A Word in Season: God’s Comforts (2 Corinthians 7:6)

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The apostle Paul was far from being superhuman and he did not pretend to be superhuman.

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You and I are not superhuman and we should not pretend to be otherwise. The apostle knew what it was to be downcast.

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He suggests as much when he's writing to the Corinthians in his second letter to them and chapter 7.

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He lays the backdrop to this. When we came to Macedonia, he says in Our bodies had no rest but we were troubled on every side.

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Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. Paul and his companions in ministry were being battered and persecuted.

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There seems to have been opposition without from both Jews and Gentiles and then within, perhaps within the church but more likely within their own spirits, there were fears.

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They saw what was going on and it was hard to keep their minds and their hearts at peace. How then did they resolve those tensions?

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How did they respond to those difficulties? Well in a sense they didn't but God did.

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In verse 6, the apostle tells us that nevertheless God who comforts the downcast comforted us by the coming of Titus and not only by his coming but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me so that I rejoiced even more.

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Now notice first of all the source of the apostle's comfort. God who comforts the downcast.

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God is tender toward his servants when they are distressed and battered.

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God is not ignorant of their conflicts without and their fears within and the apostle is very careful even though he recognizes

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God's means to also understand that it is God who is using those means.

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It was the intention of his heavenly father to relieve his distresses and he did it by means of this messenger

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Titus. Now Titus was a true son in the faith to the apostle. He was a warm -hearted and true -hearted minister of the gospel who

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Paul knew well and relied upon and it would have been a delight to the apostle just to see

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Titus. The fact that Titus had arrived would have lifted his spirits but it was more than that because Titus also brought some particular consolations.

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He himself, Titus, had been comforted by what he had found among the Corinthians. Paul had had to deal with those believers pretty straightly and sort out some of the aberrations in their thinking and their feeling and their acting and Paul's spirit was agitated with regard to how that had been received and then

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Titus told him of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me.

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If it wasn't enough that Titus had arrived, Titus brought good news about the spiritual impact of Paul's writing to the church in Corinth and so the

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Lord God lifted the spirits of his downcast servant. Now you and I may not be in quite the same circumstances as the apostle and we may not have too many friends like Titus but it is notable that God delights to do good to his people and you may be distressed, you may be discouraged, you may be downcast, you may be troubled by what's going on in the world and troubled by what's going on in the church.

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There may be pursuits that you have in ministry, appetites that you have for the glory of God and things may seem often to be gloomy, little enthusiasm, little encouragement.

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Where are the Tituses? Well could you be one to somebody else? Could you be one who is a true friend and who will lift the spirits of some downcast servant of God?

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Can you send a message or make a visit or in some way be a messenger of God's grace to somebody?

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And remember what really lifts the hearts of God's people who are engaged in the work of the kingdom.

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It is news of spiritual progress, not necessarily great advances but spiritual realities established and progressing in the hearts and the minds of God's true people.

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And then trace it always back to God. Don't just go and try and jolly someone along, be

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God's messenger to them and if God encourages you then make sure that you trace all the streams back to the fountain and consider ultimately the