love

Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13 If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

2 Corinthians 5:11-15

This passage is about two kinds of motivation in Paul’s life and ministry. The first kind of motivation relates to what Paul wrote back in verse 10, continuing into verse 11:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ…

…we know what it is to fear the Lord

Paul is motivated by the nearness of Christ’s judgment. He is aware that Christ is coming soon to sift out the ones he knows  from the rest, and afterwards, to sort out the works of his followers.  Christ will take his sheep and their good works into the new creation, leaving the rest behind.

God’s coming judgment motivates Paul to share God’s gospel.  If people accept the gospel message and believe in Christ, they will pass through judgment unscathed, with their good works following them.  Paul is compelled to share God’s message, so that people have the opportunity to enter God’s new creation.

Paul’s comments on plainness, persuasion and pride tie into what he was being accused of – deception in his ministry.  By the time 2nd Corinthians had been written, actual false apostles had entered the church and were discrediting Paul.  Among their charges against Paul was that he was deceptively persuading people to become his followers, in order to gain influence and perhaps also money.  Paul says no, that just as he will stand before God in the future for judgment, he is now plainly standing before God, the city and the church declaring God’s message.  Paul is gathering, by gospel persuasion, followers for God, preparing people to meet God face to face.

Paul encourages people to take a hard look at him and at his ministry, and at all the good fruit of the gospel in their own lives, to judge for themselves whether he is working for God or for himself.  Paul is sure that if people truly look beyond what is seen, they will be able to take pride in what is in the heart.
Paul responds in both 1 and 2 Corinthians to a false spirituality which had claimed many Corinthian hearts.  It was typical of many believers to value ecstatic spiritual experience over less “showy” expressions of Christianity, such as living and proclaiming the gospel.

Paul affirms in verse 13 that he has indeed had the kinds of spiritual experiences they value, but that these experiences are not worth boasting about; they are between he and God.  This is probably what he meant by writing: If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God.  Paul goes on to say if we are in our right mind, it is for you.  By this he means that his purpose is not to have increasingly more vibrant experiences of ecstasy, but rather to engage Corinthian hearts and minds to consider the claims of Christ on their lives.

For Christ’s love compels us… “Love” and “compels” aren’t normally used in the same sentence. Christ’s love is driving Paul and his compadres in a certain way, towards a certain end; to proclaim the gospel which opens the door for people to enter God’s new creation.

…because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  Christ’s love compels Paul to share the message, for Christ’s love is the message.    The love for people which drove Christ to sacrifice his life drives Paul to pour himself out in ministry.  Paul first experienced Christ’s love when the risen Jesus met him on the Damascus road.  At that moment Paul realized for the first time that Christ loved him and all people in this particular way: he died for all.

The reason Christ died for all was so that people would no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
The church has softened the effect of Christ’s love by neglecting the urgency in mission which love creates.  The church is, or should be, a community where people come and find God’s love lived out by Christian people.  We are comfortable with this welcoming, accepting aspect of love in the church.

Yet love plays a different, compelling role in Paul’s life, and he feels that it should play such a role in the life of the church.  The fact that Christ loved us enough to come on a mission to die for us is what compels Paul on his mission to proclaim Christ’s death and resurrection.

Could we possibly recast love in a new starring role in our church?  Could love not only play the accepting, welcoming part, but also the motivating sending part?

Love helps us feel comfortable in our pews; love should also compel us to get out of our pews and into the uncomfortable places in the world, all for the sake of the gospel, Jesus Christ, and those whom He loves.

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viva los Boston Red Sox!

pleasure

Sorry that my post is late this week. I have been watching the Red Sox beat up on Cleveland Thursday and Saturday. Looks like game seven is on for Sunday night!

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

2 Corinthians 5:6-10

 

from the book Goal Setting 101 by Gary Blair:

• A goal is an end towards which you direct specific effort
• The amount and intensity of effort provided is always dependent on the individual and how important the goal is to that person
  

The three key elements of a goal are:

1. An accomplishment to be achieved
2. A measurable outcome
3. A specific date and time to accomplish the goal

The apostle Paul would not have been familiar with modern concept of goal setting. Yet it is clear that he understood what it means to work towards a goal, to aspire towards something definitive.

In today’s text Paul says that our goal is to please God. Think about that for a moment: God, being God, does not have needs like us. We seek pleasure for various reasons, often to meet our emotional needs. But God is totally self-sufficient. God has expresses emotions, but has no emotional or other needs. Yet God takes pleasure in His relationship with us. Relationship is what God enjoys.

Consider the Trinity. God is three persons, and so, all by Himself, God is in relationship. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relate to one another. So even apart from us, God is in relationship, no doubt enjoying relationship in Himself. This self-relationship life of God is not introversion, or alone time, but rather genuine fellowship.

We are to make pleasing God our goal, since God receives satisfaction, or pleasure, in relating with us. God enjoys us.

The Greek word translated “to please” is a bit different from our English word pleasure. The word Paul used means to bring satisfaction to another. This is not a word that means to seek out pleasure for oneself.

The pursuit of happiness is regarded as a God-given right in our country. But how do we become truly happy? How do we get from pursuit, to happiness itself?

The paradox taught by Jesus and Paul is that we can only become truly happy when we stop pursuing happiness for ourselves. Jesus taught that we find our life by losing it in the pursuit of God. Paul teaches in our text that our goal is not to please ourselves but to please God.

