Troubled But Triumphant

Well, they got into the church, created problems. So Paul had to write them a letter, and we don't have that letter. We call it the lost letter. Paul had to write them a letter and it was stern. Then he wrote First Corinthians. They wrote back and said, "What about this, this, this, and this?" So he wrote First Corinthians to answer their questions.

And then he said, "A letter won't do it." So he had to make a painful visit. Paul had to go to Corinth and meet with these people, and the Judaizers were on one side accusing Paul of being a phony. They said, "You weren't one of the original 12. What right do you have to call yourself an apostle?" On the other side were his converts, people he had led to Christ. Very, very painful visit.

When he got back from that visit, he wrote a very severe letter. I mean it was a letter born out of anguish. He refers to it in 2 Corinthians 2:4, "For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears." Just like when you have to spank a child. The child doesn't believe it, but it hurts you more than it hurts the child.

He wrote that severe letter, he gave it to Titus. Whenever he had a hard job to perform, he either got Timothy or Titus to help him do it. Titus went off to Corinth and said, "Here's the letter." And Titus came back to report what had happened as a result of the letter. Then he wrote Second Corinthians.

So Second Corinthians was written in response to the problems in that church. It's a very painful book. Paul had been misunderstood. Paul had been criticized. Paul's authority had been questioned. And on top of that, it wasn't enough just to have the problems in Corinth.

Paul had gone through excruciating trouble in Asia. So there was trouble over there in Corinth. There was trouble where Paul was in Asia. There was problem. Sometimes life seems like that, doesn't it? You say, "Well, things are going real good for me." God bless you. Enjoy it. And wait. Because God balances our lives, and Paul was really going through it.

Ministry, folks, is difficult. Now, religious work is not difficult. Religious work is easy. If I just wanted to have an easy life and no conscience, I'd pastor a church that wanted to hear me preach once a week, wouldn't bother me the rest of the week, they didn't want me to touch them. I'd write books the rest of the week and do the things I want to do, show up on Sunday and keep the saints happy. Religious work is easy. Ministry's tough. You say, "What's the difference?" Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human needs through loving channels to the glory of God. That's tough.

It doesn't take a great deal of courage to pastor a church if you don't know the people. You're never exposed to their hurt. You don't weep with those that weep. You don't rejoice with those that rejoice. You keep yourself at a distance. These preachers who are invisible during the week and incomprehensible on Sundays— I don't know about the other preachers in this crowd, but I cannot minister to a congregation if I'm distant from the people. I have to know them. This week it's going to be difficult because we're in and out.

Now, Paul identified himself with people. Paul was not an ivory tower preacher who delivered oracles occasionally. Paul was with the people, and it hurt. Because he was not interested in religious activity. He was concerned about ministry.

Some of you may be taking notes and you may want a little outline of 2 Corinthians. This is not the outline. There is no such thing as the outline of any book in the Bible, except the book of Revelation. God gave us an inspired outline. "The things which you've seen, the things which are, the things that will be hereafter." That's the outline of Revelation. But if some preacher says, "Now here is the outline of Romans," there is no the outline of Romans. It's just his outline of Romans. And so I want to give you just a suggested outline of 2 Corinthians just to give us a road map.

Chapters 1 through 7, Paul explains his ministry. They'd accused him of being a liar. They'd accused him of having a double tongue. They'd accused him of throwing his authority around. They'd accused him of being unconcerned and Paul explains his ministry in chapters 1 through 7.

Chapters 8 and 9, Paul encourages their generosity. He was taking up an offering, a missionary offering. By the way, the only offering we find anywhere in the epistles in the church was this offering that Paul was taking for the poor saints in Jerusalem. It was a special missionary offering. Paul encourages their generosity in chapters 8 and 9. Then Paul establishes his authority in chapters 10 through 13.

2 Corinthians 1-2. Now we are not going to go into great detail. You can do that with your own Bible study. But in 2 Corinthians 1 and 2, Paul is talking about triumph over trouble. If you're looking for a key verse to put your finger on and say, "Well, chapters 1 and 2 what verse is important?" They're all important, but 2 Corinthians 2:14 is the key thought. "Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ." So the theme of chapter or a theme, a major theme of chapters 1 and 2 is triumph over trouble. And Paul's going to discuss four different kinds of trouble.

