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Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
Series B

Option #1: "Always Confident"
2 Corinthians 5:1-10
Rev. Wayne Dobratz, B.A., M.Div.

I. Because this earth is not our final home--text, vv1-4; 1 Pet 1:6-9; 1 Cor 15:53-54

II. Because we have the Holy Spirit as a down payment on the future--text, vv5-8; Rom 8:23ff; 2 Cor 1:22-24; 4:17-18; Eph 1:13-14; 1 John 3:24

III. Because our Savior will be our Judge--text, vv9-10; 1 Cor 4:5; Gal 6:7ff; Eph 6:7-8; Rev 22:12-13

Key Words & Phrases––Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament:

2 Corinthians 5:2: To be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven (to oikeôôteôôrion heôômoôôn to ex ouranou ependusasthai). First aorist middle infinitive of late verb ependuoôô, double compound (ep, en) to put upon oneself. Cf. ependuteôôs for a fisherman’s linen blouse or upper garment (John 21:7). Oikeôôteôôrion is old word used here of the spiritual body as the abode of the spirit. It is a mixed metaphor (putting on as garment the dwelling-place).

5:4 That what is mortal may be swallowed up of life (hina katapotheôôi to thneôôton hupo teôôs zoôôeôôs). "Only what is mortal perishes; the personality, consisting of soul and body, survives" (Plummer). See note on 1:22 for "the earnest of the spirit."

5:8 We are of good courage (tharroumen). Good word for cheer and same root as tharseoôô (Matthew 9:2, 22). Cheer up.

Are willing rather (eudokoumen). Rather, "We are well-pleased, we prefer" if left to ourselves. Cf. Philippians 1:21f. Same eudokeoôô used in Luke 3:22.

To be at home with the Lord (endeôômeôôsai pros ton Kurion). First aorist (ingressive) active infinitive, to attain that goal is bliss for Paul.

5:9 We make it our aim (philotimoumetha). Old and common verb, present middle, from philotimos (philos, timeôô, fond of honour), to act from love of honour, to be ambitious in the good sense (1 Thessalonians 4:11; 2 Corinthians 5:9; Romans 15:20). To be well-pleasing to him (euarestoi autoôôi einai). Late adjective that shows Paul’s loyalty to Christ, his Captain.

5:10 Before the judgment-seat of Christ (emprosthen tou beôômatos tou Christou). Old word beôôma, a step (from bainoôô), a platform, the seat of the judge (Matthew 27:19). Christ is Savior, Lord, and Judge of us all (tous pantas, the all).

That each may receive (hina komiseôôtai hekastos). Receive as his due ( komizoôô).

Bad (phaulon). Old word, akin to German faul, worthless, of no account, base, wicked.

For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ... Martin Luther explains: "None other will hold court on that day than he who gave himself for us. He will certainly not deny himself but will declare that he gave himself for your sins, as you believe. What, then, will sin do when the Judge declares that He has taken it all away? Who will accuse you? Who will judge the Judge? Who will overcome Him? He himself would have to be condemned before sin could condemn him for whom He gave Himself. Oh, here is great, sure security. It only depends on the strength and firmness of our faith. Christ will not waver; He is firm enough. Therefore, we should diligently cultivate our faith and exercise it. Then it becomes firm and strong."

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LAMB’S MESSAGE
2 Corinthians 5:10

Let’s see how good your ears are this morning. I will use the same two words three different times, but I will pronounce them a little differently each time. That’s how you’ll know what I mean each time I use these same two words. READY?

Mr. White left the White house and walked past the white house on the corner on his way to the White House. (Repeat)

Got it?

About 20 years ago I was in Washington D.C. with some high school students and a few adults. They took a bus ride and I traveled on a plane. I caught up with them in the line that was headed for the White House. "It wasn’t the white house on the corner or the place where Mr. White lived with his family, but the WHITE HOUSE, the house where the President and his family live.

We got to see a few rooms, but nowhere near as many as a friend of mine did. About 10 years before, his sister was the Secretary to the President and they got to see just about the whole place. In the last verse of today’s 2nd reading, Paul tells us something about Jesus that I want you to remember: He said: We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Paul says that the Judge on the Last Day is our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us so much that he died on the cross for our sins. And here is what the Lord God says about our sins: "I will forgive their sins and I will remember them no more" (Jer 31:34). I am very good at forgetting things and I'm guessing you are too when you have to take a test. God never forgets the way we do. When he forgets, it is because he wants to forget. And he wants to forget our sins because the blood of Jesus has covered them. Even God can’t see them any more.

So remember this: Just as my friend got to see a lot of the White House because his sister was the President’s Secretary, so our sins are forgotten because Jesus is our Friend. And now God forgets our sins but remembers our good works and will reward us forever for them.

What a great friend we have in Jesus!

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Option #2: "God's ATM (Automatic Tiller Machine)"
Mark 4:26-34
Rev. Kelly Bedard, B.A., M.Div.
 
Point: In God's economy, small is somtimes tall and the little is sometimes big.
 
Problem: We oftentimes focus more on our own economical "talls" and "bigs," ignoring God's kingdom.
 
Promise: No matter, God made Jesus small so that we stand tall with forgiveness, and the little we invest in His kingdom is made big through the power of the Holy Spirit.
 
1. "We need never quarrel with God because we cannot do everything, if he only permits us to do this one thing; for sowing the good seed is a work which will need all our wit, our strength, our love, our care." (Charles Spurgeon)
 
2. "Is God ruling now or not? Perhaps we are looking in the wrong places--staring up in the sky for tall trees, instead of looking on the ground for common weeds--and maybe we do the same thing with people." (Brian Stoffregen)
 
3.  "Thus God's many attempts [Noah, Abraham, David] to set up a mercy-management regime with his people (and through them with the entire human race) have been nothing but a string of failures. ...God tries it one more time--with the same "chesed"-seed, but this time a new soil, his beloved Son--and this one brings in the harvest, a harvest that offsets all the prior failures." (Ed Schroeder)
 
4. Mustard, the name of a plant which in oriental countries grows from a very small seed and attains to the height of a tree, 10 feet (3m) and more; hence a very small quantity of a thing is likened to a mustard seed, and also a thing which grows to a remarkable size. (Blue Letter Bible/Strong's)

 

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This page was revised on: Monday, November 13, 2006 12:59:48 PM