//ryanweaver.me//

Yesterday, we spent some time at Remedy Church in our FREEdom message series discussing God’s plan to redeem our religious rule-keeping and restore us to Himself through His son, Jesus of Nazareth. Obedience for obedience’s sake leads to many things… but it will not lead to love.

When Jesus taught His followers to pray, He said that we should start with the following words:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9-10)

Brett Dennen is a singer/song-writer who has raised some legitimate questions worth asking and considering in this song about what Heaven is… and what Heaven is not.

Beyond the rules of religion…

Beyond the rules of religion
The cloth of conviction
Above all competition
Where fact and fiction meet

There’s no color lines, cast, or classes
There’s no fooling of the masses
Whatever faith you practice
Whatever you believe

Oh heaven… Heaven….
What the hell is heaven?
Is it a home for the homeless?
Is there hope for the hopeless?

Throw away your misconceptions
There’s no walls around heaven
There’s no codes you gotta know to get in
No minutemen or border patrol

You must lose your earthly possessions
Leave behind your weapons
You can’t buy your salvation
And there is no pot of gold

Heaven ain’t got no prisons
No goverment no business
No banks or politicians
No armies and no police

Castles and cathedrals crumble
Pyramids and pipelines tumble
The failure keeps you humble
And leads us closer to peace

While Brett and I may not agree completely on our theology of how to enter Heaven… we can agree on the beauty of living out what we believe in the here and now… rather than hoping for things to change in eternity… rather than waiting for things to change in the future… rather than looking to the afterlife for redemption.

We can trust in a Messiah who makes all things new… in the eternal of the afterlife… and the temporal of today.

And this is eternal life: that people know you, the only true God, and that they know Jesus Christ, the One you sent. (John 17:3)

(you might also be interested in reading the following blog by Tullian Tchividjian about “Making All Things New“)

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//rweaver//