Louie Giglio - Seven Things You Can't Do In Heaven
Is anybody excited about going to Heaven? It's an easy question at church because you're hoping the people here are counting on going to Heaven. I've met a few people in my life that told me, "I don't wanna go to Heaven. Don't care, happy to go to Hell". But almost everybody you meet on some level hopes to go to Heaven, mostly because it's a better option than the alternative. But for some of us, we're actually in love with Jesus and really hoping to see him face to face. But what's interesting to me about Heaven is, a lot of us want to go there, a lot of us are thinking for sure we are going there, but not many of us know a lot about Heaven.
And I really can't unpack all of what Heaven is in a short message today, but I wanna at least paint a picture today for what Heaven is and I wanna talk about a few other things that you can't do in Heaven. We talked about last week that our lives are brief, remember that? Five seconds and we're out of here. Life is short and eternity is long, so if there's things you can't do in the length of eternity that you can do in the brevity of your time on Earth, it would be a wise move to do the things you can't do in eternity, while you've got an opportunity on Earth.
So, Heaven, what's it like? A few things just to describe it and you can dig more in if you would like to. But Heaven is real, A, and Heaven is brand-new. I love the way that Revelation shows us this, when John is getting this picture of Heaven. Last week, we looked at the weighty part in the end of 20:11, "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who is seated on it. The Earth and the Heavens fled from His presence, and there was no place for them". Now, just if we can jump in just for a moment here. This is helping us understand that any mentality that says, "When I die, I'm going to Heaven," or "I'm gonna give God a big high-five".
That's not the way it's gonna play out right away. Any kind of a mindset that says, "Man, I was just talking to the man upstairs," I'm telling you, there is no man upstairs, the one that's upstairs is sitting on a great throne and in His presence, Earth and everything else flees. And that's where we're all gonna be at the end of our lives.
And then John goes on, turning the page a little bit into chapter 21, he says, "Then I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth, for the first Heaven and the first Earth had passed away, and there was no longer any Sea. I saw the Holy City, The New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'look! God's dwelling place is now among the people,' and He will dwell with them. They will be His people and God Himself will be with them and be their God. And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who is seated on the throne said," can you just say these words with me? Do you see them? "I am making everything new". Then He said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true".
What do we know about Heaven? We know it's new. It is new, it is brand-new. It is a new Heaven and a new Earth. We're not just gonna be absorbed up into the clouds. There is gonna be a do-over for planet Earth, the one that we corrupted by our sinful choices is gonna be made over again in the way God intended it in the first place, and you're gonna be made new. This is what 1 John: 3 says, it says, "See what great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God".
And that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Dear children, now we are children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known, but we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. You're getting an upgrade people. You're like, "Oh, I'm pretty happy, had some work done, you know, and in relatively good shape, I kinda like the stage I'm in, like my hair, what it's doing right now, so I feel pretty good".
No, you are getting a major upgrade. Gonna be new. It's like I'm thinking about Heaven, just touching on these really quick, it's tangible, so it's not ethereal, it's not those angels that we see on the greeting card where one's looking over and the other one is kinda looking off in the distance, it's not that. It's not a harp recital, it's not floating through the sky, it's real and tangible, not just some by and by. That's not a great description for where we're going, it's not the by and by, it's a new Heaven and a new Earth. It's meaningful. In other words, you don't have to worry about just standing around, you know, singing hymns for the rest of forever.
And I know that's not bad, but some of you really don't love the music, okay? I get that. Some of you really don't consider yourself a worshipper in that sense, and, you know, for you, the 15, 20 minutes we sing at church feels like forever to you, sometimes. And you're like, "Man, if this is Heaven, and we're just gonna do that forever, woah! Wooh"! Well, A, you need to love that more. So, that's A. Because that's about God and you love God. That's singing to God. That's not just singing in the car, which you do love by the way. This is singing to God, and you love God, and God is in Heaven, He is in the midst of Heaven.
So, if God isn't that interesting to you, and if it's a little bit on the boring side, then you need to start rethinking Heaven 'cause He's in the midst of it. That's the last thing on the list that I want to mention, it's God-centric. In other words, he is the star attraction of Heaven. Doesn't mean we're all standing around a circle singing songs to Him for all of eternity, 'cause it's a new Heaven and new Earth, and there's things to do on the new Earth just like He gave Adam and Eve things to do on the first Earth, meaningful things, running stuff, being in charge of stuff, being stewards of stuff, creating stuff, co-creating with God, on Earth.
