A Short Catechism on Hell and Heaven

Is there a hell?

Yes, there is a hell. Jesus taught about it more than anyone else in the Bible.

What is hell?

Hell is God's expression of justice toward those who have rebelled against Him. It is His punishment for sin.

How long does this just punishment last?

Jesus used the word 'eternal' to describe it.

What is the nature of this punishment?

Jesus and others in the Bible use different images to convey what this punishment is. None of the images is able to aptly describe what it will be like because it is beyond anything that we have ever experienced. At the heart of this punishment is the complete absence of any good.

Are people sent there by God or is this a kind of place that they have desired and are granted?

It is both. God acts as judge and decides who is to be there. But at the same time, those who will be there have wanted to be in a place where God is not. They will be granted what they have desired.

Is there a heaven?

Yes, the Bible refers to it in many different places.

What is heaven?

While our word 'heaven' is understood in a few ways, here the word will refer to what the Bible refers to as 'the age to come'. 

How long will this heaven last?

Jesus uses the word 'eternal' to describe it.

What is the nature of heaven?

Heaven will be this creation purified of all evil and all sin, and restored to its original perfect beauty inhabited by those who have, likewise, been purified and restored.

Who will live in heaven?

Disciples of Jesus will enjoy heaven in their resurrected bodies.

What will they do there?

Heaven will be a place of creativity, invention, satisfying work and open relationships.

What is required of a person so that he or she will enjoy heaven?

A person needs to accept as true the Gospel about Jesus. This Gospel claims that Jesus has come to rescue from sin and its consequences as well as to establish God’s rule over everything. Accepting the Gospel as true will show in a person's life as working at turning away from the different ways that he or she rebelled against God and instead working at submitting to Him and His definition of a life lived well. 

Regrets?

Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave it with regret?  There are better things ahead than any we leave behind. 

C.S. Lewis

Pitiable

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.  (1 Corinthians 15)

I think that it is safe to say that many Christians, if they were to stop and think about it, would say that it would be okay if there were no heaven after this life. They would say this life can be good enough - even if there is no more. I am not among them. If there is no new heavens and new earth, if there isn't the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting, if what the Gospel promises me for later is a fraud, then my life is a waste of my time. Eternity with Jesus as a perfected person enjoying all the other saints is the justification I give myself for the disappointments, struggles, heartbreak and loneliness of my life. I'm not saying that life for me now is horrible. It isn't. There are lots of good things to enjoy, and I do enjoy so many of them. But the enjoyment of those things cannot make up for what I lack, what I was made for, what I long for. And the only place where I will be able to experience any of that is as a renewed person in a renewed creation. If there is no resurrection of me and all of this, then I should be pitied for so many of the choices that I have made as I have tried to follow Jesus. And the Apostle Paul agrees with me.

In God, Heaven

The Scriptures constantly teach that man’s only true happiness is in God, and that his full happiness in God cannot be attained in this life, but that believing men have that happiness assured to them in the life to come. Commenting on John 14:6, Godet says, ‘Jesus here substitutes the Father for the Father’s house.  For it is  not in heaven that we are to find God, but in God that we are to find heaven.’

Alexander Whyte

An Exposition on the Shorter Catechism

Exiles

Isaiah 40

I have fond memories of my first real encounter with Isaiah 40. I was in college and still a very young Christian. But I was being taught the truths of the Bible. And so, certain portions of the Scriptures stood out to me. One reason they did was that they revealed the beauty of a very impressive God. I wasn't impressed with God very much before this time. But I began to be. Isaiah 40 is one of those portions that revealed this impressive God to me. What a vision of God! This was someone that I could worship. It was quite the antidote to the anemic God I had known before. And I think that this was Isaiah's goal. He wanted the people to be amazed by a powerful vision of an impressive God.

However, Isaiah did not have me in mind when he wrote this. To appreciate who his intended audience was you need to understand some things about this book of the Bible. Isaiah was sent by God to a very rebellious people. He was sent to proclaim God's coming judgment on Israel, His people. So, the first section of his book is, for the most part, doom and gloom. There are exceptions but that's the main theme: God's justice is coming to a rebellious people, Israel. 'Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."' Isaiah preached that justice would come.

Once we begin chapter 40, though, Isaiah is no longer preaching to his contemporaries. No, he directs his words to a future generation. He writes for the sake of those who would later experience this promised justice. He writes for those who would become exiles. The armies of Babylon came, as promised. They conquered Israel and emptied Jerusalem. As a result, they removed much of the populace of Israel. Daniel and his friends were among these exiles in Babylon. These are the same exiles who were exhorted by another prophet of God, Jeremiah. 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. ... For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.' And so, the exiles would settle in and work and pray for the welfare of this other city, Babylon. And after a time, they enjoyed a measure of good. There had been marriages and births. They had worked and had succeeded. Life wasn't all that bad. And yet, Babylon was not Jerusalem. So, we find Daniel in this city of exile, opening his windows that he might pray facing toward Jerusalem – the city of God, the city of his heritage, the city that was home. And Daniel prayed that his God would keep the promise He had made to return His people from exile. Babylon was fine. There was much for Daniel to do and to enjoy there. But Babylon was not Jerusalem. For Daniel, the exile, Babylon was not home.

Isaiah anticipates all this. And he has a message, our text, to encourage the exiles. It is a message of comfort to the people of God. 'Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.' This message has a promise that there would be a return, a new exodus from a this latter-day Egypt into the wilderness and then into the Promised Land. 'A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.' And this will certainly come about. The people can rest assured. And why? Their God has given His Word which cannot fail. 'The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.' And this God is the very impressive God who can do anything. 'Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him.' And then, as a last section of the chapter, Isaiah anticipates how these displaced people will feel after a few generations of exile in Babylon. 'Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God"?' And to this Isaiah answers, 'He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.' Isaiah 40, words of comfort and hope to exiles.

Though Isaiah wrote these words with those Israelites in mind, what he wrote is for our benefit also. It speaks to us because we also are exiles. The problem has always been about exile from God. Back to the beginning. What was the result of Adam and Eve's sin? They were kicked out of the Garden. Exile. Do you remember Psalm 42? 'As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?' What's the Psalmist talking about? Exile. What was the punishment of Israel's rebellious sin? Exile. This has always been the problem. What makes this even clearer is that the Gospel writers applied words from Isaiah 40 to John the Baptist. Remember, he was one 'crying in the wilderness'. That means that John's ministry was to exiles, even though the people he preached to were not in Babylon but in Jerusalem. John the Baptist prepared the way for the Lord who would come to restore exiles to their true home. Jesus is the impressive God who comes, as He had promised, to bring back the exiles – us.

We see this same theme reflected in some other places in the New Testament. First, from the Apostle Paul: 'But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.' If our citizenship is in heaven what are we doing here? Exile. And then something from the Apostle John. How does he describe the beginning of the age to come? '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.' What is this but no more exile. We are returned home, to our true home, the new Jerusalem, the heavenly city of God.

The thing I want you to get is this: we are exiles. We live in our own Babylon and not in the city of God. It's important that you get this because it explains oh so much of what happens with us. We are exiles.

