Sermon for the Second Sunday After Pentecost
We Will Be Further Clothed
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord
Jesus Christ! Amen. Today's Epistle from 2 Corinthians is a very good and
comforting passage from God's Bible. These Words from God are especially
comforting for those who have lost a dear loved one, and they are also very
good for those who wonder what will happen to us after we die. But today's
Epistle does not speak only about the future God has for you have on account
of your faith in Christ. Today's Epistle also gives you a way of facing and
embracing each and every day of this life, not matter what the future might
hold for you.
Dear Christian friends,
When a Christian dies, that person leaves his or her body behind
and immediately goes to be with Jesus in heaven. We know this and we trust
this because Jesus tells us about a certain man named Lazarus who died in
the Christian faith: "The. man died," says Jesus, "and was carried by the
angels to [heaven]" (Luke 16:22). Another reason why we know that Christians
immediately go to heaven when they die is because Jesus said to the thief on
the cross who believed in Him, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise" (Luke
23:16). (Things do not work out so well for those who die who are not
Christians. They leave their body behind, but they go to hell-and things are
not at all pleasant in hell [Luke 16:22b-24]).
As wonderful as it is to know about the gift of heaven that Jesus
gives to you who believe, we must not think that heaven is the end of the
road for us. When a Christian dies, that person leaves his or her body
behind and immediately goes to be with Jesus in heaven-but Jesus still has
more gifts and more miracles for that person even after he dies! That person
shall rise again, and that person shall get his or her body back in a new
and perfect form. Eternal life with Jesus does not mean you escape your
body. Your body was created by God and at one time it was pretty good body.
Eternal life with Jesus does not mean you escape your body, but that you
will get your body back on the Last Day. When you get your body back, it
will be washed clean and pure, free of all sin, all disease, all weakness,
all suffering and all causes of death.
Today's Epistle, written by St. Paul, speaks about both things:
about going to heaven to be with Jesus and about the resurrection of every
body on the Last Day. In fact, St. Paul seems to speak about these two
things-heaven and the resurrection-as if they are one and the same thing.
That is a good thing. It is not that St. Paul does not understand the
difference between heaven and the resurrection. St. Paul mixes these two
promises together in today's Epistle because mixing the promise of heaven
with the promise of the resurrection is sort of like mixing chocolate with
peanut butter: it all tastes better that way.
Here is what today's Epistle says to you about going to heaven to
be with Jesus: "While we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.
we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord." With these
Words, St. Paul talks about wanting to be in heaven with Jesus, rather than
continuing to live here on this earth. St. Paul believes that things will be
better for us in heaven, and we believe things will be better, too. No
matter how much joy or happiness we meet here on earth, the joy of heaven
will be greater. All of earth's joys eventually end. Much of our happiness
gets overshadowed by sadness. Not so in heaven! In heaven, "death shall be
no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore"
(Revelation 21:4). That is why St. Paul wanted to be "away from the body and
at home with the Lord."
But today's Epistle does not speak only about the great gift of going home
to heaven to be with Jesus. Today's Epistle speaks also about the next gift
that Jesus has for those who have gone to heaven with Him. This is a gift
that He also promises to you and to all His dear Christians. It is the gift
of the resurrection. In this Epistle, St. Paul speaks about the resurrection
and the newly perfected body that God will give to you and to your fellow
Christians when he says this to you:
We know that if the tent [or the body], which is our earthly home, is
destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens.
With these words, St. Paul wants you to know that the body you will receive
in the resurrection-and the bodies your Christian dead will receive in the
resurrection-these bodies go far beyond the quality of our earthly bodies.
Our earthly bodies are like living in a tent when compared to the bodies we
will be given in the resurrection. Our resurrection bodies will be strong,
durable bodies-comparable to brick, stone buildings with deep foundations,
rather than canvas tents. The bodies given to us in the resurrection will
not weaken or die; they will be "eternal in the heavens." Those bodies will
be "our heavenly dwelling," and our "building from God"; "imperishable,
undefiled and unfading" (1 Peter 1:4); "sown in weakness," but "raised in
power" (1 Corinthians 15:43).
