Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

Philippians 2:1-11 October 14, 2007

“Heaven – Part 5”
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer

Dedication Sunday

Over these last weeks in this sermon series on Heaven, we have learned from Scripture (at least in part) what we will be like in Heaven. We have learned that the new bodies we get in Heaven will be recognizable as the resurrected Jesus’ body was recognizable. We have also learned that our new bodies will be indestructible, powerful, and completely free from the effects of sin. We have read in Revelation 21 about the old Heaven and the old Earth being destroyed to make room for the new Heaven and the new Earth to be revealed upon Jesus’ return. In that same chapter, we also read about the heavenly beauty of the walls, the streets, and the gates of the glorious city of the New Jerusalem that will be the capital city on the New Earth. But we have not asked the obvious question.
Is it for real? Is there really a resurrection event in all of our futures? We know there is a dying event for all of us. But is there really a resurrection event? Is there really a place called Heaven, and will there be (someday) a new Heaven and a new Earth that will be the eternal home for all God’s children? I think all believers have wondered at one time or another whether all we believe is true. It’s important to acknowledge our doubts instead of pretending we don’t have them. Even the apostle Thomas, who spent hours with Jesus while he was on earth, wanted some proof for his faith, from time to time.
When Jesus came to his disciples after his resurrection, we read the following from John 20:26-28:
A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
What proof do we have that the truths of Scripture in which we put our faith are based on anything other than our desire to believe in something – especially something that tells us we don’t just decay and return to ashes forever and ever?
There is clear, authenticated archeological evidence of the truths of Scripture that continue to confirm fact upon fact, date upon date, and name upon name as we have them in the Bible. To my knowledge, never has an authentic artifact been uncovered in Bible lands, that has invalidated the historical facts as we have them in the Bible, in fact, quite the contrary. Though modern nay-sayers and skeptics abound in every conceivable field as to the truths revealed in Scripture, no one can deny that some major changes took place in the lives of individuals, in whole communities of people, and in the world, beginning around the year 32 A.D. - the year it is reported a man named Jesus rose from the dead.
The Christian Church arose in Palestine in 32 A.D. We know this for a fact. Those who were part of the birthing of the Church referred to the Resurrection of Jesus as the basis for their teaching, preaching, living, and very significantly, as the basis for their faithful, even joyful, dying. The history of Sunday as the worship day for Christians can be traced back to the year 32 A.D. Such a shift in the calendar was monumental, says Paul E. Little in his book, Know Why You Believe. “Something cataclysmic must have happened to change the day of worship from the Jewish Sabbath, the 7th day of the week, to Sunday, the first day of the week. Christians said the shift came because of their desire to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. This shift is all the more remarkable when we remember that the first Christians were Jews.”
Mr. Little also tells of one incident, although there are many similar stories, of a man who decided to do the world a favor by once-and-for-all exposing the fraud of the Resurrection. As a lawyer, he felt he had the critical faculties to sift evidence and to admit nothing as evidence, which did not meet the stiff criteria for admission into a law court today. However, while he was doing his research, he discovered the case was not nearly as easy as he had supposed. As a result, the first chapter of his book, Who Moved the Stone, is entitled, “The Book That Refused to Be Written.” In it he describes how, as he examined the historical evidence, he became persuaded against his will, of the fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
We know from many non-biblical sources that Jesus was a real person. We know from these same sources that Jesus had a transformational impact on both the religious and political climate of his time. But so did a lot of people . . . some of whose names we’ve never heard and probably wouldn’t remember if we had heard them. Yet 2000+ years later, the name of Jesus continues to bring forth incredible passion all over the world, in every culture, in every layer of society, for both good and evil depending on whether you believe Jesus is all he said he was, or whether you believe it’s all nothing but mush.
In the town of Corinth in the days of the early church, there were some who were claiming to be apostles of Jesus, who preached the resurrection of Jesus as an actual event, but who denied that those who put their trust in Jesus would be resurrected as well. The apostle Paul comes along to set the record straight (1 Corinthians 15):
Now let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is built on this wonderful message. And it is this Good News that saves you if you firmly believe it—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me—that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died by now. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, I saw him, too, long after the others, as though I had been born at the wrong time… But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, but that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ have perished! And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world. But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again.
Paul is challenging his hearers then, and he’s challenging us today to dive in headfirst. Get your head into the facts and weigh your doubts against the facts, and then take a step of faith to grab onto the mystery that we cannot see. Earlier in 1 Corinthians, Paul reminds his hearers that only those who have taken that step of faith and welcomed the Holy Spirit into their hearts can fully understand spiritual truths. Otherwise, the things of God sound like foolish mush, including belief in the resurrection of the dead and a place called Heaven.
Did anyone see this week’s episode of “House” on Tuesday night? I just caught part of it when I got home after Bible study. There was a fellow who was dying, and who had hope in a new life with a new body in Heaven. This infuriated Dr. House and he attacked the dying man’s belief, calling it nothing but a dream. One of Dr. House’s colleagues asked him, “Why couldn’t you just let the man have his fairytale and die in peace?”
There is no better news in all the world than the news that the Christian faith is more than the work of the heart! As my mom would say, the Christian faith is not something that someone made up out of whole cloth. The Christian faith is based on documented historical facts that can stand up to the hard questions. By faith and by facts, I believe that Jesus Christ, the pure & blameless Son of God, came into the world, lived a full life, died with my sins corrupting his flesh, and rose again in complete wholeness to pave the way for me to do the same! “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:5)
There is no better news in all the world than to know that Jesus has paved the way for believers to enjoy a beautiful new Heaven and a new Earth. People of the faith whom I never knew on earth will immediately be known to me in Heaven as sisters and brothers in Christ. People like the apostle Peter, like Paul, like Elijah, like Daniel and Hannah, like Joseph of the coat of many colors, people of the faith like Moses, and Abraham, like King David, and Esther, and Mary – people from all times and places will be accessible for us to talk to, and ask questions of, and celebrate beside. Ancestors we never knew who trusted the truths of Scripture, family members who have gone on ahead – we will get to be with them and know everything about them without all the crud that sin brought into our earthly relationships!
There is no better news in all the world! But until we go, we have such a privilege and a responsibility to the world – a responsibility to bring as much heavenly grace and peace as we can to this old, tattered earth so that people who don’t know the love of God will be drawn to God through his earthly body – the Body of Christ - the Church.
It is such a lesson for us today. Pat Gross and Molly Messner both had very hard things happen to them in their lives. Both of them needed truth, grace, mercy, and love from the Church. At a critical time in their lives, neither of them received what was desperately needed – and it impacted their relationship with the institutional church for the rest of their lives.
How wonderful to know the church is not the final judge. How wonderful to know God alone, who is without sin as a fully merciful and fully just God, judges the living and the dead. How wonderful to know there is only one requirement for admission to Heaven: faith in Jesus Christ! How wonderful to know Pat and Molly are free from all that weighed them down on earth.
So, here’s the deal, church:
We’ve been given the gift of a challenge. In putting that cross on top of this building, we make a statement. This is a Christian Church! This is a congregation committed to living like Jesus taught us to live – starting with me and with you.
Listen please with me to these incredible words from Philippians 2:1-11, “Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and sympathetic? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one heart and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father … put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him. In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing, so that no one can speak a word of blame against you. You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of crooked and perverse people. Let your lives shine brightly before them”.
I think often of the wonderful talents and gifts both mom and Pat had been given, and how they found outlets, apart from the church, to use their gifts – gifts of creative drama, music, and generous hospitality. How interesting that the material gifts given to this church today that we dedicate to God for spiritual purposes, are given in memory of these two women who would not allow the shortcomings of God’s people to quench their faith in God, only their faith in the institutional church.
What a reminder these gifts should be for us that we must lift Jesus higher than ever before. He must be the King on the throne of our lives. He must be given rulership over our pride, our greed, our need to control, our refusal to forgive, to let go, and to show mercy. We must work harder in our calling to be the Body of Christ to the world so that the world will know his peace.
Will you meditate and pray with me as we listen to this song, “Lifted High” by Michael W. Smith? The words are in your bulletin.

