[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 16th of June, 2024 - Father's Day. A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]
Vacations are nice, aren’t they? It’s nice to get away for a while, to just relax or to go off and see new places, enjoy new experiences. But have you ever noticed that after some amount of time has passed, maybe four or five days, you begin to get just a bit homesick? Doesn’t your own bed start to call out to you?
Yes, it’s great to get away, but it’s also great to get back home again. When we’re away from home, things can be quite different, and that can cause stress. We can find ourselves quickly losing control of a situation, with stuff getting out of hand around us. We’re out of our comfort zone, no longer in the friendliest of environs. And it can get scary quickly.
Family, this is the position we are in right now, and every day of our life on this earth. We are away from home, away from our true home, away from the home God has ready for us. And it can be really scary at times.
The Apostle Paul speaks to this in his 2nd letter to the church in Corinth, and it offers us reassurances, too. Please listen and follow along as I read the first 10 verses from the 5th chapter of the 2nd letter that Paul sent to the Corinthians, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Version of our Holy Bible this morning…
1 Our body is like a house we live in here on earth. When it is destroyed, we know that God has another body for us in heaven. The new one will not be made by human hands as a house is made. This body will last forever. 2 Right now we cry inside ourselves because we wish we could have our new body which we will have in heaven. 3 We will not be without a body. We will live in a new body. 4 While we are in this body, we cry inside ourselves because things are hard for us. It is not that we want to die. Instead, we want to live in our new bodies. We want this dying body to be changed into a living body that lasts forever. 5 It is God Who has made us ready for this change. He has given us His Spirit to show us what He has for us.6 We are sure of this. We know that while we are at home in this body we are not with the Lord. 7 Our life is lived by faith. We do not live by what we see in front of us. 8 We are sure we will be glad to be free of these bodies. It will be good to be at home with the Lord. 9 So if we stay here on earth or go home to Him, we always want to please Him. 10 For all of us must stand before Christ when He says who is guilty or not guilty. Each one will receive pay for what he has done. He will be paid for the good or the bad done while he lived in this body.
--2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (NLV)
Let us pray… Heavenly Father, we thank You for choosing us to follow Your Son, and for giving us the faith to believe in Him. Jesus suffered the punishment we deserve. He took our sins upon Himself so that we could stand clean before You at the end of time. Thank You for having mercy upon us, Father. And thank You for having a home prepared for us – our real home – when our time on this earth is over. Sadly though, Lord, not everyone is willing to follow Jesus, to obey Him or even acknowledge that He is Your Son. This condemns them, and pleases the devil. Satan is hard at work in this world, keeping people blind to the truth, turning them away from worshiping You. Please help us put to use the strength of our faith. Help us reach out to the non-believers of the world, sharing the Good News of salvation that is only available through Jesus. Help us show Your love to all we encounter. And please forgive us when we hesitate to serve You and Your Son Jesus.
Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand Your message today. Thank You for giving us this body, this earthly house, to live in while we are away from our true home. Help us make the best use of this body and of our time while we walk this earth. Help us share Your love with all the world. This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
In his book, The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis writes, "We are very shy nowadays of even mentioning Heaven. We are afraid of the jeer about 'pie in the sky,' and of being told that we are trying to 'escape from the duty of making a happy world here and now into dreams of a happy world elsewhere'. But either there is 'pie in the sky' or there is not. If there is not, then Christianity is false, for this doctrine is woven into its whole fabric. If there is, then this truth, like any other, must be faced, whether it is useful at political meetings or no."
And in Mere Christianity, Lewis adds, "If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this."
It should be quite visible to us just how ineffective the church has become in modern society. Mr. Lewis says that a huge contributing factor to this decline lies in our reluctance to place emphasis on the next life, on what follows after one’s walk through this life has come to an end.
According to our Bible, there are two – and only two – outcomes we can expect. And both extend for all time; both are eternal. We can either experience everlasting happiness and peace in heaven with God and His Son Jesus, or unending pain and torment in the lake of fire with Satan and his beast. Why have we stopped talking about this? Why do we no longer put any emphasis on the choice between heaven and hell, to use the popular term?
Well, part of the reason is because no one wants to listen, not even some Christians. The world does not want to hear about a heaven and a hell because they don’t want to be held accountable for what they do in this life. Of course, part of their reluctance to hear the truth may stem from how it was “delivered” to them before. Simply shouting, “You’re going to hell!”, at someone isn’t going to win many converts. Fortunately, we have better ways to tell folks about heaven and hell. And those better ways come from Jesus Himself.
