St. Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church -- Watertown, WI
Pastor Mark Gartner
Sermon for Pentecost 4 -- June 29^th, and July 2^nd, 2006

Dear children of God who long for our heavenly home. Amen

How many different homes have you lived in? I’ve lived at homes in 2 different cities in Arizona, a home in Waukegan, IL, three different homes in Milwaukee, a home in Charlotte, NC and now here at Watertown. That does not include the years that I lived in the dorm while at school here at Watertown and at Mequon, WI. Talk about living in temporary places. I’m sure that there are some of you here who have lived in more places than this.

It is this picture of temporary housing or tents that Paul uses to describe the greatest hope that the bible has to offer to us as sinners. With this picture of the temporary and permanent housing, we can see that God has truly offered us something greater than living out eternity in our sinful lives of sin which is what the picture of what the temporary housing or tent is describing. This morning let this picture of the temporary home and the eternal house point us to the theme:

1. Our temporary address is on earth

To truly understand this picture we need to realize that our lives on this earth are like living in temporary housing or tents as Paul describes it. Temporary housing like tents are not meant to be permanent. This describes perfectly what our life and especially our mortal bodies are like while we live on this earth. Our life on this earth is not going to last forever. God has told us that we will all die, and one look around us tells us that God is right. Our sinful mortal bodies fit the picture of temporary perfectly. Our bodies are by no means the sturdiest things around. They work fine for our time on this earth, but they are not indestructible. Even those who work for the perfect mortal bodies have to admit that their bodies will age and wear down. Just like temporary things are not going to last forever, neither are our bodies. Our temporary housing of our bodies will definitely be destroyed. This is what we call death.

Paul expands the picture of what our lives on this earth will be like. He says, "For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened." Our lives on this earth and our bodies full of sin are groaning and are burdened. This is exactly what sin has brought into the lives of all people. One visit to a hospital or a nursing home will attest to this fact. We can see what some of the effects of sin are, but we can never escape them while we are on this earth. The greatest effect of sin that we can see is the fact that sin has brought death into this world. We will never live forever. We will never be able to defeat physical death. No matter how hard scientists study they will not be able to find a cure for death. Just because some doctors found the makeup of our genes doesn’t mean we can escape death. Death is here to stay.

This is why we need to remember the main thrust of Paul's words for this morning. He has already let us know what our sins have given to us and all people. Sin has taken hold of our bodies and soul down to the very core of our existence. Sin has brought death into this world, both physical and especially spiritual. That is why we cannot hold on to our earthly tents. We need to hold on to something more secure. We have already discussed that our earthly bodies are not worth anything and will be destroyed. But what are we to think when our tents or temporary earthly bodies are destroyed? Are we to fret and worry about where we will go? Are we to wonder what will happen to us next? Thanks to God's grace this is not the case. Thanks to God in heaven we already have an eternal home that God’s Son has prepared for us.

Paul writes in the first verse of our text, "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." When we as believers die, heaven is ours. We don't have to worry one bit about losing our earthly tents, because we have a permanent home built by God’s hands. We will be forever with God in his eternal home. But how do we receive this home? Are all people going to enter into this eternal house? God offers this eternal home to all people by Christ's death and resurrection, but it only belongs to those in whom the Holy Spirit has worked faith. Paul tells us, "We live by faith, not by sight." We are saved and assured of this eternal home as a gift from God. God has promised eternal life to all who believe in his name and follow him as the Savior of the world.

But the question is asked by some, maybe even by some of us. How do we know if we are one of God's children? How do we know 100% that when we die, we will be with God in his eternal home? It once again boils down to God and his eternal grace and love. Paul tells us, "God has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." Our faith is not based on some flimsy feelings that we find in ourselves or this world offers to us. Our faith is reassured over and over and is firmly grounded in the many promises of a God. Our faith which is worked in us by the Holy Spirit is continually looking to God. But Paul takes us one step farther. He tells us that we have a deposit, a down payment which assures us of something in the future. Just as we sometimes put down a down payment on something to hold it for us. God has done the same. Our down payment is the fact that the Holy Spirit is in us. The Holy Spirit is in our hearts. Paul writes in 1 Cor. 12:3, "No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit is in us and works in us through the Word and Sacraments. Each and every time that we look to God in his Word and Baptism and the Lord's Supper we are personally assured that the Holy Spirit is working in us. We are daily assured of what is to come for us which is eternity in heaven with God. God is there filling us with power and wisdom found as the Holy Spirit works in us through his Word. We know one day we will be with God in heaven.

