TRADING PLACES (9 OF 17)
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, 2 Corinthians 5:1-21
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Trading Places (9 of 17)
Series: 2 Corinthians
Robert Dawson
2 Corinthians 4.16-5.21
Author and Professor Lewis Smedes would ask his students if they wanted to go to heaven when they died. Every hand in the classroom would shoot up. He'd then ask them another question and encourage them to be honest with their answer. ''Who would like to go today?'' There was always a pause and then a few hesitant hands would be raised thinking they were answering correctly. They'd look around to see if they were the only ones. They were.
Most people wanted a raincheck. They were ready to die. They wanted to go to heaven, just not today!
Then Professor Smedes would ask a third question. He'd ask the class who would like to see the world set right tomorrow. No more pain. No more injustice. No more hunger. No more disease. No violence. Peace between people. ''Who's interested in that?'' Always, a frenzy of hands would fill the classroom.
Then he would say, if that is the world you really want, then heaven's where you'd like to be.
(John Ortberg, ''Our Secret Fears about Heaven,'')
Most of us would fall into that first group. We want to go. We are ready to go but...not today. The Apostle Paul fell into the second group only he didn't raise a tentative hand or look around to see what anyone else was thinking or feeling. He longed for heaven. He yearned to be in the presence of God. He was ready to trade this life for the next.
Why did Paul seem so eager, when others, like some of us, are not quite as anxious?
To help us answer that question, let's look at a few verses we read last week in chapter 4, verses 16-18. ''Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which a ...
Series: 2 Corinthians
Robert Dawson
2 Corinthians 4.16-5.21
Author and Professor Lewis Smedes would ask his students if they wanted to go to heaven when they died. Every hand in the classroom would shoot up. He'd then ask them another question and encourage them to be honest with their answer. ''Who would like to go today?'' There was always a pause and then a few hesitant hands would be raised thinking they were answering correctly. They'd look around to see if they were the only ones. They were.
Most people wanted a raincheck. They were ready to die. They wanted to go to heaven, just not today!
Then Professor Smedes would ask a third question. He'd ask the class who would like to see the world set right tomorrow. No more pain. No more injustice. No more hunger. No more disease. No violence. Peace between people. ''Who's interested in that?'' Always, a frenzy of hands would fill the classroom.
Then he would say, if that is the world you really want, then heaven's where you'd like to be.
(John Ortberg, ''Our Secret Fears about Heaven,'')
Most of us would fall into that first group. We want to go. We are ready to go but...not today. The Apostle Paul fell into the second group only he didn't raise a tentative hand or look around to see what anyone else was thinking or feeling. He longed for heaven. He yearned to be in the presence of God. He was ready to trade this life for the next.
Why did Paul seem so eager, when others, like some of us, are not quite as anxious?
To help us answer that question, let's look at a few verses we read last week in chapter 4, verses 16-18. ''Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which a ...
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