Sermon Tone Analysis
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*Intro* – Steve Jobs, who founded Apple Computer, died of pancreatic cancer in 2011 at age 56.
He apparently died with little hope.
Speaking of an afterlife he said, “Sometimes I think it’s just like an on/off switch.
Click and you’re gone – and that’s why I don’t like putting on/off switches on Apple devices.”
Interesting how what we believe affects everything we do.
If you have no hope beyond this life, all you can do is get all the gusto you can now, right?
Many are confused.
Like 4-year old Nancy holding a bouquet of flowers at her grandfather’s funeral.
She asked: “Will Grandpa turn into a flower?”
Mom replied, “Why, yes, dear, that’s a lovely thought.”
Nancy looked at the bouquet and asked, “So who are all these people?”
I suspect the prospect of becoming a flower did little to enhance Nancy’s anticipation of heaven.
Neither does the idea of sitting on a cloud, playing a harp or singing Praise songs all day!
Many say they’d rather be in hell, with their friends.
Shows we know little about either place – but we ought since we’re going to 1 or other.
This passage helps.
The main message is that while the kingdom of God is glorious, a high cost attaches to getting there.
It costs Jesus His life as He pays for our sin with His death.
To receive Him one must “deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lu 9:23).
So we learn death is the entrance into life.
The cross precedes the crown.
But the price is worth it.
This passage previews the glorious existence that awaits.
That’s the main message which we’ve looked at under the outline *I.
The Purpose of the Preview* (to encourage belief and commitment to God’s plan), *II.
The Person of the Preview* (showing the supremacy of the person and work of Christ).
But peripherally, this passage also hints at kingdom conditions, so today:
*III.Portents of the Preview (what is heaven like?
Some basics.)*
*A.Is There Really an Afterlife?
Yes!*
Steve Jobs unfortunately couldn’t get his arms around this. It’s beyond human experience outside God’s revelation.
Here He answers emphatically, “Yes – there is an afterlife!”
When the disciples with Jesus wake up from their nap – there’s Jesus in a dazzling display of glory talking to 2 men from heaven.
One of the things I love about the Bible is how nonchalant it is about extraordinary events.
Ever notice that?
It talks about angels as tho they are common experience while never explaining anything about them.
It just takes them for granted.
It explains creation in the simplest terms.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Ten words in English.
Six in Hebrew.
No time spent proving God’s existence.
No definition of the complexity of the universe – just Hey, God did this.
The Bible takes for granted the most stupendous happenings – just what you might expect from an omnipotent, omniscient God who has no need to explain Himself, right?
And He does it in Lu 9:30.
“And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah.”
There they are – big as life -- two guys gone from the scene for hundreds of years.
But, the Bible doesn’t explain it; it just assumes it!
Yes, there is an afterlife, and there sits living, breathing proof.
The Bible doesn’t think there is an afterlife; it knows there is.
God has not just revealed this in His Word.
He’s put a longing inside every person.
Ever since the Fall, we are a displaced people, longing for home.
Every culture in history has had a concept of an afterlife.
It is a universal longing.
C. S. Lewis writes, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
Our very nature cries out there must be more.
We feel it.
It is an inherent part of our make-up.
We are made for something more.
Lewis illustrates in the first book of Narnia Chronicles.
The White Witch, representing the devil, has a strangle hold on Narnia, representing our world.
Lewis describes Narnia as being “always winter, but never Christmas.”
A thaw will come when the great lion Aslan, Christ, arrives to die as an atonement for sin, be raised again and assume his throne.
Meantime, Lewis refers to this world as the Shadowlands – a mere hint of what we are made for, but which must await redemption by Christ.
Both God’s Word and God’s world expect a future life.
But that Word always speaks of two destinies in that afterlife.
Heaven is only available to those who have made Him their king now, in this life.
Thus Jesus warns in Matt 7:13-14, “13 “Enter by the narrow gate.
For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Don’t you want to be one of the few?
The presence of Moses and Elijah is proof positive that the thaw is coming for those who belong to Christ.
*B.What is the Best Thing About the Kingdom?
Jesus!*
God’s revelation of Himself in Jesus is far and away the best thing about the kingdom!
He is the one whose “face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.”
He is the One whose departure is critical.
He is the One of whom the Father says, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” Imagine coming face-to-face with Jesus.
Let me tell you, when that happens every other thought, every other desire, every other distraction, every other intention will be gone in an instant.
And it will stay that way forever.
I traveled nearly 5M miles on business.
But the best part of every trip was the night before coming home.
Nothing that happened, good or bad, ever dulled the anticipation as I packed my bag to go home on that night.
I never slept much that night.
Why?
Because I wanted to see my house, my car, the LA smog?
Not on your life.
I longed for was the person at the end of the trail.
What made home, home was Patty.
I couldn’t wait to get back to see her.
And that’s the way heaven ought to be for us.
Can’t wait to see Jesus.
Are you far enough along in your Christian walk to sense the wonder of Jesus?
As earthly friends die, fall away or even betray you, have you found Jesus as the supreme friend “who sticks closer than a brother” (Prov 18:24) – the One who never fails?
As you begin to sense this life closing in, fading away, and realize it isn’t going to last forever, does He become more precious?
Are you starting to look forward to seeing Jesus?
He’s the best thing about heaven.
Two reasons.
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