The 500-Year Flood and the God of All Comfort

Preached on June 22, 2008, by Eric Schumacher

Topics: Flood Of 2008 Gospel And Evangelism

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached June 22, 2008 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Audio available here.

Three days this next week, I will be, Lord willing, in Iowa City working with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief “mud-out” crews. Mud-out crews, as you might have guessed, go into the homes of flood victims to clean the “mud out.” These crews like to take chaplains with them to minister spiritually to the victims, which is what I’ve been asked to do.

Such opportunities, while exciting, to be honest, scare me to death. Questions go through my mind, “What will I say? I’ve never been in their shoes. How can I expect to minister to them?”

I would expect that I’m not alone in feeling this way. Our city has experience one of, if not the, worst disasters it has ever experienced. Thousands have lost their homes and all their possessions. We, as the people of the Lord Jesus Christ, have the opportunity and obligation to minister to these hurting people. You probably feel ill-equipped and incapable of such ministry.

And it is not limited to this flood. This flood is just a large-scale example in the lives of thousands of what happens on a personal level to people every day. It is often easy to let things like the flood catch our attention because they are widespread and gain the focus of the media. We cannot afford to forget that people suffer every day.

We are called to minister to them. Nevertheless, it is good to let these large-scale disasters cause us to pause and consider how we minister to those who are suffering, regardless of what type of suffering it is.

Are We Equipped?

In the town where I previously pastored, I attended a meeting of community clergy hosted by the mayor to discuss the varying relief efforts going on for Hurricane Katrina. The idea had been put forward that it be a city where displaced persons could come to live and work.

As the discussion progressed, there was one particular pastor who found a reason why everything that was brought up wouldn’t work—“our community is not equipped with the counselors and training necessary to deal with the post-traumatic stress and great emotional grief that these people are going through. It would probably be best not to take them in.” Sometimes we offer similar excuses to avoid ministry, such as, “Well, I’ve never been through that before. I don’t know what it is like. There is no way that I can be of any comfort.”

There are at least two possible reasons why we offer excuses like these to free ourselves from serving those who are suffering. The first is that we are lazy, which is a form of greed. Far too often, greed marches under the banner of “stewardship.” We say, “It would not be best to invest my money, my time, my energies into this situation,” when we really simply want to keep that money, time and energy for ourselves.

Proverbs 26:13 tells us, “The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!’” In other words, the sluggard uses (or creates) legitimate sounding reasons for not working in order to serve his own selfish ends. “There is a lion in the street! I dare not go outside to work, or I’ll be devoured to!” “If you give money to hunger-relief, the government or those people will simply mismanage it.” “If I help them, I won’t have anything left over for myself.” “I can’t share the Gospel with them; people in their situation are not interested in it!” “I can’t help them because I’ve never experienced what they are going through.” Sometimes we use these excuses to prop up our laziness and avoid doing the hard work that must be done.

The second reason that we use these excuses is because we genuinely believe them. We genuinely believe that we are not able to offer comfort to someone unless we have “walked a mile in their shoes.” We believe that we cannot minister to a flood victim unless we are government-certified counselors with university degrees who specialize in post-traumatic counseling.

I do not want to underestimate the extreme stress and grief that people go through when they lose everything to something like a flood. Nor do I want to underestimate the good that shared experiences can offer. After all, “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). His ability to sympathize is a source of confidence to draw near to him in time of need.

Nevertheless, I want us to see from the Scripture that we who are Christians are equipped to offer comfort to those who are suffering, no matter what form their particular suffering may take.

God & Comfort

Paul begins by praising “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He describes God as “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.” This is significant because, outside the Bible, the gods of the ancient world were not merciful and comforting. “Comfort was not regarded as a divine function, and no pagan deity was associated with it. Indeed, the biblical concept of a God who comforts was otherwise virtually unknown in the ancient world” (Brewer, “Comfort,” emphasis mine).

The God of the Bible is the source of all comfort. The God of Christianity (the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ) is a God of mercy and comfort. That is not all that he is; we can never afford to forget that his mercy is not blind and that he is a God of justice. He is more than mercy, but he is not less.

In the Old Testament, God is a God of comfort. In the Psalms, the Lord is praised for the comfort that he gives his people. Psalm 86:17 declares, “...you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.” Psalm 23:4 says, “your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” In Psalm 71:20-21: “You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.” In Psalm 94:19: “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.”

