Transcript

Courage Encouraged

2 Corinthians 5:6-10
June 22, 2014
Pastor Randy Smith

Yearbooks have arrived. And the seniors in my daughter's school were permitted to select a favorite quote to be placed by their picture. There was everything from Derek Jeter to SpongeBob. However one girl, to our great joy, used Scripture from Joshua 1:9: "Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

I love that verse! Perhaps she chose it because she struggles in the area of courage. I believe we all struggle in the area of courage especially when it comes to being outspoken for Christ. Even Timothy, the great soldier of Christ, had his difficulties in this area. In 2 Timothy, Paul needed to remind him, "Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God."

I was reading through some of my grace quotes on Friday listed under the topic of "courage." "Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point" (C.S. Lewis). "True courage is not the absence of fear - but the willingness to proceed in spite of it" (author unknown). "Cowardice asks the question: 'Is it safe?' Consensus asks the question: 'Is it popular?' Courage asks the question: 'Is it right?'" (Richard Own Roberts). "Christians without courage are a strange and pathetic contradiction and a constant hindrance to revival" (Richard Owen Roberts). Wow, "Christians without courage are a strange and pathetic contradiction!"

So if courage is indispensable to life and especially the Christian life, how do we gain and develop courage? How do we overcome the inherent fear to speak and live the things that we believe from Scripture? How do we boldly stand up for Christ in a world where we know most will marginalize, malign and mistreat the ones who do? Courage: We know we need it! How do we get it?

With the limited time we have remaining this morning, we will examine a biblical answer to that question from our passage in 2 Corinthians. In verse 6 of chapter 5 Paul said, "Therefore, being always of good courage." Two verses later he said, "We are of good courage." Are you sensing a theme?

God wants you to be courageous for Him. And the resources available to Paul, one of the most courageous men I know, are also available to you. Let's observe them and let's be changed this morning from fearful scaredy-cats to fearless warriors for Christ.

1. COURAGE ENCOURAGED

Let's begin with the first point, "Courage Encouraged."

We have to ask the question, why did Paul all of a sudden in this section of his letter get inspired to speak about his unflinching courage? We don't have the time this morning to examine all the passages, but just in this letter alone he was a man who definitely exemplified the word, courage. We know courage comes from the Lord. "Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the LORD" (Psalm 31:24), but specifically what truths regarding the Lord provide that courage? Let me provide two found right here that Paul used within the context.

Future security with God

First is future security with God.

Let's remember what we learned last week. Paul knew that his life was daily on the line. Normally that would strip us of courage, but in his case he considered his own death and recalled his future resurrection body in the blessedness of heaven.

Allow me to explain how that gave him courage. Remember in verse 1 he called his earthly body "a tent," and his resurrection body in heaven "a building from God." Paul said in verse 2 he "longed" and "groaned" for this body. Paul loved his life here on earth. "To live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). But Paul had greater anticipation for the life to come. "To die is gain" (Phil. 1:21). So to him, even death, the greatest enemy we fear, wasn't bad. Death was his portal to eternal glory, and eternal glory is, verse 5, the very thing God has prepared his children to desire.

So I see it this way. We love God. We know we are commanded to stand up for God. But we fear standing up for God because of the way we fear people will treat us. They'll think we are weird, outdated, simple-minded, brainwashed, nerdy…you fill in the blank. Someone can even look at us wrong and we'll become as tightlipped as a clam. So we simply keep our faith to ourselves, and while we claim in our hearts to be evangelical, we are the furthest thing from being evangelistic.

Are we surprised? Jesus said, "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you" (Jn. 15:10). Are we unprepared? Jesus said, "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Mt. 10:28). Are we listening? Jesus said, "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels" (Mk. 8:39).

What is the worst the opposition can do? Kill you - though doubtless that will occur, at least for now, in this country. But even if that were case, the Scripture strips away that excuse citing that death for the Christian is the greatest event possible because only death has the ability to break the seal and usher you into inexpressible glory. Could the problem be that we simply have a too great a fascination with the things going on here and not enough desire to spend eternity with Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 4:16-18)?

That's Paul's point in verse 6. Look there with me. "Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord." And the same is basically repeated in verse 8. "We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord."

We love that verse! How can we not? The guarantee from Scripture that the split second we die, we are separated from this body and ushered into the direct presence of the Lord! It's just like Jesus promised to the thief on the cross: "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise" (Lk. 23:43). No hell. No purgatory. No "soul sleeping." Instant heaven!

But for the Christian, there must be much more to this truth. If we really "prefer" to be "home with the Lord," intimate, personal, visible communion with Christ that far exceeds our communion with Christ here (Heb. 11:10, 13), then we must be "absent from the body." In other words, we must die. Therefore death from that perspective doesn't sound so bad. Only death can release me from "absent from the Lord" to be "home with the Lord." It goes back to what we learned in 4:17 about "an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison." So the worst the enemy can do is send me to paradise! You see why Paul had unmovable courage!

Present trust in His promises

Paul had the motivation to be courageous because of his present faith in God's promises. Look at verse 7. Inserted as almost a parenthetical thought between the parallel statements in verses 6 and 8 he said, "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

As my plane was preparing to land in Newark a couple of weeks ago, it found itself immersed in a dense covering of fog. Throughout the entire descent, it was impossible to see anything outside of the plane windows. As we dropped in altitude, I had this feeling that the ground was rapidly approaching, but still nothing could be identified. I commented to the older gentleman sitting next to me that this is the time I am thankful that the pilots had the assistance of modern navigational devices. I knew they, like me, couldn't see anything either! For them it was a total walk of faith in their instruments.

