Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:1-5

Did you know you can drop some serious change for a tent? A RAXTENT can cost you $30,000.00. It features 360-degree transparent, tinted curved glass panels. Larger models are spacious enough for fully functional bathrooms, kitchenettes, multi-level lofts and luxury furniture. It’s part of a trend called Glamping or glamorous camping. People want to enjoy the great outdoors but it’s still a tent.

2 Corinthians 5 tells us that our bodies are tents. They’re temporary. They wear out, wrinkle, joints get creaky, arteries harden, hearts slow, eyes grow dim, teeth fall out, backs stoop, and arms and legs grow weary and ache.

We brag about our strength, but a tiny microbe can kill us. No amount of vitamins or organic food can alter that. At best, we can only slow the aging process, but we can’t delay it forever.

In fact, you’re falling apart while you’re listening to this message. Before the sun goes down today, some 50 billion of your cells will die. 350 billion cells a week. No wonder you need to lie down and take a nap…but not now!

These “tents” aren’t permanent residences. We need to give a tent just enough attention to last until you get to your real home. The average tent expiration date is about 78 years, yet we’re so focused on these tents.

Do you know the worst part about my tent? If you’ve a believer, you have the same problem – it’s keeping me from my real home. And we begin to attach sentimental value to our tent. We store it in elaborate garages that we make monthly payments on. We cart it around in luxurious tent haulers. We often haul multiple tents. We take it on exotic trips. There’s nothing wrong with that to some level, as long as we remember it’s just a tent.

We need to take care of our tents, but we’re foolish when we become obsessed with our tents. Our Heavenly Father has an eternal building waiting for us. Fools focus on tents, the wise focus on the real building, our eternal Heavenly Home. Many Christians waste their lives on Tent Obsession.

John Piper shares a powerful story. John’s father was also a pastor and in his book, Don’t Waste Your Life, John writes:

For me as a boy, one of the most gripping illustrations my fiery father used was the story of a man converted in old age. The church had prayed for this man for decades. He was hard and resistant. But this time, for some reason, he showed up when my father was preaching. At the end of the service, during a hymn, to everyone’s amazement he came and took my father’s hand. They sat down together on the front pew of the church as the people were dismissed. God opened his heart to the Gospel of Christ, and he was saved from his sins and given eternal life. But that did not stop him from sobbing and saying, as the tears ran down his wrinkled face…’I’ve wasted it! I’ve wasted it!’ This was the story that gripped me more than all the stories of young people who died in car wrecks before they were converted—the story of an old man weeping that he had wasted his life…The thought of coming to my old age and saying through tears, ‘I’ve wasted it! I’ve wasted it!’ was a fearful and horrible thought to me.

Are you wasting your brief life? Many do. Maybe it’s why God will finally wipe the tears from our eyes because so many believers waste their lives on tent obsession. Though we want to go to heaven when we die, many now aren’t living for the real world. We’re focused on temporary tents, victims of eternity amnesia. We focus on temporal tents and throw away our lives. So how can we be wise and invest in the real world? If you’re taking notes…

1. We must replace a destination mentality with a preparation mentality.

Let me share some all-too-common scenarios. John lives under a tremendous load of debt. The problem isn’t his job or the economy. He has a good job that pays well. The problem is that his cravings are bigger than his income. He grew up without a lot of nice things and is determined he’s going to give a better life to his kids. He’s always buying some new “toy.” The next vacation must top the last one. He lives with constant stress, juggling all the debt. It’s a destination mentality.

Mary is a culinary enthusiast. Her kitchen is sophisticated enough to turn Gordon Ramsey green with envy. She loves gourmet cooking. Her kids are always dressed to impress. They’re headed to Disney again this year. Next year she and her husband are taking another cruise. She’s not a bad person. She just wants the good life now. It’s a destination mentality.

It would be easy to say John and Mary have financial problems, but that’s not it. What they have is a forever problem. They’re people without a focus on the real world. They work harder and hold their breath that the “good life” they’ve cobbled together won’t suddenly crumble at their feet. 

