{"id":71,"date":"2025-08-10T14:04:47","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T14:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/?p=71"},"modified":"2025-08-31T14:21:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T14:21:51","slug":"entering-heaven-before-dying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/entering-heaven-before-dying\/","title":{"rendered":"Entering Heaven Before Dying"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 14- August 10, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20<\/strong>; Psalm 50:1-8, 23-24; Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16<\/strong>; Luke 12:32-40<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s Gospel, Luke 12:32-40, is a continuation to discuss our relationship with possessions, and how we live our lives as Christians. Many people resent the idea of being told how to live their lives, but the purpose here is not to constrain us but to free us<\/strong>! It\u2019s about living with<\/strong> the grain of the universe rather than against<\/strong> it, living with<\/strong> God rather than in opposition<\/strong> to Him, living with<\/strong> each other in a way that is loving\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s a phrase Jesus mentions, and it’s “Do not be afraid.” It seems to me that what Jesus is trying to tell us is not to be cowardly people. Because of this, we may feel fear, but we don’t allow fear to prevent us from doing what we need to do. On the contrary, cowardly people. They enter a phase of inertia and stop doing what they must do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fear is a painful emotion, anxiety, or dread caused by apprehension in the face of imminent danger. Cowardice is the inability to control fear and, therefore, shying away or fleeing from danger due to a lack of courage. Courage, of course, is the mental and moral strength that allows us to venture forth, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty with firmness and resolve. And this is the courage Jesus is offering us in this Gospel so that we can overcome cowardice and do exactly what He is asking us to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, society encourages us to give goods and services almost magical, life-changing properties. The average person sees 6,000 sophisticated, targeted advertising messages every day, many telling us that our hearts<\/strong> should be directed to acquiring goods and services because they will transform our lives for the better. We put our hope and faith in products because they appear to fulfil our dreams and desires. We can\u2019t earn enough money to buy all the things we want\u2026 and don\u2019t need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Christians we need to intentionally become aware of how many of our daily decisions are influenced by these idols, against how many are influenced by God\u2019s promises. We read that Jesus has his disciples gathered around him, as he offers both comfort and guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus tells us not to be afraid\u2026for<\/strong> your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom-community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One way to do that is to: Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Well, that was a mic-drop moment for the disciples! You can just imagine the stunned silence, then \u201cDid he just say\u2026 sell our possessions?\u201d You wonder if a few of Jesus\u2019 followers who overheard this conversation may have made their excuses and left\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere in Scripture we hear of people being blessed or praised for variously giving up a small amount of their possessions, all their possessions, half of their possessions. So it doesn\u2019t seem that the Bible insists we all<\/strong> should do without any possessions at all. Rather, the answer to what we\u2019re called to do may be different for each of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus really hits the nail on the head \u2013 as you might expect being Son of God \u2013 when he says: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The answer to what we need to give up may also depend on our relationship with possessions and whether they stop us being able to see the kingdom-community. Giving sacrificially changes everything about us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We tend to think of God and the Kingdom-Community of God as being something \u2018up there\u2019 or \u2018out there\u2019 or perhaps \u2018in the future.\u2019 The good news of Jesus isn\u2019t so much about going to heaven when you die. It\u2019s about going to heaven before you die. This is bringing heaven to earth. God is working on earth right now all around us; the Kingdom-Community is on earth right now\u2026 it\u2019s a question of to what extent we \u2013 God\u2019s little flock \u2013 want to participate in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t worship and serve an absent God, a God who left some time ago. Jesus is teaching us how and where to wait and inviting us to be present to the One who is always present. Jesus will dress himself to serve\u2026 and will come and wait on his servants. If Jesus will serve us, surely, we can and must serve others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In entering heaven before dying, please learn <\/strong>to be a happy Christian<\/strong> and stop being a coward. How?<\/strong>  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stop living in the past.<\/strong> \u201cBitterness is like drinking the poison and waiting for the other person to die,\u201d says Joanna Weaver. Whether your past haunts you, or if you miss \u201cthe good old\u2019 days,\u201d forget what\u2019s behind you and be alive to what God has for you in the present.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spend daily time with God.<\/strong> I hope I don\u2019t sound legalistic. But if you don\u2019t spend regular, extensive time with God through prayer and Bible reading<\/a>, I\u2019m not sure why or how you\u2019d expect to experience a lot of happiness. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stop the comparisons. Someone say: <\/strong>If gratitude is the chief<\/em> of joy, then comparison is the thief<\/em> of joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of yourself less. <\/strong>Famous quote you\u2019ve probably heard a thousand times: \u201cHumility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From reading Isaiah 1 we learn that God invites us with a powerful call: \u201cCome now, let us reason together, says the LORD. And in Hebrews 11:1 we learn that faith is not a blind leap but a confident trust in God’s promises. Do you accept God’s invitation? Do we walk by faith? Don’t be cowardly and dare; this way, you will begin to enjoy heaven on earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen & Ash\u00e9<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s Gospel, Luke 12:32-40, is a continuation to discuss our relationship with possessions, and how we live our lives as Christians. Many people resent the idea of being told how to live their lives, but the purpose here is not to constrain us but to free us! It\u2019s about living with the grain of the universe rather than against it, living with God rather than in opposition to Him, living with each other in a way that is loving\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80,"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions\/80"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iglesiatodoslossantos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}