"The Truth of the Matter Is"

Don’t Have Long to Stay Here

Just as we live this life, we are destined for death in this life. Adam’s decision and subsequent action inserted sin into God’s perfection, and what was supposed to last past eternity, now is on the clock. The truth is that we don’t have long to stay here, so decisions about your life and your eternal destination are important and must be treated with the seriousness that it deserves. “People who do not value time are inclined to first waste time, secondly make untimely decisions, and lastly, lose time.” So, the question is “HOW MUCH DO YOU VALUE TIME?” Matthew 25:1-13 recounts the parable of the ten foolish and wise virgins, and how they were either prepared or unprepared for the bridegroom. People talk about the “dash,” but truthfully the dash only separates dates, but it is not the measure of one’s life. The truth of the matter is that no one is here forever, and yet, we do all we can to stay in a life that is only leased for a short time, and we must preach the gospel of reconciliation before time ends. So, in this chaotic culture, we must firs embrace Christ and then preach reconciliation to those who find themselves separated from God.

Context of the Chapter

In chapter 4, Paul shifts metaphors from clay jars to “an earthly tent-like house,” yet with both metaphors he is still referring to this fragile, physical body that not only wastes away but can be destroyed. In 1 Thessalonians 4:17, Paul believed that he would be alive when the end-time moment arrives, but he reevaluates and discovers the stark reality that he could possibly die before then. Paul’s suffering and his own near-death experience he described in 2 Corinthians 1:8, had caused him to contemplate his own death more seriously. He knew now it could happen. As he addresses the church at Corinth, his tone is not grim, but it rings out with hope in the eternal home God has not only made for him, but for those who live from faith to faith.

Pleasing God produces it own reward (Your life produces its own reward)

Paul paints the picture of a tent that has been taken down and folded because better accommodations came available. It gives meaning to his suffering in this mortal life and galvanizes his conduct and ministry. This section continues his case that his affliction does not discredit the gospel or its proclaimer but is a means of renewing the inner man. Not only is the inner man renewed, but the all-surpassing power of God will clothe him with an eternal , heavenly dwelling when his frail, mortal body of clay finally succumbs. The conflict lies in the idea of “groaning” for our new bodies while in the old one. Paul speaks of longing to be with God knowing that he must be absent from this body. When a person receives Christ, they often turn their gaze towards the heavens while waiting on the trump of God to sound. We want to be with God but really don’t want to die to get there.

The meaning of verse 9 us “We aim at wining the Lord’s approval, whether at His coming He finds us in the body or already of it.” The work aim in Greek is philotimeomai, to earnestly aspire to something, implying strong ambition for some goal. The word please in Greek is the word euarastos, implying the establishment of a positive relationship between two factors and therefore “to make peace” or “to reconcile.” PAUL’S AIM WAS TO ENSURE THAT HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD REMAINED POSITIVE. If we hope to be conformed to Christ’s glorious body in the next life, we must be conformed to his character in this life. Our ambition is to have Christ’s approval whether in this body or out of the body. “A POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD WILL IMPACT YOUR PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS.”Though, he does not states precisely how we are to please the Lord, but we can infer from the context that it comprises speaking boldly the gospel, taking with good courage the suffering that ensues, living by faith, fully confident of he resurrection, avoiding the taint of idolatry, and bringing glory to God by living out the message of Christ’s reconciling death. “IF YOU ALWAYS AIM FOR MEN’S APPROVAL, THEN, YOU WILL MISS GOD’S APPROVAL.”

It is not a question of salvation but rather of particular reward for those who are saved. The judgment will be based on the sum of each person’s life—the habitual practice and not the individual acts. The judgment is in terms of reward or loss of reward, or praise and blame. Judgment is based on life and actions, on faithfulness, on the presence or absence of faith as evidenced by actions, on obedience, on commitment to the Lord, on actions and character that stem from faith, on the life hat is built upon justification, on how believers glorify God in their living. Whether good or bad refers to the conduct that is judged to be either good or bad, the nature of the recompense, which is good or bad, and it describes both the work and recompense. “YOUR RECOMPENSE IS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE THE LIFE YOU LIVE.” WHAT KIND OF VERDICT DOES YOUR LIFE RENDER?

