John Piper
The whole of this unit, 1Cor. Chapter 4 and 5 begins with Paul’s statement that his ministry is given to him by mercy therefore having this ministry by the mercy of God and it ends with great missionary call to be ambassadors in some in the world to make peace with God.
That verse in chapter 4 verse 1, was a huge verse for me when I was 28. I’m married, had a child, no job, finishing graduate school wanting to serve Jesus and no place to do it. And one of my most influential teachers wrote me and quoted this verse to me, and said "John, You will have this ministry as clearly by mercy as you were saved by mercy." That what the verse literary says, we have this ministry as we were shown mercy in the same way we were shown mercy to be saved on Damascus road. We have this ministry, my conversion and my ministry come together Paul said, you will have your ministry as surely by mercy as you were saved by mercy, and that was true, that came true. Ministry is by mercy, we have it by mercy.
As I see it, strengthen your faith and your will and perhaps clarify your calling to be a part of this great task.
The whole of this unit, 1Cor. Chapter 4 and 5 begins with Paul’s statement that his ministry is given to him by mercy therefore having this ministry by the mercy of God and it ends with great missionary call to be ambassadors in some in the world to make peace with God.
Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 1Cor.4:1
That verse in chapter 4 verse 1, was a huge verse for me when I was 28. I’m married, had a child, no job, finishing graduate school wanting to serve Jesus and no place to do it. And one of my most influential teachers wrote me and quoted this verse to me, and said "John, You will have this ministry as clearly by mercy as you were saved by mercy." That what the verse literary says, we have this ministry as we were shown mercy in the same way we were shown mercy to be saved on Damascus road. We have this ministry, my conversion and my ministry come together Paul said, you will have your ministry as surely by mercy as you were saved by mercy, and that was true, that came true. Ministry is by mercy, we have it by mercy.
And then you heard Don and David (previous preacher) unpacked 1Cor. chapter 4. Jars of clay, this gospel moves forward in weakness and we have good courage and do not loose heart in verse 16 and verses 1- 10 in chapter 5 are intended by Paul to give added reasons for why you shouldn’t lose heart in the ministry the word, and in particularly in our case, the cause of world mission.
That’s what I’m going to do; I’m going to give you 4 reasons. Why you should have a joyfully, serious courage in the cause of world mission. And this text that I’m going to unpack is four reasons for that. I didn’t have to make any hermeneutical gymnastics to find four “R’s”; Realism, Resurrection, Reunion and Reward.
◑1. Realism
These are four foundations for joyfully, serious, courage, for not losing courage. He is still arguing at verse 16 of chapter 4.
'For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.'
Few things are more disillusioning in life and in missions then shattered expectations based on unrealistic expectations. And therefore one of the best remedies that Paul could give us for not being disillusion in the ministry is to give as realistic expectations which these chapters are doing.
'For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.'
Few things are more disillusioning in life and in missions then shattered expectations based on unrealistic expectations. And therefore one of the best remedies that Paul could give us for not being disillusion in the ministry is to give as realistic expectations which these chapters are doing.
Clay pot expectations, you could call that, that’s what verses 1 to 5 are about.
“For we know that if the tent that is the earthly home is destroyed we have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in heaven. For in this tent we groan longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. If indeed by putting it on, we may not be found naked for while we are still in this tent we groan being burdened. Not that we will be unclothe but that we will be further clothed. So that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. He has prepared us for this very thing is God, He who has given as the Spirit as guarantee.”
He pops four bubbles of unrealistic expectations. So under realism there are four evidences of realism that will keep us from having disillusionment.
▶1. We live in a tent not a building. He calls this body a tent not a castle, not a fortress, not a building but a tent. Verse 1, “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home”, verse 2 “For in this tent, verse four for while we are in this tent.” The point that calling it as a tent is that tents are very good against harsh weather.
Nobody expects a tent to last very long against harsh, hot, cold, windy, rainy, and snowy weather. Therefore since that where you live on your life long, you should be free from the expectations that you can escape frailty and transients. Jars of clay, equals live in tents, verse 18 of chapter 4. The things that are seen like tents are transit. We do mission in our bodies, would there be another way? There is no other way. We do mission and ministry in our bodies, they are frail and they are temporary, that’s the first piece of realism.
