Glimpses of New Life

Introduction

It is good to be back after a long hiatus away from preaching, though I must admit it wasn’t easy getting back into the rhythm of things. If you were to ask me what a pastor spends the most times on, or back when I was a youth pastor my youths and sometimes even my counselors ask me, what do you do outside of Sunday? I can honestly say preparing a message takes up the bulk of the time. There are no shortcuts. I mean you could type in google sermons and there will be more than enough for you to be tempted to read. And it was a tempting propsect this week as I got a head start on the message only for some reasons unknown (other than possibly sign of aging) I experience a panic attack on Thursday, so my Friday was spent sleeping. I am no longer the 28 year old young buck anymore!

Some of you though would probably laugh and say, “you feel you are getting old, wait until you are in my shoes” and others of you would say the exact opposite, “I feel like I am going to live forever, I mean I am only 16 with a whole life ahead of me!” For the former, I would say, “that’s true! thanks for making me feel better.” And for the latter I would say, “I envy and may even be slightly jealous of you, so stop bragging!”

Regardless of which side you land, our body peaks at about 25 to 30, and your energy and how much your body can take is not what it used to be. And as we continue looking at 2 Corinthians, we continue to journey with the Apostle Paul who is no stranger to straining and stretching his body. We left off the 2 Corinthians series two weeks ago with Rev. George Mah from Logos Baptist talking about the treasure in jars of clay, which was Paul’s way of describing the contrast between who we are and the message of the glorified Christ we proclaim. And if Paul describes his mortal body as a jar of clay, don’t picture it as a perfectly smoothed, rounded ordinary pot of clay. I imagine it to be fragile and brittle, full of chipped corners, scratched paints, even holes and can break at any moment. Because for the sake of the gospel, he has been subjected to many hardships, not just verbally but physically and we explored those in the messages before and will go into further details when we get to 6:4-10 or 11:23-27. Perhaps this is why verse 13 starts with this awkward statement:

Summarize Pastor George left off with 4:13-18 I believed, and so I speak

English Standard Version Chapter 4

13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,

Where is this “has been written?” In . Although we do not have time to go into etail, would challenge you when you have time later in the day to read and then read , and you will notice this.

David or Psalmist suffering, echoes in chapter 4

is the cry for deliverance in trust to God from the nameless Psalmist, not unlike Paul’s situation here, and despite suffering a similar persecution, both, for whom they believe, Paul continues to boldly witness Jesus is Lord and the resurrected one. This leads to more and more people hearing the gospel. Instead of persecution shutting Paul up, it does the exact opposite! It makes him want to talk more, and more people experience his grace, and thank and give glory to God. Theres also another reason for his quoting a Psalm here. Paul also wants his largely Gentile church in Corinth to see the value of the Old Testament as the basis for their faith. (There only was Old Testament and circulated sayings of Jesus at the time!) We should see their value too. We tend to see less relevance to the Old Testament in our life because it’s so hard to understand. We also don’t preach it as much. But there is no New Testament without the Old Testament. You can’t understand the New Testament outside of the Old Testament. So I encourage you to read more Old Testament, and we promise after this 2 Corinthians series or intermittently we will interject studying the Old Testament together!

Go back to general context (who, what, where, when, why)

But Paul is not done, he will say, even though you slay me, yet I will continue to believe, and I will believe in what I speak! Where is his confidence?

English Standard Version Chapter 4

14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

His confidence is because he isn’t talking about a religion, or a moral teaching, or a philosophy, but the one undisputable truth! Jesus died, but God raised him! We in hindsight should not forget how significant and radical is the idea of Jesus who has been raised! Especially, I would say as we are more steep in Christianity, we tend to forget how glorious the resurrection is. For them, it wasn’t something that happened 2,000 years ago, it was the top news story and words has gotten around how a motley crew of Jewish nobodies (fishermen, tax collectors, zealots) who disbanded upon Jesus’ crucifixion, death on the cross, would suddenly had the courage to claim they saw Jesus raised from the dead, walked and talked with them, and was willing to stake their lives on it! Paul knows this all too well, and if you were to ask this question:

Why could Paul stand persecution from 4:8-9? Because he knows if Jesus was raised, God’s promise is he would be raised too, and not just raised but raised with his beloved church into God’s presence. He will be with Jesus forever. If you know your eternal destiny is secured, you probably aren’t afraid of too many things because you gain a new perspective, a glimpse of this newness of life.

This is what I want us to dwell on for the remainder of this message. We often say a lot about the crucifixion and how our sins are nailed to the cross and how we are to live a cruciformed life, that is a life willing to submit and sacrifice for Jesus. However, we don’t talk as much about how the resurrection, that is, Jesus raised from the dead, have practical implications to our perspective on life. How do you apply the historical truth of the resurrection?

