The Amazing Principle Of Using The Gift Of Comfort From God To Share The Gift With Others For Their Comfort
2 Corinthians 1:3-8
(Children’s Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes for young children to answer are throughout sermon)Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church
Please turn to 2 Corinthians 1:3-8. 2 Corinthians 1:3-8 is our primary passage under study. As you are turning there, I would like you to please listen along with me by opening up your mind’s eye to look back at the events of 2000 years ago. The time was the night when Jesus was betrayed to be crucified. Jesus was keeping the passover remembrance ceremony with His students. Think about the contextual atmosphere of the culture, the timing, and the expectations of all those who were there. The Jews had been waiting for their Messiah for centuries. They were eagerly looking for the prophecies to be fulfilled from the ancient past. The hope of those men that night was that Jesus was, in fact, the true Messianic King who had come to deliver Israel. They were tired of the bondage that genetic Israelites had been subjected to from Rome. They were tired of the corrupt Herodians who ruled as Jews, but were really a hybrid secular pawn of sin and corruption. They were wearied of the hypocrisy and convoluted teachings of the Scribes, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees. With this as the sense of the times, those men and women who were there with Jesus had walked with Him all across the lands of Israel. They saw Him teach in such a way as to astound hypocrites, convict hearts, and soothe the souls of His elect remnant. They had been with Jesus and witnessed him seeing into hearts and exposing the thoughts of men. They had seen Him prophecy amazing things. They saw Him perform miracles that saved people’s lives, healed people’s diseases, fed people in their hunger, and even raised the dead back to physical life. Those students there that night, had walked with Jesus through Galilee. They had walked with Him through Samaria. They had been with Him on the sea. And now they are gathered there at the passover meal celebration. Then Jesus assures them of something that is an absolutely amazing revelation. What Jesus said was both encouraging, and faith building concerning what they wanted to hear. It was like fresh pools of comforting water. Luke records it in Luke 22:28-30. Jesus said,
"28 You are those who have stood by Me in My trials; 29 and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you 30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Luke 22:28-30
Jesus plainly told them that His Father had already granted Him a kingdom. In the same way, their Messiah they were hoping in tells them that He has also granted to them to eat and drink at the King’s table. He has granted them that they will sit on judgement thrones, judging Israel. The allusion is that they will judge Israel in respect to the lost sheep of the house of Israel who truly embraced God through Him (Jesus as the true Messiah) and they will judge those who rejected God, made evident in rejecting Christ. So, in hope, they were looking for a grand deliverance in their own time which matched, and even surpassed the saving exodus they were celebrating in passover. They were looking forward to entering into a promised land experience that would eclipse the one their forefathers marched into over a thousand years before. Can you imagine sitting there that night? In such instances of relentless hoping, dreaming, and dedication, men who do not typically cry, can be seen becoming teary eyed with an indescribable mixture of joy, encouragement, and comfort cascading over them in an overwhelming flood of emotional response. But look at the next verse. Jesus did not break his revelation. He kept talking, and notice what he said as He addressed Peter,
“31 Simon, Simon, [Peter] behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift all of you [this Greek pronoun is plural] like wheat;” Luke 22:31
Wow. That was an unexpected dark-cloud. Now as we consider these things that happened to those men who followed Christ in His pre-cross ministry, I want us to think about ourselves now in Christ’s post-cross ministry--in the New Covenant. Consider how dark clouds come into our lives. They cast shadows on us as Christians today. In the midst of encouragement and amazing faith building experiences where we swim happily along in fresh pools of comforting water, unexpected clouds come along. The present world of Satan sifts us like wheat. It is the kind of teary eyed experience that is far, far, from joy, encouragement, and comfort. But look at the next verse. Jesus was not finished with His revelation. The Greek indicates with a plural pronoun that Jesus had been talking to Simon Peter in such a way as to be explaining that Satan had sought permission to sift all the students like wheat. But then Jesus focuses upon Peter. Jesus refers to Peter specifically by saying “you” singular in verse 32. Jesus says to Peter,
