Living In Anticipation of the Body Glorified

Transcript

GR 1804
04/26/2015
Living in Anticipation of the Body Glorified
2 Corinthians 5:6-9
Gil Rugh

We've talked about the resurrections of Scripture and judgments of Scripture. This is crucial foundational material. It is not complicated, but until you get it fixed in your mind it can become confusing at times. Remember Christ is the first to be raised from the dead in a glorified body. There are others who were raised from the dead like Lazarus, he was raised back to physical life, raised in a normal physical body and would die again. Christ is the first to get a glorified resurrected body. Then there will be the church at the rapture. We'll be talking about that some today, maybe further in our next study. Then at the end of the seven years you have Old Testament saints and tribulation saints resurrected. We'll be talking about that this evening when we move into Daniel 12. It's important we don't confuse these resurrections and judgments. Then at the end of the thousand years there will be a resurrection of all unbelievers accompanied by judgment. Normal in Scripture that resurrection will be followed by judgment.

So this gives you an order. Then we have unfolded in the listing the very judgments and the timing of them so you can fit them into the chart and see where the different judgments of Scripture occur. There is not just one general resurrection and one general judgment. And as we are going to be talking about this morning, understanding of future things is of crucial foundational importance in determining and guiding our conduct as believers. So we'll have more to say about that.

Why don't you turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 5 and let's remind ourselves of the context in which Paul is writing. He has been writing about the ministry, his ministry as an apostle. But as we look at it, it's the ministry that we share as believers, a ministry enabled and empowered by the Spirit of God. Back in 2 Corinthians 3:7-11 Paul emphasized repeatedly that this ministry of proclaiming the truth concerning Jesus Christ, the salvation He provided in the context of what had been prophesied in connection with the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 and other passages is a ministry of glory, far exceeding the glory associated, for example, with the Mosaic Covenant, the giving of that covenant to Moses on Mt. Sinai. It's a ministry of glory, it's a ministry enabled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Look in 2 Corinthians 3:5-6, “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills but the Spirit gives life.” And it is God who enables and empowers believers for this ministry in the context of the new covenant and its salvation provisions. We've looked into the different covenants in Scripture, the place of the new covenant. Understand Paul has in mind himself, he talks about his ministry, but what he says about himself is true of us as believers. We are not apostles, but we have been entrusted with the ministry of serving Jesus Christ and making Him known. We are just as empowered and enabled for our ministries as God enabled and empowered Paul.

Back up to 1 Corinthians, the previous letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthians that we have in our New Testament, 1 Corinthians 1. We will begin with verse 4, “I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus.” That is God's saving grace, that saving grace comes, if you will, as a package. Paul is going to focus not just on the forgiveness of sins and cleansing they received, but the enabling empowering ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of everyone who receives the grace of God through faith in Christ. Look at the next verse, “That in everything you were enriched in Him.” He goes on to talk about spiritual gifts, “in all speech, and all knowledge.” Verse 7, “So that you are not lacking in any gift,” now note the connection, “awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This connection is very important. The work that God accomplished for us in the death and resurrection of Christ, the salvation we receive in Him through faith in His death and resurrection, securing for us our eternal salvation.

This brings to us the ministry of the indwelling Spirit that we'll talk about in a moment. When the Spirit comes and takes up residence in the person who has placed their faith in Christ, He also comes to enable them with a gift of grace. In English we call them charismatic gifts. Don't get it confused with the charismatic movement, but it comes from the Greek word charis, a form of it which refers to the gifts of God's grace. So everyone who is a believer in Jesus Christ is indwelt by the Spirit of God. And everyone indwelt by the Spirit of God is enabled and empowered to serve our Lord and Master by the exercising of special abilities He has given. Paul will go into detail on those in chapters 12-14 of this first letter to the Corinthians.

While you are still in 1 Corinthians 1, he talks about the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ who will confirm you to the end blameless. Important and crucial that we have a proper perspective on our eschatology. Eschatology is the study or doctrine of last things, coming from the Greek word eskatos for last. Future things, things God has foretold us about of our ultimate end, the completion of our salvation.

