Kerry Shook - Heavenly Home
One second after you die, you'll either experience the greatest celebration for all eternity or the greatest separation for all eternity. In that single moment when you breathe your last and enter eternity, everything will come into brilliant focus. And we'll have this amazing clarity on what really mattered on this earth. If you're a Christ follower, we'll be blown away by indescribable heaven, but we'll also see really clearly that many of the things that we thought were so important and worried so much about weren't worth one second of our precious, limited time on this earth. We'll also see that so many of the things that we thought were so valuable and so important were completely worthless and devoid of all meaning.
We'll finally see it all clearly, all those wasted opportunities on this earth because we acted like and lived like this would be our home forever. Hey, we're in this church-wide adventure we're calling the heaven on earth adventure because you were made for eternity. If you're a Christ follower, you have an eternal home secured for you in heaven. But here's the amazing thing. God wants to bring some heaven into your home on earth. God wants to bring some heaven into your relationships on earth. And Jesus taught us to pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven".
So, in our heaven-on-earth adventure, we're praying for some heaven to come into our nation and our neighborhoods. We're praying for some heaven to come into our church home and the homes and families in our church. We're praying for some heaven to come into our cities and to come into our world because we live in a very broken world that is filled with broken homes and broken hearts. And what this world needs more than anything today is some heaven to invade earth, some heaven to collide with our homes. So, how do you build heavenly relationships when it feels like all hell is breaking loose in your home?
In 1 Corinthians 13:13 it says, "Three things will last forever, faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love". These three eternal values are the secret to building a home on this earth that has some heaven in it. And so, I want us to look at these in our key passage in 1 Corinthians. First I want you to see, "Build your home on faith". A home has to have the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 3:11 it says, "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have, Jesus Christ".
For a relationship to last, it has to be built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. There's no other foundation upon which you can build a home, a family, a marriage, a relationship that's gonna stand the test of fire. There's no other foundation that's gonna make it when everything in life is shaken. When the earthquakes of life hit, there's only one foundation that can stay strong, and that's the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ. When Heiress Christina Onassis tragically died at 38 years of age, she was wealthy beyond imagination.
But most of her problems stemmed from a poverty of relationships that she had in her home growing up. Her stepsister Henrietta Gelber said, "She had houses all over the world, but she never really had a home". And you can build houses all over this world and never really have a home unless you have a foundation built on Jesus Christ, built on faith. It's an eternal value that will last. And, by the way, for those of you who are parents, your kids know whether or not you're building your home on faith, if that's really the foundation or not because they look at what you do, they look at what you say, but they look at what you do more than what you say.
In Matthew 6:33 Jesus said, "Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what He requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things". You see, when my priorities get all out of line, instead of trying to get 50 things straight, I just go back to this one thing. Put God first and everything else starts falling into place. Put God first, and if you're gonna build a home on faith in Christ, you gotta put him first. You gotta put him first in the most important areas of your life because your children know what's really first. Is it more important to be in worship or at the ball field? Is it more important to put God first in your finances or to get that new car?
I mean, really, there's all these choices in life that it comes down to, who's gonna be first? Who's gonna be first in your life? And your kids know what's first in your life, if you're building your home on faith or building it on something else. And so, I just want to give you an acrostic of the word "first", a real practical, easy way to know whether or not you're putting God first. And F stands for finances. We'll get the hardest one out of the way first. God wants you to put him first in your finances because finances are important to us. And if we don't put God first in our finances, then how is he first place in our life?
And so, the Bible says we're to give to God that first portion, that tithe, that 10%, to give back to him because he wants us to enjoy the rest. He wants us to, you know, be grateful for what we have. But he wants the first portion, not the last, not the least, not the leftovers, but the first part to say that he's first. And I say this to parents all the time. If you have children, then you need to let them see your giving. If you write out a check, let them see that you write out that check and tell them why and what you do and why you do that and what it is. And if you do it online, let them see you do that at times. Let them see 'cause they need to know that you put your money where your mouth is, that Jesus comes first.
And we're gonna believe his promise that he will always meet our needs. We can't outgive God. We have to put him first. And then I stands for interests, that your interests can't just be about yourself. They have to be about God's interests and building the Kingdom of God and serving in your church family and making a difference in the lives of others. Do you have any interests that align with God's interests? And then R stands for rest. That's a day of rest, worship, that's what you're doing right now as you're putting God first, giving him that one hour, the first day of the week, saying, "God, I want you to be first in my week," so he can bless the rest. "I need to recalibrate my life according to your will, and you've commanded me to worship. You've commanded me to take a day of rest".
And so, you don't do what you normally do that day. You take a day of rest. You come to worship, you put God first by coming to church and worship, and then you have recreation with your family and friends and you rest. You hang out and you don't do the things that you normally do at work. That's one of the Ten Commandments, by the way. And then S stands for struggles. This sounds kind of strange, but whenever you're struggling, whenever you're going through trouble, turn to God and put him first. Many times when we're in trouble, we turn away from God that God says, "When you're going through troubles, you turn to me, that means you're putting me first".
