Going Home
Notes
Transcript
For today’s sharing, I felt led to share from John 14:1-4, 6 (ESV) which says…
"1“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4And you know the way to where I am going.”"
"6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
May we find comfort in the words of our Lord…
Friends, a few days ago, we commemorated Singapore’s 55 years of independence…
And one of the popular song that is usually sung during the National Day celebration is the song Home by Kit Chan…
And this song basically says that no matter where you go, even if you’re not in Singapore, Singapore is still your home…
And I especially like the part in the chorus that says…
“This is home surely, as my senses tell me, this is where I won’t be alone, for this is where I know it’s home…”
You know friends, before I became a pastor, I was a humanitarian pilot and because of that, I had to travel overseas a lot because of my previous work…
And there was once when because of a particular mission,
I was away for almost 2 months…
So for 2 months I was staying in a different motel every night and I had to eat take-out food everyday….
The accommodations were comfortable and the food were interesting and nice, because you get to eat a lot of native food…
But it’s nothing like home…
So when my mission finally came to an end,
And when I finally came back after that two months,
I remembered flying over the Southern Islands,
Flew near the floating platform, saw the national flags, and thought to myself… I’m finally home…
Finally, I’m home, and finally I’m able to be reunited with my family and friends, and I get to eat my char kway teow again…
The hotels and the motels and the take-out food were all very nice…
But they were nothing compared to the home-cooked food and being together with my loved ones again…
“this is where I won’t be alone, for this is where I know it’s home…”
Overseas trips may be enjoyable and nice, but nothing beats being home…
And friends, that’s the point of today’s passage…
Jesus had been with the disciples for the last 3 years, teaching them, mentoring them, showing them the ropes…
It was a great time of learning and growing for the disciples,
But the journey was coming to an end…
Jesus’ mission on earth was coming to an end, and it was time for him to return to the Father and be with His Father…
And the disciples were sad because soon they wouldn’t be able to see Jesus anymore…
But Jesus told them not to be sad, because where Jesus was going, it was a far better place then where they are now…
It is a place of bliss and free from all the entrapments and worries and fears that is so much a characteristic of the world today…
The reason why all these things exist on this world today, because the world is broken, because of sin…
And because of sin, man had been separated from the source of life and that is why the world is broken and how death has entered the world…
And thank God, Jesus came to the world on a mission to reconcile the world back to him…
So what he had to do was to die on the cross for our sins as a perfect sacrifice, to pay the price for the sins of the world,
So that the penalty for sin - which is death for all who sinned – can be paid so that whoever accepts this gift of life will have the eternal life…
In other words, because of the works of Jesus on the cross,
Death has died and no longer has a hold on us Christians anymore…
For all who accepts this gift of life, death has lost its sting…
Death is no longer a full-stop, but a speed bump or a pause…
Because with the physical death, all of us who are Christians will be liberated from the frailties of life and will go home to the father and enjoy eternal life with him…
And physical death is but a milestone to indicate that our life here on earth has finished, our mission here on earth is done, and now, we can return back home…
It is a place that is described in revelations 21:4 where there is no more pain, no more suffering, no more mourning…
There is no more corona virus, there is no more tubes and ventilators, there is no cancer and there is more death…
And it is a place where it is described that Jesus Himself will come and wipe every tear from our eyes…
It is a place where we can finally rest from our labours…
And that is where Mr Tong is right now…
During His life, he has loved people dearly, served God well…
And I heard from Soo Hoong, our church staff, that when she visited him, after she prayed for him, Mr Tong will so sweetly insist on praying for her…
That’s his wonderful spirit and love, in multiplying love and encouraging us…
That was part of his earthly mission… and now, that is finished and now he is with the Heavenly Father, in one of the many rooms that the Lord had prepared for him….
No longer limited by his physical frailties, cancer and stroke anymore…
And we thank God for that…
He is home…
And while we will miss him… and it’s ok to miss him…
we can be comforted by the fact and reality that we will one day meet him once again…
for one day, we who like Mr Tong had taken the step to receive the gift of life Jesus has given, when we finish our mission and journey here on earth…
we will likewise go home and be reunited with him…
and that, we can look forward… to meeting him on the other side… in the sweet by and by…
on that beautiful shore…
in the meantime, let us thank God for the beautiful memories of the many wonderful moments we have with him… amen…