spoons were handed out to everyone. Charlie told us it was OK to fidget with them and play with them while he talked, but he told us to hang onto them...if you have a chance, go grab a spoon right now to have in your hands as you read this...As we've been studying Paul's letter to the Colossians together, we've faced the question: "What is spiritual maturity about?"
It is all too easy to allow the mindset of our surrounding culture to influence our perspective as we journey in our faith. The Bay Area is driven and performance oriented: set the goal, develop the action plan, work the plan, go for martinis when the project is closed. Spiritual maturity doesn't work that way. We need to step back and look beyond the day-to-day; we need to look at the bigger picture.
“If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” ~ Colossians 3:1-4, NASB.
Spiritual maturity is about our union with Jesus: we've died with Him and been raised with Him -- now that’s a big picture worth wrapping our hearts and minds around!
It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one.Paul says we should set our hearts on things above: want, desire, seek out the things above. Set our minds on things above: think about them. Keep wanting. Keep thinking.
~ CS Lewis
But what sort of “things above” is Paul talking about? What is that? Our clue is:
“...where Christ is seated at the right hand of God”That is the location Paul wants is to think about: in a word, that place is heaven.
Rather than spend time looking at the Greek derivation of the words Paul used, we spent time trying to do this -- we looked at heaven (an admittedly edited version).
It is not just a state of mind. There are real dynamics. Jesus looked “up” when He prayed.
But what does “real” even mean? CS Lewis said heaven is so real that if we were to go there right now in our present state, even the blades of grass on the outskirts of heaven would pass through our feet because our feet are less real than Heaven’s grass.
The book of Revelation tells us there will be music in heaven. Music has tempo and beats and rests, which implies there will be time. Rev 8 tells us Heaven was quiet for a half an hour.
We’ll have real bodies (new and better! yea!). There will be no hunger, yet we will feast, and enjoy it! in John 14 Jesus told His disciples "I go to prepare a place for you"
Heaven is where the Kingdom of God exists in its purest form, yet heaven cannot contain His glory. It is where Jesus came from, where He went to, and from where He will return. When Jesus comes into our lives, heaven comes with Him. Divine moments in worship are just a foretaste -- like a kid tasting the icing on a birthday cake!
Revelation 22 says His servants will see His face. In Jewish culture this was huge. This was probably the biggest thing for John as He wrote the book! In Exodus 33 God told Moses “No one may see Me and live”. We can’t handle it...on this side of eternity. But in the new body, in the new place, we’ll be able to see Him. This was David’s desire as expressed in a Psalm: to behold the beauty of the Lord. John’s gospel says God lives in unapproachable light. His later letter (1 John) says we’ll be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is!
The old adage “You can’t go home again” is true, meaning when you grow up and go back, things have changed. In the Bay Area it is hard to buy a home, so we have a semi-nomadic culture with apartment rentals and job changes, etc. That’s hard, but here’s the thing we grapple with on an even deeper level: we have no real home here on this planet.
And while in heaven, we will begin to have memories of earlier "times" in heaven. It will become more and more "homey" to us. It will feel more like home after 10,000 years than it did after 1,000. Hurricanes and earthquakes and tsunamis won’t be able to damage it. Robbers and banks and layoffs/strikes won’t be able to take it away.
1 Corinthians says we will get smarter in heaven, not dumber. Our ability to remember will be better then than it is now!
In Luke 15, Jesus said heaven rejoices when a lost person is found. In the book of Revelation, John describes servants in heaven crying out to God for judgement on earth (so while there is no biblical evidence for us talking to them and asking for things, there is evidence for "the saints" praying on our behalf!)
God answers our prayers and things change. His Son came to us. There is an interplay, and therefore, what I do matters! It matters on earth and it matters in heaven. What I do changes things. Heaven breaks in to our reality. The bible says we are "...seated with Him in the heavenly places...". That is past tense. As He is seated at the right hand of the Father, somehow so are we.
Isaiah says at some point Lucifer rebelled. That suggests a before/after time-space event. Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for us -- so it has been changing for 2,000 years. It is not as good now and it wil be later -- and it will continue to get better and better!
In 1 Peter we read that angels grow in their understanding. This suggests we will too.
Sin empties us, which leads to boredom. In Heaven we will have stuff to do: rest, rule, work, gaze and adore Him in His beauty. We will be fulfilled! A psalmist wrote about being in God's presence: "...at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore." Our righteousness will grow and that will be a true source for continuing increase of our pleasure and fulfillment.
We will have emotions. Tears of Joy probably will be there! Emotions are good and were created by God. Jesus, in the parables, referred to the Master saying “...well done...come and share in your master’s joy”
Charlie told a story about a little old lady holding a spoon in her hands in her casket. It was her dying wish to be buried in this way. The preacher explained:
As a little girl her mom always told her, while clearing the dinner dishes from the table in preparation for dessert, "Hold on to your spoon -- something better is coming!"We get a foretaste now. When we feel His presence, when we feed the poor, when we take care of the environment -- we are bringing heaven to earth.
Think about these things. Set your heart on and desire these things.
And let that change your life.
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1 comment:
Charlie, excellent message. I love that you countered the Moody quote with C.S. Lewis's idea that the more heavenly minded we are, the more earthly and heavenly good we are. Heaven is so much more real than here that we're like ghosts compared to its inhabitants. I love messages about heaven, because it keeps us with the eternal perspective, and it fills me with hope.
I agree with you that people in heaven may be interceding for us; seems quite a natural conclusion. But the Catholics go one step further in saying that we can communicate with them, but the Bible never allows this; in fact it seems to forbid us from trying to contact them. Though if God allows one of them to contact us (like He did for C.S. Lewis), there's nothing wrong with it.
I never thought that there'd be Time in heaven, but your comment about music makes me wonder. Interesting. Maybe people in heaven can control Time however they feel like.
About experiencing Heaven as a foretaste... Sometimes this drives me crazy, because I want the whole thing now! I guess God's developing patience in me, and He wants us to, by faith, bring more and more of Heaven down to Earth.
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