students of jesus

If I am hungry, somewhere there must be bread.

That pang in our stomach, the ache that unsettles us and makes us irritable--and eventually weak--is evidence of a reality beyond ourselves. The stomach is made for food, and even in the absence of food we know its reality. Somewhere, there is food.

Our physical being urges us toward discovery. Not just any discovery, because only food will do. We are made for it, and it for us. A new-born child without a desire for mother’s milk will languish and die. Our loss of appetite is a symptom of a larger illness. In our old age, when our body despairs of life itself, we chose not to eat. Hunger is a sign of life and health.

C.S. Lewis went beyond the example of hunger. “A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” In another setting he described a “secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both. We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience. We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it, and we betray ourselves like lovers at the mention of a name.”

In Surprised by Joy, Lewis gave one name to all these ideas. He called this desire "longing." I’ve learned to recognize it in every sunset, every landscape; in each friendship and each moment of joy shared with another; each thought of a happiness beyond mere circumstance: all of these are longings that point to the place of all fulfillment. That place is a person, a personal, loving, creator who reveals himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Every yearning unfulfilled and each realized joy has one source. I learned this from Dr. Lewis, my first mentor. He was taught by a true father of the Church, St. Augustine, who said simply, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

In the coming week you can begin to hear a song not yet fully sung. You can see a painting that is only a sketch. Every thankfulness on earth can become an invitation to taste of the powers of the age to come. This week, I wish you longing.

What happens when a Bible verse becomes a cliché--when it takes on a life apart from the setting the Spirit intended? If a passage becomes widely known and quoted it’s easy to miss the revelation the Spirit intended. Because it’s familiar we think we know what it means: An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth -or- no rest for the wicked --or this week’s meditation, the streets of heaven are paved gold. Actually, this last example reads a bit differently: The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass. (Revelation 21:21)

Revelation 21 shows us what life is like when God lives among men. Some people call it “heaven.” I think Jesus called it “The Kingdom of God.” Some people think heaven is reserved for another day. I think Jesus told us “the kingdom of God is breaking in.” What if he wants to live among us now? I’d like to suggest three possibilities of what the Holy Spirit is trying to communicate when we hear that the streets of heaven are paved with gold.

Heaven has abundance. The present value of gold comes from scarcity. The economies of this age are, in part, built on what we do not have--and because we do not have something society sets the price high. But in God’s presence there is always enough. There's no scarcity in his presence. Imagine--how would we live today if there was always enough?

Heaven has its values in order. When God lives among men we would value gold no more than we care for asphalt. In our age the source of wealth is possessing what others value. In his kingdom the source of wealth is him! Imagine--how would we live today if the values of this world were beneath our feet?

Heaven values beauty. In God’s presence Main Street shines with the radiance of transparent gold. God is not only holy, God loves beauty. And he makes all things new: try to imagine your Main Street shining like gold.

This week, I invite you to turn your thoughts toward how your world would change today if “the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”

I received an email a few days ago from a student unfortunate enough to take a college class from me last spring. My young friend has apparently had a difficult summer and wrote to me looking for some direction. Here’s the letter:

Hey Ray,

I've been struggling with something lately and I was wondering if maybe you could help (I need some insight).

I've definitely noticed this summer how in this life, money is everything (so says the world). If you don’t have it, you aren't worth anything and you can’t do very much without it. I think this has got me down, I am kinda questioning my worth as a person. 

I know there’s a verse that says to 'store up riches in heaven'. But I don’t know what these riches are and how to 'store them up.’ I know that I my soul is worth the price of Christ dying on the cross but I don't feel worth anything.

I just don’t know what things are of actual worth in life (heavenly worth).

Here’s my response (even now, as I read it a few days later, I realize there is so much more to be said):
I trust your summer hasn’t been a total struggle, but I definitely hear you when you say that money really runs the show these days. It can be depressing. I took a day to think about how to answer you. Here’s my first try. If you have any questions or thoughts, please write back and let me know.

When Jesus said “store up riches in heaven” he was contrasting temporary things with permanent things. Yes, he was talking about heaven-after-you-die, but he was also trying to reveal that the permanent things are all around us here and now. The kingdom of God places great value on these permanent things. They are the kind of things that do not wear out and cannot be stolen from you. You can begin to “invest” in them now, and your investment goes with you wherever to go.

