#3 in series on 2 Corinthians

1
What Good is Suffering!?
No Wasted Pain
2 Corinthians 1:3-8
25 August 2013
INTRODUCTION: Well, lets go back with the apostle Paul on his second missionary journey
and fill in some more of the background puzzle pieces that will give us a better understanding
of the human drama that is unfolding in the epistle of 2 Cor. The Bible is a real life document. It
unfolds in real places in real time among regular people who had real problems but finally
come to encounter the Sovereign God of Scripture. One of the reasons the Bible is a real life
document is because God wants us to realize that He comes to us in our real context and
speaks eternal truths that apply to the place and time where we live, just as they did in the
first century. The cultural contexts may change a bit but the eternal truths are trans-cultural,
international, and always applicable to our lives. Here is a brief list of the main steps in Paul's
relationship with the Corinthians:
1. Paul arrives in Corinth c. late 50 to early 51 A.D on his 2nd Missionary Journey. He
meets Aquila/Priscilla, the tent makers and works with them to support himself. He
preaches in the synagogue and convinces Jews and God-fearing Greeks that Jesus is the
Messiah. When Timothy and Silas arrive from Macedonia with some financial support,
Paul stops tent making and preaches the gospel full time. The result is a church is
planted. Luke records this all in Acts 18.

2. Paul leaves Corinth after 1.5 years, along with Aquila/Priscilla and goes over to Ephesus,
in the spring of A.D. 52. He took a brief trip to Jerusalem, but stayed in Ephesus for c.
2.5 years - (fall of 52- spring of 55 A.D.). From Ephesus he wrote the Corinthian letters.

3. The first letter he wrote late in A.D. 54. It is now lost. We don't have it. It is not extant.
We could call this Letter A. Turn to 1 Cor. 5:9-11 to see reference to it. "I wrote to you
in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people
10
not at all meaning the
people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that
case you would have to leave this world.
11
But now I am writing to you (1st Cor.) that
you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister

but is sexually
immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat
with such people." He must have gotten some news that some in the Corinthian church
were not separating from so-called brothers in the church who continued to commit
sexual sin. They misunderstood him, thinking that Paul wanted them to disassociate
#3 in series on 2 Corinthians
2
themselves from the entire Corinthian society. They would have had to move to the
moon if that's what Paul really meant. So, in 1 Cor. he corrects their misunderstanding.

4. Also while in Ephesus, some members of the house of a man named Chloe came to
Paul with news that the Church in Corinth was racked by divisions and popularity
splinter groups. 1 Cor. 1:11ff. "I am of Paul"; "I follow Apollos;" "I follow Cephas" - Well,
I, follow Christ!" On top of that, a letter came over to Paul with a bunch of sticky
theological questions. Perhaps the group from Chole's house brought it or perhaps the
3 men mentioned in 1 Cor. 16:17 "Stephanas, Fortunatas, and Achaicus". The letter
asked Paul about marriage issues, food sacrificed to idols, whether or not to pay full
time preachers, whether or not women could speak in the worship service, the use of
spiritual gifts in the worship services, and questions about the resurrection of Jesus.
Most of the content of 1 Cor. answers the questions that the church was wrestling
through.

5. One last puzzle piece for today's installment is that at the end of 1 Cor. Paul lays out
his travel plans. 1 Cor. 16:5ff Paul says he said he planned to go to Macedonia first and
then south to Corinth. When we get to 2 Cor. 1:15 we see that his plans changed a bit
and he said he wanted to visit them twice, once on the way to Macedonia and again on
the return trip. When we pick up the story next week, we will see that there was yet
another change that took because of some stuff that was going on in Corinth. This
becomes a big issue in the storyline and brings out a great characteristic of God. We'll
talk about it next week.

For the rest of our time this morning let's dig further into chapter 1. Take out your
sermon note, where you will see 6 deep lessons coming out of our passage in V.3-7. I'll only
touch on 2 of them today. Let's read these verses again together.......