As Paul talks about the glory of the ministry, as we mentioned in 2 Corinthians 3:7-11, and some of you if you were here and marked, come back to 2 Corinthians 3, the use of the word glory repeatedly in verses 7-11. But when you come down into 2 Corinthians 4 you get what may seem like a paradox. This is a ministry of glory, it is empowered by the Spirit of God and it is characterized by people who are earthen vessels, clay pots as we noted in 2 Corinthians 4:7. “Those who,” verse 8, “are afflicted in every way, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, always on the verge of death.” This seeming paradox, some of the false teachers at Corinth were using against Paul, trying to influence the church and say, don't you think if Paul were really a servant of the living God, really empowered and enabled by Almighty God that he would have a more powerful, dynamic and influential ministry? Later in the letter Paul will say they accused him of not being very physically appearing. He is weak in his appearance, he is not a very good speaker. Is that a man who has been called of God and empowered by God? They said, I don't think so. Paul says, do you know what has happened? You've taken your eyes off the eschatology, you are looking at what you see rather than having your minds, the mind of faith, fixed on what God has promised.

So when you come down to the end of 2 Corinthians 4 Paul says, “Therefore we do not lose heart, though our outer man is decaying.” He doesn't argue the point, he can't hide it, his body has been pretty beaten up and he may not be the best speaker the Greeks have ever heard. He may look weak and somewhat powerless, but as Paul reminds the Corinthians, you were saved under my ministry, you heard the life-changing Gospel through me. You have experienced the impact of God's truth in equipping and preparing you for service for Him, and He is not done.

So he reminds them, “Though our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being made new day by day. Momentary light affliction producing for us an eternal weight of glory,” now note this, “while we look not at the things which are seen but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, the things which are not seen are eternal.” He's going to come back to that in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” What happens when you take your eyes off the ultimate goal God has promised, you take your eyes off what you are trusting, believing God will do, and you are looking at the present reality, the present physical circumstance, the present physical suffering, the present physical difficulties. And you become absorbed in those.

That's what happens to the church when it takes its eyes off the eschatology. There is teaching going through the evangelical church again today that says whatever about the future things. We can disagree on that. What we should agree on is what we ought to be doing. And do you know what they say we ought to be doing? The very thing the Scripture says will happen when you take your eyes off what God has promised—you become absorbed in the present reality. So we become absorbed in social justice, rescuing our culture, helping the poor, bringing equity and equality, get involved. That began, as I mentioned, back in 1947. Carl F. H. Henry wrote a book, The Uneasy Conscience of Fundamentalism. What he was really concerned about is what we call dispensationalism, an understanding of Scripture and the doctrine of future things, that takes future things literally just as God has said them. They will be fulfilled just as He has promised. He says we have to change the view that we are looking toward future glory, a future kingdom. We have to redo our eschatology and say we are in the kingdom now, therefore we ought to rescue our culture, we ought to become more intellectually involved so we get recognition as scholars in the world, so we make a difference in people's social standing, we lift people out of poverty and we demonstrate to the world that we Christians have a better answer. That's demonic, that's not biblical. That turns attention away from what we take by faith and focus on and live by to what we see. And the world thinks it's great because that's how they live. They don't look at the things which are not seen, they look at the things which are seen and they think it is wonderful when the church does that, too.

But that's not how the church is to live. And this is what Paul has to battle. This is not new. We used to have the saying, they are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good. That's like saying they are so biblical they are no earthly good. The problem is Christians have ceased being heavenly minded and they are no earthly good for accomplishing what God says we should be doing. Paul's answer is fix your mind on the eschatology of what God has promised, and that will shape your life and behavior here. So that's what he is talking about.

So he flows right out of verse 18 at the end of 2 Corinthians 4, “looking at things which are not seen.” The things which are seen are temporal, the things we are not seeing are eternal. Then he comes into chapter 5 and we've looked at the first 5 verses and he talked about three states or conditions the believer may live in. One is sure for all of us—dwelling in a physical body, and that is something seen. And we see the deterioration of our body, Paul could talk about that. Our outer man is decaying, that's what people see. They didn't see that the inner man was being strengthened and renewed and made new by the power of the Spirit of God. But the first state we live in, physical bodies. All of you here, no matter where you are mentally right now, you are living in a physical body. Your mind can wander but you are in a physical body. So that's the first thing he talks about.

So as chapter 5 opens up, “We know if our earthly tent which is our house is torn down,” he's using an analogy of a tent as a temporary structure. If it's torn down, the picture is if our body deteriorates, we die, the tent is put down. So this first state in which we live is a physical body. He says in verse 2, “In this house we groan.” Of course, because this body, he said in 2 Corinthians 4:16, “is decaying.” We experience it, we realize the reality of it. We have pains, as we get older the pains may grow and get more serious. Sometimes we have serious pains and difficulties when we are younger. It's just a reality of life. That's the first state—we live in a physical body.

