Simon the Zealot
Disciple eleven is Simon the Zealot. He is mentioned four times in the New Testament (Matthew 10:4, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:15, Acts 1:13). Some Bible translations will call Simon the Cananaean. This is not the Canaanites mentioned in the Old Testament, it comes from a Greek word (kananaios) meaning a nationalist or zealot. During the days of Jesus, a group of people opposed the Roman occupation of Palestine, they became known as the Zealots. They began as a known group around 63bc. Simon could have been part of this group, but his zealousness could have centered on pursuing God. A better name might be Simon the patriot.
The American soldiers in the American Revolutionary war with England, could be known as Zealots. These men sought independence from England, similar to the Zealots of Jesus day who wanted independence from Rome. There are many zealots around today in the kingdom of God. Some of these zealots are zealous for the wrong things. Some have zeal for the gifts of God, some have zeal for the power of God. Some have zeal for money while others aim their zeal at luxury. The early American patriots aimed their zeal for worshipping God freely without having a government sponsored church.
In the previous book (The Six Shooters) we studied James and John and how their momma wanted them to have high places of authority in Jesus’ kingdom. The thought from many religious people of Jesus day concerned the Messiah would come and take out the Romans and establish Israel as the ruler of the known world. Simon could very well have added fuel to this fire with the other disciples. The disciples often asked Jesus who would be the greatest in His kingdom. The disciples did not fully understand Jesus mission until after the crucifiction and Jesus’ ascension into heaven. Like many people not knowing God’s full plan, they will allow rumors and speculation fuel their fire of zealousness. We should be zealous for one thing and one thing only as the Lord commanded us, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind” (Mat 22:37, Deuteronomy 6:5).” We should be zealous toward God out of love for Him and not to show others how right and good we are.
Super Bowl Zealots
In modern society in America, there is one particular day when zealots come out, Super Bowl Sunday. People go nuts over the clash between good and evil. Good being the team they are rooting for, evil being the team opposing them. The Super Bowl has taken a life of it’s own, even among non-football fans. This day has changed modern culture such as Super Bowl Sunday being the second largest food consumption day behind Thanksgiving
Super Bowl
During the last week in January everyone prepares for the biggest football game of the year, The Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is the final game of the football season which culminates in the two divisional winners of the NFC and the AFC conferences. This game determines who the champion of the year will be. There will only be one champion and both teams will have all the zeal and gusto they can muster up to win the big game and be touted as the champion.
The first Super Bowl involved a battle between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. The second Super Bowl had Green Bay for the second straight year, this time they battled the Oakland Raiders. The only remaining evidence of the first and second Super Bowl is composed of a two minute clip of the first Super Bowl. There are no tapes of first and second Super Bowl, the games were eventually taped over by soap operas. Super Bowl 1 covered by two television networks, NBC and CBS, yet no one kept a copy of the game.
From the early days of television into the 1960s, copies of TV broadcasts were routinely erased. Primarily for two reasons;
1. Nobody thought anyone would want to watch the same show they had just seen
2. Videotape and equipment were expensive
The Super Bowl carries many traditions and many peculiarities. For example, only one city is banned from advertising during the Super Bowl and that is Las Vegas. The NFL does not want their big game associated with the gambling mecca of Las Vegas. The Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers have all won five Super Bowl championships, more than any other teams. The Dallas Cowboys leads Super Bowl appearances with an impressive eight. There has never been a team scoreless at the end of a Super Bowl, as well as never going into overtime.
As of 2006, no team has ever returned an opening kickoff or punt for a touchdown. I believe this is primarily because the defensive team members are total zealots during a Super Bowl, being well coached and prepared for this “game of the year.” In this chapter, I want to explore the similarities of football with the Christian life, and how death is not the Super Bowl of life, but nothing more than a conference championship. The Super Bowl of life may come before death or after death. The focus passage will come from 2 Corinthians 5 1-10.
The Christian life and God’s purposes share some similarities found in football. We will cover the draft, coaches, game plan, regular season, the playoffs, and the Super Bowl.
