Christ Church (Moscow, ID)

INTRODUCTIONThe fear of God is not a craven, crawling thing. In this passage, the fear of God is a driving motive force for evangelism, and evangelism is a proclamation of the good news, not the declaration of dreadful news. The fear of God therefore needs to be something that we understand as powerful and attractive.THE TEXT“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause” (2 Cor. 5:11–13).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTIn the light of this judgment, in light of the fact that every man will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we know what it is to fear the Lord. Precisely because we know “the terror” of the Lord, we seek to persuade men (v. 11). Persuade them of what? Persuade them to consider their true condition. A human life without true, complete, utter, and entire accountability has not yet been lived, and never will be. It is madness not to factor this in to how we live our lives. This is something Paul does coram Deo, in the manifest sight of God, and Paul trusts that it is manifest enough to be obvious to the consciences of the Corinthians also. The reason Paul is writing about this here is not to brag to the Corinthians, but rather to give them an opportunity to brag about him. They needed the material so that they could answer the false teachers at Corinth—identified by Paul here as those who glory in appearances, and not in heart (v. 12). Paul acknowledges that some will think he is crazy, while others will call him sober-minded. He divides it up this way. If we are out of our minds, it is for God. If we are calm and judicious, it is for you Corinthians (v. 13).TESTIMONY AND APPEARANCESWe should begin by acknowledging that there is a sense in which believers ought to care about our testimony and reputation. Elders should have a good reputation with outsiders (1 Tim. 3:7). A good name is greatly to be valued (Prov. 22:1). Because we live lives of integrity, those who slander us should be ashamed of themselves (1 Pet. 2:15).But at the same time, Jesus tells us that when all men speak well of us, we should consider that as a real danger sign (Luke 6:26). That is how they speak of false teachers, and in our passage, Paul tells us that false teachers cultivate and pursue such appearances (v. 12). This is their currency. They care about appearances, which is not the same as caring about testimony. Caring about testimony is caring about the truth, and caring about appearances is caring about the lie.So test your hearts in this. Would you rather be truthful and thought a liar, or a liar and thought a truthteller? Would you rather be courageous and thought a coward, or a coward who is thought to be courageous? Would you rather be honest and thought to be dishonest, or dishonest and thought to be honest? The answer will reveal whether you are standing before God or men.JUBILANT TERRORKnowing therefore the terror (phobos) of the Lord, we seek to persuade men. I began by saying that the fear of God is not a craven thing. This is not a religion for lickspittles. Although the same word (fear) is used, there is a vast difference between the flinching that wants to avoid a blow and the awe that swallows you up when you consider that the paving stones in God’s palaces contain numberless galaxies. Perfect love casts out the first kind of fear (1 John 4:18), and perfect love ushers in the second kind (Ps. 8). What is man, that you are mindful of him?This is why Paul can tell the Philippians to work out their salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). But working out our salvation includes rejoicing constantly (Phil. 4:4). Rejoice with fear and trembling.This is what the kings of the earth are commanded to learn. “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalm 2:11).And when Moses and Aaron were dedicating the tabernacle, the fire of God flared out from the glory of God and consumed the burnt offering.“And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces” (Lev. 9:24).But these were not religious feelies. The fire of God devoured Nadab and Abihu in the next verses (Lev. 10:2), and so God instituted a law for priests against drinking on the job (Lev. 10:9). And yet the people fell on their faces, shouting and jubilant in their terror.JOY UNSPEAKABLE AND FULL OF GLORYAnd this is what the Scriptures point us to, constantly. Paul wants us to have the “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.” He wants us to have the “eyes of our understanding enlightened” so that we might “know what is the hope of our calling,” not to mention the “riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” And what else? The “exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power” (Eph. 1:17–19).He also prays that we might be “able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height,” and more than that, to “know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge,” and he wants us to be “filled with the fulness of God.” He wants us to ask and think that, and then to commit it all to the one who can do “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Eph. 3:18–20). He wants us to grasp the ungraspable, and to know the unknowable, and to be filled with the infinite. And then he wants us to be hungry for more than that.“Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:” (1 Peter 1:8).This is the reality that will make evangelism potent. Knowing what it is to fear the Lord, we seek to persuade men. As we reflect Christ, we point the way to Christ. And as we witness to Him, we pray for the fire to fall.

