The Goals of the Christian Christian - II Corinthians 5:1-10

A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick


Olympic fever is spreading, and soon millions of people throughout the world will be watching and cheering the 10,500 athletes from 202 countries who will compete in 28 different sports. While in some venues tickets will be bought for as low as $14.00, other fans will pay as much as $1,170 to sit among the 75,000 who will crowd into Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremonies. ("Detroit Free Press"}

As you know, the writers of our VBS curriculum chose to focus on these games, reminding us all that life is like the running of a race, and "looking unto Jesus" who provides inspiration and strength, we must "run with patience the race marked out for us." (Hebrews 12:1)

One thing most sports have in common is that there is a goal that is fixed in the mind of each contestant. For basketball, hockey and soccer players, the goal is a net; in other sports it's a bar for the jumpers, a fence for the home run hitters, an imaginary marker for the throwers, or a finish line for runners and cyclists. It's no different in the race of life. Unlike some Eastern religious which see life as cyclical, Christianity, like its Jewish predecessor, has this idea about life being a forward movement from a distinguishable starting point, moving forward toward a particular point in the future. Obviously, for us, we are not able to determine the starting point, birth, nor are we allowed to decide on the timing for the finish line, physical death. However, once we come to the point of understanding that we indeed are in a race, we do get to choose which of two finish lines we will run toward - according to the teaching of Jesus, one is called life, and the other, destruction (Matthew 7:13,14).

Often we learn that a particular sports competitor is called a "Christian Athlete." Today we will refer to the Christian Christian, and their goals as identified in our chosen passage, II Corinthians 5:1-10.

1. The first of the goals is to be clothed with a heavenly body (v.2). The word used to represent our current physical body is "tent" (v.1), the same expression used by the Apostle John when he wrote, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." (Literally, "tabernacled" among us - John 1:14). This then is contrasted to the word used to describe the future, heavenly body, which is literally called a "house". What's the difference between a tent and a house? Permanency. Where we live now is like camping out in the woods, but when we move from this life into the next, we will be dwelling in a house, even a "mansion," according to the King James translation of John 14:2.

Paul says that we as Christians have as one of our primary goals "to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling" (v.4). Really? Then why do we spend so much money, time, and effort on the "tent"?

    A recent UN report said Americans shell out $8 billion a year for cosmetics, which is $2 billion more than the estimated cost of providing a basic education to the more than 2 billion children in the world who do not have an opportunity to go to school. (http://www.hopemag.com/issues/11-12-98/ed-n-d98.htm)

    Of course this doesn't begin to account for the time, effort, and money spent on fashionable clothing, exercise programs, gym work-outs, cosmetic surgeries, and super-sized portions of food.

    And it's getting worse. According to a survey done by the NPD Group (an international marketing information company in Port Washington, NY), Americans, during the last decade, have increased the amount of time they spend on themselves. For example, the report pointed out that, "Time spent on grooming is up 7% compared to the early '90s. Today's man takes 51 minutes to get showered, dressed and groomed. Surprisingly, today's woman takes only slightly longer – 55 minutes."

And yet Paul, thinking that he speaks for all Christians everywhere, says, "we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling." (NIV)

The words are very strong - "groan" means "to be in straits, i.e. to sigh, with grief", and "long" is from a word which means "to dote upon, i.e., to intensely crave possession."

Certainly Paul "missed the boat" - this isn't at all what we long for. We "intensely crave possession" of the physical, and we want to accumulate more stuff - we may say we want to go to heaven when we die, but not until we have exhausted the pleasures of this world and accumulated a bigger share of the riches the world offers.

2. The second mention of a life/race goal is noted in verse 4: we want "what is mortal [to be] swallowed up by life." Paul goes on to say, "God . . . has made us for this very purpose."

When most people talk about what happens after death they usually refer to it is the "after-life." From God's perspective, that's totally backwards - it would be more correct to say that now, our current physical existence is "before-life."

    Last summer when my family was on vacation, I was working around the beach area when I noticed that a young man had found a dreaded, blood-sucking leech, and was carrying it around on a little stick. His grandmother, who had brought him for a swim, was concerned that he might be torturing the slimy creature, and said, "I don't want you hurting that thing. Please go over by the dam and put it back in the water." Reluctantly, the boy did as he was told, and as soon as the leech hit the water, a hungry bass immediately came to the surface and gulped it down.

Perhaps that's what Paul had in mind; the large, beautiful life that we can't yet see, will one day swallow down the wicked, cruel present existence we so foolishly hang onto.

A few years ago I began to notice how angry I was with death. When someone died, I wasn't just sad, I was mad. At first I thought that this was because the event we call "death" was never meant to be; God created us to live, not die. Now I realize that it's not death I'm upset with, but the wrong interpretation about death. You see, for the Christian, death is to be viewed as a good thing because it's the end of something that is not good, and the beginning of something far better.