1) Heaven with Jesus as soon as we die and 2) a brand new body in
the resurrection on the Last Day: these two promises from God give us a way
of coping with the death of someone we dearly love; these two promises from
God give us a good way of thinking about our own future and our own
deaths-and these two promises from God allow us to think about such things
without terror and without panic. Even beyond that, these two promises from
God give us a way of getting out of bed in the morning and a way of facing
those daily challenges and struggles that continually assail us. This is
why, when today's Epistle speaks about going to heaven to be with Jesus and
when this Epistle speaks about the resurrection on the Last Day, it also
states that "we are always of good courage."
Maybe you don't feel like you have all that much courage. Maybe
you have a little bit of a hard time with this Epistle because you do not
share St. Paul's desire to depart and be with Christ (Philippians 1:23). You
don't share his desire to "put on our heavenly dwelling" just yet, either
because you feel that you are too young or because feel that you have too
many responsibilities and that the people in your life could not get along
without you. Maybe you would like very much to "walk by faith, not by sight"
for a long, long time before God gives you His gifts of heaven with Jesus
and a brand new body in the resurrection.
Do not fret if you do not share St. Paul's burning desire to leave
this life. God your heavenly Father can change your feelings about such
things quickly and easily enough. If you cannot muster St. Paul's enthusiasm
for being "at home with the Lord," focus your attention on what today's
Epistle says about your here-and-now. St. Paul has managed to sneak a little
baptismal language into this Epistle, and this talk about Baptism is all
about what your God has already given to you and made yours in your Baptism.
1. The first reference St. Paul makes to your Baptism is where he says, "we
groan, being burdened-not that we may be unclothed, but that we would be
further clothed." These words, "That we would be further clothed," point you
to your Baptism. If you are to be further clothed, that means you already
wearing clothing. The clothing you are already wearing is your Baptism, in
which you were clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27) and swaddled in His
death and resurrection. Because of your Baptism, eternal life and
resurrection are not merely part of your future. They are part of you're
here-and-now. Right now you are forgiven all your sins and right now you
have God's gift of eternal life in Jesus (John 11:26). According to today's
Epistle, the resurrection body you will be given on the Last Day will not so
much be new clothing as it will be additional clothing, clothing layered on
top of your Baptism. In your Baptism, "what is mortal" has already begun to
be "swallowed up by life."
2. Today's Epistle also speaks about your Baptism where it states,
"God. has give us the Spirit as a guarantee." When your God performed for
you His miracle of Baptism, the Holy Spirit came to be with you forever. Not
only does this Spirit give you faith in Jesus through the hearing of His
Word; not only does this Spirit guard and keep you against all evil spirits;
the Hoy Spirit is also your heavenly Father's guarantee of greater things to
come. The Holy Spirit of your Baptism is power for you now, and not just
when you die. The Holy Spirit is your down payment on the future, given to
you so that you do not need to fret about the future-or fear the future-or
wonder why you do not yet inwardly groan for the future to come.
"We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. our heavenly dwelling." We will be "further clothed." "What
is mortal [will] be swallowed up by life." "God. has give us the Spirit a
guarantee." Today's Epistle is the sort of passage that we would do well to
mark in our Bibles and to read frequently. Today's Epistle should not be
thought of as a call to courage, but this Epistle should be regarded as the
divine food and drink that gives you courage-especially when you feel that
all your courage is gone. Today's Epistle is comfort for our grief. It is
medicine for our wounds. It is oxygen for our lungs when it feels like the
weight of the world will press us flat. Today's Epistle is Word-for-our-ears
that will overcome the fears and dangers we see with our eyes, "for we walk
by faith, not by sight."
___________________________________________________________________________
'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise
noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such
gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_
_attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author, as well as
for quoting or use in a congregational setting
_with_or_without_attribution_.
Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list.
Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster.
Subscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected]
Unsubscribe? Send ANY note to: [email protected]
Archive? <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/>
For more information on this or other lists offered by Confess And Teach
For Unity, you can contact the CAT 41 list administrator at:
Rev. Fr. Eric J. Stefanski <[email protected]>
