Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,
a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.
This fall we're studying the book of Second Corinthians.
Second Corinthians is a heartfelt and practical
book calling us back to the life of the cross.
We, like the Corinthians, so often pursue glory,
admire eloquence, shun suffering, hide hurt,
and hoard our goods. And yet the gospel of Jesus
tells us that resurrection comes after a cross.
comfort comes after being crushed, that the way
up is the way down, that the way to glory is
through suffering, that his strength is made
perfect in our weakness. We'd love to meet you
and we hope you'll consider coming and joining
with us each Sunday morning at 10 a .m. in the
heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find us
online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook,
Instagram, and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this
sermon. God bless. Lord, as we enter into this
new text and sit in it together this fall, Lord,
I pray that the distance between us 21st century
Christians and those first century Christians
would diminish, that we might see ourselves often
in them as you so often work in us through your
word, and that we would be attentive to your
spirit, Lord, speaking to your church not just
then, but now. Lord, that you would move in us,
God, that we would see the beauty of the affliction
of Christ and the comfort of his resurrection,
that we would see the wonder and also the truth
that your powers made perfect in weakness. I'm
God that our devotion to you would only increase,
that our love for you would only deepen. God,
speak to us now, please. In Jesus name, amen.
All right. This morning we are starting a series
in 2nd Corinthians. And I understand that may
seem odd to you. For one, the bulletin says 1st
Corinthians. That is entirely my fault. It also
may seem odd because we are not starting in 1st
Corinthians. Sounds like a natural place to start.
There are a number of reasons for that. I think
for one, my intent is to actually cover the book
and I think 1 Corinthians will be much harder
to cover in a few months. Maybe one day I'll
figure that out. Another reason though, and that
second reason brings up the third, which is why
it's audit. So we're gonna try to cover 13 chapters
in 13 weeks. And even as you probably listened
to Melisse read that, you thought there is a
lot here. So pray for me. There are downsides
to this approach, I admit it. Yet I believe there's
some benefits to it. One, the early church very
likely, one of the things you read as you opened
it up is to the church in Corinth, but also to
all the churches throughout the region of Achaia.
They're very likely would have received this
letter. They would have read it to the church
in its entirety, most likely, and would have
spread that letter around. eventually copying
it, which is why this text and 1st Corinthians
actually appear in our New Testament. In other
texts, we actually have good reason to believe
that there was at least one other letter written
to the church in Corinth, very likely, possibly
two. Those didn't make it into the canon of Scripture,
and so likely they would have copied those, but
at first it would have been read and people would
have digested it all together. I think there's
another good reason for taking it in this approach
and that's that I think oftentimes you can sort
of lose the larger story that's taking place
the larger points that are taking place as we
delve into the minutia as helpful as diving in
can be so anyway we are in second Corinthians
and we are in chapter one let me begin by telling
you a story that I read this week Feels like
this large ocean liner was headed across the
Atlantic from Portsmouth, England think at 1930
1931 to New York and as it neared its destination
there in New York a Lookout on the wing of the
bridge reported light bearing on the starboard
bow Is it steady or moving a stern the cop the
captain called back the lookout replied steady
captain, which meant they were on their way towards
a collision course. The captain then called to
the signalman, signal that ship, we are on a
collision course, advise you to change course
20 degrees. Signalman signaled back, advisable
for you to change course 20 degrees. The captain
said, send, I'm a captain, change course 20 degrees.
Reply from the signalman. I'm a seaman second
-class. You'd better change course 20 degrees
By that time the captain was furious. He spat
out send. This is the mighty ocean liner HMS
Franconia change course 20 degrees Back came
the flashing light. This is a lighthouse Suggests
you change course 20 degrees So this is not a
true story I read it and I kind of thought, this
is too, this is crazy. You can't have a lighthouse,
but, and it's not, you know, I like Google this,
the story about the lighthouse, does it look
true? No, it was, people think it was first published
in about 1931 in the British magazine, The Humorist,
but it does tell us something very important.
It tells us a life lesson that we know to be
true. And so does, so do the scriptures. And
that is this, that conflict, often reveals character.
