Good Monday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I’m so happy to begin this new week with you, do you know why? We’re with the apostle Paul as he’s writing a letter of great encouragement to his Christian friends in Corinth. The mid first century was a time for Christians quite similar to what is happening TODAY in many parts of our world, including much of America. We’ve come to one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible… 2 Corinthians 5. Are you ready to jump in with me to these exciting paragraphs of encouraging truths?
You’ll remember Paul ended his 4th chapter talking about the harsh reality of our aging bodies but the great hope and inheritance that awaits God’s people after death, with our heavenly inheritance. So, Paul picks up that wonderful promise with these words: “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling…” (2 Cor. 5:1,2)
As we saw in 1 Corinthians 15, God promises His people a resurrected, immortal glorified body designed for all eternity future, in heaven. Have you thought much about what your heavenly body will be like and how similar or different it will be from the body you now have here on earth?
If you’ve ever spent much time in the ICU or Hospice section of a hospital or a nursing home, then you understand about people groaning in the painful process of approaching death. For many people the emotional and spiritual pain of death is even more difficult than the physical aspect of their physical body wearing out and shutting down. Have you given much thought to what you anticipate that end of life experience will be like for you and how you can prepare?
I’ve spent lots of time at the bedsides of dying Christians and I have rarely heard groaning. Rather, I have heard singing or Scripture recited or prayer. Oh my what a contrast with those who don’t know Jesus as their death approaches! On a few occasions I’ve been with a dying Christian who is looking up toward the sky with a big smile, wide open eyes filled with joy, sometimes even their hands and arms reaching heavenward, as they express how much they long to go and be with Jesus! Have you had that wonderful experience?
Paul understood this longing for heaven and so he wrote: “The ONE who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Cor. 5:5) Oh my friends this is such a powerful statement of assurance! I see two very significant promises in these few words about us, the people of God.. Do you see them?
First… Since the Garden of Eden moral failure of Adam and Eve, God has designed ‘decay and death’ into the human race experience, as part of the consequences of sin.
But God has given us a reprieve from the FEAR often found in aging or terminal illness or approaching death. That ‘reprieve’ is found in the fact that God’s Redemption Plan required His Son Jesus to die an atonement death paying our full sin debt price and then rise from the dead triumphant over death.
Because of this, God offers all humans the sin forgiveness Jesus earned for us, in His death on the cross! Also, God assures those who have trusted Jesus that we will experience resurrection and receive our new, God made, heavenly bodies, and we will ascend into heaven! Those assurances counter and conquer the normal human fear of the agony of death.
Second…. do you see God’s promise that He will place His Holy Spirit into the lives of every person who trusts Jesus Christ for their Salvation from their sin condemnation?
Why? The Spirit of God lives within us accomplishing the transforming work of God in a repentant sinner (John 3:3-7) and then the sanctifying work of God in a redeemed by Jesus person. Do you also see the Spirit is a Living guarantee of what God has in store for all His people in heaven? (Eph. 1:13,14)
Do we understand that the Holy Spirit, alive in our Soul and Spirit, has a vital role in defeating doubt and fear related to aging and death; and replacing those sentiments with confidence and excitement about the certainty of what God is preparing for His people in heaven…our heavenly inheritance!
Oh my, what a glorious statement Paul wrote: “The ONE who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us His Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Cor. 5:5) I love the certainty of God’s guarantee, what about you, my friends?
Paul builds on this guarantee, given to us from God, with this next promise: “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith and not by sight. We are confident I say and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:6-8)
Perhaps you’ve heard this promise expressed in this brief statement: “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” Of course I have to ask: do you live in that joyful confidence of what Jesus is doing IN your life now and PREPARING for you in heaven?
And finally, Paul adds “So we make it our goal to please God whether we are at home in our earthly body or away from it and at home with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:9) Pause. Think about that my friends. What are ways we seek to ‘please God’ here on earth living in aging, decaying bodies?
How do we please God with our words, our attitudes, our priorities, our relationships, our choices, our actions? And how do you expect you will please God when in His heaven in your glorified, perfect, immortal body, surrounded by all that is glorious and holy? What would it be like if our heavenly life pleasing God is simply a continuation of our earthly life focused on pleasing God?
What if our focus on pleasing God was so fully encompassing that the only two differences between living here and living in heaven would be: first, our bodies and second, the environment in which we live! Oh my, that calls for some deeper reflection doesn’t it?
So, the ‘lessons learned’ will help you dig deeper, and I’ve found a song of reflection that fits so well with what we’ve been talking about today. And let’s come back here tomorrow, because what Paul says next in 2 Corinthians 5 is VERY exciting!
Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:1-9.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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