Tonight, I would like to spend some time together thinking about eternity. To help us begin to wrap our minds around this huge topic, I want to start off by just brainstorming what comes to mind when we see or hear this word. What comes to mind? What do you feel?
***Allow a few minutes to share***
Eternity can often be a very uncomfortable topic to discuss for a lot of people. I know for myself growing up, I used to have many sleepless nights worrying about what eternity would be like, asking where I would go and what would happen. Often Hell is either a scary topic for most people or a humorous one for others. I think Christians tend have one of two approaches to talking about Hell; either they avoid the topic or they put too much emphasis on it.
On the flip side, even Heaven can be rather scary thing to think about at times. I mean, an eternity is a really long time and at times the thought of singing forever, as awesome as singing is, can be a little overwhelming. People think of heaven sometimes as sitting on clouds and just floating around, that doesn’t sound much fun.
All and all, I think many are overwhelmed with the idea of eternity simply because it’s a big unknown when it comes to specifics. Most who have a relationship with God would agree pretty quickly that there will be an eternity in Heaven for some and an eternity in Hell for others, but when you start talking about what they look like specifically, everybody has different opinions as one denomination says this and another denomination says that and then you have everything in between.
For our time tonight, I don’t want to get into debates about the specifics, but instead I want to rest in the common agreement that there is an eternity that consists of Heaven or Hell. From there, I want to turn our attention to something that I think a lot of people who have a relationship with Christ overlook when it comes to the issue of eternity. I know at least personally, it is an idea that is relatively new to me and has changed the way I think about eternity that I think is for the better.
In my opinion, I think one of the biggest misconceptions that a lot of people buy into today is that eternity is a future matter; Heaven and Hell are future places that we will go to when we die; and then everything in our lives, when we have a relationship with Christ, is based on getting into Heaven and avoiding going to Hell. Again, notice the future tense there. Now, before you get up and leave because you think I am saying there is no after life or anything like that, let me explain the misconception at hand. The piece that so many of us miss is the fact that eternity, Heaven AND Hell, are not only future matters, but instead they are both present realities in our world and our lives on a daily basis. Living in eternity does not start when we die, it has already begun and we choose what part of eternity we live in everyday!
Matthew 4:17, records the words that Jesus began to teach as He started His public ministry. “Repent! For the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” (MKJ) This Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus spoke of was not something off in the distance and it was not describing some place or realm. Instead, Jesus was referring to a present reality, something that was here and at hand. One writer says of this phrase that, “the kingdom is something that happens rather than something that exists.” The first words of the public ministry of Jesus talk about a present reality of Heaven.
Right after Jesus begins preaching this message, he begins to recruit followers asking them to, “Come, follow me.” Crowds begin to gather around Him wherever He goes as he continues to preach this message, “The Kingdom of Heaven is here!” Eventually, Jesus decides it is time to go into more details about this Kingdom of Heaven and so he heads up to a mountainside and begins to teach his disciples and anyone else who wants to listen. This teaching is known as the Sermon on the Mount and is the longest teaching that we have from Jesus that has been recorded. And again, what is the topic of this more direct teaching? Living in the Kingdom of Heaven!
The Sermon on the Mount goes on to cover such a wide variety of issues that are all are concerned with living in the Kingdom of Heaven, in a present reality. Jesus talks about living as salt and light in the world, He talks about following God’s law, anger, sexuality, worry, money, spirituality, and a broad range of issues that come up in relationships. All of this is all about living in line with God’s Kingdom and following Jesus’ example as the head of this present Kingdom. Jesus is not preparing these people for death and the afterlife; He is preparing them for life now in the Kingdom that they may continue there in the next life.
In Luke 17:20-21, Jesus entertains an intriguing question from the Pharisee’s, the religious leaders, that is not unlike a question that many of us have a habit of getting caught up in. The Pharisee’s approach Jesus and ask, “When will the Kingdom of God come?” In a lot of ways, the Pharisee’s were asking a question about the specifics and were focused on a future reality that was to come. Jesus instead responds by saying this, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs. You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.” In other words, it’s not something that is coming, it’s not something to look for or wait for, and it’s not something that is only in certain places. Instead, it is everywhere, a present reality. “It is already among you.” The challenge to us all is to live in that present Kingdom of Heaven as we wait the return of its King. Eternity in Heaven has already begun, the question is, are you living in it?
