2 Corinthians 7:2

Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man. I speak not this to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die and to live with you. Great is my boldness of speech towards you; great is my glorying of you. I am filled with comfort; I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulations.

For when we were coming to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Without, there were fighting; within, there were fears. Nevertheless, God, who comforts those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus. And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he has comforted you. He was comforted in you when he had told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me, so that I rejoiced the more.

Father, we pray for your wisdom. Lord, you spoke through the Apostle James, saying that if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of you. And so we come before you this morning, praying that you would give us wisdom, insight, and understanding into your word as we open here to 2 Corinthians.

Lord, it's our desire that we would be transformed more and more into the image of your Son, that we would shine brightly as a city set on a hill that cannot be hid. Lord, that's certainly what our county needs. All of San Diego County, specifically here through North County, we need to be a light in this place. So, Lord, would you enlighten us by your Spirit and with your word today so that when we go out from here, we will carry that light to those who so desperately need it. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, Amen.

You can be seated. If you've ever taken the time to read through Paul's epistles, you know that sometimes Paul can be hard to understand. Does anybody identify with that? Paul has this amazing way of writing run-on sentences that go on for entire pages.

And then he can be talking about one thing, and then he jumps to a completely different topic, only to come back to it four chapters later. He just picks up where he left off. We have a passage such as this before us today. We were back in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 several months ago, and Paul was discussing the trouble he had in his heart because of the news he received from Corinth, stemming from a sorrowful visit he had with them.

At chapter 2, verse 13, he changes the topic and does not address any of that again until here in chapter 7, verse 5, where he jumps right back into it and says, "Hey, we were troubled when we were in Macedonia." So, I mean, you've had five chapters of him talking about something completely different.

A couple of weeks ago, we were in chapter 6, and at verse 11, Paul says, "We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange, I speak to you as my children. Open wide your hearts also." Then he jumps to another topic completely for several verses, and now he's going to come back to where he was.

Paul jumps around in a way that sometimes makes your head spin. You might wonder where he is going with this, but he does have a point. He said to the church at Corinth, "Our hearts are opened wide to you." In chapter 6, verse 11, he emphasizes that they are not withholding their love or affection from them. Instead, he points out that they are withholding their affection from him. He urges them to open wide their hearts to him.

Now, here in chapter 7, verse 2, he says, "Receive us." He is picking up right where he left off at the end of verse 13 of chapter 6, saying, "Open wide your heart to us and receive us." Paul had been accused of many things by the church at Corinth. Some within the church were accusing him of wrongdoing and stood in opposition to his ministry. As a result, they spoke falsely about him.

It seems that some in the church at Corinth, though we do not know how many, had closed their hearts toward Paul. That is why he says in chapter 6, verse 13, "Open your hearts to us. We haven't withheld our affection from you. Don't withhold your affection from us." He pleads with them as a father would with his children, saying, "I am speaking to you as my children."

And that's how he saw the church at Corinth. It was God who had called Paul to go to Corinth. When he went there, he was used by the Lord to plant a church. He pastored that church for 18 months before the Lord brought him back to Jerusalem. Over a period of time, he wrote several letters to them. We have two of the letters in our Bibles, but there are two letters that he wrote that we don't have. He also made visits to them, during which some people had hardened their hearts towards Paul.

Can any parents relate to this, where your children have hardened their hearts towards you? We are not told in the Scriptures whether or not Paul had children, and there is debate about whether or not he was married. However, he saw the church as, in a way, a father to the church he had planted. He invested so much energy and time in seeing them raised up, and his heart was connected to them.

Unfortunately, after he left, there were people who came in and tainted the church's opinion of Paul through false accusations. As a result, some members of the church closed their hearts to him. There was a visit that Paul made to the church, which we see in 2 Corinthians 2. He mentions in verse 1 that this visit turned out to be a real disappointment.

Have you ever gone to visit family, and when you leave, you think to yourself, "If it's going to be like that, we're just not going to do this anymore"? That's exactly what Paul experienced. As he was leaving Corinth and heading west towards Ephesus, he thought to himself, "I'm not leaving this heavy again." The church was sorrowful and burdened by his visit, and he was going away with a heavy heart. If it was going to be like this, he felt it was not good for them to gather together.

