Losing Heaven (part 2 of 3)

 To explain this blog, you really need to read "Losing Heaven" (which is part 1). Here's how it started:

As some of you already know from my prior blogs, from carefully reading what Jesus said in the Gospels, once a person is initially born again, it is necessary that he goes on in godliness. Jesus requires what He called fruit for us to achieve heaven. We cannot call ourselves “Christian,” yet desecrate our Lord by sinful behavior and by ignoring God 6 days a week, after publicly claiming Him as Lord of our lives.

I have taken on a big task in these three blogs, beginning today: I will provide all verses from the Gospels that our great Teacher gave as fruit—both bad and good.  In EVERY ONE, is mentioned life if you do it, or eternal death if you don’t. Most of those 100 verses make it clear that even if you lack that particular fruit--you are excluded from heaven.

I have devoted the first blog to 5 of the 17 areas I cover. Please read on for 5 more "danger" areas.

Next we have to GIVE TO THE POOR. Let’s start out with something controversial, like Matthew 25:31ff:

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. ³³ And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

First, this is about our Lord’s second coming--as Judge. But not to judge “nations,” but people.  Verse 32 is the key: Is he only addressing this to nations? So we individuals are not judged on this basis? Or is He talking to people, so we ARE judged on this basis? The ESV translation has v.32 right: “Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. There is no way that entire nations will be noted for visiting the sick or visiting people in prison. No, PEOPLE do those loving visits. Doing those kindnesses for the underclass make us sheep, on our Lord’s right hand. Secondly, note how the sheep are blessed with life in heaven (the kingdom) because of a WORK, namely their loving actions for the dispossessed. That is, after all, what Jesus did—and what we should do. Not doing it makes us a goat. Bound for hell. Continuing in the verses above:

⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ ⁴⁴ “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Not caring for the poor and disabled means you lose heaven.

Luke 16:19-23 is pretty blunt, too (another one ruined by the commentators):

¹⁹ “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. ²⁰ But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, ²¹ desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. ²² So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

We learn, in verses later than this, the futility of the efforts of the man in hades, to get a second chance for someone. Fact: you have to decide while you are alive and still have a thinking brain, to make the most important decision of your life and act it out. It takes faith, because you are dealing with the unknown. I think of my old-age friends; they never think about how to stay out of hell. First, their optimistic view of God is wrong—fact is, God will be forced to send the majority of people to hell (I’ll comment on “the Narrow way” soon). Secondly, many assume there’s no way we CAN know, for sure, which way we go. That belief is a mix of not believing the Bible is God’s Word, not getting proper sermons, and not studying the Word. Thirdly, many assume since they haven’t killed someone, they’re “good enough” for heaven. But they don’t know that God demands perfection in the Law, if that’s the path you choose, since you decided not to abide in Jesus. Well, perfection is impossible for us mortal creatures.

But let’s get to the point that’s relevant: why is the rich guy on the flame-side of hades? Well, let’s do away with prejudices first. We will assume his riches were legitimately obtained. Jesus did not imply such a charge. Simply being rich is not a sin. Then why? There is only one answer, assuming Christ has a point here (He always had a point). He was there because he did nothing for the poor beggar. He is a goat (that’s NOT the “greatest of all time.”) because he “performed” as the ones who are thrown into everlasting punishment do. Namely, not loving, not even a bit, the poor and the underclass people. Not even the one that he passed by every day.

You may feel that this helping-the-poor requirement for heaven, this fruit, is moot because you’re ensconced in a suburb where you never see someone poor, so how are you going to fulfill this?  Well, the news flashes plenty of these people from all over the globe. And we see blown-up rocks instead of homes in Gaza or Ukraine, we see riots because of governments who don’t know how to govern, or we see people living in eastern Europe and Turkey in fenced-in and ghettoed areas. So there are many needs, and actually, many ways to help. Sending money directly to a Christian agency would be step one. Demographically, I wish there were a way to keep many of these immigrant families, assuming we “vet” them and find them innocent of criminal past, in the U.S. We desperately need a growing population for the economy to leap ahead, increasing the middle class. Social Security and Medicare’s funding are financed from working-population growth. Those retirement programs will be broke if we have to depend on our native population, who refuses to have a decent number of children, or can’t because of strange vaccines. So there is no working class growth, without immigrants. So, our population needs immigrants to grow. Helping the immigrants will help us--those are the facts. But there are now too many, and they are politicized. We still must find a way to step up and help these families.

