Why Heaven is Important

Introduction

Heaven is a subject people are intrigued with. Historically, when life gets hard and uncertain and even dangerous, people tend to give more thought to life beyond this life. When life is hard “down here,” we tend to wonder what’s “up there.” But I have found that even for believers the subject of Heaven is foggy and only mildly brings comfort.

The Real Heaven: What the Bible Actually Says 1. Does Heaven Really Matter?

As we begin this study on Heaven, I want to ask you a few questions:

• How often do you think about Heaven?

• How many times this last week did Heaven cross your mind?

• When was the last time Heaven actually came up in a conversation?

• When was the last time you heard a sermon on Heaven?

• Do you have a Biblically informed view of Heaven?

What I have found is that while people are intrigued about the afterlife, most of us really don’t give it much thought or serious investigation. I know that this is not true of everyone in this room and I am thankful for you.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 CSB

11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.

If you were to visit the hospital right now and someone dying of Covid or leukemia were to ask you, “what happens to me after I die?’ Could you answer them with any certainty?

Once we get past the “no more tears, no more sorrow, and Jesus will be there,” we are often left with just a few random thoughts about Heaven and struggle to articulate what the Bible actually teaches about it. Even though we know we are going to die and even though we know it is the place where believers will spend eternity, most of us don’t give it much thought. We seem to have more interest in where we are going for lunch than where we are going for eternity. For many of us Heaven seems like a vague, mystical place that has little impact on our life today. Even though our life “here and now” often drowns out our thoughts about Heaven.

Chip Ingram and Lance Witt, The Real Heaven: What the Bible Actually Says (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2016).

Three Reasons to Study Heaven

Our Misconceptions are Crippling Us

Most of us carry around some distorted views and false thinking about Heaven. I am amazed at how many things I thought I knew about the Scriptures I didn’t know. I hope you have the same attitude. This is a life time journey. We tend to believe what we really can’t know much about Heaven but in reality there is a lot of information in the bible about Heaven. and it is different from what we in our Hollywood-infused minds carry around.

Our misconception that it is other worldly and totally disconnected and different than anything we experience her in this life. We picture disembodied spirits that float around and play harps all day. Maybe like Clarence from the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, you think we are going to be earning our wings. or

The Real Heaven: What the Bible Actually Says 1. Does Heaven Really Matter?

Heaven is filled with wispy clouds, and apparently colors aren’t allowed there, because everyone is wearing white. And obviously in Heaven there is no fashion because everyone wears a loose-fitting white robe. There are no belts, scarves, earrings, bracelets, vests, sweaters, or pants in Heaven. And Heaven must have a mega fog machine, because as you may have noticed in the movies, you never see anyone’s feet in Heaven—the floor of Heaven is always covered with a layer of fog

Heaven is one really long church service. I’m a pastor and as much as I enjoy church service, the idea of one long church service sounds terrible. No wonder so many Christians don’t seem all that interested in Heaven.

Here we see Far Side comic I wish I brought a magazine

If we don’t understand this and continue to carry around misconceptions about Heaven, we will have little interest in it. The result is tragic. If we have no hope in Heaven then We begin to ask this world and the people in it to come through for me in ways that will never happen. Frustration and disappointment with God, marriage, family, friends, and jobs are inevitable

We are commanded to think about Heaven

Colossians 3:2–4 LEB

2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

A faulty view of Heaven destines us to a wasted life on Earth

John 14:1–3 LEB

1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places; but if not, I would have told you, because I am going away to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, so that where I am, you may be also.

Jesus knew that a crystal clear view of eternity and of their future home in Heaven would sustain them through the most difficult of times. When life would get hard and when persecution would come, the hope of Heaven would motivate them to persevere. As Hebrews says, they were waiting for a heavenly city that God was building. And it wasn’t some ethereal, vague place with a lot of fog and white robes. Their sense of Heaven was clear and real and tangible and attractive.

Benefits of Studying Heaven

Gives you Perspective

Studying Heaven changes you perspective. It will changer your desires. It will change your priorities. It will Change you life.

We tend to live life with a very temporal perspective rather than an eternal one. You are but a drop in the stream of time, but your actions here have eternal ramifications, and effects all of history. The Things are bigger than just you now. With is not how our individualistic point of view leans to.

Persevere in the face of Trial

New Perspective gives you the perseverance you need to stand in the face of trials and temptation. In the face of sin or death the idea of playing a harp is not going to sustain you.

Gives you Priority

Matthew 6:19 LEB

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and consuming insect destroy and where thieves break in and steal,

Ministers would not have to urge people to live for heaven if their treasures were up there; they could not help it; their hearts would be there, and if their hearts were there their minds would be up there, and their lives would tend toward heaven. They could not help living for heaven if their treasures were there.

Our priorities are not for treasure here that we can’t take with us, be that in the form of money, things or praises.

Heaven is for all that believe but it is not equal.

Store up treasure in heaven.

Next Steps

What are your ideas of Heaven? Is it a place you want to go? How does your life reflect the ideas of Heaven

Heaven: Where It Is, Its Inhabitants, and How to Get There Earth the Home of Sin

“Tell me, my secret soul,

O, tell me, Hope and Faith,

Is there no resting-place

From sorrow, sin and death?

Is there no happy spot

Where mortals may be blest,

Where grief may find a balm,

And weariness a rest?

Faith, Hope and Love—best boons to mortals given—

Waved their bright wings, and whispered:

Yes, in heaven!”

Bibliography

Ingram, Chip, and Lance Witt. The Real Heaven: What the Bible Actually Says. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2016.

Alcorn, Randy. Heaven. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Momentum, 2011.

Moody, D. L. Heaven: Where It Is, Its Inhabitants, and How to Get There. Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1884.

Hayes, Zachary J., Clark H. Pinnock, and John F. Walvoord. Four Views on Hell. Edited by Stanley N. Gundry and William Crockett. Zondervan Counterpoints Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996.

http://davidwarkentin.blogspot.com/2011/09/heaven-out-of-this-world.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy2AQlK6C5k&t=1s

https://youtu.be/qwNfH_SOWKA?list=RDCMUCeqnFRVfjy5R5ZUR92IZlpg

https://bibleproject.com/podcast/series/heaven-hell

https://bibleproject.com/podcast/series/heaven-earth-series