Grace Community Church, Arlington, TX

As Paul writes this letter to the Christians in Corinth, he has been facing death on a daily basis. Hostility, animosity, and persecution has grown to a fever pitch for Paul. In fact, we find him, as he writes this letter, under a daily sentence of death. He realizes that at any moment, any day, he could lose his life. The sense of imminent death comes through in this letter many times.

All of that to say he lived on the brink of death. And the question that arises is how did he do it? How did he deal with this? He never lost his boldness. He never lost his conviction. He never lost his courage to proclaim the truth that was the very reason his life was threatened. He faced death confidently, and that’s what this section is about. He knew what was on the other side of death and he preferred it, and he makes that clear in this text.

Give Paul his choice, he’d rather die. This is a man who faced death as a better option than life. He preferred it. He says it in verse 8: We “prefer to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”

You will die. The question is, how do you face that? How do you face the inevitability of death? Are you frightened about that? You shouldn’t be. It’s actually releasing you from a fairly wretched neighborhood down here, to a much better neighborhood up there. The sorrows of life are worse than death. The disappointments of life are worse than death.

Now, we want to be here as long as the Lord wants us to be here for useful service to Him. But the longing of our heart is to leave and be in heaven. As Paul said, in Philippians chapter 1, “If I stay here, it is for my service to you, but I would really prefer to be there.”

1. Eternity’s Certainty and Glory

A. Our Resurrection Bodies
Paul faced death courageously and confidently, because he knew that the resurrection body is far better. Look at verse 1. “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

He wants to get rid of this earthly tent, and in its place the resurrection body. Paul’s priority list went like this: number one option: rapture - I’d just like to live till Jesus comes. Number two option for Paul: death - if I can’t be here until the Lord comes, I’d like to die, and the sooner the better. Option number three: I will live on in this earthly body for your sakes.

“Far better to depart and be with Christ” - Philippians 1 - “we prefer to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord.” And that’s the way we should live.

B. The Presence of the LordHe not only knew that the next body is the best, but he knew that the next life is perfect; “in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”

What he wanted was life - real life, eternal life - that’s what life there means. He wanted the full richness of the eternal life which God had prepared for His own.

Do you love Him enough to be homesick to be where He is? Our disinterest in heaven is evidence of our coldness of love for Christ, and the fact that we really aren’t weary of sin; forgive us for that. Paul longed to enter into that place. Don’t you?

C. The Judgment Seat of Christ

He is saying if I have to stay here, I’ll stay. If I have to die, I’m willing to die. But in either case, it’s not going to change my ambition. Verse 9, “Whether at home or absent.” His longings for what was to come in heavenly glory didn’t make him indifferent to this life. In fact, it made him all the more careful about how he lived this life.

And the idea that he would have to face the Lord someday elevated his sense of devotion to duty, didn’t diminish it. “Because we must all appear beforethe judgment seat of Christ.” His ambition was driven by the reality that there is going to be an accounting for what he has done in his body. This is not a judgment for sin. Our sin was judged already on the cross.

Why are we told about the Judgment Seat of Christ? So we will prepare! (Rev 22:12) "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.

Knowing that this is coming inspires us to prepare for it. God instructs us about the Judgment Seat in advance because He wants us to do well there. Knowledge of the Judgment Seat inspires us to live in light of that day. The problem today is that much of the church believes that we all just get the same thing, heaven, when we die. That is one of the reasons why there is so little motivation and diligence in the church.

Paul is saying that these Athletes were willing to go into strict training to get a perishable crown. They were motivated to live disciplined lives and sacrifice for a lettuce leaf wrapped around their head that dried up and blows away. But we have a different motivation, our crown is imperishable. How much more should we be motivated to discipline ourselves? How much more should we be willing to forgo a life of self-centeredness and comfort and ease?

There are commendations, crowns given out, eternal rewards and riches, and future assignments in the Kingdom of Come. How well we live now has everything to do with how well we will live forever. The Judgment Seat should motivate us to live disciplined lives. Lives of service to God.

(The second thing that motivated Paul to live not for this world but for the next was…)
2. Christ’s Compelling Love

Paul is not talking about His love for Christ; he’s talking about Christ’s love for him. Christ had laid a saving claim on the life of Paul so that he was so overwhelmed by this saving love that he could never live for anything but the proclamation of the gospel of that saving love. Christ’s saving love for Paul controlled him, dominated him, motivated him, ruled him.

What Christ has done for me through this amazing saving, forgiving, gracious love makes me not want to live for myself but for Him who died and rose again on my behalf.
What Christ has done for me through this amazing saving, forgiving, gracious love makes me not want to live for myself but for Him who died and rose again on my behalf.

3. Our Identity in Christ

When you turn to Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, you become a new creature. You have a new identity. And knowing that makes all the difference in the world.The devil doesn’t want you to know who you are, so he must somehow try to keep this truth from you. Jesus said that the devil is the father of lies, and that is what he uses to keep so many in bondage and captivity... lies.

But Jesus says, John 8:32 “and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”Does the truth make you free? No!The truth you know makes you free! You must know the truth, believe the truth, apply the truth if you want to be free.

Paul said the same thing to the believers in Ephesus.The Book of Ephesians is divided into two sections: chapters 1-3 feel one way; chapters 4-6 feel totally different. In chapters 4-6 Paul goes after behavior. So what does Paul do in chapters 1, 2, and 3? Basically, the main thing that he does in the first three chapters of Ephesians is say, "Remember who you are! Realize that you have a new identity now!

He really doesn't tell them to do anything for three chapters, rather, in the first three chapters, he talks about identity—"Remember who you are, remember who you are"—because often, we behave the way we behave because we think the way we think.

(The fourth reason that Paul was motivated to not live for this world but for the next was his…)

4. Our Ambassadorial Assignment

An ambassador was a representative of a monarch who was set into an alien culture to represent that monarch. And so it is with us: we represent the King of kings and we are in an alien culture. And our responsibility is to tell the people in this alien culture, who are enemies of God by nature, that they can be reconciled to God. That’s our message.

The closing verse in 2 Cor 5 says… He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
On the cross, God treats His Son as if He lived your life so that He could treat you as if you lived His Son’s life. That’s how God sees you.

What motivated Paul to not live for this world but for the next?1. Eternity’s Certainty and Glory: Our Resurrection Bodies, The Glorious Presence of God, and the Judgment Seat of Christ.
2. Christ’s Compelling Love.Our Identity in ChristOur 3.Ambassadorial Assignment