So, he left with that heavy heart, carrying a sorrowful heaviness back to Ephesus. After spending some time in Ephesus, we jump back to the book of Acts. Remember, we are actually studying the book of Acts. Someday we will finish it; I don't know when, but we will finish it eventually. In Acts chapter 19 and 20, we continue the story.

Paul is in the city of Ephesus, and a great outcry comes up against him. This happened just about everywhere Paul went. Oftentimes, there would be a revival with many people turning to the Lord, but that revival would also cause a group of people to stand in opposition to him.

In Ephesus, there was a group of merchants who were really upset at the ministry of Paul because they sold false gods. They sold little images of idols, and as the gospel was going forth, it transformed the city of Ephesus. Not only did it transform Ephesus, but it was also transforming all of Asia Minor, so people weren't buying these false gods anymore. The merchants, the god merchants, were upset. They had a union meeting, got together, and voted that they needed to get rid of Paul.

This little guy, who didn't have a church that he had planted in Ephesus and didn't have anything major going on, was teaching in a little school day by day. People were coming to him, and he wasn't even out on the streets trying to destroy the coppersmith union or picketing them in any way. It was just the power of the gospel transforming people's lives, and those selling false gods noticed it. They rose up against Paul, and ultimately, he was forced out of the city.

At that point in Acts, Paul was planning his trip back to Jerusalem. News had come that there was a famine in the land of Jerusalem, and the Christians there were hurting badly. Paul made the decision to travel back through the churches he had planted in Macedonia, northern Greece, and then back down into southern Greece. They were going to take up an offering from the churches to bring back to those in need in Jerusalem.

This kind of thing happens today as well. If there's an earthquake in Haiti, for example, you see the church gathering together. Sometimes, churches that may not fully agree with each other on every little jot and tittle of doctrine come together to reach out to the church in Haiti or the church in Japan, wherever it is.

So, there was a difficulty going on in Jerusalem, and Paul was going around to the churches he had relationships with, asking if they would send an offering with him down to Jerusalem. He was planning his trip back and going through these churches. However, his last visit with the Corinthians was not a good one, and now he knew he was headed to Corinth to ask for money. He wondered how this would go over. He didn't know; they didn't have Twitter back then, so he couldn't read the tweets from the people in Corinth.

Paul's a cool guy. We're following Paul. Follow him on Facebook. He didn't have that, so he didn't know what was going on down there. As he was leaving Ephesus and going to northern Greece, to Macedonia, where the churches of Philippi, Berea, and Thessalonica were, he sent Titus down to southern Greece, to Athens, to check on what was happening. While Titus was there, he began to tell Paul, "Hey, Paul's coming. We're gathering an offering for the church in Jerusalem." Paul just didn't know if they would be receptive to him.

When he entered Macedonia, he expressed that his heart was heavy, as stated in verse 5 of chapter 7. He didn't know what was going to happen, and they hadn't heard from Titus. They were just downcast. It was a tough place to be—downcast. Paul said he spoke very frank words to them. He acknowledged that he used words that may have hurt them. He wrote a letter that was very heavy. I mean, 1 Corinthians is a heavy letter, isn't it? Almost the entire letter is a written rebuke to the church at Corinth for the sin they had allowed to enter their community.

He emphasized that he spoke very frank words to them, and those words were spoken or written with genuine openness and honesty. He did so out of loving concern for their well-being. Can any parents relate to this today? Paul didn't apparently have children of his own, but he saw the church in Corinth as his kids. There are times when parents have to speak stern words to their children. When you punish them, they might say, "You don't love me." I'm not exactly at that stage with my kids, but I remember being at that stage with my parents.

Paul said, "What I've done, I've done out of loving concern for your well-being." In response, they closed themselves off to him. They wanted no relationship with him because he had spoken hard words to them. But as a father with his children, Paul pleaded with them to open wide their hearts.

Turn over to 2 Corinthians 12 for just a moment, and we see these words again. We see the heart of Paul. As I said when we first began 2 Corinthians,

This letter, more than any other of Paul's letters, and there are 13 of them in the New Testament, exposes Paul's emotion. It reveals his passion and love for the church. In 2 Corinthians 12, verse 14, I will read from the New Living Translation because I like the way it presents it. He says, "Now I am coming to you for the third time." He is priming them, letting them know he is coming to meet with them. Titus has already been there and said, "Paul's coming, and he is going to be receiving an offering for the church in Jerusalem."

