“Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die”  Albert King

Evangelical Christianity has convinced the world that the goal of salvation is a ticket to heaven.  Nothing could be further from the truth. 

Albert King, one of the great blues guitar players, performed a classic rendition of The Sky Is Crying.   The verse from that song expresses human hope – and human pride.  We all want a gate pass of heaven but none of us wants the pay the price.  We all want to end up in paradise but none of us is willing to make the changes God asks.   If we view salvation as the ticket to heaven, we run the risk of showing up at the gate and hearing Jesus say, “Depart from me.  I never knew you.”

Don’t misunderstand me.  Heaven is important.  But it is not the reason for being born from above.  Jesus, Paul, Peter, John and James all make it very clear.  The purpose of salvation is obedience.  We are rescued from our sinful state in order that we can obey God.  We could never be the submissive servants of the Lord while we served the god of self.  Sin prevented us from enjoying fellowship with the Father.  Sin made it impossible for us to commit ourselves to His rule and reign.  So God provided a way to remove the barrier that stood between His grace and our need.  The purpose of Jesus’ death was to remove the obstacle that stood between us and obedience, not to throw open the pearly gates.  Heaven’s door stands open as a consequence of the life change that occurs when we accept Jesus’ Lordship over our lives.  But if Jesus is not Lord, the gates are still shut.  What the cross did was cast aside our pride and rebellion so that we could die because if you really want to get to heaven, death is the only way.

If you read the Gospels carefully, you will find that Jesus consistently demands obedience.  “Why do you call be Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say.”  “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  “I new commandment I give you.”  “No man begins a project without first counting the cost.”  The theme is ubiquitous.  Following Jesus means submission and obedience.  Every New Testament writer reiterates this theme.  Not a single man among them ever suggests that salvation is focused on heaven.  Following Jesus is a baptism into His death in order that the new life of obedience can be formed in us.  The author of Hebrews puts the exclamation point on this idea when he says that Jesus Himself had to learn obedience through suffering.  How can we expect that our lives as followers of Christ will not take the same path?

Albert King’s song makes it abundantly clear why we would rather focus on heaven than obedience.  We all want the pie in the sky, the treasure at the end of the rainbow, the final reward.  But the price is too high for most of us to pay.  We like life as it is.  We don’t want to come to the end of ourselves, step into the grave with the Son of God and rise as children whose mother is obedience.  We want an easier way. 

The truth is that there is no easier way.  The only way of saving grace is the way of death.  It looks hideous.  Our selfish pride wants nothing to do with dying.  But God knows that unless we die to our old ways, we are not able serve Him.  “You cannot serve two masters” is the basis of Christian belief.  It has never been a case of slavery versus freedom.  It has always been a simpler question:  which master will you serve.  God does not save us in order to release us from servitude.  He saves us so that we may at last be slaves to Him, slavery that is not onerous or despotic, slavery that is designed for our well being and joy, but slavery nonetheless.  You cannot come to Christ with the intention of getting your gate pass to heaven unless you are willing to die to yourself. 

Heaven is the reward of obedience, not the gift of being born again.  That is why eternal life begins the moment we accept Jesus as the true Lord of our lives.  Heaven is merely the extension of life with Him.  It is not the all-inclusive resort waiting on the other side of the grave.  It is the present and future relationship of a faithful slave in the house of the Master.

Re-read the Gospels in terms of the call to obedience.  Jesus’ death on the cross makes obedience possible.  But even with the roadblock removed, it is not all up to us.  The presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer provides the strength to obey.  The Father is the active agent in working out our salvation.  In the last sentence of the great theological letter to the Romans, Paul concludes with this thought:  God is able to establish the believer in accordance with the truth of Jesus Christ for the purpose of obedience.  The last thing that Paul wanted the Roman Christians to know was God’s purpose – obedience.  Obedience is a result of God’s direct intervention in our lives.  We are not left alone, standing in a new Garden of Eden faced with a new demand but without the means of keeping it.  God Himself will establish us. 

Life on earth is practice for heaven.  Now is the time of salvation.  This is the time when we work out the practice of obedience, the time when we learn through suffering what following the Master is all about.  Now is the time when we tune our lives to His voice and His power through us.  We are being prepared for the new heaven because we are not ready to take up permanent residence yet.  Slavery is a learned behavior.

When we realize the salvation makes obedience possible, we unveil an amazing mystery.  Obedience to God has nothing to do with compliance and obligation.  God is not interested in how well we keep the rules.  He is interested in why we obey.  True obedience is generated from thanksgiving, not from legislation.  Once we have been regenerated, we want to obey because He has rescued us from the path of self-destruction.  Jesus is the life saver, not the life taskmaster.  His gospel is the gospel of freedom because it has no obligations for appeasing God.  The rescue resulting from re-birth is a gift.  That means that there are no human provisions required.  Keeping rules will never result in removing God’s wrath.  God does not need to be appeased.  Salvation is His gift to us, not because we did anything to earn it but simply because He gives it.  God gives us the ability to obey Him because He knows that we could never obey through legislated compliance.  But once we see that He has wiped away our debt, there is only one appropriate response – commitment to obedience from thankfulness.

Take a brave step forward in your faith.  Obey from thanksgiving.  Concentrate on the incredible gift that God has given you and let your life be motivated by that.  Stop substituting compliance for thanksgiving.  It is motivation that matters.  Do you follow rules of Christian living out of a sense of obligation or legislation?  Quit!    Thanksgiving is so important as the real motivator behind true obedience that Paul names it as one of the two reasons that God judges those who reject Him:  “they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks;”  Here is the summary of proper motivation:  respect and thanks. Whatever is not motivated by love is sin.

Do you want to go to heaven?  Jesus already removed the barricade that blocked the way.  He made your obedience possible.  But He didn’t push aside the fence and then say, “OK, it’s up to you.  Make it if you can.”  When the fence fell, He held out His hand and said, “I will be with you until the end of the age.”  “I am sending you the Comforter who will sustain you.”  “God be with you.”  Obedience is the highway to heaven.  But it is a highway of helping hands all the way to the end. 

Everybody wants to do the heaven, but only those who die are willing to obey.