Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Also Paul writes this, he said, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things have passed away. Behold, new things have come. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things have passed away and new things have come. I'll visit that verse a little later, but the reason that Paul writes that verse in verse 17 is he's trying to tell us that should make a tremendous difference in your life. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.
Join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Do you remember Y2K? That was something, wasn't it? I mean all the build up, all the drama, it was going to change, the whole world was going to change. But it didn't.
When these countries in Europe and then eventually America went to war in World War I, the title that they gave that war was, it was the war to end all wars. But it didn't. When the Industrial Revolution got started and we started to be able to realize the technology that man could have and what he could do, they said that soon through the Industrial Revolution, we would create a utopia for the world because of man's technology.
But we haven't. Even when the Renaissance began, the thought then was that man has now left the dark ages and the crudeness and the darkness of man will be ever behind us as we now renew into a whole new era. But it didn't. Man has mistakenly thought that certain events in history had the capacity to change everything. That they would just change everything for man.
But they didn't. But there was a greatest moment in history that did change everything. Two thousand years ago, God stepped into time and space. And a baby was born in Bethlehem.
Conceived of a virgin, lived the perfect life, went to the cross, paid for the sins of the world, was buried and then resurrected from the dead and he ascended to heaven. And that changes everything potentially for every one. It's bad enough that in the world, so many people never recognize that. But I also think that among believers within the context of the church. There are so many of us that struggle with this whole notion of who we are in Christ because of what he has done.
We don't really think about it and we end up living our lives sort of in a desperate mode, just the way we always did. Last week, I started a series entitled I Am Who You Say I Am. And I said last week that God tells us that we're a child of God.
And you have any idea what that means? Not a believer in God, a child of God. Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born again. You must be born into the family of God. And when you are, you're his child.
And it's not only just that. God says, and I adopt you as my son or my daughter and I put my spirit in you. He said, did it so that you have even as my adopted child, my nature? He also says, because we're a child of God, we're joint heirs with Jesus Christ. And he inherits everything.
And then lastly, he said, we have this great privilege of enlarging the family. As children of God, the Book of Acts says we're witnesses. We just testify. And through the testifying of what God has done for us. Men and women and boys and girls can come to a saving knowledge of Christ. This week, I want to explore another verse. Open your Bibles to Second Corinthians, chapter five and verse 17.
And if it looks familiar to you, it was on the screen just a few minutes ago. Second Corinthians 517. The apostle Paul writes this.
He said, Therefore. If anyone is in Christ. He is a new creature. The old things.
Have passed away. Behold, new things have come. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature.
The old things have passed away and new things have come. I'll visit that verse a little later. But the reason that Paul writes that verse in verse 17 is he's trying to tell us that should make a tremendous difference in your life. Everything about your life should be different because of the truth of that verse. And he begins that whole argument in verse one. So if we go back to chapter five and verse one, Paul begins to make his argument. In these first eight verses of Chapter five, Paul said that you and I, if we are new creations in Christ, should look at suffering and death differently.
Differently than we used to and differently than they do. We should look at suffering and death differently. He starts up and he 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. Tremendous verse. He said, Our new body is going to be the best.
The next body you and I get is going to be the best. But he says, We know something here is a fact. He said, If the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down. He calls our physical body a tent. Now, one thing you know about tents, they're temporal. You know, if you want something to last 100 years, you don't put it up a tent. Tents don't work that way.
But he says something else and he indicates it and he'll be more specific later about something of what happens to us. He said that the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down. That's what life does to your earthly tent. Tears it down.
Every one of us. Every single one of us have an earthly tent, this physical body, and every one of us are going to have it torn down. In other words, we're going to die. He said, Yeah, that's the reality. Said you should look at that differently, but that's the reality. We don't like that reality. People don't like that much.
People don't even like to talk about that very much. This whole idea that the earthly tent is going to be torn down and yet it's going to be. Paul Thiel, a billionaire behind PayPal, the first investor, by the way, in Facebook, said he I plan to live to 120. And he said, I told The Washington Post, I've always had this really strong sense that death was a terrible, terrible thing. By the way, he said, in addition to following a strict diet, I am reportedly taking high volume of human growth hormones. Although I know there are some risks with that, he said, there's always the worry about increases in my cancer risk, he said.
