Well, last week began with a day of action as we went to the polls on Monday to cast our votes.
And the next day, Tuesday, we found ourselves settling into the reality of what the majority of our fellow Canadians in each riding had decided.
And for many of us, the result was quite disappointing.
We all have a deep longing in our hearts for a country where righteousness and goodness and justice and peace reign.
And yet we need to ask ourselves, even if the leader most of us wanted to win had won, could he bring that about in Canada?
Or was he just better than the other guy?
Moments like these stir up a deep desire within us for a greater country.
And what I want to do this morning in our time in the Word is to remind us that we who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, we have a greater country to which we belong.
And so this morning's sermon is going to be a little different.
We're going to meander through a few different passages of Scripture which remind us of the great and certain hope that we have.
This week I was reminded of Abraham.
By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
By faith, he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country.
He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
For he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God.
And by faith, even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.
And so from this one man, and he is good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
All these people were still living by faith when they died.
They did not receive the things promised.
They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.
If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.
Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one.
Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
This is from the New Testament book of Hebrews.
And the author there points us back to the story of Abraham to encourage us.
His main goal is to illustrate what true faith looks like.
And so he points us back to Abraham's life.
There in Canaan, Abraham pitched his tents, trusting the promise that God would give him that land someday as his inheritance.
And by the end of his life, he owned little more than a burial plot in Canaan.
God also promised that he would be the father of a great nation through his son Isaac.
And yet Abraham barely lived to see Isaac's two sons enter their teenage years.
The words that struck me the most here came in verse 13.
All these people were still living by faith when they died.
They did not receive the things promised.
They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.
Admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
What is he saying here?
He seems to be saying that Abraham continued to trust the promise of God right up until the day that he died.
Even though he had not yet come to possess the land of Canaan, which was promised.
In other words, Abraham died believing that God would still yet give him the land.
Even though at the time of his death, he owned almost none of it.
We might wonder, how does that make any sense?
Well, the author of Hebrews gives us a clue.
There was something in Abraham's faith which looked beyond the present state of things.
There was something in Abraham's faith which hoped beyond the mere stuff of earth and the way things were in his day.
In faith, he reasoned that there would be a future day in which God would make good on his promise.
And if not before Abraham died, then after in the resurrection.
There would be a future day in which God would give him a country of his own.
A place to live where he wasn't a foreigner and a stranger.
A better country than the one that he was tenting in.
A heavenly country.
Verse 16.
They were longing for a better country.
A heavenly one.
I wonder if Abraham's thoughts and feelings resonate with you.
Do you look around at our world?
And at our country?
Do you see what the majority of Canadians in each riding valued and decided?
And do you feel like Abraham did?
Like a foreigner.
And stranger.
Living in a country.
But not the country that we long for.
I want to encourage you this morning.
Take heart.
There is a better country.
And it's not the United States of America.
There is a heavenly country which God is preparing for all who have faith in him.
Like Abraham did.
And it's a place which actually feels like home.
Not like this world where we live now.
I was reminded also of what the Apostle Paul said to the church in Philippi.
In Philippians chapter 3 he writes this.
As I have often told you before.
And now tell you again.
Even with tears.
Many.
Live as enemies.
Of the cross of Christ.
Their destiny.
Is destruction.
Their God.
Is their stomach.
And their glory.
Is in their shame.
Their mind.
Is set on earthly things.
But our citizenship.
Is in heaven.
And we eagerly await a savior from there.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
Who by the power that enables him to bring everything.
Under his control.
Will transform our lowly bodies.
So that they will be like his glorious body.
We may be discouraged with the state of our world.
When we look at the news.
When we hear the results of elections.
When we discover just who there is to choose.
Between on the ballot.
But Paul puts things in perspective for us.
Many.
Live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Many.
Are on the path of destruction.
Many.
Celebrate.
And pride themselves.
In what is shameful.
Many.
Have their minds set.
On the stuff.
Of earth.
The things of earth.
God reminds us here.
That if we love the cross of Christ.
We're in the minority.
Many.
The majority of people in our world.
Are against.
What we love.
What we value.
They are driven.
By their gut desires.
Living only to please themselves.
Caught up entirely.
In the stuff of earth.
But the good news.
Is that we.
Belong.
To heaven.
But our citizenship is in heaven.
I love this statement.
Paul reminds us that we.
Jesus people.
Do indeed.
Belong.
