2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (Eternal Perspective, part 2, Jeff Kliewer)

Well, we are studying the book of 2 Corinthians, so if you haven't done so yet, it would be a good thing to do to go to Acts chapter 18 on your own time and read about how the church at Corinth was born, how Paul went to Corinth and preached the gospel.

One of the interesting things about that story is that the Jewish people mounted an attack against Paul, and they drug him before the proconsul, the Roman governor, a very high seat in the Roman Empire.

And we're told that he was taken before the bima, mark that word bima in Greek, or the bimatos, that is the judgment seat of Galio. Now if you'll look on the map, on the picture that we have here this morning, not this one but the next slide, assuming that we got it.

Do we have, oh Michael's going for it, and yeah here it is, this is Caesarea, so one before that, okay, that's the inscription, and one more, boom, okay. This is modern day Corinth. If you were to go to the wreckage of Corinth today, you could go and stand right here.

This is the archeological dig that discovered the actual bima of Galio. You'll notice a bima is a raised platform. There would often be steps going up, so people would stand here, and the ruler, in this case Galio, would be up somewhere above on the steps on a high platform, and he would stand in judgment.

So the crowd would gather around, and the person would stand before the bima, the judgment.

Seat.

Next slide of the inscription, also discovered by archeologists, was this inscription which identifies Galio as the proconsul of Corinth between the years of 51 and 52 AD, which is precisely when our Bible, the book of Acts, has Paul in Corinth and standing before that very same Galio, who was the ruler at that time.

So he went before the judgment seat. This was actually a crucial time in the life of the church, because Galio sided with Paul. He told the Jewish people not to silence his preaching, and he was allowed in the Roman Empire to preach the gospel freely.

And the people then turned against the Jewish leader who brought the charges against Paul, and he was beaten right in front of the judgment seat, and Galio paid no mind to it. Next bima is down the coast in Caesarea.

This was built by Herod, and Herod himself was parading, you'll recall, in Caesarea and giving a speech when all of the people said that his voice was not the voice of a man, but the voice of God. And there on his bima, he dropped dead.

This is also an archeological discovery of the actual site in Caesarea where there was.

A bima seat.

I keep saying this word bima again and again, because I'm trying to get it into your mind. We're going to study it today in our text. So Herod was there, but Paul also appeared before this bima. Remember when he was arrested in Jerusalem and then taken to Caesarea by the Roman captors, he went before Festus.

And Festus was looking to possibly do a favor for the Jews to send him back to Jerusalem, and the Jewish people were going to kill Paul en route, right? And Paul said, I need to be charged and tried right here.

I'm standing before the Roman governor. You have no right to send me. So what did he do? He appealed to Caesar and was sent eventually to Rome. So this is the bima seat in Caesarea. There was a third bima seat mentioned in the New Testament, and of course, that was where our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was judged by Pontius Pilate, where he said, behold, the king.

And he stood at that place called Gabbatha, the stone pavement. This was the bima in which he was judged by Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate eventually washed his hands of it and turned him over to be crucified.

So there's three short-term bimas. Gallio's bima lasted for what, two years? Pontius Pilate had a short reign. And many different kings and governors would come to the bima seats and rule and stand in judgment.

But the king of kings who took our judgment upon himself at Gabbatha and then to Golgotha, the place of the skull where he laid down his life as a sin sacrifice for us, our king has a bima too. It's mentioned in two places.

One of them is in our text this morning in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Let's go there now. The tenth verse will mention the bima. We have been looking to the scripture to regain an eternal perspective. Being fallen in Adam, our minds become fixated on earthly things.

The things of this world captivate our attention and tempt us to live in the present only. But the scripture again and again calls us to set our minds not on earthly things but on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father.

One of the keys to maturity and to ministry is having an eternal perspective. Learning to think about things to come, not just the present days, the present evil days. So we talked last week about how the coming eternal life that we have with God in heaven is something we're to think about.