Nobody expects a tent to last very long against harsh, hot, cold, windy, rainy, and snowy weather. Therefore since that where you live on your life long, you should be free from the expectations that you can escape frailty and transients. Jars of clay, equals live in tents, verse 18 of chapter 4. The things that are seen like tents are transit. We do mission in our bodies, would there be another way? There is no other way. We do mission and ministry in our bodies, they are frail and they are temporary, that’s the first piece of realism.
▶2. This tent maybe destroyed. Verse 1, “For we know that is the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed”, not just tattered, not just shabby, not just tread bear, not just wasting away but destroyed.
And our Allan R. Johnson is the first to live in shores in America and he buried 3 wives and the children of Ann, his first wife. He buried all of them. The first one born dead, the second one lived 17 month and died, the third little girl outlive her mother by 6 month and died. This is the way it has been since Adam, this is the way missions will go forward because the tent is destroyed. Get rid of every expectation to live a long life, or to be married to somebody who’ll live a long life, or have babies who’ll live a long time. Get rid of it! He didn’t come home for years and years. He buried them all in there.
And our Allan R. Johnson is the first to live in shores in America and he buried 3 wives and the children of Ann, his first wife. He buried all of them. The first one born dead, the second one lived 17 month and died, the third little girl outlive her mother by 6 month and died. This is the way it has been since Adam, this is the way missions will go forward because the tent is destroyed. Get rid of every expectation to live a long life, or to be married to somebody who’ll live a long life, or have babies who’ll live a long time. Get rid of it! He didn’t come home for years and years. He buried them all in there.
▶3. He pops the bubble of unrealistic expectations in describing not only the objective destruction of the tent but the subjective groaning of the tent. Verse 2, “In this tent we groan.” Verse 4, “While we are still in this tent we groan being burdened”, not ones in a while but while you live in the tent you groan, that’s all the time.
Being a Christian doesn’t lessen the groaning of being human, being a missionary doesn’t lessen the groaning of being a Christian. I would argue being a Christian intensifies the groaning of being human, and being a missionary intensifies the groaning of being a Christian. (That's Right!) So be free of all illusions of not groaning. You’re going to groan while you’re living in tent you’re going to groan. The tent has nerve endings. It has physical and emotional limits, it can break. I know one great veteran missionary whose spouse has battled, seasonally immobilizing depression their entire lives. And they never quit!
▶4. Fourth point under realism, he pops the bubble of the unrealistic expectations by calling the Holy Spirit a down payment. Verse 5, 2nd part of the verse, “He has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” Guarantee is right as a translation, but it’s only half right. It is not, I think, a very effective translation because it only gets half the meaning of Arrabon. “Arrabon” means payment of part of a purchased price in advance. The point is it really is a down payment of what is coming and the other half of the point is it’s only a down payment, and guarantee misses that.
Someday you will have the rest of the down payment. Someday, not now, that’s half the point. That is realism; he is the down payment not the full price, get used to it. The Holy Spirit dwells in you and doesn’t make you well all the time. Doesn’t cause you to escape from all kinds of suffering he is a precious, precious, precious only down payment. Both those have meanings are absolutely crucial. That is point number one, a great help for us to endure in mission is realism and there is a big dose on it four times in verses 1-5.
◑2. Resurrection
He help us with these joyfully, serious, courage in world missions by the promise of a resurrection body, resurrection.
Realism, resurrection same 5 verses, another take. He is proclaiming a resurrection body, a beautiful durable building, not a tent, a building to replace the rotting tent and in a swallowing up in life. Verse 1, “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed we have a building.” That does not refer to the intermediate state between death and resurrection that will get to in verses 6-8 that is reunion. Here, he means there is a body and he shrinks back from dying before the body is ready to be given to him. He ponders the possibility here that he might die before the resurrection and he doesn’t want what that to happen. Doesn’t want to be naked, unclothed, he says this twice. Look at verse 2, “In this tent we groan longing to put on our heavenly dwelling if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked, disembodied souls.” Verse 4, “While we are still in this tent we groan being burdened not that we will be unclothed but that we would be overclothed so that what is being mortal will be swallowed up in life”, that is what He want, that’s what we want. Come Lord Jesus.
