Painful Losses

Today, we return to our summer sermon series on Sunday mornings entitled, “A Life Full of Pain: How Can Believers Survive?’  If you have your Bibles, find 2 Corinthians 1:3, and let’s talk about “Painful Losses.”

 

In the recent weeks, we have talked about painful decisions.  We looked at King Saul in 1 Samuel 15.  Our encouragement was to obey God completely instead of partially.

 

Next, we talked about painful finances.  We looked at the Apostle Paul’s experience in Philippians 4.  Our encouragement was to learn the spiritual discipline of contentment.

 

Then, we talked about painful health.  We looked at a man born lame who encountered Peter and John in Acts 3.  Our encouragement was to pray to God asking for healing and ask others to pray for our healing as well.   

 

Before I move on, remember that even though this life is full of pain, there is a time and place that is free from pain.  That place is heaven, and that time is eternity, but it is reserved only for the followers of Christ.

 

This morning, we are talking about painful losses, and everyone can relate.  There is no one who is immune to loss.

 

Generally speaking, losses can be grouped into three broad categories.  First, there is loss of position.  This may mean loss of job or loss of status.

 

Second, there is loss of possession.  This may mean income, retirement, home, etc.  Multiple families lost many possessions in the 2017 EF-3 tornado in Rains County.

 

Third, there is the loss of person and or pets.  Even though my message today speaks primarily to the loss of person, losing a pet is painful.

 

I used to not think this was true.  Early on as a pastor, when church members asked me to pray for them because their dog died or cat died, I did, but I was laughing inside.

 

However, in the past 15 years or so, I have lost three Labrador Retrievers, and I have cried every time.  Losing a pet is painful!

 

When we talk about losing a person, the Bible is not silent.  There are multiple examples of the death of a spouse, death of a child, death of a friend.

 

Remember Abraham who lost his wife Sarah.  See Genesis 23:1-2, 17-20.

 

1 Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 So Sarah died in Kirjath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

 

17 So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded 18 to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.  19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.

 

Notice that Abraham mourned and wept and secured a burial for his wife.  Responding in kind to a loss of person is normal and right.

 

Naomi did the same in Ruth 1.  She lost her husband named Elimelech.

 

3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. 5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.

 

However, she not only lost her husband, but she also lost her adult sons.  They were also spouses to Orpah and Ruth.

 

I’m sure you know the shortest verse in the Bible.  See John 11:35.

 

35 Jesus wept.

 

Why did Jesus cry?  His dear friend, Lazarus, had died.

 

Finally, even though we are prone to skip this one obvious example.  God the Father experienced the death of His Son, Jesus Christ.

 

Personally, I have not experienced the losses that many of you have.  However, I experienced my own losses.

 

My family and I were set to adopt a set of brothers in the summer of 2014.  We had gone through all of the paperwork and home studies, and then found out another family had adopted them because our paperwork got misplaced.

 

I lost three of my closest friends on September 11, 2014 when three deacons at my previous church wanted me to change the gospel message that I was extending to blacks in our community.  I wasn’t going to change my message so I changed churches and landed here at EBC.

 

On Wednesday, February 24, 2021, I lost a father-figure when Dr. Jimmy Pritchard died due to complications with COVID.  He wasn’t my biological father, but he was my spiritual father and mentor.

 

 

Exposition

In 2 Corinthians 1, I want to comfort you as God wants to comfort us through Paul.  Notice that Paul used that word 6 times in verses 3-6.

 

Paul experienced his own trials and tribulation and suffering according to verse 5.  They were so bad that verse 8 describes them as beyond measure, above strength, and made them think they weren’t going to live through them.

 

What were they?  2 Corinthians 11:24-27 lists some.

 

24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

 

In this letter to the Corinthians and in effort to comfort them, Paul began by reminding to praise God for His mercies and comfort.  Certainly, that is a strange place to start because we think that we should be immune from loss.

 

Then, when we suffer loss, we are thinking about praising God.  We are thinking about cursing God.  However, the truth is, no one is immune from loss…no one.

 

We also see in verses 3-4 that God wants to comfort us in any and every loss.  Notice the use of the word all and any.

 

After praising God for His mercy and comfort, Paul says come to God for comfort again and again.  That word comfort in verse 4 is present active participle that means God will comfort over and over and over again.

 

In verse 5, we actually see that this idea has a financial connotation.  When our loss is this much, His comfort is always more. 

 

Finally, after praising God and coming to Him for comfort, we should recognize that He gives us opportunities to share that same comfort with others in our same situation. 

 

So here is the idea.  God comforts us in our loss.  We then comfort others in the same way that God comforted us. 

 

Therefore, our challenge is not to waste our loss.  Of course, we wouldn’t choose it.  However, we can choose to use it according to God’s plan to comfort others in need like we were and are.

 

 

Invitation

Our invitation is always first to trust Christ. If you have never made that personal decision to follow Jesus, I’d invite you to do so today.

 

Also, I’d invite you to connect formally to EBC.  If you are just visiting, what’s keeping you from making that next step?

 

Lastly, you just may need to be comforted today.  Just sit in silence and be comforted by the HS within you.