1 00:00:09,530 --> 00:00:16,149 Welcome to Moore in the Word, a podcast of Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia, that seeks 2 00:00:16,170 --> 00:00:21,280 to glorify God through biblically sound, thought-provoking, and challenging talks and interviews. 3 00:00:21,789 --> 00:00:28,720 In this episode, from a chapel service held on the first day of the academic term on the 17th of February, 2025. 4 00:00:29,180 --> 00:00:38,189 Mark Thompson, Principal of Moore Theological College, speaks on 2 Corinthians 1, verses 1 to 22, and the God of all comfort. 5 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:47,479 He encourages us to remember who God is and what he has done, and therefore, why we should listen to him in the midst of turmoil and distress. 6 00:00:48,219 --> 00:00:49,830 We hope you find the episode helpful. 7 00:00:53,810 --> 00:00:57,280 I'm so thankful to God as I look out on you all this afternoon. 8 00:00:57,530 --> 00:00:59,429 I'm absolutely thrilled that you're here. 9 00:01:00,035 --> 00:01:01,295 It is great to see you. 10 00:01:02,725 --> 00:01:10,465 This fellowship of living and learning together with its goal of preparing you to serve the people of God. 11 00:01:10,890 --> 00:01:12,190 is extraordinary. 12 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:13,870 It really is. 13 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,729 And each one of you has a very special part to play in it. 14 00:01:19,710 --> 00:01:24,840 God has some very significant things to teach you during the course of this year. 15 00:01:25,870 --> 00:01:35,450 There will be ups and downs for many of you, but it is a remarkable thing that God has done in your life to bring you to this point. 16 00:01:36,670 --> 00:01:38,340 The conversations you've had. 17 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:47,600 The desire to learn and serve that he's put in each one of you the details that have come together to get you here. 18 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:49,400 All of that has been God's work. 19 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:53,060 He has brought you here and I'm so very glad that he has. 20 00:01:54,330 --> 00:02:00,060 Uh, we formally begin our academic year with, uh, this service of the Lord's Supper sitting 21 00:02:00,060 --> 00:02:04,979 together under the word of God and sharing together in a meal that reminds us of God's grace. 22 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:11,650 Through the first term, as Andrew has pointed out, we'll be preaching through two Corinthians together. 23 00:02:12,170 --> 00:02:20,310 Um, and, um, I'm hoping that you'll find that here you have an insight into the Apostle Paul that you may not get anywhere else. 24 00:02:21,010 --> 00:02:24,160 It's a very revealing, uh, letter of Paul. 25 00:02:24,949 --> 00:02:35,210 So this afternoon, we come to hear what Paul the Apostle had to say to a church that was in turmoil and distress, and also what God has to say to us. 26 00:02:35,675 --> 00:02:37,045 In these same words. 27 00:02:37,635 --> 00:02:38,615 So let's pray together. 28 00:02:40,985 --> 00:02:51,645 Heavenly Father, we pray as we turn our attention to your word, that you might take all distractions from us and help us to hear your voice. 29 00:02:52,445 --> 00:03:00,825 That knowing what you would say to us, we might live as those who love your word and who seek to live in the light of it. 30 00:03:01,575 --> 00:03:07,175 Please move us by your spirit in that way, for we ask this of you in Jesus name. 31 00:03:08,075 --> 00:03:08,644 Amen. 32 00:03:10,615 --> 00:03:17,005 Well, it very quickly feels like you've walked into the middle of a conversation when you open up 2 Corinthians, doesn't it? 33 00:03:18,544 --> 00:03:22,904 It's clear that Paul, the writer of this letter, knows the people he's writing to. 34 00:03:23,910 --> 00:03:27,690 It's also clear that something has gone on between them. 35 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,450 It's not the first letter that Paul had written to them. 36 00:03:32,270 --> 00:03:37,579 If you piece together the clues from this letter and the other letter we still have that he wrote 37 00:03:37,579 --> 00:03:44,149 to them, 1 Corinthians, it seems this is most likely the fourth letter that he's written to them. 38 00:03:44,900 --> 00:03:48,200 We no longer have the first one and the third one, it seems. 