To be found naked, verse 2, “to be found unclothed”, verse 4, “to be found unclothed” are same. And they both refer to dying before the resurrection. Paul is declaring loud and clear the ultimate Christian hope is not release from this tent. Mere release is nakedness, mere release is bodyless existence that is not our final destiny. We were not made for bodyless existence. We are destined to be swallowed up, this body to be swallowed up, in life, into a new body. And He says I lay it down as sure, verse 5, He who has prepared us for this very thing is God. Who gave us his Spirit as a down payment(guarantee) which is the logic exactly of Romans 8:11, “If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you then He who raised Jesus from the dead will raise your mortal bodies from the dead by the Spirit that dwells in you.” That is what Paul thinks about the down payment. It’s a down payment of a physical resurrection the Holy Spirit that is in me holding, on to me, so that I’ll get a new body someday. As logic here in Romans8:11, God made you for this, He made you for an everlasting new durable building not a tent. A glorified, sturdy, stable, shining like the sun in glory, body raised from the dead.
And if you ask what it would be like. He gives us three answers in this text.
▶1. it will be a building not a tent, in verse one. We have a building from God, like God built building called resurrection body,
It is durable, not a tent anymore.
▶2. It is like a house not made with hands, verse 1, “A building from God, a house not made with hands.” That’s very strange. Why would he say that? Not made with hands, like who would even think that the resurrection body not made with hands, where did that came from. I wonder if you’re thinking what I’m thinking. It doesn’t come out from nowhere, it comes from Jesus, I think that the word 'destroy' and the word 'not made with hands', used in Mark 14:58 like this, “I will destroy this temple that is made with hands and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.” That’s where it came from, I think. Paul is saying Jesus built a temple when he rose from the dead and we will have a body like his body. Philippians 3:21, “Our citizenship is in heaven and from here we await the Savior who will gave life to our mortal body, give us a body like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to Himself.” And so the second thing he said about this body is indirectly is like Jesus' body.
▶2. It is like a house not made with hands, verse 1, “A building from God, a house not made with hands.” That’s very strange. Why would he say that? Not made with hands, like who would even think that the resurrection body not made with hands, where did that came from. I wonder if you’re thinking what I’m thinking. It doesn’t come out from nowhere, it comes from Jesus, I think that the word 'destroy' and the word 'not made with hands', used in Mark 14:58 like this, “I will destroy this temple that is made with hands and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.” That’s where it came from, I think. Paul is saying Jesus built a temple when he rose from the dead and we will have a body like his body. Philippians 3:21, “Our citizenship is in heaven and from here we await the Savior who will gave life to our mortal body, give us a body like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to Himself.” And so the second thing he said about this body is indirectly is like Jesus' body.
▶3. Eternal in heavens, verse 1 at the end. We have a building in heaven from God that’s not made with hands. Eternal body that never ever be without a body when you get your resurrection body in heavens, I think it is where it’s being kept by God for us.
It is risky being a missionary in a tent, very risky. And I can’t help but think that these promises in the bible, this stress on the resurrection body in the Bible is because we all love our bodies. Nobody intentionally hits his body with a hammer, we love our body. And we watch them get old, we watch them get old and we watch them get diseased and we watch them become what we wish they didn’t. And the bible comes to us over and over like we can get a new one. We wouldn’t have to be with this familiar friend, he will be made whole beyond your imagination. And the reason I think that’s such a precious promise is because if you have to be fed to the lion in a coliseum and you watched what happens to the bodies that are in front of you, or you have to be John & Betty Stam in 1934 in China. Stripped to their underwear, driven up a hill outside a city(Tsingteh) in China and made to bend over, he before her and they swing the sword and take off his head in front of his wife he just left a ten month old hidden. How would she feel? I hope they rose in her heart, that head is coming back on, mine is too, and that babies going to be ok. We serve our risen Savior who promises to give us our bodies back to let the lions eat, let the sword swing. We have a resurrection hope. Surely that’s the function of this promise for missions.
I love the story of John Paton, thought you know it. Remember missionary to the New Hebrides, Vanuatu, today. And the old Scottish pastor not all that excited about this young fellows excitement to go to the cannibals, you’re all going to be eaten by cannibals. Remember that? And he answers Mr. Dickinson, you’re advanced in years now and your own prospect is soon to be eaten by worms. I confess to you that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus it won’t make a difference to me whether I’m eaten by cannibals or worms. And in the great day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen savior. That is a true story. He did that, he went out, and he served all his life. So point number 2, for a joyfully, serious, courage in the cause of world missions is resurrection.