To that heavenly country.
We have a share in it.
Citizenship.
It's our home.
Which means that this world.
As it is.
Is not.
Our lasting home.
Canada.
As it is.
Is not.
To be.
Our ultimate.
Home.
And native land.
We have been born from above.
Of God's spirit.
And now we belong.
To his country.
Our citizenship.
Is in heaven.
Where he is.
And I love how Paul describes.
Our hope.
Related to that.
In verse.
20.
He says.
Our citizenship.
Is in heaven.
And we eagerly.
Await a savior.
From there.
The Lord.
Jesus Christ.
Who by the power.
That enables him.
To bring everything.
Under his control.
Will transform.
Our lowly bodies.
So that they will be like.
His glorious body.
Is so much good news.
In those words.
Speaking of heaven.
Paul says.
We eagerly.
Await a savior.
From there.
One of the things.
That caught my attention.
With this statement.
This week.
Is how Paul.
Could have said it.
He could have said.
Our citizenship.
Is in heaven.
And we eagerly.
Await our arrival.
There.
When we all.
Get to heaven.
What a day.
Of rejoicing.
That will be.
But no.
That's not quite.
Where Paul.
Wants us to fix.
Our hope.
Not just on a place.
But on the person.
Who is coming.
From that place.
To us.
And we eagerly.
Await.
A savior.
From there.
What are we to anticipate.
Eagerly.
Not just getting to heaven.
But the one.
Who is from heaven.
Coming to us.
We eagerly.
Await.
Him.
And who is he.
Paul uses a number of words.
Titles really.
To describe him.
He is the savior.
A savior.
The one who has delivered us.
From our sins.
And from our guilt.
And someday.
The one who will deliver us.
From all of our troubles.
Forever.
He is our savior.
He is our lord.
Our great master.
The one.
To rule over us.
He is.
The Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
To put that word Christ.
In terms we understand.
He is the Lord Jesus.
God's specially chosen king.
For his people.
We eagerly await him.
This heavenly country.
Of which we are citizens.
Is a monarchy.
And Jesus.
Is the king.
And Paul reminds us here.
Of just how powerful.
King Jesus is.
And of one of the wonderful things.
That he.
Is going to do.
With that power.
He says.
He will transform.
Our lowly bodies.
So that they will be like.
His glorious body.
This I believe.
Is another way of describing.
The great resurrection.
That Jesus.
Has promised.
To those who believe in him.
It's not just.
Bringing us back to life.
From the dead.
It's transforming.
Our bodies.
From lowly bodies.
These bodies we have now.
Which.
Get sick.
Which are prone to injury.
Which die.
Into glorious bodies.
Immortal.
Incorruptible.
Imperishable.
A body like Jesus.
Himself has.
And how will Jesus.
Accomplish this.
It's just one of.
The many things.
Jesus will do.
By the power.
That enables him.
To bring everything.
Under his control.
I love that statement.
Paul reminds us.
That Jesus Christ.
Our Lord.
Is all powerful.
He is all powerful.
By the power.
That enables him.
To bring.
Everything.
Under his control.
There's nothing.
There's no one.
Who can resist.
Or subvert.
His coming reign.
He will be king.
Over all.
When he returns.
And so we need not.
Lose heart.
Or be discouraged.
As we watch.
The choices.
That the people.
In our earthly country.
Are making.
God has told us.
That this is how it is.
For many.
On earth.
We are not to be eagerly awaiting.
The promise of Canada.
To be kept.
Or to be restored.
Our citizenship.
Is in heaven.
And we are eagerly.
Awaiting the Lord.
Jesus Christ.
To come.
And keep.
His promises.
To us.
The promise.
Of a far better country.
A heavenly one.
Now of course.
This doesn't mean.
That we shouldn't work.
For change.
Or advocate for change.
In our earthly country.
Of course we should.
We must.
We're commanded by Christ.
To pray for kings.
And for all those in authority.
God has told us.
That it's through the blessing.
Spoken by the upright.
That a city is exalted.
And so we should.
Bless our communities.
And our country.
And pray for them.
Asking God.
To deal favorably.
With them.
We've been commanded by God.
To truly love.
Our neighbor.
Thinking back to Jeremiah.
God commanded the exiles.
To pray for the Babylonian cities.
Where they were.
Taken.
As exiles.
And to seek the peace.
And prosperity.
Of those cities.
