Things I wonder about Heaven

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“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him” (I Corinthians 2:9).

I think about Heaven a lot.  So many people whom I love are there and I miss them every day.

I wonder what they are doing and if they think about us.  I wonder if my brothers are really playing rummy with our dad, the way we sometimes think.  Are they going fishing and is our mom visiting with her wonderful parents whom she had not seen in half a century? Prior to Mom’s passing in 2012, she used to reminisce about Dad and say, “I miss Pop.”  Now they are together.  What is that like, I wonder.

What will Heaven be like? In addition to our loved ones, there are also uncounted millions of brothers and sisters of all races and tribes whom we have yet to meet. There are “myriads” of angels, and best of all, our wonderful Lord and Savior Himself.

Who would not want to go to Heaven?

My friend Barbara Hardy used to say in Heaven she planned to ask for a size 10 body.

A pastor friend used to say that in Heaven, he would be able to eat all the lemon ice-box pie he wanted without gaining an ounce.

Joni Aereckson Tada has said that in Heaven she plans to ask Jesus to dance. She’s been a quadriplegic all her adult life.

Other things I wonder about Heaven include…

I wonder who specifically will be there?  So many people are borderline, it seems to me, and I would find it impossible to decide whether they are true believers or not.  (I’m eternally grateful it’s not up to me to decide!)   I hope everyone is in Heaven, even though I know that’s not going to happen.  No one wants anyone to go to hell.

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How God works (hint: it’s different from what you might expect)

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“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8).

“When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8)

Here in one paragraph is the boiled-down gist of what I have learned about the way God works….

When God decides to do something eternal, He loves to start small, use ordinary people, employ any method He chooses, and take His own good time about it. At the conclusion, only people of faith will be on hand, seeing what God has done, loving what He has revealed, and basking in the glory on full display.

Or, more concisely, “Our God is in the Heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”  That happens to be Psalm 115:3.

Our Lord, being God, can do this any way He pleases. But what I have noticed and what I preach is that His way most often seems to involve the following:

God loves to start small.  The Lord began a nation with elderly Abraham and Sarah.  He began to deliver Israel from Egypt with an 80-year-old has-been, Moses. And when the time came to redeem a lost world, He sent a Baby.

That process continues today on every level.  When God initiates a great ministry, He starts with the germ of an idea or a burden on someone’s heart, and goes from there.

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…the least of all the seeds, but when it is grown it…becomes a tree…. (Matthew 13:31-32)

As the prophet Zechariah preached, the temple of Solomon was being rebuilt but on a vastly smaller scale.  He asked, “For who has despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10)  Good question, isn’t it?  I have an opinion on that, one you might not care for:  Preachers seem to do that.  They disdain small offerings, small crowds, and little events.  You will even hear this from time to time, “Well, we’re a small church and we can’t do anything!”  I submit that is almost blasphemy.  It’s unbelief, that’s for sure.

I love the statement of Jonathan, champion son of King Saul.  As he and his armor-bearer decided to take on a group of Philistine soldiers, Jonathan said, “It doesn’t matter to the Lord whether He saves by the few or by the many!” (I Samuel 14:6).  Don’t you love that?

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This guy thinks he has found a contradiction in Scripture that disproves God

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“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds…” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

A friend wrote something  about the Bible’s authenticity on her Facebook page, causing someone else to leave a caustic reply..

After each statements the fellow left, all of them shallow and several insulting, my friend patiently responded with kindness and reason.

But nothing worked. Her “commenter” was determined to nail her to the wall.

He had found a contradiction in Scripture and knew this was the (ahem) unholy grail, the proof, the nail in the coffin of Jehovah God.

What was his “contradiction”?

“In one place the Bible says an eye for an eye and another place it says turn the other cheek.  What do you say about such a contradiction?”

I wondered if this guy was serious.  Any teenager in church could answer that.

Just so easily does this guy dismiss the living God, the Creator of the Universe.

Even if the Lord had such a fellow as that on His team, He wouldn’t have much.  HIs ignorance is shallow and doubtless his faith would be just as worthless.

