2 Corinthians 5:1-9
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
NKJV
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
NKJV
Introduction: The Right Attitude on the Mission Battlefield
In this text, Paul shares with all of us who are saved and engaged in the work of the gospel ministry reasons why he and those who co-labored with him on this missionary journey didn’t get weary or become fainthearted on the battlefield while actively carrying out their ministry work. When you read the history of their mission, and their "conclusive attitude" on the mission field in chapter 4, you come to realize that at some point along the way, it became obvious that Paul and the others engaged in this sacred missionary work realized that the purpose of soul salvation and the compelling of men and women, boys and girls to come out of the darkness of this world’s wilderness into God’s marvelous light and eternal kingdom was both sacred work and important work but also dangerous work.
In your "mind's eye", Listen to their collective attitudes as they described the feelings of the persecution they faced in evangelical ministry. because their attitude was a reflection of their belief that when their mission work was finished and the warfare they constantly faced was finally over, one day, they would go home to live with Jesus in their new glorified home. How did they feel about being constantly persecuted?
How they felt: "Warring but Winning"
"We are troubled on every side, yet (we’re) not distressed; we are perplexed, but (we’re) not in despair; Persecuted, but (we’re) not forsaken; cast down, but (we’re) not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh".
A Life and Death Experience: For your sakes......
"So then death works in us, but life (works) in you. And we, having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore I have spoken; we also believe, and therefore (we) speak. Knowing that he (that’s God) which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things (everything we’re doing for the Lord) are for your sakes, that the abundant grace through the thanksgiving of many might redound to the glory of God".
They went on to say: For this cause (the cause of Christ) we faint not; but though our “outward man” perish, yet the “inward man” is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, (and it) works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we don’t look at the things which are seen, but (we look) at the things which are not seen: (the reason is) for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal"
As you can see, it was in the format of their hostile missionary experiences, the facetious lies told on them, the constant peril and many innuendos intimated about them, the stoning with rocks and thugnatious persecutions plastered upon them, the many times the words in Romans 8:36 in the spirit rang in their ears:reminding them it was “For HIS sake... (for the sake of Jesus) we are killed all the day long...we are counted as sheep for the slaughter”, but they with rallied with renewed voices, “but nay, in all of these things, we are more than conquerors through HIM (Jesus Christ) that loves us”. Then, each one of them saying with a loud resounding voice “I’m persuaded no matter what I face… no matter who I face, no matter how many times death come creeping in my room…I’m persuaded that nothing shall be able to separate me form the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Yes, there was no weariness in their voices. There was nothing fainthearted in the way they went aout doing the Lord's work. They spoke with bold voices of blessed assurance… that was fueled by the fact that Paul and the rest of them had a life changing encounter with Jesus, This was first and foremost and points to the origin of a changed life.
The Changed Life
It all starts with a life changing encounter with Jesus. Let me tell you something… you don’t really begin to really live until you encounter Jesus. Don't get fooled by the Devil.. Do You really think getting and staying drunk is living? You think chasing every man or every woman is living? You think shooting dope in your veins rather than putting pertinent knowledge in your brains is living? You actually think living the thug life and being in and out of penal lockup is living? You think chasing the Benjamin’s and always ending up busted is living? You think hanging out in the booth, in the back in the corner in the dark on the down low or on the low low is living?
You haven’t really lived yet until you encounter Jesus standing at the door of your heart knocking saying to you. Look, I stand at the door and knock. If any man (anybody) will come and open the door…I will come in unto him and sup with him and they can sup with ME! If you’re tired and broken hearted, Come unto me all you that labor and are heave laden and I’ll give you rest! Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly and you shall find rest for your soul. My yoke is easy and my burden is light! You haven’t lived until you fling open the door of your heart in let HIM in.
I believe somewhere during the tedious part of their Christian journey especially when the road got real rough, the going got tough and the hills got so hard to climb, Paul and the rest of them heard in the spirit the sound of Jesus’ encouraging words in the atmosphere “In this life you will have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world”! In the 1st verse of the text Paul makes a bold declaration concerning the future of our sanctified souls and the state of our earthly tabernacles. Listen to what he says: For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolve, this is not the end….we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Break it down preacher
For we know, we have blessed assurance, we don’t have no doubt …we are fully confident in the faith concerning the eternal security of our souls and state of our formed dust bodies…..if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved….there is another tabernacle an eternal tabernacle not made by earthly material….it’s made by God and built to last for all eternity!