While they live there.
But we must.
Do these things.
While keeping our hearts.
And minds.
On our heavenly country.
And on our.
Ultimate king.
It's a sobering thought.
But this nation.
We belong to now.
May continue.
To spiral downward.
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He would often say, that's how many of his parables began,
he told us to watch and to wait for the return of the master,
the return of the king, the coming harvest at the end.
Even the prayer Jesus taught us to pray
says what our mindset and what our heart should be.
Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
It's God's will that we yearn for the kingdom of Christ to come here on earth.
He told us to pray for it.
And this truth of the kingdom is all over the Bible.
Another place we find it described is in Colossians chapter 1.
Paul's praying for the church there in Colossae and he says,
giving joyful thanks to the father who has qualified you
to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves
in whom we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins.
I love that passage.
It's the kingdom of light.
It's the kingdom of the son.
And the good news of God to all the world
is that even though all of us have rebelled against him
and broken his commands,
all who come to Jesus
and repent
and believe in him
may be qualified
to share in this inheritance as well.
Citizenship in this coming kingdom.
The kingdom of light.
This is our hope
as followers of Jesus.
We have become children of God
and we are set
to inherit
along with Abraham
the heavenly country.
It will be the home and native land
that we long for.
It will be the place
where we will rejoice
and be glad forever.
Life in that place
will be a delight
and a joy at all times.
We're promised by God
that the sound of weeping
and crying
will never be heard there.
Never again
will we see the tragedy
and pain
and loss
and death
we see so often
here and now.
I'm just taking some of this
from Isaiah 65.
It says,
we will build houses
and live in them.
We will plant vineyards
and eat their fruit.
God says,
we will long enjoy
the work of our hands.
It'll be a place
of unending peace.
no more conflicts
no more arguments
no more fighting
no more war.
Not even the animals
will do harm
to one another
said God
through the prophet Isaiah.
God will live among us
and we will live
with him
like never before.
There will be
no more sadness
no more pain
and this glorious kingdom
this heavenly country
this new earth
will last forever.
this is what we long for.
This is what we're looking for
and it's not going to come about
by earthly political reform.
Try as we may.
It's not going to come about
by an earthly leader.
We are awaiting our savior
Jesus
our king
to come
and make it happen
just as he promised.
He alone has the power
to do this.
to subdue
all the nations
and rule
with righteousness
and justice.
And so he is our hope
as Christians
in Canada.
The results of the election
this past week
brought bad news
but we
still have a good news
of a better country
and a better leader.
that we can rejoice
in that
and we can share
that joy
and that news
with others.
This morning
we want to take
the last few minutes
of our service here
just to look back
at the cross.
All this talk
of a coming king
who will rule
the nations
might sound frightening
to some.
Usually that sort of talk
relates to empires
and kingdoms
of the past
which were led
by wicked
and cruel men.
But this is where
Jesus
our king
stands apart.
He is not only
all powerful
but he is truly good.
So good
that there is no evil
in him at all.
He is the kind
of king
who would come down
from his heavenly throne
and suffer
and die
in our place
to save us.
That's what the cross
is all about.
It's about love.
Deep
love.
Powerful love
by which a king
rescued
guilty rebels
like you and me.
his will be
a kingdom
marked by pure
and perfect justice
and that would
exclude us
because we've all
sinned.
We've all broken
his holy law
but he has loved
us so much
that he did
what was needed
to atone
for our sins
and put us
back on the right
side of justice
so that we can
be with him.
Let me just point
you back to that
word Paul used
earlier in
Colossians
chapter 1.
God has
qualified
you
qualified
you
to share
in the inheritance
of his holy
people
in the kingdom
of light
and so we want
to remember
the qualifying
work of Jesus
that got us
this heavenly
citizenship.
We want to
remember this
morning how
Jesus offered
his own body
and blood
up to death
on the cross
for us.
We do this
by eating bread
by drinking
of the fruit
of the vine
just as Jesus
did with his
first disciples
the night before
he died
and so
we're going to
take a moment
to just reflect
quietly and to
pray
and if you
believe in
Jesus as
your savior
and king
then I want
to invite you
to remember
with us
and partake
with us
if not
please just
let the
elements pass
you by
we'll have a few
minutes of quiet
now to reflect
on what Jesus
has done for us
at the cross
and then once
everyone has been
served I'll lead
us in partaking
together
in remembrance