Earthly Tents & Heavenly Buildings | 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Well, if you were here last week, then you would hopefully remember that as a church, we explored a very striking contrast between two individuals who live very different lives. And as a result, they were granted two very different eternal realities. And as we come to the word of God today, I want to highlight a different kind of distinction that the scriptures make. And it's not gonna be between the rich and poor. It's not gonna be about the saved and the unsaved, or any other common category for that matter.

Today, I want us to explore a distinction that I believe believers often overlook. Yet it was something that Paul passionately wrote about on more than one occasion. I want us to look today at the distinction between our earthly bodies and our heavenly bodies. What we know to be what we live in today and what is promised for us at the return of Christ. And Paul mentions this in more than one place, as I alluded to, but where we're gonna go today is not Paul defending the truth of the resurrection, nor is it him trying to satisfy the curiosity of Christians who just wanna know what's gonna come for them because of Christ's love and his purchase of their souls.

Now today, what we're going to see is Paul explaining the secret to his unwavering commitment to the gospel. He's gonna reveal something that will instill hope, that will make us immovable, that will make us strong, that will make us worshipful regardless of our circumstances. And what's beautiful about what Paul is going to share is that he expects us to also know it for ourselves. He's going to reveal this revelation that's meant to be experienced by all believers, and as a result, causing them to know the same inspiration and motivations that this great apostle lived with. And so you should be excited today because this is something for our encouragement.

And as we come to this text in a moment, I'll let you know ahead of time that we're going to land at four quick motivations that these truths created in Paul. And, again, expect that this is something you can know for yourself if you do this one thing. Believe what Paul says to be true because he is a conduit of the Holy Spirit. Grasp it wholeheartedly. Apply it to your life the way it's calling you to apply it, and you will soar in this life.

And so I want us to consider it. What will unlock these motivations requires you to be confident in your convictions about it. Interestingly, that's exactly where Paul starts with his analysis in our main text. So if you have a copy of God's word in your hand, meet me in the book of second Corinthians chapter five, and we're going to read the first five verses together before we delve into it. My favorite sound in church apart from seeing the wrestling of the leaves of scripture.

Second Corinthians five one. 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. Lord, we ask that this would birth in us the holy anticipation, the unwavering hope, a devotion to you in practical service, a reflex to suffering and pain that would be true of what we see here in Paul in us as well. This is our longing and our desire, and we pray that you would transmit it into us as we discuss it in your word now. In Jesus' name, amen.

For we know. The first three words of verse one. Don't you love it? Paul doesn't say, for I know. He expects the Christians to share in his confidence for we know all believers should have this anchoring realization.

What is it that Paul expects you and I to know? Well, look at the rest of verse one again. 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. And then he goes on to speak about this metaphor of tents and buildings and we'll explore that in a moment.

But I'm sure he didn't foresee that Paul was gonna talk about tents and buildings. But he does. And the reason why he does is because he's speaking figuratively. What Paul is wanting us to think about is how your body, what you're in right now sitting in those pews, it's like a tent. And I can't help but wonder if the Holy Spirit used this illustration because Paul, by way of occupation, was what?

He was a tent maker. So I'm just, in my sanctified imagination, wonder that as as Paul was working with tents, sowing it and cutting it and putting it together, the Lord began to teach him, this is like your body. This is like your physical frame. Tents are fragile. They're weak.

They're unstable. They're not designed to be your permanent residence. They are useful for a season. Yes. But they are meant to be temporary.

Eventually, a tent will be taken down. That is exactly Paul's main point with these verses because he says how these tents look at verse one again, that is our earthly home is destroyed. Now the word destroyed doesn't allude to obliteration necessarily. It speaks about being disunited, dissolving, and that is the destiny of your physical frame. It is going to be disassembled at one point.

But what moves me is Paul's strategic language. Notice again in verse one. He doesn't say for we know that when the tenth that is our earthly home is destroyed. You would think that he would say when because death in these bodies is inevitable. Right?

He uses the word if. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed. If suggest that there's another option. Now what could the alternative be? Isn't death something that we all will taste?