But I'm hopeful that we'll get cancer cured in the next decade. He's a billionaire, not the only silicone entrepreneur. Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle, said this. He said, I don't understand how someone can be here and then not be here. He said, I am mystified by the universal reality of death. Bill Mares, a capitalist.
Who lost his father to a brain tumor, said my thoughts can turn dark when I'm alone. He said, I'm doing everything I can and I am convincing other investors to launch Google's billion dollar super secret, super secret effort to cure aging. So the guys on Google are working on this. Cryogenics. Freeze yourself. And then when they figure it out, they'll thaw you out. Three hundred and fifty people already frozen and two thousand are on the waiting list. They don't you don't want to be frozen too soon, but they're on the waiting list for when that when the time comes.
One of my favorite Larry King is on that list. And Larry said, you know, I know it's nuts. He said, but at least then I have a little hope. We don't like this. And this is something we don't like.
It's difficult for us. Paul says, you know what, though, because you're a new creation in Christ, you should look at suffering and death differently. Notice, he said, I know or 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. It's eternal in the heavens.
Paul said, I know that. I'm not getting a tent. I'm getting a building and I'm not getting a tent that was made with men. I'm getting a building was made with by God and it's eternal.
It'll never change. He said, that's one of the things that should cause me to look at things a little differently. Then those who don't know Christ, he says in verse two, for indeed, in this house we groan.
Longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven. At the beginning of this, you'd say, well, yeah, yeah, we do groan because life's tough and we suffer a lot. But Paul didn't say that in this verse.
He said something different. He said, you know why I groan? I groan because I'm not there. That's why I groan.
I long for that. The Philippians actually asked Paul, in a sense, do you have a death wish? And Paul said, well, come to think of it, yes. He said, if I had a choice, I'd rather go and be with the Lord. I'd rather die.
But if the Lord wants me here, I'm more than happy to stay here and serve you. But that's his perspective. So what doesn't he have that all of us seem to have? Is that he doesn't have fear. He's not afraid. He's not like the people that are freezing their bodies.
He's not like he's not like these people. He said, I'm not afraid. If you remember, the psalmist wrote, even though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why?
Because you're with me. See, being a new creature should have a profound effect on how we suffer and how we die. He goes on and he says, in as much as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. He said, for indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.
What are you saying there? Let me paraphrase. He said, you know, I know I'm a spiritual being and I know I have spiritual life. However, my body is just a tent and it's going to die. You see, I want my I want my body to be the same as my spirit. I want to live forever. He said, that's what I want to do. I can't wait for the resurrected body. I can't wait to have one made by God.
You see, that that's his mindset. He goes on and he says, now, he who prepared us for this for this very purpose is God who gave us the spirit as a pledge. It's an interesting verse, but boy, permeated with meaning. How do I know this is going to happen? God promised me. And how do I know he said he gave me his Holy Spirit?
Here is a pledge. He said, I'll actually give you my spirit and put my spirit in you. Now, from a Jewish point of view, this was really odd.
The only place that the spirit of God ever resided was in the tabernacle or in the temple. He says, yeah, now he's going to reside in you. And God says, I'm going to give you my spirit as a pledge. Well, whenever someone makes a pledge, what are they telling you?
I'm going to bring it about. He said, that's why I gave you the spirit. He also says the Holy Spirit was given to us as a seal that we belong to God. He says in another book that the Holy Spirit was given to us as earnest money or a down payment that God will pay in full. He says, look, I count on this so much that God says, look, I want you to be assured of this. So I'll give you my spirit as a pledge. He said, therefore, being always of good courage, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. Paul's a realist.
I already live life here. Sinful people in a cursed world. He said, what does it take? Courage. He said, it takes courage. There's going to be a lot of pain and suffering in life that takes courage. By the way, when you're tense, being torn down, it's going to take courage.
It's going to be like that. He said, I know that that's the way this works. He said, but notice, he said, therefore, always being of good courage, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. He said, look, if we walk by faith, not by sight, I do this because this is what I believe to be true.
He said, we are of good courage. I say and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. That verse. Wow. That one word is a word you own or not? Notice the word that Paul said.
He said, we are of good college, I say, and here it is. Prefer. I prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be home with the Lord. Is that what you prefer? Not what you believe. Is that what you prefer? I mean, for most of us, typical Christian is what I want to go to heaven.
