Temporary Housing (Sunday, June 26th, 2022. Worship in the Park with Central Christian Church)

 OT Lesson: Exodus 25:1-9 (CEB)

The Lord said to Moses: Tell the Israelites to collect gift offerings for me. Receive my gift offerings from everyone who freely wants to give. These are the gift offerings that you should receive from them: gold, silver, and copper; blue, purple, and deep red yarns; fine linen; goats’ hair; rams’ skins dyed red; beaded leather; acacia wood; oil for the lamps; spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet-smelling incense; gemstones; and gems for setting in the priest’s vest and chest piece. They should make me a sanctuary so I can be present among them. You should follow the blueprints that I will show you for the dwelling and for all its equipment.

NT Lesson: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (NRSV)

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. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling—if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For all of us must appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.

Children’s Story

Good morning. How are you doing today? Do you like the worship in the park? I do. I like the playground. I like the swimming pool. I like to play with friends. I didn’t grow up here in Lebanon. I was born and raised in a country called Korea. When I was young, I used to play with my neighbour friends until it became dark. We were running around the residential area, occupying all the streets, playing hide-and-seek, playing marbles, playing squid games and so. But when it got dark, my mum called me. My friends’ mums also called each of my friends. Then each of us went back to our homes, leaving everything behind. I once made a gorgeous sand castle. But as soon as my mum called me, I left it behind and went back home because I knew that the home was where the dinner was ready and that the home was better, nicer and safer. So you also play nice and well with your friends and when your mummy or daddy calls you, go home, be nice to your mummy and daddy, and listen to them. That is one way to make God happy.

Sermon 

Introduction

Good morning. I guess that half of you know me, and the other half don’t know me. The Presbyterians may know me. The disciples probably has never seen me before because I began the ministry at the Presbyterian church this month—not even a full month yet. So for the disciples, let me give some of the details about me. Don’t worry. I am not going to tell you all the details in my life. I am pastor Je. As you can hear, I am not from here. I was born and raised in South Korea, became a Christian when I was in the Korean army, came to North America—Canada first and then America. I am married and I have one son, four years old next month. I studied theology at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, then I served two Presbyterian Churches in southern Indiana. And now beginning of this month, I came to the First Presbyterian Church here in Lebanon. When you see an Asian guy in town, I believe 80 or 90 per cent chance that it would be me. So please say hi to me.

Temporary Housing Trouble

So couple months ago, the Presbyterians in town decided to call me. Then my wife and I began to search for a house only in vain. I don’t know right now but until a few months ago, the housing market was crazy. For example, someone in down South sold her house a few months ago. The realtor came and assess the house value as $200,000. The house was sold in two weeks at the price of $400,000 because very many people were bidding. The housing market was crazy and this was a story at a very rural town in southern Indiana. Here in Lebanon, it was possibly and probably worse. To begin with, there were not that many houses listed in the market, prices were going up daily basis with too many competition. So my wife and I decided to build a house with Ryan Homes in the north of the town. So it is under construction right now being built. I was told that the house will be ready to close and move in some time in Mid-August.

That means, I need a house meanwhile. My wife and I began to search for a temporary housing to stay for about three months, like a one-bedroom apartment, but again in vain. All the apartments in this town and in neighbouring towns like Whitestown or Zionsville require long-term commitment at least 12 months. Not having any housing here in town, my wife and my son stay in Mitchell, Indiana. And I came up by myself. My home is in Mitchell and my work is in Lebanon. The two towns are in the same state—Indiana, but it is kind of too far to commute everyday. One way is about 100 miles. It is kind of doable but definitely not desirable especially when the gas price is like this. For the first a few weeks, I stayed at the church office. I have the army training—I can sleep on the floor or on the streets with no problem. First night, I tried a cot. The Presbyterian Church is with a preschool and there are lots of cots for children. But I realised that it is too small for me. The next morning I woke up saying, ‘Lord, have mercy on my back.’ Since then I slept on the couch in the library. It is much better. Last week, a generous member of the Presbyterian church provided me his empty house for my temporary housing. So awesome, but it is not exactly like my home. Nothing wrong with the house. It is wonderful. It is because I am not completely settled there. I don’t have my desk or other pieces of my furniture there. My books are not there. Because it is a temporary housing, not my permanent home. I don’t want to move twice with all the furniture and everything. So even though it is wonderful and lovely house, I have a little bit of inconveniences only because it is a temporary housing.

