LOOKING FOR A NEW HOME
By Pastor Jim May
Right now the real estate market in our area is really booming. It’s a seller’s market because there are thousands of people who don’t have a home and are looking for just about anything that will put a roof over their heads and give them a place that they call their own. If you ever plan to sell, and to buy a better home, now is your perfect chance, if you are willing to do what some other people are doing.
I know of several people who are selling their homes at higher prices than what their homes are appraised for. Their plan is to sell for a high cost, move out of the area for a year or two, into a cheaper home than they have now, save the equity they get from the sale, and then come back and buy a bigger, better and nicer home than they have now when the market changes. It’s not a bad plan if you have the freedom to follow through with that plan.
One problem with this plan is that we do not know what the future holds for the real estate market. It all sounds good for now, but what if another storm or some other natural disaster strikes, there is no doubt that their plans will vanish into smoke if that happens.
There is something to think about in the old saying, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry”. We don’t know what the future holds, at least not in detail.
Another problem, and a more important question would be, is God in the plan for us to sell out and look for something better down the road? As Christians, we should take advantage of every opportunity to better ourselves, but only if God is in it. If God has spoken to you to “play the real estate game”, then its not a gamble for God will see it through and you will win in the end. If you step out in your own will, without God’s stamp of approval, then you are taking a terrible gamble that may cost you dearly in the end.
As for me, I have not heard God say to move on. I have not heard the Holy Spirit speaking to me, “sell high, and buy low”. All I hear from the Lord is stay faithful and work where I have put you. Fulfill the call in your life and let me take care of everything else.” That’s the path I choose to follow. Until God says otherwise, my only good course of action is to stay right where I am and do my best to pastor this church.
We don’t always know exactly which steps to take in life, but what we do know, as Children of God who have read and studied the Word of God, is that we have only seen the beginning of woes that are coming upon this old world.
More than once in God’s Word we are told that calamities are coming upon this world, and that those calamities will increase in intensity, frequency and duration, as we draw closer to the Second Coming of Christ. Though we, who love and serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and bear His mark of salvation, are not appointed or destined to suffer through the worst of these calamities, it does not mean that we won’t experience the suffering that all men will face prior to the rapture of the church and the time of tribulation when the wrath of God will poured out without measure.
Jesus warned us that these days would come in Matthew 24:7 and in Mark 13:8 when He warned, "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows." These words ring true today as never before. It’s as though we are reading the headlines of our daily newspaper.
In the US there are hurricanes, forest fires, floods, tornadoes and economic woes like our nation has never faced before. History shows that the number of killer quakes remained fairly constant until the 1950s - averaging between two to four per decade. Then, in the 1950s, there were nine. In the 1960s, there were 13. In the 1970s, there were 51. In the 1980s, there were 86. From 1990’s there were more than 150. And so far, in the first 5 years of this decade, there have been at least 39 major earthquakes, but some of them have caused more death and destruction than ever before.
Great earthquakes struck all around the Pacific rim causing 40’ to 90’ tidal waves to sweep over the coastal areas and scrub the land clean of all that man has created and built, taking many thousands of lives with it as the waters come in and then go out once again, and scientists tell us that this same region of the globe is primed right now for an even greater earthquake than the last one. It’s like a powder keg with a lighted fuse, waiting to blow. Just a few days ago, a powerful earthquake struck the lands of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, killing many more people. Yet all of these are only the beginning of sorrows. There is no doubt that there will be many more disasters to come, and they will grow more destructive and more deadly as the world marches to judgment.
Why did I say all of this? I want you to know that I’m not planning on selling out, and buying a newer, bigger and better home. It’s not that I don’t like bigger and better things. We all have those kinds of desires. But my focus, and I believe the focus of every true child of God, should not be on this world and what it has to offer.
It is my prayer that God blesses each of us with a better lifestyle while we walk this earth. I pray that all of you, and all of my children, and all my friends will find better jobs, make a better income, build a better business, and increase in worldly possessions. But I don’t wish those things for you at the cost of your eternal soul.
But what I want you to know is that even though I am not in the real estate market, I really am looking for a new home. Does that sound like double talk to you? If you have the mind of Christ this morning, it will make perfect sense to you. In fact, if you have the mind of Christ, you are looking for a new home too.
Let’s read a passage of scripture together to see what I’m talking about.
2 Corinthians 5:1-11, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight) we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences."