The Draft
During the 2005 Rose Bowl, Vince Young (my son’s all time favorite college quarterback) led his Texas Longhorns to win the BCS championship over the USC Trojans. The 2005 season became Vince Young’s final year as a college football player because he chose to the NFL. Vince made himself eligible for the 2006 NFL draft, opting not to play a final year in college football. Vince Young became the third pick in the first round of the 2006 NFL draft. Once drafted Vince’s life and title changed, he no longer would be a college football player, but now a professional football player.
A person enters the draft of life once they come to the age of accountability. Meaning, they understand right from wrong and they have the ability to choose Christ or not. When they do not choose to play for Christ and become a member of the Christians they default to coach devil and the demons team. In the NFL when a person is drafted they must remain with that team for at least four seasons to become an unrestricted free agent, meaning they can play for whoever they want. The good news about team Christ, is he is ready to draft us from day one and every day after that, we are not required to play for the demons for an extended period of time. We only play for the demons by our own choosing.
One option an NFL team has of keeping a great player and to prevent other teams from inducing him to come over is label him an “exclusive franchise player.” Once we are on team Jesus we all become “exclusive franchise players.” Romans chapter eight says:
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is nothing that can separate us from team Jesus, we are an exclusive player for His team and the devil can no longer seduce us to come and play for him. The devil does have the power to try and destroy our confidence and witness while playing for team Jesus, which God allows so we grow more dependent on Him.
You will discover that team Jesus wins the great Super Bowl, the demons will always be the losers. How can a person muster up zeal playing for the already known losers? Remember there are two teams competing for your life, Christ and the devil and they have both cast their vote for you. The winning vote resides with you.
The Coaches
A football team has a head coach and underneath that head coach are many assistant coaches. An assistant coach is one who takes orders directly from the head coach and incorporates those orders into the part of the team he coaches over. For example, the head coach will determine what offense the team will run and the offensive coordinator incorporates that offense into his players. Likewise, the head coach will determine what defense to run and the defensive coordinator will coach his players according to the defense approved by the head coach.
Jesus Christ is the head coach and the owner of the team. As head coach, He has appointed many assistant coaches to train His team members. These assistant coaches are all those people who serve in His stadium called the church. Each week there is a team meeting and the head assistant coach, the Pastor, will go over the playbook the head coach has written. The assistant head coach will hold each assistant coach accountable to ensure the play book is followed as prescribed by the head coach. A player can not say he will not listen to the assistant coach, if the assistant coach is following the head coach. A player does not have the authority to make head coach or assistant coach decisions. The player is to do his job to the best of his ability for the sake of the team .
Most players can look back over their life and find those special people who really helped them develop. You will never find a player who decides on his own, exactly how the game should be and will be played. The player is dependent upon the coach, his performance will be gauged how well he executes the plays drawn from the playbook, not how well he dreamed up his own plays. The Bible is the playbook of life, covering everything from the history of the team all the way to how the team makes it through the game, in every conceivable situation. The Bible can be overwhelming at times. This is why you need a good assistant coach to help you learn the playbook. You will find many pastors, Bible teachers, Sunday School teacher, Bible Study Fellowship etc, built on mature Christians that can teach you the playbook to score touchdowns for Jesus, not only in your own life but helping others along the way.
The Game Plan
God has a perfect game plan for the great planet Earth. Let’s recap what God has put into motion. God first created the stadium called earth, then the things on the field, including the players. After creating earth, He created man (Adam and Eve). The game went flawlessly. But God being a loving coach, always gives people a choice of whose team they want to play for. Suddenly Adam and Eve fumbled the ball and denied doing it. The referee of called Mr. Grim Reaper came onto the scene. Since the fall man has been living under the brokenness of Adam and Eve, we needed a savior. Their would never be another winning season without a savior.
As the population of the earth swelled, God chose a certain people to be His own, the home team, the Children of Abraham through Isaac. The purpose for these people included showing the truths of God to the rest of the world and become the world’s best recruiters for the God team. This team called the Hebrews had specific plays to run in order to teach the world God’s laws and God’s love, they were to be an example. Over time their human nature came out and failed at the task. The Hebrews, at times, became so consumed with themselves they failed to show up for practice and honor God. Soon enough God took His assistant coach away called the Holy Spirit after the assistant coach Malachi left the earth.
