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May 11, 2003 |
"Heavenly Joy" Series |
Pastor Brian Shimer
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"Our Heavenly Home"
Hebrews 11: 1-16; Zephaniah 3:20
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Last week we had the Senior Luncheon here at the church with some 75 seniors from
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the area here -- every seat was filled. It was a great time. All the food prepared was from the church cookbook, and many purchased copies from the UMW.
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One woman said, "It smells so good I could buy a cookbook while I am standing in line!"
"That can be arranged," I replied, and came back with several in my hand and sold them.
Each time the women sponsor this outreach to the senior citizens of this area, Leslee Sipp coordinates some sort of program. We have had children doing skits and dances, choirs singing, and this time the 6th Grade band played. They walked here carrying instruments and music stands. Some were exhausted by the time they arrived.
Mr Nadj said, "I thought one little girl was going to have to just sit down by the side of the road and await our return she was becoming so weary, saying, 'Mr Nadj, I don't think I can make it!'"
They played four numbers and then Brittany Jones, who had sung for our National Day of Prayer time on the first, sang "God Bless America" for the Seniors. They loved it!
Before the band played, they tuned up. You know the tune up: that cacophony of squeaks, toots, and moans as the instruments are tuned to play. After tuning they played this four part, quite unique Dinosaur Suite. They were trying very hard. And their music did sound much better than the warm up.
The tune up is necessary in any concert, but it is nothing to compare with the actual concert.
As we think about heaven, it is good to remember, you and I are living in the tune up of an orchestra. The instruments are just being tuned while on earth. The real concert is in heaven, in that long tomorrow.
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II. | As Christians we are being prepared for that long concert.
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Such was the example given by all these ancestors in Hebrews 11. They lived their earthly lives with confidence in that long tomorrow. They lived, the text says, "by faith".
To live by faith, the Word says, is to demonstrate with actions the unseen reality of God in our lives. Abel showed his trust in God with his worship-- he had faith in God's pleasure in his action.
Enoch lived by faith just by walking with God daily;
Noah's action was to obey God and build an Ark to protect 8 people in all from the flood, when in his 500 years Noah had never seen rain, nor flood, nor a body of water large enough for the boat he was building;
And Abraham when called by God to leave his home country and go to the land God would show him, went.
From this passage of Scripture it was not "what" they did that mattered so much as "how" they did it. All actions were done as an expression in their reliance upon God. It was God they trusted. God was pleased for they placed their lives upon Him.
These ancients prove false that one can be so heavenly minded he is no earthly good, for they lived their lives focused on heaven and yet achieved place in God's Hall of Fame!
Scripture calls us to such a heavenly focus in Colossians 3:1-3:
"Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Why does Scripture ask us to be heavenly minded? It calls us to this perspective, because we have died to earthly things by accepting Christ and our lives are now hidden with Christ in God.
So what are we focusing on when we "set our hearts and minds on things above"?
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1. By looking at the ancients we see they were focused on a permanent residence.
Abraham and his children lived in tents to show they were on earth just a short time. we too live in tents, the tents of our bodies. these are temporary and imperfect dwellings for us until we are able to have the solid resurrected bodies of heaven.
For Abraham he "was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."
For us, we are looking forward to the same thing.
Jesus told us I go to prepare a place for you.
In heaven we will belong.
In heaven there will be joy like we can only briefly taste here.
In heaven there will be no handicapping conditions --
The blind will see, the lame leap, the deaf hear, the mute shout
The blind hymn writer Fanny Crosby said, "Do not pity me for my blindness, for the first face I ever see will be the face of my Lord Jesus."
There will be
No sin, no evil, no rape, no abuse, no murder, no drugs, no drunkenness,
no bombs, no terrorists. No miscommunication, no misunderstanding.
And think of what heaven will mean to the mentally handicapped, who will wake up in heaven to great powers of understanding and learning. Who will be as free in their minds as those who were crippled on earth will be free in their bodies.
The problems of earth will be as a distant dream. The light and glory of heaven will be rich and fulfilling. So how do we look forward to this?
By thinking about your mansion in glory.