In the prophets, especially Isaiah, the gospel is that the Lord will come and comfort them. Isaiah 40 begins, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” The chapter then proceeds to assure Judah that the God who measured the waters of the earth and marked the span of the heavens (40:12-14), who counts the nations as “less than nothing and emptiness” (40:13-17), who knows all things from the beginning and reigns over the affairs of nations (40:21-24), and who calls each star by name (40:25-26)–this great Sovereign Creator is the one who comes in might to tenderly comfort them (10-11):

Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

This is precisely why we must not shy away from declaring the sovereignty of God when suffering comes. We must not be found saying, “Well, the God I know is a God of love and comfort. He isn’t sovereign over floods; he just brings good out of the aftermath.” For Isaiah, the strong sovereignty of God is the only sure foundation for hope and peace in the midst of suffering. Listen to the conclusion of Isaiah 40 as the prophet revels in the Lord’s might and what it means for his people (28-31):

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

The hope of God’s people is found in the ability of the Lord to comfort. If he is lacking, so are we. If he is not lacking, then neither are we. When we diminish his sovereignty, we not only diminish glory of God but the hope we have in the Gospel.

Who Comforts Us In All Our Affliction

What we can learn from the Old Testament is all true comfort is found only in the Lord who shows mercy. This is confirmed by what Paul says of the Lord. He says God is the God of “all comfort.” He does not say the God of “some comfort,” “a lot of comfort,” or even “most comfort.” Rather, he is the God of “all comfort.” Therefore, any comfort that comes outside of God is, in the end, not true comfort.

Of course, sin offers short, false, ultimately unfulfilling comforts. But, the comfort of sin only leads to death, greater discomfort. And even those things in our world that are not sinful cannot bring us comfort beyond the grave. If you are to find any true and lasting comfort, then you must find it in God. It is God “who comforts us in all our affliction.” Paul says, “we ourselves are comforted by God.”

Notice that Paul does not stop at saying that God is the “God of all comfort.” Again, Paul uses the word “all.” God does not provide comfort for “a few,” “some” or even “most” of our afflictions. Rather, God comforts us in “all our affliction.” There is no affliction that you now face or will face as a Christian that God will not ultimately comfort. God comforts us in all our affliction. This is why it is so crucial to see how strong the God of the Bible is. All our hope of comfort rests on his shoulders. If he fails, our comfort fails.

We Are Able to Comfort Those in Any Affliction

One of the results of being comforted by God is that we are “able to comfort those who are in any affliction.” Notice what this verse teaches. First, if you know the comfort of God, then you are able to comfort those in affliction. Second, if you know the comfort of God, then you are able to comfort those in any affliction.

It is not uncommon to hear or think, “if you have not endured a particular affliction, then you are not able to comfort those who are enduring it.” Sometimes, even suffering people will say, “Unless you’ve gone through what I’m experiencing, you cannot help me.”

Now, it may be true that we can better understand someone’s sufferings if we have experienced such things ourselves. But is it true that we are only able to offer comfort if we have endured the same sufferings? If that is true, then that is bad news for us. There will be times when we are called to comfort one another in afflictions that we have not endured.

My spouse has not left me. My parents did not sexually abuse me. I, to my knowledge, do not have Alzheimer’s or cancer. I’ll never have a hysterectomy. I’ve not been paralyzed in tragic accident. I’ve never lost a child. I’ve never lost my house, possession and family members to a flood. Yet, as a pastor and Christian, I will be called upon to comfort those in each of these situations. Am I able? I believe that this passage answers these question with a resounding “Yes!”

Verse 4 says that God comforts us in all our afflictions with the result that we are able to comfort those in any affliction. Notice what Paul said and did not say. He did not say, “God comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in similar afflictions.” No, he said, “...so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.”

Shared experiences may help us to know how someone else feels, but shared experiences are not our ultimate hope. Shared experiences do not cure Lou Gehrig’s disease. Shared experiences do not remove the memories of abuse. Shared experiences do not heal a severed spinal cord. Shared experiences do not raise children from the dead. Ultimately, our comfort must come from somewhere other than sympathetic people with similar experiences. Our comfort must be able to cure sickness, restore the soul, heal the body and raise the dead.

So What Do We Offer?

So how is it that I am able to comfort those in any affliction? What do I offer them that will ultimately comfort them? Paul gives us the answer: “we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” The comfort that God has given us in all our afflictions is the same comfort we give to others for all their afflictions.

