Title: Home Away From Home

Date: 2008-10-19

Reference: Phil. 1: 21-26

A Sunday School Teacher asked her preschool class: “How many of you would like to go to heaven?” All but one child raised their hands. The teacher asked him why he wouldn’t like to go to heaven. He replied: “I’m sorry but I can’t. My mom told me to come home right after Sunday School.”

The Bible teaches us that heaven is the only place that people of faith will ever really be at home. During this financial crisis many have lost their houses, but not their homes. When we live in a house for a while it becomes a home. That’s what heaven is.. a home you’ll never want to leave.

I spend a great deal of my ministry dealing with death and bereavement. Without a belief in heaven, this part of my job would be unbearable. Again, people of faith have a firm belief that there is so much more to life than we experience here in this world. This belief keeps me going and keeps me hopeful. Despite our fears and pain, death is the gateway to heaven. This life is a dressing room for eternity.

Father Abraham was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. Abraham looked forward to a city that would last forever. In his heart Abraham said: “That is where I need to live. That is the only place I am ever go to be at home.” God has placed that hope for heaven in every human heart.

Like everyone else, I am heading home to heaven. I don’t know exactly what heaven will be like. I’ve never lived there. Some think heaven will be a place where we all wear white robes and sing in a choir. I sure hope not. I think of heaven as a place where we will feel very much at home. A place where we will never make another mistake. Where we will never make another bad choice. I know what will not be there. The Bible (Rev 21:4) says: “There will be no more death in heaven. No mourning, crying or pain. Grief, hurt, sickness, death, separation will all be missing in heaven.

I’ve always worried a little about Christians who couldn’t wait to die so they could get to heaven. I have never believed God wanted us to waste the gift of life. God wants us to enjoy life to make the most of life. To cherish life. But God has placed the hope of heaven into each heart. That makes us a little restless and homesick for a place we’ve never even seen, a place called heaven.

Most of us have a deep longing to be home. Most of us love our homes. Animals also have a homing instinct. My mom tells about a family dog named old Bob who walked from Ky. To Indiana to find the family. He smelled his way over hundreds of miles. When the family moved away, the house they used to live in was no longer a home. It was just a house. Bob wanted more than just an empty house, he wanted to be at home with the people he loved. And so he set out to find them.

We have a homing instinct in our soul. Our heart’s deepest longing is to come home where we belong. We are always a little restless until we come home to God. My grandmother used to say she was kind of homesick for heaven. I never understood what she was talking about, but the older I get I think I know.

This homesickness is a gift from God to remind us that we like Abraham are all pilgrims and strangers. Even though we live in one of the most beautiful places on earth, this home is temporary. God wishes us to come home where we belong. The most important step anyone will ever take in this life is to respond to the Grace of God.. to accept a relationship with God and start home where we belong.

Heaven is the ultimate home for Christians. Because of the hope we have we never say goodbye to a loved one who has passed for the last time. We expect to see them again.

I know there are some Christians who are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good. I’ve always emphasized what the Bible says about Christians making a difference in our lives now, in our current situations and relationships. We have a responsibility to make the world a better place. There is also an eternal dimension. A place not contained in time and space. Another realm of existence and another dimension entirely. Heaven is the completion and perfection of the life we are living now. Heaven is a longing deep within our hearts. Heaven is God’s home and God wants to share it with us.

There is something in our human experience that can never be satisfied with anything on this earth. After King Solomon tried pleasure, money, entertainment, wisdom, culture and excitement he said: “I’ve tried it all. Ultimately it is all vanity. None of it matters.” The he said: “God has placed eternity in our hearts.”
<>br> We continue to try and find ultimate meaning in pleasure power, money and success. We haven’t been successful. We feel very restless knowing there is more. We have a deep longing to come home where we belong.

Bob Hoffman and his family went to Liberia in the 1980's to serve as short term UM missionaries. He soon realized this was the place God was using their talents and abilities in a special way. They decided to stay on. Liberia quickly became home to them. Then Civil War broke out and hundreds of missionaries where forced to flee. The Hoffmans returned home to Michigan. Bob took his old job teaching in a church school.

He said: “The surroundings were the same as before, but I felt strangely out of place, like a stranger. He was very restless. His heart was across the ocean in Liberia.

In a similar way if our hearts is in heaven, we will never see this world as our permanent home. Someone has said it this way: “Think of stepping on shore and finding it heaven. Of taking hold of a hand and finding it God’s hand. Of breathing new air and finding it heavenly air. Of feeling invigorated and finding it immortality. Of passing through the storm and tempests to unbroken calm. Of waking up and finding it home.”

John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace said: “When I get to heaven I shall see three wonders there. The first wonder will be to see so many there I did not expect to see. The second wonder will be to miss many people whom I did expect to see. The third and greatest wonder will be to find myself there.”

That’s how the Apostle Paul felt as well. Paul enjoyed life and his ministry but he wasn’t afraid of death either. Paul faced a difficult decision.. To remain alive which was necessary for the early church’s benefit. “But” said Paul, “to depart and to be with Christ is better.” Paul said to God: “I’d rather be with you, but I’m willing to postpone heaven in order to finish the ministry you have given me.” Paul understood Grace. He knew heaven was God’s gift.

Death held no terrors for Paul. He described death as departing from one place to another. The word depart was used by soldiers to describe taking down a tent and moving on. The Bible says at death the tent we live in is taken down and the spirit goes home to be with God. Sailors also used the word depart to describe the loosening of a ship and setting sail. Departure was also a political term describing the setting free of a prisoner. In this life we are held in bondage by sin. Christ sets us free and points us to heaven. Finally the word departure was used by farmers to describe the unyoking of oxen. Paul had taken on the yoke of Christ which was not an easy thing. He carried many burdens in ministry. Paul said: “To depart and be with Christ would mean laying aside the burdens of this earthly life.” At that moment his earthly work would be complete. Paul was able to say: “To live is Christ, to die is gain. To be absent from the body is to be safe and warm in God’s arms.

Heaven is our ultimate hope because God is hope and God is in heaven. A man spent much of his adult life in a wheel chair. During the last days of his life his family was so devastated. They could not imagine life without their father. He tried to cheer them up. He told them he had hope for healing. He said: “I believe that in heaven my limbs will be healed. When I get to heaven” he said, “I’m going to learn to dance.”

Helen Keller used to say: “I thank God daily that I have another life to look forward to, to a life in heaven filled with sights and sounds.” People of faith have always had this hope. The Psalmist said: “And when I awake in heaven I will be fully satisfied for I will see God face to face.” (17:15) As Susanna Wesley was on her deathbed she called her children to her.

She said: “As soon as I am released, sing a Psalm of Praise to God.” Sometimes we are restless because we know there is more. We are homesick for a place we have never actually seen. In this life we wear down and wear out. There in heaven we will never die. This hope of heaven keeps us going and gives this life great meaning. At the same time we have hope for a great future.