Heaven part 4
Let me drop my memory verse first so I can work on it for a little bit. Matthew 5:20, "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteouesness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." On the surface, like a lot of stuff Jesus said (because that is Jesus talking, by the way, the red letters), it's easy to misinterpret this. Easy for people to take this verse and think that only by serious effort, works and labor, can we earn the kingdom. "We have to be even more righteous than the Pharisees!" But let's be real. The only people Jesus ever got mad at were the Pharisees. The religious folk. The self righteous. And that's the rub. In order for our righteousness to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees... we need to understand the difference between self righteousness and the righteousness of God in Christ. Now to me it's pretty easy to see how one of those would exceed the other. One is those works and labor--works don't work--and the other is resting in the arms of our heavenly Father. One puts all of the emphasis on US and what WE are doing... and the other puts the emphasis where it belongs: On Jesus and the finished work of the cross. Jesus brought heaven to earth. Gave it to us. Put it without our reach. It's at hand. It's available. But here's the thing: in order to reach out and grab it... in order to enter into it... we have to understand that it is nothing about what we can do (except believe) and everything about (believing) what He has done! That's the good fight of faith. That's letting the mind of Christ (that's already in us) be in us! And since I use that idea of the mind of Christ already being in us a lot, I want to go ahead and quote those two memory verses here. 1 Corinthians 2:16, "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." And Philippians 2:5, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." We already have it. We just need to let it. We're already in heaven, we just to live it. Heaven is a state of mind. Where the Divine Order of things is fully revealed and is therefore in full effect. The days of heaven on earth are knowing, and believing, and operating in God's love for us. Receiving it and releasing it. Not trying to be self-righteous through our works, but letting HIS righteousness be OUR righteousness. Knowing and believing that HE finished the work, and therefore the work IS finished! See, Jesus finished the work so that we could enjoy the fruit of His labor. So that we could experience everything He has and everything He is. That's what this life is for. That's what this life is all about. That's the gift that we've been given. Heaven on earth. The abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God--which is Jesus's life of love that HE lives in us, and through us, and as us. You don't have to wait until you die to go to heaven. A preacher once said it like this, "I don't just want to make heaven my home... I want to make my home like heaven!" So let me end tonight's Rant with this: Wherever you go, there you are. And wherever you are, there Jesus is. We're not just IN heaven... we ARE heaven. God's expression of love on this earth, in this time!