Be Lifted High by Michael W. Smith

Sin and its ways grow old
All of my heart turns to stone
And I'm left with no strength to arise
How You need to be lifted high

Sin and its ways lead to pain
Left here with hurt and with shame
So no longer will I leave your side
Jesus, you be lifted high

You be lifted high
You be lifted high
You be lifted high in my life
Oh God - And I fall to my knees
So it's you that they see - Not I
Jesus, you be lifted high

And even now that I'm inside your hands
Help me not to grow prideful again
Don't let me forsake sacrifice
Jesus you be lifted high

And if I'm blessed with the riches of kings
How could I ever think that it was me
For you brought me from darkness to light
Jesus, you be lifted high

You be lifted high
You be lifted high
You be lifted high in my life
Oh God - And I fall to my knees
So it's you that they see - Not I
Jesus, you be lifted high

You be lifted high
You be lifted high
You be lifted high in my life
Oh God - And I fall to my knees
So it's you that they see - Not I
Jesus, you be lifted high

May we joyfully accept our responsibility to lift Jesus high to every broken woman and every broken man, to every broken boy and every broken girl. Though Pat and my mom were both resilient overcomers, (and thank God that they were) we must remember that not everyone is as stubbornly determined to make it through life and its troubles with such hope. We all want and need the message and the gift of Christ’s resurrection life. He said to us, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.” (John 11:25)
May these beautiful paraments and that shining cross remind us of our call to live beautiful, shining lives all day, every day, ‘til we all get to Heaven. What a day of rejoicing that will be!
Alleluia! Amen.

Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church

10-14-07