00:00:00.000 - 00:00:31.840

The following message is delivered by Reverend Dr. Bruce Wheeler Thielman. Today's sermon is entitled "How to Know Heaven on Earth." Let us give reverent attention to the reading of God's Word as it is recorded in the gospel according to Matthew, the seventh chapter. I begin the reading at the verse numbered

00:00:31.840 - 00:00:57.960

seven. Jesus is speaking. This is part of the Sermon on the Mount. Ask and it will be given you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

00:00:57.960 - 00:01:28.060

Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him?

00:01:28.060 - 00:02:08.420

And may God bless to us and to our understanding this reading from his Word. Pray with me. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. I would ask you to do some supposing with me this morning. Suppose that God wished to

00:02:08.420 - 00:02:46.320

display himself in such a way that no one ever again could question the reality of his existence. Suppose further that he chose to do this by brightening the heavenly bodies in the Milky Way and rearranging them so that they spelled out certain words. Suppose that one night the world walked out its back door and looked up at the sky, and

00:02:46.320 - 00:03:21.860

there written from horizon to horizon were the words, "I really exist. God is." The eyes are dotted with planets. The T is crossed with a comet's tail. I suppose that some, when they would see something like this, would immediately fall on their knees in prayer. Some people might run and hide out of fear. The theologians would have

00:03:21.860 - 00:03:48.020

a field day discussing the implications of the event, and the churches would be full at least for a little while. Now let us further suppose that God continues to do this night after night for several years. Occasionally he changes the language with which the words are expressed and the colors

00:03:48.020 - 00:04:19.140

of the heavenly bodies, but other than that, the message remains the same. And one night a little French boy, chewing bubble gum, holding his daddy's hand, walks out of the back door of their house in Provence. And he looks up and he sees the words now written in French, "C'est moi les bons dieux." And he looks at his daddy and he says, "So

00:04:19.140 - 00:04:59.500

what? So what that God can move stars? So what that God can play with planets? So what that God can scribble in stardust? What does any of that have to do with us? We're like people walking through the woods, and we oft time in the midst of those woods find ourselves lonely and afraid. What does the affirmation, "God is," do to help us in such a circumstance?

00:04:59.500 - 00:05:34.300

That's just not enough. A distant God uninvolved in the human experience leaves us just exactly as we are, in the woods, lonely, dark, and with the strange sounds of the night. Now the good news of the Christian gospel, of course, is that God is involved with us in life and that God is with us in the woods. This is what Isaiah is speaking of in his

00:05:34.300 - 00:06:11.060

prophecy. He says that God is not incredibly remote, but that he has entered into space and time. He says that he is not only infinitely royal, but that he is also intimately real. His words are these, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

00:06:11.060 - 00:06:43.220

Everlasting Father." A wonderful counselor, of course, is one who is available, who is available to all, who listens with understanding and sensitivity, and who guides with gentleness. Isaiah's words, "Mighty God," would be better translated, "Divine Protector," and they speak to us of the silent power of God that moves as much through life as the power of gravity

00:06:43.220 - 00:07:19.140

itself, and that this power, which is seen not only in nature, but also in history and in the individual life, is inevitably committed against evil and for good. And the words "Everlasting Father," they announce that we are the adopted children of God and that he teaches us and is ready to discipline and correct us. Now, there are some who think that the concept

00:07:19.140 - 00:07:55.260

of the fatherhood of God is basic to many religions, but that is not true. Hinduism and Buddhism are built on very austere monistic ideas. Islam has 99 names for God, but not one of them is father. Calling God "Father" does occur in the writings of the Jewish scriptures, but it appears there very rarely. It never displays itself in the familiar form, and

00:07:55.260 - 00:08:32.100

it is never used to directly address God. Christianity alone, of all the faiths of the world, thinks of God as intimate and loving Father. When the disciples come to Jesus and they say, "Teach us to pray," Jesus says, "Pray like this, 'Our Father.'" And the word which he uses for Father, the word "Abba," means literally "Our Daddy." Now, of course,

00:08:32.100 - 00:09:04.380

words take on their meaning in terms of our own experience. I have talked to some young women who have been physically abused by their fathers, and the word "Father," therefore, carries little of love or of goodness to them. I have talked to some young men who bear on their bodies, still, the scars of the discipline which they received at the hands of their

