We’re going to begin in Proverbs, chapter 22, verse 1. “A good name- a name that is held in high regard – is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.” Notice the verse says a good name is chosen. How is it chosen? A good name is chosen by what you do, what you say, and to some degree, by your circle of friends.
For example, if a member of a notorious biker came to town and asked for you because you were best friends, what would people think about you? Or, if the president of St. Judes Hospital was in town and dropped by just to spend time with you, what would people think about you? Yes, you play a personal role in your good name but so do those around you..
Serena Williams is regarded as the best or one of the best professional female tennis players in the world today. She is known for her powerful backhand and for the speed and accuracy of her overhand serve. In the 1980s – I know I’m showing my age – Jon McEnroe was the best professional men’s tennis player in the world – hands down. But he is remembered more for his routine confrontations with the judges than for his skills on the court.
As a child, I heard about Althea Gibson, who many considered to be the best professional female tennis player of her time – the 1930s through the 1950s. She is fondly remembered as the “Jackie Robinson” of professional tennis.
Now, I mention Williams, McEnroe and Gibson as a foundation for talking about Arthur Ashe. He was the first black player selected to the US Davis Cup team and the only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. But his accomplishments on the court are not why I am talking about him.
In 1983, Ashe under went heart bypass surgery. The blood that he received during the surgery was infected with the HIV virus. At that time, blood was not tested for HIV like it is today. He died of AIDS in 1993. But before his death, he completed his memoir, Days of Grace. The first two sentences of his book are why I wanted to talk about him.
“If one’s reputation is a possession, then of all my possessions, my reputation means most to me. Nothing comes even close to it in importance.”
Ashe wanted the public to know why he was dying of AIDS. He had not been involved in a lifestyle that increased the chances of getting the HIV virus. Ashe was leaving his wife and daughter to mourn for him. He wrote his memoir for them because his reputation, for their sakes, had to remain unblemished.
Williams, Gibson, and Ashe created positive reputations. McEnroe, not so much.
Everyday, we are creating our reputations too – in heaven.
For the next few minutes, we’re going to look at three examples, from scripture, of men whose reputations are recorded in heaven.
Enoch
Turn with me to Genesis 5. We’re going to read about Enoch. We’re going to read verses 21 through 24.
(21) And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:
(22) And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
(23) and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
(24) and Enoch walked with God: and he was not, for God took him.
What is Enoch’s reputation in heaven? He walked with God. There is no walking with God without being in complete agreement with Him and we know this from the record in Amos when God was upset with Israel for repeatedly disobeying Him. In verse 3 God asked “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”
Now, let’s see what else Enoch is known for in heaven. Turn to Hebrews 11. We’re going to read verses five and six.
(5) By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
(6) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
As we see in these verses, Enoch also has the reputation in heaven that he pleased God. Wow! This is so important. What pleases God? Faith! So, what these verses tell us is that Enoch had complete and unwavering faith in God.
What we have just read about Enoch – I call them signature statements.
A signature statement is usually a recognizable feature of an artist or designer, or a wearer, which appears in all of his or her work, or in everything that the person wears. In heaven, Enoch’s signature statements were that he faithfully walked with God and that he pleased God.
Wouldn’t you like for that to be recorded in heaven about you?
Now let’s look at signature statements about Moses and David that speak to their reputations in heaven.
Moses
First up, Moses. We are going to read three signature statements that God made about His relationship with Moses. Now let this sink in: these are the words that God used when He talked about Moses. In Deuteronomy 34:10 we read:
“And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”
God says He knew Moses face to face! What this describes to me is an intimate relationship between the Creator and His creation. Moses is the only person, who was not born again, that is described this way in scripture. The only one! And ladies and gentlemen, this is the kind of relationship that the Creator, our Father, desires with each one of us.
Now turn to Numbers 12. We’re going to read verse 3 first and then verses 7 and 8.
“(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)”
God says there was not one person on earth who was meeker than Moses. Not one! And we know that a person who is meek in God’s eyes is humble, obedient and looks at things the same way God looks at things.
Now this next reference to Moses, in my mind, is staggering because it is made about a man who has a sin nature. It’s said about a man who was spiritually dead. Now jump down to verse 7.
(7) My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
(8) With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches …
God says Moses was faithful in His house. He’s talking about being faithful to the house of Israel, to the children of Israel. And that’s why God was able to speak to him mouth to mouth, or as we read in Deuteronomy 34:10, face to face.