“32 but I have prayed for you [for Peter specifically], that your faith may not fail; and you, [Peter] when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.' [Jesus is talking about strengthening the other disciples] 33 But he [Peter] said to Him, 'Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!' 34 And He [Jesus] said, 'I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.'" Luke 22:31-34
Can you imagine Jesus saying something like that to you? Think about how confusing it must have been for Peter to hear this. Now the dark cloud had turned to a violent thunder storm. But I want us to particularly consider what Jesus said to Peter at verse 32,
"32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.'" Luke 22:32
@1 In Christ’s pre-cross ministry in the Old Covenant, He demonstrated His intercession for His elect to keep their ______________ from failing. In the New Covenant, Christ in continuous intercession for all of us who are saved, makes our faith persevere by His indwelling Spirit. Luke 22:32 (faith)
The point is that Jesus knows that Peter will have a temporary lapse of character. Jesus essentially tells Peter what his unchangeable destiny is--or I should say that Jesus told Peter what his unchangeable destiny must necessarily be. But Peter doesn’t want to hear it. It is so disturbing to Peter that he even has the gaul to argue with Jesus about it. But it doesn’t matter whether Peter wants to argue with Jesus. Why? Because Peter’s destiny was set. Peter must, and was, necessarily going to deny that he knew who Jesus was. The storm was going to turn into a hurricane, and for Peter, that is what his life had in store whether he liked it or not. In fact, we read more details of the storm in Matthew 26. Essentially all of the Messiah’s students would run away that night because of the betrayal of Jesus. And it was ordained and written in the ancient prophecy that this tsunami experience will overwhelm them and will wash them away, Matthew 26:31,
“I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.” Matthew 26:31
All of this happened exactly like it was ordained to happen. When Jesus was betrayed, all the students who envisioned themselves sitting resolutely on shining thrones of glory, ran away from the garden of Gethsemane in the darkness of a night that seemed like it would never end. Peter, in fear, went on that night to do what he had to do even though he argued that he would not do it. Peter denied that He knew who Jesus was. Later after he denied Jesus three different times, Peter wailed in sorrow at what he had done. But look again at that revelation. Look and think about the fact that with God, though there is a hurricane below, the sun is always shining above the storm--always. In the eye of the storm there is always life sustaining light,
"32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.'" Luke 22:32
The light is that Christ had prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail. This supernatural intervention of God would be Peter’s comfort. Think about this. It was because of the intercession of Christ that Peter’s faith did not fail. In the same way that the God of the universe ordained everything else that Peter went through, the God of all comfort and Father of mercies ordained this too. And think about how the rest of those students were stunned into a state of shock. Their great teacher and Messiah was yanked away like a thug caught in a crime, He was mocked, beaten, and crucified naked before their eyes. Days passed after Jesus was buried. The atmosphere of the students was one of weakened faith. Any previous thoughts of glorious thrones were now depressing thoughts of failed hopes and dreams. There was no immediate comfort. The pool was dry. But the sunlight was there. Remember,
"32 but I have prayed for you [Peter], that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.'" Luke 22:32
God had ordained that Peter would become part of the storm calming encouragement for those who had placed their hope in Jesus as the Messiah. This is also how God works in our lives too. He comforts us in all our affliction; and there is a principle reason that the Spirit is wanting to bring out. It is so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Just as our sufferings are in abundance, so also is our comfort. And so, the question is,
What did Peter do?
