Homecoming (2)
Notes
Transcript
Turn your Bibles to Ecclesiastes 4
Welcome Home! It feels like a homecoming! I think the last time we met together was March 15! Does that sound about right? I think that right! Ya’ll…we didn’t meet together as a family for Easter! That’s crazy isn’t it? I pray that all of you were well through this quarantine and I pray that we all stay well. I know some of us here at POTR work in the medical field and you have been working some crazy hours with a lot of fears…from getting COVID-19 to giving it to your families when you came home. Some of us here work at grocery stores and were at a very high risk there as well. But we have all felt the impact of our nation shutting down. Whether you are a doctor or someone that mows lawn we have all felt the impact and will continue to feel the impact for a while. But here we are…back together, hearing the Word of God preached over us…God’s people singing songs to the Father through the Son Jesus Christ as we are moved by HIs Holy Spirit that is in each believer. I LOVE IT!
If you haven’t already urn your Bibles to Ecclesiastes 4. If you are visiting with us this morning for the first time we are so excited you are here with us. Before the quarantine hit we had worked our way through Ecclesiastes chapters 1-3 and then we had to shut it down and meet online like everyone else. I loved how we went through a couple of books together and leading our families through them. At the end of the day thats where it is at. We want to be a church that makes disciples and sees the kingdom grow first in our own homes, then in our community, and reaching to the ends of the earth…to all the nations. The Great Commission!
So Ecclesiastes 4…have ya’ll found it? Good…put your little ribbon in there or a piece of paper, maybe your gum wrapper, and mark it for next week! This morning I want to remind us of something absolutely AMAZING! I want to remind all of us what this is about. I hope it clears up some confusion for some…some confusion that some may have in here. I know I use to be confused about this. I want to remind us of the REAL HOMECOMING that we are all waiting for.
Remember these things because this is the fuel that moves us and motivates us. Remember these Words because they are TRUE! I want you all, at this little homecoming, to be encouraged and look forward to the ULTIMATE Homecoming that awaits us all who believe in Christ Jesus.
Let me cast a little vision for us real quick: we want POTR to be a place where we are known as a church that reads, studies and applies the Word of God to our lives. We want to be a church where people say, “those dudes know the Book…and they apply it in every aspect of their lives”.
We have to be a church that KNOWS the Word of God…and this book is shallow enough for a new believer to jump into and it is the deepest ocean for the smartest theologians to explore.
But wherever you are in your Christian walk you have to know this Book...because this whole thing is about promises. We have to know the promises of God. Once we know the promises of God we must believe the promises!
Do we believe God’s Word over our own Word?
Do we believe God’s Word over others word?
The only way to believe the promises of God is to know the promises of God.
Guys, the gospel is not some script you memorize. The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, is not like a flat piece of paper, its not one dimensional. The gospel of Jesus Christ is like a diamond. You roll it out on a piece of black velvet and you shine a light on it and it is beautiful. But you don’t stop there. You pull the lamp over and turn it on and put a magnifying gloss over your eye and look at it under the light and look at its beauty as the light shines off of it. But you don’t stop there. You grab some tweezers and you pick the diamond up and hold it up over your head with the light hitting it…you twist it and turn it and look at all the beautiful angles of it. The gospel is so deep, the good news of Jesus Christ too beautiful to only look at it as one dimensional. So let me remind you how beautiful this gospel is…lets look at “this side” of the good news...
Let me give you the quickest rundown of the Bible…It starts like this:
Genesis: God’s creation…The Garden in Genesis was ruined by sin. Humanity fallen because of sin. The earth, cursed because of sin and it has affected all of us.
Before we put our faith in Christ ALONE we trusted in ourselves and we were miserable. If you are here this morning and you have never truly trusted in Christ alone to redeem you from your sin your’e still miserable. It’s just the way it is. There is no salvation apart from Christ.
We, Christians, still struggle because of what happened in the Garden. We still work hard and sometimes feel like we are never getting ahead. What happened in the Garden has infected each and every one of us and that has spilled over into our relationships as well, not just our work and toil.
We get jealous of others
We struggle with being happy for others who seem to be more blessed than us in some way
we struggle with jealousy… a little bit of envy
I mean… of course we don’t say it. I mean, you can’t say that stuff....but the flesh is weak and we all struggle with sin
And the further we are away from His Word the worse it gets doesn’t it? Im no different from any of you and because I know that is true for me I know it is true for you.
Not only do we need His Word, we need community…we can’t do this on our own.
Genesis: Creation…A garden…then there is a marriage. Adam and Eve. Thats Genesis 1 and 2…the FIRST TWO Chapters of the Bible. Then you have in the third chapter sin and death…the land that is cursed. It goes down hill quickly.
