The Groanings of the Spirit

Sermon transcript

We come now to the reading of God’s Holy Word as we open our Bibles to 2 Corinthians 5. Beginning with verse 1, I remind you that this is the inspired Word of God written for our instruction that we might be made wise unto salvation through Christ Jesus our Lord. 2 Corinthians 5.

For we know that if the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed, in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven. And as much as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now, he who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the spirit as a pledge.

Therefore, being always of good courage and 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 of good courage, I say. and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God.

And I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. We are not again commending ourselves to you, but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are of sound mind, it is for you.

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died. And he died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore, from now on, we recognize no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him in this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come.

Now, all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were making an appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Beloved, the word of the Lord. Amen. Let’s pray together. Father, we thank you for this very precious portion of holy scripture. We’re thankful for the writings of the apostle Paul and the spirit that moved the apostle to write such things as he does. May that same spirit now be at work among us in the, not only in the reading, but in the preaching of your word and the hearing of that word tonight among this, your people here gathered. that we might apply ourselves heart and mind and soul and strength to know you of God and to love you and to serve you as we would appear before the judgment seat of Christ in due time. May we have been found faithful, good and faithful servants to the true and the living God, having been made a new creation in Christ Jesus. Bless us now. Pour out your spirit upon us. We pray this all together in Jesus name. Amen.

In view of God’s gracious power, which has so often sustained him and with the prospect of a glorious resurrection ever before him, the Apostle Paul does not lose heart. He does not think through weariness of spirit, but continues to give his apostolic witness to the church and does so with courage and with great determination.

Nevertheless, his sufferings Though they have not yet proved fatal, though his life is in danger oftentimes, his sufferings are inevitably exhausting his physical strength. He writes that his outer man is decaying, that is, it is wasting away. But at the same time, this is chapter four, his inner man is being renewed day by day. the earthen vessel, that is, the pot of clay, which is his human flesh and body, in which he carries about the dying of Jesus, and does so as Christ’s chosen instrument to convey the glorious message of salvation. This very weak body, that is Paul’s, is meant to demonstrate Christ’s strength through Paul’s weakness. The life which is hid with Christ in God is such that the things of the Holy Spirit are becoming more and more real to Paul. From its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves having the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, Paul writes, but hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he already sees. But if we hope for what we do not see with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it. In the same way, the spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Death surely is a somber reality. Paul’s description of death at the end of 2 Corinthians chapter 4 is quite realistic and quite sober. Just as the process of wasting away is a harsh reality of our fallen humanity, so too is the very end of that process, death itself, which Paul describes as the destruction of the, quote, early earthly tent, unquote.

The effect of Paul’s life His writing about the dark realism about dying and death, however, is not meant to discourage and to depress his readers, but to highlight the contrasting brightness of the all-surpassing power of God. For just as the power of God is at work within dying men, so too the power of God is present in its fullness at man’s death.

As Paul turns to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, He continues to speak of that hope which sustains him in his life and ministry toward the Corinthians and others. Underlying his exposition here is the subdivision of history into the present and future ages. Although Paul quickly moves from one image to another, the two ages form a frame of reference to what he writes, and that is implicit throughout. The present evil age must give way to the age to come.

For the believer, death is swallowed up in victory, as Paul writes to the Corinthians in the first epistle. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, we will all be changed. The sting of death is taken away. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

In a word, the Apostle Paul views his own afflictions in light of his union with Jesus and with his that is with Jesus death and resurrection. It is significant that Paul expects the life of Jesus to be manifested in our bodies, his human body, And he is becoming more and more conscious that it is a temporary structure, that is, his body is a temporary structure adequate to shelter him during the few brief years of his earthly pilgrimage. adequate, but still quite vulnerable to the wear and the tear of everyday life. Much like a tabernacle or a tent, Paul says, for we know that if the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Paul is convinced that this earthly house will most surely be dissolved in death. unless he survives till the Lord’s return, in which case his present body will be transformed into the spiritual or resurrection body in the twinkling of an eye. As he writes the letter that he does here in the first century, that the return of Christ seemed quite remote, yet the prospect of his death seems very close at hand, but it does not fill him with alarm, nor is he despondent, as he writes to the Corinthians. On the contrary, his is a very joyful expectation, for he is convinced that the shelter that awaits him after death is as far superior to that provided by the present body as the protection of a solid, well-built house is superior to that of a tent.

