2 Corinthians - Confidence and Commission

Let's talk about living confidently, living optimistically, living joyfully—not because of our feelings or our circumstances, but really in spite of them. 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, Paul talks about confident Christian living: "Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

Twice he says here, "we are confident." In 2 Corinthians 5:6, he says, "we are always confident." As a writer, I've got to be careful of that word "always." You say somebody always does something—well, does he? But Paul, being an inspired apostle writing the Word of God, can use this word.

Back in 2 Corinthians 2, he says we're always being led in triumph through the Lord Jesus. Here in 2 Corinthians 5:6, we are always confident. In 2 Corinthians 6:10, "as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." You see, there can be this daily experience of the grace of God. And he’s talking about being confident.

Facing life not with timidity, not with fear, but with confidence, and with joyful confidence. Our English word "confident" means "with faith." The Greek word means to be bold, to be courageous—facing life courageously. Now, that's the kind of a life God wants us to live. He doesn't want us to be walking around discouraged, defeated, fearful, timid, afraid to see the day dawn. He wants us to face life with cheerful, bold, courageous confidence. And Paul gives to us three reasons why we can do this.

Reason number one: Heaven is our destination. You know, my friend, when you know where you’re going and you know you’re going to get there, whatever happens in between, you can accept it and you can thank God for it. Now, the journey may be rough, but we know our destination.

Here’s the first reason why we today can be courageously and cheerfully confident, no matter what our situation: Heaven is our destination. "Therefore we are always confident, knowing"—not guessing, not hoping, not reading the horoscope—"knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body"—that's life—"we are absent from the Lord."

Now, that doesn't mean the Lord isn't with us. He said, "lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age." It means we are not living in His presence in heaven. "For we walk by faith, not by sight: We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."

You know, God's people are in only two locations: either in heaven or on earth. There's no in-between place. Paul didn't talk about any in-between place. When you're absent from the body, you are at home with the Lord. When you're at home in the body, you are absent from the Lord. And we're waiting for that time when Jesus shall come and take us to heaven.

Now, how do we know that we're going to go to heaven? That's a good question. There are those people who say, "Well, you're being arrogant. You're being proud. You ought to have some humility to say you know you're saved, to say that you know you're going to heaven." My, that's arrogance. No, it isn't; that's assurance. How do we know that we're going to heaven? The Word of God. Paul says, "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord" in 1 Thessalonians 4.

How do you know you're saved? God's Word tells you. How do you know you're going to heaven? God's Word tells you. "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you," said the Lord Jesus, "I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

In 2 Corinthians 5:5, Paul has told us we have the earnest of the Spirit, the deposit of the Spirit, the guarantee, the down payment, the engagement ring. And we know we’re going to heaven. And so we can face life with cheerful confidence because heaven is our destination.

Now, 2 Corinthians 5:9. Here’s the second reason why we can face life cheerfully confident with the kind of optimism that enables us to overcome: Pleasing Jesus Christ is our motivation. Oh, what life does to you depends upon what life finds in you. Why are you living? Why are you doing what you're doing?

Well, let's read Paul. 2 Corinthians 5:9: "Wherefore we labor"—wherefore we are ambitious, wherefore we make it our aim—"wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent"—whether up in heaven or on earth—"we may be accepted of him." Now, that word "accepted" means well-pleasing. It's a good word—well-pleasing.

There are only three ways you can live. You can live to please yourself—that's the lowest way to live. You get bored, you get selfish, you get all wrapped up in yourself; it's a boring kind of a life. You can live to please others—that could be slavery. Now, there is a kind of pleasing others that is spiritual. Paul talks about it in Romans 15: "Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification." There is the—an attitude of service that is good. But if you live just to please others, you'll end up in slavery and bondage.

Paul said we make it our ambition to please Christ—to be well-pleasing to Him. This is a good little word—"well-pleasing." It's used a number of times in the New Testament. How are we well-pleasing to Christ? Well, Romans 12:1-2 tells us that when we surrender to Him, give Him our bodies, it's well-pleasing, "that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable"—that word "acceptable" is this word "well-pleasing"—"and perfect, will of God." And so surrender is well-pleasing to God, Romans 12:1-2.