So what are these permanent things, and how do we store up these treasures? Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by talking about the kind of people who are fortunate in God’s eyes. That is, the kingdom of God values the poor, the meek, the merciful, and the peacemakers. If you want to store up treasures in heaven, you can find them among the poor. You can find them by showing mercy to others. You can become rich in God’s kingdom by becoming the kind of person who makes peace. Every act of mercy and kindness (especially to those who cannot “repay” you) is like making a deposit in the kingdom of God. Remember: Jesus told us that the kingdom is breaking into the here and now--it’s not just about heaven after you die.

Another way to store up these kingdom treasures is to see who you really are--a child of God! Worldly people draw their identity from their stuff: the label on their clothes, the cars they drive, the houses they build. Did you know that in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus uses the phrase ‘your Father in heaven” more than a dozen times? People who do not know their Father work hard to develop their own image. Children of God receive the family likeness that comes from God. It’s not about about working to become godly, it’s more like growing up and realizing that your Father is capable of providing everything you need: love, security, identity, food, clothing, and a home. I’m sure you’ve seen people who crave love and security: they’ll do anything to feel accepted--spend money, offer their bodies, pretend to be someone who they are not. Part of storing up treasures in heaven is to embrace the family identity, because you will receive the family inheritance.

Finally, investing in God’s kingdom is like any other kind of investing. In the everyday world we invest in things with our time, energy or money. It may not sound spiritual, but we invest in the Kingdom of God the same way: with our time, energy, and money. Do we give ourselves to the Kingdom of God? Jesus said it is the best investment: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

There are a thousand practical applications to this stuff. Each life lived before God can fulfill the charge “store up treasures in heaven” and still look like a unique life. God doesn’t make cookie cutter children. I encourage you to take some quiet time and think through what your life could look like in the kingdom of God.

Finally, I’m happy talk more, if this note spurs any questions or ideas.

Grace to you, and peace,

R
How would you have responded? What would you tell someone about “storing up treasure in heaven?” I look forward to your comments.

We have all met some really mean people in our lives. Take a moment and try to recall the meanest person you know. Perhaps it was your sixth-grade teacher. Or a neighbor who went beyond unfriendly all the way to downright mean. The kind of mean person who still has the ability to raise your blood pressure even if you haven’t seen him or her in years.

Have you selected someone? Someone real? Good. Now imagine that person in Heaven. There they are, among the people of every tribe, tongue and nation, surrounded by the worshipping assembly drawn from all generations. Don’t try to clean them up, leave ‘em mean: critical, hard-hearted, stingy and greedy--the same person in heaven as they are on earth. It doesn’t seem right, does it? How could an unhappy, miserable, mean person join the throng?

This exercise is not about God’s forgiveness. It’s about who we are after we turn to God. God forgives the deepest evil in the lives of men and women. As Corrie TenBoom used to say, “there is no pit that God’s love is not deeper still.” And I’m glad--aren’t you? But forgiveness is not the same thing as spiritual formation. Spiritual formation is about what happens to us after we receive the gracious gift of Jesus and his sacrifice. Spiritual formation is learning to live in heaven right now.

This exercise invites us to consider whether forgiveness is the only good news. What if we were forgiven by God but remained forever unable to change? What if our decision to accept Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross meant we were forever trapped in a cycle of sin and forgiveness, over and over again, unable to escape the kind of person we had become. How many of us want to come to God asking forgiveness for the same things year after year, decade after decade--always forgiven, never able to change?

The earliest followers of Jesus expected spiritual formation to follow hard after forgiveness. They took seriously the metaphor of the new birth. They expected that babies grow into children, and children grow into adults. They considered conversion the beginning, not the end.

Paul shared the gospel with people in Galatia, and later wrote to them because they began to embrace a deadly spirituality:

“Now that you know God, how is it you are turning back to weak and miserable principles? . . . What has happened to all your joy? . . . I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” (Galatians 4: 9,15,19)

His concern was not only for correct doctrine but also for growth and health. He expected that Jesus could actually be formed in them. How many of us have the same expectation today?