Lets see what the LAST TWO Chapters of the Bible says:
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. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Remember Genesis? You had creation…a garden and a marriage.
Here we have a NEW CREATION....and a marriage.
Look at the last Chapter of the Bible
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. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
ahhh....LOOK AT THAT! A GARDEN. A place that has been cultivated, no longer anything accursed.
So the Bible begins with a creation, a garden and a marriage and the Bible ends with a NEW CREATION, A GARDEN AND A MARRIAGE.
That is the Bible…That is what happened and thats whats coming.
And you know where we find ourselves…in the middle. And the only way we can get through this life is believe the promises in the middle and man they are good!
Obviously I can’t go through all of them in a lifetime but I want to point out a few this morning. I want us to see the promise of our ultimate homecoming...
If the Bible starts off with creation and ends with a new creation…what do you think is going on in the middle?
Creation of a new humanity!
But what do we struggle with as people created in God’s image? We struggle with thinking that we create our own identity. Lets not look down our noses at the lost “out there” as if we are so much more righteous than they are…We, Christians, struggle with this as well. And again, this is why we have to be Creatures of the Word…this is why we have to read and study and apply the Word of God to our lives. This is why we need community to remind us of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
You know why it says that “All this is from God”? Because it is God who creates things out of nothing. God is the creator. Creatures do not create....Creators create.
And that is good news for you and me.
What you have done in your past does not determine who you are today in Christ. What you do today does not determine who you are. God determines who you are and if you are in Christ you are a NEW CREATION...”the old has passed away; behold, the new has come”. It is true that you no longer live but Christ lives in you. We have to embrace, truly embrace the spiritual implications of this because when we do it changes your life.
The world says this is not the way it is....but God says it is. We died to the thinking of this world once we put our faith in Christ alone.
Look at what Paul said in Galatians 6:14-16
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
So between these two bookends we, Christians, are a New Creation.
He has given us a new birth: John 3
He has given us a new heart and a new spirit: Eze 36:26
He has given us a new mind: Eph. 4:23
But for what reason?
That is the question right? Why? Because he is preparing us, shaping us, molding us to be good citizens in the New City…the New Jerusalem. HE is preparing us for our Ultimate Homecoming!
Jesus was not sent here to be some rocket ship to get off this planet alive one day! This drama is not about getting off of this planet someday and living forever somewhere “up there”. That is called “gnosticism” not Christianity! We have to know the Word or else we turn Christianity into such a self-centered gnostic religion.
Christ came to make all things new!
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
For now, we live as Christians…believing the promises of God and if Christ doesn’t come back in our lifetime then we die and enter what is called the intermediate state. This is at death we are with Christ in Heaven.
Remember what Paul says in Philippians 1:23
I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
When we die, we are with Christ immediately in His presence.
But that is not the crescendo…thats not the Ultimate Homecoming that we are waiting for guys...
The Ultimate Homecoming is the final bookend in Revelation…The New Heaven and New Earth! When Christ has put all his enemies under his feet, the last enemy to be defeated is death!
The day is coming when Christ will rid this world of sin and death and restore it…make it New, just like he made us a new. It will be made perfect once all has been defeated. The things of this world will be done away with and all things will be made new.
Romans 8 tells us that Creation itself is longing for the sons of God to be revealed....it is looking forward to the day that it is made new again!
When the New Heaven and Earth come Rewards will be given to us who lived for him here on Earth....Matt. 5:12; 6:1-4; 10:41; Rom. 14:10; 1 Co. 3:8-15; 9:17-18, 25; Eph. 6:7-8; Col. 3:23-25; 2 John 8; Rev. 11:18
And those rewards should motivate us and fuel us. That is why the Scriptures speak of them. And those rewards are really God’s own rewards because it is Him doing it through us by His power and HIs Spirit.
You might think that in the New Heavens and the New Earth that someone might be jealous or a little ticked off if someone is rewarded more than they are but that won’t be the case…there is no sin in the New Heaven and the New Earth. You’re not going to be upset if someone is rewarded more than you…you will rejoice in God’s perfection in how he distributes justice, perfect justice. Its hard to imagine such a unimaginable place isn't’ it…sounds too good to be true. But this is what the Christian life is doing right now between the bookends…preparing us to be good citizens.
And when we realize and believe the promise of a New Heaven and a New Earth what does that do for us right now? It should make us realize that the things of this world aren’t something to hold on to so tightly. There is nothing wrong with the blessing God has given each of us but it should make us use the things He has given us to further His Kingdom because those are the things that are eternal. Do you see that?
I want to end with this…John 20.
Turn to John 20.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.
the greatest “recognition scene” in all of history (perhaps the second greatest is “I am Joseph”; cf. Gen. 45:1–3)1