[You can read this aloud in 8 min.]
Paul posed this if/then statement: “If you have any comfort from His love… then make my joy complete…” Do we have comfort from His love?
Philippians: Shine Like Stars – DAY 27
Family Discussions for a New School Year
*This is DAY 27. Click here for 1-26.
DAY 27/FRI.-SAT.
Philippians 2:1-4
Comfort from His Love
“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Philippians 2:1-4 (NIV)
Leading Questions, Part II
As we saw in DAY 26, Paul poses some if/then statements to the Philippian church to prompt them to the right response.
If you have any…
- encouragement from being united with Christ
- comfort from His love
- common sharing in the Spirit
- tenderness and compassion
…then make my joy complete.
We looked at our encouragement in Christ on DAY 26.
Today, comfort is our focus.
While We Were Still Sinners
Do you have any comfort from Jesus’ love?
“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8 (NIV)
How big is Jesus’ love for us? He died for us while we were still sinners! Since He died for us while we were still sinners, then we can’t sin our way out of His love — that is definitely a comforting truth.
Nothing Can Separate
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
‘For Your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:31-39 (NIV)
More comforting truths:
- If God is for us, who can be against us? Answer: No one!
- The same grace by which God did not spare His own Son is the grace by which He will continue to provide all we need.
- God justifies us, so no charge against us from anyone else will ever stick.
- Since Christ died, and was raised to life, and intercedes for us, there is no one left to condemn us.
- We are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us!
- NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.
(Anyone else feel like giving a “Hallelujah!” or an “Amen!”? 😀 )
Is there any comfort for us in Jesus’ love? Yes, there is.
There is also comfort for us in God Himself (Who is love).
The God of All Comfort
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.”
II Corinthians 1:3-7 (NIV)
- Our God, the One & Only, is the God of all comfort.
- He comforts us in all our troubles.
- We receive comfort from God so we can give comfort to others.
- Those who share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings also have comfort that abounds through Christ.
Sequence of suffering & comfort
- Believers suffer.
- God comforts them.
- They comfort other believers.
- The other believers are able to patiently endure suffering.
Those who share in the sufferings of Christ will also share in His comfort.
God loves us so much that He allows us to suffer. Remember, we can learn a lot from suffering — even Jesus learned from suffering! (Hebrews 5:8).
God loves us so much He doesn’t allow us to suffer without comfort. Not only that, but His comfort is multiplied as those He comforts are then able to comfort others.
“But God, who comforts the downcast, comfort-ed us…”
II Corinthians 7:6 (NIV)
Different kinds of comfort
comfort (verb):
| to ease the grief or trouble of (Kids Definition) |
| to give strength and hope to : cheer (to instill with hope or courage) |
| to ease the grief or trouble of : console ((to alleviate (relieve, lessen) the grief, sense of loss, or trouble of)) |
comfort (noun):
| acts or words that bring relief (removal or lightening of something oppressive, painful, or distressing) from grief or trouble |
| the feeling of being cheered |
| something that makes a person comfortable |
*merriam-webster.com (Kids Definition)
| a feeling of relief or encouragement |
| contented well-being |
| a satisfying or enjoyable experience |
Comfort is good… unless we make it an idol.
When I think of comfort, two pictures spring to mind.
One is that of a young child receiving comfort from his mother when he is upset. The mother eases the child’s grief and/or trouble by hugging & holding, kissing on the forehead, smoothing his hair, and softly saying encouraging words. This picture of comfort fits the first four definitions above pretty well.
The second picture in my head is of me in my living room chair, snuggled under a cozy blanket, mug of hot coffee on my left, and a book or TV remote in my right hand. This is more indicative of the last four definitions.
“The feeling of being cheered” is the definition I skipped over in my initial thoughts (probably because I’m an introvert! I receive a great deal of comfort from having some time alone 😉 ). I think of texts from a friend, a hug at church, sharing in a joke, or receiving a compliment out of the blue.
All of these versions of comfort can be good; however, making comfort our #1 goal in life is a form of idolatry (the worship of something as a god; immoderate attachment or devotion to something).
Following Jesus is uncomfortable.
Worshiping God by following Jesus requires some quite uncomfortable things.
“Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me. 24For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will save it.”
Luke 9:23-24 (NIV)
- Deny yourself.
- Take up your cross daily.
- Lose your life for Jesus.
None of that sounds very comforting. Yet we know from the Scripture we read at the beginning of this post that those who suffer for Christ receive comfort from God Himself and from fellow believers who have also received comfort from Him.
“Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me. 24For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will save it. 25What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
Luke 9:23-26 (NIV)
“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?” We could make it our goal to gain all the comforts the world has to offer, but Jesus says, in doing so, we would lose our very selves.
If we make following Jesus our goal instead, we will save our lives, find our true selves in Him, and be glorified with Him “when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
Yes, we will suffer for following Jesus, but we will also receive comfort from His love and future glory instead of shame.
Thanks be to God!
DAY 27/FRI.-SAT. Prayer
Father God,
Thank You for You Word, and thank You for Your comfort.
Remind us when we face suffering of many kinds that You will provide us with comfort, and after we have been comforted, we will be able to comfort our brothers- and sisters-in-Christ when they are suffering.
Help us to suffer well as we follow Jesus and to choose each day to worship You rather than to worship the comforts this world has to offer.
We love You! Thank You for first loving us.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
DAY 27: Paul reminded the Philippian believers that they had comfort available to them in and from the love of Jesus.