Swallowed by Life | 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 | 03/22/26

So, I don't love funerals. It'd be a

little weird if I did. Um but there is

something I do find fascinating about

funerals.

And that is that you get to see people

wrestle with realities they don't

usually wrestle with.

You know what I'm talking about? Like

there's a there's like a rawness and a

realness to people at funerals. And it's

this it's not just grief, but it's it's

soberness.

A willingness to pause and think about

what it means to be mortal,

even if it's just for a couple of hours.

And this morning we're going to pause

and think about what it means that we

too are mortal.

To live knowing that we will die.

And my prayer is that together we can

find firm hope in what God has promised

will come after death for those who love

him.

If you're new to West Hills, we're

preaching through the book of 2

Corinthians right now and we're in a

we're in a large section from roughly

chapters 2 to chapter 7 where Paul's

kind of explaining what authentic

ministry is, what real ministry is. And

these last two weeks in chapter 4 Paul's

been uh he's been telling us that part

of authentic ministry is suffering.

Two weeks ago he told us about the

paradox of Christian suffering, how he

could be afflicted yet not crushed,

persecuted but not forsaken.

Uh given over to death yet manifesting

the life of Christ. And then last week

after all that he said, "So, we do not

lose heart."

How?

How How do you not lose heart in the

middle of suffering? He told us at the

end of chapter 4 in verses 16 through

18.

Though our outer self is wasting away,

our inner self is being renewed day by

day. For this light momentary affliction

is preparing for us 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.

This morning we're going to be in 2

2 Corinthians 5:1–10

Corinthians chapter 5 verses 1 through

10 where Paul's going to expand on those

verses I just read. He's going to expand

on what it means that our outer self is

wasting away.

He's going to expand on what it means

that there's this eternal weight of

glory waiting for us in heaven.

And he's going to expand on the contrast

between what is seen and what is unseen.

What is temporary and what is eternal.

And it's awesome. It's beautiful. It It

makes me so excited for what's going to

come to us and it gives me so much hope

and patience while I wait. And I hope

that you'll leave this morning feeling

that, too.

So, let's read the first part of our

passage, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses

2 Corinthians 5:1–5

1 through 5.

For we know that if the tent that is our

earthly home is destroyed, we have a

building from God, a house not made with

hands, eternal in the heavens.

For in this tent we groan, longing to

put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed

by putting it on we may not be found

naked.

For while we are still in this tent, we

groan, being burdened, not that we would

be unclothed but that we would be

further clothed, so that what is mortal

may be swallowed up by life.

He who has prepared us for this very

thing is God, who has given us the

spirit as a guarantee.

So, broadly speaking, what is Paul

talking about here with these metaphors?

He's talking about our bodies and he

starts out by talking about our fallen

earthly bodies, the bodies we have right

now.

Back in chapter 4 verse 7 he described

our bodies as jars of clay, fragile and

weak, easily chipped and cracked. And

then in verse 16 he described our body

as the outer self that is wasting away.

And now he describes our bodies as

tents.

Paul was familiar with tents.

Paul was a tentmaker actually by trade

and tents played an important role in

the Roman Empire. They provided uh they

provided temporary shelter for people

who needed it, especially people who

traveled.

But the key word there is temporary.

Tents are temporary. They're not meant

to last forever.

And so it is with our bodies. They're

from God, they're good, but they're

under the curse of this fallen world and

therefore they will not last forever,

either.

And even while we do have them,

they don't always work as well as we'd

like them to, do they?

Verse 2 says that in our earthly tents,

our earthly bodies, we groan, we sigh.

I'm in my late 20s.

I'm not quite in that groaning phase

of my body yet.

Listen,

I'm like 3 years and a bad sneeze away

from throwing my back out, okay? So,

>> [laughter]

>> I'll get there, just give me time.

But on the other hand, you might not

know this but but I have a twin brother,

his name is Hayes,

and he was born with cerebral palsy.