Car Problem

And then two weeks ago, I was on my way home Sunday afternoon, driving down south on I-465. Then my car slowed down and eventually stopped in the middle of the interstate. I safely moved onto the shoulder before the complete stop. I called AAA for towing. They said, ‘We’ll be there in an hour.’ Forty-five minutes later, they called me and said, ‘We’ll be there in an hour.’ They called me couple more times and told me the same thing. I waited about four hours on the interstate. Anyway, the car is still at Bill Estes Chevrolet Service Centre here in Lebanon for two weeks. I used to have a big faith on American-made cars. My previous car was a Dodge Neon, which I rode over 300,000 miles without any repair. Maintenance I did like Engine oil change, transmission flush, changing wiper blades, getting new tires and so on, but no repair for over 300,000 miles. But now my Chevy broke down on 50,000 miles… Well, it is not that I lost all my faith on America-made cars, but my faith definitely got a little bit weaker. Anyway, as you know, having no car in America is like having no feet. The inconvenience is beyond description. I felt like that I was a fettered and chained prisoner. Thankfully another generous member of the Presbyterian Church lent me one of their cars. So I am OK now, but yet it is not exactly like having my own car. The thing is, if I had been already all moved into this town, it could have been OK even with the broken car, because I could have used my wife’s car. So in a word, all these inconveniences and the troubles I’ve been having are because I am not in my permanent home. It is all because I am on my temporary housing.

Other Troubles

I have other problems and troubles. Because I am soon going to move in here, quite a lot of my stuff are already packed in boxes. Now I cannot find the vacuum cleaner’s power cord. I have a vacuum but I cannot use it. I don’t know where my Nikon camera’s charger is. There many more things that I cannot find and remember in which box I had packed. Until I move into my permanent home and unpack everything, I will continue to have those inconveniences, troubles, and problems. It is all because I am not in my permanent home, but in a temporary housing.

Earthly Tent We Live in

Apostle Paul emphasises in today’s NT lesson that we are living in an earthly tent, in other words, we are living in a temporary housing. He continues writing that we groan with pains and troubles because we are living in a temporary housing. He is absolutely right. This world we are living in is nothing but a temporary housing. This body we have is also nothing but a temporary housing. And while living in this temporary housing, we have inconveniences, troubles, and problems. That is inevitable. We have hunger, sorrow, pains, tears, sufferings, stress, and so on. The Buddhists say that we have 108 different categories of sufferings. We all have those sufferings, both mental and physical, because we are not living in our permanent home but in a temporary housing.

In the Children’s story, I said that I used to have good and fun time with my friends on the streets. The streets in my town back then were not paved. I sometimes made wonderful sand castles. But whenever my mum called me, I left everything behind—even those amazing sand castles—and I went back home because my parents’ house is my permanent home, not the streets. In my permanent home, I found that the dinner was ready, bathtub was filled with hot water, and my bed was made nice and neat. That is my permanent home.

Temporary Thing Shall Be Replaced by Permanent Thing

In today’s OT lesson, God commanded Moses to build the tabernacle of the Lord. But the tabernacle was not a permanent thing. It was only temporary until the temple of God was built by Solomon. At some point, a temporary thing must end and go. When Solomon built the temple, the tabernacle ended and had gone. When the permanent thing comes, we don’t need a temporary thing any more. The Solomon’s temple was also temporary. Jesus Christ is the true and permanent temple of God. Jesus Christ came and he is among us. He is in our hearts, that we became the permanent temple of God. That is why we don’t need a temple in Jerusalem any more.

The famous psalm 23 is a beautiful poem by David and he ends it by singing, ‘I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.’ He is effectively saying that the house of the Lord or heaven is our true permanent home. That is our actual home, home sweet home. I told you that my home is being built in the north of the city. When the house is ready, I will move in there. Jesus says in the gospel of John that there are many mansions in our Father’s house. When our mansion is ready, God will call us and we will move into our true permanent home. There Jesus our Saviour will wipe every tear. There death will be no more. No more mourning, crying, nor pain. No more any kind of inconvenience, trouble, or problem because it is not a temporary housing but our true permanent home.

Conclusion

I told you that I moved into a temporary housing where I may stay for about two months. So because that is my temporary housing, can I trash it? I mean, this is not my permanent place. The answer is, of course not. It doesn’t matter if the house is permanent or temporary. I have to treasure it, instead of trashing it. This world is our temporary housing. That is, God entrusted and lent this world to us so that we can stay in and use it. It is our responsibility to take good care of it. It is our duty to love our country. It is our job to make our town better. So let us treasure this world, our temporary housing while we look and wait for our permanent home where we will live and stay forever with our Saviour and with our families and friends who moved in there ahead of us. And for that, let us all put our hope and faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.