The following is Bruce Emmert's sermon about what we as Christians have to
look forward to when God calls us home.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
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He's Left the Light On For You
by Dr. Bruce L. Emmert
John 14: 1-3
'Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2In
my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I
have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that
where I am, there you may be also.
INTRODUCTION
Have you seen the movie Antwone Fisher? It's the true story of a young man
abandoned at birth by his mother and then raised in abusive orphanages,
foster homes, and reform schools. Denzel Washington adapted the story into a
movie that was released a few years ago. After his 18th birthday, Antwone
Fisher joins the navy where his anger towards life brims to the surface.
After several fights, he is ordered to undergo counseling. Psychologist
Jerome Davenport (Denzel Washington) encourages Antwone to find his family
to begin healing. After several phone calls he reaches one aunt and uncle in
Cleveland, who escort him to a dilapidated apartment complex where his
estranged mother lives. A suspicious and aloof woman answers the door. Upon
realizing that Antwone is the child she gave up at birth, she retreats to
another room and sits down on a soiled and worn couch and cries silently.
Antwone asks for some explanation as to why she never came to rescue him or
why she never sought him out. She cannot answer. She simply stares ahead,
not daring to look at him, tears rolling down her expressionless face. He
gently kisses her on the cheek as if to say, "I forgive you," and walks away
devastated and feeling helpless and alone. His mother remains on the couch
and stares at nothing, making no effort to respond. A despondent Antwone
Fisher leaves the apartment with his questions unanswered and rides back to
his aunt's house with his uncle.
As he exits the car, his slow gait betrays the loneliness of a man with no
hope of a meaningful connection to anyone. As Antwone enters the front door,
however, his world changes. He is met with a chorus of cheers from 50 plus
relatives, all waiting to meet Antwone for the first time. There are
children, couples, cousins, uncles, and family friends, all smothering him
with hugs, slaps on the back, and beaming smiles. One cousin tells him his
name is Edward and says, "I'm named after your dad," and an older aunt
squeezes his cheeks. Antwone takes it all in, overwhelmed.
The hallway stairs are filled with kids holding up signs with his name
scribbled next to crayola-sketched smiley faces and rainbows. He is then led
into the next room where a grand feast is spread across a long table. The
table is overflowing with chicken, mashed potatoes, pancakes, fruit salad,
and every other possible dish. The room is prepared for a party. For the
first time in his life, he is being adored. For the first time, he belongs.
As the clamor quiets, an elderly woman sitting behind the table knocks to
get Antwone's attention and then waves for him to come over next to her.
With slow, deliberate moves, she raises her arms, grabbing his hands and
then caressing his face. A slow tear runs down her cheek, and with a raspy
voice that seemed as if it was mustering all the strength it possessed, she
whispered the redemptive invitation: "Welcome." (Note: I found the above
description on another site-I can't remember where. Antwone Fisher (A Mundy
Lane/Todd Black Production, 2002), rated PG-13, written by Antwone Fisher,
directed by Denzel Washington).
1. JESUS IS PREPARING A PLACE FOR YOU.
Imagine being welcomed in that way. Imagine being welcomed home like that-if
you can picture that kind of love, that kind of joy, that kind of
acceptance, then you can begin to imagine the reception that awaits everyone
who is welcomed into the presence of God when we leave our earthly home and
go home to be with Jesus. Just before Jesus was crucified, he told his
disciples, 1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe
also in me. 2In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were
not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to
myself, so that where I am, there you may be also." If you can imagine the
welcome that Antwone Fisher received, then you can begin to form in your
heart, mind, and soul the welcome God's people will receive when they
inherit their home in heaven.
I find myself drawn to this passage again and again. And I think one thing
that draws me to it is that Jesus begins by seeking to comfort his
disciples. "Do not let your hearts be troubled," says Jesus. Last Sunday
Pastor David nailed it on the head: the holidays can be tough for so many
reasons! If there is ever a time for a word of comfort, it's during the
holiday! In our day and time our culture peddles comfort. If your heart is
troubled, our world's got the answer for it-and the answer most likely
involves aromatherapy candles or a Carnival line cruise! Our culture is all
about comfort-all about masking over the trouble in our hearts with answers
that can be wrapped in pretty paper, ribbons and bows. Don't get me wrong:
comfort is a good thing! God spoke through Isaiah and said, "Comfort, O
comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to
her that she has served her term." (Isaiah 40:1-2). God wanted to comfort
his people! Jesus wanted to comfort his disciples-do not let your hearts be
troubled, he says. But notice how he tells them to find comfort. He says,
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God believe also in me."
