North Star News 07-25-2013

This month the church where I preach in Karlstad is getting a make-over: new shingles, new siding, some new windows, and a new main door with the hope that it will continue to be a beautiful house of worship a hundred years from now.  The current building that houses our congregation was built in the same year I was born.  Over the years both of us have had to have some repairs to keep us functioning, but I am confident that this house of worship will still be standing with a steeple raising the cross over Karlstad long after I have been laid to rest.  Despite being blessed with good health my whole adult life, I know that the time is coming when it will not be so.  It happens to all of us sooner or later.

In 2^nd Corinthians 5:1 St. Paul wrote, “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”  Paul was a tent maker by trade, so he knew what he was talking about.  Many times he had repaired a tent and made it usable again, but he knew there came a time when the old canvas could not be mended anymore, and it was necessary to toss it away.  In this passage he speaks of a human being as housed in a body.  This body can be a beautiful thing which should be shown the utmost care and respect.  In 1^st Corinthians 6:19 he wrote, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?”  But as vigorous and vibrant as any body might be, it inevitably deteriorates over the years until the time comes when it cannot be repaired any more.  The promise of the Gospel is that through faith in Jesus Christ and his atoning death on the cross, human beings can be assured of a new home in heaven which is eternal and incorruptible.

There is a beautiful story about the sixth president of the United States which is based on this passage of scripture.  When John Quincy Adams was 81 years of age he was met on the street by a friend who said, “Good morning.  How is John Quincy Adams today?”  This aged former president, whose hair was silver white, replied.  “Thank you.  John Quincy Adams is well, quite well, thank you.  But the house in which he lives is becoming a bit dilapidated.  I think John Quincy Adams will have to move out pretty soon; but he himself is quite well indeed.”

St. Paul wrote in 2^nd Corinthians 4:16, “So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day.  For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”  So if your house is getting a bit dilapidated, cheer up.  There is a beautiful new home waiting for you, just as Jesus promised in John 14:1-7.  Consider singing the chorus of a great old song by Stuart Hamblin:

“But, I ain't gonna need this house no longer
Ain't gonna need this house no more
Ain't got time to fix the shingles
Ain't got time to fix the floor
Ain't got time to oil the hinges
Or to mend no window pane
Ain't gonna need this house no longer
I'm a-gettin' ready to meet the saints.”