Facing Our Conflicts Without & Fears Within

Transcript

GR 1814
09/20/15
Biblically Facing Our Conflicts and Fears
2 Corinthians 7:5-7
Gil Rugh

We're going to come back to 2 Corinthians and we come to a natural break in the letter. We'll do a little review to tie things together. Paul has been on a digression. If you've been here in our study of 2 Corinthians, that digression covered from 2 Corinthians 2:14 down to 2 Corinthians 7:4. What is going to happen, then, when you come to 2 Corinthians 7:5, he's going to resume what he was talking about when he broke off in 2 Corinthians 2:13.

Let's go back to 2 Corinthians 1 and just refresh our minds of what we have already looked at and what Paul's emphasis is. We mentioned that digression, it's what the Spirit of God directed him to bring into the discussion. It is very germane but he wants to pick up the theme he has been developing at the beginning of the letter. If you've been in our study of 2 Corinthians you'll remember that in the opening verses, verses 3-7 in particular, the word comfort was a key word. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction.” The word comfort in verses 3-7 is used I think about ten times. And an emphasis on God as the source of comfort. He brings His comfort to our hearts and minds. And that enables us to be instruments of God that He uses to comfort others. It will become a key emphasis that we are going to in 2 Corinthians 7, that God is the source of comfort. That comfort doesn't always come just directly to our hearts and minds. Sometimes as believers we think just go to the Lord and He brings the peace and comfort that I need. And in one sense He does, but you understand part of God's plan and God's provision is to use other believers in our lives. That's why He brings us together as a fellowship of believers.

So he talks about that comfort in affliction in 2 Corinthians 1:2-7. Then he reminded them and tells them of the seriousness of the afflictions and sufferings that he endured in his ministry in Asia. Now a little bit of background. Paul wrote the first letter to the Corinthians from the city of Ephesus which is in Asia, or Asia Minor as we would refer to it. If you just back up a page to 1 Corinthians 16:8, “But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost for a wide door for effective service has opened for me and there are many adversaries.” In 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 he talks about the adversarial situation that he experienced that got so intense that Paul gave up, thinking that he wouldn't survive, that perhaps this was when the Lord would bring his earthly ministry to an end. In verse 9 he said, “We had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves but God who raises the dead.” Verse 8 said he despaired even of life. So it was a serious situation.

He had recently left Ephesus when we writes 2 Corinthians and he is in Macedonia. We'll look at that in a moment. So he goes on to tell them in 2 Corinthians 1:12-24 about changes in his plans that have been misunderstood or used for wrong ends at the church in Corinth. Get a map, and this is really Paul's Third Missionary Journey, you can see where Ephesus is, locate that on the map. This is Macedonia over here, this is where he is when he writes the second letter to the Corinthians. Now the misunderstanding came when Paul told the Corinthians his original travel plans were to travel from Ephesus over to Corinth. So you go just about straight west across the water and you could come to the city of Corinth. He said he would come over, visit them briefly, then go up into Macedonia, then come back down and have a more extended stay with them. He didn't do that. Because his travel plan changed, some who were opposed to Paul, who had infiltrated the church at Corinth, said Paul is not a man to be trusted. Stop and think about it, if he can't be trusted with something like his travel plans, if his word is no good on that, how can you trust him with more serious matters like the Gospel?

Now as we look back it looks pretty trivial, making a big issue over a change in travel plans? But stop and think about issues that come up in the church. How many of them are just trivial? We look back on them and you say, I can't believe that that was such a big deal back then. So many things are like that.

So that's what he is doing in these verses, when he says in verse 15, “And this confidence I intended to first come to you so that you might twice receive a blessing, that is to pass your way into Macedonia and again from Macedonia to come to you.” So you see he said originally I planned to come here, then go up into Macedonia, then come back from Macedonia. And he changed his plans.

What does he say? Verse 17, “Therefore I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? What I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh so that in me there will be yes, yes and no, no at the same time?” I didn't lie to you, God changed my plans. Remember James says it is always this is what we'll do tomorrow if the Lord wills. So this is a non-issue but it becomes an issue at Corinth because if you can't trust Paul, you can't trust the Gospel he preaches. And there are false teachers infiltrated in among the Corinthian church who are claiming to be genuine apostles and Paul is not. Well, you would think a genuine apostle would be led by the Lord clearly, wouldn't you? Did Paul come like he said he would? Therefore he is probably not the genuine apostle.

