Living in Light of Heaven | Sermon
Living in Light of Heaven
Pastor Macky Sabayle“I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.” (C. S. Lewis)
Often, people when they hear that we're talking about heaven, that perhaps we are not really being very practical and down to earth. The way they say it is usually something like this:
“You know, Pastor, we shouldn't be so concerned about heaven. After all, when we get to heaven, there'll be plenty of time to muse about heaven. We need to be spending our energies and our time here in this world. And aren't people who are heavenly-minded usually no earthly good?”
Now, if we didn't have the Bible, we might be able to reason like that, but one of the most consistent truths of the Bible is this: What you think about heaven determines how you live today. The future is like an anchor that has been cast ahead of us, and it is pulling us into the future.
Paul says in Colossians 3:1-2 LB
Since you became alive again, so to speak, when Christ arose from the dead, now set your sights on the rich treasures and joys of heaven where he sits beside God in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here.
In other words, God wants us to live each day of our lives here on earth in light of our future in heaven. Since heaven is the culmination of God’s redemptive plan, we’d better make heaven our standard for living.
As we are going to end our two-month series about heaven, I want us to wrap up everything and conclude our lesson about heaven with this message entitled Living in the Light of Heaven.
Main Idea: Our day-to-day life must be lived in light of our knowledge and anticipation for heaven. Our biblical knowledge of heaven must change our perspective of living. Our anticipation of heaven must affect our preoccupation today.
When we live in light of heaven, we will have:
1. A Sense of Home
John 14:1-2
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
I love animals, like dogs, fish, birds, like those colorful birds in Cebu Safari. I love watching them, but I feel as if something’s wrong. They don’t belong in those cages. It’s not their home. Birds were meant to fly and soar the skies. Dolphins are made for the ocean. I have tiny fish in a small bowl. I suppose the fish don’t know any better, but I wonder if their instincts tell them that their true home is elsewhere?
I know our instincts tell us that this fallen world isn’t our final home—we were made for a better earth. Our study about heaven confirms this instinct. Christians have always thought of going to Heaven as going home. We love to sing hymns like, “I have a home in glory land that outshines the sun.” “When we all get to heaven.” When Jesus said he was going to prepare a place for us, he spoke of building us a home. To anticipate Heaven, then, means to understand the meaning of home.
We always say, “there’s no place like home.” Well, for us redeemed people of God, there is no place like heaven where we can truly say our eternal home. In your imagination, you could feel your comfy bed, taste a home-cooked meal, and picture the company of family and friends laughing together in the Sala or in the dining table.
Home is about comfort. It’s a place where we can be ourselves on the couch to relax. It’s a place we want to be. As much as I love going to vacation resorts, I always love to come home. That craving for home is sweet and deep. Home is our reference point, what we always come back to. No matter how much we enjoy our adventures away, we anticipate coming home.
Knowing we can come home is what keeps us going—and that’s what Heaven should do for us. It should keep us going because it’s our eternal home, the welcome refuge that awaits us and calls our name. Home is where friends come to visit. It’s where we can just be ourselves, plant gardens, do our normal chores without any pressures, listen to music we enjoy. Home is where I can just be lazy and relax and enjoy.
I realize it sounds as if I’m romanticizing home. I know that many people have had terrible experiences at home. But our true home in Heaven will have all the good things about our earthly homes, multiplied many times, but none of the bad.
Remember, the Bible often reminds us that we are to live here, now, as aliens and strangers because God has prepared a better home for us in glory.
2 Cor. 5:6,8 NLT
“So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.”
Hebrews 13:14 NLT
“For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.”
1 Peter 2:11 LB
“Dear brothers, you are only visitors here. Since your real home is in heaven, I beg you to keep away from the evil pleasures of this world; they are not for you, for they fight against your very souls.”
“Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.” (C. S. Lewis)
If Heaven is truly our home, we should expect it to have the qualities we associate with home. Home as a term for Heaven isn’t simply a metaphor. It describes an actual, physical place—a place promised and prepared no less than our Savior Himself; a place we’ll share with loved ones; a place of fond familiarity and comfort and refuge; a place of marvelous smells and tastes, fine food, and great conversation; a place of contemplation and interaction and expressing the gifts and passions that God has given us. It’ll be a place of unprecedented freedom and adventure, at the same time comfort and peace forever. And to top it all, it’s the home where God Himself is with us, not just in spiritually, but physically.
Rev. 21:3 NLT
“Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.
Since heaven is our eternal home, we need to spend our lives cultivating our love for Heaven. That’s why we need to meditate on what Scripture says about Heaven, read books on it, have Bible studies, teach classes, and preach sermons on it. We need to talk to our children about Heaven. We need to talk about what we see around us as signposts to the New Earth, our eternal home.
Life on Earth matters not because it’s the only life we have, but precisely because it isn’t—it’s the beginning of a life that will continue without end. Our present life is the precursor of the everlasting life on the New Heaven and New Earth. Eternal life doesn’t begin when we die—it has already begun.
The more we know the doctrine of heaven, the more our present lives take on greater importance, infusing us with a sense longing for our home. Understanding Heaven doesn’t just tell us what to do, but why. What God tells us about our future home enables us to interpret our past and serve him in our present.
Consider the old proverb, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” It assumes that the only earthly pleasures we’ll ever enjoy must be obtained now. As Christians, we should indeed eat, drink, and be merry—and also sacrifice, suffer, and die—all to the glory of God. In doing so, we’re preparing for an eternal life in which we will eat, drink, and be merry, but never again die.
This present life, then, is not our last chance to eat, drink, and be merry—rather, it is the last time our eating, drinking, and merrymaking can be corrupted by sin, death, and the Curse. We need to stop acting as if Heaven were a myth, an impossible dream, a relentlessly dull meeting, or an unimportant distraction from real life. We need to see Heaven for what it is: the home we’re made for. If we do, we’ll embrace it with contagious joy, excitement, and anticipation.
2. A Source of Hope
Heaven is indeed our source of optimism.
The secular world around focuses all their hopes in what the world can offer and give them today: position, possessions, pleasure, power, prestige. They think, as long as we have all these, we are good for life. But then what happens? They eventually get old or sick, and when they die they go to Hell forever. Their optimism is an illusion, for it fails to take eternity into account.
But for us Christians, our only proper foundation for hope is the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Any other foundation is sand, not rock. It will not bear the weight of our eternity.
However, if we build our lives on the redemptive work of Christ, we should all be optimists. Why? Because even our most painful experiences in life is but a temporary setback. Our pain and suffering may or may not be relieved in this life, but they will certainly be relieved in the next. That is Christ’s promise—
Rev. 21:4
“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
He took our sufferings on Himself so that one day He might remove all suffering from us. That is the biblical foundation for our optimism. No Christian should be a pessimist. We should be realists—focused on the reality that we serve a sovereign and gracious God. Because of the reality of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and His promises, biblical realism is optimism.
Knowing that our suffering will be relieved doesn’t make it easy, but it does make it bearable. It allows joy in the midst of suffering. Jesus said,
Luke 6:22-23
“Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you. . . . Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.”
Romans 8:18
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
1 Peter 1:6-7
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
The apostles didn’t enjoy suffering, but they rejoiced in the midst of it, because they trusted God’s sovereign plan and they looked forward to Christ’s return, their bodily resurrection, and the redemption of all creation. Christ said to his disciples, who would suffer much, “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).
Our optimism is not that of the “health and wealth” gospel, which claims that God will spare us of suffering here and now. Peter said,
1 Peter 4:13
“Rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”
Christ’s future glory, in which we will participate, is the reason for our present rejoicing while suffering.
“Anticipating Heaven doesn’t eliminate pain, but it lessens it and puts it in perspective. Meditating on Heaven is a great pain reliever.” (Randy Alcorn)
It reminds us that suffering and death are temporary conditions. Our existence will not end in suffering and death—they are but a gateway to our eternal life of unending joy.
