The ESV Study Bible has the following note on the greater context of 2Co 4:1-6:13

Paul's Encouragement in His Ministry. Paul explains why, despite his life of affliction as an apostle of Christ, he does not lose heart in his ministry (2Co 4:1, 16, 5:6). He then goes on to define further (2Co 5:11-6:2) and support (2Co 6:3-13) the message and character of the new covenant ministry itself (ESV Online Study Bible Crossway - free if you buy a written copy of the ESV Study Bible)

Now let's look at the more immediate context...

THE CONTEXT:
2Corinthians 5:1-8

2Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if the earthly tent (Greek = skenos = temporary residence = figuratively our physical body, temporary dwelling places even as a "tent" is temporary, cp similar allusions in Jn 1:14 verb form skenoo = tabernacled", 2Pe 1:14KJV-note- noun skenoma = tent, tabernacle) which is our house (our spirit and soul lives in the house, our body) is torn down (euphemism for "falling asleep" or dying), we have a building from God (allusion to our glorified body, discussed below 2Co 5:4 and more fully in 1Co 15:51, 52, 53, 54, 36-50), a house not made with hands (our glorified, resurrection body, cp Mk 14:58, Jn 2:19, 21), eternal (in contrast to the temporal state of our earthly bodies) in the heavens (in the best place, the abode of God! With the Lord forever 1Th 4:17-note).
2Corinthians 5:2 For indeed in this house (our physical body) we groan (stenazo - because of the burden of sin in these physical bodies which brings about a), longing (epipotheo - describes earnest desiring and present tense = continually yearning) to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven (our glorified resurrection body - 1Jn 3:2-note, the final phase of the redemption of our body - Ro 8:23-note);
2Corinthians 5:3 inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked (In eternity we will not be bodiless spirits - Note that the saints now in heaven are awaiting their glorified resurrection bodies at the Rapture vs Second Coming. I cannot find a Scripture which definitely describes the character of what I will call the "intermediate state", but we know that Moses and Elijah appeared at the Transfiguration and were clearly recognizable by Peter Mt 17:3,4 and Jesus' post-resurrection bodily appearances - Jn 20:19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29).
2Corinthians 5:4 For indeed while we are in this tent (temporary bodies), we groan (because of the presence of sin and the continual spiritual conflict between Spirit versus the flesh [Ga 5:17-note], and consequently a groaning for glory, a longing for Jesus to return and to receive his resurrected, glorified body), being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal (our present physical life) may be swallowed up (all aspects of their old "mortality" -pain, sin, etc) by life (eternal life in Christ, Who is our life, cp Php 3:20, 21-note).
2Corinthians 5:5 Now He who prepared (katergazomai - carefully fashioned) us for this very purpose is God (MacArthur - "believers obtain their glorified bodies in fulfillment of God’s sovereign plan from all eternity, bound up in His elective decree...God’s ultimate purpose in salvation is not justification but glorification"), Who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge (Greek = arrabon [word study] - Paul explains how we can be confident that God will indeed give us glorified bodies. Cp Ep 1:13, 14-note. His earnest, first installment or "down payment" to be fulfilled in our future glorified body. Pledge also pictures an engagement ring, which is appropriate for the Church is the Bride, awaiting the return of her Bridegroom Christ Jesus - see Second Coming; This verse also strongly argues against a believer losing their salvation!).
2Corinthians 5:6 Therefore (points back to the foundational truths Paul expressed in 2Co 5:1-5 and lead to good courage in face of death), being (present tense-he continually faced death with confidence and we can too!) always of good courage, and knowing (intuitive knowing, that inner assurance given by the Holy Spirit - cp Ro 8:16-note) that while we are at home in the body (idiomatic way to refer to our physical bodies here on earth) we are absent from the Lord (In a physical sense, for spiritually He is in us [Col 1:27-note, Ro 8:9-note) and always with us [He 13:5-note])--
2Corinthians 5:7 for we walk (peripateo - present tense = we continually conduct ourselves or live our lives) by faith (He 11:1-note; Greek = pistis), not (absolute negation = "absolutely not") by sight-- (This is Paul's "simple secret" [albeit not always so simple in practice!] of how we as believers can experience fellowship with the invisible God [cp He 11:24, 25, 26-note, He 11:27-note] and abundant life in Christ (Jn 10:10b), while still in these decaying physical bodies [cp 2Co 4:16, 17, 18 - Faith "looks" at the unseen, the eternal!])
2Corinthians 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer (resolved, pleased, take delight or pleasure) rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Comment: MacArthur writes: The reality of death faces every believer who dies before the Lord raptures the church (Ed: cp 1Th 4:13, 14-note, 1Th 4:15, 16-note, 1Th 4:17, 18-note). Those who look forward to receiving their glorified bodies, to the perfections of life in heaven, to the fulfillment of God’s purpose for them, and to living forever in His presence will be able to say triumphantly with Paul, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1Co 15:55). (MacArthur, J. 2 Corinthians. Page170. Chicago: Moody)