A rather surprising quote by Jesus happens when He visits Zacchaeus, a height-challenged tax collector who was short on friends. In Luke 19:8-9, Zacchaeus makes a statement on helping the poor, and a generous repentance for cheating people:

⁸ Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold. ⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; ¹⁰ for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

It’s shocking for those of us whose theology is “faith only,” that Jesus pronounces salvation for Zaccheus. Where was his faith in Christ expressed in this? Calling Him Lord does not necessarily mean worship; it was a greeting for a master or a rabbi. His announcement is simply that he will restore what he took from the poor—with generous interest. Yes, he was very happy to meet Jesus. Looking at all this, we should have seen by now that Jesus’ theology is not boxed up like we assume. But He does place Zaccheus as a member of the sheep—because he helps the poor and underclass. As He required in Scripture. So some of us will see Zacchaeus again, taller and happier, and long on friends.

OTHER REFERENCES: Luke 3:7-11, Luke 11:41, Luke 14:13, 14.

Next, let’s look at how heaven requires that  YOU MUST FORGIVE.

Yet another one in the life vs death series. Matthew 6:14-15 makes it black or white:

¹⁴ “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Search your brain: If there is someone you don’t like, is it because of one thing they did that you are still upset about? Then we must forgive them, for our eternal life. We ask God’s help doing it, we say it out loud (to them, ideally, if they are still alive). That doesn’t wipe out the bad memory, but it doesn’t leave us with a bad taste thinking about that person anymore. Maybe we end up with, at least, a neutral feeling about them. It might help if you search for anything you did that caused the split, or anything in their background that led them to respond that way. It’s not always their sin. Remember, this is heaven vs. hell stuff. God is faithful to His Word. No way can you slide by without forgiveness.

Let’s study Matthew 18:21ff:

²¹ Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. ²³ Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants… 

Jesus spins this tale masterfully, as only the greatest Teacher could. A servant owed the Master 10,000 “talents,” a huge pile of money. He forgave that servant; so the servant owed him nothing. Nothing is said as to his thankfulness. However, that servant found another servant who owed him chump change, couldn’t pay, and here is what he did: and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ ²⁹ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ ³⁰ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 

You can only imagine what the Master did to him when he heard: ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. ³³ Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ ³⁴ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. ³⁵ “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”

I can’t miss a doctrinal point here: This is a proof verse that we can lose our salvation. This servant was saved (free of debt) until he did not forgive another; then the Master retracted his salvation. Then he lost it; he was unsaved.

Note how Christ sees us as potentially saved people, IF we’re obedient to the end. Carefully observe the application:  Christ’s death on the Cross freed us from debt to God, if we have proper faith in Him. That debt was huge because our sins are huge. HOWEVER, if we cannot forgive another the sin they have done to us (Jesus considers it small compared to our sin to God), then God can put us back on the track for hell. By un-forgiving us our sin.

Don’t start on me about how that seems that God is “unfaithful,” or how it breaks the “unbreakable” law of unconditional security. This guy broke a rule, a rule that is in Scripture but no one likes to talk about. God is faithful if He applies that rule. Why should a just God overlook what’s clearly pointed out in Scripture that the servant has chosen to ignore? The price is steep for disobedience, but he should have known. And now YOU know. Once again, you can’t box God in like you think.

We all know the “Lord’s Prayer,” right? Then have we thought about this in Luke 11:4 (NLT)?

Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

The word “as” requires a joining, or a same activity. So it says that God will forgive us as we do the same thing, forgiving others. It suggests that without the joining activity, the forgiveness won’t stick.

OTHER REFERENCES: Mark 11:26, Luke 6:37, Luke 17:4

Next let’s consider NOT ACCUMULATING WEALTH ON EARTH, BUT ACCUMULATE IT IN HEAVEN

Wait, wait, you say, I don’t even have to read the verses: this title immediately grinds against the joys of building a fat fund so we can enjoy retirement. No fun! Well, here’s some verses that you won’t like. We begin in Luke 12:16ff:

¹⁶ Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. ¹⁷ And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

When you think about it, you might ask, “what was so bad here? The man knew how to save, a good trait, and all he wanted was to store up against any possible future tragedy. Well, look at the detail: His storehouses were already full, which would cover any tragedy already, and still he wanted to have more. This exudes covetousness. No word about his neighbors, some of which might need help. So we can assume he will do nothing for them, and just take it easy himself. His life’s goals were all in the world. Jesus calls him a fool for that.

