Heaven Part III

I hope you are not getting bored with heaven. Now we are moving toward the good stuff. Jesus has come and there are three things that are attached to that. The first of course is our own ressurection. Then there is judgement and lastly is the distribution of rewards. After all of this and a 1000 year reign of Christ comes the new haeven and new earth. But I do not want to get ahead.

Jesus of course was the first person to be resurrected, and to date is still the only one. When he comes the dead in Christ will rise first to receive their resurrection bodies. Does that also include the OT saints? I am not sure (see Rev. 20:4-6). After this those who are still alive when He comes will be changed into their resurrection bodies without experiencing the first death. Lastly, after the 1000 year reign, the nonbelievers will be raised to face judgement and eternity in hell.

So what about judgements? The Bible speaks of two. The first is the Great White Throne judgement of Rev. 20:11-15. This is where the righteous and unrighteous are separated, the former to heaven and the latter to the lake of fire (i.e. hell). This is the same separating of the sheep and goats in Matt. 25. Basically you want your name written in the book of life. There is only one way to do that. If there happens to be someone who does not know Jesus reading this then post a comment and I will make sure you know how to have your name written there. The second judgement is the bema seat judgement (named because of the Greek word used to describe it). This is found in Rom. 14:10-12, I Cor. 3:10-15, and II Cor. 5:10. Basically it means that we all will appear before God to give account of what we have done while here on earth. It is not for salvation for this is only for those already saved. Sounds pretty scarry doesn't it?

Let's move on to something more positive - rewards. Are there rewards in heaven? That seems kind of antithetical to the popular notion that we will all be equal in heaven. Maybe the notion is wrong. There is pretty good evidence for rewards in heaven, but not a lot of specifics on exactly what they are. Let's start with Heb. 11:6 where we are told that part of faith is that God rewards those who diligently seek Him. Obviously Jesus is our reward and that is enough, but the Bible suggests there is more. We see this from multiple passages including Matt. 5:12, 5:46, 6:4,6,18, 10:40-42, II John 8, and Heb. 11:26. We also are told in Matt. 6:19-21 to not lay up for ourselves treasures on earth but lay up treasures in heaven which can never be corrupted. So what exactly are these? We do not know. Some people think they are the crowns that we lay at the feet of Jesus. In the Beattitudes we see some possibilities - comfort, being filled, mercy, seeing God- and others are the lives of people we have touched here on earth, authority and ruling over nations. The point is not what they are but how to lay them up. That is beyond the scope of this text, but the answers are found in the same passages that I have listed as well as Matt. 25.

Next week we will look at the new heaven and new earth and I will conclude this series. It is the really exciting part and I think will get you thinking and possibly change your views. Till then.

Heaven - Part II

Yes I have heaven on my mind. Especially as I have been studying the subject for the past month. This week we will look further into what it is like. First of all we need to know who is there. By definition, God is there at the center. He is almost always depicted as sitting on a throne. Is this just a human way of describing it or for our benefit does He limit Himself so we can visualize Him. Obviously He is not limited to a throne since heaven itself cannot contain Him. Of course Jesus is seen there at His right hand. He is described in various ways, from a lamb to having crowns on His head and eyes of blazing fire. Interestingly, the Holy Spirit is not specifically mentioned as being there but as part of the trinity you can count on it. Next are the four living creatures. We really do not know more about them other than they praise God continuously. Around them are the 24 Elders who sit on 24 thrones and have crowns that they cast down at God's feet. Do they represent the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles? Who knows? Not much more is said about them. Then of course are the angels who apparently can come and go between heaven and earth. There are lots of them - 100,000,000 if in fact Rev. 5:11 is correct. Something you might not know, expect or like is that at this time Satan (and possibly other fallen angels) still have access (see Job 1 and Rev. 12:10-12). And last but not least are believers.

Yes believers go to heaven. We all believe that, but do they go immediately or do they live in a "sleep" until Jesus returns. There are numerous Scriptures that suggest we go there immediately: Rev. 6:9, 7:9, 14:3-5, 15:2-4, Luke 23:43, 20:37-38, 16:19-31,I Cor. 5:11, Matt. 17:3. Of course we will not have our resurrection bodies (more on that later), though we may have some type of body, for we seem to be able to recognize others - even those we have never seen before.

We have already mentioned the throne in heaven as well as the 24 thrones of the Elders. In addition there are seven lampstands, a golden alter and a sea of glass. I am not certain what all of these are for of what they represent (except the lamps are the seven spirits of God - whatever that means). Lastly we see that there is a temple with an ark in it. We are reminded that the temple of Moses and David/Solomon was a type of the heavenly temple, so it is no suprise. Of interest is that every mention of the heavenly temple in Revelation uses the word for the innermost part of the temple, the Holy of Holies.