In the greatest struggles of your life, God wants you to put him first. And then T stands for time. Put him first in your time. Give him the first 10, 15 minutes of your day. Spend time with God. Put him first say, "God, my schedule is yours today. I need you or I'm gonna screw it up today. I know I've got all these important things to do, but you're gonna have to guide me each step of the way. I give you this day. My time is really your time, God". That's how you put God first in the practical areas of your life. Otherwise, you're just fooling yourself. And when we put God first, everything else starts to fall into place. You've gotta build your family on faith. And secondly, build your relationships on hope.
In Romans 5:5 it says, "This hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out His love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God's gift to us". This hope does not disappoint us. The word "hope" in the Bible means something totally different from our word "hope" in the modern English language. When we say "hope" today, usually we're saying, "Well, I don't know that this is going to happen, but I really wish that it would. Or maybe it's 50/50 or maybe it's a long shot, but I really want this to happen". It's like, "I hope that it won't rain today, and we can have that picnic. Or I hope the Texans make the playoffs, though I know that's not gonna happen. So, I really hope that they lose all the rest of their games, so they have a high draft choice in this rebuilding process".
But, you know, we hope and it just means, hope just means that maybe it'll happen, probably won't, but I, you know, hope. But in the Bible, the word "hope" means a future certainty, it's certain. That's why it says we have the hope of heaven. It hasn't happened yet, but we have this future certainty. It's certain. You can count on it. You can bank on it. It's gonna happen. It's a certainty. And so, relationships have to be built on the foundation of faith, but you have to build with the framework of hope. That means you have to look beyond the pain and see a promising future, to look beyond the pain and see what God can do in the middle of the pain. That's what it's all about. This hope does not disappoint us.
In the middle of the fire when the heat is on, you better have hope. The only way you walk through hell to get to heaven is to have hope, not to see what's happening in the relationship right now, but to see what God can do. You need the hope of heaven in your relationships because every relationship will experience the fire. And when you're going through the fire, you've gotta have hope to cope, to see what the relationship can be, not what it is right now, to be able to see through the pain and see what the relationship can be. That's what God wants to give you.
In 1 Corinthians 3:12 it says, "Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials, gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person's work has any value". See, every day, every moment, you're building something with your life. You're building with your relationships, and you're either using eternal building materials or temporary building materials.
When you see the wood, hay, and straw, that just represents the temporary building materials, all those things that we do that aren't eternal, that have no real value, that are gonna go up in smoke. But then God wants us to build with the things that are most important that last and that only comes from having the refiner's fire come into our lives and relationships here on this earth. So, we have pure gold, silver, jewels that come out of that. And the only way you get through the refiner's fire to close relationship is to have hope, the hope of heaven, the hope of the Lord God, the only thing that you can't do it on your own, it has to come from God. You have to have God's hope to see what can be, not what's happening right now, but what can be.
In our marriage, Chris and I have a vision of hope, and we call it love at last sight. And that is that the last time we see each other on this earth, we want to be more in love than ever before. As we walk through pain and troubles and difficulties, sometimes that's hard to see. But we have the hope of God in our hearts, so we can see it clearly that we have love at last sight coming. Through the great days and the tough days, it doesn't matter, we have a vision that keeps us connected and strong, that on the last day we see each other on this earth, we'll be more in love than ever before. We want to be more in love tomorrow than we are today.
And sometimes it's hard to see when you're going through conflict and trouble. And you need God's eyes and hold on to that hope, hold on that every relationship will go through the fire. And you've gotta have hope, and that hope can only come from God Almighty to see, not what the relationship is, but what it can be. Chris and I actually wrote a book called "Love At Last Sight" several years ago. And Chris and I, when we write a book, we always write it 50%, 50%. You know, it's always harder doing a book together or preaching together, but it's so worth it because it's always so much better. But we have different personalities, we come at it from different angles, and then we put it together. God does something amazing out of it.
And so, in "Love At Last Sight," I wrote 50%, she wrote 50%, all mixed together. But everything that changed your life, those are the things that she wrote. Everything that was really powerful and like really moving and, wow, really insightful, those were the things she wrote, I guarantee you. And so, just the other day, I got that book back out, and I read the last page of "Love At Last Sight". And I thought, this is a really good book because I was reading a part that Chris wrote that is just starting to sink into my heart. She wrote this last page in "Love At Last Sight".
"Our last sight on earth will intersect with our first sight of heaven. That's the moment I'm waiting for. The Apostle Paul described it this way, 'Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.' Did you catch that? We were created to be fully known. That explains why every person on the planet aches to be completely understood, accepted, and loved. It's what we were made for. Because we live in an imperfect and broken world, there will be times in our relationships when it's hard to see what God is up to. There are seasons when it's difficult to see that God is making something beautiful out of the brokenness. That's because here on earth, we see a poor reflection of what real love is. One day, however, we will see love clearly and fully because we shall see face to face when we finally look into the face of the One who created us and gave His life for us. We will see reflected in His eyes, love at last sight. The highest goal we can have this side of heaven is to love like Christ and continue to do whatever it takes to live a life of love. If you do, your last sight on earth is sure to be your best and your first sight of heaven, there will be no words. For no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him".