Paul teaches that pleasing God is the mark of a life lived to the fullest. A truly satisfied life belongs to the one who lives to bring pleasure to God. For Paul this goal of pleasing God is not something we do to gain entrance into the next life. The goal of pleasing God reflects the relationship that God invites us into, which then continues on into the next life, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. (v.9)

To be sure, there is an accounting at the end of life: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (v.10)

The one who has been saved by God will go on to the resurrection that is ours in Christ. Yet before the fat lady sings, there is a time of review before the divine court. A good friend of mine thinks that this is when the movie of our life, featuring all the hidden moments, will be played for all to see. Yikes! I don’t find any basis for this kind of review in the Bible; just like I am not in favor of instant replay in baseball I would be against it in heaven!

But don’t you find these words of accountability helpful in reminding us that although our sins have been paid for, we are still responsible for what we do? We have assurance that those who abuse their status as forgiven people will have to account for what they do.

Let’s go back to look at verses 6-8:

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Back in verses 1-5 Paul emphasized that God has made us for eternity, and that the Holy Spirit present in our lives is God’s way of securing us for the life that lies ahead.

Based on God purposefully leading us towards eternity, Paul writes in verses 6 and 8, that we can be confident wherever we are, whether here in our temporary earthy bodies, or there (as Paul prefers) with God, in our permanent resurrection bodies.

Verse seven recalls Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Paul says that in this life, we live by what we believe, not by what we see. And so, he thinks, ought the Corinthians to live. Instead of judging him on how he looks or sounds, they ought to regard him and all fellow believers based on their common goal, to please God now, and to walk on towards pleasing God in eternity.

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purpose

Now 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. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2 Corinthians 5:1-5

Why has God made us? What is our purpose? How can we know?

The words in verse 5 translated purpose speak of decisive actions taken by God with a clear end result in mind. God creates us and then works in our lives to prepare us for serving His great purposes.

The Reformed tradition in Christianity has a great answer to the purpose question, from the Westminster catechism written in the 1640’s:

Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

The Westminster stream of theology traces its thinking on purpose back through church history to the Apostle Paul. Paul’s thinking on purpose is tied to God’s glory, especially to the future glory of all things being made new at the future resurrection. It is a future in which we will enjoy being God’s people in God’s presence forever.

Paul teaches that we are on the road to a future life which far surpasses what we are now experiencing. This great future life influences our present life, giving our life and ministry in the present age extraordinary significance.

The interplay between past, present and future is an important aspect to in New Testament theology. Past, present and future are intimately connected, and not just in chronological order as one might think. Both past AND future inform and affect the present. In Jesus, God’s future kingdom has broken into the present age. The blessings of the future have begun to come true in the present.

In 2 Cor. 5:1-5, Paul uses housing and clothing imagery to paint this picture of life in the present, informed by and moving towards the future.

Here is a codebook for understanding Paul’s imagery

• earthly tent = present life on earth in a temporary body
• building/house in heaven = future post-resurrection life in a permanent body
• heavenly dwelling = post-resurrection body
• naked/unclothed = temporary post-death / pre-resurrection state when our spirits are with God but we have not yet received our resurrection bodies
• groaning / burdened life in the tent = the difficulties of this present life and ministry
• clothed with our heavenly dwelling = post-resurrection bodies
• God’s purpose = to live this tent-life
• Spirit as a deposit = the Spirit is the assurance/guarantee from God that the future/resurrection life will indeed happen, even though we can’t see it

To summarize, God has made us for this purpose:

• to eagerly anticipate the next life; new creation, immortal bodies, eternal life
• to realize that with this present life will be characterized by struggles and burdens
• to fully give ourselves to God in this life; to share the Gospel in word and deed as a way of anticipating God’s new creation future
• to depend on the Spirit’s presence now as an assurance of our future with God, glorifying and enjoying Him forever!

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heart

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

The word we are focusing on is heart. This is not the heart we often find in the Bible, which in Greek is kardia, the source of the English cardiology. In verse 16 Paul is using another word which carries a sense of courage/ motivation/ enthusiasm.

The reason Paul gives in 4:13-15 for not losing heart is that Christ is risen, moving us towards the future resurrection. Christ’s resurrection is the impetus for God creating new heavens, new earth, and everything in between.

God is working in and through us to apply the benefits of resurrection, through God’s grace that is reaching more and more people (causing) thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. (4:15)

With everything being made new, how can Paul be anything but enthusiastic? Yet the Corinthians have trouble seeing any outward reason for confidence. They have rejected Paul’s ministry based on outward appearances. For as grace is worked out in Paul’s life and ministry, its full effects are hidden in weakness. One can’t help but recall how true this was for Jesus, full of God’s Spirit, yet seen as a man of sorrows.

Look at how Paul contrasts outward, temporary appearances with the inward, eternal effects of God’s grace:

• Outwardly wasting away, yet inwardly being renewed 16
• Light and momentary troubles, yet eternal glory 17
• What is seen is temporary; what is unseen is eternal 18

The word translated wasting away is used elsewhere in the NT to describe metal being eaten away by rust, food spoiling, and clothing being consumed by moths.

Renewed is from a Greek word that is unusual in that it was used only in Christian literature; it does not appear in secular or other religious documents. The word has to do with spiritual rebirth, the change that happens inwardly from the work of the Spirit applying the gospel message.

So outwardly we are being used up, while inwardly we are being reborn. The resurrection/new creation at work.

Paul writes that weakness works to achieve glory:

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

Eternal glory is the “forever-renown” of God’s name, which the gospel ministry achieves.

run to Sunday!