Now, understand. Daniel's Babylon was a nice place. There probably was no finer city in all of that empire. The prayers for its welfare were bearing good fruit. But every thing there was – well, it was Babylonian. There was always that little reminder that something was not quite right, that it was after all a foreign city, a city of exile. Likewise, our Babylon is a nice place. There is much good to enjoy. But, everything here also has that little reminder that something is not quite right. We live, after all, in a fallen city. So, even the best things are touched by that reminder. Great vacations come to an end, and it's back to the real world. Close and loving relationships hit those little bumps, resulting in conflict of some sort. And sometimes it's just a vague notion, a feeling of – something. We feel the fact of our exile. We feel it every day. The problem, though, is that we don't label those things in terms of exile. Instead, we provide an excuse by telling ourselves, 'Well, what are you going to do? Life's like that.' Yes, life in exile is like that but not life at home. So, you feel the distance from others – others you should not feel any distance from. You might even use the 'L' word to describe how you feel: 'lonely'. The hopes that you had just aren't happening. 'Well, what are you going to do? Life's like that.' And we give the same excuse for other like experiences. 'Well, what are you going to do? Life's like that.' These are problems of exile. And we would do well to understand them as such.

There are times, though, when the excuse of expecting too much from life doesn't help anymore. Disappointment is replaced by a sense of weariness. Isaiah anticipated this. He puts these words in the mouth of the exiles. 'My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God.' These are words about neglect and injustice. And it is God who neglects us, and it is because of Him that we experience injustice – or at least that's how it feels. We don't usually use this kind of language. Instead, when that weariness hits, we tell ourselves that dealing with life is up to us, and it's too much to handle – Isn't that the feeling of being neglected? – and that what is going on with us just isn't right – Isn't that a sense of injustice? We feel what we do because we are exiles in a foreign city far from home.

There are a couple of ways that people deal with this. First, some try to imagine this to be home. Babylon is home. There is no Jerusalem. These people do their best to make this feel like home. Having a bit of money helps. That way a person can enjoy more of Babylon, more of its toys, more of the fun things it offers, more ways to be convinced that Babylon isn't all that bad. But the problems don't go away. They remain. And every once in a while, when his plan isn't doing so well, this person hears himself say, 'Well, what are you going to do? Life's like that.' Then, there's the alternative of just trying to keep Babylon out. Here, think monastery. 'Babylon is on the other side of the wall. But we're safe in here. In here, there's sense of no exile.' What is that but trying to create a little enclave to hide from what is really going on.

But these sorts of alternatives don't work. They try to deny a truth. We are not home. We are in exile – an exile that too often feels like neglect and injustice. And that is hard. And it is wearying. So, what are we to do? Something from Paul. 'For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.' Paul is in exile, and he knows it. And he knows where home is. 'To die is gain.' Paul knows that to depart from this life is far better because then he will be with Jesus. Then, he will be home. No more exile. Paul wants to die. But that isn't his last word on this. 'My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith.' Paul opts to stay in Babylon, away from home. And he opts for that for the sake of the saints. 'But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.' Paul loves the saints. And as a result, he experiences neglect – or what feels like it – as well as injustice. Remember where Paul was when he wrote this letter. He was in some foul prison. But he is content to remain in exile for the sake of the saints. In this Paul is simply imitating Jesus who voluntarily exiled Himself for our sake first at His birth and then most especially at the Cross.

This explains what we are to do. We live in exile, in Babylon. Exile feels like neglect and injustice. It is wearying. But we do not run from these things or try to hide from them. We endure them for the good of our fellow exiles – for their progress and joy in the faith – for as long as Jesus wants.

But it costs. And that's why the closing promise of our text is so precious.

'Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God"? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.'

We are exiles. That defines our situation in Babylon. We are exiles, and we are waiting for our Lord. It is only when He returns that the exile will be over, completely over. Then, we will be returned to our true home. But while we wait, we seek the welfare of our Babylon. At the heart of that is the Gospel. Our goal is not merely to make the best of a bad situation. It isn't even to try to get lot of people forgiven of their sins. Our goal is to change the world. And we start that by caring for each other. But changing the world is hard. Dealing with the sense of neglect and the injustice that is part of this is wearying. Some of you have jobs that abuse and frustrate. We all have bodies that bit by bit wear out and don't work nearly as well as they are supposed to. There's the silent indictment of that pile of laundry. Temptations await us. And death, though conquered, still does its ugly work of bereavement. Neglect and injustice. And it is wearying. But that is why we have this promise. Those who are exiles, who strive to follow Jesus in this Babylon – these live with one eye on the city of man, seeking its welfare, but with the other these watch the horizon eagerly waiting for Jesus to show up to take us home. These will be blessed by the Spirit. They will be given new strength. They will soar like eagles. And, as a result, they will be able to run and run and run for Jesus and never give up.

Heaven

[Originally preached 9 November, 2003]
Revelation 14.13

Our text presents the saints with heaven, the place of rest. Heaven is a key part of the Christian faith. It is the expectation of all Christians. Yet, what heaven is about is not well understood these days. How the hope of heaven makes a difference now isn’t well understood either. So, this morning we are going to take a look at heaven to see what it is that God has waiting for us.

Our text is clear. Being in heaven is a blessing of God. Or is it? If you took a survey of Christians and asked, ‘Is being in heaven a great blessing?’ who is going to say no? But what if there were a second question? ‘Would you like to be there right now, right this minute?’ In my experience, there are many who aren’t sure. They offer different reasons why it would be better if heaven would wait just a bit. Some want to see their kids grow up. Others had their hopes set on some things that they wanted to accomplish. Then others wouldn’t want to be separated from their spouse just yet. There is a reluctance to leave here and be in heaven. Just ask yourself. Would you be happy to be in heaven this afternoon? Is heaven that great a blessing? There are a significant number of Christians who aren’t quite persuaded that it is. At the least, we can say that being on the earth, at least for a while, offers some competition. So, where is the problem? Does our text lie? There are things that we are missing, things that we need to see.

Heaven is described in many different ways in the Scriptures. All of the descriptions are partial. There is much about heaven that we just don’t know. And the reason for this is simple. It’s beyond our comprehension. Heaven is too good to be true. So, we need to be careful not to go beyond what the Scriptures actually teach. However well we understand heaven here, when we get there we will all be surprised. It is much more than we could imagine. But the Scriptures do say something about heaven. It is to our benefit that we work to understand what they do teach.

Our text focuses on one aspect of heaven. It focuses on heaven being a place of rest. Our problem with this is that the notion of rest seems to support the common fear that heaven is a place where we don’t really do anything. It makes heaven sound boring. For too many people heaven is a ghostlike place – which means it isn’t quite real – where nebulous spirits sit around doing nothing very interesting. That’s the notion of ‘rest’ that many have. But it’s all wrong. We need to have a better understanding of what this rest is. If we are going to be able to do that we’ll need to understand another word in our text. We’ll need to understand the word ‘labor’. There are several Greek words for what amounts to work. This word labor is more than just doing things. The word includes the notion of toiling, working hard, even working to the point of exhaustion. It is a word that points to the weariness that results from one’s exertions. Now, what is the ‘labor’ that our text is talking about? The answer is tied to the previous verse.

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. Rev. 14:12

The labor of the saints comes from their striving to endure, striving to keep the commandments and their faith in Jesus. What makes this so difficult? It is always done in the context of sin. First, there is our own remaining sin that trips us up so easily and frequently. But added to that is the sin that comes from outside of us, the sins of others, the attacks of Satan and of those who side with him. Faithfulness to Jesus is hard. It’s laborious. It will wear you out. That’s what Revelation is about. Here, think about salmon. There are some salmon that return upstream to where they were hatched in order to spawn. To get there they must swim against the current. They might have to get past rapids. To do this they have to leap out of the water, pushing upstream. Maybe you’ve seen some pictures of this. Once they get past the obstacles and reach their destination they spawn. And then they die. They are completely exhausted by it all. That is what ‘labor’ is all about. We Christians are swimming against the current of this present world. There are obstacles in our path to be overcome. It is difficult, tiring, wearying. What is the desire of someone who is in the midst of this wearying effort? What would he want as he is being pushed and pushed and getting more and more tired, almost ready to quit? He wants rest. And so, Jesus said, ‘Come to Me, all who labor [the NIV and NAS have ‘weary’] and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest[!].’ [Matthew 11.28] Jesus knows that it’s hard. The problem with enduring such labor is that you are tempted to quit early. So, the Apostle Paul offers an exhortation.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

Here, all Paul is doing is telling us the same thing that John is in our text. Don’t quit. Yes, it’s hard but rest is coming. Keep going. Endure to the end.