Therefore (dio) is a term of conclusion in which Paul is saying in view of the truths in 2Co 5:1-8 concerning our guarantee (God's trustworthy pledge = 2Co 5:5) of a future eternal glorified body we will receive after we leave our earthly body. Recall that every religion, philosophy or creed other than Christianity has grappled unsuccessfully with the inevitability of death [and taxes], so this is quite a triumphant "therefore" sounded forth by the apostle Paul! May all God's people shout "Therefore" and walk accordingly!

WHAT'S YOUR AMBITION DURING
YOUR BRIEF STAY UPON EARTH?

Whenever I ponder my answer to this question, God's timeless wise words to Baruch come to mind...

"Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh", saith the LORD, "but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest." (Je 45:5KJV)

Comment: Baruch (see ISBE entry #1) was a young man of good birth and great promise who left that behind to fulfill his life purpose by serving the Lord through his assistance to Jeremiah in his divinely appointed prophetic call (Je 1:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10). As a result, not only did the Jehovah spare his life when all the others who had fled into Egypt were losing theirs (cp Mt 16:25, Mk 8:35), but his name has been known and honored by God's people every generation since. And, of course Jesus promised far more to those with a God saturated vision and ambition

"Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life."  (Lk 18:29,30, cp Lk 14:26, 27, 33,  Mk 8:36, 37, et al).

Beloved, may Paul's ambition to be pleasing to the Living God, prompt each of us to take a moment and ponder what will be the eternal fruit of our present ambitions, for as God reminds us our...

"days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so (we flourish). When the wind has passed over it, it is no more; and its place acknowledges it no longer." (Ps 103:15) "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever." (Isa 40:8) (cp Eph 5:16-notes; Consider reading John Piper's online book Don't Waste Your Life or the online sample of Life As A Vapor)

William Bridge gives us a good reminder of the danger of selfish ambition advising us to

Seek not great things for yourself in this world, for if your garments be long they will make you stumble.

Have ambition (5389) (philotimeomai [word study] from philos = friend, loved + time = honor) means literally to be fond of honour, to be actuated by love of honor and hence to strive or seek for honour and hence to be ambitious.  In later Greek it came to denote restless eagerness in any pursuit, hence, "to strive eagerly, to be zealous." Philotimeomai thus evolved to picture one who was to earnestly aspire to something, implying strong ambition for the goal in view. The emphasis is on yearning that a particular thing will be accomplished and fully give oneself to do the task. The present tense emphasizes that Paul's goal was to continually conduct himself in a manner that pleased his Lord and Master.

Philotimeomai - "desire earnestly", "Make it one's aim" (Plummer)

The 2Cor 5:9KJV is somewhat misleading suggesting that we need to "labor" so that "we may be accepted by Him." Paul is not suggesting that believers must "labor" to be "accepted" by Christ but as rendered in the other versions means that we are to have as our highest ambition the earnest desire to please Christ (cp 2Ti 2:4-note).

Plummer comments that philotimeomai...

in meaning and construction is thus equivalent to spoudazein (spoudazo) (1Th 2:16, Gal 2:10, Ep 4:3, 2Ti 2:15)."We make it a point of honor" is a translation which looks neat, but is not preferable to "desire earnestly" or "make it our aim" (Plummer -ICC on 2Corinthians)

Philotimeomai - 3x in 3v - Both of the other NT uses also describe godly ambition...

Ro 15:20-note And thus I aspired (KJV = strived) to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build upon another man's foundation;

1Th 4:11-note and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you;

Our ambition - KJV = "We labor".  Bengel describes this ambition (2Co 5:9) as “the sole legitimate ambition.” (una ambitio legitima). Let us not play at Christianity as we would the popular game called "Trivial Pursuit", but let us devote ourselves, ambitiously, zealously to the cause of Christ! There is no better and more profitable way to pass our short time on this earth which John says is also passing away and even its lustful desires (1Jn 2:17-note).

