Hope for a Home (Part 2)

Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (2 Corinthians 5:2-4)

 

We identify with groaning when something goes wrong with a part of your body. There’s pain in your joints, you have stones wherever, high blood pressure, blurred vision, loss of hair, etc.

Just this week my wife and I were reminded of the frailty of our human bodies. My father-in-law was recently hospitalized due to a lung illness, but he’s now recovering. All the while we thought he was healthy. He’s the kind of person who’d offer to carry heavy bags when we go home to their place. He refuses help when he feels he can handle it. He doesn’t do any vice. He lives a moderate life. He has never been hospitalized. But he has now.

We may be healthy today, but give it five to ten years from now, there’ll be something coming up. We age, we get weak and frail and sick. Because of an accident or some violent incident, we get injured or disabled. That makes us groan for something better.

On top of that this life has the “spice” of emotional and mental stress, brought about by conflicts, misunderstandings and mis-communication in relationships at home, at work, in school or on the road. If you have experienced losing someone dear to you: a spouse, a family member, a friend; you cry and ache in your heart because you won’t see them again in this life. And that makes us groan for something better.

And there’s the spiritual condition of our world. As we struggle daily with sin and temptation and are weak in our faith. We often ask why do these things happen. We lose sight of God. We groan for something better.

And there is something better — heaven. We long to be freed from this body, but we definitely do not want to be without a body! So when death comes near our door, our mortal bodies will be swallowed up by life. And those who have put their trust in our Lord Jesus Christ are assured of a heavenly dwelling that cannot be destroyed and is not subject to this life’s limitations.

(Excerpt from a sermon of the same title, July 2013)

 

Hope for a Home

When my son was a little smaller and we went to the mall there would be an area where some real estate people would give flyers of houses or condo developments. And he would enjoy collecting as many flyers as he can, particularly those of condos. We would ask him would you like to live in one of those buildings?  And he would definitely say “Yes”. And yes we would agree, it would be nice to live in a place of your own.

We long to have our own homes, don’t we? – homes that are flood free, earth-quake proof, accessible and in a safe neighborhood. But whether it’s through a Pag-ibig or bank loan that we can settle in a home that will be  paid for 20 to 25 years, these homes won’t fare compared to an even greater investment that lasts for eternity in heaven. And if you are in Christ, I pray that the possessions and properties we have in this world won’t serve as distractions from the more valuable and lasting things in heaven.

(Excerpt from a sermon of the same title, July 2013)

Reminders About Christ’s Return

 

How do you remember things? Today we buy planners and earn stickers for it, we use post-it notes, we pin pieces of paper on cork boards, we leave notes on the mirror and on your ref. We have reminders on the cell phone, the desktop, on your tablet computer. We have online reminders, on Facebook, email, plus all of these are synchronized with all our gadgets….and still we forget a lot of things. We need to be reminded just as we remind our kids to do what we say.

 

Peter is someone who understands that. He knows learning through repetition. During the early part of his life, he learned things the hard way: he was impulsive, he was outspoken, sometimes to the point of not thinking about what he said. All his flaws had reached the peak when he denies Christ 3 times. But when Christ rose again, Peter was one of the first people He came looking for. Peter is a stubborn person who was changed by the more stubborn love of Jesus when he is asked 3 times, “Peter, do you love me?”

 

So as Peter experienced the stubborn love of our Master and Savior, he now expresses his deep and unending concern for the believers. Like a father, he reminds them again, and again of the truths that they ought to live out. Because like normal humans, we all forget the important things once in a while. We need to be reminded.

 

Remember the truths given to us in Scripture.

 

^{2 Peter 3:1} Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 

 

Peter was confident that in spite of lot of wrong teaching and wrong doctrine being taught both back in their days, the believers he writes to are still looking for and hungry for the truth. And he stirs them up to wholesome thinking. Wholesome thinking is this: getting the big picture. That’s how we ought to understand the Bible.

 

Now there is absolutely nothing new that we we need to know as believers apart from the Scriptures. God does not act in random ways. If you see the big picture, God has been doing something consistent from eternity past until eternity future.

 

A lot of people will flock to someone who claims to teach and share something new and something you have never heard before and a lot of people believe because it will either tickle their ears or it is something that appeals to their felt need. But that’s just looking at the tip of the ice berg and if you just assess things from the outside, you will not be necessarily led to a meaningful direction. What we must realize is that God’s Word never changes and there is no real new truth to know. What there should be is a fresh new perspective and passion for the truth that has been there already.