Here’s a Reality check:
When it comes to our bodies, our earthly tabernacle, it’s not a matter of if it dissolves….it’s a matter of when it will dissolve ….It's desolving a little at a time everyday! The many cemeteries crypts and urns all over the world are solid indicators that this earthly tabernacle is going to dissolve….God told Adam: “From dust thou art and from dust your tabernacle will return”! And even if you and I are alive when Jesus splits the sky in the rapture and we’re changed from mortal to immortality in the moment , the twinkling of an eye rising up to meet the Lord in the air. Our bodies were still dissolving whenever it happens.
Groaning:
Verse 2 "In this earthly tabernacle we groan"
Sometimes we groan because of the constant physical and spiritual wear and tear inflicted on this body. Wear and tear on this tabernacle started with us from day one of birth outside the womb. In the natural progression of life, if we live long enough, our steps will get shorter. Some of us will deal with our visions getting dimmer. We fight off headaches and heartaches. Heart attacks and dealing with lack. Racism and Satanism. Air pollution and world-wide revolutions, Slanted politics and fever ticks.
Sometimes we cause many of the inflictions by the things we do to with and in our bodies. Many of us are over work and under rested. And by the time we reach the age of retirement the “re” in retirement seems like it can’t ever catch up with the “tired” part. Along with drug and alcohol and cigarette abuse, we place tremendous torque on joints and cartilage and sometimes push these bodies beyond their natural compactly by over using steroids.
At other times, in the spirit realm,, another reason we groan is because the devil and other demonic forces come against our relationship with Jesus Christ. We are sometimes inflicted with sickness and diseases waring in and on our physical bodies trying to knock us down, beat us down, burden us down with the cares of this world. Right now, this temporary body is housing for our eternal souls. This undergirds the fact that we have eternal souls. Now where our soul will spend eternity and what kind of new housing we will live in depends on who we live for and who we serve while we live in this rented space on earth. God has rented Adam, Eve and us earth space from formed dust. God breathed into the nostrils of formed dust Adam fashioned in the shape of man and man then became a living soul.
Tabernacles- Really?
Paul calls our frail bodies "tabernacles" because we are designed and required to serve the Lord in these frail bodies, exclusively dedicated unto the Lord.. The Bible says: "Present these bodies (tabernacles) as living sacrifices wholly and acceptable unto God for it’s our reasonable service. Don’t conform your tabernacle to the way of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove that good, and acceptable perfect will of God"
Brothers and sisters, we must change the way we use this tabernacle because it was set apart for the service of God; This means we must stop using them for the world’s use and allow the Holy Spirit to use our tabernacle for the WORD’s use. Here’s another way of saying it: When you offered yourself to Jesus, you got to release all claim on it, and submitted it totally to God, to be at His disposal for doing his will. We are not our own. We have been bought with a tremendous price. Bought and paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Which leads me to the third point:
This Earth is not our Eternal Home.
We are time travelers on a mission and on a journey. Jesus said to the believer, "I’m going to prepare a place for you". That place is not here! This is just a dressing up room down here. You got to go to heaven from down here. All who are designed for heaven hereafter are wrought or prepared for heaven while they are here. The stones of that spiritual building and temple above are squared and fashioned here in this body. The same God that made us, is the same God, through Jesus Christ, and sealing us with the Holy Ghost molding us, changing us, pruning us and has wrought a good work in us that we will conform to the image of Jesus Christ to such an extent that when our missionary work is finished God moves us out of this temporary housing and gives us permanent residence in heaven.
Jesus said in that same 14th chapter of John "I’ve got to go away in expediency. It’s expedient that I go away but when I go, I won’t leave you without comfort I’ll send you another comforter. That is the Holy Ghost and when the Holy Ghost comes, he will guide you into all truths concerning ME"
The Holy Ghost will prep you for your new home. He does this for everybody who wants to go to their heavenly home to live with Jesus. Nothing less but God’s intrinsic divine power can make a man’s soul a partaker of God’s own divine nature;. God does a great deal and goes to great lengths to prepare our souls for heaven, and all that preparation starts with God giving you a new heart and His Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. But what is our current state in relation with the Lord?
