"THE BUILDING OF GOD"
I. THE BIBLE TEACHES:
A. That the real you is spirit, not body.
1. "And God formed man out of the dust of the earth."
a. At that point he was just an inert body.
b. Marvelously designed to be sure, but like a statue with no life, just form.
2. Then God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.
a. The true you is your soul or spirit which lives in your body.
b. The body is likened to a tent which people in that country could relate to because of the bedouin's, those nomadic people who live in the wilderness with all of their interesting customs.
c. But a tent is never thought of as a permanent dwelling place.
d. They might pitch it here for a time then they fold it up and they move on.
e. You will live in your body for a time, then you will move on.
2. The body was intended by God to be the medium by which your spirit could communicate to others.
a. What I am, what I think, how I feel, I can communicate to you through the medium of this body. Were it not for my body I would have great difficulties trying to communicate to you this day.
b. You in turn communicate to me what you are, feel and think through the medium of your body.
c. As we communicate to each other we come to know and understand each other. We come to admire and to love one another, and this is God's purpose for us.
d. He wants us to have deep and loving relationships with each other and with Him.
3. God has designed special relationships.
a. The husband and wife relationship was the first, and most meaningful relationship God had ordained for us outside of our relationship with Him. And God said, "For this cause a man shall leave his mother and father and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This was the first relationship and God's purpose in this relationship was the perpetuation of the human race.
b. The command to Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
c. From this relationship there came the parent child relationship, and then brothers and sisters relationship.
d. Then the cousins, and aunts and uncles.
e. Then the grandparents and great grandparents.
f. All of these were intended to be rich and fulfilling.
B. The Bible teaches that one day your spirit will depart from your body, and your body will return to dust. God said to man, "Dust thou art, and to dust you shall return."
A. When the body through age, accident, disease, or some other malady can no longer fulfill the functions for which it was created, then God in His love will release your spirit from this body which has become in many cases a painful prison.
B. At that point, if you are a child of God, death is not a curse but a blessing. Paul said,
1CO 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1. As Paul cried, "O death, where is your sting, O grave where is your victory."
2. In our text he speaks of how we who are still living in these tents do groan, as we earnestly desire to move into our house which is in heaven.
3. Paul writing to the Philippians said, "I have mixed emotions, for I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better, yet I feel that I am still needed here for your sakes."
C. The Bible teaches that when this earthly tent is dissolved, or returns to dust, that we have a building of God not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
A. Jesus said to His disciples, "In my Fathers house are many mansions, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go I will come again to receive you unto Myself, that where I am there you may be also."
1. When I was a child, I used to picture some great mansion or castle that some angel would lead me to, with a beautiful kitchen, family room and bedrooms setting on several acres of land with a stream running by.
2. I have come to believe that what Jesus was talking about was this building of God, not made with hands that is eternal in the heavens, my new body.
3. I do not believe that the new bodies will need sleep, thus no need for bedrooms.
4. I do not know if we will need bathrooms or kitchens.
B. All I really know is that the new body will be perfect it will not experience any pain, or suffering or illness of any form. There will be no crying or sorrow.
II. PAUL SAID THAT HE EARNESTLY GROANED BECAUSE OF HIS DESIRE TO MOVE INTO HIS NEW HOUSE IN HEAVEN.
A. In
Romans 8 Paul speaks of the whole creation groaning and travailing together in pain, and we also as we wait for the redemption of our bodies.
1. This body is still in an unredeemed state. My body has certain strong desires which in and of themselves are not evil, for they were created by God.
2. One of these strong drives is the sex drive which was created by God for the perpetuation of the human race.
3. It was not intended by God to be a toy to play with indiscriminately for pleasure and excitment. To do that would be a perversion and misuse of this beautiful gift.
a. It was intended to be a beautiful bond enjoyed by a man and a woman who had committed their lives to each other as long as they both lived. And by this union, the two should become one flesh. As I look at my beautiful children, I realize that they are half me and half Kay, in them we are one flesh.
b. Many men and women throughout history have sought to cast aside the commandments of God and misused the gifts of God, but never without dire consequences.
c. They often mocked the prophets of God who warned them of the repercussions of discarding God's rules.
d. Ignorant man thought that he was wiser than God and knew better than God what was good for him. He thought that he had the right to do with his body whatever felt good.
e. As we read history, we read of the disastrous results of man mocking God. The pain, tragedy, sorrow, grief and misery that it has brought to the human race.
B. We cannot imagine how glorious our new bodies are going to be and speculation is always vain.
1. Paul shared that his short visit into paradise was so glorious that no words could describe it, and it would be a crime to try to depict it in human language.
2. I have received this body which is a hand me down, with all of the inherent defects of my ancestry. The genes have built in deficiencies over which I have no control.
3. It is a far cry from the body that God created for Adam which had such a pure gene pool that it was able to last over nine hundred years.
4. My new body will come directly from God, Paul calls it a building of God not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
III. FOR A TIME, GOD SEES FIT TO LEAVE US HERE IN OUR TENTS, BUT HIS ULTIMATE DESIRE AND PURPOSE FOR US, IS TO BE WITH HIM.
A. As Jesus said, "I'm going to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, then I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be also."
1. One of these days Jesus is coming, as He promised for me.
2. Now I know that as long as I am still living in this tent, I am absent from the Lord.
3. Paul said that he was confident and willing rather to be absent from this body that he might be present with the Lord.
B. What then is death to the one who has put his faith and trust in Jesus Christ?
1. Moving day.
2. Moving out of a ragged tent, into a gorgeous mansion, in an environment so pure as to be indescribable.
3. It is coming home to my Father's house, and as David said, "And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, forever."
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
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Use SBL Abbrev.