Yes. But there's another truth that we have to consider. And I believe that what Paul has in mind, which was so deeply ingrained in his thinking, was the return of the Lord. Think about it. Paul, in writing this, is revealing that though he and expects Christians are prepared to die, not in a morbid way, but with hope, yes, prepared to die.

Paul also says here, I'm also living with an eager expectation of the return of the Lord. So, yes, I'm ready to face death, but I'm also believing that at any moment in my lifetime, Christ can come and I can skip this whole death thing altogether. And I can go straight to my resurrection body. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Come, Lord Jesus.

And so he says if here interestingly, showing that there's another option. But he goes on to say something so important. Leading us a model, yes, that we should live with that same expectation. The return of Christ is not in focus here necessarily. It's the anticipation of what will become of us, what these bodies will be replaced with.

And that's where he says that we have a building from God. Now building, a building in contrast to a tent is what? It is fixed. It is lasting. It is functional.

And frankly, it's more beautiful and ornate than a tent. There's no doubt that he is referring to our glorified bodies here. We have a building from God. And notice the added description of what will be ours. It is a building, one, from God.

It's a gift. It's granted. More than that, it is something that is not made with human hands, so it's not of human origin. It's not produced by human effort. And lastly, a building, yes, much more sound and reliable than a tent, we also read here that it is eternal.

It is eternal, meaning that whatever we are going to live in is not subject to decay or the fear of destruction. It will be everlasting. This is how he is describing it in summary. And as he's teaching this, we are supposed to understand that Paul loved teaching about this because it's not just found here. It's it's sprinkled throughout his epistles.

And let me remind you of another place where he says it in a more direct manner and speaking about what is to become of us. In Philippians three twenty, what does he say? But our citizenship is in heaven. And from it, we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body. Not a glorious body, like him.

Like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. What an incredible promise. Here we are told not only that we have been granted citizenship in heaven, but we are also promised to share in the characteristics of Jesus' glorified body. Yes. He's the prototype.

He's the first fruits. That's the upgrade that you and I can expect. We all have been amazed of the recent events that are taking place in California where so many homes have been ravaged by these unprecedented fires. And besides the lives that perish in those flames, I'm sure you have seen some of these interviews with families and couples that returning to their properties have realized that everything that they have known has been burned and brought to ash. And our hearts go out to them, and we've even prayed for them that a full restoration will be made.

And more importantly, if any of those people have never called upon the Lord, they would do so in this crisis. But as I was looking at these verses earlier in the week, I couldn't help but imagine how different those interviews would have been if each of those individuals, each of those families were promised, were granted a home that they could never even imagine, built on a property that they could never fathom affording, with the reclaim of possessions that would bring so much joy despite the loss of personal sentimental objects and memories, all as a gift, free because of the generosity of a loving and caring individual. It doesn't dismiss the devastation that you might feel any kind of loss hurts, but it would definitely lessen it. Wouldn't it? Yes.

And that is precisely what Paul is getting at here. You may have known a believer. You may be facing a believer right before your eyes that is deteriorating. You may be, God forbid, in in the years to God be surprised with a phone call of a Christian that you know. And their death was tragic.

It was sudden. It was swift. And no matter how much that might shock us, we have to remember that they have been granted an inheritance that is infinitely more glorious than whatever they've known in this life. This is what Paul is trying to convey here. And where my illustration falls short is that this promise is not gonna be a surprise.

It's already ours. We're supposed to know it today. Look back at his language of verse one. For we know that if the tent that is in our earthly that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God. We have it.

It's your possession. The estate belongs to you. It's been purchased on the cross and no one can take it away from you. You have it. And I don't have the habit here of usually skipping verses.

I like to go verse by verse, but let's just hop over to verse five to see how Paul confirms this. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God who has given us the spirit as a guarantee. Do you know what the word guarantee means in the original? It's so awesome in light of this metaphor, Down payment. The Holy Spirit has been given to each believer to abide and live in them as a down payment for this building that is to come.

