Walk by Faith and Not by Sight

Corinthians chapter 5. Paul had talked in the

previous chapter about we're like clay jars.

We're in our human bodies. We're weak. But within

that clay jar is something beautiful and powerful.

The grace of God and salvation that comes through

Jesus Christ and the ways that God chooses to

use us even though we are weak. He's kind of

following along that same line of thinking with

us being weak while we're here serving the Lord.

He kind of follows that same idea here in 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5. So let's pray and we'll get started.

God, I pray that you would just be with us for

these few minutes, that we would focus on you.

that we would not be distracted by the worries

and the things of the world, but that you would

help our minds to see your word and to hear your

word and to grow in it and to live by it and

maybe get some encouragement from it tonight.

So I pray that your Holy Spirit would just be

among us. In Jesus' name I ask it. Amen. 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5:1

5, verse 1. For we know that if our temporary

earthly dwelling is destroyed, We have a building

from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens,

not made with hands. Now, we talked a little

bit last week where Paul talked about his momentary

light affliction. And then when we flipped to

2 Corinthians chapter 12, we saw that that momentary

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

light affliction was not light affliction at

all. It was imprisonments and being stoned and

being hit with lashes on multiple occasions and

all of these different things. But yet... Paul

still referred to those as momentary light afflictions

because he had his eye on the bigger picture.

He knew that he was a weak vessel in this world,

but as weak as he was, he knew the power of God

was great, and so as long as he was on this earth,

he was going to continue to do the Lord's work.

And here he begins to talk about our temporary

bodies. For we know that if our temporary earthly

dwelling is destroyed, he's talking about our

bodies here. He's talking about, look, at some

point in time in our life, whether it's through

persecution for serving the Lord or just growing

old, at some point in time, our bodies will begin

to deteriorate. Now, everybody in here, well,

you younger ones can't, but if you've got a little

age on you, you can see that your eyes don't

work as good as they used to, and you can't hear

as good as you used to. You've got a few more

aches and pains than you used to. You go somewhere

with a bunch of young folks, when it's time to

stand up, they just stand up. When you go somewhere

with a bunch of old folks and it's time to stand

up, you hear a lot of grunting going on. Our

muscles are sore and things hurt. And it's just

the way it is. As we grow old, our bodies begin

to deteriorate. And sometimes it doesn't even

take old age. Sometimes just health problems,

even at a young age, will cause our bodies to

begin to deteriorate. And in Paul's case, his

body was physically deteriorating as a result

of some of this. persecution that he had experienced,

no doubt. I mean, these things, you get stoned

and you get beat enough times and go through

those things, it takes a physical toll on you.

But nevertheless, Paul says, for we know that

if our temporary earthly dwelling is destroyed,

we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling

in the heavens, not made with hands. So he says,

look. Even though things in this life might be

difficult, we're looking past this life. Our

focus is on not what we see. We talked about

last week. Our focus is not on what we see, but

what is unseen. And so he says, I know that even

though my body is being destroyed here, I know

that one day I've got a better dwelling place.

That my dwelling place here is being destroyed,

but God has something special for me when I get

to be with him in heaven for all of eternity.

And he continues on in verse 2. Now, we have

this idea of groaning in this body. Now, I suspect

there are some of us that groan, and the older

we get, or... Maybe the worse our health gets,

even if we're younger, we know people. And there

comes a point in people's lives where they are

just ready to go and be with the Lord. You've

known people like that. You've known people,

and they've lived their life, and the sickness

has got the best of them, and their age has got

the best of them, and people eventually get to

a point where they'll just say, I'm just ready

to go. The Lord's done all He can do for me here.

He's used me in all the ways He can. And I'm

ready to go and be with the Lord. And understandably

so. When we get to that point, we're not there

tonight, praise the Lord. We're not at that point.

We're still doing good. But you can understand.

how people get to that point. Even if you're

not to the point to where you're ready to die,

you still may have days that you've grown inside

this body, and that's what Paul says. Indeed,

we've grown in this body, desiring to put on

our dwelling from heaven. Now, that's a good

day. We think about all of our pains and our

sicknesses and our struggles here, and we do

look forward to a day. that we're not going to

experience those things, that we're going to

have a better body than what we do now, a body

that's not being worn down, a body that's in

perfect shape all the time that's provided by

the Lord. Since we are clothed, we will not be

found naked. I think he's probably recalling

the things that he wrote in what we call 1 Corinthians

toward the end of the book. He talked about being

clothed with immortality. And we see that same

idea coming here, that we're not naked. We're

not naked in our sin. We see that language used.

Scripture sometimes about our sinfulness, that

they were naked and knew not that they sinned.

