Introduction
When I was a boy in Ethiopia, I walked for more than an hour to the nearest town, which was the only place we could buy candy. I had a little money, but not much, and it was a rare treat to make that trip. Well, on the way home, my Ethiopian friend and I passed the local prison. And he told me that some of the men in the courtyard were pastors who had been put in prison for preaching the gospel.
He told me that those men were very hungry. Well, I felt bad, but as a kid I couldn't get them out of jail. I couldn't provide a meal. I didn't have much to give them. But when the guards weren't looking, I threw all my candy over the fence to one of the pastors. And he shared the candy with the other pastors. And the look of joy on their faces has impacted me to this day. It made me feel like I could help in some tiny way. But I remember wishing that I could do more, but feeling helpless.
And I think many of us have felt something similar when we have read about persecuted Christians. We hear about a pastor who has been arrested, or a family driven out of its home, or children who don't know when their father will come back - if ever. And we wish we could do more. Some of you have given money. Some have written letters. And this church has prayed for the persecuted for many years. But the need can still seem so much greater than anything we can do. In some ways we feel helpless.
Well, this morning I want us to see the encouragement God gives us in this passage that we actually can do something that is very significant in God's plan. Paul tells a congregation that they were indeed helping him through their prayers - and without such prayers, the help would not have come. We need to understand how prayer and God's sovereignty work together. They are not inconsistent.
And we are going to be seeing that God invites us to bring the needs of our suffering brothers and sisters to Him. He gives us a significant part to play in helping other hurting people. It's not just pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by. It's real help. That includes the children. It really did my heart good last Sunday to hear Jerusha saying that she regularly prays for Hannah. She has a heart for Hannah. Some of you don't have much money, but that doesn't mean your prayers on behalf of those who are hurting don't count. Some of you can no longer travel like you used to be able to do, but your prayers can instantly access the throne of God who is everywhere.
So, keep your Bibles open to 2 Corinthians 1. We are going to see how Paul develops this theme in verses 3 through 11. I won't deal with every implication of this passage. That would be way too much to cover. Instead, I'm just going to focus on a few of his thoughts related to Christians who are suffering - suffering in any way - not just persecution. Paul begins with the Father's mercy, shows us how comfort is not just from God but is a shared comfort that we all enter into, he then honestly opens his heart about the weight of his trouble, and then brings the Corinthians into the picture through prayer. And the whole thing ends with many people thanking God. It is my prayer that this passage will move our hearts to connect with those who are hurting and/or are being persecuted in other countries.
Let the Father's mercy shape your compassion (v. 3)
Look first at verse 3. Paul blesses the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he calls Him the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
Before Paul tells us how terrible his own trouble was, he tells us what God is like. And we need to begin there too. If all you look at is the trouble you face, then it is very easy to become overwhelmed. Sometimes my focus has been in the wrong direction; it starts with the trouble rather than starting with the God who is greater than our trouble and who cares.
Well, Paul starts by saying that God is the Father of mercies. He's got a Father's heart. He has compassion on His distressed people. And that means that when you bring a frightened girl in China before God in prayer, you can know with a certainty that God cares about that girl. Now, sometimes we can let the fact that God has permitted suffering to make us confused about His character. We think, “If He really cared, why would He let this happen?” Paul knew what it was like to face that question. In a few verses he will tell us that he thought what he was experiencing was more than he could endure. He was totally overwhelmed. Yet by faith he begins by praising God's mercy. His experience of terrible trouble had not made that mercy unreal. He says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort..."
He starts that verse by saying that God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We approach the Father (who loved us enough to send His Son) through the Savior who loved us enough to actually enter into our suffering, and gave Himself for us. The cross gives us grounds to trust His love even when we cannot explain a particular providence. The God who gave His Son for our salvation knows the cost of rescuing His people.
Then Paul calls Him the God of all comfort. Let me spend a little time on that word, because it is important to the whole passage. The Greek word family translated comfort and consolation occurs ten times in these five verses. Ten times! Paul keeps coming back to it. And when your Bible uses comfort in one place and consolation in another, those are English ways of translating the same Greek word.