We were told in the 17th verse of chapter 4 where we left off that even our light momentary afflictions are preparing for us an eternal weight of glory in the world to come. Even the afflictions that we go through here have a meaningful purpose that are preparing or achieving for us some kind of glory in heaven.

Now that's a deep mystery but it means that everything that happens in this world is meaningful. Even the sinful things and the painful things will be redeemed in the new creation and we will see what God was working, Romans 8 28, as he brought all things together for good.

The world to come is something we need to contemplate and we talked a little bit last week about how when you're glorified your sin nature is removed but that doesn't make you infinite. God is infinite and for the rest of eternity you will be discovering more and more of the person and work of God, delighting more and more in his holiness and you will grow in your appreciation and your thankfulness and your joy for all eternity.

There will be an eternal progress of your joy in heaven. This is an amazing thought to think about but I want you to think about eternal things. This morning let's look at three more benefits of having an eternal perspective or three more things I rather should say that we need to think about.

Number one, the coming body that we will be given, the resurrected body. Number two, that Christ himself will be the reward of heaven. That's what makes heaven heaven is that Christ is there. And then finally, the bema seat.

And this is something we don't think about often enough because the first two points that I just made will cause us to have good courage and hope and joy but the third point should make us tremble. We will be held accountable for every word we speak while in the body, for everything.

We do.

Makes me tremble to think about that. So let's look and we'll see this in the text this morning. But ultimately, it's a good thing because because of Christ, whatever we've, every sin that we've committed will be imputed to his blood and has been imputed to his blood and all of his righteousness credited to us so there won't be punishment, condemnation for.

Our sin.

However, there will be reward for the things done that are pleasing to him. There will be reward and it will make an eternal difference. So let's read it. Second Corinthians five. This is where we're going.

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. 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 would be unclothed but that we would be further clothed so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

He who has prepared us for this very thing is God who has given us the spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord.

For we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. I missed a verse there. For we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage and we would rather be away from the Lord and at home, 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. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

If you're wondering why I struggled so much to read that, this is like eight point font. I left my big ESV Bible in Tennessee and Cornelia will bring it back. So I was struggling to make out those words there.

So sorry about that. So the first big point, we have a body yet to come in heaven. Now some of you are already very pleased with your current body and that's not a great promise. You think, hey, this is already a temple and I'm perfectly happy with what I presently.

Have.

But believe me, the text here that says, our earthly home is only a tent but there's coming an eternal building. When we were camping out in the yard here months ago, our tent which we bought from Costco was the size of a room.

It was huge.

And instead of sleeping on the hard ground, we had blow up mattresses that we brought.

In there.

So our quote unquote camping was more like being in a hotel. So we might not think often enough about what it would really be like to have a resurrected.

Body.

But as much greater as a palace built on earth compared to a mere tent, that's how much better your body will be in heaven compared to how it is now. That's a good analogy. I find that helpful to me. Our bodies now like transient tents will be made like permanent buildings.

First Corinthians 1549 explains that it's not that we're getting an entirely different body, absolutely disconnected from this current body, but rather this body will be like a seed sown in the ground.

And though the seed is just a small kernel and the tree that comes forth from that seed is so much more glorious than what was sown into the earth, your body is sown into the ground six feet under the earth and will be resurrected, the same body and yet glorified.

So I say, First Corinthians 1549, just as we have born the image of the man of dust, that's Adam. Just as we born Adam's image in his fallen corruptible flesh, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

As Jesus rose from the dead in a human body that could walk through walls and do amazing things and yet still eat fish and be touched by Thomas and hug and be real in the body, so we will have a resurrected body that will be like Jesus' in some way, shape or form.

So Cy Tembruggenkate is an apologist that I like to listen to. He explains how glorious our current body is, if you think about it. He said, Consider this, the current body that we live in. He says, I have a pump made of meat that is able to pump 700 ,000 gallons of blood every.

Year.

For 90 years, running on donuts.

Think about that.