Normally one would not think "ambition" a good thing in a life initiated and daily enabled by grace (undeserved divine favor and divine power- 2Co 12:9-note), for as Thomas Adams once said "Ambition, like the grave, is never full." Paul however elevates the meaning of ambition from the normal selfish, fleshly ambitions that drive fallen men to seek to be number one (someone has well said the "number 1" is "next to nothing"! Pun intended!) and instead uses it to refer to a "holy ambition". Here are two good tests for us to follow as we seek to live a life pleasing to God. (1) Will it make others stumble? (2) Will I be ashamed if Jesus should return?

So many in the Western World (and yes, even genuine believers) bow low to the god "mammon" (cp Mt 6:24KJV-note) and have as their life ambition to achieve worldly riches (albeit transient) rather than the eternal riches found only in a knowledge of and relationship with Christ (Col 2:3-note, Mt 6:21-note), and will one day (believers = 2Co 5:10-note) painfully, regretfully understand from their experience the truth of the proverb which says...

Do not weary yourself to gain wealth. Cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings. Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. (Pr 23:4, 5) ("Amen" or "O my!") (cp He 13:5-note)

Adam Clarke elaborates on the sense in which Paul used the verb to have ambition explaining that as...

we act at all times on the principles of honour; we are, in the proper sense of the word, ambitious to do and say every thing consistently with our high vocation: and, as we claim kindred to the inhabitants of heaven, to act as they do. (Adam Clarke Commentary)

Kistemaker adds that...

Whether believers are in or out of the body does not matter, for their aim (Ed: "ambition") is to please the Lord....Paul is not addressing those who have died and are with the Lord. He is speaking to the readers who are alive. He is exhorting us to serve the Lord in such a manner that both God and our fellow men always take pleasure in our conduct (Ro 14:18-note; Heb 13:21-note). (Baker New Testament Commentary - Exposition of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. 1997)

At home (1736) (endemeo from en = in + demos = the mass of people assembled in a public place) literally means to stay at home. In context Paul is referring to our physical body idiomatically meaning we are still living in our physical bodies on earth. Paul has just used this same verb in 2Cor 5:6...

Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord (brief note)

Endemeo - 3x in 3v - 2 Cor 5:6, 8, 9.

Absent (1553) (ekdemeo from ek = from or out of + demos = originally a “divided portion,” the division of a people or territory, the people as inhabitants of a land or city) originally described movement from a geographic location and was used in Greek with the meaning of to leave one's country or take a long journey. The Jewish historian Josephus writes that "Elisha the prophet, at that time, was gone out of his own country to Damascus".  To leave. To be in exile. To be absent from a place where one normally belongs.

Ekdemeo - 3x in 3v - 2 Cor 5:6, 8, 9.

Moulton and Milligan -  Greek secular uses - “but if we change our residence, or go abroad, we shall give notice,”  “that no time be lost in his departure”

Louw and Nida - ekdemeo ek to somatos = an idiom, literally ‘to leave home from the body’.

Pleasing (2101) (euarestos [word study] from eu = good, well + arestos = pleasing, desirable, proper, fit, agreeable from arésko = to please or be pleasing/acceptable to)  means that which causes someone to be pleased. It is something which is well approved, eminently satisfactory, or extra-ordinarily pleasing.

Euarestos - 9x in 9v - Ro 12:1, 2; 14:18; 2 Cor 5:9; Eph 5:10; Phil 4:18; Col 3:20; Titus 2:9; Heb 13:21. NAS = acceptable(3), pleasing(3), well-pleasing(3).

And so we see that it is pleasing to the Lord when we present our bodies to Him as living sacrifices (Ro 12:1). He is also well pleased (Ro 14:18-note) when we live so as to help others (Ro 14:19-note) and avoid causing them to stumble (Ro 14:20-note),  when we do not participate in but even expose the unfruitful deeds of darkness (Ep 5:10-note, Ep 5:11-note), when we bring our offerings to Him (Php 4:18-note), when children submit to their parents (Col 3:20-note), and when we permit Jesus Christ to work out His perfect will in our lives (He13:20, 21-note).