The answer is that he strengthened and encouraged His brothers with His ministry, His testimony, and with His life. Peter brought the good news to comfort the souls of multitudes--not just the core disciples, but all those Israelites across the land who had embraced Jesus as the Messiah. Through Peter’s hardship and encouragement that came to Him through the prophetic prayers of Jesus, Peter was able to go on to share the same encouragement, the same strengthening of faith, and the same comfort, to His brothers and sisters. Peter exercised the amazing principle of using the gift of comfort from God to share the gift with others for their comfort. This is the same theme that Paul touches upon in our 2 Corinthians 1:3-8 text. We’re going to learn from it for our life’s application. So please read with me starting in 2 Corinthians 1:3,
“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 will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the [your] patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; 7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort. 8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers [NET and sisters], of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life;” 2 Corinthians 1:3-8
Please prepare your heart to learn along with me in this sermon with the theme,
The Amazing Principle Of Using The Gift Of Comfort From God To Share The Gift With Others For Their Comfort
[Prayer]
As the theme declares, this principle is truly amazing. What is more, is that it is meant for every member of the body. It’s meant for you.
/1/
Keeping this in mind, the first point that I want us to explore for application to our lives is the foundation. It is the fact that the comfort we receive from God is not something that is meant to be private. The comfort we receive from God is one of His powerful ministry tools He has supplied us with for comforting others. Notice that Paul specifically says that this is the reason he and Timothy are comforted. Look at verse 3,
“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
[When Paul says “so that” right here, he is saying that what he just said is the reason that is connected to what he is about to say. So, Paul says that God comforts us in all our affliction “so that”]
we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
[This is what I am calling “the amazing principle.” It is also the second bulletin question;
@2 Our Father God comforts us in all our affliction, ______ ____________________ we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3 (so that)
And there is no mistake here about what Paul is saying either. God comforted the apostles in all their affliction so that, as in, to the end that, as in, for the purpose that, they will be able to comfort others with the same comfort in whatever other Christians experience in any affliction. So this is our principle stated plainly. But there is more. Notice verse 5,]
5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the [your] patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;
[At the fundamental level, this is simply another declaration of God’s sovereignty. And notice the principle of how comprehensive God’s sovereign hand works in our lives. The main sense, is that our affliction for ministering, for following Christ, and for living godly in Christ Jesus, is because of our spiritual endeavors in following our Lord; and the accompanying pool of comfort that you enjoy from the Lord, as your faith strengthening drink, is also for others too--not just yourself. When you share the comfort in an effort to build others up and strengthen them, it helps others to patiently endure the same kinds of sufferings. This is what we want because this is what God wants in doing all of this. And Paul goes on, verse]
7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3-
In Paul’s personal interactions with the Corinthians (in light of the way all Christians are connected spiritually) the faithful in the Corinthian church were suffering for taking a stand for the truth too. Those faithful ones were suffering for manifesting godliness in following the apostolic traditions they were discipled in. So think about this; In the same way that they shared in fellowship with Paul in suffering for the same reasons in togetherness, they also share in the comfort from the comfort which the apostles received from the God of all comfort and Father of all mercies.
Now think about this in respect to whenever you experience suffering. Think about this in respect to whenever you experience encouraging, faith building comfort in the midst of suffering. When Paul specifically says that the comfort of the Corinthian body of Christ is the reason he and Timothy are comforted, Paul is not negating that God had Paul personally in mind as Paul’s comforter and the Father of mercies for Paul. This is important, because God did have Paul in mind. This is precisely the point. God has you in mind too. He cares for you. When you suffer as a Christian and experience the encouraging comfort from your Father in heaven in which you comfort others with the same encouraging comfort, your Father has you in mind in comforting you specifically. So, the comfort and mercy came to Paul the person specifically by the loving, caring, enabling hand of God. In other words, God wanted to comfort Paul for Paul’s benefit. Whenever God comforts you, He does it for your personal benefit. When Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail, He was praying it for Peter’s personal benefit. Immediately, we would say that this is the obvious. But what the Spirit is indicating through this interaction that Paul has recorded by the same Spirit, is that God always has much more in mind with you than the obvious. Remember, this is a sovereignty issue. This is another reason why the full revelations from God’s word are so important.
