Walking in the Age of Fulfillment

Live from the Mecca of Mormonism, SALT LAKE CITY, Utah. This is Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology. – And I’m your host, Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion.. Let’s keep learning together about walking as Christians in the age of fulfillment.

Show 28A Hanging in the Balance
Taped June 23rd 2020
Aired June 28th 2020

Last week we talked about sons and daughters of God, joint heirs with Christ, growing from Glory to Glory in this life as we exchange the things of our flesh here for the things of the Spirit (coming from there) and how that sanctification process will culminate in our ultimate destination at deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God..

When we really think about it Sons and Daughters are banking a lot on the idea that there is an afterlife, that suffering here is worthy for what will happen there, and that we are not just being taken for a ride. Most people, along the way, allow themselves to wonder if the gamble is worth it? That perhaps there is no thing, no reward, no benefit at all in leading “selfless lives” now for the promise of something better, albeit unseen, later.

The Value of a Spiritual Life

And so many choose to “live it up now,” to “do what they will” believing that God, if he is good, will bless them anyway and so there is really no reason to die to their flesh or to reign in its appetites – let alone give time to seeking or pleasing God. I want to encourage all Sons and Daughters through some observations tonight that are aimed at helping you see the reason and value of betting on what “may be” rather than living for what “now is.”

The first observation is based on human reason alone – for whatever that is worth. As mentioned, some believe that this is all there is, so they choose to live it up like there’s no tomorrow. This is the distinct message of many movies, the music industry romance novels and the like.

We've got tonight.
Who needs tomorrow.
We’ve got tonight babe,
Why don’t you stay?

But if there is a creator, and if he is good and therefore will demand an accounting of the life he has given us, then the bet should probably swing the other direction of our culture – toward a focus on him and what comes next.

Eternal Rewards

I say this because this is the message of scripture:

Job 20:5 says "That the triumphing of the wicked is short and the joy of the godless momentary?

Job also wrote that "life is wind." (Job 7:7) Isn’t that true?

Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

John the Beloved wrote (1st John 2:17) The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians 4:18 "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

And finally, James 4:14 say “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”

Since this is certainly the case in the mindset of believers, and life is fleeting then disappears, the wise bet, the wise focus, would naturally be on the things which are spiritual, unseen, heavenly, and of Him, rather than on that which he and his Word warn against.

Heaven's Promise

But what do the awaiting heavens offer us? Do we know? What is the real value of living lives for God through Christ by His Holy Spirit compared to the rewards of this world? And how are those rewards meted out?

Scripture does not promise you seventy virgins, or castles in the clouds so I am not going to suggest a state that cannot be validated from a reasonable interpretation of the text. But I do want to show you what is actually on the table or as the title of this show says, “what hangs in the balance.”

When Jesus said that “in his Father’s house there are many mansions,” we have to stop and think about this. Of course and right off.

The Mansions in the Father's House

The bat, this description is spiritually based, but in His Fathers house – in the habitation of God Himself – there are many mansions. Let’s first ask, “where or what is the habitation of God? Or what is his house?” John the Revelator tells us in Revelation 21, saying:

2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Then verse 5 says:

5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

From this we know that the New JerusalemThe spiritual reality of God's fulfilled presence with humanity—replacing Sheol after 70 A.D. is the tabernacle of God where He sits upon his throne.

Eternal Mansions

So in the New Jerusalem, which is “above” according to Luke, is His Father’s house, and within it, Jesus says, “there are many mansions.” Because we are living in flesh and observe in this world mansions as places to hold and shelter our flesh, we tend to think of these mansions as houses or homes that we will get in the future. But think of it this way: “In His Fathers house are many people, who will exist eternally in another kind of mansion – and there are many types of them – resurrected bodies.”

In my estimation, all things considered, this is what awaits every one of us – “resurrected mansions,” so to speak, “glorified spiritual homes that we will inhabit for all eternity after this life. While both remarkable and exciting this fact can frankly be sobering and frightening as Jesus points out in John 5:29

“And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”

The word for life in this passage is zoe and I think we can interpret that word as meaning eternal Life, and the word for damnation is krisis, which means judgment, condemnation. So there will be mansions of eternal life and mansions (resurrected bodies) of condemnation.

Resurrected Bodies

Since Jesus makes plain in Luke 20:38 that “God is the God of the Living,” I think its safe to say that the “Resurrected beings who live in God’s house (or presence) will be those who were resurrected to Eternal life, and those Resurrected with bodies of condemnation will not be in his presence but, according to Revelation, will abide outside the Fathers house. But again, in His Father’s house are many mansions – and I take this to mean, many resurrected bodies – which will serve as our eternal habitations in the City of God.

Our hope, as believers, our desire, and one of the reasons we endure this world while living for the next, is the expectation that God will bestow upon us bodies capable of abiding in His house. In my estimation, these bodies are the crowns, these bodies are the reward, and these bodies, of Glory, will be our eternal mansions as His Sons and Daughters. Who gives them to us? Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 15:38, speaking of the resurrection, and says:

But God giveth a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

Hebrews 11:35 talks about people in the Old Testament enduring trials and suffering as a means to receive a “better resurrection,” meaning a more noble, more powerful and more glorified mansion.” And it appears that the nobility and power and distinction of these bodies is based in their level of glory each receive. Peter wrote to them/then in 1st Peter 5:4

“And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, you (believers in that day) shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”

Speaking of the resurrection Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 15 and after talking about different flesh says:

1st Corinthians 15:40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised…

The Resurrection and Christian Suffering

a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. From these passages we know that the resurrection is planted in dishonor, is raised in glory, planted in weakness, raised in power, planted with a natural body, raised with spiritual body equipped to dwell in the Father’s house. What many Christians don’t realize is that as Christians we are called to both his Kingdom and to His glory.

1st Thessalonians 2:12 says “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.”

2nd Thessalonians 2:14 says: “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul’s prayer for the believers in that day found in Ephesians 1:8 was that: “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,”

The Path to Glory

As we said last week, this glorification begins here in the life of believers here on earth, as Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. What is forgotten or ignored, what is difficult for us to fully grasp, is the fact that the Glory of the Resurrection is tied by the Apostles to the suffering we endure here.

And that is why I titled this presentation, “What hangs in the balance.” I don’t know about you, but I want to serve God through Jesus Christ by the Spirit. And I anticipate, even expect, to dwell with him once this life is over. I hope to be given, by God as it pleases Him, a body that can dwell in his presence and behold his face.

The price for this granted capacity, for this resurrection of life and glory, for such a mansion . . . is suffering: The suffering of me holding my tongue. The suffering of dying to my will. The suffering of controlling my body. The suffering of not being part of this world. The suffering of the ego. The suffering of “staying dead and in the grave. The suffering of walking by faith and acting in love. The insufferable process of renewing the mind through the washing of the word.

Scripture frequently ties Christian suffering to the glory that will be bestowed upon those whose eternal mansions hang in the balance.

Suffering and Reward

In the amazing chapter of Romans 8 Paul states:

Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

In chapter 2 verse 6 Paul wrote that God will:

. . . render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life:

Paul writes, speaking of the Gospel in 2nd Corinthians 4:16-18, and says:

16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Peter wrote in 1st Peter 5:10 “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”

Hebrews 2:10 says “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”

Finally, Paul explains why he does what he does in 2nd Timothy 2:10, saying:

2nd Timothy 2:10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

What hangs in the balance, for every single person who has ever lived – but most pressing today as I speak to all living now – is the body God will grant us upon our death. I am convinced that when every soul takes their last breath here on earth, we will be accessed by His all knowing mind and rewarded justly, rightly and mercifully for the lives we chose to lead and live while here. I

Eternal Perspective and Trust in Faith

have no idea what this looks like, how it happens, or what it will mean into the ages. But I do fully trust the Word of God, and encourage you, Son’s and Daughters, to live with the eternal view in mind, to choose faith and love, and to fully anticipate that our loving Father will equip you with an eternal mansion worthy of His presence.

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