"Yeah, it's like that." The Kingdom of God is like a club - Heaven like Hollywood

We’re continuing our series “Yeah, it’s like that.”  Jesus talked in parables, so I’ve been thinking of modern day parables that we could use to describe the kingdom of God.  Let me start out with a few questions.  

What do you think heaven will be like?

Why do you think God will let you in?

Let me start off with a story…

There once was this very attractive young couple.  He was a fashion photographer and she was a model who acted on the side.  They were very wealthy and they were accustomed to being invited to exclusive parties where they could hobnob with celebrities.  There wasn’t a club that they couldn’t get into.  Most places knew who they were and the ones that didn’t liked they way they looked.  They were the type of people a promoter would want in the club.  And even if for some reason, their looks or their fame weren’t enough to get them in somewhere, they could always rely on slipping the bouncer a couple hundred bucks and in they would go.  They took pride in being able to do whatever they wanted.  After all, they deserved it.  They had great style, they had a ton of friends and they knew how to party.  Not only did they deserve it, they felt entitled to get into any club they wanted.  Besides they spent a lot of money, had attractive friends and knew all the DJ’s.  The world was their playground.  This is the life they were accustomed to.  Being granted access into the hottest spots because they obviously deserved it.  Or so they thought.          

This happens more than you know.  Anyway, one night this couple gets all dressed up and rents a limo with a ton of her girlfriends and they drive down into the city.  The usual club that they go to, where everyone knows them has been remodeled and is having a grand re-opening.  It’s going to be the biggest club night of the year.  Now I don’t know if any of you have been to really high end clubs, but there is a standard that you need to meet if you’re going to get in.  The best nights have a dress code.  No shorts, no flip-flops, no jerseys, no hats, no tennis shoes.  You must be wearing a button-down shirt tucked into your pants and if you are a guy, you must have at least 3 women with you to get in.  If you walk up with a bunch of your bros, you are not getting in.  And the girls have to be pretty.  Just being female isn’t enough.  You have to look amazing.  Like I said, there’s a standard.      

So as they walk up to the club, there is a guy in a dirty white tee, ripped jean shorts and a greasy baseball cap.  He’s also wearing flip flops.  His face is kinda straggly… he hasn’t shaved or anything.  He’s a little overweight and he’s by himself.  He’s not in line, not trying to get in the club or anything… he’s kinda just hanging near the entrance, but not trying to get in the club.  As the fashion photographer and his model girlfriend and her friends walk by this guy, the man asks if he could bum a cigarette.  The guy doesn’t even acknowledge this dude, he just walks right by him and heads to the front door.  His girlfriend replies without looking at the guy, “Sorry, don’t smoke.” and continues to the front door.

So now the front door of this club is crazy!  There is a line stretched around the corner with people trying to get in.  Tons of beautiful people, beautifully dressed all doing their best to try to get by the bouncer at the front door.  Now when you go to clubs, there’s always two lines.  There’s a line for the normal everyday Joe who has to wait two hours to pay a $40 cover charge just so he can go in and buy $15 drinks and there’s the VIP line.  Now the VIP line is the line for all the important people.  People the club owner or promoter want to have in as soon as they arrive.  Usually close friends, or big spenders, or DJ’s or even beautiful people that the promoter likes and thinks will help their club be more popular.  People like our young beautiful couple here.  If you go in the VIP line, chances are you’ll be whisked away to the bottle service table of the owner or promoter where you will have the best seats and drink for free.  Now there is a bouncer who is in charge of VIP list.  If you are on that list, the velvet rope opens and away you go.   

So our young beautiful couple makes their way up to the VIP entrance and the gentleman just stands there waiting for the bouncer to open the velvet rope and escort them in.  He waits a few moments and begins to get a little annoyed.  His girl and her beautiful friends kind of fidget in their high heels.  The gentleman clears his throat as to get the attention of the bouncer.  Now there are two bouncers.  One is checking ID’s and the other is in charge of checking the list and letting in the VIP’s.  Beautiful, trendy people are being let in as they check off various names on the list.  Both bouncers ignore our hip gentleman.  Finally out of frustration and embarrassment the guy asks,

