The Glory of Holy Dwelling | Rev. Paul Lawler

What happens after death, and how should that shape your life now? This message explores the hope of a resurrected body, the reality of eternity, and why living to please Christ today carries eternal significance.

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Welcome to the podcast of Christ Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Join us as we dive into this week's sermon that challenges our hearts and minds to grow closer to Christ. We pray that your heart is inspired and transformed by God's Word.

Introduction to 2 Corinthians

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Our scripture reading this morning comes from Second Corinthians chapter five verses one through ten. 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 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. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Tents and Their Limitations

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Good morning, Christ Church family and guests. My name is Paul Lawler. I have the honor of serving as a senior pastor of Christ Methodist. We welcome you today. Delighted that you're here. And many of you are aware we're in a series on the book of 2 Corinthians, and it is a lot more, it almost feels like a divine appointment that the text that we're teaching from today would come after the Sunday that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because this text takes us more deeply into the implications for your one and only life. So this is a text that propels both hope and reverence. Hope in Christ and what's coming for you in Christ, but also a sense of reverence. And that will make sense as we journey forward this morning. So you may have noticed that three distinct times in the text that Nathan just read, that the Apostle Paul references your earthly body as a tent. And then he contrasts the resurrection body that's coming for you one day if you're in Christ as a building or a house. But he says that the bodies that we now have are like a tent.

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Now, think with me for a moment. Tents have their place.

