01.29.2012 Heaven is Real part 1

How many of you have read Heaven is for Real? It is written by a pastor about his child’s experience. This is a popular subject – even in the theology realm – not really as best-seller as this – actually – only about 4 people buy those books – the same 4 people who write them.
If you have any questions about heaven and hell – there is an index card – I’d be happy to attempt to answer your questions. Just don’t ask if there are animals in heaven – because I WILL be answering this on the third Sunday at 10:27 am.
We’ll be talking about heaven today and next week – and talking about Hell on the third week.
There is not a lot in the Bible about what heaven is like once you get there! There is some stuff in the Bible about that – so we can get as clear of an understanding as we can. Some say there is more about hell in the New Testament than about heaven. Part of the problem is we try to look at it from our current experiences.
A five year old boy named Johnny who heard the term ‘Honeymoon’ and asked his dad what a honeymoon is like – Dad: It is probably one of the best experiences you will ever have after you find someone to marry – and you will go away for a week or two and it will be the greatest time of your life! Johnny – Can I bring my trucks? Can I bring my frog? Can Billy down the street come along? It is like us We are like Johnny and we say -– will there be golf there? But just like Johnny can’t even begin to grasp what a honeymoon is like, heaven will be so beyond us that all we get are little shadows of what it will be like.
Lord, in all we do, we run to You. You put us up on wings like eagles – above our own ability, weakness, and failure. You are a rock that is higher than us – a solid rock upon which we can stand – the only thing that is true – everything else is false, but You are true. Your word is true – it is your representation of You to us. This is a difficult subject –so give us understanding and hope. In Your name we pray.
Sometimes the misunderstandings began in the Renaissance. There are all these paintings of heaven with harps and clouds and cherubs with wings – and that has filtered down over the centuries – and God is white with a white beard with lightning bolts – and you don’t want to get in the way of those. Other times, our misunderstandings come from improper teachings. Others come from folklore. Some comes from Homer. Not from Greece – but Simpson. I didn’t watch this – Alan told me about it. There was a show where Homer died and goes to Protestant heaven. There is St. Peter with pearly gates and harps and clouds and Homer is bored – and looks and sees another place where people are drinking beer and playing poker – What is that? Well that is Catholic heaven, so Homer wakes up and converts – that is absurd. I am not trying to be offensive to Catholics – but the absurdity is that it is like an eternal church service – and that sounds like hell to some. Our vision of heaven has gone astray.
The first thing I would say – the reason we need to have a good understanding of heaven – as best as we can living in this world – because the truth about our future in heaven will change the way we live on earth now. If we have a better grasp about this truth, it changes the way you will live here on earth.
First question is this – what happens right after we die? For us – that is kind of the point and the concern – I am looking at this for today – what happens right after a believer dies. There is a difference, and we will look at that as the weeks go by. It is only through Christ that people go to heaven. If we wish to go to heaven – and it won’t be boring – but to do that, we must come to Christ.
Phil. 1: 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed
Paul is about to be executed…
but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body,
This physical body of mine – and Paul is getting ready to come to the point where he passes in this world – and he is saying – in this world, in this body – that Christ would be honored and exalted…
whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Life – Death, Die – Gain. To die is better than to live – that is not easy to consider -
22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!
Paul feels like he has a choice between the two:
23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
So Paul is telling us – when we depart, we are in the presence of Christ. When we die, when we leave this earth, death, as a Christian, as a believer, we are welcomed into the presence of Christ. Answer 1) Immediately after you die – it is a bingo-bango thing – you wake up in the presence of Christ.
2 Cor. 5: 6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
When you die, you will be in the presence of God – and you will be at home. It is your new body – and you will be comfortable in your new body – at home. It is like the long trip – and when you walk in – I am home.
That gives us hope – to know that we have assurance and confidence – there is no maybe/maybe not here.
Luke 23: 42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." 43 Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
Today – We are just transported somehow into the presence of God. We don’t know how that happens – only those on the other side know how that happens.
The next question – what will that be like?
Yes, it will be like being at home – but what will you do there – being at home with the Lord in His Presence.
Before I get to that – here is a bit of a sidebar. That book brings this up – the boy is in surgery and sees these things – and you hear these stories of the light and the tunnel – I would never deny someone’s story – I am not an interpreter of it – but there is another story we see here in Acts 7 – the story of Stephen – about to get stoned.