That the afflictions, the trials that we go through
reveal how eager we are to listen, how eager
or how willing we are to change course. Our conflicts
are revealing. Our affliction, our trials, our
crosses, they reveal us. There's not one person
on this earth who does not experience what we
might consider to be trials beyond what they
could bear. And this is true for you if you're
a Christian or not, okay? But this is certainly
true in the Christian life, trials that make
us consider if, you know, are we on the right
track? Do we need to hear a warning? Sometimes
they are trials that actually shake kind of the
bedrock of our faith. They caused us to shift
in a direction away from the Lord Often trials
and conflicts afflictions reveal not just our
character but our faith So Paul's writing for
a number of reasons that we're gonna get into
he's he's writing this church in Corinth to sort
of reestablish What was the relationship that
had been at odds? So reestablish a positive and
healthy relationship with these churches. He's
writing for their comfort. That's one thing we
hear quite a bit here. We're going to get into
that. But he also is writing for their commitment
to be convinced of the truth of God and Christ
in this cross. He's writing for their reconciliation
with him, certainly, but also with one another
and with the churches more broadly speaking.
Encouraging them to be reconcilers of the estranged.
But at the heart of all of this is that they
had gone through their own trials their own afflictions
their own challenges We'll get into this but
you can think with me a little bit those of you
who know first Corinthians all the challenges
they'd gone through and And they lived in a world
like our own actually we'll talk about this in
the future but Corinth in some ways was very
very modern city and a very affluent city, okay
and So like our own Their culture prized success.
It prized ease. And they had initially, of course,
been presented with Jesus, the one who dies on
a cross through affliction. And yet others who
had come in and said, you don't need to go that
route. Followers that eschewed weakness, that
shunned discomfort, that saw trials and crosses
and giving up oneself as an affront to faith,
not the bedrock of it, not the center of it.
And so, beginning right here in the beginning
of 2 Corinthians, beginning of this letter, Paul
lays this out for them again, this sort of core
idea of Christian faith, that power is made perfect
in weakness. And he's going to unpack this in
all kinds of ways. But he says, this is at the
center of it, that comfort comes in our affliction.
The deflection is not something to simply be
shunned, but it is actually often the way of
the church because it is the way of our Lord.
No doubt, I hope actually you were listening
attentively and you noticed how central comfort
is in these verses, particularly verses three
through seven. But as central as comfort is,
affliction seems to be just joined right next
to it. And so, what I want us to do is actually
begin in verse 8 kind of walk our way down and
Consider some of the afflictions of Paul that
are presented here and they kind of work their
way out by the way in the rest of the book and
very at various times and then we will Speak
a little bit to comfort also. So Look down with
me at verse 8. We're gonna start with the idea
that first that Paul is experiencing an affliction
in the body Okay, meaning actually in himself,
in his body. So I'm going to read verse eight
and then just the first half of verse nine. By
the way, Corinth is more a part of modern Greece.
Asia would be Turkey more in the ancient world.
that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we
felt that we'd received the sentence of death.
So we could read in Acts chapter 18 about Paul
establishing that great church in Corinth. Paul
was actually there for about a year and a half.
And like I said, he wrote other correspondences
to the Corinthian church. He wrote sort of in
terms of chapters, more chapters to the church
in Corinth than any other. a church. He spent
a lot of time there. He went back and visited
them, those kinds of things. He had quite the
relationship with the church in Corinth. But
after his initial year and a half there, he went
on to Ephesus. We could read about that in Acts
chapter 19. And there's this initial kind of
amazing power that goes out in the name of Jesus
as they're establishing the church there and
he's meeting Christians there in Ephesus. And
yet it moves on to a riot breaking out. Because
the message of Jesus challenged that thing that
was prized in the city, partly their deities,
but mostly their commerce, because of course,
where your heart is and where your pocketbook
is, where your treasures are, there your heart
will be also, there your gods will be. But anyway,
we don't know. One thing that's certainly true
about the book of Acts is that Acts doesn't tell
us all that happened to Paul. We read elsewhere
of other things that took place that happened
to Paul. And here he says that he despaired unto
life itself while in Asia. One of the things
that we do know later on in the book of 2 Corinthians
in chapter 11 that we're gonna read about is
that Paul says he went through many imprisonments,
that he went through beatings that he says were
often near death. He was beaten with rods, he
was stoned, he was shipwrecked, all the rest.
But I thought what was so interesting here is
that his affliction in the body, which is most
certainly actually literally ailments and other
people's actually hurting his physical body,
was also a mental anguish, a mental affliction.
Because he says there in verse 9, we felt that
we had received, we felt that we'd received the
sentence of death. And some commentators actually
say what we could really be talking about here
is that Paul is actually experiencing a mental
breakdown. that the afflictions of his body were
also the afflictions of his mind, of his spirit
in a way. Again, one commentator says this, his
natural human resources, his natural human resources
of energy and strength were worn down to nothing.
