HEARTS IN HEAVEN, HEADS ON EARTH
AIM: To exhort the congregation to press on toward the goal even in the midst of flesh.
OPEN:
a) (slowly)You’ll have noticed this morning that we have been singing songs all about heaven.
b) This is my favorite topic to sing about. It is everything that we hold as important.
c) It is our reason to go on living, our purpose, our meaning, our hope.
d) As I was reading through Paul’s letter to the Philippians, I decided that there was no better topic than this, for us to examine today.
e) The title of my lesson this morning, as you will see in the bulletin is
HEARTS IN HEAVEN, HEADS ON EARTH.
f) Review outline.
OUTLINE:
1. HEAVEN IS IN MY HEART (Phil. 1:19-30)
2. HARD PRESSED HERE (Phil 2:12-18; 3:2-6)
3. PRESSING ON TO THE PRIZE (Phil. 3:7-14)
1. HEAVEN IS IN MY HEART
a) Place a finger in the book of Philippians; this is where we are going to find our text for today.
b) Hope is one of the most important things in every person’s life.
c) Everybody has hope for something…
d) Some hope to win the lottery, some hope that the sun will rise tomorrow.
e) I hope that my car doesn’t break down.
f) You hope that I don’t go over time…
g) I hope that you don’t go to sleep…
h) Every body has hope in something at some point. Sometimes that hope is fulfilled, sometimes it is not.
i) The question is, do you have a hope that really matters?
j) Do you hope for heaven?
k) I can’t say for sure, but I think that every person on earth has at least questioned the existence of life after death.
l) Everyone at some point is going to ask, is there a heaven? Maybe that won’t be until a person is on their death bed, but every person wonders.
m) I know that there is a heaven!! I know it exists.
n) But what on earth is heaven? What is it that we sing about and hope for?
REFERENCES:
a) HEAVEN: according to Webster’s: the visible sky; the dwelling place of God and his angels where the blessed go after death; any place of state of great happiness.
b) Not bad for a worldly definition…but very impersonal. What is heaven?
c) The Hebrew word for heaven is SHIMAYIM; unseen celestial places
d) The Greek word for heaven is EPOURANIOS; above the sky, celestial or divine.
e) These are definitions, but they do not do heaven justice…let me talk for a moment about heaven…
Heaven is our hope, and that goes beyond all definitions of the word itself. To describe heaven is impossible for us to do because descriptions involve vision. Heaven is not something that we can see as with eyes. It is not something that we can describe as if it were touchable…heaven is spiritual, and being physical beings we are unable in all of our language to describe the scope and magnitude of heaven…but many in the bible have tried… those who have had it revealed to them gave us a glimpse into what it may be…not something that we would see, but something that goes even beyond our sight.
• One day the earth will come to a screeching halt.
• This day will come when no one expects it, there is no date, and there are no signs that point to it.
• This day will come like a thief in the night…unexpectedly
• The sky will rip open and God will come with the blast of a trumpet, and the dead will be rising
• We will be taken away with God to an indescribable place…
• A place that can only be weakly compared to the physical.
• A place where the walls are made of jasper, and the streets are paved with Gold
• A place where every kind of precious stone decorates the walls.
• A place where there will be no pain or sorrow,
• Where tears cannot fall and sadness cannot overcome
• Where darkness cannot enter.
• Where the impure cannot exist
• A place that, everyday has singing and joy.