We want to ask, "How do we know this to be true; isn't truth something that we can verify with one or more of our five senses?" Notice that in verse 7 Paul makes this profound but simple statement, "We live by faith, not by sight." But that's why he adds that God has given us the Spirit as a deposit. When we come to believe in Jesus, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children" (Romans 8:16), and we have this inner certainty that does not need to rely on external evidences - we just "know that we know that we know." As this relates to the life goal, it means that the purpose of this life is to prepare ourselves for the real life to come. If the entirety of our existence is like a meal, life in this world is the cheese and crackers (sometimes we don't even get the cheese!); if it's a house, our short time here is represented by the front porch; if it's a race, this life is a warm-up lap; if it's a career in medicine, this is pre-med school; if it's a house building project, it's the foundation hole in the ground. What is yet to come is the real deal.

3. The third goal of the Christian Christian is "to please Him" (v.9), knowing that "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." (v.10)

In the NIV, the wording comes out, "we make it our goal to please him," in the KJV it reads "we labour that . . . we may be accepted of him."

The Greek word used here is "philotimeomai," which means that we are "eager or earnest" - to please God is something we strive for.

The 10,500 athletes who will compete in this year's Olympic Games will have subjected their bodies to years of grueling training exercises. Later on in his ministry, Paul made reference to this when he wrote to Timothy, "Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." (I Timothy 4:8) We subject our bodies, souls and spirits to this training in godliness so that when we reach the gate, we will be fit to enter, we will be acceptable to God.

The KJV word "labour" means that we place the "highest degree of value" on this endeavor which we "consider to be an honor." This same word is used in I Thessalonians 4:11,12 - "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."

    Let me ask this question, if you had two different bosses, perhaps at different times in your work career, and one of them treated you with respect and kindness while the other boss always seemed to look down on you as being inferior and criticized you in front of other workers - for which boss would you be likely to work the hardest? The one who respects you, you will more respect, and out of that respect, you will put forth more effort. The same applies to the family - when a parent shows respect for their child, it is likely to be returned, and the desire to please the parent is brought forth.

    In the same way, because God has demonstrated His respect toward us, we return that respect, and out of that comes our eager efforts to please Him. We basically say to God, "it's an honor to work for you."

So the goals of the Christian Christian are: to be clothed with a heavenly body, to prepare for the real life to come, and to work to please God. But then the questions comes, what does this all have to do with this "before-life" period, the life we now live in the flesh?

For an answer we go back to the end of chapter 4. First, "we do not lose heart" (4:16). Patience, endurance, perseverance, faithfulness, and steadfastness are all part of what it means to be a Christian - we will not give up in discouragement because we have a vision for our true destination, eternal, heavenly city of God.

Second, according to 4:18, "we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen." The word used here ("skopeo") is rather rare, it means "to take aim at, i.e., consider or take heed." Our word would be focus - even as the athlete focuses on the goal of his race, the finish line, the net, the hoop, or bar, so the Christian Christian focuses on the heavenly, that which cannot be seen with physical eyes but with spiritual eyes of faith. This idea is reiterated a few verses later when Paul says, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." (5:7) We are like Abraham who "looked for a city . . .whose builder and maker is God." (Hebrews 11:10) He was not able to see where he was going - Abraham had no satellite picture, no "On Star," GPS, "Mapquest" program, or even a paper map. But Abraham made his way toward what would become Jerusalem, the city of God. He walked by faith, not by sight.

There's an old Camp Meeting song that has been all but lost in the flood of contemporary music we now sing. A few of you will remember it:

We're Marching to Zion

Come, we that love the Lord,
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet accord,
Join in a song with sweet accord
And thus surround the throne,
And thus surround the throne.

Chorus:
We're marching to Zion,
Beautiful, beautiful Zion;
We're marching upward to Zion,
The beautiful city of God.

Let those refuse to sing
Who never knew our God;
But children of the heavenly King,
But children of the heavenly King
May speak their joys abroad,
May speak their joys abroad.

Then let our songs abound
And every tear be dry;
We're marching through Emmanuel's ground,
We're marching through Emmanuel's ground
To fairer worlds on high,
To fairer worlds on high.

Discussion Questions
The Goals of the Christian Christian

1. What are some of the parallels between Olympic sports and Hebrews 12:1-3:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

2. What basic philosophy stands behind the belief in reincarnation, and how does this differ from Christianity and Judaism?

3. If our future heavenly body is likened to a house, what is our current physical body likened to, and what does this have to do with the "incarnation"?

4. What evidence do we have to point out that Paul got it wrong when he said that we as Christians have as one of our primary goals "to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling"?

5. Why has it been suggested that what takes place following death should not be called the "after-life"?

6. If anger at death is appropriate, why?

7. How does the life of Abraham exemplify Paul's assertion, "We live by faith, not by sight"?

8. What are the two outstanding motivations for the Christian's strong desire to please God?

9. What do wise parents do to realize the respect of their children?

10. How does the Christian's certainty of heaven impact present existence in this world with all of its challenges, burdens and difficulties?

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