LOOKING TO HEAVEN

Introduction

-There’s a story about a pastor who preached a rousing sermon on heaven. In the excitement of the moment he yelled out: “Who here wants to go to heaven, raise your hands?” All the congregation gave a loud Amen with raised hands, except 1 elderly gentleman near the back.

The pastor thought that the man might not have heard, so he shouted out again: “Who here wants to go to heaven, raise your hands?” Again, all the congregation gave a loud Amen with raised hands except that one elderly gentleman.

So, the pastor being curious, asked the man from the pulpit: “Sir, don’t you want to go to heaven when you die?” The man replied, “Of course I want to go to heaven when I die; I thought you were taking up volunteers to go now!”

-The attitude of the man I think is reflective of most Christians’ attitudes. We know that heaven is a place we want to go to eventually, but it’s not something we want to think about now, and we are in no hurry to get there now.

~Heaven is great to talk about at a funeral and the occasional sermon, but it is not something that really impacts our day to day living. Somehow the beauty and excitement of heaven has lost its grip on us.

~Sure, we would rather go to heaven than hell, but other than being the opposite of hell, it’s not something that affects our daily living.

-The early Christians would think that we are strange, because it was exactly because of heaven that kept them going from day to day, moment to moment. The knowledge that all the garbage of this earth is temporary, that there is an eternal abode with God, was the hope that allowed them to endure.

-But what I think has happened is that we Christians have become so comfortable on this earth and what this world has to offer that, if given a choice, we would rather stay on earth with all its gizmos and gadgets. We might actually think that we are losing out on something were we to leave this earth. And I’m not just picking on you, but I’m talking about me.

-Considering the chaotic times that we are going through, it should be a reminder to us that this is all temporary, and ought to cause a desire for our true home to well up inside of us.

-In the passage we are looking at the apostles become troubled over several things that Jesus said, and so Jesus had them look toward the promises of heaven for their comfort.

~And now, for us, as we are experiencing inner turmoil due to the outward troubles and chaos that’s going on, it’s time for us to do the same.

~When we think more about heaven, our focus and outlook will change—and that’s my desire for today…

John 14:1–6 ESV

1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

1) The Peace of Heaven (v. 1)

-We are in the section of the gospel often referred to as Jesus’ final discourse—these are last minute teachings and instructions before Jesus’ great prayer and then His betrayal and crucifixion.

-Jesus begins this section by telling the 11 remaining apostles to not allow their hearts to be troubled. This is a lot harder than it sounds because Jesus just dropped several nuclear-sized bombs on them…

-Jesus told them that He was going away from them and they could not follow (referring to His death and resurrection). He told them that one of them was going to betray Him (after which Judas left to do just that). And then He told Peter, who was so adamant that he would die for Jesus, that Peter would actually deny Him three times.

-To say that their hearts would be troubled would be an understatement. Their whole world just got shook, everything that they thought about Jesus and His purpose on earth was cut out from under them, and they were also then forced to look at their own sin and weaknesses. That is enough to make anyone’s hearts troubled.

-But Jesus says LET NOT YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED! And what is the basis of Jesus saying that? Jesus says that they need to put their trust in Him. They trust God, so they also need to trust Jesus. And then Jesus goes on to talk about the heavenly place that He prepares for them.

-The basis for their peace when their hearts are troubled is that Jesus is trustworthy, and if Jesus says that He is going to bring His followers to where He is going so that they are in His presence forever, then He is going to fulfill what He says. Jesus is not a liar—so if Jesus says that He will bring His people to heaven with Him, then that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

-In troubled times with troubled hearts, Jesus pointed to Himself and His Word and His heaven that He prepares. That is what was to bring comfort to His people when the things of earth get all messy.

-And now, under all the stressors that we have going on right now, Jesus is not saying (nor is He promising) that things will get better on this earth. They may not. Things might not ever get back to normal (nor, probably, should they)

~The peace and comfort that Jesus gives has never been: THINGS WILL GET BETTER HERE ON EARTH SOON! JUST THINK POSITIVE AND YOUR LIFE WILL GET BETTER!

-I don’t see that anywhere in the Bible, and yet that is exactly what we think—for the world in general, and for our lives specifically. We have bought into the whole concept that Jesus wants us to live out the American Dream. No! Jesus says in this world, where we are at right now, we will have trouble. But then He says I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD!

-How has He overcome the world? There are many ways, but specifically in conjunction with this passage, Jesus has prepared a heavenly abode, and Jesus made the way to that heavenly abode through His death and resurrection, and that is where we place our hope and find our peace.

-The reason not to let your hearts be troubled has nothing to do with circumstances on earth getting better—it has everything to do with what Jesus has in store for you beyond this earth. This is what gives peace to our troubled hearts.

2) The Place of Heaven (vv. 2-3)

-Jesus goes on to say that God the Father has a household and there are places there for God’s people to stay that Jesus Himself is preparing, and Jesus will ensure that His followers will get there.

-There’s a lot to unpack here, even though a lot of it is vague and confusing. But the main point of what I am trying to say is that Jesus describes heaven as a place. Heaven is not merely a state of mind, nor is it a bunch of wispy spirits just floating around aimlessly, nor is it a bunch of clouds with people playing harps, there is an actual place where people actually go.