Here's a remarkable thing, friends. Christians have trouble. Oh, I hear radio preachers and television preachers say if you're a dedicated Christian and if you're living for God and filled with the Holy Spirit, you'll never have trouble. What are you going to do with 2 Corinthians 1:8? Here is an apostle who's been to heaven and back, filled with the Holy Spirit, who wrote 13 letters in the New Testament. I mean here's a godly man who writes in 2 Corinthians 1:8, "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."

Now I've read a great many books on the victorious Christian life. Some of them have helped me tremendously, but others have discouraged me because they present a false view of triumph. They gave me the idea for many years that if you're really walking with the Lord, these things won't happen to you. Your children or your grandchildren will not create problems. You won't have difficulty at work. Church will go along well. Then I discovered it's just the opposite. That troubles in our lives are what give us the opportunity for triumph in our lives.

What are the four different kinds of trouble that Paul deals with in chapters 1 and 2? Let me give them to you. 2 Corinthians 1:1-11, Paul deals with the biggest trouble we have, the pain within us. We hurt. We wake up at night and there is that knot down inside and we hurt. We go in for our annual checkup and the doctor says, "What are you worrying about?" "Well, what do you know?" "Well, you're developing an ulcer." And ulcers don't come from what you are eating, it comes from what's eating you. The pain within us. I have yet to meet a conscientious Christian who doesn't hurt down inside because of one thing or another. Verses one through 11, Paul says, "I'll tell you how to get triumph over the pain within us."

Then 2 Corinthians 1:12-22, the criticism about us. Ever been criticized? You got some relative in your family who does nothing but get on the phone and criticize you? Or how about in the church? On every board, I guess maybe almost every board, there is someone who, all they can do is criticize. You know, "As long as I'm a member of this board, there will be no unanimous votes. My calling is that of a sanctified obstructionist." The criticism about us.

I recall the first time in my ministry when I picked up a magazine and saw a pack of lies published about me. They just weren't true. I was shocked. I called a friend of mine, I said, "What do you do about this?" He said, "I'd write a nice letter to the editor and ask him about it." So, I did. Was never answered satisfactorily.

You know, most newspapers and magazines have a section that says "correction," at least our newspaper does in Lincoln. In fact, that's the only part that's really worth reading sometimes, that and the comics. It'll say correction, "We said that Mrs. So-and-so was the president of this, but she's really president of that."

A good journalist wants to be honest. It hurt. I had no way of answering it. The magazine did not even have a letter to the editor's column where you could write and I had to learn how to take criticism and be misunderstood. The pain within us, verses one through 11. The criticism about us, verses 12 through 22.

Then there's a third kind of trouble, that's the opposition against us. That's 1:23 through 2:11. You want to get something done, somebody's in the way. You want to move forward and you can't move forward, sanctified obstructionists. And Paul had to face opposition against the ministry. By the way, people today who have a burden to reach the lost world that Dave Hansen talked about are facing great opposition.

Dave, you don't even know this, I don't think. We sent a letter out from Back to the Bible some months ago about the American famine. And there is a famine in America. There's a famine of hearing the word of God. In spite of our statistics, America is becoming a mission field.

God is moving the center of gravity of missions to the third world. It's leaving us. That's why we've got to do more to help the third world. At any rate, this letter went out saying there is this famine, and we quote Amos 8:11 when Amos says, "The day are day is going to come when there's going to be a famine. I'm going to send a famine of the word of God." A pastor took his copy of that letter and wrote in the margin, "If it's God's will to send a famine, why should we oppose it?"

Now, what kind of theology is that? Let's take it to the ultimate. If it's God's will, I'm going to die. Why should I bother to eat breakfast this morning? That is not Bible theology. When God declares something, he declares it so that we may do something about it. When God said to Amos, "Amos, I'm going to send a famine." Amos should have said then, "Well, I'm not going to bother to preach." But he didn't, he went and preached. Got thrown out of the church for doing it, too.

