The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1960-04-15
Heaven Now
Lesson for April II, 1860

Lesson for April II, 1860
The Christian life is not a
plus added to the same old life.
It is not an ordinary life plus
a set of good resolutions, or
good intentions. It is not an
ordinary life plus certain beliefs
most people don't have. Tack
ing something new on a life
which has never been changed.
is not becoming Christian.
Christian life is new LIFE, new
BEING. The whole thing is new,
from the heart out.
Living In Heaven Now
On the calendar we are in the
midst Of the Easter season. In
our Bible study we are in the
midst of the Sermon on the
Mount Have the two any con-
nection? Apparently not, some
would say. Easter celebrates
something that happened to
Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount
is something for us to work out,
pattern for living. Christ as
cended to heaven but we are
here on earth. He lives above
the sky, not in any world we
could reach with a space-ship
but in the spirit-World of heaven.
We live under clouds, real
clouds with rain in them.
In fact, living here on earth
1--WE think makes the Sermon on
the Mount even harder to live
by. If we were in heaven now
>. But at that point the Apostle
Paul bre aks in. You are in
heaven, he says. Oh. but I can't
be. you say. I'm not dead even.
Yes you are, he replies: "You
have died, and your life is hid
with Christ in God"
Life Without Sin
Paul's language is strange,
but we can see what he means
to say. First he was probably
describing his own experience.
He was mystic by nature, and
he had meditated so long on
the death Of Christ that he felt
himself actually sharing tn a t
death. Later mystics in the his
tory Of the church have so con-
centrated on the sufferingS Of
Christ on the cross that visible
marks like nail-prints have APP
peared in their hands and feet.
However, m OS t Christians,
then and now, are not mystics.
For them. Paul is speaking the
language Of "as-if." He is using
a strong figure of speech to de-
scribe the Christians life. It is,
as it were, living the life of
heaven now. If you are really
one with Crhist, you can think
Of yourself as having died and
risen again and living "at the
right hand of God" You are al
ready citizen of that better
land. Live as if you were al
ready there! One of the features
of the life of heaven is that no
sin is there. So Paul says to
us, Sin doesn't belong in heaven,
and as a citizen of heaven it
doesn't belong in your life.
Another feature of the life of
heaven, the risen life, is free
dom from the barriers set up
by society Brightly or more Of
ten wrongly in this world. What
is a Social Register doing in
heaven? What meaning will
there be in salary brackets
beyond the grave? Do colored
skins 60 with colored souls?
Paul refers to the most fornnd-
able barriers Of his day. those
between Greek and Jew, slave
and free man. barbarian and
civilized. and says plainly "here
there cannot be" these diStinc-
tons. The Christian life, if it
matches the life of heaven
matches the life of heaven, must
be as free from such distinctions
as heaven is.
Above All, Love j.
Paul mixes his figures Of
speech, as ne very OIten QOcS.
Along with this picture Of the
Christian life as a risen. heaven
" life, he pictures it is a change
Of clothes. We can almost hear
him saying, All right, if this
hcaven-picture seems farfetched
to you. lets try one you do I'M
derstand. Everybody know
what it is to take off old dirty
clothes and put on fresh ones.
Very well; you have put off your
old nature. and you have put
or a new nature. dying and
rising with Christ. he would
have said. is laying aside a
worn garment and taking on one