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us not to gather up treasures here on earth, where they’ll rot and decay, but to save them in heaven, where they will never rot or be destroyed. And He told many parables comparing the kingdom of heaven to things His audience could relate to… that we can relate to. Like the tiny mustard seed, that when planted can grow into a tree that birds can nest in for shelter. And like a field where a valuable treasure has been buried, and like a pearl of great price.
He also compared God’s kingdom to the man who sowed good seed in his field, but while the man slept, his enemy sowed weeds in the same field. At harvest, the grain is taken to safe storage while the weeds are pulled up and burned. Believers are the good grain, while those who refuse to believe are the weeds. Safe storage is heaven, and where the weeds are burned is what we call hell, the lake of fire. This is what awaits us all – either a wonderful home, or eternal pain. The choice is ours.
Of course, Paul is speaking to a church family of believers, just like I am now. In this life, we live by faith because we are not physically with Jesus. We long for heaven, our permanent home, and we know it awaits us because we do believe. We believe in Jesus and we believe in God’s words and His promises. We want that new, incorruptible body, the one that won’t ache or hurt or age or break down.
We long for heaven. We’re homesick for the home we haven’t been to yet. I can still hear the voice of our dear brother Leon Cline singing, “I'm kind of homesick for a country to which I've never been before. No sad goodbyes will there be spoken for time won't matter anymore.” Sweet Beulah Land.
We’re away from home, Family. For now. But while we still live this life, while we're away from home, we need to do the work assigned us. We know what this work is, for Jesus gave us our assignment, and I’ve repeated it often. Paul also reiterated our instructions and gives greater insight into what we can do to carry them out. Listen as Paul continues his exhortation to us in chapter 5, verse 14 through the first part of verse 20 in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians…
14 The love of Christ puts us into action. We are sure that Christ died for everyone. So, because of that, everyone has a part in His death. 15 Christ died for everyone so that they would live for Him. They should not live to please themselves but for Christ Who died on a cross and was raised from the dead for them.16 So from now on, we do not think about what people are like by looking at them. We even thought about Christ that way one time. But we do not think of Him that way anymore. 17 For if a man belongs to Christ, he is a new person. The old life is gone. New life has begun. 18 All this comes from God. He is the One Who brought us to Himself when we hated Him. He did this through Christ. Then He gave us the work of bringing others to Him. 19 God was in Christ. He was working through Christ to bring the whole world back to Himself. God no longer held men’s sins against them. And He gave us the work of telling and showing men this. 20 We are Christ’s missionaries.
--2 Corinthians 5:14-20a (NLV)
The love of Christ puts us into action. Because Christ Jesus loves the people of this world so much that He doesn’t want to see anyone suffer eternal punishment, so He puts us into action to help save the lost.
He gave us the work of bringing others to Him, of reconciling the world to Him. Jesus died for us that we would live for Him. We are His missionaries. This is our work, this is our job, while we are away from home. So let’s get out there and get to work. For this is God’s will for us. In the blessed name of Jesus our Christ, the Son of God. Amen.
Let us pray… Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your Christ, our Christ, to redeem us of our sin. Thank You for promising us a new, more wonderful home when our time on this earth is over. Sadly though, Father, we don’t always share the love and forgiveness You’ve shown us. We hesitate to do the job Jesus gave us. We too often fail to approach people to spread the Gospel, let alone tell them about the next life, in heaven or in hell. We’re too timid, too shy, too afraid to talk to someone about Jesus or even anything in the Bible. Please forgive us these times, Father. Help us share the Gospel message. Help us fulfill our assigned mission for Jesus. And as we do so, please help us be more forgiving, more merciful in our dealings with others. And Father, guide us around any pitfalls in this life and strengthen our spirits to do Your will. And please help us do a better job of sharing Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.
Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own. Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live. And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what the world throws at us or holds out before us.
Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…
Lord Jesus, You died for us so that we might live for You. And You promised us everlasting life in heaven, with You and God, in a new and incorruptible body, when we finally come home. All we have to do is use the faith God gives us to believe in You and follow Your commands. Help us as we try to continue Your work, Lord. Help us reach out to the unbelieving world. Help us tell folks all about the Gospel, and to do so in a loving way. Help us be more understanding, more merciful, more giving and forgiving of others, knowing that this is our Father’s will for us. Help us reach out to the non-believing world with the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love. Give us the words to say, show us what to do to help bring the lost to You.
Lord Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises. Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares. Help us see though his temptations and all the false teachings. Help us fend off his attacks. Please help us be faithful and true to You, putting all our trust in You, all our hope in You. Heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another. Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer. This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior. Amen.
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