Now, rest still sounds too passive. It still sounds boring. Do we just lay about in heaven after a wearying life on earth? Here, let me mention something from one of Jonathan Edwards’ sermons titled 'Heaven, A World of Love'. It is part of a series of sermons on 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter on love. Edwards makes the point that heaven is a place of perfect love. Other gifts of God, even faith and hope, pass away when heaven arrives. But love continues. Heaven is a world of love. Take two newlyweds. They had eagerly awaited being married. And now they are. Imagine that one night, in the middle of the night, they both wake up. They can’t get back to sleep. And so, they lie there just holding each other. They don’t say anything. They don’t do anything. They just lie there, holding each other. Are they bored? They’re awfully passive. They’re not doing anything. Are they bored? Dumb question, huh? Even if we do absolutely nothing, we won’t be bored in heaven. And the reason is clear. Heaven is a world of love, perfect love. First, there will be the love that we will feel for Jesus. Imagine being able to sit at His feet, or to be able to follow Him around. Not saying anything to Him or having Him say anything to us. Just being able to be with Him. Here is the person who has loved you more than any other person, ever. Here is the person who is the focus of your life. And, finally, you can be right there with Him. Doing more is unnecessary. But secondly, there are all the saints. And, because this is heaven, your only thoughts about them are love, unadulterated love. You’ve tasted this. Have you ever been separated for an extended time from a good friend who, then, comes to visit you? Haven’t you felt the joy of being able to see this precious friend again? And what do you do together? You sit and talk, catch up on what’s happened. That is a taste of heaven, the experience of the love that we’ll enjoy, forever. Even if heaven is passive, it won’t be boring. It will be thrilling!

But heaven isn’t passive. Rest isn’t just lying around. Remember there will be no sin in heaven. None whatsoever. No sin within us. No sin without. One result of that is that you will be freed. You will be freed from sin and death. These will be completely gone. You will be freed from them. But what will you be freed to? What will this freedom allow you to do? You will be freed to be who you really are. Please understand. It will be you who will be in heaven. The ‘you’ that you are now will show up in heaven. There will be dramatic differences. For one thing, you won’t have any remnants of sin. But it will still be you. That ‘you’ will express itself in heaven just as it expresses itself here on earth. But there, you will be able to express yourself without the frustrations and limitations that sin and death have forced upon you here. What might that look like? Here, we can only get vague notions. But ask yourself what you enjoy doing here. How do you express who you are here? Some of you enjoy creating things. In heaven you’ll be able to create in a way that is beyond imagination here and feel the pure joy of seeing an idea in your head take form before your eyes, but perfectly and without any frustration. Some of you enjoy contemplating the beauty of a flower, wanting to capture something of that beauty with a camera. Imagine what heaven will be like for you where beauty abounds. Some of you enjoy watching a magnificent sunset with someone you love. In heaven there will be a complete communion of your soul with the soul of this other person as you enjoy the splendors that will be there. Does that sound boring? Heaven is a place of love, of freedom. It is a place where you will flourish and become what God intended when He created this universe. And you will do all this in the company of Jesus and all the saints. Heaven is rest. But it isn’t a passive, boring, do nothing rest. We rest from our labors so that we can fully enjoy God’s gift of life.

But, there is no rest if there is no labor. This is what is behind John’s words. The danger to the seven churches was that they were tempted to stop swimming upstream. They were tempted to compromise the call to endurance and faith they had received. They were tempted to lay down their arms and no longer fight the good fight of faith. Now, bear in mind that it wasn’t necessary for them to renounce the faith and publicly join the pagans. It would have been enough if they would just conform to the pagans. They could keep on professing to be Christians. They could still go to church, say grace before meals and maintain all the other trappings. Satan is just as happy with compromising Christians as he is with out and out pagans. But what is the message of Revelation? No labor, no rest. There is rest for the saints, but only if they labor on faithfully to the end. If anyone compromises this then his fate is with those who have joined with Satan and his agents.

And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name. Rev. 14:11

So, the warning of Hebrews 4 is apt.

Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. Hebrews 4:1

It is this kind of warning that lies behind John’s words in our text.

Do you see the lie in the old saying, ‘He’s so heavenly-minded that he’s no earthly good’? It is a lie from Satan himself. It is precisely being heavenly-minded that makes a Christian of some earthly good. Doing earthly good is tied to being a faithful disciple of Jesus. It is as we keep the commandments of God, as we keep the faith and follow Jesus ‘wherever’ that we do any good here. The problem, of course, is that doing that is hard. We have enemies. Remember Satan’s sworn purpose. John told us what it is back in chapter 12. It is to make war against you. He doesn’t need to kill you to accomplish his goal. All he wants to do is to get you to stop being faithful, to stop this ‘enduring to the end’ stuff. So, how does heaven help? Heaven is your hope. It is your encouragement. The promise of Jesus is that if you keep at it, if you continue to follow Him, if you keep swimming upstream, as laborious as that is, He will reward you. He will make it all worth it. Heaven awaits all who are faithful to the end. Rest is coming. And a great picture of this is giving birth. What is it called? Labor and delivery. And it is laborious, tiring, wearying to the point of exhaustion. But what awaits at the end of it all. A baby to love and enjoy. The message of our text is clear. The fight against Satan and those with him is worth it. It is hard, very hard. But at the end there’s heaven. Keep at it! Don’t give up! Your rest awaits.

Now, what should you do with all of this? I am convinced that the more of heaven that you get into your heart the better it will be for you. And so, let me urge you to meditate on heaven. The old Puritan, Richard Baxter, made it his habit to meditate on heaven every day. Meditate on how heaven is a place of perfect love. There will be no sin there – none, if you can believe that. Heaven will be the place where you can be who you really are. And best of all, Jesus is there. Think on this in particular. Heaven is real. In a few weeks you will be gathering as families to enjoy Thanksgiving. It is a clear expectation that you have. Meditate on heaven until it becomes as real an expectation as things like Thanksgiving dinner. It is in fact, more real. You don’t know what may happen between now and November 27. All sorts of calamities might destroy your expectations. But it is beyond a doubt that one day you will arrive in heaven. There is nothing in all of creation that will keep any of God’s saints from realizing that expectation. Meditate on that. Secondly, expect to labor for as long as you are here. Following Jesus ‘wherever’ is hard. The world will not help you. It is not your friend. It doesn’t want you to labor faithfully. You will be confronted with sin and death. Satan will fight you every step of the way. Expect it. Be prepared for it. To that end, thirdly, you must pray. Alone, you are no match for the world, the flesh and the devil. Pray that Jesus would give you grace to be faithful. Pray that He would give you grace to endure. Ask Him to expose those parts of your heart where there is compromise with the world. You know it’s there. Ask Him to point these things out so that you might rid yourself of them. You must pray. If you don’t you will not make it. You might be able to maintain a profession of being a Christian, but what good is that if your heart has given up? Pray for grace so that you might come to enjoy the glorious blessings of heaven.

