6-16-24 Sermon

2 Corinthians 5:6-17

This morning I'll be reading 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 6 through 17. And I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. 2 Corinthians 5:6-17 This letter,,, written by Paul,,, gives us a picture of Paul the person,,, someone hurt by misunderstandings and wrongs done to him by the Corinthian believers,,, yet glad to praise them when he can. 2 Corinthians 5:6–17 (HCSB) — 6 So, we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight, 8 and we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the tribunal of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or worthless. 11 Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, we seek to persuade people. We are completely open before God, and I hope we are completely open to your consciences as well. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in the outward appearance rather than in the heart. 13 For if we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we have a sound mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ’s love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all, then all died. 15 And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised. 16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone in a purely human way. Even if we have known Christ in a purely human way, yet now we no longer know Him in this way. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. The word of God for the people of God,,, thanks be to God! God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning. Let us pray: Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen. ___________________________________ Last Sunday we looked at 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1,,, and we continued our study of our brokenness,,, and the way that we "Speak Boldly From that Brokenness"! In these verses,,, Paul is continuing to teach the Corinthians what they needed as they live their days in this world,,, just as we must do as well. We learned the week before,,, that God's light shines out of us through our "brokenness",,, and now we can see that because of God's light in us,,, we have all that we need to successfully complete our journey through this world. And we have the confidence to "speak boldly from brokenness" because of the love that God has for us! That's something that Paul doesn't want us to miss! We celebrated the baptism of Elise,,, Adam and Katie Beth's daughter,,, as they promised to raise her in a Christian environment and teach her to live for Christ! It's this type of dedication that we need to continue to grow in this world. And,,, Paul is telling them,,, and us today,,, that we have the power and strength that we need,,, if we will just take advantage of it,,, and let God show us the way,,, and we do that through our obedience to God's word! God gives us the strength for "speaking boldly from brokenness" when we follow His commands,,, and rely on His power and strength! This morning we will look at these verses in 2 Corinthians 5:6-17,,, and see how they help us in our walk with God this week. ___________________________________ Verses 6-7 said: 6 So, we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight, We are always confident because everything we read about in the bible testifies that God is faithful and true to his word. We have the luxury as Christians today,, of being able to read the whole bible and see that we are the only ones that will change the way that God interacts with us. Why??? because,,, God never changes! While we are here on earth we walk by our faith in God,,, not by things that we can see. Since God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow,,, we know that everything that God has promised will be fulfilled. We have the assurance of everything that God has done in the past to testify that this is true. So,,, Continuing in verse 8: ___________________________________ Verse 8 said: 8 and we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and at home with the Lord. The main truth is stated twice in verses 6 and 8. We "are"confident. Right now we are at home in the body,,, but being at home in the body means that we are away from the Lord. When we are at home with the Lord,,, then we will really be at home. As Christians we recognize that we are strangers here. We are not really home yet. And,,, while we are here,,, we long for heaven on earth. We want the perfect job,,, the perfect spouse,,, the perfect family,,, and the perfect church. Those desires are not wrong in themselves,,, but we can respond to them in a wrong way. They may be wrong because we may end up living by sight instead of by faith. Paul reminds us where our home is,,, and encourages us to be confident about our future.,,, So,,, another temptation we face is discouragement. Discouragement is the opposite of confidence. Satan wants to bring us down,,, and he does so by getting us to live by sight instead of by faith. He wants us to think things will not get better. He whispers to us: quit fighting against sin. You will never win. Just give up. You are a total failure. But,,, if you will remember,,, Peter failed too. And he repented and moved forward again. After that,,, with God's help,,, the church was built through him! Satan tells us: you do not really help anyone. You are useless here. But when we think this way,,, we are walking by sight,,, not walking by faith! We face loneliness and discouragement,,, because we are not home yet. And while we are away from home,,, we must walk by faith. We must trust that God loves us,,, and is working out his plan for us. We get discouraged because we cannot see how He is working out his plan. Sometimes we feel that what is happening to us cannot be his plan and then we start to doubt him. But it's important that we remember,,, we do not walk by sight or by our feelings. We walk by faith. We must be confident that God is working His purposes out in our lives. We are going to make it home. This brings us to another truth in the passage. Paul encourages us to please the Lord in everything since our future home is the ultimate reality and we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. This truth is clearly taught in verses 9 & 10. ___________________________________ Verses 9-10 said: 9 Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the tribunal of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or worthless. We need a reason to live. We need a purpose! So many people are bored and unhappy,,, they don't have a direction in life. They aren't inspired by being told: be yourself. We aren't really helped when people say: do whatever makes you happy. We need something bigger than ourselves. And it’s found all throughout the Bible. We are told here in these scriptures,,, "what" God wants us to give ourselves to. We are to make it our goal,,, to please the Lord. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31: whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we are to do it for the glory of God. Or,,, as he says in Colossians 3:17: whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him. There is no greater cause than giving yourself to our great God and Savior. How about you? Has the hustle and bustle of life distracted you from your true goal in life? Have you forgotten your true purpose in life? Have other things inserted themselves so that you have lost your direction and focus? This is a good reminder of why we were created. Let us make it our aim,,, make it our ambition in life,,, to please him,,, to honor him,,, and to glorify him. Let us be God-centered,,, instead of man-centered. May God give us a passion to please Him,,, instead of people.