Jesus warned, one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15). How different life would be for them if they understood what eternity teaches about the present. Imagine if they understood that the most satisfying joys aren’t found in possessions or experiences. Imagine how their lives would change if they remembered that every day God is moving them toward eternity and providing everything they need along the way. They wouldn’t need to always work or worry so much.

The reason the Church is filled with those who have everything but are miserable is that we treat the here and now as our final destination. Whatever we say we believe about eternity, we live as if this is all there is. We have a destination mentality when God’s Word urges us to have a preparation mentality. This present world with all its joys and sorrows is not our final address. When we treat it as if it is, we become frustrated and discontent, foolishly attempting to get from this world what we can only get in the next.

God has designed that this world is not the final destination for believers. He has something so much better for us. Living for this world is disastrous.  

2. A preparation mentality is characterized by readiness, longing and hope. 

A preparation mentality means that we’re READY. 

Some years ago, when Queen Elizabeth was scheduled to visit Chicago, elaborate preparations were made for her visit. The waterfront was readied for docking her ship. Trash cans were painted. A red carpet was ready to be rolled out for her to walk on. Many hotels were alerted to be ready. But when they contacted the Drake Hotel, the manager said, We are making no plans for the Queen. Our rooms are always ready for royalty.

That’s a preparation mentality. It’s how we’re to be. Jesus could return or call you Home today. That’s why we must live each day alert and ready. It means approaching each day knowing this world is not our final destination.   

A preparation mentality means trusting that God uses trials, pain, suffering, disappointments and difficulties in this world to prepare us for the real world.

A preparation mentality means LONGING for Home. 

I’ve lived in Wisconsin for a long time, but I still love the rolling hills, pine trees and red clay of the South. There’s something about “y’all,” sweet tea, grits and southern hospitality that I long for. It’s still home.

2 Corinthians 5 is a picture of pilgrims traveling toward their final destination. They set up temporary lodging along the way. A tent reminds you that you’re not at your destination yet, that you’re not home.

Most of us have no pilgrim experience. Maybe the closest thing for us is camping. On that first day in the woods, putting up a tent is exciting. A few days later your tent has lots of unpleasant odors. You were excited at the prospect of catching your dinner from the nearby stream, but all you’ve snagged are weeds. You look into what was once an ice and food-filled cooler to see gray ground beef, oozing in blood-stained water.

You begin to think fondly of home – your soft bed, the stove where you twist a knob and get a flame, fresh ground beef in the freezer, and the house you’re pleased to call home. Your week in the wilderness has accomplished their mission. They’ve prepared you to appreciate home!

Americans tend to treat camping as a destination rather than a temporary location. We camp in nice RVs with great kitchens, flat screen TV, air conditioning and indoor plumbing. We want a campsite as comfortable as home. No wonder we don’t care if we return home and want life to be an endless vacation. But a destination mentality ignores that we’re broken, our world is broken and all are in need of redemption.

John Eldredge points out that most Christians have a hard time with heaven. Instead of longing for it, we see it as some backup plan, something that will happen a long time from now. So, we work to create a bit of heaven on earth and are continually disappointed. Eldredge wisely says: God must take away the heaven we create, or it will become our hell.

Our world is a broken place groaning for redemption. Here is meant to make us long for there, for forever. Here is meant to prepare us for eternity.

A preparation mentality means HOPING to truly live. 

In the movie, Hunger Games, there’s a powerful exchange between President Snow who fears Katniss Everdeen’s victory will incite revolution in other districts, and the game-master, Seneca Crane, who is responsible to make the Games entertaining for the oppressive empire. President Snow says, Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it’s contained.

Hope is contained when we make this temporary world home. We lose hope that someday all wrong will be righted and what’s broken fixed. Here is meant to make us hope, longing for forever. We and our world have something broken inside of us and desperately need redemption. As we realize there is more, we stop pouring everything into this temporary world.

In her book, Transformed One Winter, about her near-fatal illness, Marsha Spradlin, concluded that the fear she experienced was not the fear of dying at all, but the sorrow of never having lived with a purpose. Only those who’ve received Christ can have real purpose because they have hope. Hope makes an unbelievable difference in the quality of our lives now!

Jesus Christ becomes a powerful and living reality when we allow Him His rightful place in our lives. It gives us a life filled with meaning and contentment. Christ enriches beyond measure our fleeting days here and gives us a glorious future far beyond this short earthly life.