What is that comfort?

What is this comfort? The comfort we offer is the comfort of the Gospel. The Gospel, as Paul taught it in 1 Corinthians 15, is this. Jesus Christ died for sins and was raised from the dead with an imperishable body. We all are sinners who have rebelled against the God who created us. We deserve death, eternal conscious torment in hell. Yet, God in his mercy sent his Son Jesus Christ to become man and to live a perfect life.

Jesus Christ, not deserving of death, died on the cross “for sins.” He bore the penalty of sin for others. Having satisfied God’s demands, he rose from the dead on the third day with an imperishable, glorious body.

Those who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus Christ are forgiven by God. God sees them as though they have died to sin through the death of Jesus Christ. And, just as they have died with Christ in his crucifixion, they shall be raised with Christ in a resurrection like his, to live with him forever.

Paul outlines this for us in verse 5. “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”

What does Paul mean when he says, “we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings?” The answer is found in Romans 8:29, “Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” God is conforming us to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ. To be made like him involves following in his steps. Jesus lived a life of suffering. However, he lived a life of suffering with faith that showed the power of God in the midst of suffering.

We as Christians are to live the same sort of life:

Philippians 2:5-8 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Our Union With Christ

Paul sees a unity between Jesus and the Christian. That means, to a certain extent, what is true of Christ is true of us. If he suffered abundantly, we will suffer abundantly.

These sufferings will come in various forms. In some places, Paul lists things like “famine,” which is a so-called “natural disaster,” and “weaknesses” which could include physical ailments and disease. So, when we think of suffering abundantly, I do not want us to think only of being persecuted for our Christian faith. Suffering as a Christian can include everything from hunger, poverty, handicaps, diseases, accidents, hurricanes. Each of these threatens faith. Each of these calls for faith in God and a willingness to trust him no matter how painful life is. Some will suffer at the hands of an angry mob seeking to kill them. Some will suffer from degenerative diseases that slowly destroy their bodies. Some will suffer small but constant afflictions each day of their life. The question is, are these afflictions suffered “with Christ”—do we use them as an opportunity to curse God and sin or to turn to him as our sovereign refuge in the face of trouble?

Comfort

What does Paul mean when he says, “we share abundantly in comfort too?” Because of Christ’s obedience in abundant suffering, God gave him abundant comfort. What comfort is this?

Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus’ sufferings were rewarded with the comfort of an eternal resurrection and exaltation in glory.

If God comforted Christ abundantly, then he will comfort us abundantly. Listen to Paul as he describes the result of being joined with Christ:

2 Timothy 2:11-12 If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him…

Romans 6:5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Romans 6:8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

Notice that these are all future-looking promises and comforts:

Colossians 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

1 Peter 1:3-7 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

When Paul thinks of suffering, it is something that he embraces because he knows that suffering with Christ leads to glorious comfort with Christ.

Philippians 3:8-11 I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith- that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Paul sees a connection between becoming like Christ in his death and becoming like him in his resurrection.

We do receive the comfort of God’s promises now. We do receive the down payment of the Holy Spirit to comfort us now. We do go to heaven when we die. But, it is not just a peace in this world or even “heaven” that Paul is concerned about, but a “resurrection.” We know that when Christ returns, we will be raised like him to dwell with him—not just in a spiritual realm—but in a new heavens and new earth, which is free from floods and all other forms of suffering. We will have raised bodies free from every affliction and pain. We will have the fullness of the abundant life that Christ said he came to bring.

So how does this translate to offering comfort to those in any affliction? It means that we do not need to know what it is like to go through a flood (or cancer or abuse) in order to comfort those who have. We only need to know the Gospel of a Messiah who has been crucified for sins, who has been raised from the dead, and who will grant an eternal, imperishable resurrection to those who come to Him in repentance and faith.

The Gospel has the power in itself to apply to every suffering. There is no pain, no suffering, no affliction that the Gospel cannot address and cure. The entire cure will not come immediately. That comes with the return of Christ—even those in heaven are waiting for that! Nevertheless, we can give suffering people the promise that if they will leave their sin and trust in Jesus Christ, even in the midst of their suffering, they can have the assurance of a future resurrection in a new pain-free world with a God who will wipe every tear from their eye. If you know Christ, then you are able to comfort those in any affliction.

And so, I would encourage you to stop making excuses, to overcome your fears and laziness and greed, and to go comfort those in any affliction with the comfort that we have been comforted with by God.