Anxiously Awaiting our Glorified Bodies

v. 13 Paul states that he, along with other faithful preachers, have the same spirit of faith as the Psalmist. He quotes from Psalm 116:10. In this Psalm the writer explains his experience with the Lord. The reality of the Psalmists relationship with the Lord compelled him to speak the truth. Paul would continue to preach the gospel because he believed the gospel. An unconvinced preacher will bring an unconvincing message. How a preacher can believe in hell and not preach about it is beyond my understanding. Nevertheless, some of the most popular preachers we see today preach nothing but health and wealth sermons. The preacher needs to be convinced of and proclaim:

* The inerrancy of Scripture.

* The universality of sin.

* Christ as the only source of salvation.

* A literal heaven and hell.

v.14 The sufferings Paul spoke of in verses 8-11 did not keep him from proclaiming the gospel. For one, he was convinced of its truth (13). Secondly, he was convinced of how the reality of the gospel related to him. God would raise Paul from the dead. Even if Paul’s enemies did kill him, he still could not lose. The fact of Christ’s resurrection proved this to Paul. If God raised Jesus from the dead, and He did, everything Jesus said was true. Jesus promised to raise up all who followed Him (John 5:21). Not only would God resurrect Paul, He would also resurrect all others who had faith in Christ.

v.15 Paul endured the suffering of ungodly men for the sake of the Corinthians. His ultimate desire was to see people come to know Christ. Notice what Paul says in this verse:

* I endure suffering so more people will hear the gospel.

* The more people who hear the gospel, the more people receive God’s grace.

* The more people receive grace; the more people thank God.

* The more people thank God the more glory God gets.

Paul saw his life as connected to bringing God more glory. If that meant he had to suffer then he was fine with that. Paul was focused on pouring his life out as an offering to the Lord. He had learned what it meant to be crucified with Christ.

v.16 As we mentioned when we looked at verse 1, “We do not lose heart” means that Paul would not give up. The outer self is the physical body. Paul called it a jar of clay (4:7) emphasizing the frailty of life. Even though he was getting older & weaker he would not let up on his commitment to the Lord.

The inner self is the spiritual man. He is created at the new birth (2 Cor. 5:17) and continues to grow as we mature in the Lord (3:18). The perishing of the outer man does not mean that we should lose our commitment to God. The weakness that trials and old age bring should compel us to grow deeper in our faith. During these times we should be learning not to trust in ourselves but in the living God which raiseth the dead (1:9).

v.17 Paul describes his afflictions.

* They are light. This does not mean they were not severe. He was treated harshly. He was beaten, stoned, and imprisoned among other things. If Paul considered his sufferings light, what would he consider our sufferings? The average believer will never experience the level of persecution Paul did. “Light” means “easy to bear” “insignificant”. Paul’s sufferings were easy to bear and insignificant because his eye was always toward eternity (Romans 8:18). When compared to the eternity of suffering that the enemies of the gospel would endure, Paul’s sufferings were certainly “light”.

* They are momentary. Paul recognized that his suffering would end some day. Life is short. Therefore, suffering for the believer is short. Heaven gives the believer no opportunity to cry. Heaven is eternal joy. Paul’s eye on eternity helped him see his suffering as momentary.

* They are working for him. As a result of his faithful endurance Paul was laying up treasures in heaven. All believers have some degree of a weight of glory. I believe that the rewards we have directly relate to our ability to praise God. The more rewards we have the more we can praise Him. Our weight of glory is influenced by the way we respond to suffering in this world. When we suffer faithfully, weight is added to our glory. Paul’s enemies are actually doing him a favor. Their persecution is allowing Paul to store up more treasure in heaven! Enduring persecution does not ensure rewards, enduring suffering in a godly way does however (1 Peter 4:14-15).

v.18 Paul gives us the key to enduring suffering faithfully. We must look at eternal things. Eternal things are not seen with the naked eye. The temporal things are the things we can see. They are the things that are passing away. I think we can sum up what our focus is to be with two things.

*God is to be our focus. God is a Spirit. We do not see Him with our naked eye. If we make Him the focus of our life, we are able to endure suffering correctly.

* The souls of humanity are to be our focus. Our bodies are temporary. They are decaying. Eventually we will receive a resurrected body, but at the present time our bodies are decaying. The one we have is temporary. Our souls are eternal however. We will always have the same soul. Every person has a soul. At death that soul will go either to heaven or hell.