55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
One thing I have noticed – in my own experience – so many people talk about Christians who were with other Christians at their moment of death – and right at that moment – “I see Jesus!” – and we see it here in the text of Scripture – to me it has to be a reality. It doesn’t have to happen, but it happens so often.
What is it like when we die and enter – what will we be doing? There is a strange little verse in revelation – it is prophetic, metaphor – unique language. It is not meant to be taken completely literally all the time. There is tremendous truth there – but much of it is figurative. It is not helicopter gunships! Those are metaphors/figurative.
Revelation 6: 9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.
Here we have a glimpse into what certain ones are doing in heaven – it is not at all what you would expect, is it?! Again, there is symbolism – Heaven is God’s temple – the place where God met the people – where God is present – a metaphor of what is going on – these martyrs are in the presence of God under the altar where sacrifices are made for sin.
First thing we notice – they are aware – conscious – they are not asleep – they have a relationship with God – they are communicating with Him. When we die – we will be able to have this communication with God on His throne. And it also says that they see God for who He is – O sovereign Lord, Holy and true – from the vantage point they are now – it all makes sense – and that is how it will be for us when we get there. From that vantage point – from under the altar in the presence of God – we will understand – the one who has been in control all along.
Then - How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"
Have you ever thought of that one – they are crying for justice – in heaven they understand that God is the sovereign lord who reigns supreme – who reigns in heaven and is bringing about His reign on earth – and they realize that this is what God is doing all along – God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven.
We tend to think there is this great separation between heaven and earth – and when we get there – we’ll realize how they come together under God’s rule. And that was always God’s intent. They are asking God to set the world aright – Heal Your world – create it anew – something like that – that is God’s plan – that is what they are asking for. It is His world – let it be healed – set aright – and that should affect us in the present – understanding that. That should change how we live here. When we understand that God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven – and so we live for that now.
We do that by setting people right with God – we must give ourselves to that. That is what we’ll be wanting in heaven. Obviously – there is an understanding –
Hebrews 12: 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
We don’t know what it looks like – metaphorically – there is this understanding that those ahead of us in heaven are aware of what is going on down here. They are watching as we carry the torch to accomplish that.
So we work to set our society right. And we see both of these things coming together. In history – the mainline denominations focused on social justice – and in doing that – they forgot the gospel.. So in the early to mid-1900s – the evangelical/fundamentalist movement – went all the way to the gospel and they lost the good deeds – but what you see throughout the Bible is BOTH – you have both. And the church is to be engaged in both.
Phil. 1:
20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me. 27 Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Our goal is to be pleasing to God – am I living in a way that God will be pleased? It is not complicated. Our goal is to be pleasing to God. And that should make you confront the areas where you hear this and say Oh No! And if you don’t think you have any area to say Oh No – then oh no!
God doesn’t need us to attract people to himself – but He has chosen us to do that. Are we doing that? And then we see where we are falling down and we strive toward that.
. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me
2 Cor. 5: 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Good deeds – good communication – we must have both to be faithful to God. You are not more faithful if all you have is good deeds. You are not more faithful if all you have is the gospel – it is meant to be both.
We will glorify Him in heaven – so we are to find that balance and live that way now.
Next week’s question – is heaven our final destination as Christians? The answer to that is Absolutely not! This is a temporary thing that Paul is talking about – there is something else coming – and it is very clear – how in the world do we miss it?
Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
We don’t know exactly when this happens – it may be after you have been there a thousand years – or twenty – or 1!
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
It is not that man is now with God – but that God is now with Man – He will dwell with them and they will be His people.
Where will you spend eternity? Right here. Not here in this sanctuary – but right here on earth – it will be a new heaven and a new earth – and next week we will look at how it should make us live.
Heaven is very important – but it is not the end of the world – Wright.
The eternal state is perfection of life on earth, not an escape from life on earth – Scot McKnight.
The ultimate purpose – the renewal of God’s creation – both heaven and earth – you are a new creation – a new creation – we will look at The Resurrection next week – our bodies won’t be like Adam and Eve’s body – but Corinthians tells us that is will be like Jesus’ resurrected body – far superior.
The climax of the Bible is not people leaving earth going to heaven, but God coming to earth that He might live with His people.