Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ESVUK

I remember a new teacher arriving during my later years at school. I didn’t know her. She didn’t teach me. But in my sometimes misguided Christian zeal I could be quite self-righteous, and I made certain judgments about her that may have been wrong, at least to some extent. Regardless, fast forward just a few years, and I found out she had become a Christian, and she and her husband were attending my home church. So my family got to know them both, and when mum was terminally ill, this lovely lady and her husband were part of small prayer group who met regularly to pray for her. The first time I saw her after mum’s death, she said to me with shining eyes, ‘We are so jealous of Jessie, because she got there ahead of us.’

It struck me then, and still does today, how close in spirit this new convert was t the apostle Paul, who said elsewhere, ”My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” Phil.1:23: ESVUK.

She got it right!

PRAYER: O Lord, I admit that I can be so earthbound. So fill my heart with the anticipation of meeting you face to face, that I feel about the future as you want me to, and can face all of life with ‘good courage’.

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, ⁷ for we walk by faith, not by sight. 

Most Christians have never ‘seen’ the Lord. But by faith we do see Him now. It is by faith that we have this certainty, that there is a glorious Lord, and that in one sense we are ”away” from Him while we live our bodily lives. But one day we will be ”…with Christ” which is ”far better” (Phil 2:23). All this we understand by faith.

”Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” Hebrews.11:1.

The world says, ‘Seeing is believing’, but for a Christian believing is seeing.

He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. ESVUK

The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less. The Message

John, in his gospel, has much to say about ”eternal life”. He doesn’t mean by this only ”eternal” in duration. Of course this is mind-blowingly the case. But it’s more. It is the life of heaven, planted in the heart of every believer at the moment of new birth. It’s been said that we have ‘heaven on the way to heaven’. Eternal life is not only quantity of life; it is also quality of life.

Furthermore, it is the Holy Spirit who is the ”guarantee”. He is the ‘down payment’ we might say; He is the ‘first instalment of heaven.’ We have this longing for what is to come because we are already enjoying part of the great feast. We have been given a delicious ‘starter.’

For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Message

For many years, I was involved in leading a ten day youth camp in the North West of England. We were based in a rather remote and beautiful part of the northern Lake district. For this relatively short period of time I could (sort of) enjoy the novelty of sleeping in a tent, washing in cold water, and pretty much living in my wellington boots. But when camp was taken down, how glad was I to drive home to my little house in Leeds; to have a hot bath and sleep in a comfortable bed? You can imagine, I’m sure.

There was a lot to enjoy about summer camp, and I’m grateful for so many happy memories. But camp was temporary; and when I think back to those days, I think get a feel for what Paul is saying here. Camp is just ”a stopover”. Camp life is fleeting and transitory; but home is home. We have an unsatisfied hunger for ”the real thing”.

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 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, ³ if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. ⁴ For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

What a wonderful expression: ”swallowed up by life”. If one creature is ‘swallowed’ by a greater, more powerful animal, that first creature is no more. Mortality is going to be swallowed by immortality (see 1 Corinthians 15:50-58: a complementary passage to this one).

It takes me back to the C.S. Lewis quote from last time: there is something inside of us that hungers for a reality that is so much more than our ”mortal” life. Life in the world can be wonderful, but it is a fallen world, and we often have reasons to ”groan”. Again, perhaps more so as the years go by. Furthermore, so many Christians across the globe, like Paul and his team, are groaning because of persecution.

The Christian hope is the resurrection of the body, not the immortality of the soul. Paul likens the human body, at the present, to a ”tent”: in other words, temporary accommodation. But the resurrection body he calls ”a building from God”. This speaks of permanence. Our hope is not to be disembodied spirits, floating around eternity. There will be a new universe inhabited by new people to whom God has given new bodies. This is why Archbishop William Temple called Christianity ‘the most materialistic of all the religions.’

… as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. ESVUK

There’s far more here than meets the eye’ The Message

C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien both saw this, and gave expression to it in their writings in different ways. But I believe they both shared the same vision. There is much more to reality than what we can see, than what we observe with our senses.

Rod Dreher has recently published a book entitled ‘Living in wonder.’ It is described as ‘an exploration of the mystery and meaning of the supernatural world’, and a discovery ‘that the universe is not what we think it is: it is far more strange, exciting, connected and adventurous.’ Whether we agree with him on every point, this much is obvious: he is a highly intelligent human-being who believes ”There’s far more here than meets the eye.”

I realise that I am hugely privileged to be able to look out of my study window upon a scene of rural beauty and tranquility. Yet the most exquisite parts of our world are sin-damaged, and ”transient”. In our highest and best moments we have probably only felt a tiny fraction of the ”eternal weight of glory” to come

This ‘looking…to the things unseen” is a choice we make, and must keep on making. It is a mind-set:

 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Col.3:1-4

We primarily ”set” our minds on heavenly things by reading the Scriptures, studying them, meditating on them: seeing ”…the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (4:6)

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” C.S. Lewis

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison… ESVUK

These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. The Message.