It's bad to hear a magistrate declare that you
are sentenced to death, which Paul experienced.
It's far worse. when a voice deep inside yourself
tells you that you might as well give up and
die. What I'm saying is that Paul was not speaking
outside of the Corinthian experience. He's not
speaking outside of your experience when he speaks
of affliction. He's saying, I know this experience
in my body, deep down to the point that I felt
like I could die. It may be better for me. Paul
experienced afflictions in the body that made
him despair, even of life itself. And think about
this. Here is the great apostle. Apostles were
those that laid the foundation of the church.
All of them suffered in various ways. But here's
the apostle that went throughout the known world,
establishing churches, planting churches, encouraging
churches, writing letters. We have more of his
writings than anybody else's in the New Testament.
You think of one of the great heroes of Christian
faith, Paul. Affliction's in his body to the
point where he says, I think I might as well
die. I'm despairing unto life itself. What I'm
saying is that for Paul, the call to seek comfort
in affliction is not divorced from his personal
experience, but is actually felt in the deepest
part of who he is. He goes on though, there's
another kind of affliction and he moves towards
so. This I'm going to call the affliction in
his person, which is not just his body, but in
who he is, there's an affliction of what they're
saying about him. Look with me down at verse
12. I'm going to read to verse 14, okay? I'll
have to explain this. I don't think this will
be as clear initially as I read it. For our boast
is this, the testimony of our conscience. that
we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly
sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the
grace of God, and supremely so toward you. For
we are not writing to you anything other than
what you read and understand. And I hope you
will fully understand, just as you did partially
understand us, that on the day of our Lord Jesus,
you will boast of us, and we will boast of you."
Now, probably what you noticed here as I read
that is the word boasting. It kind of begins
and ends that paragraph, little envelope there.
And it again is beginning something that we're
going to see later on. But part of what we're
going to see is that there were those other teachers
who had come to Corinth. They'd come after Paul
and very likely they had come after he had written
his first letter. We're going to consider some
of the themes of that in a second. And they had
given the church more of what their ears tickled
to hear. More of what they really just wanted
to hear and how they wanted to hear it. The message
that eased their minds and their hearts. We know
that in the ancient world, like our own, people
fancied great rhetoric, eloquence. Well -spoken,
well -crafted words. And these guys were actually,
Paul will call them later on, super apostles.
Superman, the Avenger apostles. People that kind
of did the flashy and the showy. And they, it
seems as though actually they kind of lived along
the lines of the ancient patronage where they
would do this and they would receive money for
it. They were so good at it that people would
pay to listen to them. And Paul, in contrast
here, showing his heart for the people of the
church, but he says, I came to you with simplicity.
And I came to you with a clear conscience, with
godly sincerity, but then he says, but not with
earthly wisdom, with the grace of God. He says,
I'm not writing to you anything other than what
you read or understood. But he says, I wrote
to you simply. In some ways, he's saying, I intentionally
want you to know that this is for everybody.
And so I'm not trying to use lofty words. And
your ears are being tickled by the fanciful.
But it wasn't just that they were sort of interested
in eloquence, they were interested in ease. And
doesn't this sound like today? which was to say
that the people then said, it's not just how
you do it, but that we want us to give you a
life where it's not so hard. We want you to give
us commands that are not so difficult. So anyway,
part of the beauty of 2 Corinthians is how personal
it is. It's very personal. And we see and we
actually feel Paul's heart for the people there
at the church. And it is a masterful piece of
literature. And of course we understand that
his other writings He was great with words. And
yet Paul says, this is not how I come to you.
And you are desirous for this other kind of thing.
And so here's what was happening. Picture this,
right? He had established this church. He had
left. He had written them this other letter.
And now there are people that are saying, that
Paul, he doesn't even know how to talk very well.
He came to you with too much simplicity. You
ought to listen to us. And he's saying that you
don't care for me. You're not going to boast
of me because I'm too simple among you. Meaning
that there were attacks on who he was, how he
communicated, what kind of person he was. Part
of Paul's affliction was in who he was before
them. And they saw it as weakness, as inability,
and now likely as something to be discarded.
