The Great Sending, Chapter 7
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.
~ 2 Corinthians 5:1
STUDY 7: Date with Destiny, 73-76
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5
by Reverand Dr. Dean Nadasdy
Southern Gospel singer LaShun Pace wrote a song about his soul needing to move because of a leak in his old building. The old building, of course, is his body, and his soul needs a building that is not made by man. The first eight verses of Chapter 5 of Paul’s powerful second letter to the Corinthians help us understand that God’s divine gift of life is “a building from God,” which is “eternal, in the heavens” (v. 1). That is who we are and that is our final destination!
Even though we “walk by faith and not by sight” (v. 7), and especially since we “must appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (v. 8), it is critical that our personal destiny is secure in advance. Our brokenness is apparent. There is indeed a serious leak in the building – we are mortal. Our most secure destination, one we know from the day we arrive on earth, is death. We are dust and ashes (see Genesis 3:19 and Psalm 103:14).
That conclusion is turned inside out by God! As Paul states,
“we have concluded this: that one died for all, therefore all have died; and He (Christ) died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.”
Wait, what? you might say. I am not waiting for death – I’m already dead and gone and back again, with and in Christ!
Paul continues: “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Behold, the old has passed away, and the new has come. Philosophers call this an ontological change, a transformation of one’s very being. And it is God’s gift – death of self before earthly death, and life eternal in the here-and-now, as well as the there-and-then.
This is God’s process of bringing us back together with Him. And who is the “us” in this date with destiny? Is it the good guys, those who somehow make it past the judgment seat of Christ on their own merits? Well, that list is actually non-existent.
Instead, the sweep of God’s mission, God’s love in action, is wildly beyond our limits. It is cosmic. “In Christ,” we are told, “God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor 5:19) The cosmos, the world, and all who were, are, and will be in it as homo sapiens have been brought back to God in Christ already. For them, the price has been paid.
What remains is for everyone in our reach, the same as in every age, to be given opportunity to receive this blessed new being as a gift from God in His Son and our Savior Jesus. If your date with destiny has been secured, then you are called to God’s mission as an ambassador for Christ. Because there is no greater love, no better destiny, there is no higher calling for us than to bring others to their date with destiny!
2 Corinthians 5
Awaiting the New Body
1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
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.
The Ministry of Reconciliation
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! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Questions to ponder with
yourself and others
- When the Bible says the Spirit will lead you into “all truth,” what’s the content of the word “all?”
- When you speak a word of witness, how do you experience and understand the Spirit’s work in and through you in communication?
- What tools does the Spirit use?
- Read John 3 in the context of the Holy Spirit. What is the Spirit’s relationship to the cross of Christ?
John 3:18-21
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
John Testifies Again About Jesus
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. 23 Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24 (This was before John was put in prison.) 25 An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. 26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
27 To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.”
31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
Prayer
Dear Lord, as we have been brought back from the dead to our eternal destiny of life by Christ Jesus, give us daily strength to be about Your mission, that everyone within our reach may know the direction of their destiny. Give us mouths to speak, and wisdom to proclaim Your message as ambassadors for Christ Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.