Paul continues, "I will not be a burden to you." Why? In chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, he determined that he would not be a burden if he came to them. He emphasizes again, "I will not be a burden to you. I don't want what you have." This indicates that there were those in Corinth who were saying, "Listen, this guy's just trying to gain from us. He's just trying to take advantage of us."

So Paul reiterates, "I am coming to you a third time. I don't want to be a burden to you. I don't want what you have. I want you." Parents, can you relate to this? My mom would certainly say that. She has five kids, and I am just one of them. After all, children don't provide for their parents; rather, parents provide for their children.

Paul expresses, "I will very gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less I am loved." His passion for this church is revealed, and then he pleads in chapter 7, verse 2, "Receive us. Open wide your hearts to us." In chapter 6, verse 13, he again says, "Receive us."

He acknowledges that when he left last time, the relationship was somewhat tenuous, but he urges them to receive him. "I'm not coming to take anything from you. More than anything that you have, I just want the relationship that we have, and I want to make sure that it's strong." So he implores them to receive him. This word "receive" literally means to leave a space or make room for us.

I like that. Make room for us in your hearts. Have you ever had an interaction with someone whose heart has been hardened towards you? You just wish that they, a family member, a sister, a brother, or a close friend, would open their hearts again. Just as the Proverbs say, an offended brother is harder to win than a walled city.

Paul says, "Receive us. Open your hearts to us. Open wide your hearts. Make room. Don't close yourself off to us." He goes on to state, "We have wronged no one. We have corrupted no one. We have defrauded no one." Clearly, these are the things that Paul was being accused of. If you read between the lines, you can see that this is what the detractors of Paul, the critics in the church at Corinth, were saying. They claimed, "This guy has wronged us. He has corrupted us. He has defrauded us. He is a fraud."

In response, Paul asserts, "I've done none of these things." Not just he, but his co-laborers, those with him, have wronged no one, corrupted no one, and defrauded no one. Proverbs 22, verse 1, states, "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches." Another way to say that is a good reputation is more desirable than great wealth. We understand this, especially men.

God created women with a soulful desire for love, to be loved with a security that doesn't require anything in return—just that secure form of agape love. God has created men with a desire for respect. We see this in Paul's exhortation in Ephesians chapter 5. At the end of the chapter, I believe it's verse 31, he says, "See that the men love their wives and that the wives respect their husbands."

There has been a great series on love and respect that we've had here at the church before, and there is a home fellowship going through it right now. There will probably be some others coming up in the future. Men have an inward desire for respect and a good reputation. More than that inward desire for respect, Paul recognizes that as an ambassador of Christ, what he does represents Christ.

And so, it's not that he's just looking to have a good reputation among people. There were plenty of people who didn't like Paul. When we get to Acts chapters 20 through 24, we will see that there is a group of people who actually make a pact with one another, declaring that they will not eat until he is dead. Obviously, those individuals were not Paul's friends.

Paul, wanting to be a good representative and ambassador of Christ, did not want false allegations or accusations to come against him and taint, or in some way bring reproach against the gospel of Christ. He desired that Christ be glorified in his body, whether by life or by death. He expresses this in Philippians chapter 1, verse 20, stating that in all things, Christ shall be magnified in his body, whether he lives or dies. His whole purpose in life was the glorification and magnification of God. That was his desire: that God be honored. Therefore, he was not nearly as concerned about his own reputation as he was about the reputation of the gospel of Christ.

Paul is here defending himself for the cause of Christ. He states, "We have wronged no one. We have not been unjust. We have not been wicked. We have not been criminal in our dealings in any way." In verse 1, Paul says in chapter 7 of 2 Corinthians, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Paul exhorted the church in chapter 7, verse 1, to live in holiness before God, which would obviously extend to living in holiness before humanity as well.

