Trading in our Tents (2 Cor. 5:1-10)

Introduction

· Please turn to 2 Corinthians 5.

· Our sermon this morning is entitled, “Trading in our Tents.”

· On our family vacation, we had a wonderful time traveling in Washington, DC and exploring. But you are always glad when you no longer have to live out of a suitcase, sleep on an air mattress, and drive around in a compact rental car. It’s good to be home -- to move from a place that you visiting to a more permanent dwelling place.

· Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

· The first half of the verse is a statement aobut one’s identity.

· Philippians 1:21 For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. Maybe not quite as catchy or poetic but perhaps it explains the meaning a bit better.

· For me, to live is __. How would you complete the sentence?

· This describes that thing that your mind continually drifts back toward. What gets you up in the morning, and keeps you going throughout the day. That thing you dream about, that you long for, that you find your satisfaction in. Some people would say, “For me, to live is football.” Or “For me to live is video games.” Or “For me, to live is family.” But for Paul, “For me to live is Christ.” Every other thing is secondary to his relationship with Christ. Every other thing only exists to draw him closer to the Lord. As we sang a few minutes ago, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.” (Rom. 11:36).

· Paul calls death Gain. Something that you obtain only after great labor and investment.

· Many of us feel like Woody Allen. He once said, “I’m not afraid of death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

· But Paul treats death as though it were a reward, a “bonus” if you will. How can Paul say that death is ‘gain?’

· TWO REASONS THAT DEATH IS “GAIN’

Death is Gain Because We Receive Our Eternal Body

· Read verses 1-5

· Paul says that death is a real possibility for any of us.

· Ecclesiastes 9:12 For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.

· It may be longer than we expect. It may be sooner than we expect. We simply do not know.

· In Paul’s earlier epistles, Paul seems to have anticipated being among those who would still be alive at the second coming of Christ, and who would be raptured right into God’s presence. But in chapter one, he experienced a particular traumatic experience. He had suffered many ways before, but this particular trial was so severe that it felt like he had been put on death row.

· 2 Corinthians 1:8–9 … we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

· Paul was reminded of his own mortality, and now admits there is a chance he won’t survive until the second coming.

· We groan…we groan (2, 3). A kind of heavenly homesickness.

· A building from God…a heavenly dwelling…

· Some people enjoy tent camping. Our family has a small tent stored in the garage that Natalie and I got a few years after we got married. When it was just the two of us, it was a great size. A small dome tent with two side wings to store supplies. It fit the two of us great. But as our family grew, we outgrew that tent. We could no longer fit in it, so we upgraded to a larger, two room tent. We’ve made some great family memories over the years, camping in the Coastal Redwoods near Big Sur, along the beach up past Santa Barbara, or even just up in Idyllwild. But still, even with the larger tent, no matter how much we love the fresh air and great outdoors, it’s good to be back home where you can take a hot shower and sleep in your own bed.

· There is another kind of tent you and I have. It is the tent of our bodies. Just as you pack up a tent and the end of a camping trip, so Paul says that one day, at the end of this life, we will pack up these physical tents of mortal flesh and bone and will trade them in for a permanent home.

· The stakes will be pulled out, sleeping bags will be rolled up, those fiberglass telescoping poles will be pulled apart and folded up, and then, the tent will collapse to the earth.

· See Paul’s prior teaching on the resurrection in 1 Cor. 15:51-58.

· This resurrection of the body will take place at the second coming of Christ. At death, there is a temporary separation of the body and soul. But that separation is temporary. There will be a reunion of body and soul. But both will be perfected and glorified.

· This is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

· The Holy Spirit is a guarantee. That word “guarantee” sometimes refers to a down payment. The first installment of an even larger inheritance.

· (Share the Gospel here.) All of this is true of course only for a believer in Jesus Christ. An unbeliever will not receive a glorified body, but rather will suffer everlasting torment in hell because of their sin.

· John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. A wonderful promise! Whoever believes will have eternal life? But what about those who don’t believe? John says they will “perish.” A strong word, speaking of utter destruction.

· John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

· >>So, death is gain because we receive our eternal body. But according to this passage, there is a second reason that Death is Gain…

Death is Gain Because We Finally Arrive Home

· Read verses 6-10

· What is it that makes a house a “home”? It’s not ultimately the color of the carpet or the comfort of our bed. It’s the people we share it with. Maybe even our pets. The ministry that goes on there, the memories made in that place.

· I can’t wait to see heaven, and the New Jerusalem described in Rev. 21. It will be more beautiful that our wildest dreams.

· Revelation 21:18–21 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

· But the greatest feature of heaven is not the golden streets or the pearly gates, but that God himself is there. Finally… Finally! We will be “at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8).

· Luke 23:43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

· John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

· 1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

· “Are we there yet?” every child asks on a car trip. Sometimes, you hardly pull out of the garage and the kids begin to ask. We had a policy on some trips that we would not say how much farther until we were one hour away from our destination. At death, we finally arrive home.

· We are pilgrims and strangers on this earth, but at death, for the first time in our lives, we finally arrive home.

· The coming judgment. This refers to the believer.

· Two basic judgments. Unbelievers will face punishment at the “Great White Throne Judgment,” (Rev. 20:11) but believers will experience reward at the “Bema Seat Judgment.” (2 Cor. 5:10).

· “Evil” (10) – empty. Gk phaulos. Related to German. “faul,” worthless, of no account. You do not even record a foul ball on a baseball box score.

Conclusion

· On March 4, 2009, Rachel Barkey spoke to nearly 600 women at a Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia. The title of her message was, “Death is not Dying: A Faith That Saves” (sponsored by Westside Church). You can still find it on youtube. Rachel had been fighting a five-year battle with cancer and now had just a few weeks to live. She was just 37 years old, and still had two young children. Throughout the battle, she insisted, “God is good. He is in control. And He is fair.” At one point in her message to those ladies, she admitted that many wonder, ‘Why?’ ‘Why would God allow a young mother of two young kids to get cancer?’ Her response: “I don’t ask why because I know the answer: We live in a sinful world. Bad things happen. But it was not supposed to be this way. And it will not always be this way. God has a plan. He has made a way for sinful people to be with Him in a perfect world. The way is Jesus.”

· Around that same time, Christian songwriter Bob Kauflin wrote a song called, “It is Not Death to Die.” It goes like this: “It is not death to die, To leave this weary road, And join the saints who dwell on high, Who've found their home with God. -- It is not death to close, The eyes long dimmed by tears, And wake in joy before Your throne, Delivered from our fears”

· (Moving into the offering and final song). I’m going to go ahead and invite the ushers forward and in just a moment we’re going to take an offering. This offering is to cover the ministry expenses of this church, the needs of my family and our other ministry staff, and to help our missionary partners scattered across the globe. We are excited at what God is doing in this place, and you have the opportunity to be a part of it through your giving.

· What gives us the confidence that death is not the end?