Living Today in the Light of Eternity

“The heavenly world does not appear desirable as simply a second improved edition of this life; that would be nothing else than earthly-mindedness projected into the future. The very opposite takes place: heaven spiritualizes in advance our present walk with God. Each time faith soars and alights behind the veil it brings back on its wings some of the subtle fragrance that there prevails.”

Geerhardus Vos, Grace & Glory

HT: Of First Importance

Advent: The Hope of Heaven

Colossians 1.1-5

It comes as no surprise, I'm sure, that we will be dealing with the same question that we've been looking at for the last several weeks: Why Advent? Why did Jesus come? In our text - as a part of his familiar triad of faith, hope and love - Paul points us to heaven. The notion of heaven is a familiar answer to the question we are dealing with. Even those who have no interest in the Gospel think of Jesus' coming as in some way connected to heaven. And they are right. Jesus came so that we might enjoy heaven. That has been the hope of the saints since the very beginning. And, familiar passages like this one come to mind. 'In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also.' The heaven that Jesus promises is everything that this life is not. There we will find rest and lasting happiness and deep satisfaction. And we will enjoy that, and more, without any pain or sorrow or worry or tears. We will be with friends - some old friends and many new ones. All who will be there will be, in the very best sense of the word, our friends. And we will have forever to get to know them and to enjoy them. There will never be a quarrel or even a misunderstanding. And there will be no walls. The things that we enjoy here we will enjoy there - but more so. And best of all, Jesus will be there. Wasn't that the point of the promise that I read? '... that where I am, there you may be also.' This one whom we love without seeing, we will finally see and love even more. We will enjoy walks with Him in the cool of the day, and He will teach us about the boundless love of the Father and the powerful presence of the Spirit. It's good to think about heaven, to think about all that we don't like about here and then to remind ourselves that those things will not be there. And then to think about all that we do enjoy here and then to remind ourselves that these things will be even better there. Jesus has come so that we might enjoy heaven - forever. In a world so focused on the here and now, we need to be a people who look to heaven. The hope of heaven is to be a distinguishing mark of every Christian.

Now, I know that that might sound like I'm overdoing things, but there's something in our text that makes me think that, if anything, I'm understating the point. Listen again to a part of our text: '... we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.' Did you hear it? Did you hear that 'because'. It's the little words that we need to watch for. They make all the difference. These Colossian Christians loved the saints and had faith in Jesus because of their hope of heaven. Cause and effect. The Spirit is telling us that this hope of heaven, this expectation of enjoying all that heaven has to offer, is a cause of love and faith in the life of a Christian. Now, to my mind, the value of this hope just went way up. Jesus has come. He has brought the promise of a beautiful eternity with Him and with all the rest of the saints in a perfect paradise. And it is that expectation that motivates us to trust Jesus and to love each other.

Obviously, this is something that we need to unpack. But before we do, I need to tell you that the point that the Spirit is making here will make little sense unless I make something else clear first. You need to see that faith and love are hard. In fact, a living faith in Jesus and a lively love of the saints in this fallen world is incredibly hard.

Let's start with loving the saints. Loving the saints is easy if Christians are all nice people without any sharp edges, their needs are not especially large and are easily and quickly met, and their crises always happen at convenient times. But that, of course, is not the case. We saints are still sinners, and some of the things that we do often irritate the people around us. Our needs are rarely met quickly and easily - not the important ones. Rather, they take lots of time and energy, and meeting them will wear you down. And no crisis in a person's life comes at a convenient time for the others around him. The phone may not ring at 3 AM, but we still hear about needs at some of the most awkward of times. And then, of course, there is the problem of the saints hiding their needs,trying to be self‑sufficient and refusing to let others love them. Walls. Notwithstanding all of this, we are called to love - to really love - these difficult people whose taxing needs impinge on our lives and schedules at the worst possible times - that is, if they let us know about them. Loving the saints is hard. However, even though it was just as difficult for the Colossian Christians, they obeyed the command to love one another, and they did that so well that Paul gives thanks to God for what they did. Loving the saints is hard, but it's do‑able - because of the hope of heaven.

Then there's faith in Christ Jesus that these Christians displayed. If 'faith in Jesus' means that once, some years ago, I walked down the aisle, prayed the sinner's prayer or (you fill in the blank) - if it means that at some point I became a Christian and I haven't changed my mind since, then that's easy. But that isn't what Paul has in mind. Faith in Jesus isn't a 'once long ago' kind of thing. It's not even a 'when I hit one of those crisis moments I still believe the Gospel' kind of thing. Faith in Jesus is a daily battle to follow Jesus. And it is a battle. Does anyone here really think that once someone becomes a Christian that Satan says, 'Oh well. I guess we lost that one. Let's go look for someone else'? Does anyone here really think that living in a world that is committed to rebellion against Jesus is something that we just skate through? And am I the only person in this room who has nagging sins that dog my steps, day in and day out?

Paul wrote, 'For we wrestle not against flesh and blood ...' Jesus described the failure of the third soil this way. 'They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.' And that leads to a reminder of the real danger. 'Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.' Faith in Jesus is a daily battle with real dangers. It's hard.

There are lots of shortcuts to try to make being a Christian easier - and there are lots of people who pursue the shortcuts. But there are no shortcuts to being a real Christian. Now, don't misunderstand. 'Hard' does not imply 'gloomy'. Actually, those who fight the hardest rejoice the most. Those who take the shortcuts - they are the joyless ones. But faithful disciples of Jesus are people of joy. That may sound counter-intuitive, but lots of things about following Jesus in this fallen world seem counter-intuitive.

Yes, being a Christian is hard, but Jesus has not left us to our own resources to fight the daily battle. And thanks be to God for that. If we were left to ourselves, none of us would make it. Jesus has provided the resources - lots of resources - that we need for the battle. And Paul points to one of them in our text: the hope of heaven. Jesus has come to give to us a sure hope of heaven so that we might fight the good fight each day.

Now, we're ready for the next step. Now, we're ready to see how our hope of heaven helps us to deal with the daily battle. Here, let me point to two examples. The first comes from the book of Hebrews. This book is all about encouraging ongoing faith, persevering faith in Jesus, in the face of great difficulties. The author points to lots of things about Jesus to encourage the saints to whom he wrote. One of the things that he does is point to the example of Jesus when it came to the cross. 'Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.' Jesus is our example of persevering faith. At the cross, the question confronting Him was simple. 'Will I trust the Father's love and wisdom and thus submit to His will?' Here, think of what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus wrestled with the will of the Father. Do I need to say that this was hard? But where did He come out on that? 'Not My will but Thine be done.' Too often we fall into the assumption that whatever Jesus did, it was automatic. He had to do it, and so He just did it. He had no choices to make, and there were no battles to fight. It was easy for Him since it was all laid out and He was God. That's not the Jesus of the Bible. He had real choices and real battles. He was one of us. That's what the Incarnation is all about. The Son of God became one of us. Jesus had to fight to obey the will of the Father. That was true at the beginning of His ministry after He fasted for forty days, and it was true at the end, when He was confronted with the cross. And it was true every day in between. So, why did He choose to go to the cross? The passage from Hebrews gives us one reason. '... for the joy that was set before Him [He] endured the cross, despising the shame...' And what is this joy? Heaven. And Hebrews points to one specific aspect of heaven, lordship. Jesus is now '... seated at the right hand of the throne of God.' The hope of heaven was a basis for Jesus' trusting the Father and fighting the battle of faith. It's no wonder then that Hebrews says, '... let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus...' Jesus is our example of how to fight the same fight that He fought - and won. The point is clear. Faithful Christian living is hard. But if we set our sights on the joy set before us, heaven, we will be able to continue the fight of faith.

