Everyone in life has a worldview, some grid of presuppositions through which he views and interprets the world. Therefore if you are not willing to accept miracles and come to read the Bible, you will interpret Jesus multiplying the fish and the bread as an event in which he just got a lot of people to share, for you cannot accept that it’s a miracle. Thus, having an unbiblical worldview is dangerous, for you wrongly see and interpret the events around you.

Something we have seen with the Corinthians is that they were being fed a wrong worldview. There were some false apostles telling them that the life of a believer and devout follower of Christ would be healthy, wealthy, and talented in every way. So, as they looked at Paul, viewing him through that grid of assumptions about followers of Christ, and saw his intense suffering among other things, they were tempted to conclude that Paul must not be an apostle.

Therefore, we have seen in these first few chapters Paul telling them how God uses suffering and how he equips us for ministry with suffering. In fact, at times Paul has gotten extremely detailed in talking about God’s means of suffering so that we’ve struggled through the text to see exactly what Paul was saying.

However, if in the first few chapters Paul has looked very closely at suffering specifically so that we might understand how God uses it, in 5:1-10, Paul steps back and gives the Corinthians a larger picture to behold. He reminds them of some basic truths they need to remember so that they might view and interpret things in their own lives and in the lives of others correctly.

Therefore, this morning, as we look at the text, these are important truths (some would say basic truths) that we will be reminded of as well. And it is good for us to be reminded of them, for they are easily forgotten, and it is by remembering these realities that we will rightly view our own lives and will be equipped to live in a manner pleasing to the Lord. Therefore, let’s turn to these truths in our text, the first of which is that …

Though we can talk about having been saved, our salvation is not complete (1-4)

This is something that is crucial for us to understand and remember. To say that you are saved does not mean that you have experienced everything that is meant by salvation. Rather, we await the completion of our salvation, the day in which the dead will be raised and we ourselves will put on our imperishable resurrection bodies.

Paul talks about this day coming and longing for this day in verses 1-4 as he writes, “For we know that if the tent, which 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.”

Now, here, your response might be, “What in the world is he talking about?” After all, he mentions numerous things that aren’t clear like: this tent, a building from God, a house not made with hands, being naked, and being clothed or unclothed. Has Paul simply lost his mind so that he is now making no sense? No. Rather, Paul is using metaphors to describe living in our bodies now versus living in our resurrection bodies when Christ returns. So, “this tent” is our current bodies, subject to pain, decay, and destruction while the “building from God” and “house not make with hands” is the resurrected body which will be glorious and indestructible.

Therefore, as Paul begins, having just said that he focuses on the things that are unseen and eternal rather than those things which you can see and are temporary, he says that one reason he chooses not to set his gaze on those things which you can see and are temporary is because if even our bodies are destroyed, there is something eternal for us waiting. That’s what he’s declaring in verse 1. Then, as he moves on in verse 2, Paul acknowledges that he groans for that body – because of his suffering, no doubt. Thus, Paul concludes in verse 4 that he groans and is burdened, not to be separated from any body at all, as if he hates anything physical (i.e. “not that we would be unclothed or naked (v. 3)), but to be clothed with a resurrection body so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by what is eternal.

Thus, Paul makes clear in these opening verses that though he can speak of the Lord having saved him, what he now knows is not the fullness of his salvation. Rather, he longs for the resurrection, the day when he will have a body in which he will know no decay, pain, or destruction.

The Corinthians desperately needed to know and remember this. In fact, this had been something that they had not understood or had forgotten when Paul wrote to them in 1 Corinthians. They were acting as if life should be perfect, as if we were already living in the new earth, reigning with our Lord as kings. Therefore, Paul had written to them in 1 Corinthians 4:8-13, “You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and I would indeed that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.”

Paul, quite sarcastically, says, “You already are experiencing what we are waiting for the resurrection to experience.” The Corinthians forgot that we are not going to experience all the blessings of salvation until Christ returns. This is the same mistake some in the charismatic movement have made. Seeing that certain things will be true of those who are saved (such as no sin and sickness) in the kingdom, they mistakenly believe the kingdom is fully here now. Therefore, they believe there should be no sickness or pain or poverty in the life of a believer.

But on a more practical note for most of us, this truth is something we need to remember as well. For as we suffer and struggle and age and decay and, therefore, groan in this life (even as we are trying to serve the Lord), it is nothing strange. It is simply evidence that there is something more to come, a day when we will be raised, not just to float around as naked unclothed spirits, but to take on a resurrection body which will not be subject to all the negative things our bodies are subject to now. And that will be the fullness of our salvation.

Also, however, lest the Corinthians grow too discouraged in this life so that they begin to doubt this coming day, Paul reminds them that …

We can be sure of the coming resurrection because God has given us his Spirit as a guarantee (5)

Paul writes very clearly in verse 5, “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”

To many, the thought of waiting for some indestructible body to live in eternally seems outlandish. And many would no doubt mock those who through their lives into service of the Lord so that they groan as they hold out hope for such a body. Paul, however, says that we hope for such because God has prepared us for it and has given us his Spirit as a guarantee.

One of the reasons that God allows his Spirit to come and indwell believers is so that we might have absolute confidence that he will complete the work of salvation that he has started in us. Even as when one buys a house he puts down earnest money up front to show that he will complete the transaction, so the Father has put in us his Spirit so as if to say, “You are my property, and I will come to claim you as my own.”