It talks about Adam and Eve. And then all of

a sudden their eyes were opened and they knew

that they were naked. So that nakedness kind

of talks about our sinfulness. Paul uses that

same example here when he says, when we are clothed,

we will not be naked. So he's talking about getting

a new body, a new dwelling place in heaven, but

kind of also combining that with this idea of

being clothed with righteousness and clothed

with immortality. And he continues on in verse

4. Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent,

burdened as we are, because we do not want to

be unclothed, but clothed. so that mortality

may be swallowed up by life. Now, it's interesting

how he describes this body. He describes this

body as a tent. He says we groan while we are

in this tent. Now, this is something that we

can all understand. If anybody's ever slept in

a tent before or saw a tent before, you know

it's not much to a tent. I mean, they're made

to be real simple because a lot of times people

are toting them as they're hiking. You don't

want anything that's heavy and elaborate. You

want something as small as it can be. So tents

serve a purpose. it gives you a place you can

get in and zip up and hopefully at least keep

the mosquitoes away from you and and maybe keep

you a little warmer than if you were out in the

elements keep the wind off of you but but tents

are not made to last for any extended period

of time and over time tents begin to deteriorate

and they get holes and they get leaks and the

zipper breaks and a tin is only a temporary thing

it's not made to last forever eventually it serves

its purpose and it's done with And that's how

Paul describes our bodies here. He says we groan

while we are in this tent, burdened as we are,

because we do not want to be unclothed. That

is, we want to be in a place where we are taken

care of, where we're not in these old bodies

that are falling apart, where we're not struggling

against sin, but that we are clothed with immortality.

In verse 5, he says, And the one who prepared

us for this very purpose is God. who gave us

the Spirit as a down payment. So God has prepared

us for the day that he's going to take us to

be home with him. Now, while we're in this life,

life is tough. Our bodies wear down, sickness

hits, the stresses of life hits, the persecution

sometimes for stepping up for the Lord hits.

These are all things that we go through as brothers

and sisters in Christ, but God has something

better prepared for us, something that he's prepared

ahead of time so that when our time comes, that

we will get to go into the presence of God for

all of eternity. And how can we be assured of

this? How can we be assured that there's something

better coming? How can we know that God's going

to follow through on his promise? Well, he says

here that he gave us the Spirit as a down payment.

So the moment we accept Jesus Christ, we put

our faith in Jesus Christ, we make him the king

of our life, we choose to follow him, we receive

the Holy Spirit. And that's a great thing. The

Holy Spirit, it leads and it guides and it instructs

us and it... powers us. We see that a lot in

the New Testament and the Old Testament. The

Holy Spirit didn't act in quite the same way

in the Old Testament as in the New Testament.

In the New Testament, everybody who comes to

Jesus Christ receives the Holy Spirit, but in

the Old Testament, it appears as though the Holy

Spirit, maybe it kind of came and went because

We see certain people at certain times that the

Spirit of the Lord comes upon them and they're

able to prophesy or they're able to do mighty

things and defeat mighty armies or whatever it

may be when the Spirit of the Lord comes upon

them. And so Paul says, look, this is our evidence

that we have been saved. This is our evidence

that God loves us. This is our evidence that

there is something better prepared for us, that

God gives us the Holy Spirit in this life. as

a down payment to show us that, hey, look, I've

got something better prepared for you. So we

need to listen to the Holy Spirit's guidance,

to the Holy Spirit's instructions. We need to

allow the Holy Spirit to empower us. The Holy

Spirit can empower us to do things that are beyond

our control. So there may be things that God

calls you to that you feel led to do, but you

say, man, I'm not good enough to do that. I don't

have the strength. I don't have the ability.

But the Holy Spirit can empower us to do. Far

greater things than we could ever imagine, and

it's not on our own strength. It is due to the

Lord's strength. Verse 6. So we are always confident

and know that while we are at home in the body,

we are away from the Lord. Okay, so as long as

we're in this life, we know the Lord. We know

the word of the Lord. We know about Jesus Christ.

We've received his spirit, but we're not really

fully in the presence of the Lord. Now it's a

joy to know and to experience the Lord in the

way that we do and to feel His presence in the

way that we do and to see that He answers our

prayers and just to know that He strengthens

us in the way that He does right now while we're

in this body, while we're at home right here

in our tents in this world. But there's coming

a day that we are going to be at home with the

Lord. But Paul says, look, when we're still in

this world, as much as we experience God in the

ways that we can, we're still not at home with

God in the way that we will one day be. He says

in verse 7, For we walk by faith, not by sight,

and we are confident and satisfied to be out

of the body and home with the Lord. Therefore,

whether we are at home or away, we make it our

aim to be pleasing to him. Isn't that a beautiful

verse? Verse 7. We walk by faith, not by sight.

