Revelation 21:1-6 (click to read)
I am often asked the question, "Pastor, how do I get to heaven?" Actually, the question most often comes to me from a slightly different direction, "Pastor, is this person or that going to hell?" This question of how to get to heaven is one that, I think, has been the source of far too much destruction by Christians over the centuries. Think...Crusades, Inquisition, Slavery...those are some biggies. But, we can also think about the number of families and friendships that get torn apart because of the softer version of this same thing: religious intolerance. Too often Christian zeal looks more like hatred to those who do not share the zealot's beliefs. It's this question that leads to an ethic that focuses more energy on getting people into heaven than on the kind of compassionate ministry that Jesus actually did. It's as if the correct answer to this question holds in itself some sort of magic power to heal and to save. But, while Christians can go on mission trips to get thousands and even millions to confess Jesus as their personal Lord, or pray the "sinner's prayer" they don't seem nearly as interested in feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, caring for the sick and dying, advocating for the oppressed...the stuff that Jesus actually did with his ministry. Interestingly, Jesus himself never asked anyone to pray the "sinner's prayer". He never asked anyone if they were prepared for heaven, or if they knew they were going to heaven. Yet, Christians have been dividing themselves and conquering others in Jesus' name with this question for centuries.
Did Jesus really die for this?
Well, I say NO!
Did Jesus really die for this?
Well, I say NO!
The problem with this question is the assumption of movement.
Christianity always seems to answer this question by presuming that people move and heaven doesn't. Heaven is always a stationary destination that exists somewhere other than here, somewhere...out there.....in the cosmos, in the sky, in some sort of holy dimension. People do all the moving according to the choices they make. But, this model just doesn't line up with the Bible.
First of all, if this question were the penultimate of Christian questions, which is how our world treats it, then why doesn't Jesus ever ask it? Wouldn't Jesus himself go around asking would-be converts if they would like to be saved or if they know how to get to heaven. Wouldn't part of his preaching and teaching have been "the sinner's prayer", or some version of "Follow me, because Heaven is this way"? Jesus never teaches this message. When he is asked about heaven, or when he does teach on the subject he always uses the present tense. Jesus is often saying, "The kingdom of heaven is...". He never says, "When you die, the kingdom of heaven will be..." Or, he says, "You already know the way, because I am the way." Again, he uses present tense, "I am..." Christian orthodoxy has hung all sorts of legalism on these sayings over the centuries to support the assumption that somehow people have to do something right, get something right, pray something right in order to "know the way", but when we allow the Bible a little bit of freedom from the traditions, we see that Jesus simply doesn't say what, possibly, we've always thought he said on this subject.
Second, the Biblical image of heaven is always here on earth. From the beginning of beginnings...Genesis...we hear that God created all things and placed the primary objects of His creation here on earth and then called it "Good". Sinfulness enters and corrupts it, and then the goal of the salvation story is to restore God's "good" here on earth. Nowhere is the image of salvation some sort of abandonment of earth and creation so that "good" goes somewhere else. Heaven is here!
Third is the Biblical image of the restoration of Eden, otherwise known as heaven, or New Jerusalem in the Scripture cited for today. Read this text and notice the direction of movement and who is doing the moving. Heaven (New Jerusalem) is not some stationary destination for those who die in the faith. It's just the opposite. Heaven is the thing that's doing the moving, heaven is coming down. People aren't going up some sort of stairway to heaven, heaven is coming down upon the earth...upon all of us...upon all things.
This is the God of love....the God who comes down!
The God who looks upon our insatiable appetite for legalism...our anthropologically destructive ways of exclusion...
our foolish self-righteousness...
our sin...
And still loves us....all of us!
The question for us to live with and form our ethic around isn't "How do I get to heaven?".
It's "How does heaven get to me?"
Heaven gets to us.
When I've had a terrible day, and part of what made it terrible was my lack of patience shown toward my son, but then at the end of the day I hear him pray his bedtime prayers and he includes me...Heaven gets to me!
When either of my young adult step-sons trust me enough to ask me for advice...Heaven gets to me.
Last week when a little girl in my children's sermon blurted out for everyone to hear, "I love my grandma!"
Heaven got to me.
When my Sunday School class recites the Lord's Prayer all by themselves. Heaven gets to me.
