"what On Earth Will We Do In Heaven?"

“What on Earth will we do in Heaven?”

1st Corinthians 10:31, Rev. 7:9-10, Matthew 25:23

The ministry of Dr. Billy Graham began when he was 28 years of age. He died one year ago this month at the age of 99. So he preached the gospel for 70 years. He is a hero to me and many other pastors. In his lifetime he preached to over 200 million people in 185 countries. Years ago someone asked Dr. Graham what he planned to do as soon as he got to heaven. He simply said, “I plan to lie down and sleep about 100 years.”

Isaac Asimov, the science fiction writer --- also known as an atheist, said “I don’t believe in the afterlife so I don’t spend my whole life fearing Hell. Then he said an interesting thing …. He said whatever the tortures of Hell will be like, I believe the boredom of Heaven would be even worse. I think it is a question every one of us have asked at some point …. What on earth will we do when we get to Heaven? Well first let’s look at a few popular ideas about what we will do in Heaven.

Idea #1. God is boring so Heaven will be dull. Some have come to the conclusion that Heaven must be as dull as watching paint dry. They also have the false idea that Hell will be like on big party. Both of these conclusions are false. Let me ask you….. Have you ever found yourself in a conversation with someone, perhaps you didn’t know will came to the conclusion of man, this is really boring conversation I made your seated next the dinner party— the conversation is just less than exciting minutes seem like ours and convinced that it will never end. It leads me to this conclusion.

1. There is nothing exciting about Hell and Satan and living with Him forever. Hell is a place where people are completely removed from the presence of God…. no hope. No future. I have even heard people comment “well that’s where all my friends are going and I want to be with them.” The problem is you will not know them.

2. There is nothing boring about God and there will be nothing boring about Heaven. Heaven is a place where everything will be

• Good…. Forever

• Beautiful beyond our imagination

• Refreshing

• Exciting.

Why? Because that is the kind of God we serve.

Idea #2. Heaven will be monotonous. Some are convinced that no matter how exciting heaven may be …. Doing the same thing over and over for all of eternity will become monotonous. They say too much of a good thing isn’t good …. It’s boring. There is a country song that tells the story of a guy that gets pulled over by the police --- he has 14 people in the back of his pick-up truck and the office writes him a ticket. He charges him with having too much fun. He responds by saying:

Too much fun, what’s that mean?

It’s like too much money; there’s no such thing

It’s like a girl too pretty or being too lucky or having a car that’s too fast

Then he closes by saying no matter what they say I’ve done,

I ain’t never had too much fun.

For at least a generation now children have had access to a house full of video games, movies, board games, sports equipment. Yet many times we still hear them say, “Mom, Dad I’m bored! I don’t have anything to do. So because THIS life can seem monotonous or boring we come to the false conclusion that Heaven will be also. But nothing could be further from the truth. Life can be monotonous for some and they then assume life in heaven will be just as boring.

G. K Chesterton has some interesting thoughts about this. For me 3 of our grandkids were in town last week. I realized once again that there were and are some things they never grew tired of doing. And I have noticed this will all children. My grandson, Jack likes to bounce in my lap. And then I pretend I’m going to drop him but of course I don’t and he knows I won’t. He just laughs really loud and then smiles and says do it again Papaw. Do it again. So we do. I have never won at that game. I always give out before they do. It simply does not grow old to them.

Chesterton makes that point children love to repeat things ---- nothing has to change and for them it could just go on forever. For us as adults, it can be tiring. But Heaven will be a different place, God is unchanging so picture this … He says perhaps it is possible that God says every day to the sun …. Do it again! And every day to the moon, do it again. Then He says this …. Maybe God has an eternal appetite like children do for those things. We on the other hand ---- we have sinned and grown old and our heavenly Father is younger than we are. Now think about that. Sin destroys. Holiness perfects. God is being made new every day. We are not. Not now.