“Don’t
let your hearts be troubled. Trust in
God, and trust also in me. There is more
than enough room in my Father’s home. If
this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for
you? When everything is ready, I will
come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.” “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how
can we know the way?” Jesus told
him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through
me. John 14:1-6(NLT)
Almost everyone
who has read the Book of Acts and some of Paul's epistles has marveled at the
Apostle's confidence in Christ. Paul
could say: I know whom I have believed, and
am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. He could survey his choices and say, I'd
rather be with the Lord. He was ready to be offered up as a sacrifice
(martyred). Paul knew where
he was going, and to what and to Whom he was going.
Have you
wondered how a person can be that convinced?
Some of it has to do with the fact that Paul had already seen heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2). He saw the glories of heaven, but was not
permitted to talk about them. As he
walked in this life, Paul carried with him a picture of the next life in his
heart and memory. He knew what was
waiting at home.
When I am away
from home at a conference or seminar, I cannot wait to get home. I know my wife and daughter are waiting for
me. I can't wait for their company. I even want to see Gracie, the wonder dog,
and Wellie, the Methodist terrorist! Others
don't know my home, but I do; and I can't wait to get there to see them.
Our text today
shows us our assurance of heaven, no matter what is happening on earth.
The context is that Jesus is talking to His disciples
about leaving; He knows he is about to be arrested, taken to the authorities
and crucified. The disciples are getting
nervous about what is to become of them; so Jesus gives them comforting words
of assurance about what is going to happen.
Jesus was going to entrust the work of the Kingdom of
God to these men, and you serve better when you're sure, so Jesus tells the
disciples three things about the eternal Kingdom of God…the place (new
heaven/earth), the promises (what it will be like), and the person Who loves
them (unendingly and unconditionally):
The Place
“Don’t
let your hearts be troubled. Trust in
God, and trust also in me. There is more
than enough room in my Father’s home. If
this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for
you? John 14:1-2(NLT)
Jesus says that
He is going to thoroughly prepare a dwelling place for those of His family.
What kind of place will it be?
A Place of Wonder
In Paul's first letter
to the Corinthian church he says that we haven't even begun to imagine the
wonder of God's heaven. Revelation
describes gates of pearl, streets of gold, jewels and splendor everywhere. The dimensions are given, and we guess at a
bunch more. But one thing is certain; it
will be wonderful beyond our wildest dreams.
A Place of Work
Revelation 22:3
says that …his servants shall serve him.
The curse, or hard part, of work will be removed, and all the joy in
accomplishing tasks that we love to do will be ours. (I am personally looking forward to working
on my computer without the thing crashing and losing all my work!) There will be wonderful and enjoyable work to
do in glory as we serve our King.
A Place of Worship
Revelation 19:1-8
is one of the greatest pictures of worship ever drawn. Handel drew his text for the magnificent Hallelujah
Chorus from this passage. In
Heaven we will never cease to praise the Lord.
Theologian Karl Barth loved the music of Mozart. He said in heaven the angels play Bach when
God is around, and Mozart at all other times.
C.S. Lewis said he hoped heaven would be filled with
good cigars that never burn up. Ed Howe
once said: The few men who have managed to reach heaven must be terribly spoiled
by this time.
I know being that close to the throne of God will
spoil me – and I don't intend to back off one bit!
The Promises
When
everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with
me where I am. John 14:3(NLT)
The Reception
Jesus said that
he would come back. Having come once for
us, he will return to receive us. That word virtually means to embrace, or draw
us close.
The Reunion
There are a
number of folks I am planning on seeing again.
My grandmother, Mom and Dad will be there; I miss them.
There are countless others I've never even met that
are part of my family in Christ. John
Lockhart wrote:
It's
an old belief that on some solemn shore,
Beyond the sphere of
grief, dear friends shall meet once more.[ii]
The Rest
People have told
me the first thousand years or so, they just want to sit down and rest. We are going to work in heaven, but along
with work that will be so satisfying, will be the ability to be at genuine
rest.
That is something missing from our society these
days. We get up early to rush to work to
earn the money to buy our homes, feed our families so we can have a bed to
sleep in, so we can get up early and rush to work....the treadmill will be
missing in heaven, but I won’t miss it!
Jim Henry quotes Richard Baxter:
Rest, how sweet a word
to my ears! Rest! Not as a stone at rest upon the earth but a
blessed rest where we shall rest from sin but not from worship, from suffering
and sorrow, but not from solace. Blessed
day when I shall rest with God, perfect soul and body together – in perfect
things perfectly enjoying the most perfect God."[iii]
And finally, notice please that the place and the
promise are based upon:
The Person
When
everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with
me where I am. And you know the way to
where I am going.” “No, we don’t know,
Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea
where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus told him, “I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one can come to
the Father except through me. John
14:1-6(NLT)
Jesus says we know
the place and the promises. He talks
about assurance that comes from faith in Him.
Manmade Religion
...is the
attempt to reach up to God. Man has an
instinct for God.
