Calvary Road Baptist Church
“Availing Yourself Of God’s Grace Of Comfort”
Second Corinthians 1.3-11
I begin with a dictionary of theological terms definition of grace, followed by my definition of grace:
One of the central concepts of the Scriptures, grace speaks of God’s loving actions toward creation and toward humankind in particular. Grace is the generous overflow of the love of God the Father toward the Son, Jesus Christ. This love is most clearly demonstrated to humans through God’s selfless giving of Jesus to enable people to enter into a loving relationship with God as the Holy Spirit enables them.[1]
My definition of grace is a bit less obscure. Grace is God’s favor shown toward an individual in a practical way. Ephesians 2.5 reads, “by grace ye are saved.” Ephesians 2.8 reads, “For by grace are ye saved through faith.” Those two verses illustrate God’s grace demonstrated in the salvation of a sinner through faith in Jesus Christ.
But what about the grace of God after conversion, the grace of God in the living of the Christian life, His favor granted to you for living the life He has set before you? I read a number of verses with brief comments:
Ac 15.11:
“But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.”
Salvation by grace, God’s favor shown to a sinner, resulting in his conversion to Christ.
Ac 15.40:
“And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.”
Ah, so the brethren thought that Paul and Silas needed God's grace to serve effectively. This divine favor produced enablement for ministry.
Ro 16.20:
“And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.”
Again, this suggests that believers need God’s grace for living and serving following their conversion to Christ.
1Co 1.4:
“I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;”
We will come back to this verse, which shows God’s always-available-to-Christians grace for living and service
1Co 3.10:
“According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.”
The Apostle Paul relied upon God’s grace to serve Him. By God’s grace, he laid the foundation of the Corinthian congregation, the temple of God.
1Co 15.10:
“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
Again, we see Paul’s reliance on God’s grace to live his life in a manner pleasing to God.
2Co 6.1:
“We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.”
So, it is possible to mishandle God’s grace.
2Co 8.1:
“Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;”
Read the entire chapter, and you will see that the grace to which Paul refers is the grace of giving.
2Co 9.14:
“And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.”
God’s grace in the lives of the Corinthian congregation is here referred to.
Ga 2.21:
“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
Paul did not frustrate the grace of God, suggesting that mishandling God’s grace by a believer is possible.
Heb 12.15:
“Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;”
Here, we see mention of failing the grace of God, the word being ὑsterέw, which means to lack, to come up short, to fail.[2] But who is that shortfall on, God or the believer?
Jude 4:
“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ungodly people can even pervert the grace of our God.
Apart from God’s grace, no one is saved from his sins. Similarly, apart from God’s grace, no Christian can effectively serve God, with frustrating God’s grace, being deficient of God’s grace, and perverting God’s grace being real possibilities with believers and pretend believers.
And why do we need God’s grace, divine enablement? Because we are no stronger after we become Christians than we were when we were dead in trespasses and sins. This is revealed in Romans 5.6 (“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”) and Romans 6.19 (“I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh.”), “without strength” and “infirmity” translate the same Greek term for impotence.
Now look with me to First Corinthians 1.3-9, where the Apostle Paul, before he addressed the myriad spiritual problems overwhelming the Corinthian congregation, declared to them the harsh reality about God’s grace. First, God’s grace through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ is presently available to you, verses 3-5:
3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
Next, God’s grace through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ has always been available to you, verses 6-7:
6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Finally, God’s grace will always be available to you, verses 8-9:
8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Here, we see that God’s faithfulness guarantees He will carry us through and present us blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, God promises that He does, He has, and He will do His part. But as we saw in Hebrews 12.15, believers can and do fail of the grace of God. This does not refer to losing your salvation but failing to appropriate God’s grace for living the life He has set before you.
The question, then, is how does a child of God appropriate God’s grace? Let me first speak to the matter of God’s grace for giving. Read Second Corinthians 8.1-5 with me:
1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;
2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;
4 Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.
Paul was collecting a much-needed offering for the believers in Judea facing starvation. As Paul writes to the financially well-off Corinthian congregation, he relates the grace of God for giving in the lives of the poor Macedonian Churches to the North.
He termed their giving “the grace of God” in verse 1. He pointed out their generosity despite their poverty in verse 2. He mentioned their ability that was beyond their ability in verse 3. He points out that they asked Paul if they could give rather than him asking them to give in verse 4. And it was possible because they “first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God” before they gave a thing.
But notice the context in which all that occurred. First, they were believers in Christ. Next, they were members of the Churches of Philippi, Thessalonica, and other Macedonia congregations, not free-lance Church-hopping people.
Thus, Christians, who were in committed Church membership relationships (suggesting they were under the ministry of the Word, the oversight of pastors, and immersed in the gathered worship of God’s people) presented themselves to the Lord and to spiritual leaders by the will of God. They did not have to do that, but they chose to do that and thereby availed themselves of the grace of God for giving.
