9-9-18 Grace-Benson/Vail Sermon

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 [Build on the Rock Summer Series 15] Pastor Ron Koehler Grace-Benson/Vail Sept. 9, 2018

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. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are 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 that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Dear Friends in Christ, Think about the best house you’ve ever lived in. Is it the one you grew up in, the one with all the special features that were so interesting as a child? Is it the one you’re in right now? What makes a house our favorite? It’s the memories made in them. It’s location of them. It’s the comfort. It’s the look. There are lots of reasons any particular house might be special to us.

You might reminisce and long for a home from the past. You might have some concern that you never lose the home you’re in now. But the Apostle Paul tells us in our lesson today that the true home we as Christians long for is not in this world and it is not a home we have been in before. It is instead a home we will be going to. It will be the absolute BEST HOME EVER…and we will never leave it!

THE BEST HOME EVER 1. Cannot be Found in this World 2. Has been Prepared for You in Heaven Cannot be Found in this World The Apostle Paul writes this truth from God: you and I cannot find THE BEST HOME EVER, the perfect home, here in this world. But he’s not talking about a building, exactly. He’s using the picture of a dwelling to refer to our bodies; we cannot be “at home” in our bodies, or as he calls them, our “earthly tents.” Interesting that he doesn’t compare our bodies to actual physical buildings. I think that’s with good reason! The bodies we live in are not permanent, are they? They are temporary, kind of like tents that are set up, taken down, and moved around. We live in our bodies, but they eventually wear out, die, and gradually decay and disappear. Not a lovely thought to begin with today, but this is the nature of the bodies we live, the “homes” of our souls!

While we live in this world, Paul points out that we do a lot of groaning—sighing, complaining—because life is difficult. And think about it, this goes on through every stage of life! Babies complain as they cry about needing attention or food or sleep. Ask any parent and they’ll tell you that the complaining of children, which goes on throught the childhood years, gets old! And ask any kid and they’ll explain that they have good reason to complain! Groaning is taken to new heights as we get older as we may still complain about all sorts of things, but added are physical aches and pains and deterioration that comes with age. And we haven’t even touched on the things this sinful world throws at us that make life even harder! Oh, we groan because of the difficulties we have in this world, while we are in this “earthly tent”.

Our sin-affected bodies are the earthly tent that Paul wanted to throw off in favor of a permanent building to live in—and he was thinking of more than just a perfected body, as God promises elsewhere—but the home of heaven, where our sin will not affect and torment us and a sinful world will not distract and harass us, threatening our relationship with God. We can relate with Paul! It is hard to live in this world and often hard to live with ourselves! We hate the sin that we commit and are filled with guilt over our neglect of God—our bodies and minds are ravaged by sin. As long as we are “at home in the body,” living in this earthly tent, we are away from the Lord. And our desire is to be WITH the Lord. This makes it uncomfortable here. Like the Apostle Paul, we would prefer to be with God because THE BEST HOME EVER CANNOT BE FOUND IN THIS WORLD. But God has given us something to inspire us and give us hope! He has given us his Holy Spirit as a down payment on our eternal home. The Holy Spirit living in us, serves as a reminder, a guarantee, that though we cannot find a perfect and lasting home in this world, there is one that has been prepared for us in heaven! God has made us his children for the purpose of living with him in heaven! That’s what this says!

There is only one way this could have come about. Someone had to live in an “earthly tent,” a body, that was not impacted by sin. Someone had to live without letting the sinful world affect him and lead him to offend God with his behavior or thoughts. And that someone had to offer up to God that perfect body, mind, and soul. The only “someone” who could do that—and who did do that—was Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross brought righteousness to sinners. And all whose hopes are in Christ hold in their hearts and minds this hope and promise of God of a perfect home that CANNOT BE FOUND IN THIS WORLD. Paul makes the point that the Holy Spirit has been given to us so that we know what Jesus has won for us. He is the deposit which lives in us, a constant reminder that our sins have been forgiven and a special home awaits us.

