Rev. Deacon Allen Batchelder
Trinity Church
Waltham, Massachusetts
May 18, 2014, Easter V
Acts 7:55-60, Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10, John 14:1-14
From the Acts of the Apostles:
But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.”
From the First Letter of St. Peter:
For it stands in scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
And from the Gospel of St. John:
“Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer, our Strength and our Salvation.
Amen!
We all know the expression: “there are two things certain in life: death and taxes.” I suppose the only way to eliminate taxes would be to mount a revolution, but I don’t see that happening. And as far as death is concerned, well we all know that some day and at some hour, we are going to die. And the questions that everyone seems to ask are: What’s next? Where am I going? Is there a heaven? Is there a hell?
For answers to these questions, you only need to look at the Scriptures. In our Gospel reading today, we have the comforting words of Jesus: “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1, 27).
We are not surprised that the Apostles were troubled after Jesus had announced that one of them was a traitor, and then He warned Peter that he was going to deny his Lord three times. Self-confident Peter was certain that he could not only follow his Lord, but even die with Him and for Him. Alas, Peter did not know his own heart, nor do we really know our hearts until they are tested. One thing is certain, our hearts can easily become troubled.
Perhaps the heaviest blow of all was the realization that Jesus was going to die and leave them (John 13:33). Where was He going? Could they go with Him? How could they get where He was going? These were some of the perplexing questions that tumbled around in their minds and hearts and were tossed back and forth in their conversations at the table.
How did Jesus calm their troubled hearts? By giving them six wonderful assurances to lay hold of, assurances that we today may claim and thus enjoy untroubled hearts. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you may claim every single one of these assurances.
1) You are going to heaven 4) We have the Holy Spirit
2) You know the Father 5) We Enjoy the Father’s Love
3) You have the privilege of prayer 6) You have His gift of Peace
Jesus did not rebuke Peter for asking Him where He was going, but His reply was somewhat cryptic. One day Peter would “follow” Jesus to the cross (John 21:18-19), and then he would follow Him to heaven. Tradition tells us that Peter was crucified, though he asked to be crucified head-downward because he did not feel worthy to die as his Master died.
Just as Peter was beginning to feel like a hero, Jesus announced that he himself would soon become a casualty. The message not only shocked Peter, but it also stunned the rest of the disciples. After all, if brave Peter denied the Lord, what hope was there for the rest of them? It was then that Jesus gave His message to calm their troubled hearts.
According to Jesus, heaven is a real place. It is not a product of religious imagination or the result of a psyched-up mentality, looking for “pie in the sky by and by.” Heaven is the place where God dwells and where Jesus sits today at the right hand of the Father. Heaven is described as a kingdom (2 Peter 1:11), and inheritance (1 Peter 1:4), a country (Heb. 11:16), a city (Heb. 11:16), and a home (John 14:2).
A kingdom:“For in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you;” An inheritance: “To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you;” A country: “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them”; and a home, with many rooms, “if it were not so, I would have told you.”
Heaven is “My Father’s house,” according to the Son of God. It is “home” for God’s children! The poet Robert Frost said that home is the place that, when you arrive there, they have to take you in.
Jesus Christ is now preparing places for all true believers, and each place will be beautiful. When He was on earth, Jesus was a carpenter (Mark 6:3). Now that He has returned to glory, He is building a church on earth and a home for that church in heaven.
In Peter’s first letter we read that there is only one Saviour, Jesus Christ, and only one spiritual building, the church. Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone of the church (Eph. 2:20), binding the building together. Whether we agree with each other or not, all true Christians belong to each other as stones in God’s building.
Peter gave a full description on Jesus Christ, the stone. He is a living stone because He was raised from the dead in victory. He is the chosen stone of the Father, and He is precious. Peter quoted Isaiah 28:16 and Psalm 118:22 in his description and pointed out that Jesus Christ, though chosen by God, was rejected by men. He was not the kind of Messiah they were expecting, so they stumbled over Him. Jesus referred to this same Scripture when He debated with the Jewish leaders (Matt. 21:42ff). Though rejected by men, Jesus Christ was exalted by God!
The real cause of this Jewish stumbling was their refusal to submit to the Word (1 Peter 2:8). Had they believed and obeyed the Word, they would have received their Messiah and been saved. Of course, people today still stumble over Christ and His cross (1 Cor. 1:18ff). Those who believe on Christ “shall not be confounded [ashamed].”
In His first mention of the church, Jesus compared it to a building: “I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). Believers are living stones in His building. Each time someone trusts Christ; another stone is quarried out of the pit of sin and cemented by grace into the building. It may look to us that the church on earth is a pile of rubble and ruins, especially in New England, but God sees the total structure as it grows (Eph. 2:19-22). What a privilege we have to be a part of His church, “a habitation of God through the Spirit.”
Peter wrote this first letter to believers living in five different provinces, yet he said that they all belonged to one “spiritual house.” There is a unity of God’s people that transcends all local and individual assemblies and fellowships. We belong to each other because we belong to Christ. This does not mean that doctrinal and denominational differences are wrong, because each local church must be fully persuaded by the Spirit. But it does mean that we must not permit our differences to destroy the spiritual unity we have in Christ. We ought to be mature enough to disagree without in any sense becoming disagreeable.
A contractor was building a house and the construction of the first floor went smoothly. But when they started on the second floor, they had nothing but trouble. None of the materials from the lumberyard would fit properly. Then they discovered the reason: they were working with two different sets of blueprints! Once they got rid of the old set, everything went well and they built a lovely house.
