Summoned to Heaven

The day will come, when your work on earth is done, that God will call you home. He will summon you to heaven. Oh, what a great day that will be! But why? Just what is heaven? What is heaven like? It is well described in the Scriptures.

Heaven is a beautiful place. How do I know? Well, face it. How could it be anything else? Even if you don't know much about heaven, you know it has to be beautiful. Otherwise, why would anyone want to go there? "But as it is written: 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him'" (1 Cor. 2:9). So just set your mind on all things beautiful. Picture heaven as the most beautiful place you have ever seen and you will find yourself longing for heaven. You will find yourself looking forward to heaven with great expectation.

"Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3:2). Why? Because that is where God is. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:16). Jesus recognized that heaven is "the eternal dwelling place of God" (W.E. Vine, M.A., Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Unabridged Edition, [MacDonald Publishing Company: McLean, Virginia, no copyright], 548). God is in heaven and Jesus is at His right hand.

Jesus is in heaven. He told Nicodemus plainly, "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven" (John 3:13). Jesus came from heaven to earth to be born in a stable, God incarnate. He later returned to heaven. Paul wrote, "He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things" (Eph. 4:10).

Mark stated further, "So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God" (Mark 16:19). God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son are in heaven. In fact, heaven is all about the presence of God the Father and of God the Son. What better reason is there to long for heaven? Heaven is where you will be with the Lord, in His presence, forever.

Peter, speaking of the prophets who were searching to understand the truth about Christ, said, "To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into" (1 Pet. 1:12). So, heaven is also where the Holy Spirit came from when He descended upon the disciples gathered in the Upper Room at Pentecost.

You will encounter many angels in heaven because heaven "is the abode of the angels" (Ibid). "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 18:10). Introducing the Parable of the Lost Sheep, this verse reveals how much God the Father cares for His people. He cares for them so much; He has His angels look after them and report back to Him in heaven. Amen.

Intended for Fellowship

Paul compares the outworking of the church, the fellowship of believers, to the human body. As with the body, the church has a certain unity in its diversity. Note how Paul frames this thought: "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many" (1 Cor. 12:12-14

Now Paul goes on to describe the inworking of the body, with a comparison to the fellowship of the church: "If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,' is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,' is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be" (vv. 15-19).

To make sense of it all, Paul explained: "But now indeed there are many members, yet one body" (v. 20). He then goes on to describe the situation, should the various parts of the body refuse, or at least fail, to work together. To have mutiny in the body, one member such as the eye telling the hand that he is not needed, or the head telling the feet that they aren't necessary, just wouldn't work (v. 21). The body could not function properly in that kind of situation. "No," declared Paul, "much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary" (v. 22). God made our bodies to work together as one unit, with no split of any kind among the members, so that "the members should have the same care for one another" (vv. 23-25). When one suffers, they all suffer with it. When one receives honor, they all rejoice (v. 26).

Do you see what Paul is saying here? Like the body, the church has many members, each uniquely created and gifted. No two members are exactly alike. Each one of us is unique, and we must use our God-given gifts for everyone's good, so that all profit from what we do as a member of the fellowship (v. 7). Every one of us is a cog in the works.

The church will not function properly unless every member does his part. The church is one body, the body of Christ. The body of Christ, the fellowship of the church, needs not only pastors and teachers, evangelists and missionaries, but just as importantly, those who mow the lawn, those who clean the church, those who prepare and serve the meals, those who clean up after the meals, and those who fix what is broken. For every need the church has, there is someone who is prepared and ready to take on the task.

We are intended for fellowship. God doesn't expect, or even want, anyone to be on an otherwise deserted island and go it alone. We were not designed to be "lone-ranger Christians." We were designed for fellowship, first with God and Christ, and second with one another.

In John chapter 17, Jesus prayed for us. He prayed, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me" (vv. 20-21). Jesus is speaking here of our being one with each other, as well as one with God and Christ. That oneness comes by way of fellowship. When we gather together in fellowship, we encourage each other in our walk with Jesus and we “stir up love and good works” (Heb. 10:24) in one another. That is the intended fellowship.

Colossians 3:16 says joyfully, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." Read and study God's word daily, letting it take over in your life. When that happens, God's Word will flow through you and help you teach and exhort each other, encouraging each other in our walk with Jesus. The joy of such a life bursts outward with "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." It leads to heart felt singing of praise to Jesus. Amen.