The Courage of Faith: Living for an Audience of One
Introduction: Two Ways to Live
Every man, whether he admits it or not, lives his life before an audience. He is performing for someone. The fundamental question is not whether you are on a stage, but rather who is in the stands. Our secular age pretends to have abolished the audience. It preaches a gospel of expressive individualism, which says, "You are your own audience. Live your truth. Please yourself." But this is a grand deception. It is a hall of mirrors where a man, desperate for applause, finds only his own echo, and it is a hollow sound. In reality, the man who lives for himself is the most miserable of slaves, constantly checking his reflection in the eyes of others, polling the shifting opinions of the crowd, terrified of a bad review.
The world offers two basic ways to live. You can live by sight, or you can live by faith. To live by sight is to live for the temporary, the tangible, the immediate. It is to build your house on the sand of public opinion, financial statements, and fleeting pleasures. It is to have your courage rise and fall with your circumstances. It is to live for the audience of men, an audience that is fickle, demanding, and ultimately, damned.
But the Christian is called to a radically different way of life. We are called to live by faith. This does not mean we are irrational, closing our eyes and taking a leap in the dark. It means we have opened our eyes to a greater reality, a permanent and unseen reality. It means we are living for an Audience of One. Our lives are a performance, not for the cheap seats, but for the royal box, where the King of kings sits. And because we know the character of our Judge, because we know He is also our Father and our Savior, we can live with a courage that the world cannot understand and cannot take away.
In this passage, the apostle Paul unpacks the practical implications of this faith. He shows us that a right understanding of our future destiny radically transforms our present demeanor, our ultimate desire, and our driving ambition. The Christian is not someone who is so heavenly-minded that he is no earthly good. Rather, the Christian is the only one who is heavenly-minded enough to be any earthly good at all.
The Text
Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight, we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
(2 Corinthians 5:6-10 LSB)
Confident Demeanor: The Logic of Courage (vv. 6-8)
We begin with the Christian's essential posture in the world.
"Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight, we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:6-8)
Paul begins with "therefore," connecting what he is about to say with his previous statements about our mortal bodies being temporary tents and our eternal destiny being a solid building from God. Because we know our ultimate destination is secure, our present disposition ought to be one of constant, settled courage. This is not a manufactured, stiff-upper-lip kind of courage. It is a courage rooted in knowledge: "knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord."
This is a crucial piece of biblical realism. As long as we are in these mortal bodies, we are "at home" in one sense, but "absent" in another. We are in the world, but we are not yet with Christ in the fullness of His presence. This creates a kind of holy tension, a godly homesickness. We are pilgrims, not settlers. This world is the journey, not the destination. To be a Christian is to feel this pull, to know that our true home is elsewhere.
Paul then gives the operating principle for this journey: "for we walk by faith, not by sight." This is the central axiom of the Christian life. To walk by sight is to be governed by what you can see, measure, and control. It is to trust in your bank account, your health, your reputation. But all of these things are transient. To walk by faith is to govern your life by the unseen realities of God's promises. It is to stake your entire existence on the character and Word of a God you cannot see, but who has revealed Himself in Christ. It is to believe that the unseen world is more real, more solid, and more lasting than the visible world.
Because of this faith, Paul repeats himself for emphasis: "we are of good courage." And he goes further. Not only are we courageous in our present circumstances, but we actually "prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord." This is not a death wish. It is not a morbid escapism. It is the logical conclusion of a faith-filled life. If Christ is truly our greatest treasure, then being with Christ is our greatest joy. Paul is saying that for the believer, death has lost its sting. It is no longer a dreaded enemy but a doorway to our true home. It is a promotion. This perspective completely defangs the greatest threat the world can muster. What can you do to a man who sees death as a graduation?
Driving Ambition: Pleasing the King (v. 9)
This confident hope for the future produces a singular ambition in the present.
"Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him." (2 Corinthians 5:9)
The word for "ambition" here is a strong one. It means to make it one's aim, to be zealous, to strive earnestly. This is not a passive wish; it is an active, all-consuming pursuit. And what is the object of this ambition? Not wealth, not fame, not comfort, not self-fulfillment. The Christian's ambition is simply "to be pleasing to Him."
