'We must be "wrought" for this glory.'
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Christians who are living in the appetites of the flesh are slaying their own resurrection. They are selling their birthright as a son of God for the glass, tin, and plastic of the present world system. One day they, like Esau, will weep exceedingly bitter tears of remorse because they have sold their crown of life for the perishing elements of the world.
To sell their birthright was their own choice, and they will live in the consequences of their choice forever (Revelation 22:11).
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (II Corinthians 5:6)
Paul understood and accepted the tribulations and limitations of this life. His knowledge that one day he will be clothed with authority and power gave him confidence and peace.
Paul recognized that while we are in servitude in our mortal body we cannot see the Lord and have the close fellowship with Him that we desire. As long as we are alive in our body of flesh and blood we are absent from the fullness of the relationship that one day will be ours.
(For we walk by faith, not by sight:) (II Corinthians 5:7)
When we leave our present body we will be able to see the Lord. We cannot see Him now, so we must continue our pilgrimage, by faith enduring the testings and perplexities that are part of our preparation for being clothed with the body of immortal life—that which was denied Adam and Eve.
Paul, as well as the other heroes of faith of the Scriptures, lived and performed the works of God with no more "sight" than we have. They had to keep on trusting God and His Word just as we do.
One day this prolonged testing of our trust and faith will be concluded.
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (II Corinthians 5:8)
Every true saint sooner or later begins to look longingly toward release from the flesh. The lukewarm believers, who know no existence other than the indulging of their appetites, live in fear of physical death. Physical death is the end of all that is desirable to them, even though they may have a head-knowledge of the Gospel of the Kingdom.
The victorious saints, the conquerors, have been pruned by the Spirit of the Lord until the appetites of the body are under strict discipline. In addition they have tasted the powers of the age to come.
As they near the striking of their earthly tent they begin to long for release from the prison of the flesh (Philippians 1:23). They understand they can be of service to others while they remain, and so they are willing to keep on serving, bearing their cross cheerfully and patiently. But their heart already is "on the other side of the river."
For the overcomer, "to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
Who wouldn’t want to be "present with the Lord"?
Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. (II Corinthians 5:9)
The faithful saint understands that each new day is a gift from the hand of Christ. It is the day the Lord has made. It is one more opportunity for us to reveal to the Lord that we love Him and desire to serve Him.
Christ is not a hard taskmaster, He is a good Master. However, He requires faithfulness and diligence on the part of His servants.
So we work each day as though it were our last day on earth, conscientiously performing the tasks at hand but always looking forward with the greatest joy and expectation to the hour when we are released from the flesh and go home to be with the Lord.
Our home is not Heaven. Our home is the Lord. We want to go home to be with the Lord.
In the meantime we strive to be perfectly pleasing to Him while we are in the body of our humbling.
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. (II Corinthians 5:10)
The reason this famous passage concerning the Judgment Seat of Christ is found in context with the house from Heaven is that the body of resurrection life is the consequence of the way we behave in the physical body we have now. The sentence passed on us at the judgment seat is that we are to be clothed with a body of incorruptible life.
The fact that the body of incorruptible eternal life, the attainment to the first resurrection from among the dead, is a direct result of the manner in which we live the Christian discipleship, may well be the most misunderstood aspect of all Christian doctrine.
Many Christians are proceeding blindly on their way, believing they will receive the rewards of the conqueror "by faith," meaning on the basis of their mental and vocal assent to a system of theology.
When the Scriptures speak of faith they are referring to our trust in God, our grip on God and faith in His Character, not belief in the virgin birth of Christ or even that Christ shed His blood for our sins, except as such belief in doctrine directly affects how we behave.
Faith has to do with the way we act, speak, and think, not our understanding of the facts of redemption.
The demons understand well that there is one God and that Jesus of Nazareth is the Holy One sent from God. They know that the Apostles of the Lamb were sent from God to show us the way of salvation. But this knowledge does not provide them with one drop of eternal life.
The term appear , "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ," does not mean we merely are brought there. It means we are revealed there.
The Day of Christ will not change what we are or even be restricted to evaluating what we have done. Its primary function is to reveal what we have become as we have followed Christ with more or less diligence.
The Day will declare what we have become, and we shall be rewarded accordingly. We shall receive a "robe" from Heaven that corresponds to what we have practiced, and what we have practiced is the true indicator of what we have become. We are known by our fruit.
Whatever we sow, that is what we shall reap. If we sow to the Holy Spirit we will reap a glorious body of life. If we sow to the appetites of our flesh our harvest will be corruption. We will be presented with corruption in the Day of the Lord.
"That every one may receive the things done in his body." Here is the righteousness of God.
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