39 00:03:49,050 --> 00:03:53,339 What we call 1 Corinthians was most likely the second letter that Paul had 40 00:03:53,339 --> 00:03:57,930 written to them, written a few years after the church had been planted by him. 41 00:03:58,939 --> 00:04:06,729 And after that letter, Paul made a beeline to them, and what he described as his painful visit took place. 42 00:04:07,829 --> 00:04:10,120 Perhaps there was a follow up visit after that as well. 43 00:04:10,950 --> 00:04:16,339 And then he shot them off another letter, that one's lost to us too, before finally writing this one. 44 00:04:17,255 --> 00:04:20,215 There has been a lot that has been going on between them. 45 00:04:21,094 --> 00:04:23,915 The joy of new life and a new church plant. 46 00:04:24,495 --> 00:04:31,324 The emergence of opposition and division and false teaching and immorality in the church. 47 00:04:31,455 --> 00:04:33,184 Uncomfortable discipline. 48 00:04:34,545 --> 00:04:37,544 Visitors arriving and saying they needn't have bothered anyway. 49 00:04:38,210 --> 00:04:39,940 They shouldn't have been listening to Paul. 50 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,550 What would he know about everyday struggles of people like us? 51 00:04:44,650 --> 00:04:54,659 And yet Paul reaches out to this precious group of people, still precious to him as well as precious to God, again and again and 52 00:04:54,659 --> 00:05:03,169 again through all that, when things began to take a turn for the worse in Corinth and when things there were in a dire state. 53 00:05:04,275 --> 00:05:13,055 urging them to put the gospel into practice, to let the gospel shape the way they dealt with each other and those who visited them from outside. 54 00:05:13,735 --> 00:05:23,155 And in this last letter, perhaps he was preparing them for one last visit, which he hopes will not be painful, but will rather 55 00:05:23,155 --> 00:05:31,765 see a genuine reconciliation between them, an aligning of their hearts and wills, and a renewed partnership in ministry. 56 00:05:33,700 --> 00:05:38,640 Many of you here this afternoon are preparing to go and serve in congregations of God's 57 00:05:38,690 --> 00:05:45,700 people, not too fundamentally different from the one Paul helped to establish in Corinth. 58 00:05:47,110 --> 00:05:58,399 There are great joys in that service, watching lost people grasp the gospel, what it means for the very first time, watching lives turn around. 59 00:05:58,790 --> 00:06:02,470 Sometimes rapidly, sometimes more gradually. 60 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:11,059 I'm reminded of a Bible study group of older men that I took once, where one man hardly ever spoke and never prayed. 61 00:06:12,765 --> 00:06:17,765 But his friends kept bringing him along, and I was just blown away when after about a year and 62 00:06:17,765 --> 00:06:25,085 a half, one night, he led us in prayer and began to show all the signs of suddenly coming alive. 63 00:06:26,854 --> 00:06:33,714 But there will inevitably be times of struggle as well, disappointment and grief, and I don't mean just yours. 64 00:06:35,180 --> 00:06:40,409 I'm thinking of those occasions when the people you serve are suffering, and what's 65 00:06:40,409 --> 00:06:46,159 happening, and the magnitude of what is happening, just doesn't make sense to them or to you. 66 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:56,569 Over the past few years, I've heard and watched congregations of God's people battered and bruised by failure, overcome 67 00:06:56,570 --> 00:07:04,859 with confusion and deep sadness, division tearing them apart, and Christians just refusing to talk to one another. 68 00:07:06,615 --> 00:07:14,445 Moral failure by someone they trusted, sometimes by one who's been instrumental in bringing many of them to Christ. 69 00:07:14,695 --> 00:07:18,355 The scars and wounds it leaves remains for many years. 70 00:07:18,965 --> 00:07:21,085 I know a congregation that suffered, 71 00:07:23,295 --> 00:07:26,075 suffered the serial adultery of their senior minister. 72 00:07:27,035 --> 00:07:33,385 And it seemed as if each week new victims kept emerging, and the grief of that whole congregation 73 00:07:33,385 --> 00:07:41,484 was real, the faith of many was shaken, and the ramifications are still being felt years later. 