2 Corinthians 1:3,4

DISCOURSE: 1998
THE TRIALS AND CONSOLATIONS OF MINISTERS USEFUL TO THEIR PEOPLE

2 Corinthians 1:3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort, wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

THE former Epistle to the Corinthians abounded with reproofs, for which indeed there was in that Church but too much occasion. This epistle is altogether of a different kind, and contains a rich fund of paternal and most affectionate instruction. In the opening of it, St. Paul quite forgets all the pain and sorrow which they had occasioned him, and blesses God for the consolations he enjoyed, especially in the view of those blessed effects which had been produced upon their minds by his former letter [Note: 1 Corinthians 7:4.]. How “full of comfort” he was, we may judge from the frequent repetition of the word “comfort;” he knew not how to leave the subject, or to vary his expression: his whole soul appears to have been swallowed up in the contemplation of the comfort which he had received from God, and which he hoped to be the means of communicating to them also.

That we may enter into the spirit of his words, let us notice—

I. His representation of the Deity—

In the Old Testament, Jehovah was known as “the God of Abraham;” but in the New Testament, he is exhibited under a yet more endearing character, as “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.” Observe here,

1. His relation to Christ—

[There is in the Godhead a distinction between the Three Persons of the ever-blessed Trinity; the first Person is called the Father; the second Person, the Son; and the third Person is called the Holy Ghost. The Son is said to be “the only-begotten of the Father:” but of this inscrutable mystery it were in vain to speak, since we should only “darken counsel by words without knowledge.” It is sufficient for us to know, that such a distinction in the Godhead does exist, and that, in this sense, God was, from all eternity, “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Of the manhood of Christ, formed as it was by Omnipotence without the intervention of man, God may in a more definite sense he said to have been the Father: and in reference to this, his miraculous conception in a virgin’s womb, Jesus was especially designated “the Son of God [Note: Luke 1:35.].”

In his mediatorial capacity also, as “Emmanuel, God with us,” our Lord Jesus Christ stands in covenant relation to God, as a Son to a Father; agreeably to what he himself says, “I ascend unto my Father and your Father, to my God and your God [Note: John 20:17; Acts 13:33.].”

Now, as all the children of Israel claimed a special interest in Jehovah as being the seed of Abraham whose God he was, so we, who look to Jesus as our common Head and Saviour, are entitled to consider his God as our God, since we are in him as members of his mystical body, and are altogether “one spirit with him.” And, as Jesus is infinitely greater in himself, and more dear to God, than ever Abraham was, our interest in God, by virtue of our union with Jesus, is proportionably greater and more endeared.]

2. His relation to us—

[To us, who are involved in the deepest guilt and misery, he is revealed as “the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.” What remarkable expressions are these! There is not a mercy which we enjoy, but it must be traced to him as its proper source; nor is there a mercy which we want, but it may be found in him to the utmost extent of our necessities. Nothing but mercy properly flows from him: “judgment is his strange act,” which is never called forth, till mercy has been as it were exhausted. Judgments are his servants; but mercies are his children, in whom is all his delight [Note: Micah 7:18.]. As for comfort, he is the God of it, “the God of all comfort.” Were his will complied with, there would be nothing but comfort in the whole universe: it would flow from him as light from the sun; so free, so rich, so abundant would be his communications of it to every soul. Let the afflicted, of every name and every class, only go to him, and he will approve himself “the comforter of all them that are cast down,” and “the God of that particular comfort” which they need; as if all his perfections and all his powers centered in that point alone, and were exerted to their utmost extent for the relief of their particular wants.

Such is the view which we should at all times have of the Deity. If we regard him only as a Lawgiver and a Judge, we have no better apprehensions of him than Satan himself has. It is our privilege to know him, not merely in the terrors of his majesty, but in all the endearments of his love and mercy.]
With this beautiful description of the Deity the Apostle combines,

II.