That all sounds nice, but why are we still many times afraid of dying? Paul once again reassures our faith by writing, "So what is mortal is swallowed up by life." If we were 100% New Man and without sin, we would not have one bit of doubt or worry when it comes to death. If we were without sin, we would long entirely to be with our heavenly Father. We would want to be out of our flimsy bodies that are full of sin, but this is not the case. We still have a Sinful nature which tells us that there still needs to be doubts when it comes to death. Our sinful nature wants us to question what happens to us when we die. Our Sinful Nature wants us to hold on to our "flimsy tents" of this world. Sometimes we don’t want to let go of what seems so good on this earth.

Have you ever went camping in tent and all of a sudden the weather changed. The nice weather was suddenly replaced by terrible weather? How man times have we said we will sit out the storm? How many times have we said, how bad can it get, even when we know the smart thing would be to pack up and go home? This picture leads us to see why many people are afraid to die. It is not because we don't know about heaven, but sometimes our sinful nature wins out and leads us hang on to this world. This is why we daily need to ask God to strengthen us in our faith. We live by faith and not by sight. We have never seen God. We have been assured that just as Christ defeated Satan and death, he has to power to raise us from the dead and give us life. Paul even goes so far as to say that we as Christians should long to be with God in heaven. That would be better, but God still has a reason for us to be living on this earth. Death is not an escape, but for us as Christians death is our entry into life in its fullest sense. It is our victory. It means that we are with Christ in heaven.

That is why God made us with one purpose in mind that we would be one day clothed in heavenly clothes and would be by His side. We are clothed with God's righteousness. This is a fact that God has given us in His Word. But Paul speaks to us about the time that we are spending on this earth. How are we to live? Why do we live for God? What can we expect in the future? Paul answers these in his conclusion. Paul writes, "So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in our 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." This is where Paul fastforwards through our earthly life to the get to what happens at the end. Our goal and purpose in life is to please God. Paul is talking about our good works which are the fruit of our faith. Our Christian life is not a matter of rules and regulations, as some people would have us to believe. Rather our Christian life is quite the opposite. Our Christian life is a joyful response to the gospel that has won our eternal freedom and given us eternal life. Our Christian life is a response of thanks and service to God. Paul writes that we, "do it all for the glory of God." We live as we do as a natural love that flows out of the great love that God showed to us first by sending his Son.

We are now fastforwarded to the very end of our lives, and just how will the story end? We all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Every individual is responsible for his own life. When we come before our heavenly Judge, there is no 2nd chance. Either we are with God in our eternal home, or we are sent away and condemned to the fires of hell. Either the verdict is going to be very good or very bad. But when we as Christians stand before Christ, we do not have to worry about our judgment. We will not be found naked standing before God. Paul tells us that God will see that we are clothed in his righteousness, "Because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked." He will look at us and see that we are clothed in Christ's righteousness. This is our confidence as we eagerly wait for our heavenly dwelling.

We also are assured, because we have the deposit of the Holy Spirit in us which has assured us of what he have in the future, namely eternal life. When we begin to doubt this great joy, let us once again ask God to reassure our faith and lead us on to our final goal of eternity in heaven with God. There is nothing that can faintly stand up to this wonderful home that has been prepared for us in heaven. This is a home that has many rooms which are ready and waiting for all God's children. Let us look forward to that day, when we will enjoy the full benefits of heaven and will be able to see God in all his power and glory. And as we eagerly wait for this day, let us daily strive to keep ourselves ready by letting the love of God flow out our hearts in all that we say and do. Remember we are God's children, and let the love of God lead us as we show this. Amen.