Embedded Files
Experiencing Heaven Now?
It seems just about everyone would like to go to heaven. Many of us spend time imagining what heaven will be like and how great it will be when Jesus returns and takes us "home."
Or perhaps, some spend a lot of time worrying about whether or not they are meeting the "entrance requirements" to "get in" when the time comes. What is that anxiety about?
But what if we could experience heaven to a large degree now? And, what if we could be heaven's gate in the lives of those we live with everyday? After all, didn't our Lord and Master say that "the kingdom of Heaven is at hand?" What did He mean by that really? When Jesus spoke about heaven and the Kingdom of God, was He only talking about something that happens sometime in the future, or something that happens now, or perhaps has already arrived in some ways? And if it has arrived already, what are the implications of that for us, and for those around us, and what we are to be about in the world?
Take a look at the passage to the right. Reflect on this description of what it looks like now for us, as a part of the Kingdom that has already come, and that we are already a part of, to experience what it means to live in heaven now. Our job, our privilege, is to bring as much of the future into the present as we can - which is what God invites us to now. The Kingdom is already here, it is up to us live within it, and to invite others to join us.
Is it possible that seeing heaven only as something future hinders the work of the already arrived Kingdom right now? Is it possible that we, and those around us, suffer from our farsightedness - our inability to see the present because we are so focused on the future? How often to we allow our future focus to undermine our present privilege and responsibility? How much do we and others miss out on because of it?
This is what Pastor Jon explores with us this week. If you would like to listen to the sermon once again, or maybe for the first time, you can access our sermon library by clicking here.
2 Cor 5:14-21 (NIV)
14
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Cor 5:14-21
The Message
14-15Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.
16-20Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.
21How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.
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