Note also Paul's use of euarestos in Titus 2:9-note where he charges bondservants (doulos [word study]) to submit themselves to the will of their master in all things so that they might be well-pleasing to their masters. We as believers also have a Master, but ours is in heaven, which makes Paul's charge even more pressing for all who call Jesus "Lord" (kurios [word study])!

Paul instructed young Timothy in how to be pleasing to our Lord

Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. (2Ti 2:3, 4-note)

And Paul did not ask of Timothy what he had not modeled writing...

For we (Paul, Silas, Timothy, 1Th 1:1 - note) speak as messengers who have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He is the one who examines the motives of our hearts. (1Th 2:4 - NLT - note)

Wiersbe reminds us that...

 There is an ambition that is selfish and worldly, but there is also a holy ambition that honors the Lord. Paul's great ambition was to be well-pleasing to Jesus Christ. The Judaizers ministered to please men and enlisted them in their cause; but Paul ministered to please Jesus Christ alone (Gal 1:10). A man-pleasing ministry is a carnal, compromising ministry; and God cannot bless it.

Paul's service on earth was carried out so that it would bring pleasure to the heart of his Lord, whether he was still on earth or whether he was standing before the Judgment Seat of Christ. To be well pleasing was Paul’s highest goal, and should be the goal of every believer.

Whatever you do
Do all to the glory of God.
1Corinthians 10:31

Adam Clarke...

Through the love we have to God, we study and labour to please Him. This is and will be our heaven, to study to love, please, and serve Him from Whom we have received both our being and its blessings. (Adam Clarke Commentary)

Whatever we do,
it is because Christ's love controls us.
2Corinthians 5:14

F B Meyer in his book Five Musts of the Christian Life describes the 4th "must" as THE "MUST" OF SERVICE -

"And He must needs go through Samaria" (John 4:4). GOD is prepared to undertake the direction of every human life which is placed at His disposal. The question of guidance is therefore of imperative importance for each living soul, as it passes out into this mortal life. Since God says, "All souls are mine," (Ezek 18:4) He must have, therefore, a distinct purpose for each, and sends each out with resources within reach sufficient to supply all its need (1Pe 4:10, 11-note), according to His riches in Christ Jesus (Php 4:19-note). It may even be that before the soul joins the body, it stands before its Maker to receive its directory or charge. Our Lord at least said: "To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world" (Jn 18:37). At the close of our earth-life we shall again stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of the things done in the body, whether good or bad (2Co 5:10).

The Greek word in Ephesians 2:10-note, translated workmanship, might be transferred bodily into our language as poem. We might therefore read the verse thus,

We are His poem, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before prepared that we should walk in them.

Nothing can give us more confidence as we look out on our life than that God is not only prepared to unfold His program for us, but is also prepared "to make all grace abound towards us, that we, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work" (2Co 9:8). He will not only supply seed to the sower, but will also be responsible for his food! Thus our lives will become enriched to all liberality, which shall elicit from many hearts, thanksgiving to God.

One Saturday afternoon, Dr. Gunsaulus of Chicago was preparing for his sermon on the following day. While thus engaged, his nephew, a flippant, careless fellow, rather lightly asked him the topic on which he was preparing to preach. He learned that it was on those words of our Lord:

'To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world.'

Rather jauntily he said: "What do you think I was born for?"

His uncle replied: "I don't know," and his nephew answered, "Neither do I."

As he went along the street, he came to a theatre which had caught fire, while crowded with people, and many were being crushed and trampled to death by the mad rush for the door. The young fellow at once threw off his coat, and began dragging out body after body of these people, some dead and others dying, till he was stricken by a burning timber, knocked almost senseless, and carried to the nearest hospital.

Dr. Gunsaulus reached his bedside just in time to hear him say: "Uncle, for this cause I was born, and for this I was sent into the world, that I might save those ten people." (Ed: I cannot help but think of Jude's command [present imperative] to continually be about the business of saving others, snatching them out of the fire! [Jude 1:23])

There was a tragedy there, that none of us ever wish to meet. But, what a comfort it will be at last, to feel that we have glorified Christ's name and have finished the work which He gave us to do. (F. B. Meyer. Five Musts of the Christian Life)

LIVE A LIFE
OF
"HOLY AMBITION"!

F B Meyer (Our Daily Walk) Devotional on 2Co 5:9...

