Looking Toward Home
Pastor Tom Ekkel
Longing for Heaven • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 36:49
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Intro:
Country western singer Jim Reeves wrote a song that says,
“This world is not my home, I'm just a-passing through, My treasures are laid up, Somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me, From heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home, In this world anymore…”
And as we continue in our series “Longing For Heaven” that is the truth I want us to think about this morning.
As Christians…
We live here.
We work here.
We raise our families here.
We enjoy many of the blessings God gives us… here.
But this world is not our final home.
The problem is, if we are not careful, we can become so comfortable here that we begin living as though it is.
We can become so attached to this life…
so focused on our possessions,
our schedules,
our careers,
our hobbies,
our retirement,
our health,
and our plans for the future…
that heaven starts to feel distant.
We still believe in heaven.
We still know that one day we are going there.
But instead of living like people who are headed home, we begin living like people who intend to stay here forever.
And Scripture repeatedly reminds us that this world is temporary.
Everything around us is passing away.
The things we spend so much time worrying about, working for, and trying to hold onto will one day be… left behind.
But for the believer… something far greater awaits us.
That is exactly what Jesus addresses in Luke chapter 12.
Let’s look at it together…
Read vv. 22-24
Meat:
Beginning in verse 22, Jesus talks about the things that so easily consume our attention in this life.
What are we going to eat?
What are we going to wear?
How will our needs be met?
What about tomorrow?
And Jesus does not deny that those things are real concerns.
Instead, He reminds His disciples that they have a heavenly Father who knows exactly what they need.
Then He tells them not to spend their lives consumed with the same things the world is chasing.
In verse 31, He says:
“But seek the kingdom of God…”
And just a few verses later, He tells us why that matters:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
So the question I want us to consider this morning is not simply:
Do you believe heaven is your home?
The question is:
Are you living like it is?
Are we so focused on this temporary world that we have lost sight of the eternal one?
Or are we living each day with our hearts and our eyes looking toward home?
There are several reasons that we should stay focused on our heavenly home… I’ll share a few with you this morning…
First of all…
We should focus on Heaven because…
1. Our Father is there
1. Our Father is there
Again, in the first half of the passage we read, Jesus has been talking about the things that so easily consume our attention in this life—
what we will eat,
what we will wear,
and how our daily needs will be met.
And then we get to v.30…
Luke 12:30–32
“30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.
31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.
32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Jesus keeps bringing His disciples back to the Father.
The world lives for what it can get here.
But the believer lives differently because we have a Father who…
knows us,
cares for us,
provides for us,
and has promised us a kingdom.
And Heaven is…
1.1 His Dwelling Place
1.1 His Dwelling Place
When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray… it starts with…
… Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Moses, told the Israelites, before they crossed the Jordan river into the promised land, to pray and ask God to…
Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel…
The psalmist writes…
13 The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.
14 From the place of His dwelling He looks On all the inhabitants of the earth;
Solomon prays to our Father and says…
… Hear in heaven Your dwelling place; and when You hear, forgive.
Scripture repeatedly identifies heaven as the dwelling place of God…
And that alone should make heaven precious to us.
Our Father is there.
The God who created us.
The God who saved us.
The God who has heard every prayer.
The God who has carried us through every trial.
The God who has never left us nor forsaken us.
He is there.
And Heaven holds…
1.2 His Throne
1.2 His Throne
We talked about this last week when we looked at Revelation 4…
John was allowed to look into heaven, the first thing that captured his attention was a throne… And The One who sat upon that throne.
We also see reference to this in…
The Lord has established His throne in heaven, And His kingdom rules over all.
If that doesn’t bring peace into your life, I don’t know what will…
The world we live in today is very unstable…
Governments change.
Economies rise and fall.
Wars begin.
People disappoint us.
Bodies grow weak.
Circumstances change overnight.
But God’s throne never moves.
And as Jesus speaks to His disciples in Luke 12… He is letting them know that…
You do not have to live like the rest of the world.