Paul gives us glimpses beginning with the next section:

English Standard Version Chapter 4

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

I. God gives us perspective to see life from the lense of eternity.

4:16-18 So we do not lose heart

I call it glimpses because we are never fully told what this newness of life looks like completely. We see images, metaphors, and snapshots of it. Paul often uses contrasts, in fact, if you draw a line in the middle of a page and have on one side what he describes as the outer self, and the other side the inner self. You will come up with a list like this, (and you can continue this list well into chapter 5).

Outer self is wasting away, seen, transient.

Inner self is renewed day by day, unseen, and eternal.

The outer self describes Paul’s current life. His visible physical body, his scars, his wound, his mortality, his suffering, and failing health as a result of his labour for the gospel. He knows this life, this body is inching each day towards death and will not last forever.

But the inner self, brothers and sisters, this inner self is what can’t be seen but is surely happening: he is renewed day by day in character, in faith and confidence and hope, as he suffers for this very same gospel which visibly wounds him. Something quite different is going on inside, and it will lead him beyond death into everlasting!

I deliberately leave out verse 17 because it doesn’t quite work with this dichotomy: Yet it aptly describes how ridiculous it is to even compare the outer and the inner self. Seen from the perspective of the inner self, of the hidden life, Paul can describe his suffering as light and momentarily, though again if you read his description of hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger, they are anything but light; as for momentary, it sure doesn’t feel momentary when you are in the thick of it. Have you ever had sleepless nights for several days in a roll because something is bothering you so much you can’t stop thinking about it, and each waking minute feels like an eternity? That is anything but momentary. But in light of what Paul knows what he has been prepared for him, an “eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,” eternal because it will last forever, weight of glory, if the glory of Christ in 4:6 is any indication and we get to partake and share and bask ourselves in it, beyond all comparison, which is the Greek word, get this, hyperbole! It is no hyperbole, no exaggeration that God is preparing Paul through these trials in life that when he finally gets it, he will say, that was all worth it!

Or better in his own words in Romans:

English Standard Version Chapter 8

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

David Garland says it most succinctly:

The New American Commentary: 2 Corinthians (5) The Resurrection Hope (4:16–5:10)

As his outward life conforms ever more closely to the crucified Christ, his inward life conforms ever more closely to the glorified Christ.

And so Paul points this very fact out to his beloved Corinthians, who was challenging his apostleship and leadership because he just doesn’t look too impressive with his outer appearance so terribly disfigured and wounded from all this suffering. If God was for Paul, wouldn’t he prevent him from suffering like this?

He has perspective

And Paul will say, it is precisely because I suffer like this I know I am in the center of God’s will. Stop judging people based on their outer appearance, and look at the inner qualities that are formed when you truly stand for the gospel. This is a reminder to us too, brothers and sisters, to not define necessarily a successful Christian by the world’s definition. Success in God’s economy is not the dollar figures and number of zeroes on your pay cheque, how you are at the top of your physique so you would look like the cover of a fitness magazine or on the latest keto diet, how cleverly you lived a life managing to avoid all troubles because you never thought about getting into the mess of other people’s lives or are in denial to fix your own, or how successful you are in your career, or how high a position you serve at church and greet you with a title. All of those things are transient, wasting away, and though some are good, if they keep you from THE good, that inner self being renewed through the reading of God’s word, prayer, and loving others as yourself, it is as good as bad.

Then we come to what is called chapter 5 but as I deliberately wanted to show, these chapter numbers were added on later and wasn’t in the original Greek, and it actually hinders seeing the fulness of Paul’s argument as he continues to show us other glimpses of the newness of life, resurrection.

II. God promises we are raised to newness of life which is eternal, incorruptible, glorious.

5 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

As I said before, you can once again draw a comparison chart, with the outer life on one side and the inner life on the other side. You would have tent, and house made with hands in verse 1, groan in verse 2, naked in verse 3, mortal in verse 4, and the inner life is building from God, eternal in heavens, heavenly dwelling in verse 2, further clothed in verse 4 as well as swallowed up by life.

However, you quickly realize there are two main images Paul is using:

He sees what the world runs away from to stand up as God’s representative is the very act in which God prepares us

Tent or House, and being in the various states of nakedness or unclothed, clothed and further clothed.

First, let’s talk about the image of the tent:

It’s ironic Paul uses the image of a tent because as we learned from before, Paul is a tentmaker by trade. He probably made the most durable tent for all kinds of weathers and conditions and yet he knows despite all his efforts, tents don’t last forever. In fact, there is very much a transitory nature to tents, and the people of God were tent-people, lived in the tabernacle, before they lived in the city of David of bricks and mortars. As the Psalmist says:

English Standard Version Psalm 16

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;

my flesh also dwells secure.

