So we will be in 1 Corinthians 15. If you'd like to join me there, we'll get to that text in a
moment. How many of you have a dream vacation? You know, a place that you have in your mind,
you want to go, you haven't gone there yet. You know, where is it? Where is it? You know,
where is it? You think about this place that you want to go. And what do you know about this place?
You know, some people will spend months researching a vacation, thinking about, well,
I want to go to this place. I want to go to this little store, and I want to go here to eat. And
you watch the videos on YouTube. How many have done this, right? You're watching the videos. You're
looking at the map of where everything is. You're studying, like, everything that you're going to do
while you're there. And, you know, if you're like me, you put the weather for that city in your phone
because you're thinking in six months, like, it's going to be 110 here, and it's going to be like 75
and sunny where I want to go, right? You see, you think about where you're going, and you meditate
on where you're going, and that process changes the journey of going there, right? You see, you can
tolerate Officer Sandusky with a TSA going through your stuff and emptying your bags at the airport
because you know where you're going. And, you know, you can tolerate the traffic and the navigation of
trying to get where you want to go because you know where you're going, right? And, you know,
where you're going and knowing where you're going changes how you handle what happens on the way
there. But what do you know about heaven? What do you know about where you would be spending
eternity? You see, most of what I've known and learned about heaven, I think, throughout most of my life
came from, like, cartoons and, you know, greeting cards with little angels on them and jokes about
being bored for the rest of eternity. You know, this idea of, like, endless choir practice. But I don't
think that that's how the Bible really describes heaven and our future. You see, most people don't
think about eternity beyond really knowing where they're going or that they're going. And, you know,
I think that life can make it seem like a really distant idea of where we're spending eternity.
You know, we become consumed with everything that's going on in our lives with bills and
appointments and raising children and taking care of family members and grief. And eventually,
we kind of forget about it. And we can stop longing and planning and preparing and packing
for heaven. And sometimes our hope is so attached to the things of this world that heaven can almost
feel unfamiliar. So we're in a series called Living in a Supernatural World. And we started this,
I think, back in February or March. And it seems to be the series that never ends. So next week will
be the finale of sorts. So today I wanted to talk about heaven, a much more popular topic than last week
where I preached about hell. But more importantly, I want to answer this question of what has God
actually promised his people? And more importantly, what does it have to do with our lives today?
And that brings us to 1 Corinthians 15. I'll start in verse 51. It says,
Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable and this mortal body puts on immortality,
then the saying that is written will happen. Death has been swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?
So Paul is answering a lot more than the question, where do we go when we die? He's answering a much
larger question about what will God do about death itself? And the people that Paul was speaking to,
you know, they were basically denying this idea of the resurrection of the dead. And maybe they
believed that, you know, somehow their soul or their consciousness continued in some way after death.
And a lot of religions believed that back then and now. But they were really hung up on this whole
idea of God resurrecting the body. And I think that sounds a little funny to us now, but if you think
about it, I think that's the way that the majority of our world thinks about God. You know, Paul says this
resurrection is not like this optional detail, like this aside. Like it is the victory over death. It is the
final victory over death. Because if Christ was not raised, our faith is what? It's empty. But Christ was
raised. And earlier in the chapter, Paul calls Jesus the first fruits of those who had fallen asleep.
You see, the first fruits were the beginning of this harvest and the guarantee that there was more
coming. You see, the gospel was not empty-handed when it came to people and said there is a
resurrection. It said, look at this man, Jesus, who was resurrected. So Jesus didn't survive death just
for himself. He's the beginning of a demonstration of what's going to happen to everyone who believes in
him. And then Paul uses this illustration of a seed. And it doesn't look like much. And, you know,
what goes in the ground doesn't look anything like what comes out. You know, I remember when I was
young, my grandma was a gardener and they had a huge garden. And she would go to this little store
where they sold like seeds and garden stuff. And she'd buy a little pile of these packets, maybe this
many of them, maybe a couple dozen packets of seed. And I would go back and we would dig a little hole
and we'd plant all these seeds in the garden. And what came out was totally different, wasn't it?
And that's what Paul is talking about here. He's saying that what goes in is not going to be what
rises out later. So there's a sense of continuity, but there's also a transformation. And he says,
it is sown perishable, but it is raised imperishable. It is sown dishonor, but it is
raised in glory. It is sown weakness, and it is raised in power. And it is sown in a natural body,
but it is raised in a spiritual body. And spiritual body does not mean imaginary. Paul is not contrasting
like a body with nobody. He's contrasting a body that's been animated by just ordinary moral life,
this thing we're living now, with a body that's completely empowered by the Holy Spirit.