You see, here we are trying to reach a lost world, what is the obstacle? God's people. You know what the obstacle is to world evangelism? Not the unsaved, and not pornography or narcotics, it's God's people. They don't care. They aren't worried, they aren't concerned.

There's a fourth kind of trouble, chapter 2 verses 12 through 17, the circumstances around us. Oh, did Paul have difficult circumstances. Now today, you may not have all four of these on your agenda. But somebody here is saying, "Well, I've got pain within me," and somebody else says, "Oh, I've got criticism about me. I hate to go to the next family picnic, I know what I'm going to hear." Or, "The opposition against me, I'm trying to get this done and can't do it," or "The circumstances around me." Well, let's see what Paul has to say about this.

How do we handle the pain within us? Verses 1 through 11. We praise God. Oh, you say, "Here comes Wiersbe with his easy solutions." That's not an easy solution. What does Paul do? 2 Corinthians 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies, and the God of all comfort."

Now, there are three books in the New Testament that start that way. 2 Corinthians 1:3, Ephesians 1:3, 1 Peter 1:3, all say, "Blessed be God." Here he's talking about present comfort. Ephesians 1:3 is talking about past election. God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings, we're chosen in Christ. 1 Peter 1:3 talks about future hope.

So here we have three doxologies. One deals with the past, Ephesians 1:3, one deals with the future, 1 Peter 1:3, this one deals with the present. Whether we look back, ahead, or around, we ought to be able to bless the Lord.

My first reaction when I hurt is to complain. I wouldn't tell you that, except you're the same way. We're all this way, we're made this way. Something happens that hurts us down inside and the first thing I ought to do is look to God. Why? Well, because of what God is. He is my God, He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He's the father of mercies, He's the God of all comfort, all comfort. God has cornered the market on comfort.

Now, the word comfort that Paul uses here does not mean pampering. The word comfort in our English language comes from two Latin words that mean "with strength." I comfort you not when I help you live with something, I comfort you when I help you draw out the strength to get over something. Let me explain.

Your children are little, your little boy comes, he's broken his toy, and you say, "Don't worry about that, Grandma will buy you a new toy." Is that kid going to go through life thinking that everybody is going to step in and make everything right and easy for him? I hope not. We comfort somebody when we help that person grow up, when we help that person draw upon the inner resources that God puts within all of His children, not doing things instead of them, but helping them do things for themselves.

It's not sympathy where we kiss it and make it well. Oh, no. In the Bible, this word comfort means to come alongside and help. Paul uses it 10 times in 11 verses: comfort, consolation. The word means to come alongside and help, not to do it instead of you, not to do it in spite of you, but to help you do it. Like homework. We could sit down and do our kids' homework in a lot less time than it takes to help them do their homework, but then they'll go through life saying, "Well, if I've got a problem, somebody will take care of it for me." That's why we have the kind of problems we have with grownups.

So we praise God for what He is to us, and we praise Him for what He does for us. 2 Corinthians 1:4, "He comforts us in all our tribulation." That word tribulation is a word that means pressure. Paul was in a pressure situation. He was in a corner. Things had narrowed down and he was just feeling. . . you ever felt that way where everything is just crushing you, moving in on you?

So Paul says, "I'm just going to praise the Lord. He knows all about it. He's able to comfort us." And so we praise the Lord for what He is to us, He's our Father, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. We praise God for what He does for us, and we praise God for what He does through us.

Now we're finding out why we suffer. 2 Corinthians 1:4, "that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God." Now this is an important principle. Suffering can make us selfish. Some of the meanest saints I have ever met I've met in the hospital. They just are mad! They're mad at God! They're mad at the world! Now here they are, they want God to comfort them, that is not not to just dry their tears, but to give them strength.

Why does God give us strength? So that we might be channels of blessing to somebody else. Why are we suffering today, and all of us are in one way, why do we have this pain down inside? So we'll learn how wonderful God is in meeting our needs, but we're not supposed to be reservoirs, we're supposed to be channels. Because within a short time we're going to meet somebody who hurts and we're going to sense that they hurt, and we'll be able to say, "Look, this is what God did for me."