We can’t be too hard on the Hebrews, because we repeat the same mistakes. After the 400 year period of no Holy Spirit moving on the earth, suddenly God ushered in the third quarter. He came to earth as owner/coach in the form of a man and we called Him Jesus. To restore the original game plan, the past, present and future players needed forgiveness of their sins. God can not have fellowship with someone playing on a different team, it’s against team rules. The only people God communicates through are those people wearing red, the blood of Jesus. Since God is pure and holy, He can not have practice and special meal times with those who do not wear the same jersey of holiness and purity. Because of the price Jesus Christ paid for us, God can now have fellowship with us because of His perfect sacrifice.
The next step on God’s time table, is to continue with the normal season. The players are to recruit as many team members as they possibly can, mustering up all the zeal that is possible. Once the right amount of team players is recruited, God will bring in the fourth quarter, with a different game plane. . Many will not see the play offs but head straight to the Super Bowl where they have already been declared winners. However, for those who do not see the Super Bowl in this life, they will go to the playoffs, otherwise called death. If they are on the Jesus team, they will go to the heavenly locker room with the head coach Jesus until it is time for the great Super Bowl.
At the conclusion of the season and the final fourth quarter, God will bring in a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21). Before the new heaven and new earth there will come a final resurrection. The first resurrection will be the Christians who have died before the second coming of Christ. The second resurrection will be for all the others. After this resurrection there will be a great judgment day. Those who did not know Christ will be cast (back) into hell (2 Peter 2:9), this time with their bodies intact. Those who accepted Christ will forever live with him upon the new heaven and the new earth with their glorified home team uniforms.
Championship Game and the Super Bowl
This leads us to our Bible passage to study, 2 Corinthians 5:1-9 and we will tivo and hit pause on our football analogy until we break down the text.
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens . Paul mentions two different buildings, one compared to a tent, the other compared to a permanent construction (building). Paul is describing is two different uniforms similar to a football team having a home uniform and an away uniform. Obviously our earthly bodies are prone to the occasional injury or disease, but no matter what happens, we have an eternal building with God. Right now we were our away uniform, but one day we will put on our eternal home uniform. By the way this truth applies to followers of Christ and non-followers, we will all have an eternal body, the question is what stadium is it going to be assigned to?
At Cowboy Church we purchased a tent to for the youth to meet in and later for our church to meet in once we outgrew the building. During a December gust, the winds approached almost 60 mph and raised the tent above the center poles. As the tent flapped it became ripped and torn from the center pole. This is a physical reminder of how shabby a tent is for a dwelling. We still stand amazed when our bodies break down, or it is discovered we have some disease, remember these are nothing but tents, they are going to eventually break down, some sooner than others.
Another word for tent, from the Greek word, is tabernacle. A tabernacle actually means a tent or hut, a reminder of the Old Testament when the Jews carried the church with them in the form of a tent. After they entered the promised land, they later built a permanent building and no longer used a tent. One day, we will be like that also when we enter the promised land. The Holy Spirit resides in the dwelling of our soul, where neither storm nor man can destroy it (1 Cor 6:19). Jesus said why do you fear the one who can destroy your body when you should fear the one that can send your body and soul to hell (Matthew 10:28).
The “building” Paul mentions is simply a construction made by God. It is similar to a home being built and completed but missing one thing, you. A home is only a building until someone resides in it. And we have the hope of an eternal house which we will physically dwell in, a house built by the master builder not made from human hands.
Jesus said in John 14:1-3
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
This is a common passage read at many funerals. This passage gives us a hope and comfort knowing that Jesus is preparing a place for us. Notice in verse 2 He goes to prepare a place for us. This is the building Paul mentions in 2 Cor 5:1, the place is a building until we move in, then it becomes a dwelling or a home, the place we live.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven.. A groan in this instance is a sigh. What kind of groaning is Paul speaking of? There are six word for groan in the New Testament:
1. Cry out loud
2. Weep silently
3. Sing the blues
4. Cry as a child
5. Verbally express grief
6. Sigh, unintelligible sounds
The word used for groan in this passage is number six on the above list. When we combine that sigh with longing, we see an anxious sigh, not a sigh of despair. The groan is simply a sign, not a known word, expressing Paul’s craving (earnest desire) to be clothed with his heavenly habitation (dwelling). In other words he is eagerly awaiting for the adoption of his body (Romans 8:23). The difference between a dwelling and a house is simply a dwelling is our abode, it is where we live and find peace and comfort. A house is simply a word that describes where our bodies and families live. Granted a house is more personal than a building, but a dwelling is more personal than a house. Paul shifts from buildings to clothing, and desires the building found in heaven.