Going back to our agreement earlier, eternity does not only consist of Heaven, but also of Hell, in a present, very real sense. Hell, even more so than Heaven, seems to be connected solely to that of death and we often miss the present reality of it that we are living in everyday.
A few years ago, I took my youth group to this event which had a speaker who favored the “hell, fire, and brimstone” approach of sharing the story of Jesus with nonbelievers. The speaker went on and on talking about death and asking students if they knew where they were going to go. “You don’t want to spend an eternity in Hell,” he exclaimed. “You need to make a choice right now so that you don’t spend an eternity in Hell. Your bus could crash on the way home and because you waited to follow Jesus, you will be in Hell forever.”
As this guy was finishing this rant, which let me add quickly that I believe his heart was at the right place, one of my seventh grade girls looked over at me with the hint of tears in her eyes and asked, “Am I gunna die today.” Emotionally, she was rattled and scared, and I don’t feel that it was in a good way. This young woman was not excited about a relationship with Christ; she was terrified about Hell and death.
I know this method of evangelism is debated and there are different opinions out there. I also believe that God uses different things for different people but I have always been leery of this approach myself and it has been cemented more with this idea of eternity being a present reality. Did you know that the only times Jesus used the word Hell was when he was talking to Christians and to religious people like the Pharisees? Again, what was the message that Jesus preached? “Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Not, “Repent and avoid Hell.” Jesus never used the scare tactic but instead talked about Hell as a contrast to the Kingdom of Heaven. In other words, live in the present reality of Heaven or in the present reality of Hell.
What is even more interesting about Jesus’ use of the word Hell was that, the Jews listening to Him talk about it would not have thought about a future reality but a present reality. The word Jesus used most often that is translated ‘hell’ was the Aramaic word ‘gehenna’ which referred to the Valley of Hinnom. This valley, everyone would have known, was the area dump right outside the walls of Jerusalem. This dump was filled with garbage and was constantly burning as the people tried to get rid of the trash and awful smell. Not only was trash dumped in this place, but animal and human remains were thrown in the valley as well. This place stank of burning flesh and it was full of worms and disgusting and vile things. To anyone listening to Jesus, Hell, Gehenna, was a present reality with a number of connotations and images that would have struck the listener hard.
Again, this place of Hell was a contrast to living in the Kingdom of Heaven. Going back to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talked about anger and compared it to murder. He stated, “If you call someone a fool, you are in danger of the fire of Gehenna.” Moments later, Jesus, as he talked about lust, stated that, “It is better to cut out your eye or hand than for your whole body to be thrown into Gehenna,” – a present tense, Hell on earth.
In Matthew 23:15, Jesus is ranting and raving at the Pharisees and he yells at them calling them hypocrites and then bluntly says this. “You cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of [Gehenna] you yourselves are!” Again, the thoughts that went through their heads would not have been a future thing but a present reality. In other words, what Jesus is saying is that the Pharisees are not teaching people to live in the Kingdom of Heaven, but instead in garbage, in death, and in filth – Hell on Earth. Hell is a present reality that is all around us as we cut one another down, as we lust and misuse God’s gift of sexuality and as we give into temptations. Every time we disobey God and go against him, we are living and promoting Hell on Earth. Eternity in Hell has too already begun, are you willingly living in the garbage dump?
Everyday, all of us are faced over and over again with the decision of which eternity we will live in. It is not only a question about the future but it is a question of a present reality. Are we going to live in the eternity of Heaven and follow God? Or are we going to live in the eternity of Hell and fill ours and other people’s lives with garbage? The decision to follow God is not a once in a lifetime decision with eternal consequences but instead a lifetime of daily decisions that are rooted in a present eternity of Hell or Heaven. Eternity has already begun, what part are you living in?
