"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickidness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own...
Titus 2:11-14 (New International version)
Back when I was pastoring a suburban Pittsburgh church, a great uproar ensued at the local hospital. One day I was on my way out when one of the Roman Catholic hospital chaplains pulled me aside for a conversation. "The other night that fundamentalist church down the street sent a team of people into the hospital and had them go into the rooms of perfect strangers and ask them, 'If you were to die tonight...would you be sure you would go to heaven?'
"Really!" I replied. He went on saying, "some people were so upset they were in tears. One old lady I took communion to earlier said that they made her feel like she was a piece of dirt."
"Well...how did she answer the question?" I asked
"I don't think she ever did," the priest replied frowning heavily.
I remember thinking to myself. Are we really that scared that we cannot ponder the end result of our faith?
Look...scripture is clear. The bible mentions heaven by name to many times to count. When you add in the various names that were used for hell: fiery pit, outer darkness and place where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. It ends up being over a hundred times as well. Christianity is a religion with an end game. We are either sheep or goats. We are either going on to glory or fire. It is the reality all of us who choose to follow Jesus must consider.
About six months ago, I had surgery on my stomach. As they were getting ready to put me under and place that mask over my face, I looked up at the nurse and said, "Can I have a moment to pray?...I just want to be sure that if things go wrong I will be going to heaven." After the surgery was over and I awoke I was certainly relieved. And that same nurse was caring for me in the recovery room. She came over and said she thought it was funny that I asked that before being put under.
I told her it was no joke...I was deadly serious.
I know that we want to focus on the here and now or maybe just the near future in our lives and I get that. It is hard enough to be a Christian in a hostile culture today without having to think about tomorrow, or eternity for that matter. But it is the certainty of eternity that God's grace gives us that gives us energy to face the crises and issues of daily life.
A lot of people criticize especially conservative evangelical Christians because we talk about heaven and hell. I always tell people who throw judgement criticism at me to read the gospels. Jesus talks about heaven and hell and what it takes to get there as much as he talks about any other subject. Now if it weren't that important, why would he have spoken about it so often? Would Jesus intentionally mislead us about our future possibilities?
Every choice we make is a choice that has an eternal consequence to it. If we choose to live according to the values of the culture around us and not give God any thought, that decision has eternal consequences. I think that where one is destined to be is determined by how they live their life.
Every morning and every night I recommit myself to being the best follower of Jesus I can be. I pray for help, guidance and strength. I confess my sins and offer to God the areas of life in which I fell short of the mark. I ask for another day, if that is His will, and that he would provide for my family if he called for my soul that night.
Now let us be clear here. For the Christian, redemption does begin in the here and now. Christian salvation begins with our committment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and then effects us from the inside out. Our lives are changed and we begin to live a life of meaning, purpose and hope that non-believers simply don't experience. The Holy Spirit comes into our lives and gives us the strength, power and wisdom to live through the good times and bad. So redemption and salvation start in the life we live with Christ today.
But to not acknowledge the importance of the eternal afterlife is to live in the worst sort of denial. It takes our faith out of the supernatural realm and turns us into another social action non-profit charitable group. Unfortunately, there are many Christians who are well-suited with that kind of faith. They are content to feed and clothe the homeless, work on poverty issues and push for greater social justice. Those things are very important, but are only part of the faith.
In Christianity there is an ultimate destiny that has to be part of the hope equation now. Paul said that if there was no resurrection than our faith was in vain and we were still in our sins. What he was saying is that when we remove the supernatural aspects out of faith, there really insn't any reason to get out of bed in the morning. The same thing is true of Salvation. If we don't have the hope of heaven, than what is the point of being Christian in the first place.
The same thing is true about hell. There are all manner of Christians who want to deny that the place even exists. They think that only someone who believes in a flat earth can believe that heaven is "up there" and hell is down in the bowels under the earth. There may be no up or down, But heaven and hell are real places because Jesus tells us they are real. If He were only speaking symbollically about a life absent from God, then we have to believe that everything else revealed to us in scripture is symbollic including the resurrection.
I don't think we should spend all of our time pondering whether will we make it to heaven or not. The fact that it matters to us at all means we are probably on the right track. Heaven is the promise that God makes to us that there is something to look forward to. We will be re-united with those we love in a place where suffering, death and pain no longer exists. If we don't want to accept that Jesus is Lord and try to make that belief part of our lives than there will be a price to pay. The result of such living always has us indulging ourselves in self-destructive behavior and destructive behavior that affects those around us. A life without God is a life of sin and misery and why wouldn't that continue indefinitely if we have no change of heart.
Should we threaten people with hell if we disagree with the way we live their lives? Of course not. I'm simply saying that we must remember that our faith is something with eternal destinations that should effect how we live in the here and now. It is pure hope. Everytime I sat with a family after the death of believer, the promise of heaven was always a great comfort. When it was a non-believer or someone who was unsure of their faith, I hoped it would spur them to further reflection about their own life. When I comforted families of those who didn't know Christ, or did funerals of non-believers, I did not promise that the person who died went to heaven. I suggested thaqt their departed loved one would urge them to see the event as an opportunity to receive something new and beautiful. I always felt that funerals were for the living and not the dead. Once someone dies their destiny is sealed. But the people left behind have a choice. A life well-lived should be acknowledged, but our goodness isn't what gets us into heaven. It is our faith in Jesus Christ.
I for one am not afraid to talk about salvation or damnation because I feel a deep assurance that I live in Christ now and will forever. That is what matters. To deny it that it matters is to deny that our faith here and now matters as well. I've got a future in heaven and no one can take that away... no matter how miserable life gets. As someone who has faced some serious health crises, I look forward to a day when my health will be made perfect in heaven. This hope has gotten me through many surgeries and medical procedures and has given me a positive attitude which has allowed Jesus healing touch to work in my life.
If you disagree with what I am saying, read your Bible. Pay attention to what Jesus says at the end of parables and when he talks about the culmination of history. Ifr these things seem to hard too accept, then you need to pray for greater insight and assurance. Just because we can't point to heaven or hell on a map doesn't mean those places don't exist in the eternal realm beyond our ability to conceive.
Faith is trust. And trust starts with believing that everything Jesus says in the Bible is true and real. I can't soften the reality of that and I don't want to either.
So ask yourself this question: If the Lord would demand my life of me today, would I be sure that I would go to heaven? The answer will reveal the direction you need to take in life.
No comments:
Post a Comment