Now I know what people say, "You've never been through this." Well, you notice what Paul says? Paul says, "I don't have to go through what you go through." I've never had cancer. My father died of cancer, but I've never had cancer. I've never had a stroke. My mother died of a stroke, but I've never had a stroke. I cannot go through all the experiences of life. You don't have to. Whatever you're going through, the same God of comfort fills you with His strength so you can say to anybody no matter what they are going through, "Here's what the Lord can do for you."

But I'll tell you what we do. We want to cherish our feelings, cherish our sufferings, it makes us important, it makes us unique, and so we say to somebody, "Well, you don't know how I feel." Friend, I don't have to know how you feel. You don't have to know how I feel. I just know you hurt. I just know you hurt.

I've pastored three different churches and I've had to go minister to people, and every once in a while they say, "Well, pastor, you don't know what it is to lose your wife." No, that's true. I said to Vance Havner one day, "I'm sorry to hear you lost your wife." And he looked at me and he said, "Son, when you know where something is, you haven't lost it." That said something to me.

No, I have never lost my wife, but I have been through other experiences and I've tasted the grace of God and I can share that with you. When we say, "You don't know how I feel," we're being defensive. We don't want to open up our feelings. When we're saying, "You can't help me." No, I can't, but God can. I'm not here as a reservoir. I'm here as a channel. So we praise God for what He is to us and what He does for us and what He does through us.

You know why God does it this way? Look down at 2 Corinthians 1:9. "We have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead." You know why I'm hurting today? Because I have a tendency to trust myself, my training, my studying, my experience.

You know, I'm like Peter. Peter said, "Lord, bid me come." Peter'd been on that— on that lake many times. He knew every inch of those waters. And he could walk on the water. Oh, he was trusting his experience, trusting himself. Almost drowned. You know why God keeps allowing new pain to come to our lives? Because we have a tendency to say, "Well, we've arrived now." Folks, we haven't arrived. There's always more growing to do.

The pain within us, let's just praise the Lord, trust Him, and let Him use us to help others. Now if you want to live with pain and cherish pain, just keep it to yourself. You can do it. People will let you do it. There are some people who love to be hurt. And you feel sorry for them. If you want that hurt to start healing, do something for somebody else.

When I was a pastor, and I'd be in my study studying away, and I'd find that the blessing wasn't coming and the message wasn't developing, and I was feeling sorry for myself, you know what I'd do? I'd close my books, pick up my car keys, go out and visit, and just do something for somebody else. And by the end of that afternoon, the blessing had come. If you want to be a reservoir, it's going to get sour. If you want to be a channel, it's going to stay clean and alive and beautiful. Don't keep it to yourself. Go out and do something for somebody else.

The criticism about us, I don't want to say much about that, you can read it. They criticized Paul. They lied about him. It worked like this, Paul said, "I'm going to come twice to Corinth. When I go through to Macedonia, I'm going to visit you. When I come back, I'm going to visit you." And Paul had to change those plans.

I've had to change my plans. There've been times in my life when I've had to cancel some meetings. I've had to rearrange my schedule, people say, "Oh, yeah, Wiersbe doesn't know the will of God." I wish I knew the will of God the way other people do. Oh, I would give anything to have the direct line that some people have got. I make plans, and God rearranges them, and sometimes he does them in painful ways.

Paul's answer to the criticism about him was that he maintained his own integrity. He says in 2 Corinthians 1:12-13 that his conscience was clear. You know if your conscience is clear, and you're pleasing the Lord, don't worry about that criticism. A hundred years from now, nobody's going to care what was written about me or you. All that really counts is what's the Lord going to say. That's why he says in verse 14— he closes 2 Corinthians 1:14 talking about the day of the Lord Jesus. You know, when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, a lot of misunderstandings are going to be straightened out.

I'm a student of church history, especially preaching. I read the biographies and autobiographies of the great preachers and missionaries. And you know, almost all of them had misunderstandings. Oh, you read the life of Spurgeon and see the criticism that was thrown at him. And just about anybody who's done anything for the Lord's been criticized. The only people who don't get criticized don't do anything. But at the judgment seat of Christ, when our hearts are revealed, our motives are revealed, God's going to straighten a lot of things out.

