My Dear Shepherds,
Have you ever thought of Jesus’ first resurrection appearance to his disciples the way Cara Murphy puts it here?
Just like that, he walked through the bolted door and back into their wrecked lives. Whatever had been finished, he was just getting started.[1]
That’s where pastors come in. Once the resurrected Christ recreates his disciples’ lives, he assigns them to shepherds like us. Over the years of our ministries, believers come in and out of our lives, for months, years, or decades. But sooner or later we’re separated. Then what becomes of them?
What Jesus started with his resurrection ultimately comes to a glorious, endless conclusion when we and our flocks are gathered up into the innumerable, white-robed multitude “standing before the throne and before the Lamb,” where
. . . they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; (Rev. 7:15)
What will that service be? What will we and the people we’ve pastored be doing when our hard work here is complete? God’s heavenly temple will not be marble and gold. We are God’s temple now and forever. God “will dwell with them,” always within sight, constantly sheltering us with his presence. His delight over us always as bright as his light.
While we’ll all be perfectly and equally Christlike, I imagine that we will have distinctive personalities, spiritual gifts, talents, and delightfully unique ways of seeing our new home, all shaping our heavenly service.
Since we will be like Christ, we will finally and forever be servants by nature. While we will serve God, Jesus will also serve us! “Truly I tell you, [the master] will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them” (Luke 12:37). A whole citizenry of servants. All those who serve our churches now will then be promoted to priestly service at its best and highest, unhindered by sin, mortality, or weeds.
Joe Bayly once described how he’d thought about heaven as he waited for surgery.
I’ll say, “Hello, Lord. I’m tired.”
And he’ll say, “Rest because I have work for you to do . . ..”
“Work?”
“Of course. Did you think heaven would be an eternal Sunday afternoon nap? My people serve me in heaven. I have work for you to do.”
“Keeping all the gold polished?”
“Ruling angels. Managing the universe for me. Someday, being responsible for whole cities.”[2]
Imagine your congregation then, perfected and immortal in Christ, serving God in endless ways–delving deep into science, creating art, exploring and describing the new creation, finding ways to serve those who lack nothing, compiling the annals of the King from the stories of the saints. The sky’s the limit!
Jack Hayford, the beloved pastor from Los Angeles, told about a pastoral call he made.
It was a deeply sobering day when I came to Carl’s room in the hospital knowing he had only a matter of hours to live. As I sat beside the bedside, I said, “Carl, how are you feeling?”
A man of deep faith and commitment to Jesus Christ and a very experienced and highly respected lighting director at CBS, he looked at me and his eyes misted slightly. He said, “Pastor Jack, you know when you’re in my business, it’s the combination of lights, the skill at blending things together in order to create special effects, that’s what this job is about.” He said, “This morning I woke up and in the quiet of my heart, Jesus spoke to me and he said, ‘Carl, how would you like to direct a sunset?’”[3]
Be ye glad!
[1] Cara L. T. Murphy, The Inquisitive Christ (Nashville: FaithWords, 2020), 162.
[2] Joseph Bayly, Heaven, (Elgin, Illinois: David C. Cook Publishing Co., 1987) 9.
[3] Jack Hayford Narrative,Track 14 on Heaven, Gaither Gospel Series, SHD2415, 2003, CD.