A few minutes without oxygen during

birth meant that he was born into a

lifetime of groaning in a body that

doesn't work the way that it should.

And by God's grace he's not defined by

that. Actually last year he became a

Christian and was baptized.

But but he knows what it's like to groan

in this tent in a way that I don't yet.

And there's some of you like my brother,

you've known that this groaning for as

long as you can remember.

But uh

you you've spent years, decades

wrestling through life with a body that

doesn't work the way it should. But for

many of us we enter into this groaning

gradually as we age.

You know, when you're teen when you're

in your teens and 20s that the tent

works pretty well, doesn't it, right?

Holds up well against the rain, no

complaints.

But with every decade that passes things

start to change, right? First one of the

zippers gets jammed on the door.

And you start to notice more rips and

tears. One day water starts leaking in.

And eventually you realize this tent is

not going to last forever.

Or to say it a little bit more bluntly,

it hits you that one day you are going

to die.

Where do you go from there?

Well, a lot of people try to fight that

reality.

And there's a poem that was written in

1947 by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. You

might recognize it from the movie

Interstellar.

He wrote it to his dying father. Here's

the last stanza. And you, my father,

there on the sad heights, curse, bless

me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the

light.

According to Dylan Thomas, death should

be fought. It should be raged against

until the bitter end.

And that's what many people do.

They try to fight death.

How do you fight death?

Well, some people fight it by obsessing

over diet and exercise.

If you've seen the TV show Parks and

Rec, you know that Chris Traeger is the

perfect example of this. Here's one of

my favorite Chris Traeger quotes. He

says, "Scientists believe that the first

human being who will live 150 years has

already been born. I believe I am that

human being."

Chris Traeger is is obsessed with

dieting and exercising. It's how he

fights death. He literally runs from

death.

Other people fight death by working as

hard as they can to leave some kind of

legacy. They try to become immortal by

being remembered after they die.

And if you've seen the musical Hamilton,

that's Alexander Hamilton.

His mom dies when he's young. He's

terrified of death himself, so he works

tirelessly to leave a legacy, to be

remembered. And ironically he cares so

much about his legacy that that he gets

killed in a duel trying to defend it.

But do you know how I think most people

try to fight death? It's actually

neither of those.

I think most people try to fight death

through distraction.

Just trying not to think about it,

putting it off because it's just it's a

little too uncomfortable.

If you feel a little uncomfortable right

now, that that might be why.

Maybe you've been working hard,

consciously or not, to avoid thinking

about this reality.

But the problem is is that none of these

strategies can defeat or defer death.

Unless Christ returns first, each one of

us will have to return the tent that

we've been loaned.

There is only one hope that can conquer

the fear of death and that is the hope

of the resurrection.

Verse 1. 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.

In Paul's metaphor, if our earthly

bodies are tents, then our heavenly

bodies are buildings. Tents are

temporary, buildings are permanent.

Christians will not spend eternity

floating around in some disembodied

state like ghosts.

Was Jesus resurrected in a disembodied

state?

No, he he he rose in a physical body. He

ate and he could touch things. He could

talk. Philippians 3:20 says, "Our

Philippians 3:20

citizenship is in heaven and from it we

await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

who will transform our lowly body to be

like his glorious body."

Jesus' resurrection body is the

prototype for our resurrection bodies.

And since he was raised with a physical

body, that means we will be raised with

physical bodies, too. But this body will

be so much more glorious than the bodies

that we have right now because it will

be made from God, not with hands, and it

will be eternal in the heavens.

Eternal means that it won't die.

It won't wear out, ever.

In verse 2 Paul says that as Christians

we long to put on our heavenly dwelling.

So, the metaphor is shifting a little

bit, right? Now, he's describing our

bodies like clothing. Our earthly bodies

are put off, taken off like a garment

when we die, and our new bodies are put

on at the final resurrection.