Verse 3 if indeed, having been unclothed, we shall not be found naked. The actual word in verse three is unclothed, Paul is declaring we will not have a spirit with no body. We will have a body in heaven. Paul is clearly stating when we are unclothed, tent removed, we will not be found naked.
The Lord will provide a dwelling for us until our bodies are resurrected, raised from the dead and reunited with our spirits.
Paul builds upon the idea of being unclothed from this earthly body. In verse 4
4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened (longing), not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life Clearly Paul is stating it is not that he doesn’t want to die, he would prefer to put the heavenly dwelling on directly over our earthly dwelling. There are two men in the Bible who did not experience death, Enoch (Gen 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11). There bodies went directly to heaven, similar to the body of Jesus as He ascended into heaven.
Zeal
Simon known as a zealot, eagerly waited for Israel to no longer be occupied by Rome. A Super Bowl team is full of zeal right before the big game, they maintained a high level of zeal or enthusiasm through out the season, that is what got him there. Paul being sold out to Jesus, he longed and burdened himself waiting for that glorious day which Jesus would come again, this being expressed through groaning or sighs. Through out Paul’s writing and the author of Hebrews, it is common to see this eagerness.
1. Hebrews 9:28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
2. Phillipians 3:20 (Paul writing) 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body,
3. Romans 8:19 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God
4. Romans 8:23 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
5. Romans 8:25 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
Longing means to look forward eagerly. This is the root of Paul’s zeal, he is eagerly awaiting the Super Bowl which he knows has already been won. This is a very real event to him and he craves the day Jesus returns, The word for burdened is not necessarily hardships. The word means to be under pressure or weighed down. Sighing at mortality is life in the spirit. Paul lived a life in the spirit, probably being a type A personality, thought “lets get the game on and head to the Super Bowl, I don’t want to go through the interim period of death with an interim body.”
Imagine you are signed up for a big team roping event and there is $75,000 in prize money waiting for you. Imagine you are so confident you are going to win the money because you and your healing have learned a major breakthrough that allows you to never miss and rope within five seconds every time. You anxiously await for the event because you know you are guaranteed to win the event. You have a stacked deck against the competition. You want to move past all the unnecessary stuff and get to the roping and get it over so you can take the prize money home with you. This is exactly what Paul expected, he what the outcome was going to be and eagerly waited for the resurrection.
Paul’s zeal is what enabled him to be willing to die, but did not look forward to it. He knew no matter what if he did die he would be with Jesus instantly. Paul still considered death to be an enemy, however an enemy with no chance for victory, 1 Corinthians 15:26 “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.”
Verse 4 states while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because do not wish to be unclothed (death) but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling (rapture, resurrection). Paul wants our earthly bodies to be swallowed up by our eternal bodies without having to go through the interim body. The word for swallow means to gulp down. This word carries the idea of happening rapidly, in an instant. Like when you have been working in the hot summer and you get a glass of ice tea, you gulp it down quickly.
Paul’s primary concern (burden) is to receive his glorified body and be with Jesus. Jesus tells us in Luke 21:34 “Be careful, unless your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unrepentantly.” What burdens you? Are you constantly anxious for Jesus second coming? Revelation 22:20 the last verses in the Bible ends with “Come Lord Jesus.” We can get beyond todays temporary problems with a hope of the future. Paul writes in 2 Cor 4:16-18
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Keep your eye on the prize, these troubles we have today will be like the regular football season, once you get to the Super Bowl, the struggles of the season are long gone and they now appeared to last for a short time.
