STONY BROOK COMMUNITY CHURCH

36 HADLEY STREET

SOUTH HADLEY, MA 01075

(413) 535-2351

www.stonybrookchurch.org

Dr. Daniel Brown, Pastor

August 13, 2006

Rev. Ralph E. Brown

NO MORE TENTS

II Corinthians 5:1-10

I’ve been meditating on this subject for some time, and it is in fear and trembling that I attempt to preach on our scripture passage, II Corinthians 5:1-10. I attended a memorial service recently and I was disappointed. Everything said was concentrated on this life. The person was a good person, very musical, artistic, respected in the community and beloved by his family. Yet I didn’t hear much about eternal life. There were a few vague references in some printed prayers in the bulletin, but I came away disappointed, because the Bible is filled with teaching about eternal life. Why do we concentrate so much on this earthly life? Why do we hesitate to talk about death, and about eternal life beyond death? We live in such a materialistic society. We lived in Pakistan for many years, and it was much easier to talk about religion, to talk about God in a country like Pakistan than in secular America. We are so oriented to this present life, this material life. We need to get ourselves into proper perspective, to realize this life is not all there is.

As we look at II Corinthians 5:1-10, I want to point out that this is not an easy passage. After I chose it and began to look into commentaries and different translations, I saw that each translation—and I have a great number of English translations—gives a somewhat different slant on the passage. C.K. Barrett, one commentator, calls this passage “notoriously difficult.” In the Evangelical Bible Commentary we read, “No passage in II Corinthians has prompted more discussion than this. As a consequence, the diversity of scholarly interpretation is rather bewildering.” (p. 346) So if you don’t agree with what I say this morning, don’t worry—you’ll probably find some Bible commentator who agrees with you!

Before reading this passage, I would like to read a few verses from the previous chapter, because they are related. II Corinthians 4:16-18 gives the background: “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. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

We see here the contrast between the seen and the unseen, between the temporal and the eternal.

Now, let’s read II Corinthians 5:1-10, the passage we want to look at this morning: “Now 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 with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

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

Again we see the contrast between the heavenly body and the earthly body, between the spiritual and the material. I’ve entitled the sermon this morning “No More Tents.” We read about tents in this passage. We need to be prepared for a new body in our heavenly home. This passage is about heaven, but especially about our heavenly body in contrast to this earthly body we now have.

Why do we need to prepare? Because life is fragile, and this leads to the first of several truths that I see in this passage. We live in a tent (verse 1). Some of you have lived in tents this summer out at Indian Hollow. My wife and I didn’t stay overnight in a tent. We’ve done that in our lives, and we’re happy to forget about living in tents at our age. Tents give us the idea of fragility, impermanence, insecurity. They’re temporary, nothing really permanent. Years ago when our children were small, we took a trip to Karachi, to the beach, from our home 300 miles north. This was before our mission owned a beach hut, but another mission had a hut and we arranged to stay there. This was only a hut, built of wood, nothing fancy, but it was a building. We arrived a day early, and others were still in the hut. We knew about this, and brought our tent along planning to pitch it behind the beach hut. Have you ever tried to pitch a tent by pounding the stakes into sand? The wind was blowing, the stakes didn’t want to hold, we had traveled all day. My wife wasn’t too happy a camper right then. Tommie, our third son, about four at the time, looked up at his mother with a big smile and shining eyes, and said, “I love sleeping in a tent.” To his parents it wasn’t so much fun, and it was temporary until we could move into the beach hut. Now that small hut wasn’t really much and there were rats, but it was a lot better than sleeping in a tent. Another time when our children were older, Tom came out from college and took Marilyn and Dan, his two younger siblings, to climb an 8000-foot peak named Miranjani. Polly and I stayed in an old British style hotel in the small village at the base of the mountain. While they were up there on top of the mountain in the tent that night, a thunderstorm came up with lightning flashing and thunder. They were pretty scared in their little tent and they said they sang hymns half the night. Tents are fragile.