Love is the motivation for ministry

Whatever it is that one fears the most is what one will serve the most. The fear of the Lord relates to Paul’s conviction that everyone, apostles included, will stand before God and give account for what he or she has done. The word love here is the Greek word agape, meaning to have love for someone or something, based on sincere appreciation and high regard. Christ is the subject of the love; that is, he is the one who loves Paul and his co-workers, and his love controls them. Christ’s love controls and governs Paul and the direction of Paul’s ministry.The love of Christ controls us because we are convinced that Christ died for all. The love of Christ keeps Paul from living for himself and instead causes him to pour out his life for others. For Paul “egocentricity has given way to Christocentricity.” It restrains him from self-seeking and self-serving, such that he serves God and other people instead. Christ’s love holds Paul in its grip as the all-determining factor in his life. “LEADERS LEAD BECAUSE THEY LOVE GOD AND ARE CONVICTED AND CONVINCED BY THE GOSPEL, AND ITS GOD’S LOVE THAT KEEPS THEM EVEN WHEN THE LOVE IS NOT RECIPROCATED BY THE ONES THEY HAVE BEEN CALLED TO LEAD.” It is the compelling power in his life and ministry. Paul is both compelled and limited, having no other option than to love and serve Christ. WHA T COMPELS YOU TO FOLLOW CHRIST? Christ’s love confines him to one supreme allegiance, and to the task of ministry. It controls and motivates him, and impels him to live for Christ. Christ’s love confines him to the conclusion that he draws about the meaning of the death of Christ stated in (5:14). The word control in Greek is synecho, meaning to “hold something together,” so that it does not fall apart but hangs together; to exercise continuous control over someone or something Paul’s opponents are governed by their selfish ambition, but Paul, and all believers, are governed by the love of Christ such that they live for him. They are possessed by a love for Christ which is not coerced but which is based on the fact that he died for them. Christ’s love, is their all governing motivation for ministry, urging them on in what they do and limiting or constraining them in what they don’t do. The lifeblood of the gospel, however, courses from the central truth that in Christ God became with the human race, that he died for all, and that his resurrection breaks the stranglehold of death. Christ’s death must change the way we live here and now on earth, not simply insure our entrance into God’s eternal presence. “STOP TREATING THE GOSPEL LIKE A “GET OUT OF HELL” CARD. CHRIST’S DEATH DELIBERATELY CHANGES LIVES.” Anyone who expects to live in the resurrection must respond properly to Christ’s death. This response requires more than intellectual assent to the proposition that Christ’s death atones for sins; it must mold how one lives. This response provides the essential criterion for discerning who truly belongs to Christ and who does not. Those who belong to Christ do not live for themselves. In societies given to self-promotion, self-fulfillment, and self-indulgence, Christians will stand out as distinctively different. They live only for Christ and give up their own rights for the good of others and do not insist on having their own way.

We must promote the ministry of reconciliation

Reconciliation in the Greek is katallasso, meaning to reestablish proper friendly interpersonal relations after these have been disrupted or broken (the componential features of this series of meanings involve (1) disruption of friendly relations because of (2) presumed or real provocation, (3) overt behavior designed to remove hostility, and (4) restoration of original friendly relations). “GOD DOES NOT USE YOUR RECORD TO RECONCILE HIS; HE USES HIS OWN RECORD TO RECONCILE ONE BACK TO HIM.”

When we say “sign me up,” that is exactly what Paul meant when he said they had been given this ministry of reconciliation. It signals a change from the Christocentric view to a theocentric view; Christ is the agent of reconciliation, but it was God is its source and who took the initiative to accomplish it. Paul is pointing out that God is the ultimate source of creation, or of the blessings, or that the new life doesn’t just happen spontaneously or come from man, it is from God. Even now, God still gives the ministry of reconciliation. There are some who ascribe to the idea that restoration and reconciliation are akin, but they could not be father apart.

When we preach the message of reconciliation, we stress the idea that God sent Christ to make peace between himself and us through what Christ did, and changed us from enemies to his friends. Through the death of Christ, God’s displeasure against sinful humanity was appeased and enmity between God and humanity was totally and objectively removed. From his side God removed the objective obstacle to peace with himself, which is human sin. What Christ did effected an objective reconciliation, but it is incomplete without the human response. God himself removed the barrier caused by sin and thereby removed the curse and wrath resulting from sin. The reconciliation occurs not within God but within man since the estrangement is in man. In the act of reconciliation God is the subject and people are the object.

The Gospel Must Be Our Compass

300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon The Gospel Must Be Our Compass (Psalm 119:92; Proverbs 4:13)

In the southern seas an American vessel was attacked by a wounded whale. The huge monster ran out for the length of a mile from the ship, turned around, and with the whole force of its acquired speed struck the ship and made it leak at every timber, so as to begin to go down. The sailors got out all their boats, filled them as quickly as they could with the necessaries of life, and began to pull away from the ship. Just then two strong men might be seen leaping into the water. They swam to the vessel, leaped on board, disappeared for a moment, and then came up, bringing something in their hands. Just as they sprang into the sea, down went the vessel, and they were carried around in the vortex, but they were observed to be both of them swimming, not as if struggling to get away, but as if looking for something, which at last they both seized and carried to the boats.

What was this treasure? What article could be so valued as to lead them to risk their lives? It was the ship’s compass, which had been left behind—without which they could not have found their way out of those lonely southern seas into the high road of commerce.

That compass was life to them, and the gospel of the living God is the same to us. You and I must venture all for the gospel; this infallible word of God must be guarded to the death. Men may tell us what they please, and say what they will, but we will risk everything sooner than give up those eternal principles by which we have been saved. The Lord give all of us his abundant grace that we may take fast hold of divine instruction.