Matthew 5:33-37
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2 Corinthians 5:1-15
2 Corinthians 5:1-15
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.
2 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.
5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
I find that when we go through the Scriptures week after week, even for those of you that are in our midweek growth groups, and all of you should really be doing that, not that you need it, but someone else might need you.
When we read through the Bible, even the way we do it going line upon line, precept upon precept, getting together sometime during the week to talk about it further after having some time to meditate upon it...we tend to forget about the context of our passage and just think about us. Our wants, our needs, or maybe better said, our needs and our greeds. Or..., if life isn't completely living up to our expectations, some of us have a tenancy to then laser focus on me, myself, and I. So this morning I want to just briefly remind you of the circumstances and head space the Apostle Paul was in when he wrote this letter.
Paul’s ministry was shaking things up. It was perceived to be a threat to the old guard, so the religious leaders and those opposed to Paul were going after him. Not just hurting his feelings or saying things that made him feel different, or like he no longer fit in with everyone else, they wanted him dead, and he thought it likely to happen! Back in the first chapter of 2 Cor, we read…2 Cor 1:8-9
2 Corinthians 1:8–9 (NKJV)
8 ...that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.
9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves...
Tough times you might say. When we last gathered together in this book a couple of weeks ago now, in the forth chapter Paul was talking about this incredible treasure that we believers carry around in clay pots or earthen vessels. The clay pots being us, that we would know that the amazingly awesome treasure wasn’t us, but rather Jesus inside of us. Paul said, 2 Cor 4:10-11
10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
For we who live are Always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake,…that sounds exciting, did you mean to write maybe Paul, or there’s a slight chance....or is there really fine print scrolling at the bottom of our Bible’s listing the possible side effects, Paul says, NOPE, we who live, are ALWAYS delivered to death, no wonder he starts this epistle with burdened beyond measure, despaired even of life, yes we had the sentence of death in ourselves…please don’t sugarcoat it Paul....but then he goes on and gives us some perspective in
on how he did not loose heart, even in circumstances that were crushing, look at verse 18 in chapter 4 Paul writes 2 Cor 4:18
18 while 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.
Paul came to the place where he began to understand that there was more to life than what he could see. More to life than the temporary things in front of us today. He built on this, in his letter to the Colossians…expanded past the don’t look at the temporary things to telling us what to look at, what to focus on…he says this in Col 3:2-4
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
That is an eternal perspective, which weaves in perfectly to what Jim shared with us last week, Phil 1:21
21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Paul was all about Jesus, Jesus wasn’t a part of his life He was His life. Paul understood that Jesus died for him, so that Paul could live for Christ.
Have you ever talked to you friends, I mean your non-Christian friends, about what they think happens to us when we die? I used to be kinda amazed by all the different thoughts out there. Some were taught that when we die it’s like pulling the plug on your toaster. Lights out, it’s over, just nothing. From dust to dust. Annihilationism. That doesn’t sit well with most, there has to be some meaning and purpose in life, things like rewards and punishments that just don’t seem to measure out fairly on this earth. We root for the good guys and want justice for the bad. Some reconcile this with ideas like reincarnation...
If you were a saint in this life, serving the poor, taking care of the needy, visiting the sick, those kinds of things...you might come back as a dolphin, or a Koala Bear, or as the first female president of the United States.....who knows....
But if you were a little turd in this life, all about you, pushing and shoving to get your way, to get ahead of everyone else, you’re destined to come back as an inchworm, or a maggot. If you were really, really bad, maybe a cat.
For years there were movements in various religious circles that taught a thing called soul sleep, the Bible sometimes refers to death as sleep, but there is not such a thing as soul sleep. The idea that when you die you are just in this perpetual state of peace and rest, like sleep, until God gives you an assignment, or calls you up to paradise. The Bible tells us in Hebrews that it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,.... and I can tell you that the big struggle Paul was talking about in the passage that Jim shared with us last week, this idea that to live is Christ and to die is gain, and I’m torn between the two....
That was not, choosing between a life here being used to save souls from hell, or just taking a really peaceful nappy. Doing nothing. While he waited to get into paradise.
Some of you grew up in a church that taught you that there was a place they call purgatory, where you can go as a temporary holding place if you were just a little bit naughty, and wait for someone back here on earth to pray you out of there and into heaven. Purgatory is a lie, it is a false doctrine, it is not in the Bible.
All kinds of different ideas, that in the past several years seem to have all kind of morphed into one…I think, I hope, when I die this is where I’m going, or this is what it will be like. It boils down to I’m the Lord of my life, so I ought to be able to make up my own heaven. What ever you really, really liked down here, heaven will just be way more like that.
