Part 40; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10: "We Wait for Him; He Waits for Us"

The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 40; 2 Corinthians 5.1-10 We Wait for Him; He Waits for Us Regardless of what you think about Rush Limbaugh, you have to admit, he was good at what he did. His call screener, affectionately called Bo Snerdley-an African American who had a long business relationship with Limbaugh, said that Rush basically began the conservative talk radio revolution. "When Rush started his career, there were 1200 stations with talk radio format, today there are over 12,000. There was a very small number of print conservative publications, today it's a flourishing market. There was practically nowhere to get conservative ideology when Rush began. Fox News had not begun yet, Rush changed the media, he changed the landscape. Rush's audience ranged from small children to the most senior listeners. Rush was a gentleman, he had a humble spirit. He always thanked people, never looked down on them." In his last days after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, Rush made explicit what I had long suspected. That he made the good confession. That he had a living relationship with Jesus Christ. And on Thursday, his wife Kathryn announced on his program that her husband indeed passed away the previous day. Carman was a flamboyant singer, with a deep faith in Christ. He sang a lot about spiritual warfare, and the victory we have in the Lord. Most importantly, he sang of the spiritual truth that Jesus is the victor. One of Carman's most famous songs is "The Champion": Christ's resurrection totally defeating the devil. Truly, Jesus is the Champion! On Tuesday of this week, he passed away. These 2 men will be missed by many. Like everybody in any kind of spotlight, they had friends and enemies. Personally, I admired both of these brothers in Christ from a distance. And to hear of their promotion to heaven--and I have every confidence they are both enjoying the Lord's presence--was a sad time for me this week. But we meet on Sundays, to celebrate a resurrected life. Christ lived. Christ died. Christ rose again. Christ is the very heart of why we come together. So, why did I begin this message talking about death? Simply because death is the theme of our passage for today, 2 Corinthians 5.1-10. Now, death is a 4 letter word for most of us. It is not something we normally talk about. No one that I know enjoys dwelling on what is coming for everybody. Except for the Christians who will be raptured--whenever that happens, and a couple of saints listed in the Old Testament, the death rate is still right at 100%. And when it comes to what happens after a person dies, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that every person is a person of faith. But it's not necessarily Christian faith. What I mean is that every person lives their lives pretty much showing what they believe will happen to them after they die. An atheist, for example, typically believes that when he or she dies--they are worm food. They stake their life on the idea that there is no afterlife. So one of two things has gripped them. Either life has no meaning and they live in despair, or they cling to life, for dear life. They enjoy every pleasure to the full. "You only go around once in life so grab for the best this life can offer." A person who has an Eastern mindset, like a Buddhist or Hindu believes in Karma--a strict system of "you will reap what you sow." And their cycle of life goes on and on. "If I mess up in this life, I get another chance and come back in another life form in the next." The goal is to lose one's individuality in the cosmic collective. And their philosophy of life shines through in how they live. A person who is a Muslim has staked his life on the idea that he will stand before allah one day, not knowing whether allah will welcome him to heaven or condemn him to eternal hell. Even though his good deeds and bad deeds are weighed on the scale, allah might not like him on that day. The only assurance that allah accepts a person into heaven is if they die in jihad. Consequently, that is why we see some attach bombs to themselves. They desperately want to gain heaven. Christians also believe that something will happen after they die. Our passage for today talks about that. We have a living hope, though. As I mentioned, Sundays for us is a celebration of worship. Our Lord, indeed, THE Lord died like the prophets of the world religions. But unlike the prophets of the world religions, Jesus rose from the dead. And unlike the prophets of the world religions, Jesus ascended to heaven where he is now, seated at the right hand of the Father--the only true and living God. Jesus is indeed the Lord over death and life. What does that truth mean for us as his followers? That's what we are going to talk about today. Let's look at our passage in terms of a relationship from two angles. The first angle is what we are to do while we are in this life, waiting to meet Jesus--this is found in 2 Corinthians 5.1-8. And then in 2 Corinthians 5.9-10, let's look at what happens when Jesus meets us. But first we need to back up in this letter just a bit to gain some context. As we know Paul is in a battle for the hearts and minds of the Corinthian Christians. Though it was