That's the issue. Sad, but that's what it was. So Paul has argued that and presented that through the rest of 2 Corinthians 1. When you get into 2 Corinthians 2 he talks about the previous letter he wrote, and we talked about that. Many commentators believe there was a letter between 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians called a severe letter. I am of the opinion that the easiest thing is when Paul talks about his previous letter in 2 Corinthians 2, he's talking about 1 Corinthians. And we went through 1 Corinthians and looked at it. It's a serious letter. It's a severe letter and he deals firmly with issues. It's didn't please him to write a letter that would cause them grief and sorrow. He wrote to them and altered his travel plans and delayed them because he wanted to give the Corinthians a chance to correct what needed to be corrected, so that he didn't have to deal with it when he came.

2 Corinthians 2:4 says “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.” I didn't write trying to make you unhappy, I wanted you to know how much I love you and because I love you I want your behavior to be in line with what God says He intends for you so you can experience the fullness of God's blessing. And he deals especially with the man in 1 Corinthians 5 that was living in incestuous immorality. And yet the church did nothing, he was just welcomed to be there, be part of the fellowship and they acted like it was nothing. And Paul tells the Corinthians, this carries immorality to a level that even the unbeliever opposes—incestuous activity. So he told them in 1 Corinthians 5 that their behavior was appalling and they needed to cut off fellowship with that man. He needed to be excluded from the fellowship of the church at Corinth. Evidently they responded positively to Paul's instruction and he tells them in 2 Corinthians 2:5, “If any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me but in some degree in order not to say too much, but to all of you.” And this man clearly in his brazen behavior and continuing to conduct himself as a member in good standing in the fellowship at Corinth was an affront to the Apostle Paul and a defiance of his authority as an apostle.

But Paul said that's not the issue here, the issue is not the grief he caused me, I don't want to go into that because obviously it did cause grief, but it was a grief to the church. And now that the man did respond to the church's activity in dealing with him, sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority. It doesn't mean everybody in the church, the man got acceptance because there was a certain tolerance, but the church at Corinth had acted and he had been excluded from the fellowship. And that had brought about his repentance. Now what does the church do?

Well this sin, as Paul said, was so serious that even the unbeliever recognized it as sinful behavior. And it caused Paul grief and it marred the testimony of the church. It's not enough to say you are sorry and now I've broken off the sinful behavior. Paul has to tell them, now is the time for forgiveness. And remember we talked about that. On the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him. Here we are back to this word comfort. So we talk about comfort in the opening verses of this letter, now he mentions comfort again. I mention this because when we get to 2 Corinthians 7 he's going to come back to the subject of comfort again.

So forgive and comfort him. Stop and think about it, a believer sins and sins grievously. He gets excluded from the fellowship of the church. He acknowledges his sin, seeks forgiveness and the church says I'm sorry, that's too serious. We don't just lightly forgive sin. Where does he go? We're telling him your sin is unforgivable? It's too serious? Are we saying God has forgiven your sin, but we won't? We don't want to be in that position. So implying to this man that his sin is an unforgivable sin and he had no fellowship with the believers. But he has repented, so he says, verse 8, “I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.” That's why I wrote. And if you've forgiven it, I've forgiven it. And we want to be careful to handle it all biblically “so that the devil,” verse 11, “doesn't take advantage” of us. The devil is working his way in by having the church tolerate the sin and now he could work his way in by having the church be slow to forgive the sin.

Then he came to verse 12. “Now when I came to Troas for the Gospel of Christ when a door was open for me in the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother.” So now Paul here talking about the situation. He had left Ephesus and gone up to Troas. He had expected that Titus had carried the letter, probably carried it over here this way and the plan evidently was that Titus would come back up through Macedonia and meet Paul in Troas. And you could understand those days. Nowadays we have e-mail and text and somebody texts you and you don't answer in 32 seconds the world is beginning to unravel. If I answer an e-mail in 32 weeks . . . I'm still on New Testament time schedules for deliveries.

Paul gets here to Troas and he's worried, he's concerned. No Titus. He's wondering how did the Corinthians respond to that letter? It was a hard letter. Hard for me to write and it would be hard for them to accept it. Only the Lord could soften their heart. And lo and behold, no Titus. He's had time to get here. Maybe things didn't go well. Maybe it caused the church to explode. Maybe it has divided the church and Titus had to delay so he could try to settle things down. You know your mind begins to run. You think of what you wrote and how you said it and what the response could have been and what the opponents of Paul and his apostleship might have done with it.