How amazing is our heart? This pump made of meat that lasts for 90 years running on whatever you throw into your stomach is able to sustain you as long as it does. That's a pretty amazing invention. So he makes a point like, Do I really need to prove to anybody that God exists?

Just think about the human heart or the human eyeball or just the complexity of all of creation. People know that God exists. You don't need to prove it. They're suppressing that truth. That's his point.

But I want to make the point from that, that the current body that you live in is glorious. Some of you say, Well, I don't know if I agree with that. Not so glorious. But however glorious it is and how amazing it is that God has given us this tent to live in, there's coming a building in heaven that you need to think about.

Because when your body begins to break down, as aging causes all of our bodies to do, and the aches and pains increase, and diseases come upon us, sicknesses in the body, we begin to groan. That's what our text says.

We groan in this body. We need to retain an eternal perspective to keep this good courage that Paul has been talking about. And one of the things we think about is that there will be a glorious body. This, by the way, will keep you from becoming just a fitness nut that spends the whole day thinking about health and fitness.

And your workout is the centerpiece of your life. You live for health and fitness. If that's you, you're concentrating too much on the current body. We need to have more of an eternal perspective and live in this life for the world to come, not for this life.

So moving on in our text then, from the first great point of encouragement is the coming.

Body.

The second thing, the greatest thing, is the glory of heaven is Christ himself.

Let's see this.

Verse six and following. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with.

The Lord.

Here the apostle is talking about home. He's talking about heaven. Heaven is our home. What makes heaven so heavenly? What's so good about heaven? You know, as my kids think about it, perhaps, or especially my son, I think he thinks heaven is great because there's going to be something better than roller coasters.

Heaven is going to be just so fun. If this world has fun things, imagine how fun heaven will be. And that's true. There are glories in heaven because the world will not be corrupted by sin. But what makes heaven heaven is that you will be in the very presence of Jesus Christ.

You will be with him. And if that's true, you can be of good courage. Our text says, so do not lose heart or be of good courage. That refrain, do not lose heart, we saw that in chapter 4 verse 1, chapter 4 verse 16.

This is the theme that Paul is building on. As he goes on this side trail talking about his triumphal procession that he's on, he's encouraging the believers to be of good courage, not to lose heart in their afflictions.

This is the big picture here. And he says that as Moses put a veil over his face so that the fading glory would not.

Be seen.

We are not like that. We have unveiled faces. So we are very bold. We're very courageous. We're very strong. We're looking to another world. And we know that what God has done in us is permanent. And our gospel is pure light.

He's opened our eyes to see it. And though we're afflicted, we're not crushed, we're persecuted, we're not abandoned, we're struck down, but we're not destroyed. Be of good courage. This is the point.

So we're of good courage because we have a coming body, but here the biggest reason to be of good courage and not to fear the things that are frightening, the biggest reason is because we are going to be in the presence of the Lord.

We're going to be in the presence of the Lord. I think of a girl in Alabama, 20-something years old, and she hears from God while she's worshiping to be a missionary. And she decides to leave her home and to leave her family, brothers and sisters and father and mother, and home because she's looking for a home that's not of this world.

And she goes to a God-forsaken place where no one names the name of Christ, 99 .9 of the people are Muslim. She leaves everything behind, and as she goes to Atlanta to get on a plane, her father and mother drive her, they say goodbye, and this godly Christian man cries all the way home because his daughter has flown off to the ends of the earth to be a missionary.

But the Lord comes to him and comforts him with the words of Acts 28, and he's encouraged that even as Paul was bit by serpents, even the serpents couldn't harm him, and he claims that over his daughter, that even if she's attacked, nothing can harm her apart from the will of God.

And this dries his tears, and she goes in the joy of the Lord, laying down her life for a future city whose foundations and architect and builder is God. She leaves it all for the sake of the name, and then there's a boy from New Jersey who feels the same call and flies off to the same place and ends up in the same little town preaching the gospel where there are hardly any Christians, and they meet.