Paul and his fellow Christians who brought the Corinthians the gospel and left to plant churches elsewhere, false teachers entered and began to entice the Christians in Corinth, leading them astray. The bulk of Paul's letter so far is his explanation to them of the benefits of the true gospel. The gospel is one of freedom from sin. It is one of access to life, to God himself. He likens this access as having an unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord. And those who behold the glory of the Lord are being transformed from glory into glory through God's life-giving spirit. Paul then begins to sort of compare himself to the slick and polished false teachers. He says that real life, divine treasure that only God can give comes through the gospel Paul preaches, not what the false teachers are offering. Paul says, in essence that he is not much to look at. He has suffered greatly on their behalf to get them the truth. But for Paul it was all worth it. Unlike the teachers who appear to have things all together, Paul's badges of honor have to do with his beatings, scars from the whips, imprisonments, hardships, deprivation of even life's essentials. And on and on. He calls these troubles and difficulties, "light momentary afflictions." "Now Paul, how can you say that", we might be thinking. "After all you have gone through, light momentary afflictions is how you describe them?" Paul gave his perspective this way: things of this life, good or bad, the exquisite highs of life or indescribable depths are simply that--the things of this life. Regardless of the intensity. They are things that are transitory. They don't last. But the things that are unseen are eternal. I can imagine Paul saying it this way, "I don't build my life standing on a foundation that won't last. These things will be destroyed sooner or later. But I build my life on an eternal foundation." With that said, let's read 2 Corinthians 5.1-8 to see how Paul lived his life, and how we are live our lives, waiting to meet Jesus. 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. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 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. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Notice the contrast between our earthly bodies and heavenly bodies. Let me just list the things we already know. And if you are younger, you may not have a clue. Yet. But if you live in this life long enough you will know! In v.1 Paul describes our physical bodies as a tent. Flimsy. Subject to the elements. Very susceptible to destruction--death. In v.2, he simply states that we groan--and the longer we live, the more we know this, and do this! So what is Paul saying? The longer we live the more we know how frail our bodies are. How susceptible we are to decay, injury, disease. When we are young, typically nothing stops us. Of course we live in a fallen world and sometimes we come down with things even before we are born. Think of all those with Down Syndrome. Or Juvenile Diabetes. I was born with something called legg-perthes disease, where the ball part of my hip was deformed and the blood did not get to all parts of the hip. It would be a matter of time til all the cartilage wore away and I was bone on bone for a long time, which is what happened. But as Christians, we know something. We understand something. Living in a world full of disease and decay is not the way God intended. When he created the universe, and with us as the capstone of his creation, he said everything he made was very good. As we know, sin entered the world because of our disobedience. And with that all decay, disease, distress and death itself came with it. But God had a plan. He would send his Son as the perfect sacrifice for sin. Perfect because the Second Person of the Trinity was qualified to be take our place and die for our sin. In Jesus the words of the gospel song are absolutely true: He paid a debt he did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay. I needed someone to wash my sins away. And now I sing a brand new song, "Amazing Grace." Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay. Hallelujah for the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf! And now, all those who repent and believe the gospel, are filled with hope--an absolute assurance in Christ's promise. One of the requests that the Lord made in John 17 is often overlooked as we read this incredible prayer, and it goes like this in v.24: Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Did you catch that? Jesus desires his disciples to be with him to behold his glory! But how can that be, in these mortal bodies? How can mortal man forever abide in his perfect presence? The answer is found in what we so often say in our pride: "If you want to do something right . . ." In this case, I'm grateful to the Lord that he himself will do the transforming of our bodies, to be able to answer the prayer of his Son. Notice what Paul says about our new bodies that we will receive once we are on the other side. Our bodies will be no longer a flimsy tent, but a building--solid structure. It will be constructed not for temporal use, but it will be with us for eternity. How wonderful that the Lord would want us with him to behold his glory for eternity! We who are Christians and see unseen things with our eyes