Sermon Tone Analysis

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II Corinthians 5:1-10
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Introduction
            I have a tent which was brand new when my parents bought it in 1957 in order to go on a camping trip to the Black Hills in South Dakota.
I remember going on that trip, even though I was only 5 years old.
How exciting it was for my parents to have that new tent.
We used it for a week or two while we were on the trip and many times after that on fishing trips and summer vacations.
After using it, no matter how much fun we had, we were always glad to get back home.
I still have that tent, but we don’t use it any more.
Our children used it a few times to sleep in the back yard, but only on nights when they were sure that there would be no rain and few mosquitoes.
There are two things we understand about tents.
They are intended for temporary shelter.
We use them on camping trips, but are quite glad to get home and sleep in our own beds.
The other thing is that, as you can see, they don’t last forever.
As I think about the temporary setting of a tent, I can’t help thinking about Israel.
Can you imagine what the tents of Israel might have looked like?
If I consider the condition of my tent, which after forty years was pretty much worn out, I can’t imagine the condition of Israel’s tents after 40 years of wilderness wandering.
How wonderful it must have been for them when they entered into the promised land and were finally able to build permanent homes.
The other day I participated in a study of pastor’s at mid life.
One of the questions, on the survey, made me realize that when I was young, I never thought about how many years I have left to be involved in ministry.
Now, at mid life, I have thought about the fact that I have only about 17 years of ministry left until retirement.
I have thought about how I will use those years.
Have you ever felt that life is like living in a tent - temporary and short lived?
How do we handle the realization that life is short and our bodies are wearing out?
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I.
We Groan Because The Earthly Tent Will Be Destroyed
            The average life span of people in Psalm 90 is suggested to be about 70 years and that some who are strong are able to add another ten years to that and live to be 80 years old.
Someone told me the other day that for men in Canada today, the expected life span is about 78 years and for women about 83.
So if you want to live longer, you should make sure that you are born a woman.
What does that mean for me?
78 years is 28490 days.
When I was 20 years of age I had used up 7305 days and had 21185 left.
Now I am 48 years old and have used up 17809 and have 10681 days left.
I have less left than I have used up.
At 65 years of age that is 23741 used and  4749 days left.
One time we were going to Winnipeg and had a friend with us.
I pulled out to pass and although there was a vehicle coming from the front and I had lots of time, our friend yelled out “we’re going to die!” Well, we didn’t die that day, but the statement is totally true, we are all going to die.
We can understand why Paul might have used these metaphors.
He was a leather worker and a tentmaker before he became the apostle to the Gentiles.
Tents were made out of animal skins.
They were temporary dwellings, erected with the help of poles, and made to be easily moved.
As he was writing this letter, Paul may have recalled a time when someone brought him a tent in need of repair.
It had begun to tear and leak; it was cracked and weather-beaten.
Paul's job was to repair or replace such it.
Now, as he contemplates his own body wearing down, just like worn-out tents, the frame that he had been given for his lifetime was wearing out.
The person on the inside has a lot more to live for, while the person on the outside has a lot less responsiveness.
I found statistics for 1997 that 27 out of 100,000 people died that year of accidents, 182 out of 100,000 died of cancer, 173 out of 100,000 died of heart disease.
As we read those statistics, we always hope that we will not be one of those numbers, but with each passing year, we become aware of the knowledge that our bodies are getting worn out.
As I played hockey last weekend, I was quite aware that those younger legs had a lot more to give than I did.
Each day, our body forces us to realize that it will not last forever.
It is a step on the path that each year makes more and more clear the reality that 100,000 out of 100,000 people will die.
My father was 41 years old when he got cancer and within 3 months, he died.
A fellow I know was healthy and strong and one day when he was driving down a country road, he ran into another driver and both of them died in the accident.
I did a funeral for a lady who was over 100 years old.
For many years, she was virtually a vegetable in an old folks home and finally she died.
A while ago, they showed on TV a story about a man who was quite old but still very spry.
He had managed to prolong his life but He also will die.
II Corinthians 5:1 says that “if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed.”
The only reason for using the word “if” is that Jesus could come back first, but if he does not, we will all die.
This earthly tent will be destroyed.
We are mortal.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t like that thought.
Last week, Menno said that no matter what, death is not a pleasant thought.
That is so true.
The unpleasantness of that thought is what causes us to groan while we live on this earth.
We don’t want to die and we don’t like it when others die.
We groan under the burden that our bodies will wear out.
We groan with the thought of death which looms large before us.
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II.
God Has Made Us For Life
But that is not our only choice.
If we had no other choice, we would soon despair and give up hope, or live to the full and enjoy every moment because this is all there is anyway.
But that is not the case.
There is another reality which allows us to look beyond the awful reality of death.
!! A. An Eternal House
Two weeks ago, we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
When we did, we learned something about ourselves as well.
We learned that Christ is the first fruits.
Because he rose from the dead, we will also rise.
As in Adam, all die, in Christ, all will be made alive.
Adam changed the course of history when he sinned and plunged the world into death.
Christ also changed the course of history he died for sin and rose again and so plunged us into life.
Paul says in verse 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.”
Before we moved to Rosenort, we lived for 7 months in a side-by-side in Winnipeg.
The living room carpet was greenish-gold, one set of living room curtains was pink and the other green.
The downstairs bathroom had a green toilet and pink tiles on the wall.
When Jonathan came home, that Christmas, we stacked some boxes in the basement and that was his room.
We lived there for a while, but we were looking forward to the day when we would again live in a house that we could make our own.
When we moved to Rosenort, we rented our house for the first 10 months, with the hope of buying it.
We looked forward to the day we would own it and we could develop it the way we wanted.
Now it is ours and we are doing just that.
Now living in the tent of our body which is wearing out, but because of the resurrection, we are awaiting another reality - we are awaiting a building from God, not built by human hands.
A place that will be perfect for us and that we won’t have to fix up, but will be perfectly suited for us and made by God Himself.
We anticipate an eternal body.
We await something beyond death, something in which death will no longer be a factor.
We are looking forward to life eternal.
What will that building be like?
This eternal house is made by the one who is eternal and the one who built this world in the first place.
As we look at the beauty of what we have on earth and realize that in heaven, it will be perfect, we have a lot to look forward to.
In I Corinthians 15, Paul talks about this heavenly body that we will put on.
He describes it as “imperishable,” “glorious,” “powerful,” “a spiritual body,” “like Jesus resurrected body.”
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