If our life is focused on love for God and love for the souls of others we will have no problem suffering for the Lord. Our priority will be to give a faithful witness of holiness to God and the world.

v.1 The earthly house is the temporary body Paul had at that time. Our body is where we live during our time on this earth. Eventually our physical bodies will dissolve. After death our body will decay and return to the earth. Believers, however, will receive a new body. It is not the result of procreation. It is built by God Himself. It is eternal and will be ours as we live in heaven.

Note two things:

1. Paul was certain that he would receive a resurrected body. He said “We know...” He devoted much of 1 Corinthians 15 to explain this truth. He explains the glorified body at length. Four truths stand out about our new body. We see them in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44

* It is incorruptible- it will not decay.

* It is sinless.

* It is powerful.

* It is spiritual.

His certainty of a new body allowed him to live a life of sacrifice.

2. He recognized that Jesus could return before he died. He was sure to say, “if our earthly house be destroyed”. There will be a generation of believers that do not experience physical death. Paul knew that Christ could return before he died.

v.2 Paul had an earnest desire to receive his glorified body. His “heavenly dwelling” is the glorified body that God would give him one day. He had felt the effects of sin on the human body. He had experienced sickness, pain, and the slow decaying of the body that affects all of us.

v.3 Paul recognized that a soul without a body was naked. When God made humanity He made us different than all of the other eternal beings. The angels are spiritual beings. We are spiritual and physical beings. Sin has not nullified that. Believers must simply wait until the return of Christ to experience the fullness of who we are (1 John 3:2).

v.4 Once again Paul mentions that we groan for our resurrected bodies. Our present bodies are a burden to us. Especially as we grow older. Sometimes it is difficult to get our bodies to do what our minds want to do. Our bodies are mortal as well. This means they are temporary. Eventually our mortal bodies will be swallowed up by life. In other words, we will receive a body that is not dying but is eternally living (See Romans 7:24, 8:23).

v.5 This is a powerful verse. It says that God saved us for the purpose of glorifying us. That is what the “very thing” is. It is the glorification of the body. The “guarantee of the Spirit” is literally God’s pledge to us. A pledge is a down payment. The indwelling Spirit is God’s assurance to us that He will glorify us. God saves us with the purpose of giving us a glorified body (see Romans 8:28-30, John 6:37-40, Philippians 1:6).

v.6-8 Because Paul knew that God would one day clothe him with a glorified body, he had complete confidence. Death can be scary. With Paul however, the fear of death fled with the reality of his relationship with the Lord. In fact, Paul said he was always confident. Even when trials came Paul was convinced that he had hope in the next life. His faith enabled him to be content while he was in his present home (his body). One can only live this way by faith.

At the present time believers are absent from the Lord. This does not mean that He is not with us. It means that our communication with Him is limited while we are in our earthly bodies. We experience Him through prayer, worship, and circumstances. But even that is limited. When we get to heaven, we will see Him and hear Him in His fullness. The believer awaits that day anxiously.

v.9 Paul’s faith in the Lord pressed him to labor for the Lord while in his earthly body. Paul wanted to please the Lord whether he was in his earthly body or heavenly body. He would not wait until heaven to serve God. He would do it now.

v.10 As excited as Paul was about going home to the Lord, he also recognized that it would be a very serious day as well. Everyone must stand before God and give account for their actions on the Day of Judgment. We will be judged by the things we have done in our body. Christ will be the judge on that day. For believers’ judgment is not to determine if we enter heaven or not. The only work necessary for that is to have genuine faith in Jesus (John 6:28-29). Our judgment will be to determine our level of rewards. Our works will be judged by our motives and integrity (See 1 Corinthians 3:13-17).

Unbelievers will also appear before Christ. They will be judged and condemned for every sin they ever committed (John 5:29). Christ offers payment for our sin. If we reject Him, we must pay for our sins ourselves.

While we look forward to receiving our new body, we should take seriously the stewardship of our present body. We will be accountable for all we do with it.

Thoughts To Consider

1. The difference in the quality of our resurrected body will be as different as the beauty of a seed to a beautiful flower.

2. Salvation is not fully complete until we receive our glorified bodies.

3. Confidence in God for the security of our salvation is a humble virtue.

4. Security in salvation should not allow us to be lazy in our labor it should compel us to be diligent in it.