The Comfort of His Love – Phillipians 2:1

The next thing that there is in Christ that will help us when we suffer is “comfort of love.” The NIV says, “if there is any comfort from His love.” There is a comfort that flows from and has as its source the love of Christ. When a person is experiencing suffering, one of the primary things that person needs is that comfort. The word that is translated “comfort”  is only used this one time in the New Testament. It means “consolation.” When we experience suffering it is God’s will that we be comforted. How do we avail ourselves of that comfort? Its source is love, specifically the love of Christ. If we are to avail ourselves of the comfort that is in Christ we must draw near to His love. He loves us with an everlasting love. There will never be a time that He does not love us dearly and greatly. And from that love He desires to give us comfort when we are suffering if we will but let Him. That is His desire and that is His will. When we are suffering, another response should be to receive the comfort of the Lord that flows from His love for us.

If there is any consolation in Christ… and there is! (Phil 2:1-2)

Continuing from my Facebook post…

Let’s take these verses apart and see what is on the inside of them. Paul starts out by saying “Therefore…” Whenever you see a therefore you need to see what it is there for. It is connector that joins one section with another. You might say, “Since what I just said is true, do this,” or “this is true also.” Then he makes an interesting statement that really confused me until God shed some light on it two days ago. He says, “If there is any consolation in Christ…” Now that would seem to indicate that there might be some consolation or there might not be any. The NIV even makes it more confusing by focusing on “me” (you) instead of Christ. Anyone who has ever experienced Christ knows that there IS consolation in Him.
So we might translate what Paul said like this: “If there is any consolation in Christ, and there is, if there is any comfort in His love, and there is, if Christ provides for fellowship in and with the Holy Spirit, and He does, if there is any tenderness and compassion, and there is, then here is what I want you to do. When you experience suffering, act like He did, respond like He did. He has made His consolation and comfort and fellowship and affection and mercy available to you. You can avail yourselves of His strength and provisions in the midst of suffering and respond to suffering in the same way He did. If you do that, you will make me a happy, fulfilled man.”
Here is another facet of this diamond. When we experience suffering this is a good indicator of how God wants us to respond. Let’s see what each of these things mean and see if we can discern how each one of them relate to suffering.
The word translated “consolation” (3874) has these meanings in the lexicon…
1) a calling near, summons, (esp. for help)
2) importation, supplication, entreaty
3) exhortation, admonition, encouragement
4) consolation, comfort, solace; that which affords comfort or refreshment
So, when we experience suffering, Jesus wants us to draw near to Him. If we do, He will help us, He will impart something to us. He will exhort us and admonish us, give us instructions and directions. He will encourage us, that is, He will give us courage. He will give us comfort and solace. He will provide refreshment. There is consolation in Christ and when we experience suffering, we must needs avail ourselves of it. If we do, then we are walking in the will and the way of the Lord. If we don’t we are trying to endure the suffering in our own strength and we will fail! So the first thing that we should do when we experience suffering is draw near to Christ.
Jesus Himself did just that when faced with the most severe type of suffering that any person could ever endure. In fact He was facing a suffering that was far deeper and uglier and worse than any mere human could or would ever face. Not only was He facing crucifixion, the most punishing form of capital punishment ever devised, He was facing separation from the Father with whom He had always been one. At that greatest moment of crisis in His life, he drew near (in the Garden of Gethsemane) and God imparted to Him the strength and courage and comfort and solace that He needed to face the most horrible times of His entire existence.
If we will simply draw near, we too will find strength and comfort and courage and impartation and instructions and admonition and direction and refreshment from the presence of the Lord to face the deepest darkest days of our suffering. That is the will of God for us when we suffer.

Papa’s Pearls Explained

A quick explanation about “Papa’s Pearls.” A few months ago I listened to an audio book called “The Shack.” It is one of the top five best books I have ever read. It is the most incredible allegory of the love of God that I have ever read, heard, or seen. In the book, the God character, God the Father, is called Papa. I like that. Papa’s Pearls are pearls of wisdom from the Heavenly Papa. Join in the discussion!

This topic was discussed at length on my Facebook page. To see the entire discussion take a look at the page titled Explaining PP.