Therefore, if you've got a relative who's being hard on you, just keep your conscience clear. Paul uses in 2 Corinthians 1:12 the word simplicity, "We have conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity." You know what that means? That's the opposite of duplicity. It means integrity. It means you're all one. You're not a split person. You don't tell one person one thing and somebody else something else. No, no. If you have this godly sincerity, this integrity, a clear conscience, God can give us victory over criticism. We don't go around complaining because of what people say about us.

In 2 Corinthians 1:23, Paul begins to deal with the opposition in the church. He makes an interesting statement, "Moreover, I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth." He said, "I couldn't come back. It would have been devastating. The problems were so great, and my hurt was so deep. Who knows what might have happened?"

By the way, there are times when we shouldn't try to help people. You say, "Well, I thought we as Christians should always be available, every time." Uh-uh. No. No, Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus and said, "Lazarus is sick, the one you love is sick." You know what Jesus did? Stayed there. Stayed there.

Sometimes mother love becomes smother love, and we rush to help too soon. Paul said, "I didn't dare come." There have been times I've had to say to folks with whom I work, "Look, this is not the time to talk about that. We've got to draw a boundary line here. Let's just wait until the Lord opens up the right time." We make things worse by rushing in.

David said, "Be not as the horse or the mule." Sometimes we're like the mule, and we stay back and we're stubborn and won't do anything. Sometimes we're like the horse, and we rush in. We've got to call up that person and make things right. Cool it. There's a right time and a right place and a right way to solve these problems.

But notice what he says in 2 Corinthians 1:24, "Not that we have dominion over your faith." Don't let anybody have dominion over your faith. I want to be careful as I say this. There are churches in America today that are cultic. I didn't say they were cults. They preach the truth of the Word of God, but they're cultic. They dominate the people. They tell them what they must think, how they must do this, how they must go there, and they don't give people margins for growth. And as a result, they turn out cookie cutter Christians, frustrated people. The purpose of the church is to give us a loving fellowship in which we can be ourselves, our best self, to the glory of God.

Now Paul, as an apostle, could have had authority over them. He said, "No, no. I don't want to come exercising dominion. I am not some kind of a majordomo to run your life. No, no. I rather want to be a fellow worker for your joy, for by faith you stand." That's the way we raise our children, I hope. Don't decide what they're going to be. You're going to be a doctor, you're going to be a lawyer, you're going to be a preacher, no, you don't do that. We watch them. We see what are their gifts. How are they growing? We create an atmosphere in which they can each be himself or herself. We don't exercise dominion.

Watch out for that Christian worker who has all the answers and has every time to tell you what to do. Beware. I need a chance to grow, and, by the way, I need a chance to make some mistakes. The beautiful thing about a loving marriage is you can make mistakes and not be in trouble. It's so wonderful to live with people who let you occasionally make mistakes. We shouldn't, but we do. So, Paul says, "As far as the opposition is concerned, I want to do this whole thing in love, not in authority."

The keyword in the first part of chapter two is "sorrow." Paul talks about sorrow. "I don't want to come to you in sorrow. If I make you sorrowful, who makes me glad?" Over and over again, sorrow, sorrow, affliction, anguish, tears. Paul had sorrow.

By the way, the difference between anger and anguish, notice he uses the word anguish in 2 Corinthians 2:4, "For out of much affliction and anguish of heart," the difference between anger and anguish is love. Nothing wrong with anger, but anger can be very destructive. I get angry when I think of a million and a half babies every year being murdered in America. I get angry. But anger can be very destructive. Now, when you mix anger with love, you have anguish. Anguish is anger that hurts. It's Jeremiah weeping. It's Jesus weeping. It's Paul sorrowing.

How do we face the opposition? Well, we have sorrow and anguish. They had sorrow. There was a man in the church who had created problems, they had to discipline him. Paul makes an interesting statement about what had happened there. 2 Corinthians 2:8, this man had been disciplined, he had created problems, "Therefore I urge you, reaffirm your love to him." Why do we discipline in the home? Do we discipline a child and throw him out? No, no, no. Why do we discipline in the church? To restore people to ministry.