00:09:04.380 - 00:09:37.980

brutal fathers. The word "Father" carries nothing but an ugly connotation to them. So when Jesus uses the word "Father," we have to be sure we know what that word means to him. And as we review the Gospels in even the most cursory way, we discover that the word "Father" to Jesus means love and affection. I personally believe that Jesus' concept of

00:09:37.980 - 00:10:07.500

the Father grew through his relationship with Joseph. I can imagine Joseph the carpenter of Nazareth grabbing the little boy Jesus and rolling him in the shavings in the carpenter's shop until the youngster giggled with tickling. Maybe Jesus thought of that when he said later, "Let the little children come to me and forbid them not." I can see Jesus and Joseph going

00:10:07.500 - 00:10:34.620

off into the fields to gather flowers for Mary, and maybe it was of that that Jesus thought when he said, "Consider the lilies of the field." When he got a little older, I imagine that Joseph took Jesus up to the heights above Nazareth and showed him the great caravan routes that pass so near to that small mountain town. And maybe Jesus

00:10:34.620 - 00:11:04.420

was thinking of this when he said, "Go ye into all the world." I feel very sure that the tenderness which Joseph always showed toward Mary influenced the fact that Jesus was always touchingly tender in his relationships with any women with whom he came in contact. Joseph would have been the one in the household to have taught Jesus the Scriptures. They

00:11:04.420 - 00:11:41.100

would sit late at night while the light burned low. And maybe this was on Jesus' mind when he said in the temple that day, "Did you not know that I must be about my father's business?" And I think the skill of Joseph, the care that he brought to the work which was his, is evidenced in Jesus saying, "Take my yoke upon you, for it is easy, and you will find

00:11:41.100 - 00:12:10.100

in it comfort and peace." The exact relationship between Jesus and Joseph with its mysterious beginnings at Bethlehem is not understood by us. But it seems to me that all the love and affection which Jesus brings to his conversations about his real Father in Heaven take on much of their color from his relationship with Joseph. And out of this, he says to us, and

00:12:10.100 - 00:12:43.420

to all those who believe, "Call God Daddy." And that's the idea that Isaiah picks up when he says that this one to be born at Christmas is everlasting Father. That simply means that God is present in this one to be born. We might put it in the vernacular of our day, "Like father, like son." The same love that is in the Father God is in the fatherly heart

00:12:43.420 - 00:13:11.540

of Jesus. And we are his adopted children. Surely one of the most beautiful pictures in all of the New Testament appears in Romans chapter 8 when Paul talks about our being adopted as the children of God. Now, Paul was a Roman citizen. And so when he thought about adoption, he thought of it in Roman

00:13:11.540 - 00:13:43.620

terms. A Roman father had complete authority over his children. He could even order that they be slain. And it made no difference how old they were. They never got out from under his absolute command. Now, if the child of a Roman citizen was going to be adopted by another Roman citizen, and that was commonly done in those days, two steps had to be followed,

00:13:43.620 - 00:14:07.740

and each of these steps required seven witnesses. The first step was called "mansipatio," and that is where the one adopting paid a certain amount of money to the one who was giving the child to be adopted. And they repeated this proposition three times in order that there be no question about the reality of their having done it. And then when it was

00:14:07.740 - 00:14:36.460

done, they would go to the courts for the second part of the process, which was called the "vindicatio," and they would get an official document from the court which stated that this adoption had been officially approved. Now, the moment that that document was issued, the child who had been adopted lost every conceivable relationship that that child had

00:14:36.460 - 00:15:13.660

to its previous family. But at the same time that it lost everything related to its previous family, it took on full and complete membership in its new family. It had given to it, as it were, a new life, and this decision of the court under Roman law was absolutely irreversible. So Paul says to us who believe, "We have received a state whose dominating characteristic is

00:15:13.660 - 00:15:47.220

adoption, and therefore," he writes, "we cry, 'Abba, Father.'" What Paul is saying is that in being adopted, becoming the children of God, everything in our past is canceled, we leave the family of evil to become part of the family of good, and nothing can ever change the reality of that circumstance. That is what God is giving to us at Christmas. He