Paul was not one who said, "Do as I say, not as I do." He genuinely sought to be a good example, living in a way that exalted Christ and demonstrated holiness before both God and man. Before he became a follower of Jesus and a disciple of Christ, he was a Pharisee, even a Pharisee of the Pharisees, belonging to the most religious sect among all of Judaism that sought to keep the law and the traditions of the Jews. He states in Philippians chapter 3 that when he was a Pharisee, according to the law, he was blameless. This shows that he sought to live in a way that was above and beyond reproach, probably more than any of us here have ever even considered living. So much so that he would say in 1 Corinthians chapter 4...

In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul writes, "Be followers of me, even as I am of Christ." It's powerful. Paul exemplified what it was to be a Christian. Now, does that mean that he was sinlessly righteous? No, not at all. He failed just like anyone fails. Yet, he sought, by the power of God's Spirit, to live in a way that would uplift the gospel and glorify it.

That's challenging to us, isn't it? When he says here, "I have wronged no one," we have to ask ourselves, can I say in sincerity, "I've wronged no one"? Am I living out the life of Christ in my daily life? Would the observation of non-believers, our co-workers, or our neighbors align with the view of most non-believing, non-church-going people in our nation that the church is full of hypocrites, and would they lump us in with that?

Paul states, "I've wronged no one." He also says, "We have corrupted no one." Thayer's Greek dictionary notes that the word translated as "corrupted" here refers to the opinion of the Jews, who believed the temple was corrupted or destroyed when anyone defiled or damaged anything in it, or if its guardians neglected their duties. The idea is that by one's action or lack of action, another could be ruined or destroyed.

So, when Paul says, "We've corrupted no one," why does he say this? I believe he is addressing allegations from people in the church who claimed, "This guy's ruined everything here at Corinth. This guy's a corrupter." They were bringing these accusations against Paul, and he asserts, "I've corrupted no one."

It may have been the belief of some in the city of Corinth that Paul, when he came in, corrupted the fellowship and ruined it. I don't think it's much of a stretch to think like this. In 1 Corinthians, Paul made it very clear that there were problems of sin in the church at Corinth, and his letter was intended to right the wrongs in the fellowship. However, if you've backslid to such a point where the wrongs seem right...

Then, when someone comes in and sets the wrongs right, they say, "You're ruining everything." How so? The church in Corinth thought themselves to be incredibly gracious and wonderfully accepting because they had a guy in their fellowship who was blatantly living in sin. The sin he was living in was that he was committing adultery and living with his father's wife, his stepmother. He was attending the church and was a part of the body of Christ there. It was as if the church at Corinth was saying, "Hey, aren't we gracious?" Paul says, "No! Get rid of him. Excommunicate him until he repents."

Now, if wrong has become right, and you've backslid to that point, then when Paul comes in and says, "Don't do that anymore," you're going to think, "Well, gosh. Look at this guy. He's so harsh. I mean, we're such a loving group of people. He's ruining everything." The church at Corinth had this kind of free-for-all when they gathered together, especially in the exercise of spiritual gifts. Paul says, "Listen, you need to let all things be done decently and in order."

It's not hard to imagine that there were people in the church at Corinth saying, "Look at this spirit quencher. He's ruining everything. We were having a grand old time until we got that letter from Paul." Can you see why there might be some there saying, "He's ruined it"?

Paul goes on, "We've defrauded no one." A common accusation of ministers in our day is no different than what was apparently going on in Paul's day. Remember, Paul was traveling from church to church, taking up an offering for the believers in Jerusalem who were going through a difficult time. Anytime a church says, "Hey, we're taking a special offering," you can guarantee that there are people in the church thinking, "They're always asking for money." What a bunch of frauds! What did they do with the money we gave them last time? Nothing has changed in 2,000 years.

Not that accountability is a bad thing. We should be fiscally accountable. We look at our government and want them to be fiscally accountable, which they're not. Christians often complain more about how the church deals with the little bit of money that's given to the church than they do about how the government deals with the large amounts of money.

That we give to them. Why is that? That's for another study. Paul says, "We've defrauded no one." Paul and his co-laborers are taking up an offering, and certainly, there are those who are criticizing this effort and charging Paul as a fraud. They might be saying things like, "How do we know there's a famine in Jerusalem? Any of you guys been to Jerusalem? How do we know?"

I mean, sure, every time Paul has come here, he's worked for himself while he's been here, taking care of his own things. But now, he says he needs money— a lot of money—over and above what we've been giving for our own needs to take to Jerusalem. What has Jerusalem ever done for us? That fraud.

