2 Corinthians 5:7 Deep Dive // Our Unseen Faith

"Faith allows us to thrive despite life's hardships." 

— Natalie Abbott

Today's episode: Join Natalie Abbott as she unpacks the powerful message of 2 Corinthians 5:7: "For we live by faith, not by sight." With thoughtful insight, she guides us verse by verse through the surrounding passage, highlighting how the Apostle Paul consistently contrasts the eternal promises of God with the fleeting realities of this world. Through her teaching, you’ll be encouraged to shift your focus from what is seen to what is unseen and to trust God in every trial, holding fast to the hope that one day, your faith will become sight.

This month's memory verse: "For we live by faith, not by sight." — 2 Corinthians 5:7

Want to go even deeper in this month's verse? Study along with Natalie in the monthly Bible Study Membership. Get the first month FREE with the code: PODCAST.

If you love this show...support it by leaving us a review.

Links from today's show: 

• Get your copy of Hopeful-ish, by Scarlet Hiltibidal.
• Get the ESV Prayer Journals for 30% off with a free Crossway Plus account.
• Check out the Forever Welcomed bible study, by Oghosa Iyamu. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

I don't know about you, but sometimes life just feels heavy. That we have more disappointment, more doubts, more Zoom calls and pajama pants, and we're tired, sad, and we wonder, is real hope still possible? In Hopefulish, my sweet friend Scarlett Hiltebiddle says, absolutely yes. She is both hilarious and honest, sharing stories that are humorous and heartbreaking, showing how the gospel gives us real hope, even in the mess, the losses, and the weariness. If you need a good laugh, a deep breath, and a reminder that Jesus hasn't left you, this book is for you. You can get your copy of Hopefulish at hopefulish.com. That's H-O-P-E-F-U-L-I-S-H dot com. We'll have a link in our show notes. And be sure to check out Scarlett's episode on the podcast October 8th. I know you're gonna love her. Hey, welcome back. It's Natalie Abbott. This is the Dwell Differently Podcast. And today is a teaching episode. This is the opportunity that we have to really dive into what the Bible is saying in the context of the verse that we're memorizing this month. So our verse that we're memorizing is 2 Corinthians 5, 7. It says, For we live by faith, not by sight. And this is an absolutely essential idea that as believers, we live by faith or we walk by faith, not by sight. We are trusting in and fixing our eyes on the unseen, eternal, the beautiful promises of God. In fact, even the unseen and beautiful, eternal things that God is doing in us through the power of His Holy Spirit who lives in us, there is something going on in us that is beautiful and wonderful. And we are looking forward to the day when our salvation will be culminated and we will not just live by faith, but our faith will be sight. And that is going to be a glorious day. We're going to be talking about all of this in our verse this month. And we're talking about it specifically today in the context of the passage that we find it in in the letter to the Corinthians, it's 2 Corinthians, it's Paul's second letter to the Corinthians that we have in the Bible. And gosh, if it isn't just an important concept, this idea of living or walking by faith. And let me just say before we dive into the text, I don't know about you, but it feels like a really tall order sometimes. Like that the things that we see, the temporal things, what's going on around us, it maybe it's our bank account, maybe it's relationships, maybe it's a diagnosis, like whatever it is that is visible and tangible and known, the things that we Google when we wake up at two in the morning because we have like this thing that is just pressing in on us, those things feel so important, so weighty, so even more real to us than these intangible things, these promises of God, God Himself and His Spirit at work in us. Like sometimes I think we become weighed down and just consumed, overwhelmed by what is going on. In fact, there's a verse that we're gonna look at later that says, uh, therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away. Like outwardly, there are just all these things that are pointing to just terrible, terrible stuff, you know, in the world around us and in our own specific personal lives. Like there are so many tangible things that feel like, man, we really do live in a fallen world. And yet, that same verse says inwardly, we are being renewed day by day. We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. And so my my hope for you, my goal for you in this teaching moment is to walk you through what the Bible says about this hope that we have, this beautiful faith that we have, and that when we are walking in our faith, when we are living by faith, we are actually thriving even when the things around us, despite the things around us, going haywire. So that's what we're gonna be talking about today. And we're gonna dive right in. We're actually gonna look at 2 Corinthians, part of chapter four and part of chapter five, because our verse, and there's another verse in it that I just alluded to, uh, it's sort of like the hinge point. It's like the overarching idea is that there are these things that we can see that are tangible and they feel away to us. And yet there are these other things that are unseen, that are beautiful and glorious and good. And when we fix our eyes on those things, when we live by faith in those things, we are truly living. We are actually believing in the real, real, the truest truth. And these other things, while they may seem very heavy and weighty, they are temporary, they are fading away. And so that's my goal is that we would together read through this passage and we would fix our eyes on the unseen and eternal hope that we have in Christ. So we're gonna start in verse six of Second Corinthians chapter four, and we are just gonna walk through and see these two ideas being compared and contrasted, the unseen and the seen. So, so listen for that while I read through a few verses here from verse six all the way through verse 12 of chapter four. And then we're gonna talk a little bit about it, and then we're gonna keep going. We're gonna look at each passage in turn and see what we can see and learn what we can learn about what it means to live by faith. So be listening for that. For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be also revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. So, do you see these unseen things and these seen things that are going on in this passage? So, in us, it says in verse