Opening Illustration: If I could walk around to each of you and ask the question, “What will heaven be like,” what do you think the responses would be like? I think we would hear responses like “No more pain and tears”. “We get to live in the presence of God forever”. “Lots of worship”. I think if we’re being honest, there’s some kind of image in our heads that look something like this: Show Picture. BTW, I googled “What will heaven by like” and this one of the first images that popped up. There was another one that said, “A. I. reveals what heaven will look like”. I had to click on it (Show Picture). According to AI, we are all going to have really cool looking hair in heaven! But for the most part, when people think of heaven, I think they think we’re all sitting on clouds playing our harps. Do we fully know what heaven we will be like? No. Sitting on clouds might be pretty cool. And I’ve always wanted to be a part of the worship band. But we can’t let our limited knowledge of what heaven will be like deter us from letting our hearts be drawn toward heaven. Let me tell you one thing we know from the Bible about heaven: When Jesus comes back to complete His redemptive plan, and He brings about the final resurrection, Jesus will bring forth the new heaven and new earth. In this new heaven and earth, we have a role to take on – a role of ruling. Look at what 2 Timothy 2:11-12 says: ¹¹ This is a trustworthy saying: If we die with him, we will also live with him. ¹² If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us.” What was supposed to happen with Adam and Eve will happen with us in the new earth and new heaven. That means part of this life is training and preparation for our eternal life. That’s just one fragment to eternity. We aren’t going to sitting around all day.

The reason I wanted to start with heaven is because we must have an appetite for heaven. Our time in God’s Word today isn’t about understanding heaven (maybe that will be a future sermon series). Today is understanding that heaven is your destination. That’s what I want you to see today: Faith gives you a heavenly destination. When you begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you become united with Christ and you rule with Christ – that’s where you are headed. And your destination isn’t just sitting on a cloud playing a harp. It’s important to understand that heaven is where we are headed because it changes how we live today.

If your life is headed to a destination where you will rule and worship and laugh and eat and work – all with God – how does that change your faith, today? We’re going to look at three ways (and there is a lot more), three ways that our faith demonstrates itself knowing that the course God has set in front of us leads to eternity with Him. In our current Sermon Series: Hebrews, we are working our ways towards the end of the book of Hebrews. After today, we’ll have 4 weeks left Let’s lock in this next month and see how this letter ends. Let’s see how Jesus is better than anything else in this world. Read Hebrews 12:1-11. Pray. 

So what should our faith look like if we know our final destination is the new heaven and new earth with Jesus? The writer of Hebrews starts by telling us…Faith travels light. 

1) Faith travels light. (vs. 1) Let’s read verse 1: ¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. What’s the old “Bible reading rule” when you come across the word “therefore?” (There for?) Verse 1 has all of chapter 11 fresh on the mind. We spend the last few weeks in chapter 11 understanding what faith is and looking at all the “faith portraits” of those who came before us. Why was the writer of Hebrews telling us about their stories? They made it. They crossed the finished line. And that means we can too.

So… Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith,  The imagery here is this stadium full of people cheering you on. Except the people in stands are not fans, they are finishers. Illustration: The most motivating part of running a half marathon. The spectators holding signs are always fun. There’s always one sign that is a lie (only 1 mile to go). In my recent half marathon, there was one sign that I loved. It was this kid who had his mom drag him out of bed at 4am in the morning to cheer on his dad. The kid was about to fall over asleep while holding a sign that said, “Hurry up, dad. This is boring.” It’s not the fans or signs that is the most motivating. It’s the finishers. When you are getting toward the end of the race and you see on the sides other runners who have their finishers medal around their neck, it fires you up. As we are running our race as Christ-followers, we are surrounded by those who have gone before us. So, what do we do next?

What does the next part of verse 1 say? “let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.” When you run a race, you don’t carry anything to slow you down. Race runners travel as light as possible because they goal is to reach their destination in the most efficient way possible. When we hear this verse, we are drawn to the second part: “especially the sin that so easily trips us up.” And we need to heed that in our lives. Sin are the potholes on the race course. We need to avoid them. But here is where we have gone unintentionally wrong in church-life: We have been taught that running after Jesus simply means avoiding sin.  What command we were given in this verse?  The command for Christians is to strip off EVERY WEIGHT that slows us down. Our goal isn’t to avoid sin. Our goal is to run to Jesus. It’s time we get the order of operations right: You don’t run to Jesus by avoiding sin. You run to Jesus while avoiding sin.  There’s another layer to this verse though. It says strip off what weight? EVERY weight. It doesn’t say strip off the BAD weight. It says EVERY weight. That means anything that slows us down – good or bad – has to go. We must travel light.