Therefore, we must constantly remind ourselves that this life is not all there is for us, as we walk by faith (6-7)

Paul writes in verses 6-7, “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.”

If we walk through this slowly, I think we’ll see what Paul is saying. First, he notes that because he knows there is a resurrection and resurrection body to come he is of good courage. That makes sense. Then, by saying that to be home with the body is to be away from the Lord I think he is saying, in a sense, we must remember that this life is not all that there is.

Do you see? Many times it is easy for us to focus ourselves so much on this life that we do not live as if there is eternity. We seek only the pleasures that we can know in this life. We are not willing to challenge ourselves so as to evangelize, for it makes times in our lives awkward. We seek the praise of men that we can get in this world. We live as if our hope is simply the here and now. But Paul is reminding them that as we are in the body we are absent from the Lord, not meaning that we do not know God’s presence but meaning that we are not dwelling with him as we one day will be at the resurrection. Thus, by writing that, he is saying, “Remember, this life is not it. There is more to come. We will only be experiencing the fullness of our salvation when we are absent from this mortal body and present with the Lord.” Therefore, Paul says, “we walk by faith, not by sight.”

That is to say, in this life you cannot live and make decisions just by what you see around you. If you do that, you will avoid that which might cause you pain, throw yourselves into that which might cause you please, and become depressed as your pain increases and your pleasure decreases. Paul says, rather, that we make our decisions in life with our gaze set on what awaits us, knowing that this life is not all there is.

Friday night my friend Brad White called me from Peru where he and his wife, Cassie, are serving as missionaries. They’ve left all their friends and all the comforts of the United States to go to a place where they’ve suffered intense loneliness, sickness, and frustration. Why? Why would someone decide to do that? It is because they know that this life is not it, and they are awaiting a resurrection promised from the Lord and guaranteed by the presence of his Spirit in their lives. It is because they know that they are awaiting a day in which they will stand with the Lord, and therefore want to be pleasing to him in this life, which leads us to the final truth we see in this text, namely, that …

No matter our circumstances, we must make it our aim to please our Lord, knowing we will stand before him at the judgment (8-10)

Paul concludes this section of text writing, “Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and home with the Lord. 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” (8-10).

Thus, we find our conclusion. Because we know there is more to come, even though it might mean difficulty in this life, we seek to please the Lord, no matter what our circumstances, for we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ (The judgment seat being that which one judged from in ancient times, much like the bench in our courthouse today).

Now, for most of us, I’m guessing that it feels a bit uncomfortable to talk about standing before the judgment seat of Christ. Yet, Paul says, “we all must appear” showing clearly we will be there. And we get even more uncomfortable when the basis of judgment are works, even as Paul mentions “so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”

However, you can look at talk of judgment again and again in the Scripture and you will consistently find two things: 1) that everyone is there to be judged by the Lord (believer and unbeliever, sheep and goats alike) and 2) that one’s works become the basis for judgment. One example we can look at in Matthew 25:31-46 as Jesus gathers all the nations of the earth and judge them. And he will mention what deeds they have done, with those doing good works inheriting eternal life and those not doing good but evil being cast into the lake of fire (cf. Revelation 20:11-15; John 5:25-29).

So why are we so uncomfortable with that image? I can tell you why we are so uncomfortable with it. It is because we know that the Bible teaches again and again that we are saved through faith and not by works and that the one who believes is no longer under the condemnation that awaits the lost man.

So, what then do we do with this scene of coming judgment. First, we remind ourselves again that we are not saved by works – there is not enough good one can do to save himself – and that it is by placing one’s faith in Christ that one is declared righteous. Second, we remind ourselves that James teaching us that the evidence or vindication of faith is good works and that any claim to faith that doesn’t produce good works is a false claim and dead faith which is not saving.

In James’ mind it’s as if he’s pictures a scene something like this: There is a man standing on one side of the Grand Canyon declaring that if one will step off into the canyon an invisible bridge is waiting to catch them. Then, he asks, “Who believes there is a bridge there that will catch you if you step off?” And numerous people raise their hands. However, when he then asks, “Who will step off?” there are no takers but instead a collective shout, “We’re not going to step off this canyon. Are you crazy? We’ll plummet to our deaths.” Thus, James says, in essence, you don’t really believe. I’ll show you my faith by my works.

Therefore, here’s the scene Paul is picturing. One day we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and for those who believe Christ will declare the obedience of those that have faith, and it will be clear that they believe, for faith is displayed in obedience to God (which should lead us to love people enough to practice discipline in our churches as Scott Hafemann reminds us, “No claim to faith that is not so vindicated [by being shown to produce obedience to the Lord] should be allowed to stand now, just as it will not stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (227)).

Thus, Paul says, in essence, “Because you know that only those who truly believe (i.e. those whose lives are lived striving to please the Lord – obeying in faith) will live eternally, display that you are of that group by seeking to please the Lord in your life.” And I declare the same to us today: “Display that you are of faith and will inherit eternal life by your obedience before the Lord this day.”

Remember that our salvation is not complete, that our resurrection bodies are guaranteed by the Spirit, that this life is not all there is, and that there is a great day of judgment coming so that in this life we choose to believe our Lord and display that faith in obedience unto him. May we do this now even as we come to the table. Amen.

A WORLDVIEW FOR THIS LIFE AND THE LIFE TO COME

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