Word of Salvation – July 2024
Hungry For Heaven – Home Here On Earth
Sermon by Harry Burggraaf B.D. on Hebrews 11:13 & Jeremiah 29:27
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 29:1-14 & Hebrews 11:13-16
Texts:
"And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth... they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one." (Hebrews 11:13)
"Seek the peace and prosperity (shalom) of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for if it prospers you too will prosper." (Jeremiah 29:7)
Most of us would agree that there is no place like home!
Home is where you belong;
Home is where you feel secure;
Home is where the people you most love are;
Home is where you retreat after a frazzled day;
where you recharge your batteries;
where you lick your wounds,
where you find healing and new energy – well, ideally.
Home, hopefully, is where you can truly be yourself, where you find yourself, where your identity is forged.
And most of us would agree that home is not so much a place, as a set of relationships and a state of being. You can be 'at home' without being in the place where you usually live.
As demonstrated by an army doctor and his family who were transferred to another state. Because the military base was crowded they had to live in a cramped quarters at a hotel. "What a shame," said a friend to the doctor's five year old daughter, "that you don't have a home?"
"Oh we have a home," the daughter replied, "we just don't have a house to put it in."
Congregation where is your home? Where do you really belong? Where do you find real security? Where do your ultimate hopes and dreams and desires lie?
In Hebrews 11 we’re told of Abel and Enoch and Abraham and Isaac and Joseph, and many of those Old Testament bods, and then the writer to the Hebrews makes this remarkable comment: "they agreed that this earth was not their real home, but they were just strangers passing through; they lived on this earth as exiles and foreigners."
What do we do with a statement like that? It seems terribly other worldly and unreal.
Where's your home? Well, I live at 17 Edgewood Road Dandenong, I work at Donvale Christian College, I'm an Australian citizen – but my home is heaven!
Get real...!
Yet that's what is said of people like Abraham and Jacob and Joseph.
And you must agree they weren't exactly 'head in the clouds' types; 'so heavenly minded that they weren't any earthly use'.
Abraham with his huge herds must have known a bit about cattle breeding and market fluctuation and the wheeling and dealing that went on at the local goat and camel auction.
Joseph knew what power and authority was; how to win friends and influence people, how to get a strategic plan together, human resource management, economic planning, balancing the Egyptian budget. These people had their feet firmly on the ground.
And yet – “they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one." 'Home', for them, was heaven, the place where God is.
This theme of God's followers being pilgrims, people ‘en route’, looking for another place occurs throughout the Bible.
* Abraham, the archetype of faith, the model of how trust in God works, was told to cut loose, to leave his comfortable existence in the metropolis, sell his house, sell his business and set out for a place that God had chosen for him.
* The whole story of Israel leaving Egypt, wandering the desert, keeping their thoughts focussed on reaching Canaan, the Promised Land, always looking forward; is a symbol, an extended parable for the life of the Christian.
* Paul writes to the believers at Philippi: "Our citizenship (our capital city) is in heaven; our outlook goes beyond this world."
A. HUNGRY FOR HEAVEN
It seems to me that we learn a double lesson from these Old Testament heroes of the faith.
Firstly they lived with energy, they filled life to the brim. Can you imagine Moses' life being dull – first all the luxuries of the Egyptian court, then the rugged life of a shepherd (sleeping under the stars, driving off predators), then the awesome responsibilities of a whole nation – playboy, adventurer, prime minister, not exactly a dull life.
Joseph – can you imagine him having a spare moment as he manages the economy of one of the most powerful nations of the time. A huge relief operation...!
They certainly had their feet firmly on the ground; they worked, played, ate, slept, loved, with gusto.
But secondly they were also "hungry for heaven", to use the title of a recent book.
I have a cousin in Holland who is absolutely mad about Australia. He's always lived in Holland, all his family is there, he has a fantastic job which pays lots of money and which he really enjoys, he lives in a beautiful house in one of the more rural areas of the country, he is successful, he is Dutch to the core – and yet his one dominating passion is to migrate to Australia. He'd give it all up to live here; he's even buying a house here, although he may not be able to come for years.
That pictures just a little, something of the "hunger for heaven" that the Christian pilgrim has.
How do we live hungrily for heaven; like people looking for a better country? (Not just old people, ready to go home; not those with debilitating illness, or awful circumstances, for whom life has little meaning; not those tired of life who'd like to escape.)
a) Our focus will be on Jesus. His honour and glory will be the thing that gives us most satisfaction. We enjoy his company and his fellowship. "Jesus priceless treasure; source of purest pleasure." Not always my top hit. Yet our hunger for heaven is measured by our love for 'heaven's son’.
b) We are open to his call; open to his challenge for adventurous changes; or to stick with what he's asked us to do. We're listening. Not just the young; also those who have developed their comfortable habits and patterns in life. Are you open to God calling you to do things you'd not normally think of doing? Middle age change; retirement from regular work – wonderful opportunities to do some adventurous things for God. (e.g. Ray Averill, John Prince)
c) We will sit loose to things – jobs, house, nationality, neighbourhood. Fully involved in everything; and yet ready to let go; like Abraham; like someone who has their bag packed, ready to go when the visa comes through. Hard – especially for those who are older.
d) All we do will reflect the values, norms, ethics, culture, ethos of the Kingdom of heaven; the place where we really belong. I lived in Indonesia for a while. I tried to speak the language, eat the cuisine, conform to the customs – but deep down I’m Australian – I think in English, long for a barbecue steak and apple pie, miss the smell of the gum trees, can't get used squatting over a hole rather than sitting on the toilet.