This is the plan and it's gonna be meaningful for you. I'll talk about that a little bit more in just one second. It's gonna be personal, you're gonna know people there, people are gonna know you, we're not just gonna be some angelic beings floating around in the by and by. You're gonna go, "Oh, hey! I know you". And people are gonna look at you and go, "Hey, I know you". It's gonna be enjoyable. I think the enemy kinda lowkey has got it being not that enjoyable, it's gonna be enjoyable. You're like, "Enjoyable like what"?
We just went to Switzerland, and it was the greatest trip we've ever been on in our lives. Is it gonna be as good as that? Yeah. You're not gonna be in Heaven going, "Oh honey, remember how amazing it was when we were in Grindelwald"? No, you're gonna be going, "This is Grindelwald on steroids. This is Grindelwald, and my feet don't hurt, and this is Grindelwald, and I don't have a sinus infection right now from the flight over. This is Grindelwald and I'm not jet lagged. This is Grindelwald and there wasn't an annoying person on the tram with us".
I can't paint the specifics, I'll tell you this, whatever is your jam, is gonna be blown away by Heaven. You're gonna love it, you're gonna enjoy it, you're gonna wish more people you knew were at it. It's out of this world, literally out of this world. The few things that you're not gonna find there is no preaching there, should get an amen for that. I don't know, I've been rethinking this a little bit 'cause I've been joking about this for a long, long time, you've all heard me say it, "No preachers in Heaven," and then I realize, I needed to redact that and clarify a little bit 'cause there are gonna be a few preachers in Heaven, I don't know how many but some.
And so, it's not no preachers in Heaven, it's no preaching in Heaven. But then I started realizing, preachers like preaching so there might be a day in Heaven where all the preachers get together and just preach. No, you're not coming to it, I understand that but there would be some people that would come to that. But I guarantee there's no litigators in Heaven, so if that's your thing, you need to start working on a side hustle. There's no funeral directors there, no grave diggers in Heaven, no headstone engravers in Heaven, no cancer researchers, no drug makers, no open-heart surgeons, not in Heaven.
Who is there? Well Jesus was, in that parable of the ten minas, this noble man was going away to be anointed King and coming back, and when he left, he called ten people and he gave them each a mina. A mina is like three months wage. And he said, "I want you to steward this while I'm gone. I'll be back". And when he came back, he said, "Bring the ten guys". And the first guy came and he said, "Where's my mina"? He said, "Well, I took your mina and turned it into ten minas".
So, he took the three months wages and turned it into ten times three months wages, and the King who's now been anointed, comes to him and says, "Well, way to go, you have been faithful," Do you know this phrase? "With a little, so I'm gonna make you in charge," of what? "Of much. Thank you, you have been faithful with this small thing I gave you, so now I'm gonna give you a big thing". And he says to him, "You're gonna rule over ten cities".
So this is the picture of heaven, this is the picture of the second coming of Jesus, this is a picture of Jesus saying to me, "Louie, I'm gonna give you a mina right now. In other words, everything you've got, I've gave you anyway. I would like you to steward it well until I come back as king, and when I come back as King, you're gonna show me what you did with what I put in your hands, and then I'm gonna put you in charge of things".
Wow. So, we know in Heaven there's management, there's administration, there's creation of things, co creating in the new world with God which means there's developers in the new world, I think that implies could be architects and growers, and painters, and content creators, and designers, and landscapers, and builders, and musicians, and cooks, and hosts, and florists, and place makers, and dog groomers. Just tried to slip that in, see if everybody be okay with that, cause London is gonna need to get groomed. You're like, "now you're talking about the thing I've been hoping you talk about this whole collection".
"Is my pet going to Heaven"? I cannot say authoritatively whether your pet's going to Heaven unless it's a cat. Is that too much? Okay, we'll let your cat in cause all things are made new, so I won't be allergic to it. In Isaiah 11, this is a prophecy, and it says that "The leopard and the kid are gonna lie down together and the wolf and the lamb are gonna lie down together". It's projecting that there are for sure, animals in the new world. So, if there gonna be animals in the new world, I'm thinking it's a good bet that some of our pets that we love are gonna be in the new world if they're gonna be animals there.
Paul said, "The whole creation is groaning for the redemption of all things". And I can't say 1000% but I'm gonna go with dog-groomers in Heaven. Ski-slope operators. Heaven is gonna be a place where we are cocreating in the new Earth with God in our midst, and it's gonna be meaningful. I say this mostly to the doers, the people that are making stuff happening, the people that are getting things done, the people that are breaking ground and taking territory and inventing things and building things and developing things and pushing envelopes, you're not gonna be bored in Heaven. But there's seven things you can't do in Heaven.