What does it mean? Well, we sometimes use comfort to mean making ourselves comfortable. We sit in a comfortable chair. We put on comfortable shoes. But Paul is not talking about that kind of comfort. He is talking about God's consolation and encouragement right while we are still in trouble and are still experiencing pain. God cares for the sorrowing heart and gives His people strength to keep trusting Him. There can be comfort and consolation in the midst of trouble. And you kids know that when you come crying to your daddy or mommy, and he or she gives you a big hug. There is a comfort in that. It doesn't remove the pain of the skinned knee, but there is comfort.
You can see that in verse 6, where Paul connects comfort with endurance. Endurance means keeping on faithfully when things are hard. So a Christian can be receiving God's comfort while he is still in prison. He can still be tired. He can still miss his family. He may still be crying. Yet the Father is sustaining him and helping him to remain faithful. Later in this letter, Paul describes having conflicts outside and fears within. Even the apostle Paul was sometimes fearful. Then Titus arrived with encouraging news about the Corinthians, and Paul says that God comforted him through the arrival of Titus and through the news that the Corinthians cared about him. God used a person and a conversation. So when we pray for comfort, we can ask God to send someone who will encourage, someone who will bring needed help, someone who will remind that believer of His promises.
Children, imagine a little boy whose father has been taken to prison for sharing the good news about Jesus. There are mean people out there who don't like it when we share the good news of salvation. Imagine what that child might need when he wakes up at night and misses his dad who is in prison. He might need someone to sit beside him. He might need to be reminded that the Lord knows where his father is. His family might need food. And of course he would want his father to come back home, right? Our heart aches when we see things like that happen. What can we do about it?
Well, those are things you can pray about. You can ask the Father to comfort that child, to help his mother, to provide food, and to protect his dad. You don't have to understand everything that is happening to pray about needs like that. Just like you run to your mommy and daddy for comfort, you can run to your heavenly Father.
And adults, we can do the same. Think about what it means to be separated from your children. There are a lot of parents who are separated from their children. That's hard! Think about waiting for news and wondering whether someone you love is still alive. Think about the long hours when there is nothing to distract you from your fears. Those are needs we can bring to the Father of mercies.
We can pray for release, and we should. But we can also pray for comfort today, while the doors are still locked. We can ask God to sustain someone through the next brutal interrogation, through the next lonely night, or through the next conversation with a frightened fellow-inmate. Verse 4 tells us that God comforts His servants in all their affliction. And the "all" is important too. It is in all their affliction. There is no circumstance beyond His ability to reach them.
And He often reaches them through other people - like you and me. But our comfort is more powerful when we begin with the mercy and comfort of our Heavenly Father. And the more we appreciate His tenderness toward suffering people, the more we should want to bring their needs before Him.
Pass on the comfort God has given you (vv. 4-7)
But verse 4 gives us another reason that God comforts His people. He equips them to comfort others. God not only comforts you, but wants to work through you to bring comfort to others. It says, "who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." Paul says that the comfort he and his companions have received enabled them to minister more effectively to other people in trouble. That's very interesting - that the trials we face equip us to better comfort others who face trials. If you have never been through difficulty, it is more difficult for you to bring comfort to others.
And notice that the comfort they pass on comes from God. Suffering by itself doesn't necessarily make us helpful. In fact, sometimes suffering can do the opposite; it can make us bitter. We can become so preoccupied with our own hurt that we have little room for anybody else's hurts and afflictions. But when God's grace meets us in our trouble, His purpose is to give us something to share with others who are in trouble.
You may never have been imprisoned for sharing the Gospel. Most of us haven't. But you at least know what it is like to be lonely. You may know what it is to fear for your children. You may know what it is to lose someone you love. That doesn't mean your circumstances are identical to theirs. But it does mean that you have a starting point for compassion. You can ask the Father to give them the kinds of help that He has given to you.
Let me tell you something from my mother's experience in Ethiopia. My parents lost two babies in their first station in Ethiopia because they were too far away from civilization to be able to get the medical help needed for premature babies. Losing those two babies was painful. Some of you know the pain that comes from losing a baby. But even that loss enabled my mom to minister in ways she might not otherwise have been able to do. I'll just tell you one story. During that time of loss my mother had been witnessing to a very elderly woman. This woman knew a great deal about sorrow. She had been taken as a young bride to a different area of the country and had never seen her mother again. And she had outlived all twelve of her children. That's a lot of pain to live through. My mother would visit her regularly and tell her about the Lord Jesus, but she would respond that she had been born a Muslim and would die a Muslim.