Now, my second example. This is about being able to love the saints. Here, consider the example of the apostle. Paul went throughout the Roman empire preaching the Gospel and planting churches. One motive for this was his love for the people. 'For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.' Who here could say such a thing? Paul loved and so he preached. And in each city he visited - or so it seems - he got beat up. Time after time after time. What made it possible for Paul to get up each day and walk to the next town to preach to those people - many of whom hated him and made sure that he knew that in no uncertain terms? After talking about some of his struggles and suffering, he writes this: 'So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.' Paul looked to the eternal, to heaven, as his encouragement to love the saints by preaching to them and suffering for them. But notice something. These troubles that he faced and endured were 'producing ... an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison...' Great suffering here produces greater joy there. Having paid the price to love the saints as he did Paul now enjoys a reward that has more than made up for all of the suffering. His hope of heaven encouraged him to do the hard work of loving the saints. The difficulties were worth it. In this, he is an example to us. When you suffer in loving the saints, you will be rewarded. 'Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.'

The point of today's sermon is simple. Jesus has come. Advent. And one of the things that He has brought with Him is the hope of heaven. He has brought this because being a faithful Christian is hard. There is the daily battle of loving the saints and placing your faith in Jesus. But one resource that we can draw upon in our battles here is to hold on to that hope. A life of faithfulness is hard but at the end is heaven.

No sermon works until you make it your own. So, I'd like you to do two things. First, I'd like you to consider the notion that being a faithful Christian is hard, specifically when it comes to loving the saints and continually trusting Jesus. I'd like you to think about that. And I'd also like you to think about heaven. How do you understand it? Is it functioning for you - as it did for the Colossian Christians - as an encouragement to work at being faithful? Jesus has come so that you could have the hope of heaven. Are you enjoying His gift?

Purged, cleansed, disinfected, sanctified and blessed

“All that has enriched and honoured the life of all nations in all history will be brought in to enrich the new creation. The new creation will not be a blank page, as if God will simply crumple up the whole of human historical life in this creation and toss it in the cosmic bin, and then hand us a new sheet to start all over again. The new creation will start with the unimagineable reservoir of all that human civilization has accomplished in the old creation – but purged, cleansed, disinfected, sanctified and blessed. And we shall have eternity to enjoy it and to build upon it in ways we cannot dream of now as we will exercise the powers of creativity of our redeemed humanity.

Think of the prospect! All human culture, language, literature, art, music, science, business, sport, technological achievement, – actual and potential - all available to us. All of it with the poison of evil and sin sucked out of it forever. All of it glorifying God. All of it under his loving and approving smile. All of it for us to enjoy with God and indeed being enjoyed by God. And all eternity for us to explore it, understand it, appreciate it, and expand it.

If this is the new creation that the Bible promises, you can understand why I don’t want just to ‘go to heaven when I die.’ Who wants just heaven, when God promises heaven and earth?”

Christopher Wright,
The God I Don’t Understand

(HT Of First Importance)

Come To Me

Matthew 11.28-30

The Bible is funny. It contains sections that are intellectually demanding, things that challenge the best of thinkers. But alongside of that are tender words intended to comfort struggling souls. It is important that we engage the demanding parts of Scripture. But it is just as important that we cherish and enjoy the tender parts. This morning's text is one of the tender parts. It is my hope that the Spirit will use it to comfort and encourage and yes, even challenge you so that you might enjoy Jesus more.

Let's start where the text starts. 'Come to Me...' Do you see what Jesus is doing simply by uttering these words? There is grace here. Jesus calls. But bear in mind that He is under absolutely no obligation to do so. None. We are needy creatures and desperately so. And why? It's our own fault. It's not as if we were innocent bystanders and something out of the blue hit us. Our problems find their source in our rebellious sin. We, from the very beginning of our existence, are rebels against God. That's just a fact. Jesus could be as cold as many are. He could say, 'Is your life hard? Well, don't look at Me. It's your own fault. Deal with it.' Would that be wrong? Oh no. It would be just. How many times have we been warned about our sin and simply ignored the warnings, plunging ourselves on into more rebellion? We deserve hell. And there would have been nothing unjust with Jesus letting us to go our merry way down the road that leads there. But that's not what He does. Instead, He comes to us. That's Advent, Latin for 'coming'. Jesus comes to us. He comes, and then He calls. 'Come to Me.' And while Jesus' First Advent occurred in Bethlehem and we look forward to what we call His Second Advent at the end of the age, in another sense every Sunday is an Advent of Jesus because every Sunday when we gather together in His presence, Jesus comes to us and calls once again. In fact, that is what He is doing right now. His coming and calling us week after week is another example of His kind favor, His grace, toward us. This point alone is something worth spending a lot of time meditating on.

Let's move on. To whom does He call? Well, what does it say? 'Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden.' Jesus calls to the weary and the burdened. He calls to those who know, from daily experience, that life is hard. And that it is hard should be no surprise. We live in a fallen world, cursed by sin throughout. Nothing has been spared. So, it is no wonder that people are weary. Dealing with this life is wearying. We, here, as a group, have been insulated from much of the harsh realities of this life. Imagine life in some Third World country. And yet, who here, though so privileged, leads a life that is without difficulties? Who here never feels the weariness of dealing with it all, not merely a weariness of body but a weariness that afflicts the soul? What is that but the fruit of dealing with sin in its different forms. Don't buy the line that your neighbors do. 'Well, what are you going to do? That's life.' No it's not. It's death. And until a person sees it that way there will be no solution and no hope. We are weary because of sin.

Now, notice that Jesus does not call to the carefree and the jovial. In fact, elsewhere, He has strong words for such people. 'Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.' Jesus' call is for those who feel the difficulties of this life, not for those who try to hide from them. Consider so many of your friends and neighbors who do exactly that. They try to hide from the weariness of this life. They do their best to keep it down and not to let it come into view. Their motto: 'I live to be happy.' All that would challenge that goal must be kept at bay. Jesus' call is not for such people. They would not even listen to such a call. Jesus' call is for those who know that life here - without Him - is a taste of hell. How else can we understand being wearied and burdened by life?

Next question. What does Jesus offer? It's obvious, isn't it? The answer is right there in the text. Jesus offers rest. And yet, what is that? What is this 'rest' that Jesus offers? Rest is a significant theme in the Scriptures. God rested from His labors of creating. Noah got his name because his father thought, 'This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.' Then, from the Psalms, God says, 'For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways." Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."' Hebrews: 'So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from His.' And finally, Revelation: 'And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!"' Jesus offers rest from all that wearies the soul, from the burdens that drag you down. It's a rest from sin and all that goes with it. That this rest is so significant in God's Word shows that the difficulties of this life are not minor. Life in a fallen world is hard. Anyone who cannot see that is either too young to understand or is distracted by the allure of this world that Satan flashes before our eyes.

All of this heightens the beauty of this rest that Jesus offers. However trying this life might get, Jesus promises a rest that will swallow up all weariness until there isn't a trace of it left in your soul. Not a trace. As gloomy as the struggle might get, the promised rest will shine and that ever so brightly. What rejoicing for those who get to enjoy this rest because there will be no lingering taste of the weariness that they once suffered. None. Jesus offers rest that completely satisfies the soul.