The Intermediate State Explained

Assurance of a Resurrected Body

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Tents are great for camping, not so great during storms. I remember many of you may know I spent about a decade in student ministry early in my ministry years, and we took a group of students camping on the Nantahela River and doing a couple of days of rafting. And I will never forget about 2:30 in the morning, a terrible storm came. And it was one of those kinds of storms where the rain comes down like heavy sheets. And so if you can picture about 70 teenagers and adults all in tents, 2.30 in the morning, thunder crashing and rolling and rain coming down like sheets, you suddenly have chaos because water's not simply coming through the tent, water is rising underneath the tent. So at 2:30 in the morning, we pack up the entire camp as rain's coming down, load the buses, and in the middle of the night we're headed home. We have these, what we would call moving terrenium, or is that what you call them? Terraniums, as these buses are full of water and humidity. But the point is that tents are not what's best in weathering storms. I remember as a kid, I had a pup tent in my backyard, and it was exposed to the elements for about a month. And remember, I remember how easily it ripped. And so the point that the Apostle Paul is making is that our bodies are pretty good tents for a while. You put 60, 70, 80 plus years on them, and they begin to break down. Sometimes they break down earlier than that. And that's the point that Paul is making. But our resurrected bodies are stable and secure houses. Resurrected bodies that are coming for you, if your life is in Christ, are everlasting. Nothing will be able to destroy your resurrected body when you receive it on that day. And so Paul makes these contrasts here between your earthly body, your temporary earth suit, and your eternal, everlasting resurrected body that's coming for you. He says in verse one, your temporary body is earthly. Verse four, it's mortal. And he does that because our temporary body, our earth suit, so to speak, is a body that is dying. It's a tent that is wearing out. But there is a future body that is heavenly and eternal. It is your resurrected body, and it will not be corruptible. Verse 4 says that the body that's coming for you will be swallowed up by life. And that is the very life of God. It will never die, it will never get sick, it will never get old. And so notice that there that our physical body as we know it is temporary. But the body that's coming for you is a physical body. Your resurrected body is literally physical. Now, if I may, could I share a theological truth with you this morning? I I am anyway, no matter what you say, but here's the thing that is important for us to know because sometimes our understanding can get cloudy about these things. And it's important that we understand that the Bible teaches when we die, right now, if we die and we're in Christ, that we do go to be with Jesus. But your presence with Jesus is not embodied. You're in a sense what would be called entering a disembodied state, and your spirit, which has been made alive in Christ, that comes out of Ephesians chapter 2. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. We've been made alive, our spirit has been made alive as we came to know Jesus. We will be fully present with the Lord, but we will not receive our resurrected bodies until the day of resurrection. And so this is why verse 8 says, when we are absent from the body, we are present with the Lord. Philippians 1 tells us that when we depart this life, then we go to be with Jesus immediately. In fact, it's important to stress that when we go to be with Jesus and in his presence, we're in what we would refer to as an intermediate state. We're with the Lord in our spirits, but it's not ultimately what God intends for us. Remember, God is going to recreate the heavens and recreate the earth. And your resurrected body, you will live here on a recreated earth in the fullness of the presence of Jesus Christ. I didn't have, I'm not listing all the scriptures that substantiate that. I would encourage you, as I often say, to have the mind of a Berean and search the scriptures for yourselves to see if these things are true. But presently, our bodies are slowly decaying. Our bodies cannot match currently the aspirations of what God in his love for us has designed for our spirits. Our physical bodies, excuse me, are weakened by disease, allergies, injuries, old age, and finally by death. Let me illustrate it this way. It's not complicated, but when I was in my late teens and early 20s, I could dunk a basketball. Now I know some of you are going, yeah, right. Okay. But I do need to say I never did that in a game, and I had to let the air, some air out of the basketball, so I could grip it because my hands just aren't large enough to palm a basketball. So maybe you understand that maybe Pastor Paul's not really bragging when you understand those factors. But I could do that in my late teens, in my early 20s. But in my 30s, I could no longer dunk a basketball. I could still touch the rim. I could still hang on the rim. And then my late 40s came, and I could no longer duck a basketball, nor could I touch the rim. And it began to hit me as it's hit some of you as we all age. A mortal body cannot do what it used to do. And so that brings us to when the Apostle Paul wrote about this very thing, not dunking a basketball, but look with me, Romans 8.23, when he wrote, We who have the first fruits of the Spirit grown. We're going to come back to first fruits in a moment, awaiting eagerly for our adoption as sons. Now remember when he uses a reference to sons in verse 8, he's not being chauvinistic. Sons were the ones that inherited, firstborn sons inherited everything. And so I've said to you before, ladies, in this context, you want to be a son. And so you know that the Bible's not being chauvinistic. Remember, men, you also want to be a part of Jesus' bride. So we're we're mindful that some of the metaphors in scripture carry meaning that we want to pay attention to, that God's declaring that you're eagerly awaiting the inheritance that's been prepared for you. But notice in this inheritance, it includes, note the last part of the verse, the redemption of your physical body. That is the redemption of our bodies. God has promised that your longing for a new body will be fulfilled. And the purpose is life in Christ, so that God is glorified, that our mortality will be swallowed up by the life of God, as Paul describes in this passage. And the gift of the Holy Spirit that's already operating in your life as a believer is the first fruit of God declaring this is the deposit He's placed in your life so that you know that you know that you know this is coming. You can be confident that a resurrected body is coming for you if your life is in Christ. We will have a resurrected body in the future. Now, with that in mind, this sounds like I'm shifting gears totally, but we're just following the text.

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Let's be mindful and validate that life is full of mountains and valleys.

Longing for Perfection

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And when Nathan Cook, our mission's pastor, was leading us in the pastoral prayer this morning, we were being led in prayer that prays into those realities. That we were rejoicing in the good things that God has done and is doing, but we were also praying together for persons in our fellowship that are navigating post being post-surgical or going into surgery or cancer, facing that battle, praying for the brokenness in the world. Now, why why do we validate those things? Here's why. Because there's a longing in all of us for perfection, there's a longing in all of us for justice. There's a longing and an ache in our lives that we want to see things made right. And there's a part of us that feels unsatisfied and unfulfilled because there's a sense in us that there's more to life. And those desires are not a bad thing. What those desires do is remind us all that we were designed for another world. This is why, as we quote C.S. Lewis on this famous statement that he made, if we find in ourselves desires that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world. And this reminds us, loved ones, that as a believer, this world ultimately is not our home. This reminds us that God has wired us with a longing, and his revelation affirms the reality that we look forward to a resurrection. We look forward to the day when things are made right. And Paul exhorts us in this word we read this morning to be confident about the future. Look with me in verses six through eight. Paul writes that we're to be of good courage. He says, We know that while we're at home in the body, we're away from the Lord.

