Sunday – January 26, 2014 “Hope & Change God’s Way- The Hope of Heaven”

January 26, 2014 – Read the Word on Worship

Hope and Change Week 5: The Hope of Heaven from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.


Word On Worship – January 26, 2014 Download / Print

 2 Corinthians 5:1-3
“For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked.”

Our culture is fascinated with near death experiences and what happens on the other side of life. Searching through Amazon.com under the subject of near death will bring up over 102,300 titles currently for sale. I wish I could say it is the fascination of unbelievers, but Christian culture is no different with over 150 titles available on Christianbook.com on the same subject! Why have we been caught up with other people’s non-authoritative view of death and what comes next to the exclusion of what God has already revealed to us through His Word?

In 2 Corinthians, Paul speaks of death and dying, not in the sense of martyrdom, but in the sense of the normal aging and dying process of life. Those of us with a number of years behind us (and often with gray hair – or none – to prove it) can readily agree with Paul when he speaks of the gradual, but steady, decline of the physical body. The minute we are born we are on a path that will inevitably lead to our death. For some, it simply comes sooner than for others. But in spite of our “dying by degrees” in the normal aging process, Christians also experience life. As the outer man continues to perish, the inner man is being renewed (given life) day by day. This is not spoken of as maintaining a certain level of spirituality, but of actually growing and increasing in our walk with God.

Actually, the dying process of the body is a welcome thing because we will exchange these mortal bodies for new spiritual bodies which are vastly superior. Our present bodies are a tent while our permanent spiritual bodies are described as a temple. To be at home in this physical body is to be absent from the Lord; to be absent from this physical body is to be at home with the Lord. And so it is that just as Paul did not fear the death by martyrdom or old age, death produces life for the Christian. And thus death is not to be fearfully avoided by living in the safe zone; we can live dangerously for Christ, knowing that death brings life for us when we die, whether as martyrs or due to old age.

The book stores are filled with books telling us heaven is about being with friends and loved ones, rather than on our being with God. Believing husbands will see their believing wives in heaven, but they will not relate to them in marriage as they have done on earth. Heaven is spending eternity in heaven in the presence of God; hell is spending eternity apart from God. That is the main thing. Do not be misled. The fact that others we have loved on earth will be there is “icing on the cake,” but it is not the essence of what heaven is about.

What do you think?