GOD’S POWER THROUGH PAIN
“Down, But Not Out.”
2 Corinthians 1:1-11
Discouragement is no respecter of persons: Depression can attack the successful as well as the unsuccessful. The higher we climb, the farther we have to fall.
There are Questions asked:
- Why do bad things happen to good people? Romans 3:10
- Why do bad things happen to God’s people?
- Why does God often seem distant while we face our greatest pain?
Job 13:24; Psalm 10:1; Psalm 44:24; Psalm 13:1
- God is not distant in the midst of our suffering. He only seems distant. Hebrews 13:5
Paul wrote this letter for several reasons: To enforce his authority. To explain His change of plans. To forgive a member who had caused a lot of trouble in the church.
1. WE LEARN FROM OTHERS’ PAIN. Vs. 1-4
C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain: “Pain is not good in itself. What is good in any painful experience is, for the sufferer, to learn submission to the will of God, and, for the spectators, the compassion aroused and the acts of mercy to which it leads.”
A. Background
- Paul is the author. V.1a Apostle– Eph. 2:20 Timothy The Assistant: v.1b
- Corinth, The City: v.1c Corinth was known for being “sin city. Corinth The Church-v.1d
Paul spent 18 months helping to establish the church at Corinth.
V. 2– “Grace” refers to God’s unmerited or unearned favor. Paul’s prayer is that the grace which saved them would sustain them. B. In suffering, we learn what God is to us.
God does use our struggles to help others. Your pain can actually help another to find peace.
God knows the depth of our faith, but our testing reveals to us the quality of our faith. Lk.22:31-32
2. WE LEARN TO RELY ON GOD IN OUR SUFFERINGS. Vs.5-7
Comfort and Encouragement are used a total of 29 times in this letter. Matt. 5:4;2 Thess. 2:16-17.
- God comforts “us” today. Philippians 4:6-7
- God comforts us so we can help others.
- God is faithful when we stand for Him. vs. 5
He speaks of “the sufferings of Christ.” What does that mean?
Phil. 3:1; 1 Peter 4:13; Romans 8:17
- In equal measure, when we suffer for Him, He comforts us. When we suffer for Christ, Christ powerfully is with us.
We will all be “afflicted.” We will all find distress, and discomfort in serving Christ. Some will face more; some will face less. 2 Timothy 3:12; Romans 12:15
3. WE LEARN TO BE TRANSFORMED BY GOD IN OUR PAIN. Vs. 8-11
A. When It is bigger than you…BUT GOD.
“Despaired”=“no passage, no way out, no exit.”
They had given up hope and “despaired even of life,” believing that they would be killed. V. 9, “Sentence” =apochromat”. “Official judgment handed down by law.”
Lamentations 3:21-23; II Tim. 4:15
God took Paul to this place “So that he would not trust in himself, but in God who raises the dead.”
B. When it is bigger than us, we learn to trust God. Vs.11
Paul was learning that God would sovereignly orchestrate events so that he would not die, in fact, he could not die until God was ready for him. Psalm 139:16
“Through prayer, human impotence falls before divine omnipotence.”