Will we work in Heaven?

Will we work in Heaven? At first glance this seems like a pretty abstract question quite unrelated to the nitty gritty of the here & now. But it isn’t. It is hard to love something that will not last - something that “doesn’t matter” in the eternal scheme of things. If work is solely part of this broken fallen world we live in – a have to, rather then a get to – it is a curse from which we will be liberated in glory. And thus work has more to do with Hell than with Heaven. With this mindset, is it any wonder that some Christians go through the motions in their jobs?

            There is no question that sin has corrupted our work. In consequence of their disobedience God did curse work. Our work now has an element of “painful toil” and the frustrations of “thorns and thistles” and a “great increase in the pains of childbearing” (Genesis 3:16-19). But I don’t need to convince you that work can be frustrating. I do however, need to convince you that work has an element of holiness, an element of eternity within it. Or at least I need to be convinced of this!

            As a child I imagined Heaven being a place of golden harps and white fluffy clouds – a land of unceasing worship – a never ending round of “Shine Jesus Shine”. I dropped this view because honestly at 15 it sounded more like Hell than Heaven to me! (Which exposes both the shallowness of my view of worship and the fickle nature of my affections for Christ.) As a young man Heaven became a land of “sanctified self-indulgence”. Sort of like a never ending cruise. Delicious food and drink, blue oceans, white sandy beaches, beautiful people, sports, entertainment, a land of leisure and play. A place to be served, to rest, to laugh and to never ever have to lift a finger to work again. Leland Ryken in his book Redeeming the Time: A Christian Approach to Work & Leisure writes, “the brief pictures of the future life that the Bible gives us provide no hint of work but only an abundance of feasting and celebration. In addition to the rest that remains for the people of God (Hebrews 4:9-10), there is play and festivity.” There is some Biblical support for this view. Consider:

^ESV Zechariah 8:5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.

^ESV Jeremiah 30:19a Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving, and the voices of those who celebrate.

^ESV Jeremiah 31:4, 13 Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. … 13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.

            Heaven will certainly be a place of great festivity, celebration and joy! But our view of Heaven is impoverished if we selectively quote the Scriptures. It is quite clear that work does continue in Heaven. Consider these scriptures:

^ESV Jeremiah 31:5 Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit.

^ESV Isaiah 65:17, 21-23 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. ¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. …. ²¹ They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ²² They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy¹ the work of their hands. ²³ They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity,¹ for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them.

            We need to reconsider our view of Heaven. The Scriptures describe Heaven as a place of leisure and work. But something glorious has happened. The curse has been lifted and work is no longer frustrating. In fact it seems that in Heaven work and leisure overlap! Heaven is a place where our avocation (what we most enjoy doing) and our vocation (what we do for living) overlap! If this is so, let give our very best efforts to our current vocations. For in doing so we not only glorify God we prepare for Heaven.

When it comes to Work & Leisure, Integrity Trumps Efficiency

There has never been a generation on the earth that has been so preoccupied with efficiency and “time-saving” devices. Most of the new products we buy promise to make current tasks faster and more efficient. Yet despite decades of innovation and the invention of many “time-saving” devices we’ve rarely felt so time starved! I read recently of a study that indicated that Americans talk about rest & sleep in similar ways that a hungry person talks about food.

            Writing in the mid 90’s when pagers were in their heyday and before the advent of smart-phones, Leland Ryken said, “time-saving devices have consumed our time instead of freeing it up.” Now I am personally a fan of smart phones. My phone has increased my efficiency and effectiveness – both for work & home. But I would not say that my phone is a “time-saving” device in the pure sense that it has freed up some time for me. Instead, I find myself doing more. And to the bane of my one-track mind, I am “multi-tasking” more than ever.

            In our day work and leisure have blended. The advantage of a device like a smart-phone or laptop is that you can work anytime and anywhere. Of course, being able to work anytime and anywhere also means we can work all the time from everywhere! The lines between work & play are becoming blurred. While at work we can engage in leisure activities like checking the news, Face book, or playing a game. While playing, we can check our work emails, be reflecting on a problem at work, or in other ways get things checked off our “to-do” list. The trouble is that leisure and work have blended. And thus we neither work nor rest well.

