Strangers on Earth

“All these people … did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.” - Hebrews 11:13

Last year the movie “I Can Only Imagine” took Hollywood by storm. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should. The film is closely based on the life story of Bart Millard, lead singer of the Christian band Mercy Me, and how he came to write the double platinum song “I Can Only Imagine,” the most popular Christian single of all time.

During Bart’s childhood, his dad, Arthur, was, in Bart’s words, “a monster.” Bart’s dad had a nasty habit of losing his temper over the smallest things, and when he flew into a rage, Bart was his punching bag. During Bart’s childhood, Arthur beat him over and over and over again. But when Bart was a high school freshman, Arthur was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Around that same time, he gave his life to Jesus Christ, and Arthur was absolutely transformed by the power of Christ.

Bart’s dad died on my 18th birthday: November 11, 1991. Seven years later as Bart was thinking about his dad—completely healed and forgiven in heaven—it only took him about 10 minutes to write the words to this amazing song. As Bart Millard wrote those lyrics, he was doing what the word of God says every man and woman of faith should do: Fix our thoughts on heaven.

Hebrews 11 tells us about several great men and women of faith. We read that they did not consider this world to be their home: “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. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth” (vs. 13). Or, as the Living Bible translation puts it, “they agreed that this earth was not their real home but that they were just strangers visiting down here.” That’s such a great way to put it!

I’d like to share with you three powerful insights from this verse about true faith:

Faith Insight #1: True faith keeps living even as our bodies are dying. Except for Enoch, who was taken straight to heaven without dying, every faith hero was still “living” by faith when he or she died. In other words, true Bible faith is unfazed by death. You see, your faith is something that involves your physical body but is not tied to your physical body. It resides deep in your soul and spirit. And since your soul and spirit never die, neither does your faith. If you are a man or woman of faith, when your body dies, your faith will live on.

Faith Insight #2: True faith sees and welcomes God’s fulfilled promises even when those promises haven’t been seen or fulfilled yet. God promised Abraham and his family the land of Canaan, but Abraham died before his family took possession of it. God promised Moses that he would lead his people to the promised land, but Moses never got to live in that land himself. As the world looks at these men, it might say that their faith was in vain. What they believed would come to pass didn’t come to pass until after they were dead, so it seems like a waste. If the world only knew how foolish that reasoning is! Faith in God is NEVER in vain! Faith in God is NEVER a waste! If you only live for what you yourself can see and experience, when your body dies, your impact on this world will also die. But if you live by faith, your influence and impact in this world will carry on long after your body is in the grave.

Faith Insight #3: True faith admits that we are strangers and temporary residents on Earth. Our true home is in heaven. My favorite part of Hebrews 11:13 is the final part: “And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.” If you’re a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, did you know that you’re an alien here on earth? You might not have green skin, gigantic eyes or an antenna, but you are an alien. This is NOT your home planet, is it? Heaven is. If you are a faith-walking believer and follower of Jesus Christ, here on earth you are a temporary resident, and you are really, really strange. You don’t think like the world. You don’t talk like the world. You don’t act like the world. Your priorities are different. The way you handle tragedy AND success is different. They way you handle death is different. There’s no doubt about it. If you are a man or woman of faith, you’re a space cadet here on earth!

If you’re a true follower of Christ, frankly, you’d be much happier back in your homeland. But you and I must wait—because God still has work for us to do until He calls us home. He has us here on earth—at this time and in this place—for a reason. There is so much work for us to do. There are so many lost people who need to be found so they can go to heaven too. There are so many hurting people who need to be touched by the mercy and compassion of Christ working through you and me. We dare not stop working until God calls us home! If our lives were just about you and me, we should have gone home to heaven yesterday. But since our lives are about loving and serving others, we must continue loving and serving them in faith.

Dane Davis is the Pastor of Impact Christian Church. Join us for our Worship Service Sundays at 10 a.m. at the new Dr. Ralph Baker School in Victorville. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.

Are You a Stinkin’ Alien?

“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight.” – Colossians 1:21-22a

Over the years, there have been lots of movies about aliens coming to earth. We’ve had “Signs,” “Independence Day,” “Lilo & Stitch,” “E.T.” … the list goes on and on. Now, I’d like you to chew on this: In all of these movies, whether the aliens are good or evil, the basic premise is the same: Earth is humans’ home planet, and anyone who comes here from somewhere else is an alien.

Interestingly, the Bible disagrees. According to Scripture, WE are the aliens, and heaven is our true home. But on our own, we’re not the nice, cuddly, “E.T.”-type aliens. Nope—left to our own devices, we’re more like those mean, ugly dudes in “Independence Day.” That’s you and me … at least, until we reconcile to God through Jesus Christ.

In Colossians 1:21, Paul points out a stark reality, which many people don’t want to accept: “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.” That wasn’t a popular message in Paul’s day, and it’s not a very popular message today. Many people take pride in being very “spiritual” and feel very “connected” to God. So they are taken aback by Paul’s blunt words here. But without Jesus Christ, you’re alienated from God. In fact, you’re an enemy of God. Now, how do you like them apples?

The word “alienated,” as it’s used by Paul, is a translation of a Greek word that means “to be utterly estranged” and “to be utterly the property of another.” So, Paul is saying that before we become believers and followers of Jesus, we are utterly estranged from God; we are completely sold out to someone or something other than God. You see, ever since Adam and Eve first sinned, sin has corrupted everything on this planet: the land, the animal kingdom and human beings. Sin turned this perfect paradise into an alien planet, and sin turned us into aliens.

When Paul speaks about us being enemies of God “in our minds,” he is addressing something much more severe than just a pattern of sinful behavior. As Bible commentator N.T. Wright explains: “It is not simply that habitual wrongdoing has turned the mind away from God…. Thought and act are both tainted, each pushing the other into further corruption…. Wrong thinking leads to vice, vice to further mental corruption, so that the mind, still not totally ignorant of God’s standards, finds itself applauding evil.”

This doesn’t happen today, does it? Our culture doesn’t applaud evil, does it?  Unfortunately, it does … all the time. Millions of our fellow Americans not only support abortion but applaud “a woman’s right to choose.” Millions of Americans applauded sexual perversion a couple of weekends ago by plunking down $46 million on the opening weekend of the latest “50 Shades of Grey” movie. Whether we’re talking about premarital sex, homosexuality, greed, profanity or no-fault divorce, there are any number of lifestyle choices that the world celebrates, even though the Bible condemns them.

So, when we turn to Christ, he doesn’t simply have to transform our moral behavior. He also has to transform our thinking, because in this alien world we live in, both our morals and our thinking have been tainted by sin. This led Paul to write in Romans 12:2: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.”

In this alien world we live in, both our actions and our thinking alienate us from God and make us enemies of God. That’s the bad news. But thankfully, there’s good news. Take a look at verses 22 and 23: “But now He [God] has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.”

The bad news: You’re a stinkin’ alien. The good news: Jesus can wash you up and bring you home. In the movie “E.T.,” Elliot and his friends work together to send E.T. home. In real life, God the Father works together with Jesus and the Holy Spirit to bring us home. And what is home? From God’s perspective, home is His Kingdom. Home is a restored, unbroken relationship with Him. Home is forgiveness. Home is mercy and grace. Home is holiness. Home is faith in Him. Home is freedom from accusation. Home is love and peace and hope. And Jesus is the only One who can get us there.

Doesn’t home sound wonderful?

Dane Davis is the Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information, visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 am.