Paul says, “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.” We live in a tent, an earthly dwelling, and it’s going to be destroyed someday. Paul doesn’t go into the details, but he contrasts this with the building that we have from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. When Ruth Anne comes back from Toronto, ask her about her experience of living in tents on her mission trip in Europe. She can tell you some good stories.

Our society is so permeated with concern for this life. Looking for the cheapest shampoo I could find in Target, I was amazed at the number of brands and types. Look at the items on the shelves in the stores—medicines, vitamins--everything for this life. We have new and better medical procedures, alternative medicines, and we thank God for them. Someone is buying these things, and all for this life. But this tent is going to be destroyed (different translations read, “dissolved,” “taken down,” “folded up”) when we die or if the Lord returns before we die. And we groan—the passage says, “Meanwhile we groan longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling.” In this tent, this temporary dwelling, we do groan. We received a story on our email about an elderly couple. They woke up early in the morning and the wife said, “I’m dead.” Her husband said, “What do you mean, you’re dead?” She said, “I’m dead. Don’t touch me. I’m dead.” He said, “You’re not dead, you’re talking to me.” Her reply, “I’m dead. I woke up and nothing hurts, so I must be dead.”

We groan, don’t we, and we don’t have to be old. After yesterday’s work at the Habitat House, perhaps some of the young ones, like Bob Gould, might not have aches and pains. But I know I feel it, and I didn’t even work the whole day.

Romans 8:18-25 also talks about groaning: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

There is a time coming when we will see the redemption of our bodies. Warren Wiersbe says about the groaning we feel in this present body, this present life, that it is “a groaning for glory.” I think that is what Paul was referring to when he wrote this—a groaning for glory. There is a heavenly body that we will receive because we have trusted Jesus as our Lord and as our Savior. So we live in a tent, and we groan.

The second truth I want us to see in this passage is that an eternal home awaits us. The last part of verse 1 reads: “We have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” This is something eternal, everlasting. In Pakistan we have the words, “kutcha” and “pukka.” Kutcha means unbaked, as sun-dried bricks, while pukka bricks are baked in a kiln. A kutcha house, one built with sun-dried bricks, in a flood area is likely to be swept away while a pukka house will stand. In the Sindhi translation of this passage these words are used. I began doing Bible translation when a colleague couldn’t return to Pakistan and I worked on these letters of Paul. A tent is “kutcha” and a building is “pukka.” This eternal building is with the Lord in heaven, not built by human hands. In verse 8 we read, “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” This is an eternal body. Some scholars think Paul is talking about the church, but the whole context here seems to me to be talking about this earthly body contrasted with the heavenly body that we will receive at the resurrection. So Paul is longing for this, and he writes in verses 2-4, “Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed, but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”

The metaphor here is changed to the idea of a swallowing up of the temporary body by what is permanent, eternal. There is a great old hymn “Face to face with Christ my Savior.” One verse reads,

“What rejoicing in His presence

When are banished grief and pain,

When the crooked ways are straightened,

And the dark things shall be plain.”

(Carrie E. Breck)

One commentator writing about heaven, says, “In heaven the redeemed will be in the immediate presence of God, will forever feed on the splendor of God’s majesty, beholding the Father’s face.” (J.K. Grider)

An eternal home awaits us. We are saved as soon as we accept Christ as Lord and Savior, saved for all eternity. Our eternal life begins now, but there is much more to come in the presence of the Lord, in his very presence.

The third truth in this passage is that God made us for eternal life. In verse 5 we see this, “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

Paul tells us that the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. (Romans 8:16) The Holy Spirit witnesses with our spirit when we know Christ and become part of God’s family, children of God. But in this passage he talks about the Spirit as a guarantee, a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

So, what about this life? If this life is just a tent, if this body is just something fragile that will be done away with, should we just neglect this body, forget about it. We’ll all die anyway, or else Jesus will come back. In fact this passage tells us that what we do in this body does matter. Verse 9, “So we make it our goal to please him whether we are at home in the body or away from it.” Then he talks about the judgment seat of Christ. This is a judgment of believers. Our sins have been judged at the cross, they have been washed away, and we are not saved by our good works. What we do, however, in this life does matter and this passage points this out. We make it our goal to please him. In this life, in this body, our goal is to please God. We’re saved by grace, but our works will be judged, and this has to do with rewards. I Corinthians 3:12-15 brings this out:

“If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”

What we do in this life does matter, but God has better plans for us than just this life. He has a permanent home prepared for us.