            Recently in my personal time with the Lord I’ve been reading Ecclesiastes. The third chapter begins:

^ESV Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: ² a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; ….

Could we add: “a time to work and a time to rest”? Perhaps it is time to acknowledge that some things should not be multitasked. From my experience, rest is ruined when I start multi-tasking. And my work efficiency and effectiveness drop when I add elements of leisure into my work. Perhaps I would actually feel less frantic if I did not check my work email during times of rest and did not check my face book (or other leisure activity) during work? I’m not trying to create a new rule or regulation for my life – rather I’m attempting a mindset or attitude change: When at work – work! When at rest – rest! Integrity should trump efficiency.

            LeLand Ryken in his book Redeeming the Time wrote, “Today the confusion has deepened: we worship our work, work at our play, and play at our worship.” Christ is our Lord. He is the Lord of our work, our play & our worship. So let us live lives of integrity. Let us give Christ our undivided attention – especially when we gather with the saints for corporate worship. Then having gathered for worship, let us scatter to worship. Giving glory to God in our work by giving our employer our best. And giving glory to God in our play / rest knowing that Jesus Christ is Lord of the Sabbath.

Why “Christian” and “Risk Taker” Should be Synonymous

I’ve been reading through the Bible in a year on my smart phone using one of plans offered free through YouVersion. https://www.youversion.com/ Recently, the reading was from that obscure Old Testament book “Ecclesiastes”. Here is the enigmatic advice the preacher gives:

^ESV Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. ² Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. ³ If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. ⁴ He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. ⁵ As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb¹ of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. ⁶ In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

The passage begins, “Cast your bread upon the waters” – what does that mean!?! The last time I tossed bread onto a pond I was feeding geese. But here the preacher says after many days you’ll find it again. Frankly, I’m not sure I would want to find that soggy bread after many days! Nasty! Of course, the Scriptures aren’t referring to feeding geese or to nasty moldy mush. The wise preacher is advising the reader to take a risk.

Throughout his short book the preacher has been arguing that all is vanity. (Eccl. 1:2) Life is short, most of the important questions / mysteries of life cannot be decisively answered. Since this is true and because life is so uncertain, act! Do something! Take a risk. “Cast your bread upon the waters”. Risk your fortune on something – even something as risky as a sea venture. Do something! Just don’t sit on your hands doing nothing! Disaster may happen at any moment. But don’t live in fear of disaster -a tree falls where it will (v3) so maybe you ought not to put all your eggs in one basket (v2). Don’t over analyze things. If you wait for perfection you’ll never do anything – never start planting your fields (v4)!

“My name is Josh, and I’m a perfectionist.” There I said it. The cat is out of the bag. I’m the sort of person who will attempt to become an expert on something before I actually try doing it. I hate failure - absolutely loath it. I’ll play it safe and gather every scrap of data I can find about a subject before I attempt to do something about it. To put it another way – I’m the opposite of Apostle Peter. Conservative. Cautious. Detail orientated. Valuing Excellence. I enjoy tinkering – working to get things 10% better. All in pursuit of that elusive goal: perfection. Absence of risk. Guaranteed result. Proficiency. A quip my electrician grandpa made when I was helping him on the job site has become my mantra: “perfect is good enough”.

The bottom line is that you can’t mitigate all risk. And in fact it is counterproductive to delay action until you’re an expert. Most things in life you won’t become proficient at unless you’ve tried & failed hundreds of times. Many Christians live in fear of “evangelism”. After all, we’re talking about peoples’ eternal destinies here – this is serious stuff! You don’t want to mess it up. What if I said the wrong thing? What if I accidently drove them further from Christ instead of to Him? I’m not an expert here. I don’t have much experience. Speaking for Jesus is a big deal. I better leave it to the experts, I’d just mess it up.

Such thoughts are as far from the gospel and the Christian ethos as you can be. Do you remember Levi the tax collector? The moment after his conversion he threw a party in honor of Jesus and invited tax collectors and other sinners. I wonder if Levi, the newest intern, botched his sermon/toast that night? But it doesn’t matter. The point is – Levi acted. He did something. It seems to me evangelism is to be like that. Evangelism is inherently messy and inefficient. You scatter seed and probably only one out of four will take root. (Parable of the 4 Soils – Luke 8).

