Please turn with me this morning to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 1 through 10. We once again go to God's word and listen to his instruction and his encouragement. For us, Paul gives us an explanation in these verses of why he is so filled with. Hope, even in the midst of the difficult circumstances he just alluded to in the previous chapter, and he intends us. Christians today to be filled with that same hopeful encouragement.
as we face trials of our own. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Verses 1 through 10. 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. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, If indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 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. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God. who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage. And we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
So, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, Whether good, or evil. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for giving us a reason to be homesick.
Something to be homesick for. Thank you that you will one day alleviate that longing for home. by ushering us into glory. Where there will be no more sorrow or pain or tears or death. Where there will only ever be joy and laughter and peace.
Until that day, keep us by the power and comfort of your Holy Spirit, whom you've. Given to us as a guarantee of those very glories yet to be revealed. And Lord, how grateful we are for the indescribable gift of Jesus Christ, your Son. who has laid down his very life so that we might be clothed with righteous garments. And so find acceptance.
with you. And even boldness and joy in your presence. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I have a vivid memory of sitting in an evening church service.
It must have been 16 or 17 years old, hearing a sermon about being expectant for the return of Christ. The preacher was calling the congregation to long for the day when we would see Jesus face to face. and to press forward to that day with eager anticipation of it. I remember sitting there and the preacher's zeal and all the head-nodding and amens around me. But I also remember thinking in a moment of brutal honesty with myself.
And in the safe privacy of my own mind, I really don't want Jesus to come back yet.
Now, understand, I was a Christian at the time. I was ready for Christ's return in terms of conversion and salvation. But that night I was not eager for Christ's return because I thought to myself, there's a lot I want to do first. I want to get married. I want to raise a family and have a career.
I want to have a home and make memories in that home. I've got some unfulfilled dreams to pursue. If Christ comes back now, I'll never get to experience those things. I'm just not ready for Jesus to return yet.
Well, Jesus did not come back that night. Or the next night, or the next week, or the next decade. In fact, obviously, we're still waiting for Christ's return. But over the next decade, what did happen was that I met a girl. We got married.
We had a family and made a home and have memories, sweet memories. God has been so very good to me. And has poured out blessings on my life in good measure, pressed down and shaken together. I've had a wonderful life. I'm having a wonderful life.
But if I could go back to my 17-year-old self that night when I was sat in church contemplating the future, contemplating the return of Christ, I would have some things to say. I would say Eugene God's blessings, even the temporal, material, earthly blessings of this life, are wonderful. And you should desire them and pursue them and give thanks to God when He gives them to you. But those blessings At best. can only whet our appetite for something far better.
far more desirable, far more satisfying. The only lasting satisfaction that truly satisfies the longings of the human soul. is God. Face-to-face fellowship with the triune God for all eternity. You cannot fully comprehend now, Eugene.
what that will be like. And you won't even fully comprehend it when you're 52. But on the authority of God's word, we can be assured that Experiencing the presence of God in our redeemed, glorified bodies will be unimaginably better than any delight this life. can provide.
So 17-year-old Eugene, spend the rest of your life learning to long for and prepare for that day. Many of you have read C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. I want to read an excerpt from that book that. I suspect some of you are very familiar with, but it's pertinent to our sermon text today, and Lewis says it so well.
Young people especially listen to what Lewis writes. He says, the longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us. are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning can really satisfy. I am not speaking of what would be ordinarily called unsuccessful marriages or holidays or learned careers. I'm speaking of the best possible ones.
There was something we grasped at in that first moment of longing. which just fades away in the reality.
Now there are two wrong ways of dealing with this fact and one right one. First, there is the fool's way. He puts the blame on the things themselves. He goes on all his life thinking that if only he had tried another woman or went for a more expensive holiday or whatever it is, then this time he really would catch the mysterious something we are all after. Secondly, is the way of the disillusioned, sensible man.
Of course, he says, one feels like that when one's young. But by the time you get to my age, you've given up chasing the rainbow's end. And so he settles down and learns not to expect too much. and represses the part of himself which used to cry for the moon. But supposing infinite happiness really is there waiting for us.
Supposing one really can reach the rainbow's end. In that case, it would be a pity to find out too late. A moment after death. that by our supposed common sense We had stifled the faculty of enjoying it. Thirdly, there's the Christian way.
The Christian says creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger.
Well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim.
Well, there is such a thing as water. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, The most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise or be unthankful for these earthly blessings.
and on the other, never to mistake them for something else of which they are only a kind of copy. or echo. or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire. of my true country.
which I shall not find till after death. I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside. I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country. and to help others to do the same. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul is expressing what I think can only be called homesickness for heaven.