So, Paul's response is, "We've defrauded no one." You wouldn't have had to make a huge inquiry to see that their assertion against Paul was false because everywhere he lived, he labored for himself to take care of his needs.

Now, he uses this very same word that's translated "defrauded" here in a few chapters. Turn again to 2 Corinthians 12. We've already looked at verses 14 and 15, and we're going to look at them again.

2 Corinthians 12, verse 14, sets the context: "Now I'm coming to you again for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you. I don't want what you have; I want you. After all, children don't provide for their parents; rather, the parents provide for their children. I will very gladly spend myself and all that I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less I am loved."

Now, verse 16: "Some of you admit I was not a burden to you." So, there are those in the church that recognize when I came, I took care of my own needs. But others still think I was sneaky and took advantage of you by trickery. There is a group of people saying, "This guy's a fraud."

Verse 17: "But how? How did I do that? Did any of the men I sent to you take advantage of you?" This is the same Greek word translated "defraud." "Did anyone that I sent to you take advantage of you? When I urged Titus to visit you and sent our other brother..."

With him, did Titus take advantage of you? Was he defrauding you? No! No! For we have the same spirit and walk in each other's steps, doing things the same way, says Paul.

So again, reading between the lines, what was the allegation, the accusation against Paul? This guy is a fraud. He's just trying to gain from us. And when he writes to us, he's really, really hard on us.

Well, back to chapter 7, verse 3. I speak this not to condemn you. For I have said before that you are in our hearts to die and live with you. Great is my boldness of speech toward you. Great is my glorying of you. I am filled with comfort. I am exceeding joyful in all tribulation.

So Paul says, I'm not speaking these words to condemn you. Now, the words that Paul had written, the words that Paul had spoken to them, were convicting words. Those were the kind of things that, after you read the letter, you go away and think, I don't know if I want to read that again. His words were convicting, but they were not given or intended to be condemning.

Now, you may ask, what's the difference? What's the difference between conviction and condemnation? To condemn is to judge worthy of censure or punishment. It's to judge someone or to condemn them to punishment. To convict, in this context, would be to call someone to account or to reprove or correct a wrong, to set right a wrong.

So Paul says, when I write these things to you, it's not just to condemn you, to damn you to some sort of punishment, but to say, you've been going this way and to encourage you to go this way. And that's literally what the Scriptures are given for.

Turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16. Paul here says,

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it is profitable, or useful, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. So, God's Word—remember, Paul is inspired of God as he writes these letters, 1 and 2 Corinthians—are included in our Bibles as inspired Scripture. Paul says these things are written, and they are profitable for doctrine, for teaching, and for laying the foundations of right and wrong, what is good, and what is whole and wholesome.

Now, when you lay out what is good, what does it immediately do to someone who is walking wrongly? It reproves them, right? It convicts them; it challenges them. It is good for doctrine; it lays out what is right, and then I see that I am wrong. I see what is right, and now I am reproved and convicted. I am not doing that; I should be doing that.

Not only does it reprove or convict, but it also tells me how to be corrected. It is good for correction. It shows me where I am wrong but also shows me how to get right. Furthermore, it is good for instruction in righteousness. Now it tells me how to continue to maintain rightness before God. That is what the Word of God is for.

This is why we hold this over our lives, so that it can show us where we are wrong, and we are convicted. Sometimes we don't like it. Have you ever experienced reading the Bible by yourself, reading a passage, and thinking, "Is that me?" Or am I the only one? Yes, your pastor does that many times, in fact. We come before the Word of God, and it convicts us.

The awesome thing about God's Word is that it does not condemn us; it calls us to be corrected. It reveals error. It is a light, as stated in Psalm 119. It exposes, as light does. When it does, it shows us the right path to take, how to get to it, and how to maintain life on that right path. So, Paul's words were convicting, but they were not condemning. They were given to reprove the church at Corinth because they had fallen into sin.

As a church, Paul finds himself here convincing or convicting the Corinthians of his love, even in the face of chastening words. Parents, have you ever had to do this with your children? You're sternly convicting them and reproving them so that they would be instructed in right living, yet their response is often, "You don't love me." They harden their hearts, and you are also trying to express to them that this is, in fact, the expression of your love for them. If you didn't love them, you wouldn't do this.

