Jeremy Deweerdt

Here’s something I’ve discovered during my lifetime: Americans love their bodies. We just are infatuated with our physical self. In 2007, Americans spent 13 billion dollars on non-surgical, cosmetic surgeries. This means they weren’t necessary surgeries. 13 billion dollars just to look better. Yet, no matter how hard we try, someday this body gets old. Nonetheless, we are obsessed with our physical self, with our bodies.

Well, the apostle Paul wraps up his letter to the Corinthian church, known as 2 Corinthians in our Bibles, by talking about our earthly bodies. He mentions that when we die and leave this earthly body, we will enter heaven with new bodies. Each and every one of us has been given an earthly body; therefore, each and every one of us is decaying. This world and everything in it is decaying.

Paul refers to our bodies here on earth as “tents.” For those of you who have gone camping, you know what it is like to spend any amount of time in a tent. It’s fun, but after a while, we begin to realize the best thing about going camping. The best part is that it’s temporary. You can only have so many nights of sleeping on the ground, so many beans over the campfire, and then it’s nice to go back home. Paul is saying that this body—this earthly “tent,”—is okay, but thank God we’re going home. It’s okay, but I wouldn’t want to live in this forever. Your body was just meant to be temporary; it goes away. You see, what we deem to be so important and valuable doesn’t last.

Now, secular historians wrote down what the apostle Paul looked like. He was a stocky man who walked bow-legged and hunched over. This was because he had been beaten so many times for the cause of Christ. His back was all gnarled, because the muscle and tissue had been beaten so much that it had healed in little knots. Towards the end of his life, he was having trouble with mobility. Therefore, I think if anyone has the ability to talk about how the body is temporary, it is Paul. He’s not saying that we shouldn’t be good stewards of our bodies. No, take care of yourself, but don’t put your identity in something that is temporary and decaying. Even James says in James 4:14 that your life is a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. It’s like a little spray of water—that tiny mist—from a spray bottle. Seconds after you spray it in the air, it disappears.

We have a heavenly investment in this earthly container. God invests part of Himself into this decaying “tent.” He puts something supernatural into something that is so natural. He puts a deposit of His Holy Spirit inside each of us that have put our faith in His Son Jesus Christ; it’s a little bit of Himself inside of us. Therefore, the Holy Spirit goes where we go. He sees what we see. This is why we feel convicted when we participate in certain activity; it is the Holy Spirit declaring that we are living outside of our original purpose. We are putting too much emphasis on the temporary. Rather, live with eyes focused on the eternal.

Paul also declares that how we use our bodies has an eternal impact. We’d better be very intentional and very careful about how we live our lives. Eternity is forever. How we live our lives here on this earth affects our entire existence for the rest of eternity.

Paul goes on in chapter 6 of 2 Corinthians to warn believers against being unified with those who are far from faith. Now, realize that Paul is not saying that a Christian cannot be friends with non-Christians. Yet, believers need to be careful not to participate in the activities of those who are far from faith. Believers cannot be connected with nonbelievers in heavy, deep relationships, because they have different mindsets, different convictions, different actions, and a different standard of living. Relationships are on three levels. First, there’s the marriage relationship; a Christian should never marry a nonbeliever, for two people become one. How can a person of faith land on the same page as a person without faith? When the two become one, how do they get along? They live differently than each other, so there would be tension when they come together. Paul is advising caution, because it is in the best interest of those in the faith. Remember, just because the person you’re dating can spell Jesus doesn’t mean he or she has faith in Jesus. Another type of relationship is your closest friendship. That person should be a Christian; otherwise, if your very best friend is a non-Christian, then you’re going to have very different conversations, very different ways you spend your free time, and very different activities that you enjoy. The third type of relationship is a working relationship, like partners in a business. If you’re with someone of a different faith, they will have very different ethics than you. Okay, this is important: Paul’s instruction does not mean that we are to avoid people that are far from faith. He is not saying that you should go shut yourself away from all of them. He’s talking about those close people—the ones you let in that most affect your life—and those people should be people of faith, for relationship is influence. Whoever you allow close to you shape who you are, so guard who you allow to be close to you.

