Back To School-The Final Exam Series

(Based on a message preached August 6, 2023 at First Baptist Church, Chamois, MO; not an exact transcription).

Introduction: Have you noticed that some things change? We have one student who’s going away to college next week, and school’s going to start before long. I’m sure you’re all excited, right (audience groaned and laughed)?

But there are some things that never change. One of those non-changing things is that each one of us is on a one-way journey of life. We’re one day closer to the end of our time on this earth than we were yesterday so it’s important to be prepared.

Paul mentioned something like this in our text this morning, taken from 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We’ll start with verse 1 and read through verse 10:

Text, 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, NASV: 1 For we know that if our earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For indeed, in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 3 since in fact after putting it on, we will not be found naked. 4 For indeed, we who are in this tent 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. 5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a pledge.

6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight—8 but we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive compensation for his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad.

<Opening prayer>

1 The people—“we”

We need a little bit of background here. First, Paul is writing to believers in Corinth. I’ve mentioned in other messages that Corinth was not only one of the largest cities in the world at the time of Paul but also one of the worst in terms of morals (or, lack of these). One preacher even said on a radio message some years back that if someone told you, “Oh, go to Corinth” or “Oh, go Corinthianize yourself”—it wasn’t a compliment! That was one of the worst insults anyone could hurl at anyone else, like telling someone where to go, who to take along, and how you all could get there.

But even in Corinth, as evil as that place was, people were finding salvation through Jesus! Paul certainly wasn’t the only preacher but he did “plant” the church during his time there. The details are in Acts 18. These believers are our brothers and sisters in Christ and we’ll meet them in Heaven when we all get there!

Now, just because these Corinthian believers were believers didn’t mean they were always following the Lord completely! In fact, the books of 1 and 2 Corinthians detail some of the problems these folks were having. After all, they were all either Jewish-background believers (or, Messianic Jews) or pagan-background believers (they had worshiped any number of deities, such as Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite, and who knows how many more or others). They didn’t have the wealth of Christian information like we do today, and they caused and encountered problems. Paul had to give them the Word of God to help them solve these problems.

And it seems these Corinthians just didn’t seem to grasp the idea of being accountable for the deeds they had done in the body. Paul had already explained this in 1 Corinthians 3, that the total package of things each believer does would be tested by fire; anything remaining would be purified and rewarded but anything that didn’t remain would be burned up. The underlying message is if you use what lasts, it will last when it’s put to the test.

Guess what? They still hadn’t got it and that’s why Paul was led to write this second reminder that, in keeping with “back to school” terms, every believer would face a “final exam.” Of course Paul is only writing to believers in Jesus here, those who had genuinely repented of their sins and trusted Jesus to be Lord and Savior. It goes without saying that those who have never repented of their sins, and died or will die lost without God, will be judged for their sins and deeds at the Great White Throne judgment in Revelation 20.