Resurrection
Here is the question I had for a long time. If we die before Jesus resurrects our bodies, what kind of body will we have in heaven? I believe there will be a literal rapture, Jesus taking His people out of the earth according to 1 Thessalonians 4:16
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
And the Lord Himself speaks of this rapture in Matthew 24:39
That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
If we die before the Lord returns it is obvious we go to heaven, but what will we do with the body we have in heaven when we are reunited with our glorified resurrected earthly body? Do we leave our body at the door of heaven on the coat rack and accept our resurrected body? It is obvious we will have some sort of body in heaven look at Revelation 6:9,
9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
We see the saints in heaven talking with one another, as well as having something to which to hang a robe on. Also notice in that passage the saints remember earth and the people on the earth. I am encouraged by that, I know my dad in heaven remembers me and the times we shared together. But also notice they should rest a little longer. The word for rest is where we get the word for pause. This word means to cause or permit one to cease from any movement or labor in order to recover and collect his strength.
Remember I mentioned the playoffs and then the Super Bowl? The playoffs represent death and the Super Bowl represents the resurrection. All Christians will experience the Super Bowl, but not all will experience death. There will be some that will remain according to 1 Thess. 4:16 and will go up to heaven at the rapture after the dead in Christ are raised. The rest in Revelations 6:9 is like the two weeks of rest each football team has before the Super Bowl. During this period of rest, the time between our death and the resurrection, we will have an interim body but not our resurrected body. Perhaps the reason why we are resting is because we don’t have the bodies we will eventually have, and this is some sort of interim body. However, a body that can see, speak, remember and wear a robe.
To understand this interim body Paul gives us some more evidence in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Where Paul answers this exact question
35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” 36 Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. 37 And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.
We don’t know what kind of body we have during this resting period, but it is a body that God has chosen as He pleases. The body that goes into the ground will one day rise as a glorified body. Like our coming to the Lord, we must die first to live. An old saying I once heard says, if a man is born once he dies twice, if a man is born twice he dies once. There are two kinds of bodies, a natural body and a spiritual body. The body that we will have in heaven before the rapture is an interim body, not the body we enjoyed on earth.
40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
After the resurrection of Jesus, the body he possessed is a picture of a glorified natural body. This is why He could ask Thomas to touch His hands and His side. Jesus ascended into heaven with this body and no one recorded a body of flesh falling out of the sky once Jesus became out of sight up in the clouds. We will experience this same kind of resurrection at the rapture, but what kind of body will we have before then? The body that God wants us to have and that is all we have to go on.
. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
6 So we are always confident, 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 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him
Coached Up
Prepared, guarantee, always confident, knowing, well pleased, this is how a football team makes it to a Super Bowl when they can say these things about their coach. Paul says this following the discussion of desiring to be gulped up with his spiritual body and not going through the death process. However, Paul is eager to please Christ no matter what his circumstances are.
The reason Paul can talk so much about his eagerness and his confidence is because he knows the battle has already been one and earnest money has been put up. God has guaranteed the resurrection because He has placed His Holy Spirit to dwell inside of us (John 14:23). Both verses above use the word guarantee. The word for guarantee means earnest deposit or literally first down payment. This word is a banking word as we see in Ephesians 1:14 “Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.” God has purchased us with the blood of Jesus, are we willing to leave the store with him.
I once pulled into a gas station to get diesel for my pickup. While filling up I went inside and purchased a six pack to take with me. Being in a hurry, I ran inside the store, put the six pack on the counter and paid for it along with a candy bar. After my purchase I focused on opening the candy bar and walked out of the store without my six pack. A few miles down the road I grew thirsty for my six pack (of water, got ya) and realized in my zeal for my candy bar I forgot about my water.
Many people in their zeal to try and please God sometimes grow anxious when the storms of life come and they become thirsty. We need to remember, the deposit has been made and the first payment completed. We have a two sided coin and no matter the outcome we win. Paul did not want to die, but he knew whether he dies or Jesus comes back no matter what he wins. Lets not leave our promise in the store, lets bodly face the world knowing the Lord has the deed title to us in His hand.
A friend of mine once sold his million dollar home which they were ready to give up because they were in a bind financially. After one year on the market a buyer finally approached them and put a contract down on the house. I asked my friend if he really believed the buyer would come up with the remaining money. My friends response “I have a guaranteed deposit, if they don’t close, I win anyway. I get to keep the earnest money.” The man had confidence, that no matter the outcome he had earnest money (guarantee) in his hand.
