Video to come.
Morning Message Text: John 17: 4-5, 13-16, 20-24
4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—
23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Morning Message:
We are calling this celebration today a harvest reunion. That seemed like a good description of what we would like to see take place in our church. A special occasion to invite people to church that we haven’t seen in a while. I am always looking for opportunities to bring as many as possible to worship because my job, our jobs as followers of Jesus, is to make disciples of the world and bring as many as possible with us into God’s kingdom. Through the years I have tried to focus on evangelism. In reality, it is God who truly evangelizes, and it is God who draws people back to the church. We are simply called to make an effort.
Reunions are nice, but I would rather focus on homecoming. There is so much comfort in coming home and that is what the church should feel like. Imagine you’ve been on a long trip, and you’re almost to your house just a few minutes away from the end of your journey. You’re feeling cramped from the airplane seats. You’re sore from heaving heavy luggage and feeling the straps of your bag dig into your shoulder. You are tired and jet – lagged and maybe even a little cranky. That sounds like me after Christmas shopping at the mall. You can’t wait to get home, unload everything and fall down into your favorite chair, And, when you finally sit back it probably sounds like, “Aaaaaahhhhhhhh.” To me that’s what home feels like. If I am away to long my heart yearns for the peacefulness of home. That’s what church should be like because that is the place where we feel closest to our true home in heaven.
There should be a sense of belonging here. Now I didn’t say ownership; people like to take possession of things. No, when you belong to Jesus you belong here in worship. I wish that people would adopt this attitude. I belong here! Too many times, I hear people complain, I am not going back to that church because of what the pastor said, or because of what someone did a long time ago. None of that matters if you simply take the attitude that you belong. Why do you belong? Not just because I have invited you, but more importantly because Jesus holds out his nail-wounded hands and invites you. How many times in scripture has Jesus said, “Come to me?” I look at it this way. We have an open invitation from Jesus to meet him here every week. If Jesus stood before you and invited you to church, to come here every week and think of this place as your home away from home, would you refuse him?
On the final day before his crucifixion, Jesus may have been thinking about his own opportunity to return home, because he offered a detailed and beautiful prayer on behalf of his disciples who would remain in this world after his resurrection and ascension to heaven. And not just the disciples then following Jesus – our Lord offered specific prayers for all who would choose to follow him throughout the centuries. If anyone can tell us about heaven, it’s the one who came down from heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ. In the humanity of his ministry, Jesus had several glimpses of heaven. At his baptism the skies parted, and the Holy Spirit descended on him. At his transfiguration the glory of heaven enveloped him and two heavenly residents – Moses and Elijah – visited with him. At his ascension the skies opened and received him back home. When Jesus prayed, He often looked up to heaven. I wonder, maybe He could see the throne of God surrounded by all the majestic glories of Paradise.
Jesus was eager to return home. Let the glimpses of heaven that come from him make you eager for the trip home too. Later in that same prayer, Jesus added, “Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me; for you loved me before the foundation of the world.” If you are a Christian, one of the reasons you should long for heaven is because you don’t belong in this world. None of us belong here. Peter described followers of Jesus as sojourners and pilgrims. The author of Hebrews used the language of strangers and pilgrims. The apostle John instructed us, “Do not love the world or the things in the world.” Why? Because “the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
Listen to me for just a moment. You are here in this worship for a reason. If you have accepted Jesus into your heart, you should feel what I am saying to you today. When you feel out of place in this world—in your country or your community or even your home, don’t be alarmed. Don’t try to fix that feeling by adapting yourself to this world. Instead, allow your longing for heaven to guide you toward home. This might be a hard pill for us to swallow because we want to feel like we belong. It’s the most natural, human feeling on earth, but because Jesus lives inside of you, this earth in its current form, will never feel like home because your home is in heaven. There is hope for this life. There is a place of sanctuary for those who are just passing through this world on their way home. It should be your home away from home, right here in your church. “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.” (Psalm 27).
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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