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For we walk by faith, not by sight. But be of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Confidence and Courage in Christ

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And so he's encouraging us to be confident, to be full of good courage, but he's reminding us that as we're home with the body, that we're not fully with the Lord yet, which means that we're not really fully home.

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Remember Fanny Crosby when she wrote these words? Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a say that word out loud if you know it. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine.

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And what she's writing about there is that in Romans 8 describes how God's spirit witnesses with your spirit that you're a child of God. It's called assurance. And it's a foretaste of heaven, it's a foretaste of God's glory, it's a foretaste of what you're going to experience unencumbered one day when you have a resurrected body and you are fully in the presence of the Lord. I remember being in Asia a number of years ago and seeing God move in such a profound way. And his presence was very real during those days. And I remember looking at two young people riding in the Jeep with me, Amber Tolbert, some of you may know her, and Matt Scott, a church planter in North America. And I just had this thought. I felt in God's presence. I just felt so at home, even though I was in another culture with strange or different food and completely different more rays and just culture totally different. Some people like to say part going there is like going to Mars.

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And yet, I asked this question Do you feel at home right now? And I remember these two young people in the Jeep saying, I've never felt more at home than I do right now.

Living with Hope and Reverence

The Judgment Seat of Christ

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That's what Paul is saying we have a foretaste of. We're not totally home yet, but a day's coming. And and and loved ones, this is why sometimes we as believers, we long for heaven on earth. And and we long for things to be totally right on earth, but the Bible teaches that that's not going to happen. This side of heaven, a lot we can long for lots of things. We can long for a perfect job, a perfect spouse, a perfect family, or a perfect church. Those longings are not wrong in themselves, but we can we also can respond to those longings in a wrong way. We can long for things to be perfect in a way that it actually can cause us to stumble into sin. We can long in a way where we become very critical or negative about life, and it's set us up that way because we're longing for heaven on earth. And that's why Paul tells us while you're on earth, walk by faith, not by sight. Because if you walk only by sight, you're going to get frustrated. I remember my middle son's baseball coach, and I, uh who was a member of the church we pastored, and I remember he had 10 axioms for ball players in high school. And the first axiom that he taught these young men was this life is not fair. And the sooner we wrap our head and our heart around that as believers, and then grow in the image of Jesus with the understanding life is made up of about 10% of what happens to us and 90% of how we react or we respond in terms of how Christ-like character is being developed in our lives, we begin to understand the depth of what God is doing in this life to prepare us for the next life and to transform our lives for the glory of Jesus Christ. So the Apostle Paul encourages us to please the Lord in everything, since our future home with our resurrected body is the ultimate reality coming for us. And he reminds us that we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. This is why this is a passage of both hope and reverence. So look with me, 2 Corinthians 5, 9 through 10, where the word reads like this. So whether we are 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's done in the body, whether good or evil. And so we recognize Paul saying, teaching us, live in a way that pleases the Lord. This is why the word of God teaches us, 1 Corinthians 10 31, whether we eat or drink, whatever we do, do it all for the glory of God. This is why the Christchurch mission statement begins with the phrase, we exist to glorify God. Or as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, excuse me, Colossians 3.17, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Give thanks to the Father, God the Father, through him. There is no greater cause than giving yourself totally in surrender to the living God. And then 2 Corinthians 5.10, Paul gives us the reason why, one of the reasons we should aim to please God. He says, We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. All of us are accountable to God.

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And that judgment will be thorough and it will be fair.

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I want to invite you to imagine something this morning. Imagine you have this appointment 30 days from now. Now, I'm I'm again I'm not trying to be morbid, I'm trying to be helpful, but would we live differently if we knew the imminent nature of that judgment? Because the scripture teaches we will be judged by what we've done in our present bodies, whether good or bad. Now that raises a question. Actually, it raises lots of questions, but let me deal with two.