Then he talked about the fact at death we leave this physical body. So we move out of that. And he mixes the metaphors because he'll talk about it as a house or a tent, a dwelling place, he'll also talk about this body as clothes as we wear. Again the point using a different illustration or analogy is the same. When you put off this suit of clothes, this physical body, you move on. James 2:26 says, “The body without the spirit is dead.” The body is dead, the spirit is not dead. The spirit leaves the body, the body is dead. That's the second state that a believer may live in—disembodied. We'll talk about this in a moment, that when you leave the body as a believer, you go into the presence of the Lord. So you as a person in your spirit have not ceased to exist. You'll be alive and conscious, able to communicate and so on, but you will no longer be living in this physical body. So the second state or condition a believer might live in is without his physical body. Paul calls it in verse 4, again mixing his analogies, “For indeed while we are in this tent we groan, being burdened.” This physical body can become a burden. “Not because we do not want to be unclothed,” without a physical body, “but clothed upon.”

So the third state is we receive a glorified, physical body. Those three conditions a believer may experience. Living in this physical body, we all experience that. It may be, not every believer, we'll talk about that along the way, but physical death becomes a reality. If the Lord doesn't come, I will experience physical death. The older I get, the more that becomes a possibility because there is less time. When I was 20 I thought, the Lord will come in the next 50 years. I'm in my 70s, He hasn't yet; I don't have 50 years to check it out. So physical death may come, but the Lord may come tomorrow and I'll skip that step. But at death a believer leaves his body. We're just dealing with believers now, unbelievers do the same but there are different circumstances.

Paul looks forward because his ultimate goal is not to be without his physical body. His ultimate goal is to receive his glorified body. And God's purpose for us in salvation will not be fulfilled until that happens. So that's what he has talked about in the first four or five verses of 2 Corinthians 5. In verse 5 he pulls this together by saying this is what God prepared us for. “Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God.” So our salvation won't be complete in the sense of finished until we get the glorified body. I mean, I'll be happy just to leave this body and get into the presence of the Lord. Leave the body in the grave, I don't care as long as I am with the Lord. That's not biblical because God's work is not done, even when I die and am transported spiritually into the presence of the Lord. Because he says, “He who prepared us for this very purpose.” What very purpose? Verse 4, “In this tent,” this physical body, “we groan, being burdened because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by mortality.” What I want is my resurrected body.

Back up a few pages to Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 15, this great chapter on the resurrection that we have looked into. But come to the end of 1 Corinthians 15 and look at verse 42. This is in the context of there are different kinds of bodies that have a different kind of glory. Verse 42, “So also is the resurrection of the dead, it is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also what is written, the first man Adam became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. However the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man from heaven.” So verse 49, “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.” You see the emphasis. There may be a stage in between. My parents have died, they have left their physical bodies behind. They were put in a grave. But they are alive, they are in the presence of the Lord. But the work is not done. There is something yet greater for them—the completion of their salvation with the resurrection of their body. And when they move back into a body glorified, then what God has prepared for them will be fully realized. Doesn't mean we have work to do to gain our salvation, our salvation is full and complete. We just haven't entered into all of it yet.

Back in 2 Corinthians 5:5, “Now He who prepared us for this purpose is God,” now note this, he has added to it, “He gave us the Spirit as a pledge.” Now if God just says it that would be good enough. Remember we studied Hebrews? The writer to the Hebrews said here is what God said He would do. And then to show how absolutely certain it was, He took an oath and swore to do it. The God who cannot lie further showed the absolute certainty by taking an oath. Here in 2 Corinthians 5, “He prepared us for this very purpose,” He is God. But He has even gone a step further than just telling us—He has given us a down payment, the indwelling Spirit of God is God's guarantee and assurance that every single believer in Jesus Christ will receive a glorified body. He gave us the Spirit as a pledge.

Back up to 2 Corinthians 1:22, verse 21 for the context, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us as God, who sealed us and gave us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.” The Holy Spirit is God's down payment, God's guarantee that He will bring the process to full completion, not just to cleanse me from my sins. The promise is that I will someday be in His presence. Not just that He'll forgive my sins and someday bring me into His presence, but He'll forgive my sins, bring me into His presence and someday give me a resurrected and glorified body that I will dwell in for eternity. This process is going on. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed,” we are undergoing this metamorphosis, “into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit.” So the Spirit of God is in the process. Remember Paul said “our outer man is decaying, our inner man is being renewed day by day.” We noted that's the work of the Spirit. We call it maturing, being more and more conformed to the character of our Savior and an evidence of the Spirit's work in our lives. We see it, He enables us to function, to grow, to serve in the body. And that's not the end, it is a down payment for the future.