six that we have the light of the knowledge of God's glory, and it is a treasure. It is a treasure that is hidden in a jar of clay. So that's the outside, the external, and yet this all-surpassing power, this knowledge of God's glory, this gospel message is residing in us. More than that, this passage says that the death of Jesus is also going on inside of us. It says we always carry around the death of Jesus. And it says that a couple of different times, so that the life of Jesus is also being revealed in our body. So we have the death of Jesus, we have the life of Jesus, we have the light of the knowledge of God's glory, which is his all-surpassing power. It is like a treasure in us. Okay, so that is what is at work in us. And even at the end, it says, then death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. So the goal here is that not only us specifically, Paul talking about himself and his fellow believers, but you also, when you see the death of Jesus in us, his life is revealed in us so that his life can also be at work in you. Okay, so what is seen is the jars of clay, being hard pressed on every side, perplexed, persecuted, struck down. This, this, this reality of hardship and difficulty. But why is this? So that the death that is in work in us, and and when when it's talking about the death of Jesus being at work in us, we know that Jesus died to sin, that he took sin with him on the cross and sin was executed. So the sin that is in us is dead because Jesus is in us and his life is in us. And so when we say no to sin, when we quote unquote die to sin and to self, Jesus' life is being made visible in us. We are choosing to live by faith. We are choosing the better way. We are saying these unseen realities are more true than these seen things that we have right now, these temporal things, this sin that pulls us aside and this selfishness. So when we are saying no to sin and death, we are saying yes to life. And Jesus says himself, he says it this way whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. So it looks like if you are following Jesus, taking up your cross, an instrument of death, and following him. So what that means is we we are putting those things to death, the sin in us. Um, Galatians 2.20 says, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith. Again, I walk by faith, I live by faith. This idea of we live by faith in what? In the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. He died for me so that I can live. And so I live by faith, not by sight, not by the things that we can see and touch and feel, not by visible things or tangible things. And so verse 16 goes on and says, Therefore, we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away. Yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day, for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Paul says, Therefore, because this is what is true, because God is at work in you, because Jesus' life is in you, because you have the deposit of the gospel and the guarantee given to you by the Holy Spirit, though outwardly what you see is wasting away. It is fading, it is temporary, it is difficult. Yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day, and we fix our eyes on that eternal glory, that one day when we will finally realize the eternal glory, which far outweighs them more. So notice what Paul says. He says that his troubles are light and momentary. And just so that like this doesn't rub you the wrong way, because it, I mean, if you are really going through something terrible, um, this could rub you the wrong way because you're like, my troubles are not light and momentary. Um, he says later in chapter six, let me tell you some of his troubles that he calls light and momentary. He says, rather, as servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way in great endurance and troubles and hardships and distresses and beatings, imprisonments, riots and hard work, sleepless nights and hunger. He goes on in verse eight to say, through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report, genuine yet regarded as impostors, known yet as regarded as unknown, dying and yet we live on, beaten and yet not killed, sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, poor, yet making many rich, having nothing, and yet possessing everything. Again, you see this contrast with I have everything in Christ, and yet what what it looks like on the outside is nothing. I am rich. I have this treasure in a jar of clay. And so we can say with Paul that our troubles are light and momentary. And notice what he contrasts, those light things, those temporary things, those those things that we're dealing with that are like hardships and beaten and not killed and hungry and all of that stuff. He can call it light because he is comparing it with the eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all. So we have faith in the unseen. And I will say to you, um, there was a time in my own life where, man, this specific scripture, therefore we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away, and yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. Um, to those of you who are struggling and who need something to say, uh to carry you through a season of incredible suffering, maybe this is the verse for you. Um we will share it in the links in our show notes so that we did we did memorize this first years ago. In fact, we memorized it unbeknownst to me. We picked it out, and then it was the very verse that I needed for God to carry me through a couple of years of really just I think back on that time, and and this is what pulled me through is this knowledge that that the unseen is eternal, that God is working in me, renewing me day by day, even when everything feels like it's falling apart, when everything is wasting away. Okay, I've got a question for you. What if you didn't have to earn God's love to be enough? Well, one of his most beautiful, often overlooked attributes is his impartial love. In Forever Welcomed, a six-week Bible study, Agosa Iyamu walks through scripture from Genesis to Revelation to show how God's welcome isn't based on who you are or what you've done. It's based on who he is. You can pick up your copy today at Moodypublishers.com or wherever good books are sold because in his kingdom, you are forever welcomed. Okay, I'm so excited to tell you about this next thing. I want them. They are the ESV prayer journals from Crossway. They're written by Erica Allen with artwork from Ruth Joe Simons, so you know that they are absolutely beautiful. And they are just a wonderful way to slow down and meet with God. They're an eight-volume set, so that's nearly a year's