How many of us admit that we can tend to become narrow minded when it comes to our own experiences? I know I can. Suffering is an arena where this can happen. When you are suffering, you are not typically thinking about others. What are you thinking about?--Yourself suffering. But the Spirit wants our tunnel vision to be opened by God’s revelation. When it is, we see a panoramic view of God’s sovereign hand when we suffer for others like in ministry, or heroism, or in a life experience that has a spiritual lesson in it, and so forth. Now think about how your comfort, and your faith, is your own experience. But the Spirit wants us to get a panoramic view of it that goes beyond just you. The Spirit wants you to become a minister for the moment by seeing the comfort, encouragement, and faith that you have from God, as special building-tools that God has equipped you with for others to be strengthen by too. Let’s take a moment to look beyond the obvious with this situation with Paul and the Corinthians. Let’s consider the panoramic view for a moment. Throughout the apostolic ministry of the first generation, God had the comfort of His apostles in mind, plus a whole bunch more. Right before Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians, Paul expected to meet up with Titus in Troas but could not find him there. So Paul went onward with his missional journey to sail over to Macedonia where he hoped to find Titus. In the meantime, Paul had the love of Christ. He truly cared for every Christian with a Spirit-led heart, and so he was concerned with the state of the Corinthian church. His last visit indicated that problems were still brewing there. That visit left Paul in sorrow. Because of that sorrowful visit that Paul had in Corinth, he wrote them a scathing letter of rebuke and correction. It was a very severe letter in which he wrote in deep grief as he wept according to 2 Corinthians 2:3-4. When Paul got to Macedonia, he finally found Titus by God’s providential hand. Now think about how God works in our lives. What did Titus do? Titus comforted Paul with good news from Corinth concerning the faithful Christians there. Evidently Paul’s letter had caused the Corinthians godly sorrow that led to repentance. This was one part of God’s continuous comforting process that He would minister to Paul in various ways. It is also part of the panoramic view of the bigger picture. Remember, there is always a bigger picture in your life--whatever your going through. God is always working in the events of your life. Keep this in mind as we focus-in on more areas. We see that God also had the comfort of the Corinthians in mind in their own dramas of Christian life too. We all have dramas in our lives. Think about how God’s faithful ones in Corinth were listening to Paul and following his ways of discipleship despite of the opposition from factionizing types. In other words, the true Christians, who were living according to the leading of the Spirit, were set on living by the word of God. Living according to the word of God might sound like a comforting pool for floating along in life in ease, but it is not. Listen to me; God never said that living for Him according to His word, would be easy. He never said that your faith would not be tested as you live for Him. In fact, He says that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 2 Timothy 3:12. He says that the testing of our faith produces endurance, James 1:3. Paul went through this. The Corinthian faithful went through this. These same rules which applied to the Corinthian Christians, are rules of the present kingdom; so you will go through this too. Those particular Corinthian Christians had clearly, and surely, demonstrated to Titus that they were following the Holy Spirit’s leading through Paul. This is comforting. And there is more to the panoramic view. In the same way that it was comforting to Paul to find out that certain Corinthians had not disqualified Paul according to a trend growing among their midst, God also knew that this particular encouragement of Paul would likewise be used to encourage and comfort those Corinthians as well. This is how God, in His sovereign determination, orchestrates events down to the minutest detail, and He is doing it this way in your life, and my life too. But there was even more that we can see in retrospect. Knowing that Paul’s epistle would end up being copied and read among all the churches, God knew that His gift of comfort to the apostles in their persecuted state, would be a source of encouragement to the rest of the scattered churches. But there is even more that we are privileged to see with spiritual eyes. God also knew that the epistles of Paul which record Paul’s comfort and also record the fact that the comfort was from God to comfort others, would be recorded as history and holy scripture concerning this principle for the expansive church throughout the generations. Yes, God has this preserved for your own personal edification and comfort too. But lets take it back to the beginning. God ordained all of this vast blessing of comfort while comforting Paul in His trials and tribulations for Christ. The principle for our lives is that the comfort that you or another member of the body receives from God, is something that you have that is a great tool of blessing He has supplied to you for others. You can praise God for it, and you should. But you can also glorify God and minister to others by using it as a tool to be passed on to others to use as their tool too. This leads to the second principle. It has to do with the area of your ministry in particular.
