442. Friday after Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity.
God, let our heart be in heaven. Amen.
2 Corinthians 5, 1-10. For we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 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.
❦
We are willing that our earthly body should be dissolved. As the Old Testament tabernacle was not to remain standing, so shall this body also in which we are housed pass away. But we have an eternal habitation awaiting us, a heavenly city and a new and incorruptible body. For this we would gladly, were it this very day, exchange our present habitation. Nay, for this we sigh and yearn; yet not for that would we be unclothed, but rather wish that our body might be changed without passing through death, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. What unspeakable happiness it would be to come home to the Lord! Not for that we doubt that we shall be glorified. The Spirit of God, crying “Abba Father” in us, is the earnest of our inheritance. Neither are we disturbed by the fact that we do not see our heavenly home. We may at times be timid, because we feel only sin, and see only death; but by this means our heart is loosed from the world; and so when the Spirit teaches us that we now “walk in faith,” that this is the order of salvation, the terms on which we are saved, the test of our obedience, — then hope becomes victorious. Yet we would so much like to escape our afflictions, to reach our home, to have passed safely over the dark gulf which lies between. “Happy the man who, all his troubles past, were safe at home in God’s own heaven at last!” — And yet, whether at home or in a strange land, we live for the Lord; and our chief concern is that we may be accepted of him. For whether we shall die and rise again, or be changed in a moment, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body.” There is no conversion after death. Everyone shall receive according to that which he has done in the body. Saint Paul could not have made this statement, had it been possible for the soul to be converted when the body is in the grave. Soul and body are so intimately united that the soul cannot be born again and sanctified apart from the body. Therefore it is of greater importance than tongue can tell that we here, in this life, become partakers of the grace of God, and live in newness of life.
Examine yourself, then, dear reader, and ask whether you feel the solemn import of death; whether you long after the heavenly habitation; whether you labor, that you may walk in a way to be accepted of God; whether you have the earnest of the Spirit that you shall inherit heaven; so that you dare die without fear, and go to meet your God!
Lord Jesus, give me thy Spirit; draw my heart to thee; and make me zealous to walk acceptably in thy sight. Let me not dream away my time of grace; but let me take thought that I may walk in the light before thee, and allow myself to be led by thy hand, dear Savior, and to be governed, chastened, comforted and guided by thy Spirit. Amen.*
When all with awe shall stand around
To hear their doom allotted,
O may my worthless name be found
In the Lamb’s book unblotted!
Grant me a firm, unshaken faith;
For thou, my Savior, by thy death,
Hast purchased my salvation.
[suggested tune: Es ist gewisslich (TLH 611), listen here]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.