But you are not here to learn about the grace of God for giving. Your interest is, and rightly ought to be, an interest in the grace of God for comfort. To pursue that end, turn to Second Corinthians chapter one. There are two Greek words, a noun and a verb, that refer to comfort in its various forms. I will point them out to you as we read Second Corinthians 1.3-7:
2Co 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
2Co 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2Co 1:5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
2Co 1:6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
2Co 1:7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
God comforts, verse 3. In all our tribulation, verse 4. So, we can comfort others by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God, also in verse 4. Thus, every difficulty we face in life has a purpose from God that enables us to minister to others. And as our sufferings increase, verse 5, so do our consolation and comfort, which also abound in Christ. It may not feel that way to you and me, but what God says is true regardless of our feelings. Bank on it. Verse 6 assures us that our afflictions are directly related to the comfort God provides (consolation) and His deliverance. But it is always to comfort and deliver others. Verse 7 concludes his brief insistence that as we suffer, so shall we also be comforted (consolation).
On this point, I need to add something Paul did not mention because it was understood. It went without saying because it was so understood in Paul’s day and in the days of the Puritans, but alas, it is so little understood in our day.
Let me speak to you about the means of grace and the goal of grace.
First, THE MEANS OF GRACE
The means of grace are those activities and engagements through which God extends divine favor in the form of enablement to live for Him, love Him more expressively, and enjoy sweet communion with Him. We know that salvation does not come by works of righteousness, which we have done, Titus 3.5. However, God’s plan requires the exertion of God’s child in the manner He has prescribed to enjoy the full benefits of your relationship with Jesus Christ, as Ephesians 2.10 makes very clear:
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
So, what are those various means of grace that godly spiritual leaders have historically agreed upon over the centuries as representing what the Bible broadly teaches as the mechanisms of activity a Christian engages in to avail himself of God’s grace? And they are indisputable.
Once coming to Christ, the new believer submits to the ordinance of believer baptism, which places him into the membership of the congregation Christ brought into existence as the body of Christ. This is the institution the Savior formed to execute His Great Commission and make disciples by teaching members to observe all things whatsoever He has commanded us.
The importance of our public gathering is seen in Hebrews 10.25,
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
Do you see that word exhorting? That’s our Greek word for comforting, and it is accomplished within the body and not apart from the body.
I could go on, but the point I seek to make is that the means of God’s grace being wrapped up in Church life is undeniable. How do you access the grace God has provided in the past, in the present, and in the future? Paul’s declaration was to a congregation like ours. And we know that comfort is provided when the saints gather for worship, Hebrews 10.25, so simply by being here, you are employing a means of grace. This is not to deny that private devotions, personal prayer, reading Scripture, and such are various means of grace. But they are best suited as part and parcel of a committed and faithful Church relationship.
Then, THERE IS THE GOAL OF GRACE
It is one thing to consciously and conscientiously avail yourself of God’s grace. It is also a matter of grave concern for someone to be casually dismissive of the means of grace as unimportant and insignificant. But what is the goal of God’s grace? If you are seeking comfort, for example, you are misguided.
I assert this very strongly because comfort for your soul is never an objective, is never to be a goal, is never supposed to be a target that is aimed for by any Christian. One never sees the Apostle Paul, or Peter, or John pursuing comfort and consolation, so neither should you or I. That’s missing the point.
Turn to Philippines 3. I begin with verse 1:
1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.
3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
The goal, then, is Christ. But what is a byproduct of your pursuit of Christ? We know Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians to address the problem between two women in the Church. Urgent for them and us is to deal with our spiritual deficiencies in our pursuit of Christ so that we are free of the constraints that limit us spiritually. In chapter four, after showing the Church in chapter three that Christ is the goal of our lives, he shows them the ancillary benefits of putting Christ first, of pressing toward the mark of the prize of God’s high calling in Christ. You can do what you ought to do anyway, verse 4:
“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”
This reveals the presence of real joy. It is joy that produces rejoicing! You are demonstrably reasonable in your dealings with others, verse 5:
“Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.”
How so? Your gaze is heavenward, anticipating the return of the Savior. Finally, consider what happens to your thought life as a pursuer of Christ, verses 6-9:
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
If your use of the means of grace is not exercised for selfish reasons, but as the vehicles whereby you can more effectively pursue Christ and a closer walk with Him, then notice what the accompanying benefits are. Joy, Philippians 4.4. Reasonableness, verse 5. And look at what happens to your thought life. Worry evaporates, verse 6. Peace of mind and heart, verse 7. And then control of your thought life.
Do you imagine these things happening in a Christian’s life without the presence of comfort? You say, “But comfort is not mentioned here.” Why should it be mentioned here, when the child of God is now wrapped up in his consideration of the Savior?
That, my friend, is how you avail yourself of God’s grace of comfort.
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[1] Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), page 56.
[2] Rogers, Jr., Cleon L. and Rogers III, Cleon L., The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key To The Greek New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1998), page 548.
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