Eternity Is Now In Session - Are We There Yet? Series

We are starting a brand-new series of messages that we will not only preach about on Sunday morning, but we will talk about in small groups this week using video, using guides for discussion. This series is called “eternity is now in session.” The basic premise is that God just doesn’t want to get you into heaven, he wants to get heaven into you.

So let’s begin…

And we begin with the question, it’s a question that has been asked in just about every traveling situation we’ve ever been involved in; “are we there yet?”

How do you answer that question to a little kid who has no concept of time? I remember traveling to see my parents in North Carolina and we got stuck in a huge ice storm, one of the kids were sick, we are just sitting on the highway forever, “when are we going to get there?”

“Probably never.”

Are we there yet? It’s not just little kids in cars who ask that question but many of us who are reaching adulthood and who have been an adult have secretly asked that question as well; are we there yet?

Behind that question is something that I’m going to call “destination disease.” We have all suffered from this. Destination disease is the feeling that things are going to get better up ahead. When I get out of school.

When the baby learns how to walk.

When the baby will learn how to feed himself.

When the babies out of diapers it will get better.

When I get the better job.

When I get that other car.

When I can finally afford a house, things will be better. When we are out of debt.

When the kids move out.

When we can afford the dream vacation. When we can retire.

It seems like were always waiting for something different, something better. And it’s like were never satisfied where we’re at. Were always reaching forward to the next level or to the next event and then maybe will be happy.

And do you know that we drag that kind of thinking into religion, into Christianity? So many churches and so many teachers and so many Christian people have fixed all of their hope on heaven… What many people call “eternal life.” Many people – maybe you too – think that Jesus simply came to make an arrangement for us to get to heaven and that is what eternal life is… You going to heaven and living forever in this place that is beyond all of our imagination.

This is pretty common in American religion - the thought that Jesus came to make an arrangement for you to get to heaven and all you have to do is to make sure that you believe properly on the day that you die.

It’s almost like having a pension; your pension is reserved for you for some time in the future but as for now it is hands-off, you can’t get to it. For some people that’s their whole attitude about Jesus and religion, “he’s going to get me into heaven one day and then I’ll be able to get my hands on the riches of God.”

That is incredibly lame thinking.

Which makes for incredibly lame living.

Jesus did not die did make an arrangement for you to get to heaven.

You want to know how eternal life is defined in the Bible?

John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Eternal life is not something were waiting for.

Eternal life is not a destination up ahead.

John defined eternal life as knowing the one true God and knowing Jesus Christ. Knowing Him in such a way that it fundamentally changes us.

“Knowing” is an interesting word; it doesn’t mean having facts in your head as much as it means that you are participating in a relationship with intimate knowledge. For instance, if you are a baseball fan you may have heard about the old Tiger Stadium in Detroit. You may have heard about the short right field corner, you may have seen it on TV during an All-Star game, you may have looked at pictures or even read about it. But you only know about it. I know that Stadium on a different level. I know about walking around the outside and coming to the gated ticketed areas, and walking up the ramps, and the smells of the hot dogs and the guy who always sat in front of us with the cigar, and I know about sitting behind a pole where it’s hard to see, and I know about the aura of the ballpark.

It’s a whole different level of knowledge.

Eternal life is not waiting for heaven and then it all begins, eternal life begins right now by bringing what’s up in heaven into your life right here on this earth.