WE PREFER TO BE AT HOME!
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Old Testament Lesson; Jeremiah 8:4-7
Gospel Lesson; Luke 19:11-27
Sermon Text; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
By the early 300s A.D. the Roman Empire had become basically a Christian Empire. However, around the end of the 300s a new Roman Empire came to rule, with a man named Julian. Julian, being the head of State felt it was his responsibility to see to it that the Roman Government had people who were productive citizens. He tried very desperately to change the Roman Empire, from a Christian Empire into a pagan, unbelieving empire.
He had a very interesting reason why he wanted to change the Roman Empire away from Christianity. Here is what his reasoning was: He basically said that Christians are so Heavenly minded, that they are of no earthly good. Christians are so Heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good! His thinking was that Christians are so concerned about getting to their home in Heaven, that they don’t really care about the institutions of this earth. They don’t really care about their government and they are not going to help their government, and watch over their government. They are interested in a different home. He said that Christians are so interested in getting to Heaven that they are not concerned about other institutions, such as their work place, and they don’t take a great primary interest in their work place. They are interested in a different place, their home in Heaven. And, so he said that Christians are so Heavenly minded that they are no earthly use.
Is that a true statement? I believe that when we look at today’s scripture reading, we find just the opposite to be the case. The more Heavenly minded we are, the greater earthly use we will be.
The more Heavenly minded we are,
the greater earthly use, we will serve.
We are going to get back to that in a little bit.
For now, we want to think about why Christians should be Heavenly minded and focused on Heaven. There are certainly a number of reasons, given in scripture.
When we look at the world around us, with all the trouble that is around us, (for example all that has happened since September 11th),
we see all the murder and all the killing,
all the trouble and pain,
all the sorrow and all the sadness,
Christians find themselves longing,
longing for a place where there is
no more pain,
or sorrow,
no trouble or sadness,
or death.
We are longing for our home in Heaven.
As Christians, we look about this world and see all the terrible things that are done to people, all the abuses. We see all the things that happen to us:
sickness,
loneliness,
depression and
sadness.
We see all those things and we long for a place where all of those things will be gone and we will live in the eternal joys of Heaven.
As we look at our own selves and we ask ourselves, "Why do I cheat, when I don’t want to cheat? Why do I lie, when I don’t want to lie? Why do I lust after things I should not lust after? I don’t want to do that and yet I do. Why am I greedy, when I don’t want to be greedy? Why am I envious, when I don’t want to be envious?"
We see that we are burdened by a sinful nature that causes us to do things that we wish we were never doing. And so, we long for a home where we won’t do those sinful things anymore. We long for that home in Heaven, because Christ tells us to long for Heaven. He says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." We long for our home in Heaven.
As we look at today’s scripture reading, written by
St. Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, God gets to probably the deepest reason why you and I long for our Heavenly Home, and why we are Heavenly minded. It has to do with the topic that none of us like to talk about. It is the topic of death. There is a 100% mortality rate in this world. Every single one of us, one day will die. There is a hymn that we sing that expresses this:
"Death doth pursue me all the way.
Nowhere, I rest securely.
It comes by night.
It comes by day and takes its prey most surely.
A fleeting breath and I,
in death’s strong grasp may lie,
to face eternity for aye.
I walk in danger all the way.
Death doth pursue me all the way."
We don’t like to talk about death.
After the events of September 11th, there was a young boy who asked his dad a very important question. (The dad was an unbeliever. And, the little boy didn’t know Christ his savior, either.)
Thinking about everything that had happened, the little boy went to his dad and said, "Dad, what is going to happen to me, when I die?"
The dad looked at his son and said, "Son, I don’t know. I don’t know."
"What is going to happen to me, when I die?"
(That is a frightening question.)
"I don’t know."
(That is a terrifying answer.)
When we look at our own death, which is coming some day, there is a lot of discomfort that goes along with that thought. The reason it is uncomfortable, is because the Bible tells us something very specific about death. It says, "The wages of sin is death."
We die for one reason. You can’t get more simple, plain and clear than what scripture says there. "The wages of sin is death."
In another passage it says, "Sin entered the world through one man. Death through sin and so all die, because all sin."
