In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
There's a genre of music called “Blue Grass Gospel”. Unlike what we commonly call renewal music, you don't hear it often. But genuine, authentic Appalachian Blue Grass Gospel I have found to be honest about the human condition, theologically sound and if it's well done, spiritually uplifting. There's an old Blue Grass Gospel that will be on the 5:00 Band's new CD called
"Where the Soul Never Dies" and it goes like this (Don't worry; I'm not going to sing it):
To Canaan's Land I'm on my way, Where the soul of man never dies.
My darkest night will turn to day, Where the soul of man never dies.
Dear friends there'll be no sad farewells; There'll be no tear-dimmed eyes.
Where all is Peace and Joy and Love, And the soul of man never dies.
A rose is blooming there for me, Where the soul of man never dies
And I will spend eternity, where the soul of man never dies.
Obviously that old song is about heaven, and I thought about it when I read Saint Paul's wonderful word to the Christians at Philippi when he said that their “commonwealth” (also translated “citizenship”) is in heaven, Philippians 3:20. This is a little sermon about heaven.
First, what exactly was the Apostle saying to them when he said their commonwealth is in heaven? Well, in this little section of Philippians, Paul is making a great contrast between those who, on one hand, had “minds set on earthly things” and, on the other hand, those Christians whose “commonwealth is in heaven.” In other words Paul is telling the Christians at Philippi that their real home is not on earth, therefore they're like a colony of people whose commonwealth is in another world. Or, to borrow the title of Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon's book a number of years ago, Christians are like “resident aliens who dwell temporarily in a foreign country, but have their abiding citizenship registered and recorded elsewhere, even the kingdom of God.
Let's think about this. Jane and I have friends in New Jersey. They are Irish through and through. How they long for their homeland! They wear their Fighting Irish green jackets and it's fun to go with them to their favorite Irish pub and hear them heartily sing of their dear old Ireland. Now, true, they are American citizens. They have privileges as well as duties in the USA, but their real homeland is in Ireland. Paul is saying that's kind of the way it is for us Christians. We are affected by the position and conditions of our temporary earthly place. Since we are here we seek the good of this world, we should try to be good citizens, but our real commonwealth is elsewhere. Our names are written in the roll of Heaven.
Just as people in a foreign land might love the country they are in, they are more delighted to communicate with their homeland. Our prayers are like letters to our Father in Heaven and we hear from him in the Bible. Charles Spurgeon once called the Bible the newspaper of Heaven and sermons rightly preached are good news from our far away country.
Am I right to say the more we learn of our homeland the more we long for it? I once heard a young child ask her mother about heaven. And the mother's answer was, “Well, sweetheart, everyone has their own opinion, but we'll never really know about heaven.” Is that right? Obviously our eyes have not seen it, nor can our minds conceive the fullness of its glory, but to say we know nothing of heaven? In private I lovingly suggested to the mother that she subscribe to the newspaper of heaven.
From the Bible we learn heaven is a place, an actual place, and not some nebulous, subjective existence. It is Jesus who said, “In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place you?” It is a PLACE of no decay, for Jesus said in heaven “neither moth nor rust can corrupt, nor thieves break in”. Our homeland is perfectly secure from all danger.
From time to time friends will ask me, “Frank, is everything OK?” My standard answer is “Everything? Not everything.” Some things are OK, or catch me on a good day and most things will be OK. But everything will not be OK until we get to our eternal home and there everything will be OK.
Just yesterday a man told me that something was missing in his life. I understand! Until we get to our homeland, there will always be something missing. There is no yearning for anything in heaven, no feeling of “something missing in my life.” Huckleberry Finn, who learned about heaven from his Aunt, said “all people did up there was sing and play harps” and it sounded boring to him so he decided he wouldn't try to make it. If you're worried about boredom, I can assure you there is no boredom in heaven. There is no depression, no doldrums, no temporal evil such as pain, bereavement, sorrow.
It is written, “God will wipe away every tear from all eyes.” My maternal grandmother has been dead for years. But of all the remembrances, I think none are more vivid that when I would sit in her lap. And if something had hurt me, or someone hurt my feelings, she would wipe away my tears with her handkerchief. She always had either a red handkerchief or a navy blue one, and she had a way of wiping away my tears. And if you've ever had anyone to wipe away your tears, you know how delicate the act is. God himself will wipe away your tears for good.
In heaven no reproach shall come near to us because we will have no propensity to sin remaining in us nor trace of it ever having been there. We know all this because it is written that nothing unclean shall enter the Kingdom of God. As long as we are on earth we will long for our eternal home. Even Jesus longed to eat again at the Heavenly Banquet. At the Last Supper he said, “I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom.”
I wish I had greater eloquence that I could better describe what we can know about heaven. Suffice it to way, as resident aliens, the more we learn, the more we will long for it. We are not like the man in Walker Percy's novel, “The Moviegoer” about whom it was written that the world he lived in, the City of Man, was so pleasant to him that the City of God must hold little in store for him. The Christian is the most contented man in the world, but he least contented with the world, because his heart longs for his true home.
The hope of heaven is a most secure hope, for Jesus said, “Fear now little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom”, which leads me to say something else the Bible teaches us. That sinful men and women like you and me should even think of taking our place in heaven is not a thing to be thought of, were it not for God's good pleasure to give it to us, with an emphasis on the word “give.” It's not presumptuous to sing of our homeland as if it already ours because we are taught us that the pierced hands of Jesus on the Cross have opened the gates of the Kingdom of God to all who believe. Or, as St. John put it, “to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God”, and if children, then heirs to His everlasting kingdom.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, one of the sweetest thoughts I know is the promise that you and I will meet again on another shore and that we will be reunited in heaven with those we love. I'm going to quote another Blue Grass Gospel, so indulge me. It's called “Glad Reunion Day”:
There'll be a happy meeting in Heaven, I know
When we see the many loved ones we've known here below
Gathered on that blessed hilltop with hearts all aglow
That will be a glad reunion day.
A glad day, a wonderful day,
A glad day, a glorious day
There with all the holy angels and loved ones to stay
That will be a glad reunion day.
I love to sing of our homeland, especially in the shower! We're resident aliens here on earth, because our Commonwealth is in heaven, “where my darkest night will turn to day… Dear friends there'll be no sad farewells; There'll be no tear-dimmed eyes. Where all is Peace and Joy and Love, And the soul of man never dies.” And the thing about it is we're not talking pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking. The thing about it is, you have God's word for this.
May God draw reluctant hearts, and now give doubting souls courage to believe this for Jesus' sake. Amen.