Our Present State:
This is our present state: We are absent from the Lord because we are present in this body. It’s a paradox. We are pilgrims and strangers in this world; We are sojourning here in our earthly home, in this tabernacle; and even though God is with us here, by his Spirit, and in his ordinances, we are not with him as we hope to be: we cannot see his face while we live: In order to see him face to face as He is, we have to give up this life.
In the mean time, we must walk by faith, not by sight, Faith is for this world, and sight is reserved for the new heavenly world: It is our duty, and in our best interest, to walk by faith, until the day we can walk and live by our sight. Faith teaches us how to find comfort and courage while we run this race. If we hold on to God’s unchanging hand He will give us toe comfort and give us the courage t to handle all trials and tribulations of this life. Not only that but when the day come when we must depart this life, He will give us comfort and courage in the hour of death: for that reason either we are or we ought to be always confident and always willing rather to be absent from the body and be present with the Lord.
Conclusion....
My brothers and sisters, if you are really a true Christian, if you really considered the prospect faith gives us of our new home over in the glory land ….in another world that’s far greater and far better than the best this world has to offer, it ought to give us all good reasons of that blessed hope that blessed assurance that Jesus is mine…
A songwriter once penned these words:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine...Oh what a for taste of glory divine... Heir of salvation purchased by God….born of HIS Spirit….washed in HIS blood…This is my story...this is my song...Praising my Savior... all the day long...
I don’t know how you feel about it when I get through praying down here, preaching down here, singing down here teaching down here living down her out in the sunshine …out in the rain….I’m going home to my other building the one God made with HIS hands to be with Jesus Won’t it be grand. When it comes your time to die, just remember that all we have and the best we have on this side is just a fortaste of glory divine, and a world that’s full of trouble. be comforted under the troubles of life, and supported in the hour of death: they should take courage, when you encounter death, your last enemy, and God says it’s time to come on home….go on and be willing rather to die than live, when it is the will of God that they should put off this earthly tabernacle.
Rev. Dr. William Edward Boddie
In this text, Paul shares with all of us who are saved and engaged in the work of the gospel ministry reasons why he and those who co-labored with him on this missionary journey didn’t get weary or become fainthearted on the battlefield while actively carrying out their ministry work. When you read the history of their mission, and their "conclusive attitude" on the mission field in chapter 4, you come to realize that at some point along the way, it became obvious that Paul and the others engaged in this sacred missionary work realized that the purpose of soul salvation and the compelling of men and women, boys and girls to come out of the darkness of this world’s wilderness into God’s marvelous light and eternal kingdom was both sacred work and important work but also dangerous work.
In your "mind's eye", Listen to their collective attitudes as they described the feelings of the persecution they faced in evangelical ministry. because their attitude was a reflection of their belief that when their mission work was finished and the warfare they constantly faced was finally over, one day, they would go home to live with Jesus in their new glorified home. How did they feel about being constantly persecuted?
How they felt: "Warring but Winning"
"We are troubled on every side, yet (we’re) not distressed; we are perplexed, but (we’re) not in despair; Persecuted, but (we’re) not forsaken; cast down, but (we’re) not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh".
A Life and Death Experience: For your sakes......
"So then death works in us, but life (works) in you. And we, having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore I have spoken; we also believe, and therefore (we) speak. Knowing that he (that’s God) which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things (everything we’re doing for the Lord) are for your sakes, that the abundant grace through the thanksgiving of many might redound to the glory of God".
They went on to say: For this cause (the cause of Christ) we faint not; but though our “outward man” perish, yet the “inward man” is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, (and it) works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we don’t look at the things which are seen, but (we look) at the things which are not seen: (the reason is) for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal"
As you can see, it was in the format of their hostile missionary experiences, the facetious lies told on them, the constant peril and many innuendos intimated about them, the stoning with rocks and thugnatious persecutions plastered upon them, the many times the words in Romans 8:36 in the spirit rang in their ears:reminding them it was “For HIS sake... (for the sake of Jesus) we are killed all the day long...we are counted as sheep for the slaughter”, but they with rallied with renewed voices, “but nay, in all of these things, we are more than conquerors through HIM (Jesus Christ) that loves us”. Then, each one of them saying with a loud resounding voice “I’m persuaded no matter what I face… no matter who I face, no matter how many times death come creeping in my room…I’m persuaded that nothing shall be able to separate me form the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Yes, there was no weariness in their voices. There was nothing fainthearted in the way they went aout doing the Lord's work. They spoke with bold voices of blessed assurance… that was fueled by the fact that Paul and the rest of them had a life changing encounter with Jesus, This was first and foremost and points to the origin of a changed life.
The Changed Life
It all starts with a life changing encounter with Jesus. Let me tell you something… you don’t really begin to really live until you encounter Jesus. Don't get fooled by the Devil.. Do You really think getting and staying drunk is living? You think chasing every man or every woman is living? You think shooting dope in your veins rather than putting pertinent knowledge in your brains is living? You actually think living the thug life and being in and out of penal lockup is living? You think chasing the Benjamin’s and always ending up busted is living? You think hanging out in the booth, in the back in the corner in the dark on the down low or on the low low is living?
You haven’t really lived yet until you encounter Jesus standing at the door of your heart knocking saying to you. Look, I stand at the door and knock. If any man (anybody) will come and open the door…I will come in unto him and sup with him and they can sup with ME! If you’re tired and broken hearted, Come unto me all you that labor and are heave laden and I’ll give you rest! Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly and you shall find rest for your soul. My yoke is easy and my burden is light! You haven’t lived until you fling open the door of your heart in let HIM in.
I believe somewhere during the tedious part of their Christian journey especially when the road got real rough, the going got tough and the hills got so hard to climb, Paul and the rest of them heard in the spirit the sound of Jesus’ encouraging words in the atmosphere “In this life you will have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world”! In the 1st verse of the text Paul makes a bold declaration concerning the future of our sanctified souls and the state of our earthly tabernacles. Listen to what he says: For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolve, this is not the end….we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Break it down preacher
For we know, we have blessed assurance, we don’t have no doubt …we are fully confident in the faith concerning the eternal security of our souls and state of our formed dust bodies…..if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved….there is another tabernacle an eternal tabernacle not made by earthly material….it’s made by God and built to last for all eternity!
Here’s a Reality check:
When it comes to our bodies, our earthly tabernacle, it’s not a matter of if it dissolves….it’s a matter of when it will dissolve ….It's desolving a little at a time everyday! The many cemeteries crypts and urns all over the world are solid indicators that this earthly tabernacle is going to dissolve….God told Adam: “From dust thou art and from dust your tabernacle will return”! And even if you and I are alive when Jesus splits the sky in the rapture and we’re changed from mortal to immortality in the moment , the twinkling of an eye rising up to meet the Lord in the air. Our bodies were still dissolving whenever it happens.
Groaning:
Verse 2 "In this earthly tabernacle we groan"
Sometimes we groan because of the constant physical and spiritual wear and tear inflicted on this body. Wear and tear on this tabernacle started with us from day one of birth outside the womb. In the natural progression of life, if we live long enough, our steps will get shorter. Some of us will deal with our visions getting dimmer. We fight off headaches and heartaches. Heart attacks and dealing with lack. Racism and Satanism. Air pollution and world-wide revolutions, Slanted politics and fever ticks.
Sometimes we cause many of the inflictions by the things we do to with and in our bodies. Many of us are over work and under rested. And by the time we reach the age of retirement the “re” in retirement seems like it can’t ever catch up with the “tired” part. Along with drug and alcohol and cigarette abuse, we place tremendous torque on joints and cartilage and sometimes push these bodies beyond their natural compactly by over using steroids.
At other times, in the spirit realm,, another reason we groan is because the devil and other demonic forces come against our relationship with Jesus Christ. We are sometimes inflicted with sickness and diseases waring in and on our physical bodies trying to knock us down, beat us down, burden us down with the cares of this world. Right now, this temporary body is housing for our eternal souls. This undergirds the fact that we have eternal souls. Now where our soul will spend eternity and what kind of new housing we will live in depends on who we live for and who we serve while we live in this rented space on earth. God has rented Adam, Eve and us earth space from formed dust. God breathed into the nostrils of formed dust Adam fashioned in the shape of man and man then became a living soul.