So there was a door open for me at Troas. When he was at Troas here he had opportunity for the proclamation of the Gospel and was getting response. For Paul to leave that tells you how bothered he is. So he said, “I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother. Taking my leave of them I went on into Macedonia.” This is Macedonia over here, the lower part of Greece where Corinth is, Athens and Corinth down here, is called Achaia. That's the southern province. The northern province up top where you see the red dots for Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, that's Macedonia. So Paul crossed from the seaport at Troas over into Macedonia. He doesn't say where he is here, probably Philippi, but that's where he leaves it. Verse 13 he breaks off. There is nothing else said about this situation, meeting Titus, any of that until we get to 2 Corinthians 7.

2 Corinthians 2:14 picks up, remember, “But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ,” and he goes on to talk about what one commentator has titled his book, The Glory of the Ministry, the new covenant ministry of Christ, the ministry of the Gospel. And it is a digression. That will go all the way over to 2 Corinthians 7:4. Now note, you get over to 2 Corinthians 7 and you have a couple of things. Verse 4 is a transition from what he has been saying to picking up his original theme. And you'll note you pick up in verse 4, “I am filled with comfort, overflowing with joy in our affliction.” Comfort and affliction. “For even when we came into Macedonia,” so you can turn back to 2 Corinthians 2:13, “I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother. But taking my leave of them I went on to Macedonia.” 2 Corinthians 7:5, “But even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest.” Paul doesn't miss a beat. You could put verse 5 right after verse 13 and it makes perfect sense, but the Spirit of God directed what we might call a digression which is very important because when we get over to 2 Corinthians 10-11 you'll find Paul's apostleship and the Gospel he preached under attack. And he has clarified that ministry here. But it’s important to see the connection and that word comfort that we mentioned in the opening verses, maybe used about ten times, it is used in verse 4, it is used twice in verse 6, “God who comforts the depressed comforted us.” Verse 7 it is used twice, “By the comfort with which he was comforted.” It will be used down in verse 13, “We have been comforted, and besides our comfort.” So you see these sections tie together very closely. It's important what he has said, but the connection and really the flow of the letter and what is on Paul's heart is this issue of the afflictions, the trials and the comfort that has come. And the Spirit is directing him because a part of what he is going to do is talk about how God worked to bring comfort to him through Titus and how Titus was comforted by the Corinthians and how much love Titus has as a result of his experience with the Corinthians. And this will prepare the way for 2 Corinthians 8-9 where Paul says Titus is coming back to collect money. And so it has helped prepare the Corinthians for some of what Paul considers serious matters.

With that as the background, we can pickup with 2 Corinthians 7:4. As I mentioned is a transition from what he was talking about in 2 Corinthians 2:14-7:4, “Great is my confidence in you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort, I am overflowing in all our affliction,” because all my concerns about how you would receive my letter have been resolved. Even when we came in Macedonia, picking up with where he left off in 2 Corinthians 2:13, “our flesh had no rest.” Physically things were bad, difficult. In Troas he had an open door for the Gospel, in Macedonia he is finding rather intense opposition. There are churches there, the church at Philippi, but the opposition, and he had experienced that previously and Acts records that about his imprisonments. It's difficult in Macedonia. So “we had conflict, we were afflicted on every side.” So Paul had arrived and now in the center of opposition coming from all directions, and that results in conflicts without, conflicts within.

We're going to spend a little time talking about this. We have conflicts without, fears within. The conflicts would be the physical opposition that might come from unbeliever. The fears are the things that seem to be overwhelming Paul mentally and emotionally. And there would be some of that just comes with persecution, opposition, difficulty. But he has on his mind what about the Corinthians. I wrote that letter, where is Titus? I poured my life into the church there at Corinth, I'm concerned for their spiritual well-being. He has fears within. Later he'll talk, over in 2 Corinthians 11, he talks about the physical battles he goes through as an apostle. And then he comes down in verse 29, “Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?” Why? Look at verse 28, “Apart from such external things there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.” We sometimes joke, making the difference with the English word—I'm not worried, I'm just concerned. We ought to know when Scripture says we are not to be anxious for anything and don't be anxious for tomorrow, that's the same word translated concern here. Sometimes with the Apostle Paul we might get the idea he is not quite, I don't want to say human, but he doesn't have the same emotional, mental things to deal with as we do. His body may be getting beaten up and bruised and all kinds of pressure on him and he has battles in the churches and trying to keep them on track, but Paul is a rock mentally and emotionally he doesn't have ups and downs. But the reality of it is Paul is still human and I think it's important that we keep the Scripture in balance, in perspective. I thought of this in the message last week when I talked about the rest that we get in Christ and the peace that God gives.

