Certain About Things Unseen

Certain About Things Unseen

Text: 2 Corinthians 5:7–11 (NKJV)

INTRODUCTION

Over the past few weeks, we’ve focused on rejoicing. Not because everything is going well… But because of faith in who God is and what He has done.

But this morning, I want us to shift—not away from that truth, but into a understanding of what that faith looks like to God.

Because discipleship is not just about do’s and don’ts, it is about living with confidence in the reward promised to those who diligently seek the Lord. (Hebrews 11:6)

So, this morning, I want us to look at what it really means: to live a life certain about the things unseen.

Paul gives us the defining statement: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

That’s not just a phrase to quote. That is the picture of a life lived with full assurance.

There are 5 words we are going to paint this picture of faith: 1) Identity, 2) Practice, 3) Motivation, 4) Aim, 5) Accountability

POINT 1: IDENTITY — “WE” (Who We Are)

2 Corinthians 4:18

(v.7; cf. 4:16–18) “For we walk by faith…”

Paul sets the stage with a simple word: “We”

That’s identity language. He’s not describing a special group— He’s describing all who belong to Christ.

This is who we are: 1) People who walk by faith, 2) People whose lives are shaped by what God has revealed, 3) People who see beyond what is visible

Now Paul had already written about this 4:18: “We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)

“We” have broken the code. We know that the things of this world only have a temporary value, like the tent mentioned in 5:1. Paul says if your tent gets destroyed it is not a terrible things, because you have a house. We may not have seen that eternal house yet, but by faith we are certain that it is there. That is the attitude with which “we”, as Christians, can and should identify.

Discipleship Truth: Our identity is rooted in what is unseen but certain, that is who we are.

Abd because of that we…..

POINT 2: PRACTICE — “WALK” (How We Live)

We practice, some might say we practice what we preach.

Paul say (v.7) “For we walk by faith…”

We walk…. That is how we live.

Notice we start this phrase with the word “For” which is what we call an explanatory conjunction. Paul uses It to set up this statement as sort of the evidence, or outcome of what he has previously said. We might use the word “so” here. “So we walk”

Paul is begging the question. He is stating the expectation with the assumption and our identity is showing up in practice. That it will show up in Active practice. We are not: Sitting, Waiting, or Just Observing.

But we are walking: 1) It is something we do Daily, 2) It is something that is natural for us. 3) It is something that we continue to due even when it becomes difficult. 4) It is something we utilize in order to get to where we desire to be.

Walking by faith means every step of life is shaped by faith that the effort I put in will contribute to getting me to where I really desire to be.

We have been discussing this discipleship journey, but if your life is not being shaped by faith, then you are not walking. You might be standing, you might be sitting, but your not walking.

Discipleship Truth: The walk of a disciple is not occasional—it is lived out in our daily lives.

Application: 1) Do I respond in a Christ like fashion when things do not go my way? 2) Do I choose spiritual growth over worldly pursuits and entertainment, 3) Do I seek opportunity to increase or improve my walk?

If the answers to all these is “No”, then we cannot blame it on a lack of opportunity or knowledge, but it may be due to a lack of motivation.

POINT 3: MOTIVATION — “BY FAITH” (What Drives Us)

(vv.1–8 as the definition of faith) “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

So, let’s ask the question: What does Paul mean by “faith”, in the context of 1 Corinthians 5?

First let me tell you what you are not going to find Paul uses to define the faith by which we walk: 1) A feeling 2) A guess 3) A blind leap

Paul is going to define Faith as something that is rooted in what God has revealed and made certain.