So, here’s the question we must ask: “What’s slowing you down?”  The question I’ve heard often in ministry is “Is this a sin?” Well, if it’s not a sin, then I’m okay to do it right? “I can do this because it’s not bad!” That’s not the right question. If we are seriously about our faith and serious about our destination, the question we need to ask is “Does this help me grow?” But does it help you grow?! Just because the show doesn’t have nudity or bad language doesn’t mean you need to watch it. Just because you can buy it, doesn’t mean you need to buy it. You may be thinking, “I enjoy some of those things.” If it’s not wrong, do I have to give it up? Two quick thoughts:

1. The fact that whatever you are thinking of is the first thing that popped up in your head, should tell you something.
2. God wants us to enjoy the things of this world, but not at the expense of it slowing us down. 
   • The closer you run to Jesus, the more your tastes begin to change.
   • There will be something far more enjoyable ahead in this life
   • The more you run toward heaven, the more you want heavenly things

Faith travels light. Faith wants to get to the destination in the most efficient way possible. Faith also makes sure we are staying on the right course. That’s what we see next: Your faith travels light. But sometimes, we get off course, so faith accepts course correction.

2) Faith accepts course correction. (vs. 5-11) I want us to skip down to verse 5. We’ll come back to verses 2 through 4. When I first read verse 5, I remember getting really excited about how the verse started. How does verse 5 start? ⁵ And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said,  I was super excited to see what the rest of the verse says because the writer of Hebrews was about to dump this awesome encouragement on me. But how does the rest of the verse 5 and 6 go? “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. ⁶ For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” For a moment, I really questioned whether the writer of Hebrews knew what the word “encouraging” meant. Have you ever heard a person use a word and think to yourself, “I don’t think you know what that word means?” We are told in these verses that what is encouraging to us is God’s discipline of us.

We need to go on two quick detours so we get a full understanding of what’s happening in these verses. The first detour is there is a difference between discipline and punishment. God does not punish us for our sin. All the punishment for sin was put on Jesus so we didn’t have to. Punishment, by nature, is punitive. God will discipline us though. Discipline, by nature, is corrective. Discipline is to shape character (and that’s how we should parent). When we do something wrong – something against God’s will – we can’t wallow in self-pity and say, “Why am I being punished?” You’re not. Jesus already took all the punishment away. You’re being disciplined and God is changing you.

The second detour is “what does God’s discipline look like?” When we sin, it often brings about two things: Natural consequences and God’s discipline. To reiterate that, we are talking about God’s discipline of sin. We are not talking about our faith being tested. There are hard times we walk through that has nothing to do with sin. What we are looking at is what God does in our hearts when we do wrong against Him. So, sin brings about two things: natural consequences and God’s discipline. We get natural consequences…You cheat in school, you fail or get kicked out. You are lazy, you lose your job. On the other hand, God’s discipline is designed to mold your character. If you choose pornography over emotional intimacy with your wife, and then you sit there and wonder why you are so miserable in your marriage…Maybe that suffering is God allowing you to live in a place where he wants you to wake up and see where you’ve gone wrong. You are sitting there asking God why He won’t fix your wife and God is sitting there going, “McFly. Hello, McFly! Anybody home?” And He’ll let you sit there as long as it takes.

But God’s discipline isn’t always like that. There have been times when I lose my cool at my wife or my kids, and I’ll go outside, start looking at my phone, only to catch a glimpse of those photo memories – and I see a picture of Rachel and me or a picture of one my kids when they are little – and I start crying. I realize the error of my ways all because God just gave me a big dose of kindness. God will do what He needs to do to keep us on the right course.