It has to be said that Paul isn’t writing specifically about old age in verse 16 (although he may have had it in mind to some extent, and his words are applicable to it). He is talking about suffering for the gospel.

What this verse shows is that any suffering in the cause of Christ will be rewarded (Mt.19:29; Rom.8:17; 2 Tim.2:12). I do not believe that God belittles any suffering for His Name, however small it may appear to us. Such suffering is not meritorious, but it is a reward: a gift freely given by God.

We would not naturally describe Paul’s sufferings as ”light momentary”, but as Hodge points out: ‘It was only by bringing these sufferings into comparison with eternal glory that they dwindled into insignificance.’

We have seen in this letter so far that the glory of the Old Covenant is now surpassed by the glory of the New Covenant. But now we see that there is immeasurably greater glory to come. It is ”eternal”, weighty ”beyond all comparison”.

PRAYER: Lord, increase our hope. Make the future glory more and more vividly real to us. Give us new perspective in suffering. Help us to be willing to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ESVUK

A good friend of mine, when he was in his 50’s, often said to me, with a smile, ‘Don’t get old Stephen.’ The truth is, of course, that we will inevitably ‘get old’ if God graciously allows us to live long enough. But in spite of every indication of wear and tear, these can be years of great spiritual growth and fruitfulness.

As the years go by, we are increasingly aware of the factuality of the first part of this sentence. Some may get there sooner than others, but eventually we recognise that our bodily powers are waning, to some degree or other. We can’t evade the evidence. We look in the mirror and wonder how we got to be so old! (Perhaps, indeed, when it was we turned into our mother or father!!). The passage of time can take an increasingly debilitating toll. Life may become more painful and movement more difficult. We start to hurt in places we didn’t know we had places. We may be able to joke about some of the aches and pains, the embarrassments, indignities and inconveniences of old age. But it isn’t really funny. Someone quipped that ‘growing old is not for the faint-hearted.’

But at the same time, Paul holds out this delightful prospect of inward renewal. Perhaps we could express this as growing older outwardly, and yet younger inwardly. The experience of inner renewal can eclipse the harsh realities of outer decay.

Literally, Paul writes about our ”inner man”. It may not be possible to define exactly what this means, but I’m drawn to Alfred Plummer’s suggestion that it refers to ‘the highest part of our immaterial being, which is capable of being the home of the Holy Spirit and of being ruled by Him.’

”This daily renewal is the vast compensation which only a Christian can experience. As his earthly faculties fade the things of the Spirit become more real to him. Denny well comments: ‘The decay of the outward man in the godless is a mechanical spectacle, for it is the decay of everything; in the Christian it does not touch the life which is hid with Christ in God, and which is in the soul itself a well of water springing up to eternal life.’ ”

I read how the great Bible teacher and writer, Dr. J. Sidlow Baxter, when he was around 90 years old,was asked by a visiting friend, how can I pray for you? He thought for a moment, then replied, ‘Pray that I would be more holy.’

Our later years can be very fruitful. We may find that Jesus saves ”the best” till last (John 2:10).

”The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
    they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the Lord,
    they will flourish in the courts of our God.

They will still bear fruit in old age,
    they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
    he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

PRAYER: Lord, in old age please will you grant us deeper rootedness in you, and greater fruitfulness for you.

 So we do not lose heart. ESVUK

He was a rugged Scotsman. He had been involved, for some time, in a church planting initiative in the north of his country. He and his wife were good friends with a couple in a church in Lancaster where I was the (very young) pastor for a year or two. This too was a ‘church plant’. As he preached on that particular Sunday, he kept looking at me and saying, ‘It’s a fight a’ the way, but fight on brother!’

‘Fight on brother.’

Paul says that in view of God’s power, which he had so often experienced, and with the prospect of a glorious resurrection before him, he does not give up. He will fight on.

This is the second time in the chapter that he affirms ”…we do not lose heart” (see verse 1). Loss of heart is an ever present, and potentially deadly, possibility for Christian leaders. It can leas to giving up. For the most part, it has to be admitted, our leadership troubles here in the western world are significantly less intense than those faced by the early Christians. But our troubles are our troubles. They are still troubles and they trouble us. I may know full well that I’m not imprisoned for my faith, and I’ve nothing to complain about. But these seemingly insoluble issues in the local church are causing me so much pain I’m really not sure how much longer I can keep getting out of bed and doing this. Pastoral troubles are real, and they can take good people out of the game.

I ‘retired’ just over two years ago, after around 44 years in pastoral ministry. I was (and I remain) deeply grateful that I made it over the finishing line. There were times when it was hard to put one more step in front of another. I can surely testify, however that God is always good, and He wants to strengthen us to fulfil His will for our lives.

So, let’s ‘fight on’.

PRAYER: Take time today to pray for your pastor and leaders (and/or some others known to you.) Pray that, like David of old, they will strengthen themselves in God. Perhaps you might want to send them a note to say you’re praying for them. May we also strengthen them with our prayers and encouragement.