 

Peter shows us how the same truth can renew our faith. He continuously refers to events in the Old Testament, he quotes from Scripture and he reflects back to the very teachings he has learned from Christ.

 

^{2 Peter 3:2} I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

 

So he calls us to give careful attention to what has been historically and Biblically established. We can firmly believe and obey the Scriptures because it is from God and it has been consistently telling us God’s big picture and plan for us. And all of what we need to know and have is already made available to us through God’s spoken and written Word (now very much available to us in Scripture) and through the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.

 

Like a cow that continually chews on the grass that it is eating, let us come back to the Scriptures and meditate it day in and day out. These words will all mean everything for us who persevere in it. We need to be all the more firm in holding God’s Word so that we will be able to stand strong through these time.

 

Remember there will be mocker of Christ’s return.

 

^{2 Peter 3:3-4} Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 

 

Believers during the time of Peter firmly believed the Lord’s return would be in their generation. This is expressed by Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians:

 

^{1 Thes. 4:14-17} For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵ According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

 

That is our hope and that is what we look forward to. What we must take note of is that these mockers of Christ’s return argue on an emotional level rather than on a Biblically sound perspective. Fueled by disappointment on the length of time in waiting, these people turned it to ridicule on the truth of Christ’s return. But that does not change the fact that He will soon return anytime now.

 

These are times when the Bible and its truths are being made fun of and laughed at and there is no telling if family, friends, class mates, teachers, office mates will make fun of us because of our faith. When you enter today’s universities and colleges you will encounter a lot of people who would think of the Bible as a myth and they would believe the Bible stories to be fiction, just like the Harry Potter or Hunger Games series.

 

Back in the seminary, there was a bench that was placed in front of the boys dorm and everyone who sat there had discussions on theology, ethics and philosophy. One doctrine in particular that was often talked about about the end-times: as to whether they believed in a post-trib or pretrib coming og our Lord. Often when the discussion isn’t put to a close, the discussion turns to mocking people and making fun of others: how funny they looked or how funny their voice would sound like. And sometimes they would impersonate these people. So the bench became known as “upuan ng mga manlilibak (seat of mockers)”

 

I guess that’s just a little bit like the kind of insult that was hurled towards our brothers and sisters during the time of Peter. People couldn’t understand and accept that if they’re enjoying life right now, as they indulged in sinful, lustful desires, here comes the Christians sharing truth about Jesus and His return to punish those who continued in their wicked ways.

 

They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” Nothing has happened!

 

Oh, but a lot of things are happening. And prophecies are being fulfilled one after the other. Christ’s return may not have happened yet, but we can lose count of the record that Scripture has to say about fulfilled prophecies.

 

Prophecies about Jesus being born of a virgin in Bethlehem, being raised in Nazareth, being nailed to the cross for the payment of our sins and, being raise up again on the third day. All these prophecies foretold by prophets of the Old Testament and even in the NT have all been fulfilled…all of them from the same source…God. And the time of His return is soon coming. Although there are many who deny it, it will come.

 

Remember all God’s prophecies will come to pass

 

^{2 Peter 3:5} But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.

 

How powerful is the Word of God? Let’s not forget that through God’s Word, the whole world came into being. The world was not a product of a random Big Bang and it did not take millions of years for the universe to come into being. It took the word, the command of God and the sun, moon, stars, planets, and galaxies were formed. And the one special planet Earth was formed to sustain life.

 

Let us not forget about the time the whole world was flooded with water from the heavens and from the ground.

 

“By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.” 

 

During the time of Noah, people also mocked and laughed at him when he told of God’s impending judgment. And he preached this for 120 while building the Ark which would carry all those who will believe including the animals. The world at that time was destroyed by flood. Who believed Noah? Only seven other people did, his family. People know that the world will come to end one day but many just think it is just a story that is made up. They know, they remember, but they deliberately forget it – they ignore it, they disregard it, they take lightly the Word of the Lord.

 

^{2 Peter 3:7} By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

 

There are films that depict that: Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow, The Core, 2012. There was a fuss about the recent Meteor impact in Russia and an Asteroids that come near earth and no matter how accurate the world views people have, people know it because God has planted the last days of earth in the hearts of men. He has revealed that these things will happen in Scripture and it will come to pass whether people take it seriously or not.