Wherever man is, there is an expression of that
instinct, reaching up to find God. The Egyptians made their pyramids and
statues. They worshipped the sun, moon
and stars. Animals are worshipped,
philosophies and man himself. All of it
is an attempt to find God. In ancient Egypt
We would say we are more sophisticated than that. Well, we'd like to think we are more
advanced. However, man does not
change. For instance, Communism is a
form of religion. It had its Bible
(manifesto), its savior (Karl Marx), its prophets, heretics, even its heaven
(the utopian society out yonder). Manmade
religion is an attempt to create a God that doesn’t scare you.
But people need something much larger than them...a
religion to consume their energy and imagination. I met a man once who claimed to be a
Unitarian. I asked him to explain his faith
to me. He described it as a very
scholarly/ethereal study of all religions.
He said: We believe its okay to believe whatever you believe. We do a lot of concerts and lectures...its
kinda artsy/craftsy/fun and warmth.
I asked him if his religion was sufficient to die for. He said: No. I told him I needed something important
enough to die for; otherwise it wasn't sufficient enough to die with.
The point is will your religion bring you to God? In reality, no religion will. The flow (in religion) is all reaching
up to God. The fact
is: He can't be reached.
Messiah’s reality
Since man cannot
reach God, the only option was for God to reach man. A young man gets a job in a distant city,
away from his family. There he gets in
trouble, and is arrested.
He posts bail, goes home to his little rented room and
thinks, If only my Father were here. He
is wise and a good man. He could help.
So the boy calls his Dad on the phone, explains the situation. The Father could give some advice, wire some
money, and be done with it. But the
Father tells his son, I'll be in touch. He hangs up the phone,
puts on his coat, backs the car out of the garage and drives to the city. A knock on the door, a moment passes, the son
opens the door, and the embraces and tears begin.
I have stood
beside many graves. I have looked into
the faces of hundreds of family members.
There are two kinds only – those without hope, and those with
assurance. Those without hope have
either ignored God altogether, living their lives totally self-absorbed – or
they have trusted in religious activities to reach God. In some way their goodness was supposed to
impress God and make everything all right.
Those with hope
found their assurance in Jesus Christ.
He is the way, truth and life...the only way! Jesus is like the telephone in the story of
the young man. No man calls home to the
Father, except on His line. It is the
only way to an untroubled heart.
Sometimes a preacher finds himself on the other side
of the pulpit. That has been my lot for
the past 5 weeks as I have occupied a pew while someone else broke the Bread of
Life in worship. Every time that it is
my privilege to listen while someone else speaks, I find it humbling to know
that God will use a sermon, anyone’s sermon (including some of mine) to speak
to my heart words of comfort, strength and assurance.
Two weeks ago I sat listening to Mr. Siers at Pleasant
Hill share a message of hope for the poor.
It struck me that, although I do not live in financial poverty as much
of the world does, I am included in that category of poor because I am
facing a physical mountain, over which I have no control, and can do nothing at
all; I am health poor!
So, like an immigrant coming to a new country, or a
homeless mother of three approaching the line at a shelter, or an accused man
before the bar, Russell will have to place himself in someone else’s hands; I
will have to trust an oncologist, and some technicians, but primarily God’s
grace.
And like John Wesley, who, when he trusted Christ
alone for salvation that fateful evening at Aldersgate Church, felt his heart strangely
warmed, I find my heart and soul strangely untroubled.
Now, this untroubled heart wasn’t always that
way. It is not characteristic of me to
not worry about all the details and how things are going to happen. Anxiety is a natural condition for people who
are control freaks; it is not an easy thing to relinquish the reins connected
to my life’s horse…to let someone else drive.
But you can do that, you can let go, and let God
with an untroubled heart that is at peace.
My heart wasn’t always untroubled, especially where eternity
is concerned.
I knew Jesus had died on the cross, and that His
sacrifice satisfied all Gods requirement for having my sins forgiven. I knew those details with my mind, but my
heart wondered:
·
I know that works for others…but does He really know
all the stuff I did and thought?
·
How is He going to do that…forgive…I have trouble
forgiving others?
·
Why would He do that…is this a trick?
·
What’s the catch…do I have to be a missionary, go to
Africa, and get eaten by cannibals?
Somehow, against the best, reasoned and intellectual
human judgment and anxiety of an introverted control freak, I decided to trust
God anyway.
And the more I trusted him, the bigger His love grew.
And the bigger His love grew, the more I was able to
trust Him.
And through the gift of life and hard times, good
times, growing times and stagnant, fallow times on the shelf, my heart has
looked at what God has done and decided not to trouble itself with anything
this world can throw at me.
You know, this cancer thing is just God’s gift of a
test that shows me just how much peace that passes all understanding
God can stuff in a preacher’s heart, or your heart!
My question to you is…do you have that calm assurance
bubbling-up and overflowing your heart?
If you don’t, please trust me when I say you can
have it; God wants to give you an untroubled heart!
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!
Notes
[ii] Letter
to Thomas Carlyle, April 1, 1842; cited
from Andrew Lang The Life and Letters of
John Gibson Lockhart(London: John C. Nimmo, 1897) vol. 2, p. 235.
[iii] Jim Henry, Heartwarmers (Nashville, Broadman, 1977), 92