74 00:07:42,855 --> 00:07:49,244 Allegations of misconduct, past or present, even after the person concerned has died. 75 00:07:50,060 --> 00:07:58,050 can bring the same disillusionment and distress, grief and guilt, frustration and fear. 76 00:07:58,650 --> 00:08:01,040 And some of us are in the midst of that right now. 77 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:11,259 Or false teaching, the peddling of some new idea that draws attention away from the cross and resurrection of Jesus, away from 78 00:08:11,259 --> 00:08:19,870 the authority, truthfulness, sufficiency, and power of His Word given to us by the apostles, and promising something better. 79 00:08:23,025 --> 00:08:29,815 If you read through 1 Corinthians and then on into 2 Corinthians, you'll see that they had it all. 80 00:08:30,745 --> 00:08:34,925 The trifecta of division, immorality, and false teaching, 81 00:08:37,015 --> 00:08:38,904 but Paul has refused to give up on them. 82 00:08:40,164 --> 00:08:47,465 For the fourth time, he writes to them, and in this letter, as much as any other, you hear and see Paul the pastor. 83 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,380 Yes, he writes to them with all the authority of an apostle. 84 00:08:53,060 --> 00:08:56,060 It's important that he reminds them of that right at the beginning of the letter. 85 00:08:57,270 --> 00:09:04,359 But he writes also as one who is walking through all this with them, who understands 86 00:09:04,359 --> 00:09:10,940 their pain right up close, and who won't Back away, because he loves them. 87 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:13,100 He grieves with them. 88 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:16,030 He wrestles the issues with them. 89 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:17,750 He prays with them. 90 00:09:19,489 --> 00:09:27,290 So listen again to how he starts this letter, his fourth and perhaps his final letter to the Christians in Corinth. 91 00:09:28,780 --> 00:09:35,850 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercy and God of all comfort. 92 00:09:36,625 --> 00:09:42,365 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are 93 00:09:42,365 --> 00:09:49,945 in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted by God. 94 00:09:50,515 --> 00:09:56,765 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 95 00:09:57,510 --> 00:10:00,640 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. 96 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:07,620 If we are comforted, it's for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 97 00:10:08,569 --> 00:10:15,790 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. 98 00:10:16,659 --> 00:10:17,750 So it's not a letter of rebuke. 99 00:10:19,590 --> 00:10:21,450 At least that's not how he begins. 100 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:25,410 He wants them to know real comfort. 101 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:29,810 He wants them to remember what God is like. 102 00:10:31,510 --> 00:10:36,559 What he wants to bring to them is anchored in the person and character of God. 103 00:10:36,559 --> 00:10:40,820 In other words, he begins in a richly theological way. 104 00:10:41,899 --> 00:10:48,980 He reminds them that the one true and living God is a God of mercy, indeed the Father of mercy. 105 00:10:50,015 --> 00:10:51,984 And he is the God of all comfort. 106 00:10:53,114 --> 00:10:55,045 He comforts those who need it. 107 00:10:56,045 --> 00:10:58,905 And he gives that comfort so that they might comfort others. 108 00:10:59,805 --> 00:11:07,335 You see, the very first point Paul makes in this letter is, remember what God is like, the God of all comfort. 109 00:11:08,765 --> 00:11:12,415 Paul doesn't narrow in on their affliction in the first paragraph. 110 00:11:12,905 --> 00:11:21,255 He doesn't tell them, uh, that their affliction is not real or not insignificant or something they can and should easily overcome. 111 00:11:21,810 --> 00:11:25,200 He certainly doesn't tell them that they brought it all upon themselves. 112 00:11:25,970 --> 00:11:31,409 He knows very well that their disappointments, discouragements, and even grief are not unimportant. 113 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:34,240 But that's not where he starts. 114 00:11:35,470 --> 00:11:41,079 He starts with God, praising God for who He is and what He's like. 115 00:11:42,099 --> 00:11:50,219 What the Corinthians need to know and rejoice in is that God is the Father of mercy and the God of all comfort. 116 00:11:52,140 --> 00:11:54,160 And here's one of the first surprises of the letter. 