◑3. Reunion
If we might die before the resurrection we will be reunited. There will be a reunion with Christ. He was here in the flesh, we will be with him there in his flesh though naked and unclothed, and not our final destiny and that Paul say’s is better than tent dwelling.
Verses 6-8 “So we are always with good courage we know that if we are in the body we are away from the Lord for we walk by faith and not by sight.”
Yes we are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Now verse 8 is extremely important because without verse 8 we would almost certainly misunderstand verse 4. There, verse 4, Paul said we do not want to be unclothed. That was true, and you might get the impression just from verse 4 or the first 5 verses, Paul considers two good options 'stay in the tent' and 'be over clothed with life in a resurrection body', anything else bad, that is not what he says, and he intentionally prevents us from drawing that false inference from verse 4 by giving us verse 8. He denies that it is bad. No, he doesn’t prefer bodyless existence but he does if it could be with Jesus short off his desire for the resurrection body. Verse 8 "we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord." That is what exactly what he said in Philippians 1:23. "Don’t know I should do, my desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is exceedingly above far better." Piles up the words there.
Yes we are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Now verse 8 is extremely important because without verse 8 we would almost certainly misunderstand verse 4. There, verse 4, Paul said we do not want to be unclothed. That was true, and you might get the impression just from verse 4 or the first 5 verses, Paul considers two good options 'stay in the tent' and 'be over clothed with life in a resurrection body', anything else bad, that is not what he says, and he intentionally prevents us from drawing that false inference from verse 4 by giving us verse 8. He denies that it is bad. No, he doesn’t prefer bodyless existence but he does if it could be with Jesus short off his desire for the resurrection body. Verse 8 "we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord." That is what exactly what he said in Philippians 1:23. "Don’t know I should do, my desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is exceedingly above far better." Piles up the words there.
So to any missionary who have lost a believing loved one? We sent out young family years ago and they buried their dead the week before we left. Or you buried three wives on the mission field. You do not have to labor under the sadness that they are in the inferior condition between now and the resurrection. You don’t have to go there. You dare not go there, you may not go there because it is the opposite of what verse 8 says. Paul choosing between three options not two options, chooses B when he can’t have C. Live in a tent, live bodyless with Jesus intimately, have resurrection body. His choices are C, B, A which is in the text. And yours should be too. That’s how much we should love Jesus even though we love our bodies. That’s why we pray “Maranatha”, come Lord Jesus wrap it up.
◑4. Reward
Finally, Reward: And now we have seen Paul trying to help us with joyfully, serious, courage, in missions with realism and resurrection and reunion and now finally reward.
The reason I have put the word serious, as I thought about the thesis statement I keep repeating and waving in the air up here. I stick in the word serious right there; joyfully serious is because of these verses, starting harsh in a way that catches all the pieces here.
Verse 9 and 10, “So whether we are at home (in the body) or away (with the Lord) we make it our aim to please Him for must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done for the body, whether it is good or evil.”
I’m saying that makes a person serious in his a joy, really serious. And here’s the reason I have say it.
Verse 9 and 10, “So whether we are at home (in the body) or away (with the Lord) we make it our aim to please Him for must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done for the body, whether it is good or evil.”
I’m saying that makes a person serious in his a joy, really serious. And here’s the reason I have say it.
Paul draws the inference from these verses in chapter 5 verse 11 of fear, I am saying serious, he says fear and I mean that what he means. Verse 11 “Therefore on the basis of every Christians standing before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account for the good and evil and receiving back for the good and the evil therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord we persuade men.”
We get about our ministry and our mission with a trembling in our hearts, joyfully and full of courage. This fear in verse 11, because of the judgment in verse 10 is perfectly compatible with the good courage of verse 8, the good courage of verse 6, the down payment and the guarantee of the Holy Spirit in verse 5; we know we have an eternal house in verse 1. We do not lose heart in verse 4:16. The fear of the Lord in no way keeps Paul from saying in verse 8, we want to be away from the body with the Lord.
