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.

 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. ESVUK

The ‘dyings’ (sufferings) of Christian leadership, are for the sake of the church (see also 12). Ministry is other-person centred.

There is a simple equation in this verse: ”more and more people” experiencing ”grace” (being converted), means more and more worship for God/more and more glory to God. The ultimate purpose of ministry, with all its costs, is that God should have more and more worshippers.

I remember reading a book about evangelism, written by John Stott. I believe he said that the ultimate purpose of evangelism is not the salvation of lost sinners, as glorious as that is. It is rather the glory of God.

‘…Paul is keen that the end result would be more praise arising to the living God. The more people are praising God, the more the world is taking the shape it was meant to have…’ Tom Wright

In his biography of John Calvin, John Piper writes about Calvin’s God-centredness, and he bemoans the evident man-centredness in much of modern evangelicalism. He quotes Leslie Newbiggin:

‘I suddenly saw that someone could use all the language of of evangelical Christianity, and yet the centre was fundamentally the self, my need of salvation. And God is auxiliary to that…I also saw that quite a lot of evangelical Christianity can easily slip, can become centred in me and my need of salvation, and not in the glory of God.’

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke”, we also believe, and so we also speak, ¹⁴ knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. ESVUK

We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. The Message

As a Jew, Paul was steeped in the Psalms, and he spoke in the same spirit as the psalmist in the 116th psalm. He continued to believe, and affirm his faith, in the face of suffering – the psalmist did, and so did Paul. At the heart of Paul’s confession is the resurrection of Jesus and its implications for believers. Although he is constantly exposed to the threat of death, here is his core conviction, and he verbalises it. The essence of the Christian hope is, in a word, Jesus. Paul expresses this clearly in Philippians 1:21-23:

 ”For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²² If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. ²³ I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.”

In his book, ‘Hope in times of fear’, Tim Keller refers to J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’. He says, ‘Sam Gamgee has been guarding his master, Frodo, during a harrowing journey through a deadly, evil country. At one point he rescued Frodo from a prison tower out of sheer force of will. Later he is falling asleep and sees a white star twinkling in the sky:

The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master’s, ceased to trouble him

…real courage comes with self-forgetfulness based on joy. It comes from a conviction that we here on earth are trapped temporarily in a little corner of darkness, but the universe of God is an enormous place of light and high beauty, and that is our certain, final destiny. It is so because of Jesus.’

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke”, we also believe, and so we also speak…

• Believing and suffering. Paul aligns himself and his fellow-workers with the psalmist who continued to believe in the face of suffering (Psalm 116:10. Alec Motyer’s excellent quote on this Psalm is worthy of repetition: ‘Just as of old, it was a great cry for help (Ex.2:23-24) that initiated the exodus acts of God, so faith working by prayer remains the greatest force available to God’s earthly people’).
• Believing and speaking go together. If we believe it we will want to confess it, somewhere, some way, somehow. Beliefs in the heart naturally want to overflow through the mouth. The call to preach is a call to let the Bible speak; to say only what it says: ”…according to what has been written…” So the conviction that it is the Word of God is of crucial importance. It is a travesty when people stand in the pulpit and try to talk about the Bible, but they don’t really believe it. God may nevertheless bless any truth genuinely spoken. If it is gospel truth, the seed can still take root and grow. But preachers who don’t believe what they are saying will lack conviction and authenticity. That said, I once knew a vicar who was converted in the middle of one of his own sermons. It lit up and became alive to him. Truly, God’s ways are mysterious and wonderful.