So, in the five second window, they're things you can do for God to show your thanks to God, they're ways you can take your mina and you can return it to God in gratitude for all that He's done for you, that you cannot do forever in eternity. So, just to skip to the end really fast, if they're things you can do to honor God in the five seconds that you can't do, in the forever, when you get to the forever, you're gonna wish you did in the five seconds the things that you can't do forever. And the first one is this, you can't say yes to Jesus as Lord and savior in Heaven. The box score will already be posted by then. And so, if you want to say yes to Jesus as Lord and savior, you have to do it in the five seconds you have called life on Earth. And that's a word, that's a word, that's a word.
Some of you are gonna say, "Why didn't I say yes? I even by the grace of God, ended up at that church on that day when that guy was talking about this very thing, and I sat there, and I rationalized and I just wrestled and I let the enemy get me all distracted". Right now, right here, right now, you can change your eternity and upgrade significantly your time on planet Earth by joining your life to the life of Jesus Christ and allowing Him to be the Lord of your life. You can say yes to His grace and His mercy and His love, right here and right now. That's one thing you cannot do in Heaven. It's over people, there is a time coming, there is a moment of reckoning, there is a place called accountability and there is a decision that is made for eternity.
The second thing that you cannot do in eternity, you can't do in heaven is pray prayers that shake the gates of Hell. You realize that Jesus has built the church and He said the gates of Hell are not gonna withstand this church that I'm that I'm gonna build. In other words, we're in a contentious season right now, it's darkness versus the things of almighty God and we are authorized in this contentious season by calling on the name of Jesus to push back darkness, to shake Hell itself. You on your knees in Jesus name can launch missiles into the darkness. You can see people set free, you can see people redeemed, you can see your neighbors changed, you can see the works of the enemy exposed and torn down. You can be a player in this moment. But once we're in Heaven, the gates of Hell are closed and it's it, and there's no more Hell-shaking prayer for eternity. And I'm telling you, in a moment like that, when it all comes clear, we're gonna go, "Why didn't I shake Hell while I could, because now the gates to Hell are closed".
Three of the things you can't do in Heaven is you cannot lift the poor in Heaven. There's no Love Atlanta week in Heaven, there's no opportunity to go to the disadvantaged, to the downtrodden, and to those who have been oppressed, to those who are in prison and to say to them, "By God's grace, I am an ambassador to God and I wanna extend my hand and lift you up out of whatever is holding you down". In this little moment, you can do that every day, but in Heaven, no one lifts the poor. This is why Jesus said, I've come to do exactly that and if you wanna walk with me, you wanna be with be, you wanna journey through life with me, guess what? A whole lot of what we're gonna be doing together is lifting up the poor and lifting up those who've been run over by life and lifting up those who cannot get up by themselves. And we're gonna do as much of it as we can, while we can because there's a day coming when everything is made new.
he fourth thing that you cannot do in Heaven is to share the gospel and see when someone put their faith in Jesus. Has anybody ever been there and been the ambassador of God, the translator of the gospel, I mean you and somebody when they said, "I want that," and you said, "Great, I can help you take that step of faith," and you were the one who opened the word, prayed the prayer, helped them pray, and when the amen happened and they were born again son or daughter of God, you were the one that God was using in that moment to see them come to life? Have you ever had a moment like that with anybody? I mean, to say it in a different way, have you ever led anyone to Jesus?
I mean, yes partly, I was in the invitation, I helped him come to a thing, I sent them a resource, and so yes, I'm in the economy of God. But have you been the one where they were looking at you, saying, "Okay, I've heard you, I see what you're saying, I want that, can I make that decision right now"? And you said, "Yes, lets pray right now". We all should say yes by the way right now. And maybe that's what the church needs more than anything, it's for all of us to wake up to this understanding that we are God's ambassadors as if we were inviting the world to Him, or He was, the way, Paul said it, He was inviting the world to Himself, through us, therefore we are now the agents of reconciliation on Earth.
I pray dear God that everybody who hears this message will at some point in there life have the joy of leading someone else to Jesus, if not multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple times. This is the greatest thing that you can think of. You're like, "Louie, I'm not an Evangelist. I don't have that kind of personality. I'm not super outgoing, I'm not super confident, I don't really if I know how to lead somebody to Jesus. So, that's not really my gift, I'm a prayer or I'm a giver, I'm a leader, I'm a server and", and all that's great but all of us at some point, are carriers of the best news on planet Earth.