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Is

Encouragement for the Journey

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Paul talking about Jesus judging us based upon the rewards we will receive? Or is he talking about Jesus judging us on the basis of works that are necessary for eternal life? And the answer to that question is yes. And before you get tripped up, you would, because many of you already are rightfully reasoning, aren't we saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not by works? Yes, that is true. We want to make much of that. But the Bible teaches that when you come to know Jesus Christ, that there should be fruit because your coming to Jesus Christ is real. The book of James, or James was inspired to write an entire book on this topic. But the Bible does emphasize that fruitfulness and our works, whether good or bad, matter greatly. In fact, the Bible affirms this repeatedly. Galatians 5.21, those who practice the works of the flesh will not enter the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6.9, we're told that the unrighteous who practice unrighteousness will not inherit the kingdom of God. In Colossians 3.24, those who do good will receive an inheritance from God. In Galatians 6.8, we're told that those who sow to the spirit will obtain eternal life, and those who sow to the flesh will be destroyed and corrupted. So on the basis of those texts, we recognize that good works do matter in relation to our salvation, but they should be or do operate as fruit of our salvation saved by grace through faith in the person of Jesus Christ. So we cannot just profess to believe in Jesus Christ and not show any fruit and expect to be with Christ forever. Now, to contrast that, in Matthew chapter 7, there are some that stand before Jesus at the end of time. And Jesus shares, even though they prophesy in his name and they do miracles in his name and cast out demons in his name, they do not belong to him. What does that illustrate? That illustrates very clearly that we are not saved by works, that we are only saved by faith, by grace, in the person of Jesus Christ. But we recognize in light of what Paul is teaching us in this passage that we as a people live with hope and we live with great reverence. So there's a lady who leaves town and gets on a train to go to St. Louis. And as she journeys toward St. Louis on a train, she's elderly and has gotten a little bit confused, not sure she's gotten on the right train. So she takes a moment and she leans over to the lady behind her and says, Am I on the right train? Is this the train to St. Louis? And the woman assures her she's on the right train. But as she sits and thoughts run through her mind, she begins to reason, maybe I'm not on the right train because maybe this lady is just as confused as I am. And so she taps a gentleman in front of her and says, Sir, is this train going to St. Louis? And the gentleman assures her, Yes, ma'am, this train is going to St. Louis. And so she sits back and she feels a little more secure now. But again, her thoughts begin to ramble. And as the more she thinks, she thinks, what if these people got on this train and just misread the sign? And maybe they're confused. Suddenly the conductor comes walking down the main aisle and she says, Sir, does this train go to St. Louis? And the conductor says, Why, yes, ma'am, it does. I am the conductor. In fact, I will be back up at the engine here in a few minutes. We are headed to St. Louis. Church, as you do life, there are going to be times where the enemy comes at you in your self-talk and causes you to doubt the reality of your faith in the person of Jesus Christ. There are going to be times when there are influences around you that are going to speak things into you or represent things that may not re that may be true, but may not register in the depth of your soul. And I want to remind you this morning that the conductor has spoken, God so loves you, that as you believe on the Son, you will not perish, but you will have everlasting life. The conductor has spoken. If your faith is in the person of Jesus Christ, you've turned to him in repentance and faith and surrendered and put your trust in him as Lord and Savior. The conductor has spoken. You are a son or daughter of the living God. If you've surrendered to him, the conductor has spoken. And I want to encourage you this morning that you are on the right train. Live with this hope that you will have a resurrected body and one day you're going to be fully home. But live with reverence because we will give an account of our one and only life for the glory of God. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's pray for a moment. So, Jesus, it's an understatement on our part to ponder the miracle, the gift and the gifts that you've given us through your death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. And we pray that you stir our faith, stir our trust in you, stir our love for you, our affection for you, Lord Jesus, to live for you, to please you, to honor you, to reverence you with the totality of our lives, we pray in the name and power of Jesus. Amen.

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Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the podcast for Christ Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. We pray that today's message has inspired and encouraged you in your walk with Christ. To stay connected with our church community, visit us online at ChristchurchMemphis.org. We hope to see you this upcoming Sunday for worship as we seek to glorify God and make disciples of Jesus Christ among all peoples.