Sharing the gospel is a serious thing. Peoples’ eternal destinies depend on it. But the fact of its weightiness or importance should not discourage risk taking it should promote it. If there was ever something worthy of risk-taking it is evangelism. You’re going to fail. I’m going to fail, but not every time. “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.” Casting bread / sowing seed can seem like such a worthless activity. But give it time. Do not lose heart. For “the Word of God shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)

Hey, if you’re around the Evansville area – join us this Sunday (8/18) at 10:00am for a service in the park. And next Thursday (8/22) at 7:00pm we’re hosting a free concert at the Performing Arts Center at the High School. The Durocher Family band is coming to town. Should be a great evangelistic event! www.DurocherFamilyMusic.com  

Our work matters

In his preface to his book Heaven is a Place on Earth Michael Wittmer writes, “This book is about the meaning in life. A slew of Christian books already address the meaning of life.” Do you have meaning in life? In my time of private worship this morning I read an interesting verse:

^ESV Ecclesiastes 5:18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment¹ in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.

In other words, amidst all the transience and impermanence of life, to have meaning in life is to find enjoyment in your “lot” in life. With joy to fully engage in the work that God has placed before you.

I’m sorry to say that many Christians I know are not any more joy-filled in their work than those who reject Christ and ignore the counsel of the Bible. I think this is a great tragedy and does much damage to the gospel witness of the believers in this world. The old adage is, “He’s so heavenly minded that he’s of no earthly good!” comes to mind.

There are no doubt many reasons why believers lack joy in their work. It could be a failure to walk in step with the Spirit (who would bear the fruit of joy, peace, patience, etc. if we did – Galatians 5:22-23). It could be that the Adversary enticed us into a lucrative field that doesn’t match our gifts or our passions (and thus our work is extraordinarily frustrating). It could be that the curse of the Fall has infested our work in the form of weeds, rust, malware, and tech glitches. Or it could be still something else. But one thing that I’m determined as a pastor that it will not be is an inadequate or unbiblical view of work.

One reason many believers lack joy in their work is because they believe that the only meaningful work is “spiritual” work. By which they mean important things like “preaching, Bible study, evangelism, mercy ministries, etc.” The reality is that much of our work isn’t “spiritual” in this sense. Prepping breakfast for the family, cleaning up the morning dishes, chores, the commute to work, the ritual of checking emails on your smart phone to get a head start in the office, the coordination and logistics just to have the bits in place to do your job, working hard to make things better, faster, cheaper, continued education, returning home, meals, diapers, noses, dog walks, mowing, laundry on and on it goes. So little of life really fits into the category of “spiritual”. If you love Christ and you have a desire to make a difference for Him all the ordinary bits of life can seem like a hassle, barriers to “spiritual work”.

What I am jealous for you to understand is that not only is Christ to be Lord over all of life, all of life matters because Christ is Lord. Jesus values our work – all of it. Chores at home, our work as learners, our work as parents, our work as children, our work as spouses, our work in the marketplace, our work in recreation, our work to rest.

^ESV Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

This means that there is no dichotomy between the sacred and secular. Martin Luther is famous for saying that the milkmaid glorifies God just as much as the pastor. This also means that there isn’t a dichotomy within our work. Responding to emails isn’t less sacred than implementing a new idea or solving a problem. Doing dishes isn’t less sacred than swinging a hammer on the job site. All of life is worship. We exist to glorify God. Evangelism and prayer aren’t the only “spiritual” things.

            It isn’t just souls and the Bible that will last into the age to come. They are not the only permanent things. And it also isn’t true that the only thing worthwhile is doing something permanent, something that lasts. Anyone who has seen a sunset or a spring flower knows that the Lord God doesn’t just value the permanent. God clearly delights in His work – even the transient temporary evaporating things. God models for us meaning in work. The key is finding joy in the work God has placed before you and to do it to the best of your ability. How we do it matters as much as What we do.

The work you and I do now isn’t just batting practice for the life to come. And we aren’t just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Doing a repetitive unending task like dishes may seem meaningless and of little consequence. But God sees and cares. Your work is necessary for the flourishing of those God has placed around you. You don’t have to be in prayer while you wash to make the task worthwhile or holy. The task itself is necessary & important. So wash those dishes as if you were directing a symphony of suds to the glory of God!