Hebrews 12 makes it very clear that a father reproves his children. The one who is without reproof, the one who is without such rebuke or correction, is an illegitimate child, not a true son. Whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges everyone who comes to Him. Parents are the same way. This is why God created our society as He did. The whole thing is an illustration. A man and a woman coming together as husband and wife is an illustration of the relationship that God desires to have with us.

The husband and wife come together, and they bring forth children. This relationship between the parents and the children serves as an illustration for us. However, we recognize that because of sin, those relationships—husband and wife, father and son, mother and child—have broken down in our society today to the point where they are not very good illustrations. We, the church, need to redeem that. We need to work by the power of the Spirit to redeem marriage because the church has not been a good example of it in the last 50 or 100 years.

We need to seek to redeem the relationship between fathers and their children, and mothers and their children. There are so many people in the church who struggle with the idea of God being a father because they had a bad relationship with their own earthly father. Paul is convincing this church, saying, "Listen, I know I've spoken hard words to you, but it's because..."

I love you. The more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved, but I am very gladly going to spend and be spent for your soul because I love you. Paul says, "You are so deeply rooted in our hearts that we'd live and die with you." Great is my boldness of speech, he says there in verse four. Great is my boldness of speech toward you.

I really love the way that the paraphrase version, J.B. Phillips, renders this. It says, "To your face, I talk with you with utter frankness. Behind your back, I talk about you with the deepest pride." You see that in verse four? Great is my boldness of speech toward you; great is my glorying of you. Everywhere I go, I talk proudly about that church at Corinth, even though I will boldly confront you when you're wrong.

We have the frank writings of the Apostle Paul. Two thousand years later, they are still very direct, aren't they? They still convict us. God still uses these letters to challenge us, to correct us, and to instruct us in righteousness. Paul says, "Listen, Corinth, I know that when I'm with you or when I've written to you, my words seem harsh. But please know, wherever I go, I boast about you constantly."

So that's one of the ways to look at verse four. Another way is to recognize it as turning us to verse five, because Paul kind of changes his language a little bit in his direction in verse five. He says there in verse five, "Well, actually, before we get to verse five, I have to hit on the end of verse four. I am exceeding joyful in tribulation."

How many of you are joyful in tribulation? I mean, is this guy lying here? Exceeding joyful in tribulation. Not just in the spiritual way that we Christians say, "Yeah, I'm joyful. I'm suffering. I'm joyful because I have to be." Exceeding joyful in tribulation. Just a short time before this, a few years before Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, James, the Apostle James, wrote this in the book of James, chapter 1, verse 2: "My brethren, the church, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations."

Trials are a part of life. Knowing that the trying of your faith produces patience, let patience have her perfect work in you, that you may be perfect, lacking nothing. Of course, we always hear Christians say, "Don't pray for patience." Why? Because you're going to get trials. Listen, you're going to get trials whether you pray for patience or not. It's just a reality of being human, not just Christian, but human.

There is a way in which we can confront a trial that can produce patience. Every single one of us knows that there is another way to approach a trial, a tribulation, or a difficulty, and we can totally miss the message of it. We can lose sight of the instruction that God wants to bring to us through it, and we can become bitter, thinking, "I got dealt a bad hand. My life's terrible." Alternatively, we can recognize that in the midst of it, God is with us.

Now, Paul, a short time after he wrote 2 Corinthians, writes this in Romans. In Romans chapter 5, verse 3, he states, "We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces patience." Wow, that's interesting. It's very similar because the same God presides over the inspiration of His Word. Tribulation produces patience, and patience brings experience, and experience brings hope. Hope will not leave you ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, which is given to us.

So, what does Paul mean by that in Romans chapter 5? He means this: God has given us His indwelling Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance that we will be with Him for eternity. If I'm in the midst of a trial and a tribulation, as I, by the power of God and by the understanding of what He's doing, glory in that, I bring glory to Him through it. I recognize that this trial reminds me that there is a greater thing awaiting me with the Lord in heaven. It increases my hope for heaven.

I know many people in our church who have experienced this. You've gone through a difficulty, a trial, and in the midst of it, you've come out the other side not bitter, but transformed.