-Jesus describes it as God’s household—it is a place where God has chosen to manifest His glorious presence amongst His creation. Obviously God is eternal and is never merely in one place, but heaven is a place where God reveals Himself as fully as creation can get it and God relates to His creation in that place.

~The point being that it is a place where we humans are able to enjoy being in God’s presence and relate to Him without any hindrance.

-And Jesus says that in this place there are places for us to dwell with Him. He says in v. 2 that in the Father’s house there are many rooms—literally there are many dwelling places, many places to reside.

~All our KJV folks are about to have a heart attack—they’re like WHAT ABOUT THE MANSIONS! That’s what the KJV says, so I want my mansion.

-Let me tell you what happened—the Latin translation used the word mansion, and the Old English translations picked up on that. But the word mansion in Old English meant something different than it does today. In Old English the word meant merely a place of dwelling—it did not mean some super-big house with a million rooms. So, I hate to disappoint, but there is no promise of 50,000 sq ft mansions in heaven, I don’t care what the prosperity preachers say.

-The point that Jesus is making is that there is a place for believers to dwell in God’s presence for all of eternity. Jesus says nothing about the living conditions—His point is that there is a place where God’s people will abide in the presence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and it will never be taken away from them, and Jesus will never leave them like He was having to leave His apostles when He spoke these words.

-Now, there is a lot of ambiguity here about this place that Jesus is preparing: Is Jesus referring to the heaven that people go to now when we die, or is Jesus speaking about the new heaven and new earth at the resurrection or what?

~I think Jesus purposefully leaves it vague because He is referring to it all. Heaven is wherever God is present. When we die, we go to the place where God manifests His presence. And when the end comes, we will be present with Him in the new heaven and new earth in resurrected bodies.

-This place is where our peace is found. We will be ushered into a place where we see God without the hindrance of our sin, without the hindrance of the limited world (although we will never fully grasp God’s eternal nature)—we will see Jesus face to face and will be able to relate with Him for the rest of eternity. That is what ought to comfort us.

~This is not some pie in the sky, sweet by and by, kind of thinking. Jesus says this is fact—there is a place and He has prepared it for us. And He tells His disciples that they know where He is going, and they know the way…

3) The Path to Heaven (vv. 4-6)

-As we all can be sometimes, the disciples are a little slow on the uptake. Thomas, who isn’t afraid to get the facts straight, says that they have no idea where Jesus is going, so they sure don’t know the way.

-And Jesus responds in one of the greatest summaries of the gospel:

John 14:6 (ESV)

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

-Jesus tells His disciples that there is only one path to the place of peace, and Jesus Himself is that path.

~The world may claim that there are numerous ways to heaven, but Jesus says there is only one.

-Often times when I put my destination into my handy dandy map app on my phone, it will give me several different options to choose from to get to where I’m going. I can go this way or I can go that way or I can go this other way. I have choices, but it gets me to the same place.

-That might work with your map app, but that’s not good theology. The map to heaven will not give you different options. It doesn’t say you can go the Muhamad way or the Buddha way or the Hindu way or the Jehovah’s Witness way or the Mormon way, or any other way.

-The map to heaven takes one path, and that path is Jesus Himself. It is the path of the cross, it is the path of the resurrection. It is only the path of Jesus. As theologian William Hendriksen described:

When Jesus reveals God’s redemptive truth which sets men free from the enslaving power of sin, and when he imparts the seed of life which produces fellowship with the Father, then and thereby He, as the way…, has brought them to the Father.

-Jesus promises that those who take this path of faith in Jesus will be ushered into God’s presence. But how do we know that this is true? How do we know that we can trust Jesus?

-It is because Jesus also says that He is the truth. He doesn’t only speak truth or write truth, but He IS truth. Truth is His very essence. If anything is true, it is because Jesus made it so.

~Jesus only imparts truth because His nature is true, so when He says we can have peace because He prepared that place, and any who follow the path will be saved, we can believe. Take it to the bank. It is true.

-But Jesus also says that He is life. True life comes from Jesus. He not only created all of life, and He not only imparts spiritual life to believers, but He is the center of all life. Without Jesus there is only death—but He reaches out and invites people to taste His life, which He says is abundant life: abundant spiritually and emotionally and eternally.

-Mystic Thomas a Kempis wrote with regard to this verse and concept:

The words of Christ cry out to us: “Follow me. I am the way and the truth and the life. Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way which you must follow; the truth which you must believe; the life for which you must hope. I am the [unbreakable] way; the infallible truth, the never-ending life. I am the straightest way; the sovereign truth; life true, life blessed, life uncreated. If you remain in my way you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free, and you shall lay hold on eternal life.”

Conclusion

-So, Jesus is giving us that invitation—follow the path to the place of peace. Look to heaven by looking to Him.

-Christian, maybe you need a new perspective on life. Don’t wait on Jesus to make the here and now more comfortable for you. But live your life in the knowledge that He has prepared that place for you and will bring you to Himself at the right time. That is the Christian hope. Stop living for this world—start living with eternity in mind.

-But there may be some here who have not trusted in Jesus, and so you have no hope for peace. Not only is your life miserable now, it will be even more miserable in eternity. The only path to true peace is through Jesus Christ. Trust that He died for you, believe that He can give you life because He alone is the way, the truth, & life…