I don’t just think it’s my friends, but look at social media, actually, I don’t want to encourage social media, but talk to your friends at a funeral of a friend that wasn’t a Christian and you’ll hear things like....man, I can just see Jimmy now, up there riding his Harley on some crazy corners up in those clouds…nope, that’s not what Jimmy’s doing. Jimmy who got shot robbing a liquor store. No Jimmy’s not riding a Heavenly Harley. Or man am I jealous of the Bass Mikey must be hauling in this morning....I’m sure if Mikey was still with us, he’d be skipping church to go fishing, but no, he’s not hauling them in up in Paradise Ponds this morning. He might be at a fry, but not a fish fry.
What is consistent is I think, or I hope, or I don’t know. In our chapter this morning, Paul starts with 2 Cor 5:1
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.
This is what kept Paul from being crushed, from not completely despairing, from not loosing heart. He knew something, not think, not hope, Paul says for we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed. And the if there is not... oh maybe I won’t die, no 10 out of 10 of us die, Paul is saying if Jesus comes back first, awesome, if he doesn’t that’s no problem at all, because I don’t wonder, I don’t fear,... I know Paul says, I know we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
What am I to set my mind on? The things that are above, not the things on earth, the things that aren’t seen, not the things that are seen, set your minds on the things that are eternal in the Heavens. Paul says Christian, we know where we are going and we know what happens after life on this earth ends. Guys, this isn't just Paul trying to give a new Testament pep rally to the church in Corinth, those of you that are reading with us chronologically through the Bible, may remember this from back in January as you read the book of Job, one the oldest books in the entire Bible. In Job it says…Job 19:25-27
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;
26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,
27 Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
Christian, church attender, online viewer, do you know this? Regardless of the trials that your facing today, do you have an unshakable confidence in what is to come? Do you have this hope of Heaven, are you like Paul looking and living for the return of Jesus Christ? That again is what he meant by if our tent is destroyed, …Paul was living with expectation that Jesus could come to rapture his church not just any day, but any second. In the twinkling of an eye, do we believe that, and does our lives look like we believe that? Are we heavenly minded.
At any time throughout your day today, upon waking this morning...did you think this could be the day. Lord as I sing these songs to you this morning with my friends, would You come back for us this morning? Paul lived with expectation to see Jesus come, but if he were to die before that day, no big deal because he knew what was to come,... and where he would go.
I don’t want Jim making fun of me for not making progress in the chapter, so verse 2…actually....let’s look at one more thing in our first verse, 2 Cor 5:1
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.
Last chapter Paul called us earthen vessels or clay pots, in chapter 5 he describes us as tents, and speaks of our lives as being destroyed similar to how the wind, or your kids, might knock down your tent and make it collapse. You might remember that Paul was a tent maker, that’s how he put groceries on the table. Those of you that have gone camping, real camping in a tent, not in your mobile houses, what do they call that glamping? You guys know that tents don’t last forever, they fray over time, they leak, they tare, what a great comparison to this earthly house that our spirit lives in, this tent that allows us to express ourselves and be mobile, that doesn’t last forever, but Paul says, there is something coming that is so much better! Not new and improved, not made with hands, but made by God, and meant to last forever!
Paul didn’t just think these things, or hope these things, they are the Word of God, the promise of God, it was Jesus who said in John chapter 14, John 14:1-3
1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
Assurance from Jesus, if you Believe in Him. I think it’s a little weird that when we read mansions, immediately some great big luxury resort comes to mind with trout streams running through the living room, or a waterfall coming down from the balcony, like we’re going to all have our own castles and are isolated from other people…that might sound like heaven to some of you, but I’m not sure that’s really what it’s going to be like. As a comparison, I’m going from a fraying tent, to an eternal mansion, and I can’t wait to find out what that’s going to be, apparently, I’ll loose my earthly groans I’ve developed with age. Paul says, 2 Cor 5:2
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
Paul says we long for more…listen I haven’t covered a whole lot here this morning, all of this chapter is important, but I can’t read what we’ve read without asking the question that we spend most of our lives avoiding. Maybe it comes up at funerals, most of the time, it no longer does. But I’m going to ask it, not because I’m a pastor, I should say, not just because I’m a Christian and have a responsibility to ask you, but I’m going to ask because I really care about your answer. Because whether you know it or not, whether you believe it or not there are no greater stakes, and your response to the question has eternal consequences.