This leads us to verse six, “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. The owner/coach sits in his owner suite during a football game. Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, will leave his owners suite and come down to the field during the last part of the ball game. This is exactly what God did for us, he left his owners suite and came down to the field we live on called earth. After His death and resurrection he returned to the owners suite. What He left behind is His Holy Spirit. Jesus said “I will never leave you” (Hebrews 13:5, Romans 8:39). Notice the owner goes back to his owner’s suite but the coach remains on the field with the team, a picture of God and the Son being one and the same.
Confident
Paul says he is confident and knows, when we are in the body (tent) we do not have our eternal house. The word for confident is where we get the root word for “therapy.” Confident means to have courage, to be bold. After you break your leg you go for therapy. The therapist gives you the courage to start using your leg again, you gain confidence. Paul’s confidence not being based on blind knowledge, he also knew as a fact. We can not physically see God, but we know He is there.
Before the Super Bowl each team captain will come to the center of the field for the coin toss. In the forty year history of the Super Bowl every team winning the coin toss has elected to receive the football. They are full of zeal ready to score points first. Imagine the confidence booster if you know the referee is using a two sided coin, both sides being heads. You confidently tell the ref your team chooses heads, the ref flips the coin and lo and behold the coin lands on heads.
2 Corinthians 5:5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
2 Cor 1:21-22 21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
In verse seven Paul says we live by faith not by sight. We know the owner/coach is in the owners suite of heaven, where we can not see him physically. However, we know that His spirit resides in us. This is how Paul shown confidence in the guarantee, by faith. Paul could not see the guarantee, but by faith he knew in his heart what God has done.
Paul reminds us in verse eight, he would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. The verse reads in the Greek “either being at home or being out of home, we want to be well pleasing to Him.” Paul already stated in verses 2.3 and 4 he would prefer to be clothed and not found naked (disembodied), meaning he clearly did not want to die. But Paul knew no matter what his preferences were, being with God is all that mattered. Paul clearly said he did not want to be naked, but he preferred being with God over his own nakedness. Because of this love Paul concludes his thoughts on this matter with verse nine that he makes it his goal (aim) to please Him.
The word for goal means “to love and value.” Paul’s only possession that he cared about involved knowing and pleasing God. No matter if Paul is required to play in the championship finals or go directly to the Super Bowl, he wants to please the owner/coach, God.
The reason why we tell the story
2 Cor. 5:10-11a
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;
Hell is a real place and we must tell people we will all stand before God to be judged. Those who have accepted Christ will be given their rewards, those who have not accepted Christ will also receive their rewards, which is to be separated from God. This is the terror that many men are persuaded by.
Jesus tells a story (Luke 16:19-31) about a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus. They both die and the rich man asks father Abraham for him to stick his finger in water and place it on his tongue. Jesus says there is a divide between the place of comfort and the place of punishment and neither can cross over. This gives us a picture that hell is a real place and people who choose to go there will experience physical pain and agony, which can be avoided by paying now with your life to Christ rather than later with your body and soul forever. This is the terror of the Lord, Jesus says to fear the One who can destroy your body and soul in hell. He is not referring to annihilation but to eternal punishment.
Conclusion:
So you are like Paul and not looking forward to the death experience (playoffs) but would prefer to live your life then instantly be changed at the rapture (Super Bowl). We are all on the same page in the play book. What we can learn from this passage of scripture, is no matter what our lot in life becomes, we know that being with God is superior to anything else. No matter if we go through the playoffs for a long time (an enduring illness) before we find ourselves naked, removed from our bodies. We know no matter what being with God is the final trophy no matter which uniform we are playing in. No matter if we die first and wait for the second coming, the end result is we will eventually be fully clothed with our spiritual body (eternal house).
Remember we have been drafted by God and the devil, but we get to make the deciding vote. Always listen to the coach, study the playbook. The coach will never leave us on the field by ourself and we can be confident that one day we will make it to the Super Bowl and be clothed in our permanent home, a glorified body. Let long for that day like a dog pants for water, let our groans turn from groans of agony to groans of anxiety to patiently wait for that day.
