Swapping this tent for a building

2 Corinthians 5:1-5

439 British servicemen & women have died in Afghanistan since 2002. For what or whom would you be prepared to die?

 Actually, the answer to that question depends on (at least) 3 things:

1. How much you value your own life.
2. How much you value the person or thing you’re being asked to die for.
3. What death means – yours or the other person’s.

The critical point is the last one – at least it ought to be because it’s what happens after death that ought to determine how we view death – ours and other people’s.

If death is simply the end of all life – if this life is all there is – then we have to weigh up the lives that people are living now and decide whose life is most valuable. We then sacrifice the less valuable for the more valuable. But there's no evidence that life doesn't continue after death, and, as we shall see later, good evidence that it does, so let's move on from this speculation.

However, if death means suffering the eternal, terrifying wrath of God then it must be avoided at all costs.  As Jesus said, it’s better to lose an eye or a hand than be thrown into the fire of hell.

On the other hand, if death means eternal life and joy with Jesus, if it means every day full of more delight than the one before, then that’s not something to be feared, but welcomed – it’s ‘better by far’ as Paul said.

So perhaps we who are Christians should seek death, so we can enter that life of eternal joy? Perhaps we should all go & play with the traffic on the M25!

But… but what if this life means the opportunity to save others from the eternal death of hell and give them eternal life? In that case, we want this life to be very, very long so that we can save as many people as possible! Not only that, but we’ll be prepared to suffer hardships now in order that we might save as many as possible from hell. And that’s where Paul’s argument here in 2 Corinthians takes us.

He’s shown why he’s prepared to suffer in ministry – he’ll suffer to bring life to others:  ‘If we’re distressed,’ he wrote in 1:6, ‘it’s for your comfort and salvation.’ For Paul, this life is all about working to bring eternal life to others.

In the light of this, you’d think that people would hail him as a great man for giving his life so that others can enjoy eternal life. You’d think he’d be top of the new year’s honours list. But he wasn’t. In fact, the world despised him, and religious people thought his message was too simplistic, too ordinary, lacking pomp and ceremony, lacking charisma and power.

But this didn’t worry Paul in the least because he knew that the power was in the message not the man. He didn’t have the power to give eternal life, but the gospel message about Jesus does. 2 Corinthians 4:7-12

For Paul, because there is life after death, and because that life involves either judgment or joy, this life has huge significance because it’s in this life that people can – and do – receive the gift of eternal life.

And it’s this knowledge that empowers, drives and frees Paul to persist in gospel ministry even when it brings hardship and imprisonment and hunger and opposition. If gospel ministry should result in death, so be it. It’s not the end of the world – worse things could happen. You could spend your life collecting stamps. Or playing Call Of Duty. Or shopping. But Paul would rather preach the gospel, give life to others and die than waste his life on petty past times.

It’s in that context that Paul writes 2 Corinthians 5:1-5. 

First of all, our certainty for the future

Second, the order of events in the future

Third, our guarantee for the future

First, our certainty: 2 Corinthians 5:1

How does Paul know – how do we know – what will happen after death?

We can’t find out through research. So-called near-death experiences don’t tell us anything at all except that when the brain is starved of oxygen it imagines a tunnel with a light at the end – or very similar things.

The only way we can know what happens after death is if God reveals it to us. And he has revealed it to us in his word, the Bible, and through his Son Jesus.  As Paul said back in 4:14, we know that that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.

So we know, with real certainty, that this body is merely a temporary body – a tent that will one day be destroyed.  And then it will be replaced by God with a permanent and much, much more glorious building.

Now I want you to think about two questions:

what will life look like if you don’t really believe this?

And,     what will life look like if you do really believe this?

If you don’t really believe that this body, this life is a mere tent, a temporary home, then what will happen?  Well, you’ll begin to treat this life as if its permanent. As if it’s all there is. This life – this body – will be of paramount importance. You will lavish this body, this life, with all the care and attention you can. Your bank account will reveal that you spend your money on making this life more comfortable, more beautiful, more luxurious, more enjoyable.

Millions of Christians today live like that. They pay lip-service to believing in the resurrection body, but live as though this life is all there is.  And in the coming years, a whole generation of Christians who have lived like this are going to have to face the reality of old age and the realisation that they’ve squandered their lives. Not only that, but they’re in danger of not being able to die well - of not having a sure and certain hope in the face of the death of this tent.

Jesus did not call us to live like that.

He called us to live like Paul – to live as truly believing that God has a building prepared for us when this tent is destroyed. If we truly believe this, then we’ll be living life for the future - not our own (you know what will happen to you) – but for the future of other people. We’ll be living to proclaim the gospel, and so bring others into the same hope we have. This will be reflected in a simpler lifestyle that doesn’t need every new luxury, every gadget & the latest fashions. Our bank accounts will show that we’ve given our money to gospel mission rather than spent it on flash holidays and so on.

You won’t neglect this tent of a body, because you’ll want to stay healthy in order to serve Christ, his church & the not-yet-believers. Genuine belief in the permanent, eternal, resurrection body makes real differences to this life.

And one of the differences is, vv2-4, that we groan – we long for this temporary and increasingly shabby tent to be replaced with a glorious building from God.

In particular, we don’t want to be found ‘naked’ as Paul puts it in v3. What does he mean?

Well, here he’s thinking about the order of events.

You see, our new, eternal home won’t be given to us until Jesus returns, and the earth is recreated. And if we die before then, we will be naked – that is, we won’t have a body. Yes, we’ll be with Jesus, and that will be wonderful, but we won’t have a body. And that, says, Paul, isn’t great. It will be far, far better when Jesus returns, God recreates the world and gives us our permanent body.

So Paul’s not longing to die. That’s not what he’s groaning about. But he is groaning in anticipation of the new heavens and the new earth.

And if we truly believe that there will, one day, be this great new creation, then we too will daily groan with longing for that day – that day when there will be no more opposition to the gospel, when Christians will no longer be persecuted and murdered, when there will be no hospitals, no funerals, no prisons, no police. But a world  of righteousness, worship and joy.

So we know for certain what will happen when we die and what will happen when Jesus returns.

Finally, we have a guarantee of the future.   2 Corinthians 5:5

God has given us a substantial deposit to guarantee our future – he has given us the HS as a down-payment, and the Spirit is our guarantee that one day God will give us a new building, a heavenly home.

But how do we know we have the HS?

Yes, from time-to-time we may feel his presence as he draws our hearts to worship and appreciate Jesus with a deep intensity. But most of us don’t feel like that most of the time. How can we be sure that we have the HS? How can we be sure that he is our guarantee?

Well, the evidence of the work of the HS is that we want Jesus. We long to love him and know him more. We long to live in a way that pleases him. We’re full or remorse when we fail him. And the fruit of the Spirit are being displayed in our lives: we’re becoming more and more patient, kind, joyful, self-controlled, loving and so on. It’s the work of the HS that enables you to call Jesus your Lord and master, and God your Father.

If these are true for you, you must be filled with the HS.

And so these desires in you are the evidence that your future with God is guaranteed. He will give you a permanent, glorious, heavenly home.

Now it's good to know that none of this is accidental. It isn’t an afterthought by God. No, v5, God made us for this very purpose – that we would live this life, in this tent, constantly remembering that God is waiting to give us a building - a heavenly home.

God created us to sit lightly to this life. He created this life to be a tent, a temporary home.

And therefore, 4:16, 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 [as we serve the gospel of Jesus] 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.