Women are the glory of their husbands, and that glory should be as obvious as a pillar of fire by night. It needs to be as obvious as a circlet of diamonds around his forehead.How would biblical obedience in this instance be slandered and caricatured? If we were really living this way, it could never be that “those Christian men browbeat their wives.” A more plausible slander would be that Christian men glorify their wives to the point of encouraging vanity. Let us not fall into the sin—but we should be careful to live in a way that provokes the slander.Enjoy session 5 of 7 from Grace Agenda 2022 Main Conference in Moscow, ID.When a man and woman say, “I do,” they are launched together into a grand adventure with numerous unexpected twists and turns. Along with all the blessings from marriage, there are also sleepless nights with crying babies, expensive car repairs, burnt dinners, potential drama with extended family, and turmoil in the world. The world thinks that when a marriage is confronted with hardship, either spouse can push the emergency eject button and simply move on due to “irreconcilable differences.” But Christian couples are commanded, in sickness and health, riches and poverty, good times and bad, to display the glory of Christ and the church. To do this takes gritty faith, covenant fidelity, and joyful forbearance.Grace Agenda 2022: Marriage Bootcamp aims to equip Christian couples to ride into the turbulence of the world in which we live with a fearless resolve to glorify God in their home and so advance the kingdom of God in the midst of the smoking crater that is Western Civilization.—The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Enjoy session 3 of 7 from Grace Agenda 2022 Main Conference in Moscow, ID.When a man and woman say, “I do,” they are launched together into a grand adventure with numerous unexpected twists and turns. Along with all the blessings from marriage, there are also sleepless nights with crying babies, expensive car repairs, burnt dinners, potential drama with extended family, and turmoil in the world. The world thinks that when a marriage is confronted with hardship, either spouse can push the emergency eject button and simply move on due to “irreconcilable differences.” But Christian couples are commanded, in sickness and health, riches and poverty, good times and bad, to display the glory of Christ and the church. To do this takes gritty faith, covenant fidelity, and joyful forbearance.Grace Agenda 2022: Marriage Bootcamp aims to equip Christian couples to ride into the turbulence of the world in which we live with a fearless resolve to glorify God in their home and so advance the kingdom of God in the midst of the smoking crater that is Western Civilization.—The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Enjoy session 1 of 7 from Grace Agenda 2022 Main Conference in Moscow, ID.When a man and woman say, “I do,” they are launched together into a grand adventure with numerous unexpected twists and turns. Along with all the blessings from marriage, there are also sleepless nights with crying babies, expensive car repairs, burnt dinners, potential drama with extended family, and turmoil in the world. The world thinks that when a marriage is confronted with hardship, either spouse can push the emergency eject button and simply move on due to “irreconcilable differences.” But Christian couples are commanded, in sickness and health, riches and poverty, good times and bad, to display the glory of Christ and the church. To do this takes gritty faith, covenant fidelity, and joyful forbearance.Grace Agenda 2022: Marriage Bootcamp aims to equip Christian couples to ride into the turbulence of the world in which we live with a fearless resolve to glorify God in their home and so advance the kingdom of God in the midst of the smoking crater that is Western Civilization.—The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Enjoy session 6 of 7 from Grace Agenda 2022 Main Conference in Moscow, ID.When a man and woman say, “I do,” they are launched together into a grand adventure with numerous unexpected twists and turns. Along with all the blessings from marriage, there are also sleepless nights with crying babies, expensive car repairs, burnt dinners, potential drama with extended family, and turmoil in the world. The world thinks that when a marriage is confronted with hardship, either spouse can push the emergency eject button and simply move on due to “irreconcilable differences.” But Christian couples are commanded, in sickness and health, riches and poverty, good times and bad, to display the glory of Christ and the church. To do this takes gritty faith, covenant fidelity, and joyful forbearance.Grace Agenda 2022: Marriage Bootcamp aims to equip Christian couples to ride into the turbulence of the world in which we live with a fearless resolve to glorify God in their home and so advance the kingdom of God in the midst of the smoking crater that is Western Civilization.—The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

The Reformation that has to take place for this country to be salvaged has to occur marriage by marriage, family by family, congregation by congregation. It cannot be a top-down solution. Enjoy session 7 of 7 from Grace Agenda 2022 Main Conference in Moscow, ID.When a man and woman say, “I do,” they are launched together into a grand adventure with numerous unexpected twists and turns. Along with all the blessings from marriage, there are also sleepless nights with crying babies, expensive car repairs, burnt dinners, potential drama with extended family, and turmoil in the world. The world thinks that when a marriage is confronted with hardship, either spouse can push the emergency eject button and simply move on due to “irreconcilable differences.” But Christian couples are commanded, in sickness and health, riches and poverty, good times and bad, to display the glory of Christ and the church. To do this takes gritty faith, covenant fidelity, and joyful forbearance.Grace Agenda 2022: Marriage Bootcamp aims to equip Christian couples to ride into the turbulence of the world in which we live with a fearless resolve to glorify God in their home and so advance the kingdom of God in the midst of the smoking crater that is Western Civilization.—The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Remember the objective. The first stage of parenting is to make self-controlled children who live joyfully under life-giving authority. If we can keep the unity of command, maintain our lines of communication, concentrate our forces, and stay mobile, victory is to be had.But the victory is not through our own doing, it is the work of Jesus Christ our Savior. For indeed, this is entirely an effort in faith. We live in faith and we parent in faith. Enjoy session 4 of 7 from Grace Agenda 2022 Main Conference in Moscow, ID.When a man and woman say, “I do,” they are launched together into a grand adventure with numerous unexpected twists and turns. Along with all the blessings from marriage, there are also sleepless nights with crying babies, expensive car repairs, burnt dinners, potential drama with extended family, and turmoil in the world. The world thinks that when a marriage is confronted with hardship, either spouse can push the emergency eject button and simply move on due to “irreconcilable differences.” But Christian couples are commanded, in sickness and health, riches and poverty, good times and bad, to display the glory of Christ and the church. To do this takes gritty faith, covenant fidelity, and joyful forbearance.Grace Agenda 2022: Marriage Bootcamp aims to equip Christian couples to ride into the turbulence of the world in which we live with a fearless resolve to glorify God in their home and so advance the kingdom of God in the midst of the smoking crater that is Western Civilization.—The last several years Christ Church has tried an experiment in grace and has not charged for the Grace Agenda conference. In keeping with this spirit of grace, we are accepting free will donations at https://www.graceagenda.com/donate.