Likewise, this world has a tremendous capacity to blind us to spiritual reality. That's why we were told to (at the end of chapter 4), "Look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18). Put your faith in the stuff you see and it won't take long for the Christians to become discouraged, confused and defeated. We can't see God or the ways He is presently working. Therefore, the best this world has to offer, often seems more attractive. The direction of our society often seems without hope. And with the persecution on the church just keeping quiet often seems like the best option. You see why we need to walk by faith and not by sight?

But our eyes need to be on God's Word. Specifically we need to know and trust by faith the promises He has revealed to us in Scripture. We need to train ourselves to see the unseen. We need to view His doing as the ultimate reality. We need to keep His character and His truths forefront in our minds. We need to walk not by what we see, but by faith in what might be invisible, yet what we know to be true. Then and only then will we be able to cut through the smokescreen of this world and have the confidence to conduct ourselves with hope and courage, knowing God is in charge and He will keep His promises.

2. COURAGE EVIDENCED

Well, we just provided two ways we can get courage which can really be summed up in one: Present faith in God's promises that God is in control of this world and has guaranteed for His children a blessed future with Him. Now to the second point, how can I know if I accept this teaching and am really demonstrating true courage? Answer: I will be free from all fear to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. Look at verse 9, "Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him."

What are you ambitious to achieve? What if I had you compose a list of your goals and priorities. If you didn't just hear the verse that read, would "pleasing God" even make the top-ten? How often do we arise each day with the prayerful intention that simply says, "Lord, it is my ambition to please You today!" Perhaps we'd put it on paper, but are we really doing it? And if we are not doing it, but we know we should and want to in our heart, what is it that's preventing us? Can I submit that whatever your answer is, it boils down to what we have already discussed. We have fear because we are not walking by faith.

Oh, it's more than the fear of being persecuted. When we choose to live lives that are not pleasing to the Lord, we do so because we fear missing out on fun, or fear that our idols of dependency will be snatched away, or fear God's way won't effectively get the job done, or fear we will be pulled out of our comfort zone, or fear that it is going to cost us too much. The list continues, but it all comes back to fear, and fear results because we walk by sight and a lack of faith in God's promises. We don't always live to please God because we think we know better than God what it takes to make us more productive and content and happy.

Do you have the freedom to be unshackled from the bondage of fear to live a life pleasing to God in all things?

In the film Chariots of Fire there is a memorable scene involving Eric Liddell and his sister, Jenny. She is chiding him for what she regards as his divided loyalty between his athletics and his commitment to Christ. She reminds him that God made him for Himself. He replies: "Yes, Jenny, I know, but He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure." For us, this may not be athletics. It may be accounting or selling or teaching or nursing or mothering. In the latter case, this would allow a mother to declare with conviction: "And when I make the lunches, I feel His pleasure."

Think of it this way. I can make it my aim to please God, knowing that will be the greatest way I can love others (freedom!), or I can run around trying to please everybody, relegate God to a position lower than His creation, disappoint God and also feel deflated when others are disappointed with me after all my efforts (slavery!).

This is the command for all Christians. It is to be our ambition to live lives with the forefront desire to be pleasing to the Lord in all that we do, not just in the subcomponent of religious duties. Or if I can put it another way more familiar, we are to do all things to His glory (1 Cor. 10:31).

And if I don't? Well, you may well not be a Christian. And if I am a Christian? Then remember you will have to give an account of your life before the judgment seat of Christ.

3. COURAGE EXAMINED

Let's move to the third and final point and realize that our courage to live pleasing to God is something to which God will hold us accountable.

Verse 10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

There will be a final Great White Throne judgment that will separate believers from unbelievers. What Paul is talking about here is a different judgment that will be only for believers where their life on this earth as Christians will be examined.

Look again at verse 10 carefully: "For we [every believer] must all appear [it's inevitable - there's no getting out of it] before the judgment seat of Christ [the Judge is Jesus], so that [the purpose] each one [every Christian] may be recompensed for his deeds in the body [life on this earth], according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

The Greek word for "judgment seat" (in verse 10) is "bema." It means a raised platform. It was the place where the victorious athletes in the Greek games would receive their reward. It was the place where Pilate presided to examine Jesus (Mt. 27:19) and Gallio presided to examine Paul (Ac. 18:12, 16).

Sometime in heaven, (sooner than later I believe), all of God's people will go through an examination. Jesus Christ who already knows all things and can see into the depths of our service to Him will examine our works. Eternal destinies are not the issue at this judgment. Sin also is not judged here because that was already judged at the cross. The topic of examination will be: did we serve Christ in an effort to please Him (cf. Mt. 5:11-12)?

1 Corinthians 3 tells us it will be an examination by fire. In a sense, the stuff we've done in His name will be placed before Him. Then fire will consume all the things done to really impress others or done with improper motives, the hypocrisy and facades and pretense is stripped away. We will be laid bare, exposed with nothing to hide behind and those works will be consumed like "wood, hay [and] straw" (1 Cor. 3:12) - the "bad." And the question will be, what stands the test and proves to be "gold, silver [and] precious stones" (1 Cor. 3:12) - "the "good." Our Christian lives at that point will be seen for what they really were.

So do we buckle under the pressures exerted by the world? Or do we have the understanding of God promises, faith to believe them and courage to live them out? Only then can we live lives with the ambition and freedom to be pleasing to the Lord that will be able to stand before His judgment with confidence.