PHILIPPIANS 3:20-21
JESUS GIVES US A HEAVENLY HOME.
The path of Margaretha Lester’s life certainly wandered about many places. Born in Sweden, worked in England, lived in Tanzania where she met her husband, and then moved to Michigan. Not many people have had such different homes. Living on three continents is unusual. I never did ask her what she considered to be home. I wonder if she would have said Sweden, the home of her childhood. I know she remained fond of Sweden, based on the Swedish magazines I saw when I visited. Of course, having been married for 45 years, she probably would have said Michigan. Here is where she and Chuck settled and raised their children. I suppose home is where your loved ones are.
For that reason, Margaretha had a better
home awaiting her all along. When she
was baptized into Christ, she was promised a better, more glorious home than
any she knew on this earth. God became
her Father, and heaven became her home. St.
Paul reminds all Christians: “Our
citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). That
is where we find the one who loves us truly and purely. Our Father in heaven loves what he has
created. He desires us to be his people
now and for all eternity. Baptism marked
Margaretha as a child of God and a citizen of heaven. Jesus gives us a heavenly home.
God
the Father loves what he has created, but he does not love the sin which has
taken root in us. Your parents did not
love the sins you did, either. Whether you
got a spanking, had your mouth washed out with soap, or were banished to your
room, you were punished because your behavior was unacceptable. Your parents wanted to drive that poor behavior
from you. But no matter how much our Father
in heaven would punish us, he would not drive the sin out of us. We are, by nature, sinful. We cannot turn it off even when we want to. God threatens severe, eternal punishment if
we disobey his word. That doesn’t stop
us. God promises gracious blessings if
we follow his word. We still don’t. Sins continue to ooze out of us. The Bible reminds us, “The wages of sin is
death” (Romans 6:23), which is what brings us here today.
But since God the Father loves what he has
created, he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem it. Jesus left the heavenly home to make his home
here with us. Jesus became a man to deliver
mankind out of sin and death. He does
not want our eternal abode to be apart from God, so he acted to take away from
us any and all sin which earns God’s wrath.
He assumed our sin in his body which was, then, pierced to a cross. Jesus is the guilt offering which is the
atoning sacrifice for our sins. Jesus’
death satisfies God’s justice. Jesus
bore all sins and suffered the curse meant for all sinners. Therefore, all guilt has been punished. Since all sin has been taken away by Jesus, sin
no longer condemns. There is pardon for all
who believe in Jesus. God and sinners have
been reconciled. Jesus gives us a heavenly
home.
When Margaretha lived in Tanzania, she helped
people who were fleeing from hostilities in Kenya. They escaped the hardships and brutality of
one place, but they still needed someone to provide for them in their new
place. She oversaw their care in the refugee
camp. The Lord Jesus delivered us from our
enemies of sin, death, and the devil. Our
citizenship is in heaven, but we are not there yet. We still live in a world hostile to Jesus and
to his people. In order to find comfort
and aid until we get there, our Lord brings us into the Church. The Church is where Jesus dwells with his
people to bless and to save them. It is
there that Margaretha was continually reminded of God’s mercy and love. It is there that the Lord sustains and strengthens
his people so that they will not fall prey again to their enemies.
The enemies of God’s people were preying
hard against Margaretha in her final years. Afflicted by Parkinson’s disease,
she did not often feel at home in her own body.
She reflected on her life and wondered how much of it mattered. I suppose part of that came from not being
nearly as active as she had been throughout her life. Part of it also came from her longing to finally
go to her heavenly home. God’s people
often feel out of place in a world of sin.
We know a better life is coming, and we long to be in that kingdom won
for us by Jesus. Jesus gives us a heavenly
home.
The soul of Margaretha Lester has gone to
her heavenly home. But the Lord is not
done with her yet. God did not create
her to be a soul. God made her body and
soul. Her body, however, like every body,
was corrupted by sin. The Parkinson’s was
probably the most obvious indicator of that.
Since our bodies are sin-stained, they grow old, frail, diseased, and
finally die. These bodies cannot enter
the heavenly dwelling where everything is without sin.
But just as God loves what he has created,
and just as God redeemed what he has created, so also God will raise up and
restore what he has created. St. Paul wrote,
“Our citizenship is in
heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his
glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21). Jesus did not
merely die for us. His resurrection from
the dead was also for us. Jesus left the
grave with his body, never to die again.
He was buried in weakness, but he is risen in glory. He promises the same future to all who
believe and are baptized into him.
On the Last Day, the Lord Jesus will return in glory from the heavenly
realms. He will raise up all the
dead. To those who have believed in him,
to those whom he marked in baptism, he will give glorious bodies. He will rejoin our souls with our resurrected
bodies so that, perfected in every way, we can enter our heavenly home.
Jesus gives us a heavenly home. Margaretha
Lester will be raised from the dead. She
will be relieved from every form of sin and evil. She will not have to comfort refugees, tend
to the sick, or feel displaced from another move. She will not grieve as her body fails or shed
tears at the death of loved ones. She will
never again know a body that is afflicted with Parkinson’s disease or even a
common cold. The Lord who conquered death
and lives and reigns for her will grant her a glorious body and eternal home. There, she will know the love of a Father who
gave everything to have her with him.
There, she will be among beloved saints.
There, she will be home.
Jesus gives us a heavenly home. And if you remain faithful to Jesus and cling to his word, you will be home there, too.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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