Too often, Christians hinder the building of the church because they are following the wrong plans or different plans. When Solomon built his temple, his workmen followed the plans so carefully that everything fit together on the construction site (1 Kings 6:7). If all of us would follow God’s blueprints given in His Word, we would be able to work together without discord and build His church for His glory.
In the Book of Acts this morning, we heard the very sad story of Stephen who was stoned to death and martyred. You wonder what kind of a world we live in when good and godly men like Stephen can be murdered by religious bigots! But our world has not changed in 2000 years.
We have similar problems in our “enlightened” age today: taking hostages, bombings that kill and maim innocent people, assassinations, and all in the name of politics or religion. The heart of man has not changed, nor can it be changed apart from the grace of God.
What were the results of Stephen’s death? For Stephen, death meant coronation (Rev. 2:10). He saw the glory of God and the Son of God standing to receive him into heaven. Our Lord sat down when He ascended to heaven (Mark 16:19), but He stood up to welcome to glory the first Christian martyr (Luke 12:8).
For Israel, Stephen’s death meant condemnation. This was their third murder: they had permitted John the Baptist to be killed; they had asked for Jesus to be killed; and now they were killing Stephen themselves. When they allowed Herod to kill John, the Jews sinned against God the Father who had sent John (Matt. 21:28-32). When they asked Pilate to crucify Jesus, they sinned against God the Son (Matt. 21:33-46). When they stoned Stephen, Israel sinned against the Holy Spirit who was working in and through the Apostles (Acts 7:51). Jesus said that this sin could never be forgiven (Matt. 12:31-32). Judgment finally came in A.D. 70 when Titus and the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. The Temple, the holy structure of the Jews, was destroyed because of their sin.
For the church in Jerusalem, the death of Stephen meant liberation. They had been witnessing “to the Jew first” ever since Pentecost, but now they would be directed to take the message out of Jerusalem to the Samaritans (Acts 8) and even to the Gentiles (Acts 11:19-26).
Finally, as far as Saul (Acts 7:58) was concerned, the death of Stephen eventually meant salvation. He never forgot the event (Acts 22:17-21), and no doubt Stephen’s message, prayers, and glorious death were used of the Spirit to prepare Saul for his own meeting with the Lord (Acts 9). God never wastes the blood of His saints. Saul would one day see the same glory that Stephen saw and would behold the Son of God and hear Him speak!
When Christians die, they “fall asleep” (John 11:11). The body sleeps and the spirit goes to be with the Lord in heaven (Acts 7:59). When Jesus returns, He will bring with Him the spirits of those who have died (1 Thes. 4:14), their bodies will be raised and glorified, and body and spirit will be united in glory to be “forever with the Lord.” Even though we Christians weep at the death of a loved one (Acts 8:2), we do not sorrow hopelessly; for we know we shall meet again when we die or when the Lord returns.
“And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3).
This is a clear promise of our Lord’s return for His people. Some will go to heaven through the valley of the shadow of death, but those who are alive when Jesus returns will never see death (John 11:25-26). They will be changed to be like Christ and will go to heaven (1 Thes. 4:13-18).
Since heaven is the Father’s house, it must be a place of love and joy. When the Apostle John tried to describe heaven in the Book of Revelations, he almost ran out of symbols and comparisons! (Rev. 21-22) Finally, he listed the things that would not be there: death, sorrow, crying, pain, night, etc. What a wonderful home it will be – and we will enjoy it forever!
The disciple Thomas wanted to know where His Lord was going. The question revealed his keen desire to be with Jesus, and this meant that he had to know where the Master was going and how he himself would get there. The Lord made it clear that He was going to the Father, and that He was the only way to the Father. Heaven is a real place, a loving place, and an exclusive place. Not everybody is going to heaven, but rather only those who have trusted Jesus Christ.
Jesus does not simply teach the way or point the way; He is the way. In fact, “the Way” was one of the early names for the Christian faith (Acts 9:2; 19:9). Our Lord’s statement, “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” Wipes away any other proposed way to heaven – good works, religious ceremonies, costly gifts, etc. There is only one way, and that way is Jesus Christ.
How would this assurance of going to heaven help to calm the disciples’ troubled hearts? Dr. James M. Gray, a pastor in the Reformed Episcopal Church and hymn writer, put it beautifully in a song (1933) entitled “The Road Leads Home.” It went like this:
O pilgrim, as you journey, Do you ever gladly say,
In spite of heavy weather and the roughness of the way,
That it really does not matter, all the strange and bitter stress,
Heat and cold, and toil and sorrow, Will be healed with blessedness!
O safe and blessed shelter, Heavenly mansions of content!
There are the holy kindred from our hearthstones early rent;
And our precious, loving Savior, who our sins on Calvary bore –
Who would ever mind the journey, with such blessedness in store?
O who would mind the journey, when the road leads home?
The assurance of a heavenly home at the end of life’s road enables us to bear joyfully with the obstacles and battles along the way. It was this assurance that even encouraged our Lord, “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2). Paul had this truth in mind when he wrote, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).
We do not have to wait until we enter heaven to get to know the Father. We can know Him today and receive from Him the spiritual resources we need to keep going when the days are difficult. The very Lord of heaven and earth is our Father (Luke 10:21).There is no need for us to have troubled hearts, for He is in control.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know
your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow
his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.
Amen. †