1. Faith is confidence in God’s promises about eternity (v.1)

“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

Faith says: 1) This life is temporary 2) Eternity is real 3) God has prepared something greater

2. Faith is more than knowing, faith longs for what God has prepared (vv.2–4)

2 Corinthians 5:2–4 “For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.”

We groan—not in despair—but in anticipation. Faith says: “I was made for more than this”

3. Faith rests in what God has confirmed (v.5)

2 Corinthians 5:5 “Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”

In the first century: The Spirit confirmed the message through miraculous gifts

Today: We have that confirmed revelation preserved in the Bible

In it we can see: 1) God made promises 2) God kept those promises

What promises did He make and keep: 1) God raised Christ 2) God established Him as Lord

Our faith is grounded in what God has proven. The good news is that God raised Jesus from the dead and so death, the death of one who by faith is in Christ, that death is swallowed up in victory.

4. That kind of faith produces more than confidence (v.8)

2 Corinthians 5:8 “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

That is motivational faith, confidence and even pleasure to be absent from the body, that is a euphemism that means we are happy to die, why because we have confidence in the promise of the father, confidence in the life beyond this world, we have confidence in the world we have not seen, but of which we are certain.

Discipleship Truth: Motivational faith means we walk in this life trusting what God has revealed about the life to come, the life we have not seen, YET

We could stop here, but Paul wants us to do something more. He wants us to adjust our aim.

POINT 4: AIM — “TO PLEASE HIM” (What We Pursue)

We often describe sin as “missing the mark”. When you are learning to shoot it is not hard to miss the mark. Even after you learn you sometimes miss the mark, there are a number of things that can contribute to missing your intended target. One such contributor would certainly be a lack of concentration.

Concentration implies one thing for sure, it implies intention. Very seldom will you hit your desired target if you do not intend to hit it.

2 Corinthians 5:9 “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.”

What Paul says is that Because of who we are… Because of how we walk… Because of our motivating faith… We have a clear aim…. We concentrate on our intended target.

What is that target??? “To please Him”, to please the Lord

Just like you do not “accidentally” hit the bullseye, You do not accidentally please the Lord. Taking aim to please the Lord insist that we do not simple drift through life hoping that we please Him.

For our aim to be pleasing the Lord we must walk with 1) A Clear Focus on what pleases the Lord, 2) We walk in a Direction we are Certain leads toward the Lord, 3) We walk with the intention and understanding that at the end of our walk we will be standing before the Lord, having pleased Him.

Discipleship Truth: Walking by faith in the promises of the Lord gives our lives a clear target for which to aim.

I am certain that there are a large number of people in this world who do not walk by faith with the aim of pleasing the Lord. I am also certain that they, like us, will stand before the Lord one day to be held accountable for the how they did walk.

POINT 5: ACCOUNTABILITY — “WE MUST ALL” (What We Face)

2 Corinthians 5:10–11 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Here is the reality that shapes everything: “We must all” stand accountable

Every one of us will stand before the judgment seat of the one who died for us all.

There, before that judgement seat, we will give account for what we have done; good or bad; pleasing or displeasing to the Lord. We will give account of how we walked, by faith in the unseen promises of God, or by desire for what we see in the world.

So, Paul says: “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…”

Faith does not ignore this—it responds to it.

Discipleship Truth: Faith lives with eternity in view and then walks accordingly.

CONCLUSION: What does it mean to live a life that is certain about things unseen?

We walk daily by faith in the promises of God with an aim to be pleasing to Him on that day that we stand before His Holy judgment seat.

GOSPEL INVITATION

The question this morning is: Are you walking by faith, or by sight?

There was a time in his life when Paul was not walking by faith. In fact, his aim was so off that he was trying to destroy the faith. The faith which he now preaches (Galatians 1:23). The faith which he obeyed, when upon accepting that Jesus was the Lord upon whom he could call for salvation, he repented of his former walk and was baptized to wash away his sins (Acts 22:16). So, when he writes these things to the Corinthians, he includes himself in the “we” that must continue that walk of faith.

Perhaps that is where you are today. Still waiting to start your walk by faith.

Or maybe you started that walk and along the way you lost your motivation, perhaps you became distracted by what you see in the world and lost your concentration, lost your aim. The same Lord extends the same invitation, an invitation to call on His name, and change your walk to be what He has revealed to be pleasing to Him.