And then in verse three, he continues,

"If indeed by putting it on, we may not

be found naked." What does it mean to be

found naked?

Well, there's some disagreement about

exactly what Paul's talking about here,

but I think the most obvious answer is

that he's talking about something called

the intermediate state.

That's the time between our death and

the final resurrection.

And the traditional view of the

intermediate state is that if you are in

Christ, and when you die, your earthly

body will remain on earth, and your soul

will go immediately to be with Christ,

where you will wait in a disembodied

state until the final resurrection.

And then at the final resurrection,

you'll receive this heavenly body that

Paul's talking about.

So, to be naked is to be without a body.

And at the final resurrection, when we

put on our new bodies, we will not be

found naked, as Paul says in verse

three.

Now, this disembodied state, it's not

bad. You know, we're going to see later

in this passage that Paul is eagerly

looking forward to this state, but our

eternal state in our resurrected bodies

will be even better than that.

Verse four.

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. Our hope is not to escape our

bodies, but to receive gloriously

transformed bodies, to be further

clothed. And why is that?

So, that what is mortal may be swallowed

up by life.

This is one of those lines in the Bible

where you read it and you think to

yourself, "Wow, that is so beautiful.

I have no idea what that means."

>> [laughter]

>> What does it mean? Well, well, we have

to we have to actually go back to

Genesis, where the opposite happened,

where immortality was swallowed up by

death.

In Genesis chapters one and two, life is

just exploding out of nothingness. At

God's command, earth and stars, land and

sea, plants and animals, man and woman

are are created out of nothing. Adam and

Eve were created to enjoy their creator

forever, but when they rebelled against

him, they died, immediately in a

spiritual sense, and eventually in a

physical sense. Immortality was

swallowed up by death.

And death continued to reign. It reigned

for thousands of years

until a man named Jesus died, but didn't

stay dead.

You see, death tried to swallow Jesus,

but it couldn't. And so, three days

later, it threw him up.

The sinless Son of God could not stay

dead. And one day, when this same Jesus

returns to this earth to bring about the

final resurrection, then what is mortal

will be swallowed up by life.

It will be the death of death, the end

of entropy, and not just for us and our

bodies, but actually for the whole

universe. Because remember, remember,

we're not the only ones groaning and

longing for the resurrection. Listen to

what Paul says in Romans chapter 8,

Romans 8:19

verse 19.

For the creation awaits with eager

longing for the revealing of the sons of

God. For the creation was subjected to

futility, not willingly, but because of

him who subjected it in hope that the

creation itself will be set free from

its bondage to corruption and obtain the

freedom of the glory of the children of

God. For we know that the whole creation

has been groaning together in the pains

of childbirth until now. And not only

the creation, but we ourselves, who have

the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan

inwardly as we eagerly as we await

eagerly for adoption as sons, the

redemption of our bodies.

The resurrection will be cosmic. It

won't just be a resurrection of our

bodies, it will be a resurrection of

this earth, a resurrection of the

universe.

As Jason said last Sunday, the entire

cosmos is waiting to be remade.

And it makes sense, because if God is

preparing physical bodies for us, we're

going to need a physical place to enjoy

those bodies, won't we?

Now, all this might sound great so far,

but maybe you're wondering, "How can I

be sure

that I'm going to receive all of this? A

new body made by God, eternal in the

heavens. Is this Is this good too good

to be true?"

Verse five.

He who has prepared us for this very

thing is God, who has given us the

Spirit as a guarantee.

There are two reasons in that verse that

you can be confident in your

resurrection. The first is that God has

prepared you for this.

And as we learned last week, through

your suffering, he is preparing you for

this.

This light momentary affliction you face

in this life, as your outer self wastes

away, the groaning that comes with

living in this fallen tent of a body

you're stuck with for now,

God is using all of that to prepare you

for an eternal weight of glory beyond

all comparison when you take your first

steps in your resurrected body.