You see, the resurrection body is not a less than. It's more alive. Because we experience weakness
and decay and aging. And Paul says we will all be changed. And he says some people will have died
before Christ comes back, and some people will still be alive, but everyone will be changed.
The dead will be raised imperishable, the living will put on immortality, and death, this enemy that
has ruled over humanity ever since the beginning, will finally and fully be swallowed up in victory.
So what do we do? See, Paul doesn't just end his teaching there and say, well, just pitch your heaven.
You know, just hold out. Just, Jesus, come quick. He doesn't say that. In verse 58, he says,
So then, dear brothers and sisters, be firm. Do not be moved. Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. You see, when you know the destination,
and when you know how the story ends, you don't have to be moved by all the things that happen in the middle.
Because if the resurrection is real, nothing that was done for Christ is wasted.
You see, your obedience matters. Your suffering matters. Your service to others matters. Your
faithfulness all matters. And the resurrection means that every source of sin and suffering and
decay and death itself do not get to decide how this ends. Jesus does.
So the Bible describes two types of future hope. And it's interesting to kind of look at this.
And when we say heaven, we also are talking about kind of two different but related things.
You see, there's people who die and they immediately go to be with Christ.
But that's not the end.
Our final hope is really this bodily resurrection, this new heaven and new earth.
And that we'll be with Christ. Well, everyone will be with Christ while they're waiting for this
resurrection. But then everybody's going to live with him together forever. To be absent with the
body is to be at home with the Lord, Paul says. But God's final answer to death is not separation
from the body. It is resurrection. Jesus says in John 14, 2, there are many dwelling places in my
Father's house. Otherwise, I would have told you because I'm going away to make ready a place for you.
You see, the Bible says to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. God never tells us, well, don't
earn treasure. He tells us where to store it. He doesn't condemn investment. He doesn't condemn hard
work. He redirects it. And he says that everything that you surrender for Christ, nothing is wasted.
Every prayer, every act of generosity, every sacrifice that we make, every person that we send to share
the gospel, every diaper you have changed, every unnoticed act of obedience, none of it disappears.
It just arrives in heaven before you do. So don't be moved. You see, nothing is ever lost.
You'll discover that everything that you gave up and every time that you set your own self aside,
God's holding on to that. And I don't think that the reward that we get is going to look anything like
what we gave up. But Jesus promises that none of it will be forgotten. None of it. So don't be moved.
Now, some people ask, will we remember our life on earth? I think so. I think we'll remember the things
that Christ saved us from. I think we'll remember his faithfulness, his mercy. But I don't think we'll be
haunted by our past. It says that every tear in Revelation 21, it says every tear will be wiped away.
But I don't think that the grace of God becomes less amazing. I think that we'll just spend all of our
time realizing how amazing it really was and how Jesus really loved us. Now, we're saved entirely by
grace through faith in Jesus. It's not a reward for our work. It's a gift. Salvation is a gift. But
Scripture still teaches that our faithfulness matters. What we do with the life that God gave us,
it matters. How we serve matters. How we give matters. How we endure matters. Our attitude matters.
And there are crowns. There is inheritance. There is future responsibility. There is ruling and reigning
with Christ. There is authority that Jesus is delegating to his people. But none of that competes
with salvation being a free gift. There's two things here. And these rewards are not a payment
for earning salvation, but they're God recognizing faithfulness. So don't confuse the two. You can't
earn your way into heaven. You can't buy your way into heaven. You can't even give your way into heaven.
It is a free gift. But once you belong to God, how you live in his kingdom does matter.
So heaven, heaven is sort of a restored humanity. You see, there is this bodily resurrection. You know,
we're not destined to become ghosts or float around. You know, God is raising these physical bodies.
And Jesus was resurrected. He still had hands and feet. He spoke. He talked. He ate. He could be
touched. His disciples recognized him. They recognized his voice. He remembered them.
But death couldn't touch him anymore. His body was real, but it was transformed. And Paul says,
our bodies will be imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual, not less physical, but more alive.
So all of creation will be restored. Romans 8.20 says,
for the creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but because of God who subjected it in
hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom
of God's children. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now.
So that's us groaning and suffering together.
So all of creation is looking forward to a moment where everything will be restored. And John has this
vision of a new heaven and a new earth. And he sees this, this holy city coming down out of heaven.
You see, the direction of the story is not us getting out of earth and getting out of here.
