Dwell in the Word: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10

Consider these questions as you dwell in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10:

1. Paul talks about the temporal nature of our earthly bodies compared to the eternal building from God. How does this perspective challenge the typical emphasis society places on physical appearance or material possessions? How might embracing this viewpoint alter one's priorities in life?

2. The passage discusses the groaning and longing believers experience, hoping for something more than their current earthly existence. How can individuals maintain a balance between living purposefully in the present while eagerly anticipating the promises of the future? What practices or mindsets can help navigate this tension effectively?

3. Paul emphasizes walking by faith, not by sight. How can this principle shape one's approach to life's uncertainties, especially when faced with adversity or situations where tangible solutions seem out of reach? How can trust in God's promises encourage believers to live with courage and confidence in their daily lives?

Transcript:

 So, we arrive in this passage and we get some real encouraging statements here from the apostle Paul, don't we?  He is talking about the struggles of their persecution and he says that he knows that if the tent of their earthly home is destroyed, they have a building from God. Now we know from reading before that he's not talking about a house or a tent that he is living in here, right?

He's not saying if our tent is blown away We can go on over to the synagogue or the church and be able to live there. He's talking about his body and he uses this idea of a tent in a building to show us that one is temporary and one is established. It's from God. It is eternal. That is the big idea.

And he says, Hey, this isn't made by hands. It's eternal in the heavens.  And then he talks about the struggles, and I mentioned this before the struggles of groaning in this body. This idea that you know, we have struggles we have pains in this body but we hope for something else. We hope for the eternal body with the resurrection body We long to be with God now notice what he says here in verse 4 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.

In other words, there is something more here. It’s we're not having anything stripped away from us. We're receiving something more from God and this body that we have is Swallowed up by life. It is not Thrown away with death. It is swallowed up by life. It is given Life, there is a hope of something more and notice what he says here He who has prepared us for this very thing is God this feeling that we have this this groaning that we have this longing for something more is from God and we see this in the fact that he has given us the spirit of As a guarantee for Paul This is a huge part of this understanding That because we have the gift of faith it has been given to us by the spirit because we have the indwelling holy spirit This tells us that we have this faith that we need for eternal life.

It is the beginning of this even though the tent we're in maybe has some holes that has some leaks Some of these types of things because we have the Holy Spirit we have that hope of that eternal Building from God and we read here that this is why he is of good courage. This is why no matter what happens He is trusting in God no matter what God puts him through or allows him to endure He trusts that if he dies in this life, He has the hope of eternal life if the tent is destroyed, he knows it is not just simply that he is going to have nothing.

He's not going to be naked instead He is going to receive this building from God. God is ultimately His shelter right and notice this famous phrase here. We walk by faith not by sight He's trusting for something beyond what others hope for, we have this natural tendency to put a lot of faith in what we can see right and in the things are in front of Us  we want to be in a shelter that we can touch and understand and so this body seems like  What is really mattering  but we are trusting by faith not by what we can see not by what we can touch But we're trusting that we have this greater building from god That he has given us.

And so, what does Paul say? That they're of good courage and they would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  This moving to the building is a better thing.  But obviously Paul understands that God has something for his people to do.  He will bring us to that building in his time. But until then, we abide in the tent, trusting that we have the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that something better is coming.

We desire to please him. We desire to serve him.  And so, as we think about this passage for us today, pretty straightforward application, right?  No matter the difficulties that we have in this life, no matter what comes our way, we have a trust that something better is coming from God. That no matter what hardship we have, He is going to give us that greater building.

And because we have the Holy Spirit, because we have faith, we can trust in that. We can step out into the world in confidence. We can serve God in confidence. And as he says at the end of verse 9, we can make it our aim to please Him. So may we every day make it our aim to please God, trusting that He has something so much better for us.