A Heaven full of Painters.

I'm not the smartest guy you'll ever meet.

I am learning more about myself every year, and this year I am learning that I'm not the smartest tool in the crayon box.

I wish I could sit for hours debating elaborate theories or deep philosophical... stuff.

But I can't.

I'm a pretty simple dude with pretty simple thoughts.

I have a lot of friends who are smart. I figure if I surround myself with smart people, it will either rub off on me or I'll be mistaken as deeply intelligent.

As most of you know, I'm one of the pastors at a local church here in Portland. I'm the youngest pastor on staff, which can be pretty intimidating. I work with people who have been doing this kind of thing longer than I've been alive.

Sometimes my feelings of inadequacy paralyze me. I'm slow to speak or choose not to act because I feel like I don't know enough. I can't quote the Bible in Greek or tell you the dimensions of Noah's Ark.

My heart has great intentions, but my mind often stops me from action.

I have a friend back home in California that is a painter. Every week he goes around to the local restaurants and collects left-overs. He stores them in a freezer until Friday afternoon. At the end of each week, he pulls out the left-overs, heats them up in his oven and takes them to a park to feed the homeless. He's been doing this for years. He knows a lot of those hungry people by name. Rain or shine, he sits every week on the same wooden park bench and enjoys a meal with his friends.

He's a painter.

He's not a pastor. He's not a deep theologian. He's not a professor. He can't quote scripture in Greek and he probably has no clue what the dimensions of Noah's Ark were.

He's a painter who wears jeans and an old sweatshirt, heats up food, and feeds people who are hungry.

If you have made a decision to live for Jesus, odds are you believe in Heaven.

Have you ever wondered why God didn't just "zap" us up to Heaven when we made a decision to put our faith in him? I mean, everything is better in Heaven right? The food is better, the scenery is better, people aren't fighting, and you can snorkel without a snorkel.

Why didn't God just take us up and save us from this life? He had to know that we would face hardships. He had to know that husbands would cheat on wives. He had to know that cancer would take our loved ones. He had to know the economy would collapse and people would go to bed hungry.

Maybe this is our punishment. Or maybe God wants us to experience "hell on earth" so we can really enjoy heaven.

I hope that isn't true. I don't know if I could devote my life to a god like that.

I can't quote the Bible off the top of my head or tell you all the details to every story- But I think I know at least this much about the God I serve.

I think God created me so that I could know Him and He could know me. I think in my sinful and selfish ways, I turned my back on God. I wanted to be in control. I've lied, cheated, hated, hurt, and done things my own way. Because of that, I separated myself from God.

And I think that broke God's heart.

I think it broke his heart so much, that while I was still turning my back to him, he sent his son Jesus to earth in order to take my punishment. He wanted a relationship with me so much that he was willing to put the punishment of my sin on his son, so he can see me as innocent.

Jesus took what was mine and gave me what was his. He traded my sin for his righteousness. He gave me his "rightness" with God.

That's good news.

That's good enough news that it makes me want to live my life for him. Not follow a bunch of rules or religion, but a relationship founded in thankfulness.

I think God didn't zap me up to heaven because he is in love with a bunch of people who still have their backs turned away from him and he's giving me the opportunity to tell people about this Good News.

Jesus told us to pray like this,

"... Your kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven"

Maybe the point isn't getting to heaven. Maybe the point is bringing heaven to earth.

I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I understand that what God did for me is a big deal. It changed my life. I don't know all the verses in the Bible, but I think I get the story of God and I can't help but tell other people about it.

The message of Jesus isn't complicated, but it is difficult.

Jesus rescued me and now he is telling me to bring His kingdom, his way of doing things, here to earth.

That means if I have two coats, I give one to someone who needs it. It means seeing my money, relationships, and time as way to share that Good News with people who haven't heard it.

That's tough. It's not complicated. But it's tough.

I want two coats. I want more money. I don't want to wake up every Friday and heat up leftovers.

And so I pray,

"God, thanks for rescuing me. Would you give me the ability to bring your kingdom, your way of doing things, here to Earth"

I don't always do that. And I don't always understand everything in the Bible. But I'm kind of glad God didn't zap me to heaven, because when I do get it right, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing a piece of heaven here on earth.

Thanks for listening.