Show Notes
2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10
Pastor Kenneth Roth
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] God's word that I'm going to read is second Corinthians, not one Corinthians, two Corinthians, chapter four, verse 16 through chapter five, verse ten.
[00:00:13] Second Corinthians, chapter four, verse 16 through 510.
[00:00:20] Here now the word of God, which is divine revelation, its truth, its hope, its gospel.
[00:00:30] Two Corinthians, chapter four, beginning with verse 16.
[00:00:35] So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
[00:01:07] For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on, we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened. Not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the spirit as a guarantee.
[00:01:51] So we are always of good courage. We know that while we were at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each 1 may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
[00:02:23] Amen.
[00:02:26] I forgot if I prayed for illumination. So just in case, let's pray.
[00:02:31] Lord God, your word is truth.
[00:02:34] Holy Spirit, illuminate our understanding, give us hope as we learn of the benefits which Christ has earned for us, as we learned of what awaits for us in heaven, in the new heavens and a new earth. What is prepared for us so that we might walk by faith, not by sight, so we might not grow faint. So encourage us as we work our way through this text. In Jesus name I pray, amen. And you may be seated.
[00:03:22] Well, I have a question for all of you.
[00:03:26] What will it be like after we die and go to be with the Lord?
[00:03:32] Will we carry with us into heaven our fears, our insecurities, our struggles with sin?
[00:03:42] And will we also just be spiritual beings, or will we also have bodies? And if we have bodies, will our bodies still be weak and frail and subject to diseases? They are now well. Paul's tremendous answer to these questions here in two corinthians, starting with chapter four and verse 16 through five, verse ten, is that neither our sin nor our fallen nature, nor will the weaknesses of our body, none of those will follow us beyond the grave. But rather, God the Father, will utterly and completely renew us in the very image of Jesus Christ. And that alone is incredibly good news. And we will be shining with glory. We will be beaming with holiness. We will be radiant with goodness and virtue and beauty, and we will possess new, strong resurrection bodies.
[00:04:49] What the Lord has prepared for us is truly glorious. And, yes, we will be delivered from all of our fears and worries and insecurities and weaknesses. We will finally be whole and complete and truly happy forever as we are transformed into the very image of Christ. And this is truly, truly good news.
[00:05:10] So let's start with verses 16 and 17 here in two corinthians, chapter four.
[00:05:19] This may be a morning where I cough every so often because of my allergies, hay fever, but please bear with me. So, Paul writes, so we do not lose heart.
[00:05:31] Aren't those tremendous words? We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light, momentary affliction, doesn't that just kind of stop you in your tracks and go, this light, momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Wow.
[00:06:03] Now perhaps you can relate to the two ways that Paul characterizes our struggles in this present world. He says, though our outer self is wasting away. And he talks about that light, momentary affliction. And yet, he says, because we have hope in Christ, we do not lose heart.
[00:06:24] If you look earlier in chapter four, here in two corinthians, you began to see some of the struggles that Paul was undergoing and why he speaks of hope here in this passage. Paul when you look earlier there in chapter four, Paul describes his own afflictions as being perplexed, undergoing persecution, being struck down, even being given over to death. Paul truly lived a life of suffering and hardships and afflictions. And in light of those struggles which Paul describes earlier, the question becomes, well, why didn't Paul lose heart in light of all of the suffering he was undergoing? How was it that in the midst of all of that persecution and stonings and so forth, how was it Paul was not crushed.
[00:07:16] It was because, as he teaches in verses 17 and 18 here, he says, for this light, momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all imagination, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen.
[00:07:40] Now, regarding the things that are seen, he says, our outer self, that's our bodies, they are wasting away in this present life. Our bodies are prone to weaknesses, they're prone to illnesses, and they eventually decline and we die.
[00:08:00] You suffer a broken bone, maybe a sports injury, and that bone, that joint, that muscle, likely will never be quite the same again, will it? We see children running around with apparently endless energy, and yet their own parents, who, who ran around like that when they were little, now struggle to even begin to keep up with their offspring. And yet, as you get older and older, you tire out quicker and quicker, your joints begin to ache. Your hearing and vision are not what used to be. Paul's right.
[00:08:36] Beyond any doubt, our outer self, our bodies, are truly wasting away in his present life. But again, even in light of that, why didn't Paul lose heart?
[00:08:48] It's because of the hope of Christ saving and transforming work and the resulting weight of glory that awaits us beyond the grave. Again, verse 16. Here, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. Now, let me make a comment here in this sermon. There's so much in this text, we're only going to touch part of it. But even then, there's a lot of details here I'm going to present. So if you feel like maybe this is drinking from a fire hose, well, okay. There's so much in Christ's redemption, so just a little warning there. But our inner self is being renewed day by day. Furthermore, we learn in verse 17 that God is even using our afflictions to prepare us for eternity. He's using them for good. So even in that knowledge, we can take heart.
[00:09:47] Even though our present bodies are weak and dying and aging, Christ's renewing work involves not just improvement, but transformation.
[00:10:01] We see this in verse 18 of chapter three, where Paul writes, and we are all being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. Doesn't even say we're being transformed into the same image as Christ, but it's from one degree of glory to another.
[00:10:22] And what's the goal of this transforming work of Christ? Well, one place to look at it is Ephesians five, verse 27, where Paul writes so that he might present the church to himself. And we're members of the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
[00:10:46] That's a reference not only to the church as a whole, but even the redeeming, transforming work that Christ is carrying on, even right now. And it's glorious. We are going to be transformed into the very image of Christ who bears the image of God perfectly.
[00:11:05] The image of Christ being completed in us means that we will be holy and without blemish.
[00:11:14] Remember how in Genesis one, God teaches that we are made in the image of God? How beautiful, how utterly glorious Adam and Eve must have been in their righteousness, in their holiness, in their godly knowledge, and in everything else that bearing God's image entails. But when our first parents fell into sin while they and we didn't completely lose the image of God, the image of God in us right now is badly marred.
[00:11:46] It's distorted, it's scarred. But you see, the good news of the gospel is that the glorious of image of God is going to be completely restored to us in its absolute fullness and glory and joy and beauty. At the present time, we can only begin to guess at the glory of all that God has waiting for us, such as Paul writes in one corinthians two, verse nine. Paul writes, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.
[00:12:27] Maybe to say it in modern words, it's mind boggling.
[00:12:32] It's even beyond our imaginations to really comprehend all of the glory that God has prepared for us through the redeeming work of Christ. No wonder Paul didn't lose heart knowing these things.
[00:12:49] Secondly, in that verse in ephesians five, we see that we will be holy and without blemish. That, in part, is a reference to the character we will possess.
[00:13:00] Our very character will be cleansed and purified such that we will be without spot or wrinkle. There will be no more flaws in us.
[00:13:12] Now. Character isn't something that we think about much anymore in our society. We live in an age in which we're far more concerned about happiness, personal happiness, being happy right now, and this is especially, we seek to gain it through gratifying our immediate wants and pleasures.
[00:13:33] And perhaps a good illustration of this might be the good old McDonald's happy meal.
[00:13:41] It continually amazes me how some children pretty well expect a happy meal if they go buy McDonald's, right? It's almost a given for them. And part of it is because too often modern parents, all they can think of is making their children happy.
[00:14:00] But where's character in the midst of all of this?
[00:14:06] In our society, we tend to miss the critical importance of character.
[00:14:13] Growth in character, growth in holiness, growth in obedience, growth in virtues, loving our neighbor as ourself. And on the list goes, loving God with all of our heart and mind and soul and strength.
[00:14:26] And when Christ completes his transformation of our character, it is going to be so glorious, because there will no longer regarding even just our character. There will no longer even be a hint of sin, that sin which is a cause of so many of our problems in life.
[00:14:50] Temptation will no longer relentlessly draw us and lure us. No more negative consequences for our going against God's will and God's law. And because we will no longer sin, we will only enjoy the blessings of obedience rather than suffer the curses of disobedience.
[00:15:13] Imagine no more words coming out of our mouth that we end up regretting.
[00:15:20] No more crafting lies which only get us deeper and deeper into the mess, because now we got to lie more, and that only makes it worse. So we lie more to cover, and on that goes the spiral. No more self serving motivations, no more self serving decisions, which we only end up regretting down the road.
[00:15:43] And even love and giving ourselves for the other person. It's going to flow out of us naturally and easily and without effort.
[00:15:55] Just imagine what joy it will be to be able to truly love our neighbor as ourselves with almost no thought to it. It's just automatic. It will be beautiful.
[00:16:07] This is knowing these things is why Paul did not lose heart, because of what he had to look forward to again.
[00:16:17] Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day, such that in eternity we will be holy without blemish.
[00:16:28] Think about it.
[00:16:30] Being holy, being without blemish, blemishes. That's something we're so aware of.
[00:16:39] What's one of the things that in this present life, we most fear? I mean, deep down inside?
[00:16:47] Or maybe we can think of it in this way. What's one of the things that we tend to think of teenagers being especially obsessed with, concerned over?
[00:16:57] It's that deep concern, that deep fear regarding how others see us, right? What they're going to think of us, our looks, our appearance, and all of those things.
[00:17:10] When Adam and Eve experienced the same dilemma, they tried to cover their shame with mere fig leaves.
[00:17:18] Think of what a nightmare it would be. Think of the utter shame and almost unbearable embarrassment we would experience if we were publicly stripped naked.
[00:17:30] Even to have our innermost self exposed for all to see, it'd be a nightmare.
[00:17:39] But you see, Paul did not lose hope, even when facing possible death because of his knowledge that when Christ completes his work of renewing our inner self, when we wake up in heaven, we will find ourselves transformed, without spot or wrinkle, in splendor, holy, without blemish.
[00:18:05] Look upon my innermost self and there's nothing to fear, nothing to hide, no more fig leaves that entire fear of being exposed, every single one of those feelings of inadequacy, of not measuring up to the other person, those feelings of guilt and shame and falling short, that profound awareness of our flaws, both physical as well as in our person, our character. It will all be gone forever, no more to haunt us.
[00:18:42] Just imagine the unspeakable resulting peace that we will then experience.
[00:18:49] Peace in the presence of God, peace in the presence of one another, and just peace internally, peace of mind and peace of heart.
[00:18:59] And just imagine as well the unbounded joy that we will experience in our relationship with our savior, with God the father, as well as with one another. And so we already are seeing some of the reasons as to why Paul, even amidst of the kind of life that he lived, of such suffering, such persecution, such hardship, why in the midst of it all, and even with a body that was wasting away, he did not lose heart again. Verse 16, chapter four. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
[00:19:39] Paul did not lose heart because he didn't focus on that which was seen, this present life with all of its struggles, all of its problems, all of its threats, all of its fears and concerns. Rather, he kept his gaze focused on Christ and what Christ has secured and what Christ is going to be doing to us.
[00:20:00] He kept his gaze focused on the unseen and the eternal.
[00:20:06] How beautiful it all is.
[00:20:08] Let's move on now to chapter five and verse one here in two corinthians.
[00:20:22] Here, Paul points us towards the hope we have regarding our bodies, our physical bodies. He writes, verse 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. Here, Paul is contrasting our present earthly bodies with the resurrection body that we will one day enjoy in eternity.
[00:20:54] And what he is saying is that even if our present physical body is destroyed, even if we die, we as christians whose hope is in Christ, we do not lose heart because we have awaiting us, we are going to gain a glorious resurrection body when Christ returns.
[00:21:17] So what will these bodies be like? Well, moving over to one corinthians 15, or maybe moving back, since we're in two corinthians, going over to one corinthians 15, verse 42, Paul says, what is sown is perishable.
[00:21:32] What is raised is imperishable.
[00:21:37] Our resurrection bodies will no longer be subject to aging, to death.
[00:21:44] Heaven will truly be a fountain of youth and vigor and health. Heaven really truly. And the new heavens and a new earth will truly be everlasting life.
[00:21:59] Furthermore, looking a little bit further, at one corinthians 15 and verse 43, we learn more about our resurrection bodies. When Paul says, it's sown in dishonor and it's raised in glory, it's raised in glory. Our present bodies, all we can see when we look in the mirror is our imperfections and our flaws, but our heavenly bodies, again, think about this, will be raised in glory. No more shame, no more zits, no more embarrassment when someone takes our picture. No more being uncomfortable when we see our picture. Right again.
[00:22:39] Total peace, contentment, even regarding our appearance, as Jesus teaches in Matthew 13, verse 43, then the Righteous will shine like the sun. Isn't that beautiful? The righteous will shine like the sun. Even the glory of our resurrection bodies are going to shine like the sun. In other words, our body's glory is going to be visible.
