The reality is that all of us have grown tired of the battle and have caved in to allowing godless chatter to have its way more often than not. We have remained silent when we should have spoken up because we are tired of the ramifications that come with taking a stand on the Word of God. We have sinned against God by loving the temporary things of this world more than the eternal treasures of heaven. Do not forsake the eternal promises God has given to us in this Word for the hope of temporary happiness and comfort in this temporary world of sin. Now is the time to “walk by faith and not by sight.”
“Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
2 Corinthians 5:1-10
5 Now 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 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 with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and 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 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, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Dear Friends,
Think of a few adjectives that describe your father. Would it be hard working? Patient? Distant? Kind? Grumpy? The list will look differently with each of us. In fact the list may look differently among siblings with the same father! The way our fathers appear to us have much to do with the way we remember them. If a father takes seriously the verse in our text that says, “we walk by faith and not by sight,” he will do his best to instill in his family a desire to follow Christ no matter what’s going on in your life. He instills that motto best in his children, by setting them an example in his life.
Know yourself! You are not going to live on this earth forever. Life races by pretty quickly. Our bodies are wasting away. There is no stopping the aging process. We live in temporary housing. Our days are numbered! While we live in such a fragile state, let us be careful to know and understand what matters most in life. Therefore, we will consider this thought today:
We walk by faith, not by sight
with a powerful promise
with a precious purpose
There is no getting around the fact that life is hard. Listen to how St. Paul describes life: “the earthly tent we live in is destroyed … meanwhile we groan … for while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened.” It may not be a happy topic on Father’s day, but whether we like to think about it or not, any day could be the last day of our life in this world. Health is a very fragile thing. It can be here today and gone tomorrow! The loss of life happens just as suddenly. Beside that heartache, there is the groaning that we feel just from the sorrow of hearing and seeing the horrible way people treat each other on the news and in our own person lives.
Who of you are not tired of the subject of gay rights? Racial violence? Islamic extremism? Surely we have all wondered how much longer before God brings this wicked world to an end. The burden of living a Christian life in a heathen world becomes more difficult every day. It is so hard to speak the truth in a world that defines political correctness in ways that despise God’s unchanging truth.
The reality is that all of us have grown tired of the battle and have caved in to allowing godless chatter to have its way more often than not. We have remained silent when we should have spoken up because we are tired of the ramifications that come with taking a stand on the Word of God. We have sinned against God by loving the temporary things of this world more than the eternal treasures of heaven. Do not forsake the eternal promises God has given to us in this Word for the hope of temporary happiness and comfort in this temporary world of sin. Now is the time to “walk by faith and not by sight.”
The solution to our sin is to listen carefully to God’s powerful promises to you: “We have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands!” You hold eternal possession in heaven! Heaven is your home! The sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for you on the cross won an eternal inheritance for you. Jesus rose from the dead so that you might know that it is true – life replaces death!
God’s powerful promise causes us to long “to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.” A life lived in this world is a life of nakedness before God. God sees everything! When Adam and Eve first fell into sin, they were stripped of the righteousness that was the image of God. Immediately they knew they were naked. They felt shame. Since that time all people are born spiritually naked. Sadly too many people don’t even realize it! Jesus said to a wandering church, “ You say, ‘I am rich … and do not need a thing.’ But you are … naked” (Re 3:17). That is the ultimate disaster – to be shamefully naked and not even realize it!
So we long to be clothed! God promises to do just that. Our spiritual clothing is found in the renewed image of God given to us through faith in Jesus Christ. In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul says, “all of you who have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Because you are clothed with Christ through your baptismal grace, you will be found wearing Christ on the last day! God works a change in us through such a powerful promise!
The promise is this: “… to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul tells us that the mortal will be swallowed up by life. God will bring mortality to extinction and replace it with immortality. This is God’s powerful promise to you. This is the message that God plants in your heart that works and grows and matures and bears fruit in your life so that you now live life with a precious purpose.
“Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” God has a purpose for your life. He wants you to know that this world is temporary. Only heaven is eternal. Therefore, he wants you to walk by faith and not by sight. God has made you what you are! St. Paul wrote, “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Ph 2:13).
“Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away form the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” Walk through life with confidence. You need not hang your heads as though defeated by this sin-infested world. Hold your heads up high no matter what difficulties you are facing. God’s purpose for your life is not yet completed. As long as we live in these bodies of ours we can take advantage of the opportunities we have to serve the Lord with our lives. But the truth is that it is far better for us to be with the Lord. So we walk by faith confidently!
We know that in spite of appearances, the troubles and hardships of life only bring us closer to our eternal home.
St. Paul states our purpose in life this way: “So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.” We live our lives to please him. Life is temporary. Heaven is permanent. Nothing here really matters. If you don’t think that’s true, then ask yourself what your biggest concern was on Father’s Day last year. Don’t remember? Maybe it wasn’t as important as it seemed at the time. What matters, what’s important, is being ready for the day we are called home to heaven. So, we have a goal in life to please God – not to earn heaven, but to keep ourselves focused on what’s important! We walk by faith and not by sight. God has given us eternal life and he will clothe us with immortality just as he has promised. So God will cause you to grow and bear fruit for him in your life.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in his body, whether good or bad.” We have one more precious purpose for serving Christ in our lives. When Jesus appears on the seat of judgment, we will stand before him clothed in his righteousness because we are cleansed from sin through his blood shed on the cross. We will not be held liable for any offenses. All that remains are the fruits of faith that compliment our lives. At that time, each child of God will receive praise from God for accomplishing the purposes for which God made you his own. God’s verdict of “not guilty” was accomplished through his Son’s victory on the cross. The evidence that his verdict is correct is the deeds of service done in your life to the praise and glory of God.
Realize what is temporary and what is permanent! Everything this world offers you is temporary. Everything God offers you is permanent. Walk by faith and not by sight!
Fathers, realize the special role God has assigned to you in your family. Set an example for your families. Walk by faith clinging to God’s promises. Walk through life with the purpose of spending eternity in heaven with Jesus.
A few days ago, I had the privilege of visiting Norm and Louise Carlson. As many of you know Norm is blind. I had a devotion on this text with them and urged Norm to “walk by faith and not by sight.” He told me that when people used to come golfing on his golf course he would say to them: “When you are golfing you must keep your eye on the ball. But when you are walking through life you must keep your eyes on Christ.” That is sound advice from a blind father who knows what it means to walk by faith and not by sight.
Amen.
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