Ron Dunn Podcast - Ministry Of Trouble Part 2

Episode Date: December 1, 2021

Ron Dunn brings part two of "Ministry Of Trouble Part 2"

And reading through verse 10, 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 3 through 10. You remember, those of you that were here this morning, that we started the message this morning on the ministry of trouble. And that there are two ways to bear any wounds that you receive. Whether they're physical, mental, spiritual, financial, etc. It really doesn't make any difference. Anytime that a problem, a difficulty, a hurt, a pressure comes into your life, they are sent from God to minister to us. And there are two ways to bear these. One is to bear it the world's way, and that always

brings about death. The other is to bear it God's way, and that always brings about such a change of heart, Paul says, that you don't regret having the wound. And I could not help but think tonight as some of these testimonies were given. Some of the difficulties that were encountered. Some of the pressures that were experienced. How true that teaching of the word of God is. That when a problem, a difficulty, a pressure, a wound, a hurt of any kind is born God's way. That it produces a change of heart. And a change of heart that is so great, so tremendous, that you do not regret having the wound. And the way to bear

it, God's way, so as to produce this change of heart, is to see it as a minister sent from God for our good, to do a work in us that God has pre-planned before the foundations of the earth. We saw this morning that the first reason that God allows these things to come into our life, the first way they minister is that you and I may experience the comfort of God. And that's where we stop this morning. Now beginning with verse 3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of mercies and the God of all comfort,

who comforts us in all our tribulation. The word literally means all our pressures. Tribulation, we always have the idea of physical pain, but that is not the primary meaning of the word. And so I think if we understand it as any kind of problem or pressure, it'll be more meaningful to us. Who comforts us in all our pressures, that we may be able to comfort them which are in every kind of trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 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. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves,

that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which the dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. Number two, the ministry of trouble. God allows trouble to come into our lives, not only that we may experience his own comfort, but that we may be equipped to comfort others, that we may be equipped to minister to others. Now, notice what he says in the fourth verse, and let me read that from the New English Bible, which I think makes it a little clearer than the King James does. He says in the fourth verse, he comforts us in all our troubles so that we in turn may be able to comfort others in any trouble of theirs and to share with them the consolation we ourselves

receive from God. As Christ's cup of suffering overflows and we suffer with him, so also through Christ our consolation overflows. If distress be our lot, I get this, it is the price we pay for your consolation, for your salvation or your wholeness. If our lot be consolation, it is to help us to bring you comfort and strength to face with fortitude the same sufferings we now endure. And our hope for you is firmly grounded, for we know that if you have part in the suffering, you have part also in the divine consolation. Now in that statement, Paul is making a tremendous revelation. And that revelation is this, that the reason God comforts us and the reason God comes to us in those times of distress and pressure and makes himself real and stands over us and overshadows us with his strength and encouragement is not that that comfort might terminate within ourselves

but that we might become a channel through which God may be able to comfort others also. The key word in that fourth verse is the word that. It's a purpose clause in the Greek language, and it means simply this, that the reason that God comforts us in all of our trouble is for the express purpose that we may be able to comfort other people in every kind of trouble with the same comfort that we ourselves be able to comfort other people in every kind of trouble with the same comfort that we ourselves have experienced. And that is one of the main principles of the Christian faith. It is that you and I receive something from God that we may pass it on to someone else. God blesses us. Why?

That we in turn may be a blessing to someone else. God blesses us. Why? That we in turn may be a blessing to someone else. And the most distorted view of the Christian life is that God blesses us simply that we may be blessed and that God comforts us simply that we may be consoled. If you will check out the Old Testament, you'll discover this is why God had to temporarily set aside the people of Israel. And to graft in another branch into the tree. Because the Israelites in the Old Testament had the idea that they were the end of all of God's purpose. That God had given them blessing upon blessing just because they were the end of all of God's purpose, that God had given them blessing upon blessing just because they were deserving of it, just because he wanted to bless them. They did not see this tremendous principle that the reason God chose Israel was that they might be a channel through which he could reach other people. And they were to simply take what God gave to them and pass it

on to other people. They were blessed in order that they might become a blessing. And I'll tell you, there is nothing that will sour the fruit on the tree of your godly life any quicker than thinking that the reason God gives you fruit is that you may enjoy it simply yourself. It is only when you take the fruit that God gives in your life and passes it on to somebody else that it flourishes and reproduces itself. And so Paul is simply saying this, that the reason and the chain of events here is so interesting. Paul was in Asia and had serious difficulty. Now, perhaps this trouble had absolutely not a thing to do with the Corinthians. It may have come from some other direction. It may have come from some other quarter.

