We are of Good Courage

2 Corinthians 5: 1-10

Pentecost 4 – Proper 6

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen.  The sermon text for the fourth Sunday after Pentecost is the epistle reading 2 Corinthians 5.  The apostle Paul tells us that we are a people who walk by faith.  That is we live our life trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Paul also says that we are a people of good courage.  It is courage given to us by the Lord.  It is true.  As Christians we walk by faith, and we are courageous.  We are confident. 

Yet, things happen in our life when that confidence can be shaken.  We can struggle with doubt and fear.  There are times when our courage leaves us, and we become discouraged about what we see and feel.  I remember reading a story about a pastor who woke up on Saturday morning to pain in his lower back on one side that was nearly unbearable.  The pain was so bad that he went to the emergency room.  When he got to the emergency room he and his wife waited and waited for quite some time. Finally, the doctor came in and started poking and prodding on the pastor’s back.  He hit one certain spot that caused the pastor to groan.  The doctor decided to order an x-ray to be done. When the x-ray was taken, the pastor went back into his room where he waited some more.  Finally, the doctor came back in again.  It was now late in the afternoon.  This is what he said.  “What the x-ray shows is that you have a mass on your kidney.  But that is all we can see with the x-ray.  We need to do an MRI in order to be able to tell what actually is going on there.  But the person who does the MRI has already left, so we will need to schedule that for you tomorrow morning.  I am admitting you to the hospital.”  As you would expect the pastor experienced fear and his confidence was shaken.  Who wants to hear the words mass and kidney and hospital stay all in one sentence.

I am sure you know people who have experienced something similar.  It is possible that something like this has happened to you.  The apostle Paul speaks about it in our epistle reading.  Paul knows that our bodies will groan.  At the beginning of this passage, he compares our bodies to tents. As a tentmaker, Paul would know what happens to tents.  They are not permanent or strong structures.  Winds can come and blow them away.  If they stay up too long, the material deteriorates, and they wear out. Our bodies are much like tents.   

Maybe you know of someone who has a heart attack or died of heart disease or Parkinson’s or some other affliction of the body.  Perhaps a loved one has died in a car accident.  Maybe you know someone who has been diagnosed with cancer. Our bodies are fragile.  But as we think about this, we realize that it doesn’t have to be a deadly disease or tragedy that affects us.  For many of us, our bodies just wear out.  You get older.  Our stamina is not the same.  We get more tired in the evening.  Our reflexes are slower.  Our muscles are weaker.  Our joints hurt.  We are more forgetful.  If we sit in a chair for any length of time, we will fall asleep. 

The body wears down.  It grows old. It dies.  And yet Paul tells us that even though this is true we walk in faith and in good courage.  Paul knew what he was talking about.  Earlier in 2 Corinthians, he wrote about a brush with death that shook him to his very core.  He had also been persecuted, run out of town, and thrown in jail, and he had faced death numerous times.  His body was growing old.  He knew that he would eventually die.

With that in mind, he says these words.  “For we know that if the tent which 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.”  In other words, it’s good to be in our bodies now to serve the Lord.  Yet, it will be better to be with the Lord after we die.  When we die our souls are separated from our body. The soul goes to heaven to be with the Lord.  It is a time of peace and rest for our souls.  But the body is still here in the grave.  Our souls will be at peace with Jesus and our bodies will return to the dust of the earth, and that is better then what we experience in this life. But what is best is yet to come on the final day of resurrection. 

This is most certainly true because on the Last Day, the day when Jesus visibly returns, all of creation will be renewed.  We will rise with our bodies glorified.  Our soul and body will be together.  But this time our body will be more than a tent.  There will be no more groaning, no more pain, no more death. We will be without sin.  We will see God face to face.  We will dwell with Him and each other for all eternity.  We will bask in the presence and majesty of God forever.  Our eyes will see colors more vivid.  Our taste buds will explode with flavors that we cannot even imagine, and we will hear the most beautiful music.  We are waiting for the day when Jesus returns to restore everything once again.

So we walk in faith knowing that the best is yet to come.  We walk in faith trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Son of the living God. He is our Savior.  It is through His death on the cross that our sins have been atoned for.  It is by His glorious resurrection that death has been defeated.  The gift of everlasting life has been given.  Instead of a groaning body we will live with the Lord for all eternity.

But we are not there yet.  We still live in this life, and that is a good thing.  It is in this life that we walk in faith and with good courage.  We know that the promises of Christ are true. And so we are moved by the Holy Spirit to live lives that are pleasing to God.  We know that the Lord is with us and that He is the One who gives us courage. We will need courage in this life. Sometimes that will mean confessing the name of Christ in a hostile world.  It will mean defending life, and God’s design for marriage and family. 

But perhaps the greatest courage is to say no to our own sinful nature.  To say no to our own desires that do not please the Lord, whether it’s a desire for more money instead of being content, or jealousy instead of rejoicing with what someone else has, or anger instead of seeking peace, or gossip instead of building someone up.  We need the courage to say no to sin and to do what is pleasing to the Lord.  Of course such courage never comes from within us.  It comes from God.  The Spirit works through the word to give us good courage even when so many things can discourage us.

Remember the story I was telling you about the pastor who went into the emergency room.  That night at the hospital he read through the psalms, and he read the promises from the New Testament.  Was he scared and disheartened?  Yes. But as he read the Bible, the Holy Spirit worked in him good courage to walk by faith.  As it turned out the mass was not cancer, but it was fluid.  A significant dosage of antibiotics and about four weeks of staying home took care of it.  Through it all the Lord gave to him good courage.  It is what the Lord gives to you. 

It is good to walk by faith and not by sight in this life, to be of good courage, to do what is pleasing to the Lord.  What is better yet is to die and be with the Lord in perfect peace.  But what is best is yet to come.  It is when the Lord visibly returns.  It is the final resurrection.  And so always we are of good courage.  Amen.