Turn over to Ephesians 1. This is review, I realize, and if you have forgotten, it is review. But in Ephesians 1:13, “In Him,” in Christ, “you also after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.” That seal that secures us, who was given as a pledge, a down payment of our inheritance, “with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.” You see you must keep the fullness of our salvation in perspective. You can't take your eyes off the goal which God has prepared us for—the ultimate realization of having a glorified body that will prepare us for the glory of His presence.

One more passage, come back to Romans, the letter that he wrote to the Romans, Romans 8. You see this contrast that we have in 2 Corinthians. Romans 8:18, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Do you see the connection? Present sufferings, future glory; present sufferings, future glory. When you take your eyes off the future glory, you'll get mired down in the present sufferings. You cannot do it any other way but God's way. That's why it is a work of the devil to confuse people on their eschatology.

I am reading some books in light of a study I want to do with you in the future, and three of the books I'm reading are attacking the literal interpretation of Scripture regarding prophecy, and I may bring one in and read an excerpt. But this man is arguing there is a short view of prophecy and a long view, because he has to deal with the fact that all the prophecies of Scripture that have been fulfilled, have been fulfilled literally. I mean, go back to the Old Testament when God told Israel certain things, like the captivity for their sins, when the northern ten tribes would be carried into captivity. It happened exactly as God said. Then when He prophesied about the southern kingdom carried into captivity, that was just as God said. This writer, one of the writers I am reading, do you know what he says? Well, near view prophecy is flat, it is fulfilled literally, but prophecy that is yet future, you don't take that literally. And he gives an example. You don't literally believe that David will rule in the kingdom, you don't literally believe there will be . . . and he goes on and denies all the things that are yet future. But Paul is saying I take these things literally, God has prepared us for it, He has guaranteed it. He has even given me the Spirit as a down payment. That's what enables me to keep going through the trials.

Verse 19, “The anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God,” because the whole creation was subject to the impact and influence of sin. So the picture is the time when the sons of God will be revealed. That's when the curse will be lifted from creation, we'll talk about that probably in our next study, when we will be revealed before the creation as the sons of God. We'll get into that in Revelation 19. So he goes on to say, verse 23, after talking about the creation groans, suffers pains of childbirth together until now. You see the devastating effects of sin throughout the creation. “Not only this but we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we are ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” You see the redemption of the body. Not just when you can leave that body and go to heaven, but I will be fully placed with all the prerogatives of my son-ship and revealed before all creation as God's son. I will be in my glorified body. “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we persevere, eagerly waiting for it.” You see the connection here, what gives perseverance? Focusing on the hope. What does the hope enable you to do? Live by faith, not by sight. It is a work of the devil to turn the church away from an emphasis on eschatology. I'm reading writers that say we can have differing views of end things; it's those who take a literal view who are so divisive. If you are post millenial, fine; if you are a-millenal, fine. Well, we do divide. We divide over what the Scripture says. We are waiting for the redemption of our body when we will be fully placed as God's sons. We are walking by faith, not by sight. We are not in the kingdom. We are not here to rescue the culture. We're not here to bring social justice to the nations. We're not here to bring equity between the rich and the poor. Not saying there is not injustice in the world, but that's not what we are here about. God will deal with all of those things. This is the bitter critique of those who take a literal view of the Bible and future things. We are disengaged from our world. We are not helping to rescue the world from its problems, from its poverty. That's all dealing with eschatology, and yet many people in the evangelical church say it won't matter, God will work it all out. You know the old joke, I’m pan-millenial. It will all pan out. And that's the way they live their lives. It's not just going to all pan out. God has prepared us for a purpose, He has ordained the purpose and it will culminate with the glorification of our bodies so that we can have an eternal kingdom.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 5, now we are to the section that we were to start today. And Paul is continuing this discussion of eschatology that, as one writer put it who had it right, eschatology determines your ethics. What you believe about the future will determine your behavior. Verse 6, “Therefore, being always of good courage.” So it is translated good courage, that gives the idea it's a word that means confidence, supremely confident. We have a settled confidence. Similar to what he said, different words, back in 2 Corinthians 4:16, “Therefore, we do not lose heart;” 2 Corinthians 4:1, “Therefore, we do not lose heart;” 2 Corinthians 5:6, “Therefore, having a settled conviction, a sure confidence and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.” Let's talk about our situation. As long as we are living in the realm and dwelling in these physical bodies, we are not present with the Lord in glory. That's reality. The Lord is with us, the Spirit of God dwells in us. Christ was seated in His glorified body at the right hand of the Father in glory. I've never seen Him. So while we are at home living in this physical body, we are not at home with the Lord.