Out the other side, more hopeful for heaven. So Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 7 that he has turned the corner and now he has come back to where he left off in chapter 2, verse 13.

Paul likes big parentheses, just like he likes run-on sentences. I love Paul because I like run-on sentences too. Apparently, Scott does too. My 11th grade English teacher, however, did not like run-on sentences, and she let me know.

In verse 5, Paul writes, "For when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Without were fighting, within were fears." Nevertheless, even though, in spite of all of that, remember what he just said in the previous verse: we glory in tribulations. Now he clues them into a tribulation.

Listen, we came out of Ephesus; we basically got kicked out of Ephesus. We're headed towards Macedonia. When we get to Macedonia, we haven't heard from Titus, who was sent to you. He is coming to say, "Hey, how are things going?" Paul is going to come back and wants to gauge whether they will say, "Don't come back." So Titus is there, and Paul is really wondering what is happening in Corinth. He doesn't know.

He is in the north, probably in Philippi. We know that because in the book of Acts, this lines up with this passage in chapters 19 and 20. The author of the book of Acts, Luke, starts to use a personal pronoun. He says, "We traveled from here." So now Paul is with Luke in Philippi because that's where Luke was.

Paul says, "Here we were, we're in Macedonia and we have no rest." He can't sleep; he has sleepless nights. Paul talked about this in chapters 5 and 6 of 2 Corinthians. Sleeplessness often. Outside, we are fighting. It seems like everywhere we go, there are troubles. Inside, we have fears.

So, in the midst of this tribulation, what did I find? Nevertheless, God. I love those two words: nevertheless, God. What a good reminder in the midst of a trial that God is not gone.

That God is there with you in the midst of it. Those may be the two most beautiful words in the midst of a trial: "Nevertheless, God." Everything is falling apart—trials, sufferings, fighting, fears. But God. Don't forget God. Remember the God that we met back in the beginning of 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 3: "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our comfort also abounds by Christ (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

So, the God that comforts—reading on in verse 6—nevertheless, God that comforts those who are cast down comforted us. He is the God of all comforts. He is the Father of mercies. We were cast down. We were going through a trial—fightings outside, fears within, sleepless nights—and God comforted us. Just like we know He is the God of all comfort, He comforted us. He comforts those in low estate.

I think that sometimes, although we don't like this, the way that God works is that He allows us to go through a trial or to find ourselves in the midst of the trial so that we get to know Him as the God of all comforts, the Father of mercies. But notice how God comforted Paul in this specific situation. Again, look at verse 6: "Nevertheless, God that comforts those that are cast down comforted us by the coming of Titus." The origin was divine, but the instrument was tangible and human. The origin was divine—God comforted us. The instrument of comfort was very human—by the coming of Titus.

Why is this important? Well, in the midst of a trial, we are tempted to withdraw. Has anybody experienced this?

You're going through difficulty, and the temptation that the enemy brings to us is to withdraw and be alone. How many of you, when you're going through something, just say, "I just want to be alone. Just leave me alone"? If you have gone through a trial and succumbed to the temptation to be alone, cutting yourself off, you know that this is a very dangerous place because it compounds.

We need to recognize that God uses the fellowship of the body of Christ in the midst of those situations. Again, we have to go back to what we saw in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. He, the God of all comfort, comforts us in all our tribulation so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble. What is the instrument there in chapter 1 that God is using? Other people. Us. To comfort people. Sometimes we expect some sort of intangible thing from heaven, an ethereal, ambiguous thing that God is going to do to take this away from us. Now, He can do that, but the reality is that oftentimes, the divine origin, God, decides to use a human instrument. We need to be careful not to reject that.

We have this wonderful promise of Jesus in Matthew chapter 18, verse 20: "For wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, I will be in the midst of them." God is omnipresent; He is everywhere. There is nowhere that God is not. Yet, based on what Jesus says, apparently, God is more present, if you will. I don't know quite how to express it, but He is more present when there is the fellowship of the body of Christ. When two or three are gathered together in His name, there He is in their midst.

God comforted us by Titus. Not only did He comfort him just by the presence of Titus, but look at what He says in verse 7: "And not only by His coming, but by the comfort where He was comforted in you." We go back to chapter 1, verses 3 through 5, where we find the God of all comforts.

