Extending the Comfort Zone

++Celebrate the Church!++

August 31, 1997 AM

2 Corinthians 1:3-10

INTRODUCTION

There they were, six tough kids— the Hayford Street Gang— just down the street. I was on my way home from school by myself, and I was in big trouble. You see, kids from my street always walked together so we wouldn't get into trouble like this. The Hayford Street Gang! I was so scared my whole life passed before my eyes in a flash! Of course it didn't take very long because my life wasn't too long at that time, I being only eight years old.

My alert mind went into high gear— should I walk up on a front porch and sit down, pretending that my aunt or uncle lived there? Should I take off between the houses and see if I could outrun them? They had spotted me! I knew that.

Just then alongside came a great big kid from junior high school. He must have been thirteen or fourteen years old. I didn't really know him, but my alert mind flashed with a great idea, and I said out of the corner of my mouth, "Hey, sir, can I walk with you? Those kids up there— they're after me!"

And the big kid said, "Sure, I don't care."

So I got in step with the big kid from junior high school, and walked along like he was my best friend, just smiling and talking. And when we came to the Hayford Street Gang they parted just like the Red Sea, and we walked through smiling and talking.

When we came to my corner, I turned down Magnolia Street and ran for home. My life had been spared. GOD'S COMFORT is something like that!

GOD'S COMFORT IS 'COMING ALONGSIDE WITH STRENGTH'

The Word says that God's kind of comfort begins with COMPASSION. WE HAVE A GOD THAT CARES. Not like the big kid who didn't care if I walked with him or not, God cares very much about us. COMPASSION means he FEELS everything we feel.

The Word says that God is a God of MERCY, and of HEALING COUNSEL. GOD IS FOR US, HE DESIRES OUR VERY BEST. If we will listen, God will guide us into His will for our lives.

The Word says that God's kind of comfort is revealed by His PRESENCE

Somehow, some way, God gets through to us that He knows where we are, and He cares, and he will give us the help we need. GOD IS WITH US RIGHT NOW!

Sometimes this "Presence" is direct, from the Word, or from a worship experience, a sermon— when the truth becomes personal.

Usually, however, this God of comfort 'comes alongside' in the love of one of His children. We may not be looking for it, but we see the reflection of God's face in the faces of His sons and daughters.

EXTENDING GOD'S COMFORT ZONE

The usual challenge these days for God's people is to "leave their comfort zone," which means to dare to step out beyond the usual— to put ourselves out and do whatever it takes to reach our world for Jesus. I understand that, and believe it. It costs to 'come alongside with strength.' It cost Jesus the glory of heaven. It certainly wasn't "comfortable" for Him to bear our sins.

Jesus left the glory of heaven— and to be willing to deny ourselves, and take up our cross, and follow Jesus— that means at times leaving "comfort" in the usual way we think of that word.

But in a deeper, root meaning of that word- the fact is that human beings cannot live long without COMFORT— God's kind of COMFORT. We need Him to come alongside us and give us grace day by day. And when the way gets tough, we need him all the more. Beyond the direct ministry of God the Holy Spirit in this kind of comfort, WE NEED TO COMFORT ONE ANOTHER! In fact, WE EXIST TO EXTEND GOD'S COMFORT ZONE! As Reuben Welch wrote in a beautiful little book a couple decades ago— We Really Do Need Each Other!!

THE MESSAGE PUTS IT THIS WAY:

All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. 2 Co. 1:3,4

Coming alongside with strength can be within the Body. Thirty-eight years ago a member of a small church on Long Island, New York, a young woman named Millie Crawford was pregnant with her third child. She had had blood problems with her first two pregnancies, and though both of those babies were now alive and well, the doctors held little hope that she could carry this third baby to term.

Coming alongside with strength can mean sitting with dying people in a crude Romanian hospital like our own Joanna Rapalje did a year or two ago. She cared for very ill people, and was with several of them as they died. It changed the way Joanna looks at the world, and if I can speak for another person, I see great and wonderful growth in Joanna herself.

Coming alongside— extending our comfort zone— can become the heartbeat of an entire congregation. We want to extend our comfort zone to collegians, to Chinese neighbors, to single parents— to as many as God will let us reach. The Apostle James warns us not to be selective in giving away Go's love. The rich need it— the poor need it— the old need it, the young need it.

Let's take God's comfort Zone

CONCLUSION

God has a way of finding us, and 'coming alongside' when we really need Him— if we will look and listen. The disciples on the Road to Emmaus were lonely and sad and discouraged— and Jesus 'came alongside' and their hearts were warmed, and their faith sprang into life. The first thing they did was walk seven miles back to Jerusalem to tell their friends: "We have seen the Lord!"

"He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us."

Prayer

Lord we need your comfort and your strength. But so do a lot of people, some we know and some we don't. Thank You for 'coming alongside where we are,' and help us, if it be Your will, to take your kind of comfort to those we meet today. In Jesus' name. Amen

Sing to the Lord # 679 - The Servant Song

Prayer requests today: Chinese church begins next Sunday at 9:30; new DS Chuck Zink, Sally Zink operation tomorrow; [death of Marion Turkington] Bill Restrick has been in hospital; Jason Kottis;