It's God making everything new and all of us dwelling together forever with God.
The logistics of how God is going to do all this, I don't know.
I think we have to be careful. You know, a lot of people make claims about,
you know, I went to heaven and I saw this and I came back and, you know, I think that's cool.
I think that they, that could be right. You know, I think that we could all have a very different
experience of what that looks like. You know, the mechanics of it, they're not laid out.
But the promises are very clear and I'm okay with that.
Scripture gives us every reason to believe that the resurrection does not erase our identity.
You know, the disciples recognized Jesus. Moses and Elijah remained who they were. They were
recognized and seen. So our salvation does not make us less us. It finally frees us to be the people
that we were meant to be all along. Revelation 21 says,
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth
had ceased to exist and the sea existed no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,
descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. And then I heard
a loud voice from the throne saying, Look, the residence of God is among human beings.
He will live among them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death will not exist anymore,
or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.
And the one seated on the throne said, Look, I am making all things new.
You see, the Bible never presents eternity as this abstract, like spiritual, floaty,
on clouds with a harp experience. It's very real. It presents a renewed creation.
You see, God isn't abandoning everything. He's restoring it. He's making all things new,
it says. And you'll see how Genesis began in a garden. And Revelation ends in this city with a
garden at the center. And you'll see, if you read Revelation, everything that was lost in Genesis
is restored. The whole story comes full circle. And notice what disappears, the death,
the mourning, the crying, the pain, all that's gone. But the tree of life is there. And the story
ended with humanity regaining access to God. Revelation 22.3 says,
And there will no longer be any curse. And the throne of God and the Lamb will be in the city.
His servants will worship him, and they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Night will be no more, and they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun,
because the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever.
And you notice, whenever heaven is mentioned, there's nations, there's kings, there's trees,
there's fruit, there's work, there's serving, there's reigning, there's worship, there's animals
mentioned all throughout Scripture in heaven. Horses, oxen, eagles, lions, there's cats.
But the Bible never pitches heaven as this endless inactivity or dormancy or just sitting around.
You know, we're asked to cultivate and to build and to create and to continue to do things.
Isaiah 65.21 actually talks about this. It says,
They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring
of the blessed of the Lord and their descendants with them.
So some people ask, you know, well, worshiping God forever, will that be boring?
And I think that's only if we've misunderstood what worship is.
You see, I imagine doing things that I do here.
You know, maybe I'm gardening or woodworking or cooking, and then I imagine, you know,
doing it without being frustrated and without things burning and, you know, without decay
and fatigue and selfishness and gluing your fingers together and running out of time.
And then I imagine Jesus doing it with me.
You see, worship isn't just coming to church and singing.
Worship is a joyful life that's lived in the presence of God.
And every conversation and every act of service and every moment can be worship.
So what makes heaven, heaven?
Is it the golden streets?
Is it the mansions?
Is it the tree of life?
Is it the crowns?
Is it the rewards?
Is it the reunions?
Is it any of that?
I think it's this.
It says, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
I think the greatest reward that we'll ever experience in heaven is the presence of God himself.
And I think everything else is, it's nice.
It's decoration.
You see, every longing that we have for beauty, for justice, for hope, for belonging, for our lives,
all finds its fulfillment ultimately in Christ.
You see, the cross was about so much more than avoiding hell.
It was about God bringing his people home.
It says Jesus didn't simply prepare a place.
He said he prepared a people for that place.
You see, the greatest thing that Adam lost was not the garden.
It was walking with God.
And the deepest tragedy of the fall was not the hard labor.
It was not the thorns and the thistles.
It was not pain.
It was being separated from God.
But the Bible ends at the same place it began.
God dwelling with his people.
There's no veil.
There's no temple separating us from who he is.
There's no distance to make up.
There's no more wondering where God is.
It says,
Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.
And you will look upon the face of the one who loved you and pursued you and redeemed you
and brought you home.
That is heaven.
Colossians 3.2
It says,
Set your mind on the things that are above,
not on things that are on the earth.
So what are you investing in?
Things above or things below?
What are you clinging to?
The things above or the things below?
What are you living for?
The things above or the things below?
You see, heaven isn't there just to comfort us about death.
It's meant to transform how we live today.
And it gives us the confidence to not be moved.
It gives us the confidence to not build our identity on temporary things.
It gives us the confidence not to despair when this world is disappointing.
And it gives us the confidence to not cling so tightly to all these things around us
that they don't last.
Because every sorrow that we know has an expiration date.
