Beyond Our Strength to Endure 2 Corinthians 1:8-11
The troubles of life are troubling to all of us. It really doesn’t matter how old or young you are, there seems to be some innate understanding that troubles should not be part of life, they are not supposed to be part of my life anyway. Have you ever stopped to really think about why the challenges of life, the troubles of life, have such power over us? I’ve seen the troubles of life consume me. I’ve lost so much sleep worrying about the trouble I found myself in at the time. I’ve known people who have ended their lives because they couldn’t bear the weight of the turmoil in their soul brought about by the troubles of life. In the Scripture I’ve been studying this past week we have the opportunity to gain a different perspective on the troubles of life. I want to warn you, what we can learn this morning is a radical departure from what we normally think when trouble and suffering comes our way. Let’s read 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 and then we will see what we can learn.
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. (2 Corinthians 1:8-11 NIV)
The problem that we have in our time together in God’s Word on Sunday morning is that we have so little time to drink in what God desires to teach us. Last week we took a look at the first seven verses, now we are taking a look at four more verses. What we really need is to read Paul’s entire letter to the church in Corinth so that we can grasp the overall message and flow of what it is Paul is intending to share with this group of people. He loved the people of the church in Corinth with all of his heart, but there were false teachers who had slipped into the congregation after he had left the city and what they were teaching was causing a growing number of the people to question the authenticity and validity of Paul’s ministry and teaching. One of the big questions they were raising was this: “If Paul was truly an apostle sent from God, why was there so much suffering in his life?” Paul knew what was happening and there’s no doubt in my mind that this is the reason he opened his letter in the way he did. Turn back to 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 with me and let’s refresh our memory from last week. Paul writes,
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. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV)
For Paul, God was, and is, the “Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.” He is the One who “comforts us in all our troubles.” We talked last week about the fact that God does not comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters. How do we know this? It’s in verse 4 where Paul wrote, “who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” I told you that what we can learn from these verses is a radical departure from what comes naturally to us when we are in the crucible of the trials and troubles of life. But there is more.In verses 8-11, the verses we will focus on this morning, Paul shared with the brothers and sisters in Corinth about an experience he had while in Asia. Let’s read verse 8 together.
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. (2 Corinthians 1:8 NIV)
There has been lots of speculation through the years about what it was that plunged Paul into despair. Was it the riot that broke out in Ephesus because of what he was teaching? Was it some debilitating illness that led Paul to believe that his life was over? Was it some violent opposition that had happened to Paul in some other city? In Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he wrote,
3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. (Romans 16:3-4 NIV)
I don’t want to spend our time trying to figure out which of the experiences Paul had which led to his believing it was the end, but something happened which the folks in Corinth evidently didn’t know about and which had happened since he wrote the last letter to them. What is important for you and me to understand is what the experience produced in Paul’s life. Paul describes the experience as putting him under “great pressure” in the New International Version. Other versions translate the Greek phrase…
Completely overwhelmed (Christian Standard Bible)
Utterly burdened (English Standard Version)
Burdened beyond measure ( New King James Version)
Crushed and overwhelmed (New Living Translation)
Are you getting the idea that whatever it was that Paul experienced was devastating, it was crushing? He goes on to say that it was “far beyond our ability to endure.” The Greek word used here is the word, “????????” (hyperbole) and it means “to an extraordinary degree, beyond measure.” The same word is used eight times in the New Testament, some times in a positive sense and others in a negative sense. Let’s take a look at just one of the places where it appears so that you can see what an extraordinary word it is. In 2 Corinthians 4:7 the same word is used to describe God’s power. Read it with me.