And then they fall in love, and yesterday they got married. Because we're told in Mark chapter 10 verse 29 and 30, truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive a hundredfold.

Now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and childrens and lands with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life. These young people laid down their lives for the gospel, and God gave them each other in this life to walk this road with.

Many times the blessings that were given are part of this life, although we're not certainly promised those things because we're told with persecutions. Sometimes in this life we go from one suffering to another, but in every affliction, how can we be of good courage?

How can we not lose heart as we're told in chapter 4 verse 1 and verse 17? How can we do that? We have to set our mind on what will be in heaven. So what's the glory of heaven? When here's how I think about it.

When I get there, I want to meet that garrison, the demoniac whose demons were cast out into the pigs and they jumped into the sea and say, what was it like to be bound and then.

To be free?

And what did you do with the rest of your life? I want to meet the garrison. I also want to meet Lazarus. He was four days dead and then came back to life. What did people talk to you about at that? What was that like to have been dead and then to be alive again?

I want to meet that thief on the cross and ask him what the cross felt like and what his heart felt like when Jesus said to him, today you will be with me in paradise. I want to meet these people, but far more than that.

And you can feel where I'm going with this because this is the longing of your heart.

Too.

You want to see the man who set that demoniac free. You want to see the one who told Lazarus rise from the dead. You want to see the man who hung on a cross next to that thief, not for his own sin like mine, but for my sin and your sin.

You want to see Jesus. This is the glory of heaven, that Jesus is there. And we're thinking so much about this earth, but he's there. We need to get our eyes off of the things of this life that are so easily frightening and on to the world to come.

That's where he is. That's our home. Heaven is our home. I love the words that Fernando Ortega sang many years back. Some of you guys are familiar with the song, give me Jesus. In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus.

You can have all this world, but give me Jesus. And when I am alone, give me Jesus. And when I come to die, give me Jesus. He's there, but his spirit is given as a deposit for us here. Look at verse five.

He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the spirit as a guarantee. We have his spirit now. And we can meet with Jesus in the morning when we rise. And when we go to die, he'll be with us there.

And then we will be with him face to face in glory. So those are the first two things. We have a body that he's preparing for us that makes this body look terrible. We have the best thing, the best yet to come is God himself in heaven.

We will be in the presence of the lamb. Revelation 4 pictures that. We'll be in the presence of the lamb. And then finally, the bema. Now here, we shift. We've been talking about courage, right? Be encouraged.

These things are coming. But look what it says in the text here. After so be of good courage, verse eight, yes, we are of good courage. Now verse nine, so whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

That's a different concept. So, whether we are at home in the body or we're away from the body, we make it our aim to please him. Verse ten, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. So that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Hm, that word, you guys already know it, for judgment seat is bema. It appears here and in Romans 14 .10. And in both cases, it is speaking of we, believers, who are already saved, having to appear before his judgment seat.

To receive reward for the things done in the body, whether good or evil. How can these things be if Christ has already carried our punishment away in the cross? Well, one of the helpful ways to understand this is to distinguish between the great white throne that we have for us at the end of the book of Revelation.

And the bema seat of Christ, these are different concepts. The great white throne, which in the Greek is megan, which sounds like mega, big, great, luken means white, and thronon, throne. Distinguish that from the bema.

Where the bema is spoken of, it always refers to, in those two places, 2 Corinthians 5 .10 and Romans 14 .10. In both cases, it refers to believers, each one appearing. So this is a very private investigation.

This is a one-on-one encounter with Christ himself. In verse 10, the way it reads, that each one may receive what is due. Each one of us will individually stand before the bema of God. Picture it like you see the bema of the New Testament, only God's will be far more glorious.

Some steps raising up to a platform, and God is there on the throne, and you stand before him in the space below. And you give account to him for everything, good or bad, that you have said and done in the flesh.

