2nd Corinthians 1:1-11 | Why God Allows Trouble in our Lives
We are in 2nd Corinthians and as we have been announcing, we are starting a brand new book of the Bible. It’s always good to be in Church at the beginning of a new book or new Bible study. I would encourage you to make it a goal to be with us every week as we study through the book of second Corinthians. Last Sunday we celebrated 11 years of ministry here at Verity Baptist Church. In the last 11 years, we have gone through together verse by verse, chapter by chapter. Now not all of you were here when we first started but some of you were here and have been with us for 11 years. We’ve covered a lot of books verse by verse and now we will be covering 2nd Corinthians.
Look down at verse 1. The Bible says “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:”. I don’t know if you remember what we covered when we went through 1st Corinthians. But notice that right off the bat Paul declares himself an Apostle of Jesus Christ. He says that as a defense of his apostleship. Many people attacked and criticized his apostleship. Paul makes it clear that he was chosen an Apostle by the will of God.
In 1st Corinthians Paul had to defend his apostleship to the Church at Corinth. There were a lot of problems in Corinth being a carnal Christian and they needed a lot of correcting. We recently went through Philippians and he is encouraging them in the great work they are doing. With the Church of Corinth it is basically the opposite as they are being rebuked. They had a lot of sin and issues and they were also questioning the Apostle Paul’s authority and his leadership and his apostleship.
1st Corinthians 9:1 “Am I am not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? 2 If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord. Notice what he says in verse 3 “3 Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,”. Then he goes on to give an answer.”. But I just want to point out to you that this Church had already been questioning the legitimacy of Paul as an Apostle.
So in the start of 2nd Corinthians, he is making it clear to them that he is an Apostle by the will of God. I want you to notice the second thing that he brings up here in his opening statements. He says “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:”. He says that he is addressing the Church of Corinth and he tells them that he is with all of the saints which are in Achaia.
Now as part of the introduction, I want to cover what Paul talks about when he says “saints”. Today people have a misunderstanding of the word saint and what a saint is. That’s mainly due to the Roman Catholic Church that teaches a false teaching about sainthood. And pretty much what they teach is that if you are a really good Christian then after you die you become a saint. That’s not what the Bible teaches. The Bible does not teach the idea of sainthood in the same way that the Catholic Church teaches. What the Bible teaches is that every believer is a saint.
1st Corinthians 1:1-2 “Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their’s and our’s:”. What’s interesting is that the Church of Corinth are probably the most carnal Church in the Church epistles but he says they are called to be saints. It says for anyone who calls upon Jesus Christ. What does that mean?
Romans 10:12 “12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”. Then in 1st Corinthians 1:2 he tells us with all that in every place call upon the name of the Jesus Christ our Lord. These verses show what is the biblical teaching of saints. Right now I am looking at a bunch of saints because you’re saved. The Bible says there’s one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus. It’s blasphemous to pray to someone to mediate between you and God. You are a priest. You are a saint. You have been called to be able to go to the throne of grace yourself through the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are all introductory statements.
2nd Corinthians 1:2 “2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;”. Notice that Paul talks about how God is our Father. Then he also calls him the God of all comfort. By the way, if God is the God of all comfort that means there is no where else to get comforted. Our world tries to get comforted from all sorts of places or things like drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling and other things and places. The Bible says that the only source of comfort is God. Paul is going to develop this idea for us tonight and we are going to look at 2 questions tonight.
The first question is this: Do Christians suffer or do Christians go through suffering? We’re going to look at that tonight. Why does God allow Christians to suffer? Why does God allow suffering into their lives? We just got done studying the book of Job. It seems like chapter 1 of 2nd Corinthians goes hand in hand with Job. Do Christians go through trouble?
Verse 4 “4 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 word tribulation means trouble. On a side point, tribulation is not the wrath of God. Tribulation is going through trouble, through trials, through persecution. He says “4 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.”. Paul says that he went through tribulation but God comforted him in it.
Verse 5 “5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.”. He tells them that the suffering they have gone through and will go through is the same suffering that they have gone through. Verse 7 “7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.”.
Verse 8 “8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:”. Paul had made them aware of the trouble that they had gone through. “9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:”. So the answer to the question of do Christians go through suffering is yes. These health and wealth preachers and tv preachers will say that they are no trials if you are right with God but that is now what the Bible teaches.
You might ask “Pastor, what do you think about this recall Gavin Newsom just got and that he gets to keep his job?”. I think 2 things. 2 out of 3 people in California are idiots. And number 2 is that we are going to suffer as Christians. John 16:33 “33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”. These Pre-Tribbers tell us that Christians won’t go through tribulation and yet Paul talked about the tribulation we go through and says that we will have tribulation in the world. We will have trials. We will suffer on this earth as believers.
Romans 8:18 “18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”. He is saying that when we get to heaven, we won’t even think about the small sufferings we had while on earth. I think it’s also funny that you have these tv preachers like Joel Osteen or TD Jakes that will tell us that you will be rich and healthy while you are here. But the Bible says that there will be sufferings and trials and tribulations in this present time.
Let’s go to 2nd Timothy 3 and we know this verse but let’s look at it together. God has ordained us as believers to go through trials. We need to realize this because sometimes people get saved, baptized, start walking with God and start applying things to their lives but then they start having struggles. Then they wonder what they are doing wrong. The truth is though that they aren’t doing anything wrong. The Christian life is a life of struggles. I’ve said it to you over and over again. You’re either in a storm, you’re coming out of a storm or you’re going into the storm. A Christian life is just a life of storms. You better be founded upon the rock. “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy…”.
2nd Timothy 3:12 “12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”. This is a promise from God. This is not the kind of promise you like to claim. It’s not what you were thinking about when you were singing “Standing on the promises”. But he says “12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”. I know guys like Billy Graham and Joel Osteen aren’t even saved. But even if they were saved, they aren’t living for God because they aren’t being persecuted. The Bible promises that all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You’re going to suffer persecution. If you say that you have never suffered persecution or been attacked for your faith or had people mad at you then something is wrong. The Bible says that you will be persecuted for your faith.
People come to a Church like ours and have issues with their family and they think “I started coming here and I’m not doing drugs anymore and yet I have all of these problems with people I know. It seems like people liked me better when I was a drug addict or a drunkard. When my life was falling apart they loved me but now I’m trying to live right and I’m being persecuted.”. The Bible tells us that this will happen. “12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”. You don’t suffer persecution when you’re living like the world because the world likes you when you’re living like them. When your life’s a mess like their life’s a mess they like you. But when you start shining the light of the Lord Jesus Christ then they get upset. Why? The Bible says “Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil”. “All that will love godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”.
So the question is do Christians suffer? Do Christians go through trouble? Do they have issues in their life? Well Paul said that we are comforted in all of our tribulations. “4 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. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. 8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:”. Don’t be surprised when you go through persecution, when you go through struggles, when you go through trials, when you go through troubles.
If your life is just smooth sailing all the time then something is wrong. The only way to have the Devil never confront you is to be moving in the same direction he’s moving. Maybe you have never come head to head with the Devil because you’re running alongside him. Maybe it’s time to start living godly in Christ Jesus. Do Christians go through troubles? The answer is yes.
The next natural question is this. Why? Why does God allow trouble in our lives? I mean why doesn’t God just protect us? If God is Almighty and all powerful and able to control then why doesn’t he keep us from getting sick and losing loved ones and having issues in our lives and having problems? Why doesn’t God just keep us all rich and why does God allow bad politicians to be elected and vaccine mandates to be pushed and the Coronavirus and all of these things? Paul the Apostle is actually writing to the Church at Corinth to answer these questions. He actually gives them four reasons in this passage as to why God allows trouble in our lives. Let me give them to you as quickly as we can tonight.
4 reasons why God allows trouble in our lives. Number 1 – God allows trouble in our lives so that God can comfort us. You realize that you would never experience the comfort of God if you never went through troubles. 2nd Corinthians 1:3 “3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation,…”. Why does God allow us to go through trials? The first reason is so that God is able to comfort us and allow you the opportunity to experience the comfort of God. “
By the way, Paul gives this long list of things that happened in his life. He was shipwrecked, beaten, stoned, in prison, people turn on him and he had all of these terrible things happen. But he says “3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 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.
Why would God allow trouble in our life? People ask this question. You invite them to Church and they will say that they aren’t into organized religion and they will ask why bad things happen to good people. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend you answering in this way but the truth is that there are no good people. What they mean by this statement is why does God allow suffering? Specifically sometimes people will ask “Why does God allow trials and troubles and persecution and heartache and difficult times in the life of a believer?”. The first reason why is so that we can experience the comfort of God.
Ask yourself this question. Have you ever experienced the comfort of God? If you don’t know what that means then you have probably never experienced it. Let me do my best to explain it to you. God is our comforter. How is it that God comforts us? John 14:26 “26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”. Notice these words “27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”. Jesus said that before he left, he would send the comforter. The comforter is the Holy Ghost. How exactly does he do that? Go back to 2nd Corinthians 1.
2nd Corinthians 1:21-22 “21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22 Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.”. How does God bring comfort? It is done through the Holy Spirit of God. And again, that’s why he’s the God of all comfort. Because comfort comes from the Holy Ghost. How exactly does he comfort us? John 14:26 “26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”.
The Bible says that the Holy Ghost teacheth you all things referring to the fact that it is the Holy Spirit of God that teaches you the word of God. The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God. Did you hear me? The Bible says “but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned”. You know the Bible says that unsaved people can’t understand the Bible. That’s what the Bible says. It says the natural man (man that’s not regenerated, that doesn’t have the Holy Ghost) can’t understand the word of God. That’s why we don’t go around handing out a bunch of Bibles to people. You say why? Because an unsaved person can’t understand the Bible.
And if you don’t believe me, ask an unsaved person about the Bible. You have people who are religious and they do the exact opposite of what the Bible tells them to do. Jesus said not to pray repetitious prayers like the heath and then you have people repeating the Lord’s prayer word for word when he told them not to do that. It was just an example of how to pray but not meant to be repeated word for word. Why do they do that? Because unsaved people cannot understand the Bible. Jehovah’s Witnesses tell you that only 144,000 people go to heaven but when you read that passage, it’s 144,000 people coming down from heaven to earth during the wrath of God. It’s almost like the Devil is mocking. Just the exact opposite of the Bible over and over and over. The Bible says over and over again that salvation is not be works, you don’t earn it and yet every religion in the world says you have to do good to go to heaven. Every religion says you can lose your salvation when the Bible says it is everlasting life.
How can I say authoritatively that unsaved people can’t understand the Bible? Because that’s what the Bible says. “but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness.”. However, saved people can understand the Bible because they have the Holy Spirit of God. They can understand the word of God. Notice “26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”. How does God comfort you? Here’s how. God comforts you during times of trial and tribulation. The Holy Ghost brings things to your remembrance. If you have health problems and you are feeling bad, the Holy Spirit brings to your remembrance “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”. You lose your job because of Coronavirus and the Holy Ghost reminds you “but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you”. “but my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory”. You lost a close person in your life and the Holy Ghost reminds you “precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints”. “We don’t sorrow as those which have no hope”. How does God comfort? The Holy Ghost brings all things into remembrance. Then what happens as a result? Verse 27 “27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”.
Go to Philippians 4:6. “6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”. Careful means to have worries or concerns. The Bible is saying not to worry about the President or politicians and things like that. Verse 7 “7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”. How could someone have their baby die and go through it in peace? I’ll tell you how. The Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost reminding them that their child went to a better place and they will be reunited someday.“.
Here’s all I’m telling you. God gives you an opportunity every time he allows troubles and trials and persecutions and heartaches and difficulties into your life, he gives you an opportunity. See, we don’t think of trials as an opportunity. If you lose your job or have bad health or get bad news about your kids or something like that, those are difficult times. I’m not trying to belittle it. I’m not trying to dismiss it. I’m just telling you that this is an opportunity for you to experience something that you otherwise could never experience. The God of all comfort to give you the peace of God which passeth all understanding.
1st Samuel 30:6 “6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”. The God of all comfort. Why does God allow trouble in our lives? Number one so that God can comfort us.
Number two – Why does God allow trials and troubles in our lives? So that God can build our faith. Notice what Paul says in verse 9. “8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:”. Paul said in verse 8 that he was pressed out of measure. He no more strength, nothing else to give. He says in so much that we despaired even of life. He said I didn’t want to live anymore. He said “but we had the sentence of death in ourselves”. He said I wish I would die. And by the way, all throughout the Bible you find men of God like Elijah, Moses, Jonah and others asking for God to take their lives. Sometimes we have the sentence of death in ourselves.
But notice what Paul says in verse nine “9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:”. I believe that God allows trouble in our lives because we’re a little too confident in ourselves sometimes. God has to remind us not to trust in ourselves but in him. Here’s what he’s saying. If God can raise you from the dead physically, he can take care of all the other stuff you’re worried about. “10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;”. Why does God allow trouble in our lives? He does it so that he can comfort us and he does it so that he can build our trust. That’s what the word faith means. The word faith and belief has to do with trust.
Psalm 20:1 “The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; 2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;”. Here we have the psalmist praying and asking God to be delivered from trouble. But notice what trouble does. Trouble allows them to trust in the Lord. Verse 7 “7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”. And by the way, it’s the Holy Ghost’s job to remind you. See, sometimes God has to take away the chariots to keep you from trusting in those chariots. He has to take away the horses to keep you from trusting in those horses. Sometimes God needs to take away some things so that we will remember the name of the Lord our God. So why does God allow trouble? So that God can comfort us. Why does God allow trouble? So that God can build our faith and our trust and our dependence in him.
Let me give you a third one. Why does God allow trouble? In order to help others. 2nd Corinthians 1:11 “11 Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.”. What does that mean? God allows trouble in our lives sometimes to unite us with other believers. I mean for some of you, isn’t that your story? How did you start coming to Church? Your life was falling apart so God used trouble in your life to draw you close not only to himself but to other believers in a community of believers. When we meet together on a Wednesday night, we have this prayer sheet. We’re not just going through some religious exercise. We actually believe in prayer around here. God actually answers prayer. Now God’s answer to prayer is not always the answer we want. We have to understand that. But if God answers prayer then God can help us through those answers.
Romans 15:30 “30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;”. We saw the Philippians striving together for the faith of the gospel. Here we have a different stripe all together. Jesus said that the house of God should be called the house of prayer. That’s why we take the time to pray. We take the time to write the prayer requests and print out a prayer sheet and we take the time to actually go through and pray for our Church family. Why? Because we are to strive together in prayer. Why? Because we’re supposed to be helping together by prayer. See, the trials in your life that you write on that prayer sheet are supposed to unite us as believers in prayer.
1st Corinthians 12:26 “26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.”. Look, this is what a Church community is. A community of believers called the local new testament Church. This is how it’s supposed to be. “26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.”. I mean our Church has always been good about these things. And we do it for everyone. My wife and I have recently experienced it ourselves with my wife of course having a miscarriage and all the people bringing meals and writing cards and sending encouraging text messages. You say why do you do that? They don’t do that for you at work. They don’t do that for you at the bowling league. The bowling league doesn’t get a bunch of meals together and bring them to you when you’re not doing well. Why? Because they’re a bunch of unbelievers. They’re selfish. But in Church the Bible says “26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.”. Many of you have experienced it. You’ve had people be there for you, pray for you, encourage you along the way.
Ecclesiastes 4:9 “9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. 10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.”. Why do I need to even go to Church? Because woe to him that is alone when he falleth. That’s why. Ecclesiastes 4:11 “11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”. 2 is better than 1. 3 is better than 2. But 170 or a Church full of people on Sunday morning is better than 3. We’re supposed to rejoice together, suffer together, pray for each other’s troubles. Troubles in our lives bring us together. Why does God allow trials in our lives? So that God can comfort you, to build your faith and to unite you with other believers.
Let me give you the last one. 2nd Corinthians 1:3 “3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;”. Why does God allow trials in our lives? So that he can comfort us. So that he can build our faith and our trust in him. So that it will unite us with other believers. But here’s honestly the main reason why God brings trials in our lives. “4 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 Bible tells us that God comforts us so that we will be able to comfort others in the same way that God comforted us. “5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.”.
Let me tell you something. When God allows trials and troubles in your life, it’s easy for us to sit there and collapse under the burden that we’re carrying to throw ourselves a pity party. Isn’t that fun? You’ve been to pity parties, you’re thrown pity parties. But Paul says there’s a reason why God gave you that burden. In fact, you ought to make that burden a bridge to help others. Because whatever you’ve gone through, whatever you’ve lost, whatever you’ve struggled with, whatever you’ve dealt with in life that you say is a trial or tribulation or persecution or heartache or struggle that God allowed into your life, I can promise you that God brought it into your life so that he can draw closer to you. He brought is so that he can comfort you. He brought it so that he can build your faith and turn around and comfort others.
So if you’re asking yourself why is God allowing me to go through this, then here is the answer to that question. That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble. God allows trouble in our lives so that we can be comforted and then we can turn around and comfort others. So yes God has a purpose in the trial. Yes God has a plan in the trouble. He wants you to experience the comfort that can only come from God. He wants to build your trust. He wants other believers to come alongside you and help you and pray with you and rejoice with you and then he wants you to turn around and do that for others.
Let’s pray.