God provided a way for people to be restored to an eternal relationship with Him by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sin. For all who repent and trust in Jesus' death on their behalf, God forgives all their sins and declares them to be right in His eyes. He gives these Christ-followers the gift of eternal life, seals them with His Holy Spirit, and adopts them into His family.
Today we’re talking about heaven. What it is, and how to get there.
We are wired for heaven, aren’t we? For paradise. We search for it all of our lives. Chase after it. You maybe can't explain it, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, you know it’s there, like a splinter in your mind, that there’s something missing in the world. A dreamy mirage. A time out of time. Paradise. That ancient garden. And we spend our entire lives trying to get back there, to the garden. Catch a glimpse of it. Or some earthly iteration of it. These are the places, the moments that cause us to say, ah! Not like at the doctor’s office [tongue depressor]. Ah with an extra H! Yes, these are the moments that dreams are made of. Dreaming of the beach [sunny Cyprus]. Of that idyllic mountain lake. Of that beautiful garden with a comfy chair and a tall cold or hot beverage. Sit back, kick your feet up, and drink it in. Ahhhh. Trying to find just that little bit of heaven. That fleeting bit of respite, a momentary interlude of rest and quiet, that place of perfect peace. OR transcendent joy. Maybe it’s finding that special someone? These are the moments when you want to hit the pause button, and go timeless. We live for these moments, we long for these glimpses of heaven, trying to get back to paradise.
Sadly, all these glimpses are just that. Fleeting at best. Nothing in this world ever fully satisfies. I’m with CS Lewis - “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” We WERE made for another world - or at least a different version of this one.
But so, what IS heaven? IS it a place? Can we locate on a map? With our gps? Is it in the clouds or the stars somewhere? 2nd star to the right and straight on till morning? Is it just some fictional neverland? We do believe at one point there WAS a garden [tho we’re not sure of it’s exact location]. At one point there IS (or will be) a city. The Bible does describe a huge celestial city, with indescribable dwellings and streets of gold [Rev 21.9-21][The measurement of 12k stadia = 1363 miles --> that's Dallas to LA or Winnipeg]. But the distinguishing feature of that heavenly city isn’t where it is, or what is there - it’s Who is there [Rev 21.22-23]. That’s what makes it heaven. The presence of God turns any place into paradise [note these other sacred places: the burning bush Ex 3.4-5; the transfiguration - Mt 17.1-4; Rev 21.3]. Heaven can literally be anywhere - as long as the Lord is there - AND we have the eyes, the heart to see Him. To trust Him. [How about Moses up on Sinai IN GOD'S PRESENCE with no food or water for 40 days...? He had all he needed/wanted...]
Of course, our longing and searching for paradise/heaven shows us not only that we were designed for it but also that we are not there. What happened? We’ve discussed how God created man in His image, for a personal relationship with Him, and how man just thumbed his nose at God. Man chose to reject God. We decided to cast God and what He wanted OUT of our lives, and we got exactly what we wanted. We got cast out of God’s paradise. And the significant part of that casting out was the death. We died. Our bodies began to die - all manner of brokenness invaded our world - AND our spirits died in that moment. We became separated from God. Paradise lost. This death and separation then passed down to all people. We all emerge from the womb tragically separated from God. We’re born with the curse of sin flowing in our spiritual veins. We choose from the get go to go our own way, to live into what we want instead of what God wants. This is the textbook definition of sin - and we’re all guilty [Rom 3.23, Rom 6.23]. Which means that paradise, God’s kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, is at an insurmountable distance from each one of us [without some outside intervention].
Cuz how DO we get there? How do we truly and fully get back to the garden, to heaven? Is there some “Stairway to heaven"? There are different ideas as to what that song is really saying. But there is one line that is repeated, three times: She’s buying a stairway to heaven… No she isn’t. We think money —> heaven. Or money = heaven. No it isn’t. All the things we think money can buy: it can buy stuff. A whole lotta stuff. A whole lot of [cotton candy]. And all those moments of respite and sipping that drink are fleeting at best. Temporal. All too temporary. A lot of good looking stuff that leaves us still feeling empty. So much fluff. Sometimes we think we find heaven in another person - but they’re just as broken and empty as we are. No finite created thing can provide true lasting happiness and contentment. Much less heaven. When the God of heaven is missing from our hearts it leaves a God-shaped hole that only He can fill [and it’s a BIG hole, Pascal calls it an infinite abyss - and no amount of stuff or money can ever hope to fill it. John Rockefeller when asked how much money was enough, famously replied, "$1 more". Money can't hope to fill the hole, much less NOT buy eternal life. You can’t take any of it with you. Not even one measly penny. The LIE says, I earn my way into heaven. No, I don’t. NO amount of money, no good work will ever make me good and clean enough to enter God’s perfect holy presence - this is a rescue which I cannot ever effect. [Eph 2:8-9] Heaven is a gift - there is nothing I could ever do to buy my way in, or otherwise earn access. [Rev 21.6]
BUT because heaven is about a Who, an eternal relationship with that Who, it means that heaven is not strictly confined to some future distant celestial city. Heaven CAN be found in the here and now, in my heart. The kingdom of heaven is IN you, Jesus said (Lk 17.21).
We were made for this. We were made for this. That’s exactly what we say in those times and in those places when we’re experiencing some kind of heaven on earth, isn’t it? I was made for this. And that’s the point. That’s the truth we’ve been considering for the past several weeks. There IS a God Who made all things, and He made us, all people, IN HIS IMAGE. Wired for personal relationship, one which begins and ends with a personal relationship with Him. To know Him. That’s what Paul tells us in Philippians 3:8-11 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ…that I may know Him… Paul knows, THAT is heaven. THAT'S the very best thing in the universe, and nothing comes close [Philippians 1:23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.]. Knowing Christ - THAT is heaven [John 17:3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”]. That is the miracle, the wonderfully impossible and indescribable promise of Emmanuel. God with us. I am with you, always, He says. Heaven - the God of Heaven - comes to camp out, to make His home in our hearts. Truly, heaven on earth. In my heart. Always. Everywhere. And Jesus is the way. He is both the There AND the Way to get there. The LIE says, there are many ways to God. No. No, there aren’t. Only one Person ever lived who was sinless, innocent enough to pay my sin penalty and yours (that’s what He was doing on that cross) [Jn 14.6]. And only one Person ever lived Who rose from the dead to prove the truth of His claim. Every other religion, every other purported path depends on works. Me working my way to heaven (or whatever alternative spiritual goal I’ve concocted). That's the difference between religion and Christianity. Religion - any religion - is me trusting in MY efforts, MY work. Christianity is me trusting in Christ's work. And the City of Heaven is the people who have said, “I do” to Christ in their hearts.
Heaven - we were made for this. But we were also undone for this. Paradise is lost. We lost it. We were kicked out, driven out when we drove God out of our lives. When we chose to put something else in God’s place. And we’ve all done it. But God made a way back. A way to know Him. A way to be right with Him (Romans 3:24 …being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus - i.e. in His eyes I’ve done everything right). That’s what it means to be forgiven. Do you know Jesus yet? Have you said “I do” to Him yet? He is knocking at your door…
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