So the bema is not the great white throne. The great white throne, at the end of the book of Revelation, is a judgment that is very public. All people now resurrected stand before God, and books are open, and people are judged by what's written in the book.

Well, what's written in the book? Everything you've said or done. But there's another set of books, the book of life. And the names of those who have been born again, who the Lamb of God has paid for their sin, and they have been saved, their names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

So those who are not written in the Lamb's book of life will be judged by these other books, this book of works, and everybody judged by these books is found guilty. So we're told in Revelation, and they're thrown into the lake of fire, which was prepared for the devil, because everybody is a sinner.

Revelation chapter 20, verse 11, the great white throne. But the bema seat is spoken of in other ways throughout the New Testament. Paul told the Corinthians, and I think it's interesting that so much of this is found in Corinth, because Paul appeared before a bema in Corinth.

And so he teaches us about the bema in the book of 1st and 2nd Corinthians. So we're all to appear before the bema, but we're told in 1st Corinthians 3, that however a person builds on the foundation that was laid for them, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ, what is built on that foundation will be tested with fire.

If a person builds with wood, hay, and stubble, those things will be consumed by the penetrating gaze of God, the fire of God, the consuming fire, which he is, our God is a consuming fire. But if you build with gold, silver, and precious stones, those things will withstand the fire.

Now what happens to you? Under the penetrating gaze of God, all of your sinful behaviors that you have committed, even since salvation, all of those things are burned away. And come to nothing. That means that if you live your life entirely for yourself after salvation, and you don't serve his kingdom, and you don't read his word, and pray, and evangelize, and seek him with your life, even if you've been genuinely born again, which I would question if you were genuinely born again, if there's no works to show for it.

Let's just say, hypothetically, there's no works to show for it. All of that will be burned up. And all of the work that you did, whether you came to church or not, all of those things will be consumed.

But in 1 Corinthians 3, we learn that the, not the wood, hay, and stubble, but the gold, silver, and precious stones will remain. What does that look like? It seems to me it's consistent with the other biblical teaching on the rewards that are given.

There are passages here, and I've just written them for you in the notes. James 1 .12, Revelation 2 .10, 1 Corinthians 9 .25, 2 Timothy 4 .8, 1 Peter 5, 2 -4, 1 Thessalonians 2 .19, Philippians 4 .1. You get the picture, there's a lot of them.

All of them speak of crowns that are given, rewards. And when we see the throne room of heaven, this is before the great white throne, in Revelation chapter 4, the 24 elders, which many people, many commentators think is the church, they are wearing crowns on their head.

And God is seated up on the throne. And what do the elders do whenever God is praised? Or let's say when the Lamb of God is presented, and John is weeping because no one is found worthy to open the scroll and unleash the judgment of God on the wickedness of men.

The Lamb has triumphed, and he is worthy to take the scroll and open it. And each time the angels cry, Holy, holy, holy, in this great throne room of heaven, there is glory and joy and worship. But the elders take their crowns off their head and throw them at the feet of the Lamb.

Your crowns are for worship. Your crowns are for joy. Your crowns are not for delighting in what you have done, but for delighting in what God has done in you. This all surpassing power comes from God and not from us.

We're just jars of clay. As we live filled with the Spirit, he works through us and then rewards us with crowns. What does he say to us in Matthew 25? This should be what you're living for. To hear him say, well done, good and faithful servant.

You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of much. And there's a differentiation between the one who received the five talents, the ten, or the one who is not a saved person who buried it, hoping to keep that talent for himself.

In each of these cases, there is a differentiation between how God rewards people in heaven. The saints in the book of Revelation, the believers who lay down their lives and are beheaded for the sake of the name, are rewarded in a special way for laying down their earthly bodies for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ.

But all of these crowns, however glorious and whatever that means, even if it's only a symbolic crown and it only refers to the crowning joy like in Philippians. You are my joy and my crown, says Paul to the Philippians.

