Desiring Christ Most of All

Yesterday at church, the sermon was about fellowship in Heaven.

What is it that we desire most of all?  So often, our thoughts can fill up to the brim with hope of marriage, kids of our own, homes and kitchens which will be ours, and so many other things, it's crazy.  And so often, we forget about Heaven, our eternal home.  We focus on our future homes, how we will decorate them, how we will organize them, what we will do in them.  But, we forget about heaven, our future home.

What if we knew that Jesus was coming tomorrow?  Or today?  Would we say 'Yes' to Him?  Or would we say 'Please wait'?

We need to say 'Yes, come now'.  How can we call ourselves Christians if we don't desire being with Christ, or if we don't look forward to His arrival?

Wouldn't it look weird if you knew someone that was going to get married, but she didn't buy a dress, or plan anything, or talk about what she hoped to have in her wedding?  What if she didn't get ready at all and just said "Well, I'll just show up.  My fiance will love me like I am."

Strange.

Now put that into perspective with us and Jesus.

"Yeah, Jesus is coming, but its not like I need to do anything.  He'll accept me as I am."  I feel almost embarrassed just typing that out.  Yet, even if we don't say it, or even think it, we do it, or act it.  We act with that attitude, because we don't do anything in anticipation of His coming.

1 John 2:28

"Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming."

When was the last time you told someone about the Lord?  I don't even know if I've ever really 'witnessed' to anyone, except maybe when I was little.  I thought singing "Jesus Loves You" to the tune of "Jesus Loves Me" might get someone to realize they need to be saved.

But now I'm older, I realize the gravity of not believing.  I feel sorry for the lost; I've cried knowing that people are going to hell.  I hate the possibility that people who are dear to me might end up in hell.  Yet what do I really do about it?

And why do we always feel so busy?  Too busy for our Lord?  We don't know what we're doing!

Think of the person who you are closest to.  Maybe it is your mom or dad, or sister, or best friend.  Now, imagine you live apart from each other, and don't see each other ever.  Can you imagine talking on the phone for only 1 or 2 min. a day?  If this person writes to you, long letters telling you all about what they're doing and how they wish to be with you.  But, you only read a paragraph of each letter.

This all sounds ridiculous and unfathomable.  Yet, it is exactly what we do in our relationship with our Heavenly Father.  I can hardly believe we do it, yet we do, and it's so easy.  We make God's heart ache when we go day after day with just slight acknowledgement.  We might think about Him 1/4 or 1/2 the day, but if we don't talk to Him or do anything, what good is that??  God spent so much time on us.  He spent so much time getting the Bible written, and into our hands, but we only look at it for a few minutes a day, if that.

Now, maybe you read your Bible for an hour a day.  I commend you.  You are an example to us all.  But, I don't read it for an hour a day.  Some days, I don't read it at all.  And, I feel sad and guilty.  I am guilty.

Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole;
I want Thee forever to live in my soul;
Break down every idol, cast out every foe—
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
-I Shall Be Whiter than Snow, by James L. Nicholson

I feel strongly about serving God, but I don't do it much, do I?  How much do any of us do, really?

Christ loved us so much, He endured torture and death for us.  It is unspeakable what He went through.  And He did it all so we could be with Him.  And yet, we hardly pay Him any mind.

Not only did He make a way for us to be with Him, but He is preparing a place for us to be with Him.

John 14:1-3 

"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also."

He longs for us to be with Him.  

John 17:24 

"Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world."

Not only all that, but He has set it up to where we can enjoy fellowship with each other after we die. 

1 Thess. 4:15-17

"For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord."

(I suppose I should say 'emphasis mine'.)

Our Lord is an awesome Lord.  We should wake up every day, wild with excitement for what He's done for us.

Phil. 3:20

"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;"

And I haven't even mentioned yet, that we don't deserve any of it!!  We don't deserve an all-powerful God's love.  We can't even comprehend it, yet He gives it.

Something I like to think about is that God has surprises planned for us in heaven.  Gifts we cannot even imagine.  If we think the blessings on earth are great, then how much more the ones in store for us in Heaven!

With all this, though, none of it (that's right, zip zero) is meant for those who haven't repented and don't believe in God.  If you are reading this, and haven't accepted Christ, and the fact of what He's done for you, then you don't get a single penny so to speak.  You are headed for a place of eternal wrath and horror.

Matthew 25:41

"Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;" 

2 Thess. 1:6-9

"For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,"

Once someone is in hell, there are no second chances.  They will be stuck there forever.

If you think that God will not send you to hell because He is a loving God and will see your heart and how you try to do good, then you are wrong.  It is because He is full of love, and because He is just that he must condemn you.  If He let people into heaven who did not accept His gift of salvation, then He would not be a just God.  But since it is impossible for Him to be anything but perfect, He will sentence unbelievers to hell.

Even if we only did one minuscule sin in our whole life, we would still be sentenced to hell because we did not obey God's law.  Everyone on earth has broken God's law and deserves eternal death and torture.  Including me, including every pastor, or missionary, or every other person.  But, God has extended a gift to us.  Knowing that not everyone would accept it.  

He sent Jesus, His Son, to earth.  Jesus died and was sent to Hell for 3 days, and God rained His wrath down on Jesus in Hell; so much punishment did Jesus receive, that it was enough to cover all the sins of every person that ever lived, is living, and ever will live.  And what is amazing is that Jesus was willing to do this, even though He was pure and spotless.  He was and is perfect and never did a single thing wrong.

God created us to be a Bride for Christ.  Of course, Christ could've said, "I would rather take a perfect Bride.  I don't want one that's been redeemed.  I'd rather have one that was perfect from the get-go."

But He didn't say that.  He wants us for a Bride, we who are chock-full of wickedness and sin.  And not only that, but we was willing to give His life to wash us up, to make us fit to be His Bride.  We don't bring anything to the table, but He provides it all.

But if we want to accept His gift, and become His Bride, we must repent and turn from our sin.  We must admit that we are wretched sinners, in need of forgiveness.  We must turn to God and away from sinfulness.  We must believe that Jesus paid our debt, and will save us.  That He will redeem us.  We must accept Him as Lord of our life.  We must believe in Him.

"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved...” - from Acts 16

Please accept Him before it is too late.