He's longing for the day when his faith will be made sight. when he can see and touch and be with. the incarnate Christ, who snatched him from the road of destruction. on the way on the road to Damascus. But that homesickness, that insatiable longing has not left Paul useless on this earth.
In fact, it is that very longing that fills his life here with purpose and courage and joy. Even in the midst of his groaning and longing for that other world that C.S. Lewis alluded to. For those who love the blessings of this world too much, And for those who dread the suffering of this world too much, Paul is raising our minds and affections to the heavens that await us. to glory, to unhindered fellowship with God.
Are you homesick for heaven this morning? Maybe not. Maybe you are, but for all the wrong reasons. Either way, Paul is going to increase our longing for the future and increase our encouragement in the present. What we learn in this passage of Scripture is that though we groan and long for heaven now, We can be of good courage now.
Because our future home in glory. is certain and will be better than anything we can imagine. The first five verses of our text describe the longing groans for the future that. characterize God's children as they await their redemption. The last five verses describe the hope and courage God provides to help us endure to the end.
So first we experience longing groans for the future.
Something that is characteristic of every child of God in this life at one point or another.
Now there's a right way to groan and a wrong way to groan. The wrong way would be the kind of groaning Israel, for example, did in the wilderness. It was sheer discontentment with God's will for them. It was in gratitude for God's salvation of them. That's the wrong way to groan.
The kind of girling Paul has in view here is good. It's the groans of a heart that wants more of God and less of sin. It's a discontentment, but it's a righteous discontentment with the fallenness of things. It's the kind of groaning we read about in Romans 8, as creation itself is said to be groaning for the day when everything, material and immaterial, will be made right and restored to perfection. It's the kind of groaning a woman in labor does as she endures the suffering that will result in joy.
when a newborn baby is born. It's the growing of faith. A faith that knows something better is coming, but it's not quite here yet. Look at verse 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.
So, Paul is speaking metaphorically here about our bodies. We have an imperfect body, Paul calls it a tent. But we're awaiting a perfected body after the resurrection when Christ returns. Paul calls that a building from God. A building is better than a tent.
Just like the temple in the Old Testament was better than the tabernacle.
Furthermore, this tent of a body will be destroyed by death one day. It's temporary, it's passing, it's weak. But unlike this tent, the building from God that awaits us will be a glorious body that will be eternal in the heavens from God. It's a better body. It's a sinless body, a glorified body with none of the limitations and damage that come from sin.
It'll be a body that cannot die. It will not Experience all the maladies Paul mentioned back in chapter 4: affliction, perplexity, persecution, death. None of that will be experienced in this new and improved eternal body. It will be perfect. We will be perfect.
And so while the suffering we have to endure in this life produces groaning, The realization of just how incredibly wonderful the next life will be produces not groans, but longing, yearning. Homesickness for that place, well, where we will be as we should be. Paul asserts that he knows this is coming. Do you know it? Are you convinced that something unimaginably better awaits the saints?
If you lack this certainty, this hope, you will lack the ability to cheerfully meet death when it comes. You're stuck in the groans with none of the longing. If you don't know what Paul knows, then stick with him. He's going to tell us. where this knowledge and hope come from.
Look at verses two and three. For in this tent we groan. longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, If indeed, by putting it on, we may not be found naked. Paul moves from a metaphor of tents and buildings to one about clothing and nakedness. If we don't have the appropriate clothes to wear in this new and better place, then we're in a bad spot.
Without the right clothing to wear, we don't long for heaven. We actually dread it.
So what are these clothes that Paul indicates are a prerequisite for heaven?
Well to understand this, I think we need to go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. God created Adam and Eve and gave them a beautiful place to tend and to enjoy. He also gave them himself, his presence and his friendship, as day after day they would walk with God, scripture says, in the cool of the day. God also gave this first couple his law. A rule that was intended for their good and happiness.
If they kept that law, good blessings would be theirs. If they broke that law, death would come into the world.
Well, Adam and Eve broke that law. And with her disobedience came death. Along with the shame and the guilt and the embarrassment and the misery that comes with breaking God's law. Scripture then gets very specific in describing how Adam and Eve responded to this terrible new state of misery and shame in which they found themselves. Genesis 3:7 says that after they sinned, the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked.
Exposed before the all-seeing eye of God. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. With the guilt and shame of sin came an awareness of their own sinfulness before a holy God, an awareness that's described as them being naked before God and before each other. They were laid bare before him. And they could not stand it.