There are, however, conditions. It's here, of course, that the cynic thinks, 'Ha! I knew there was a catch. I knew that it was too good to be true. So much for this foolish notion of grace. Okay, so what do I have to do? What's the cost?' If our cynical friend would only listen a bit more he would see that he has misunderstood the idea of a condition. Jesus' rest is free to all. The conditions, the requirements, are not some kind of payment. But no one will enjoy His rest without meeting these requirements.

Here's the first: acknowledge the need. And that just makes sense. Someone who rejects the idea that his soul is weary and burdened because of sin will not come to Jesus to accept His offer. Why would he? Many do not come to Jesus because they think that they have already found rest for their souls. And the fact is that there are many things that can give a sense of rest, a sense of relief from the weariness - for a time. And the list of such things is not limited to the addictions of drugs and alcohol and sex. Also on this list are things like a job that is challenging and satisfying, children to care for, books to read and know and spout about, hobbies, sports, computer games and just general busyness. There are many ways to keep the awareness of one's weariness at arm's length. But in due time the sense of weariness returns, and that with a vengeance. Those who do not admit their need, their need of Jesus to rescue them from the weariness of sin, will never come. But that is the first requirement. True rest is impossible without meeting it.

There is another requirement. This one is explicit in the text. 'Take My yoke upon you.' Now, what is this? First, let's define terms. A yoke is a harness, especially for oxen. Jesus pictures Himself as a farmer who plows His field using yoked oxen. He calls us to take that yoke. Now, let's unpack the image. Jesus is talking about submission to Him as Lord. He will rescue from the weariness of this life by guiding into His rest. But only those who submit will allow themselves to be guided. You see, rest is not something in a box that a person just unwraps, and it's his to enjoy. No. The rest Jesus gives is something that is gained by means of a process, a bit at a time. When someone takes His yoke, when he submits to Jesus, the process begins. And Jesus says, 'Let's take the left fork' and then, 'We'll go straight here' or 'Let's wait a bit right here.' Jesus guides into rest.

This explains a lot. Though taking on Jesus' yoke has a beginning, it isn't a once-for-all kind of thing. Each day, it's submitting anew to Jesus' Lordship. Each day, it's ,'Let's take the left fork', or whatever instruction He might give. And when the Spirit points out sin, what is that? That's Him saying, 'Going in that direction will only lead to weariness. Listen to Jesus instead. Go the other way.' And those who are wise know enough to quickly repent and submit once again to Jesus yoke. So, you see, those who resist Jesus' Lordship least enjoy His rest most. Those who resist Him most enjoy it least. That explains the difference between the saints when it comes to experiencing this rest. But as we learn to trust Jesus, to submit more and more willingly to Him, we enjoy more and more of His rest.

Now, experiencing Jesus' rest more does not mean that you will experience sin less. Ironically, as a Christian matures and becomes more and more holy, his awareness of sin, especially his own sin, grows. It's as we become more like Jesus that we see the ugliness of this fallen place more clearly. But experiencing Jesus' rest more does mean that you will be able to handle the fallenness better. Jesus' rest includes things like joy and peace and hope and endurance and so much more. Sin will still confront you. Satan will still be doing his best to get at you, but the sense of weariness will lessen. The battle will continue, and it will still be hard, but underneath the tiredness will be a strength that only Jesus can give.

And all of this explains heaven - or at least a little bit of heaven. Heaven is the destination that Jesus is guiding us toward. It is the place of perfect rest. It is not a place where we do nothing. Rather, it is a place where we get to completely enjoy what we do because nothing that we do there will have that taste of weariness that flavors everything here. What we do there will only enhance our experience of Jesus' rest.

In one sense we are all the same. We've all heard Jesus' call and have come, submitting to His yoke, that we might find rest for our souls. But there are differences. Let me speak to that.

Some of you are discouraged. You feel the weariness of sin. And you wonder about what's going on. Let me encourage you to cling to this promise of Jesus. He will bring you into a greater experience of rest in this life and complete that process in the next. You need to trust Him. He always keeps His promises. And pray. Tell Jesus that you feel the weariness - sometimes oh so greatly. Tell Him that you do believe the promise of His rest but that it gets hard, so very hard sometimes. Cry out to Him. Ask Him to act so that you might have a fresh experience of His rest and thus be encouraged to trust Him to deal with the remaining weariness. And then, think on heaven. It is real, and there is no weariness there. Jesus promises you a restful eternity. Trust Him to get you there even though the route He chooses may be hard.

Now let me speak to what may be another group. I sometimes wonder if any of you are in danger. I sometimes wonder if there are any who do not believe that the weariness of body and soul that you experience is because of sin. The danger here is that those fooled in this way will not see the Gospel as the solution to that weariness. Are any of you thinking like your neighbors and seeking the same solutions that they seek. That is the route to more weariness and not more rest.

All of this also speaks to those of you who are still preparing to take your place in this world. The ability to apply the language of weariness and rest to your life is an important life skill that you need to learn along with all the other things that you are in the process of learning. Sin brings weariness. Learn to recognize when that happens to you. And then remember that Jesus offers rest. Respond to His call with repentance and faith. Learning this skill will be challenging. Few of your peers think in these terms and, as a result, they are heading for a life of more and more weariness. But Jesus has better things for you.

And now, let me encourage those of you who are doing well at this. You may not be using the language of 'weariness' and 'rest', and that's fine. What's important is that you are believing the Gospel when it comes to dealing with these things. So, let me encourage you to keep at it. Jesus offers what no one else can. As you learn how to trust Him more, to submit more of your life to Him, you will experience more of His rest. And then comes heaven. This is not something that you do by trying harder. Pray and then listen. And when Jesus says, 'Let's take the left fork', do it. Rest awaits.

The Demanding Jesus

Mark 10.17-23

The Gospel is simple. Jesus calls to us and says, 'Follow Me. I will lead you into life at its best.' Being religious is a counterfeit alternative to following Jesus. Why it exists is no mystery. Being religious is easier than following Jesus. Being religious boils down to some mental exercises about some doctrines that you need to agree with and then involving yourself in certain religious activities. Each person chooses his own level of religious devotion. Some are more into the doctrine thing than others. And then there are those who are more into the religious activities part. But they all assume that the level that they have chosen is good enough - at least for them. Following Jesus is a whole other matter. And that's what our unnamed friend in this morning's text discovered. He was ready to get a little bit more serious when it came to being religious, but discovered, instead, something about Jesus that he had not anticipated. Our friend approached Jesus, the Good Teacher. He didn't expect to encounter Jesus, the Demanding Master.

This aspect of Jesus' character - being demanding - is not commonly known. Take a survey of your friends and neighbors and ask them, 'What was Jesus like?' [It actually should be, 'What is Jesus like?', but that will only confuse your neighbors.] The answers that you will likely get include things like being a nice guy, being compassionate and that He liked kids. The term 'demanding' will not appear on most lists. But that is what He was - and is.

People miss this aspect of who Jesus is because they skip over the hard sayings. And they skip over those sayings because so many ministers skip over them too. Listen to a few:

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

These never seem to make it into those colorful coffee table books with titles like, Family Bible Sayings, people give for Christmas. And so, people just don't realize how demanding - not to mention egotistical - Jesus really is. But that's exactly what our friend, the rich young ruler, discovered.

He comes to Jesus with the proper signs of respect. He runs up and kneels before Him and addresses Him with honor, 'Good Teacher'. He then asks the perfect question. 'What must I do to inherit eternal life?' He is a great candidate for a new disciple, no? After a brief thrust and parry, Jesus gets down to brass tacks. Listen to what he says. 'You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.' Now, that's demanding.

