Walk-off Homers and Heaven

This illustration idea comes from a walk-off home run in 2018 and an article that I read about it here: https://grottonetwork.com/keep-the-faith/belief/what-is-heaven-like/

I used this illustration a few weeks ago myself in a sermon on Colossians 1:3-14, while making a point about the encouragement that our faith can be to other believers. Paul specifically mentions this in Colossians 1:4.

2018 MLB season: Bottom of the ninth, Cubs at home at Wrigley Field, down 3-0 to the Nationals, two outs, bases loaded. Pinch hitter David Bote, who had been up and down from the minors a lot that season, is up to bat with everything riding on his at-bat.

And with two strikes, Bote got a low fastball in the zone, and he CRUSHED it over the center field wall. 4-3, Cubs win (I hear Harry Caray saying that in my head), WALKOFF grandslam, game OVER. (The incredible video is here if you want to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI8uH4_pzeo.)

The article I linked to above asked, “Is This What Heaven is Really Going to be Like?” And if you use this illustration, you’ll want to be careful to not make US the hero of the story. JESUS is the One who gets ALL the praise, and spiritually speaking, none of us get one step toward Heaven, much less make it “home,” apart from his death and resurrection. As Colossians 1:14 says, “In HIM we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” But Scripture in multiple places uses athletic illustrations as metaphors for the Christian life, and finishing well.

The picture of Bote rounding third and heading home shows well the impact we have on each other – the encouragement, the celebration at the salvation of one sinner (Luke 15:7), the great cloud of witnesses mentioned in Hebrews 11-12, the shared rejoicing at spiritual victories and growth (Colossians 1:4), and finally, the expectant hope of arriving at Home with Jesus (Colossians 1:5 – “hope reserved for you in Heaven”).

Top 5 Deathbed Regrets

My wife sent me this article today, written by a palliative nurse, who lists the top 5 regrets people have revealed to her on their deathbeds.  She says these are the 5 most common, although it is unclear to me whether she actually tabulated the regrets given to her and came up with this statistical result.  That doesn’t really blunt the power of the article, though.

I think any of the five or perhaps all five could be used as part of any sermon dealing with life and death (Mark 8:36), the brevity of life (James 4:13-17), or having an eternal perspective (Psalm 39).  Below are her five, with other passages that could be used with each one.  I think it would be ok to use just one in a sermon.  You could say something like, “A palliative nurse compiled the 5 most common deathbed regrets, and one of the five dealt with exactly what we’re talking about.  It was ______.”

Here are the five:

1)  I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. [In this case, I’m thinking of it more like: “I wish I had lived a life true to God’s calling, instead of letting peer pressure or the world influence me as much as they did.”  The REAL life lived true to ourselves is the one lived in line with the purpose for which God made us.]

Daniel 3, Acts 5:29

2) I wish I didn’t work so hard.

Matthew 6:19-21, Matthew 6:24-34, Mark 8:36

3) I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

Ephesians 4:15, James 3

4) I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Proverbs 18:24, Acts 20 (Paul’s closeness with the Ephesian believers), 2 Timothy 4:9-18

5) I wish that I had let myself be happier.

John 10:10, Philippians 4

 

By the way, you could also use this whole article as a contrast between the author’s this-worldly understanding of “happiness” (which seems to end when someone achieves “peace” and then dies) and the Bible’s infinitely deeper, eternal joy in the presence of Christ.  That would work with Matthew 25, Revelation 5, Revelation 21, Revelation 22, and plenty of others.   [I write all these references out so that they will show up when people search on particular texts.  I’m still trying to figure out how to make tag searches work like I want them to.]

Chandler: Human History from Heaven’s Perspective

In his book To Live is Christ, to Die is Gain, Matt Chandler makes a great statement about how, once we are in heaven, history will be rewritten for us: “The day will come – perhaps today – when you will die and see all of history being effectively rewritten from the halls of heaven.  The annals of history will not be filled with wars and kings; there will be one story, the heroes will be missionaries, and the victor will be seen clearly as Christ.  Knowing this, who cares if friends or enemies mock you?  Do not be ‘frightened in anything by your opponents’ (Phil. 1:28).  Be willing to get on a plane and go to dangerous places.  Be willing to take the pay cut at work to do what’s right.  Be willing, no matter who your opponent is, to be fearless.”

Chandler is illustrating Philippians 1:27-28 here.  I pictured history being rewound and then replayed for me, and most of the moments that I thought were big didn’t even show up in the footage, and tons of moments that I didn’t even know about loomed large in God’s TRUE version of human history.

 

This thought is helpful for Philippians 1 as Chandler uses it, but also would work with passages about suffering like Matthew 5 (esp.  verses 10-12), Romans 8 (verse 18), 2 Corinthians 11, or 2 Corinthians 12.  Also, it fits with any of the passages about Christian martyrs, like Acts 7 or 12.  You could also use it with missions-oriented passages like Matthew 28 or Acts 1, or passages that speak to the perspective of earthly approval/fame vs. your soul/eternal rewards – like Matthew 16 (verse 26 in particular), Matthew 25 (esp. verse 31 and following), Revelation 20, or Revelation 22.