Phase 4 - Heaven
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Big Idea:
Big Idea:
We should be excited about heaven (and therefore sacrificially willing to grow).
Intro:
Intro:
Hey Church Online - thanks for joining us!
Let’s start off today with God’s word…
“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.
Who’s talking here? Who is the “first and the last, who died and came to life?” That’s right - Jesus!
Actually, before reading on, let’s pause for a moment and get a little context for this passage...
The apostle John is the last of “The Twelve” alive (those who were His closest disciples). And at this point in his life, He’s exiled to the island of Patmos because of his faith in Jesus Christ. As he’s there, he receives a supernatural vision. He wrote down that vision and we now call it the Book of Revelation. It’s largely a vision of the future - of what will happen during the end times, which is still future to us. However, the book begins with letters to seven church that presently existed when John was on Patmos.
Jesus has something important to say to each of these churches. Furthermore, what Jesus said to them, is for us too. It speaks to the churches today as much as it did then. And in Revelation 2, what we began to read, Jesus is speaking to the church of Smyrna.
And… as with each of the seven letters… Jesus begins by describing Himself in a specific way that would be relevant to the specific church He was speaking to. And to Smyrna, He reveals Himself as, “the first and the last, who died and came to life.” In other words, “I’m the Eternal One. The Lord over everything… even death - the greatest enemy humans know!”
Why is this relevant to Smyrna?
Well, look at what He says next...
“ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
It was relevant because they were experiencing persecution. They were suffering for being Christians! Some were dying for Jesus. And Jesus looks directly at them and says…
“I see it all. I know everything that’s going on. More than that, I know what it’s like to suffer. They killed Me too. But guess what? I defeated death. I’m alive and Lord over everything.”
Therefore… verse 10…
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid. I got you. You belong to me. Death ain’t no thing. I’m Lord over both death and life… and I can give you life.” But here’s the part I want to focus on… notice the hopeful statement at the end: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life!
When I read that a moment ago, by a show of hands, how many of you got excited about “the crown of life?”
If you’re raising your hands, either...
As basketball player Shaquille O’Neill said in the 90s, “You’re faking the funk on a nasty dunk.” Which means “you lying like a mug.”
Or… (2) you’re more holy than me! Because I’m gonna be honest. I’m a pastor and “The crown of life” isn’t really doing it for me. And I’m assuming that’s true for most of us. [Especially since I didn’t hear anyone gasping when I said, “crown of life” - like, “Aye yo... not the crown of life!!!” A couple of months ago, when I said I was giving away an Oculus at the Youth Christmas Party, I heard gasps all over the room.” You don’t need to pretend. You can be real. You’re not alone if you don’t CURRENTLY get excited about the “crown of life.]”
But here’s the thing: We should get excited about the crown of life! Especially since Jesus seems to be emphasizing it! Looking at the language in verse 10, we get a command, “Be faithful unto death” And then He offers up as an emphatic reward, “Because if you do, I’m gonna give you the CROWN OF LIFE!”
So… why DON’T we get excited about it? Because WE DON’T GET IT.
And as we continue in our mini-sermon-series on our 2023 Vision, “Moving On Up,” previewing each of the four phases that will help us spiritually “grow up” this year, today we’re on the final phase… “Phase 4: Heaven.”
And in this series, we’re gonna talk about why we should be excited about heaven! Because if we’re honest, just as we aren’t excited about “the crown of life,” most of us aren’t excited about heaven either. Actually… they’re kinda connected because “the crown of life” is a “heavenly reward.” And the reason we’re not excited about EITHER of them is because… WE DON’T GET IT. But Phase 4 will change this!
Now, some of you may be saying, “But wait… I AM EXCITED ABOUT HEAVEN.” And if that’s true, God bless you. You’re ahead of the game … and again, more holy than me! And Pastor Jon. Because the idea of doing a series on Heaven was birthed over a Friday morning coffee session where we shared (in our safe space) how Heaven seems pretty boring.
When we think about heaven, some of us think we’re going to turn into fat chubby angels with harps and sit on clouds all day. That might be relaxing for one day, but not for eternity.
Other times, we hear that heaven is going to be an unending worship service. I’m gonna throw myself under the bus here… I’m a pastor… I’m a former worship leader… I love worship music… but a worship service - FOREVER - does NOT sound exciting to me.
Nevertheless… the Holy Spirit reminds me this is NOT right. Not that those are two descriptions of heaven are accurate, but it’s NOT RIGHT THAT I’M NOT EXCITED ABOUT HEAVEN. AND THE REASON WE, OR I’M, NOT EXCITED IS BECAUSE I DON’T GET IT.
And just as God spoke to the church at Smyrna in a way relevant way (knowing exactly what they needed to hear), I think God knows we need a fresh vision of Heaven. We need to be taught what God says about heaven so we can “get it,” and rightfully be excited about it!
And this EXCITEMENT will CHANGE OUR LIVES because destination always impacts desire [Say it: Destination impacts desire]. If we get Heaven right, I believe our spiritually growth will be exponentially because we’ll better understand our purpose and final destination!