 

God is a God of His Word. And He is not a man who fails to do what He promised. So when He promised in the Old Testament that He will no longer destroy the world by means of a flood and gave the rainbow as a reminder of that promise (Gen. 9:13) Rather, He will destroy and renew the earth by way of fire (2 Peter 3:12). It is no accident that we’re living on an planet where the core is burning liquid metal and sulphur, and we’re surrounded by stars, planets…when the judgment of the Lord comes, when the earth will be purged, it will no longer nice to look at, because it will burn out the earth as it is renewed by fire.

 

Those who say “That’s not going to happen.” “God is too loving to make that happen.” Well, the Bible tells us it will but not according to our time or our measurement of time ^{(2 Pet 3:8).} Some will say, “Well, if God said he’ll judge us, where is it now?” Well, God is patient so that many people like us will come to Him and repent and receive Jesus as Lord ^{(2 Pet 3:9).}

 

God’s Word reminds us all this world will come to pass…along with the heartaches, the pain, the mocking of people. And we are reminded we believers in Christ have an eternal home..a home where we can experience love, and peace and joy. Even though I don’t have a house of my own here on earth, I can be joyful because I have a mansion waiting for me in heaven, and there are streets of gold I can walk on, there are trees I can just eat from, there are a lot of people I love whom I will be reunited with. But more than that, I can see Jesus, my Lord and Savior, face to face and live with Him forever. That’s home for you and me who are in Christ.

 

Abiding In Christ

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5, NIV)

If a branch is to yield much fruit, the branch is to thrive on the true vine, Jesus Christ. A la organic farming – no chemical fertilizers. But yielding much fruit does not come overnight. Fruit will not become much if the branch has not undergone pruning. And as the branch becomes more fruitful, pruning is still used to yield more and more fruit. But as the branch remains in the vine, the pruning soon becomes a welcome event in its life.

Many people think that the fruitfulness is produced through having the best methods, the best tools and the best of plans, or even the best training and education. More fruit is a good goal. But you must consider how you would achieve more fruit in life. Some may think fruit is all that matters. And in order for them to yield much fruit, they would start doing all sorts of things for the kingdom.

But busyness is not always equivalent to productivity. And productivity does not always mean “healthy.” You can produce and do a lot in the outside, but when time passes by the question is, was the fruit produced organically? Did it go through the process of maturing in time?  

Well you can overwork in whatever you do and realize it’s not what you do that would yield more fruit in your life. The more you try harder, the more you will find that what you do will not matter unless you give attention to the person you are becoming in Christ. In Christ, who you are and who you are becoming is much more important than the many things you do. 

Take the conversation of Martha with Jesus when He visited their house. At the start, Martha was in the kitchen preparing for the guests. Upon seeing Mary, her sister, sitting at the feet of Jesus, here heart just raged at the moment and she rushed in front of the scene to tell Jesus “Master, tell my sister to help me!” 

So in a gentle and loving manner Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are worried about so many things. But only one thing counts, and your sister Mary has chosen what cannot be taken away from her.” I would suppose that Martha dropped everything and sat at His feet as well.  

Jesus speaks of cultivating our relationship with Him. Sometimes that’s how we measure our value: by what we do. But it takes a healthy connection with the true vine to yield good fruit. If you spend time to make that relationship with God healthy, if you prioritize relationship with Him, what you do will simply follow to be the best. A healthy spiritual life invests in what will make its life grow in quality before it can grow for quantity. Prioritize your relationship with Christ before you do anything at all, because if we reverse the order of that priority, fruit may be scarce. But if we put first things first, as C.S. Lewis says, second things will follow.

Inside Out

Who says you have to wait until you’re settled in life to get serious with your relationship with God? Growing deep in your faith can start as early as today, no matter what your age is, so long as Christ is in you and you have started in the journey of a committed life that follows hard after Him.

David started early. He was a youth when he knew His God was not only the One who laid out His commands but is also a passionate God, the One who is worthy of love and devotion. The best expression of his longing for God is read in the Psalms:

“O God, You are my God, earnestly I will seek You;

my soul thirsts for You, my body longs for you,

in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

Psalm 63:1

God is worthy of our thirst because He is the living water by which any man can drink of and quench his thirst forever. You don’t need to experience all of life to come by that obvious truth. Christ is here. He is near. All you need is let Him be what your heart desires. Let Him in. Let Him fill you. Let Him change you from the inside out.