7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7 CSB)
The extraordinary power is from God and not something Paul has produced. Paul wants the people of Corinth to know that whatever it was he was going through, it wasn’t just a challenge, it wasn’t just a hard season in his life, it was way way beyond his ability to endure. Paul was certain that he was a goner. Can you relate? If so, I don’t have to ask you to remember the worst moments of your life, you’ve already remembered that time. We were having a Christmas Eve worship service here in our sanctuary many years ago when one of the ladies helping Connie lead worship received news that her son had been shot in the head up at the apartments on the corner of Western and Hefner. She literally collapsed as her family and some of our people tried to help her out of the church so she could go to the hospital. After the service was over I went to Mercy Hospital to be with the family. When I arrived I wrapped my arms around her and her husband and we prayed…she collapsed again. The weight of the sorrow, anxiety, and fear of what might happen, they were just too much to carry. On Christmas morning, with family and friends in the waiting room, the young man died…he was only 16. We prayed, held each other, and cried out to God who is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. Sometimes the weight of our trials can be more than overwhelming can’t they?The weight of the situation was too much for Paul to bear. God had delivered Paul from the situation he feared would do him in, but the day would come when God’s deliverance would not be to extend his life, but to take him home. In Paul’s final letter, the second letter he wrote to Timothy, Paul wrote,
6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:6-8 NIV)
Paul wrote those words from the Mamertine Prison in Rome where Emperor Nero had sentenced him to death. The prison was a dark, foul smelling place. The Roman historian Sallust described it this way.
There is a part of the prison which is called the Tullianum, where you ascend a short way on the left. The Tullianum is sunk into the earth about 12 feet and is constructed of stone walls on all sides; above this is a room with a ceiling of vaulted stone. Foul from neglect, darkness, and stench, it is an altogether terrifying sight… Its appearance is disgusting and vile by reason of the filth, the darkness and the stench.” (Sallust, War against Catiline 55. “Execution of Prisoners.”)
Paul was led out of the disgusting smelling, dark, and dreadful prison knowing that the executioner’s sword would end his life…and it did. Paul was beheaded by Emperor Nero’s executioner in late 67 or early 68 A.D. Yet, did you read how Paul viewed his end, which was coming soon? He wrote,
8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8 NIV)
I’ve been around many people who were well aware of their soon coming death, but I’ve only been around a few who held this view, focused not on what “is,” but on what was to come. Was Paul some kind of super-saint, some ascended-master who possessed something the rest of us lack? Not at all. Let’s go back to 2 Corinthians 1:9 and read what he wrote to the people in Corinth about the experience that convinced him his life was over. Paul writes,
9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:9 NIV)
When trouble and tragedy come our way we are used to asking “Why?” Our questions are more along the lines of “Why me? Why this? Why now?” Paul’s “Why” question was really “Who?” Paul was consumed with passion for the Lord: His will for his life and learning more and more every day of His ways. When Paul found himself between a rock and a hard place he looked to the “Who” and not to the “Why?” Paul looked to the Lord and not himself. It was a lesson he had to learn, not something that was innate within him. That is why he writes, “But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” George Guthrie writes,
If you and I are to live effectively for Christ in this world of swirling, striking, sometimes debilitating forces–and lead others under our ministry influence to live effectively–we must come to grips with the objective reality of limits on our resources as human beings and confront the concomitant despair head-on. We can no more master certain forces of this fallen world, under our own power, than we can leap over the Himalayas or swim from Hawaii to Hong Kong. For Christ-followers the lesson by which we confront the grim realities of our limitations constitutes a special, though often oddly wrapped, gift from God, for we are introduced to despair, which in turn can lead us to greater understanding of God Himself. (Guthrie, George H. Baker Exegetical Commentary of the New Testament: 2 Corinthians. pg. 87).
The troubles of life are an “oddly wrapped, gift from God?” I told you this was a radical teaching compared to how we normally look at our troubles. It is only when we come to the end of ourselves that we can truly know and experience the abundant provision, grace, and mercy of our God. John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, was thirty-two years old when he was arrested and jailed for refusing to stop preaching the Bible. The year was 1660 and Bunyan was sentenced to three months in Bedford Jail. They had hoped that three months would bring him to his senses, but he wouldn’t budge. John Bunyan told the magistrates that he would rather moss grow over his eyelids than to fail to do what God commanded. While Bunyan was in prison he wrote the best selling book, “Pilgrim’s Progress.” One of the most powerful sections in the book is when Christian and his friend Hopeful are captured and imprisoned by a giant named Despair. The two friends suffered greatly at the hands of Despair while they were held in the dark dungeon deep inside Doubting Castle. Things got so bad that Christian even contemplated suicide. Christian had come so far, making his way to the Celestial City, but the walls were closing in on him as he was held in the cell of hopelessness. The story is an allegory, but at least part of it had to have been autobiographical as Bunyan himself sat in a lonely prison cell. He later wrote in his autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners,
