"A New Heaven And A New Earth"

(John 13:31-35; Revelation 21:1-6)

INTRODUCTION:

A middle-aged woman made her way into an apartment building and up to the twelfth floor. As she arrived, she rang the doorbell impatiently. The door opened mysteriously, and she was welcomed by the smell of incense and smoke. She entered and was greeted by a young girl in a veil and dressed in flowing silky gowns who announced her presence by sounding of a huge gong. With that the young girl asked, "Do you wish to see the all-knowing, all-powerful, wonderful one, Maharishi Narru?"

"Yeah," the woman said, "Tell Sheldon his mother is here!" (1)

Happy Mother's Day. It's great that we set aside a day to remember and honor our mothers. The right kind of mother can make life like a little bit of Heaven on Earth. Which is what we're going to talk about today. Mom's may be able to make life a little bit like heaven but Jesus gave us the model and God drew the blueprints. That's what this passage from Revelation says. Let's look at the New Earth aspect first.

I. NEW COMMANDMENT:

A. Jesus came with a world changing, life changing message. At the Last Supper as recorded in the Gospel of John, we see how Jesus tried to prepare his disciples for his crucifixion and resurrection. He tried to cram everything he had wanted to say but hadn't had time into that last time together. And in essence he boiled it all down to one thing. The New Earth of Revelation, the New Kingdom which God had ushered in with the coming of Jesus would be marked by one thing. A new commandment.

Jesus didn't toss out the other ten as being insufficient. He didn't scoff at any of them. He didn't tell us to pick and choose. He didn't even prioritize them into a David Letterman list of the Top Ten commandments. Jesus didn't change the Ten Commandments, he just added one more.

He told the disciples, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." That's the mark of this new Earth that John talks about in Revelation. It's what sets Christians apart. That we love one another as Jesus loved us.

That's hard for us to do sometimes because sometimes we're unlovable. But it is this very love by which we are known. "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." That's the litmus test of our faithfulness.

It was only a month ago that we celebrated Maundy Thursday and the Last Supper. Do you know where the name "Maundy Thursday" comes from? It comes from this commandment. The word Maundy is a French derivative of the Latin word Mandatum. It relates directly to this passage. For here Christ gave us a Mandatum novum, a new commandment. "To love one another as he loves us."

B. What's that supposed to look like? How are we supposed to love one another?

Bruce Larson tells about a special hospital in London that I think gives good illustration of what it means to love one another as Christ loves us.

This special hospital in London is for those whom other hospitals consider a lost cause. It is a hospital for those who have been diagnosed as "terminal."

Most people would consider hospital like that to be a very sad place, but it is not. Actually, it is a hospital filled with hope. And it's filled with a lot of life. You see, the emphasis in this hospital is on life and not on death. The truth is that several of the patients have seen remissions in the disease process instead of death. A great deal of the credit is given to the way the facility is run.

The basic philosophy is different from most other hospitals. In this program the patients are expected to give themselves away in service to the other patients. Each patient is given another patient for whom to care. For example, a person who is unable to walk might be given the task of reading to another who is blind. The blind person would then push the wheelchair of the one who could not walk but who could give directions on where to push the chair. (3) The patients become each other's hands and feet and eyes and ears.

That's what this new commandment is all about. Jesus calls us to be disciples who love one another. We are strengthened and healed when we learn how to give and how to love.

C. There's another dimension to this love, too. In the reading from the Book of Acts we see Peter embroiled in the midst of a controversy that plagued the early Church. The question revolved around the fact that Christianity grew out of Judaism. And the question was basically whether or not the gentiles, the non-Jews who accepted Christ were bound by Jewish law? It was a debate that threatened to tear the Church apart before it ever got organized.

God answered that question in the form of the vision given to Peter that he describes for those who object to his visiting with a group of Gentile Christians. What we get from vision is a deep understanding that God is God of all people. And that the new commandment of Jesus, "to love one another" extends even to those who are different than we are; who have different life experiences or a different point of view or even a different color of skin.

There's an old Peanuts cartoon in which Lucy says to Charlie Brown, "I would have made a great evangelist." Charlie Brown answers, "Is that so?" She says, "Yes .I convinced that boy in front of me in school that my religion is better than his religion." Charlie Brown asked, "Well, how did you do that?" And Lucy answers, "I hit him over the head with my lunch box." (4)

Unfortunately, at times the Church has operated like that over the years. The Crusades were sort of evangelism by the sword. But that's not what Jesus says here. That's not this New Heaven and New Earth of described in Revelation. It's not the tolerance expressed in Acts. The one thing that should set the Church apart should be our love for one another. Our love despite our differences.

III. NEW HEAVEN:

A. It's that love that really brings a little bit of heaven here on earth. Have you ever wondered about heaven? About what it's like? Here are some kids ideas about what heaven is like:

One eight-year-old named Eric said, "It is a place where there is a lot of money lying around. You could just pick it up, play with it, and buy things. I think I am going to buy a basketball and I am going to play basketball with my great-greatgrandmother."

Scott said, "Heaven is up in the sky, and you could look down at circuses for free if you want to, except you have to ask God for permissionfirst."

Tommy, age seven said, "I know what heaven is, but I don't want to go there. I want to go to North Carolinainstead."(2)

Just like all those kids, I don't know what heaven is like. I could speculate but that's all it would be. But I do know that Heaven is a reality, not some pie in the sky but a reality. How? Mainly because Jesus said it was so. At the Last Supper while trying to prepare his disciples for his crucifixion and resurrection He told them: "In my Father's house there are many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, you may be also." (John 14)

Jesus spoke the Truth. He was the Truth. His words give us hope and faith and courage. Coupled with the resurrection and the empty tomb, they lift our hearts and fill our lives and spirits with hope beyond hope. Hope in the New Heaven.

B. Sometimes God even gives us glimpses of this New Heaven, where there will be no more tears and no more mourning. I'll never forget my first encounter with death as a Pastor. It as at one of the first Churches I served. I had been visiting the father of one of the members who was in the VA Hospital and was dying. One night the doctors had called the family and they had called me. When I got to the hospital, the family members were all gathered around the bed. Their father looked pale and shrunken. His breathing was rapid and shallow. There was very little life left in him. It was obvious that he wouldn't be with us very much longer. I really didn't know what to do or what to say but this family had a strong faith and they asked me to pray.

So, I prayed. I was scared and I don't even know what I prayed. But no sooner had I finished praying and every head was lifted than he opened his eyes, smiled, took a deep breath and said, "Oh, it's beautiful over there." And then he died.

With those words, the family tears were wiped away. With those words, their mourning was ended. Oh, they went through the grief process. They cried tears of loss. But in the moment after Mr. Nelson uttered those words you could see the hope and the promise of eternal life alive in their eyes. It was a look of relief and a look of faith. They were given the rare opportunity to look into the face of one who experienced the reality of heaven; one who experienced the reality of the New Heaven and New Earth promised by God.

CONCLUSION:

We can help people experience the New Heaven and New Earth or Revelation everyday. We can give them a glimpse of God's Kingdom if we do one thing, if we "love one another as Christ has loved us."

On this precious day, a day set aside to celebrate mothers and the ideal of love, let us remember that the key to a successful marriage or a successful family is the same key as the key to the Christian life, this New Commandment that we "love one another, as Jesus has loved us."

This is the Word of the Lord for this day.

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1. From Hooked On Life, by Tim Timmons and Stephen Arterburn, From Autoillustrator

2. The Shepherd's Voice, Dec 16, 1979. From Autoillustrator.

3. Bruce Larson, Passionate People (Dallas: Word Publishers), p. 203.

4. Charles Shultz