I realize that one of my character faults is that other
people will always think I’m as funny as I think I am. Despite my desire for God and others to
see my sarcasm as one of my spiritual gifts, it’s not. Sometimes in my attempts to be funny
and witty, I come across as a jerk, and I feel like I did that during my sermon
this past Sunday, May 4th.
ALIVE! Community Church, I owe you guys an apology and ask
for your forgiveness for the way I spoke in this message on the joy that we
have when we focus on Heaven. In
trying to describe the awesomeness of the reality of what heaven will be like,
I dishonored God and many of you by trying to be sarcastic, instead of truly
exalting and honoring God and encouraging all of you.
Many, many people have asked me over the years if I think
our beloved pets will be in heaven.
In all honesty, as I said in my sermon, I really don’t know. In the past 10 months, we’ve had to put
down two of our beloved family dogs.
My great hunting buddy and black lab Hank was put down last summer due
to kidney failure from Lyme Disease.
I’ve never cried harder and longer in my life about the death of anyone
or anything. Just last week, we
had to put down our wonderful mutt Sophie – our first “kid,” who had been with
us for 15 ½ years.
I know the love that people have for their pets. On this side of heaven, as a human who
hasn’t fully comprehended the glory and greatness of what heaven will be like,
I’d love to see my dogs in heaven.
But I don’t know if I will.
And I really think that once we get to heaven and see the greatness and
glory of the resurrected Jesus; experience the perfection and beauty of heaven;
and participate in the breathtaking worship of the King of Kings and the Lord
of Lords at his throne that we really won’t care. But maybe a part of the greatness of heaven will be our
pets. We just don’t know for
sure. At any rate, for those of
you with cats and other pets that you love, I apologize for my immaturity and
sarcasm.
In talking about what we know about heaven and its greatness,
I’m sure I hurt those of you who have enjoyed the book or movie Heaven is
For Real. Again, in trying to
talk about the greatness and glory of heaven, I failed with my sarcasm and
criticism of Heaven is For Real.
I apologize and ask for your forgiveness in the way I handled that. However, I would still encourage all of
you to seek God’s Word first and foremost on the reality of Heaven.
John MacArthur, a Christian leader and pastor whom I greatly
respect and admire, said this in an article he wrote in regards to Heaven is
For Real:
“It is quite
true that heaven is a place of perfect bliss—devoid of all sorrow and sin, full
of exultation and enjoyment—a place where grace and peace reign totally
unchallenged. Heaven is where every true treasure and every eternal reward is
laid up for the redeemed. Anyone whose destiny is heaven will certainly
experience more joy and honor there than the fallen mind is capable of
comprehending—infinitely more than any fallen creature deserves. But if you
actually saw heaven and lived to tell about it, those things are not what would
capture your heart and imagination.”
What I
should have done was to patiently and graciously explain my concerns with the
stories of people who claim to have died and gone to heaven. God’s Word, which is always our final
authority as a church for matters of faith and life tells us why we need to be
careful with these claims.
In John
3:12-13 Jesus says, “I have
spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you
believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into
heaven except the one who came from heaven--the
Son of Man.”
In John 1:18, we’re told, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who
is at the Father's side, has made him known.”
If we fully and
completely trust in God’s Word, and the testimony of Jesus and those who lived
with Jesus, there is no reason to believe the claims of anybody who has gone to
heaven and returned. Isaiah, Ezekial, Paul and John were four of the Biblical writers
who were given visions of heaven by God in their role as human authors of
Scripture under the full power and direction of the Holy Spirit. Only three of them wrote about their
visions of Heaven, and their descriptions are sparse. But they all were properly focused on the weightiness of
God’s glory and holiness, and their woeful inadequacy as sinful men to stand
before the glory and holiness of God.
In fact, the Apostle Paul said that he couldn’t even begin to utter of
what he saw in his vision.
There are also accounts
of several people in Scripture who died and were brought back to life,
including Lazarus in John 11. An
entire chapter of God’s Word is devoted to the death of Lazarus, and yet there
is not a hint of Lazarus’ death experience. Not one biblical person ever gave an account of his or her
postmortem experience.
As believers, we should
always be focused on the reality and promise of heaven as our inheritance in
Jesus. It’s a wonderful reality
and promise that should bring us great joy, even in the midst of life’s
difficulties and trials.
Colossians 3:1-2 commands us to fix our eyes on heaven, “If then you
were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is,
sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things
on earth.” As do many other places in Scripture like
2 Corinthians 4:18 and Philippians 3:20.
What we need to be careful of though is making heaven what we, or
others, want or hope for it to be, and trust fully in what God tells us in His
Word what it will be.
My
sincerest apologies go out to all of you – not just those who were hurt or
didn’t get my failed attempts at humor.
I failed all of you who were present by trying to make light of such a
wonderful and beautiful promise, instead of fulfilling my duty as a pastor and
teacher in my preaching to rightly exalt and glorify Jesus and the Heaven that
He has made available to us through his death and resurrection and to encourage
all of you in your faith. Jesus deserves more and all of you
deserve more as well.
With great
love for all of you,
Pastor Dave