As we look at those passages, it is very disconcerting for us to realize that the reason I am going to die someday is because there is something profoundly wrong with my relationship with God. I am a sinner. The consequence, the terrible result of sin, is death.
When that boy asked his dad, "Dad what is going to happen to me when I die?"
And, the dad said, "I don’t know."
It was a troubling answer.
But, to anyone here, who is troubled over the fact that you will die someday, you should know that God does not want you to be troubled. Every one of us here, unless God comes back in judgment first, will die someday. However, God does not want you to be troubled. God does not want you to be worried. He does not want you to be confused. He does not want you to be confounded. God wants to comfort you. And, God wants to give you the most secure peace in your heart that He can possibly give.
Which is why, in today’s scripture reading, said in words that are so simple, plain and clear, St. Paul says, "Now we know that if the earthly tent is destroyed…" (St. Paul was a tent maker. He worked in Corinth for a year and a half, making tents. Here, he likens our earthly body to a tent.) He says, "Now if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal home in Heaven, not built by human hands."
What a comforting message that is! When I die, when this body fails, when my breath ceases, when my eyes close for the last time, I don’t have to wonder, or worry, or be troubled, or concerned what is going to happen to me when I die. The scripture tells me. We have an eternal home in Heaven, waiting for us. We have an eternal home, not built by human hands. And that is the comfort of scripture. That’s the profound comfort of scripture.
You think about the passages in scripture that talk about our salvation. They are connected with the difference between death and life. Jesus said, "Whoever believes in me, will live, even though he dies. And, whoever lives and believes in me, will never die."
Never die!
That’s a promise, a clear, a simple and a plain promise that God gives us. You can’t get more plain and clear and simple than that.
The Bible says,
"The wages of sin is death."
But, the gift of God is eternal life -
Eternal Life, in Christ Jesus our Lord!
It is the promise of immortality. You can’t get more simple, and plain and clear in God’s Word than that simple promise. The gift of God is eternal life!
Jesus said, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life!"
You can’t get more simple, and plain and clear than what Jesus tells us there. We will not perish, but we will have eternal life, through Christ Jesus our Lord. The profound, comforting words of scripture to anyone who looks at death, (which is impending, and it is coming, and it is marching closer and closer) is that we have an eternal home in Heaven.
We know what is going to happen, when we die.
We will not be mortal. We will enter immortality.
We will never face death again!
We will never be troubled
by separation from our loved ones, again!
We will never be worried about the fear of death again. We will be at home, forever,
with our Lord in all eternity,
in Heaven!
Which is why Paul says, "We groan, longing to be clothed in our Heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent we groan. And, we 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. Now it is God who made us for this very purpose." God made you for the purpose of being immortal - Immortal to live forever. And, when we die, God will make us immortal. We will live forever. We will never die. And, we long for the day that that comes.
Now how is it, that a Christian obtains that immortality - that eternal life? Again, scripture is so plain. It says the wages of sin, is death. The wages are what I deserve. The wages are what I earned. Wages are what ought to be coming to me. And, the wages that I deserve are death. Then it goes right on and it says, "but the gift of God is, the GIFT of God, is eternal life, in Christ Jesus our Lord." Eternal life is not earned. It is not merited. It is not deserved. It is the gift of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. It is something that God, because He cares about us and He loves us, and He does not want us to be troubled by death, God in His grace has freely given us (undeserved) the gift of God, which is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Because Jesus came to this world, God Himself, wrapped up in human flesh, God took what I deserved.
The wages of sin is death. Jesus died for me! Jesus’ death is my death. Jesus death on the cross, His closing of His eyes for the last time, His resting in the grave, is my closing of my eyes for the last time, my rest in the grave! Because, He did it for me! He died for me!
Christ died for all, scripture tells us!
And, yet, Christ rose to life, from the grave, for me! When Jesus stood up, out of that grave in which He lay for me, He was showing that my sins have been paid for. They are gone! They can never be held against me anymore. And, all of the consequences of sin are gone, as well. And, that does include the consequence of death! When Jesus got up, in victory over my sin, He was saying, "Your sins are gone. They cannot be held against you anymore. And, death cannot hold you anymore. I have defeated death!" So as a Christian, I have that sure confidence as to what is going to happen to me when I die. God promises that I will be made immortal. I will have eternal life, because of the gift, which is in Christ Jesus.