 “Aren’t you going to let me in?”  He motions to the beautiful women behind him in a kind of “C’mon man!  What’s taking so long?” kinda way. 
The bouncer finally acknowledges him and says,
“We’re at capacity, Sir.  We’re only letting in VIPs.  Are you on the list?”  
To this, our club going friend takes off his sunglasses and says, “Don’t you know who I am?”  
The bouncer repeats, “Are you on the list?”  
The guy is now clearly agitated and starts to raise his voice.  “I party in here every night!  I own this club!  Look at me!  Why do you act like you don’t know who I am?”  
The bouncer says, “Name?”  
The gentleman thinks, maybe this is new club policy.  Maybe the promoter wants me to give my name.  That’s cool.   So the gentleman says, “My name is Vipersnake”.  
The bouncer’s eyebrow goes up in disbelief.  “Vipersnake?”  
“Yeah, Vipersnake, now just let us in already.”
“Sorry Sir, you are not on the list.”  
“Wait a minute.  You can’t be serious?”
“Is there another name?”
His model girlfriend steps up and says, “Samantha Riggins.  Model.  Actress.” as she bats her pretty eyes at the bouncer and pushes out her chest.    
“Sorry.  You’re not on the list either.”  
She is shocked and her mouth is agape as she shoots daggers at the bouncer with her pretty eyes.  
“You gotta be kidding me!” He says, exasperated.  “I run this town.”  
“Sorry, Sir.  Please move along.”
“Oh, I know what this is about.”  He pulls out a wad of cash and starts peeling off $100 bills.  After peeling 5 of them off, he folds them in his hand and goes to shake the bouncer’s hand.  
“Sorry Sir, I can’t take that.”  

At this the man just goes bonkers.  He starts cussing up a storm, telling the bouncer that he’s going to get him fired.  That he is on a power trip and that he can take his $15 an hour job and stick it where the sun don’t shine.  Just then, the shabby, terribly dressed guy who had asked him for a smoke earlier walks up to the bouncer and the bouncer opens up the VIP rope and says, “Good evening, Mr. James.”  The guy walks right in past the gentleman and his girls… past the long line of partygoers still waiting on the street.  VIpersnake is just incredulous.  He starts yelling at the bouncer again.  
“How are you going to let that guy in?  He’s got on jorts for crying out loud!  Are you serious?  Does the promoter know you let that guy in?”  Just then a well-dressed man comes out to talk to the bouncers.  He motions towards Vipersnake and his party.  Vipersnake starts to feel vindicated as the well-dressed gentleman comes over to talk to him.  
“Is there something I can help you with, Sir?”  
“Who are you?  Who’s in charge?  Did you see the guy they just let in?  I mean look at us and then look at him.  I run this town.  I run this club!  Who does that guy think he is?”
“He’s my brother.”
“Who are you?”  
“I’m Ronnie James and this is my party.  I’m the new promoter and I have no idea who you are.  Now will you do me a favor and step aside so my guests can come in.  And don’t ever come back.  Thank you.”

I say all that to say this.  Heaven is like a Nightclub.  It’s all in who you know.  Let’s look at some scripture that talks about this.  There is a list.  A list that has the names of everyone who is getting into heaven.    

Revelation 3:5
⁵ The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.

Revelation 20:12
¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. ¹⁴ Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

There are very real consequences to not being on God’s list.  An eternity separated from God.  I read once that Hell is the final guarantee that what we do matters.  

So how can we get on the list?

Believe 

Mark 16

¹⁵ He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. ¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

John 3

13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  ³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

Romans 10

⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Once we become Believers… we become sons and daughters of God.

Ephesians 1

⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

1 John 5

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ² This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. ³ In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴ for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. ⁵ Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Hebrews 2:10

¹⁰ In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. ¹¹ Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

Romans 8

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^[f^] And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

As Christians, as God’s sons and daughters… as Christ’s brothers and sisters we are on the List.  The book of Life is the list and we are on it.  But like the shabbily dressed guy, we do not deserve to enter heaven.  The reason we can is because we are in Christ’s family.  And we are in God’s family because God allowed it as a gift to us.  A gift we couldn’t earn.  

Ephesians 2

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  
            
Beware of thinking that you have it all together… that you deserve to go to heaven.  That you are more worthy than other people because of what you’ve accomplished.  Even what you’ve accomplished for God.  Just like the good looking couple who was rich and seemingly had everything.  It didn’t matter because they didn’t know the promoter.  All of your good behavior means nothing if you don’t know God.     

