"The Heavenly Minded"

Dear Friends in Christ,         

   Back in August, Marilyn and I took our older granddaughter Maliyah on a short trip to Branson, primarily so that she could see a show there that we had seen a couple of years before.  It was called “Noah, the Musical.”  Is there anyone here today who has seen that show?  If you haven’t but were planning on going, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you won’t be able to see it in Branson anymore because this was the last year for it there.  It was quite the show though: awesome, huge, breathtaking are just a few of the adjectives I would use to describe it.  It took place in the Sight and Sound Theater which has an enormous stage.  It made use of many live animals as well as animatronic ones and humans dressed in animal costumes.  And it told the story of Noah, the ark, and the great Flood that God brought upon a world that had turned against him.  At one point, after the intermission, not only was the curtain lifted on the stage at the front of the theater, but curtains also parted on the sides, revealing the 3 levels of the ark full of all kinds of animals, making you feel as though you were actually inside of this huge boat.  And it ended with a spectacular emphasis upon Jesus portraying him as our heavenly ark for he is the One and only One through whom we can be rescued from the eternal wrath and judgment of God that we deserve because of our sins. 

   But there was one more thing that graced the sky at the end of the show.  Care to guess what it was?  A rainbow.  And that rainbow was placed in the heavens by God as part of his promise that he would never again destroy the world by means of a great flood.  However, according to our text for this morning, the day is coming when he will bring an end to this current world, not with water but with fire.  Make no mistake about it, my friends, God is steering all of human history toward a singular climactic event, a day of purging in which this present earth will be refined, renewed, and restored to its pristine condition in which it was originally created.  At that time all the natural imperfections and upheavals that we’ve heard and read about so much in recent years – earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, forest fires, tornadoes and hurricanes – along with all the moral blemishes and evils that are so evident in our world right now will be removed and God will transform the old heavens and the old earth into a new heaven and a new earth where he will reign and his children will dwell in tireless bodies and disease-less days for all eternity. 

   And it is in the light of that knowledge that Peter asks us a very pertinent and important question in our text when he says in v. 11: “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?”  What a great question!  Knowing the secret of the end time, how shall we behave in the meantime?  How does what will happen that day change the way you live your life this day?  I call that being heavenly minded.  And just for the fun of it I’m going to put a few questions on the screen right now that I came across while I was working on this sermon to help you assess and gauge how heavenly minded you are right now:

·         Are living and dying equally appealing options to you?

·         As you dream about your future, do you ever find yourself looking beyond the grave?

·         Do you ever wake up thinking, “Today just might be the day, the day that I meet my Savior”?

·         Do you ever wake up thinking, “I hope today is the day that I meet my Savior”?

·         Do you find yourself loving stuff less and thinking about heaven more?

·         Are you to the point where a visit to the cemetery leaves you feeling a bit jealous?

·         Do you daydream at times about the moment you will see your loved one again?

   These are the habits, these are the thought patterns of the heavenly minded.  And please understand, when I speak about being heavenly minded, I’m not talking about having some sort of a death wish.  Rather, I’m just stating what the Apostle Paul encourages us to do in Col. 3:1 when it says: “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” The Greek word that is translated “set” there is a strong verb.  It means to covet or desire something earnestly, to strive after something intensely.  In other words, rather than being something that we just think about once in a great while, heaven is to be our obsession.  It is to consume our thoughts.  It is to be our daily focus.  And if it is, Peter tells us in our text for today that that heavenly mindedness will have a direct impact upon the way we live.  Notice, he says: “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?” Then he answers his own question.  He says: “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”  And then a couple verses later he says: “Since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.”  To summarize what those verses are saying, being heavenly minded changes what we behold and how we behave.  And that’s what I want to spend the rest of my time talking about this morning as we focus upon this theme of “The Heavenly Minded.”

   Many years ago, prior to these modern days of cell phones and computers, one of the only means of communication that was available for people was the telegraph.  From what I understand, the job of telegraph operator was a coveted position.  But not everyone could do it.  It required the skill of being able to send and interpret Morse Code.  Well, on one occasion a communications company advertised an opening for a telegraph operator and there was quite a response as people came to be interviewed and apply for that position.  In the room next door they could hear telegraph messages being sent, but not many of them were paying attention.  Instead were too busy chatting and visiting with one another. One man however was paying attention.  And all of a sudden he jumped out of his seat, ran into the manager’s office, spent just a few moments in there, and then came out with a big smile on his face as he told everyone, “I got the job!”  Then he explained to the puzzled folks in the waiting room that he had been listening to the message that was being sent over the wire and he decoded it while everyone else was visiting.  And the message was: “The person we need must always be on the alert.  The first one who interprets this and comes directly into my office will be hired.”

