Focal Point

Dave Dravecky: Today on Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: I want to make sure if life's beating you up that we get what you need and what God promises his comfort by doing exactly what Paul does here. Paul tells us by the way to follow his example and he says that repeatedly. Should look to him and others like him to follow his example and he lays down a great example for us in acquiring God's comfort.

Dave Dravecky: The Apostle Paul had every reason to look strong. Critics in Corinth were challenging his credentials and still he admitted he'd been burdened so far beyond his strength that he despaired of life itself. Today on Focal Point Pastor Mike Fabarez spells out why that kind of honesty belongs in the Christian life and why it happens best when the chairs face each other. And if you're listening for the first time we've set aside Pastor Mike's booklet seeking comfort for you, just ask for it at focalpointradio.org. Well now here's Pastor Mike.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Well it's great to be in church and to sing songs and fellowship but the world of course as Jesus promised would be filled with a lot of trouble for us as Christians. For us as Christians in particular it would be hard. In this world you'll have tribulation Jesus said and that is a reality and and of course what God would like to grant his children is comfort in the midst of that. We've been studying that topic for the last two weeks. This is our third installment of a very short series in the first 11 verses of 2nd Corinthians and I want you to get as much out of this as you possibly can as we dealt with all the things in the last two messages that are going to necessarily be a part of what it means to be comforted by God.

Doesn't mean he's going to remove all of your troubles but he'll be able to take you through those with strength and resilience, encouragement and patience and sometimes he will dismiss the trouble altogether, the temporal trouble we have but oftentimes it's about getting us to stand up straight. We've been studying the word that's used repeatedly in this passage paraklesis which is compound word para next to kalesis from the verb kaleo which means to call, to be called in next to and it's much like when you're cold and you'll call in a blanket to bring you comfort or as I often illustrated if your knee is weak and you need a knee brace it's called in alongside.

That is what we need, the interior soul that you have in the midst of of the difficulties of this life. You need to be comforted. In this last section, the last four verses, verses 8 through 11 of the our series Paul then kicks into a lot of first person plural pronouns. He uses this section as an autobiographical discussion about his own pain. Now I've jumped ahead to this each time just to let you know that the Apostle Paul has struggles as well and he's going to share those struggles and talk about the way God comforted him through all of this and currently still going through this but even talks about it in a in a perfect tense in the sense that it's already accomplished in one sense because he knows he has a confidence and a hope that God will continue to bring him along and and have him bear up through all the trials.

There are five things in these last four verses of our series that I want you to make sure you catch the the fundamental ingredients. It's much like cooking a meal. I mean you might be able to imagine cooking your favorite comfort food, you know your lasagna or your you know whatever it might be, some casserole and and and if you leave out an ingredient or two it can can ruin the whole thing. So we need to make sure all five of these ingredients that we see in these four verses are going to be a part of what you do when you are in the midst of a trial and you need God's comfort.

And also say if you're not in the midst of a of a difficult time right now it's okay because this sermon in part is directed to you as a source of comfort for other Christians. We live communally here in a sense that we live together in the Christian life and our lives need to be the source of comfort. At least I should say the agency of God's comfort in people's lives and I want to make sure you're studying this not only for your own comfort but for the comfort you're going to provide to others. So let's dive into these last four verses of our series on comfort.

I want to make sure if life's beating you up that we get what you need and what God promises his comfort by doing exactly what Paul does here. Paul tells us by the way to follow his example and he says that repeatedly. Should look to him and others like him to follow his example and he lays down a great example for us in acquiring God comfort. Follow along as I read these four verses from 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verses 8 through 11. I'll read it from the English Standard Version and it reads like this. For we do not want you to be unaware brothers of the affliction we experienced in Asia.