117 00:11:54,170 --> 00:11:56,069 Why do they need to be confident? 118 00:11:57,810 --> 00:12:02,789 Yes, if we'd been following the Corinthian soap opera, uh, we'd know that they were deeply 119 00:12:02,810 --> 00:12:07,680 grieved by the letters that Paul had sent them before this one, and by the painful visit. 120 00:12:08,969 --> 00:12:14,310 We'd have heard how very serious moral failure had polluted them, and how 121 00:12:14,310 --> 00:12:19,560 confusion and division on a whole range of matters had been tearing them apart. 122 00:12:19,810 --> 00:12:21,790 How to deal with that moral failure. 123 00:12:22,319 --> 00:12:24,209 What to think about marriage. 124 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:29,340 Whether it's alright to eat the bargain priced meat sold at the local idol temple. 125 00:12:30,260 --> 00:12:31,840 What to do when they get together. 126 00:12:31,860 --> 00:12:33,570 How they should view spiritual gifts. 127 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:35,610 Even what's meant by the resurrection. 128 00:12:36,810 --> 00:12:39,910 They'd been through a lot over the past couple of years. 129 00:12:41,220 --> 00:12:43,344 But just as real as that. 130 00:12:45,075 --> 00:12:50,725 Is what they've heard had been happening to Paul, Paul, the apostle, Paul, the 131 00:12:50,905 --> 00:12:55,035 chosen messenger, the one who'd brought the gospel to them in the first place. 132 00:12:55,195 --> 00:13:00,675 What had been happening to him while he was away from them in some measure, 133 00:13:00,675 --> 00:13:05,535 they needed to be comfort because comforted because of their distress about him. 134 00:13:07,614 --> 00:13:12,300 We don't have to try and reconstruct, reconstruct the circumstances that caused them such great concern about Paul. 135 00:13:12,300 --> 00:13:14,808 He goes straight on to tell them about it. 136 00:13:14,808 --> 00:13:16,479 Take a look at verse 8. 137 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:21,790 Well, we don't want you to be ignorant brothers of the affliction we experienced in Asia. 138 00:13:22,420 --> 00:13:27,840 For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despised of, uh, despaired of life itself. 139 00:13:28,530 --> 00:13:38,130 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. 140 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:42,140 He delivered us from such a deadly peril and He will deliver us. 141 00:13:42,660 --> 00:13:46,300 On Him we have set our hope that He will deliver us again. 142 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:54,090 You also must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. 143 00:13:55,280 --> 00:14:00,870 Uh, more, if you want more details about what happened to Paul in Ephesus, they can be found in Acts 19. 144 00:14:01,510 --> 00:14:07,299 In just over the two years Paul had spent in Ephesus, he'd seen a great harvest for the gospel. 145 00:14:08,035 --> 00:14:10,575 But he'd also faced the fiercest opposition. 146 00:14:11,435 --> 00:14:17,275 The followers of the goddess Artemis had rioted against him and virtually hunted him out of town. 147 00:14:18,455 --> 00:14:29,774 So the man who had been walking with the Corinthians through all their troubles, who had persevered with them, kept on loving them with hard 148 00:14:29,784 --> 00:14:39,215 words and with gentle words, who'd written to them repeatedly and visited them as well, had himself been going through the most horrendous time. 149 00:14:40,890 --> 00:14:44,910 They might not have known all the details before this point, they might not have understood 150 00:14:44,939 --> 00:14:48,810 Paul's perspective on everything that happened, but they knew that he was suffering. 151 00:14:50,099 --> 00:14:58,090 And the point is that God is able to comfort the messenger, as well as those who have come to faith through the message. 152 00:14:59,570 --> 00:15:05,810 God is the God of comfort for the Corinthians, but he's also the God of comfort for Paul. 153 00:15:07,140 --> 00:15:10,970 And he is the God who comforts the Corinthians through Paul. 154 00:15:11,645 --> 00:15:12,545 And about Paul. 155 00:15:13,975 --> 00:15:23,875 Paul was, uh, taken to the limits, but he says that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. 156 00:15:25,415 --> 00:15:34,695 Paul knew, you see, that his only hope and comfort lay in God himself, the God whose character is forever displayed in the cross of Christ. 