HEAVEN – The Best Invitation

I have been talking about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the past several weeks -

The first message was about making it Good News, understanding that God is the One who

draws people to Himself, and that we are participants in the process

The second message was about preparing others for the message by being people who live with

integrity.

The third message was about staying on message, not letting ourselves become diverted into

secondary issues when we are presenting the Good news about Jesus.

The fourth message was called, ‘the close,’ and was about that holy moment of decision,

helping others make the commitment to the Lord Jesus.

Last week, I spoke of the stark reality that motivates us to share hope, the fact of ultimate judgment,

and the reality of a place apart from God eternally!

When my brother was about 5 years of age, he was intensely interested in the issue of going to Heaven! I don’t know why, but I remember him questioning everyone he met - “Are you going to Heaven or Hell when you die?” I don’t know if a 5 year old child even grasps the whole idea of dying all that well, but his question got attention and it made grown men turn and walk the other way

Everyone should be confronted with that question from time to time, in a thoughtful way. It will bring an amazing clarity to LIFE! Last week, I spoke about eternal judgment being a motivator to us to talk about Jesus. Today, I continue from the positive side of that issue. It is true that Jesus promises to enrich our life - right here, right now, but the BIG promise - the ultimate invitation - is the invitation to Eternal Life!

It is a promise repeated throughout the New Testament.

∙ John 3:16 (NIV) 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

∙ 2 Corinthians 4:16-17 – (NLB)
Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever!

∙ Colossians 3: 1-2 – (The Message)

If you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is.

So what does the Bible say about HEAVEN?

Maybe you have heard the common ideas about get togethers in the clouds, eternal worship which sounds a lot like a long church service, and others things that leaves you underwhelmed with the idea of Heaven.

Perhaps you’re not impressed with the topic because you’re so busy living you never think of Heaven.

I hope that this message will help to change the way you think - so that you are eager for Heaven and eager to extend the invitation to others as well!

Ill. - I know that life’s hold on us is strong, as it should be.

A friend of mine from Maine emailed me about a new ministry he was doing in his church. Wayne said he was singing with the worship team. I wrote back and said, “Hey, we’ll to do a duet in Heaven.” His reply - “Great idea, but do you mind if we put it off for a while?”

Pastor Mark Buchanan writes about meeting a smart, good looking philosophy student at a wedding. At the reception their conversation moved to the topic of religion. The student was a skeptic who smirked at the idea of eternity. He said, “Life justifies living. Life is its own reward and explanation. I don’t need some pie-in-the-sky mirage to keep me going. This life has enough pleasure, mystery, and adventure in it not to need anything else to account for it. Life justifies living!”

There was a time when I would have agreed with that young student. I’ve always believed in Heaven and for most of my life accepted, by faith, that because of the grace of Christ when I died I would go to Heaven. But I didn’t spend very much time thinking about it because I always thought it was a distraction from what I was called to do in this moment.

That only revealed my immaturity and my lack of interaction with experiences of people in a larger world, much of which is full of pain and anguish! It is easy for a man who is full of himself and his dreams, who is walking on strong legs, who is in the grip of the illusion of limitless life and health to consider Heaven as irrelevant.

But . . .

– given time, he will sense his own mortality as his bones begin to ache,

– the sense of the futility of life here on this planet, which is marred by sin, will become clear,

– he will see the suffering that no amount human effort can erase this side of eternity,

and God’s promise of Heaven will become a LIGHTHOUSE of HOPE shining into the darkness of this present world! The truth is that Heaven, God’s promise of final redemption, that makes life bearable!

If you’re thinking that Heaven is pretty irrelevant to your life today, listen to a great parable written by

Paula Rinehart. She discovered the value of having heaven on the horizon of life at all times...

"Seasickness, I'd always heard, is about as sick as you can get. I thought that claim to be wildly exaggerated until I found myself until I found myself gripping the side rail of a fishing boat caught in the rolling seas off the coast of Malaysia. With a flash of insight, I got the picture: this was seasickness. I was hopelessly ill among people who had no remedy for this malaise -- and no English to tell me even if they had one.

As a woman raised in the mountains and ignorant of the ways of the sea, I was at a loss, save the instinct to cling the rail for dear life. Finally, my eyes found the horizon -- a thin strip of gray that split the sea from the sky. Wonder of wonders, in a scene of sickening motion this line remain fixed.

As I glued my eyes to that horizon, the riot inside me began to quiet down. I discovered this remedy to be, in fact, my only hope. There was one still point in the universe, and my job was to keep my eyes fixed squarely upon it. I spent the next two hours staring at that horizon line! Then, the thought hit me -- that horizon line is like HEAVEN! From somewhere in my head, the words of Peter floated forward -- 1 Peter 1:13 . . .set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. -- Discipleship Journal, issue 136

The fixed point of Heaven set on the horizon of life is THE WAY WE STAY HEALTHY in a SIN-SICKENED world. IF we look away from God’s promise of an eternal home, we risk being deceived by the seductions of the Enemy of our soul. We risk chasing money, pleasure, fame, or power in a vain attempt to give our short lives meaning. Heaven is the reference point that draws us along and helps us to make wise, godly choices today; living in the Light of Eternity.

I know why others reject thoughts of Heaven — the pictures painted of it are often fanciful, even foolish!

Heaven as a resort....

Several years ago I attended a funeral where the priest conducting it presented such an absurd picture of eternal life I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry!