Meaning what? It's done. Meaning what? That upon you calling upon the Lord, receiving Jesus Christ as your savior, your destiny is sealed. It's coming.

It's on its way. The down payment has been made and the full realization of it is yours. Nothing can tamper with it. He's not gonna change his mind. It can't be taken from you.

It belongs to you forever. Moreover, listen to this part. This part excites me. Whatever changes, whatever comforts that the Holy Spirit does in and through you are also previews, reminders, nudges that there is a complete and perfect transformation on its way. Does that make sense?

The Holy Spirit as a deposit living in you, as he's sanctifying you through and through day by day, and this abundant peace that you experience and this joy that you drink from, all of that as much as it's for now, is also supposed to indicate to you, hey, there's something so much better than this that's coming and it's yours. It's yours. So whatever experience that you've had with the presence of God in this place by yourself, whatever testimony where the Holy Spirit has transformed you in a way where you recognize it, all of that are just little indicators and whispers of love to tell you it's only gonna get better. It's only gonna become better. And Paul wants us to know that.

And as much as this truth brought relief to Paul, astonishingly, it also created a restlessness in him. Look again at verse two. For in this tent, we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. What does he mean by groan? He he's talking about a yearning that is beyond words.

Words, they can't even communicate this sigh in his soul regarding this truth. That seems strange to us. He can't even express how much this truth makes him want to crave it to be known. He longs for it. And when you read this man's biography, it shouldn't be a surprise to you why he groaned.

Turn to second Corinthians, the same book, chapter 11, where he gives a brief resume of his credentials as an apostle and it's not what you expect. Second Corinthians eleven twenty four. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the 40 lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned.

Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea. On frequent journeys and danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers. Where can the guy go? In toil and hardship through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

No wonder this man groaned. No wonder this yearning was so intense. Can you imagine all the scars that he collected? What did his face look like? What kind of permanent nerve damage did he develop?

What kind of limitations did he did he have a limp when he walked? What is it like that no matter where you go, whether it's your favorite restaurant or a conference out of state, to live with a realization that at any moment I can be ambushed and beat up? This is how this man lived. And here's what I wanna say, perhaps the abundant comfort that believers share and experience and joy in the West is why so many struggle to turn this truth from a theological concept to a vibrant living hope. Could that be true?

I think so. But Paul's varied suffering, his constant battle with Satan, his sensitivity to sin, it stirred him. It stirred him to continually meditate on it. To verbally praise God for it. To draw comfort from it.

To joyfully teach about it and to live wanting it. Dreaming about it. I'm sure wherever this man wasn't busy in his mind, the default of his meditation went to, I want my building. I want what Christ purchased for me. But don't make the mistake in believing that this is Christian escapism.

This isn't Paul wanting to just avoid trials and troubles. That's part of it, but there's a positive element. More than just him evading from problems, he wanted to be with a person, namely Christ. And that's important because don't believe for a moment that for you to know this kind of groaning, you have to voluntarily accept pain in your life, chase down persecution. Now you can also know this cry, this holy ache because of Christ, simply Jesus.

Where you have walked with him and you have experienced his fragrance, where you've seen him come through, where he's opened your eyes to his beauty, where he said, if I can know this kind of exhilaration now, what is to come? What is to come is so glorious that you need a new body to handle it. That is what is to come. And Paul here is demonstrating that. And we'll get to this craving for the person of Christ in a moment, but let's look at these last verses that we didn't explore in detail.

Verse three, If indeed, after explaining that he's groaning for this, longing to put on his 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. If you feel overwhelmed, that's okay. Because you know what Paul is doing here?

Now he's mixing the metaphor. He goes from talking about tents and buildings to now speaking about what? Clothing. Did you catch it? Talks about being clothed, talks about being naked, talks about being further clothed.

So now he is blending metaphor. And so let's let's just take our time to trace his thought pattern here. So in verse one and verse two, what is he speaking about? He's speaking about how we are guaranteed to receive a heavenly dwelling. And if we are guaranteed for that, look at this verse three, it means that we will not be found naked.