• Where the angels sing the song of Moses and the Lamb
• Where we will receive and wear a crown of glory
THIS IS HEAVEN…TO BE WITH GOD.
f) Is heaven in your heart??? Is that your hope and goal in life???
g) Do you desire more than anything in this world to be with God in heaven???
h) Without this there is no hope…God created us to be with him, and He has given us his son to do just that.
i) Philippians1:21-24 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
j) Paul knew that his life was drawing to a close…He knew that the end was near, but for Paul it couldn’t come fast enough.
k) Paul had Heaven in his heart. He lived a life as one who desired heaven.
l) And he anticipated it more than anything else, save the growth of the kingdom of God.
m) Do we desire heaven like this?
n) Most people cannot face death, they fear it!!! They despise it.
o) But it is imminent. No one gets out of this world alive. We are all going to come to that point sooner or later in life…
p) But we do not like to think about that, we call it morbid. But is it? It is only a terrible thing, if death is the end of the line.
q) You’ve heard people have the conversation, How would you like to die?
r) Most would say, quick and painlessly…no one wants a long painful illness. But let me ask you, does it really matter?
s) Isn’t the outcome going to be the same?
t) If heaven is in our hearts, than we will not fear death. We will know that it comes to us no matter what, but we will desire to be with God in Paradise, far more than here on earth.
u) Won’t we want to die, to be with God?
v) No!!! If heaven is in our hearts, we will want to live long enough to make sure that we are helping as many other people to have heaven in their hearts.
w) We will want to live to be able to say. “20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed,”
x) Paul said something here…he said, I eagerly expect…in other words, he knew full well that he has nothing to be ashamed of…hope is being sure of that.
y) Can we say that we have heaven in our hearts, and we have nothing to be ashamed of because of it?
z) Let me ask you? Is heaven in your heart?
APPLICATION:
Are we torn between earth and heaven? Is it real to us? Do we really truly desire heaven? Or are we too afraid of death, and too caught up in this life to think about that? God has designed heaven for you and me. He has made a way for us to be there with Him, and that needs to be prevalent in our minds. It needs to be a thought that is constantly with us…we need to be saying; “ to live is Christ, and to die is gain” because to be with God in heaven requires us to live Christ on earth.
But it is hard…it is difficult to think this way because we live here on earth. And while we are here, we are hard pressed on every side.
2. HARD PRESSED HERE
a) We, unfortunately, live in a world that hates to think about death.
b) A place that shuns it. An a theistic world that refuses to think about whether or not there is a heaven.
c) A place that is constantly seeking after physical pleasure and misleading people to believe happiness can be found in a bottle, or at the last drag of a joint.
d) A place that is saying that the golden rule is to look out for yourself alone.
e) We are immersed in this ocean of flesh. We are constantly bombarded with temptation and sin.
f) Where Christianity is condemned and homosexuality has a louder voice.
g) Where immorality runs rampant, and God is forgotten.
h) What a world we live in…it’s no wonder we find it so hard to have heaven in our hearts…
i) But that is no excuse…we live in this world, but our hearts don’t have to.
SCRIPTURES AND REFERENCES:
a) Colossians 2:20-3:10
20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21 "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? 22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
b) Yes we live in this world, but no we do not have to be mastered by it.
c) If we begin to think now of the glory of God, and focus on living to bring as many others to that glory as we can, then we will naturally want to reject this world and all of it’s lies.
d) Philippians 2:12b-16a
continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life
3:2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh
e) Our salvation is our hope and purpose and happiness in this life. We need to be constantly working on that salvation.
f) And in doing this we will be striving to live with heaven in our hearts.
g) But how? How do we do these things? How do we work out our salvation? How do we overcome the world?
h) Flee from it…we are told in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians to flee from immorality…the very essence of the flesh…and that means we run.. we tuck tale and run.
i) All to often we think, No, I can handle a little of this worldliness. But no, God says to flee from it.
j) Paul says here in Philippians 3:2 to watch out for those dogs, the men who do evil and mutilate the flesh…
k) That means always being alert…1 Peter 5:8 says be self-controlled and alert because the devil is on the prowl…
l) WAKE UP…don’t get lost in the fog of this world waiting to be pounced on by the Devil…WAKE UP.
m) Not only that, but don’t listen to the lies of the world…O, c’mon it’s not that bad, everybody’s doing it. It’ll feel great, you know you want it…you deserve it…
n) Don’t let the world deceive you into believing that your hope will be fulfilled if you just give in, that is a blatant lie!!! And no one likes being lied to.
o) The world would have you place confidence in it, but Like Paul says, if Heaven is in our hearts, and we belong to God, then we have no confidence in the flesh.
