"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:20-21
An ambassador is a sent/authorized representative or messenger.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again." 2 Corinthians 1:3-10
1. Comforters: “We despaired… therefore, we were taught to rely not on ourselves but on the power of God.” (v. 8-10)
"I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith, and love, and ev'ry grace,
Might more of his salvation know,
And seek more earnestly his face.
I hoped that in some favored hour,
At once he'd answer my request,
And by his love's constraining power,
Subdue my sins and give me rest.
These inward trials I employ
From self and pride to set you free
And break your schemes of earthly joy
That you would seek your all in me.”
John Newton, I Asked the Lord, Stanzas 1, 3, 7
"Whate'er my God ordains is right:
though now this cup, in drinking,
may bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it, all unshrinking.
My God is true; each morn anew
sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart,
and pain and sorrow shall depart.
Whate'er my God ordains is right:
here shall my stand be taken;
though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
yet am I not forsaken.
My Father's care is round me there;
he holds me that I shall not fall:
and so to him I leave it all."
Whatever My God Ordains Is Right, Stanzas 3-4
2. Rejoicing in comfort…that we may be able to comfort others (v 4)
3. Understanding the afflictions/difficulties patiently endured speaks of the power of the gospel, the sustaining gospel to others (v 6).
Applications
1. Radical (total) obedience and the life of chosen suffering/affliction is one of abundantly living.
“For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”
"Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles...What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.'” 1 Corinthians 15:7,32
2. We should think much (ponder) on the character and grandeur of the triune God.
“Our cure begins, to extend the medical analogy, when God as the Great Physician applies the medicine of the cross to the disease of our sin and nurses us through the love of the Holy Spirit into good health according to the prescriptions of his Word. The application of this divinely therapeutic balm of the gospel transforms our loves and reorders our lives. We become worshippers of God instead of idolaters. We trade in our vices for virtues. God breaks the power of our habits and addictions and undermines and propensities we may have toward violence. Our lives can only be reordered by God in his love…” David Naugel,Reordered Love, Reordered Lives
3. Help is always on the way! (v 10)
“When I left England, my hope of India's conversion was very strong; but amongst so many obstacles, it would die, unless upheld by God. Well, I have God, and His Word is true. Though the superstitions of the heathen were a thousand times stronger than they are, and the example of the Europeans a thousand times worse; though I were deserted by all and persecuted by all, yet my faith, fixed on the sure Word, would rise above all obstructions and overcome every trial. God's cause will triumph." William Carey quoted in Iain Murray, The Puritan Hope, pg. 140
4. “Our hope for you is unshaken” (v 7a) (the power of trusting God to work in the lives of his people).
“The expectant reality of the power of the living God who works in the lives of his people.”
- Comfort
- Individually shaped and gifted
- Rooted in the goodness and mercy of the cross of Christ
- Implies a strong obligation to extend kindness and the message of grace to those around us