"There's No Place Like Home"

When I was a child, we used to watch the Wizard of Oz every year. One of the most memorable lines from the film was when Dorothy said, “There's no place like home!”

Home is a place of familiarity, where you grew up, where you have fond memories.  Home is a place of security, where you can let your guard down.

No matter where you currently live, once you receive Jesus as Lord you have a dual citizenship. Your real home is in heaven.

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. Philippians 3:20-21

When you belong to the family of God, sometimes you actually get homesick for heaven.  You may feel restless for home because God created you that way, with a spirit that longs to be with God. It's like we have a homing instinct guiding us there.

It's amazing that God has built this homing instinct even into animals. The salmon return home from the sea to lay their eggs in the rivers of their birth. Birds migrate home over long distances every year as well.  God designed something in them that brings them home.

Likewise, God has built into each one of us, a desire, a longing to be home with Him. 

God has planted eternity in the human heart.  Ecclesiastes 3:11

 

I believe we were all created for heaven. C.S. Lewis put it this way...

"Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists.  A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food.  A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in the world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." (Mere Christianity)

We were made for another world. You and I will never be fully satisfied with life here on earth.  Ironically, many people think that if they have a nice big house, a loving family, a stable job, two cars - then they will be happy and content.  But look at how many rich people have it all and yet they are some of the most miserable people in the world.

Augustine said, "Thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee." We will always be restless if we try to find rest here on this earth and through things of this earth.  We need to realize this world is not our home and that true rest can only come when we finally return to our eternal home in heaven.

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. Colossians 3:1-2

The more pain I experience, the more evil I see, the more funerals I perform, the more I long for heaven. No more sin, sickness or sadness there. God will wipe away every tear. The greatest thing about heaven is that we will be with our Lord. 

How do you get there? Not by good works. You must admit you are a sinner, repent of your sin, ask God's forgiveness and receive Jesus Christ as Lord of your life.  

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 

 

Jesus has provided the way of salvation. God has prepared a home for you in heaven and He is waiting for you to come to your real home. I pray that you know Jesus as Lord and that you too will be homesick, not just for your earthly home but for your true eternal home in heaven.

The Real Valentine

Valentine was a Roman Priest at a time when there was an emperor named Claudius who persecuted the church. He had an edict that prohibited the marriage of young people. This was based on the hypothesis that unmarried soldiers fought better than married soldiers because married soldiers might be afraid of what might happen to them or their wives or families if they died.

Valentine lived in a very permissive society. Polygamy would have been much more popular than monogamy. And yet some young couples seemed to be attracted to Christianity. But obviously the church thought that marriage was very sacred between one man and one woman for their life and that it was to be encouraged. And so it immediately presented the problem of what the church should do about this.

The idea of encouraging them to marry within the church was what Valentine was all about. And he secretly married them because of the edict.

Valentine was eventually caught, imprisoned and tortured for performing marriage ceremonies against the command of Emperor Claudius the second. There are legends surrounding Valentine's actions while in prison.

One of the men who was to judge him in line with the Roman law was a man called Asterius, whose daughter was blind. He was supposed to have prayed with and healed the young girl with such astonishing effect that Asterius himself became a Christian.

In the year 269 AD, Valentine was sentenced to a three part execution of a beating, stoning, and finally decapitation all because of his stand for Christian marriage. The story goes that the last words he wrote were in a note to Asterius' daughter. He inspired today's romantic missives by signing it, "from your Valentine."

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:7-11

The Final Enemy

Three years ago, exactly one week after my birthday, came the death day of my 28-year-old daughter Jessica. I still experience occasional waves of grief. Death is the final enemy we all must face. Some flirt with death. Others make light of death by their obsession with skulls and skeletons. But when that unwelcome intruder finally comes it is a very serious matter.

Have you ever wondered why people die? Death is a result of sin. 

Sin came into the world through Adam our forefather. 

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Romans 5:12

We are natural born sinners in a world that remains under a curse because of that first sin. So, death is the price we must pay for because we all descend from Adam. 

“…the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

Some people have difficulty sleeping at night because they are afraid of death. Ancient explorers used to search for the Fountain of Youth. Today we do all sorts of things to prolong death and extend our lives, but no matter how long you live, death will ultimately come.

“…it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27

That is one appointment you will not break. Every man, woman, boy and girl will die and then we all will stand before the God who fashioned us within our mother’s womb.

I’ve only been a pastor since October 2011, and since then I have witnessed my fair share of death. I have performed 15 funerals in the past five years, including the death of my daughter. Funerals are difficult for me. You get to know someone personally, you do life together with them, and then you watch them face the final enemy. Those who reject God resist the scourge of death because they fear the unknown. Those who have surrendered their life to Jesus Christ welcome death with dignity and with the certainty of knowing where they are going.

We are confident and prefer to live away from this body and to live with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:8

Years ago, I was a reporter in New York and became desensitized to the tragic news that I reported each day. These days I observe funeral directors to see how they handle the constant exposure to death and grief. Many of them have become desensitized to death. Maybe it’s the only way they can deal with the continual interaction with mortality. However, as a pastor, I empathize with the sorrow and grief of the family, in order to offer comfort to them.

I just performed a funeral a few days ago, and will experience another one next week. Although I am clothed in the armor of God, every funeral I perform leaves a chink in my armor. Death can take its toll on you, but then I remember pastors who have to preach multiple funerals after natural disasters and that puts things into perspective for me.

The one joy that I find in funerals is in sharing the gospel. When confronted with our own mortality, that’s the best time to preach eternal life through Jesus Christ. Salvation comes through receiving Jesus as Lord, and accepting His sacrifice on the cross as the payment for your sins. We are all God’s creation but Jesus gives us the right to become God’s children.

“… to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12

Unfortunately, too many believe the myth that you can earn your salvation through good works, but God’s word dispels this lie.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

Others believe that there are many ways to God, but Jesus was very clear when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Those who receive Jesus Christ as Lord have hope beyond the grave. Although we grieve, our grief is mingled with hope. Our sorrow is blended with joy. We don’t fear because we know what is on the other side. For believers, death is simply a transition from this life to the next.

So we are always confident. We know that as long as we are living in these bodies, we are living away from the Lord. Indeed, our lives are guided by faith, not by sight. We are confident and prefer to live away from this body and to live with the Lord. Whether we live in the body or move out of it, our goal is to be pleasing to him. 2 Corinthians 5:6-9