It may have been occasioned by something that was not even related to the Corinthians. But Paul says, here's the way God works. Here's the chain reaction. God let us get into a tight place. Pressure, tribulation, so intense that we even despaired of our lives. And that word despair means we were in doubt of survival. Phillips translates it like this. We thought this was the end. Paul is literally saying, we thought our number had come up. We thought we were going down for the count and it had nothing to do with the Corinthian situation but Paul says

God let us experience that so that in turn he might be able to comfort us that we might experience God's ability and adequacy to meet every need and the reason he did that is so that we might be able to pass on to you

our experience of God's complete adequacy in every need. Why does God let it come? How does it minister to us? Listen, you stop looking upon that as a hospital. You look upon it as a seminary in which God has enrolled you to train you and equip you and prepare you to minister to someone else. And notice what he says. He says that God has allowed this to happen to us, that we might take that very same comfort, encouragement that we have received of God and share it with

you you see he says in the fifth verse that as the sufferings of Christ are overflowing the banks of our life so also is the consolation okay when God pours out his comfort and when God comes with his adequacy there is so much of it that there's enough for you to share it with somebody else. There's always more than you need yourself. And God never gives you simply enough to meet your own needs. He always gives you enough to meet your needs and the needs of others. And by the way, that's true not only of spiritual encouragement, that's true of money. Because if you'll read it in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, he says that he gives us enough so that we can be generous for every situation. How about

that? And the thing that stagnates the Christian's life financially, spiritually, emotionally, every other way, is when he gets the idea that God has given him just enough barely to get by for himself. And you know that's how most Christians live. While they don't have time to minister to somebody else, they think they're just barely going to be saved by the skin of their teeth themselves. They don't have time to help someone else, to comfort someone else, to give to somebody else in need. Why?

Because somehow or another, they've gotten the idea that God has given them just barely enough to get them through. But God never works that way. If you'll read the scriptures, you'll find that every time God gives, he always uses words that have the idea of giving lavishly and freely and overflowing. And God never gives you anything that is simply adequate only for yourself. He always gives you enough to meet the needs of somebody else. Do you know what? Listen, I'll tell you what will transform that. I'll tell you what will cause you to be able to rejoice in the midst of it if you will realize what's God up to. I'll tell you what God is up to. Next week, next month, next year,

I'm going to meet a fella on the school ground. I'm going to be visiting a lady in the neighborhood. Just by chance, I'll run into a fella at work. And you know what? He's going to need encouragement. He's going to need comfort. And what God is doing right now is letting me experience God's comfort so I can tell this fella, brother, I want you to know God is adequate for that need. You see, there are two kinds of authority. There is the authority of the word and there's the authority of the word backed up by experience. It's one thing to be able to say to a person, listen, the word of God says that he is adequate and you'll come out of this problem okay if you just trust in him. But it's another thing to say, hey, this word says such and so,

and I want you to let me tell you about what I went through. And you know, I had this and I was surrounded and I thought there was no way out, but I discovered that God's word is true and I want you to know what God has done for me. And that's another kind of authority that God's word is true and I want you to know what God has done for me. And that's another kind of authority that God wants every believer to have. And the second reason that God allows trouble to come to us is that we may be able to minister to others. Now listen, the ability, the ability to comfort a broken heart is more to be desired than the ability to give large sums of money and preach great sermons. And what the world needs is not greater givers and not greater preachers, but it needs greater comforters. And I'll tell you, it's easier to learn how to preach than it is to learn how to comfort.

It's easier to give away your money than it is to learn how to comfort, because the only way you can learn how to do that in a ministry to others is to go through it yourself. And so Paul says that God has done this, that we may be able to comfort others in any kind of trouble. They don't have to have the same kind of trouble you had. It may be a different kind of trouble altogether. But you have learned that God is adequate for any kind of problem. And you can share this with them. And God will minister life through your experience that we might be equipped to minister to others all right number three

that we might be emptied of all self-reliance that God might eliminate all self-confidence. Look at what he says in that 8th and 9th verse. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia. Now he doesn't tell us exactly what it was. He just describes the intensity of it. Notice what he says. That we were pressed out of measure, above strength, in so much that we despaired even of life, but we had the sentence of death in ourselves. I don't know what it was that happened to Paul, but it was something that he was not able to bear. It was a problem, a situation in which he thought actually he was

going to die. And it was as though he had the descendants of death in him. But notice what he says at verse nine is beautiful. But we had descendants of death in ourselves in order that, that purpose clause again, in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raises the dead. God uses the ministry of trouble to eliminate all self-confidence. You know, I was in the office this afternoon and working on this, and I almost skipped this point. Because, to be honest with you, I'm a little bit embarrassed. It seems as though every other Sunday and twice on Wednesday,

I'm up here saying to you that what God wants to teach us is that we can trust him. Have I said that? And I was sitting there and I thought to myself, Lord, I am being repetitious. And then the thought occurred to me, it's not me that's being repetitious, it's the Lord that's being repetitious. And so why should I skip this point? So I'll just go ahead and give it to you. Paul said, we had the sentence of death in us. The sky fell in on us. The rug was pulled out from under us. Why? So that first of all, we would not rely upon ourselves. You know, if God is going to teach us that he can be trusted, the first thing he has to do is to destroy our faith in ourselves. Now, I know that cuts across the grain of a great deal of teaching that goes on in our world today.