There’s the true real estate market for us as Christians. There is nothing more “real” than the “estate” that God has for me in the world to come. We all have a new home waiting in Glory, and I, for one, am getting more anxious all the time to be there.
Jesus said in John 14:2-3, "In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
The thought of having a mansion in Heaven is a thrilling thing. I can picture what I think it might be like, and yet I know that what I can envision cannot compare with what it will really be like. God knows the very desires of our hearts and He will fulfill every desire to make your Heavenly Home the grandest place you could ever have. I can’t wait to see it, move into it and live in it, and to have all of you over for a cookout, and to sit around talking about Jesus for a thousand years or so. I believe every mansion in Heaven will be buzzing with excitement and life all the time. There will be no boredom there.
But that Heavenly Mansion isn’t what Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians. He’s talking about a whole different kind of “house”. He is talking about the body in which our soul is housed.
Right now it’s a body of flesh, corruptible and terribly affected by the power of sin in the earth. No matter how much we exercise, diet and try to take care of this body, it’s quickly getting more and more run down. Where it once was strong, it is becoming weaker. Where it once bore the marks of youth, it is beginning to bear more of the marks of old age. Ultimately, the struggle with life will end and this body of flesh will be dissolved in the grave. Out of the dust of the earth it was formed, and to dust it shall return, never to rise again as it was buried. This body of flesh is going to meet its end as the death brought about by sin in the earth takes its final toll.
But that isn’t the end for those who are born again by the Spirit of God. For though this body may lie in dust until that day, there will be a day, a time, an hour, and a moment as quick as the twinkle in your eye, in which your soul shall be reunited with this body once again in the resurrection, only this time it will rise to never die again. It will rise in power and glory, clothed in white robes of righteousness, and given eternal life by the power of the Holy Ghost. That’s the great hope of the Child of God. Our hope is not in this world, but in the world to come.
Paul had it right when he said, “…For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.”
Every day that passes we are getting closer to that day when we shall see Jesus coming in the clouds. But every day that passes we are also growing older, and frailer, in this body of flesh. We find ourselves in a great battle because of this. On one side there is a part of us that desires to stay in this body, regardless of how old it may get, or how weak it may become, for we know what is here in this life. We don’t want to leave what we know and the people we love.
And when you think about it, we were never designed to have to leave any of this. God designed the body to live forever, for families to grow and grow and grow, and for all of us to have loved ones that were without number. He created the earth with all of the power to renew its resources and support life without measure. It is only the power of sin that stopped all of this and caused things to begin to grow old and wear out.
But now that the power of sin has brought us to this place of corruption and we are growing older, weaker and death is surely coming at some point, we are anxious to experience the world to come. The older we get, the more that new body appeals to us. When we grow sickly, and get to the place like so many have, where we cannot move about and function, and enjoy the quality of life that we desire, that’s when we really begin to groan, or desire, to be in that new “house” from Heaven.
We see the day approaching when we must leave this present “house” of flesh, and so we anxiously await the coming of our new “house” of the spirit. We don’t understand all of it and we never will until that day comes, but the one thought that we dread is that we will become a disembodied spirit and soul, wandering through ethereal space, with no place to rest. Well, let me put your fears to rest if you think that, because your spirit and soul will not wander aimlessly without a body.
Here is what the scriptures say.
“…Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight) we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
God has given us a small sample of what it will be like when we leave this “house” of flesh behind. We have the Holy Spirit in us right now. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that has already endowed us with eternal life for the spirit and soul. Even though this body may be growing old and it’s powers to see, hear, feel and move may become restricted with time and circumstance, the spirit and soul remain as young and vibrant as ever.
I can see this in the aged who lie upon their bed for many months as they near the end of this life. The spirit and soul that is locked in that “house of flesh” doesn’t dim or fade. It remains very much alive, struggling to let everyone know its still there. The mind of this body may fade, but the spirit on the inside is strong. The body may waste away but the soul remains steadfast and unmovable until it is finally released in death.
Because we can see the spirit and soul remaining strong, we can know that it is not dying. God is simply preparing the spirit and soul to make a transition, from a “house” of flesh, to a “house” of the spirit.
At that moment of death, the soul and spirit that are eternally alive, are given a body of the spirit, clothed in righteousness, and in that “spiritual house” we are ushered into the presence of God, for Paul told us that when we are, “…absent from the body” we are “… to be present with the Lord."