You do not have to be consumed with fear.
You have a Father.
And your Father rules over everything.
32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
And when we enter into that Kingdom, where our Father is… we will see…
1.3 His Glory
1.3 His Glory
Right now we know God through faith.
We see His fingerprints in creation.
We read about His character in His Word.
We experience His goodness in our lives.
But we have never seen the fullness of His glory.
We won’t turn there this morning, but I will give you the condensed version of what happened in Exodus 33 and 34…
Moses asked God…
… “Please, show me Your glory.”
But God told him that no man could see His face and live.
So God placed Moses in the cleft of a rock, covered him, and allowed him only a limited glimpse as His glory passed by.
And even that was overwhelming.
When Moses came down from the mountain, his face was shining because he had been in the presence of God. In fact, the Israelites were afraid to come near him, and Moses eventually covered his face with a veil.
Think about that for a moment.
Moses did not see the fullness of God’s glory.
He received only a small, shielded glimpse of it.
And yet even the reflected glory on the face of Moses was enough to frighten the people around him.
That gives us just a small idea of how magnificent the glory of God truly is.
This is why one of the great promises of heaven is that one day, in glorified bodies, we will be able to behold His glory in a way that we simply cannot do so now.
Remember from our study through First John… John says in…
… we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
One day we will see the fullness of His glory…
We should focus on Heaven because… our Father is there…
Also, because…
2. Our Savior is there
2. Our Savior is there
Hebrews 9:24 says that Christ has entered…
… into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
He is not…
Still hanging on a cross
or lying in a tomb
He is alive!
Our Savior is…
2.1 In the Father’s Presence
2.1 In the Father’s Presence
Some people say that…
He is just a memory.
He is just a historical figure.
He is just a dead religious leader whose followers are trying to preserve His teachings.
When in reality…
He is the Only Begotten, risen, living!… Son of God.
And Scripture tells us that He is seated at the right hand of the Father.
but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
Jesus finished the work necessary for our salvation, rose in victory, and returned to the right hand of the Father.
The One who loved us enough to die for us is alive.
The One who conquered the grave is alive.
The One who promised eternal life is alive.
We certainly look forward to everything God has promised us.
But above everything else, we long to see Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father.
And what is He doing there…
2.2 Interceding for us
2.2 Interceding for us
While we are living here, our Savior is there.
While we struggle here, He represents us there.
While we battle temptation here, He intercedes for us there.
… He always lives to make intercession for them.
And we need that intercession.
Why?
Because even though we have been saved, we have not yet been glorified.
We still live in a fallen world.
We still battle temptation.
We still stumble.
We still sin.
And Revelation 12 tells us that we have an accuser.
John describes Satan as…
…the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night…
That has always been part of his character.
We see it in the book of Job, when Satan appears before God and accuses Job.
We see it again in Zechariah 3, where Satan stands ready to accuse Joshua the high priest.
Satan loves to accuse God’s people.
He points to our failures.
He points to our sins.
He points to every reason we are unworthy to stand before a holy God.
That is why Christ’s intercession is so precious…
When Satan accuses us, Christ is our Advocate.
And every accusation that is brought against us, Christ is there to say that the penalty for that sin has already been paid.
So when we look toward heaven, we are looking toward the place where our Savior is presently representing us before the Father.
Thirdly…
3. Our Treasure is there
3. Our Treasure is there
This brings us back to our main passage in Luke 12…
Luke 12:33 “Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.”
Now, I could build an entire sermon out that one verse… but for today lets just take one principle…
Jesus is contrasting two kinds of treasure.
There is treasure here.
And there is treasure there.
One is temporary.
The other is eternal.
Our eternal treasure consists of a few different things… first of all…
3.1 Our Inheritance
3.1 Our Inheritance
When Scripture talks about our inheritance, it is talking about everything God has promised to His children in Christ.