Tabernacles- Really?
Paul calls our frail bodies "tabernacles" because we are designed and required to serve the Lord in these frail bodies, exclusively dedicated unto the Lord.. The Bible says: "Present these bodies (tabernacles) as living sacrifices wholly and acceptable unto God for it’s our reasonable service. Don’t conform your tabernacle to the way of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove that good, and acceptable perfect will of God"
Brothers and sisters, we must change the way we use this tabernacle because it was set apart for the service of God; This means we must stop using them for the world’s use and allow the Holy Spirit to use our tabernacle for the WORD’s use. Here’s another way of saying it: When you offered yourself to Jesus, you got to release all claim on it, and submitted it totally to God, to be at His disposal for doing his will. We are not our own. We have been bought with a tremendous price. Bought and paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Which leads me to the third point:
This Earth is not our Eternal Home.
We are time travelers on a mission and on a journey. Jesus said to the believer, "I’m going to prepare a place for you". That place is not here! This is just a dressing up room down here. You got to go to heaven from down here. All who are designed for heaven hereafter are wrought or prepared for heaven while they are here. The stones of that spiritual building and temple above are squared and fashioned here in this body. The same God that made us, is the same God, through Jesus Christ, and sealing us with the Holy Ghost molding us, changing us, pruning us and has wrought a good work in us that we will conform to the image of Jesus Christ to such an extent that when our missionary work is finished God moves us out of this temporary housing and gives us permanent residence in heaven.
Jesus said in that same 14th chapter of John "I’ve got to go away in expediency. It’s expedient that I go away but when I go, I won’t leave you without comfort I’ll send you another comforter. That is the Holy Ghost and when the Holy Ghost comes, he will guide you into all truths concerning ME"
The Holy Ghost will prep you for your new home. He does this for everybody who wants to go to their heavenly home to live with Jesus. Nothing less but God’s intrinsic divine power can make a man’s soul a partaker of God’s own divine nature;. God does a great deal and goes to great lengths to prepare our souls for heaven, and all that preparation starts with God giving you a new heart and His Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. But what is our current state in relation with the Lord?
Our Present State:
This is our present state: We are absent from the Lord because we are present in this body. It’s a paradox. We are pilgrims and strangers in this world; We are sojourning here in our earthly home, in this tabernacle; and even though God is with us here, by his Spirit, and in his ordinances, we are not with him as we hope to be: we cannot see his face while we live: In order to see him face to face as He is, we have to give up this life.
In the mean time, we must walk by faith, not by sight, Faith is for this world, and sight is reserved for the new heavenly world: It is our duty, and in our best interest, to walk by faith, until the day we can walk and live by our sight. Faith teaches us how to find comfort and courage while we run this race. If we hold on to God’s unchanging hand He will give us toe comfort and give us the courage t to handle all trials and tribulations of this life. Not only that but when the day come when we must depart this life, He will give us comfort and courage in the hour of death: for that reason either we are or we ought to be always confident and always willing rather to be absent from the body and be present with the Lord.
Conclusion....
My brothers and sisters, if you are really a true Christian, if you really considered the prospect faith gives us of our new home over in the glory land ….in another world that’s far greater and far better than the best this world has to offer, it ought to give us all good reasons of that blessed hope that blessed assurance that Jesus is mine…
A songwriter once penned these words:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine...Oh what a for taste of glory divine... Heir of salvation purchased by God….born of HIS Spirit….washed in HIS blood…This is my story...this is my song...Praising my Savior... all the day long...
I don’t know how you feel about it when I get through praying down here, preaching down here, singing down here teaching down here living down her out in the sunshine …out in the rain….I’m going home to my other building the one God made with HIS hands to be with Jesus Won’t it be grand. When it comes your time to die, just remember that all we have and the best we have on this side is just a fortaste of glory divine, and a world that’s full of trouble. be comforted under the troubles of life, and supported in the hour of death: they should take courage, when you encounter death, your last enemy, and God says it’s time to come on home….go on and be willing rather to die than live, when it is the will of God that they should put off this earthly tabernacle.
Rev. Dr. William Edward Boddie
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