And separation is well-pleasing to God, Ephesians 5:10. Sacrifice is well-pleasing to God. Submission to one another is well-pleasing to God. Paul writes to the children in Colossians 3 and tells the children, "Obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord," Colossians 3:20. And so submission to authority is well-pleasing to God.

And then there's that great benediction over in Hebrews 13 where he tells us that the God of peace, Hebrews 13:20, "that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep... make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ." So service, sanctity, and service are well-pleasing to God.

Now, if you live to please the Lord Jesus Christ, I guarantee you will be courageous and confident and optimistic. If you live to please yourself, you'll be miserable. You live to please others, you'll be in bondage. But if you live to please Jesus, then you can serve others and He’ll care for you, and life will be a marvelously exciting thing.

We can face life with cheerful confidence because heaven is our destination and pleasing Christ is our motivation. Now, 2 Corinthians 5:10: Christ's reward is our anticipation. Now, the judgment seat of Christ is not the Great White Throne judgment. At the White Throne, sinners are going to be judged and cast into hell.

The judgment seat of Christ is that experience when believers will face the Lord Jesus, give an account of their ministry. We're not going to face our sins; they are taken care of. They are removed from you as far as the east is from the west. They are forgotten. But you know, your works—your works, my works—are going to be judged by the Lord.

The judgment seat of Christ is going to be a place of revelation. "We must all appear"—that word means "be revealed." You see, we don't see each other today. We don't really know each other. We don't know the thoughts and the intents of the heart. We don't know the motivations of the heart. But character and motives are going to be revealed at the judgment seat of Christ.

So it’s a place of revelation. It’s a place of reckoning, where God is going to look at our works, our service, to see whether or not we've been faithful. Paul says that we should be faithful. 1 Corinthians 4:2: "Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful." And so it’s a place of reckoning where God is going to decide how faithful we have been. It’s a place of recognition.

We're going to be recognized for the work we have done to the glory of God. Many of God's servants have never been recognized adequately. This is why Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4:5: "Therefore judge nothing before the time"—don't evaluate a person's life or ministry too soon—"until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God."

Now, that encourages me. He says "every man" is going to have some praise from God. No matter how much we have stumbled, no matter how much we have failed, there's going to be recognition for everyone. Every believer will have some kind of recognition from Jesus.

"That every one may receive the things done in his body"—whether they be good or worthless. He's not dealing here with sin; He's dealing with service, whether or not we have served the Lord and done it in His power for His glory. So it's going to be a place of reward. And I believe everyone will get some kind of reward. I know we're going to face Him, we're going to have to have our works examined, but our God is a gracious, loving God. And He is going to be just and merciful and righteous.

Our task as Christian witnesses is to persuade people to trust Jesus Christ and be saved. This is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:11: "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." We don't force them; we don't coerce them. We don't trick them; we don't compel them. We persuade them. We present the truth, and we allow the Spirit of God to use the Word of God to persuade people.

Now, the false teachers who had come into the Corinthian church were not using persuasion. They were using propaganda; they were using devious methods of twisting the Word of God. 2 Corinthians 4:2, Paul gives a description of their ministry: "But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God."

So our task is to share the Word of God in such a loving way that people will be persuaded to trust the Lord Jesus.

You see, not only must our message be right, but our method must be right. There are some methods of sharing the Word of God that are beneath the dignity of the Gospel, and they're wrong. And our motive must also be right. That's what Paul deals with in 2 Corinthians 5:11-17. He talks about our motives for service.

Why do we do what we do? Well, what should motivate us to serve Jesus Christ? Paul gives four answers to that question. Number one: the judgment seat of Christ, verses 10 through 13. "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord"—the fear of the Lord. Now, this is not the kind of terror that a slave would have bowed before an irate master. No, no. This word "fear" means reverential awe. It means the kind of respect that you show to a parent.

"Knowing therefore the reverential fear of the Lord, we persuade men." Now, this connects with 2 Corinthians 5:10: "For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ" according to the Word of God. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ"—be revealed.

And so the judgment seat of Christ ought to motivate us to Christian service—to be serious about our Christian service. What does this mean? It means this: We are doing what we're doing in the eyes of God—not the eyes of men, not even our own eyes—in the eyes of God. We are serving because He one day will reward us and judge us.