He said,

“I was surprised to come here today and find Emily in lavender dress. I expected to see her dressed in black with a strand of pearls. I rather thought that I would smell the whiff of the smoke of fine cigars and the scent of Jack Daniels in the air. I thought I would hear, ‘Blue Moon’ echoing in the background. That’s how I see this daughter of God entering Heaven.”

I must say that his vision of heaven as a kind of upscale bar was one of the strangest I’ve heard in a long time! Is the immeasurable glory for which we long nothing more than a giant Vegas resort experience? I guess there are those who think so, but that is not the Biblical presentation!

Heaven as a never ending church service...

In Sunday School when we learned about Heaven the mental image created there was also hard to accept. I’m sure I wasn’t the first boy to wonder if I really wanted to go to Heaven when my teacher described an eternal song around the Throne of God and angels that said, “Holy, holy, holy” over and over again. By age 12, I’d sat through too many boring church services. For anyone to imply that heaven was going to be anything like that truly made me wonder if it was such a big deal – except that on the other side was Hell!

Heaven as a strange trip....

Then, again, there was the whole floating on clouds image that crept into the picture somewhere. I also wrestled with an image of a gaudy palace with golden fixtures in the bathrooms and jewel encrusted walls the result of a poor understanding of the book of the Revelation.

Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 Pew Bible page 1798

∙ A body, perfect and eternal...

The Bible says that Heaven includes a new body. Paul says that when the ache of life grows intense we ‘groan and are burdened.’ Groan! Interesting word, isn’t it? The implication is that weariness of living causes us to sigh, the ache that comes from sin sickness causes us to long so deeply for God’s Presence. For what do we long? The Bible tells us that we long for the new life that we will enjoy in NEW BODIES.

That is a basic about Heaven we must not miss! Heaven is not about ghostly spirits flitting here and there in ethereal mists!

We will have a body of substance, which strongly implies that Heaven is a place of substance! This passage goes on to remind us that when life is overwhelming and feels crushing, we should not think that strange. It is evidence that God has written a better promise into our hearts. Christians who long for heaven ARE NOT suicidal, they are anticipating true life!

V. 4 NLB Our dying bodies make us groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and have no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life.

No more aspirin, Tylenol, Claritin, or Alka Seltzer!

No more diets.

No more betrayals by bodies that are showing the wear and tear of the years.

We will be given bodies - that are perfect and eternal!

∙ A home with our Father...

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. That is why we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. NLB

Most young people can’t wait to leave home! Our youngest daughter talked endlessly of living in California when she graduated from high school. She enrolled in Vanguard University in Costa Mesa with great enthusiasm. 8 weeks later she was on the phone begging to transfer to an East Coast school so she could ‘come home.’ Now, at age 25, she loves to ‘come home’ for a few days.

The Bible says that going to Heaven is being ‘at home.’

John 14:1-3 (NIV)
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God a ; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Some of you know that verse in this form - “In my Father’s house are many mansions...” Just let me say, that word has changed meaning to us. To us a ‘mansion’ is a huge home, where rich people live. That is not what Jesus was promising!

He had in mind the family compound of the Middle East, where the whole clan lives. When a son is ready to marry, a new addition is created, his own set of rooms for a new family, but one connected to the whole family!

God has a big house, with lot’s and lot’s of rooms - and one of them is prepared just for me!

The Bible tells us that one of Heaven’s greatest joys is our unlimited access to God’s Presence. Whatever we have known of His Presence and love in this life will be like nothing compared to the joy of being at home with the Father.

∙ A place without sorrow...

Take a look at Revelation 21:3-4 Pew Bible page 1937

“Dwelling of God with His people... .and He will wipe away every tear.”

That’s the best part of Heaven I can think of. Our Father is with us and by His Presence drives away every sadness. Life is marked by our sorrows, sometimes more, sometimes less but always there.

EVEN the best days on earth are tinged with sorrow.

A child is born and we know she will eventually die.

We take the risk to give ourselves lovingly to another, knowing that allowing ourselves to grow close means that somewhere, sometime down the road we’ll have to suffer sorrow at parting!

Heaven has NO SORROWS! That simple statement defies understanding in this world of disappointment but it is true.

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If all I knew about Heaven were those few things, it would be enough!

A new body,

being ‘at home’ forever,

having suffering and sorrow eradicated and replaced by the joy of the Presence of Father God....

Those things are tremendously meaningful to me.

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So what about those beings who just say, “holy, holy, holy” all the time around the throne of God?

What about those golden streets?

What about a city that is, to the best of our ability to understand, 1500 miles cubed?

Well, those statements just add to the mystery!

I’ve had people try to explain some place right here on earth to me and found it difficult to comprehend. Those places that are outside of my frame of reference, I cannot fully understand until I experience them.

∙ No one could have described the crowded street scenes of India to me in a way that could have made me know the smells, the sounds of that city. But when I visited that country, and walked some of the poorer streets of her cities, my sister’s letters made much more sense.

The words we have about Heaven will make much more sense when we experience it.

Meanwhile, let’s meditate on our heavenly home more frequently. C.S. Lewis eloquently wrote:

"IF you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most about the next. It is since Christians have ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective (in doing God's work) in this."

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Let it be said of you and me that our true home is in Heaven and that we live here possessed by the promise of that truth. May Abraham, called the Father of the faithful, be a model for us all....

Hebrews 11:8-10
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Amen