I'm treading on some dangerous ground here, but I will proceed. The purpose of discipline in ministry is to keep people serving God. I have some friends who have sinned. They have dealt with their sin. They have been under discipline. They've been under instruction. Now they're back serving the Lord, and some of my other friends are shooting them down because they're back serving the Lord.

Friends, Galatians 6 says, "If any man be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual restore, restore, not destroy, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness and consider yourself, you might be the next one." Now maybe if a minister sins, he can't go back to the same church and in the same ministry. But there is someplace where he can serve God. There's someplace where he can serve God.

And Paul says, "You lovingly forgive this man." Why? 2 Corinthians 2:11, the devil's watching, "Lest Satan should take advantage of us, we're not ignorant of his devices." And one of his devices is accusation, accusation, keep reminding people that they sinned. God help that child who grows up in a home where mother and father never forget what they've done. God help that child. And God help that church where they can't forgive one another. God help that home. He who will not forgive destroys the very bridge over which he'll have to walk someday. General Oglethorpe said to John Wesley, "I never forgive," and Wesley replied, "Then, sir, I hope you never sin."

In 2 Corinthians 2:12-17, Paul talks about the Roman triumph. "Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and diffuses through us the fragrance of his knowledge in every place." What's he talking about? Whenever a Roman general who had been on foreign soil and won a complete victory and gained new territory and killed at least 5,000 of the enemy came back to Rome, they had a ticker-tape parade for him called the Roman triumph, marvelous.

They put him in a golden chariot. They had his captives with him there. They had the loot that he'd brought home. His own victorious soldiers were marching with him. The priests were there, the Roman priests, with their incense, the fragrance, oh, it was a big thing. The parade went down a special route, and all of Rome was there cheering this great— That's what he's talking about, the Roman triumph.

Now, says Paul, "The circumstances around us seem very difficult, but remember this. You are not fighting for victory. You're fighting from victory. The Lord has already won the battle." Joshua was out checking everything before they were going to go take Jericho, and he turns the corner, and there stands a soldier with a sword. Joshua steps up and says, "Are you for us or against us?" And the soldier says, "I'm in command."

It was the Lord Jesus. And Joshua discovered he was second in command. It's a great day in your life when you discover you're second in command. And he fell down at his feet and said, "What do you have to say?" He said, "I've already won the victory. That's all you have to do. I've already won."

Now, life is this way. I have circumstances that distress me, but I've got to say, "Lord, even if you change the circumstances, it wouldn't help me because my problem's down on the inside, not the outside." What life does to you depends upon what life finds in you. And asPaul says, now, Jesus Christ is leading us in triumph, and we are the fragrance of Christ to God. We're the perfume of Christ to God.

Therefore, we are to be channels, not reservoirs. We are to be victors following in His train. About the time you get one set of circumstances straightened out, there'll be another and another and another. You know why? It's the only way we grow, the only way we get to know God better, the only way we get to know the Bible better, the only way we get closer to each other. Because we're marching in triumph.

2 Corinthians 2:16 says, "Who is sufficient for these things?" And the answer comes in 2 Corinthians 3:5, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God."

"Pressed out of measure, pressed to all length, pressed so intensely, it seems beyond strength. Pressed in the body, pressed in the soul, pressed in the mind till the dark surges roll. Pressed by foes, pressured by friends, pressure on pressure till life nearly ends. Pressed into loving his staff and his rod. Pressed into knowing no helper but God. Pressed into liberty where nothing clings. Pressed into faith for impossible things. Pressed into living a life in the Lord. Pressed into living a Christ life outpoured."

Pressed out of measure, who is sufficient for these things? Our sufficiency is of God.

Forgive us, Father, when we've wanted to be pampered. Forgive us when we've looked for escape instead of enablement. Forgive us when we've blamed others for our problems, knowing full well that the heart of every problem is the problem in the heart. And may we draw upon your sufficiency through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.