Paul also follows tradition and use tent as a metaphor to refer to the body, which picks up on the theme of outer self from verses 16-18 in chapter 4. But in these verses we see the confidence and dilemma Paul has shown elsewhere in his letters. The confidence is we have a building from God even if this tent is destroyed, not we may have, but we have, and it’s being built and fashioned with fabrics of eternity in the heavens. What is he talking about? Tent is a metaphor for our earthly, mortal body. Then this building from God is talking about the resurrected body! A body which is made by God with his hands! Paul expresses his longing for leaving this ‘tent’ with a groan, not that he despises life, but again, it’s back to perspective. There is a longing to receive the resurrected body, the resurrected life because it’s so so much better! It is not a groan of despair, but a groan, or a sigh, one hundred times better like you’ve been waiting for the next iPhone or the Samsung Flip and you are counting down the days, and finally on the day it is released, you have lined up since noon, and finally the store opens… or an Amazon or UPS package you have been waiting for and it got delayed, and delayed, and finally you check your email and it says it is with your concierge, or is it more like at the airport waiting for your wife whom you haven’t seen for months, and you got to the airport as quickly as you can, and with anticipation you wait for the flight arrival switch from ‘on time’ to ‘arrived’ then one by one you see the gate open and shut and children running to their grandparents, families upon families giving hugs and kisses, and finally she steps out dragging her suitcase. All these images from life pales in comparison to THE Day when we are found before Christ in our resurrected body. Not just us, but the whole of creation as well is longing for that day!

Paul says in

English Standard Version Chapter 8

23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24

This leads to the second image of Clothing (naked/clothed/fully clothed). What does each metaphor mean and how do they tie in with the image of the tent?

This leads to the second image of clothing

Comparing the two is like comparing

The New American Commentary: 2 Corinthians (5) The Resurrection Hope (4:16–5:10)

As his outward life conforms ever more closely to the crucified Christ, his inward life conforms ever more closely to the glorified Christ.

He uses two images: the tent and being clothed

There seems to be a correlation between naked and unclothed. If the tent (earthly, mortal body) longs to put on the heavenly dwelling, (the resurrected body), so that we may not be found naked? Then nakedness is not just the tent again, that is our earthly body, but something far worse, to be naked seem to imply here a state of bodilessness! This is Paul’s plea, that as soon as this earthly body dies, may the resurrected body prepared be immediately put on us. So that’s what it also means when he says not to be unclothed, it’s impossible to be lesser than an earthly, mortal body. We are not in the meantime, some ephemeral spirit or soul that can be separated from the body which will be taken up into heaven. For Paul who is thoroughly Jewish, the “soul is good, body is evil” dichotomy is indefensible. This is what the Greek philosophers believe. But to Paul a Jew, there is only a soul-body otherwise the body is just a corpse. This is why he says so we would be further clothed, having already been first clothed with a mortal body (that will die), are now given an eternal resurrected body which is qualitatively different, and Paul uses here a metaphor of consumption to talk about how life envelops this mortal body, and with it, the one true enemy of mortal life itself; death!

O.T. meaning and verses

O.T. meaning and verses

Interesting before I studied 2 Corinthians commentary, I was watching John Oswalt, Old Testament professor who wrote a commentary on Isaiah which I am studying and doing my devotions on the Youversion app in, and I just happen to be watching the video about a passage I just read, and I saw these words:

2. Clothing (naked/clothed/fully clothed) 5:4b-5

2. Clothing (naked/clothed/fully clothed) 5:4b-5

English Standard Version Chapter 25

8 He will swallow up death forever;

and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces,

and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

for the LORD has spoken.

And I was startled to see how similar this is to verse 4, only slight variation as to whether God will swallow up death forever or mortal may be swallowed up by life. This is not a coincidence. And as John Oswalt describes it, one application means in its original context is Isaiah God’s intended last word is never destruction. His intended last word is refining, redemption, and deliverance for all the people. Similarly here, God’s intended destiny for all who believe is not their destruction but their deliverance. And so that Paul would not give anyone any cause for doubt, our resurrected life and body is prepared by the Creator God himself and sealed by the Spirit as a guarantee! This is not so much an application as to a promise for those who have received the gift of salvation through repenting our sins and accepting Jesus died on the cross to bear our shame and guilt, and has also been raised from death and is now LORD of all creation and calls us to be his people in allegiance, as in a week’s time four brother and sisters will be proclaiming here behind me in the baptistry. God will fulfill his promise and give us a resurrected body which is eternal, never fading, and can never be destroyed!