The biblical doctrine of Heaven is about the future, but it has tremendous benefits here and now. If we grasp it, it will shift our center of gravity and radically change our perspective on life. This is what the Bible calls “hope,” a word used six times in Romans 8:20-25 NLT
20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. 25 But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Brethren, don’t place your hope in favorable circumstances, which cannot and will not last. Place your hope in Christ and His promised heaven. There we will behold God’s face and joyfully serve Him forever.
3. A Strength for Holiness
2 Peter 3:11-14
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives
12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
This is a straightforward challenge for Christians to conform our lives to God’s standards in light of the reality of the coming judgment and the new heaven and new earth.
Most people today, and I think it was true in Peter’s day as well, try to find meaning in life by building something that’s not just here today and gone tomorrow. Most people try to overcome a sense of littleness by making something significant, that lasts. Some people try to build their senses of legacy, and they gain a great sense of power, and lastingness, and a sense of success by looking at their house. “I own that.” Or flipping through their portfolio and thinking how wise they invested when it was low and sold what it was high.
Others build a professional reputation through working hard, long hours, and they gain a sense of power and success by thinking about how many people are dependent on them for leadership, and how many people look to them for making wise decisions.
Other people try to build meaning into their lives with artistic expressions and creativity, and they gain a sense of power by looking at the things they’ve written or have painted or have shaped. And others, perhaps with less artistic ability, try to build the same kind of power through hobbies and collections: “I’ve got the biggest button collection or beetles or coins or something.” And we boast in how shiny our car is, or our new Apple computer or, or, or.
We want to make. We want to build. We want to have something significant. But Peter says, in effect: it’s going to burn up. Everything will be destroyed.
The implication of this passage is this: the only things that are going to survive the fiery judgment of God at the end of this age are expressions of holiness and godliness.
We always hear this classic quote: “Only one life, 'twill soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last.”
The only thing that is going to survive that fiery judgment of god is holiness, godliness, and the expressions of them. A life lived for the world will go naked into judgment, and a life lived for Christ will be laden with riches in heaven.
We must live in light of heaven, and then let us devote ourselves every day in all that we do to what will last and not what will be burned up. And according to 2 Peter 3:12 then, if we do this, we speed up the coming of the day of God. Now, what does that mean, speed up the day? Well, remember 2 Peter 3:9 said that God is holding back the day because he wants us to repent.
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.
Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
That must mean then that if we do repent and lead a life of holiness ands godliness, we remove one of the reasons for delay. Therefore, Peter concludes that a life that repents and walks in holiness, in that sense, speeds up the day of the Lord’s coming.
Now, it’s clear that we don’t speed it up in an absolute sense. It says in Acts 1:7 that God has appointed, by his authority, the day doesn’t get faster as far as God’s concerned. Jesus said the Father knows the day and the hour when the Son of Man will come (Mark 13:32). But from our standpoint, from our limited vantage point, we can speed up the day of the Lord in the sense that we remove any hindrances to it.
Without Spot or Blemish
And now finally, I want to look at one more thing with you in 2 Peter 3:13–14, and that is a very different motivation for godliness, for purity. Here, he doesn’t say: “Be careful for what you might lose in the age to come when things are burned up.” Here, he says: “Look at what you can gain in the new heavens and the new earth.”
2 Peter 3:13
But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
And then, he draws the inference for daily life:
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him.
Since we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, God wants us to be careful in the way we live each day — to be spotless, blameless, and at peace with God.
How can we do that? Where do we find the power to do that, to live spotless and blameless lifestyle? And the answer, as you may guess, comes from 2 Peter 1:3–4: NLT
By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
It’s when we set our eyes and our affections on the promise of a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells and in which the glory and excellency of God are going to cover the earth like the waters cover the sea. When we relish that promise and hope in that promise, the power of God fires us with a zeal for holiness and godliness and gives us the strength to overcome all temptation from the little sparks of enticement around us.
Sources:
Randy Alcorn, Heaven
David Jeremiah, Tough-Minded About Heaven
https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/what-sort-of-persons-ought-you-to-be