And here's a second reason.

You can be confident in your

resurrection because God has given the

Spirit as a guarantee, a down payment, a

promise that our resurrection is coming.

That means that every time you see the

Spirit at work in your life, it should

remind you of your future resurrection.

Every time he convicts you of your sin,

comforts you in your affliction, equips

you to serve the church, let those

things be reminders of your future

resurrection. That's your down payment.

It's coming, church.

Now, what does this mean for us?

Well, before we move on to verse 6

through 10, I want to give you one thing

to consider.

The promise of the resurrection doesn't

just mean that you can die with hope.

It means that you can age with hope.

You can grow old

with hope.

Growing old isn't exactly glamorous.

At its best, I imagine it can feel

inconvenient, embarrassing.

You have to ask for help

with things that you used to be able to

do by yourself.

You know, before you sit down somewhere,

you mentally ask yourself, "Is it worth

the effort it's going to take to stand

back up again?"

Servers never ask for your ID at

restaurants anymore.

I'm sorry, but when they do, they're

just trying to get a bigger tip.

But at its worst,

growing old can be pretty scary, right?

Chronic pain, chemotherapy, changes to

your health that can turn your life

upside down, wrestling with questions

and conditions you couldn't have even

imagined just a few years ago.

Having to rely on others to take care of

some of your most basic needs.

You know, if it weren't for the

resurrection, I might be tempted to

agree with Dylan Thomas, to rage against

the dying of the light.

But church, there is a resurrection.

This is not the end. Your God has

prepared a body for you that will never

grow old, a building so glorious that

once you're in it, you will forget all

about this old tent you used to live in.

And if God loves you enough to give you

a perfect body that you'll get to enjoy

forever, do you think

Do you think he won't be faithful to you

every day until you receive it?

Do you think that you're the first

Christian God has ever walked through

the challenges of aging?

How many souls, hundreds of thousands of

souls, has God safely led home before

you?

Our God is not defeated by cancer or

chronic pain.

He is not helpless against arthritis or

Alzheimer's.

He is faithful through menopause and

macular

challenge or trial you could possibly

face in this life on your way to heaven.

And that means that in this life, as

D.A. Carson once said, you're not

suffering from anything that a good

resurrection can't fix.

Or as Isaiah 46:3 says,

Isaiah 46:3

"Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

all the remnant of the house of Israel,

who have been borne by me from before

your birth, carried from the womb, even

to your old age, I am he, and to gray

hairs I will carry you.

I have made, and I will bear.

I will carry,

and will save."

To gray hairs, he will carry you. He is

faithful to the end.

And as you grow old,

every time you lose something,

part of your strength, your mobility,

your hearing, your hair, whatever

whatever it is, I wonder if it would

help to imagine that that part of you is

like a piece of furniture that you're

shipping ahead to your next home.

You're living in a temporary home right

now, but you're moving to an eternal

home, a better home. And and let's just

be honest, everything has to move,

right? It's all got to go over there,

right?

For some, the move comes unexpectedly

and all at once.

For most, the move comes gradually.

And yes, it's hard living in a house

with less and less furniture.

It's natural, and it's okay to groan

when the movers come for that couch that

you've loved and relied on for so many

years, and you never thought you'd have

to live without.

But remember, it's not the last time

you'll see it.

That it will be waiting for you in in

new home, and you'll enjoy it there more

than you ever did.

The promise of the resurrection means

that you can grow old with hope. Every

faculty that God asks you to let go of

in this life will be waiting for you in

your resurrection body better than ever.

Now, let's keep going and read the last

half of our text this morning, verses 6

through 10. So, in light of all of that,

we are always of good courage.

We know that while we are at home in the

body, we are away from the Lord, for we

walk by faith, not by sight.

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 one may receive what is due

for what he has done in the body,

whether good or evil.

