Why We Need Each Other! - 2 Corinthians 1

 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia:

2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now we move to Paul's second letter to the Corinthians.  In this letter Paul admonished the Corinthian church for the divisions in the church based on them following certain personalities like Paul, Apollos, and Peter.  Secondly, there was a lot of carnality and sexual immorality stemming from the area where Corinth was located.  The believers in Corinth were beginning to look more like the culture around them, rather than the new life they were given in Christ.

The second letter to the Corinthians was written after the first one when Paul was not able to visit the church as he intended.  The main issue was there were a few men in the church who were talking badly about Paul, especially in regard to his apostolic authority.  This is why in this opening statement in verse 1 Paul says, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus."  An apostle is who whom was sent.  The early church got caught up in the attributing this title only the original 12 apostles who followed Jesus, but Paul is clearly a true apostle, as he helped plant almost of all the New Testament churches around the world.  God still gives apostolic gifts to people today, as the church continues to grow in areas where the gospel seed has not yet been planted.  

Praise to the God of All Comfort

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

This is a great passage as Paul explains the comfort we receive from God during our trials, and also how God uses each of us to comfort each other.  The word for "comfort" is much stronger than just "soothing sympathy".  It has the same root word for what we say that the Holy Spirit comes alongside of us to be our helper.  It has the idea of helping to make strong our brave.  

"Mr. Knox, a little before his death, rose out of his bed; and being asked wherefore, being so sick, he would offer to rise? He answered, that he had had sweet meditations of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that night, and now he would go into the pulpit, and impart to others the comforts that he felt in his soul.” (Trapp)

One of the great truths of the faith is that when we are comforted with the strength of Christ during troubling times, we can use that same comfort to strengthen others.  This is the great power of Christian community.  This is why it is important to be in a small group and why when significant and trusting relationships are built, we can be transparent and share our difficulties with other brothers and sisters in Christ.  Often in pride we don't want to share our weaknesses, but that prevents us from experiencing the beauty of the Christian community when we comfort each other.  

Many of us experience the same suffering and it allows us to deeply comfort someone with that same suffering.  People who have had cancer can comfort others with cancer.  People who have lost a loved one recently can comfort others undergoing the same kind of grief.  Those who suffer from an addiction are best helped in a 12 step group where others have admitted their powerlessness and realize God and being in a group are the only ways to leave a life of insanity caused by addiction.  

Friends my hope is that you are a in place and have others in your life who offer you comfort when you are down.  On the flipside it also a place where you comfort others and use the sufferings you have had to go through to be a source of comfort to others.  No one should have to suffer alone.   Jesus the great comforter has given us His Holy Spirit the source of all comfort! 

Where in your life are you suffering and need comfort?  Who can you reach out to that might know what you are going through? Who are some other people in your life that might need to be comforted with the comfort only you can provide?  Another way to provide comfort is to pray with someone. This can happen in person, over the phone and even by text!  Oh the peace we often forfeit because we do not take it to the Lord in Prayer!