Two words there you got to understand, affliction, thilipsis, not that we need to say it but the thilipsis is a word that means pressure. I mean that's the the the the the kind of visual picture of pressing down and here he is afflicted. He has this pressure in his life from from the sufferings and the struggles that he's having. In Asia is the other word you need to make sure this isn't China, right? We're not talking about the Far East. We're talking about the the Middle East or in particular what they call scholars will call in biblical geography Asia Minor which is modern day Turkey, at least most of it we're dealing with there and we've read about Paul's travels through ancient Asia Minor and a lot of the struggles he had there.

Now I'm not sure that's what he has in mind here. There may be more local knowledge that the Corinthians have about some other struggle but he doesn't go to great lengths to even identify it so I don't think that's a concern of ours even though commentators may debate it. What matters is the feelings that he's having and that where he goes in the second half of verse 8. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Now I couldn't help but quote this line in every message so far as we have been dealing with this topic because Paul knows what it's like to be completely beyond what he thinks he can handle.

And if you're feeling that way this morning or this week or you're in the middle of something or you feel like I I just can't do it this is Paul Paul is admitting this feeling so much so that he says we we despaired of life itself. We were we were done. We didn't want to keep going and we've seen many godly people in the Bible. We've scanned through those at least by way of reference in past weeks of Christians or at least godly people through the old and New Testament that were done. They felt done and yet God in most cases all the godly examples that we have in Scripture has gotten them through their time of great despair.

He was despairing of life indeed. Verse 9 says because he felt like he'd received the sentence of death which is not some formal decree from some bema seat or some bench in the Roman municipalities. Not that he hadn't been accused of crimes. Of course of course all of those were crimes for the sake of Christ but doesn't mean that. It means that he thought this was it, that the God's sentence upon them was death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. That that's a great argument from greater to lesser, right?

If I'm struggling, I don't think I can go on here and I have so much pressure on me that this trial is making me feel like I'm going to give up. If if the God who can raise Christ from the dead can do that we'll certainly he can revive my spirit and he can bring me what I need to get through. And he says he's delivered us from such a deadly peril speaking of whatever he talked about there in verse 8 and he will deliver us because his trials continue. On him we've said our hope that he will deliver us again.

We're confident in that. You also verse 11 says must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. Now there are five things in these four verses we need to take note of and all of them are key ingredients. You can't do it without all five of these. They're very important and you should learn from the Apostle Paul to do precisely what he's doing in this particular passage and let me start with the first key ingredient which is probably the hardest for many of you to engage in but I want to tell you if it's hard for you, can you imagine how hard it must have been for the Apostle Paul who because of what we read in 2nd Corinthians is trying to defend his apostleship to a bunch of people here in Corinth that we're hearing people disparage the Apostle Paul that he's not all that.

And here he's trying to defend himself almost uncomfortably so in the book of 2nd Corinthians when the people that were coming in after him were looking at Paul saying actually listen to that guy. That guy really doesn't know what time it is. He doesn't know what's going on. You shouldn't really give attention to what he is saying. And you would think that of all things if you're the Apostle Paul you don't want to appear weak. And yet here in this passage, look at verse 8 again, he says I don't want you to be unaware brothers of the affliction we suffered or experienced in Asia.

We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. You think that's something you'd keep to yourself. You'd like to keep up the appearances of a strong Christian life, wouldn't you Paul? And you're telling people you're struggling. Well that seems that seems seems incommensurate with the Christian life. And yeah of course it's not. If Jesus said in this world you'll have tribulation if you happen to come to your small group this week and say I 'm having tribulation that should be exactly what people should expect. And we're all going to experience the ebb and flow of difficulties and struggles and hard times.

And what's happening here the Apostle Paul says I don't want you to be unaware of it. I want you to know you're my brothers and I want you brothers to be aware of my pain. And and that's not how most of us think. And and a lot of pride in this room will keep you from making this clear to someone else that you're struggling. That the pressure of whatever you're going through is hard for you and you may not want to say it. And I would say you take this ingredient out. I mean if we were going to have the comfort that God provides you better have this ingredient and it's key.