EXAMPLE: The ship in the see of life…(expound)
APPLICATION:
It is hard for us to put heaven in our hearts when we are being hard pressed on every side. When we are surrounded by the world, and are swimming in the deep ocean of the flesh. But we have an anchor that keeps us fast, all we need do is hold to that anchor. Jesus is that anchor, and he is the way to heaven. When we have heaven in our hearts, we will be buffeted by the waves of the world, but we will overcome. We just need to hold on for dear eternal life…and press on!!!
3. PRESSIN’ ON FOR THE PRIZE
a) Keep on keeping on.
b) As hard as it may seem to have heaven in our hearts, we need to keep on striving.
c) Without heaven we have no hope…and we need to hold fervently to hope.
d) We need to be pressing on as to win the prize.
SCRIPTURES AND REFERENCES:
a) Philippians 3:7-14
7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
b) Nothing compares to knowing Christ, no matter what the world has to offer.
c) Nothing can live up to the status of knowing Christ, this is because Christ is the only way to heaven, and heaven is the only true hope in life.
d) Jesus is…
• Our reason for existing
• Our only way to heaven,
• Our teacher, and father, and brother
• He is our Strength
• The word of life
• The one who alone has the words of eternal life.
• The one who prepares a place of us in heaven
• He is our Peace
• He is our life
• He is our very existence.
• He is the light in the darkness
• The hope for the hopeless
• The strength for the striving
• The lover of my soul.
• Jesus is everything to me
e) Do you know my Jesus? If not, then you do not have heaven in your heart.
f) Paul knew Jesus, and in his life, He did everything he could to stay with Him.
g) We sing this verse…10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
h) His goal, His vision his hope was to know Christ, and to share in the power of his resurrection. Even to suffer as Jesus suffered, and to die as Jesus died. And in doing so to rise again into paradise with Christ.
i) Our goal is much the same…to know Christ personally, to understand that his resurrection means our resurrection… that His death means victory over death so that we too can live forever with him.
j) Our hope is heaven, and Christ is the only way to get there.
k) 2 Corinthians 4:7
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
l) If heaven is in our hearts than we have been given the Spirit of God as a seal guaranteeing our approval in heaven.
m) And this is the treasure in our lives…No matter how much the world presses on us to conform, as long as we have Heaven in our hearts we will not be crushed. We will be over comers.
n) And then life is at work in us as we hold on to Christ. Then Heaven is always in our vision as we press on to the prize and overcome the world. 12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
o) We need to press on just as paul did, even in the midst of this world, and hold on to the hope that if we are in God heaven belongs to us.
p) Romans 8:35-39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
q) Nothing can separate us from God, so long as we hold to him. We have been made more than conquerors in life, able to overcome the world.
APPLICATION:
As hard as it may seem to have heaven in our hearts, we need to keep on striving. We need to hold heaven as first and foremost in our lives. That means we are holding on to Christ. Even in the midst of all of this flesh. This life is likened to a race, and if we want to finish the race so as to gain the prize we need to press on. We need to conquer. We need to overcome.
CONCLUSION:
Our hearts need to be in heaven while our heads are here on earth. We need to desire to be with God in paradise and not be distracted by the world around us. We need to keep our eyes on the prize and act as victors and over comers in this life. Because when we have Christ in our lives, then this time here on earth is only a transition. As difficult as it may be, with all of it’s temptations, and trials. With all of the persecution and waves of doubt. With all of the deception of where happiness truly comes from. We need to hold to the anchor of Christ. We need to press on as though to win the prize of heaven which God has laid before us. HAVE YOUR HEARTS IN HEAVEN WHEN YOUR HEAD’S ON EARTH
INVITATION
