Summary:

1. Have we become too comfortable with our current norm on earth?
2. Renew our hope in entering our heavenly home!

The speaker shared an old country song named ‘Take Me Home, Country Road’ by John Denver (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrEljMfXYo) .The speaker was hit by a wave of emotion and the closest thing to describe it would be a feeling of nostalgia. A lot of people feel the same when they hear this song. They feel this sense of longing even though they’ve never seen the mountains the singer sings about. Since the speaker rarely feels these strong emotions, he decided to delve more into these feelings.

As Christians we are always longing for or looking forward to our home, though we’ve never seen it. Just like the comments on the video, “I long for West Virginia even though I’ve never been there.”

These emotions are quite far removed from the speaker. After all, we have been in the comfort of our own homes for a long time. If anything, we’ll be sick of our homes, not nostalgic. Our situation is nothing like this. We’re supposed to long for our homes. But is this our actual state? Do we constantly pine for our heavenly home? Or is it just a passing feeling when this thought is out of sight and mind?

Let’s explore these feelings in relation to our faith because they can play a positive role in our lives of faith. What are these feelings of nostalgia and longing?
There is an overlap in meaning - a type of wistfulness in our hearts. And they bring out the same emotions in us. The dictionary definition of nostalgia - sentimentality for the hearts, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. It isn’t something that gets us excited, but something that produces warmth when we remember some memories. But it seems that this isn’t what we’re talking about when we look toward heaven. Heaven isn’t a place we can get sentimental about because we haven’t been there. Hence, the word ‘longing’ will be discussed about first. We will look at a few examples in the Bible.

Importance of longing for heaven: heroes of faith Heb 11:9-10, 13-16
By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

When we read about these heroes of faith, it is clear from the way they led their life that it was different from the others in the land of Canaan. While others tried to stake their claim on land, to leave a legacy for ourselves, these heroes rather believed in God’s promise, than have faith in their own hands. Abraham defeated 4 kings himself. But he didn’t go out to conquer the lands, rather he sought a better country, that is heaven. This is an important motivation for our faith - to desire heaven.

Take the illustration of soldiers.
When a soldier fights for their home country, what gives them the motivation to fight? Their longing to return to times of peace and to return to their families. Maybe those who have served National Service have had this feeling before, while suffering in the jungle. The simple comfort of home could be the only comfort. Similarly for the patriarchs, they were longing for their true home. The actions they showed were because of this longing - they were content to live as sojourners. This was accounted to them as faith. This longing for heaven is so important because this is our faith.

We will look at another example - Paul. Paul in many of his epistles made clear his longing for his heavenly home.

Phil 1:21-23
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. We often bring up this verse to talk about Paul’s faith and dedication to his mission. But have we really thought and considered the weight of these words?

2 Cor 4:7-11, 16-18
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Paul is talking about how his outward man is perishing everyday, as he looks to the things that are eternal. This once again gives us insight into Paul’s psyche. He had no confidence in this flesh, this current life. He almost feels as if he’s stuck in this fleshly body and everyday he’s dying. He can’t wait to be liberated and escape this dying body to go to heaven. While we take this as an exhortation from Paul, do we realise that Paul was a human too and these were his actual feelings?

The speaker feels detached from how Paul feels and a sort of incongruence. It is quite difficult to be keenly aware that this body of ours is perishing slowly. Which of us is always keenly aware that we are dying? When we wake up in the morning, do we think, “Yes, my body is dying today. My cells are dying.” We don’t. It’s quite difficult to think of it - that we’re finally returning to the battle-place. It is difficult to have this mindset, but Paul seems to have this mindset. While it is difficult, we must realise that this is the weight of our faith - not having seen this hope, we long for the unparalleled goodness that has been promised to us by God.

Heb 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith isn’t just about believing in something that we haven’t seen. It is not just that God rewards us because we believe in something He says. But it is also that we are willing to give up what we have presently - the material comfort we have in this world, knowing that these circumstances are temporary and that the world is corrupt. Since we know that what we have currently is not good, that is why we are willing to place our faith in what God has promised to us that is infinitely better. If faith is just about believing in something we cannot see, it’s not so significant. But it is also about looking at our world around us and agreeing that it is temporal, imperfect and being willing to give up our present comforts and achievements to pursue after what God has promised us. We are supposed to be Christian soldiers as well. Although this soldier lives and breathes in the battlefield, though this is his every day, he knows this is not his norm. No soldier would think the battlefield is his home. This is the awareness that Paul, Abraham and the other patriarchs had. And this is the awareness that WE need to have. That this place we are in is not our norm, is our battlefield. They knew this is not their permanent home, that they have a true home waiting for them somewhere else. Do we have this awareness and longing for heaven?

Most of us aren’t really there yet. Or else we’ll be just like Paul, if we are constantly aware of this, but we can’t say were there yet. Why is this so? Some points for consideration:

1. Maybe we are satisfied with our current norm on earth.

This is normal and reasonable, since this earth where we stay is all that we’ve ever known. The moment we are born and aware of anything, we are on this earth. But there is the subtle but significant difference between “My life on this earth is ok but I know Jesus has promised us heaven” vs “This world is refused, and I have no confidence in the flesh, hence I eagerly look forward to heaven.” When we are content with what we have on earth, we will store more and more treasures on earth.
Matt 6:21
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Though it may be subconscious, as we get more comfortable on earth, we store more of these precious treasures on earth and this could stand in the way of our longing for heaven. Of course, this is not bad. This is not to say that we should make ourselves suffer. People in the bible also enjoyed blessings on the earth. Instead, here are some perspectives and examples from the bible.

