mySundaySermons

I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. [NRSV]

Physical images in Heaven:

• A city with no temple
• Gates that are never shut
• River of the water of life
• Tree of life
• Bearing twelve kinds f fruit
• Leaves of healing for the nations
• Throne for the lamb
• Light of the Lord

Features of Heaven

Open Gates:

• The gates are never shut
• Heaven s not a gated community

This flies in the face of

Radiant Glory

• People will bring in the glory of the nations
• Kings will bring their glory into it

Heaven has no place for sin

The proof that we are not in heaven is that sin is plentiful, abundant and rampant.

This is where we pull away from the glorious mystery of thinking about the new heaven that awaits us, knowing it will be far more and far better than out imagining can ever dream.

To be in heaven is to be in God’s presence, fulfilled and yet as fully ourselves.

The brokenness that we live in is the reality of sin

John is shown these glimpses of heaven to wet our appetite for more

When we loose something and find it,

we tell others, “it was in the last place I looked!”

Which begs the question do you keep searching once you have found what was lost?

The power of sin

• We live in a state where we cannot stay “found”,
• We live in the reality of our own sin
• We live in the reality of the effect of the sins of others
• We live in the reality of evil working tempt, test and make sin easier than doing good

So wait until the end?

Paul’s suggestion to sin all we like, because we have grace? No! By no means.

This does not bring glory to God, to others, nor ourselves.

We are witnesses of trusting in a sinful broken world

• Practice trusting a Christ
• Encourage others to trust Grace in Christ, and
• Glorify God for the nations of the world.

Dealing with Sin

Certainly we can blame the devil, the wealthy, the poor, our neighbor and previous generations, anyone one or thing we can blame, but that is not the solution.

Being in God (now and in heaven)

Getting into heaven means necessitates us addressing or sins

The “How To” section

We pretty much expect Jesus to already have taken care of that..and we just need the occasional buster shot, but what if we continue to be

• selfish,
• envy,
• prideful,
• lustful,
• greedy,
• apathy,
• impatience or
• wrath.

Focus on God’s help doing the opposite to reflect God’s glory by showing

• humility,
• kindness,
• moderation/temperance,
• charity,
• chastity,
• fidelity and diligence, and
• patience.

Both lists call for

• Practice
• Progress, and
• Persistence

Both lists, avoiding the evil and committing to the glorious, require Christ be in the throne, in heaven and in our hearts, minds and soul.

But the truth is that we can only live by these with the help of the holy Spirit and we we only find release from the power of the sin through Christ