Comfort can't be packaged. Comfort begins, said Jesus, when we believe the
right things. Believe in God, Jesus said. Believe also in me.
What I love about this passage is that Jesus then tells his disciples what
they need to believe about our Heavenly Father and about himself. "In my
Father's house," Jesus said," there are many dwelling places. If it were not
so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" In God's
house there's room enough for everyone-doesn't mean that everyone will
choose to stay in God's house, but there's room if they do. There's room in
heaven for you, and me, and even the crabby neighbor down the street! Isn't
that a comforting thought! But more than that, Jesus has prepared a place
for you. It's not just that there's room for everyone, but there's a room
with your name on it! Jesus told his disciples that he is going to prepare a
place for them-"I go to prepare a place for you," he says. That speaks so
deeply to my heart-and the older I get the more deeply Jesus' words touch
me!
2. JESUS WILL COME AGAIN AND TAKE YOU TO HIMSELF
But it gets even better. Jesus keeps straitening out our bent thinking with
eternal truth: "And if I go and prepare a place for you," Jesus said, "I
will come again and will take you to myself.." We're smack in the middle to
Advent-and in the season of Advent we prepare for the birth of Jesus. But we
also anticipate the return of Jesus-his second advent. This season of Advent
says Dennis Bratcher, "is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old
event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God
in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God." Jesus said
that he has prepared a place for you in heaven, and then he's going to come
again-that's the second advent-and take you to himself, to that room he has
prepared that has your name on it! And that means quite simply yet so
profoundly that the bond of love between you and God is intact forever!
3. JESUS GAVE HIMSELF SO THAT YOU CAN BE WITH HIM
Find comfort in the truth that Jesus has prepared a home in heaven for you
and that he will take you there himself. Doesn't that make your heart
sing!!! But listen: it gets even better! We haven't even got to the punch
line yet-and here it is. It's a punch line that begins with two words that
tell us to quiet all distracting thoughts and pay attention. Jesus said,
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take
you to myself SO THAT.! So that where I am you may be also." I want you to
soak up the significance of what Jesus is saying. Jesus is telling us why
God has gone to all the trouble of the manger and the cross. God did it so
that, so that where Jesus is, YOU may be also, so that where God is YOU may
be also. God wants us with Him. God wants you with him. Christ went through
the humiliation of pouring out his glory as the only Son of God and taking
the form of sinful humanity and of suffering the ultimate humiliation of the
cross so that where he is we may be also. God wants you with him,
desperately wants you and me with him. In talking about God's gift of love
in Jesus, David Thomas says, "You can't buy this. It's the best thing you
could give your family, but you're not going to find it at Hamburg. They don't
carry it at Fayette Mall. No credit card accepted. The price has already
been paid. The gift was opened up in a manger and paid for on a cross. Your
family was worth that much to God." The gift, you see, was opened in a
manger and paid for on a cross so that where He is you may be also! God has
a passionate desire for you to be where he is.
4. GOD HAS A PASSIONATE DESIRE FOR YOU TO BE WHERE HE IS.
'So that' teaches us something about the heart of God, and what it teaches
helps steady my heart when I might feel troubled and comforts my soul when I
am lonely and in need of compassion. Jesus comforts me when he says that God
has gone to all this trouble and personal expense so that where he is I
might be also. God has a passionate desire for us to be where he is. I've
begun to experience something in the last few years that have helped me
understand those two words, so that, in a deeper way than ever before. A few
years ago our oldest daughter, Jayna, went away to college. Then about six
months ago I walked her down the aisle and gave her hand to a fine young man
and then conducted the service. I can't tell you how many people asked me
how I was able to perform the marriage service of my oldest daughter-asked
me if I cried. Honestly, I didn't cry a single drop during the service. But
I did cry when I hugged her and kissed her and waved goodbye as she and her
husband drove away from the church that day and began their new life as
husband and wife. I've begun to experience the empty nest syndrome. I am so
very happy for Jayna, but it's a bittersweet happiness. I wish she could be
where we are-I miss her. When we looked for a house here in Lexington we
wanted to make sure to have a comfortable guest room where they could stay.