So, while THE BEST HOME EVER CANNOT BE FOUND IN THIS WORLD, we know that it HAS BEEN PREPARED FOR US IN HEAVEN!

Has been Prepared for You in Heaven Did you hear the certainty with which Paul wrote about our eternal house in heaven?

The lesson begins with that—For we know that…we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven… We know this! We know this not because we stopped by during an open house or flipped through pictures of it online. We know this because God has told us! We heard these comforting words of Jesus in the gospel today: Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going (John 14:1-4).”

God also gives this vision of heaven, which has been a great comfort for Christians: “They are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. 16 ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes (Revelation 7:15-17).’”

God HAS PREPARED THE BEST HOME EVER FOR YOU IN HEAVEN! He has promised it. He has told you that the difficulties we endure in this world because of sin will not be there. And Jesus has promised to return to take you there. This puts uneasy and unsettled minds at rest. This instills doubting and fearful hearts with confidence in God’s love and forgiveness. And this promise leads us to do certain things.

Paul wrote, So we make it our goal to please him. Out of love and thanks to God, we live for our God and Savior. We are looking to please God. That will be true when we are away from our present home—these “earthly tents” of ours—and in our eternal home and it is true every day between now and then. Contrary to what many think— and maybe what you have been tempted to think—pleasing God, living a Christian life, is not about obeying rules and laws; it is about joyfully responding to God’s forgiveness and love and promises with a willing heart, a heart that is looking for ways to say “thank you” to the Savior. When God’s Word is looked at from that point of view—that of wanting to serve God and not grudgingly obeying a bunch of laws—then God IS pleased!

As Paul writes about a divine court date for all of us, you might think that the whether you get all this perfectly right in your life is what earns you a place in the mansions of heaven or sends you to the hot house of hell. He speaks of the Day that is coming when we’ll all stand before the judgment seat of God: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

As you look at the grammar of the way Paul originally wrote this sentence, you find that the phrase “whether good or bad” may not describe the works that are done or not done, but instead describe what we receive—good or bad, heaven or hell. Maybe it should read like this: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us, whether good or bad, for the things done while in the body. Either way, the way a person lives their life matters to Jesus and he’ll review it as we stand before him on Judgment Day. Now, before you think this means that we earn this home in heaven by the things we do or don’t do (work righteousness), I’ll remind you that the Apostle Paul is the one who had previously written, “Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith (Galatians 3:11).” And just a few months after writing this letter to Corinth, Paul wrote this to the Christians in Rome, “We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law (Romans 3:28).” No, Paul is tracking with what Jesus said as he taught about the Last Day. In Matthew 25, Jesus described people standing before him on Judgment Day and the commendation he would give to his disciples who did various things because they had faith, things like, feeding the hungry, caring for people in need, and visiting the sick and imprisoned. God has so many ways for us to live in ways that please him and help others. Doing these positive, God-pleasing things and avoiding all the negative, sinful things, do not earn heaven—and Paul wasn’t suggesting that they do. They do, however, show that true faith in Jesus, the one whose work does guarantee heaven, is present in a person’s heart.

Remember, God tells us that our eternal home in heaven is an inheritance, not something we earn. An inheritance is something someone earned but which is gifted to someone else. It was Jesus who bought and paid for this eternal home in heaven with his life, death, and resurrection. He earned it and God has promised it to you. You and I are the recipients of THE BEST HOME EVER, the eternal home of heaven prepared for us by God and waiting for us right now!

We pray that the Holy Spirit would settle our anxious hearts and minds that deal with the realities of living temporarily in this sinful world and in sin-ravaged bodies, and that he would inspire us with confidence that because of Christ, we have the everlasting BEST HOME EVER waiting for us…and that all of that love and grace from God would cause us to make it our goal to please him here while we wait to be at home with him.

Amen.

Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Philippians 4:7