You have to be number one transparent with Christians. And of course the context is you need to be transparent with Christians about your struggles, about the difficulties, about the pain. Now we're hoping you're not in perpetual struggle. Even though your struggles may maintain there are times when they're crushing down on you so hard that you feel like you can't continue. That's the time you better share it and you better have the same perspective the Apostle Paul has and that is I don't want you to be unaware brothers that this is happening to me. Now here's where it's not going to happen.

Probably when the chairs are set up in theater arrangement all facing the front while someone is up here teaching the Bible that's not when it's it's going to happen. We'd prefer it not happen then because I'm talking right now and it'd be good if you wouldn't be sharing with each other your struggles. It may happen a little bit in the lobby, maybe a little in the parking lot but the time this is going to happen are when the chairs at church or some church function go face to face instead of side by side. And I know I talk a lot about this but you really can't do church on the weekends.

That's not how this works. The church is all about us being face to face in chairs or sofas or couches or whatever facing one another and having discussions where people that you know you repeatedly see every single week they know you and you know them. You know their struggles and they know yours and you're transparent enough to share with them what you're going through. If you don't do that right then when you struggle God's going to say why aren't you doing what I told you to do? I I I gave you the example right here from the Apostle Paul and ingredient one number one was when you're struggling people should know.

Not just Indy people right? Your co-workers shouldn't know more about your struggles than your fellow brothers and sisters at church. You need to share these. You need to be open these. Why? Well I told God because God says the agency we learned this week number one in the first three verses is people right? 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 I've quoted it in each sermon so far. Paul says God who comforts the downcast right? The word depressed right? Those who are down comforted us with the coming of Titus. That's one good example the Apostle Paul saying you know I talked about all this comfort.

He comforted us by the instrumentality of people. People are the agency of God brokering his encouragement into your life. This paraklesis coming in and holding you up, strengthening you so you can stand. That is what God does through people and here's the thing about people. They're not mind readers. They need to know what's going on in your life. So you need to share with them when there is a struggle. Now by the way for those of you always seeking attention from everyone else this is not your license. Say great I'll have this in my back pocket.

Every small group I go to I'll always say I just need your attention. So do not use this as some kind of chip because like like the boy crying wolf, if you want to talk fables for a minute, no one is going to believe you when you really are hurting. This is not we don't want you to be Eeyore coming to your small group every single week saying how terrible it is and everyone needs to pray for you. Right? This is not something that should be continual. If it is I'm thinking you've got a spiritual problem.

Paul is not always known for this. As a matter of fact a lot of times he's sharing the joy that he has even in the midst of trial and he 's saying rejoice in the Lord, rejoice with me. He's saying that kind of thing all the time but sometimes he's down and he's burdened beyond what he can bear. And he's sharing with people this is my problem. This is the struggle. You need to know how I'm feeling right now. And you need to share that with people because people are are the instrument of God's comfort and until they know that God can't mobilize them or at least he doesn't seem to mobilize them as we need them mobilize.

Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 through 5, here's a set of words that are very important. It's what we need and it always happens in the context of a group of people, people whose interests are not focused on the front with someone you know preaching the Bible but people who are face to face talking biblical things and helping one another. Verse 1 Philippians 2, if there's any and here's our word again paraklesis translated here encouragement. Same word, encouragement, comfort, same word. If there's any bolstering and and booing my spirit in the midst of if there's any encouragement in Christ if there's any comfort there's another word, similar word from love.

If there's any fellowship, koinonia, participation in the spirit, any of that fabric of the of the mending of people's lives together to hold me up. If there's any affection, any sympathy, these are things you hope to get where? In the midst of people. He says hey all you Philippians make my joy complete by being of the same mind, get together and be on the same page, have the same love being in full accord with one mind. And when you get together do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others as more significant than yourselves.