/2/
The second point that I want to bring out for our lives, is that the gift of comfort we receive from God through persecution and difficulties, especially in ministry, or the gift of comfort we receive from God through what others go through, is comfort that we can pass on to others to be their tool for them to use.
Throughout the years, when it comes to my own experience, I have found that I receive great encouragement in my faith through the comfort others have received from God in the tough times in their own ministries. There are numerous pastors that I stay in touch with on a regular basis. Throughout the ministry, every once and a while, whenever our church has gone through some difficult times, or I have experienced some ministry events that leave me bewildered and beaten down, those men will share similar situations that affected them the same way for a time. Those men were comforted by God. In sharing their situation with encouraging words that they may not even realize they are speaking in such a way in which I am listening and receiving, what happens is that those people will edify me by passing on the same comfort to me as the Spirit relates it to something I have been going through. And it’s not just pastors that this happens with. Various members of the body have blessed me with encouragement, and they may not even recognize that this is what they have done. They will share some comforting things that God has done in their lives and I will be blessed by their testimonials. God is using them. He is using the comfort in which He has comforted them. Now I am comforted too. Sometimes there are pastors that I know of who are going through something in their ministry that has to do with their church. They are getting worn out. God will use me in my experiences of comfort from Him, to comfort and encourage them. I have been able to impart encouraging comfort in relating some of my own experiences. One area I personally have gleaned comfort from in this way is from the biographies of renowned men and women of faith. I highly recommend that you read the biographies of missionaries, and ministers from around the world--especially biographical accounts of the intense persecution that they have endured for the faith. Also, consider your family of God from past generations. We are connected to the body of Christ throughout history. For example, men like the German protestant reformer, Martin Luther. The story of Martin Luther, the protestant reformer who underwent intense persecution for the faith, is filled with trials and tribulations that were overcome with comfort from God’s hand being manifested in various ways. I think of William Carey, the man who is called the father of modern day missions. The record of his ministry-call and time in India is full of one daunting experience after another followed by God’s comfort. William Carey was in India for several years translating the Bible into the dozens of the local languages. He spent his first days street preaching, and witnessing Christ Jesus to the lost. Day after day of hardship and drudgery dragged on before he saw even one Indian saved by God. He ministered for seven long tough years before the first Indian received Christ. Think about that. Many Christians swimming in their own soft still pools of daily comfort, kept advising Carey to give up. But think about this too. Carey’s wife went completely insane shortly after arriving in India. She had to be tied down to her bed. In her demented state, his wife was heard screaming and whaling from her room not too far away from where the baptism of that first saved Indian occurred. William Carey's young little boy, whom he loved dearly, died from a disease. William Carey “plodded” along, as he said, concerning his consistent forward motion of serving God through faith while in the midst of the pain and suffering. The biography of David Brainerd is equally edifying. He was an early missionary to the Native Americans in the 1740’s. He was a personal friend of the theologian/pastor, Jonathan Edwards. In the midst of Brainerd’s ministry, he contracted tuberculosis. He died at age 29, but was strong in faith. Jonathan Edwards’ daughter in a unique form of martyrdom mixed with love, decided to marry Brainerd while he was dying. Why? So that she could take care of him in his remaining days. She knew she would catch tuberculosis too. She knew she would soon die. But she absorbed comfort in knowing that she would be serving the Lord for His glory with those last days of her life. She took care of the missionary David Brainerd until he died in a few years. She died shortly afterward of the tuberculosis she caught from him. The quotes of hope and comfort from the Brainerds in the midst of the hard hits of life are amazing jewels to glean. The diaries of Hudson Taylor the early missionary to China, and others like Lottie Moon who spent her life in service there, are full of severe tests of ministry and the hard hitting events of everyday life. I think of Corrie Ten Boon the dutch Christian who helped many Jews escape the persecution of the Nazis. She and her sister were both held in Nazi concentration camps where they were treated severely. Her sister was used, and abused, in horriblly unspeakable ways. Her sister died in the concentration camp. Before her death, she told Corrie,
"There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still." Betsie Ten Boom
@3 Before Corrie Ten Boom’s sister Betsie died a horrible death, she expressed steadfast truth that there is no pit so deep that __________ ___________is not deeper still. (God's love)
This is encouragement. This is comfort from God from a member of the body of Christ. It is comfort which lives on, and is meant to be gleaned. It is invaluable. Learn it, love it, and live it;
“There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.”