Well, after my mother's second baby died, this woman came to sit with her. That was the way Ethiopians cared for a grieving family. And this woman understood something about being far from your mother and about losing children. She told my mother that perhaps her baby would not have died if she had stayed home. And at least, she said, you would have had your own mother to sit with you. She was very moved that my parents had voluntarily come so far to serve people there. And during that visit she said that she now accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.
Some time later, she was in my parents' home with some other guests and my mother served them bread and jam. When all the other guests had left, she was still squatting by the doorway. My mother again took hold of both of her hands and went over the Gospel story again. The woman was surprised, and said, "You didn't believe me when I said that I was accepting Jesus as my Lord as Savior? Is this not the Muslim fast of Ramadan and did I not eat and drink in your house in front of all of these guests?" It dawned on my mother that her eating when every Muslim was fasting was as bold a testimony as this woman could possibly have made. It made it clear that she was renouncing Islam and embracing Jesus as her Lord. From that time on no one doubted her conversion. But her conversion to Christianity brought her persecution. Her own relatives eventually starved her to death. Isn't that something - that persecution can come from your own family? When she died at the age of 105, the Muslims wouldn't allow her to be buried in their cemetery, so she was buried on my parents' mission station.
Now, I don't want us to rush past the sorrow in that story. My mother had lost two babies. The hope she had in Christ did not make that loss painless. There was still pain there. But she knew God’s comfort. And God gave her something to communicate to another person who also knew loss. The comfort of the gospel was reaching from one sorrowing person to another.
And God can use you that way too. You don't have to have answers to every question about suffering. But you can bear witness to the Savior who has sustained you in your suffering. And that helps you identify with them.
Verse 5 makes Christ's sufferings personal. It says, "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ." That is saying that Christ identifies with us in our sufferings. There is just as much consolation available as there are afflictions that we experience. That ought to shape the way we pray for the persecuted. And some commentators believe that this is one of many Scriptures proving that Jesus continues to suffer with us - yes, even in His glorified state. Is that hard to believe? He told Saul, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Jesus felt persecuted when His saints were persecuted. Mysteriously, there is a fellowship of suffering that Jesus and His saints share in. And there are other Scriptures that say this even more clearly.
Then verse 6 tells the Corinthians that Paul too identifies with them in their sufferings. "Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation." Just as Jesus identifies with us in our afflictions, Paul now identified with the Corinthians in their afflictions. And we can do the same thing. We should feel pained when fellow-believers suffer. Notice that verse 7 speaks of the Corinthians as also sharing in suffering and comfort. "And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation." There is a fellowship of both suffering and consolation that the Father, the Holy Spirit (who gets grieved by this as well), Jesus, Paul, and the Corinthians shared in. And it moves all of them to minister to others who are hurting.
Hear how heavy their burdens really are (v. 8)
Well, he goes on to speak of his own hurt in very honest terms. Look at verse 8. "For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life." Paul wants the Corinthians to know about the trouble that came upon him and his companions in Asia. He tells them that the burden was beyond their strength, and that they lost hope of surviving.
Paul doesn't identify the precise event here. There have been different suggestions, but we don't need to settle that question to understand what he is saying. Things had gotten so bad that he didn't know if he could handle it any longer. And he wants the church to know so that they will pray for him. That is worth thinking about. This apostle, who has shown so much courage, lets other believers see how deeply he has been affected. He doesn't hide the need behind a brave public appearance.
Sometimes we can admire persecuted Christians so much that we forget how much they need our prayer. We think, “Well, they are much stronger than I am. They have learned how to handle that. They don't need my prayer.” But here is Paul telling us that the trouble he experienced was beyond his strength.
Children, have you ever tried to carry something that was too heavy for you? You needed help. Well, Paul tells the church that he had reached the end of what he could bear in his own strength. And he was willing to say so. Paul had lost hope that he would survive. He is not saying that he had ceased believing in God. The very next verse tells us that he trusted God despite his feelings. And we need to trust God despite our feelings. But trust in God can coexist alongside a very painful awareness of how hopeless our situation seems.
