Second Class Citizens
THE LORD FINDS US TO SAVE US: November 3, 2019
All Saints Sunday
If you strain ever so carefully, you can hear it — the joyful music of the heavenly triumph song sounding in the distance, and people are singing with gusto. Christ is coming!
This Sunday Christ's Church pauses to remember that we are pilgrims on earth, and Jesus is returning to take us to heaven. Heaven is our home; that's where we rightfully belong, and that’s what God is preparing for us who believe. That truth may be lost during the day to day grind, but not today. Sunday’s service has no intention to drag God down to us, but every intention of lifting us to God.
At the heart of God's Word is the central truth that God's saints - all believers - will enjoy a resurrection to a heavenly afterlife. They will live and reign with Christ from the moment they enter heaven. That language is taken directly from our Revelation lesson, in which God prepares a new heaven and new earth and then makes his home with us. In this new heavenly home there will be no more death, crying or pain.
By way of contrast, this world is a cesspool of sin and a vale of tears. On earth, Christians carry patiently their crosses and endure second class treatment from the world. Christ’s future reward will be worth the wait. Hebrews describes the terrible treatment God’s believers endured through faith. This world doesn’t deserve us! God is preparing something better for his elect.
Nevertheless, believers are often inclined to sell out God rather than suffer rejection by the world. With striking imagery, Jesus describes the poor, the hungry, the weeping, the hated, the insulted, the rejected as those who stand to inherit a heavenly home that is far greater. Stay the course! Stand up for Jesus! Heaven is worth the wait.
► Readings:
• Revelation 21:1-6: A new heaven and a new earth.
• Hebrews 11:32-40: God plans something better for his saints.
• Luke 6:20-23: Great is your reward in heaven.
• Psalm: 63
► Sermon theme: "Second Class Citizens"