157 00:15:36,335 --> 00:15:45,520 Friends, there will be times when those you serve Need to be reminded that God is the 158 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:52,049 Father of mercy and the God of all comfort, and that they can cast their cares on Him. 159 00:15:54,140 --> 00:15:59,829 And there will be times when it is you who needs to remember that. 160 00:16:01,439 --> 00:16:10,729 Where affliction will come, but God comforts us in our affliction, and He comforts us so that we might share that comfort with others. 161 00:16:11,395 --> 00:16:13,475 The clouds might be very dark indeed. 162 00:16:13,485 --> 00:16:16,885 They were for the Corinthians at points, and for Paul too. 163 00:16:18,895 --> 00:16:22,245 And at one point or another, they will be very dark for you. 164 00:16:23,975 --> 00:16:31,385 But that is never evidence that God has abandoned you, that He's given up on you, at every point. 165 00:16:31,915 --> 00:16:39,275 Whether to the congregation or to the minister of the Word, God remains the God of all comfort. 166 00:16:41,905 --> 00:16:45,154 You've tasted the greatest deliverance after all. 167 00:16:45,865 --> 00:16:51,465 Deliverance from sin, from death, the devil, and judgment, and you can trust 168 00:16:51,465 --> 00:16:57,545 Him to deliver you in and through the most distressing circumstances you face. 169 00:16:59,365 --> 00:17:07,125 See, Paul's comforting of the Corinthians was not something abstract, was not something just purely theological that he 170 00:17:07,125 --> 00:17:14,625 could tick the box and say he'd said something orthodox to them, something Paul thought was just the right things to say. 171 00:17:15,675 --> 00:17:17,335 He knew it deeply. 172 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:27,160 And personally and powerfully in the first section of this letter, Paul ties his behavior towards 173 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:34,990 the Corinthians in the closest way he can to the behavior, the nature and character of God. 174 00:17:36,550 --> 00:17:44,870 God is the God of all comfort, and he, Paul, wants to comfort the Corinthians with the comfort God has given him. 175 00:17:46,500 --> 00:17:54,230 And then he goes on to say something else about the way he's acted towards them, and tie that, too, in the closest possible way to God. 176 00:17:54,965 --> 00:17:56,365 Listen again to the last part. 177 00:17:57,355 --> 00:18:04,975 For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity 178 00:18:05,174 --> 00:18:12,155 and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 179 00:18:13,155 --> 00:18:19,275 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and acknowledge, and I hope you will fully acknowledge, 180 00:18:19,275 --> 00:18:25,925 just as you partially acknowledged us, that on the day of our Lord Jesus, you will boast of us as we boast of you. 181 00:18:27,125 --> 00:18:33,925 Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you at first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. 182 00:18:34,445 --> 00:18:40,924 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 183 00:18:41,145 --> 00:18:43,785 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? 184 00:18:44,574 --> 00:18:50,395 Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say, Yes, yes, and no, no, at 185 00:18:50,395 --> 00:18:56,584 the same time, as surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been yes and no. 186 00:18:57,525 --> 00:19:07,635 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, When we proclaimed among you, Sylvanus, Timothy, and I, was not yes and no, but in Him it is always yes. 187 00:19:08,455 --> 00:19:12,935 For all the promises of God find their yes in Him. 188 00:19:13,895 --> 00:19:17,945 That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory. 189 00:19:18,764 --> 00:19:24,555 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us. 190 00:19:25,055 --> 00:19:29,185 And has put his seal on us and given his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. 191 00:19:29,215 --> 00:19:30,045 Do you see the point? 192 00:19:31,815 --> 00:19:42,705 Paul insists that he has behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, and supremely so towards them. 193 00:19:43,785 --> 00:19:45,465 But he wants to say more than that. 194 00:19:46,445 --> 00:19:52,975 Paul has wanted to act towards them in the same way that God has acted towards them and towards Paul. 195 00:19:53,905 --> 00:20:01,815 On the surface, this might have looked as if Paul was the one who moved backwards and forwards, changing his mind one day yes and the next day no. 196 00:20:01,995 --> 00:20:06,095 After all, hadn't he not come to them as they'd expected? 