Because of this awesome promise of the

resurrection, that our temporary bodies

will be transformed into eternal

heavenly bodies, Paul can say, "We are

always of good courage."

And then he says, "While we are at home

in the body, we are away from the Lord."

What he's saying there is that as long

as we're in these earthly bodies, in a

sense, we are away from the Lord.

And we do have real and deep fellowship

with Jesus in this life, but we don't

get to enjoy the face-to-face fellowship

with him that we're going to enjoy in

heaven. That kind of fellowship is

something that we can look forward to.

That's why Paul can say in verse 8, he

would rather be away from the body and

at home with the Lord.

To be away from the body is to be with

the Lord in that intermediate state,

awaiting our resurrection bodies.

But even while we are away from the Lord

in our earthly bodies, we can still be

of good courage.

We can be confident through aging and

suffering and persecution and every

other challenge life throws at us, and

verse 7 tells us how.

When we walk by faith, not by sight.

What does it mean to walk by faith

and not by sight?

Let's start by answering the question in

reverse. What does it mean to walk by

sight

and not by faith?

It means to live as if what you see

around you is all that there is.

To live as if there isn't a real God who

really loves you and is really present

in every atom of this universe.

To plug your ears to every promise that

God has made to you in his word,

assuming that your problems are somehow

beyond his help or wisdom or comfort.

It's to orient your entire life around

this life only

and not what comes after it.

You know, to walk by sight means to live

as a functional atheist.

So, then what does it mean to walk by

faith

and not by sight?

It means to live out of the reality that

what is seen is temporary, but what is

unseen is eternal.

To take that truth and live out of it.

It means to believe that your five

senses don't give you the whole picture,

that there's an invisible, yet fully

present God who is actively working in

this world and in your life.

And that what God says about you, who

you are through his son, and what he's

prepared for you in heaven, those

realities are actually more important

than the things you can see.

It's not blind, unreasonable faith. It's

a rational trust in the promises of God

lived out one day at a time. That is

That is living by faith and not by

sight. And so, the question is,

do you walk by faith,

or do you walk by sight?

If you're not a Christian yet, the first

and most important step of faith you

need to take is to simply believe in

Jesus.

To believe by faith, not sight, that

Jesus is the perfect son of God, that he

died and rose again to pay for your sin,

and that through him you are forgiven

and redeemed.

It sounds too simple to be true. It

sounds too good to be true, but it is

true.

And if you believe that, it will turn

your life upside down for the better.

But what about those of us who already

are Christians?

You might be walking by faith in the

most important sense. You have faith in

Jesus. You have faith that you're going

to spend eternity with him. But let me

ask you,

are there any specific areas of your

life

where you are walking by sight and not

by faith?

Do you walk by sight when it comes to

your health?

Your career?

Your finances?

Your singleness?

Your marriage?

Your children?

Fill in the blank. Are there any areas

of your life where you're

you're a borderline

functional atheist?

Where you treat that part of your life,

that problem in your life, as if it's

all 100% on you, that God has either has

nothing to do with it or wants nothing

to do with it? Because, church, you need

to know that God wants more than your

Sunday mornings. He wants it all. He

wants your life, and he wants your faith

to seep into every crack and crevice of

your life.

If you've been walking by sight

somewhere in your life, I encourage you.

I urge you, brother, sister, ask him for

his forgiveness and invite him back into

that area of your life that you've been

keeping him out of.

In verse 9, Paul says, "So, whether we

are at home or away, we make it our aim

to please him."

Because of the incredible hope of the

resurrection, Paul said first we should

be of good courage, and now he says that

we should make it our aim, our ambition,

to please God both now and forever.

And in verse 10, Paul's going to give us

a a pretty big reason why we should aim

to please God with our lives on earth.

Verse 10, "For we must all appear before

the judgment seat of Christ, so that

each one may receive what is due for

what he has done in the body,

whether good or evil."

So, what's going on here?