He urged the believers in Rome to break free of the habits of the past and find not just eternal life, but the kind of life that could transform them into different people:

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” -And- “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 8:29 & 12:2)

Whatever else predestination may mean, Paul clearly intended that followers of Jesus have a destiny become like Jesus. Did he think we would magically become different people when we got heaven? Or did he expect spiritual transformation to begin here and now?

How many of us turned to Jesus for something more than forgiveness? How many of us heard all of the good news--that right relationships, peace, and joy are possible in this life as we learn to drink deep of God’s presence here and now? (Romans 14:17) What if we can transformed from the mean guy into the Christlike guy day by day? Did anyone tell us that the joys of heaven need not wait until the end of the age?

When we are born from above the beginning has just begun. The joys of heaven are available to us as we learn how to walk in the Spirit. The prison of our own anger, resentment, and yes--our own meanness--can drop away as we position ourselves to receive more and more of the grace of God. The Biblical ideal of spiritual transformation holds the promise of heaven on earth because we can join the heavenly host now. Wouldn’t it be a shame to get to heaven and be unable to enjoy the party?

As a new believer I had conflicting thoughts and emotions about eternal life. Those who led me to the Lord told me I could go to heaven by trusting Jesus’ sacrifice for my sins. I hadn’t thought much about heaven, and what thoughts I did have ran more to the negative—hell sounded like a pretty bad place. If there were only two choices, then heaven seemed like the better alternative.

Someone told me that in heaven we would spend all eternity worshiping God. This presented a problem because most of the worship services I attended were boring. Could it be true? Would heaven consist of an unending songfest directed toward the Almighty? I enjoyed singing Amazing Grace in church but one of the verses gave me cause for concern:
    “When we’ve be there 10,000 years
           bright shining as the sun
     we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
           than when we’ve first begun.”
With a strong measure of guilt I tried to imagine myself happily singing for 10,000 years only to consider that we had just begun. It was not appealing.

Popular images of heaven include the idea that we will inhabit celestial mansions, waft upon fluffy light clouds and worship eternally. These images certainly beat the idea of eternal torment and suffering but do they truly present the activities we would choose to do forever, especially given the activities and tastes we have right now?

Here's a question: What if you got to live forever but you didn’t like the life you got to live?

The difficulty flows from two misunderstandings. First, popular images of heaven may not be correct, and secondly, “heaven” and “eternal life” are not the same things.

Jesus himself provided a reliable definition of eternal life: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) Nothing about clouds, songs, or heaven. Eternal life is knowing the Father and knowing Jesus. The Father has given Jesus the authority to grant eternal life, and Jesus’ definition is simply that we would come to know the Father and the Son.

So when does eternal life begin? If we can adjust our view to what Jesus has revealed, the answer, of course, is now. When we first turn toward God, we are entering into eternal life. When we turn away from our selfish choices and orientation and choose Jesus, we are entering into eternal life. When we grow in our relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are growing into eternal life.

When does a child know its mother? At birth? From within the womb? As a teenager? Earlier in the same gospel Jesus tells us that we cannot see or enter the Kingdom of God unless we are “born from above.” (John 3: 3 – 8) His choice of birth imagery is instructive: a child begins to perceive light and dark before birth. A child intuitively knows its mother’s voice and heartbeat before birth. Yet after the trauma of labor and delivery a child is characterized by what it does not know: the entire process of growth and maturity could be considered “getting to know” its parents.

This process of growth and knowledge continues even beyond childhood. Most adults realize that with each passing decade they come to “know” their parents more and more. I knew my father more fully after I became a father.

Our life in God is made possible by Jesus Christ. That life has its beginning when we are “born again,” and John’s gospel reminds us from the very beginning we are “born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” (John 1: 13) As we are born of Him, his intention is that we would spend every moment of eternal life growing in the grace and knowledge of Him.

So what about heaven? As we begin to experience eternal life through our walk with Jesus, he begins to work heaven into us even now. I may not know the details of what heaven “looks like,” but I have come to understand that heaven feels exactly like the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are the fruit of coming to know the Father and the Son, through living in the Spirit each day (see Galatians 5: 16 – 25)

I’m no longer troubled by the thought of heaven. Whatever it looks like and whatever he has for us to do, I can rest my relationship with him. As I cooperate with the Holy Spirit he is making fit for heaven, whatever that is!