197 00:20:06,424 --> 00:20:07,285 Is he coming? 198 00:20:07,385 --> 00:20:08,375 Is he not coming? 199 00:20:09,235 --> 00:20:12,445 Perhaps some of the mischief makers in Corinth were making much of this. 200 00:20:12,805 --> 00:20:16,774 saying he can't be trusted, that his word doesn't mean anything. 201 00:20:17,405 --> 00:20:21,415 We'll see as we go through this letter that there were some who were trying to undermine him. 202 00:20:22,785 --> 00:20:31,944 But Paul values simplicity and godly sincerity because that's the way God has acted toward us. 203 00:20:33,665 --> 00:20:39,565 The simple truth at the heart of it all is that all that has been done in the Old 204 00:20:39,565 --> 00:20:45,104 Testament, and even among them as young believers in Christ in Corinth, is this. 205 00:20:45,735 --> 00:20:49,945 All of it is in fulfillment of the promises that he has made. 206 00:20:50,245 --> 00:20:53,155 All the promises of God find their yes in him. 207 00:20:54,125 --> 00:20:56,665 God, you see, has not promised and drawn back. 208 00:20:57,335 --> 00:21:02,995 He hasn't been tricksy or underhanded or too clever by half like earthly wisdom. 209 00:21:04,010 --> 00:21:11,510 It's all been about Jesus, quite simply, quite sincerely, placarding Jesus across the universe, 210 00:21:12,090 --> 00:21:18,250 presenting Jesus to his human creatures, calling to Jesus he's chosen before the foundation of the world. 211 00:21:18,349 --> 00:21:19,870 It's all about Jesus. 212 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:26,640 And Paul wants the Corinthians to know that he, Paul, has acted in the same way towards 213 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:35,500 them, with simplicity and godly sincerity, all about Jesus rather than about himself. 214 00:21:37,570 --> 00:21:40,219 The Corinthians and Paul share this. 215 00:21:41,399 --> 00:21:43,669 That they have been brought together in Christ. 216 00:21:43,679 --> 00:21:45,300 Did you see that phrase in verse 21? 217 00:21:46,060 --> 00:21:49,909 Us with you in Christ. 218 00:21:51,649 --> 00:22:00,310 Not Paul at some distance from them, unapproachable by them, immune from the rough and tumble of life they had to endure. 219 00:22:01,529 --> 00:22:08,529 They shared in his sufferings, Paul wrote in verse 7, And they with him have been anointed, 220 00:22:08,540 --> 00:22:14,960 have received God's seal and have been given his spirit in their hearts as a guarantee. 221 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:24,039 All through this letter of Paul to the Corinthians, we will be shown Paul the pastor's heart. 222 00:22:25,670 --> 00:22:32,480 We've shown how much Paul identifies with those he serves rather than standing over against them. 223 00:22:33,590 --> 00:22:38,980 And we've shown that the glory of the new covenant ministry to which Paul has been called 224 00:22:39,550 --> 00:22:47,039 consists in this humble sense of partnership with the people whom God has entrusted to him. 225 00:22:47,839 --> 00:22:55,669 Walking through life with them, pointing them back to who God is, what God is like, what God has done. 226 00:22:57,400 --> 00:22:59,360 The God of all comfort. 227 00:23:00,550 --> 00:23:06,580 He brings real, genuine, lasting comfort, because He's the Father of mercies. 228 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:16,040 The God who does not vacillate, but brings all His promises to their great fulfillment, their yes, in Jesus Christ. 229 00:23:17,079 --> 00:23:23,249 The Corinthians needed to be reminded of those things, after all they'd been through. 230 00:23:23,989 --> 00:23:34,159 And all they'd heard that Paul had been through and friends, we need to be reminded of that too, as you prepare here at more 231 00:23:34,159 --> 00:23:47,299 college for the extraordinary privilege of living and loving and serving the people for whom Christ died, these two moves that 232 00:23:47,299 --> 00:23:57,199 Paul makes right here at the first chapter of this letter are incredibly precious and valuable point to God away from yourself. 