His thanksgiving to him—

Great and manifold were the tribulations which he was called to sustain—
[The whole world, both of Jews and Gentiles, seemed to be confederate against him. Every man, with the exception of those who were converted by his ministry, was his enemy, and sought his destruction; insomuch that he was in daily, and hourly, expectation of a violent death [Note: 1 Corinthians 15:30.]. From the Church itself too he endured much. The false brethren, who laboured incessantly to undermine his influence, and to create dissensions in the Church, were a source of continual sorrow to his mind. Nor was he free from internal trials also, which caused him great uneasiness. What “the thorn in his flesh” was, we do not exactly know: but he regarded it as a “messenger of Satan, sent to buffet him;” nor could he find any relief from the anguish it occasioned, till he was assured, in answer to his repeated and earnest cries, “that a sufficiency of grace” should be imparted to him, and that “Christ’s strength should be perfected in his weakness.”

Not that these trials were peculiar to him: he felt them indeed in a more abundant measure than others; but every faithful minister in his measure experiences the same. Who that is zealous for his God does not incur the hatred of an ungodly world? Who that has long ministered in holy things has not had occasion to deplore the fall of some, the apostasy of others, and the little progress of almost all; insomuch that with many he is made to “travail, as it were, in birth a second time, till Christ be formed in them?” Some perhaps, who would once have plucked out their own eyes and given them to him, are now “become his enemies, because he has told them the truth,” and reproved them for their reigning and besetting sins. And in himself also every minister will find abundant occasion to sigh and mourn, especially when he reflects on his great insufficiency for the work assigned him, and the effects of his unprofitableness upon the souls of others.]
But he had rich consolations to counterbalance his afflictions—
[It was no small comfort to the Apostle that his trials were endured in so good a cause. The cross he bore was the cause of Christ; and his afflictions were but the filling up of the measure of Christ’s afflictions [Note: Colossians 1:24.]. Moreover they were so many testimonies to him of his fidelity; and of God’s acceptance of him in his work [Note: Luke 21:12.]. He was sure also that in due time they would all be richly recompensed, agreeably to that blessed promise, that “if we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with him,” and “be glorified together with him” for evermore [Note: 2 Timothy 2:12.Romans 8:17.]. But besides these consolations of faith and hope, he had, as every faithful minister shall have, special manifestations of God to his soul, sufficient to make him “exceeding joyful in all his tribulations.” What but a sense of redeeming love carried him forward with such zeal and steadfastness in all his course? What but this enabled him, when his back was torn with scourges, and his feet were made fast in the stocks, to fill his prison, not with mournings and complaints, but with songs of praise and thanksgiving? And in like manner shall all who serve the Lord with fidelity be supported under their trials, and be favoured with consolations proportioned to their afflictions.]

To enter into his feelings aright, it will be proper to notice yet further—

III.

The more particular grounds of his thanksgiving—

The design of God in these dispensations was in a more especial manner an occasion of gratitude to his soul. He felt that by this his diversified experience, he was better fitted for the discharge of his high office, and better qualified to comfort his afflicted brethren. By it,

1. He was better qualified to comfort others—

[None but those who have been in deep waters are capable of entering into the feelings of a tempest-tossed soul. It was from his “having been in all points tempted like as we are, that Jesus himself was so tenderly touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” and that he acquired, so to speak, “a power to succour his tempted people [Note: Hebrews 2:18; Hebrews 4:15.].” Thus Paul learned to participate with others both in their joys and sorrows. Were they assaulted either by men or devils, he knew both the extent of the trial, and the consolations proper to be suggested for the mitigation of it. He could delineate the workings of the afflicted mind: he could state its various discouragements, and the devices by which Satan laboured to aggravate its sorrows. He needed only to report his own experience, and to apply to others the remedies he had found effectual for his own soul. In a word, the lessons which he himself had learned in the school of adversity, he was enabled to teach others, and thus eventually to “comfort others with the same comfort where-with he himself had been comforted of God.”

