Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

The book of 2 Corinthians, probably more than any other letter, reveals Paul’s heart.

He really opens up and pours out his heart to the Corinthians believers (who had many issues).

In the context of the passage before us, Paul is in the middle of imploring the Corinthians to have an eternal, or spiritual outlook instead of just looking at the world through physical eyes.

In 5:1-10, Paul shows them and us why this is important.

The very heart of this passage lies in verse 7.

​ ESVfor we walk by faith, not by sight.

Read 2 Corinthians 5:1-10

This passage is filled with encouragement, instruction, and warning.

We need to heed this passage today.

We live in a time where the only visible difference between many professing Christians and unbelievers is the fact that Christians might not be home on Sunday morning.

There must be more to it than that.

No, this is not one of those “brow beater” sermons.

The aim is to get you thinking about the way you live each day.

Do you live each day with eternity in view?

Do you get so caught up in daily life that you have come to the place where you only see things through physical sight?

Do you live and operate by a biblical, Christian worldview or a worldly, naturalistic worldview?

These are questions that cannot be answered readily nor easily.

As we move through this passage, ask God to open your eyes to receive the spiritual truth from this passage.

Ask God to show you where you fail Him by walking by sight, and not by faith.

Getting caught in a whiteout snow storm beside Lake Ontario.

Following those little red lights in front of me was either an act of faith or stupidity (the jury is still out).

The fact of the matter is that there are so many time in our lives when the snow storms blind us and we strain with all our might to try to feel our way way along trying to see when we should be following Him by faith.

He knows the way.

This passage is filled with encouragement, instruction, and warning.

We need to heed this passage today.

We live in a time where the only visible difference between many professing Christians and unbelievers is the fact that Christians might not be home on Sunday morning.

There must be more to it than that.

No, this is not one of those “brow beater” sermons.

The aim is to get you thinking about the way you live each day.

Do you live each day with eternity in view?

Do you get so caught up in daily life that you have come to the place where you only see things through physical sight?

Do you live and operate by a biblical, Christian worldview or a worldly, naturalistic worldview?

These are questions that cannot be answered readily nor easily.

As we move through this passage, ask God to open your eyes to receive the spiritual truth from this passage.

Ask God to show you where you fail Him by walking by sight, and not by faith.

Illustration:

Getting caught in a whiteout snow storm beside Lake Ontario.

Proposition: In every aspect of our lives here on this planet, God expects us to walk by faith, and not by sight.

Following those little red lights in front of me was either an act of faith or stupidity (the jury is still out).

The fact of the matter is that there are so many time in our lives when the snow storms blind us and we strain with all our might to try to feel our way way along trying to see when we should be following Him by faith.

He knows the way.

Proposition: In every aspect of our lives here on this planet, God expects us to walk by faith, and not by sight.

In our passage today, we will see that walking by faith and not by sight means that you have more to look forward to than this physical life, and that your goal is to please Him in this physical life.

1. Walking by faith, not by sight means that you have more to look forward to than this physical life ()

V. 1 - the “tent that is our earthly home” refers to the physical body.

It is called a tent here to indicate that it is temporary.

It is distinguished from our eternal building from God.

Our eternal, resurrected body is called a building, indicating its permanence.

For the believer, the destruction of the physical body means very little because we are only pilgrims and strangers passing through.

We have an eternal body in an eternal place waiting for us when this earthly life is over.

Here, it is only temporary.

There, it is eternal.

V. 2 - Paul goes on to describe our existence on this side of eternity.

Here we “groan” in this tent.

While here, we all suffer from the effects of sin.

This earth is still under the sin curse and we live in it.

Our desire is to be free from the effects of sin.

As the old saying goes, we are constantly tempted and tried.

We suffer sickness, spiritual battles, and testings.

Sometimes the weight of the world seems too much.

In moments like that we have to remember that what might seem too much for us is never too much for God.

We long for freedom through our future resurrection, even though we might not welcome the prospect of dying.

As Paul says, we long to “put on our heavenly dwelling.”

That is to say, we desire an existence and a real body in a real place all without sin.

VV. 3-4 - What is Paul talking about?

We desire to put on our heavenly dwelling (new body in a new place without sin) not that we may be found naked.

There are many possible explanations.

This is one those passages that no one can say definitively, “This is absolutely what this means.”

Let’s look at this phrase in context.

Paul is talking about our resurrected bodies compared with our physical bodies.

Verse 3 is sandwiched between Paul’s description of our earthly bodies “groaning” under the burden of the effects of sin.

The Greeks had no problem with that.

To them, the physical existence is evil, but spirit, to them, was good.

This is why Gnosticism was such a problem in the early church.

It is a syncretism of Greek philosophy with Christianity.

It was heresy.

Gnosticism was characterized by the thought that since all matter is evil and spirit good, Jesus could not have had a real physical body.

If Jesus did not have a real, physical body, He could not have literally died for our sins.

1 John was written to combat this.

Read for yourself .

It was also characterized by a special inside “spiritual knowledge” that only certain people could have.

Thus the name, Gnosticism, which is derived from the Greek word for knowledge.

To the Greek, being a disembodied person was much better than having a physical body since all matter is evil.

Paul seems to combat this idea by using metaphors for the difference between a disembodied person, and one having a real spiritual body.

“Naked” for the person without a body, and “being further clothed” describing the believer in the eternal state.

He says we suffer in this life (because of sin) and desire to put it off not that we would be unclothed, but that we might be further clothed.

A real existence in a real body in which all that is mortal or sinful will simply disappear, eaten up by life.

It is only through Jesus Christ that this life is possible.

This is real eternal life, not just some hopeful, disembodied pipe dream.

​ ESV16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

V. 5 - This hope that we have for eternal life comes only from God.

He is the one who accomplished this possibility through Christ’s sacrifice on your behalf.

The guarantee for this eternal life is the indwelling Holy Spirit.

This word, “guarantee,” is the same word used in:

​ ESV13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

“Sealed with the Holy Spirit” means the believer is stamped for authentication.

The indwelling Holy Spirit is the down payment for our eternal existence in a real place with a real body without sin.

We know all of this is true because we walk by faith, and not by sight.

Truly, we have more to look forward to than this physical life.