This is a radical reorientation of all human striving. The unbeliever's ambition is always, at its root, to please himself. But the Christian has been liberated from the crushing burden of self-pleasing. Our ambition is now fixed on an external object: the pleasure of our Lord. Notice the scope of this ambition: "whether at home or absent." This means whether we are alive in this body or have passed into the next life, our goal is the same. It is our ambition right now, in the midst of traffic, diapers, and deadlines. And it will be our ambition in eternity.
This single ambition simplifies all of life. It provides a clear, unwavering standard by which to judge all our actions, words, and thoughts. In any given situation, the question is not "What will make me happy?" or "What will people think?" but rather, "What will please the Lord?" This is the secret to a life of integrity and purpose. When you live for an audience of One, you are freed from the tyranny of the crowd. You are no longer tossed to and fro by every wind of cultural doctrine. Your life has a North Star.
Ultimate Accountability: The Bema Seat (v. 10)
What fuels this ambition? What keeps it from becoming a mere platitude? Paul provides the answer in the final verse: the reality of a final judgment.
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." (2 Corinthians 5:10)
This is a foundational reality check. The word for "judgment seat" is the Greek word bema. In the ancient world, the bema was a raised platform in the public square where magistrates sat to render judgments. In the context of the Grecian games, it was the platform where the umpire awarded prizes to the victors. It is crucial that we understand what this judgment is, and what it is not.
This is not a judgment to determine salvation. For the believer, that verdict has already been rendered at the cross. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). We will not be judged for our sins, because Christ was judged for them in our place. The bema seat is not about condemnation; it is about commendation. It is not about getting into heaven, but about our reward in heaven.
Notice who is there: "we must all appear." This is a summons for every believer. No one is exempt. And the purpose is evaluation: "so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body." Our life in this body matters. It is not a meaningless prelude to eternity. It is the training ground, the proving ground. Everything we do is being recorded and will be reviewed. The "deeds in the body" will be assessed as "good or bad."
Now, what does "bad" mean here? It does not refer to sins that will condemn us. Those are under the blood. Rather, it refers to worthless, useless, or shoddy work. Paul uses the metaphor of building materials in 1 Corinthians 3. Some build with gold, silver, and precious stones, which represent faithful, God-glorifying works. Others build with wood, hay, and stubble, which represent works done with selfish motives, for human applause, or out of carnal energy. The fire of Christ's judgment will test the quality of our work. The wood, hay, and stubble will be burned up. The builder himself will be saved, "but only as through fire." The gold, silver, and precious stones will remain, and for these, there will be reward.
This is a profoundly sobering and motivating truth. It teaches us that while our justification is by faith alone, our final reward is according to our works. Our works do not save us, but they are the evidence of our salvation. And they have eternal consequences. This truth should instill in us a holy fear, a reverent awe, that drives us to live lives that are pleasing to Him. It demolishes any notion of cheap grace or coasting into heaven. Our lives matter. What we do today echoes in eternity.
Conclusion: Living in Light of the End
So what does this mean for us, right here, right now? It means that the Christian life is a life of courageous, forward-looking faith. We are not to be discouraged by our present troubles, because we know this tent is temporary. We are not to be distracted by the world's baubles, because we walk by faith in unseen, eternal realities.
Our life is to be governed by one magnificent obsession: to please the Lord Jesus Christ. This ambition should shape our families, our work, our finances, and our use of time. We are living for the final review. We are building for the final inspection. We are performing for the King.
The world lives by sight, and its courage is therefore fragile. It lives for the applause of men, and its ambition is therefore vain. It lives as though this life is all there is, and it therefore faces a terrifying judgment without a Savior. But we have been given a different script.
Because we know that to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord, we can face death without fear. Because our ambition is to please Him, we can face life with purpose. And because we know we will all stand before the bema seat, we must face our daily choices with sober-minded diligence. Let us therefore be of good courage, walking by faith, and laboring with the joyful ambition of hearing our Lord say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."