Now this very consideration constituted no small part of that comfort for which he so gratefully adored his God. He saw that, whether he was afflicted or comforted, his experience was designed to promote, and did actually promote, “the consolation and salvation of others [Note: ver. 6.]:” and there he did rejoice, and determined, even though his trials should proceed to the utmost possible extremity, to rejoice, and to bless and magnify his God [Note: Philippians 2:17.].

In this view will every faithful minister rejoice, thankful alike either for joys or sorrows, if only they may fit him for a more profitable exercise of his ministry, and ultimately advance that for which alone he deserves to live, the consolation and salvation of those committed to his charge.]

2. He was made to edify others by his example—

[The supports which Paul experienced under his accumulated trials, were a source of great encouragement to others. His imprisonment at Rome, which he was apprehensive might intimidate many, and impede the success of his ministry, “turned out rather to the furtherance of the Gospel: for his bonds in Christ being manifest in all the imperial palace, and in all other places, many of his brethren, waxing confident by his bonds, were so much the more bold to speak the word without fear [Note: Philippians 1:12.].” Thus, though he was bound, “the word of God was not bound;” on the contrary, “it had free course and was glorified:” and the tidings which he received respecting the steadfastness of his converts, far overbalanced all his pains and sorrows. Hear how he speaks of this in his First Epistle to the Thessalonians: “When Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, we were comforted over you, brethren, in all our affliction and distress by your faith: for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord [Note: 1 Thessalonians 3:6.].”

And who that loves his people will not gladly lead them in the van of the battle, if he may but encourage them to “fight the good fight of faith?” Surely no good soldier of Jesus Christ will regret the wounds he receives in this holy conflict, if others be animated by his example to “quit themselves like men” till they have gained the victory.]

Address—
1.

Those who are afraid of suffering for Christ’s sake—

[Let it not be thought that the cross of Christ is so heavy as it appears to be. Were we indeed left to bear it alone, or were there no consolations afforded by him to his suffering people, we might well be terrified at the idea of being called to sustain it. But the Lord himself will lighten it by his almighty power, and will succour us with such preternatural strength, that, instead of sinking under the weight, we shall rejoice that we are counted worthy to bear it, and shall account our very sufferings an inestimable gift bestowed upon us for his sake [Note: Philippians 1:29.]. And if here we are enabled so to “glory in the cross of Christ,” what shall we do hereafter? Do any of those who once “came out of great tribulation,” now regret any thing that they ever endured for Christ’s sake? Are not their present joys an abundant recompence for all their sorrows [Note: Revelation 7:13.]? — — — Fear not then to follow Christ, though you should have to take up the heaviest cross that can be laid upon you: for, if you will but bear it after him, you shall find that “his yoke is easy, and his burthen light.”]

2. Those who have experienced the consolations of the Gospel—

[Make the improvement of them which the Apostle did; Bless God for them; and improve them for the good of others. Have you by your own experience found God to be “a Father of mercies, and a God of all comfort?” acknowledge him under this blessed character, and commend him to all for the instruction and comfort of their souls. Your consolations are not given you for yourselves merely, but for others also; that you may be channels of communication between God and them. Many there are who need your friendly offices; many with weak “hands, and feeble knees, and fearful hearts,” whom, with God’s blessing, you may support and comfort. O remember, that it is a god-like office to “comfort them that are cast down,” “to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness!” And in thus improving your diversified experiences, you will enrich both yourselves and others: I may add too, you will have the best evidence, that they are wrought in you by the Spirit of God: for it is in this improvement of them that “pure and undefiled religion” very principally consists [Note: James 1:27.]. You may be assured also, that, in thus drawing out your soul to the hungry, and satisfying the afflicted soul, “your own souls shall become like a watered garden, and like springs of water, whose waters fail not [Note: Isaiah 58:10. If this be addressed to a Visiting Society, this idea must be more fully insisted on.].”]