(a) Lot’s wife
Lot and his family stayed in Sodom. The two angels told Lot that God was going to destroy Sodom. But they were so hesitant. Even as they were running for their lives, Lot’s wife surely knew that behind them was a scene of destruction. She could probably smell the sulphurous smell of the brimstone, or feel the heat of the fire, or could see the brightness. There was nothing for her to return to. And yet, she still longed to take one last look at Sodom, because that was where her heart was.

(b) Israelites in the wilderness
They constantly complained against Moses, they longed for the melons and fish that they enjoyed in Egypt. They had forgotten that they were slaves. Let’s think back on ourselves. As we go to heaven, will we cast a longing eye back on the world that is going to be destroyed? Will we view our time on earth with tinted lenses? Will we think “Oh this is such a waste, that the earth is no more.” Will we think only of all the good things that we enjoy in this world, and conveniently ignore the evil and suffering in this world presently. Will we still long for the things we enjoyed previously but then forget that the world was evil and corrupt? Yes, we can enjoy what God has given us on this earth, our lives, family, church. But we must always be ready to drop all of this at any point.

Phil 1:23
For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.

In church, we should be aware that what we have here is just a shadow of what we have in heaven. When we spend time in fellowship, it should propel us to look forward to heaven even more and not want to stay put because what we have here seems good to us. If that’s the case, we have to be careful. Are we content to stay on earth? One takeaway from all of this: It is important to realise that we may like some parts of the world. But the world as a whole is in a bad state. Hence we cannot be content with living in this world.

2. Heaven may not attract us so much

Ask ourselves seriously: We know in our heads that heaven is meant to be a better place no tears, no sorrow. But we lack the imagination to imagine what heaven is like, hence it doesn’t attract us. When we read the book of Revelation, we see this description of the worship in heaven. Then we might think, “Huh then life in heaven is just continuously praising God?” We might think “Oh we won’t have the things we enjoy on this earth currently. No games, no movies…” And because of this, we may think, “I know when I die, heaven is probably going to be a great place, but there are so many things I want to do, want to try.” This stands in our way of longing for heaven like the patriarchs. So what can we do if we can’t imagine what heaven is like? There are many things about heaven that will remain mysteries to us until we get there.

2 Cor 12:4
how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

If all the terms and conditions of believing in Jesus were all laid out in the Bible, described fully in the bible, then Christianity would be more of a contract, and less of a faith, because we know exactly what we’re getting into. Indeed, heaven is supposed to be beyond what we can imagine. If we want to try to imagine what heaven is like in order to desire heaven then let us remember that heaven is beyond what we can imagine. Let’s not even try to imagine. We must have faith in our God and Creator who is the creator of everything we have on this earth. Let us have faith in His wonderful design.

After all this, the speaker admits it is very difficult, especially as we are constantly immersed in this world, to be constantly conscious of what has been said above. Thinking about the patriarchs: Sometimes we may think there were much less distractions for them, so boring, they just see each other and take care of the sheep and the goats. But today we have so many distractions, grabbing and vying for our attention. So what can we do? Nostalgia can make us long for a time that we haven’t experienced yet. How can we feel sentimental of heaven? God has already given us a foretaste of what heaven is like. What makes heaven, heaven? Rev 21:3-4
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” It is God dwelling with us that makes heaven special. Just like the hymn: Where Jesus is, ‘tis heaven (Hymn 157)

We may remember times in the past where we experienced being close to God, Him touching our lives personally, where we feel close to Him. Beyond that, every week when we gather together, it is a shadow of the communion we have with God in the future. The Sabbath is a foretaste of the eternal rest we have in heaven. We have to constantly remind ourselves to treasure these moments, both the precious memories in the past and continually look forward to gathering in Christ. When we remind ourselves of all this goodness that God continues to give us, it should spur us to desire heaven more. When we think about how God has been dwelling with us, it is better that the form of worship we have currently. The more we desire heaven, the more we desire opportunities to have fellowship in Christ, to worship Him. It’s like a sneak preview of heaven.

Attending services won’t be a chore, but rather an opportunity to experience a taster of what heaven is going to be like. When things are perfect, in reality things aren’t so rosy, when our worship feels blemished, our fellowship doesn’t feel sweet, let’s not doubt heaven. Let this propel us to desire the real thing even more, not like the imperfect mode we have on earth. Speaking optimistically here, it is difficult to always be so positive, to think about all of these things, to constantly want heaven and long for it, and when things are bad, we frame it in a positive way - this is hard.

And there is more to our faith than longing for heaven. Our faith is not just about this motivation, there are so many more aspects. Trials and tribulations, temptations, or bearing fruits for God. Faith is a marathon - Paul says run with endurance. But this desire, longing for heaven is something we should never lose sight of because it is a motivation and also the final goal.

Today we looked as some examples of longing for heaven. These pilgrims didn’t own any land, and we drew this similarity, between the patriarchs and Paul - that their present life is not their norm. They both long for their true home. We must also remember that this is our situation. Not the correct state of things. God is going to come and make everything correct again. We should not become satisfied with our present circumstances and forget about the heavenly home. While the speaker shared a country song at the start of the sermon, we will end off with a country hymn. Take special note of the lyrics and reflect on them.

This World is Not My Home — Jim Reeves (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K07Dn0zwZY0)