233 00:23:58,175 --> 00:24:09,254 Away from the fractured context of our relationship, first and foremost to God, who He is, what He is like, what He has done. 234 00:24:10,745 --> 00:24:11,524 And the other move? 235 00:24:13,135 --> 00:24:17,424 Model how you behave towards those put in your care 236 00:24:19,455 --> 00:24:23,655 on how God has behaved towards you and them. 237 00:24:25,634 --> 00:24:26,605 Now that's a challenge. 238 00:24:28,514 --> 00:24:30,485 That we will see lies at the centre. 239 00:24:30,550 --> 00:24:36,779 And that is the blood that pumps through the pastor's heart. 240 00:24:38,580 --> 00:24:45,639 So let's pray that God might help us to be like that in the light of God being like that. 241 00:24:47,220 --> 00:24:53,540 Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are the God of all mercies and comfort. 242 00:24:54,489 --> 00:25:01,850 And at various points, perhaps even now, some in this room desperately need the comfort that comes only from you. 243 00:25:03,410 --> 00:25:10,120 And so we pray, would you turn our eyes towards you and towards the cross of the Lord Jesus in which 244 00:25:10,270 --> 00:25:17,959 we see you perfectly displayed as we share in this supper and remember what has been done for us. 245 00:25:17,959 --> 00:25:22,810 Help us to remember that you are the Father of mercy and the God of all comfort. 246 00:25:24,340 --> 00:25:27,730 And you do not stand at a distance from us, but you draw us close. 247 00:25:28,780 --> 00:25:35,180 And would you so work in us, that as we seek to serve your people, we might be like 248 00:25:35,180 --> 00:25:41,799 you, sharing that comfort that we have received from you, and modeling our behavior. 249 00:25:42,590 --> 00:25:49,080 On the way you have behaved towards us, and this we ask of you, in the name of Jesus. 250 00:25:49,989 --> 00:25:50,389 Amen. 251 00:25:58,149 --> 00:26:02,899 Thank you for listening to Moore in the Word, a podcast of Moore Theological College. 252 00:26:03,319 --> 00:26:08,009 Our vision as a College is to see God glorified by men and women, living for 253 00:26:08,009 --> 00:26:13,009 and proclaiming Jesus Christ, growing healthy churches, and reaching the lost. 254 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,400 As you come to teach others the Bible, do you wish you had the skills to approach a 255 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:21,480 passage, or different books and genres from the Old and New Testament with confidence? 256 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:29,460 Graduates testify to the value of the Diploma of Biblical Theology, or DBT, an accredited online course. 257 00:26:29,889 --> 00:26:36,860 With the flexibility to undertake study part-time or full-time, the DBT enables you to study wherever you are. 258 00:26:37,550 --> 00:26:46,075 As Jude, a recent graduate of the DBT, says, “For me, the DBT has really enhanced me with the knowledge and capacity to be 259 00:26:46,125 --> 00:26:53,955 able to help the people I work with and I minister to, to come to that knowledge and experience of the Lord Jesus Christ.” 260 00:26:54,465 --> 00:27:02,164 Find out more or apply by visiting moore.edu.au/dbt. 261 00:27:02,725 --> 00:27:06,425 That's moore.edu.au/dbt. 262 00:27:12,295 --> 00:27:15,225 You can find out more and register for any of our events. 263 00:27:18,325 --> 00:27:26,384 That's moore.edu.au. If you have not already done so, we encourage you to 264 00:27:26,385 --> 00:27:31,654 subscribe to our podcast through your favorite podcast platform so that you'll never miss an episode. 265 00:27:32,354 --> 00:27:37,334 For past episodes, further resources, and to make a tax deductible donation to support the 266 00:27:37,334 --> 00:27:43,644 work of the college and its mission, please visit our website at moore.edu.au. 267 00:27:44,274 --> 00:27:45,634 If you found this episode helpful, 268 00:27:46,030 --> 00:27:50,000 please share it with a friend and leave a review on your platform of choice. 269 00:27:50,830 --> 00:27:57,180 We always benefit from feedback from our listeners, so if you'd like to get in touch, you can email us at comms@moore. 270 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:00,740 edu. 271 00:28:00,879 --> 00:28:00,889 au. 272 00:28:02,595 --> 00:28:10,995 The Moore in the Word podcast was edited and produced by me, Karen Beilharz and the Communications Team at Moore Theological College. 273 00:28:11,465 --> 00:28:15,455 The music for our podcast was provided by MarkJuly from Pixabay. 274 00:28:16,084 --> 00:28:16,855 Until next time.