And so they covered themselves. They clothed themselves, but their fig leaf clothing was insufficient. It didn't deal with the guilt, and the shame, and the embarrassment, and the misery. When God came to them after they had sinned, He insisted that they confess to what they had done. And he cursed them.
But then God did an unexpected thing. Genesis 3.21 says, And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin and clothed them. God killed an animal for its skin, which is the first death recorded in Scripture. and with that skin covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve. In the Gospels, Jesus tells a parable of a great wedding feast.
But in the wedding hall, where there should have been rejoicing and celebration, there was a man who lacked the appropriate attire for the occasion.
So the king arrested the negligently dressed guest and he threw him, scripture says, into outer darkness. Like Adam and Eve, he had tried to come with the wrong clothes. In the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, Christ is addressing those who think they are innocent and righteous but aren't. And Jesus says to them, You say, I'm rich, I've prospered, I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind.
and make it. I counsel you to buy from me gold by fire so that you may be rich. and white garments, so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen. Christ provides clothing that covers shame and the guilt of sin. All of these references come together in Revelation 19, where we read of the marriage supper of the Lamb at the end of history, at the beginning of eternity.
Sinners from all over the world are gathered at a wedding feast in a garden with God. They're depicted as a beautiful bride, and John describes these sinners turned saints in terms of what they are wearing. He says in Revelation 19, it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen. bright and pure. And then John quits speaking metaphorically and speaks plainly.
For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. They're clothed in righteous Deeds. As children of Adam, we are naked. That is to say, we're guilty. We're full of shame.
But God takes not an animal from the garden. but his only begotten son from heaven. And sacrifices him so that we might have something suitable to wear to the wedding feast.
So that we might be clothed in the pure and blameless righteousness. of Christ Friends, that's the clothing Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians 5, without which heaven is a place to be dreaded, but with which sinners can not merely not dread heaven, but long for heaven. The prerequisite for glorification is justification. Are you clothed with the righteousness of God in Christ? If you aren't.
Life will be all groaning and no longing for that other world for which we were made. Notice that both unbelievers and believers alike groan in this life. We were not made for a fallen world, and there are a lot of things worthy of groaning over in this life. But unbelievers and believers groan for different reasons. Unbelievers groan because of their dread of death.
Believers groan because they know there's more to life than this earthly body can attain. The groaning of an unbeliever is a dread of leaving home. The groaning of a believer is a longing for home. Not only is this building From God a better place. It's a certain place.
And God has given us a means, a way of knowing the certainty of it. Look with me at verse 5. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God. who has given us the Spirit. as a guarantee.
Verse 5 says that God does two things: He has prepared something and He has given something. He has prepared us for glory by sending Him.
Son to properly clothe us. And in being properly clothed, we begin to long for and yearn for this new world. But God has also given us something. He's given us His Spirit as a guarantee. As an assurance that this place is real.
and certain. He's not raising false hopes. He will see it through. And the proof that he means to see it through is the presence of the Holy Spirit with the believer in this life. Until we get to glory.
Where we can see God face to face and walk with Christ in the cool of the day, we have the Holy Spirit's constant indwelling presence with us. God the Holy Spirit walks with us in the cool of the day now. reminding us When we were shocked at the blackness of our own hearts, that our shame and guilt have been covered. Reminding us when the misery of this life overwhelms us like a flood that this isn't the end. There is another world that awaits us.
reminding us when we doubt God's love that he will never leave us. or forsake us. If he did not spare his own son, If he did not withhold his own spirit, Then beloved, nothing can be done. Can separate us from his love and from the joys that that love will bring.
Well truly something better awaits. And God has guaranteed it with His Spirit. But that doesn't change the fact that I have to go back to work on Monday morning. I have to go back to school. on Monday morning.
I have to face life in this anti-paradise world with all of its cruel people and painful circumstances and addictions and wounds from my past and anxieties about my future. It's great that one day things will be perfect, but what about today? What can my longing for heaven do about today's groaning.
Well, Paul gives us an answer. It's longing for another world, a better world. this homesickness for heaven. gives us courage and purpose. even in the here and now.
It gives us good courage. in the present. As guaranteed recipients of the blessings. that await us in glory. We can experience the good courage.
Yeah. Verse 6. We are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith. Not by sight.
Even though we don't yet see God as we one day will, we're still of good courage, Paul says. How can he say this?
Well, because verse 7, we walk by faith. Not by sight. Notice that Verse 7 is not describing something we should do, it describes what we are doing. As God's redeemed children. Who are destined for glory and who possess the indwelling fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we walk by faith.
We believe. We know what we cannot yet see. And so we don't lose heart. We're of good courage.