He was not the boast of Corinth, he was actually
in some ways their embarrassment. Part of the
affliction that we engage with is others looking
down on our ability, pushing us aside, thinking
we'd rather have something a little bit more
fancy than you. Somebody who has it all together,
has a greater education, whatever it is. Part
of his desire in writing this book is they will
come to boast in the weakness of the gospel and
also the weakness of the communicator of the
gospel that they will see that there's beauty
in weakness and in being lowly. So what I'm suggesting
to you though here is that there is this affliction
that Paul is presenting to them that it has to
do with how he was afflicted in his body and
his mind and spirit. But also part of that affliction
was actually from them saying no thanks. All
right, a third way in which Paul was afflicted
I'm gonna call this that he was afflicted communally.
So in his body and personally and communally.
So what we know from 1 Corinthians, which again
is not the text of this morning, is that Paul
had planned to come and visit them. In fact,
this morning our text, so he says this kind of
thing at the end of 1 Corinthians, but he also
says this here, right? With this dynamic of Macedonia.
He's like, I'm gonna visit you here and there.
in this next section. And we know actually that
Paul had spent probably three different visits
with the Corinthian church. So he visited them
a few different times. But here it says that
he didn't visit them to spare them. He didn't
come and visit them when he had originally said,
and it was for their good. that he didn't do
this. But they took that as his words being,
hey, I'm going to come and see you. No, I'm not
going to come and see you. I'm going to come
and see you. That's kind of not to be trusted.
He wasn't faithful to his words. His yes wasn't
yes. His no wasn't no. And in some ways, that's
an affliction of his person, like I was just
saying, of his character. But there's something
else that's going on and it's this communal conflict
that's taking place, okay? So. A lot of you have
read 1 Corinthians. I hope all of you have read
1 Corinthians. If you've read 1 Corinthians,
you know that it is a letter full of division.
It's the letter that I think a lot of churches
read and they're like, well, they're still Christians.
I guess we're not that bad. It's a pretty rough
letter, okay? It's a letter about divisions.
Some of them are divisions about saying, hey,
I'm of Paul and I'm of Apollos, and you put teachers
of God's word against each other. It's a letter
where you have wild sexual escapades being done
in the life of the church. It's just crazy. There's
Christians taking other Christians to court against
one another. The Lord's Table, which is supposed
to be the table of communion, of common fellowship
together, is a table where there's great division.
Some people are coming before other people get
there. Some people are getting drunk at the Lord's
Table, by the way, not on little thimbles, right?
That's not happening. Before other people are
even there, it's just, it's mayhem. Some people,
as you read on in 1 Corinthians, are using the
very gifts of the Spirit of God. over and against
other gifts of the Spirit of God in unloving
ways. That's why you find the great chapter on
love sandwiched between two chapters on the gifts
of the Spirit there in that book. Like I said,
if there is one book in the New Testament that
can show just how messy church life can be, it's
the book of 1 Corinthians. He doesn't really
pull any punches in that book either. He corrects
and corrects and corrects. And of course this
was for them, it was for their growth and their
good and their greater commitment to the Lord
and them to see the folly of sin and turning
away from him and living a life for themselves
and against one another, to have a time of repentance.
But he says, I restrained myself from coming
in a way because I actually want you to grow.
I want you to sit with this. I want you to understand
my words to you and I don't want my coming to
you just full of tension. And yet here he is,
once again, he's writing to them and he's saying
that my yes is not no, my no is not yes, it's
yes and yes, but I'm being led by the spirit
and it is for your good. But here's one of the
really interesting things, right? So he writes
them this letter. This is why I'm saying that
there's this affliction within community. He
writes them this letter of 1 Corinthians. It's
all this correction. And we know from 2 Corinthians
7 that Titus comes and he gives Paul this report,
and he has other people ministering, and he understands
what's happening in life for that church. And
he knows that if he were to come to them, there
would be this intense affliction, this intense
conflict. And so he restrains going to them because
he knows that the community there in Corinth
and him are at such odds. Why? Because they don't
want to receive his correction from them. I mean,
you've probably experienced this. Some friend
comes and tells you, hey, I see this pattern
of sin in your life. And you're like, I don't
want to talk to you anymore. Please get out of
my house. You know that kind of thing? And he's
like, that's what's going to happen if I go over
and knock on your door, you're going to be like,
no. Paul, get away. He's like, I'm restraining
myself right now for your good and for our good
together. But what's happening is this intense
communal conflict, this intense affliction that's
taking place. For Paul, part of the affliction
that he's suffering is the affliction of the
care for this community. And the wild thing is
that they're seeing that and they're saying,
oh, you're duplicitous. You're not to be trusted.