Matthew 7

True and False Disciples
²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

You can’t bribe the angels in heaven with your good works, hoping that will get you into heaven.  Your works mean nothing.  

God’s primary interest for us is that we know Him.  Acting righteous… having good behavior is not God’s end game for us.  It is not the thing He wants for us.  Because apart from Him, it’s impossible.  The number one thing God wants for each of you… is to know Him.  If you know Him, you will become righteous.  He wants a relationship with you.  And He’s made a way for you to do that.  

Believe… believe that Christ died for your sins and rose again 3 days later.  Believe that Christ is alive and wants a relationship with you.  Ask Him to come into your life… to take it over… and to make you into a new creation.  If you’ve already asked Christ into your heart… if you already have a relationship with God, I urge you to continue to get to know Him better.  In all your ways submit to Him and He will establish your paths.  There is nothing greater in this life than to know God deeper and deeper and deeper.  That is what we were created for.  You want to go to heaven?  You want to get on the List?  You have to know God.

Grow up! "Yeah, it's kinda like that." Parable Series

Jesus talked in parables, so I’ve been thinking of modern day parables that we could use to describe the Kingdom of God.  We’ve been talking about maturity in church lately… talking about growing up and what that means.  Tonight I wanted to touch on a couple aspects of that.  But first, here are a few questions.  

What fears did you have as a kid that seem silly now?  Why were you afraid?  

In what areas of your life now, do you feel small or feel vulnerable?  What in life affects you the most negatively?

Giant Sequoias are the worlds largest tree.  The largest Sequoia was over 311 feet tall and 56 feet around. That’s over the length of a football field.  The oldest Sequoia is 3,500 years old.  If you’re wondering how old that is, Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible 3,500 years ago.  They are the oldest living things on earth.  

You would think that these old, giant trees must have had a bunch of lucky breaks to have lasted this long.  But that is simply not the case.  A grown Sequoia can withstand lightning strikes, fire, predators, floods and anything else you can throw at it.  Not only that, it needs all of those things to be able to grow healthy and reproduce. 

Here’s what I mean.  

In the 1950’s, there would be wildfires that would break out in Yosemite and Sequoia National forest and what would people do?  Well, they put it out.  Seems logical.  But what the park rangers found was that as they continued to put the fires out year after year, the Sequoias were dying and they weren’t reproducing. You see, the Sequoias need fire in order to reproduce.  There would be thunder storms.  And the lightning strikes would set the forest floor on fire.  The fire would burn up everything on the forest floor… except the Sequoias.  The giant sequoias are made in such a way that they are fairly fireproof.  Not only that, the fire would burn up all the other kinds of trees and plant life and the resulting ash would make the soil super rich with nutrients.  Nutrients the trees fed off.  The heat from the fires would dry out their pine cones which caused them to open up and drop all the Sequoia seeds.  Seeds that would drop into the nutrient rich soil and grow healthy.  Not only that, the fire burned up all the other trees that would block out the sun over the Sequoia saplings.  

These giant trees have gone through a lot to be the giants that they are today.  But here’s the great thing about being a giant tree.  Once it’s mature, it doesn’t have to worry about the fires… it doesn’t have to worry about predators… it doesn’t have to worry about floods or any other thing.  It is strong in whatever circumstances it finds itself in. 

A sapling has to be worried about the environment around it.  It has to worry about predators, fire, violent storms, lack of sunlight and infestation.  An immature tree is affected by a lot.  

What are you affected by?

Being immature in Christ can cause you to fear your circumstances, fear people and allow the worries and cares of the day to rip you apart.

Being mature in Christ allows you to be strong in your circumstances, allows what people say and think about you to not matter and keeps you from being blown to and fro by your everyday circumstances.   

One of the things we’re affected by is how we feel about ourselves.  We are our own worst enemy sometimes.  The great thing about salvation is that when you are saved, you get everything God has for you.  But if you don’t know what God says about you, about who you really are… you will doubt that you are a Giant Sequoia.  You will see yourself as a tiny sapling.  Legally, no one receives their inheritance until they are 18 years old.  If they are under 18, it is held in a trust until they are of age.  There’s a level of maturity that has to be reached before you can access everything God has for you.  If you don’t let God define who you are… if you don’t believe that He has made you a Giant Sequoia, it will be difficult for you to live like it.  That’s why we renew our mind with the Word of God.

