Misunderstood Day 14 On Death & Butterflies: Digging Deeper
Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
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The Questions
1) What is the tent?
2) What is the significance of saying, “we will not be found naked”?
3) What do “down payment” and “confidence” have in common?
2 Corinthians 5:1-10
For we know that if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands. 2 Indeed, we groan in this tent, desiring to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 since, when we have taken it off, we will not be found naked. 4 Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.
6 So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Original Intent
1) What is the tent?
Paul was an author, speaker, preacher, and teacher. He knew how to captivate an audience and he knew how to relate to them. One tool he often employed was the metaphor, skillfully painting a word picture to convey a spiritual truth to an audience who thought concretely. Paul was also a tentmaker by trade, when he wasn’t off preaching, teaching, and being chased out of town because of persecution. It came naturally to him to use the physical around him to describe the spiritual. He used the metaphor of a tent to describe our physical bodies on earth. Flimsy, temporal, fragile, but sufficient nonetheless. Paul didn’t shy away from the fact that our bodies will be destroyed one day by death, nor did he sugar-coat the fact that while we live in these temporal bodies, we groan. We ache, we hurt, we long for more, for better, for eternity. We were designed to hunger for a flawless existence!
2) What is the significance of saying, “we will not be found naked”?
Again, Paul continues with his metaphorical speech, drawing on something obvious and concrete to make a spiritual point. To be found naked would be an embarrassment and shameful (in Old Testament days and our own!); it would speak of being un-prepared and caught off guard. But Paul says, “we will not be found naked.” We won’t be caught off guard when our earthly, tent-like bodies are destroyed by death; neither will we be ashamed, embarrassed, or un-prepared. Why? Because the hope of our eternal dwelling, our forever clothes, our glorified, physical bodies are waiting for all those who put their trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation.
3) What do “down payment” and “confidence” have in common?
In yesterday’s Journey Study, it was noted that people are so desperate for hope they are willing to trust in “folklore and emotional feelings” in order to get it. Not so with Paul! He points to clear, solid reasons (not blind emotion) as to why we can have such sure confidence in life after death. Paul notes that we were intentionally designed to longingly ache for “mortality to be swallowed up by life” (that is, death to be defeated by life), and that Designer is God Himself! There is no greater final authority! He placed His seal, His signature promise, right on our very souls by giving us His Holy Spirit to dwell within us, even these temporal tents. The Spirit is His down-payment, His proof of purchase over our eternal souls. The Spirit in us is proof that God will do what He said He would do: defeat Death with Life! Our confidence is rooted in the promise of the Almighty God.
Everyday Application
1) What is the tent?
Our bodies are incredible masterpieces, but no matter your age, your tent of a body has failed you, bringing about pain or frustration. Allow these weaknesses to remind you of the fleeting nature of our existence here on earth. Living with the reminder of death, may seem morbid, but the reality that our lives will vanish like morning mist should compel us to love well, making our temporal lives count for the eternal. Paul reminds us in verses 9-10 that regardless of living on earth or in Heaven, we should “make it our aim to please Him, for we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ.” Eternity is coming, how are we stewarding our time in this “tent” of a body?
2) What is the significance of saying, “we will not be found naked”?
Where in your life are you experiencing shame? Paul intended this section of Scripture to teach us about the eternal that was awaiting us in real, physical, concrete bodies, but there is a broader abstract aspect as well. If we are in Christ, we are new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17), we have been born afresh with a new Father, a new nature, no condemnation (Romans 8:1), and no obligation to obey the old, sinful nature (Romans 8:2). There is hope for the eternal, but also hope for the now. Take off the shame, the feelings of not enough, and wrap yourself tightly in the clothing of eternal hope because of Jesus who came to set us free!
3) What do “down payment” and “confidence” have in common?
The concrete idea of making a “down payment” is something we can relate to easily in our culture. If something is valuable to us and we really want to purchase it, we are willing to hand over something of significant value to us to “hold our name” on that item until we can fully make it ours. The same is true for our souls in relation to God. He longs for unity with us, so God sent His Son to redeem us from sin’s grip and then went further to prove his love by making a down-payment of His Spirit, who lives inside of every believer. Understanding this truth and choosing to follow the leading of the Spirit as He guides us gives us incredible confidence, both for our eternal home and our temporary one. Believers know where they will go when they die on earth, and they also have confidence in daily living because the Spirit of the Living God abides within them. This is true, solid hope!
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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
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