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.
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