Now, our scripture reading says, "God who made us for this very purpose has given us the Spirit, as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." We have the guarantee that we are immortal. We have the guarantee that we will never die. The guarantee is the deposit that God has given us. That deposit is the Holy Spirit.
What does the Holy Spirit do for us? The Holy Spirit causes us to trust, believe and have faith in God’s promises. The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. That is a guarantee, God’s promise, that I have eternal life, already. Jesus promised, "Whoever believes in me, will live, even though he dies." That is a guarantee that I will live, even though I die. And, so, we do trust and we do believe those promises!
Our scripture reading says, "Therefore we are always confident and we know that as long as we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord." There it says twice that we are confident! Christians are confident. I have God’s promise of immortality. I have God’s promise of an eternal home, for Christ’s sake. I have God’s promise that He will never forsake me. He will see me through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. I will be at home, in Heaven, secure from death, for all eternity!!! I am confident.
I do long to be at home in Heaven. But, until that time comes, our scripture reading says this, "So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body, or away from it."
Now, it says we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. And, there we get back to the statement of Julian who said, "Christians are so Heavenly minded that they are of no earthly value."
But, what does our scripture reading say? It talks about being Heavenly minded, and then it goes on to say that we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are in the body or away from it.
What does that tell us? It is telling us that as we are Heavenly minded and we are thinking about what Christ has done for us, and won for us, and we are confident that Heaven is our Home. It is our goal and aim to please Him, whether I am still alive or whether I am in Heaven with my Savior for all eternity. There we would have to conclude that the more Heavenly minded we are, the more we will long for our Savior in Heaven, the more we long to be with Christ, the more we appreciate what He has done for us, the more we will want to serve Him – in this life, and in the life to come. The more Heavenly minded we are, the more earthly good we will be!!!
What a profound thought! What a comforting thought, in scripture. Christians are not so Heavenly minded that they are of no earthly use at all!
In fact, as we look at our scripture reading, it says that we make it our goal to please Him even when we are in the body. The Greek word for "we make it our goal, or aim" really is the word "philotimoummetha"
It is made up of a couple of words. It means we make it our love, even to the point of sacred honor, to serve the Lord. And, that is a lot stronger than we make it our goal or aim! We make it our love, even to the point of our sacred honor, to serve our Lord in this life and in the life to come. It is my love, as a Christian, because of what Christ has done for me, earned for me, and won for me. I want to serve Him in this life and in the life to come, to the point of my sacred honor. It is my love, even to the point of my sacred honor!!! Jesus tells us, that when we work in our earthly vocation, whatever your earthly work is, Jesus says, "Work at it, not as if serving some earthly master, but as if serving Jesus." I make it my love, as if it depended upon my sacred honor, to work at my earthly vocation, as if I were serving my Savior himself. And, who could be of more earthly good, than the person who will pour heart and soul and all of their strength and all of their energy, into their earthly vocation, as if they were serving their Savior? We make it our love, to the point of our sacred honor.
In our marriages, Jesus tells husbands, "Treat your wife the way I would treat her."
And, he says to wives, "Treat your husbands the way you would treat your savior."
Who could be of more earthly good in their marriage, than those who serve one another in profound sacrifice and love, who love to the point of our sacred honor, and to serve their spouse as if they were serving their Savior? Who could be of more earthly good?
We make it our love to the point of our sacred honor, when Jesus tells us that in this world we should obey those who have the rule over us. We should understand that the government is ordained by God and we should serve that government. We love our savior to the point of our sacred honor, to serve Him, and to do what He tells us to do. He wants us to work for our government, to work with our government, to watch over our government, to pray for our government, to see to it that our government has laws that are just and protect those who are more unfortunate than we are. Who could be of more earthly good, than that? The more Heavenly minded we are, the more we understand what our savior grants us. By granting us immortality as a free gift, we will want to serve Him, and the more earthly good we will be.
So, let us go forward today, being Heavenly minded Christians, understanding that it is our love, even to the point of our sacred honor, to serve our savior in this life, and in the life to come. That will cause us to be of great earthly good, serving our savior for eternity!
Amen.
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