You see, that's a vision of hope. And for some of you right now, you're going through hell in a relationship. And it's really hard for you to see love at last sight. Maybe the only vision you can see is, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out" last sight. I mean, it's really hard for you to see what God can do because you're looking into a poor mirror, a poor reflection. And it's hard to see through the fog of the pain what God can do through his purpose. So, pray, "God, give me some hope. Let that ray of hope burst through the fog so that I can see what you can do". Because God can bring hope to a hopeless situation, and he wants to do that for some of you today.
Build your family on faith, your relationships on hope, but build your life on love. Build your life on love. The three building materials that will last forever, faith, hope, and love. But in 1 Corinthians 13:13 it says, "But the greatest of these is love". Why is love the greatest of the eternal values? Because it's the one that activates all the others. You can't give people hope without love. You have to have love in your heart to give them hope. You can't give people faith without caring enough about them in love to share your faith with them and to put faith into their life. Love is the most important of the eternal values.
In 1 Corinthians 13:1 it says, "If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal". He's saying here love is so much more important than words. If you don't love, people can't really understand your words. You wonder why you're not breaking through in a relationship and you're not communicating, you're not connecting, and it's not getting through and there's division, it's because love is missing. Loving actions are missing because without love, people can't really understand what you're trying to say. We see it all the times with husbands and wives where maybe a husband has hurt his wife deeply. And he asks for forgiveness. He asks forgiveness from God, and he's going down a really good path. But it's like she's not responding.
And the husband says, "I don't get it. I've asked for forgiveness, I'm changed, but it's not working". That's because she's waiting to see if your words are going to be meaningful or meaningless. She's waiting for the actions to follow the words. And it takes time to build trust to see if those words are real because words are meaningless without loving actions because love is an action. And it's a commitment that produces powerful feelings, but it's not a feeling. That's why 1 Corinthians 13:13 says, "So no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love".
He's saying you can pile up an impressive list of accomplishments and achievements and awards, you can build a billion-dollar company, you can win every major championship of every major sport, but if you don't love, if you don't have love in your life, then your life is empty. You're nothing. It's worthless. One day, God is going to do an audit of your life, and he's not going to check into your bank account. He's not gonna look at your achievements. He's not gonna check on what everybody else says about you. He's going to look at your relationships and he's going to ask, "Did you love? Did you love me? And did you love others? Did you have a relationship with me through my Son Jesus Christ? Did you have a strong relationship of love? And did you build relationships? Were you have people builder"?
And that's what it really comes down to. I've been with a lot of people at the end of their life. And I can tell you, it always comes down to relationships. Every regret is always about relationships. That's what it really always comes down to. It's never about accomplishments because love is more important than accomplishments. Love is more important than achievements. Love is more important than knowledge. Love is more important than words. Love is an eternal value that will last forever and ever. Build your life on love. If you want to come to the end and have no regrets, then you build your life on love.
You know, many of the animals in God's Kingdom have an amazing homing instinct. And birds are the best known examples of having a homing instinct like homing pigeons. But I did some research this weekend, I found out that puffins, those strange birds, puffins that the cereal's named after, it's pretty good cereal, by the way. Puffins have the most amazing homing instinct. They did a test where they took a puffin recently, and they transported it in a closed container 3,400 miles away from its home. And it returned to its nest in 12 and a half days. When female loggerhead sea turtles emerge from their shells, they imprint on the unique, magnetic field signature of the beach on which they hatched so that years later, they can navigate their way back to the same beach as adults to lay eggs of their own.
And, of course, you know, salmon have such a strong homing instinct that they will travel hundreds of miles upstream to make it back to their spawning stream. But I think maybe the most amazing is the monarch butterfly. They will travel as much as 100 miles a day in the 3,000-mile migration south to Mexico every fall that's getting ready to start. But the monarch will feed, fly, and reproduce throughout the US and southern Canada for several generations. It's the fourth generation of monarch butterflies that migrate south right back to the same place. So, butterflies that travel back home in the fall, have never been to their home. How in the world? Only God. You see, it's the fourth generation. They've never been there, but something inside them says, "Gotta go home, not home".
No wonder God has put a homing instinct in so many of the wonders of his creation. And we too have a homing instinct, something in our heart that says we're not home yet. There's always a dissatisfaction, a disequilibrium of the soul here on this earth. Even in our greatest moments, we realize something's missing. It's because we're not home yet. We have a home in heaven. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 it says, "We know that if the life we live on earth is ever taken down like a tent, we still have a building from God. It is an eternal house and heaven that isn't made by human hands. In our present tent-like existence we sigh, since we long to put on the house we will have in heaven".
See, we can bring some heaven into our homes, but our true home is in heaven. And until you realize this, you can't bring some heaven into your home, that your true home is in heaven. You'll be trying to make heaven right here on earth, but we're not there yet. But we can bring some heaven to earth. But you better realize that earth is not your home. You're just passing through. You need to put it in your true home. You need to invest in your true home with your actions, with love, faith, hope, and love. That makes all the difference. And when you realize your true home is in heaven, that's when God will start bringing some heaven into your home.