Prayer of Thanksgiving: Thank God for adopting us as his beloved children and for Christ and his saving work.

Prayer of Supplication: Pray for God to give your family good health and to protect you spiritually.

Bible reading and commentary:

Read: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10

The Apostle Paul refers to the present, mortal body as a tent, whereas he speaks of the future resurrected body as a house (v 1). Although we are currently clothed in our mortal flesh, we will one day be further clothed with a glorified body that will swallow up our mortality (v 4). Christians can experience this reality of the resurrection hope even now through the indwelling of the Spirit, who is “the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it” (Eph.1:14).

The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is directly tied to the resurrection of Christ (2 Cor. 4:14), which guarantees that death itself, the last enemy, has been defeated. The thought of the death of death was captured in the title of John Owen’s book: The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. The death of death is a gospel promise. The Christian does not need to fear death but can confidently know that it has been defeated (1 Cor. 15:55).

Whatever suffering, trial, burden, fear, or discouragement you may experience, it is not as tragic, painful, or final as death. Therefore, to know that Christ has defeated death is to know that he has taken away the ultimate sting of all our present sufferings. Though we groan under our burdens (2 Cor. 5:4), we do so with good courage (vv 6, 8), being content that “So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him (v 9). To believe that God’s permanent, death-defeating promise is more defining than our momentary experiences is to walk by faith, not by sight (v 7).

Our confident assurance concerning the future means we would prefer to be away from the body and to be at home with the Lord. In Paul’s letter to the Philippians he explains what he means. His words in 2 Corinthians 6-10 and in Philippians 1:21-24 point to the immediate presence of a Christian’s soul with the Lord Jesus at the moment of death. The New Testament assumes that death means conscious entry at once into the Lord’s presence — to be at home with him. ‘At home with the Lord’ (v 8), is a beautiful expression. When we are away from home, we long to be just there! Home for the Christian is where Jesus is.

We cannot see our heavenly home, or our Savior, the Lord Jesus. We cannot even see the glory that is before us. God-given faith, nurtured by the Holy Spirit, makes us increasingly surer of the unseen than of the seen. This reminds us of Jesus’ words: ‘Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?’ (John 14:1-2). Although we cannot see Jesus, the Holy Spirit makes us so sure of him that we ‘rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory’ (1 Peter 1:8). This ability to live by faith and not by sight provides another explanation for our not being overcome by discouragement as we exercise the ministry of the new covenant.

Before we were believers we either had no ambitions at all or too many which were motivated by selfishness. As Christians we ought to be ambitious but it is to please God not ourselves. This was Paul’s aim and it should be ours. After our conversion we have a new sense of indebtedness to God and an awareness of Jesus’ grace. These produce a gratitude that shows itself in our determination to please the Lord. Life is actually simplified because we know that to please him puts everything else in its proper place. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21).

The certainty of the coming judgment underlines the wisdom of this determination. Jesus is the one who will judge all human beings. As believers our salvation at the judgment is not in doubt but we will be judged by what we have done in the body, whether good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10). Our body is the instrument by which we may honor the Lord Jesus (Phil. 1:20). The key issue at the judgment for everyone will be the possession of faith in the Lord Jesus and the new covenant. The key issue for all who have entered the new covenant through faith in Jesus will be their obedience to the stewardship of that new covenant. If a Christian’s daily ambition is to please God through faith in Jesus Christ then the Christian will most definitely hear Jesus’ words: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’ (Matt. 25:21, 23).