Heaven: Place of Cream Puffs or Warp Drives?

When I was a child Heaven didn’t sound very interesting to me. This was true even after I became a Christian at 9 years old. This is mostly because the image I had of Heaven was a place where you sat around on white fluffy clouds strumming golden harps “worshipping” for eons. A little later I thought of Heaven as a place filled with every sensual delight you could ask for: a place of cream puffs with chocolate frosting and cinnamon rolls and basketball games where everyone could slam dunk. Is that what Heaven will be? How similar will Heaven be to this world? How different? What will we do for the first 10,000 years? And after that?

The Bible clearly shows that there will be great differences between this world and Heaven

^ESV Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.")

But there will also be continuities between the experiences of Christians now and then as well. Revelation 21:1 describes the next age this way:

^ESV Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

The vision that the Apostle John has is of Heaven coming TO us. John was not teleported from earth to a distant fluffy place. John remained on earth and earth BECAME “Heaven” – or more precisely “a new heaven and a new earth”. When I was childish in my thinking about Heaven I ignored the phrase “and a new earth”.

God still cares for this place – despite all the graffiti and mess we’ve made of it. How does this place become “the new earth”? Until recently I thought of God destroying earth by fire & creating a new earth from scratch. This annihilation by fire idea came from 2 Peter 3:7-10 which says:

“But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. … 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies¹ will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

The earth has fire in its future. But is this fire one of destruction and annihilation or a fire of purification and refinement? Is God detonating the universe’s largest nuclear bomb on earth to vaporize everything or is God placing the earth in a furnace? At least with respect to those creatures made in God’s image (human beings) and our works the fire is one of refinement not annihilation. The Apostle Paul writes,

^ESV 1 Corinthians 3:13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴ If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.

Could it be that the refining fire that tests the quality of each person and their work is a refining fire that will sweep this planet as a whole? I’m not sure. But I do notice this: those who trust in Christ survive. And that person’s work also survives if it was built on the foundation of Christ (1 Cor 3:11) and with precious materials (1 Cor 3:12).

Three provocative implications:

1) Our Savior is not a “Star Trek Jesus”. Jesus doesn’t beam us off this dying world and out of danger. We’re not removed from danger rather Jesus comes to us through the Holy Spirit and walks with us in the midst of danger.

2) Don’t abandon ship! Paul Marshall describes one approach to faith as “lifeboat theology”. The idea is that the earth has hit the iceberg of sin and is doomed to destruction. So the only meaningful thing left to do is to abandon ship and get as many people as possible into the lifeboats. Instead of abandoning ship we should be rebuilding it with gold and precious stones. Christians are living stones (1 Peter 2:5) being built into a spiritual house for the Living God (2 Cor 6:16). To some degree we bring salvation and Heaven into the world right now. I find it interesting that enduring work is done with gold and precious stones (1 Cor 3:12) and the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:2) is also made of gold and precious stones. What if WE were actually building Heaven right now? Or more precisely, what if God was building Heaven in us and through us as we put ourselves as a tool in His hand?

3) Our work matters now and it matters for the future. If everything was going to be annihilated we should just do the bare minimum required to survive & simply get by. But if our work is not annihilated, but refined by fire, then we should do our absolute best work now – for only this type of work will endure. Our current work is more than simply “rearranging the deck chairs” on the Titanic. (more on this in my next blog)

I’m indebted to chapter 4 of Dr. Tom Nelson’s book Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work for this blog.

Words ARE Necessary

There is a popular notion making the rounds in pulpits and in devotionals these days. “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” Have you heard this idea? It is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi who founded the Franciscan order in the early 1200s. The trouble is, St. Francis never said it. If you fact check the quote (something I obviously don’t do often enough since I just discovered 5 minutes ago that St. Francis didn’t actually say this!) you will learn that no published source of this quote prior to the 1990s has yet been discovered. Even more troubling than putting words in someone’s mouth, I think if you actually investigated St. Francis himself you would discover that he was quite a preacher of the gospel and the misquote matches neither his ethos nor his actual deeds.

