Walk By Faith, Not By Sight

The Hope of the Resurrection

In our epistle for this Sunday, Paul writes in beginning at verse 6, “So we are always confident; even though we 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 Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.”

Paul’s entire life was awash in confidence because of the hope he had in Christ, specifically the hope he had in the resurrection of Christ, in which he knew, as a believer in Christ, he had a share. Indeed all of us who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord have a share in the resurrection, because we know that the work Jesus did on the cross, the work he did in the grave - rising from the dead, conquering death - conquering sin - that work paid our debt and gave us, you and me, the free gift of grace, the free gift of redemption - guaranteeing for each of us that believe, that we will have our own resurrection from death into eternal life with Christ!

Paul knows what we should all know as Christians… that while we are here in this material body, we are not fully present with God. We have to be careful here so that we do not misunderstand what Paul is saying to us… when Paul says that we are away from the Lord, it does not mean that Christ has abandoned us because of our humanness… it simply means that while we are here, living out our faith and our lives on earth, we are not able to be fully with Christ, fully with God as are the angels, and as are the saints who have gone before us… we see through the glass dimly, so we cannot see him as he really is, in all his glory and majesty… we worship a God we cannot see, so we worship him in faith, we walk in faith… we walk out our lives in this human form by faith, not by sight.

Paul says it is our hope as Christ-followers to be with Christ, in fact we would rather be away from our body and be with him right now if that were possible. But then Paul reminds us that whether we are in the body or with Christ, our goal, our life’s work, our deepest desire should be to please him. Why? well, because Paul says, one day we will all be away from the body and standing in front of Jesus and he will judge each of us for what we did and failed to do while we were on earth. Now while what we do well doesn’t gain us saving grace - and while what we fail to do well doesn’t damn us to hell because we have Christ as our intercessor, while that’s true, thanks be to God, we should take note that what we do well will be rewarded in some way, and what we fail to do well will be judged in some way. I think there will be some uncomfortable conversations with our Lord Jesus on that day… and, this is just my opinion mind you, but I think the promise of no more tears in heaven begins the day after the day of judgement...

The Ministry of Reconciliation

So then Paul tells us that, because we know that this judgment is coming, because we know that there are consequences for those things we fail to do well, and especially because we know that failing to believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord leads to some incredibly harsh and eternal consequences… because we know all of this is coming, we need to be engaged as the church in a ministry of reconciliation, actively out there in the world persuading people to come to know Christ - our job is to know Christ and to make Christ known!

Paul continues in verse 11, “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others; but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. 15 And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.”

Paul reminds us that everything we do should be for the honor and glory of God and for the benefit of other. Nothing we do should ever be for our own glory. Paul says, if you are to be out of your mind crazy for anything, be crazy about God, be passionate about Jesus, be sold out for Christ because when we are sold out for Christ, when we lose it for Jesus, well then we are in our right minds because our zeal for God benefits others by getting them excited about God too.

Finally, Paul reminds us that it’s truly not about us. It’s about God. We are compelled to carry out this ministry of reconciliation to the world around us because the love of Christ urges us on… the love of Christ propels us forward into the community we serve to bring the message of mercy, grace, redemption to the people so they can proclaim him Lord of their lives as well.

And when we do that, something amazing happens. The kingdom of God appears on earth, just as it is in heaven. We start to think about our fellow humans differently. We stop seeing people as failures, and we start seeing people as possibilities...

Paul writes, “16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”

Thanks be to God! In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit! AMEN!

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. (1989). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.