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THANKSGIVING FOR DIVINE COMFORT IN AFFLICTION

March 22, 2020

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Old Testament Lesson; Nehemiah 1:4-11a

Gospel Lesson; Luke 12:22-34

Sermon Text; 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Before we get in to our sermon text for today, just a few things to share with you, and receiving comfort from God's Word. We are not able to gather together in person for worship today, and yet we are reminded of what the Psalmist says.

“This is the day the LORD has made.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it!”

And so, even though you are in your living rooms, or in your homes, or on your phones, we are still able to rejoice in this day, and to worship God, our Heavenly Father.

Also this last week, the Wednesday early morning Bible Study met. (They are a group of ten men, or less. We were keeping the law, by doing that.) We are going through the book of Luke, right now, and came to Luke 21, in which Jesus says,

“There will be pestilences in various places,

and fearful events.”

A 'pestilence' is 'an epidemic disease', and that is taking place in our country right now, with the Corona Virus. There are fearful events that are taking place in our communities. When those things are taking place, where do we go for strength? Where do we go for comfort? We go, certainly, to God's Word for comfort. That is why I chose the portion of scripture for today that we are going to be looking at. It is a message filled with great comfort. So, we turn our attention to 2 Corinthians, chapter one, looking at verses three through seven.

God's Word says:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

These are your words, Heavenly Father. Lead us in the way of truth. Your Word is truth.

Amen

The first thing we notice in our text for today is that the Apostle Paul goes directly to giving praise to God. Blessings to God. The very first word in our text, the Greek word, is 'eulogy'. The word 'eulogy' just means, 'to speak well of another person'. Here the Apostle Paul is speaking well of God.

Why is the reason Paul is speaking well of God? Well, He is “the God of all comfort”. It is in the verse right before our text that Paul begins this portion of scripture with a very typical 'Pauline greeting'. Here is what he says.

“Grace to you, and peace

from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

So, he is giving praise to God, because of the grace you and I have received from God. That is His undeserved love for us, who are sinners. Because we have God's grace, that means we now have peace.

As the Apostle Paul continues to get in to our text for today, he reminds us of two things, and the order in which we need to be reminded of them.

I know a number of you have been on airplanes. Before the plane takes off, the flight attendant comes on, and goes through some instructions in case there is an emergency. One of those instructions is this. If the cabin were to depressurize, oxygen masks are going to fall from the ceiling.

One of those specific instructions is this.

Put your oxygen mask on first,

before you assist another person.

The reason is this. There is something known as 'hypoxia', which is 'the lack of oxygen to the brain'. Within a very short period of time, a person can become disorientated, and not follow commands, if they do not have their oxygen mask on. So again, the command on a plane is to put your oxygen mask on first.

Look at what Paul says in our text for today.

God “comforts us in all our troubles...”

I want you to know that. Here, I am talking about your vertical relationship with God.

When we are going through troubles, trials, and affliction,

it is God who comforts us in our troubles.

Getting back to that airplane. After you have your oxygen mask on, you are then able to assist a child, or another person who is next to you.

That is what the Apostle Paul goes on to continue to say in our text. Once you know you have comfort from God in your troubles, you are now able to take that comfort you have, and share it with other people.

“...so that we can comfort those in any trouble,

with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

Did you know this portion of scripture is mentioned, and quoted every time we have a funeral here at Holy Cross? The reason is this. It is to take the comfort from God's Word, and know you personally have comfort from God, when you are going through trouble, when you are going through a time of mourning. Once you know that the comfort from God is yours, you then can take the comfort you have received from God, and share that comfort from God's Word with other people.

As we are gathered together for worship in your homes, in your living rooms, and on your phones and TVs, we can say the same thing Paul says.

Praise be to God who brings us comfort,

when we are going through times of trouble.

As I read through the text earlier, you may have thought it seems pretty repetitive. If you thought that, you would be true. In these five short verses, the word 'comfort' is repeated nine times, either the noun comfort, or the verb comfort. Some of you maybe have printed out your worship guide at home, but maybe not everybody did. So, just for the sake of seeing all of these words, I went through, and underlined them. Here is one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine!

Nine times in these five verses is the verb, or noun 'comfort' mentioned.

This is the same word, by the way, that Jesus used in the Gospel of John, when He talked about the Holy Spirit being our Comforter. Jesus told His disciples, “I am going to leave, but there is going to be Somebody I am going to send. It is the Holy Spirit, and He is going to be there to be your Comforter.”
It is at this time in the middle of my sermon I am going to do just a little bit of a Children's Sermon. Some of you know I love to be warm. If you were ever to come to my house, you would see I have blankets around the house. I love to put those blankets on so that I stay nice, and warm.