We get about our ministry and our mission with a trembling in our hearts, joyfully and full of courage. This fear in verse 11, because of the judgment in verse 10 is perfectly compatible with the good courage of verse 8, the good courage of verse 6, the down payment and the guarantee of the Holy Spirit in verse 5; we know we have an eternal house in verse 1. We do not lose heart in verse 4:16. The fear of the Lord in no way keeps Paul from saying in verse 8, we want to be away from the body with the Lord.
The judgment of believers by the Lord Jesus and these believers here, we must fear (verse 10, especially in its link in verse 9), the judgment of believers awakens in Paul a kind of fear. That does not push him away from Jesus but draws him to Jesus. He embraces this event this fearful event, he embraces it because this is the path to Jesus.
If you right now are feeling emotionally that sounds like a contradiction that sound like double talk that sounds like nonsense. Joy, confidence, don’t lose heart, fear at being judged by Jesus. You need a change. I’m 67 I think about this a lot these days, I’m 67 and I feel, as I read my bible often, immature emotionally, because I’m not yet where the bible is in emotionally. So many people, I’m just pleading with you not to be one of them, so many people if they find something jarring, emotionally in the bible, I cannot get that, that doesn’t fit in my heart, that doesn’t my emotional structure. They drop it! Do the opposite, figure you’re the problem not the bible. I figured, I got my bible and I say, “God I don’t feel like that a lot”. And the bible says, “YES, CHANGE!” So I plead for help to change I’m just a slow princess here on how you read your bible emotionally. If the fear of the Lords, because your going to face Him and His going to assess your good and evil and His going to reward you accordingly, and these wonderful statement to it “I’m with good courage and I want to be with the Lord and I have a building in heaven and I have a down payment, the Holy Spirit. If that don’t fit for you, you’ve to change. That’s what the Bible is for, I come to the Bible a broken sinner, I come to the Bible emotionally a wrecked and I come to be fixed not to tell the bible what it can tell me about how to feel.
Now Peter described this fear in the same connection, perfectly compatible with the loving Father, 1 Peter 1:17 "if you call him Father. Who will judge him partially according to each ones deeds conduct yourself in fear in the throughout the time of your exile." Go figure that out, have a Father, he is going to judge me according to my life. And I’m going to walk in fear and trembling before him in confidence, all my life.
Luke tells the story of the early church, Acts 9:31, “Walking in the fear of the lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the church was multiply.” Could it be that one of our problem is we own enough comfort from the Holy Spirit this fear of the Lord might be missing in our churches, maybe because you haven’t preach text like this. Or you just said can’t be, that can’t mean fear, it means something else.
Paul refers to it in Ephesians 5:21 as “The fear of Christ”. So it’s a serious sobering expectation of judgment and its embraced as good and healthy and strengthening and motivating, empowering missionaries who has fiber in their being that know how to tremble before the living God. Then the softies who have the patsy in the sky, who as soon as hard thing that come to their life. Or prospect of judgment comes they don’t have a God anymore. No, no, no, missionaries who get the job done have roots down in the sovereign holy God and a God of great comfort who does not let us lose heart but keeps us trembling before His awesome holiness.
Paul refers to it in Ephesians 5:21 as “The fear of Christ”. So it’s a serious sobering expectation of judgment and its embraced as good and healthy and strengthening and motivating, empowering missionaries who has fiber in their being that know how to tremble before the living God. Then the softies who have the patsy in the sky, who as soon as hard thing that come to their life. Or prospect of judgment comes they don’t have a God anymore. No, no, no, missionaries who get the job done have roots down in the sovereign holy God and a God of great comfort who does not let us lose heart but keeps us trembling before His awesome holiness.
Two chapters later, chapter 7 verses 1, Paul makes fear of God the motive of Christian holiness since God promises to be your Father Chapters 6:8 “Bring holiness to completion in the fear of God.”
What it is about the judgment that is so serious or produces this fear in verse 11, makes it so motivating for holiness in a right godly, gospel, not legalistic way. Don’t let your theology dictate. Wooh! We preach this we can’t produce legalist who just got try to get in to favor of God bla bla. Look the bible is the bible you’re not., don’t tell the bible what it should say, say what it says and labor all your life to put the pieces together don’t bring your gospel paradigm over here that is so limited, so limited. Make it big with the entire bible you won’t lose the gospel you have a biblical one. So what is it that makes it so serious and the answer is verse 10 “So that each one will receive what it due for what he has done in the body whether good or evil”. Now that deserves a sermon and it’s going to get another three minutes.