___________________________________ Now,,, Paul also gives us another reason as to why we should aim to please God always and everywhere. He tells us that we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Yes,,, Christ is our Savior,,,but he is also our judge. And the day is coming,,, when we will have to appear before Him. He will pass judgment on the way we lived. There will be no plea bargains at that judgment. And there will not be any question about what we have done,,, for He knows everything about us. He knows our actions. He knows our motives. He knows our thoughts. This judgment will be thorough and it will be fair. So,,, here is a strong motivation to please God in everything. We are heading to a trial. We have a court date set. Imagine you have a court appointment,,, and your actions for the next thirty days before that trial were going to be recorded.

You would think about that all the time,,, and you would conduct yourself accordingly. Well,,, in a far greater way,,,we have a court date coming,,, where everything we have done,,, and said,,, and thought,,, will be visible. Each one of us individually and personally,,, will be judged. And we will be judged by what we have done in our present bodies. We will be judged by what we have done,,, whether it is good or bad.

Our actions do not save us,,, but if we are saved,,, our actions will let everyone know that we are saved!

We are saved,,, by the grace of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit,,,

But,,, our good works,,, demonstrate that we are truly alive,,, that we have really been born again.

And those who do such good works will be raised from the dead.

We will go home to be with the Lord.

___________________________________ Verses 11-13 said: 11 Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, we seek to persuade people. We are completely open before God, and I hope we are completely open to your consciences as well. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in the outward appearance rather than in the heart. 13 For if we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we have a sound mind, it is for you.

Paul knew that salvation comes from Jesus Christ,,, and if he was thought to be crazy,,, or not acting rationally,,, it was all for the message to them,,, his reputation didn't bother him!

Getting the "good news" to them,,, was what was important!

___________________________________ Verses 14-17 said: 14 For Christ’s love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all, then all died. 15 And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised. 16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone in a purely human way. Even if we have known Christ in a purely human way, yet now we no longer know Him in this way. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.

Paul lived this way,,, because of Jesus Christ,,, and His sacrifice!

Once Paul truly understood that Jesus died for all,,, he will now do everything that he can,,, to spread that message to all!

And because of Jesus' sacrifice,,, he says,,, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.

___________________________________ So as we leave here today,,, I want us to realize that we need to live a life that is confidant in the fact that God is in control,,, we don't have to worry about anything. If you do have worries,,, maybe your life doesn't seem quite the way it should,,, reach out to God and ask for guidance about ways to make it better. If we lived each day like someone was recording everything that we did all day,,, how different would our lives be?

We need to remember that one day we will face that judgement seat of Christ,,, and He knows everything that we do,,, even our thoughts. How much would that change the way we interact with each other? If you've never accepted Christ as your Savior,,, now would be a good time to seek Him.

Ask him to forgive your sins and give your life to him.

Don't put off something this important.

We aren't promised tomorrow.

And once that “court date” comes,,, it will be too late! ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Prayer: Dear Lord, as we leave here today, please help us to live confidently in your word. We know that you are in control but sometimes we forget and it leads us astray. Keep us on the right path all throughout the week until we come back to your house again. Keep us safe as we travel home, forgive us of our sins,,, these things and all others we ask in Jesus' name,, Amen. ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Hymn: 337 - Oakdale Hymn: 337 - Seminary Benediction -----------------------------------------------------------