[00:23:08] Think about that. It's going to be visible.
[00:23:11] And then looking further at that, verse 43 in one corinthians 15, it's sown in weakness. It's raised in power.
[00:23:20] Our resurrection bodies are going to be raised in power. As we age, our bodies grow weaker, become frail, more vulnerable. But again, what we learn here in two corinthians is we don't lose heart. We don't lose heart because our bodies, our frail bodies, are going to be raised in power, as Isaiah 40, verse 31 encourages us. But they who wait for the Lord, do you remember this? They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.
[00:23:51] They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Think about that. That's what awaits us because of the redemption, the saving work of Jesus Christ.
[00:24:06] That's what awaits us because Christ rose bodily with a resurrection body, Martin Lloyd Jones writes, these bodies of ours are going to be glorified.
[00:24:20] No infirmities will remain, no vestige of disease or failure or sign of age. There will be a grand renewal of youth, and we shall go on living in that eternity of perpetual youth with neither decay nor disease nor any diminishing of the glory which belongs to us.
[00:24:41] Hallelujah. What a savior we have, so we don't lose hope, we don't grow faint. And as if all of this isn't enough, I said, there's a lot here, I'm still in one. Corinthians 15. Now verse 44, we were looking at verse 43 there. Paul writes, it's sown a natural body. It has raised a spiritual body.
[00:25:04] Now, what in the world is that?
[00:25:07] Are we going to be ghosts for eternity? Is that what it is? Is it like one of my favorite episodes of Star Trek, the original Star Trek, and I don't remember all the details anymore, but on one planet, there's these globes, and the people have just transferred their minds into the globes. They're disembodied, and there's a lot of people who believe, it even goes back to Plato, that your body is the cause of your troubles, and what you want to become is disembodied, just to be pure mind, pure spirit that will liberate you. And that, to me, is one of the themes even of that Star Trek, because they're in there. But even in that Star Trek episode, what are they wanting after eons of just being minds in this globe liberated from their bodies? They want bodies, if you remember that Star Trek episode. And so at least the guy and the gal and the bad guy, don't they enter into some of Kirk and someone else? And anyway, it's fun.
[00:26:18] So it's sown a natural body, it's raised a spiritual body. What in the world is that? Paul here is not denying that our resurrection bodies will be physical. He's not denying that at all. What Paul means here regarding being born with a natural body, first of all, is that people are born without the Holy Spirit, without the Holy Spirit to guide us and lead us into right. Living into holiness, into obedience. Right. And so we are naturally born without the Holy Spirit, and so we sin, and we suffer all the consequences of sin.
[00:26:55] It's sown a natural body.
[00:26:59] But then he goes on, and I guess I could say what we naturally do in our natural bodies is serve sin. But our spiritual bodies, by contrast, will be dominated by the influence of the Holy Spirit. That's what he means by spiritual bodies, physical bodies, the physical bodies dominated, led by the Holy Spirit. No more telling of lies with our mouths, no more our eyes looking at bad things or lusting after things and seeing somebody with something wonderful and coveting it and so forth. No more hands moving the computer mouse to where it shouldn't be or stealing or whatever. No more feet walking up to somebody so we can share some gossip.
[00:27:44] No more sinning with our bodies. Instead, a body under control of the Holy Spirit, a spiritual body. What a joy it will be for our bodies to be completely under the guidance and rule of the Holy Spirit. Feet swift to do God's will, to do good, mouths quick to declare God's praises. That's the hope by which Paul did not lose hope. You see now, with all that we've just looked at, perhaps two Corinthians four, verse 17 just might make more sense. For this light, momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
[00:28:32] Now, here Paul is putting our present life, with its trials and hardships and struggles. He's putting our present life into an eternal perspective.
[00:28:44] And here he's drawing a rather bold contrast between what he calls our light, momentary affliction with the sheer weightiness of the eternal glories of heaven and the new heavens and the new earth, which awaits everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ. These contrasts that Paul is drawing here are meant to help us not lose heart in the midst of our present struggles.
[00:29:18] And so let's take this contrast just a bit further. He contrasts light affliction with the weight of glory, and he contrasts this momentary affliction with eternal glory. See, light versus weight, momentary versus eternal. Please understand, Paul is not making light of our present struggles. I mean, Paul records in first and second corinthians his own struggles, which are just bad.
