Heavenly Mindedness (45)

 

Continuing our reflections on Geerhardus Vos’s Message on “Heavenly Mindedness” from Hebrews 11:9 – 10:

 

“Every task should be at the same time a means of grace from and an incentive to work for heaven. There has been One greater than Abraham, who lived his life in absolute harmony with this principle, in whom the fullest absorption in his earthly calling could not for a moment disturb the consciousness of being a child of heaven. Though, like unto the patriarchs. He had no permanent home, not event a tent, this was not in his case the result of a break with an earthly-minded past. It was natural to Him. In his mind were perfectly united the two hemispheres of supernaturalism, that of the source of power back of, and that of the eternal goal of life beyond every work.” G. Vos

 

How might you rephrase the above? How might you distill what Vos is saying?

 

What are the two elements that we should seek in everything we do? What are two principles? Two realities? Two experiences?

 

What are the two great questions Vos is asking? We might phrase the questions thusly:

 

Where are we going and how are we getting there? What is our goal and what is the power by which we shall reach our goal? What is our end and what means shall we use to arrive at our end? What is the purpose of life and how are we fulfilling that purpose?

 

In the context of Vos’s sermon, the goal is “the celestial city” where we shall see the Face of God (Heb. 11:10, 13 – 17; Rev. 22:4). Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matt. 5:8). This is not about geography or spatiality, it is about intimate relationship, it is about embracing and being embraced by the koinonia of the Trinity, it is about the glory of God shining in and through His People, it is about the celestial City being manifested on earth (Rev. 21:2; Matt. 6:10).

 

There is only one way to this City, and that Way is Jesus Christ (John 14:6). However, the fact that Jesus Christ is the Way means that our lives are to be conformed to the Way of Jesus Christ, and that Way is total and complete dependance on Jesus Christ just as Jesus Christ was totally and completely dependent on the Father. To know Jesus as our Way is to live in the Way of Jesus.

 

Jesus said that He could do nothing of Himself, but that He was completely dependent on the Father (John 5:19; 8:28; 12:49). Jesus also teaches us that we can do nothing of ourselves, but that we must abide in Him, live in Him, if we are to bear fruit (John 15:1-11).

 

Someone has said that “God does not appreciate what He does not initiate.” As Paul might say, “This is a trustworthy saying.” A reading of 1 Corinthians 3:10 – 15 should warn us about using our own building materials in this life (note the preceding passages about the “natural man” and living as “men of flesh”). Knowing Jesus as the Way is more than speaking His name, it is more than saying a short prayer, it is so much more than attending church, it is more than being baptized, it is much more than a dramatic experience – it is living in the Way of Jesus, living in Him as He lives in the Father.

 

Jesus becomes our means of living, He who is at the Father’s righthand lives in us and we live in Him. In fact, as we learn from John chapters 14 – 17, the Trinity lives in us and we live in the Trinity – individually and as God’s People, His Temple. We are becoming the celestial city that we seek, we are becoming the Temple of God (Eph. 2:2:19-22). But, as 1 Corinthians 3:10ff teaches, we cannot bring just any material into this City, and all material that we use will be tried by fire. Let us not be so foolish as to think that our ways are God’s Way, that our materials are God’s materials, that our measures are God’s measures.

 

We do not impress God. Our successes do not impress God. There is only One Person in whom the Father finds pleasure, and that is Jesus Christ. Yet, as we live in our Lord Jesus our Father finds pleasure in us, for we manifest His many-membered Son, indeed, we are that Son in Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 12:12; Rom. 8:29; Heb. 2:10-11).

 

Jesus Christ is “our means of grace,” and our “eternal goal” is to behold the Face of God in the celestial city. We look forward to that Day when we know, even as we are known (1 Cor. 13:12).