SERMON NOTES
Creed / Rev. Dr. Jim Toole
1 Corinthians 15:42-44
“What Is Heaven Like?”
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Today we are going to look at the Resurrection and Life Everlasting. The whole idea of eternity/heaven is a difficult concept to wrap our mind around. None of us has a very good mental model of what eternity looks like. Even though the Bible does not give us any conclusive description of what Heaven will be like, there are glimpses in Scripture.
The historical theological view of Heaven is twofold.
Christ’s return will usher in a New Creation, a New Earth, and a New Heaven.
Christ’s return will usher in the moment that all who have died will rise again.
1 Corinthians 15:42-44 (NRSV)
So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NRSV)
For the Lord Himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.
All the sunrises and sunsets, symphonies and rock concerts, feasts and friendships are but whispers. They are a prologue to the grander story and an even better place. Only there, it will never end.
“Its not on sin, but Grace”
Creed / Rev. Mat Grover
Romans 3:23-24
Belief in the forgiveness of sins is only good news if we first understand that we need forgiveness, and to make sense of that understanding we must first understand sin.
The word for sin in the New Testament is ἁμαρτία (harmartia) meaning missing the mark. It is used in Greek Tragedy to refer to the fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero.
1. We all need forgiveness.
Romans 3:22-23 he says the righteousness of God through faith in in Jesus is for all who believe, for there is no distinction, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
2. God forgiveness is for us all.
Psalm 103:9-12 He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.
3. Because we are forgiven, we must forgive.
Ephesians 4:31-32 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32 and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
Homework:
Where do you need to ask for forgiveness? From God? From Yourself?
Where do you need to forgive others and work towards redemption?