[00:29:51] But what he's doing is putting this present life into an eternal, a redemptive perspective. And we need that, whether we're young or whether we're old.
[00:30:05] For some, suffering may seem to go on and on and on and on in this present life. But when we are in eternity and we experience the joy and glory of heaven, and when we experience the mind blowing, the incredible, almost incomprehensible weightiness of glory, our present sufferings, from that eternal perspective, our present sufferings, even our very worst of sufferings, will really, truly seem light in comparison when we're in eternity.
[00:30:45] If that's hard for you to believe, this is one of those things. We have to go by faith, right? Because you may be on a bed of suffering right now, and that may be hard to see, but in Comparison, it's truly light. Paul speaks truth under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
[00:31:06] Let these great redemptive truths really sink down deep.
[00:31:12] What we have here is not wishful thinking on the part of the apostle Paul. It's not idle speculation, kind of crossing his fingers. And I hope this is how it's all going to work out in the end.
[00:31:27] This is the inspired word of God, and God is revealing truth about the redemption, the hope that we have in Christ. He's revealing truth about eternity, about heaven, about what we're going to be like in the new heavens and a new earth. He's revealing truth about how heavy, how massive, what we will have in eternity, how massive, how huge, how weighty it will be.
[00:31:58] And so here God is revealing to us the sheer extent and the size and the mass of the glory that awaits us in the age to come. It truly is beyond all comparison. No wonder Paul was able to persevere and hold on to his hope rather than lose hope in the midst of all the persecutions that he experienced.
[00:32:22] And then finally, there's also going to be the glory of the Father, and there's going to be the glory of Jesus Christ, and there's going to be the glory of the Holy Spirit. There's going to be the glory of beholding the heavenly beings known as angels. There's going to be the glory of the saints and the saints who have been renewed into the very image of Christ. And there's going to be the glory and there's going to be the beauty and the splendor of the new heavens and a new earth in which everything, this whole world, the universe, is going to be completely removed, the curse gone.
[00:33:00] And we're going to enjoy life like again. We can barely begin to imagine. We're going to enjoy God's creation like we can barely begin to imagine. There's going to be the glory of no more tears, no more pain, no more death, for those things will have passed away.
[00:33:21] There will be the glory of seeing Christ as he really is in all of his resplendent beauty and holiness. One. John. Three, two. Beloved, we are God's children now. And what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
[00:33:43] The beatific vision.
[00:33:45] There will be the glory of Christ, total and utter and complete victory over death and evil and sin. Revelation 20, verse ten. And the devil was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beasts and the false prophet were. And they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever.
[00:34:02] These are all such tremendous reasons to trust in Christ, to embrace Christ, to have hope even when life is hard and perhaps even when life seems dark. Christ is doing a glorious work of redemption for us and in us. And we have the weightiness of the glory of Christ's transforming work being completed in us, in you, in me.
[00:34:32] And now, one last thing, and it's absolutely vital that I add this.
[00:34:38] Two corinthians five, verse ten.
[00:34:41] Paul writes there. It's the last verse in sermon text here. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each 1 may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Did you catch that?
[00:34:59] We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
[00:35:04] Unless you are trusting in Jesus Christ and his saving work on the cross, you will receive in full what your sins against a holy God have earned, what they deserve, which is eternity in hell, which is an everlasting punishment and torment.
[00:35:27] So don't delay, turn from your sin, embrace Jesus. Place your faith, place your hope, place your everything in Jesus Christ. Because if you do, an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison will be waiting for you in heaven. Let's pray.
[00:35:49] Lord God Almighty, we praise you. We thank you from the very bottom of our hearts for such an incredible salvation, such an incredible redemption, and for what awaits us, what you have provided, because you are good and full of grace beyond all comprehension.
[00:36:13] Give us hope in times when we're despairing, hope in our salvation, in hope for what you're providing with the work you are doing and the work you are going to complete in eternity.
[00:36:32] For those who do not yet believe, Lord, may this be the day of salvation for them.
[00:36:41] And, Lord, may these incredible truths of what Christ has secured for us, what awaits us in heaven, not only may that give us perseverance, but may a knowledge of it and understanding of it grow more and more in our hearts so we would not grow weary, we would not faint, but so that we might live for your glory, all the more with hope, pray all these things in Jesus'wonderful name. Amen.