Lastly I want to mention a little of what heaven is like. First of all it is described multiple times as being holy. In it there is also great joy and pleasures forevermore. Righteousness and justice are the foundations of His throne. There are treasures and riches (though probably not what we are used to). There is incense which represents the prayers of the saints. There will be no death or marraige, but I don't want to get ahead of myself and speak of the new heaven.

Heaven - Part 1

Heaven is something that we all mention a lot but rarely do a lot of thinking about it in any serious way. And most of us have a pretty bizarre and distorted view of what it will be like. To make matters worse, because of that distorted view, most of us if we were honest are not really in any hurry to get there. It just seems so boring to float around in the clouds singing praises for all of eternity. Am I right? Well let me try to shake up your image a little and I think you might just like it.

First of all let me say that all of my information came from reading the Bible and studying all of the Scriptures related to heaven. Then through prayer I asked the Holy Spirit to teach me and guide my study, and to not allow me to teach anything untrue. Obviously in a topic like this there is a lot of ambiguity and I will indicate where things are a little more uncertain. I did not consult other books or references on the subject till after I was finished. I will mention two books that are helpful, neither of which I agree with completely. The first is "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn. The second is "Surprised By Hope" by N.T. Wright.

But why study heaven at all? There is plenty to occupy our time here. The first reason is that God mentions it a lot in His book. It is mentioned 667 times in the OT and 284 times in the NT. Then there are numerous references to heaven without mentioning it by name. Secondly, heaven is our hope and if our hope is what drives us then we should have an accurate view of what we are getting into. Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him. The hope of heaven can allow us to endure various trials that come our way. Paul says in I Cor. 15:19 that if for this life only we have hope then we are of all people most to be pitied. And lastly in Eph. 1:18 Paul wants us to know the hope to which He has called us.

So what is heaven? In its most basic sense heaven is where God dwells or where the Presense of God is. We need to be careful to not be confused with two things. Often the Bible speaks of the heavens (the heavens declare the glory of God) when in the proper context it is referring to the sun, moon and stars ect. Then in the NT there are references to the Kingdom of heaven. This is referring to the rule and reign of God here on earth - essentially the church universal. But is heaven a real physical place or is it some state of mind or conscience existence? The Bible speaks of God creating heaven (Gen. 1:1) and so it must have physical properties. Numerous references to things going on in heaven all suggest that it is a real place. But I do not think that we can go to it in our current state. I do not know but suspect that it operates in different dimensions than what we have to work with. Are there different levels? Despite Paul's journey to the third heaven (II Cor. 12:2), there is little evidence of levels. And the Paradise referred to three times in Scripture is probably equivalent to heaven.

That is all I will cover this week, but stay tuned and I will cover who is there, what it looks like and its characteristics. Then I will write on our resurrection and what happens to us when we die before Christ returns. Lastly I will discuss the new heaven and the new earth and I think what I say may knock your socks off, but may have you more anxious than ever to be there.

Trouble in Camelot

I have always thought of my life kind of like a little Camelot. Not in a proud way but just that God has blessed our family so immensely. Of course there have been problems but overall things have been so good - four wonderful children, three great in-laws, all of whom love the Lord passionately, one cool grandson with two more on the way, an incredible wife whom I continue to love more each year, a stable job which is fulfilling, a great church, multiple friends, ect. You get the picture.

Well there is now a breach in the wall. As many of you probably know, just before Christmas my sweet wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She has been having problems with her memory for a year. We initially thought it was stress and did some things to relieve that, including quitting her job. It seemed to get better for a while but has gotten worse, and I took her to a neurologist who confirmed the diagnosis. At least as much as one can with this disease. Since then it has been an emotional roller coaster for us. We decided early on not to keep it a secret because we wanted people to pray for us. So over the past few weeks we have been telling friends and family, as many as possible face to face. This has been emotionally draining, but we have been so encouraged and supported by all.

Our stand from the beginning has been that we feel very confident that God will give us the grace to handle whatever He has in store for us down the road with this. On the other hand we also feel very strongly that we serve an awesome God who is powerful and can heal, and so we are praying for God to intervene and work a miracle. So if you read this please take a minute and stop and pray for her. We want as many people praying because we do not want to miss out on God's blessing, plus we do not want others to miss out on being a part of God doing a marvelous thing and in turn being blessed.

We do not know where this road will lead, but we still have been blessed beyond measure. So as the song says, every blessing He pours out we will turn it into praise; but when the darkness closes in, still we will say "Blessed be the name of the Lord".

Christmas

This was to be our down year for Christmas as the kids were going to be with in-laws and or working (downside of the medical profession). And in fact Christmas day was pretty quiet as it was just the two of us and Mary Beth. We ended up doing some house cleaning. But the rest of the time was a hub of activity over 7 days with a total of 18 people coming in for various periods of time. WE ended up getting to see all four kids and their spouses, my whole extended family and a surprise visit from Luana's sister and her husband from Denver. It was a great time of visiting, fellowship and encouragement. Most everyone is a believer and we were able to share the blessings of the birth of Jesus, His life, death and His gift of eternal life. I pray that 2009 is a great year for you and your family.