And when Jayna and her husband came home for Thanksgiving we pulled out all
the stops and did everything we could to welcome her and her husband home
and helped them pay for their trip here. And a couple of months ago when she
had a few days off work we bought her plane tickets so she could afford to
come see us. Why did we go to all that trouble? So that where we are she
could be also. Do you understand what I mean? See, I don't think I really
understood what Jesus was getting at when he said, "And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself so that where
I am you may be also" until I experienced firsthand the bittersweetness of
my child no longer being where I am.
The Scripture is the story of God desperately, passionately reaching out to
his children to bring them home so that where he is they may be also. I
think of God describing Israel as his son in the book of Hosea, a son that
strayed away. (the Message)
1"When Israel was only a child, I loved him. I called out, "My son!'-called
him out of Egypt. 2But when others called him, he ran off and left me. He
worshiped the popular sex gods, he played at religion with toy gods. . I
rescued him from human bondage, But he never acknowledged my help, 4never
admitted that I was the one pulling his wagon, That I lifted him, like a
baby, to my cheek, that I bent down to feed him. 5Now he wants to go back to
Egypt or go over to Assyria--anything but return to me!. 7My people are
hell-bent on leaving me. . 8But how can I give up on you, Ephraim? How can I
turn you loose, Israel?
Do you hear the desperation of a hurting parent whose child is bent on
self-destruction? I have that bittersweet empty nest experience-the hard
part is that my daughter is no longer where I am; the sweetness is that that
is as it should be. But there is no bittersweet experience for God-the
estrangement between God and the human race is not as it should be. We didn't
grow up and move away-we sinned and slipped away from God-rejected His love.
That's what makes what Jesus said so powerful for me! Isn't it wonderful
beyond words that God gave us Jesus so that where he is we may also be?! God
is so ready to bring us home through Jesus so that where he is we may be
also. How does Jesus describe God? Jesus said God's like a father whose son
has slipped away into sin. And when that son came to his senses, the Father
gladly, passionately, desperately welcomed him back home. But when I read
and reread the story of the prodigal son, my throat catches, every time, at
one verse in the parable. Jesus said that when the son was, "still far off,
his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms
around him and kissed him." Have you noticed that Jesus makes it plain that
even when the son was way off in the distance, "his father saw him." When I
know Jayna and her husband are on the road to our home, do you think I kept
finding myself looking out the window watching for their car!!? You bet I
did. Before they pulled into the driveway I saw them-heck, the whole family
saw them, and went running outside to meet them. You know what that father
was doing? He was watching for his son to return. And I'll bet that if that
father had had a lamp, it would have been lit and set in the window to
welcome his son home if he came at night. Don't you think he would leave the
light on for his son!? He desperately wanted his son to return home, and he
was watching because he could hardly wait for the day when where he was his
son would be also. This is what gives me comfort when I am hurting. This is
what brings peace to my soul when I feel troubled. It's knowing that God so
desperately loves us that he went to all that trouble to save us so that
where he is we may be also.
CONCLUSION
In my mind's eye, I can see that home not made with hands yet eternal in the
heaven-a home with my name on that Jesus has prepared-a home with a window
and in that window burns a bright light to welcome me home. Remember that
wonderful Christmas song, Home for the Holidays? "O there's no place like
home for the holidays, for no matter how far away you roam, if you want to
be happy in a million ways, for the holidays you can't beat home sweet
home." If you want comfort, if your heart is troubled and you need
reassurance, you can't beat home sweet home-the home that Jesus has prepared
for you, a home that Jesus will take us to himself, a home where our
heavenly Father has left the light on and waits for our return, so that
where he is, we may be also.
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