Homesick for Heaven
2 Corinthians 5:1-10
October 14, 2007
Morning Service
Introduction
When I was in sixth grade, we were sent to camp for several days. It was the first time that I had ever been away from my family for any length of time. The camp was interesting, at least parts of it were. I can remember one day, while we were studying weather. I was ready to go home.
The feeling of being homesick wasn’t that I missed my family. I missed my routine, my things, my bed. I missed being at home. There is something about being at home that make life comfortable. The old saying is true: Home is where the heart is. My heart was not at that campground the last day of camp.
We all get homesick from time to time. We long for the things that make us most comfortable, things that bring us joy, things that bring back good memories. We all long for the feelings of home.
Entrance into heaven is not at the hour of death, but at the moment of conversion – Benjamin Whichcote
Our place is in heaven. We belong with God in the place he has so generously prepared for us. There can be no mistaking this fact.
Paul seems to be almost homesick when he writes to the Corinthian church. If you have your Bibles please open them to 2 Corinthians 5:1-10.
1 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. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 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. 5 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. 6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 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.
2 Corinthians 5:1-10
We get homesick for our heavenly house
How many of you have ever been camping in a tent? Camping may be fun for a while but it gets old fairly quickly. We get tired of roughing it and we start to desire the comforts of home. Would you want to live in a tent all of the time? Of course not.
Paul uses an image of heaven that seems a bit unusual. He compares our human body to a tent. The body is the temporary housing for our spirit. Our tent may get old, may not be able to handle the weather like it did years ago and the appearance may change. Paul makes it clear that we move from the tent to the real home. We move from this life to heaven.
Human life is a lot like camping. It’s the roughing it part of following Jesus. This earthly is not our permanent place to live. Just like you wouldn’t be satisfied with living in a tent all of the time, believers aren’t satisfied with living here on earth. We trade our earthly tent for God’s eternal mansion.
We get homesick to be clothed with eternity
Most, if not all, of us hate to wait for anything. This is especially true if it is something good or if we are in a hurry. We eagerly wait for good things to come. Paul echoed this in his words to the Philippian church.
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Philippians 3:20-21
Think about it in human terms. We eagerly expect many things in life.
• Parents await their children to be born
• Couples wait for their wedding day
• Children, young and old, wait for Christmas
Waiting is often difficult and when we are waiting on heaven, it seems even harder. Our days are filled with difficulties and disappointments. Each day that we live, we move one day closer to heaven. We wait in the now for that which is not yet.
Paul talks about being clothed with a heavenly dwelling. The image here is striking. Paul likened eternity to clothing, more appropriately changing clothes. Just as easily as you put on your clothes this morning, Jesus is going to put eternity upon us. When our mortal existence is removed we are set free from the trials and the difficulties of life. We are set free from the pains and the cares of this world.
CS Lewis captures the essence of this in his book Mere Christianity: Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.
There is a longing and a desire to be clothed with the eternal.
We get homesick for our homecoming
Have you ever been on a trip and just wanted to get home?
When we were driving back from Florida this past winter, I just wanted to get home. We had been away to the conference and spent some extra time down there but I was ready to get home.
There were times on the drive home that I thought we were never going to make it back. I was determined that I would get back to be in my own house and my own bed.
There are days when we just want to be home with God. We have hope that God has made a pledge to bring us home. We have the guarantee through the presence of the Holy Spirit. We have been given the presence of heaven within us. Paul said it far better than I ever could.
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:12
Our desire is to be home with God, to see Him face to face. Our desire is experience our heavenly homecoming.
Conclusion
So what do we do with the prospect of heaven?
There are three realities, if you want to spend eternity in heaven.
Get on Target
Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people – Lewis Sperry Chaffer
The truth is that sin is what keeps us from becoming what God desires us to be. Sin also keeps us from His presence both now and in eternity. The most common word for sin in the New Testament means to miss the mark. Before you can plan for an eternal home, you must first get yourself on target with God
1. Admit the fact that you have sinned
This shouldn’t be too hard for all of us, we have all gotten off target in our lives at one point or another
2. Believe that Jesus died for you and lives again
Jesus died for us while we were far away from God. Jesus came near to us, so we could come near to God. Our nearness to God was bridged by the cruelty of a Roman cross. The means of us knowing God came through the death of Jesus and our hope after death flows from the resurrection.
3. Commit to follow Jesus as Lord
It is not enough to just believe that Jesus died and rose again. Each day we make the choice to follow Jesus. Living each day with Jesus as your Lord is a conscious and consistent act.
Get Back on Target
There are times when we all step away from where we are supposed to be. We all have to make daily choices that either draw us closer to God or lead us further away from God.
1. Acknowledge the fact that you need to get back
2. Break away from the things that drew you away
3. Commit again to following Jesus
Stay on Target
If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
1. Ask for God to search your heart
2. Be open to God’s leading
3. Change where God wants you to c