It's just the conflict and that the affliction
is growing and growing And one of the things
that we hear in in first and second Corinthians
is it almost if it's not one kind of affliction
it's another if it's not, you know sexual escapades
and taking one another to court and Fighting
over gifts of the spirit and who's superior and
all that Well, what we'll see in second Corinthians,
it's hoarding your goods It's you know, disdaining
the brother Paul, because you're going to say,
oh, you're a duplicitous, you're not to be trusted,
you're unfaithful. It's not one thing, it's another.
Chapter 2, 4, the last verse that Malise read
for us tells us that Paul wrote his first letter,
out of much affliction and anguish of heart,
with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to
let you know the abundant love that I have for
you. That is what he says. But he even says,
now I'm writing this instead of coming to you
because there is still a continual conflict between
us. We communally are still afflicted. There's
a communal affliction which Paul carries in these
words here in this letter. And here's probably
what I want to say. Brothers and sisters, isn't
this our life? What do I mean? We all bear afflictions
in our bodies and in our minds, in our hearts,
our mental distress. We all bear attacks on who
we are, on our person, lambasting us for one
reason or another, our character, our abilities,
not just middle school bullying, and we all know
communal strife. We know that in the context
of our families, but also we know that in the
context of church life. These are crosses that
you and I must bear, bodies that ail us, friends
who assail us, not just the foes who assail us.
And what's part of what's taking place, I think
part of what's happening here is, it's almost
as though Paul is saying, if it's not one thing,
it's another. Job tells us in chapter 5, man
is born to trouble as surely as the sparks fly
upward. And Paul is sort of just listing these
out, these afflictions out again and again. And
I guarantee you can do the same. And maybe, in
God's grace, you have not despaired unto death
itself, but my bet is that many of you have.
You have wondered. Life worth living. Should
I continue on? And in that, you also are wondering,
as the church in Corinth did, do I press on in
the faith? I have been shot at again and again.
My body has hurt time and time again. Does God
love me? Is there comfort for the afflicted?
Part of what's happening is that Paul has experienced
as we have this trouble that can just cause to
a despairing life He also knows that those experiences
cause many others to give up the faith the life
of following Christ Faith is being shot at through
our physical experience and through our personal
experience and our communal experiences. And
life here on this side of glory seems to just
be full of it. You know, we desire, you know,
greener postures. If only this thing would change,
if only I could get rid of that cancer, another
comes. If only that person wouldn't say this
to me, then another person starts saying something
else. If only I had kids and then you find out
that your sin is shown to you in ways that you
never imagined. Only if I had a different vocation
and then you find that once again there's an
affliction in that new one. I know it is tempting
to wish for the next stage of life. Dream of
a time when some affliction All affliction will
be gone. But one leads to another. It seems like
they just compound. As one passes, another comes.
I hope you know that I love being the pastor
of this church. I really do. But let me tell
you, without naming any names, As soon as one
seeming church trial seems to go to the wayside,
man, another comes. It's just the way things
are. It is. It is the way of this life. Affliction
trial crosses. And I know it's the case for you
as well. And Paul knew it was the case for the
Corinthian church. And their temptation, and
I guarantee it is your temptation, On one hand,
it's to say, I'm just gonna despair. And then
on the other, it's, I'm gonna listen to somebody
that says, no, the good news is not one of affliction.
You are for ease. Eloquence. It's all about the
good life. He says, this is a different kind
of gospel altogether. For many of you, the seeming,
Attack on your character and the dynamic at play
in your body. It does cause you to despair of
life But for many of you it also says maybe maybe
this whole good news of Jesus. It's not true
I need to find my life somewhere else But in
some ways I want to suggest to you this is where
comfort comes in For Paul here in these verses
comfort and affliction are intertwined You know
that those that chat that paragraph verses three
to seven there. It's full of comfort, but it's
also full of mentioning affliction. Because for
Paul, and for me and for you, if you are a Christian,
affliction and suffering is sharing in the afflictions
and sufferings of Christ. It is part and parcel
of the Christian life. God walking with us, us
living into the reality of Christ and His suffering
for us. And I want you to think about this. Our
Lord went from one trial to the next. Think with
me how He began His ministry there in the desert,
in the wilderness, being tempted by Satan. No
doubt a trial and affliction. And yet He goes
back to His hometown, to Nazareth. What happens
there? Out! A communal affliction. prophets not
welcome in his hometown, the unwelcome prophet.