When a woman with a little girl lights up with joy because I am handing her a check from the discretionary fund to prevent her landlord from evicting her. Heaven gets to me.
When a man who I've known and been in conversation with for seven years comes to me and asks to be Baptized on Easter morning...Heaven gets to me.
When a youth who I pushed to go to Camp Luther in the summer comes up to me and gives me a hug. Heaven gets to me.
How does heaven get to you?
Answer that question!
Form your Christian ethic around it.
And pretty soon you'll be living life looking for, and expecting to see, the kingdom of heaven coming down.
Prayer: Lord God, so often we pray to you the words that Jesus taught us, "Thy Kingdom Come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Help us to partner with you in acts of love and mercy that bring your kingdom down here among us. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Please make a donation to support this ministry.Christianity always seems to answer this question by presuming that people move and heaven doesn't. Heaven is always a stationary destination that exists somewhere other than here, somewhere...out there.....in the cosmos, in the sky, in some sort of holy dimension. People do all the moving according to the choices they make. But, this model just doesn't line up with the Bible.
First of all, if this question were the penultimate of Christian questions, which is how our world treats it, then why doesn't Jesus ever ask it? Wouldn't Jesus himself go around asking would-be converts if they would like to be saved or if they know how to get to heaven. Wouldn't part of his preaching and teaching have been "the sinner's prayer", or some version of "Follow me, because Heaven is this way"? Jesus never teaches this message. When he is asked about heaven, or when he does teach on the subject he always uses the present tense. Jesus is often saying, "The kingdom of heaven is...". He never says, "When you die, the kingdom of heaven will be..." Or, he says, "You already know the way, because I am the way." Again, he uses present tense, "I am..." Christian orthodoxy has hung all sorts of legalism on these sayings over the centuries to support the assumption that somehow people have to do something right, get something right, pray something right in order to "know the way", but when we allow the Bible a little bit of freedom from the traditions, we see that Jesus simply doesn't say what, possibly, we've always thought he said on this subject.
Second, the Biblical image of heaven is always here on earth. From the beginning of beginnings...Genesis...we hear that God created all things and placed the primary objects of His creation here on earth and then called it "Good". Sinfulness enters and corrupts it, and then the goal of the salvation story is to restore God's "good" here on earth. Nowhere is the image of salvation some sort of abandonment of earth and creation so that "good" goes somewhere else. Heaven is here!
Third is the Biblical image of the restoration of Eden, otherwise known as heaven, or New Jerusalem in the Scripture cited for today. Read this text and notice the direction of movement and who is doing the moving. Heaven (New Jerusalem) is not some stationary destination for those who die in the faith. It's just the opposite. Heaven is the thing that's doing the moving, heaven is coming down. People aren't going up some sort of stairway to heaven, heaven is coming down upon the earth...upon all of us...upon all things.
This is the God of love....the God who comes down!
The God who looks upon our insatiable appetite for legalism...our anthropologically destructive ways of exclusion...
our foolish self-righteousness...
our sin...
And still loves us....all of us!
The question for us to live with and form our ethic around isn't "How do I get to heaven?".
It's "How does heaven get to me?"
Heaven gets to us.
When I've had a terrible day, and part of what made it terrible was my lack of patience shown toward my son, but then at the end of the day I hear him pray his bedtime prayers and he includes me...Heaven gets to me!
When either of my young adult step-sons trust me enough to ask me for advice...Heaven gets to me.
Last week when a little girl in my children's sermon blurted out for everyone to hear, "I love my grandma!"
Heaven got to me.
When my Sunday School class recites the Lord's Prayer all by themselves. Heaven gets to me.
When a woman with a little girl lights up with joy because I am handing her a check from the discretionary fund to prevent her landlord from evicting her. Heaven gets to me.
When a man who I've known and been in conversation with for seven years comes to me and asks to be Baptized on Easter morning...Heaven gets to me.
When a youth who I pushed to go to Camp Luther in the summer comes up to me and gives me a hug. Heaven gets to me.
How does heaven get to you?
Answer that question!
Form your Christian ethic around it.
And pretty soon you'll be living life looking for, and expecting to see, the kingdom of heaven coming down.
Prayer: Lord God, so often we pray to you the words that Jesus taught us, "Thy Kingdom Come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Help us to partner with you in acts of love and mercy that bring your kingdom down here among us. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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Thanks!
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