Before commenting on the subject of contradictions in the Word, let me respond to that guy, just in case any reader needs to know how those two scriptures line up.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” was given to Israel as a principle for assessing punishment for crimes (Leviticus 24:20). This formula was light-years more lenient and merciful than the standard used in pagan countries–and to this day, in some backward nations–that dictated a life for an eye; a limb for a tooth.

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Stories that are sermon-killers. Avoid them!

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Pastor Dave, a longtime friend, reminded me of a story that used to show up in sermons from time to time.

After the war, a soldier who was severely wounded was returning home. As soon as he entered the states, he phoned his parents to say he was bringing with him a buddy who had lost (fill in the blank–an eye, a leg, both legs, etc.) and was confined to a wheel chair.  He wanted the guy to live with the family and promised that he would take care of him. The mother said, “Now, honey, we appreciate your compassion and your dedication to your friend. But this would be too heavy a burden on your family. This is not a good idea.”  A few days later, the family got word that their son, the one just home from the war,  had ended his own life in a hotel in a distant city.  When the remains were shipped home, the family discovered he had one eye, one leg (or no legs), etc.  He had been telling his parents about himself.

Dave and I agreed that such a story, whether true or untrue–it’s impossible to know–is a show-stopper. A sermon killer.

Let the preacher tell such a story and no one will hear a word he says afterwards.  The congregation will be sitting there reflecting on that story, grieving and imagining and reflecting.

The wise preacher will never tell a story that clobbers his sermon and destroys the point he was trying to make.

I reminded Dave of another one which thankfully I never used, not even once, but which fits this sad category.  A father took his young son and another boy on a fishing trip. A storm comes up, the boat swamps, and they are all dumped into the lake.  Since the boys cannot swim and the father cannot save both, he has to make a quick decision. According to the story, his son is saved and the friend is unsaved. So, Dad abandons his son to drown knowing he will go to Heaven, and rescues the other kid.

That tragic story is supposed to make the point that we must do all we can to reach the lost, and that the saved person goes to Heaven.  However….

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What does the resurrection of Jesus mean to you personally?

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I asked this fellow, “What does the resurrection of Jesus mean to you personally?” He didn’t hesitate. “Knowing I can go to Heaven and the debt has been paid.”

Hard to top that.

My observation is that everyone will answer that question just a little differently. We are different, our histories vary, our consciousness of our failing past and our blessed future will not be identical. Thus what Jesus means to one will be different from what He means to another.

Let’s bring out an array of New Testament characters and run that question by them. This, incidentally, is not all guesswork. We have a fairly solid record in Scripture of a number of people who encountered the risen Jesus and were transformed by the event.


The Apostle Paul.

Last of all, He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.(I Corinthians 15:8)

So, Paul, you saw Jesus on the Damascan Road. What did this mean in your life?

But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.(I Cor. 15:20) Because Jesus lives, we too shall live. (Jesus gave that very promise in John 14:19.)

I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.(Philippians 3:10-11)

I want that kind of transforming power in my own life!

The Apostle Peter.

He has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance…. (I Peter 1:3-4)

The future is wonderful because Jesus rose from the dead. We have a living hope–not a dead one which might be directed toward someone in a graveyard somewhere–because our Lord is very much alive and well.

We are in a divine union with God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God…(I Peter 3:21-22) We owe everything to His resurrection!

The Apostle John.

He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.(I John 2:2).

We have a Savior because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. There is a workable salvation!

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How I overcame the fear of public speaking and came to love it

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Good title, right?

Now a confession. I was never afraid to stand in front of a group and speak. Not ever. In fact, quite the opposite.

As a fourth grader in our little West Virginia schoolhouse, teacher Margaret Meadows would periodically invite class members who had read an interesting story to stand and share it. I recall Violet Garten (love that name!) was so good at it. But when she called on me (I’m the guy frantically waving my hand) and I walked to the front of the class, I broke the rules.

I did not relate a story I had read somewhere.