00:15:47.220 - 00:16:25.140

is making us his very own, God the Father through the fatherly heart of Jesus the Son. Now in the Bible, the role of a father is twofold. A father is to teach and model goodness for his children, and he is also to correct and discipline them as necessary. And it's very important that we keep these two ideas together and yet separate. There was a motion

00:16:25.140 - 00:16:50.260

picture made a good number of years ago. You still see it occasionally on a late night movie and television. And the picture was called "Cool Hand Luke," about a young man named Luke who was stealing the money from parking meters. And he was caught and he was put on a prison chain gang. Now the man who was in charge of this chain gang was called

00:16:50.260 - 00:17:22.940

Boss Godfrey. He wore mirrored sunglasses so that you could never see his eyes. You never knew which way he was looking. He never spoke. There was no communication between him and the prisoners. He carried a stick with him, which he could use as a whip whenever he wanted to do so. And he always had at his left hand a guard who carried a loaded rifle

00:17:22.940 - 00:18:02.740

so that he could reach for that rifle at any time. He had complete life or death control for everyone who was part of this chain gang. Now there are some people, even in this day and age, who believe that God is somehow like this Boss Godfrey, removed, hard, cruel, waiting to punish some deviation from his rule. But God is not Boss Godfrey. If God is anyone

00:18:02.740 - 00:18:36.980

in this story, he is Luke. Not that God has been stealing change from parking meters, but that he is in the midst of the process of imprisonment, that he is moving with that chain gang, that he is moving with them through all the chain of the years, that he stands beside them in the face of everything cruel and heartless that Boss Godfrey might do,

00:18:36.980 - 00:19:23.020

that he in fact never gives up on the possibilities for goodness in every one of those imprisoned. I recall one night at a hospital. Some college boys had been out driving. They had been drinking. There was an accident. One of the boys was killed. Two were seriously injured. The driver of the car, who was also drunk, was unhurt. He was sitting in the hospital waiting room

00:19:23.020 - 00:20:00.220

when his father entered. And all the emotion, the fear and the anxiety and the fright and the worry that were in this boy, the guilt, the shame, it just came surging to the surface. And he began to weep, and he ran over to his father. And his father pushed him aside and walked down the hall toward the waiting police officers. And I shall never forget the look

00:20:00.220 - 00:20:38.740

of indescribable pain on the face of that son. Interestingly enough, I once had a remarkably parallel experience. Again, some college boys out driving. Again, under the influence of alcohol. Again, an accident. No one killed, but three seriously, critically injured. And again, the one who was driving, drunk, not hurt at all. And he too was sitting, waiting

00:20:38.740 - 00:21:07.860

for the arrival of his father. And when his father came through the door, it was almost deja vu as I saw all of this occurring. I was living it all again, just as I had before. The boy jumped up, and with all the emotions that packed that earlier boy, those same emotions came welling up out of this son. And he ran to his father and he extended his arms. And

00:21:07.860 - 00:21:56.660

his father took him in his arms and he said to him, "We won't talk about this now, but I want you to know that I love you. No matter what, remember that. I love you." Now, this is what the love of God is. It is forever, but it is also firm and fair. It has in it infinite compassion, but it also has necessary correction. That boy's father took the driver's

00:21:56.660 - 00:22:24.940

license of his son away for many years, and there were other punishments that that son had to bear, but they were all for his good. I couldn't help but think of that passage in Hebrews chapter 12 where it says, "My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by him. The Lord disciplines those

00:22:24.940 - 00:23:00.620

whom he loves. He disciplines for our good, that we may share in his holiness, without which no one will see the Lord." You see, the discipline becomes an expression of the love, and the love is the expression of the infinite goodness and grace of God. I thought of this once when I was listening to John Wooden speak. Some of you may remember John

00:23:00.620 - 00:23:28.060

Wooden was the famous basketball coach at the University of California in Los Angeles. He coached at UCLA for 12 years, and during those 12 years he won 10 NCAA championships. Now John Wooden was known as a very strict disciplinarian with his team, not only when they were on the court, but when they were off the court, and not only in their play,