Come back to Matthew, a verse that I referred to in a study last weekend. Sometimes people will remark about a message and it can happen in your classes, they say, I think you may have left people with the wrong impression because you only covered that one side. But that's what we do as we go through Scripture piece by piece. That's why it's important for you to be involved in the Scripture as much as possible, so you are getting a more complete picture and understanding of God's Word. So you don't grab onto one piece and run over the edge. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus says, “Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, you'll find rest for your souls.” But Paul says I have fears within.

Then in Philippians 4 he says, “the peace of God,” verse 7, “will stand guard at your hearts and minds.” And yet he says I have anxieties and concerns for the churches, I have conflicts without and fears within. We need to understand, when we place our faith in Christ, I was glad we had this included in our song, our relationship with God is settled. Romans 5:1, “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The enmity is gone. I am seated with Christ in the heavenlies. That's my position. But now in my growth and development, it is a process. And it goes something like, I'm saved here. Positionally I'm perfect, but now I have to grow and I'm growing like this, sometimes up, sometimes down, sometimes it seems like I have crashed at the bottom. Why should I as a believer be depressed?

Come back to 2 Corinthians. That's what Paul says his condition was in verse 6, “But God who comforts the depressed comforts us.” A word that means lowly, humble and used in a psychological kind of context like this, almost all are agreed it means downcast, discouraged, depressed. Sometimes we quote some verses and that may leave the impression that Christians don't have worries, they don't have fears. The world goes on around us and the world may do certain things to us physically, but inside we are a rock. We don't have the lows or the highs, and if you are really walking with the Lord, every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before. And that's true, we are growing, but we are human and we still have our growth to go.

We're going to do a digression. If Paul can do it, I can do it. Come over to James 5. It's not a digression because it is Paul's life and it's the life of every believer. James 5:17, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.” That's important. Why does he have to say that? Of course we all know that Elijah was a human being. He was a great prophet of the Old Testament. But we need to be reminded, he was a man with a nature like ours, fully human—physically, emotionally, mentally. He wasn't out of the ordinary realm of humanity with all that goes with that. He was a man of like nature like ours. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and do you know what? It didn't rain for 3½ years in Israel. He prayed again and rain came pouring down.

I was thinking about Elijah. His life is amazing. Come back to 1 Kings 17. We don't have time to go over the whole life of Elijah, but his ministry was carried on in difficult days. The king is Ahab and Ahab's wife is Jezebel. Her name is infamous for the character and the conduct. Now in 1 Kings here, I'll just tell you the story so we don't read everything. Elijah is going to pray, there is going to be no rain, that's what James referred to. He is going to raise a widow's dead son at the end of 1 Kings 17, picking up with verse 17ff. So he not only can pray and have the heavens close and no rain fall for 3½ years, he can be God's instrument and he can raise a boy from the dead. Then he is going to have a confrontation with the prophets of Baal, 450 of them. Here you have Elijah, one man, 450 prophets of Baal and Elijah issues the challenge. You build an altar, call on your god. I'll build an altar, call on my God. The God who sends fire down from heaven is the true God. So the 450 prophets build their altar. All day long they are praying, they are cutting themselves with their knives. Elijah stands there fearlessly and says, you better holler louder, I think he went to the bathroom. That's what he said, mocking them, fearless. There were 450 of them. Then he prays and fire comes down from heaven, consumes the sacrifice. And he has all 450 prophets executed. Here is a powerful prophet.