Verse three. You think, why is he talking about being naked? Pause there. We'll we'll look at that in a moment. Because now in verse four, he recaps his thought in these verses and he clarifies something.

Now he says, we have been promised as heavenly dwelling, which means we're not gonna be naked. And then in verse four, he says, for while we are still in this tent, we groan being burdened. So he revisits that thought. Listen, let me tell you. While we're in this body, we're we're burdened by so much.

So we groan, but now he wants to tell you what we are groaning for. What are we groaning for? Not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be rather further clothed. What is he speaking about? It's simply this, that as believers with this resurrection hope, we are not longing to become disembodied spirits, I e, naked.

What we are actually longing for, the focus, the goal of this groaning is to be further clothed. Meaning, to receive a different kind of body. That what is mortal would be swallowed up by life. If you understand what Paul is saying here, it actually is astonishing in terms of implications. One, it clarifies what the resurrection really is.

Because you have some good hearted believers who think that when we give our final breath, yes, to be away from the body means that we will be with the Lord. Our soul will be with him, our spirit will be with him, but that's it. That's the final state of the matter. That's it. That's all we're looking forward to.

That's not true. On the other hand, I believe most Christians think, when they have a general grasp of the resurrection that yes, you will give your final breath. You will be immediately in the presence of the Lord. And at later time, the resurrection will take place. And when will the resurrection take place?

At the return of Christ, the culmination of the age. And when the resurrection takes place, when Jesus returns, we each are gonna receive a brand new body disconnected from your body that you knew while on earth. That's also wrong. Now I got a lot of facial reactions, so you have to pay attention now because you don't wanna miss it. Here's what you have to understand.

The Bible doesn't teach that there's a time coming when you will receive something that is not related to the body that you have lived with, this gift of life. Instead, what it teaches is that when the resurrection comes, the earthly body that you have always known with its unique properties and characteristics will be marvelously transformed and made fit to live with God forever. Just think about it, or else the term resurrection doesn't make sense. What are you resurrecting? If you're gonna get if your body is just gonna go into the earth decay, and your disembodied spirit in the presence of God will be receiving a brand new suit, so to speak, then why use the term resurrection?

If Christ is the prototype of our resurrection, did Jesus leave the tomb with a different kind of body? Yes and no. There's a level of continuity because he did leave that body or leave that tomb rather with a glorified body, but he still had the scars because it was the same body that was nailed on the cross. In like manner, this body that you have right now, that is what is going to be resurrected on that final day. And you're hearing this perhaps for the first time wondering, does it matter?

Or even why? Maybe you're not very happy with your body, and you're looking forward to something brand new. And so this is more of a disappointing message than it was an encouraging one. Don't worry, it will be altered. It reveals something about the depth of God's character and love.

When the Lord proposed to save us as fallen creatures, he determined to save all of who you are, not some of who you are. So not just your spirit, not just the immaterial parts of who you are, but even the polluted, fractured, sin soaked body that has caused pain for you and others, that has been damaged because of the fall, even that part of who you are, the Lord Jesus Christ wants to redeem. I'm going to recover everything, not just some things. So it speaks to the completeness of a saving work. It speaks to his yearning to actually have all of you.

Not to discard any part, but to redeem everything. So the resurrection is not about replacing your identity, it's renewing it. The resurrection more importantly is not about, erasing any part of who you are, but actually beautifying it, making it reflect and shine with the glory of God. And there's so many massive implications with this. I mean, if we had time, I would I would discuss about how if God so values these bodies that he is determined to rescue these physical frames, how much should we as Christians cherish these bodies?

How much more? Let me give you an example. I wasn't planning to do this, but since we're so close to the text, go to first Corinthians six. I'm just gonna read it. I'm not gonna take my time to explain it just to give you an idea.

And tell me what word reappears over and over again in first Corinthians six eighteen. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body. But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God?

You are not your own for you are bought with a price so glorify God in your body. You look at the end of first Thessalonians, talks about the sanctification of our whole spirit, soul and body. The body should be honored, should be consecrated, should be set apart for his glory. He's gonna resurrect that body of yours, and it's gonna testify the greatness of his power and his love. But there are many other reasons why this truth should be considered.

I told you earlier that there are four specific motivations in the main text that we are looking at and I want you to see that with me. So let's go back to second Corinthians in chapter five. I want us to look at verses six down to verse 10. And in those verses, four motivations that this truth of our resurrection bodies should instill in us today. Verse six.

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. Motivation number one. This truth that Paul wants us to know and be confident in will motivate you to live a life with courageous faith.

Look at verse seven, for we walk by faith not by sight. This will energize you to navigate through life as a conqueror, not as a victim, not as weak. Even though you're not living in the immediate unfiltered presence of the Lord, the profoundness of this truth will do something in you that will influence your whole outlook and in look. And when you look at the verses surrounding it, you can see it. It's so undeniable.

This is a point that he is making. So look back at second Corinthians four verse eight, for example. Paul says, we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed. Where does he getting that from? Where where is the strength to be able to do that?

It's not just getting out of nowhere. He's not finding it in his own fortification. He knows that I will be clothed with a heavenly dwelling one day. He knows that this is a tent and that it will be brought down and it will be replaced with something much more amazing. Look at verse eleven, second Corinthians four.

For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus's sake. Wow. So that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. We are always being given over to death. I'm not sure how many people would sign up for ministry in Paul's day.

You know, they say in one of the persecuted churches in China that if you wanted to be a pastor, one of your qualifications is that you have to be ready to do prison time. These days, we just look for people who get a degree. No. No. No.

Are you willing to go to jail? Are you willing to be in jail and not see your family for five years? That's what it takes for a pastor to become a pastor in China. We are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake. Look at verse 17 of second Corinthians four.

I'm trying to show you something here. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Then right after that, we have chapter five where he talks about what? What one of those glories are? The glorification of your bodies.

And it literally this truth was so real to Paul that it redefined the afflictions he knew. And they're not small It wasn't a coworker that gave him a dirty look because he brought his bible and put in his cubicle. That's not the persecution he experienced. You read it in second Corinthians 11. And he was able to look at that catalog of suffering and say, it's like momentary affliction.

How this truth? This is not the end of it. This is just a little bit of pain and it won't even be worth comparing to what awaits me. We need us to be real. I can't just live here.

It's gotta live here. Motivation number two found in verse eight of second Corinthians five. Yes. We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Motivation number one is that this truth influences us to have courageous faith and to navigate through life with that faith.

Motivation number two, to live this life with promise. What's the promise? Yes. Verse eight reveals Paul's passion. I would rather be away with the Lord, But it also says something about a guarantee.

The moment that death will evict you from your body, you will be immediately moving in with Jesus. So not only did this truth redefine suffering for Paul, it redefined death. And that's why he would, on more than one occasion, use the synonymous word for death with what? Depart. So what did he say in Philippians one twenty three?

My desire is to depart and be with Christ. What did he tell Timothy, his spiritual child? In second Timothy four six, the time of my departure has now arrived. Do you know what the word depart means in the original? To unloosen.

Another way of understanding it, and it's used in these ways to unfasten the ropes of, ready for this, a tent. So the time of my departure, the time of me putting this thing away and tucking it has now come. That's the language that Paul had when he spoke about death. I heard of a pastor who preached a message on behalf of a fellow minister and a best friend of his. And when he got before the church, he revealed the title of his message as he was speaking about the end of this man's life and his legacy.

And this was the title of the message. Excuse me, but I gotta go. I like that. If the Lord doesn't return in my lifetime, I might consider something similar at my departure. Excuse me, but I gotta go.

That's what it is. Death is not the cessation of life. It's a transition into a better one. That's what we're supposed to believe as Christians. And that's why as much as we weep and yes, we we cry.

Remember that illustration. Imagine what it been like for those Californians to lose their home but immediately realize you have something a thousand times better than what you've known. There is pain, but there's also excitement. There's also relief, security, joy. How much more for us with an eternal dwelling?

Motivation to live this life with promise. And this this truth refused the notion of soul sleep. The idea that we remain unconscious until the return of Christ occurs. So you have many people who believe this that when a believer dies, they don't go into the immediate presence of the Lord. They remain unconscious.

And they'll only be awakened at the resurrection. So what does it mean here for Paul to say that I desire to depart and be with Christ? Or that in verse eight, we would rather be away from the body implying that to be away from this body means that I'm going to be with the Lord. So you have every right to believe that when a loved one gives their final breath, the next breath is them praising Jesus Christ in his face. That's the truth.

Motivation to live this life with promise. And now I'll redefine pain even if that pain leads to death. Motivation number three. Look at verse nine with me. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

Motivation to live this life, not with promise, but with purpose. So knowing that the Lord is alive today and that we will one day meet him face to face and live with him forever, Paul outlines the fundamental purpose of every Christian's life. To please him. To live for him. So you see, being a Christian is not about slavishly abiding by certain precepts, and being so ruling and and restrictive oriented.

It's about bringing joy to a real person. Notice it doesn't say here, so whether we are away or we're present that we should obey the law. Well, yeah. There is an element of the law of Christ that we do obey. There is obedience in that.

It's No. No. No. It's to please him. And what I love about this verse in light of the context is that Paul is also implying when I realized this truth, by the way, it radically transformed me.

I'm just personally testifying. Because what Paul is saying here is that there is a way to please the Lord in this body that you won't be able to please the Lord with your new body. There is a way to please the Lord while on earth that you won't be able to please the Lord in heaven. This is what he believed. And this is why he can move forward and not even entertain the thought of giving up in his walk with the Lord.

And here's one example in this context among many other examples. Go to chapter four again. Look at verse 15. Notice what he says after in that chapter, at least this part of the chapter describing some of the sufferings that he in his obedience invited into his life. For it is all for your sake so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.

So he tells these Corinthians, you you wanna know why I'm suffering the way I'm suffering? In part, it's for your sake. And more than that, my heartbeat in this life is that this gospel of grace would extend to more and more people, so that more people can give glory to God for this grace that they received. Little idea of what Paul lived for that he would reach more, that the word would go out more and more. And guess what?

You can't do that when you receive this building in glory. Why? Because nobody's lost in that place. I know that's an astounding thought. Your evangelism won't matter in heaven.

Your your prayers are not gonna go anywhere in heaven. You can't resist temptation in heaven. It isn't there. Now, in this life, can you glorify God in this tent that you won't be able to when it collapses and you receive your heavenly dwelling? Doesn't that motivate you?

When you're in your ministry, you're frustrated because you're not seeing the fruit that you wanna see or because nobody appreciates or there's even persecution with it. As much as this is difficult, I know that I only have this breath of a life to be able to glorify God. How dare I even complain or contemplate quitting? I'm only in this tent for a little while. So I'm gonna stick with it, and I'm gonna honor him as long as I live in this body.

Because I'm gonna glorify him in another way when I am away from this body. Oh, that should energize you. It energizes men. Last motivation. Along with this encouragement comes a sobering reminder in verse 10, that how we live in these bodies will determine the rewards that the resurrected Lord will give us when we meet him.

Verse 10. 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. Motivation number four that this provides us is to live this life with accountability. With accountability. Not just with courageous faith, not just with a promise, not just with purpose, but to live this life with a sense of accountability.

So listen, we're not only gonna experience embrace when we are clothed with glory after we meet the Lord. We're also going to be met with an evaluation. The judgment seat of Christ is not synonymous with the great white throne judgment that you find in Revelation 20. Two different judgment seats. The great white throne at the end of Revelation is for unbelievers to determine the degree of their punishment in hell.

The judgment seat of Christ is not Christ evaluating us to see if you are worthy to be saved. That's been dealt with at the cross. But it will be an evaluation to determine the rewards that you will know for eternity. Salvation is the same for all Christians, rewards are not. Yes.