What's the judgment seat of Christ?

Well, judgment seats were common in the

Roman Empire. A a judgment seat was a

tribunal bench where a governor would

would give out their verdicts.

Paul was pretty familiar with them. And

actually, 4 years earlier, back in Acts

Acts 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18, Paul stood on trial before

the judgment seat in Corinth.

But obviously, Paul's not talking about

a human judgment seat. He's talking

about the judgment seat of Christ.

This is a judgment that takes place

after death.

So, what exactly is the judgment seat of

Christ? Well, before I go further,

I want to recognize that we're entering

into something called eschatology.

That's the study of the end times. And

when it comes to eschatology, you need

to know first Christians are united on

the essentials. We all believe that one

day Jesus will return and make all

things new. No one's arguing about that.

But the timeline and the details for how

that will happen have been debated by

well-meaning Christians for thousands of

years.

And so, that just means that when we

talk about these issues, when we think

about these issues, we need to have

humility, and we need to remember that

there will always be someone smarter and

godlier than us who holds to a different

position than we do.

But as I've studied it, I believe that

in verse 10, Paul is referring to the

final judgment of all people, both

Christians and non-Christians.

Non-Christians will be at this judgment

where where they will be judged for

their works, how they lived in this

life.

And they will be eternally separated

from God because of the evidence brought

forth against them.

Revelations 20 Revelation 20:12 says,

Revelation 20:12

"And I saw the dead,

great and small, standing before the

throne, and books were opened.

Then another book was opened, which is

the book of life, and the dead were

judged by what was written in the books

according to what they had done."

And verse 15, "And if anyone's name was

not found written in the book of life,

he was thrown into the lake of fire."

When it says unbelievers are judged

according to what they've done, don't

think karma. This isn't This isn't

karma. Like, if you do more than good

than evil, you go to heaven.

The truth is is that you and I could

never do enough good to outdo all the

evil we commit in this life.

Romans 3:23 says, "All have sinned and

Romans 3:23

fall short of the glory of God." We we

can't through good works earn our way

back to God. And so, that means that

apart from Christ, at this judgment, our

works will be brought forward as

evidence against us, evidence that we

deserve eternal separation from God.

That is a terrifying reality.

There's only one way to escape that

judgment, and it's not by trying to be a

good person. It's by admitting that

you're not a good person, and then

putting your faith in the only good

person there has ever been, and that's

Jesus Christ.

But what does this judgment look like

for those who have put their faith in

Christ, who've been saved by him?

Because that's who Paul really has in

mind here in verse 10.

Well, first and foremost, no one in

Christ will be condemned at this

judgment.

No one in Christ will be condemned.

Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now

Romans 8:1

no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Brother in Christ, sister in Christ,

when you stand before Jesus in judgment,

it will not be to determine your eternal

destiny. That was taken care of at the

cross, and it was sealed the moment you

put your faith in Jesus. Your eternal

destiny is secure in Christ.

Your sin has been paid by him.

You've been covered in his

righteousness. What charge could he

bring against you?

But that raises a question. Well, if I'm

not going to be condemned, if there's no

possibility of that,

why why would I still have to stand

trial?

Well, there's two compatible

explanations for this judgment.

The first is that at this judgment, your

good works will be brought forward as

evidence for the genuineness of your

faith.

To borrow an analogy, your good works

are kind of like a ticket to go see a

concert. It's not the ticket that gives

you the right to enter the concert. It

It's the money that paid for the ticket

that gives you the right to enter the

concert, right? The ticket is just the

evidence that the money has been paid.

Well, Christ paid for our salvation,

every bit of it. It's not 99% Christ, 1%

us. It's all him, right? He paid it all.

And the good works that result from that

salvation are just the evidence of that

salvation.

Because everyone who Jesus saves, he

sanctifies.

No one who's truly been saved by Christ

can stay the same. Over time, their

works will prove the genuineness of

their faith.