Lastly, Paul mentions the body again, and he begins to talk about weakness. He refers to a “thorn in the flesh.” No one knows exactly what this is, for he doesn’t tell us in the letter. Some speculate it’s poor eyesight, or maybe it’s a physical disability, like the deformity that resulted from all the beatings he received. 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 reveals that Paul begged God to take it away three different times. Each time, God said that His grace was all Paul needed, for His power works best in weakness. Now, really think about this. At the end of the day, we’re weak. We’re not sufficient. We don’t know everything, nor are we strong enough to navigate the path that we’re on. There are moments in life that we feel like the world is on our shoulders. Guess what? It’s temporary. Someday we’re going to go to our real home, living forever in God’s presence. When we encounter weakness, we realize that our sufficiency is insufficient. Therefore, our identity cannot be in this earthly body or this life. Rather, our identity must be wrapped up in Christ, and we need to realize that we have a better place. This is only our temporary home.

There is something I really want to relay to you, but first let’s look at the issue of forgiveness. Paul writes about this subject in 2 Corinthians 2:5-11. In this passage of Scripture, we see that someone has deeply hurt the church, and the church opposed him, which means they were pretty ticked off. We don’t know many details other than this. We don’t know what the mean did, or who the man was. It could be the man discussed back in 1 Corinthians 5, who was living in sin with his stepmother. It could be one of the people who had called Paul a false prophet, or it could just be somebody else. We aren’t sure. Yet, from this story there are two observations we can apply to our own lives. First, it is evident that the church didn’t want to forgive the person yet or they would have naturally done so. This shows that forgiveness is many times a choice. Secondly, punishment has to be in balance. There are two extremes: too lenient and too harsh. Leniency produces carnal lifestyles. Harshness produces excessive sorrow and lack of forgiveness. From here, Paul begins to transition into a talk about how we, as people of faith, must live differently, and he uses this forgiveness situation to begin that discourse, which takes place for the next few chapters. After pointing out the correct way to respond in a situation that demands forgiveness, Paul wanted to show the Corinthian believers the other ways in which they were also to live differently.

In 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, Paul uses imagery that was very familiar to the church in Corinth but quite honestly, very unfamiliar to us today. He talks about a triumphal procession and sweet perfume. Now, Corinth was an important trade city between Rome and Asia, and whoever controlled Corinth controlled trade in the world at that time. Therefore, the Romans had a heavy military force in that city, for they weren’t going to lose control of it to any other power. Whenever another country attacked and Rome won—which is usually what happened—the Roman general would then march through the streets of Corinth, and behind him were all the captives chained together. Before the general was a procession that had these huge pots of incense that were lit, and they were swinging these back and forth, producing a huge cloud of incense; this was a type of worship to the Roman gods. Paul makes the comparison that we are slaves to Christ, in a good way. We’ve been captivated by His love, in a sense, and He’s given us freedom. Our lives are a fragrance to God and to all those around us. The Corinthian church knows exactly what He’s talking about.

So this aroma—this fragrance—produces two very different reactions. To those on the Roman side, this incense was a sweet-smelling aroma. If you were in chains, it was a very negative thing; it was a reminder of your captivity. In the same way, because as a Christian you live differently, your life produces an “aroma,” in a sense, to those around you. Paul says that those who are being saved and those who are perishing perceive this fragrance differently. Our lives are understood and accepted by some and are repulsive and rejected by others. We are not responsible for how people perceive the Gospel. We are responsible for rightly sharing the Gospel. On our own, using our own ability, we cannot correctly live or share the love of Christ to this world. Only God makes us adequate for the job. We need the Holy Spirit’s help. Not everyone will understand, accept, or applaud your faith in Jesus. When you share Christ, you may receive rejection. Yet, there may be a sense of acceptance and excitement. You never know where a person is at in their life, so just share. Rightly share the gospel of God’s love to this world.

Paul next talks about a treasure—this knowledge and grace—that’s stored in this earthly vessel. He picks up the theme of sharing the gospel again in 2 Corinthians 5:11-15. Paul reveals that sharing the gospel is our “fearful responsibility,” meaning that this is serious stuff! This is life and death; this is heaven and hell! Every single one of us will stand before our Creator. At that time, the only thing that matters is that we realized on earth that Jesus Christ took our faults and walked to the cross to be punished where we should have been. We are to accept His love and grace, making Him Lord and Savior of our life.

