort we share with one another in Christ is worth the hard work it takes to get there. And this morning, we’ll just concentrate on verses 2-7. It’s there that we discover the kinds of ‘relational investments’ Paul had made into the Corinthian believers that helped lead—eventually—to that joyful mutual comfort.
Mutual comfort within the body of Christ doesn’t just ‘happen’ by accident. It takes work. It takes sacrifice. It takes investment. And in verses 2-7, we see seven specific ‘investments’ that Paul made toward that comfort. They are the investments we must make in each other if we want to experience comfort from one another in the church family.
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First, notice that Paul made …
1. THE INVESTMENT OF OPENNESS.
In verse 2, Paul told the Corinthians,”Open your hearts to us …” They had been closed up to him; and now, he urges them to set that ‘closed-heartedness’ aside, and to be open to him and to his other ministry partners. Back in chapter 6, he told them;
O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open (6:11-13).
And now, in 7:2, he repeats the warm invitation; “Open your hearts to us.”
Now; why do we close up in the body of Christ toward one another? Why do we hesitate to open up to one another and admit our struggles or confess our faults? Well obviously, it’s because we don’t want to be judged. We’re terrified at the idea of being slapped down or criticized or hurt. And there’s a reason for that fear; because all too often, people in church have been horribly harsh and judgmental. For some of us, ‘openness’ feels like just too much of a risk to take. I get that; don’t you? In fact, that’s why I never think it’s a good idea to be indiscriminately and recklessly open—just throwing everything out there for everyone to see. Not everyone will respond as they should.
But here’s the problem: If we absolutely never take the risk of openness, we will also rob ourselves of the joy of comfort. There’s no other way for the comfort to be real than if the openness happens first. Like Pastor James said in James 5:16;
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed (James 5:16).
An atmosphere of constructive openness has to be present for that to happen. And it seems to me that the way Paul dealt with that was by first being open toward those that he invited to be open toward him. In the family of God, openness begets openness.
Dear brother or sister in Christ; do you want the comfort that only God can give through the family of God? Then I urge you—make the investment of openness. Find some trusted brothers or sisters in the church family, and share your burdens with them. Yes, it’s scary. Yes, it’s risky. But it’s the only way for the blessedness of mutual comfort to occur and spread.
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Now; along with that—and as a necessary part of it—another investment that Paul made was …
2. THE INVESTMENT OF INTEGRITY.
For openness to be able to happen effectively and safely, there must also be an atmosphere of integrity. We need to be the real thing all the time. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians and asked them to be open to him and his co-missionaries, he said in verse 2, “We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one.”
These words may have come from a very serious concern. As we read on in this letter, we find that there were false teachers who were trying to destroy the ministry of Paul. They were making a lot of false accusations; and some in the Corinthian church were buying into it. But look at the things that Paul asserted. First, he said that he and his co-workers never “wronged” anyone. The word in the original language speaks of treating someone unjustly. Many of the false teachers were harsh toward the Corinthians and treated them in cruel and insensitive ways. Later in this letter, Paul says that they put the Corinthians in bondage, and devoured them, and took from them, or exalted themselves over them and—as it were—struck them in the face (11:20). But Paul said that he never did that. Second, he said that he and his co-workers never “corrupted” anyone. The idea behind that is that they never lead anyone into impurity or sin or unfaithfulness to God. The false teachers who were plaguing the Corinthians were leading them into doctrinal error—and often into open unfaithfulness to the Lord Jesus. Paul affirmed that he never did that either. And finally, he said that he and his co-workers never “cheated” anyone. The false teachers, however, were continually taking from the Corinthians. Paul even went so far as to refuse any financial support from the Corinthians to show that he was not trying to cheat them (2 Corinthians 11:7-12).
I heard someone say, long ago, that the three ‘hounds’ that are constantly biting at the heels of every pastor are “pride”, “lust”, and “greed”. Many pastors have fallen by one or all of those three things. But so have many other followers of Jesus. If we want to enjoy the blessings of mutual comfort in the body of Christ, then we need to make the investment of integrity. Openness requires trust, and trust is developed through integrity; and so, we need to make sure that we can say to one another, “We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one”—and for it to be the truth.
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Paul went on to speak of …
3. THE INVESTMENT OF COMMITMENT.
He had just gotten through telling them the things that he and his co-workers were careful not to have done; and then, in verse 3, he said, “I do not say this to condemn; for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.” He didn’t insist on his integrity and innocence in order to make the Corinthians feel bad about the accusations they believed; but rather because he was devoted to them all the way.
I have studied the books of 1 and 2 Corinthians often. I’ve studied Paul’s words about the many problems that they had. And though I say this carefully (because one day, I will meet up with and have fellowship with those Corinthian believers in heaven), I have to tell you that it must have been hard to love them at times. There might have been occasions when Paul was tempted to give up on them and move on to someone else who didn’t cause him so many heartaches. But he didn’t. In fact, he was so committed to them that he could say to them that they were in his heart “to die together and to live together”. If they were in his heart so much that he would lay down his life for them and die with them, then they must have been in his heart enough to want to live with them. And it’s a good thing too. If he had given up on them before then, he never would have experienced the joyful comfort that he was right then experiencing from them.
Nowadays—I’m sorry to say—it doesn’t take much for someone to leave a church. If something is said in a sermon that is hurtful or offensive, or if a relationship with someone in the church is strained, or if someone says something insensitive or careless, people leave to find another church. But we will never find another church in which there will never be any offenses. And if we don’t stay put—with sincere commitment to one another—and work out our differences in a godly way, we may never experience the comfort God wants us to have from one another.