And then there are people in our own times such as Yun who was intrumental in starting the underground church in Chi-a. The continuous persecution he received, along with beatings, electrical shock, broken bones, malnourishment, and disease, is hard to bear. The continuous comfort he received from God is the only thing that kept him going. Wurmbrand who wrote of being relentlessly tortured for Christ in some of the most bizarre and horrifying ways one can imagine, had a life testimony of his missionary work in the former communist Eastern block countries that is mind boggling. The encouragement from his writings in respect to his faith and perseverance in being comforted by God is precious. Then there are stories of people like Joni Ericson Tada. She was an olympic competitor who was paralyzed in a swimming accident at a young age. Her comfort is found in the Lord who is her strength. Her trials and struggles and the way that God spoke comfort to her is pure ministry for the soul. There are far too many resources like this that we can glean from for me to name. The point is that they are tools. And then there is the fact that God blesses you to comfort others from the strength you receive from Him in your own life of serving Him in ministry. God has blessed all of us with a history in Christ. Even moments after being saved we rejoice in the comfort from the benefit of our spiritual rescue. But when you are a seasoned Christian, you have a weathered history of walking with God. You have experienced the ups and downs of saved life among a cursed world culture. What you go through from day to day in your walk with the Lord is your testimony. Whenever you are comforted by God in which He strengthens you in your faith walk, you are blessed. That same comfort is a tool that you are blessed with to bless others with in their faith walk too,
/3/
which directly leads to the third point that I want to bring out for our lives. It has to do with the gift of comfort we receive from God in generally living out our Christian lives each day.
Life as a Christian is paved with difficulties while we are in this world. Whenever we pray to God for deliverance, or for comfort through the trial, God answers our prayers in many ways. Comfort is the big answer that is more important than we sometimes give it credit. After all, we would rather see the answer in which the trial goes away, right? I don’t think any of us like feeling pain, anxiousness, sorrow, and frustration. It seems like a better deal to have it all disappear than merely being comforted through it while it goes on stinging us. But the comfort God gives us is a huge blessing gift. Of course God may answer our prayers by taking away the actual trial. He may take away the pain. If God does, then we can praise Him for that particular answer. The point is that if God answers your prayers by taking away an actual trial, or by taking away the pain, or by bringing you supernatural encouragement in your faith through comfort that is beyond explanation, then you have a testimony to comfort others with. The testimonies of prayers answered in these ways are experiences that you can share with others to comfort them. If you have a hard time dealing with something, and your prayer life is suffering, and your faith has been bruised, then the testimony of a brother or sister concerning their prayers being answered with comfort from God, is something that God uses to encourage you. The main point is that God will use you in the same way. It is the body being the body for the body. So if there is a brother or sister in Christ that is having a hard time dealing with something, and their prayer life is suffering, and their faith has been bruised, then your testimony concerning your prayers being answered with comfort from God, is something that God uses for you to minister encouragement to them.