Do you know where you are going to go when you die? See the Bible says that is a question that you must answer during this life and your time to do so is limited. We can talk about what you think, or how you hope, but there is just one truth, and that’s found in this book. Jesus says John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Exclusive, narrow, yeah, not one of many ways, or one of a few ways…there is only one way, a singular way to eternal life in heaven and that is through, the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and placing your full faith and trust in Him for your salvation, then you can answer that question, then you can know what’s next. Actually, you can know what’s next if you don’t chose Jesus, it’s a dumb choice because that is eternal as well.
Death according to the Bible is a separation. For the Christian, death, physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, or this body, this tent. Spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God, that lasts forever, forever being conscious of your choice, in a place called Hell. Come next week, come to church next week and you’ll hear more about how God made salvation possible through Jesus. Come hear how Jesus defeated death once and for all for those that receive Him. He says, ..
18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.
For those that don’t chose Jesus, death on this earth is the buzzer. Death is the end of your opportunity to receive the grace of God, salvation through His son Jesus. For the Christian, death is just a transition from this life to the next, and we can know it. Again Paul says, 2 Cor 5:2
2 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.
Because Paul had confidence in what what coming, because he knew He would be with Jesus, he longed for it to happen. So his groans weren’t just aches and pains, it was a longing for heaven. Twice this week I saw pictures that broke my heart more than twice actually I did watch the news as well, but specific to what I’m talking about, I saw two pictures of women, one an aging actress and one not that were trying to patch up the tent. They got it cut and sown, trying to preserve, something that was never built to last. I’m not saying you shouldn’t take care of your bodies, it certainly improves the quality of life, but there comes a time, when its time to pack up the tent…verse 5
5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
I recently sold a vehicle. When a guy called me that was interested, I wanted some surety that he was sincere, I didn’t want to stop advertising my truck until I knew that his promise was good. So as a guarantee that he was going to follow through and come up with the money, he gave me a thousand dollars as his guarantee. We do the same with engagement rings This is my promise that I will be faithful, I’ll do what I promise to do, and I’ll walk down that Isle with you on what ever day you tell me to. The Holy Spirit is our guarantee that when we are absent from this body, we will be in His presence for all of eternity. He goes on and starts verse 9 with a therefore…2 Cor 5:9-11
9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.
10 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.
11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.
When Paul talks here about the judgement seat of Christ, he is not speaking of the Great White throne judgement. We read about that in the book of Revelation. That judgement is for unbelievers, those that go to their death without being born again in Jesus. Asking God to forgive their sins, accept the payment Jesus made by living and sinless life, dying a horrific death, and defeating death when He rose again to life on the third day. The judgement for unbelievers in Revelation 20:11-13
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.
14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
There is one way, again a singular way to avoid the great white throne judgement and that is to have your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. To accept and receive the finished work of the Lamb. But for the believer, there is another judgement, we don’t go to the great white throne judgement because our sins have already been judged. So the Believers, Christians go to the Bema seat, and that is a judgement of rewards. 2 Cor 5:10
10 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.
According to the things done, that actions we’ve taken, according to what he has done, whether good or bad, the things we’ve done, and why we’ve done them, our motives. Sometimes we do good things for the wrong reasons. And for others, you do nothing that isn’t from selfish motivation. So according to this, you could become a Christian and live a wasted life. But did you know the Lord sees it all and we appear before Him to be rewarded for it. AND, check this out, He’s not like the IRS, you don’t have to have receipts, or keep a log of your good works, once your name is written in the Lamb’s book of Life, He keeps track of it all! All of the things you’ve ever done for the Lord that you think went unnoticed, or better yet, people you’ve served and it went unappreciated. Christian, God did not miss it. God saw it. Heb 6:10
10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
God knows....He sees.....verse 12
12 For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart.
Paul makes another comparison here concerning motives. Those who were sincere in their ministry, and those who served with the wrong heart or motive.
13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you.
14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;
15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
This is what Paul was talking about when he said to Live is Christ and to die is gain. That we are compelled from love to no longer live for ourselves, but live for him. How can we live for Jesus today? I want to know what that looks like, if we are thinking about it, we’re not doing it. Can anybody tell me what it might look like? Laying down our lives for others, look back at verse 11, knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men. Are we persuading others to come to Christ?
This last verse is often times interpreted incorrectly…and He died for all…doesn’t mean that because Jesus loves everyone and He came and died on the cross everyone gets to go to heaven now. That’s a false doctrine called universalism, it’s a lie.
We must confess that we are sinners and ask God to save us based on nothing that we’ve done, but because of what Jesus did for us. His death and resurrection was a big enough sacrifice to pay the penalty of sin and defeat death, but we still need to ask Him to do it and because He died for us, we then live for Him.
What does it mean to persuade? cause (someone) to believe something, especially after a sustained effort; to convince
(of a situation or event) provide a sound reason for (someone) to do something.
Let’s pray.