Now here's the key, verse 4. Let each of you look not only to your own interests but also the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus. And then it goes on to this great Christological section about how he left heaven to come and meet the needs of human beings by his life and death on a cross and his resurrection. I just want to remind you if you think well I'm not hurting so I'm not going to small groups that's not the point. Matter of fact if you're feeling really good and and you're strong in your Christian life and God has given you smooth sailing this week fantastic.

You need to be there so you can live out verse 4 because your interest needs to be there for someone who may be hurting and all of a sudden now their interests go in the front seat of your mind and your life and and all that you're interested in doing. You're there to help. This is so important that you recognize that all these great words, comfort, encouragement of participation, fellowship, affection, sympathy, all of that is done in the context of the body of Christ getting together. And it doesn't happen when there's thousands like there are on the weekend at Compass.

It happens when there's a dozen or less in a small group somewhere where people are facing each other and they're having a chance to meet needs as people are honest enough to share how they're doing. And at least in a group of 10 to 12 to 15 people right someone's going to need some extra support this week. And this is where this all takes place. You've got to be transparent to get the consolation, comfort, participation, affection and sympathy that comes through the body of Christ. It's Christ's encouragement and Christ's love and it's the participation of the fellowship of the spirit, all of that is brokered through those meetings together.

Oh and let me speak to those of you that have given up on it because you've tried that, been there done that Pastor Mike. I know how this works. I was honest. I was transparent. They didn't care. They didn't do right. Matter of fact I don't know it was like an interest for a week and then it was that no one ever Listen if you've been burned by people just jot this down. 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verses 9 through 11 and you can go all the way 12, 13, 14 when he starts to talk about Alexander the Coppersmith.

Paul had a lot of people that did him wrong. Would you agree with that? Here he is in a Roman prison the second time about to lose his head by the Roman officials and everyone has abandoned him. Demas love the present world. Others dispatched because of ministry but he is now there alone with only one person with him and here's what he says, hey Timothy can you come to me? And can you bring John Mark with you please? Paul is asking for people even when people he relied on weren't trustworthy, even when they didn't respond well.

So some of you are no longer involved in a small group you used to be used to be a part of a ministry where you were face to face with people but now you just check in on Sunday and you're done with all that because you did it, you tried it and it didn't work. Can you be as godly as the Apostle Paul and at least say I know some people have let me down but I'm not giving up on people being the hands and feet and body of Christ because Christ is going to broker his comfort through them and it may not be that Alexander or Demas are the guy but there's going to be somebody like Luke or John or Timothy and they're going to work in your lives the comfort of God when you're struggling.

We need the body of Christ. Don't let a bad experience isolate you. Philemon was a little book we studied between Acts and 2nd Corinthians and I love the word here in verse 7. It says for I have derived much joy and comfort from your love. Paul writing to Philemon he says my brother because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. That happens when people are face to face in small groups. It needs to be a part of your priority. If you're too busy to go to a small group at your church, whether you're listening on the radio or whether you're sitting here we're looking at my face right now, then you're too busy as a Christian.

You need to cut cut back. You just need to. You got to have time for this. It needs to happen. 2nd Corinthians chapter 1. Let's look at verse 9 now. That 's the first ingredient. You got to be honest. You got to be transparent about your hurts. Verse 9, now look at it carefully. Indeed we felt that we had received the sentence of death. Oh man we thought we were going to die but that was to make us not rely on ourselves but on our small group that God provided. Write down small group there. Make sure you underline that and highlight that that phrase.

Do you see that there small group? No. I thought this what it was all about Pastor Mike about small groups about other people. Yeah but Paul knows the difference between the means and the source. And you know who doesn't know the difference between the means and the source? Non-Christians. Don't act like a non-Christian. Don't think like a non-Christian. Right? Don't confuse the fact that the non-Christian can go to a sore port group, a hobby group, a guild, a 12-step program, whatever. They can go to groups and get a lot of God's blessings just through the natural common grace of God.