Now turn to Psalm 103, verse 7.
He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
I love what this verse communicates. Taking into consideration what we read about Moses in Deuteronomy and Numbers – how God knew him face to face, that he was the meekest person on earth, and that God spoke to him mouth to mouth – we see the relationship that allowed God to explain His ways to him, to explain why He did what He did. In heaven, these are the signature statements that God made about Moses.
The sad thing for me when I read this verse is that there are so many Christians, so many of God’s children, who still don’t know and understand His ways. They still attributes things to God that they shouldn’t, like being sick or diseased as way to teach them to trust God more. That’s devilish thinking.
David
The last person we’re going we is King David. So, turn with me to First Samuel chapter 13. Let’s pick the record up with verse 13 and also read verse 14.
(13) And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever.
(14) But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD has sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee.
The prophet Samuel told King Saul that the Lord was seeking a new king – one whose heart for the children of Israel was just like His heart for the children of Israel. God sought a king who would take care of His people just like He would if He were on earth. In heaven, David’s testimony, his signature statement, is that he had God’s heart for God’s people.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe this is missing, for the most part, in the Church today. We are more interested in what God will do for us more than finding out what we can do to help the sinner learn about Him. It’s heart breaking.
Now turn to First Kings chapter 15, verse 5.
“Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.”
Based on what we just read, what is David’s reputation in heaven? He did what was right in God’s eyes and he did what God commanded him to do, from the time God made him king until his death, except for his sin involving Uriah the Hittite. If you’re taking notes, you can read about this in Second Samuel 11 & 12. David created and established this reputation in heaven.
Now, let’s look at three more verses about David and each talks about the same thing.
First, turn to Psalms 19, verse 14.
“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.”
Now turn to Psalms 119, verse 97.
“O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.”
And finally, Psalms 119, verse 99.
“I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.”
These three verses, to me, point to the reason why David was a man after God’s own heart. In heaven, David’s is the man who loved to read, meditate and assimilate God’s Word. Think about that. A person who loves spending time with the scriptures is known in heaven!
So, my questions to you ladies and gentlemen is this: “What are you creating and establishing for heaven to record about you?”
This is what I love about our Father. He knows our potential and He gives us, in writing, what’s available as part of our inheritance as we co-labor with Him. And another thing I love about our Father – He knows that we have the potential to live in the fullness of all of our inheritance!
Let’s see some of the signature statements that our Father has made available to us.
John 14:12
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”
Our Father says that we have the potential to do every single work that Jesus did while He was here on earth. The potential is inside of us. Our job is to believe it – to pull it out. Will your record in heaven say you believed on Jesus an did His works?
Romans 8:35-37
(35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
(36) As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
(37) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Our Father tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ! And He drives the point home by telling us, it’s because of Christ’s love for us that we are more than conquerors when we face hardships. Will your record in heaven say you lived in Christ’s love and were a conqueror in this world?
Philippians 2:14-16a
(14) Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
(15) that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
(16) holding forth the word of life …
Will heaven say that you lived a humble and yielded life to God? Will your signature statement in heaven be that you were a beacon of hope in a world darkened by the sin nature”?
Colossians 3:1-3
(1) If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
(2) Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
(3) For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Our Father commands us to not only seek the things of the kingdom of heaven, but to make them our heart’s desire. But, we must be dead to the things of this world first to fully obey Him. Will your record in heaven say you hungered and yearned for the things of heaven so much so that you were dead to the things of the world?
Hebrews 10:35-36
(35) Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.
(36) For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
The word patience in the Greek is hupomone and means “to endure” through the trial knowing that God’s Word is true and that it always accomplishes His Will. Will your testimony in heaven be that once you understood the will of God, you never gave up or wavered on its truth?
James 1:12
Blessed is the man is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Will your record in heaven say that you loved God so much that you were given the crown of life?
1 Peter 1:13-16. This is the last passage that we will look at.
(13) Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
(14) as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your go ignorance:
(15) but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
Will your testimony, your signature statement, in heaven be that you loved the Lord so much that you lived a life of obedience [yieldedness] and holiness to Him?
Ladies and gentlemen, this was just a sampling of the reputations, testimonies, signature statements that our Father has hand picked for us. Now it’s up to us to get with the Holy Spirit and to learn the best way to access them.
Oh, let the fun begin!!!!