Christ’s love causes us to live at extremes. God’s love for people so motivated Paul that he wasn’t trying to win a popularity contest. He didn’t want to see people perish. He would do whatever it takes. Paul is basically saying that he will do anything short of sin to reach those who don’t know Jesus. So how about us? Does God’s love so consume us that we are willing to be moved to such extremes? Once a person comes to Christ, they become new! The old way of living disappears over time, and a new, God-centered life emerges. Paul says we are the ones whom God uses to reconcile the world to himself! You and me. We are called ambassadors for Christ, which means that we are God’s representatives to those around us. We are diplomats of God’s love and Good News. It’s our job to love people; it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict them, and it is God’s job to judge. May God’s love in us be overpoweringly obvious! May everyone we come in contact with be confronted with the love of Christ!

At some level, I think we all enjoy our comforts or being comfortable. There’s nothing worse than being uncomfortable and you cannot do anything about it. I also notice that the older I get, the more I like comfort. Well, the book of 2 Corinthians also talks about comfort.

Paul’s tone is different in 2 Corinthians from what it was in 1 Corinthians. The years between these two books were very, very difficult for Paul. He had been persecuted, beaten for his faith, and at one point, he thought he was literally going to die. In 2 Corinthians, he defended his credentials to that church. Some people, whom Paul called “false teachers,” were going around and saying that Paul didn’t really speak for God, that he wasn’t a true minister of the faith, so Paul had to combat them. He had to go on the offense. The enemy is not passive and is considered the “Father of Lies,” according to the Bible, so there are times we have to go on the offense. Silence would only allow an unchecked environment for deception to grow.

We think Paul learned about these false teachers when he sent Timothy, his younger partner in ministry, to the church in Corinth for an update. Timothy returned and basically said, “Houston, we have a problem.” So Paul decided to write his letter. As he was about to describe tough times in his life, he began by giving all praise to God, who he says is the source of all comfort. Most people don’t start off this way when they talk about all of life’s difficulties. It’s not your normal conversation about situations that almost killed you. Yet, what Paul did was powerful. He is showing us that we must focus on the solution and not the problem surrounding us. The problem or situation you are facing and enduring right now is not bigger than the God you serve. He has the capacity to give you comfort and strength. Our focus must be upon Him as our source, and not upon the situation. Whoever or whatever you place your trust in will be your source of comfort. So can your source deliver? Can your source truly provide the help you so desperately need? Talents and abilities can be a source of comfort, but are they limitless? Alcohol, drugs, habits, vices, relationships, other people…they can be a sense of some comfort. But not ALL comfort. So what is your source? Whatever you focus on is what you put your faith in. And what you put your faith in, that is your source.

Here is a statement that you need to drill into your spirit: “But God!” You may be unemployed, but God! Maybe you are sick, but God! Perhaps you are hurt and broken-hearted, but God! There may be a family situation, but God! We serve the God who can and does! That’s why Paul started out 2 Corinthians by focusing on God and saying “all praise to God.”

Usually there are three reasons for times of hardship and pain. The first is our own wrong choices. The second is wrong choices from others. Other people’s sin costs us; it hurts us. Each person’s choices affect everyone around them. The last reason is the fact that we live in a hopelessly broken world. This means that things don’t run the way that they’re supposed to run.

During these difficult times, who can fix these problems? Well, first off, God can forgive our wrong choices and help us get on the path of restoration, strength, and spiritual health. God can give us the ability to forgive others and become stronger as a result of pain others have caused. God can give us the ability to have power over the influence of this world. Once we find our source of comfort in God, we must help others do the same. We know our comfort is in Christ, so why wouldn’t we share that? When going through pain and suffering, to remain focused only on your own needs produces a self-absorbed person. The default of pain and suffering is to wall-up and shut down. The Biblical principle is to give away what you need most. If you need comfort, give comfort. It will be the last thing you want to do, but it’s powerful. It keeps you from being self-consumed.

Let me leave with you with one more thing. Some of you reading this may be going through a painful circumstance. 2 Corinthians 1:9 says that God is the God who raises the dead. Yes, He raises the physically dead, but also the emotionally and spiritually dead. Some of you may feel dead on the inside. Maybe something happened to you, and inwardly, you feel like you died. God raises the dead. Keep in mind during this journey, though, that one of the most major misconceptions is that once a person relies on God as the source, then all that person’s problems go away. Reality is the problem doesn’t go away, but God inside of you becomes bigger than the problem. God makes you strong. He gives you the ability and strength to walk a very difficult path, and God journeys with you. So my question is: who or what is your source? I deeply hope it’s the One who can provide all comfort.