Do you know what happens next? Jezebel sends him a note, says tomorrow you will be dead. Elijah throws his mantle around him, says, cursed woman. I have just stopped the heavens from raining, I've raised a boy from the dead, I called down fire from heaven, I slew your 450 prophets. You wretched, miserable woman, you are going to be dog poop on the face of the earth. That's what he said, not in English. And that's her end, dog dirt. But do you know what? That's how I would have handled it, but that's not how Elijah handled it. Do you know what happened? He goes to pieces, he can't believe it. He runs for his life, he can't handle it. And the Lord says to him, come over to 1 Kings 19, and here is where she send him the message at the end of verse 2, “So may the gods do to me and more if I do not make your life as life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” He was afraid and ran for his life. He had become, I don't want to say irrational, but spiritually so. May the gods do more so to me? He has just dealt with the prophets of the gods. What's the fear about one miserable, vile woman? He's afraid. He takes off into the wilderness a day's journey, he doesn't even take the provisions he is going to need. God will have to provide food for him.

God confronts him, verse 4, and he is praying, take my life, Lord. I'm not better than my fathers, it's time to die. You see there is a certain irrationality. If you want to die, just stay in town, Jezebel will do it for you. And now he runs out in the wilderness and says, God, take my life. And you see he becomes emotionally unstable. Mentally he is not thinking straight. And the Lord sends an angel down in verse 10, then God speaks to him later. What are you doing here, Elijah? “Oh, Lord, I've been very zealous for the Lord the God of hosts. For the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down you altars, killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, they seek my life to take it away.” Lord, I don't know what to do. Now we'd say stay the course. The God who used you to stop the heavens from rains, the God who used you to raise one from the dead, the God who used you to call down fire from heaven, you don't have anything to fear from Jezebel. But the reality of it is, he is unsettled.

He repeats it again down in verse 14, “I alone am left. They seek my life.” And his ministry is coming to an end, he will be replaced by Elisha. The pressure, Elijah is a great prophet. The New Testament testifies to that. But he is a man of like nature. We want to be careful we keep things in perspective. Trials come into our lives, we acknowledge physical trials, but the mental and emotional trials are real trials, too. Elijah experienced it, Paul experienced it, other servants have.

When I was gone I read some biographies this year of some of the Puritans, and their medical conditions get diagnosed and they weren't as far along, but they'll talk about I had a nervousness and I was six months not able to minister or do my work. What is the nervousness? It's mentally I couldn't cope with things. And yet we read their biographies, we admire them and we can see looking back from the perspective of history how God used them. I've shared with you, it's somewhat proverbial, but Spurgeon's own testimony—I lived my whole life in a dark cloud, depressed, discouraged. You don't get it from his writings, and God used him greatly down to today through his writings. That's why so many people quote him. And yet he had the mental battles as well as the physical battles. And sometimes the physical battles contribute to the mental problems. If you are diagnosed with a serious disease, it's going to probably cause you some concern, some worries. One of your loved ones gets such a diagnosis, you're not going to say well, it's in the Lord's hands, let's go eat. No, it's more serious than that, it presses in on you. This is serious. I know the Lord is in control, but . . . Then you wake up at night and you can't get back to sleep and it's going over in your mind and you think if I were really godly and really spiritual, I wouldn't be thinking like this.

Sometimes I talk about pills and I mentioned that in a recent message, 260 million prescriptions in the United States in a year for depression. People can't cope, but you understand we are people, too, as believers. We are all of like nature. We now have something the world does not have to enable us to cope, but we are not yet perfected. Paul testified to that in Philippians 3, that he hadn't yet arrived at perfection but he was striving to grow. That's the point, how does God help us and cause us to grow.

Come over to Romans 5. I'm not saying, and I want to clarify here because you are not going to put the blame on me. I'm not saying you can't take pills or you shouldn't take pills. That's between you and the Lord and whoever else you consult. But we want to be careful that we handle things biblically, and we just don't run for an escape. Because God's plan for growing us is difficulty. Look at Romans 5, starts out, “therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The enmity is gone, the relationship is permanently established. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus, which is where he is going in Romans 8. We have peace with God. But now “the peace of God standing guard at our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” That's a process. What he says in verse 3, he talked about our standing in grace in Christ. Verse 3, “Not only this but we also exalt in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance and perseverance proven character.” This is what God is doing, He is developing us, proven character, tested character. I can see when physical things come in, physical pressures and external trials and they are of the Lord, but sometimes the mental and emotional things we deal with are things the Lord is using.

