Some years ago, I had a friend who seemed perfectly healthy. And one day he went to the doctor because he had a headache and the doctor said to him, "You have a tumour in your brain the size of an egg.” And he was told he had only a few months to live. It was amazing to see how all his priorities change overnight. It was amazing to see how his attitude toward all his possessions change overnight. He had a whole new perspective on everything—the way he talks, the way he thinks, the way he behaves. Everything he did was focused on one thing and one thing only: preparing to meet his Lord.
What does a heavenly minded person look like? One type of person that springs to my mind is a monk. secluded from society, as far from from worldly distractions as possible, free to exercise his mind in contemplating spiritual realities, away from the desk job and all the patients, clients, colleagues imaginable. sounds blissful, doesn’t it? Well, not exactly.
Welcome to this sunday’s episode on “Tried and True with Paul Cheng”. Today, Pastor Paul defines this term, heavenly minded for us. He lists a few things the heavenly-minded person constantly considers. But keep in mind that these were not the words of a monk.
No, as we’re well aware, this was one of the busiest, hands-full, the-care of-all-the-churches-upon-his-shoulders type of person — the Apostle Paul. His track record suggests quite the opposite of a reclusive lifestyle. Just a few verses before today’s text, the Apostle highlighted the relentless mindset he carried with him into each new day. Could it be that we’ve been thinking about what it means to mind heavenly things vs earthly things all wrong? Do we perhaps hold misconceptions regarding these terms? Here’s Pastor Paul to clear things up.
That was Paul Cheng, with a sermon from his ongoing series on the Epistle to the Philippians. The end of the year is fast approaching. Perhaps you have plans to go on holiday, either overseas, or interstate, within our own beautiful melbourne, or perhaps you’re planning on just taking a few days off of work or study to relax. However you spend your next break, if you get one, i’m sure you’re eagerly anticipating it. I’m sure you can picture the change of scenery, change of routine, maybe even change of mood you expect to experience in that upcoming place or time. You’ve done your research, you’ve discussed it with more eagerness than anything else with your friends and family. The bottom line is your more than ready for your holiday to come now.
Isn’t it a shame then, when we place so much emphasis, so much hype and anticipation for those things, and so little thought or even any at all, on the best location we could enjoy ourselves, in the manifest presence of God, meeting our Saviour face to face. Where’s the excitement over such an event?
This isn’t a short stay where our accomodation is prepared by our distant relatives, whose house we’re curteously cautious of, and whose cooking we’re politely weary of. This is the eternal resting place of all of God’s children, prepared by none other than our Lord Himself. If that doesn’t get us excited, while tickets to disneyland does, there might be a problem. Instead, we thank God that our citizenship, is in Heaven.
Thanks for listening to today’s episode with Pastor Paul. I’m your host, Joshua Nah,