That better shelter of the house that God has built already exists. We have it, he writes, in the heavens. The sole architect of that house is God. No human hands have constructed it. nor has any human hand played any part in its maintenance. It is a building of God, a house not made with hands, and it has been fashioned to last forever. It was this eternal shelter, described by Jesus in the Gospel of John chapter 14 as mansions or as dwelling places, that Jesus told his disciples he was going on ahead to make ready for them, that he would return to take them where he is.

See John 14 and verse 2. Without interruption in the text, Paul now changes the metaphor from a tent to clothing, though his thought remains quite the same. The shelter that awaits the Christian after death is now pictured as a garment, a garment which can be put on over another garment.

For indeed, in this house, he says, we groan, longing to be clothed, to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed. so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.

Now, he who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the spirit as a pledge. Therefore, Paul writes, being always of good courage and 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 of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God. And I hope that we are made manifest to you also. in your consciences.

Notice the double use of Paul here in this text of the verb groan. Compare verse 2 and verse 4 of our text this evening. Paul’s groaning, it appears, is bound up with his present suffering. Suffering in conjunction with his longing, his yearning, his desire for the consummation in the age to come. It will be the mortal giving way to the eternal. It is a longing to be forever with the Lord.

That glorious inheritance has already begun, in that the Holy Spirit has already been given to us, Paul writes, as a pledge, that is, as a down payment or as a guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire full possession of it. Although the coming age is present with us already now, in the down payment of the Spirit, look at verse 5 of our text, that spirit given to us as a down payment, given to us by God.

Our life in the present is to be marked by faith, not by sight, he says. Verse seven. In the new age, we shall see and we shall be with the Lord. But in the present age, we relate to him by faith exercised in response to the gospel message. This is a sober corrective To enthusiastic Christians like the Corinthians who, in desiring spectacular and miraculous signs, were demanding from God in the present time what really belongs to the future. A firm, well-balanced hope for the future is clearly encouraged in scripture, whereas a heightened eschatology with its unrealistic expectations for signs and wonders in the present is not clearly encouraged in Scripture. In writing of the great prospect of being, quote, with the Lord, Paul does not allow us to lose touch with our present existence at home in the body, verse 6. In regard to which he twice affirms, we are of good courage, he says. Compare verses 6 and 8. We are of good courage. waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

In the same way, the spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should. But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. As Paul speaks of groaning here in second Corinthians chapter five, we are reminded of the groaning of which Paul speaks in Romans chapter eight, verses 23 and 26. Whereas the Spirit groans within us with groanings too deep even for words, as the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

And we know that even though we groan now, We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. And so we look to the apostle Paul as he writes these things, speaking of his strength in weakness as he anticipates the consummation, the coming age and the glorious house building that God has prepared for his own.

So we too. In the present, though we see our outer man perhaps wasting away, we know that our inner man is being renewed according to the grace of the Holy Spirit which has been given to us already as a pledge, as a down payment of that which is sure to come in the age of the Spirit yet to appear in the consummation when Christ comes again. And so we do not lose heart. We are not overcome. We press on even in the midst of tribulation, even in the midst of our groanings, for it is of the spirit himself who is bearing us up before the throne of grace as we await the consummation and those good things which are yet to come.

Amen. Let us pray together. Our father, we are reminded here tonight that ours is a longing a longing for the completion of the new creation. If any man is in Christ, he is indeed a new creation already. And so the apostle Paul, though he suffers many afflictions, does not lose heart. He does not grow weary. He does not give up. He overcomes as he continues to preach the good news.

May we hear that good news tonight, and may that be written upon our hearts and minds, that even in the midst of our groanings, may we recognize those groanings as a crying out for the age to come, crying out for the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, that we would be clothed with that clothing which is to be ours in the resurrection in Christ Jesus. Hear our prayers of supplication and intercession one for another. We pray this together tonight in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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