The Apostle Paul wrote an amazing contrast in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, which says:
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
On the one hand, there are things that are transient, described as: outer, wasting away, light, momentary, affliction, and seen.
On the other hand, what is eternal is: inner, being renewed, weighty, glorious, beyond all comparison, and unseen.
These things are part of each of us, but what is eternal matters infinitely more than the other. Don’t confuse the two, or you may lose heart because Paul earlier assured us in verse 14 that “he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” At that time, only what is eternal will remain.
We all know the phrase “practice what you preach.” It’s a way to call someone a hypocrite, and at the same time tear down what the other person claims to believe in. These beliefs may be political or moral philosophies, but they may also be religious beliefs like denominations or theological systems. For this post, I’ll call all of these “isms.”
The history of Christianity has been a constant conflict between and competition among different “isms.” Catholicism, Lutheranism, Calvinism, Methodism, and others. Even the ones that don’t use the actual letters “ism” at the end are still “isms.” So much of being a Christian involves figuring out which “ism” we belong to, and also figuring out what’s wrong with the other “isms.” I see this no more clearly than on social media, where the competing camps are so clearly identified, and people write others off for being in the wrong camp.
We put a lot of time and effort into being as good at our chosen “ism” as we can. If we can go with the flow according to that “ism,” we can feel like we are pretty good Christians. We may be able to do a decent job at following the “ism” that we preach, and in many cases following our “isms” isn’t a bad thing. All denominations have their pros and cons, and they often attract people with similar strengths and weaknesses.
In God’s eyes there aren’t different types of Christianity.
But as we seek to be the best at our “ism” that we can be, are we practicing Christianity? Jesus confronts us with this in Matthew 19:17 – “And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.’”
We may think of our “isms” as varieties or types of Christianity, and in a cultural way they are. However, in God’s eyes there aren’t different types of Christianity. There is only one Christianity – the life that Christ lived is the only practice of Christianity that will ever be good enough. Even if I perfectly practice what I preach as a Presbyterian or Baptist, for instance, I’ll still fall far short of God’s standard for “good.”
“Isms” are unavoidable in this world, and they often point us in the right direction, but they don’t get us all of the way there. We seek to please God as we best know how, but none of our “isms” are enough. They aren’t enough to save us, and they’re also too much for us to perfectly practice what we preach. We can’t meet our own, lowered, standards.
This is why the apostle Paul wrote “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” in 1 Corinthians 2:2.
Preaching Christ crucified is the only thing we can preach that was ever practiced perfectly, because it wasn’t practiced by us. It was practiced by the only One who was ever perfect, and it’s better than all of our “isms.”
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” – 1 Corinthians 13:12
The apostle Paul was likely one of the finest Old Testament scholars of his day, and sometimes draws on existing imagery to make a point. One example might be Proverbs 14:11-12, where the second verse is more widely known than the first, but not unrelated:
“The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”
Physically, it seems obvious that a house is far more durable than a tent, but both of these Proverbs tell us not to judge by appearances. Looks and reputation may suggest otherwise, but it is righteousness that determines eternal destiny, specifically acceptance of Jesus’ righteousness.
In 2 Corinthians 5:1-3, Paul gives an example of why we should focus not on what “seems right”, but instead focus on the unseen things that matter for eternity, drawing on the tent image:
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.”
Paul, defending his apostleship to the Corinthians amidst his suffering while other false apostles lived in ease, knew that an upright tent was better than a wicked house in God’s eyes, and therefore being less comfortable was entirely worth it, since there was an eternal reward waiting in heaven.
Commenting on 2 Corinthians 5, Warren Wiersbe notes that “Heaven was not simply a destination for Paul: it was a motivation. Like the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11, he looked for the heavenly city and governed his life by eternal values.”[1]
When frustrated by your earthly limitations, or frustrated by discomfort in this world, know that we will not live in these tents forever. For His faithful, God is preparing an eternal dwelling for us. While it “seems right to a man” to think a house is better than a tent, every tent and house in this world is temporary. Hebrews 1:12 says of all creation, the earth and all the heavens, that:
“like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
Do we long for our new, eternal heavenly dwelling? Does this longing motivate us to live for God? Let us keep Driving Toward Morning today!