True mutual comfort within the church family requires that we be committed to one another—to die with one another and to live together. That’s the kind of commitment the Lord Jesus has shown to us. May He help us to show that same kind of commitment to each other.
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But it’s not just all about overcoming offenses. Paul also celebrated the things that he loved about the Corinthians. And this shows us that he made …
4. THE INVESTMENT OF ENCOURAGEMENT.
In verse 4, he said, “Great is my boldness of speech toward you …” That can be translated, “Great is my confidence toward you …” It would be why he was able to say the hard things that he had to say. And then, reviewing how they responded to it all, he was able also to say, “great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.” At the end of it all, he expressed his deep joy in them by praising them, and declaring how happy they have made him.
He said much more. In verses 9-11, he told them about how proud he was of the way they had thoroughly repented and of how they demonstrated that they had completely put this sin matter behind them. And in seeing how they had encouraged Titus, in verse 14, he went on to say, “For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I am not ashamed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our boasting to Titus was found true.”
Dear brother or sister; how long has it been since you’ve told another brother or sister in the church family, “You know; I saw the hard situation you went through. I know it must have been painful. But you really demonstrated the grace of God in your life. And I want you to know that I love you for it and am very proud of you.” If Paul would do that for his Corinthian brothers and sisters, then don’t you think we should do it for one another? Unless you’ve experienced it yourself, you can’t imagine how much medicine that kind of sincere encouragement pours on a wounded soul!
And it makes the way for the kind of mutual comfort that we can share with one another in Christ.
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Another investment Paul made was …
5. THE INVESTMENT OF VULNERABILITY.
Paul admitted to his Corinthian brethren that he needed that kind of medicine himself. He went through a horribly hard trial during his time of concern for them—a trial of soul that made him travel to Macedonia to find out how things were. In verse 5, he wrote, “For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears.” Paul was a powerful man who was accustomed to troubles. But I think it took a great deal of love for him to admit that he was afraid of losing his precious Corinthian friends.
One of the investments we must make into one another is the willingness to share our feelings and fears. I know that that’s not the style for many of us. But it’s really more a matter of honesty than style; don’t you think? Just think of it … even the Lord Jesus exhibited His deepest feelings to His disciples. On the night that He was betrayed, He pulled a few of them aside and said,
“My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me” (Matthew 26:38).
If the Son of God—our Lord and Master—could be that vulnerable with His disciples, can’t we be at least as much toward one another? We need to be; because it’s what leads to the joyful experience of mutual comfort.
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Along with that kind of vulnerability, Paul also made …
6. THE INVESTMENT OF INQUIRY.
That may not be the best way of putting it; but what we see in Paul is that he took the time and effort to find out how the Corinthians were doing. Like the gossip magazine used to say, “Inquiring minds want to know”. (Except, in this case, it’s a good thing.) Paul demonstrated this investment by the fact that, at a time when he was deeply distressed and fearful, he sent Titus to find out how things were. And so, in verse 6, he wrote, “Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus …” The good news he received lifted his spirits.
Now; Paul had been in the city of Troas. What must it have meant to the Corinthians to find out that Paul went to such effort—even to the point of leaving his successful ministry in another location—to travel from Troas a hundred miles or more to Macedonia just to find out how they were? Wouldn’t that have communicated to them that he truly loved them? Wouldn’t that have comforted them?
I praise God that we don’t have to travel a lot of miles today to find out how someone is. I’ll never forget the time I was at a Billy Graham School of Evangelism conference in Denver. Rev. Cliff Barrows was the speaker that day. Before Cliff spoke to us all, he told us that he got a phone call from Billy in North Carolina earlier that morning. “What can I do for you, Billy”, Cliff said. “Oh nothing, Cliff”; Billy said; “I just wanted to call and say that I love you.” You could see the tears well up in Cliff’s eyes as he told us that story. It meant so much that Billy wanted to know how his friend was; and wanted to say that he loved him. Cliff then looked up at all of us and added, “Billy says that he is praying for you all too, by the way.”
It doesn’t take much, does it? Just a phone call. Or a text. (Although I think a phone call is better than a text; don’t you?) But just taking the time to reach out and say, “I love you. How are you?” What an investment into comfort in the body of Christ!
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And there’s one more that Paul mentions; and that’s …
7. THE INVESTMENT OF RECOGNITION.
Paul not only talked about the blessing of comfort that he received, but also the blessing that Titus received. He wrote of how he was encouraged by the arrival of Titus; and then added, “and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.” Paul rejoiced in what the Corinthians did; and made a special effort to honor it and mention it.
You and I don’t always know whether or not something we did blesses someone else. Sometimes it takes someone else noticing it and saying something about it. And when they tell us—when they respect it and recognize it—what a blessing that is! Paul wanted the Corinthians to know that he knew of the comfort that they brought to Titus; and how their act of comfort to Titus also comforted him.
Opening our mouths and declaring it encourages it and reinforces it.
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Dear brothers and sisters; comfort within the church family takes work. It takes investment. And here, we see that the apostle Paul made the relational investment in the form of openness, integrity, commitment, encouragement, vulnerability, inquiry, and recognition.
Let’s invest in these ways in the mutual comfort that God wants us to enjoy together. The blessing we receive from it is more than worth the investment.
EA