3. We must have God’s grace to have a preparation mentality.

Heaven as our final destination is only because of God’s grace. We don’t earn it and can’t. We contribute nothing to our salvation. It’s all because of God’s grace.

God’s love in sending Jesus to die in our place is our great need. Our cure—our salvation—is God-given, God-empowered, and God-originated. 1 John 4:10 says, It is not our love for God; it is God’s love for us in sending His Son to be the way to take away our sins…[by dying on the cross.]

In 2007, John Piper preached the funeral for his father, William S. H. Piper. What’s really cool is John preached a sermon his dad had preached years before. It had three key words: Saved, Safe and Satisfied.

Saved

Getting people lost is much harder than getting them saved. People don’t think they need to be saved. We must be saved or we’re unprepared for death. Acts 16:31: Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

The only way to be prepared is by believing in the Lord Jesus, that He died to pay for your sin and committing your life to Him. Are you ready?

Safe

When you put your trust in Christ, you’re safe forever. God preserves those who profess His name. Our safety rests on God’s promise. A Christian isn’t perfect. The mark of a Christian is that we grieve over sin. It’s shows that we have the Holy Spirit and are members of God’s Forever Family.

Satisfied 

We resolve every day that Christ will be our supreme satisfaction. The psalmist prayed in Psalm 90:14, Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Satisfy us with Your love, not with the stuff of this life and world.

C.S. Lewis said those who prefer this world to eternity with Christ are like children making mud pies in the slums. They can’t imagine what a vacation at the sea is like.

We need God’s grace. When you fully trust Him, you have all that God is and all He has. Because He’s God, He’s all you need and more. There’s no corner of your life He can’t fill, no problem He can’t solve, no need He can’t supply. In Christ we’re saved, safe and satisfied. Trusting Him means joy. Failure to trust Him means judgment. Now is the time to accept him. Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart.

4. A tent-perspective is essential for a preparation mentality.

The real you lives within a body like a camper lives in a tent. When you look at me, you only see the “outer me,” but there’s also an “inner me.” That inner person is our soul. President Woodrow Wilson’s favorite limerick was: I know how ugly I are; I know my face ain’t no star; But I don’t mind it; cause I’m behind it; It’s the others who get the jar.

Your body wears out and eventually dies. 

Paul wrote of this tent being destroyed, a reference to death. We all have one thing in common; our tents aren’t permanent. Everyone must deal with the reality of death.

A pastor was trying to press this home to his congregation and said, “One day, every member of this church is going to die!” A young boy in the front row started laughing. The pastor repeated it. “I said, one day, every member of this church is going to die!” Again, the boy laughed out loud. The irritated pastor said, “Son, what’s so funny about that?” The boy said, “I’m not a member of this church!” He may not have been a member, but he was still going to die one day.

Your spirit endures forever. 

Your spirit is the innermost part of your personhood. The essence of who we are is our spirit. We spend lots of time, money, and attention on our bodies, but Jesus warned, What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? While your “tent” grows weaker, your spirit can be growing more and more renewed.

Death is leaving everything in this world behind. 

This photo is the desk of Albert Einstein the day he died on April 18, 1955. Seeing it made me think about death and its impact on our daily plans, goals, and what we’ll leave behind. When we die, all things stop. Suddenly, we’re gone. All of our efforts stop, and all of our belongings go to others.

What do you value? What are your prized possessions? Your house, a car, a boat…some antique. There’s something very sobering about an estate sale. It was all someone’s property, but they left it ALL behind. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal (Matthew 6:19).

Death is leaving this tent to be with Jesus. 

The best description of the death of a Christian is found in 2 Corinthians 5:8, Away from the body and at home with the Lord. At the point of death, our body quits functioning, but our spirit immediately goes to be with Jesus. Death for a Christian is transferring from a temporal world to eternal life with Christ.  

Paul wrote to Timothy, The time of my departure is at hand (2 Timothy 4:6). Departure was used to describe a soldier breaking camp, folding up his tent to move on to another assignment. For the Christian, death is not some ominous prospect. It’s something we can face with as much confidence as we have when we walk out of one room and into another. It means that we must live in preparation because this life is not our destination.  