I just don't want to go tonight. Right. I mean, that's the way Christians think about this.
Impulsive. Well, if I had a preference, though. That'd be my preference. What an interesting way of looking at life. You notice it immunizes him against fear.
Whatever way you threaten Paul to tear down his tent, he goes, go ahead. You see, I'm OK with that. What a difference that would make for any of us. So he says we should look at things like suffering and death differently. Secondly, we should look at life and service differently.
Verses nine through 11. He said, therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to him. That's all. That's my ambition. If you said to Paul, what's your ambition? Said I want to be pleasing to him. Is that your ambition? You see, is that my ambition?
He said that's what it should be. We have a lot of ambition for a lot of different things, but almost never to hear someone articulate that. Oswald Sanders, in his book on spiritual leadership, said because we children of Adam want to become great. He became small because we will not stoop.
He humbled himself. And because we want a role, he came to serve. Jesus had a very different ambition. Remember, he said, whatever I do, I do it only for one reason to please the father.
I've come not to do my will, but yours. Paul says that's the way it should be for us. That should be how I see my life.
Is it pleasing to the Lord? He said, he said, whether at home or absent, whether I'm here or there, I have one ambition to please the Lord. By the way, when we all get there, that will be the ambition all of us have.
We all have the same ambition just to please the Lord, whatever he wants. But he said that's the way we should look at life now. In other words, if you were trying to think about it from a point of view, and this has been around for years, but a very important way to think about living your life is that Paul says, what we ought to be able to do when we look at our life is I live my life for an audience of one. That's how I live my life. I live my life for an audience of one. I think one of the first times I ever heard that was in this city down at First Baptist in New Orleans, when John MacArthur was down there speaking to a whole bunch of pastors and students and John said that.
And he used that phrase and I can still remember him using it. He said, look, I don't really care what you people think of me. I don't even care about the thousands upon thousands of people who go to my church think about me. Because it won't matter. I only care about what he thinks about me. Because in the end, that's all that's going to matter.
Nothing else is going to have any bearing in this at all. He said, that's the way I have to do it. Looking in as an audience of one, he says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
The Bema. Now, the judgment seat of Christ is not the great right throne. There'll be no sin mentioned. This is only for believers. This has nothing to do with unbelievers, whether your sins are going to let you into heaven.
None of that. The judgment seat of Christ is where all believers will stand before Christ. The word judgment seat there is Bema. And it's the judgment seat in Greek culture of a sporting event.
And whenever you ran the race and there were rewards to be given, you went to the Bema and the judge at the Bema would give you a reward, usually a wreath to put on your head. He said, yeah, we're all going to appear there, he said, so that each one may be recompense for his deeds in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Now, when you first look at that, you say, wow, he's talking about my bad stuff and my good stuff.
No, he's not. Not that way. One thing that will not come up at the judgment seat of Christ are your sins. There's a good reason they were already judged at the cross. What will come up are your deeds, ergon, works, your good things. That's what will come up.
That will come up. And he said whether good or bad. And it doesn't mean good morally or bad morally. It means good intrinsically. Or the Greek word that is used here is the word fallos. And fallos means it in a sense of wasted, an idea of something that has no value at all.
Caucasus is the word that means something that's morally bad. What you and I do will be either worthy or worthless when we get to the judgment seat. Hold your place there just for a moment with me and go to First Corinthians, chapter three. I just want to remind you of these verses. First Corinthians, chapter three.
This is what he writes. First, well, he said, if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, those are good things or woodhane straw. He said each man's work.
There's the word ergon again. Each man's work will become evident for the day will show it, because it's also to be revealed with judgment or fire. And the judgment itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work, he says, which he has build on remains, he'll receive a reward. And if any man's work is burned up, he'll suffer loss. But he himself will be saved. Yet, though, as through fire, this nothing to do with salvation. That's what Paul is saying. And you say, well, what is it?
How do you know whether your works are good or not? Chapter four, verse five. In the same chapter, Paul says, Therefore, do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes and he will both bring the light to things hidden in darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts.
And then each man's praise will come to him from God. It was not your motive. Christ says, whatever you did good, it's a matter of motive. I want to judge it.
Did you do it for me or did you do it for you? You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.
At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.
That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-09-11 13:13:34 / 2023-09-11 13:22:52 / 9