   Well, the heavenly minded person will be equally alert and vigilant.  He will keep his eyes and ears open for the signs that Jesus has given us in his Word that will precede his return to this earth.  In fact, to drive home to us how important this is, Jesus once told a parable about 10 virgins or bridesmaids that Pastor Donald preached on a month or so ago.  As was the custom in ancient Israel the bride and her attendants did not know exactly when the groom was going to come for her and when the wedding was going to take place.  I suspect they had a vague idea when it would be because it was usually about 12 months after the couple was betrothed to one another, but they didn’t know the exact day or time.  And because they didn’t know when the groom was coming they had to be prepared at all times.  But in this particular story 5 of the bridesmaids were not ready when the groom showed up late at night.  They had failed to bring enough oil along to light their lamps and when they went looking for a place where they could buy some oil, the wedding began and they ended up missing out on it because they were ill-prepared.

   The point of this story is obvious.  And that is BE PREPARED.  For our heavenly bridegroom Jesus has made it very clear to us in his Word that no one knows the day nor the hour when he’s going to come for us, whether it’s at the time of his 2^nd coming or at the time of our death.  And so we need to be ready at all times.  Like somebody once said, “Live each day like it’s your last and someday you’ll be right.”  So rather than allowing yourself to be distracted by all the material pleasures and luxuries of life that are constantly clamoring for our attention especially during this highly commercialized time of the year, I encourage you to fix your gaze upon heaven and those things that matter most for eternity.  Expose yourself to the very tools that the Holy Spirit uses to strengthen and sustain our faith, what we call in Lutheran circles the means of grace, which consist of the Word of God and the Sacraments.  Let your heavenly mindedness move you to re-examine and if necessary re-order your priorities and the priorities of your family so that you will not be like the 5 foolish bridesmaids and be caught unprepared or ill-prepared when your heavenly Bridegroom Jesus comes calling for you.

   So being heavenly minded first of all changes what we behold, what we focus on, what we fix our gaze on, what we establish as our priorities.  But then secondly, it also changes how we behave.  Peter says in our text: “Since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.”  Back when I was in high school I occasionally made some extra cash for myself by watching peoples’ homes when they were gone.  It might be for a few days or even a couple of weeks.  I might take care of their pets or mow their grass or water their flowers.  I’d like to say that I was equally hard-working and vigilant every single day I was asked to do this, but I wasn’t.  However, I was especially diligent and vigilant on one particular day.  Care to guess what it was?  It was the last day because when the owners returned I wanted them to find the house as they had left it. 

   Well, my friends, the owner of this house is coming back one of these days.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that we are in the last days.  Now please don’t take that the wrong way.  I am not in any way saying that Jesus is coming back today, this week, this year, or this century.  But this is what I am saying, and please listen carefully: as best as I can tell from my reading of Scripture, the next major event on God’s cosmic calendar, is the 2^nd coming of Christ.  The patriarchs and prophets of old have come and gone.  The town of Bethlehem has fulfilled its prophesied destiny and served as the birthplace of the Messiah.  The towns and villages of the Holy Land have heard his messages and seen his miracles.  The hill called Calvary has experienced the shedding of his blood and no more blood needs to be shed for the forgiveness of sins.  The tomb of Joseph of Arimathea has been occupied by the corpse of Christ and vacated by the risen Christ.  The church was birthed on the day of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit was given.  The Holy Scriptures were written by divine inspiration and are now available in thousands of languages.  The point I’m getting at is this: Everything that needed to happen to secure our salvation has happened.  And that’s why I believe we are living in the last days.  It is very possible that we are living in the generation that will witness the parting of the heavens, the blast of the trumpet, the voice of the archangel, and the glorious and victorious return of our Savior and King.  And even if we don’t witness that climactic time-ending event, each one of us still has an appointment with him that only he knows the day of and that will happen when we die. 

   So my urgent appeal to you is make sure your house is in order.  Make sure your heart is ready.  You cannot control the spiritual status of any other person but yourself.  So make certain that you are properly prepared.  And how do you do that?  Well, how about by answering a few simple questions that have major and eternal implications, questions like:  Are you trusting Christ as your Savior?  Have you said, “Lord, I believe that the reason you died on the cross was to pay for my sin and I receive that precious gift of salvation by faith.”  Are you basing your hope for eternal life not upon anything you have done but solely upon everything that Jesus has done for you?  And are you living your life now as a redeemed, restored, and forgiven child of God, recognizing what James says in his New Testament epistle when he tells us that faith without works is dead, which is just another way of saying that while our works do not save us, they are the proving ground of our faith.   They demonstrate to God and to others whether the faith we claim to have in Christ is genuine or not. 

   So my prayer for you today as we draw this “Homeward Bound” sermon series on heaven to a close is that thoughts of heaven will fill your mind not just once in a while, but each and every day.  And may that heavenly mindedness change how you behold and value the things of this world and how you behave and live in the midst of this world that barely recognizes or acknowledges God anymore.  I hope you’ve seen in this sermon series that thanks to Jesus we’ve got a lot to look forward to.  And I can just envision the day when you and I meet in the new heavens and the new earth and you say to me, “Hey Pastor Meyer, remember that sermon series you preached on heaven back in 2011?  It was great to hear all of that then, but I’ve got to tell you, it’s far better to experience it now.” 

Amen.