Along these lines, some of us have exemplary faith. God gives each member of the body a measure of faith. God gives this gift to be used. Paul explained this to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 12. He also wrote about it in the parallel epistle, in Romans 12. In speaking to the Corinthians of how God gifts each member of the body in various ways to bless others in the body, we read that God gives,
“9 to another faith by the same Spirit,” 1 Corinthians 12:9
We know that we all have faith by the Spirit, right? If you don’t have faith by the same Spirit, then you are not spiritually saved. You must have faith by the Spirit to be saved. But this kind of special gift of faith that Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 12:9, is what accompanies saving faith as something especially augmenting. Paul is talking about God’s gift of exemplary faith in this passage. In other words, it is particularly strong and stable faith. We see Paul touching upon it a little more in the same context in 1 Corinthians 13:2 when said,
“... if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains” 1 Corinthians 13:2
Some have more of it, in a sense, than others do. “All” faith is exemplary faith. This is why Paul says in the parallel chapter in Romans 12:3 that,
"God has allotted to each [member of the body] a measure of faith." Romans 12:3
Paul even went on to explain that when someone prophecies, they do so,
“... according to the proportion of his faith;” Romans 12:6
@4 God has allotted each member of the body of Christ a __________________ of faith for service, and the service is according to the ______________ of his faith. Romans 12:3 and 6. (measure, proportion)
Maybe you are known for having strong faith. But then again, maybe you are someone who has weak faith. The point is that the person with strong faith is placed in the body to build up those who have weak faith. So if you have the gift of strong faith, God wants to use you to encourage others in the body who don’t. If you are one of those who doesn't, then you need to find comfort and edification in the faith from someone who has strong faith. But it could be that you don’t think in terms of who has a gift of strong exemplary faith. The principle still applies. You can understand it in practical terms another way. Think about the fact that as you are generally living out your Christian life each day, there are times when you may need to draw upon the faith of other brothers and sisters when your faith is being tested and you are starting to waiver. There are times when others may need to draw upon your faith too. The point is that even if you don’t know how to quantify the faith of people, you know who a faithful brother and sister in the Lord is, right? There is just a sense in knowing who these kinds of Christians are. The point is that the Spirit manifests those brothers and sisters in clear ways; so find them, go to them, and glean from their faith. Now think about the multifaceted way God works. God has providentially placed that faithful Christian there to comfort you. And think about this--You are there too when a brother or sister is down and out whether you think you have exemplary faith for them or not. The point is that God will use the body to build up the body. Each of us is a minister for the moment that our use is required. Sometimes it happens when others reach out to us. That’s how it usually works. You are the one that they find. Other times it is a purposeful-intentional ministry in which you reach out to someone to comfort them--you find them. Every time, it is the amazing principle of using the gift of comfort from God to share the gift with others for their comfort.
Let’s recap all we have covered; We need to be mindful of the fact that the comfort we receive from God is not something that is meant to be private. The comfort we receive from God is a powerful ministry tool for comforting others. The gift of comfort we receive from God through persecution and difficulties (especially in ministry) or what others go through, is comfort that we can pass on to build up the body. The gift of comfort we receive from God in leading the Christian life in general is of utmost importance. Let’s unite together on this. Here is the calling: As we walk the Christian life, let’s seek to strengthen, encourage, and comfort one another with the comfort we receive by the Spirit. Let’s do that, okay? In this way, we become blessings to others with the blessing we have received from God. amen
@1 In Christ’s pre-cross ministry in the Old Covenant, He demonstrated His intercession for His elect to keep their ______________ from failing. In the New Covenant, Christ in continuous intercession for all of us who are saved, makes our faith persevere by His indwelling Spirit. Luke 22:32 (faith)
@2 Our Father God comforts us in all our affliction, ______ ______________ we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3 (so that)
@3 Before Corrie Ten Boom’s sister Betsie died a horrible death, she expressed steadfast truth that there is no pit so deep that __________ ___________is not deeper still. (God's love)
@4 God has allotted each member of the body of Christ a __________________ of faith for service, and the service is according to the ______________ of his faith. Romans 12:3 and 6. (measure, proportion)