There's some very wonderful consequences to this. When you know you're going to stand before Jesus Christ, it helps you to keep a clear conscience. You don't sneak into devious, tricky ways of serving the Lord. May I remind you that faith is living without scheming? When you start scheming and plotting to accomplish something in your ministry, God is not working. That's not faith; that's unbelief.

Not only will the judgment seat of Christ enable us to have a good conscience, but it delivers us from the praise of men. You know, some people only serve God when they get credit for it. 2 Corinthians 5:12: "For we commend not ourselves again unto you"—we aren't bragging about ourselves—"but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart."

You know, there are many statistical reports of ministry that glory in appearance, but they can't see hearts. D.L. Moody used to say that converts ought to be weighed as well as counted. And so when you live in the light of the judgment seat of Christ, you'll have a clear conscience, and you won't be worried about men's praise or men's criticism. The judgment seat of Christ should motivate us to Christian service.

Now, verses 14 and 15: the love of Christ. We go here now from the fear of the Lord to the love of the Lord. And the two go together. The two go together. A child ought to have a love for his parents but also a proper respect for them.

"For the love of Christ constraineth us"—same word that Jesus used in Luke 12:50: "How I am constrained until my baptism on the cross is accomplished"—"because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." The love of Christ—now, this is Christ's love for us. And of course, we ought to respond with our love for Him.

He showed His love for the whole world, didn't He? John 3:16: "For God so loved the world." Did Jesus Christ love the whole world? Yes, He did. He also loved the church. Ephesians 5:25: "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it." The whole world was dead in sin, and Jesus died for the whole world, but He also died for those special people who are going to become a part of the church. God knows who they are.

And He died for you. How many people do you know who have died for you? And when He died for us, we were sinners, we were enemies, we were outcasts, we were disgracing Him. And yet He died for us.

Now, why did He die for us? That we might not live for ourselves. That's selfishness, isn't it? Live for ourselves—wrap ourselves up in a little package. He died that we might live for Him by serving others. And so the love of Christ is a motivation for Christian service.

Now, verses 16 and 17: the finished work of Christ. This certainly ought to motivate us. "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh." That means since Jesus has died for all men, we look at people now with a different viewpoint. We don't see them as Jews or Gentiles; we don't see them as rich or poor; we don't see them as slaves or free. We see them as sinners who can be saved through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Don't judge people according to the appearance. Remember He talked about this back in verse 12—those who glory in appearance. "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more."

This may suggest that Paul, in his unconverted days, had a view of the Lord Jesus, and here he writes about it. He looked upon the Lord Jesus from a fleshly point of view and decided He was an impostor. He decided that he ought to go out and oppose this new message of Jesus. Well, he’s changed his mind, hasn't he? Why? Verse 17: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

The finished work of Christ gives to us a whole new outlook on people. Whenever you meet somebody, you always should look at that person through Christ and the work of the cross. You see, when you meet another Christian, you can love him because he is someone in whom Jesus lives. And when you love that Christian, you're loving the Lord Jesus in him.

When you meet an unsaved person, you are meeting someone for whom Jesus died, and you can love him. The Lord Jesus Christ in His finished work motivates us to get the message of the Gospel out because here's the only message for everybody regardless of age, or regardless of race, regardless of color, regardless of economics or education. Here is a message everybody needs. Here is a message everybody can believe: Christ can make you a new creation.

And now verse 18: the commission of Christ. "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ"—we'll talk more about reconciliation in our next study—"and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." We have been commissioned. He tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ, verse 20. You have a commission from the Lord Jesus to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Now, everybody is not called to go to a mission field, but everybody is called to be a part of missionary outreach. Not everyone is called to full-time Christian service, but everyone is called to full-time Christian living. We've been commissioned. "As the Father hath sent me," said the Lord Jesus, "so send I you."

Now, what are you doing with your commission? Here then are the spiritual realities that motivate us to Christian service. And if you're sitting around lazily doing nothing, if you think Paul said "vacation" when he said "vocation," then you listen. The judgment seat of Christ—you'll stand before Him someday.

The love of Christ—doesn't that constrain you to want to share the Word? The finished work of Christ—the work is done. People can become new creatures in Christ. The commission of Christ—we have been ordered to witness. We have been commanded. Now, how faithful are we? Oh, may the Lord help us to be faithful to get the job done because our motives are spiritual and are right.