of faith, desire more than anything to have a permanent body that will not die. It won't be subject to disease or congenital defects. Paul tells us what our bodies will be like in 1 Corinthians 15.29: they will be like the Lord's glorious spiritual body: Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. We know so little about Christ's glorified body. But we do know that it transcends solid objects, as Jesus went through the locked door on resurrection night to see his men. Remember how he was able to eat food, though he probably didn't need to. He was able to come and go at will and at the end of 40 days he was taken up from the disciples into heaven--able to transcend dimensions and time. And Paul tells us in Romans 6 that Christ, having died once is never to die again, so it will be the same with us. And Paul echoes this in v.4 in 2 Corinthians 5. On this side of eternity, while in this flimsy tent called a temporal body we desire to have what is mortal swallowed up by life. In writing this, what Paul may have been thinking about was Isaiah's prophecy. In chapter 25, Isaiah describes what mind blowing things God is going to do with and for his people--things absolutely due to his grace and mercy alone. Remember how wicked God's covenant people were. Even to the place where he tells them, "I won't accept your worship." He spends chapter after chapter indicting them, warning them to repent and return to him. Let me have us bask in the goodness of God to his wayward people and even the nations in just 4 verses Isaiah 25:6-9: On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 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. It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." This, my friends points to the millennial kingdom! People from all tribes, tongues and nations will be there! God himself will swallow up death forever! No more tears of anguish or pain. Now you tell me, is there anything in this life that could keep you away from that? Is there any trinket, any temporary thrill, any temporal relationship, that you would trade away for what God offers here? We sing the song, "You can have all the world, just give me Jesus." Amen! But as we see, it requires the great trade in. We need to trade in our tent--physical death must come first in order to gain God's building eternal in the heavens. But how can we be so sure of this? It is the Spirit of God, living in us who prepares us, assures us, teaches us, rebukes us, trains us, corrects us, enlightens us--do you see a pattern here? How I thank the Lord for the Holy Spirit's ministry. How I thank the Lord Jesus that he went away. He tells us it was to our advantage that he did so. Because in his absence the Lord Jesus promised to send us His Spirit. And at the end of v.5, of 2 Corinthians Paul declares that God has given all true Christians the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of eternal, holy things to come. There is so much this Baptist Pastor wants to say about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. But let me encourage you, that you begin to read through Scripture, beginning with John 14-16, and then the book of Acts and the letters find out all the places the Holy Spirit is mentioned and what his ministry is to his people. You might be surprised at how much work he does for us. But let's continue. Notice in vv.6-8 Paul's heavenly-mindedness. He understands that he has a flimsy home here in this temporal life--it is his physical body. And while he was living in his body, he was very well aware of where he was not. Remember what he said: while we are at home here, we are away from heaven, right? We are away from a peaceful existence where we are not being beaten for our faith, right? No! While we are here in this life we are away from the Lord. The Lord! For Paul, nothing else mattered. And while he waited to meet his Lord in the here after, Paul was motivated to serve him in the here and now. Again, look at his words in v.6: So, we are always of good courage. In light of the fact that death will be swallowed up by God himself. In light of the fact that he will receive a new body, likened unto Christ's spiritual body, guaranteed by the Holy Spirit, Paul's attitude is simply: "While I am waiting to meet Jesus, I'm going to step out and courageously serve him." Perhaps Paul is thinking of some O.T. Scripture here. Like Proverbs 28.1: where the righteous are as bold as a lion. Or how about Psalm 27.1: The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? For Paul, he wasn't being overly dramatic when he told his friends in Acts 20.24: But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. For Paul, one glimpse at Jesus on the Damascus road spoiled him for this life, for the rest of his days. It did not matter to him how people treated him. He had one aim--to finish his course and the ministry he received from the Lord Jesus. This was Paul's attitude laid out before the Corinthians of who he was all about and what he was to be about while he waited to meet Jesus. But now, in any relationship it takes 2. We find this in vv.9-10. Just like Paul was waiting to meet Jesus, Jesus was waiting to meet Paul. Now who was Paul in relation to Jesus? He was a son of God. He was a member of Christ's body, the church. Paul was a sheep, part of the flock of God, with Jesus as the