We walk knowing that God is good. What we see

before us is often bad and it's hardship for

us and it's situations that we don't know how

we'll get out of or how God can do any good with

this. But nonetheless, he says, we don't walk

by what we see. We walk by our faith in God,

knowing that God is good, God is in control,

God is using us, God is not going to leave us

and forsake us. And so for that reason, we continue

to do the Lord's work. And we are confident and

satisfied to be out of the body and at home with

the Lord. Therefore, whether we are at home or

away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to Him.

So Paul says, whatever we do, whether we are

here, or whether we are in the presence of God,

our goal is to please God. Our goal is to praise

God. Our goal is to save God. Paul says, it doesn't

matter where I am. He says, I want to be with

the Lord, but I know that God's got a job for

me to do here. I want to be with the Lord. I've

grown while I'm in this body, but I know that

as long as I'm here, I need to serve the Lord.

So it doesn't matter. I look forward to the day

that I'll get to be with him, Paul says, but

it doesn't matter if I don't get to be with him.

Today or tomorrow or whenever the day is going

to come, he says, I still desire to serve the

Lord wherever I am. Verse 10. For we must all

appear before the tribunal of Christ so that

each may be repaid for what he has done in the

body, whether good or worthless. Now that's something

to think about. Paul says, look, I want to live

for the Lord. I want to serve Him. I want to

please Him. I want to be obedient to Him because.

Why does he want to do that? What is part of

his motivation? It's a fear of the Lord as we

see in the next couple of verses. His motivation

is this. He knows that one day every work that

he does, every word that he says, or every word

that he doesn't say, or every word that he doesn't

do, he knows that one day he will have to stand

before the tribunal of Jesus, the judgment seat

of Jesus Christ. For we must all appear before

the tribunal of Christ. Now that's a scary thing

to think about. that we must all stand before

the tribunal of Christ. Now, those who have trusted

Christ, I don't think our salvation is on the

line here in this judgment, but I do think our

works are going to be judged in some way. And

what kind of works are we doing? Are they good

works or are they bad works? He says, so that

each may be repaid for what he has done in this

body. Now, I don't know what that payment is

going to look like, what that reward is going

to look like. I don't know what it's going to

be like. But I suspect it's going to be better

to be rewarded than not rewarded when that day

comes. We're all going to be judged by our works

on that day, whether good or worthless. Or some

translations would just say good or bad. So what

about our works? What kind of stuff are we doing

in our life? This is kind of a scary thing to

think about. Stop for a second and say, okay,

one day I'm going to sit before the judgment

seat of Jesus Christ, and these things that I'm

doing, are going to be brought up. Are we doing

good things or are we doing bad things? Are we

doing stuff that's worth something or is the

stuff we're doing worthless? And maybe we don't

think about that enough. Maybe we should. Probably

we don't want to. It's probably easier not to

think about that. But perhaps we would change

the way we live if we thought more about that

question. Perhaps that's how Paul can live the

way that he lives. It's because he does think

about that question. He does ponder that question.

He does let that question drive his life and

the decisions he makes and the ways that he serves

the Lord. Is he doing good? Is he doing bad?

Are we doing good or are we doing bad? We want

to do things that are good. We want to do good

works, not for ourselves. but to serve the Lord.

Paul's desire is not a pat on the back. It's

not so everybody can say, oh, look how great

Paul is. It's not so we can stand here 2 ,000

years later and praise Paul. We're not praising

Paul. We're praising the Lord. And we praise

the Lord for people like Paul that stood up to

serve the Lord and be a good example to us and

write words like this that we can grow from.

So maybe these words can be an encouragement

for us tonight, that we can know that... Look,

these old bodies are wearing out. They're like

tents. We enjoy them while we have them. They're

good while they last, but over time they begin

to tear down and we long for something better.

And praise the Lord, we have something to long

for. We have some hope to know that there is

a building in the heavens that will not be destroyed.

A building in the presence of God that will be

forever. And there's a lot of hope and encouragement

in that. Maybe we need to look at the question

that Paul leaves us with here. And that is, are

the works that we're doing, are they good or

are they worthless? But we want to be those who

are obedient to God. We want to be those who

follow. We want to be those who do good works.

We want to be those who trust in Jesus Christ

and put our faith in Jesus Christ and find our

hope in Jesus Christ. Let's pray. God, we come

to you tonight. We thank you for these good words.

And I pray that you be with us as we groan in

this world. God, it is tough. There are days

that we just... are worn out from the world and

the stresses and the pains and the sicknesses

and all the stuff in this world. So, dear Lord,

I pray that you encourage us that while we're

in these old tents, that we just keep going.

God, even if they're falling apart, I pray that

you help us to keep going as long as we can go

with our eyes looking above, looking ahead. Dear

Lord, focused on being in your presence. And

I pray, God, that you would help us to continue

to seek you and serve you. and live for you as

long as we can to do what we can and to do good

works for you, dear Lord. Help us to see the

things in our lives maybe that are worthless

so that we would be able to get those things

out with your help and your power. And I ask

these things in Jesus' name. Amen.