I found myself a man encompassed with infirmities; the parting with my wife and poor children hath often been to me in this place as the pulling of the flesh from the bones. (John Bunyan)
In Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian and Hopeful were captured on Wednesday and held by Giant Despair until early Sunday morning. Early on Sunday morning, Christian remembered he had a key called Promise on a chain around his neck. When he was plunged into hopelessness he had forgotten all about the key. Christian took the key, put it in the lock, and the door opened so Christian and Hopeful could make their escape from Doubting Castle and find the King’s Highway once again. What was the Promise that unlocked the door of Doubting Castle? It was the same key that hung around Paul’s neck and that hangs around the neck of every follower of Jesus…our reliance is not in ourselves, but in “the God who raises the dead.” A little later in Paul’s letter to the people in Corinth he will write,
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV)
We have one set of eyes and we can either fix them on our circumstance and situation or we can fix them on the One who made us, sustains us, and has promised to never leave us…we have a choice. Paul’s situation was dire, he would face many tough situations in life but he learned to fix his mind and heart on the Lord not on what was right in front of him. This past week I sent Tre, Ryan, and Jessica a text: “What is the difference between a Theocentric vs. an Anthropocentric view of suffering?” I had just read an article about the difference between a Theocentric worldview vs. an Anthropocentric worldview and it got me to thinking. Theocentric means, “God centered,” while anthropocentric means “human centered.” When we are going through the troubles of life an anthropocentric view of suffering will always fixate on “Why?” and “Me.” A Theocentric view of suffering will enable us to stay focused on Who, the God who is able to deliver and to raise the dead. We really need to take a look at the last section of our Scripture for this morning so we’ve to move on. Paul writes,
10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. (2 Corinthians 1:8-11 NIV)
Paul says God “has,” past tense, delivered him and He “will,” future tense, deliver Paul again. Paul has set his hope on the Lord to deliver Him, whether that be in delivering him out of the trouble he would have to endure in the future or to deliver Him home to be with the Lord, which by the way, Paul was looking forward to in his life. He wrote to the people in Philippi,
21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. (Philippians 1:21-24 NIV)
Paul would love to depart and be with the Lord, but he had work to do, work given to him by the Lord. What I want to focus on as we prepare to close this morning is the part of verse 11 where Paul writes that he has set his “hope that He will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.” There has always been a debate among the followers of Jesus about the role of prayer in our life, if God is Sovereign and in control of all of life. If God is Sovereign then why pray? If God is God then He is going to do what He will do and my puny prayers will surely have no effect on God’s will, will they? There is no one who was more convinced of God’s Sovereignty than the Apostle Paul and yet he urged his friends in the churches at Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, and Thessalonica to pray for him. Paul was convinced that God, the Sovereign Creator of everything that was or ever will be has chosen to use our prayers to accomplish His purposes. Phillip Hughes writes,
Prayer is indeed a mystery, but it is stressed over and over again in the New Testament as a vital prerequisite for the release and experience of God’s power. It is true that it is God who delivers, and that God stands in no need of human prayers before He can act on behalf of His afflicted servants. Yet there is the manward as well as the Godward aspect of such deliverance, and the manward side is summed up in the duty of Christians to intercede in prayer for their fellow-believers who are enduring affliction…In prayer, human impotence casts itself at the feet of divine omnipotence. Thus the duty of prayer is not a modification of God’s power, but a glorification of it (Hughes, Phillip, Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians, pg. 22)
“The duty of prayer is not a modification of God’s power, but a glorification of it.” How so? I think we find a hint in verse 11 where Paul writes,
11 …Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. (2 Corinthians 1:11 NIV)
Where the NIV has “Then many will give thanks…,” several other versions translate the phrase, “thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf…” The word “many” or “many persons” is literally the word “faces” in Greek. Is there anything more beautiful than many faces raised up, looking to God, and praising Him for answering our prayers? The troubles of life can be a great burden, but we must remember the key that hangs around the neck of all of Jesus’ followers. The key is the many promises that He has made to comfort us, strengthen us, lead us and guide us through every moment of this life. He is not distant my friends. He is closer than your next breath and His great desire is that we learn to rely upon Him and not on ourselves. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that will sustain you throughout the most difficult days of your life. Do you know Him? Have you trusted Him as your Lord and Savior? If not, then I want to encourage you to confess your need for Him this morning and ask Him to be your Lord and Savior. Mike HaysBritton Christian Church922 NW 91stOKC, OK. 73114October 2, 2022