1. There is no wasted pain in Gods economy: God doesnt waste anything! Every
single painful experience we have in life is designed for Gods good purposes in our lives.
There is no random, rogue, chance, meaningless pain invading our lives from outside of God's
sovereign plan. God is always at work in our sanctification. Pain is a productive thing! We
don't like it in any form really. We often think of it as an interruption of our normal productive
lives. It gets in the way of our plans and desires. Not now God! We always want it to end
quickly. We have a very hard time seeing it as a useful experience. We're pretty sure we can
live our entire lives in a very good way totally without any use for pain. Were willing to pray
for others who go through pain, affliction and trials, but its a whole different story when our
#3 in series on 2 Corinthians
3
number comes up. But its when we learn to embrace the truth that God is not wasting our
pain, that we really mature in the faith.
We shouldnt feel like nothing useful can come from our suffering, that it is a wasted,
non-productive time. The night before John Pipers own cancer surgery he wrote a little book
called Dont Waste Your Cancer. The main headings all show that God works to deepen our
spiritual life even in trials, sickness and pain: We waste our cancer if we do not believe it is
designed for us by God. We waste our cancer if we seek comfort from our odds rather than
from God. We waste our cancer if we spend too much time reading about cancer and not
enough time reading about God. We waste our cancer if we believe it is a curse and not a gift.
We waste our cancer if we grieve as those who have no hope. We waste our cancer if we fail to
use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ. These are the wonderful things
Father is doing through the Spirit in the midst of our suffering. He brings sufficient comfort to
enable us not to waste our trials and lose out on all the spiritual growth that we can have in
them.
Are you in any pain or trouble now? Isn't it a comfort to know that it is not a waste? It
is not meaningless, pointless, senseless or worthless in God's eyes? The sorrow or mental
anguish you are experiencing isn't ignored by God. He meets it out of the abundance of His
own heart. It is a comfort to know that Father will redeem your trials for His own Glory and
your spiritual good.
2. It is Fathers nature to comfort: He is the Father of Compassion and the God of
all comfort. He "fathers" comfort - i.e. He brings it to life, brings it into being, is the source of
it, the fountainhead of it. And even more than that, He IS in His essence our comfort.

V.3 is a statement of who God "is" and then in V.4 Paul makes a statement of what God
"does." What God does flows out of the heart of who He is. "Praise be to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion (mercy) and the God of all comfort
(encouragement/consolation)." V.4 "who comforts us in all our troubles..." God is love; God
lavishes us with love. God is Holy, God sanctifies us by the Holy Spirit. God is righteous; God
gives us the righteousness of Christ. All the benefits and blessings we have flow out of the
character, nature and attributes of God Himself.

Psalm 111:4 "He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and
compassionate."
Psalm 116:5 "The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion."
Psalm 145:8 "The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love."
Isaiah 30:18 "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you
compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!"
#3 in series on 2 Corinthians
4
What is the application of knowing and experiencing God's comfort, consolation,
encouragement in all our trials? PRAISE BE TO THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS
CHRIST -THE FATHER OF COMPASSION AND GOD OF ALL COMFORT! This is the only sensible
and compelling response when God our Father comes to us in the midst of our bitter trials.

Far, far too often our PRAISE is so shallow, so thin, so superficial, so measly! Our
problem is that we have become satisfied with giving our Father inadequate amounts of
heart-felt, intense, and deeply earnest praise for all the mercy and comfort that He showers
on us daily. The simple word "praise" occurs in Scripture over 360 times. Who among us has
not memorized Lam. 3:22-23? "Because of the LORDs great love we are not consumed, for his
compassions never fail.
23
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

One night this week, Chase and I listened to a very powerful DVD presentation by John
Piper on the Doctrines of Grace. It was pure delight. I asked Chase after what he thought of it.
He famously said: "That blew a hole in my comfort zone!" Yes, sometimes we get too
comfortable in patterns of relating to God that are sub-par and not worthy of His glory and
goodness!

Brothers and sisters in Christ... how is your PRAISE LIFE? I mean, how sincerely,
consistently, from the depths of your heart do you give our Father the praise He deserves
(Ps. 29:1-2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his
holiness!) for all the comfort, consolation, and mercies He brings into your life every day? Is
your praise glib? Do you just brush over praise in a rote, distant, and dispassionate manner?
Or do you strive to offer sacrifices of praise to God that are intense, joyful, flowing from an
exploding heart of thanksgiving? Of all the creatures that God has created, we should be the
most skilled, the most adept and the most eager to articulate the praiseworthiness of our
Father!!
Praising God for who He is and how He treats us should be our greatest delight and most
sought after activity!

How I hope these thoughts, questions and these few verses from the opening of chap.1 in 2
Cor. blow a hole in your comfort zone if you need it! Let's pray.