I made one up on the spot.

That is serious something or other, I don’t know what. Was it a love for being the center of attention? Self-confidence on steroids? Not given to introspection, I’ve never tried to answer that, but I am confident that little snapshot reveals a world of insight on the man I became. Positive and negative.

In high school, one of the requirements for presidents of local chapters of the FFA (Future Farmers of America) was that we be able to address an audience of our members for a full 30 minutes.  I don’t recall actually doing that, but addressing audiences 30 minutes at a clip would end up describing my life. I’m a Southern Baptist preacher, you understand. As of this December 2, I will have logged a full half-century of preaching.

When friends tell me they hate public speaking with a dread, that they would rather take a whipping than stand in front of a group and speak about anything, I’m speechless and cannot begin to identify.  So, yesterday I did something.

I asked my Facebook friends who dislike public speaking to tell us why.

Most of the responses boiled down to one thing: fear.   They feared forgetting their speech in the middle of their presentation, being rejected by the audience, boring them, and outright failure.

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To change the world, be a writer

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(This first ran on this website in 2011. I’m reposting it with minor editing and tweaking.) 

I’m a sucker for a great beginning of a book.

Here is how Kelly Gallagher kicked off his outstanding work Teaching Adolescent Writers:

You’re standing in a large field minding your own business when you hear rumbling sounds in the distance. The sounds begin to intensify, and at first you wonder if it is thunder you hear approaching. Because it’s a beautiful, cloudless day you dismiss this notion. As the rumbling sound grows louder, you begin to see a cloud of dust rising just over the ridge a few yards in front of you. Instantly, you become panicked because at that exact moment it dawns on you that the rumbling you’re hearing is the sound of hundreds of wild bulls stampeding over the ridge. There are hordes of them and they are bearing down right on top of you. They are clearly faster than you and there is no time to escape. What should you do? Survival experts recommend only one of the following actions:

–A) Lying down and curling up, covering your head with your arms.

–B) Running directly at the bulls, screaming wildly and flailing your arms in an attempt to scare them in another direction

–C) Turning and running like heck in the same direction the bulls are running (even though you know you can’t outrun them)

–D) Standing completely still; they’ll see you and run around you

—E) Screaming bad words at your parents for insisting on a back-to-nature vacation in Wyoming

Gallagher, who teaches high school in Anaheim, California, says experts recommend C. “Your only option is to run alongside the stampede to avoid being trampled.”

Then, being the consummate teacher, he applies the great attention-grabbing beginning: “My students are threatened by a stampede–a literacy stampede.”

He adds, “If students are going to have a fighting chance of running with the bulls, it is obvious that their ability to read and write effectively will play a pivotal role.”

Illinois high school teacher Judy Allen, wife of Pastor Jim Allen of Palmyra, gave me her copy of Gallagher’s book when she saw how fascinated I was with it. I’m grateful.

As the grandfather of eight intelligent, wonderful young people, I am most definitely interested in their being able to “run with the bulls.” But my concern on this blog, as readers have figured out by now, is for pastors and other church leaders who are trying to find their greatest effectiveness.

I hear veteran pastors say, “When I retire, I’m going to go to the mountains (or the beach) and write my memoirs.”

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What to do in a trial sermon (i.e., you are the candidate)

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The prospective pastor walked to the pulpit, took the measure of the congregation, and began. “There is a powerful lot of wondering going on here today.  You are wondering if I can preach. (pause) And I am wondering if you know good preaching when you hear it!”

I know a good Flip Wilson story that fits here, but I’ll tack it onto the end of this.

Now…

Not all pastors are asked to deliver a “trial” sermon to the congregation they hope to serve.  Some are appointed by a bishop and others are chosen by elders or a committee. We Southern Baptists usually use the procedure listed below.  Of the six churches I served through 42 years of ministry, only one brought me in without the people hearing me preach.  The other five administered the usual “trial.”

The procedure goes like this….

