Back to Basics: Getting into Heaven

We reach today, the sixth and final end, or purpose, of the church, “The Exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the World.” When the Six Great Ends of the Church were penned, this one was listed last because it is the culmination of the other 5. This is the goal the other 5 reach toward. I’ve created a diagram to demonstrate the relationships of the 6 Great Ends of the Church, and while it is not perfect, I think it is helpful. The church’s purposes are lived out both in our words and our deeds, verbally and visually. I’ve color-coded the verbal, the things we live out in our words blue and the visual, the things we live out in our deeds green. The originating action is the preservation of the truth in the maintenance of divine worship. In worship, our lives that have become disoriented in the world are reoriented, reformed by the truth. The truth is the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the truth that God so loved the world, the solidarity of God with sinners is so deep, that no matter where we are from, who we have been, or how much we doubt, God refuses to stop loving us. And reorientation around that truth is like a rock dropped into water it has an inevitable ripple effect in our lives, moving us to fellowship as the Body of Christ and sending us to foster God’s Ways and Will, the ways of justice and righteousness, are done in the world. Finally, both in our words and our deeds, we are changed and those who know us hear it and see it. We proclaim the gospel for the salvation of humankind, the good news of Shalom, of wholeness and peace. And we exhibit the Kingdom of Heaven to the world.

More than once in my 20+ years of ministry, I’ve been asked what heaven will be like. The questions have varied. Some have wondered if Robin Williams’ movie “What Dreams May Come” was Biblically based. No. Others have wanted me to reflect on Barbara Walters’ Special “Heaven: Where Is It? How Do We Get There?” with Richard Gere and the Dali Lama along with an Imam, a Rabbi, and a Cardinal. The truth is the Bible says very little about heaven. Jesus says he goes to prepare a place for us, and if he goes and prepares a place for us, he will come back and take us to be with him. Our hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy” is based on John’s vision in Revelation of the throne room of heaven. Thomas told Jesus he didn’t know how to get there, and Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. If you know me, you know.”

So, how do we get into heaven? As well-known pastor and author on spiritual formation, Richard Foster says about getting into heaven, “a more careful reading of the Scriptures reveals that the greater purpose of Jesus was to get heaven into us.” This is the final purpose of the church, the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world is the result of getting heaven into us. When someone asks, “What will heaven be like?” our answer should be to point to the church. In Revelation, John records seeing a new heaven and a new earth, and there was no longer any sea (seas represented evil and chaos), and a new Jerusalem, a new home for God on earth coming down out of heaven like a bride adorned for her groom. And John says he heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”

We, the church, are both a foretaste of this Kingdom of Heaven that is coming and an instrument God uses for the in-breaking of this Kingdom of Heaven. Heaven is not a place that we are trying to get into when we die. It is the inspiration for how we live our lives today. The work of the church and us as members of it is to always be thinking “How can I get more heaven in me today?”

Which takes us to the first letter to Timothy from which we read this morning. It is a letter of instruction and encouragement to Timothy as he seeks to live faithfully.

“Go into training in godliness!” he is told, “Train hard – like you would train for the Olympics!” Read and study hard, and encourage and mentor others. Don’t neglect the gift that is in you. In your words and in your conduct – in love, in loyalty, and in holiness– show yourself an example.

The word for love here is agape. It is the love of will that is not based on feelings or reciprocity. No matter how you are treated, agape love is the will to respond with good. Agape love refuses to be bitter, to bear grudges, to seek revenge, or to hate. It is unconquerable benevolence.

We exhibit the Kingdom of Heaven in our love, and in our loyalty. I have been asked several times over the months of this pandemic why I thought God was allowing it rather than stopping it. I don’t know why, but I know God is with us in it. William Barclay compared the loyalty to Christ to which we are called to the loyalty of a valuable soldier. “The really valuable solder,” he wrote, “is the soldier who can fight well when his body is weary and his stomach is empty, when the situation seems hopeless and when he is in the midst of a campaign the movements of which he cannot understand. “ When we find our lives overcast by shadows, we do not despair of the darkness, but focus on the light.

Finally, Timothy is told to exercise his holiness. We are to ask ourselves, “How am I becoming more like Jesus?” How am I doing at opening my calendar and making time to let heaven in? How am I doing at opening my financial statements and making gifts to let heaven in? How am I doing at opening my Bible and learning who Jesus really was? How am I doing at opening my heart to love like Jesus?

Do you want to get into heaven? Hear and believe the good news, heaven wants to get in you.

May we, indeed, be an exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world. Amen.