Memory Text:
“For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you” (2 Corinthians 2:4, NKJV).
Introduction
Ministry is fun. You meet new people, go to different places, and have exciting experiences. Ministry is fun. Until it becomes not. People can become so familiar with you that they no longer hold you in high regard, places have become common, and life seems repetitive and mundane. How do you push through life when that’s the case? How do you love the unlovable? And how can you minister to difficult people? Paul faced all of that and more! All because of love. Read on!
Don’t Give Up
We’re finally in 2 Corinthians! Woo-hoo! But before we can understand this deeply personal letter, we need to know what happened between 1 and 2 Corinthians. Paul’s relationship with the church had gone through one of the most painful seasons of his ministry.
Right after planting the church in Corinth (Acts 18), Paul eventually continued his ministry elsewhere and later settled in Ephesus during his third missionary journey. It was there that he wrote 1 Corinthians. Paul also sent Timothy to Corinth to see how the church was doing. Rather than bringing encouraging news, Timothy apparently returned with word that serious problems remained: immorality, division, and growing resistance to Paul’s apostolic authority.
Paul was troubled. He loved the church in Corinth and was deeply concerned for them. Although he had originally planned to travel through Macedonia before visiting Corinth, Timothy’s report caused him to change his plans and sail directly from Ephesus to Corinth. Unfortunately, this unexpected visit did not go well. Paul later remembered it as a “painful visit” (2 Cor. 2:1).
Paul returned to Ephesus and, instead of immediately confronting them again in person, wrote what we now call the “severe” or “tearful” letter (2 Cor. 2:4; 7:8), which Titus carried to Corinth. Later Paul traveled to Troas, hoping to meet Titus there. When Titus did not arrive, Paul continued to Macedonia. Finally, Titus met him there with good news: the majority of the Corinthians had responded with repentance and renewed affection for Paul (2 Cor. 7:5–16). It was in this setting that Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, encouraging the repentant majority while continuing to appeal to those who still resisted his ministry.
A lot took place, right? But the point we can get here is that Paul wouldn’t stop; he wouldn’t let these people go. Why? Because of love.
Ministry is fun. But it has its fair share of challenges. When the going gets rough, I pray that our ministries will keep fighting because they have been driven by love all along.
Comforted So That We Can Comfort
2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
Paul, in this 2nd letter to the Corinthians, reminds us that we face trouble for a reason. This doesn’t mean that God uses us in a utilitarian way, meaning, he gave us trouble so that we can comfort the troubled. I think it’s more correct to say that since in the world we will have tribulations, God, by comforting us, is modeling how to comfort the afflicted in their afflictions.1
“Those who have borne the greatest sorrows are frequently the ones who carry the greatest comfort to others, bringing sunshine wherever they go.”2
The greatest assurance and comfort a person battling against cancer can ever receive is the encouragement of a cancer survivor. He is the person fit to uplift the woman facing cancer. The survivor knows the pain, the anxious thoughts running through the mind, the fears and worries. A pastor might say, “Don’t be afraid.” but only the cancer survivor can say, “I understand.”
Philip Yance concurs:
“There is no more effective healer than a wounded healer.”3
Love Through Discipline and Redemption
2 Corinthians 2:5-8 NLT
I am not overstating it when I say that the man who caused all the trouble hurt all of you more than he hurt me. [6] Most of you opposed him, and that was punishment enough. [7] Now, however, it is time to forgive and comfort him. Otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement. [8] So I urge you now to reaffirm your love for him.
It’s debated as to who this person is. Some say, this was the adulterous man mentioned in 1 Corinthians. Some say it’s another person. But I think it’s sufficient to say that the point that Paul is making is crystal clear. We don’t discipline to break a person. We discipline to mend. We want the person back. Not lost. Discipline is redemptive, not punitive.
But I do agree, painful words need to be said from time to time. It’s just we are saying this out of love. Not out of hate. Paul experienced this. He sent out a letter to the Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 7:8 NLT
I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a copy or the manuscript of this severe letter.
“This letter is now lost.”4
What we do know is that this letter has its fruit.
2 Corinthians 7:8-9 NLT
I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while. [9] Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way.
So, remember – discipline to restore and not to push someone away.
Conclusion
Ministry is fun. Until it becomes painful. People disappoint us. People hurt us. Sometimes, the very people we are trying to help are the ones who make ministry difficult. But Paul reminds us, love keeps going. Love comforts because it has been comforted. Love disciplines because it wants to restore. Love says the hard things, but only because it wants the person back. So when ministry gets hard, don’t give up too quickly. Keep loving. Keep comforting. Keep restoring. Because at the end of the day, ministry was never driven by convenience. It was driven by love.
Discussion Questions
- Who has comforted you during a difficult time, and how did it help?
- Why is it sometimes hard to keep loving difficult people?
- How can we correct someone without pushing them away?
Notes
- For more on the problem of suffering and why I reject a utilitarian model of suffering, see Arnold Famini, “Going Beyond Why,” September 15, 2025, arnoldfamini.com/articles/going-beyond-why/. ↩︎
- Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 2 (Washington, DC: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1958), 274, par. 2. ↩︎
- Philip Yancey, Where Is God When It Hurts?, rev. and expanded ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1990), 193. ↩︎
- Daniel Berchie, “2 Corinthians,” in Andrews Bible Commentary: New Testament, ed. Ángel Manuel Rodríguez (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2022), 1659. ↩︎
Paul’s letters to the Corinthians are a powerful study of Christian life and witness. As we look at the message of the Cross, the power of the resurrection, and the grace that forms God’s people in love and fellowship, may our lives be drawn closer to Christ and His mission.