I have seen many “financial helps” that advise us that because of the many uncertainties in the world, we should accumulate at least $3 million for retirement. Many people do that and more, and thank God on occasion for blessing them. They’re actually suggesting you need $3 million, plus pension and Social Security to avoid starving to death. No, of course not. You need $3 million to have a GREAT retirement. Cruises (where you get sick), traveling to foreign lands (where there are criminals waiting to rob you). Or, if you are headed for “tropical” places, you pick up a strange bug (from their “exotic” foods or unsanitary water), and get violently ill. Just kidding (not). Let’s pay attention to Jesus’ exact words from Matthew 6:19-21:

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“Treasures on earth” is wealth, plain and simple. Sorry to say, I don’t know how many pastors muff these verses. Applying logic, it says “where your treasure is (first), then that is where your heart is. Not the reverse. It says just by accumulating wealth, we are in trouble—because it shows our heart is here, or worldly. So it really says it’s hard for those who have a huge wad of assets in the world, to get their heart anywhere else—like on God. Therefore, if your treasure is in the world, your heart is in the world. Don’t let that happen, because it will put you in danger of eternal death. So let’s say you have the world’s luxurious and unnecessary goods—namely, super house, nice schools (whatever that is), attention-getting recent car, nice fat 401, with stocks that never stop going up, and ultimately nice retirement. The kids have been to great colleges (whatever that is), so they think the same way we do; i.e., they don’t need us. And maybe we don’t need them---but that’s a brave assumption—what happens if you develop a chronic illness when you get old? (Elderly people who are not too sharp should NEVER be left alone in today’s hospitals. Work in shifts to avoid that.) Speaking bluntly, too many people have no goals in retirement; so what’s to live for? Hey, they might say, my wife and I are doing all this to kill time, since we just have each other, and we spend more time on the cellphones or TV than having meaningful conversations. So the big pileup of assets may not help you have a satisfactory time in retirement.

But your treasure is in heaven, if you’ve actually been thinking about God’s plan for making you useful in your elderly days. If you want to do things for the Lord ALL your life, then you will do His will—namely, your goal does NOT mean accumulating a $3 million retirement plan. Just plan keeping what’s necessary and giving the rest away. Those of you that are young, plan on eliminating credit card debt as soon as possible in your working career, stick to the same job with a good company long enough that pays good benefits, pay the mortgage off, play it safe in stocks or bonds (nowadays, it’s gold or silver), and give generously to Christian charity. You will then have the magic in retirement—namely, netting extra cash every month from what’s coming in from Social Security and/or 401, and having moderate expenses. (Not having debt or mortgage does that). So when “retirement” comes, you don’t need that hoard of backup cash, since your income is greater than the expenses with extra dollars left over every month. Forget the annual $10,000 trip, just visit the family. Hug the grandkids; pass on a little of your wisdom, including a good word about the Lord. Hopefully you’re not a workaholic, and have instead spent a lot of time developing a good relationship with the kids. Doing these things shows you have been thinking of heavenly treasures, not worldly ones. If you can give to charity while working, you can if you keep the expenses moderate, you might be able to give to charity while “retired,” too. All that giving should not be regretted. It is probably saving people, and you were a part of that. In heaven, there will be friends that you never imagined looking for you to hug and say “thanks” when you get there someday. Luke 16’s parable of the unjust steward could very well have an application for us like that.

Let’s look at Matthew 19:16ff:

¹⁶ Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”… ²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” ²² But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

So the rich man wanted to hang onto his riches; not new. But Jesus did not like rules the world imagines for heaven. He makes a requirement to having eternal life, that he should “sell what he has.” It certainly seems extreme.

But, hey, you say, not to worry, that’s only spoken to a rich guy, not me. Wrong! Luke 12:33-34 has the same theme, but as v. 22 says, He was speaking all this to His disciples. And these are not rich guys. Here is the command He gave them:

³³ Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So, another unassailable logic slaps us: For our heart to truly be in heaven, and not the world (which would possibly lose eternal life, as we pointed out in verses above) we need to “sell what we have,” if we want to be His disciples. This does not mean sell necessary assets and enter poverty. It means sell luxury assets, those above moderation—and we should buy in moderation all our life. By doing that, there would be more to give to charity and make more treasures in heaven.

Face it: Jesus does not want us to pile up wealth when there are so many in the world who desperately need help. Totally contrary to the world’s “wisdom.” But that’s not new. Part of His “upside down” rules. We need to give more to charity. Don’t complain: You want to be sure of heaven? Are you one of His disciples (anybody that follows and obeys Him, not just the 12)? Then these words are for you. All I can add is, God will bless you in ways “over the top” in heaven. He is rich for those who lend to Him. He pays back with very high interest (Proverbs 19:17).

OTHER REFERENCES: Matthew 19:16ff, Mark 10:17ff, Luke 18:18ff.

Next, Jesus requires us to DO THE WILL OF GOD to enter heaven. We can assume that not being interested in God’s will buys us a ticket to hell.