The best commentary I know on that verse is 1 Corinthians 3, I commended in your consideration, Paul and Apollos, Paul is referring to himself when he says in verse 6 He who plants and he who waters are one and each will receive his wages according to his labor. I could say reward. Each will receive a reward according to his labor. Then he explains, there is labor that builds on the foundation that is bad, and there is labor build on the foundation that is good. Those are the words used in chapter 5 verse 10 of 2nd Corinthians, “Whether good or foul, on inadequate, perishing foul in evil”. So here his explanation in verses 12 to 16 in 1 Corinthians, “If anyone is builds on the foundation of gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw in this case the kind of teaching on does”. Each ones work will become manifest. It was all said there in 1 Corinthians, “For the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If anyone’s work that is built in the foundation survives he will receive a reward.” That is referring back to verse 6, were beginning our way just according to our labor. “Each will receive a reward”. However if anyone’s work is burned up, building with wood hay and stable, teaching things that aren’t so teaching with attitude maybe lousy, maybe like the ones in Philippians. If anyone’s work is burned up he will experience loss. Though he himself will be saved but as through fire.
So reward for building on a foundation that is good. Good building and the experience of loss for bad building on the foundation and that correspond to verse 10 of our text, ‘Each one will receive what is due for what is done in the body whether good (reward) or evil (lose, loss) not your salvation”. According to verse 15 of 1 Corinthians 3 from this awesome scene of loss and reward Paul draws this conclusion so whether we are at home or away. We make it our aim to please Him, we please him. We seek to do what pleases him because he’s the judge.
So two great motives here, happy, sober, serious Christian fears the experience of loss in the presence of the Lord and rejoices in receiving the rewards of the Lord in the presence of the Lord. Without faith it is impossible to please God and his goal here is to please him.
Therefore what you’re rewarded for is the obedience of faith, the works that comes from faith and what you lose is deeds that don’t accord with the gospel they don’t accord with faith they’re done with self-reliance. There are no reward for that, they get all swept away and they are all captive for life and kept away and there is no reward for it. REWARD
▶So conclusion
Paul is laboring in this text in a wider unit to undergird verse 16, “We don’t lose heart in this jar of clay, type tent dwelling ministry that we have”, “we don’t lose heart”, “we are of good courage”, “we are of good courage”. He says it twice inverses 6 and 8. And then he gives these 4 reasons for why we can be joyfully serious in his courage in missions realism were freed from the shattered expectations that are faults and unrealistic. Resurrection, whether will be eaten by worms or lions or carnibals we’re going to receive buildings, we’re going to be overclothed with life, we’re going to have Jesus resurrection body, and we will shine like the sun of in the kingdom of our father. And if you should die, number three, if your die between now and the resurrection you will be at home with Jesus. There will be a homecoming a reunion with the Lord which is far better than tent dwelling. Yes it is, even though not as good as being overclothed. And finally we’re going to be a serious lot, there is going to be a lot of serious trembling before our great King because we’re going to stand before him and give an account to every idle word he said, His grace saved us. Justification by faith alone will be true there. You will make it and you will be rewarded, for every good you do. Every one of them has been written in the book, you might have forgotten thousands of them but God has forgotten none of them. And everything built with wood, hay and stable will throw it in the basket. You’re going to suffer loss, that would to be sad, and your sadness will only serve you joy, forever and ever, may God make missionaries like that even in this room,
Let’s pray,
Father God in heaven,
Thank you for realism in the bible, thank you for the promise of resurrection someday. I love the thought that my aging, broken, wasting away body will be made so glorious that it will shine like the sun in Your kingdom, I like to think about that. And I thank you that short of that, if I die before you come, I will be at home, not in a foreign land but with my friend, with my Savior, and yes my judge. And I’m happy to have it so. And I thank you for teaching us Lord that you’re going to reward the good that we have done, the acts of faith that don’t earn anything, they’re just freely and graciously rewarded, because they were done in the power that you supply, and you get the glory, and you will strip us of all the evils that we have done. And will look back with sorrow and in the end, you will turn our regret into a love for the cross, and you will intensify by it, our greater joy in You. We pray this in Jesus name, AMEN.
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