            St. Francis didn’t say “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” But I didn’t set out in this blog to vindicate St. Francis. Actually I had planned to provide a biblical correction to St. Francis’s philosophy of evangelism. Now I see I shouldn’t drag St. Francis into it! Unfortunately, a quote doesn’t have to be based in fact for an idea to gain traction among people. The bottom line is the philosophy “it is more important to practice the gospel than to preach it” has gained traction within the church in our day.

Is this approach valid? Does it have biblical support? In one sense, yes. Jesus said, “you know a tree by its fruit.” (Matthew 12:33) And he rebuked the religious leaders of his day for being “white washed tombs - clean on the outside but full of filth on the inside.” (Matthew 23:27) And "they will know you are Christians by your love." (John 13:35) Obviously Christ condemned hypocrisy and promoted integrity. Our outward acts must match up with our words. Living a life of integrity is foundational to evangelism. I think one of the reasons that the “practice the gospel” approach has gained popularity today is because many are frustrated by “preachy” Christians whose lives don’t match what they preach. People are bombarded with hundreds of messages a day. Salesmen and advertizing abound in our generation. “Sales pitch” evangelism no longer works (if it ever did). People need to see fruit on the tree before they’re willing to buy in to something. So “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” has a valid point in that our actions do reflect positively or negatively on our Savior and the gospel. To quote another adage – “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” (Emerson? - fact check anyone...)

However, in a fundamental way the “practice the gospel” approach to evangelism is flawed. Its failure lies not in the desire to “practice what you preach” before a watching world, but in replacing gospel proclamation with actions only. The bottom line is that faithful evangelism requires words. Testimony must be given. The good news must be spoken not only modeled. The Apostle Paul puts it this way:

^ESV Romans 10:13-15 For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." ¹⁴ But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?¹ And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

We must preach the good news. We must use words to tell others about Jesus. Ultimately “lifestyle evangelism” fails without word proclamation because the message sent is: “be a better person (like me), more loving and caring and thoughtful of others and you too can become right with God.” Is this not works righteousness? Basing our standing with God on our performance? We must use words to give interpretation to our lives so that people know it isn’t what we do that saves us but what God has done.

            So to correct a commonly misused quote, biblically we should say: “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary. And words will definitely be necessary!”

What are the Marks of a Faithful Disciple?

            There is a lot of talk about “discipleship” in the church world these days. Rarely, however, do folks actually come out and say what a disciple is. I suppose it should be a no-brainer, but it isn’t. A “disciple” is a follower. So a Christian is a disciple or follower of Jesus Christ. He or She strives to follow Jesus – to do, say, think and desire the things that Christ did. Being a disciple sounds pretty straightforward. But if you’ve been trying to follow Jesus for a while or if you’ve been trying to assist other people in their efforts to follow Christ (“discipleship”) you know how challenging this can be.

            We live in an age when it is difficult to identify with confidence the straight and narrow way. In our day many have “the appearance of godliness, but deny its power” (2 Timothy 3:5) Most people in my city say they are Christians but the lives of many deny its power. And false teachers abound in the world these days. Folks who oppose the truth, corrupt the simplicity of Christ and the gospel and sow seeds of uncertainty and confusion within the Church. One of the results of this sabotage is a loss of certainty in “the way” and confusion about what it means to be a disciple of Christ and how to help others follow Christ.

            Fortunately, the Apostle Paul cuts through all this fog & confusion with some practical advice for his young protégé Timothy, whom he had been training to follow Christ. Consider some of the last words that Paul penned:

^ESV 2 Timothy 3:10-12 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, ¹¹ my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra - which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. ¹² Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

            Paul lists 8 marks of discipleship. Paul urges Timothy to follow him as he follows Christ. A disciple is a follower. A genuine Christian will follow Christ and His Apostles in these key 8 ways:

1)      Teaching

2)      Conduct

3)      Aim in Life

4)      Faith

5)      Patience

6)      Love

7)      Steadfastness

8)      Persecutions and Sufferings

Take a moment and rate yourself on these 8 aspects of discipleship. For example, is your "aim in life" the same as that as the Apostle Paul or Christ's? Do you have the marks of genuine disciple? Now consider the list again from the perspective of those you are training. Are you discipling your children, friends, loved ones in these 8 marks of discipleship? Which are weakest? Which are strongest?