00:23:28.060 - 00:23:57.700

but also in their dress and in their behavior. Among other things, to give you an idea of how precise and demanding his discipline was, he insisted that his players wear their socks in a certain way. He said, "A basketball team is no better than its feet, and if you don't wear your socks properly, you're going to get wrinkles, and those wrinkles will blister

00:23:57.700 - 00:24:29.940

and your feet are hurt, and you won't be able to play well." So in the first session of every season, he would spend 20 minutes showing these college boys how to put on their socks. And you know, as I read that, or heard him say that, I thought to myself, "God is just like that. He cares for us, not as a team, but as a family, and all of the discipline

00:24:29.940 - 00:25:00.260

which he directs toward us, sometimes toward things which we think to be small and insignificant, all of it is for our good." I know there are some times when the discipline of God seems very hard and very heavy, but what we must remember at such times is that the attributes of God cannot be separated one from the other. Yes, God is all-powerful, and God is all-wise,

00:25:00.260 - 00:25:35.720

and God is justice, and God is mercy, and God is love, God is all of those things, but you never see one aspect of God without the other aspects being involved. In other words, he never shows his power without also showing his holiness. He never shows his justice without also revealing his mercy. He never shows his wisdom without also displaying his love. No

00:25:35.720 - 00:26:08.820

aspect of him is ever exalted above any other aspect of him, and all of these attributes he brings to us for our good. Every person who is a real Scot loves one of the great classics of Scots literature, Ian McLaren's Beside the Bonny Briar Bush. One of the chapters in that book is a great

00:26:08.820 - 00:26:41.540

favorite of mine. I reread it two or three times a year. It's called The Transformation of Lachlan Campbell. Lachlan Campbell is a very stern old Presbyterian elder, and he has a daughter named Flora, and Flora runs off like the prodigal in the New Testament, and he is so angry at this that he actually erases her name from the family Bible as if

00:26:41.540 - 00:27:25.020

she had never lived. He never speaks of her, and then one day, Flora, in great need, comes home, and when he sees her, his hard countenance softens, and he begins to weep, and he puts his arms about her and gives her welcome home. And that night, and this is the climax of the story, when the family gets together for their family devotions, they kneel down to

00:27:25.020 - 00:28:01.780

pray, and old Lachlan Campbell always led the prayers in the family, and he always began the prayers with the same words, "Oh, Jehovah," which speaks of the majesty and the power and the justice of God. "Oh, Jehovah." So he would always begin his prayers, but this night he began, "Oh, Father." My friends, there is no more precious truth in our faith

00:28:01.780 - 00:28:42.420

than this, that God is our Father and that he sent his Son with a Father's heart to show us how we are loved and how we ought to love, and to bring correction and discipline when that is necessary for our good. Some people call this God's tough love. And all of this Isaiah had in mind when he said, "And he shall be called, wonderful Counselor, mighty

00:28:42.420 - 00:29:28.060

God, everlasting Father." And this means to us that we should turn away from our sin, that we should never, ever retreat into fear before God, that we should never forget that we are anything less than the children of God, and that in his person and his passion rests our peace. Thomas Hardy, when asked to describe God, wrote, "He is that dreaming,

00:29:28.060 - 00:30:01.580

dumb, dark thing that turns the handle of this idle show." Voltaire, when he was asked to describe God, said, "He's a bad joke." H.G. Wells, when he was asked to communicate with God, replied, "I would just as soon try to cool my thirst with a drink from the Milky Way or shake hands with a star." But Isaiah says, "He is our Counselor, he is

00:30:01.580 - 00:31:17.180

our Protector, he is our Father." And when we come to know this, then we begin to know heaven on earth. For if it is true that wherever heaven is, God is there, then it is equally true that wherever God is, there is heaven. And he is with us. Our perfections disappear in the place and the face of his infinite perfectness.

00:31:17.180 - 00:32:36.260

And our childhood, no matter how loving, disappears in the depths of his beautiful fatherhood, so that we can say, "You are my refuge. You are my home. You are my heaven. You are my Father." Let us pray. O Father, keep us always within the arms of thy care. Strengthen us with the knowledge

00:32:36.260 - 00:33:21.420

of who we are. And send us into all the world ready to tell others that they too can be adopted children of the everlasting Father. We pray our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]