From these truths in this passage what lessons can we learn?

One lesson, don’t be so enamored with this life that we fail to be concerned about the life to come. Yes, we should take the vitamins and medicines available to us, we should exercise and care for this body. But it’s easy to have warped values when we are concerned only with this life. Living in a culture that is only concerned with this life, our values can become very warped. This is one reason why it’s so hard to talk with people about Christ, and about eternal life. “Not interested,” people say, “forget about heaven. We’re here in this world, in this body and we don’t need to worry about heaven. Let that take care of itself.” Let’s not be so enamored about this life that we fail to be concerned about eternal life.

Another lesson, live life to the fullest. Paul doesn’t downplay this life, but he longed for something better. He longed to be clothed with eternal life. I’ve been reading a book by Charles Colson, “The Good Life.” In it he writes about Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. Bill Bright was a visionary—Campus Crusade is a tremendous mission. He was a man filled with ideas, a great leader. He was a businessman before he started Campus Crusade. Chuck Colson was a good friend, and he spoke at Bill Bright’s funeral. Bill Bright had pulmonary fibrosis, and his doctor told him that in the end he would choke to death. Colson writes, “In his final days Bill Bright gave his staff a charge that ended with these words, ‘By faith, walk in His light, enjoy His presence, love with His love, and rejoice that you are never alone; He is with you, always to bless.’ Bill Bright understood that the good life means accepting that our lives ultimately belong to God. He resisted taking sedatives that would have hastened his death. He also talked with Vonette (his wife) about the importance of yielding to God’s final call. Perhaps as a result of his attitude (and, I have to think, his godliness) his last moments were not the unmitigated horror that his doctor had predicted. Right before Bill died, Vonette leaned close and said, ‘I want you to go to be with Jesus and Jesus wants you to come to Him. Why don’t you let Him carry you to heaven?’ She looked away, and when she looked back, her husband was no longer breathing. She saw the last pulse in his neck, and with that he was gone. She thought of the psalm ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints,’ and the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi: ‘For it is in dying we are born to eternal life.’” (p. 339)

The testimony of a man who lived well and died well and what a tremendous legacy he has left. Two of our ministry partners are with Campus Crusade.

A third lesson from this passage, we need to share the Gospel. It’s not easy; it’s not easy to share the Gospel, with relatives or with other people in a materialistic culture.

A fourth lesson, we’re not to fear death. Paul writes in II Corinthians 4:16, “Therefore we do not lose heart...” In chapter 5:7 he says, “We live by faith not by sight.” We can’t prove that there is a heavenly body. We can’t prove to a materialist that this body is going to be miraculously changed. No, we can’t prove these things, but we walk by faith and not by sight. So we have no need to fear death.

Finally, we should have one goal in life. With all our different goals, there is one main goal we all need to have in life—to please the Lord. “So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body, or away from it.” (II Cor. 5:9) Whether we are in this body, or in the presence of the Lord in a new and glorified body, this should be our goal.

So, “No More Tents,” we live in a tent now, but soon, no more tents.” The day is coming when we won’t need these tents. Let’s prepare for that day and live our lives to really please the Lord.

Let’s pray: Father, we realize we can’t fully understand these words that Paul wrote to the church at Corinth many years ago, but we thank you for the burden of his heart, looking forward to the day when he would meet his Savior face to face and be like him. Lord, help us to have that hope, that assurance. Thank you for the life you have given us, and as long as you keep us here in this world, in this life, may we desire above all to please you, to do what you want us to do, to say what you want us to say, to live the way you want us to live. Thank you for the wonderful hope we have, that we have a house, a well-built house, waiting for us in heaven, not built by human hands. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.