Let’s start with Matthew 7:21-23:

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Many people are in service for the Lord for their own benefit. They may do mighty things; some are fake, and some God allows to be real. But they have some serious sin, which they keep unconfessed and continuing. Doing “the will of My Father” means having the traits that we are talking about in this paper. We should regularly confess our sins to God and work on them, and we pray God’s help in defeating them. We frequently ask His forgiveness. He is not tired of forgiving us many times, if we run to Him for help—and not run away and feeling ashamed, and are unable to work for Him for awile. We are humble, and only seek the spotlight to show the glory of God. At no time should we even consider that WE are performing service to God to obtain glory for ourselves. So doing God’s will is obeying His commands to mature in the faith, to give all glory to Him. To do the opposite, to steal credit for what He has done and calling it “ours,” or to do as little as we can for God, is defying God, it is lawlessness. It will not earn heaven.

Let’s look at Luke 6:46-49:

⁴⁶ “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? ⁴⁷ Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: ⁴⁸ He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. ⁴⁹ But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

We call Jesus Lord, or Master of our lives, as required—yet we too often ignore His commands, His will. To do His will is like building a house on a rock. It will hold up in the most severe storms in our lives. To hear His commands and do nothing is like a man who builds a house without a foundation (how ridiculous is that). The house, or our faith, fails in a storm. We might lose our faith. It was easier not to dig down deep, just build on sand. But God wants you to deepen your relationship, do whatever to get close to Him, and be truly founded on the Rock of our faith.

One more to talk about: Luke 12:45-48

⁴⁵ But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, ⁴⁶ the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. ⁴⁷ And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. ⁴⁸ But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

This harks back to a previous discussion, but we have one more nugget of wisdom to apply. Our hearts should be anxious to get out of this sin-sick world to our true home, heaven, where we can be with our loving Lord. Instead of looking up to heaven and Jesus, choosing to follow the world means, ultimately, not doing God’s will—and our reward is hell and destruction.

I added v. 48 as an extra treasure. When you look at that verse, you realize that hell has grades; it has suffering throughout, but some are not as bad as others. There are some people that never heard the Word because they were deaf, and didn’t have help available. Or they never got a Bible because they lived in the outposts of humanity. Their suffering will not be as great—but they will be in hell if they never thought about God, who is evident in Creation and in our conscience—as Romans tells us. IF they were, upon that realization, seeking God, then He would show them a way to Jesus and salvation. Many people in Muslim countries speak of having dreams pointing the way to Jesus when they were truly seeking for Him.

The last sentence is sobering to pastors and preachers; to whom much is given, from him much will be required. God will expect more faith from them. To fail and desert His will is to expect a deeper pain in hell.

OTHER REFERENCES: Matthew 21:28-31, Mark 3:32-35, Luke 11:27-28 (where “keep” is defined as “keep doing.”

Next, God promises heaven to those whose sacrifice includes LEAVING FAMILY MEMBERS WHO ABUSE AND EVEN THREATEN TO KILL YOU AS AN INFIDEL.

We’ll start with Mark 10:29-30:

²⁹ So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, ³⁰ who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.

This is not a category allowing divorce, unless your spouse has the desire, and made it plain, that he might kill you in anger, and he has shown that trait. Yet he does not apologize for such an explosive anger, since getting him angry is “your fault.” Do not buy into his assessment of fault.

In some false religions, living among them as a Christian for a long time is not a problem; you can pay the extra tax, be treated as a low-class person. When you’ve been with them as a Muslim, say, and then convert to Christianity, however, that’s a problem. Also, evangelization is a problem. They actually have the feeling, given to them by their “god,” that you no longer deserve life for becoming an infidel. You are mentally unbalanced. You are unfit. Your only way out is to run. Start a new life, under a “God’s Witness Protection Program.” Despite your prayers to open their eyes, trying to tell some of these people the truth about Jesus will only make them so infuriated that they will kill you. If you die, you are assured that, as a martyr, your soul, and your resurrection, would be protected by our Lord.

In Luke 14:25-26, Jesus has the same theme, only this time He uses hyperbole:

²⁵ Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

He means that our love for Him should be so great that our love for relatives seems mild—even hate—in comparison. Our love for Him should be deep enough that if He wants us to leave a murderous family, we should not let our love for our innocent sister, say, stop us. (Evangelize her and invite her to escape with you). Speaking to husbands and wives, our love for Him should mean His commandment to ‘leave father and mother, and cleave to your spouse” should be obeyed—even if a woman’s husband wants to live several thousand miles away. We have vowed our life to them now.

OTHER REFERENCES: Matthew 19:29, Luke 18:29-30.