As It Is in Heaven
Week four - As It Is In Heaven
Ephesians 2:11-22
“Don’t be so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good.”
Let’s review our understanding of heaven (see notes from week one of the series for more) -
New creation (heaven and earth brought together by God dwelling with us)
Not an escape hatch making right now just a waiting game; i.e. we’re not trying to get to heaven, we’re trying to get heaven into us
How does our view of heaven change how we live now?
11 Therefore, remember that you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. —Ephesians 2:11-22
How does our view of heaven change how we live now?
We live as people who
a.) We were without hope and without God (v 12) - but now…
b.) We have been brought near (v 13) - access to the Father
c.) We don’t have to seek fulfillment from anything here on earth, we can seek it in GodWe live with active
a.) Anticipation changes our present behavior - Dreaming about heaven bends our hearts to God’s heart. Understanding the reality of different circumstances (peace for starters) changes our behavior now.
b.) Heaven is physical and dynamic - we build, we invest, we play, we work, we commit; i.e. there is value in fun, value in work, value in community
c.) Aim at heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither. —CS Lewis, Mere ChristianityWe live
a.) Unity and community are not optional.
b.) Temple = heaven and earth structure with an image in the middle - that image is us - we’re part of what God is doing, not just spectators!
c.) In Christ and by the Spirit, God dwells with us - we are a living hope
New creation is where we’re heading, and the people of God coming together under the Lordship of Jesus is the ongoing, present hope of this reality that gives real hope to the world now.
We live now in such a way that says we believe one day things will be on earth as they are in heaven.