We need room in our thinking for that kind of honesty. When I was a boy in boarding school, I just couldn't understand why some people just wouldn't allow you to be sad. I had plenty to be sad about. From the age of six on I only saw my parents for a short summer break and a short period at Christmas. I missed them; and to make matters worse, I was regularly persecuted and tormented by a bully; I was lonely; I had nightmares; I was afraid of the dark; I was teased for wetting my bed; and I had other issues. And yet, I was told that I was supposed to smile because God loved me. Now, that person was well-meaning, but by not entering to some degree into my suffering she failed to enter into my consolation. And I knew that something was off; something was wrong with requiring a cheerful face all the time. Jesus wept. Jeremiah wrote about godly sorrow. The Psalms are filled with the cries of God's people.
Well, Paul is not putting on a cheerful face and telling the Corinthians that everything was easy. He tells them how hard it was. And that helps them know how to care and how to pray. If we hide all our sufferings, then others cannot enter the fellowship of suffering or into the fellowship of consolation. Now, there's a balance there. We don't want to always wear our hearts on our sleeves, and it is good to tough up on many situations. But it is also good to hug on a person who is feeling more pressure than he can bear. A suffering believer may need to tell us that he is exhausted, that he is afraid, or that the waiting has become terribly hard. We can bring those things to God with him. Obviously we don't want to encourage complaining or unbelieving statements, but we can sympathize.
That is one reason to read our weekly prayer reports thoughtfully. Take time to understand something of the person's situation. We don't need to know every painful detail. But we do need to know enough to remember that this is a real person. And the same is true of reports on persecuted Christians in other countries. He may be a father who worries about feeding his children. She may be a mother who has not heard from her husband. They may be young believers who have been rejected by the people they love the most.
And we should be careful with the saying that God will never give us more than we can handle. That's not true. Paul says that this burden was beyond what he could handle. It was. Now, that needs to be balanced with first Corinthians 10:13, which gives us a precious promise concerning temptation - that God can enable us to bear any trial, but it doesn't erase what Paul tells us here about affliction. There are troubles that bring us to the end of our resources.
Rest their lives in the God who raises the dead (vv. 9-10)
Verse 9 says that they had the sentence of death within themselves so that their trust would rest in God rather than themselves. So being at the end of his rope did not make Paul get bitter or stay inwardly focused. It immediately made him look to God as the answer. And look at the way Paul identifies God: He raises the dead. He says, "yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead..."
Paul had reached a place where he could see no way to rescue himself. But he had not reached a place beyond God's power. Praise God! He trusted the God who raises the dead. That is a very strong foundation for prayer, isn't it?
Children, it is a real problem when a prison door is locked and you have no key. But the Lord who raised Jesus from the grave is able to deal with a locked prison. He knows every guard. He knows every judge. He knows where every missing believer is. We can ask Him to act on behalf of imprisoned Christians.
And verse 10 celebrates the fact that He did act on Paul's behalf. "who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us..." Paul had been delivered from a deadly danger, and he continued to look to God for further deliverance. His trust had become more firmly fixed on the God who could save him.
So let's pray boldly for actual help for other hurting Christians. Pray for prisoners to be released. Pray for charges to be dismissed when Christians have been falsely accused. Pray for food to reach hungry families. Pray for parents and children to be reunited. We are praying to a Father who can do these things. But He asks us to share in that provision by prayer. He has somehow ordained that prayer be a necessary part of this fellowship of sufferings and fellowship of consolation.
But hey - even if we die, we are going to a better place, aren't we? Let me remind you of the last phrase of verse 9 again, where Paul says, "that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead." Just as one example, in Acts 12, James was killed, and Peter was delivered from prison. Both were servants of Jesus Christ. So, we cannot turn Peter's deliverance into a promise that every believer will escape martyrdom. James did not escape martyrdom - despite prayers being offered up on his behalf. But he experienced the joys of heaven sooner than Peter did. As soon as he got to heaven I think he was glad that he was martyred. It's just an extra thought that I am throwing in there.
In any case, we can earnestly ask the Father to preserve someone's life while entrusting that life to God's wisdom. And if the believer dies, the promise of resurrection has not failed. His family has suffered a real loss that makes them grieve, and we should grieve with them. But the persecutor has not destroyed Christ's ability to save His people. Jesus will raise those who belong to Him.
Take your place among those who help (v. 11)
But the climax comes in verse 11, which is where I want this sermon to bring us. Paul says, "you also helping together in prayer for us, [that's the theme of this sermon - "helping together in prayer for us,"] that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many." Paul connects his expectation of deliverance with the Corinthians helping together through prayer.
