2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1
13But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in
accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke” —we also believe, and so
we speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will
raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. 15Yes,
everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more
people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 16So we
do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner
nature is being renewed day by day. 17For
this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory
beyond all measure, 18because we look not at what can
be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what
cannot be seen is eternal.
5For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we
have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Reflection
When Gloria Gaither wrote
the hymn, “Because He Lives,” there was so much turmoil in Gloria’s life and in
the world. Her husband was weak from an
illness. On top of that, they were
struggling while trying to navigate the very first divorce within their extended
family (remember that the 1960s was a time when divorce was still rare, especially
for Christians). On top of that, racial
issues were brewing across the nation and hatred could be easily found. On top of that, the Vietnam War was raging,
leaving the nation in polarized disagreement concerning the bloodshed. The mound of turmoil was almost too much for
a young mother to comprehend, especially when she sat and wondered if it was
fair for her and her husband to bring another child into such a broken and
dying world. Will there be a tomorrow
for them? Even if there is a tomorrow,
will it worth fighting for?
While expressing her concern and frustration, a devoted pastor and friend allowed her to hear and see things in a different light. He simply stated that forces of evil were behind it all, but God was still active. Gloria and her husband were drawn to the words of 2 Corinthians which encouraged them to “[trust] that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence” (2 Corinthians 4:14).
If the horrors of the external world did not keep Jesus buried in the ground, then there is reason to have faith! If God the Father chose to raise Jesus from the dead, bringing him back into this world then surely God still cares about the world and will “raise us also with Jesus.” Gloria Gaither said, “It dawned on us that the Resurrection is a true thing. It’s true in every situation.”
You can hear the building trust in Jesus’ resurrection in the hymn, “Because He Lives.” And, as you sing, you can feel the trust growing, which believes that he will raise us too. The Lord will raise us up, right here and now whenever we fall, and at the very end. That trust is infused in the hymn, “Because He Lives.”
Take note that “Because He Lives” is the Gaither’s only hymn to be translated into nearly every language across the world. The reason is pretty clear; the song has the ability to deliver to anyone, anywhere, the very simple gospel message that sin, death, and the devil do not get the final word. Because we trust that God is able and willing to redeem us and resurrect us, we can boldly sing:
G G7 C
Because He lives, I can face
tomorrow,
G D
Because He lives, all fear
is gone;
G C G C
Because I know He holds the
future,
G
And life is worth the
living,
D G
C G
Just because He lives!
The truth of the matter is that the world is the world. The world has always been the world. The troubles of the world have always mounded up against us. Anxiety has filled the hearts of mothers for a long, long time. We hear that anxiety even in the gospel of Luke: “Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people” (Luke 21:23).
During WWII, when the world appeared to falling to pieces for good and while bombs were falling all around, theologian Paul Tillich was struck by the sight of a mother, sheltering low in a military foxhole, holding a child close. As bullets whizzed by, she was breastfeeding her baby. The sight confounded him. How did that young mother not give up? How could she be so convinced that there was a future for her and her child?
But, inexplicably, she did not lose heart. Life was worth the living. She fed her child as people died around her, and she did not lose heart. For Tillich, the image of that woman and baby became the living expression of what the apostle Paul expressed: “We do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Somehow, that woman knew that there might be a tomorrow, so she fed her baby, trusting it to be so.
And, though the world seems to be falling apart, along with our own bodies, God’s Spirit is blows into us, renewing us, recreating us and giving us life, not only after we die, but also right now, “day by day” as Paul says. “So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).
And, we trust that to be so. We trust that each day is a new day, a new life, with new possibilities. We trust that we are forgiven by God each day through Jesus’ death and resurrection, and that we can start each new day as if we had just been born again. We trust this because we know that Jesus lives.
G G7 C
Because He lives, I can face
tomorrow,
G D
Because He lives, all fear
is gone;
G C G C
Because I know He holds the
future,
G
And life is worth the
living,
D G
C G
Just because He lives!
Somehow that woman knew that what was happening to her in that war zone was temporary, and that there might yet be a future.
The Apostle Paul assures us, “For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).
For Paul, faith is a type of blind trust in the Lord; where we take a step forward even though the crumbling world appears to be telling us that taking a step forward would be foolish or unwise. We do it anyway, because Jesus took a step forward in love and compassion toward death on a cross. There is no doubt that willingly going to the cross was certainly foolish by the world’s standards, but that sort of trust in God the Father by Jesus allowed the salvation of the entire world.
Just to be clear, that blind sort of faith that Paul is talking about is not a blind trust in religious institutions or religious figures. I want zero people to put their trust in me. Just the other day, I ventured from my office, up the stairs, and toward the sanctuary in order to get the communion elements so that I could do visitations. When I returned back down the stairs to my office, I noticed that I had a mini Hershey’s Kiss in my hand, but no communion elements. I said it just a few weeks ago, and I will say it again, do not put your faith in this guy. Obviously, I follow my stomach more than I follow the Lord.
But, putting our faith in the Lord is so different. Biblically, having “faith” in the Lord is having complete “trust” in the Lord. Faith is trusting that the Lord holds the future, even when the future looks bleak and impossible. It is trusting that Jesus can actually live in someone like us, even if we seem weak and our bodies frail. It is trusting that Jesus can use someone like us to love and forgive, even when it is hard. It is trusting that Jesus will be able to reorient our self-focused bodies and minds someway and somehow towards serving others. Faith is trembling and stumbling forward without even knowing that it is forward toward the Lord that we stumbles.
The Apostle Paul declares: “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
And, we can stumble into our uncertain futures because the truth is that we walk in a different world. Others walk in this world, being driven by fear and anxiety. Others walk in this world, oblivious to the fact that they are destroying it as they go. Others walk in this world, oblivious to the fact that they are stepping on people as they go.
But, Jesus allows us to see the world differently. It is like we walk in a different world. It is like we have been put into a world where we look around and notice the distinct absence of the desires of the world. They have passed away. Instead, we look around and see the will of God. We see people who need God’s love and the Lord causes us to reach out in hope of a new future. We see things in creation which need God’s care and the Lord causes us to reach out in hope of a better tomorrow. “So we do not lose heart,” Paul says to us. “Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).
This new way of walking in the world is very simply described in 1 John where we are told that “the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever” (1 John 2:17). The Lord allows us to see the world in a different way, an eternal way, and it is life giving. Because he lives, we can have hope. Because he lives, we can walk into the future. Because he lives, we can be led in his ways.
G G7 C
Because He lives, I can face
tomorrow,
G D
Because He lives, all fear
is gone;
G C G C
Because I know He holds the
future,
G
And life is worth the
living,
D G
C G
Just because He lives!
And, with that, I leave you with a blessing. It is a blessing that I hope that you take with you and share as you walk in this world.
“O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” – Eric Milner-White
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