They can experience a lot of good things like they can by hiking through the Sierras or sitting on a cliff looking at the Pacific Ocean and they can be calm. There can be things that happen in their lives brokered from God. Every good gift is from God and they experience a lot of good gifts but they start to focus on the means and not the source and you can too but you're supposed to be a Christian and the difference according to Romans 1 between Christians and non-Christians is they don't give thanks but you give thanks not to the means although you should give thanks to the means but to the source.

Number two, you need to trust the ultimate source of comfort. If your last small group was full of jerks and and and you think this was a this was a this was a bust man God has not failed you. People may fail you. Demas may fail you. Alexander the Coppersmith might have caused you great harm but God wants you to continue to trust him to provide what is needed in your life and he'll do that through the means of people. It may be different people than the last group you were a part of but God is going to provide it and you need to thank him and look to him and focus on him and trust in him.

Non-Christians don't get it. They don't. They they they understand at least the fact that there's plenty of gifts of God that they accept. They don't understand that even in their marriage think of a non-Christian in a marriage. There are people on your block in your neighborhood that have marriages. There are two non-Christians and they have a good marriage and they they get the gift of God through that relationship. That's the common grace of God but they don't understand this that the animation of the spirit within their spouse that brings them such joy or their children or their grandchildren, it comes from God.

In him we live and move and exist. We have our being in God. He holds all things. There's not a human being alive on the planet. Let's just say you were the last person. Every other person is animated by God himself. All I'm saying is that every good thing comes from God. Christians are supposed to look past the means even though we give thanks for the means. Look at 1st Corinthians 16 if you want to see how we should praise the means. We should take note of them and you should be thankful for your small group and Christians that have stood by you just as Paul was of the people that God used like Titus in his life to bring comfort but you ought to know the comfort comes from God.

It is God who comforts the downcast.

Dave Dravecky: This is Focal Point and Pastor Mike Fabarez with the first part of a message called The Practical Requirements of Comfort. Whether you stepped away for a few minutes or want the whole thing again it's at focalpointradio.org and the free Focal Point app puts Pastor Mike's complete archive in your pocket from the carpool line to the late shift. Pastor Mike drew an important line today. People are the means but the comfort itself comes from God. The Psalm writers never confused the two. Psalm 91 pictures the Lord as a refuge and a fortress, somewhere to run, not just a comforting thought.

Pastor HB Charles Jr. calls it the protective custody of God and it's one of 10 Psalms he opens in this month's resource Psalms of Trust. Pastor Charles has shepherded congregations for more than three decades first in Los Angeles and now in Jacksonville, Florida and that pastor's heart comes through on every page. He isn't writing for scholars. He's writing for the person lying awake at 3:00 a.m. wondering whether God still has a hold on things. Each chapter is short enough to read over a cup of coffee and rich enough to stay with you all day. Request Psalms of Trust when you support Focal Point this month by calling 888-320-5885 or go online to focalpointradio.org.

Gifts by mail can go to Focal Point Post Office Box 2850 Laguna Hills, California 92654. Pastor Mike said it plainly today. People aren't mind readers. Somebody has to speak up. Every week listeners do exactly that with Pastor Mike here on the radio and on Ask Pastor Mike Live sharing questions they may never voice anywhere else. Some call in the middle of a crisis. Others have carried a question quietly for years. Our partners who give each month keep someone on the other end of the line ready to turn to Scripture with them. Become a Focal Point partner today by calling 888-320-5885 or online at focalpointradio.org.

Well on Wednesday Pastor Mike continues our lesson detailing the kind of rescue God actually promises his people. I'm Dave Dravecky. Be back with us then on Focal Point.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Hi Pastor Mike here. God's word promises it'll never return void. So I wonder how is God's word moving in your heart right now? Drop us a line. Let us know. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to be praying for you here. Just go to focalpointradio.org and then be sure to join us again tomorrow right here as we continue to explore the depths of Scripture. We'll see you then.

Dave Dravecky: Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.