Peter says that for every believer there is…
… an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you
Our inheritance is more than simply being allowed into heaven.
It is the fullness of everything God has prepared for those who belong to Him.
It includes eternal life.
It includes a glorified body that will never grow old, become sick, or die.
It includes complete freedom from sin.
It includes the eternal kingdom of God.
It includes all the blessings that come with being a child of God and a joint heir with Christ.
Romans 8 says that if we are children of God, then we are also “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.”
Let that sink in for a moment…
We enter heaven as sons and daughters of the King.
We have an inheritance waiting for us because we belong to His family.
And unlike an earthly inheritance, this one cannot be lost, stolen, ruined, or diminished.
Peter says it is incorruptible.
And it is reserved in heaven for you.
God Himself is keeping it secure.
Another part of our treasure is…
3.2 Our Citizenship
3.2 Our Citizenship
Heaven is where we really belong.
We live here.
We work here.
We raise families here.
We serve the Lord here.
We have responsibilities here.
But we are not home yet.
Hebrews 11 describes believers as strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Abraham was looking for a city whose builder and maker is God.
He lived here while looking there.
And that is exactly how the Christian is supposed to live.
We ought to be faithful here while remembering that we belong there.
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;
… …
There is one more part of this treasure that I want to mention as well…
People often say, “You can’t take anything with you when you die.”
And when it comes to our possessions, that is absolutely true.
You are not taking your house.
You are not taking your car.
You are not taking your bank account.
You are not taking anything you have accumulated in this life.
But in another sense, I would greatly disagree with that statement.
There is something far more valuable than anything we own that we can hope to see in heaven—
3.3 Our Family
3.3 Our Family
Now, understand what I mean by that.
I cannot save my family.
I cannot believe in Christ for them.
Every person must personally repent of sin and place his or her faith in Jesus Christ.
But I can spend my life pointing them toward Christ.
I can pray for them.
I can teach them the Word of God.
I can be a godly example for them.
I can share the gospel with them.
And I can make it one of the greatest desires of my heart that when my life on this earth is over, the people I love most will one day be gathered with me around the throne of God.
Because when everything we have accumulated in this world has been left behind, there is nothing more precious than knowing that the people we love are safe in Christ.
And for many of us, some of our family is already there.
Hebrews 12:22–23 speaks of believers coming to…
… Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem…
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven… to the spirits of just men made perfect
In other words, heaven is already populated with the redeemed people of God.
Many of us can immediately put names and faces to that truth.
Parents.
Grandparents.
Husbands.
Wives.
Children.
Brothers and sisters.
Friends.
Faithful church members who
sat beside us,
worshiped with us,
prayed with us,
and served the Lord with us.
If they died in Christ, they are not lost.
They are home.
Our hope is not only that we will be with the Lord forever, but that the people of God will be gathered together with Him.
There is a reunion coming…
And as I said last week…
Heaven is not heaven primarily because our family is there.
It is heaven because our Savior is there.
But one of the precious blessings of being with Christ forever is that we will also be with the redeemed family of God.
And this leads directly into the final point.
If our Father is there…
if our Savior is there…
If our treasure… our family… is there…
Then…
4. Our Hearts Should Be There
4. Our Hearts Should Be There
Go back to the final words of our passage…
Luke 12:31–34 “31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.
32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
33 Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.
34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Jesus brings everything down to one simple issue:
Where is your heart?
There is nothing wrong with enjoying the blessings God gives us in this life. But we must never forget that everything here is temporary.
This world we currently live in is passing away.
That is why Jesus tells us to “seek first the kingdom of God.”…
Colossians 3:2 says…
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
So as we close, ask yourself:
Am I looking toward home?
Our Father is there.
Our Savior is there.
Our treasure is there.
Our loved ones in Christ are there.
And one day, by the grace of God, we will be there too.
Until that day, may we set our hearts and our minds on things above, and may God help us spend the rest of our journey—
Looking Toward Home.
Prayer:
