The Kingdom of Heaven

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on June 2, 2024.  The Bible verses used are Matthew 13:24-33, 44-52.

            So, who’d like to go to heaven?

            Silly question, right?  We’d all like to go to heaven.  Maybe not today--a lot of us feel like the old Kenny Chesney song that says, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to go now.”  And I think, for all of us, that God has some more things God wants us to do here before we go.  But still, I assume all of us hope that, whenever our time does come, we’ll go to heaven.

            But what does that mean, exactly?  What do we think heaven will be like?  There’s no real way to know, is there?  I don’t think it’s going to be sitting around on clouds strumming harps, the way some popular images suggest.  I don’t think we’re going to do a lot of sitting around at all--the Bible indicates in Revelation that we’re going to serve God in heaven.  But I also don’t think our service is going to seem like a burden or anything.  I think we’ll enjoy serving God and want to serve God.

            But that’s about as far as I’m willing to go.  I mean, heaven has to be a pretty awesome place, because it’s the place where God is.  Just that alone would make it pretty awesome.  But exactly what it’s like, what we’re like when we get there, we don’t know.  The Bible does not tell us.

            But heaven does not have to be a complete mystery to us, either.  Jesus talked about heaven quite a bit.  And in our reading for today, Jesus used some parables to tell us what the kingdom of heaven is like.   There are several of them, and we’re not going to look at them all in detail right now, simply because we don’t have the time.  We’re just going to do a quick overview of what Jesus told us in these verses in Matthew.

            He starts out by saying the kingdom of heaven is like a man who planted good wheat seeds, but whose enemy snuck in and planted weeds in among the wheat.  Both of them came up.  The man knew an enemy had done this to him, but he told his servants not to pull out the weeds, because they might take out some of the wheat, too.  He says that they should wait until harvest.  Then, they can take the weeds out and burn them, and put the wheat in the barn.

            So what do you think about that?  Well, it kind of depends on which one we think we are, I suppose.  If we think we’re the wheat, then we’re in good shape.  We’re going to go and be with the master.  If we think we’re the weeds, then we know we’re not in good shape at all.  We’re going to be burned.

            Well, we’ll come back to that.  Next, Jesus tells two parables that are somewhat similar.  He says the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that’s been planted.  It’s very small, but it grows into a huge tree.  And then he says the kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman mixed into a big batch of flour until it worked all through the dough.

            In both those cases, the kingdom of heaven is something that seems small, almost insignificant.  But it grows and develops.  It becomes incredibly important.  In the case of the mustard seed, it becomes so big it provides shade for the garden and shelter for the birds.  In the case of the yeast, it changes everything about the dough.  It’s what makes the dough worthwhile.

Jesus goes on to say that the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field and it’s like a pearl of great value.  In both cases, the person in the parable is willing to do whatever it takes to possess it.  It’s worth anything and everything they have to sell or trade to get it.  Jesus tells us that there is absolutely nothing in the world that is more important the kingdom of heaven.

            And then, finally, Jesus says that kingdom of heaven is like a net that catches all kinds of fish.  Eventually, the boat is brought to shore and the fishermen go through, separating the good fish from the bad.  The good fish are kept in baskets, but the bad fish are thrown away.  And Jesus says, “This is how it will be at the end of the age.  The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

            The gospel of Matthew presents all these parables, all these examples of what the kingdom of heaven is like, one after another after another.  All of them are in the same chapter.  I would think the disciples’ heads must have been spinning.  In fact, you know what’s happening in those verses we skipped?  The disciples ask Jesus about the parable of the weeds in the field.  I mean, Jesus has gone on to tell two more parables, and they’re still back on the first one.  They’re going, “Um, Jesus could we--could you--could we just slow down a little bit?  Could we go back to that one about the weeds in the field?  We didn’t get that one.”

            And maybe our heads are spinning a little bit, too.  So let’s see what we can learn about the kingdom of heaven from all these parables.

            Well, for one thing, the kingdom of heaven, and being allowed into it, is a Really Big Deal.  Being allowed into the kingdom of heaven is worth more than anything else in our lives. For another thing, the kingdom of heaven will completely transform our lives, just like yeast in dough.  And we can also learn that if we don’t treat the kingdom of heaven that way, if we don’t make it worth more than anything else, there are some pretty severe consequences for that.     

It’s important that we recognize that.  Maybe you’ve noticed this, but a lot of Christian churches are de-emphasizing heaven these days.  They still believe in it and all, but they say that we focus on heaven too much.  We should be more concerned with life on earth.  We should do what we can to help others, or to make the world a better place, or to transform society, or to get more enjoyment out of our own lives.  They say those are the things we should focus on, not getting into heaven.

            Well, I don’t think Jesus would agree.  Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is more important than anything else.  We should be willing to sacrifice anything and everything to get there.  And if we’re actually willing to do that, our lives will be transformed in the process.

             So--you probably already know what the questions are.  Are we willing to make the kingdom of heaven more important than anything else in our lives?  Are we willing to sacrifice anything and everything to get there?  And are we willing to allow our lives to be transformed in the process?

            In asking those questions, I don’t presume to know what the answer for each of you is.  These questions are not asked as an accusation.  You have to answer them for yourselves.  The only person I can answer them for is me.  And my answer is---I don’t know.

            The kingdom of heaven is obviously important to me.  I’m sure it’s important to you, too.  But there are other things in my life that are important, too.  Wanda is important to me.  My brothers and their families are important to me.  So are Wanda’s siblings and their families.  Music and sports are important to me.  Would I be willing to sacrifice all of that?  Would I be willing to give up all those people and all those things for the kingdom of heaven?

            I don’t know.  To be honest, it’s hard for me to imagine a situation where God would ask me to give up Wanda or any of those other things.  To have the Lord ask me to voluntarily give Wanda up, for the kingdom of heaven--in all honesty, I don’t see how that would work.

            And the other thing to remember is that God knows we’re not perfect.  God does not expect us to be perfect.  God understands why other things sometimes become important to us, and God is not going to automatically condemn us when that happens.

            But we should not use that as an excuse, either.  The point remains that God needs to be number one in our lives.  God needs to be more important than the things we enjoy doing.  God needs to be more important than our parents.  God needs to be more important even than our spouses or our children.  God needs to be number one.  The kingdom of heaven literally is that important.

            So, let’s look at our lives.  Let’s look at what we consider to be important.  And let’s look at how those things relate to the kingdom of heaven.  And if they’re getting in our way, we need to do something about that.

            But here’s the good news.  God will help us.  God wants us to make the kingdom of heaven the most important thing in our lives.  And God wants to help us get rid of the stuff that’s getting in our way.  So if we go to God and ask God to help us, God will give us the help we need.

            It’s not easy.  But the kingdom of heaven is worth it.  Let’s get rid of all the things that are getting in our way.  Let’s claim our place in the kingdom of heaven.