Surely somebody at some point is gonna go, "I don't know, something's happening to you, and I'd like to know what it is. Jesus, okay great I'd like to know how to know Him then. Great, you can help me? Great let's do it. what does that mean? Get saved, like right now? Okay, I'm ready, awesome". There's nothing, lets think about it, what on your five second resume is gonna top out above, "I led my neighbor to Jesus and they are now in the forever because of that moment"? And then once we're in the forever, the coast is clear on sharing your faith, not ever happening, that's something that we have the privilege of doing with our mina in the five second life.
Few more, seven of these, number 5, choose obedience. There's no fork in the road in Heaven. If you're a teenager here today, you'll get that, if you're a human being here today, you get that. There's no fork in the road in Heaven where we go, "Hmm, Okay I can do it God's way, but man that other way looks pretty fantastic". It's none of those. Even the thing of coming to church today, some of you chose obedience today, right? You didn't feel it, your circumstances didn't amen it but you said, "I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna get dressed, and I'm going to the house of God and I'm gonna praise God today, not because I feel like it because I'm choosing obedience today, I'm choosing to worship Him today, I'm choosing, where I can have the world, I'm choosing to follow Jesus, I'm choosing obedience".
We'll never get to do that in eternity. So, if you wanna show God with your mina that you want to choose Him over every other thing this world has then you have to do that in the five second. The sixth thing is to leverage your resources for eternal causes. And you probably saw this one coming but there is no generosity moment in Heaven, there is no giving moment in Heaven, in fact that book is closed. Jesus said we store up for ourselves treasures in Heaven. So, once that moment comes where we breathe our last breath, whatever we have advanced into our Earthly, I mean our Heavenly kingdom is there and it is done, that's the record. And so your eternity in terms of your position, status and resources are gonna be set the moment you take your last breath based on what you have shipped ahead.
And I know I'm gonna look back at the five seconds ago, "Why didn't I move more, A For my eternal sake," Jesus said that so it's not a bad thing for you and I to think, "Well, I wanna make sure I'm laying it up for myself treasures in Heaven so that when I get there, I'm not bankrupt, A, but I also know that in laying up the treasures in Heaven, I can impact the two things that last forever, the word of God and the souls of men. I wanna see eternal things change because of my finances and my resources".
I'm not looking at a QR code on the screen going, "Well, you know, church has been pretty good to me, I should give a little," no, I'm looking at my mina in my hand that was a gift from almighty God and I'm going, "I just wanna make sure I steward this well and I'd love to turn it into tenfold or a hundredfold or a thousandfold or ten-thousandfold and say thank you God, 'cause I'm not doing any of that in eternity. I'm getting a reward from you, but what I have to offer you, I've already given". And the box score is posted.
And then the last thing and this was a little bit interesting for us as we're moving into more of a conflicting season. You cannot face persecution for the sake of Jesus in Heaven. If you're gonna do that, you do that now. And facing persecution is an amazing way that we give back to God and glorify God for Him facing persecution for us. It's how we bare witness with our savior. And again, it's maybe one of the reason why we're not all as completely locked into Him as we could be because we're living basically a pain-free life spiritually but that's changing, right?
Some of you maybe got passed over at work for a promotion because you talked too much about Jesus, or people knew you were a Christian, or knew that you stood for the truth. Or maybe you got worked out of your job and ultimately somebody else got hired because there's a little too much Jesus in the equation. Or maybe right now, you wanna kinda navigate a certain career path that you know you gotta not step on a landmine with your faith in that career path. Or maybe it's just more obvious than that that you're a place and time where you spoke up about Jesus and a big, massive wave came back your way.
"Well count it all joy when you face persecution for My name's sake, a very famous person said that, His name is Jesus". And He said, "And when you face it just go great," don't do go, "Oh man, I don't know what's happening, I don't like this". Just go "great". Because that means when my little five seconds that I had right here and the mina in my hand, I had the opportunity to say, "Hey, I don't know what this gonna cost me but Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Him. By His love, and grace, and mercy, He has redeemed and saved me and given me a brand-new life".
That is my story. Oh, I will respect you if it's not your story, I will respect you completely if you have a whole 'nother religious ideology, but I will not undercut the only grace on Earth of a God who said, "You don't have to make a way, I made the way for you". There's a whole forever, nobody faces persecution for standing up with Jesus.