Now from all outward appearances, it looks like believers and unbelievers are all in the same boat. We're all in a miserable mess, frantically looking for some fig leaves to sew together and cover our guilt and shame. But we know By faith we know that we're not in the same boat. Christ has rescued us. And so, no matter how devastatingly miserable our suffering in this life might be, this is not the end.
We were made for another world. And God has guaranteed that He will bring us safely to that world and soon. Thus, because of our faith and trust in the goodness of God, we are of good. Courage. But secondly, we experience The good courage not only of faith, but also the good courage of faithfulness.
Verse 8. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. In other words, we would rather be glorified with Christ in the new heavens and the new earth rather than in this world with sin-contaminated bodies. But nevertheless, verse 9: whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim. to please him.
Part of the consequence of being loved by God and justified by His Son and filled with His Spirit is a desire to please God. Not in order to gain his acceptance. He's already accepted a person who has experienced all of this divine attention. No, we desire to please God because we love Him and we know that we will one day be with Him in the flesh. Verse 10 describes our initial encounter with Christ as a courtroom encounter.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or bad. or evil.
Now we need to understand verse 10 in light of the whole of Scripture. All people will stand before God on Judgment Day. And will receive what they deserve based on their compliance to the moral obligations of God. That he has put on the human race, his moral law. If we have done good, we will receive the reward of good people.
If we have done evil, we will receive the reward of evil people.
Now I'm going to spoil the end of the story. Are you ready? Everyone has done evil. And so everyone deserves the reward. rather the punishment of evil people.
But Jesus Christ has taken that punishment for his bride. He has broken the curse for his bride. On that day of judgment, when God looks at those who belong to Christ to determine what they deserve, he will see in them nothing but the righteousness of Christ, and he will reward his children as if they are good people. Friends, this is grace. Unmerited, undeserved, sovereign grace, and our response to this grace should be gratitude.
One of the sincerest ways, in fact, the sincerest ways we can express that gratitude is to do what Paul says in verse 9: make it our aim to please him. Gratitude to God for the grace He has given. and will give to us on Judgment Day looks like obedience to the moral demands of a holy God. Children demonstrate this. There is the compliance of a child who knows he's about to get in trouble if he doesn't comply.
And there is a compliance of a child who is excited. about some delightful thing his parent has promised him. It was always easier when I was young to obey on Christmases and birthdays. That on just another Tuesday morning. Why is that?
Because I didn't want to mess up the rightness of the moment. the perfect happiness on a festive day. On those special occasions, I aimed to please out of a desire to maintain what was already a good thing, not out of a desire to achieve some good thing. Knowing that glory awaits. Makes all the difference in terms of our motives for pleasing God.
We aim to please Him out of joy in what He's already done for us. And that's a very different motive. than aiming to please him so that he will do some good thing for us. John Calvin points out that saving grace from Christ precedes any reward God gives to us in heaven. Saving grace from Christ precedes any reward God gives us in heaven.
Sovereign, unmerited grace is the hinge. on which eternal rewards hang. This pure, sincere motive of gratitude rather than merit. Is proved by the fact that our aiming to please God, Paul says, does not cease when we arrive at glory. Paul says in verse 9, whether we're at home or away.
In other words, whether we're this side of heaven or actually in heaven, we make it our aim to please God. If we were obeying simply to earn His favor, we would have no reason to continue obeying Him once we had received that favor. But this obedience, this compliant submission, this aim to please, is motivated from genuine gratitude for what the Lord has already done in Christ. It's the good courage of faithfulness. Church God gives us faith.
To know what we cannot see. But then he turns our invisible faith into visible faithfulness. God makes us groan over the suffering of a sin-contaminated world. And then sustains us with the presence of his spirit through that suffering. God makes us long for glory.
And then gives us glory. He makes us homesick for heaven and then gives us heaven. If you find in yourself desires that this world cannot satisfy. The most probable explanation is that you were made for another world. Paul assures us that that world is real.
And that God will bring us at last to that place where we will be with Him forever. If you've never experienced an insatiable desire for that perfect place, That homesickness for heaven where God is. Look to Christ. It'll make you homesick. and then he'll bring you all the way home.
Let's pray. Lord, you are the way to heaven. You are the truth that must be believed in order to enter heaven. You are the life that possesses the capacity to enjoy Heaven's delights. Your word tells us that at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
And we have been created to enjoy those pleasures. But in order to enjoy them. We need you to clothe us. in the beautiful garments of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
So Lord, clothe us in those garments, we pray. Bring us home to glory. and fill us with courage even today as we eagerly await your return. Make us long. for that which only you can supply.
And then supply it. In good measure, gracious God, I pray in Jesus' name. Uh Mm-hmm.