Come over to Philippians 3, and you see the context, the contrast is the same. We're dealing in Romans as we're dealing in Corinthians, here. Philippians 3:17 Paul says he has established a pattern for the walk of these Philippian Christians. And he's in prison when he writes Philippians. Another sign of his weakness is physical shortcomings, the lack of God's display of power in rescuing Paul. Although he will probably be delivered this imprisonment, it's still a down time. I've left you an example of how to live. “Many walk,” verse 18, “of whom I told you, now tell you even weeping, they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction.” You have to talk about where they are going. Don't compare the two of us now, they may look rich and powerful and famous and healthy. Their end is destruction. They set their minds on earthly things, things which are seen.

I get some business magazines because they pick up my name and think I'm a medical doctor and need them for my waiting room. So they keep insisting I take it at a 99% reduction, so sometimes I do. And they list the fifty most important influential people. There are no Christians on there. They are people you can measure by what they do. You can see what they do. The top 500 wealthiest people in the world, you can measure their wealth. I am much richer than they are, I have the wealth of heaven stored up for me. But I'm walking by faith, not by sight. The unbeliever doesn't walk like that, their mind is on earthly things. But note the contrast, verse 20, “Our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has to subject all things.” That's what we're looking for, the ultimate realization of my heavenly citizenship will be when I dwell in my glorified body. We'll talk more about that in our next study.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 5. This is because we walk by faith, not by sight; this is the realm in which we conduct ourselves. We're living in physical bodies on a physical earth, but we're conducting ourselves on the basis of our faith in the promises of God, that which we hope for, which is not seen. We walk by faith, not by sight, believing what God has promised, and that controls our walk. That's why I say what you believe about what God has promised will determine your conduct, your behavior. When the church turns away from that being important, let's not divide over eschatology. Let's not give in to all the details of eschatology. That's not what matters. It matters what we do today. Well, what we do today is shaped by what we believe about the future. That's to control how we live, shape what we do. We walk by faith, not by sight.

Verse 8, “We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” Now Paul wants us to understand, he's talked about earlier in the chapter my real goal is not to be disembodied, be unclothed, living without my physical body. That may come to be a possible state, but that's not the goal. He had mentioned that in verse 4, “We do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed upon.” But I want you to understand that leaving the body and going into the presence of the Lord is better than being in the physical body. But that's not the ultimate goal, but it is better. “We are of good courage,” repeating what he said in verse 6, “being always of good courage.” We prefer to leave our body and go into the presence of the Lord, that second phase or state that a person, believer may live in. It's better. I used my parents, they were part of this fellowship before the Lord took them to glory. It is better for them. Their physical bodies were breaking down, Dad's cancer, Mom's Alzheimer's. Who wants to continue like that? It's much better, it would be much better for the healthiest believer here to be separated from his body by death and enjoy the presence of the Lord. The second phase that we talk about is better than the first.

Come over to Philippians 1, Paul again, a prison letter, Philippians, in Rome he's a prisoner and writes. Verse 21, “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” What is he talking about? To depart and to be with Christ is far better. To live on in the flesh, he realizes, he's in a Roman prison, he thinks that maybe it's the Lord's will that he be delivered at this time. But he also realizes this could be the end of the line. All it would take would be a statement from Caesar and he is done, they carry him off and execute him before he could do anything. It's fine to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me. This becomes key where he is going in 2 Corinthians 5, so remember when Paul talks about life, what I like about this life, it gives me opportunity for serving my Master, fruitful labor, storing up rewards when I stand in His presence. I can serve Him more in ways that I won't have. You understand this physical life is a unique time for you as a believer. You have opportunity for fruitful labor you will not have in the same way beyond this life. Paul says, if I don't die, I have opportunity for fruitful labor. I don't know what to choose, it's better to go and be with the Lord. “I'm hard pressed,” verse 23, “in both directions, having the desire to be with Christ, that's much better,” very much better. I mean, to be in the personal presence of Christ, that's better. But to remain in the flesh in this physical body is more necessary for you, and I think I will remain.

