But What Matters Most About Heaven?
Good Morning Friends,
In a society that overvalues progress and personal achievement even our spiritual lives could become performance oriented. We think about levels and phases and stages, but in the life of the Spirit these measurements are not important and likewise in our goal of heaven for ourselves and those we love, these are not important. In fact, as we age I would argue that all the faith baggage is reduced. Not shame but joy springing from forgiveness. Here our relationship in the Spirit and with Jesus allows us to carry a lightened load. For really what do we take with us when we die. So today we contemplate heaven and our own salvation. And this brings us to today’s question about getting there… about belief, love, forgiveness, submission and faith. But What Matters Most About Heaven?
Scripture: When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”–he said to the paralytic– “I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Mark 2:1-12 (NRSV)
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “As in my anger I swore, ‘They shall not enter my rest,'” though his works were finished at the foundation of the world. For in one place it speaks about the seventh day as follows, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this place it says, “They shall not enter my rest.” Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs.
Hebrews 4:1-5, 11 (NRSV)
God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:9 (NRSV)
So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name, ‘The Lord.’*
Exodus 34:4-5 (NIV)
Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
Acts 9:3-4 (NRSV)
And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites; on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width; and he measured the city with his rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits by human measurement, which the angel was using. The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass. I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 21:10-27 (NRSV)
No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day.
John 6:44 (NRSV)
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him”—
I Corinthians 2:9 (NRSV)
Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.
John 6:37, 10:28-29 (NRSV)
Message: Honestly getting sleep…rest is more important than most people realize. It clears out our mind and allows God to bring us peace with no desires and no unmet wants but still purpose. Sounds a bit like heaven and a bit like a dream where we work out all the anxiety and turn to experience bliss eternally. No little fat cherubs playing harps but a strong resonance of music that alters our brain in creating a reality even here on earth. Interestingly there is a relationship between rest and the pregnant pause in the music and in creation itself that might just give us some insights into what is important about our image, experience and goal of heaven. And of course, I live on the Paradise Coast of Florida and have friends in Montana who do not only live in God’s country but claim God lives there even now and part of the experience is true and part the Chamber of Commerce’s marketing. Jesus undoubtedly must either smile at all this or weep as he did for Jerusalem. Friends, the thing is that Jesus must be the heart of all that we might claim to be heaven even on earth and even the rest part and most certainly the dream part. For without a well-formed heart to guide a well-formed life and mind our efforts come up short in being renewed for the Kingdom now and to come. The heart and the head need to converge with our hands and God’s handiwork for conversion to be completed. And we need Jesus to lead us in this experience. For all our efforts do not do much good until we submit to Jesus to help us to seek the face of God in everything, everyone, everywhere…all the time. And this is where we offload the baggage including our misconceptions of heaven. So let us dive in. First off there are three heavens described in the Bible and two other places where the dead go. This morning we focus on heaven. The first heaven is what is called the firmament or sky. Think clouds and birds of the air. And honestly, we get to experience this when we fly and especially when we parachute out of a plane. But this is not the paradise we go when we die. This is the realm of birds, butterflies and clouds that surrounds the entire earth. The second heaven mentioned in the Bible is where the stars, the sun, and the moon reside. This is the space beyond the earth and it covers the entire universe. It is as far as the human eye can see with the help of gigantic telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope. The third heaven is typically unseen and is the residence of God, including Jesus Christ. This is the location of the throne of God and where the holy angels surrounding His throne sing day and night. But what is interesting is that heaven and God’s rule exists today and through the power of the Holy Spirit even in the thin places here on earth…those moments we get a glimpse into a different dimension of reality that cannot be described accurately in all its splendor, glory, beauty, and majesty. It is my belief and hope that those who have died in Jesus Christ are present with the Lord in this dimension. You may have read or heard about many who have died and seen heaven for themselves. They describe such a realm that is beyond description with light and dreamlike memories. Some who have died and came back to life have said they have seen their lost loved ones in heaven, their family, friends, and some even their pets. The sheer number of those who have seen heaven and came back from death is hard to refute. What this means is that the experience of heaven is for real. Heaven in this sense does exist, but also Christians who have died and gone to heaven and are now with Jesus Christ in a different dimension. But a new heaven and earth are foretold as well for God’s ultimate glory that calls for a new spirituality rooted in ancient traditions and applied to our present circumstances as our own personal experience of heaven approaches and our collective one as well. And frankly this heaven on earth may be harder for us to accept. For sure God is going to surprise us.
Pray we stand up as a witness that our physical, emotional, intellectual, volitional and moral energies can converge in community that brings a little of heaven to earth. Pray we apply this vast and largely untapped power to the issues of the least, the last and the lost. Pray we raise the roof in our worship that empowers us to take our experience of heaven to the streets. Pray we realize that we are not in control. Pray we discover that Jesus is our friend. Pray we discover the power of faith and trust in God experienced in fellowship. Pray we experience how to love. Pray we not neglect our spiritual development of love. Pray that our inward spiritual development is formed, reformed and transformed in that place of the heart where we individually experience love and collectively encounter God. Pray we are moved to express this love received in love given for others through ministry. Pray that the seat of our will come together with the source of all our physical, emotional, intellectual, volitional and moral energies so that we are moved in a constant prayer to a place where we are chiseled day by day into the likeness of Christ…in the law of love. Pray we rejoice in the authority of Christ. Pray we learn through prayer God’s agenda. Pray we learn in fellowship to love God and one another. Pray this love cuts through our barriers to open a connection…a change…a transformation that glorifies God.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 