We took our two detours: The difference between discipline and punishment. And what God’s discipline can look like. Let’s go back to the idea of being encouraged in our discipline. What makes God’s discipline an encouragement to us? Two reasons:

1. It’s for our good.
   • Look at verses 9 through 11: ⁹ Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever? ¹⁰ For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. The writer of Hebrews uses two different metaphors in these verses. The first metaphor is that of a coach in verse 11. The word “training” comes from the Greek word “Gymanzo” – which is where the world “gym” comes from. Whenever you are working out, it hurts. The only way your muscles grow stronger is if they are broken down first. The more you work out, you begin to have a different relationship with pain because you know the results are coming. A good coach knows the weaknesses of his players. So, a good coach will do things to help his players get stronger. Illustration: Michael Phelps and Goggles. I was reminded, from another pastor, about the story of Michael Phelps’ training. Do you all remember Michael Phelps? (Just making sure…) It has been said the Phelps’ coach would do whatever it takes to prepare Phelps for greatness. One time, before a not-so-important race, his coach stepped and broke on Phelps’ goggles right before the race. When Phelps started racing, his goggles filled with water and he couldn’t see. But he still won the race because his training taught him to count his strokes. This exact scenario occurred during one of Phelps’ most significant races — the 200-meter butterfly final at the 2008 Olympics. If a coach would go to such great length for race, how much more will our Heavenly Father go to great lengths for our spiritual well being?! God loves us too much to ignore our spiritual deficiencies. If you know that your finish line is heaven, then be encouraged when God begins to work out your spiritual muscles. Sure, it hurts, but it’s good and purposeful. 
2. Let me quickly go over the second reason why God’s discipline is encouraging.
   • What does verse 7 say?
     • ⁷ As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? ⁸ If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. 
   • The Father only disciplines His kids
     • The discipline of God is a privilege because it only belongs to His kids
     • If you’ve never feel God growing you through hard times, it should raise a question, “Why not?”
     • God’s discipline is a sign of belonging to Him.
       • And that’s encouraging!

Take time to take inventory. Here’s what I encourage to do sometime soon: Get away for 2-3 hours without any devices. Meet with God. Ask Him to reveal your weaknesses and your sin. Write down what God wants you to strip off your life – it might be something good, but its slowing you down. And then plan out the course correction. Get some accountability and start running, spiritually. I want to touch quickly on those three verses we skipped. Here’s are third and final way to have a heavenly-focused faith: Faith focuses on the joy. 

3) Faith focuses on the joy. (vs. 2-4)  Let’s read verses 2 through 4: ² We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. ³ Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. ⁴ After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin. The writer of Hebrews tells us that the sight of faith must be fixed on Jesus. We are able to keep moving forward in faith because it’s light and because it’s focused on Jesus. Why? Why is it important to keep our eyes on Him? Why does verse 3 tells us to think of what Jesus did for us? He endured the cross for us. Jesus walked this life, both fully God and fully man, and not only finished, but did the unthinkable for us.

Do you know what kept Jesus on the cross? It wasn’t the nails. If Jesus can raise someone to life, he can get some nails out. What does verse 2 say? “Because of the joy awaiting him, endured the cross” The joy! What joy? What did the cross give Him that He didn’t already have? Jesus had all the approval and adoration in heaven, but He gave that up. For what? YOU!! The joy awaiting Jesus was knowing that it would give us a way to an eternal relationship with Him. When Jesus was on the cross, He was looking to other side that included you walking with Him in heaven. You have a heavenly destination because of what Jesus did on the cross for you. The reason that you may be miserable in this life is because you either lost sight of your heavenly destination or you don’t have a heavenly destination. If you are aimlessly walking this life, it’s time for that to change.

GOSPEL PRESENTATION

For those of you who have lost sight of what’s ahead, I close with this challenge…How homesick are you for heaven? How much do you long to be in the presence of Jesus now knowing that is where you will spend eternity? How excited are you to take on the role that God is given you? How excited are you to eat and laugh and work and worship without sin getting in the way? I read this quote this week: Quote: “Nothing is more often misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven. We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse, a large-screen television, a new car, a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii. What we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven. Nothing less can satisfy us.” ―Randy Alcorn.

When we let our hearts and minds be drawn to our true home, it changes the way we live out our faith. Our faith becomes light. We welcome course correction. We focus on Jesus and His joy. Let’s be a homesick people. Let’s be a people that our faith is lived out in light of our heavenly destination. Let’s run light. Let’s run well. Let’s run with joy because there is a Father with a smile on His face that can’t to be with you. Let’s pray.

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