We Were Made For More Than This
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1 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.
2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling,
3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.
4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
I have never owned a new car.
My first car was a volkswagen bug. A gift from my grandmother. It was my grandfather’s car, he had died , and she needed to get rid of it- she couldnt drive.
1976 Chevy Chevette
1974 Pontiac Grand Prix
1980 Dodge Omni
...
toyota sienna
Honda crv
toyota sienna
2 things have motivated my car purchases my whole life… philosophy of a car lover.... necessity and really good deal.
Senior year of high school. graduation time. I had no intention of going away to college, I would attend Kent State University in East Liverpool, etc.....
1980 Camaro. Red. Spartan Chevrolet in Boardman Ohio.
Almost bought it and it would have changed the trajectory of my life. So glad I didn’t.
And the point of all this is that I’ve never bought a new car.
To add insult to injury, God called me to preach.
I’ve done dozens of brake jobs in the drive way. I’ve done complete upper end engine rebuilds in the driveway or under a carport. I’ve changed a half a dozen transmissions by myself. Water pumps, alternators, etc.,
And I’ll admit, I enjoyed it.... although I also will admit, that enjoyment is leaving me rather quickly.
And my point is that I’ve never had a new car.
And I probably never will.
Andre Agassi was wrong. Image isn’t everything. Even new cars break down, wear out, and eventually need brake jobs and oil changes.
And that is something Paul is talking about in this morning’s text. Sort of.
1 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.
Paul was a bivocational pastor. He had 2 jobs.
He built churches. And he built tents. He was a tent maker. For him to talk in terms of the tent being destroyed, in reference to the human body, is normal. It’s as normal as your pastor talking about cars he’s owned.
And tents got caught in windstorms, they gathered water in the roofs and ripped, they wore out. They needed patched, repaired, strengthened, and eventually… they needed thrown out.
And not matter how great the tentmaker was at making tents, no matter how wonderful the skill of the tentmaker or the materials used. Eventually, they were destroyed. And another one would have to be constructed.
Which would then follow the same path.
But , Paul says, we know in the midst of this body undergoing the ravages of cancer and covid and the common cold- we’ve got something better waiting for us.
We have a tent- rather a building- made by God and not made with human hands and it is waiting for us in the heavens and it is eternal.... it never gets destroyed it never gets worn out and is never going to need repaired.
2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling,
In this tent we groan.... it’s tore again, it’s ripped again, oh no there’s high winds, it’s caught fire, it’s gotten old.
My phone died this week. I had to get a new phone and I’m not happy about that because they cost too much. But my life is wrapped around it and I had to replace it. It’s neat, cool, the latest the greatest- but 4 years from now I’ll be doing this again.
I wish my cars and my phones would not be disposable… that they’d last forever. But they don’t
Paul says, I long to put on the heavenly dwelling. The new tent.
3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.
Putting on the new covers our frailties. He didn’t want to be found naked.
We long to not be exposed. That we are frail. That we rip. That our bodies are not eternal, but rather quite temporary. Knees, joints, hips, backs, they wear out. Lungs, kidneys, spleens, livers and brains wear out.
And when they do, it reminds us of how frail, how dependent we really are.
4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
We want things better. We want our bodies to be stronger
ceramic wax coating
Lemon pledge
5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
God has prepared us for the future, eternal body.
He’s given us His spirit, to christians, as a down payment.
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
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.
4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Our bodies are frail and often faulty.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.
47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
A key thought is found in 1 John 3.1-3
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
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.
3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
What we will be has not yet appeared. We aren’t there yet. REemmber Peter’s conversation with Jesus in John 13.... Where I go you cannot come… Lord, why can’t we come?
What if heaven is not the place we go when we die, but rather the place where God has our future bodies already in store for us?
Every body needs to live somewhere.
Our present bodies are earthly.
47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
But the second body, the new body is outlined in 1 Cor 15.44 and 1 Cor 15.46
46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
That spiritual body is the resurrection body. It is the body that is like Jesus resurrection body.
It is the body guaranteed to Christians as children of God.
Saved people.
Look at 2 Cor 1.21-22
21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us,
22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
The Holy spirit, residing in the Christian, is God’s downpayment on our future body. Listen to Romans 8.9-11
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
If the spirit who raised jesus from the dead dwells in you, your jalopy of a car(body) has deeper meaning thna you could ever imagine.
there’s something deep within all of us that know we are made for more than this.
Our Current Limitations Reveal God’s Greatest Expectations
Our Current Limitations Reveal God’s Greatest Expectations
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.