2nd Corinthians 5:6-17
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
I struggle with in-between times when I am almost there but not quite. When I get through security at the airport but haven't boarded the plane yet. When I was at a track meet, and it was not quite yet my time to run. I know the change is coming, just not there yet. I struggle because I always feel like I should be doing something in the meantime. I can't just put my headphones on and listen to podcasts, I'm too worried I might miss some important information, don't want to sleep, because I am worried that I might miss the plane, it's hard for me to even eat. When I was in-between jobs, that was also uncomfortable. I have not been in between income, I would find a way to earn that, but in between established jobs, or even long-term contracts for my business would make me uncomfortable. Even though they are uncomfortable for me, they are a necessary part of processes, and sometimes needed.
The in-between time is not a new concept, some people are comfortable with the practice, people take "gap years" after graduating from High School before they go to college, many successful companies have extremely generous vacation and time-off policies. Even the United Methodist Church has sabbatical time built into our pastoral careers, paragraph 351 of the Book of Discipline says that pastors are supposed to take a sabbatical after 6 years of full-time ministry. If the pastor is part-time, they can take it once they get to the equivalent of 6 years in ministry. Some people end up in an in-between time involuntarily, they can lose their job, reach some uncertainty in a relationship, must take leaves of absences from jobs or organizations, an in-between time is thrust upon us. Something happens, and suddenly we are living between two points: what was, and what we hope will be. Meanwhile, we’ve got to figure this out.
We find some in-between time right here in 2nd Corinthians. Scholars believe that 1st Corinthians was probably Paul's second letter to the church and the letter we call 2nd Corinthians is probably the 4th. Paul is speaking of an in-between time in the text. Away vs. home, faith vs. sight, old vs. new, and flesh vs. new creation. Believers are caught between an "already done" and a "not yet" kind of time.
The apostle Paul has an interesting take on this thing we call life. For him, his life was not only an in-between time but an in-between life. That is, it was life in parentheses, life in the anteroom room of the kingdom of heaven. It was life before life. He writes, “While we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord … we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him” (vv. 6, 8-9).
The people of God were in an in-between time because by the time this passage was written, Christ had died, rose again, and the people were waiting on Christ's return. People are judging the Corinthian church right now; people are putting them to shame. To put it plainly, the church folk don't look good right now.
The people were worried about being embarrassed however Christ won't put us to shame.
Know that Christ is the final judge, we all must appear before him, that is why whether we are away or at home we should aim to please Jesus. No one else sacrificed their lives so that we could have life and have it more abundantly. No one else willingly gave themselves up for people who did not deserve it, but Jesus did it for them anyway.
Romans 5:7-8 says 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Earlier I stopped reading at verse 17 for today's message but if I had gone down to verse 21, verse 21 says “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Someone who did not have to make the sacrifice for us did it and did it willingly because he loved us so. Christ died for all; his love pushes us forward (love motivates the mission). That is who we should be looking to impress not anyone else.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; there's just something about that name.
Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain;
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all Heaven and earth proclaim
Kings and kingdoms will all pass away,
But there's something about that name.
Also, after Christ gave himself up for us and rose from the dead, we got the Holy Spirit to act as a comforter during the in-between times until Christ comes again.
The Spirit is given to believers as a guarantee or promissory note that will be redeemed. We can walk by faith during the in-between times of life because we have something to hold on to that will keep us. In an airport, after I pass security, I may be uncomfortable waiting to get on the plane, but I know I am getting on the plane because I still have my boarding pass.
In my senior year of college, the company managing the campus apartments overbooked the room, they tried to get me to sign a release, that release would have gotten me my deposit back, I didn't sign it, because I knew if they had my deposit, they had to find me a room. I had something, that meant the company had to provide something for me. Because I did not sign a release, and they still had my deposit, they had to put me in a hotel until they found an apartment open for me. They were on the hook and if I didn't let them off the hook, they had to come through on their end of the bargain.
Paul is not cocky but is confident, confident because he knows that this is temporary and eventually, we will all be with the Lord. He says in verse 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
Romans 8:38-40
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God's love cannot be contained or constrained.
We know the plane is going to leave eventually, we are confident in this because of our faith.
Christ provides renewal to all things, everything is made new, which means renewal, not a replacement.
Paul walked by faith, and so can we. Paul was an ambassador for Jesus Christ, and his mission was to reconcile people to God. The fundamental truth to which we must cling is that God does have a purpose for us, and God is working out that purpose right now — one day at a time. Amen.
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