The Father of mercies comforts us in our trouble so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble by the comfort with which we ourselves were comforted. Paul says here in chapter 7 that Titus came to you, and you comforted him. You were an encouragement to him. He was troubled, I was troubled; he came to you, and he was comforted. Then he came to me and comforted me by the comfort that you gave him.

You following it? I know it's like little dots on a chart that you have to connect, but we did that in kindergarten; we're good. So, Titus came, and he comforted me by the news that he brought. The New International Version says this: "not only by his coming, but also by the comfort you had given him." He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, apparently over their sin, which we will see next week when we get into verse 8. Your deep sorrow and your ardent concern for me made my joy greater than ever.

I am in the midst of a trial, and my joy is greater than ever. You see, we go through trials and think joy will never return. This is it; I'm dead. Yet, in the midst of the trial, Paul found joy in abundance. Good news is a comfort, and you and I have the greatest news ever. When we're going through difficulty, we need to remind ourselves and be reminded by others of this greatest news.

This is why the preaching of the gospel is not only for the conversion of sinners to salvation. The preaching of the gospel is needed every single day in our lives and in everything that we go through. We need the gospel continually. The gospel is good news. When you're going through a trial or a tribulation, even if it's something so deep that it means you might die physically, the gospel is incredibly good news for that, isn't it? The God of the universe desires a close and intimate relationship with us, and He has made a way for us to enjoy that relationship in Christ. And though we suffer...

Trials and difficulty in this life are part of our journey, but we are promised in Christ that we will be seated with Him in heavenly places for eternity, where He will unveil the exceeding riches of His grace and kindness towards us. This promise is found in Ephesians chapter 2, which Jeff Johnson shared with us last week. Such news overshadows even the most severe and difficult circumstances.

The God of all the universe desires a close, intimate, personal relationship with me and with you. He has made a way through the death of His Son, whereby we can enjoy that relationship, which extends into eternity. There, He will unveil the exceeding riches of His grace and kindness. I don't care what trial you're going through; that is the best news ever.

There are times when we need to preach the gospel to ourselves and remind ourselves of this truth. Paul says that in the midst of a severe trial, his joy was greater than ever. Is he lying? Do you really think the Apostle Paul would lie, and that God would bring that into the Scriptures? My joy was greater than ever. Oh, would to God that we would understand this, that we would gnosko, that we would know this experientially and not just theoretically.

Every single day, we are given opportunities—opportunities that are called trials. Have any of you had any of those recently? We are given chances to get to know this truth experientially. In the midst of those trials, we have a choice. We can become incredibly inward, and that affects our perspective.

Our outward focus in the midst of trials often leads us to think that everyone else has it so much better than we do. We may feel like we are always going through terrible things while others seem to be thriving, which can lead to bitterness. I was talking with Josh and a few other people about this just the other day.

A study was done a couple of years ago on something that is now being classified as Facebook depression. I'm currently writing an article on this for crossconnection.net, which is why I'm looking into it. Facebook presents a faux reality where people post pictures of themselves having fun and comment on all the enjoyable experiences they are having. Others see this and think, "Everyone is having so much more fun than I am. My life is terrible." They compare themselves, noting that they only have 20 friends while someone else has 700. When they post a picture and receive no likes, it reinforces this false reality.

This inward focus can affect our outward perspective. However, we can also choose to look upward. That is what the gospel does; it directs us heavenward. Amen?

Let's stand and pray.

Father, I thank you for your great Word and your immense love for us. Lord, we are in such desperate need of your gospel constantly. You are such a good Father to us. Even when we, like the church of Corinth towards Paul, harden our hearts against you, you still plead with us. What an awesome and loving Father you are.

I pray for my brothers and sisters here today, Lord. Some may be going through difficult trials and hard times right now, and they need the warm embrace of your love. Often, you provide that comfort through another brother or sister who comes to sit beside us and fellowship with us. We thank you for that kind of comfort. Help us, Lord, to receive it and not to separate ourselves.

And hide from those that You are seeking to use to minister to us. Lord, help us to be used by You to minister to others, to be open, and to step outside of our comfort zone to minister in that way.

We thank You for the gloriousness of the Gospel. We praise You in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you.