As I read through these passages, I'm finding that Paul's messages tie into one another very well. This passage is no different as "joy in heaven" is something I have already mentioned in other contexts within this letter. Today I want to focus in on how we who profess Christ and believe in his death as substitution for our sins, can take joy in what awaits us in the next life, an eternal life in heaven. I think we do this in two ways, looking to the future, not the past, and hoping in the spiritual, not the physical.
Paul in verses 12-14 speaks metaphorically of the Christian walk as a race. He says he will press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (vs 14). He continues in verse 15 to say all of us who are mature should take such a view of things. Paul encourages us that if we truly are following Christ, we should be looking ahead, pushing forward to heaven. Now this can be done in a couple of ways. First off, if we are looking forward, it means we are not concerned with this life. We will talk about this in the next section as we think about putting our hope in the spiritual, not the physical. Another way we look forward however, is not looking back. It is very simple I know but think about Lot's wife in Genesis 19 who looked back at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
If we are not looking at our past what does that mean? Should we forget memories? Forget old friends, family members who have passed on? No! What I mean to say, and what I think Paul is getting at, is that we need to forget who we were as sinners. I think we need to look at Christ and say "Jesus, you died on the cross for my sins, and I am forgiven for everything I have ever done to sin against you". Then, get rid of guilt, quit dwelling on sin and rejoice that you are forgiven! This doesn't mean we should forget that we ever sinned or try to act like we have never sinned but rather, we need to understand that we once sat in destruction but have been saved by the grace of God and are forgiven. With this in mind we can rejoice in Christ and rejoice in heaven which awaits us as we press on toward that final goal.
Secondly, I also think we need to hope in the spiritual and not in the physical. Paul sums it up in verse 20: But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ... We need to be hopeful for Christ's return! I know I don't think about that enough but we as Christians should be eagerly awaiting Christ, our savior. So as I have said in weeks past, where are we putting our hope, our time, our energy? I've been waking up at 2:30 Monday morning to "watch" football. I have never woken up that early to read the Bible. We as Christians, as a church, as a group of believers committed to following Christ, need to build each other up and help each other to avert our eyes from the world and set them on Christ. We need to stop putting our hope in things of this world! Now, be clear, this doesn't mean we should stop living life, or go run into the wilderness and hide. No, we are citizens of heaven but right now we are ambassadors to earth. This means then that we should keep living here, but we need to be sure that our lives are different from the people of the world. Our goal throughout the day should be to glorify Christ, not a paycheck. I think a great illustration is this: When your hand is clenched tightly around a pencil, that pencil can't be removed from your hand, and it is your pencil. However, when your hand is opened and the pencil is laying on top of your hand, the pencil is still yours, but it can be removed. All of our possessions, relationships, everything in our lives is that pencil. Is your hand clenched tightly around it, not letting go, or is your hand open to God, letting him decide what stays in and what leaves your hand?
Friends, let us feel the freedom of Christ. Let us throw off the weight of sin and of guilt and look forward to eternity in heaven with Christ. Likewise, let us be ambassadors to earth, sharing the good news of Christ with everyone, and let us open our hands to God, let us make him Lord of our lives, and let us focus not on this world, but on the glorious life we will one day have with Christ, for eternity in heaven.
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