Well, it reminds me of Linus who always carried a blanket around. That blanket was there for his security. That blanket was also there for his comfort.

We also have a comforter on our bed at home, to keep us nice, and warm at night.

God is like a blanket. God is like our comforter. When we are going through troubles, when we are going through times of pressure, He is there to bring great great comfort to us.

The Apostle Paul knew what it was like to go through times of trouble, to go through times of pressure. That is what the Greek word, here, for 'trouble' really means, 'to undergo great pressure'.

As I am 'coming in to your homes', what pressures, and what troubles are you enduring? (We can't gather as groups of two hundred and fifty, or more, or two hundred and fifty, and less. Fifty people or less, and ten people, or less. That means you are with your families at home.)

Young people and children, I want to talk to you for a second here. You are spending a lot of time with your parents, right now. I want to ask you, “Are you listening to what your parents are telling you? Are you respecting your parents? Are you honoring your parents? Are you obeying your parents?”

Adults, I am going to talk to you for a moment now. Certainly, in this time of national crisis, there are restrictions that have been placed on us, from the Federal Government, from the State Government, and from the Local Governments. “Are you obeying, and respecting our local officials, during this time of crisis?” Certainly, God's Word not only tells us when we failed to do what is right, but it also tells us when we have failed to do what is wrong. “During this time of crisis, are we helping, and befriending other people in this time of need?”

Now, to some very specific pressures, and trouble you are going through. Maybe you have lost your job temporarily, because of the Corona Virus. Maybe you have gotten sick. Maybe you are filled with dreadful worry, or you are filled with dreadful fear, and you are scared, because you are confined in your home.

Where can we go for comfort, during this time of great trouble, and great pressure?

It is right after our text for today that the Apostle Paul shares with us some great troubles, and some great pressures he was under. I am going to share a portion of that with you. Right after our text he says,

“I want you to know about the hardships we suffered. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. But, this happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God. He will deliver us. And, on Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.”
So, Paul came to a conclusion. During the trouble, and great pressure he was going through, he came to the conclusion, “I can't rely on myself, but I need to rely on God.”
While we are going through this time of crisis - national, state, and local, we also find ourselves coming to that same conclusion. “We can't rely on ourselves. We need to rely on God.”

After all, God had taken care of our greatest, greatest need. When Jesus was at the end of His ministry, and He was visiting with, and teaching His disciples, He looked at His disciples, and said,

“In this world you will have trouble.

But take heart.

I have overcome the world.”

What Jesus was saying there is He in control. The scripture says this about how Jesus has delivered us. In the book of Romans it says,

“Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins,

but was raised to life for our justification.”

It was at the cross that Jesus delivered us from our sin, and from death, and the power of the devil. He was raised to life for our justification. That means God sees you now through your faith in Jesus, as if you had never sinned. God proclaimed you to be not guilty for Jesus' sake.

So what is our response to this message? What is our response when we are going through trials, afflictions, and tribulation? Again, it is to be reminded God is the God of comfort to you, personally. Now we are able to take the God of Comfort (who has comforted us in all of our troubles, while we are under pressure), we can take that comfort, and share that with other people.

During the course of this next week, I am going to encourage you members of Holy Cross to do this. We have a number of home bound members here at Holy Cross. This week would be a great week to reach out, whether by card, by phone, or by visit, to touch base with our home bound members, and bring the comfort you have from God, and share it with them.

This is also a wonderful opportunity to show you love those who live in your neighborhood, and community. Do checks on them, and let your light shine that they may see your good deeds, and praise your Father in Heaven.

I close with this.

There once was a man who was working on a construction site. He didn't know what floor he was working on. It was dark, and nighttime. Unfortunately, he slipped, and he fell. He was hanging on, and his whole weight was being supported just by his fingertips. He was trying to yell for help, but the equipment was so loud that nobody could hear him. He was hanging on in dreadful fear and worry, until he could not hang on, anymore. That is when he let go. He fell all of six inches, until his feet landed on a ledge. His dreadful fear and worry gave forth to peace. It gave forth to trust.

How are you doing? In these days of the Corona Virus, are you hanging on with dreadful fear? Are you filled with worry, because of all the anxiety that the press, and media is talking about? God wants you to let go of that dreadful fear. He wants you to let go of that worry. He wants you to fall into His hands. It is in His hands that we have peace, and we have trust.

God has promised us He will not fail us.

God has promised us He will strengthen us, and help us.

Amen