I’m Going Home

INTRODUCTION

Text: 2 Cor. Ch. 4 (Prayer)

This week I was greatly encouraged and inspired by a newly released song entitled, “Home,” written by Jason Ingram, Chris Tomlin, Jonas Myrin, and Ed Cash. The lyrics hit me hard! They reminded me that life on this earth is temporal. Our worries, frustrations, pain, and suffering; they last but for a moment. Furthermore, I was reminded that life “…consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth,” as Jesus taught (Luke 12:15). We are not citizens of this broken world, but citizens of a better world to come. One day soon, “I’m Going Home!”

In our text, Paul opens up to the church at Corinth. With sincere words, he describes the struggles he’s experienced in preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a church, occasionally we display banners that read, “…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17). However, with the ministry of the Spirit comes spiritual warfare. There is an unseen world battling for our attention. The Kingdom of God of Heaven, and the Kingdom of god of this world (4:4). If we are not careful, our attention is drawn more to the latter.

Where is your attention this morning? Are your thoughts consumed on the fruits of your labor? Are you worried about things that only God can control? Are you looking at the physical, while neglecting the spiritual? Christians can look forward to going home by possessing a deep resolve, practicing daily renewal, and properly discerning reality.

DEEP RESOLVE (4:7-11)

You must possess a deep resolve to “faint not” (4:1). Paul and Timothy suffered much trouble and persecution for sharing the gospel (4:7-11). Church, we are blessed that we enjoy great liberty in the Spirit of God in America. Many of us in this Sanctuary, including me, cannot truly identify with the daily distress that the early Christians endured. They were persecuted beyond measure. Paul describes the turmoil on a few occasions to the Corinthian believers (2 Cor. 7:4-5; 11:23-28).

Paul did not expose his sufferings to boast of his strength. Rather, he sought to elevate the value of the preaching Christ; the worth of redeeming one soul to the Savior. Those trials were tiny in comparison to the truth being revealed.

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).

The early Church looked not on their suffering, but on their Savior’s appearing (4:14).

“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Phil. 3:20-21).

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:4).

Christian, those burdens you carried with you into church this morning will be gone in the twinkling of an eye! Your worries will cease. Your pain will subside. Don’t get weary or faint. Remain strong in the Lord.

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Gal. 6:9).

Do you possess a deep resolve to remain faithful? Are you looking for your Savior or looking at your sufferings?

DAILY RENEWAL (4:16)

If you desire to possess deep resolve in your Christian life, it requires daily renewal (4:15-16). You must recalibrate your soul on a daily basis. Spirituality is not automatic; it’s a manual operation. Every morning requires shifting out of neutral. The outward man (our flesh) must be put off; the inward man must be put on.

“For I delight in the law of God after the inward man” (Rom. 7:22).

“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:23-24).

Renewal comes through cleansing our heart. King David prayed: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10). He understood that cleansing comes only through the Word of God. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Ps. 119:9).

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).

Daily renewal comes from daily meditation in the Scriptures. They provide comfort and conviction; hope and perspective; strength and expectation. Moreover, the Word of God keeps our eyes on the eternal!

DISCERNING REALITY (4:17-18)

Keeping our eyes on the eternal will help you discern reality. The reality that, if you’ve trusted Christ, your heavenly home awaits you (4:17-18; Col. 3:1-3). Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2-3). The Lord is preparing for His children to come home.

Abraham “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:16). Furthermore, believers are reminded “For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Heb. 13:14).

The apostle Paul affirms, “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Eph. 2:9).

Peter exhorts Christians, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Pet. 1:3-4).

Do you have a reservation in heaven? Today, you can make your reservation. Your reality can move from the seen to the unseen; from the temporal to the eternal.

CONCLUSION

Christian, are you looking forward to going home? Do not get wrapped up in the cares of this world. In an excerpt from “Mere Christianity,” C.S. Lewis encourages believers to Aim at Heaven.[1]

[1] C.S. Lewis, A Year with C.S. Lewis (New York: HarperCollins, 2003), 358.