good shepherd. He was a member of the bride of Christ. He was one of Jesus' friends, as he told his disciples in John 15.14: You are my friends if you do what I command you. All this and more. But there was another dynamic in Jesus' relationship with his dear friend. It was one of a master / servant. For a time, Jesus will meet Paul as a master who demands an accounting of his bondservice. Let's read these sobering words: in vv.9-10: So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 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 motivation statement of Paul's ministry is v.9: we make it our aim to please Christ while we are here in this life. How Jesus is to meet Paul -- and every one of his disciples is found in v.10: we may receive what is due for what we have done in the body, whether good or evil. Whoa. Scary. And I think we have misread this so much that we have completely buried this in our thinking. The Lord, who is the judge, is going to give us what is due for what we have done in our body, whether good or evil. Let's let that sink in for a second. Let's not shrink back from this. Let's not water it down. We are going to stand before the Lord one day. We will receive what is due for what we have done. No buts here. No "But I thought" here. The Lord Jesus is our Savior. He is our Lord. He is our king. And one day we will give him an account of our lives. Let me give you a couple of quotes that I ran across in preparing for this message. I want us to feel the weight of this truth. And may I say, I would much rather feel the weight of this truth now, that I may deal with it before I stand before the Lord, than to be taken by surprise, wouldn't you? Author David Garland writes: What humans do in the body has moral significance and eternal consequences. Everyone who is mindful of their mortality must therefore be mindful of their morality. I'm also going to quote from a Catholic monk of all people, from the 14th Century, Thomas À Kempis. He wrote a very good book called "The Imitation of Christ": "You can be certain of this: when the Day of Judgment comes, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done; not how well we have spoken, but how well we have lived." And personally, I have wrestled with 2 Corinthians 5.10 for quite awhile now. I don't remember I realized I had been reading this wrong. Til my realization of my wrong reading of this verse, I thought, "as long as I have my sins confessed and repented of, I'm ok." Well, that is not what this truth is saying. And I just have to say, that I don't yet have an answer. I don't know how this is going to play out in my life, or in your life. Or in Rush Limbaugh's life, or in Carman's. But one thing I do know. There's two sides to this: I will receive, and you will too, what is due whether evil things or now let's emphasize, GOOD things that we have done in our body. There is one other thing I know, and it does give me great relief. In Luke 10 we find Jesus sending 72 of his disciples out on a missionary journey. He gave them authority to preach the gospel and heal the sick. And when they came back, were they ever excited. With joy they said, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name." What was Jesus' answer to their spiritual success? As glad as he was for their powerful ministries, he told them in Luke 10:20: do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." That reminds me what John saw at the Great White Throne in Revelation 20. Jesus will be on that throne. There will be 2 sets of books. One set is the book of deeds. The other set will consist of exactly one book. All will be judged by the deeds written in the books. And all will be judged by whether one's name is written in the one book--of life. Revelation 20:15 tells us, And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. In other words, though we are going to be judged by our works, our works will not be what sends us into the lake of fire. It is the absence of our name in the book of life. This book simply indicates whether someone has eternal life. The uber sobering word I want us all to hear is simply this: let's get ready for the Lord to evaluate our works. But let make absolutely certain that your name, my name is written in the book of life. How do I, how do you make that happen? Here's the best description of what it means to have one's name written in the book of life. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 1.9-10: For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you--their testimony was public in other words--and how you turned to God (faith) from idols (repentance) to serve the living and true God (loyally, not perfectly), and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Like Paul, as we wait to meet the Lord Jesus, let's serve him. As we do, let's get ready for the Lord Jesus to meet us. Though we are dearly loved and part of his bride, and the sheep of his pasture, we are also servants of the master. May what we receive as our due be on the small side when it comes to the evil and on the large side when it comes to the good. Next week we are going to see how Paul felt and thought about his appearance before the judgment seat of Christ. Let me plead with all of us. Let's do business with the Lord on this side of eternity so our time on the other side will be less traumatic.