THERE IS scope for ambition within the sphere of the Christian Faith, and to be without it is to miss an influential incentive to high and holy endeavour. Our Lord does not destroy any natural faculty, but directs it to a worthy object. Instead of living for material good, or the applause of the world, we must stir ourselves to seek those things which are the legitimate objects of holy ambition. In two other passages the Apostle Paul uses this same word (philotimeomai). 1Th 4:11-note; Ro 15:20-note

There is the ambition of daily toil-

"Be ambitious to be quiet, to do your own business, to work with your own hands." (1Th 4:11-note)

In the age in which the Apostles lived there was much unrest, and in the case of the Christian Church this was still further increased by the expectation of the approaching end of the world; many were inclined to surrender their ordinary occupations, and give themselves up to restlessness and excitement, all of which was prejudicial to the regular ordering of their homes and individual lives, But the injunction is that we are not to yield to the ferment of restlessness; we are not to be disturbed by the feverishness around us, whether of social upheavals or for pleasure or gain.

The ambition to be well-pleasing to Christ.

At His judgment-seat (2Co 5:10) He will weigh up the worth of our individual mortal life, and He is doing so day by day. Not only when we pass the threshold of death, but on this side, our Lord is judging our character and adjudicating our reward. Let us strive to be as well-pleasing to Him in this life, as we hope to be in the next.

The ambition of Christian work--

"Being ambitious to preach the Gospel." - (Ro 15:20-note)

The great world lies open to us, many parts of it still unevangelized; and all around us in our own country are thousands, among the rich and poor, who have no knowledge of Christ. Let us make it our ambition to bring them to Him, always remembering that the things we do for Christ must be that which He works through us in the power of the Holy Spirit (Ro 15:18-note, Ro 15:19-note).

PRAYER -Give us grace, O Lord, to work while it is day, fulfilling diligently and patiently whatever duty Thou appointest us; doing small things in the day of small things, and great labours if Thou summon us to any; rising and working, sitting still and suffering, according to Thy word. AMEN.

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Ray Pritchard in his comments on 1Peter 1:17-note (Living in the Fear of God) has some interesting thoughts that should motivate us to align our present earthly ambitions with those of Paul here in 2Co 5:9...

1Pet 1:17 (note) reminds us that we call on a Father who judges impartially. To call God our Father is a comfort. To say that He is our judge isn’t quite so comforting. Note the present tense. God is judging you and me at this very moment. And because He is God, He judges impartially. The word means without a mask (aprosopoleptos [word study]). When God judges, He sees right through the little masks we put on to make ourselves look better to others. God isn’t fooled.

And He judges us according to our works. That concept troubles some people. “Aren’t we saved by faith?” Yes, we are. We are saved by faith, but we are judged by our works. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that since you are saved by faith, your life doesn’t matter. During the last presidential debates, one of the candidates reminded us that faith without works is dead. He was quoting Jas 2:26-note. It was a good quote, and rightly used. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6-note), and the faith that pleases God will always produce a life of good works.

As Christians, our works will be judged, not to determine our eternal destiny, but to determine our rewards in heaven. The sad part about that is that some people will discover in that day that they wasted their life on earth. Because they built with “wood, hay and stubble,” they will see their life burn up before them. Others will discover that because they built with “gold, silver and precious stones,” their life will stand the test of God’s fiery gaze at the Judgment Seat of Christ (see 1Co 3:11, 12, 13, 14, 15). No Christian will escape the searching gaze of the Lord Jesus Christ. All roads lead to the Judgment Seat of Christ.

What should we fear? We should fear living as though we don’t believe in God at all. When we give in to anger, rage, malice, greed or lust, we are living as if we don’t believe in God. When we turn to pornography to satisfy our lust, when we let hurtful words fly out of our mouth, when we defraud each other, when we seek revenge, when we lie about one another, when we forget the hurting people around us while hoarding up treasure for ourselves, when we have to be Number One and win every argument, every game, every competition, when we cannot lose gracefully and with dignity, we are living as if we don’t believe in God. When we complain about how persecuted we are, when we moan about how hard we have it, when we gossip about how easy someone else has it, we are living as if we don’t believe in God. At that moment, we are practical atheists even though we may go to church every Sunday.

In thinking about this principle, the words of a children’s song came to mind:

Oh, be careful little hands what you do.
Oh, be careful little hands what you do.
For the Father up above is looking down in love.