I like to read biographies that are somewhat faithfully written that tell the down side. I read two volumes this past summer about a man I greatly admire, but I did write in the front of that, two big, thick volumes, here is the exception to the Scriptural statement, there is not a righteous man on the earth who always does good and never sins. The biographer never said he did anything wrong, had any trouble. He always was on top of everything. I said that's hagiography, that's writing of him like he is one of the sinless saints. I like to read about those who did struggle. I appreciate Spurgeon who said, I live my life in a dark cloud, while he is teaching people about living day by day with the peace of God, enjoying the rest of his spirit that he has. You say, which is it? It is both. I say this, we want to be careful that we don't immediately look for a way out because we short circuit our growth if we are not careful.

We all have different trials, some have more physical trials, some physical trials go on and are debilitating. But we sometimes think mentally and emotionally I shouldn't have down times, I shouldn't struggle. And if I struggle it may be for a day or two or a week or a month, it may go on. And in that maybe I grow and learn to trust God when I'm feeling down, when I'm feeling discouraged. Paul had to go on. He had fears. He was downcast or depressed. What did he do? Go to Troas and preach the Gospel. He didn't say, I won't be meeting Titus, I can't get out of bed, I pulled the covers over my head. I'm too discouraged and depressed and fearful to face . . . It's part of how you grow. We admire Paul. He goes to Troas and he has a ministry. He says, “I have an open door.” Then he goes to Macedonia. He wouldn't have conflict without if he didn't carry on a ministry. Part of it is he's growing. That's why when we get to 2 Corinthians 12 he'll tell the Corinthians, God doesn't take away my weakness. He makes me realize when I am weak, I am strong. I'd like to be a strong, mature, stable Christian, but I don't want to have trouble, I don't want to have trial, I don't want to have difficulty.

Come over to James, we did James 5, we'll look at James 1. Verse 2, “Consider it all joy, my brethren,” he's talking to believers, “when you encounter various trials.” A multi-faceted, multi-colored trial, trials of all kinds—physical, mental, emotional. And these become tests of our faith that are necessary to produce endurance. “And let endurance have its perfect result.” We want to be careful we don't short circuit the process. I want to bail. No, I want to grow. “Let endurance have its perfect result.” That means I stay with it, I keep enduring, “so that you may be perfect and complete,” everything God intends you to be. We never finally arrive here, Paul said in Philippians 3 that he hadn't yet arrived, but he had that as his goal. We will ultimately arrive when we are glorified in His presence. That's our goal. I want to be more like Christ tomorrow than today, more like Him. But I have my downs, and when certain things come into my life, and we've all been there. I was blindsided, I wasn't expecting that. Sometimes we look back and say I didn't think I would really handle it that way, I sort of unwound. And you've talked to one another as believers, you know what it's like. A believer may say, I don't know what's wrong with me, I can't handle it. My mind is all over the place and I just feel overwhelmed. Okay, I’m not saying well you must have a spiritual problem. It is a spiritual battle.

Again, don't go away saying Gil said everybody whoever takes a pill for sleeping or whatever, Prozac or whatever, I'm not against it. I'm a preacher. I would have made a terrible doctor for a variety of reasons. I would have probably missed all my appointments. But we have to be careful we are handling things biblically. We realize it is not unusual, it's not abnormal that you have down times, and not just a down time today. Everybody is going to battle with their own battles. We see it physically but we think mentally and emotionally I shouldn't have that. Some are going to have greater problems. Timothy tended more toward the timid side because Paul told Timothy that God hasn't given us a spirit of timidity. Even as a believer that doesn't make Timothy a Paul or Paul a Timothy. And Timothy has to deal with what he has to deal with. And God brings in to each of our lives as His children what He intends for our growth.

Come back to 2 Corinthians. All this from Paul saying conflicts without, fears within. “But God who comforts the depressed comforted us by the coming of Titus.” Some of those fears for Paul could be relieved. All the problems aren't resolved, we see that as we proceed through this letter. There are some serious problems still in Corinth, but this particular area of difficulty has been resolved. And one thing Paul does, everything doesn't have to be taken care of for him to appreciate that God is at work. The Corinthians responded positively to his first letter, positively in dealing with sin in their midst. Now they need to live positively in responding in forgiveness. But he is just thrilled at that positive response, and we'll deal with some of the other matters coming up. Sometimes we get overwhelmed because our focus just narrows here and that's it. None of us are perfect, even as believers. We are all going through struggles, we are all at different levels and we are all at different times. Some of you are here and you are battling great physical problems. And that can brings its own fears and emotional uncertainty and discouragement. Some of you are here and look good and your mind has been frustrated. It has gone on, I don't know what the Lord is doing. That's why the Scriptures encourage us, we don't have to know what He is doing in the immediate. If I know what He is doing ultimately, He is causing all things to work together for good because you love Him, He has called you. I have that assurance. So we proceed on that basis.