By thanking God for what he has in store for you, just because He loves you.
By taking tough situations to Him while remembering they will soon pass and
You will be living in the long tomorrow.
Next week we will look more closely at this great place Jesus is preparing for us as seen by John in Rev. 21 and 22.
2. In addition, they were longing for "a better country" -- the ancients were heading home to their country of citizenship. Their earthly desires were focussed upon it!
We would do well to remember what they knew. They were not citizens of any country on earth. (Philippians 3:20) So, we are pilgrims on earth, we are here on a visitor's visa. We are God's ambassadors from heaven to those on earth.
The black slaves in America were like these ancient faithful Hebrews for they understood the pilgrim mentality. Without possessions, without rights, they lived for another world, a better one. This central theme permeated their spirituals. "Swing Low sweet chariot, comin for to carry me home." "Soon and very soon we are going to see the King!"
Like their Hebrew forefathers, they were longing for this better country -- the heavenly one.
What grabs your eyes in your life? What is your heart set upon? What do you get passionate about? For many of us it is not heaven. Our lives are deeply attached to this world -- to our houses, belongings, our things. Even though we know these are temporary, they become attachments.
We must live our short todays in the light of the long tomorrow.
If our US ambassador to some foreign country were to have his loyalties waver and transfer to that country, ultimately defecting, he would betray the cause of the US.
Those described in this chapter kept their loyalty to God strong, still living by faith when they died. They were aliens and strangers on earth.
"The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. … Aim at Heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in'; aim at earth and you will get neither" (CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, bk 3, ch 10).
I thought of that this week when in Monmouth at a fruit stand to check if there were any apples. It was one of those self serve stands and usually there is no one there. This time a worker was there in a cap and Tshirt which said, "Don't be caught dead without Jesus." He told me they would have no apples until July, and then asked: "Do you have a second?"
I did. That was how I met Kelly Thornton, a man caught up in the glory God offers us on earth. With joy, with enthusiasm, with conviction, with such hope radiating from his eyes and face, Kelly told me of his near death as a high school student when he was hit by a van while riding a bicycle. He was not supposed to live, and if he did live was to be a vegetable all his life. He told me how God healed him physically, and saved him spiritually.
Kelly is heading for heaven, he knows it, he is thrilled to get there, and wants everyone to be there with him. Because he is thinking about heaven, he has more joy on earth. What joy! Radiating from every pore in his body, to Kelly it does not matter that he does not have all his mental faculties, all that matters is that Jesus told the truth when he said "he is the way to heaven" and everyone needs to know him. I listened for 20 minutes, then before leaving, he prayed for me and I prayed for him. And I know when I meet him again in heaven, Kelly will be totally whole and best of all, he will be home too.
As our forefathers in the faith longed for that heavenly country, they were looking forward to returning home.
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II. | Home.
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When I think of home I think of my terrific family to whom I can go at the end of long days. I think of greetings, hugs, stories of the day, great conversations, listening ears. No, it is not perfect. We have our battles, our hardships, but I like home. Home is where your treasure is.
But True home is not down the block, or wherever your house is. True home is this heavenly country ahead of us. Everything good about home -- every precious and true thing will be there and more.
CS Lewis has captured a great picture of this heavenly country in his marvelous children's series: the Chronicles of Narnia. In the last book, the Last Battle the children are taken to narnia as the book begins with a near collision of a railroad train. But when their adventure is over the children are afraid they will be sent back to earth again. And having experienced the joys and wonders of Narnia, and the presence of Aslan, the Lion who is Jesus Christ, the thought of returning to earth was unbearable. And Aslan the great Lion, the Christ, reassures them:
"There was a real railway accident," Said Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are as you used to call it in the Shadowlands dead. The term is over, the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: This is the morning."
And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily everafter. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia have only been the cover and the title page. Now at last they were beginning Chapter 1 of the great Story which no one on earth has read, which goes on for ever; in which every chapter is better than the one before."
In summary, I would like to share a favorite song with you entitled "I will bring you home" written by Michael Card from the Zephaniah 3:20 verse read earlier.
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