Every grave has a resurrection morning.
And every tear has an appointed day that it will end.
So if heaven is real, don't be moved.
Cancer does not get the last word.
Funerals do not get the last word.
Depression does not get the last word.
Persecution doesn't get the last word.
Politics do not get the last word.
Not even death gets the last word.
Jesus gets the last word.
Paul doesn't teach about resurrection,
so we'll spend our days just staring into heaven and say,
Jesus, come quick.
I've prayed that before.
But he teaches it
so we'll remain faithful while we're down here.
So if heaven is real,
we can keep serving.
Because we know that the resurrection is coming.
We know that death will be defeated.
We know that our labor is not in vain.
So our hope does not make us less useful in this world.
It makes us impossible to discourage permanently.
Because our citizenship is really in heaven.
So there's two invitations today.
You see, the first is for someone
who maybe you've never trusted Christ.
You've never known who he was.
But see, heaven is not earned.
You can't earn it.
You don't deserve it.
But it's received as a free gift
only through Jesus
who said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
He's the one who promises us eternal life.
He's the one who died for our sin.
He's the one who rose from the grave.
And you can trust him today
and know that you have eternal life.
The second invitation is for people
who do believe in him.
And maybe you've allowed this world
to become so large
that eternity has become small.
Maybe your career feels like the whole story.
Maybe getting an education
feels like the whole story.
Or maybe your finances
feel like the whole story.
Or your marriage problems
feel like the whole story that's going on.
But those are micro-narratives.
They're small.
They're pieces.
They're real.
They matter.
They do.
But they're contributing
to a larger overall narrative
of our story with God.
And sometimes
these little micro-narratives,
they can hurt
really bad.
But they're not the story.
The greatest story of your life
is being redeemed by God.
That Christ found you.
He saved you.
He's changing you.
And that he will raise you
and bring you home.
So don't be moved.
You can ask God
to restore your hope.
And he can show you
that heaven is more than a doctrine
or an idea.
And it can change
the way that you live today.
So let me tell you
about my dream vacation.
I hear a knock at the door
and I open the door.
my friend is standing there
and says,
hey,
get in the truck.
Let's go.
Because you know
Jesus drives a lifted truck.
And I say,
where are we going?
Where are we going?
He says,
don't worry about it.
Just get in.
So you grab your stuff,
get in,
shut the door.
You start driving.
We just keep driving.
And there's no itinerary.
There's no reservations.
There's no flight to catch.
There's no clock
telling us
we've got to turn around.
And I imagine
just the desert
turns into mountains.
Mountains turn into trees.
and the sun goes down
and it comes back up.
And somewhere along the way
I realize
I don't really know
where we're going.
And I don't really care.
Because I'm with the person
I wanted to be with.
John 14.3 says,
I will come again
and take you
to be with me
so that where I am
you may be too.
And that's the vacation.
And maybe we've spent
too much time asking,
well, what's it going to be like?
What's heaven going to be like?
What's it going to look like?
How is this all
going to work?
And we've missed
that here's Jesus saying,
well, we're going to be together.
And one day
everyone who believes in God
will reach the end
of this long journey on earth
through sin and grief,
through weakness
and disappointment,
through funerals
and goodbyes
and all the things
that broke and went wrong
and all the things
that we tried to fix
and couldn't.
And we'll discover
that the journey is over.
So don't be moved.
Not because we found
our own way
or we did the right things.
We were somehow
strong enough.
But because Jesus
came for us
and he brought us
safely
to himself.
Heaven is the end
of the road
in the presence of Jesus.
And wherever Jesus
dwells forever,
that's home.
So dear Heavenly Father,
we thank you
for what you do
tell us about heaven.
We have our questions.
We have our doubts.
We have our moments
of discouragement
and frustration.
We have our moments
of pain.
But Lord,
we thank you
that we can place
our confidence
in you
and that we can know
that we are
in right standing
with you
and that we're
on our way to heaven.
So we thank you
that assurance
is freely available
for anyone
who chooses
to place their faith
in you today.
So Lord,
we thank you
for that.
And I pray
for each and every
person here.
I pray for peace
in their households.
I pray for joy.
Lord,
I pray for healing.
And Lord,
we commit ourselves
to you.
And we thank you
for the hope
that we have.
And we thank you
that we do not
have to be moved
by the simple
temporary things
of this life.
But we thank you
that we can look
forward
to an eternity
spent with you
in heaven.
In Jesus' mighty name.
Everybody said,
Amen.