And God used Titus. So we don't have to close ourselves off, have to withdraw. I want to talk to other believers, I need their encouragement, their strengthening. And do you know what? Verse 7, Paul was comforted by God through Titus. Sometimes we think it's just between God and me. No, God uses others. And then it was not only by his coming but also “by the comfort,” verse 7, “with which he was comforted in you, and he reported your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me so that I rejoiced even more.” It's a building thing. We sometimes don't realize how God is using us. And little did the Corinthians know they responded positively to Paul's letter and Titus was encouraged. And Titus brought back the message and Paul was doubly encouraged. He was encouraged with how encouraged Titus had been and he is encouraged with what the Corinthians had to say about their relationship to him. And 2,000 years later we are reading about how God used the Corinthians. Be careful that you don't miss how God may be using you. It may seem rather small. A little conflict going on here and look at how it spread out thousands of years later people are benefiting from what they did. That's the ministry we have.

I want to note something as we wrap up. This word comfort. Turn back to John 14. I've done a digression, do you know what my notes are for today? 2 Corinthians 7:5-16. Come to John 14. Jesus on His last night here with His disciples, instructing them. And verse 16, “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth.” You'll note in the margin of your Bible, you see the Greek word is paracletos, the paraclete. The word para is a preposition alongside of and kaleo to call. He is one who is called alongside. Do you know why we came here? Do you know what the word for comfort is that we are talking about in 2 Corinthians? Same basic word. That's the comfort. He is the God of all comfort and the Spirit is the Spirit of the living God who is fully God Himself. He is the Comforter and He will be with you forever. So we have His comforting work.

You come down to verse 26, “But the Helper,” the Comforter, the Holy Spirit “whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled,” don't let it be fearful. Paul, you should have read the Gospel of John. Why did you say you had fears within? Why are you depressed, discouraged? Why are you anxious? He is human. The psalmist says He knows our frame that we are but dust. That's what He only brings into our lives, those things that are necessary for the accomplishing of His work of maturing us. We don't want to fight against that, not all pleasant. I don't know why God always does what He does in the short term. Why this affliction, why this trial. Lord, I could be so much more effective for you if I could just not have this heaviness, discouraged feelings in my mind. But you are in charge, you know what is best for me. You know how I could grow best. Your work is good.

All this to say I want us to have a perspective. He gives us His peace, He gives us the Holy Spirit who is a Spirit of peace and truth. His peace stands guard in our hearts but that doesn't mean that it is always going to be easy. And I fall back on His promises. I fall back on His provision. I fall back on the confidence that what is in my life is His plan. I'm not saying that means you should never take a pill. I go to the dentist, I get Novocaine if he's going to drill my tooth. I don't care if they call it minor surgery. I've never had minor surgery, I've never had much surgery, and the little surgery I've had has been major. Other people have minor surgery. I take whatever they have. I had a kidney stone one time and I remember lying in the emergency room and they said, we've already given you morphine, do you think you need more? Give me more. Aren't you the preacher who doesn't believe in drugs? No, that's a twin brother. Pour on the morphine, folks. Don't you have something to put me to sleep?

So I just wanted you to have a balanced picture. Because you are discouraged and depressed, that may be what God has for you. Decisions you have to make, you have to make. That's why you want to continue to grow with all the Scripture knowledge you can gather and the help of other believers and trust the Lord will direct you for your life. We can thank Him for all He has provided for us as His children.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your love for us, Lord, a love that rescued us from our wretched, miserable, lost condition. Cleansed us, washed us, made us new, seated us with Christ in the heavenlies. Lord, now You are working Your purposes to cause us to grow, to mature, to weather through trials and storms and difficulties, physically, emotionally, mentally. Lord, sometimes it seems like it is overwhelming, but then we are confident that You don't bring anything into our lives that You do not provide the sufficiency for us to handle. I pray You will give us wisdom, that we might seek wisdom from You to know how to properly handle the trials, whatever they are, that we might grow to be mature and complete in Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.