5:6 So we
are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are
absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by
sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from
the body and to be present with the Lord.
Isn't context amazing?! The first word of verse 6 tells us
that what Paul is about to say is based on what he just said. Here's what he
just said: "5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent(body),
is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be
clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having
been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are
in this tent(body) groan, being burdened, not because we want to be
unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by
life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very
thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee."
I know we covered this already but since the verses we are
looking at today are so often ripped from their context and made to say
something else entirely I felt it was important to put the verses back in their
context.
The broader context is that Paul and his companions who are
traveling all over Asia Minor preaching the Gospel are constantly harassed.
They have been beaten and imprisoned. They have been shipwrecked attacked by
mobs. I am certain there were well meaning Christians advising them to have
more concern about self-care and self-protection. It was to this Paul was
speaking. He doesn't care if he dies. The experiences he is going through are
building him into a new man. The body he lives in is but a tent that will
ultimately be destroyed no matter what happens. As he clearly taught back in 1
Corinthians 15 even those who are alive when Jesus returns and never experience
death of any kind are still getting new bodies.
So what is Paul saying in the verses we're looking at today?
If you have been following along it's pretty obvious right? To be here in this
world with this mortal tent/body is to be separated from Jesus. It means we
aren't Home yet. Then he goes on to say it is better to be done with this body
and to be with Jesus. It applies both literally and figuratively. We can't hang
on to our inner desires for pride, ego, self-protection, self-advancement,
lust, greed, power etc... and walk with Jesus. We also can't worry about
hanging onto and preserving our physical lives here when we are headed Home.
Paul is simply asking them and us to step back and look at
the big picture. Why are we so concerned for this temporary mortal existence
when we are headed for the life that really counts and the center of what
counts here and then is Jesus. Let Him into your tattered tent and start the
work of restoration from the inside out by His Spirit so that when He returns
He can give us a body that matches the contents.
Sandwiched in between those two statements about the body and
being with Jesus is the simple phrase "For we walk by faith and not by
sight". Paul is not going to adjust his course according to the dangers
and difficulties he sees. He is on a journey of faith, a journey of following
God and if it leads to good or to death it doesn't matter. Either way it leads
Home.
Context and perspective. They change everything.
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