Heaven: Our Living Hope

Revelation 21

St. John’s United Church of Christ
Greeley, Colorado
October 29, 2023
Rev. Juvenal Cervantes

J. Vernon McGee, tells the story about a man who surrendered to Christ. After church Dr. McGee asked the young man what moved him to surrender his life to Christ. His response: “You spoke so wonderfully about Christ; it was natural for me to give my life to Christ…”

The story of the Bible is a story of redemption and a story of love, God’s pursuit of his creation.

Consider these words:

Gen. 3.9 “Adam, where art thou?”

Isaiah 1:18, “’Come, let's consider your options,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins have stained you like the color red, you can become white like snow; though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become white like wool.’”

Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Revelation 3:30, “Listen! I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into his home and share a meal with him, and he with me.”

We are assured of God’s permanent and unconditional love for us.

John 6:27, “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”

John 6:29, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. will not lose you.”

John 10:28, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

John 14:1-3, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

We believe in heaven because Christ believed in heaven.

Second, we believe in heaven because we’ve learned to trust what we cannot prove. Of course we cannot prove that heaven exists. By definition, the “supernatural” transcends the “natural.” Heaven transcends earth. We cannot use earthly experience to verify its existence. But we believe much which we cannot verify empirically.

Is there more beyond this present world of our senses and experience? Of course there is. Solipsism is the philosophical belief that reality exists only when you experience it. This sanctuary exists only when you enter it. You exist only when you hear the preaching of the Word of God.

It’s an appealing thought. The loss of the Bronco games does not exist because I refuse to think about the Broncos. We don’t have to pay for Sylvia’s tuition at Aims Community College because Aims doesn’t exist. I bet they’ll find a way to change my mind.

The problem with the philosophy is that it doesn’t work. Start a fire in your fireplace, then leave the room for several hours. You’ll return to discover that the logs burned down. How is that possible? We all know that solipsism is silly. Of course things exist beyond our experience of them. Of course television and radio waves exist in this room, whether we can see them or not. I assume there is someone watching us via Zoom, even though I do not see them. And that my car’s still in the church parking lot where I left it. And that someone is has prepared a delicious lunch in the kitchen for us to enjoy cooking lunch after church.

Just because we cannot see heaven makes it no less real. I cannot see the walls behind me, but I assume they’re still there. I cannot see into the next room, but that makes the people there no less present. If I could use earthly experience to verify heaven, by definition it wouldn’t really be heaven. If I could use physical methods to measure the God who is Spirit (John 4:24), by definition he wouldn’t be God.

So I’m going to believe in what I cannot prove, because nothing worth proving can be proven. I cannot prove that my family loves me. I cannot prove that the Bible is true, or that God is love, or that I will go to heaven when I die. I cannot prove that they are not, either.

All relationships transcend the evidence and are self-validating. If I were to wait until I could prove I could be a good pastor, I would never have become a pastor. You could not prove the validity of a single relationship in your life. You may say that your family loves you, or your friends appreciate you, or your employees or coworkers are loyal to you, but they may be lying or you may be deceived. I couldn’t know that you were right unless I experienced what you have experienced.

So we examine the evidence: Jesus is real and he said heaven is real. Then we take a step into relationship with him. And that relationship becomes self-validating. I’m willing to stake my eternity on him, not on me. On his truth, not my doubts. On his power, not my limitations. Because I believe in Jesus, I believe in heaven. I invite you to join me.

Conclusion

Let’s close with this question: why does any of this matter to your soul today? What about the problems and fears you’re facing this morning? What about the current war in the Middle East? What about the Ukraine war? What about killing of 18 people at a bowling alley and bar in Lisbon, Maine? What about the economy, and the time and money pressures you’re facing? What about your guilt over the past and fear over the future? One day there will be a new heaven and a new earth; but what about the earth you inhabit this morning? Why is heaven the only question which matters on earth?

Let’s think about that question for a moment. It’s a fact that future reward makes present obedience worthwhile. You go to class, or the office, or whatever you’ll do this week, because you believe the future reward is worth the present cost.

It’s the same way in living passionately and fully for Jesus, in seeking first the Kingdom of God, in being crucified with Christ, in presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, in selling out for God. Consider the following powerful quote: “Your job is the passionate pursuit of who God made you to be. Anything else is sin.” My problem is the “anything else.” It’s hard for me to obey God beyond what this world rewards now.

We live in Weld County, Colorado, where church attendance is socially accepted and often rewarded. We live in a culture which rewards those who are faithful to their families, those who live with a basically accepted morality.

But why go beyond that standard? Why refuse to conform to the culture of our day? Why refuse personal, private sins no one knows about? Secret anger and bitterness toward those who have hurt you, online pornography, private alcohol abuse, personal agendas and pride you hide from the rest of us?

Why serve God beyond the socially acceptable? Why share your faith at the risk of offending others? Why give more than you can spare of your money and time? Why seek the “passionate pursuit of who God made you to be,” whatever it costs?

Because heaven guarantees that earthly obedience is the best investment of your life.

Long after this planet is gone and those who made fun of your faith and misunderstood your sacrifice don’t matter, your reward in paradise is sure. God never wastes a hurt.

Everything you do for him during these few years on earth is noted in heaven and will be rewarded forever. It’s the best investment you’ll ever make.

And because living for heaven is the best way to live on earth. The future rewards only that which is best in the present. Being godly with your secret thoughts is the healthiest way to live now, for your happiness depends on the quality of your thoughts. What you think is what you become. Being sacrificial with your witness, time and money is the most satisfying, significant, joyful way to live today.

Living for heaven is the best way to live on earth.

So I’m going to live for heaven from now on. I’m going to care more for people’s eternal souls than their temporal approval. I’m going to use my gifts and resources to build God’s Kingdom more than my own. I’m going to ask God to use my suffering more than solve it. I’m going to remember that this life is the car and not the house, the road and not the destination. I’m going to make sure every day that I’m ready to die, because one day I will. I’m going to live for heaven while I’m on earth. I invite you to do the same.

The payoff is for now. A life well lived is its own reward. But the payoff is also for eternity. On the day when I take the Lord’s Supper from nail-scarred hands, and step into the heaven of the One I love and serve on earth, whatever it costs me today to live for heaven will be worth it forever. I want that for my soul and for yours. So let’s live for heaven together. Will you join me?