The point is that all this has very practical consequences.
For example: is a business only to make a profit? Or for the welfare of workers and the community? How do we handle today's industrial climate?
Or for example is academic achievement the primary goal for a school? Or the use and range of gifts? How does that fit with the pressures of the VCE?
Or perhaps family rituals and customs; must they reflect the T.V. dinner, each does his own thing in a busy world; or ought we be more community minded?
Or thing of today's climate of individualism. How do we navigate that?
To be hungry for heaven is not just a spiritual longing. It has real everyday implications. How hungry for heaven are you? Are you more of a citizen of the commonwealth of God, or of suburban Melbourne?
B. HOME ON EARTH
But there is the other side of the story too. Hungry for heaven, yes; but also fully involved in our home here.
In the other passage we read, the Israelites in exile in Babylon are commanded to participate in the life of that city. They had been taken captive into Babylon but stayed in their holy little religious huddles; longing to go back to Canaan, the Promised Land, - the O.T. symbol of heaven, Zion. They could think of nothing else.
Song writers and poets composed their mournful tunes:-
"By the waters of Babylon, we lay down and wept for you Zion."
Oh they were hungry to get back; itching to leave their homes in Babylon. So much so that they employed special prophets and diviners to tell them it wouldn't be long now, and they'd be heading for their Promised Land home.
But God had other plans; and it’s a sort of O.T. model, or paradigm for the community of God everywhere -
Verse 5:
Build houses, settle down, plant vegie gardens, get your business going, start schools, have a family, go on holiday, engage in art and music, go to a rock concert, the movies or an opera, study for a trade profession – get involved in the daily life of the place.
And remember this was Babylon – the city of wickedness, the gate of the false gods, the city of destruction, of confusion – called the great prostitute in the book of Revelation, “drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs".
The people were to participate in the life of that city.
What a test for the church. We tend to hive off and do our own thing. How much are we engaged in the life of this community? Know what's doing; take part in the rituals and events, feel its pain, know the hopes and disappointments. It’s so easy to link God's purpose with the spiritual and holy, and this world as secular. I think of some of our students and musicals – girls who wouldn't take part because they preferred to sing for God; Christian songs. All of life is sacred and holy; set apart for God. Read Zechariah – where the words, "holy to the Lord” have been put on the horses' bridles and the cooking pots.
But the purpose of involvement is not just to be part of the society in which we live; but to work for its healing and transformation.
Verse 7:
Work for the peace of the city where I place you; pray for its shalom.
I like signing my letters with the word "shalom" – like the N.T. word "agape" love, one of the most beautiful words available to us.
No one English word captures it – peace, prosperity, welfare, health, integration, togetherness, wholeness, completeness.
The O.T. Jew would ask "How is your shalom" – the reply, "my crops are doing well, the earth is yielding produce, my relationships are harmonious, I'm getting on well with my wife and children, I have an inner peace and togetherness, my self-esteem is good, I am on good terms with God, I know he cares for me." All that and more is encompassed in ‘shalom’.
So we work for the shalom of the community – in whatever activity we engage, whatever work we're called to (running a play group, serving a meal, conducting a business, worshipping in a hall, starting a soccer club, visiting a neighbour, sharing the Gospel over a cup of coffee – and especially praying, praying for the welfare of the street, locality, town, state, nation we live in.
How does that work in practice?
a) Know the city's pain. Be aware. Be newspaper people. Ask: What are the issues? Be relevant. We easily tend to deal in the concerns of yesterday, or the trivial.
An example? The Uniting Church wrote a letter to Premier Jeff Kennett on the privatisation of public utilities – electricity and water. They pointed to the duty of government is to protect the weak, for equity and a fair go for all. Not just to balance the books.
Another example: Address Melbourne's growing Casino and gambling culture; it once again disadvantages the poor and vulnerable; participate in a rally.
There is so much we can do – standing up for peace and justice. Create awareness as a family of issues of stewardship, simplicity, recognising violence, injustice, evangelism.
b) Work and pray for the city's welfare – people’s relation with God, but whole people; all of their lives in its various aspects.
Many of us go overseas. We get a passport which we value. Our citizenship is very precious.
Well, Christians are really people who have a dual citizenship; people with a double passport:
– We're hungry for the heaven to come, when the Prince of Shalom, brings the new Jerusalem, in which only righteousness dwells;
– And we're at home here on earth, praying and working for the renewal and transformation of anything we do, according to our talents and abilities.
One day of course we relinquish our citizenship of this world; when the Kingdom of God comes in fullness. Hopefully our bags are packed and ready for that day.
In the meantime we live in tension; expecting to go home, but putting all our zest and energy into the things God gives us to do now.