 Ephesians 4

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

We are not to be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves… As Christians, God has created us to be strong and firm.  When we are mature, we are not moved.  How are we mature?  By allowing Christ to be our head.  The head holds the brain and the brain tells us what to do.      

²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶ “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold. 
²⁹ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 

When you are mature in Christ, you live above the fray, just like the Giant Sequoias.  When we don’t fight with each other, when we don’t allow ourselves to get angry or feel like we have to defend ourselves, we can rest in the fact that people don’t control our destinies.  Let me show you how Christ did it.  

Mark 14:
⁵⁵ The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. ⁵⁶ Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.
⁵⁷ Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: ⁵⁸ “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.’” ⁵⁹ Yet even then their testimony did not agree.
⁶⁰ Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” ⁶¹ But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.

Mark 15:
³ The chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴ So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”
⁵ But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. 

How many of us when push comes to shove can walk away from those who talk junk about us?  That is a sign of maturity.  How often do we rush to our own defenses?  How many Facebook statuses do you read every day of people trying to justify themselves?  Of people trying to plead their case?  Of people being offended about what someone else said about them?  Brothers and sisters, this should not be so. 

Luke 6
²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.

This is the path to maturity.  When you are not so worried about what people think of you, you grow.  God will defend you.   

James 1
² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a^] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 
 
When you are immature, you are afraid.  You are afraid of what people think of you.  You wonder how you’re going to live life.  You don’t trust God with everything, so everything becomes scary.  When you are immature, you are primarily worried about yourself.  If we’re not careful, we can allow the cares of this life and other people’s opinions of ourselves to choke the life out of us. 

Matthew 13 Parable of the Sower
¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ²² The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” 

Here’s the thing… You all were meant to go through trials and tribulations… lightning storms and fires.  When we ask God to save us from every trial, what ends up happening is that the life in us gets choked out of us because we are distracted by other things.  We need God to send fire in our lives to destroy all the things around us that compete for His attention.  Whether it’s your relationships and friends… whether it’s your family… whether it’s Facebook and video games or whatever takes up the time that God desires to spend with you.  You can withstand fire in your circumstances.  You are a Giant Sequoia.  You need God to take away everything that isn’t bringing you closer to Him.  Because once everything in your life is about Him, that’s when you’ll grow.  You’ll find you can see the sun(Son) better because there aren’t competing trees blocking your view of it(Him).  You’ll find that your heart is fertile soil, because it has been refined of everything that would keep you from Him.    

 And then, when you are mature… you will be able to reproduce.   A mature tree is always trying to multiply.  A young tree cannot multiply.  A young Sequoia cannot attempt to reproduce until it is at least 12 years old.  We multiply by being otherly-centered and not just focused on ourselves.  And these difficult circumstances and relationships we face?  That is the soil that will allow us to multiply in Christ. And the great thing is… because Christ is in us, we can stand up under any problems or issues we face.     
Mark 4

³⁰ Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. ³² Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

Matthew 17
²⁰ He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Philippians 1
⁶ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

You start out with a mustard seed of faith.  Even then at the beginning, nothing is impossible for you.  But as you mature in Christ, that mustard seed becomes a large tree.  And the great thing is, Christ is the person who plants you and makes sure you become the mature tree He intended you to be.  When you are a Giant Sequoia, you won’t be moved by the storms or fires of life.  You will withstand everything life throws at you, because the testing of your faith(that mustard seed) produces perseverance. And perseverance will produce maturity in you.  If life was easy for you, you wouldn’t grow.  You would get weaker.   When you work out, what are you doing?  You are ripping your muscles apart.  But then they grow back stronger.  This is how we should look at life’s problems.  

As long as you are immature… you will be afraid of your circumstances.  You will be caught up in what people think of you.  You will struggle with small things.  

When you are mature in your faith… there isn’t anything you can’t handle.  You aren’t worried about what people think of you because you know who God says you are.  The small, petty things of life are down low on the ground and can’t hurt you.  

You are a Giant Sequoia.  Don’t settle for being a tiny sapling.