2. Corinthians 8,1-10. 2. Last Sunday in the Church Year

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

2. Corinthians 5,1-10       5614

Vorlezter Sonntag des Kirchenjahres  071 (26. Trinitatis)

Othmar, Abbot of St. Gallen, Switzerland. † 759. ✠ 

16. November 2014 

1. O God, Your Name is righteous! Show Yourself today as the Living One. Have mercy upon us, and bring comfort and life unto us. You console us, befriend us and heal us, for  You are the Living One who has mercy upon us. (VELKD, Prayer for 2. Last Sunday in the Church Year § 1).  Amen. 

2. »For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, then we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 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. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. (2. Corinthians 5,1-10) 

3. The Apostle Paul delves into the issue that many Christians ponder: Is it better to be here on earth in the body or away in heaven with Yahweh? St. Paul himself pondered this as well in his Epistle to the Philippians: »For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account« (Philippians 1,21.23-24). Paul counsels that both are a blessing. While we are here on earth, we are a blessing to our neighbors and use our talents to proclaim the gospel in our individual settings. Once we traverse our mortal existence into the heavenly realm, we are in the eternal fellowship with the Triune God, His angels and all the Christians who have entered into paradise. 

4. The Apostle also discusses our standing before God. He tells us that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Jesus speaks about this in this morning’s Gospel pericope. Our Lord separates all of humanity into two groups who will stand before Him on the last day. Jesus will separate people one from another: some He places on His right and others on His left. To those on His right He says: »Enter, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the reign prepared for you from the foundation of the world.« And to those on His left He says: »Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.« Both groups receive what is due pertaining to what they have done during their earthly life. 

5. We might hear this as meriting eternal life based upon the good works we do during our life. However, this is not what Jesus and Paul are teaching. The 2. paragraph in our Rite of Corporate Confession and Absolution reminds us that: „When we examine our hearts and consciences, we find nothing in us but sin and death, from which we are incapable of delivering ourselves“ (LSB 290). By God’s reckoning and His law’s accounting: by right we should all be placed on His left and told to depart from Him into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. As we meditate upon the law in Holy Scripture we discover that we are cursed and deserve eternal damnation. 

6. Nevertheless, there are countless millions in Paradise regardless of all the bad deeds they did, and this is simply the result of the gospel. The law sets the condition for righteousness and holds everyone to the same standard: do this, and live eternally. We cannot meet the law’s simple and strict condition. The gospel responds by saying: inherit what Christ has merited for you. Both sentences follow the same pattern: enter/depart, blessed/cursed, heavenly reign/eternal fire. There is a key verb present in one sentence but missing in the other. Jesus tells those who are blessed: inherit the heavenly reign, and it is precisely this verb, inherit, that assures us that entrance into heaven is by God’s loving grace, not by the good works commanded by the law. 

6. Eternal life is determined by what is done: the law says by what we have done, but the gospel says by what Jesus has done. Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate as a man condemned as an insurrectionist and a blasphemer. Even Pilate knew Jesus was not guilty of these charges, yet Jesus bore these charges upon Himself on behalf of all the world as a vicarious, sacrificial Lamb. Jesus hung upon the cross as a sinner condemned by His Heavenly Father. The Apostle Paul tells us: »We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.« The Calvary cross became Jesus’ judgment seat. As man, Jesus represented all men and women when He bore their sinfulness. As God, His sacrifice effected all people. Jesus received what every man and woman deserves for what they have done in their body. Jesus bore this sin, paid the redemptive price for it and covered the demands of the law. Jesus was judged and condemned so we would not be. 

7. This gospel is received by faith. When we finally stand before Jesus and His judgment seat we will stand there as inheritors of God’s heavenly reign. The books will be opened and Jesus will see only those deeds in our life that He Himself did on our behalf. We are saved by Him and His good merits recognized by the law. Jesus declares us righteous because He has made us righteous. 

8. We do not, however, ignore our neighbor. We help and attend neighbors when they are in need. This happens as a result of faith doing works of love. We do not fret over these works, for faith just does them as the need arises. The Ten Commandments are our guide as to which works we should be about. Our neighbors give us specific opportunities to live as the Commandments exhort us to live. Jesus even reminds us that many times we will be oblivious to doing these works on behalf of our neighbor as they are just what the faithful do who believe in Christ. 

9. »Jesus will say to His Christians: Enter, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the reign prepared for you from the foundation of the world.« »He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage.«  Amen. 

10. Let us pray. O Lord, Jesus Christ, the Judge of all mankind, You declare us righteousness so that we inherit it as a merciful gift from Your hands that bear the marks of the cross.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.  

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

LSB. Lutheran Service Book. Copyright © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.