It’s Not About Heaven
Ever since childhood, my faith tradition has emphasized as utmost importance, the need to get to heaven. This perspective was reinforced through sermons, bible studies, artwork, dramas, and of course, the famous (or infamous) altar call. The goal of faith was to get as many people into heaven as possible. The world was going to hell, right? Most of our ministries and outreaches all revolved around this understanding. Therefore, believers were called to find or create as many “invitation to heaven moments” as possible to as many people as possible.
Now, don’t get me wrong (which happens a lot)…
I believe in heaven. Although I don’t know much about it, I get a perspective from the Bible that it will be a wonderful place for eternity. I look forward to it, especially since God dwells there.
Unfortunately, I think there are some in the church that over-emphasize the notion of heaven as the primary goal of Christian faith. I think this could create a warped view of the purpose of heaven.
I once heard a speaker talk about whether or not we would be satisfied if we received all the benefits of heaven (and eternity), but not have Jesus. Sadly, I think many would be happy to receive all the “perks” of heaven even if it meant that Jesus would not be a part of the equation. I suspect that some of this may be rooted in our self-centered version of faith in which Jesus is sometimes seen as a means to an end; our end of course.
When Jesus invited people to himself and his Kingdom in the first century, there was little mention about the goal of this invitation being heaven. I think Jesus was inviting people to participate in a new kind of Kingdom that was to actively participate in the world of the now with the things that resonate close to the heart of God. He was inviting people to partake in a mission to become tangible expressions of God’s love for the world. This was and is still the invitation.
Heaven is definitely a great by-product (or natural result) of faith in Christ. Nevertheless, I think it could also be a terrible, misleading goal. My goal in life is not to “get in”, but rather stay close to Christ and his works here on earth. I must focus on the now even as I anticipate the future.
If Jesus were not in heaven, I would not want to be there either. We must center our attention on Christ, not just his benefits. May our life here on earth reflect our love for Christ and his mission.
Charles — Thanks for these great thoughts. I have been tracking with your blog for a little while now and wanted to jump into the conversation a bit.
I can definitely relate to your journey — it’s really strange and disconcerting that the best we could do, according to the basic church message from my formative years, was to “get saved” and then get hit by a truck and go straight to heaven (to paraphrase an idea from Eugene Peterson). In the worst case scenario, I read a news story once about a “Christian” corporate executive whose company was caught dumping toxic waste near a town’s drinking water supply. His response to being caught was something like this: “Well, Jesus is coming back and I’m going to heaven, so what does it matter anyways”…
“My goal in life is not to “get in”, but rather stay close to Christ and his works here on earth” — thanks for sharing this wonderful idea. Seriously, if we don’t want to follow Jesus around here and now, why would we want to spend eternity with Him? He is the treasure, the center of it all.
On a side note, I saw that you’ll be in SD for the Red Light Movement event… Would it be possible to dialogue a bit via email?
Thanks Daniel for your input and deciding to jump into the conversation!
Your note about the executive is unbelievable…very unfortunate. It sometimes feels like our version of Christianity is so different from others. It’s definitely derailing at times. I’m just glad that God is able to still advance his kingdom.
On a different note, I would be more than happy to connect with you about the Red Light Movement via email shortly. Talk to you in a bit.
i thought heaven was the lakers winning a championship this year….
no man! that’s the Celtics winning a championship this year…
you guys are bad…haha
[…] prompted by Charles L.’s recent post, though it’s been sitting in my “to_blog.txt” file for a […]
Charles,
I’m rereading ch. 9, “Christ, the Clue to History” of The Gospel in a Pluralist Society and thinking about this post. You should read it.
[…] (and kind of morbid) refrain to Jesus, “You lived to die.” Here is a great quote from Charles Lee which provides some much-needed perspective: When Jesus invited people to himself and his Kingdom […]
Woh, I just realized that my blog automatically posted a comment on yours.
Trippy. I did not ask it to do that.
No problem Josh. I think it might be a ping.
Just did an interview with http://newidentitymagazine.com about heaven and hell… Reminded me of a past blog post – http://bit.ly/14hqd