Have faith in yourself. Have confidence in yourself. You've got to believe in yourself. Moses believed in himself and he made a mess of everything. Abraham believed in himself and he made a mess of everything. Abraham believed in himself and he made a mess of everything. Simon Peter believed in himself and he ended up denying the Lord and cursing. And what Paul is saying here, he's simply echoing the teachings of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. That first of all, God must knock the props out from under us and show us that we are utterly helpless. And then in that desperate moment, we reach out and

grab hold of God and we learn to trust in him. I'll tell you something, most people will not trust in God until they have to. Very few people will just voluntarily trust in the Lord. And so God has to work in such a situation that we are forced to rely upon him. And that's what Paul is saying. He sends us trouble. Now that point at which you think you're strong and that point at which you think you have confidence in and you're relying on, that is the point at which God is going to have to deal with you. And I've seen many a strong man who thought that they were self-reliant, didn't need anything else,

and yet everyone has come to a point where they've had to acknowledge their utter hopelessness. And God sends the ministry of trouble that he might eliminate all self-confidence. Well, I have two more points. I'm going to mention one and go on to the third, and we're just going to skip it over very quickly. The next one is that we might exhibit the power of God, and I'll just give you the scripture reference, and you can get your own sermon on this. Chapter 4, verse 7, Paul describing in this chapter all of his sufferings, he says, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not us. Let me read that out of this translation. He says, we are no better than pots of earthenware to contain this treasure. Now listen, and this proves that such transcendent power

does not come from us, but is God's alone. You see, God wants to be glorified. And the Bible says over and again, he will not share his glory with anyone. And so Paul says, this treasure I have, what treasure? Eternal life, Jesus is carried around in an old broken down clay jar. Why? Why would God let such weakness come to a man like the apostle Paul?

He says we're the off-stirting of all flesh. We're despised by the world. The world snuggles its nose at us. The world looks at us and counts us as nothing. Why does God do that? Because then when Paul gets up and preaches and people are saved, or when Paul is able to rejoice in the midst of suffering, then everybody knows that the power that Paul has

must come from some other source other than that old clay vessel. And the reason that God allows the ministry of trouble to come into our lives is that we might exhibit the power of God, that it's God's power and not ours. Now the last, that there might be expressed in our life the very life of Jesus himself. Chapter 4, verses 10, 11, and 12. Paul says, always bearing in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

Now look at the 12th verse. So then, death worketh in us, but life in you. And you read the chapter, the context. Paul is describing his tribulations, his troubles, his pressures. Why? In order that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in this flesh. So then death is working in us. Suffering, sacrificing, tribulation.

Why? In order that life may work in you. When Jesus hung upon the cross, that life-giving blood flowed from the wounds of his body. And I want you to know that the life of Jesus tonight still flows only from the wounds of his body. And you and I are his body. I couldn't help but think when Brother Sheppey was talking about this 62-year-old man that was saved last Sunday night. I was so glad that he mentioned that for four years that missionary had worked,

sown, labored, and they came in at harvest time. The reason that 62-year-old man received life is because for four years that missionary couple had been giving death. That's the only way you can minister. There's no other way. I don't know if they teach this in seminary. I don't know if you can teach it. The life of Jesus resides in this body. And it wants to get out and touch the lives of others.

But there's only one way that the life of Jesus can flow. And that's through a wound. And God allows hurt and wounds and troubles to come into our lives. Why? Paul says, so then death is constantly working in us so that life may work in you. And I never forget that when somebody walks down this aisle on a Sunday morning and says, I want to give my life to Jesus, I know that somebody somewhere has died. I know that somebody somewhere has allowed death to work in their body so that life might work in this person. That's the law of the spiritual

harvest. You say, I wish I could minister to people. I wish that I could release the life of Jesus that's within me. Jesus said, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it dies, it bringeth forth much fruit. The spirit, the life of Jesus is released when the alabaster box is broken. And when the alabaster box is broken, then the fragrance is released and fills the room. And everywhere I see a cross upon which the sons of God yield up their bread. There is no gain except by loss, and there is no life except by death. And when God allows tribulations and

troubles and hurts and wounds to come into your life, it is in order that your life might become an expression of the life of Jesus and that the life of Jesus might flow from you and touch and minister to others. Two ways to bear the hurts and the wounds. One is the world's way. If you bear it the world's way, it'll kill your joy. There'll be the death of bitterness and resentment throughout your life. If you receive it God's way,

oh, there'll be such a change of heart that you'll have no regret. And the way to receive it in God's way is to look upon it as a minister sent from God to do you good. to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn. For more Ron Dunn materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.