Freedom

Freedom! It is a word that naturally brings emotion to most Americans. That is because we know our history and we know what it cost (and what it continues to cost). But for believers it is not a word that stirs us as it should. I really think that it is because most of us never really experience true freedom, the freedom that Christ died to bring us. We have been doing a series on Galatians in our Lifegroup and a couple of weeks ago I taught on chapter 5. I had been longing to do this for some time because I feel that it is one of the two most important chapters in the Bible (the other being Romans 8).

Why is it so important? In verse one Paul begins by saying that it is for freedom that Christ set us free. When one has been freed, he pursues one of three paths. One path is to be fearful of the new found freedom and to go back to the old ways which even though is bondage, it is safe and familiar. For the believer, this means going back to living under the law. By that I mean that we go back to trying to appease God by doing a lot of good things and hoping that the good outweighs the bad. That works when we compare ourselves to each other, but fails miserably when we are brought in the light of a Holy God. The second path is to go the other extreme and use the freedom to pursue all sorts of wild and crazy things. Obviously, this is not where we want to go either. Of course the right path is the middle path where we use our freedom to serve one another in love.

Now for the good stuff! In verse 16 he says to live by the Spirit and we will not satisfy the desires of the sinful nature. This is the middle path we talked about. Not satisfying the flesh is not a hope, but a truth, a reality that we can count on. Of course it does not mean that we never sin, but that we do not live in continuous, repetitive sin. But remember that there is a war going on (see Romans chapter 7) for our soul, and many of us try to walk the fence, doing just enough to satisfy their conscience and hopefully God.

But what is this sinful nature (or flesh) that we conquer in the Spirit? I think that there are three levels. The first is obvious (see v.19-21) and most believers that try to follow God do not have a major problem with this. The second is not so obvious. It is the vain attempt to put ourselves on the throne of our lives and try to control our destiny. This is the flesh taking over. The third is even less obvious but is more likely where we are. That is to pursue things that in and of themselves are good, but in our pursuit of them we get sidetracked from that which is best. These are such things as family, work, sports, ect. When we make anything other than God ultimate in our lives we are living in the flesh.

So how does one live by the Spirit and not the flesh? I wish I could give you a ten step plan that you (and I) could follow, but I cannot do that. If I could I would have done it because that is my personality. I have tried doing it all on my own and it definitely does not work. But I can give some ideas that have been helpful to me. First is to spend the day setting your mind on the things the Spirit desires (Rom. 12:2). Second is to pray, asking the Spirit to help us in our prayer (Rom.8:26-27). Ask the Spirit to direct your day and do this all throughout the day. Be ready to follow Him with unquestioned obedience. Indulge in meditation and waiting on God. Lastly, develop a passion for Jesus. All of these things affect our mind, will and emotions which is our soul. Go for it with reckless abandon.

Cookies

Cookies, cookies and more cookies. What is it about cookies that causes one to drive 100 miles and everyone else to stop what they are doing and come together during the busy Christmas season? Nothing other than the famous anual Sudan Cookie Decorating Contest. What exactly is this? Well every year in mid December all of the Sudans (usually with friends) get together and decorate sugar cookies. We start out from scratch and roll the dough, then punch our favorite shapes, put them in the oven and get ready to decorate. We have of course the traditional colored icing but over the years have added all sorts of sprinkles, red hots, colored lining and so much more. We all sit around the table and work diligently to make the best cookie. There is no limit to the number of entries. When all have been decorated we vote for the top cookies. This year Blake came out on top (again) and I got second (first time that I have ever placed), Mary Beth third, Christy for honorable mention and best theme. In fairness though, all agreed that Jason put forth his best effort and should have been awarded a prize, if not the top spot.

So how did this all get started? It began when Iwas a little boy and my mother would make sugar cookies with icing. I loved eating them (still do) and so one year early in our marraige, I asked Luana if we could make some. We did and the kids helped out. As they got older , they were really able to decorate and the natural competiveness of the Sudans came out, each of us vying for accolades as the best cookie. Thus we resorted to the judging and a tradition was born.

How long have we been doing this? No one is sure but we think it has been at least 12-15 years

What is the big deal? Again I am not sure but it has become one of those traditions around which families are built. My family did not have many traditions when I grew up, but as we started having kids Luana and I realized the importance of these in bonding as a family. So slowly over the years we have developed a number of them, mostly not intentional but just by doing the same thing each year. And out of all of them the cookie decorating has become the most popular and the one most likely to be passed to the next generation. I encourage you parents with young kids to begin thinking about establishing your own traditions.