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For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵ and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. ESVUK

An understanding of the meaning of the ‘wondrous Cross’ is central to a life ‘controlled’ by Christ’s love. Paul had come to see that, in some mysterious sense, all the redeemed were included in Christ’s death (even before they experienced redemption). But once people do come to the foot of the Cross personally, and believe on Jesus, this alters the entire trajectory of their lives. They come ‘under new management’. They ”no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised”. They make it their ”aim to please him” (9). Jesus becomes their Lord. They acknowledge that ‘love so amazing, so divine, demands’ their ‘soul’, their ‘life’, their ‘all’.

Tasker puts it like this, ‘…for all who accept it in faith as an atonement made for them it puts an end to the unregenerate life, in which the old sinful self was regarded as the proper centre of reference, and begets a new life centred upon Another; not just upon any other but upon One other, the Lord Jesus Christ who died for them, and rose again. The resurrection cannot be divorced from the crucifixion in the atoning work of Christ…’

If we claim to be Christians, today is a good day to search our hearts and ask, ‘Who am I living for?’

”Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Cor.6:19,20 ESVUK

God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. ¹² Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. ¹³ If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. ¹⁴ Either way, Christ’s love controls us.

Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do. The Message

‘Paul now states the primary reason why he cannot live for himself. He is under the all-compelling constraint of Christ’s love for him. this love holds him in its grip; so powerful is its influence that he has no choice but to live a life of loving service for others.’ R.V.G. Tasker.

Paul hopes that others will understand the purity of his motives, but he knows that sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. Furthermore, he will always be the butt of unfair criticism. But he seeks to live transparently before God. So whether understood or misunderstood; whether it appears he is mad or sane, he can’t help doing all he does out of love for Christ, and people.

R.T. Kendall says that to receive Christ’s personal commendation, when He looks into our eyes and says, ”Well done”, is what will ultimately matter most to us. It won’t be whether we get recognition, vindication or success here below. ‘What we receive here below is a mere shadow of what Christ’s commendation will mean.’

That is ultimate.

Nevertheless, Paul does want his loyal supporters in Corinth to know that his critics are wrong about him; and he wishes to provide them with sufficient information to be able to defend him. Again though, as we have seen previously, this is not primarily for the sake of his own name, but so that the gospel will not be tarnished.

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. ESVUK

One of the great Christian motivations for evangelism is the understanding that there will be a day of judgment. This doctrine can, and should, turn the wheels of mission.

If you can swim, and you can possibly save another from drowning, you want to save them, right? To sit on the shoreline carelessly spectating would surely be unthinkable.

Angela Bradley was the granddaughter of a lady who lived next door to my grandma in Lancaster. When I was visiting my grandparents, as a very little boy, Angela and I would play together. But I hadn’t seen her in years when, in 1983, I heard the tragic news that Angela, a serving police officer, had died alongside two other colleagues while trying to rescue a man who had gone into a rough sea in an attempt to save his dog. She was just 23. It was a very stormy day in Blackpool, and it seems the little dog had been swept away. A plaque commemorating the bravery of all three officers is now to be found in Jubilee Gardens, Blackpool.

Sadly, the man who tried to rescue his pet also lost his life.

But concern for others can move people to great acts of courage

That keeps us vigilant, you can be sure. It’s no light thing to know that we’ll all one day stand in that place of Judgment. That’s why we work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God. The Message.

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Why do we ”aim to please” Jesus? The little word ”For” indicates an important New Testament answer to this question: we are accountable to Him. As R.V.G. Tasker says: ‘…because much is required of those to whom much is given, the thought of the judgment seat of Christ has for the Christian a peculiar solemnity. It is not meant to cloud his prospect of future blessedness, but to act as a stimulus as the most important of human ambitions…It should spur him on to scale the heights of Christian living, and to be always, whether present or absent (i.e. come life, come death) well-pleasing unto his Lord.’

PRAYER: Lord, cause me to want to ‘scale the heights of Christian living’, and help me to fully possess my possessions, entering into all that is possible for a Christian to enjoy here and now. May I never settle for compromised mediocrity.

Thought: ”We have nothing to fear at the judgment seat of Christ except unconfessed sin and lack of true repentance. These things said, I want to live my life as if all that is knowable about me will come out”. R.T. Kendall

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. ESVUK

This is the essence of the Christian life: aiming to ”please” the Lord. In this world our best efforts will inevitably fall short and be tainted by sin, but one day we will be enabled to fulfil this goal perfectly.

It is clear that, in Paul’s theology, we don’t aim to please the Lord to be accepted by Him. But once we are made right with God through faith in Jesus, wanting to please Him becomes the overflow of the experience. How can we not want to please the One who loves us so much and has treated us so generously?

This is also the heartbeat of someone who knows that he/she is accountable to God (10).

It is a most important question to face honestly: ‘What behaviour on my part is most likely to please the Lord?’ Sometimes we may not be 100% clear about the answer. But I think more often than not we will be – if we are honest with ourselves and God.

 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”.