So, that's the first way to understand

this judgment. There's a second view of

this judgment that I I think is

complementary to the first and

compatible with the first. And And

that's that at this final judgment of

believers, Christ will reward us

according to our deeds.

He's going to reward us according to our

deeds.

Paul expanded this out further in 1

1 Corinthians 3:10–15

Corinthians chapter 3, verses 10 through

15. He said,

"According to the grace of God given to

me, like a skilled master builder, I

laid a foundation, and someone else is

building upon it. Let each one take care

how he builds upon it. For no one can

lay a foundation other than that which

is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Now, if anyone builds on the foundation

with gold, silver, precious stones,

wood, hay, straw,

each one's work will become manifest,

for the day will disclose it, because it

will be revealed by fire, and the fire

will test what sort of work each one has

done.

If the work that anyone has built on the

foundation survives, he will receive a

reward.

If anyone's work is burned up, he will

suffer loss, though he himself will be

saved, but only as through fire."

Our works will be tested. And if they

were done in love and faithful obedience

to Christ, they will be rewarded down to

the smallest deed. Matthew 10:42, Jesus

Matthew 10:42

says, "And whoever gives one of these

little ones even a cup of cold water

because he is a disciple, truly I say to

you, he will by no means lose his

reward."

So, what will these rewards be?

Well, we don't know for sure.

It It seems that it could be greater

responsibilities in heaven.

We'll probably get into this in the

summer, but but there's a good case to

be made that in heaven, we'll have jobs

and responsibilities. So, perhaps you

will receive greater responsibilities

based on your greater faithfulness in

this life. That seems to be implied from

the parable of the minas in Luke chapter

Luke 19 · chapter mention

19.

It could mean greater commendation or

praise from God, as crazy as that

sounds. In 1 Corinthians 4:5, it says

1 Corinthians 4:5

that on the last day, each one will

receive his commendation from God.

But whatever these rewards are, we can

be sure that those with less rewards

won't be jealous of those with more. And

those with more won't act pridefully

towards those with less, because

remember, there will be no sin in

heaven, no jealousy or pride.

So, the person with less rewards will

never be jealous of the person with

more. In fact, they'll actually delight

in the greater reward of that person.

And the person with more rewards will

never pridefully boast to the person

with less.

Everyone will be completely and

eternally satisfied in Christ.

But what's the point of all this? Why

does Paul bring this up? Why does God

give us these glimpses over and over in

the New Testament that we're going to

receive heavenly rewards at this

ceremony?

Well, it's to motivate us to make it our

aim, our ambition in this life to please

Christ with everything in us.

You should want this reward, whatever it

is, and you should work hard for it.

It's not selfish to want something that

your God wants to give you.

It's like the motivation a child feels

when their father gives them a job to do

and says, "Hey, if you do a good job on

this, maybe we'll go out for ice cream

afterwards." Like the ice cream is

great, but the real reward is knowing

that you pleased your father, that he's

proud of you, and he's proud of your

work.

Man, how incredible is it that that

through our good works, we can actually

please Jesus?

We can please our savior.

How incredible is it that not only did

Jesus rescue us from hell, but then on

top of that, he would even delight to

reward us for our tiny little acts of

faithfulness in this life that he

himself enabled in the first place.

That he will reward us for all the ways

we serve him in secret.

That he'll reward you for all the times

you held on to him through those dark,

dark valleys.

He sees it all, and he will reward it

all, because he is a gracious,

gift-giving God.

And on the other hand,

honestly, do any of you really want to

get to heaven as through fire?

Saved, but with little reward, because

for much of your life, you walked by

sight and built with straw?

Because you lived for visible, temporary

realities instead of invisible, eternal

realities.

Church,

what is seen is temporary,

but what is unseen is eternal.

So, live for Christ, and die for Christ,

and one day, you will be resurrected

with Christ

to enjoy him forever.

Let's pray.