Perhaps no other region of modern life is less scrupulously evaluated by Christians than their media choices. You may be a faithful churchgoer. Your kids may be getting a Christian education. You may read a Bible verse or two after supper. But many Christians apply next to zero discernment regarding their entertainment choices.

Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed (Gal. 1:1–9).

INTRODUCTIONAs Christians, we must live our lives here in the light of the life to come. Those who live in the ways of YOLO are like pigs under a vast oak tree, looking for acorns. They do not consider what is above them, not at all, they do not care about the source of their blessings, not at all, and they keep their snouts pointing toward the dirt always, hunting for the next acorn. We are summoned to a way of life that is completely and entirely different.THE TEXT“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:1–10).SUMMARY OF THE TEXTSo we begin with a summary of this passage. Paul starts by comparing our mortal bodies to tabernacles, to be followed by an eternal body in the heavens, fashioned by God Himself (v. 1). Dwelling in tents is a time for groaning, as we look for our permanent heavenly house, which will clothe us (v. 2). If we are clothed in this way, we will not be found naked (v. 3). While we live in these tent bodies, it is a burden, and we groan under it. But we do not groan in the direction of “no body,” but rather in the direction of “ultimate body,” so that our mortal bodies might be swallowed up by life (v. 4). God has fashioned us for this very thing (v. 5), and He has given us the earnest payment of His Spirit (v. 5). This means that the Spirit is dwelling here with us in these tents. This is the ground of our confidence—we know that to be present in these bodies is to be absent from the Lord in Heaven (v. 6). We walk by faith (faith generated by the Spirit who is the earnest within us), and not by sight (v. 7). But the confidence we have while not seeing with our eyes is a confidence that is looking forward—to the time when we leave this body, and are present with the Lord (v. 8). This is why we work as hard as we do, so that whether we see Him with our eyes or not, we are nevertheless accepted by Him (v. 9). This is what we want and need, because absolutely every one of us is going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ (v. 10). The upshot of this judgment is that we will all receive according to our life in the body, whether good or bad (v. 10).THE SPIRIT HELPS US GROANWhen Paul points out we live in a tent, he says we groan (stenazo, v. 2). With the burden of tabernacling, we groan (same word, v. 4).He teaches something very similar in Romans 8. The whole creation groans (stenazo), like a woman in labor (Rom. 8:22). We who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan as we look forward to the redemption of our bodies (Rom. 8: 23). Yearning toward that same end, the Spirit Himself labors with groans too deep for words (Rom. 8:26). This is because the entire cosmos is pregnant with the new creation.WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIEPutting all this together, we can see what happens when believers die. Our bodies are called tabernacles, and this is where we live now. If this tent is destroyed, we are (Paul says) “with the Lord.” This is some sort of intermediate state, and too many Christians confuse this intermediate state with our final eternal state. That final eternal state is after the dead are raised. So being a ghostly spirit in Heaven is not our final hope. We are Christians, and we believe in the resurrection of the body.CHRISTIANS AND THE JUDGMENT TO COMEAs we consider the end of the world, we must distinguish between two different aspects of how God will judge the world at the last day.In the first instance, there is the Great White Throne Judgment. We see this in Revelation 20:11-15. This is a judgment that distinguishes and separates the saved from the lost. We see the same thing in Matthew 25, in the separation of sheep and goats (Matt. 25:31-36). Those who are saved through this judgment are saved on the sole basis of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, imputed to them by the grace of God. You will stand in this judgment, or not, on the basis of whether or not you are in Christ. Salvation is based on whether or not their names are found written in the “book of life from the creation of the world” (Rev. 17:8).But there is another judgment, often called the bema-seat judgment. This is a judgment that evaluates the lives of Christians, and rewards them (or not) on the basis of how they lived. Paul refers to this in our passage (v. 10), but also elsewhere. “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ . . . So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:10–12). If we compete in accordance with the rules, we will be crowned (2 Tim. 2:5). “And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible” (1 Corinthians 9:25).