The pastor search committee zeroes in on a candidate they like.  They’ve prayed a great deal, visited the minister’s church, heard him preach numerous times, interviewed him and his spouse, and run all the background checks and references.  Now, at long last, they are ready to present their choice to the church.

The congregation will be given information on him that week, will hear him preach in the Sunday morning service, and then will take a vote, immediately following or on the next Lord’s Day.

That sermon–when the prospective pastor preaches to the congregation which will be considering “calling” him as their new shepherd–is a huge deal to everyone involved.

For good reason we call it a “trial” sermon. No minister takes it lightly.  If things go according to plan, his life and the eternal destiny of a lot of people will be changed.

The preacher must not set out to win the congregation’s approval, but to show them who he is.  He wants to help them decide whether he would be right for that church. 

No preacher wants to go to a church where he would not fit.

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Who gave you the authority to do this?

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My journal tells of this little incident at the local pharmacy.

Saturday night, stuck in the checkout line at the local Rite-Aid, I became involved in a little incident.

The checker was ringing up the purchases of a man about 40 years old who had a small child with him. On the other side of the checker, near the front door, stood an older man, perhaps 75 or 80, who was trying to get her attention. “Ma’am,” he kept saying, “Is it all right if I take this out to the car to show my wife?” He was holding up some item from the store. The checker was giving her attention to the man and child in front of her.

Finally, the customer at the checkout snapped at the older gentleman, “No! It is not all right to take that outside!” The old man was flustered and said, “She’s in the car. I just want to see if this is what she wants. I’ll be right back.”

“No, sir!” said the younger man. “You’re not allowed to take things outside you haven’t paid for!”

The older gentleman said, “Well, what if I leave my umbrella? I’ll be right back.”

“No!” the young man said. “Leave your drivers license.”

Meanwhile, those of us in the checkout line were silently watching this scenario and fascinated at the way the customer was bullying the man at the door.

Finally, the older man said to the customer, “Are you a manager of this store or something?”

The younger fellow said, “No, I’m not. But I know how these things are done!”

I’d taken about all of this I could. From the back of the checkout line, I called out to the old man, “Sir! You may ignore the customer. Do what you have to do!”

The younger man turned and stared at me contemptuously, took his child by the hand, and stalked out.

As he exited the door, the manager arrived and took care of the older gentleman. The woman in front of me turned and said, “Who in blue blazes did that fellow think he was, talking to that old man that way?” I laughed and agreed that he was definitely a buttinsky.

When I got home and told me wife this little tale, she–filling the role of a wife so neatly–said, “And who did you think you were, rebuking him like that?”

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Getting ready for the final exam

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“Pastor, my aunt Bernice would like you to visit her this week. There’s something she wants to talk with you about.”

I knew this young deacon’s Aunt Bernice. She was up in years and sickly, and while not a member of our church, she was related to quite a number. I figured with her years and health, she wanted to talk with the minister about getting read to see the Lord.

She did, but not in the way I had expected.

The next afternoon, as we sat in the living room of her small shotgun house, she said, “Pastor, I know I’m saved. I have no doubt about that. I remember being saved. But there’s something else bothering me.”

“Pastor, I haven’t done right by the church.”

She continued, “As a young adult, I got away from the church and quit going. I raised my son without the church and really came to regret it. And now I’m old and can’t even go. But if you’d let me, I’d like to put my membership in and become a member. I’ll pray for you all and send an offering from my monthly check.”

I assured her we would be honored to receive her, and took care of that the next Sunday.

I never forgot her statement—“I haven’t done right by the church”—and have had occasion over the years since to tell her story, then ask my hearers, “Have you done right by the Lord’s church?”

A man in our congregation was dying. On one occasion as I visited in his home, he asked to speak to me privately. I felt it coming: he wanted to confess something that was bothering him before he went to meet the Savior.

I was right.

“Pastor,” he said, “when I was a much younger man, I did some experimentation in my personal life that I’m ashamed of.”

He told the story, then said, “I’ve asked the Lord to forgive me, but it still troubles me. I don’t want to go into eternity with that on the record. Can you help me?”

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