You know… my senior year of high school, I only applied to one school: UCLA. It was the only college I wanted to go to. But I didn’t get in. So… I attended community college. And that wasn’t bad. Community college is good. But I wasn’t EXCITED about it. Mostly because I had no plan. I didn’t have a destination! I wasn’t working towards a purpose - I was just going to school. And so every semester, I’d drop out… because I got bored or something temporarily better came along.
I think we do that with our faith too. We attend church. Maybe Life Group. We know it’s good that we’re attending, but we just aren’t excited about it. And we may think, “Why am I doing this? Where is this taking me?” And then, sometimes, we may even drop out of church for a season. Stop going because we get bored or something temporarily better comes along. And I think this is connected to the fact that: We don’t know our destination and that impacts our desire to grow (move on up).
However, when I gave my life to Jesus and he called me to be a pastor, my desires changed. I saw God’s vision for my life. I understood my calling, purpose, destination. And part of the preparation for my calling involved going back to school to get theological training. And this time, I didn’t drop out… because my desires were different… I was EXCITED because I was working towards a destination!
That’s why Phase 4 will be important for us a church. God’s got a calling, purpose, and destination for us. And our desire to “grow up” into those things is directly impacted by our understanding of Heaven.
So, what’s Phase 4 going to be like? What will we learn about Heaven? Let’s quickly preview it!
... And since we’ve been talking about school, let’s process Heaven though something we learned in school… let’s look at Heaven through the questions: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How?
Let’s start with the question...
Who?
Who?
This is kind of a weird question because we’re talking about a place - Heaven, not a “who?” But something we’ll come to understand is... although Heaven IS a very real place, it’s more than a location.
Most of us will agree there is an intimate relationship between the biblical ideas of Heaven and eternal life. In many ways, they’re synonymous. That being said, look at what Jesus says in John 17...
John 17:3 (ESV)
And this is eternal life (Heaven), that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Heaven is not just a location or living forever. It’s a “Who.” Heaven is Jesus Christ. It’s LIVING WITH the Person we were created FOR. Heaven is being with God.
That being said… let’s ask the question...
What?
What?
Although, heaven is a Person… heaven IS an actual place too. So, WHAT is Heaven like? Let’s look to what God’s word has to say...
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
First off, we gotta define some things. Notice how verse 1 says, “new heavens and new earth, for the first heaven and first earth passed away...” What the heck is that about?
We don’t have time to go in depth with this today, but the first earth is what we’re living on now. The first heaven is still a real place, where currently, both the people and presence of God are. However, it’s temporary. And the while the current Heaven is beyond our imagination… crazy enough… there’s something better coming… one day God will make a new heaven and new earth. And the new heaven is often this is often the place most of us are thinking of and longing for.
With that said… notice that the new things God creates are still familiar… heaven, earth, city. And if we read the rest of the chapter, we’d see there’s mountains, jewels, gates, walls, streets, a temple, nations, lights, sun, and moon. Even Revelation 22 says...
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
So, there’s water, tress, fruits, and months (there’s time). I believe it’s important we see that John describes WHAT Heaven is like with familiar language. Because sometimes the Heaven we hear about today seems unfamiliar and unnatural...
It’s an unending worship service - is that really WHAT God created us for? For us to be stuck in a temple singing all day?
Or, we’re fat babies on clouds - God didn’t create us that way now… Is that WHAT we should expect to be in Heaven?
In Revelation, I believe God is telling us Heaven is the best version of some of our favorite, familiar, things on Earth. Because we were created to live in physical bodies, on a physical earth, to enjoy physical things - those are the kind of things we get excited about because that’s what God designed us for! I think we’ll be able to explore, discover, play, laugh, and do meaningful work in a beautiful physical creation - because that’s the type of environment God designed us to live in!
God didn’t create me for this, which is why it does NOT excite me [Angel/Clouds]. I love what Randy Alcorn says (who wrote a book about Heaven - one I will be referencing a lot), “We do not desire to eat gravel. Why? Because God did not design us to eat gravel. Trying to develop an appetite from a disembodied existence in a non-physical Heaven is like trying to develop an appetite for gravel.”
But I do get excited about this [Sand Beach, ME]. Now, this isn’t Heaven, but it is a place Janelle and I are thinking about visiting this Summer. I first saw this place running on a treadmill at the Edge. There was one of those screens that allowed me to pick my running destination, so I chose New England, of course… because I love New England. And this was one of the locations. And I went home and told Janelle, “We gotta go here!” I have a desire to go to this destination!
I get excited about places like this because God created me to enjoy a beautiful creation. And Heaven… will not be dull, non-physical clouds. It will include the beauty of Maine or Hawaii times a million! And we should be excited about it!
Oh boy… I gotta speed it up, otherwise it’s gonna feel like we’re stuck in one of those unending worship services! Next question...