It's important that you understand - that you feel - what Jesus just said. Put yourself into the picture. [That, by the way, is a good thing to do with many of the Gospel stories.] You are this rich young man. You come with the perfect question. In response Jesus tells you to sell all that you own and to give it away to the poor. Now, what would that mean in your life. First, there's the house. Sell it. And all the contents too: furniture, decorative items, fun stuff, 'necessities'. Everything. Then there are your cars, however many you own. Next, you take a trip to the bank. Checking account: zero it out. Savings account also. Do you have any CDs at the bank? They go too. Then there are any investments that you might have. And don't forget your pension. Whatever you own goes. Jesus says, 'Get rid of it all'. And now you have nothing. It's at this point that we tell ourselves, 'Well, He wouldn't do that. How would we care for our families and provide for their needs? We still have to live.' And yet, that is exactly what He did with our friend. 'You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor...'

Kind of demanding, no? And when our friend turned away, when he decided to stay on the road to hell, Jesus didn't say, 'Wait a minute. I might have been a little hard on you.' No. He let him go. Jesus is not just some Good Teacher. He is a Demanding Master. And it needn't be money that He demands. He could demand anything. He could demand your health, your good reputation, your child, your spouse, your career. He could demand any other these - and more. And He has. This is where reading old Christian biographies, especially missionary biographies, comes in handy. Jesus has been very demanding through the centuries.

Does this mean that we should no longer think of Jesus as compassionate and caring? Absolutely not! Actually - and this is where it gets really interesting - Jesus is demanding precisely because He is compassionate and caring. To understand that all you need do is ask why. Why would Jesus demand something from us, something that is good? Well, why did He demand the possessions of our friend in the text? Stop and think about it. What were those possessions to him? They were an idol to him. I think that's clear when you understand what it was that the man did. In one hand he had the eternal life that he said he was seeking for. In the other hand were his possessions. Jesus said, 'Pick one.' His possessions were his idol. Jesus wanted to rescue him from his idolatry.

Definitions are important here, as elsewhere. What's an idol? It's a phony god that tries to fill a role that it cannot. An idol is what gives someone a good reason to get up each morning and gets him through a hard day. It's something that a person is willing to sacrifice for, that gives him a sense of being safe, that is loved first. These, and more, are roles that only Jesus can fill. Anything else that tries to fill these roles is an idol. Our friend looked to his stuff, and what it could get for him, to provide what only Jesus can provide. And so, Jesus says to him, 'You cannot inherit eternal life if you keep that idol. It's Me or it. Choose.' And he did.

Now there are some things that we need to remember. First, we all have idols. We may know about a few of them, but the fact of the matter is that we are unaware of just about all of them. There are things that we look to when we should be looking to Jesus instead. Second, idols never satisfy. How could they? Even when they seem to work, they don't. It's just not immediately obvious. Idols always fail. And so, because He is compassionate and caring, Jesus makes demands. He wants us freed from our worthless idols. Sometimes Jesus' demands come in the form of a gentle request. But there are times when it's an ultimatum, like with our friend.

Jesus is demanding in our text, very demanding. And yet, He shows that He really wants this man to flourish. Though demanding, Jesus is so very 'for' this guy. And He shows this in what He said. Listen again. 'You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.' Did you hear the promise that Jesus offers? This is what makes it all work. '... and you will have treasure in heaven...'

Heaven has fallen on hard times. We've been told that we need to be practical and deal with this life. And heaven is boring anyway, right? But the Bible is clear. It presents the hope of enjoying the rewards of heaven as a major motivation for following Jesus faithfully. If our hearts are not striving for heaven we become easy pickings for Satan. Our hopes will either be rooted there or they will be rooted here. To the extent that they are rooted here, Satan will have us. Hopes rooted here can be kidnapped by Satan. And we will pay the ransom to get them back. Hopes rooted in heaven are beyond his grasp. Jesus calls this man to give away all his earthly treasures so that he can enjoy heavenly ones. What He takes away here He promises to replace there and that with interest. But that means nothing if heaven is some vague spirit place with clouds and harps. So, listen to this from Psalm 16. 'You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.' What do you suppose these 'pleasures' are? I remember reading this once and thinking that it sounds so earthy, so robust, so real. What are the pleasures of your life here? Can the pleasures of your life there be less? Remember it's pictured as a wedding banquet where everyone is having a great time.

Now, if Jesus had demanded something else of the man, His promise would have been different. So, if Jesus' demand had been about the loss of a relationship, He would have said something like, 'Give to Me the joy of this relationship, and, in heaven, I will return it to you but in a way that is deeper and more satisfying than you can imagine.' If His demand were about that sense of accomplishment that a career can give, then Jesus would have said, 'Quit your job and follow Me, and in heaven I will satisfy that desire many times over.' Whatever He takes away, He promises to replace, but in a way that will amaze.

Let me step back and explain something here. There are several reasons why I've told you all of this. Let me tell you one of them. I want to help you understand what Jesus is doing with your life. He has been demanding, and you have felt it. I know that I have. He has just taken some things from you. He didn't ask, as He did in the case of our friend. He just took it. It hurt. And you wondered about that. Or instead of taking something away, He just refused to give it to you. You never had it to enjoy. And you wonder why. I want you to understand why. It's because He is compassionate and caring. That's why He is so demanding. He is dealing with things like idols. He wants you to flourish and that will only happen if He is your treasure. It will only happen if He is the one who fills all those roles in your life. It is because He is compassionate and caring that He is sometimes very demanding.

Understand what Jesus is doing, and accept it as an expression of His compassion and caring. If you do, you will be able to rejoice in the Lord and fulfill your calling as His disciple. But if you don't understand what Jesus is doing, or, worse, if you refuse to accept it as a gift from Him, then you will become disappointed, discouraged and even bitter. And I would spare you that. So, understand who Jesus is. He is demanding! But He is that way because He loves you.

Satisfied!

From this morning's Bible reading:

'For He satisfies the longing soul,
  and the hungry soul He fills with good things.'
Psalm 107.9

One day we will be satisfied - fully.
One day we will be filled with good things - forever.

This is the hope of the Gospel. And holding firmly to this frees us to deal with the hardships and disappointments of this life. Our dissatisfaction with here will be completely swallowed up by our complete satisfaction there.

God's Home

Exodus 40.17-29

You can learn a lot about a person by taking a walk through his home. The way he’s decorated the rooms is a tip off. How he’s placed the furniture gives clues. I imagine you’ve been in homes that made you feel uncomfortable. Everything seemed so expensive and so fragile, or the TV was always on even when you’re trying to have a conversation. Then there are those places that felt so welcoming. Warm colors covered the walls. The sofa and chairs were placed in such a way that the room felt cozy, inviting and friendly. A person’s home can tell you a lot about who lives there.

Our text for this morning tells us about God’s home. The Spirit has included this picture of God’s home for our sake. Those who enter God’s home learn a lot about Him just by looking around. He’s set it up with certain furniture put in particular places. As we stop and look around this home, we will be able to understand our God a bit better. And that will help us to enjoy Him and Him honor that much more. So, let’s begin our tour of God’s home and see what kind of person lives there.

As you enter the first room you see three pieces of furniture. To your right there’s a table. In front of you is an altar. To your left, a lampstand. The first thing you notice is that these three are wonderfully-crafted pieces covered with gold. It’s not too often you see something like that. What does it tell you about your host? Two things come to my mind. First, He is incredibly rich. He has wealth beyond my imagining. And yet, I don’t get the feeling that He’s like those rich folk who are always showing off because they think of themselves as so superior. After all, our host has welcomed us into His home. The second thing that comes to mind is that beauty is very important to Him. Each of the pieces of furniture serves an important function. We’re not in a museum where things just sit there and look pretty. This is a home where things are used. But the things that are being used are beautiful. Beauty is important to this homeowner.