And of course we could go on and on. But of course,
most of all, we can think about how he was lied
about at his crucifixion, how he was abandoned
at his crucifixion, how he was mocked at his
crucifixion, how he was spat upon at his crucifixion,
how the very community that looked to him as
the great leader abandoned him. Why? A desire
for ease. Thinking that glory can come without
a cross, that was their temptation, just like
it was the Corinthian temptation, just like it
is our temptation. In Christ's afflictions and
his suffering, we are told he brings comfort,
and it is the only way he does it. It is not
away from the cross, but it is only through the
cross that comfort comes. It was in his trials
that he was able to help those who are going
through trials. It was in his afflictions that
he meets us in our affliction. It is in his cross
where we know that we can patiently endure our
crosses. It is in his resurrection that we know
that we will not only share in his sufferings,
but brothers and sisters, you will share in his
glory. You will. We know this on an earthly level.
We know, I hope you know this actually, that
those who have borne suffering themselves are
so much better at walking into, sitting in, sympathizing
in, meeting you in your suffering. How much more
our Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself, can meet
you in your suffering, care for you attentively
in your suffering? And this is the good news
of Jesus. It's not a message that eschews affliction,
rather that seems as though it's those who are
actually being shot at, those who are being beat
down in mind and spirit. It seems as though he's
saying, it's actually right there that you know
my grace most fully. It's not throwing it aside,
but it's entering into it with my power, that
my power is made perfect. As Paul says here,
as we share abundantly in Christ's suffering,
so through Christ, we share abundantly in comfort,
too. That is the way of the Christian. Paul says
he knows it. He's speaking to the way the church
wants to say no to that. And he's saying this
is the way of life because it is the way of the
cross and the way of our Lord Jesus. Let me end
by sharing an illustration that I heard from
my pastor growing up. He says, historians tell
us that one of the reasons for Napoleon's remarkable
military success was the ability and fighting
spirit of his marshals, which were his senior
commanders. Napoleon knew how much he owed these
men. And here's the thing, Napoleon made these
marshals fabulously wealthy. unbelievably wealthy
in return. Virtually all the men were brave.
They were on the front lines and they were actually,
they were those who had fought and sort of earned
their rank. They were the furthest from sort
of the armchair soldiers, right? They were in
the battle themselves. One of them who was much
wounded was Francois Joseph Lefebvre. He had
come up through the ranks himself. He had been
a lowly sergeant and eventually got to this rank
of marshal and had been rewarded immensely for
his devotion and his courage to Napoleon. Anyway,
he was once asked to justify Napoleon's generosity
to his marshals. And this is what he said. We
will go down into my garden. I shall fire at
you 60 times. And if you're still alive at the
end, everything I have shall be yours. You think
that man took him up on that? Highly unlikely.
But conflict reveals character. Affliction reveals
faith. The crosses that we bear in a way show
how committed we are. to the cross of Christ.
So if a man like Napoleon knew the value of loyalty,
of bravery, of courage, of commitment in the
face of trial, brothers and sisters, how much
more our Lord Jesus? And if Napoleon knew the
afflictions that his soldiers went through out
of commitment to him, and he lavished on them,
all that He did. The scriptures tell us our Lord
will do so much more. I mean, the truth is affliction
in this life seems to never end. One cross seems
to be done, another is before us. And yet, our
Lord says that while this is the life that we
live now, there is a comfort beyond our imagining.
awaiting for us who hold fast to the cross of
Christ. Let's pray together. Lord, how tempted
we are, just like the Corinthian Church, to find
that it is in our trials and it is in our physical
ailments, it is in our personal afflictions,
it is in our communal distress that we want to
throw it all away. Because we long, in a way
Lord, we long most of all is for the peace of
Eden, the wonder of the new heavens and the new
earth. And yet God, so often we want it here
and we want it now and we think that the trials
of this life are not pictures of your grace for
us, but hindrances of it. God, I pray that we
would hide these words in our heart, that we
would not sin against you, that it is in our
affliction that we know the sufferings of Christ
and we receive the comforts of Christ. God, teach
us these things, Lord. Please. God, I pray that
we hear listening now. but maybe spend time this
afternoon contemplating how our trials have moved
us away from you. And yet, God, I pray that even
in those contemplations, that you would move
us toward yourself. That we would see that your
power is made perfect in our weakness. That the
afflictions of this life only serve Bring your
comfort and a greater desire for the life to
come For there will be no more crying or tears
or pain anymore They will be the former things
and you will reign as the lamb who was slain
who received Affliction here in this life on
our behalf that we might know the comfort of
the resurrection Pray this in Jesus name Thank
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