[1] Wiersbe, Warren. Be Encouraged (2 Corinthians) (1994). P. 69.
The Apostle Paul, author of much of the New Testament, was first called Saul and was a very different person before meeting Christ. As Saul, he saw no contradiction between persecuting his religious enemies (the new Christian church) and being righteous under the law. He also may have seen Christianity as a political threat, a new religion that would upset the balance of power between the Jews of the first century and the occupying Romans by demanding loyalty to a higher power above Rome. From this perspective, he may have thought his religion required persecution of those who disagreed.
Luke, author of Acts, describes Saul’s pre-Christian life like this:
“But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” – Acts 9:1-2
Paul himself does not deny this past, writing to the church in Galatia:
“For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it” – Galatians 1:13
But when confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus as referred to in Acts 9 above, the Lord asked him to his face: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 26:14). This is a strange expression for us, but to “kick against the goads” meant that by fighting against God’s will (including His grace for His people in any nation or tribe), Saul was only hurting himself. Goads were sticks that were pointed on one end and used to prod oxen to move where a farmer wanted them to go. A stubborn ox who decided to resist would “kick against the goads,” only leading to more pain. Persecuting the absolute Lord of the universe is not a good idea.
Saul learned his lesson and after that confrontation, changed his name to Paul, a man transformed in how he treated those he might consider enemies. He went from “breathing threats and murder” against Christians, to wishing for the salvation of the Jews, and anyone who would listen:
“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for [the Jews] is that they may be saved.” – Romans 10:1
In Christ, His hate for the “other” became compassion. Saul wanted to put his enemies to death; Paul wanted to put his own sin to death. He never shied away from his brutal past, but he also began nearly all of his letters to the early churches with a greeting like this one at the beginning of Galatians:
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” – Galatians 1:3
Dear fellow travelers let’s strive to bring grace and peace to every encounter we have as we travel through this world. Even with those we might consider enemies.
One of the reasons Jesus encountered so much opposition was that He could see many of the religious leaders of His time as they really were – sinners condemned by the law and in need of a Savior – and was not afraid to call them out on it. Once when some scribes and Pharisees were crowding Him, trying to catch Him in an error, Jesus said to His disciples:
“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.”[1]
Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites, which means someone deceitfully playing a part, using leaven as a metaphor. Leaven is yeast, but how is yeast like hypocrisy?
Looking at leavened bread and unleavened bread from the outside, they might look the same: they both look like solid loaves of bread. However, in the process of making bread rise, yeast creates gas bubbles that form holes inside the bread (or “nooks and crannies” as in an old English muffin ad). So, when you break or cut open a piece of leavened bread, it does not look solid on the inside like it does from the outside. It is full of holes. On the other hand, unleavened bread tends to be more solid, such as many flatbreads or tortillas.
Yeast is like hypocrisy because the hypocrite is not the same on the inside as they are on the outside. The image they carefully craft for themselves fails inspection to One who can see inside. In the case of the Pharisees, who wanted to appear superior in their knowledge of, and observance of, Jewish law, Jesus revealed that they were “like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.”[2]
Later in the New Testament, in 1 Corinthians 8:1, the apostle Paul wrote: “we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’ This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up.” Paul’s warning was that knowledge, if not used in love, puffs us up as yeast puffs up bread, making it full of air bubbles, and hollow inside. Knowledge can make us proud and inflate our own sense of importance if we aren’t careful. Love, on the other hand, seeks to build up others in humility.
Therefore, whose who seek to walk in integrity before God, to live an unleavened life, must reach out to the only One who can see all of our inner nooks and crannies, yet still loves us. Though we are still sinners, by His blood we are justified in His sight and being made whole by our Maker. We should pray as David prayed in Psalm 139:23 –
“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 