Where
Where
Where is Heaven? Currently, I don’t know. Unfortunately, I don’t have the intelligence to understand or explain the “where” aspect of heaven. But, regarding the new Heaven, I do know this… we read this a moment ago...
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
One day, we won’t need to ask “where” is heaven, because the new heaven and new earth will be together. God - who ultimately is Heaven - will be living with us. One day, we’ll be able to say things like, “Let’s go visit Jesus today.” And we’ll walk (maybe fly?) to New Jerusalem because we’ll know WHERE IT IS. Now, that’s cool - I’m excited!
Let’s ask the question...
When
When
Obviously… there’s some overlap in answering these questions. We already talked about that Heaven exists NOW. Additionally, in the FUTURE God will make a new Heaven and new earth. WHEN will that happen? I don’t know. The answer the Bible gives us is this… Jesus said...
“And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
John wrote about this 2000 years ago. That doesn’t feel like soon. So, why did Jesus say “soon?” Well, in this context, Jesus isn’t necessarily referring to time, but readiness. When He says, “I am coming SOON,” He’s saying, “I will come quickly and unexpectedly,” implying don’t worry about the clock, just be ready, because I could come at any moment.
Next week, we officially start Phase 1: Growing in Christ. As we grow in Christ, our love for Christ will increase. And when that happens, so does our desire to see Him and be with Him. We will be like the apostle John who heard Jesus say...
Revelation 22:20 (ESV)
... “Surely I am coming soon.” [And the spiritually mature John replied] Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! [I’m ready whenever You are!]
That’s when you know you’re growing in faith. When you hear Jesus say, “I am coming soon” and your reply is “Hurry, I’m ready!” And not just because you want to escape this world, but because you love Him and want to live with Him!
And now to the “why” question...
Why?
Why?
Why make a heaven? Why should Heaven be our destination?
Maybe your life on earth is pretty good. You can honestly say, “I like this place.”
One stumbling block for many mature, Bible-believing Christians is the issue of marriage and Heaven. We know God created marriage and marriage is good. It is one of the greatest examples of the love-relationship between Christ and the church… which, btw, is a reason why we’re so passionate about biblical marriage.
But yet… many of us have also read where Jesus said...
Matthew 22:30 (NLT)
For when the dead rise [when ya’ll get to heaven], they will neither marry nor be given in marriage...
In other words, “Bro… there’s no marriage in Heaven.” This is confusing. Because godly marriage is a beautiful thing. And we don’t want to lose that. It doesn’t make sense for it be missing in Heaven!
Now, we don’t have time to discuss it today, but whether we’re talking about marriage or any other beautiful gift from God experienced on earth, know this… even on it’s best day, it’s but a shadow. Our present experience is only a hint of something MORE beautiful and better in Heaven.
Don’t let your desires be limited to this earth. As the apostle Paul says...
Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.
Regardless of how we currently feel, know that God has so much more for us in Heaven. Don’t be MORE excited about earthly things than you are about Heaven. Let Heaven be your destination, and your desire be for what’s there, because...
That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.”
One of my most favorite places to visit is Great Wolf Lodge. That sounds strange, but you do you and I’ll do me. No, but for real. I love going there with my family and just relaxing. I hop in the lazy river and just float in peace. I love it.
But the peace I experience is only a shadow of something infinitely better in Heaven. That’s WHY I should desire Heaven as my destination. That’s why I should “Move on up!” Because God has a BETTER PEACE waiting for me… in Heaven, THAT WILL NEVER END...
Because my time at Great Wolf always ends. My peaceful time on the lazy river eventually comes to a close. Then it’s back to reality...
...That’s because it’s s shadow. It’s not the real, eternal, heavenly thing my heart truly longs for. If it was, it wouldn’t end!
I love the way CS Lewis explains this truth at the conclusion of the Narnia series...
And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at least they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.
Why go to Heaven? Because it’s the place we’re created for. We aren’t made for the Shadowlands. We are made to live in the Great Story, where every day is better than the one before.
Can you imagine a life like that? Get ready. Be excited! That’s what God has prepared for us.
Response:
Response:
Let’s end today with asking How? How do we get to Heaven?
Is it by being a good person; making sure our good works outweigh our bad works?
Are we supposed to find secret knowledge that will help us unlock the heavenly doors?
Do we just follow any path because “all paths lead to God?”
Speaking of Heaven, Revelation 21 says...
But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
How do you get into Heaven? How do you enter into eternal life? Your name need’s to be written in the Lamb’s book of Life - You need Jesus!
That’s why Jesus says...
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
He also said...
So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
If we want Heaven as our destination, we must turn from our sinful desires (what has separated us from God - we repent) and put our faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. We believe Jesus ‘s sacrifice on the cross was payment for our sins and that just as Jesus rose from the dead (showing the payment was accepted), we too will one day rise - we will MOVE ON UP - to Heaven. That’s HOW.
Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? If you not, it can be today. How do I know that? Because...
The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
God WANTS you to be in Heaven. Do you need to receive His salvation today? Well, pray with me...
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