However these things play out, we can't see them right now. We're to look at things unseen. In other words, think about these things, meditate on them. You don't know exactly what it's going to look like, but when you begin to set your mind on that Bema seat where you will stand before God and be judged for the things done in the flesh, this produces accountability in you.

I feel like too many Christians have missed this teaching where it plainly says, 2 Corinthians 5, 10, that each one of us will appear before the Bema and because of that we're coasting through life. And sometimes the Christians are the most unaccountable people on earth.

Because we reason wrongly that grace has covered our sin, so I might as well sin. Go on sinning that grace can increase. Romans 6, 1 tells us the folly of that. You were buried with him in baptism and raised to newness of life.

So count yourself, reckon yourself dead to sin but alive in Christ. Be accountable for what you think and do because everything will stand before the Bema. Not for condemnation, Romans 8, 1. There is no more condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, but for reward.

For the eternal joy and ultimately for the glory of the one you serve. Because the ultimate reason why we do this is because we want to throw these crowns right back at his feet and say all glory belongs to the lamb.

To worship like the church does in Revelation 4. Matthew 12, 36, I tell you on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak. That should make us pause for a moment.

Every careless word will stand before the Bema. We need to be careful how we live our lives. Walk in wisdom knowing that these days are short. And so in closing for application, think about pure things, Philippians 4, 8.

And how do you do that? Picture yourself standing before the Bema of God. And picture what comes beyond that, your resurrected body. You're in the presence of God forever. So judge yourself now rather than waiting for the Bema.

Paul says that his conscience is clear but that does not make me innocent. He knows he'll still stand before the Bema. He doesn't know of any way that he's sinning. But he recognizes there could be hidden faults.

Think deeply about the way you live your life. Think about your habits, Haggai 1, 5, and 7. The prophet tells the people, consider your ways. They didn't even realize they were doing anything wrong. They had forgotten to build the temple.

They were neglecting that and they were so focused on building their own house, the things of this earth, paneling their houses, that they had forgotten to build the temple which was still in ruins in the city.

And what does the prophet Haggai say? Consider your ways. Think about your ways. Guys, we get into habits. We live by habits, don't we? So much of what we do through the course of a day, we don't even think about.

When we wake up, what we do when we wake up. Did you think about brushing your teeth this morning? Maybe you have to think about that consciously still. But for most of us, it's just automatic. You don't think about it.

It's just by habit that you brush your teeth. And much of our life is that way. We need to be more introspective, to think about what is our habit when we get home from work? Do we watch two hours of TV?

Which will amount to 10 hours, what was it? 10 years of a person's life. A 90-year life in America, the average person will watch 10 hours of, I'm sorry, I get this wrong, 10 years of television when you add up all television watching for the course of an average American life.

Would that stand before the BEMA? I mean, you had to sleep a third of your life. So God would say, okay, well, that's what I made you to do. But why did you use 10 years of your life watching television?

Why would that stand before the BEMA? It's just wood, hay and stubble. But you didn't have time to read the word that day. The point of the text is not to lay a guilt trip. It's to turn our eyes to heaven, to regain an eternal perspective.

Think about your ways, consider your ways. Look to the BEMA, to the body and to the best. The BEMA first, that's, I think it happens whenever a person dies. The first thing you do is you go right into the presence of the Lord.

Absent from the body, in the presence of the Lord. And he right away deals with that BEMA seat judgment. And then we join the company of the redeemed, awaiting the resurrection of the dead. But we're in the presence of God.

The best of heaven is God there with us, Jesus himself. And then we enjoy this in our new body. So let's close in a word of prayer. Worship team, if you'll come up.

Give me Jesus.

Can have this world, but give me Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for 2 Corinthians 5, verses 1 to 10. Thank you for the encouragement again that we receive from it. That although these earthly tents are wearing out, there is an eternal body that we will receive in heaven.

I pray that that would be an encouragement to all those who are sick and whose bodies have problems. This tent is not all there is. Let them have good courage because of that. Not to lose heart. Lord, we pray that you would be the desire of our heart.