worth of guided studies, each one designed with a key theme like gospel or faith or forgiveness. And each journal takes you through six passages over six weeks with daily teaching, prayer prompts, space for reflection, and line pages for your own prayers, guys. They're gonna make it really easy for you to connect with God and with scripture with purpose. Whether on your own or with a friend or in a small group, you can get them anywhere books are sold, or you can get them for 30% off at crossway.org backslash prayer journal with a free Crossway Plus account. I don't know why you wouldn't do that. We got a link in the show notes so you can get that 30% off. So Paul goes on in chapter five, and this is where we get into the chapter where we find our verse. But I again I just had to walk you through all of this because I think it all is so significant, all hinges on this idea of living by faith. What does it look like? How do we live by faith? And he says we when we're going through trials, we live by faith, and we can also fix our eyes on the unseen eternal. And he goes into that further here in chapter five. He says, For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile, we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we're in this tent, we groan and are burdened because we do not wish to be unclothed, but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling. So what is mortal, i.e., what is dying, may be swallowed up with life. Now, the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God who has given us his spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. So again, you have this idea of what is temporary. It's a tent. Our bodies are a tent, they are inhospitable. Do you want to live forever? And it's like, like, even just consider like there's a reason that Paul is using this wording, the specific words. He's calling our bodies a tent. And he says we groan and we are burdened and we long for a better home because tents are temporary, they are inhospitable. The weather gets in, and eventually he says, our tents are gonna wear out. And yet he contrasts our tent with the unseen, eternal building made by God, not by human hands, that is a heavenly dwelling. And he uses this metaphor, this clothing metaphor to say it's not that we want to be naked, like when our tent is gone, our earthly body is gone, it's not like we're just gonna become spiritual beings without a body, that i.e., we don't want to be naked. We want a permanent home. We want a new body, a body that is free from sin, that is eternal and glorious. And he says that the Holy Spirit is our deposit, he is our guarantee of what is to come. He says that in verse five. This is what we long for. And so now we're gonna get to the paragraph with our verse. He says, Therefore, we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, and I say would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether at home in the body or away from it, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. So, guys, just like he talks about we don't lose heart, he now says, We are confident. He repeats it twice. And any time that a word is repeated in scripture, this is a highlighter. This is an important word. In fact, he restates what he says in verse six, only he says it on the flip side. It's like two sides of every coin. He says, if I'm at home in the body, then I'm away from the Lord. If I'm away from the body, I'm at home with the Lord. He is confident of this. I am gonna get a new body and I am going to be with the Lord. More than that, Paul says, I prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. He says, either way, whether I'm at home in the body or away from it, my goal is to please the Lord because we're all gonna appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and we're gonna receive what is due to us for the things well done in the body, either good or bad. Guys, this confidence he has, this repetition, he is just nailing it home for us. He is driving the point across again and again that when I die, I can be confident that I will be with the Lord. So the question that I have for you is are you confident? Are you confident to say that by faith, when I die, I will be resurrected to life in Jesus? This is this is we live by faith and we also die by faith. That he says we live by faith when things are hard, we do not lose heart, though we are crushed, that we were we are hard-pressed on every side, we are not crushed, though we are perplexed, we are not in despair, that we are not abandoned, that Jesus goes with us in this lifetime. He is always with us, and we can be confident of what is to come. We can fix our eyes on the unseen, eternal promises of God, because even now the Holy Spirit is in us as a guarantee. So when you trust in Jesus, your sins no longer count against you. He has paid the penalty for your sins on the cross. He has given you his perfect standing before God. And because Jesus rose to life, death has no hold on you either. You can say no to sin right now. You can say yes to Jesus and know that you will be raised to life. Like Paul says, he says, we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus. He says that in this passage. We know, we are confident that God who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise us. So when we believe in Christ, we also can be confident in this promise that He gives us the Holy Spirit as a deposit. He guarantees what is to come. So if you believe in Jesus, your salvation is secure. You live by faith, not by sight. And you can look at those things that you are trusting in, those things of the world that are that are sight, and you can say, I am not gonna believe in those anymore. Today, today, like the the word that that is translated live in the NIV, we live by faith is walk. We walk by faith. In other versions, it's a closer translation, but the idea is the same. It communicates this idea that day by day I'm living, I am walking, I am choosing today, this morning, to get up and say, I am going to live to find life in my faith. Faith in Christ. One day we will live by faith, and it will also be our sight. We our faith will become sight, we will be resurrected, and we will live with Jesus forever. This is the glory of this verse that we get to right now, live by faith and not by sight. And that one day our faith will become sight. What a beautiful message. Uh, if you want more of this, you can get our 12-session Bible study that I write every month for every verse. There's so much more in here. I would love to help you continue to unpack what this verse means and how it matters to you that you too can live by faith and not by sight.