John Oswalt

cf. swallow up death (John Oswalt: his intended last word is never destruction. His intended last word is refining, redemption, and deliverance for all the people. It may if we retain pride like the Moabites).

Spirit as guarantee.

III. God judges us in how we lived bodily so we would live a life to please him.

Lastly, 5:6, 8 spells out Paul’s groan and longing in no uncertain terms. These are familiar languages as Paul shared to the church of Philippi about wanting to be with Jesus already, but knowing there is still work to do.

“To live is Christ, to die is gain”

To die (away from the LORD) is to gain the presence of Christ and the glorified, resurrected body forever. But to live (while we are at home) is Christ, for Christ, and in Christ in spite of physical assaults and emotional turmoil and the drudgeries of life, to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to just one more person, to plant one more church so God’s kingdom may be made manifested, so that one more family is no longer in bondage from the shackles of slavery and sin! Why? It is to please him. Interesting though one goal, one purpose, one aim that will not change regardless of whether we are still here on earth or when we receive our resurrected body is we do all things to please him! Lest we think the life to come is just eternally doing nothing, in ways we don’t fully understand and comprehend, we will continue to live forever pleasing him! This may contradict what sometimes I myself may have clumsily taught in sunday school or youth ministry in the past, and that is the notion God is ALREADY pleased with us because of Jesus Christ and therefore no matter what more or less we do, we can’t make him love us more or less. Let’s exam this last verse:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

The longer I’ve been a Christian the more I see tensions, balance and paradox in the faith. This verse along with the idea of pleasing him seems to suggest again there is a work-righteous aspect to our faith, that we have to earn his love by doing good. I would put it this way: salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, that is true. So that our sinfulness even as we have been washed by Jesus through his blood on the cross guarantees our place in the kingdom. However, judgment seat is where Christ as judge will inidivdually bring us before him and the key word here is “what he or she has done in the body” we would be rewarded based on the fruit we have bore. Some who have no fruit will have no reward. Some have rotten fruit will need to answer for why being freed to do good through Jesus’ redemption, they choose to do evil? Some which appear to us as good fruit, wow look at the large church we built, look at the number of people he or she brought to Christ, look at the ministry and look at the offerings, and how hard they worked, if it is done for our selfish desires even in the name of good, will be burned to the rubbles, because again, back to our first point, it all comes to not our outer appearance, but the inner quality of the work performed. So this is Paul’s paradox and it is ours too, while we look forward to a resurrected body, how we use this body this life also matters! We must destroy the false gospel that was so prevalent in the 80s and 90s that as long as I believe in Jesus by praying a sinner’s prayer, I can just continue to live my life my way and get to heaven. I just need to show up for Sunday for worship service and pay my relgiious due. I don’t need to be in community with others. I don’t need to serve other people in MCBC. I don’t need to even give if I don’t believe in tithing. I don’t need to tell people about Jesus and I certainly don’t need to make disciples, that’s what pastors do. Oh brothers and sisters, I pray you would work out your slavation with fear and trembling!

balance or paradox while we look forward to a resurrected body, how we use this body this life also matters!

balance or paradox while we look forward to a resurrected body, how we use this body this life also matters!

while we look forward to a resurrected body, how we use this body this life also matters!

As we come to the end of this message, I invite you to have a time to respond to Jesus.

Explanation of body/soul dicotomy (plato) vs. body in Hebrew means corpse or servant,

For some of us, it may be the simple call to if you believe, will you speak? Will you speak of my renown and fame and glory and love to someone I have placed in your heart? If that’s you, answer Jesus.

For some of us, it may be re-evaluating your life and your definition of success, whether your outer life is the fruit of your inner life, and whether it is spent on the transient things which will not amount to anything in the grand scheme of eternity, before the judgment seat of Christ.

And for some of us, it may be believing not only Christ died for you, but he was raised and you will be raised in his presence. You are getting an incorrupible, eternal, glorified and resurrected body! Whatever ailments, troubles, emotional turmoils, or simply tough times in life, in this season, will not define you or consume you, for death has been swallowed up by life! Trust Him!

“For we live by faith, and not by sight.”

Amen.

N.T. Wright on epicureanism (plato)

5:9 summarizing his point, why he remains ( it’s to please him

5:10 for we will be judged ,

balance or paradox while we look forward to a resurrected body, how we use this body this life also matters!

Explanation of body/soul dicotomy (plato) vs. body in Hebrew means corpse or servant,

N.T. Wright on epicureanism (plato)

5:10

Don’t judge