But the time of the resurrection has not come yet. We have a new “home” a new body, but that body is a “spiritual body” not made with hands. It is the spirit and soul, living in the power of the Holy Ghost. We will see through the Spirit. We will feel through the Spirit. We will live and move and have our being, through the Spirit. But we will not have a body that is visible to eyes of flesh, for our body will be a spiritual body. This “new home” is spoken of in Acts 17:28, "For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring."
It is that new home, that body of the Spirit that we long for right now. There will come a day when we are reunited with a different body, that is taken from the earth once again, to rise in power and glory and be incorruptible which was God’s plan from the beginning. That will be in the resurrection.
Those souls who will pass from this life before the Rapture of the church will dwell with the Lord in their “spirit body” until that day. On that day, those who are now dwelling in their “spiritual house” with the Lord will be reunited with their body, that is taken from the graves of the earth, given power and life by the Holy Spirit and changed into an immortal body.
Those who remain alive in the earth and are caught up in the Rapture will be changed in a moment’s time and will already be in their resurrected bodies when they rise to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall they ever be.
In that body we will live forever, to fulfill the original plan of God for mankind to worship Him and serve Him while He gives us our heart’s desires. Then we shall live in a new world, a new heavens and a new earth, that God has re-created, just as He did in the beginning. There we shall dwell, going in and out of the New Jerusalem, as it is placed upon the earth for our eternal home, but able to go anywhere in the earth that we want to without sin or death to ever have power over us again.
There is more to all of this than I can go into this morning. There is the millennial reign of Christ and then the eternity that follows but that would require much time to elaborate upon.
For now, let us say that we are struggling, striving and doing all we can, to show ourselves approved unto God, so that we may obtain that “spiritual body” and, in turn, that “immortal, gloried body”.
For this reason the scripture says, “…Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”
Whether I am in this house, the body of flesh, or in that “body of the spirit” that I will inhabit after death and before the rapture should I go by way of the grave before Jesus comes, I want to be accepted by God as one of His own children, obedient, faithful and born again by the Blood of the Lamb.
Every one of us, who are acceptable, must appear before the BEMA of Christ to be judged for the works that we have done while we were in the “house of flesh”. Whether our works will earn us greater reward, or whether our works will be cast into the fire and burned, will be a decision that only Jesus can make because only He knows our motives and our methods. Not one soul, that appears before the Judgment Seat of Christ will be denied entrance into Heaven’s gates. You have already been saved, or you won’t be there at all. The degree of reward, and the degree of loss will be decided there and many will make it in, but every work that they have done will be burned away and they will enter in only after seeing the righteousness of God burn away their works.
Not one sinner, not one unsaved person, not one hypocrite, no one who has never repented of their sin, and allowed Jesus to be the Lord of their life will face this judgment. Their judgment will come in a far more terrible manner as they face the Judge of the Universe only to hear the verdict of eternal death in hell and be cast into the pit forever.
The scriptures then say, “…Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences."
Because we have been given this foreknowledge of things to come; death, burial, spiritual bodies, resurrected bodies, and then the Judgment Seat of Christ and the judgment against sinners that are surely coming, (these are the “terror of the Lord”) and they will not be avoided – we must tell others about what is coming. We must tell them about Jesus and all of these terrors to come.
Regardless of whether other men decide to come with us or not, we must not stop on our quest for a “new home”. Eternity is too long to take a chance on missing the mark.
For those of us here right now who are saved, all of this is a blessed hope, a wonderful dream, a great and marvelous fantasy that is true, and it will soon be here. Jesus is coming soon and all will be fulfilled. I can’t wait to see, to feel and to move into my “brand new home” in Heaven, and my “brand new spiritual home” where my soul and spirit will live forever in perfect peace and joy.
But perhaps there is someone here right now who does not have this great hope in your heart right now. You’ve not been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit and your sins have not been washed away by the Blood of Jesus.
All that I have said is truly a terror to you, for you can only see that you are not destined for a new “spiritual home” and a “new immortal body”, but only to be a disembodied spirit and soul, that shall never die, but live forever in the torments of the flames of God’s wrath.
That can change for you right now if you want to. The Spirit of the Lord is calling to you right now to come to Him and give your heart and life to Jesus. Won’t you come and go with us? All of us here would rejoice with you, to see you receive salvation today, and that eternal life that only Jesus can give. Won’t you come now?