Conclusion

What about you? Are you living in preparation for the real world or living like this short life is your final destination?

Tent Obsession means it becomes normal to focus on a dying, hopeless world. It becomes so familiar that when someone suggests we’re wrong, we become irritated. We despise the messenger because we reject the message.

Early in the 18^th century, a British admiral with the imposing name of Sir Cloudesley Shovell found himself enveloped in a blanket of fog that didn’t lift for twelve days. He was leading home a fleet of five British warships that had battled the French fleet near Gibraltar and won a series of battles. But now they were in grave danger. Somewhere in the fog were the Scilly Isles. If they didn’t turn east at the proper time, the ships would be wrecked on their rocky shores. But how could they determine their position?

18^th century navigators knew how to calculate latitude, but longitude remained an unsolved mystery. The fog made any visual sighting impossible.

Sir Shovell’s navigators conferred and announced their conclusion: they were safely west of any major danger. The news brought a great relief to the sailors. But one of the crew members dared to approach Admiral Shovell with a dissenting opinion. He’d been keeping his own navigational journal and was convinced the officers were wrong. If their location was what he thought it was, they were in great danger. This sailor’s act took a lot of courage. In the rigid class system of the Royal Navy of that day, private navigation was considered subversive. Officers, not humble crewmen, did that work. But if the man was right, the fleet was in imminent danger. 

Sir Shovell wasn’t convinced. He immediately ordered the sailor hung for mutiny. He should have listened. Within hours, 4 of the 5 warships were shipwrecked, taking 2,000 men to a watery grave, including Sir Shovell.

Our world is headed toward the rocks. It has a destination mentality. God’s Word urges us to have a preparation mentality. But our world says anyone with a preparation mentality is crazy, that this world is all there is. Too many of us are listening and throwing away our lives. The Bible is the only accurate navigational tool. It’s essential for a preparation mentality. How can we make our short lives count? How can we have a preparation mentality?

We must rely on Scripture and have a working knowledge of it. 

Jesus shaped His life by Scripture. If we’re His followers, how can we rely on it less than He did? God’s Word is a certain map. It’s tempting to live for this world, do our own thing, live by feelings. That way always ends in disaster.

The greatest need in the Church today is to know God’s Word and live by it. It’s impossible to have the course of your life count by what you do not know. Are you consistently in the Word? Are you a student of God’s Word?

We must live a life of obedience to God’s Word. 

The goal of confidence and knowledge of the Word of God is conformity to the truths of the Bible. It doesn’t do any good to have the right map, unless you follow the map. It’s only God’s Word that outlines how to be a wise person and have a preparation mentality. James warns, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22).Are you seeking to live and apply God’s Word to your life?

We must invest in the eternal world. 

Hoarding treasures here is dumb. Jesus warns, Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal (Matthew 6:20). The Bible continually teaches that our real wealth and rewards are not in this dying world. If we invest wisely, it will be for heaven, in eternity. Do we really believe that?

Suppose you were a businessman working oversees for a few months and you made tremendous financial gains. Though you see many items you’d like to purchase, you know you’re not permitted to bring any foreign goods back to the States. So, would you fill your hotel room with expensive paintings, or high-priced furniture for temporary enjoyment? Or would you wisely wire the money back home so you can enjoy it for a longer duration when you return home? The answer is obvious.

The same principle applies to investing in eternity. It’s why we’re encouraging you to give and invest in Phase 2. Giving to the Lord is investing in the real world, in eternity. None of us can take it with us, but we can send it on ahead!

Jesus sees every way you choose to serve Him and will reward you with heavenly treasures that far exceed any treasures of this life. Every gift, every sacrifice you make for Jesus is going to be worth it! Please don’t settle for treasures that are temporary! Set your sights on the greater eternal treasures of heaven and passionately pursue them!

If you’ve been wasting your life, living for this world – Stop! Instead, start today, begin preparing for the real world. Read, study and obey God’s Word. Invest in eternity where you can’t lose it and it won’t depreciate. Ask God for wisdom, grace and strength to help you prepare for eternity, for a final building in heaven, not the temporary tent of this life.