As you turn to the right you see the table. But this time you notice the bread. There are twelve loaves of bread on the table, the Bread of the Presence. What’s this all about? This is hospitality. Our host expects us and so He provides a meal. (Incidentally, this is more proof that He’s not one of those stuffy rich folk.) Meals are important to our host. They are a special time. Consider the meals in the Scriptures. God and two of His angels show up at Abraham’s doorstep, and what happens next? A meal, time to stop; time to chat and enjoy some company. And, if you remember that was quite a chat. Or think about when God called Moses and the leaders of Israel up to Mt. Sinai. What did they do once they arrived at the top? They enjoyed a meal with God. There are many significant meals recorded in the Gospels. It’s during a breakfast with the Apostles after the resurrection that Jesus restores Peter. Meals together are a big deal with God, even ordinary everyday meals. So, being a good host, He provides a meal on the table for His guests to enjoy with Him.

Turning from the table we see the altar. If you entered a room in someone’s home where the only furniture was two or three chairs pointed right at the TV, you’d know what the purpose of that room would be. In God’s home, the center of the room is occupied by this altar. It’s the first thing you see when you walk in. It tells you what the room is for. An added clue is that only incense is burned on this altar. And what is incense all about? A look through the Scriptures will show you that incense represents the prayers of the saints. And that tells you what this altar is about. It also tells you what this room is for. It tells us that this room in not for watching TV. It is for conversation. Our host enjoys having people into His home so that He and they can enjoy one of the great pleasures of life: hearty talk. This is when souls open up to one another and share something of themselves with each other. That’s the definition of conversation. Our host enjoys this and invites us to enjoy it also. Our prayers are our part of this conversation with God. Our host enjoys a good conversation.

But then, we turn again, and we see the lampstand. The seven branches of the lampstand must have some symbolic importance, but I’m not clear what that might be. What is clear is that light is important to this host. It’s not just functionally important – How could you see in this room without any light? – but it also makes a more profound point which becomes clear when you remember this verse: ‘This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.’ Our world is filled with the darkness of sin. Left to itself, our world would become so dark that no one would be able to see. But not in this home. There is light here. The darkness is pushed back. And because of that light, we can see the furniture. We can see the table with its meal laid out for us and thus sense the warm hospitality of the host. And we can see the altar of incense and thus understand His desire for conversation, the opening of souls. Without the light, what good would these other pieces of furniture be? But our host is wise. He provides the light we need to enjoy being with Him.

This is the first room. Behind the altar is a curtain. There’s another room behind it. So, we push aside the curtain and enter the second room. And there we see the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God’s special presence. It is covered with gold, inside and out. Within there are three items: Aaron’s budding rod, a jar of manna, the Ten Commandments. Each of these has great significance. How could they not? Consider where they are kept! Aaron’s rod has to do with God’s sense of authority and that He has invested His authority in some and not in others. The jar of manna has to do with God’s promise-making and promise-keeping. He promises to provide for His guests out of His enormous wealth. And He keeps His promises to overflowing. Then there’s the tablet with the Ten Commandments. Just as the other two items say something about our host, so does this. The Ten Commandments remind us that our host has expectations of His guests. We are in His home and so we are to do things His way. This doesn’t put a damper on His hospitality or on our conversation with Him. In fact, His expectations make these things incalculably better. But He does expect His guests to comply. Those who are wise do, and their great enjoyment of their host reveals their wisdom. And lest any misunderstand these expectations or think that our host is harsh and unsympathetic to our situation, the covering of this Ark, the lid over the three items, is called ‘the mercy seat’. Our host, while strict, is also very merciful. His mercy covers the indiscretions of His guests. And that, again, enhances the enjoyment of His guests.

That’s our tour of God’s home. I’ve not covered everything, but this is enough for now. The first room is the Holy Place and the second the Holy of Holies, or better, the Holiest Place.

I’m going to guess that some of you are thinking, ‘I thought that only priests were allowed in the Holy Place and that only the High Priest was allowed in the Holiest Place, and that only once a year. Are you sure that people like us can actually be invited guests?’ Well, let’s go outside God’s home. As you walk out you see before you another altar. This one is not for incense. This altar is for atoning sacrifice. This one is for blood. ‘Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.’ No one can enter God’s home without making use of this altar. If any try, they will be destroyed. We are welcomed into God’s only because of Jesus. We become fit guests in His home only because of Jesus. Apart from Him we are excluded. No hospitality. No conversation. No mercy. Only justice. Apart from Jesus we are not greeted by a warm and inviting host. No, apart from Jesus we are confronted by an angry Judge who is intent on satisfying the proper demands of His Law. Apart from Jesus, no one enters God’s home. But Jesus has come. He has poured out His blood. Jesus has opened a new and living way into God’s home so that we might enter. Because of Jesus we are welcomed into God’s home. But we do not enter as guests for a visit. That’s not nearly good enough for this God. We are invited in as loved children. We are invited to enjoy the Fatherhood of God and become part of the family. His home has become our home.

The tour is over and I’ve dealt with a question. So, now is a good time for me to tweak, a bit, what I’ve just told you. I told you that I was describing God’s home, not His real home. In a way, I was, but in a way, I wasn’t. The tent that Moses constructed, the tent that I’ve just described, isn’t God’s home. It’s actually just a rendition of it. It’s kind of a symbolic model of God’s home. In God’s home, there is no table with bread, no altar for incense, no lampstand, or Ark. These are His authorized symbols for the realities of His home. He did it this way because His real home is more than we could understand. It is even better than what we’ve seen. So, this is His attempt to communicate what is real in simplified ways that we might possibly grasp. God’s real home is, of course, heaven. That’s His home and He has invited you to enjoy being with Him there. And while the real furniture will be very different from what we saw in Moses’ tent, the furniture of our text pictured the truth. Heaven is the home of our kind and welcoming host. He has invited us to enjoy the best of meals with Him and all the rest of His family. There will be good conversation (Remember the definition.) and lots of laughter. And while there will be no lampstand, we will see our host and His home so much more clearly than you can imagine since there will be no night there. The darkness of sin will be chased away. And it will be more beautiful than all the golden furniture ever crafted. Our host will spend His great wealth for us to enjoy. There are those who think that heaven will be boring. How can they think that? The only explanation is that they do not know who the host is nor what kind of host He is. Heaven will be anything but boring. Heaven is going to be a blast. And one day we will go there. Or it may be that we’ll still be here when Jesus returns to bring heaven back down to earth. Either way, it will be so good!

Let me add this. A little something to ponder. Our enjoyment of heaven is not completely future. We get a taste of it now. There is another rendition of God’s home. It’s scaled down, just as Moses’ tent was, but it is a real taste nonetheless. In this rendition of heaven our host really is present, we see the truth a bit more clearly, we enjoy good conversation and that along with a meal. I’m speaking of Sunday worship together: God’s special presence; a conversation: some spoken, some sung; a meal together; all provided by our hospitable host. It’s all here in a very special way. It’s like Moses’ tent but better. But it’s nowhere near as good as heaven itself where our Father waits to welcome us. All of this is ours because of Jesus.

I started this morning’s sermon by saying, ‘You can learn a lot about a person by taking a walk through his home.’ We’ve taken a walk through God’s home. I hope that the warmth of His love for you is now a little bit more real.