That word translated "helping together" means joining in assistance. Paul counts their prayers as real help. They may be miles away, but they have a real part in bringing his need to God.
The point is that God actually answers prayer. He can protect a believer, change a judge's decision, provide a meal through another Christian, or give strength in a terrible hour. And the prisoner doesn't have to know that you prayed for God to hear your request. You may never be able to tell that prisoner that you prayed for him. But the Father knows whom you are praying for.
Children, that is why you can help someone on the other side of the world. You don't have to know how to get to his country. You don't have to know the language he speaks. You can speak to the Father who knows him and loves him.
But perhaps another question comes up: “If God has already decided what He is going to do, why should I pray?” That is a question Christians have asked for a long time. And the answer is that God's plan includes the means by which He carries it out. It includes the prayers as well as the deliverance. None of you would say, “Well, God has decided whether my children will eat or not, so there is no point preparing lunch.” That's ridiculous, right? Preparing the food is one of the ways God provides for them. And the same is true of prayer. You really ask, and He really answers. James 4:2 says, "you do not have because you do not ask." For James it was obvious - don't expect to receive if you don't ask. Both the means of prayer and the answer to prayer are within His wise providence. Paul doesn't see a conflict here either. In verses 9 and 10, he trusts God to deliver, yet in verse 11, he includes the Corinthians helping through prayer. His confidence in God gives him confidence to seek their intercession. He needed their intercession.
Now, that doesn't mean our prayers put God in our debt. The word Paul uses for the benefit in verse 11 is a word for a gracious gift. It is mercy freely given. We ask as dependent children. We come through Jesus Christ, and we trust the Father to answer according to His wisdom.
Nor does it mean that we know every reason why one believer is delivered and another remains in prison. We don't. And this verse doesn't tell us that if we assemble enough people, God will be obligated to do precisely what we ask. But, it does give us a place of service and a reason to pray with confidence.
And notice where it leads: thanksgiving from many people. If there wasn't a significance to prayer, there would be no basis for this thanksgiving. Those who have shared the burden in prayer can share the joy (and rewards - I won’t take the time to get into rewards, but they too are real) when the Father grants help. The answer becomes an occasion for many people to praise Him.
We should make more room for that. Sometimes we hear a request, pray about it, and then never follow up. We forget about the need. But when we can get an update, let's try to get it and communicate it. If the person has been released, thank God. If the family has received needed food, thank Him. If a believer has remained faithful through pressure, thank Him for sustaining grace. And if the news is painful, continue bringing the person and the family to the Father of mercies.
Parents, you can help your children learn to do this. Choose a believer or family from a trustworthy ministry's prayer reports. Keep the name and a few requests somewhere where the whole family will see them - perhaps on the fridge. Help the children to remember. When you receive an update, share it with them. Let your children see that the people they pray for have real lives and that God hears His children's requests. That can hugely increase their faith.
Conclusion
I began this sermon with a little boy outside a prison fence. I could give those pastors my candy, and I was glad to do it. But I wished that I could do more. Well, this passage gives us something more we can do for suffering believers. We can bring them to the Father of mercies through prayer.
May the Lord deepen our compassion and keep us faithful in prayer. And may He give us many occasions to join our persecuted brothers and sisters in thanking Him. Amen. Let's pray.
Closing prayer
Father of mercies and God of all comfort, we thank You that we can approach You through our Lord Jesus Christ. You know every imprisoned believer, every grieving household, and every child who is missing a parent. Have mercy upon them.
Forgive us for the ease with which we forget their needs. Give us hearts that care and teach us to pray faithfully. Comfort those who are afraid and lonely. Sustain those who are exhausted. Provide food, shelter, medical care, and trustworthy friends. Protect Your people from those who would harm them, and grant release to those unjustly imprisoned.
Strengthen their faith in the Lord Jesus. Give them wisdom in what they say and do. Use the comfort You supply to encourage others and to bear witness to Your saving grace. Bring their persecutors to repentance, and restrain those who continue to do evil.
Comfort the families of those who have died. Keep them in the hope of the resurrection. And grant that many people will have reason to thank You for the help You give in answer to prayer. Make us faithful participants in that intercession and thanksgiving. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Charge
Children of God, take your place among those who help through prayer. Bring the needs of Christ's afflicted people to the Father of mercies, and watch for occasions to thank Him for His help.