Then he goes on to remind them suffering is part of God's plan. Verse 29, “It has been granted for Christ's sake for you not only to believe in Him but to suffer for Him.” You see for Paul, what do we want to do? We want to have fruitful labor, we want to serve Him. Being with Christ is better, it's not the final best but it is very much better than this physical body. Now keep in mind we do have fellowship with Christ as we walk this earth, the Spirit of God dwells in us, He is with us and said He would never forsake us. That's a great privilege, but it's different.

Marilyn got a new phone. I'm not sure she knows how to answer it, yet, but she did get a new phone. And one of our grandchildren, got on with our grandson who is in South Dakota in college, and they could get on and talk on the phone. Marilyn thought that was the best thing since sliced bread. That tells you how old we are, we compare things with when they learned to slice bread. At any rate this is great. But do you know what? There is fellowship there, there is communion there, it was great, but it is nothing like being there with him. There is a difference. We have fellowship with the Lord, enjoy Him and in a spiritual way He is present with us. But it's nothing like it is going to be. If I drop over dead of a heart attack before this sermon is over, I'm going to get to finish it. Might as well wait and I drop over at 11:00 than 11:30, don't say, poor Gil. You say, that fortunate man. Wouldn't want to say that lucky man because it was the plan of God, but that fortunate man. Just think about it, there lies that body and he is in the presence of the Lord in glory. How very much better would that be?
Come back to 2 Corinthians 5:9, “Therefore we also have as our ambition whether at home or absent to be pleasing to Him,” because we have our eye on the future. The future is to receive a glorified body in the presence of the Lord and stand before Him to be judged. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,” and he's talking about believers. Any wonder he says whether at home or absent, I want to be pleasing to Him. I mean, if I were transported to heaven by physical death very soon, what would be my desire there? I want to please the Lord, that's going to be the fullness of my desire, is it not? For Paul he didn't see any difference. Why am I here? To be pleasing to the Lord, and a reminder, He is going to judge how pleasing I was to Him.

So talking about eschatology, talking about getting the ultimate conclusion of my salvation with a glorified body, verse 11, “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord.” Puts it in context. We'll talk about that fear, we'll talk about that judgment in our next study. But you know eschatology is extremely important, not just about the future kingdom, not just about my future glorified body, but in that future that will be laid out as God has revealed it. I will someday stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be evaluated by Him about what I did in this life as His slave. That's what he said. That's why Paul says, whether I am still in this physical body or I am absent, there is one consuming thing. Paul didn't think I will live differently in heaven, I live to be pleasing to the Lord. That will be true whether I am here present in this physical body or I am in heaven. Simplifies life, doesn't it? What is your life about? Pleasing the Lord. What's it going to be like when you go to heaven? Pleasing the Lord. What's it going to be like if you continue to live on this physical body? Pleasing the Lord. Why? I'm going to stand before His judgment seat, He's going to evaluate me with a scrutiny no one else could evaluate me with. I know the fear of the Lord. Therefore, I strive to be pleasing to Him in all that I do.

This is for the believer. We'll talk about what that judgment entails and how it is carried out in our next study. We've talked about the fact there will be a different judgment for the unbeliever, a judgment of condemnation in contrast to a judgment of rewards. People can choose to ignore the future, not think about the future, deny the future. No one will avoid the future. It is appointed unto man once to die, after this comes judgment. Well, I don't believe that. It's your choice, that doesn't mean you will escape judgment because God has said it, He has assured it. In light of it we want to be ready for it, and as believers we ought to be modeling it. We don't live like the world. Our mind is not on earthly things. Everything is to be shaped by the fact that I want to be pleasing to Him. When I get to the glory of His presence, the desire will not change—I want to be pleasing to Him.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your Word. Thank You for the glory of our salvation, a glory that has not yet been fully realized. Lord, it has all been provided, our salvation is complete, there is nothing more to be done, we are not earning a more complete salvation. But we look forward to the ultimate realization of the final step of being glorified in these bodies. But Lord we are reminded that we are doing in these physical bodies has eternal consequences, not determining our destiny, but determining the outcome of the judgment seat of Christ and the rewards that will be given. May we as believers keep our focus on the eschatology and live with the desire to be pleasing to our Lord whether present or absent. We pray in His name, amen.