The Bible gloriously teaches that salvation cannot be taken from you, but it also teaches that rewards can. And while we rejoice that salvation is for all who believe, you and I must understand that the rewards are for those who work. And the reason why Paul brings us up here is because the resurrection puts into proper perspective. Meeting the Lord at that judgment seat puts into perspective what we do as Christians with our time, with our money, with our abilities, with our opportunities. Paul understood that he was called.

Paul understood that he was gifted with an incredible mind. And when he lived with the realization that I will leave this tent and meet the Lord, yes, with an embrace, yes, to be clothed with something that I can't even explain in detail. I will also have a face to face conversation with the savior to discuss what I did while I lived in that tent. And and this is the last verse because we're gonna close it here. But just to give you an idea, peek over at verse 11 to see what I'm speaking about.

Therefore so I shared this little verse here last Wednesday at our prayer meeting. Whenever you see the word therefore, you have to say, what is therefore, therefore? Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. Pause there. So he just finished at verse 10 talking about the judgment seat of Christ and he says, we must all appear before it.

Therefore, I live with the fear of God. Why? Because God will send you to hell? No. He's a born again believer filled with the spirit, sealed as a guarantee.

I don't wanna disappoint my God. I don't wanna look at my life at the end and realize that I didn't honor his commands. I didn't fulfill my calling. I quit when he didn't tell me to quit. I lived in the flesh.

I lived in carnality more than than I did in the spirit. And so though there is no threat of losing salvation in these verses, there is the danger of missing out on a more fulfilling encounter with Christ. May the Lord help us live with a realization that this tent is temporary, that we're promised a building, and we're gonna one day meet the builder of that building. And we've come to these elements because, yes, we're reflecting on the body and blood of Jesus, but we're also looking forward to the extent of this purchase of our eternal dwelling with him. So we we pray now and ask the Lord to help us believe it as this man Paul believed it.

Lord, we thank you for this time, and we ask that the reality of the resurrection will be more real to us than anything else in this room. And we pray that the truths that we heard from these verses would would never leave us. May it be absorbed by every person. May it get into the bloodstream of our existence. We we want to be like this man who was able to be so motivated by this truth.

But we've come to reflect on your grace, thanking you that our salvation is a gift. But, Lord, we also want this grace to not be in vain. We want it to stir us to be useful, effective, unashamed of your gospel. We give you thanks today together in Jesus' name. Amen.

Allow me to make one more observation about this truth of our glorification, the final stage of our salvation. Each of us in here, very likely will fall asleep at a different time, and I use the New Testament language for death. Everyone here will fall asleep at a unique time. There are instances where it happens, tragically with others at the same time, but generally that's the case. Additionally, most if not all of us in here were saved at a unique different time.

But when it comes to us being clothed with our heavenly dwelling, the glorification of our bodies, I'm not sure if you know this, but that's gonna happen collectively at one time. That upon the return of Jesus Christ, his entire body, the church, will be transformed in a twinkling of an eye. So think about this. Even in our glorification, everything that we've known, even in Christ, has been unique and separate and individualistic to some degree. But when it comes to that final stage, we're all gonna know it at the same time.

Isn't that a glorious thought? Lord, we thank you. Your word is so deep, so rich. We ask, oh, God, for those who might be struggling with sickness, maybe their own bodies or those who are deeply loved, that are their tents are ready to collapse. Lord, may the truths of the resurrection bring them comfort in knowing that this is not this is not the end.

This is not the permanent state of their being. Lord, for us who are enduring persecution and suffering from family, friends, for our faith in Christ, may we remember that it is worth it because this pain is not the end of the story either. The betrayal, the harm, the the loneliness at times is not the final say. We will be gathered together forever. Lord, when we feel like we've lost purpose or we've lost passion or we're even feeling weak in our service to you, may we remember the face to face encounter that we will have for with the one that saved us.

May we never lose sight of it, oh god. So we pray that you instill these truths. Help us live before them, lord. Place them before the eyes of our minds so that we would never fail to recognize these promises. Lord, we love you, and we thank you as a church.

We give you all thanks and honor. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.