Here is a sermon I did for a seminary assignment quite a while ago. I thought I would post it in installments, since it is rather long.
Wayne
WHEN I GET TO HEAVEN, I WANT TO BE BALD
Verse: Matthew 22: 30-33
I was born and raised in the Golden State of California (I hope no one here holds that against me). It is a large and diverse state with large areas of wilderness, even yet. I spent my college years at Chico State University, north of Sacramento, right on the banks of the Sacramento River, which drains the vast interior. Now, it was while in college that I discovered a diabolical scheme to prevent me from obtaining a higher education. At precisely the same time every year, everything happens all at once; school begins, hunting season commences, and the beginnings of the winter run of salmon and steelhead come into the river. What is a young man to do with all those choices? Fortunately I was able to shoehorn some schoolwork in between my forays into the outdoors, or I wouldn't be speaking here today.
I actually caught a King salmon once. It was during the Christmas break from school, while still rather cold outside. It was an amazing catch, considering that I had fished a solid year without a keeper. The Pacific Salmon, as you may know, is an unusual fish. For the salmon has a most unique life cycle. After the young are hatched from eggs in mountain streams, far from the ocean, they feed for a time and travel downstream eventually entering the Pacific. They live for several years in the ocean, following schools of baitfish, but after a time, they feel the urge to reproduce their kind. So they gather in schools, and travel to the mouth of the stream they came from, then swim upstream to the waters where they were born. They spawn, leaving the fertilized eggs to grow and develop. But most peculiar of all, after they have completed this duty, and insured the future of the species, they simply die. There are biological reasons for this, and scientists do not even yet understand the process completely. But the salmon of course know nothing about science; they only do what salmon must do.
There are some people who believe the same holds true for them. According to them, there is no life beyond what we know on earth. If we live on, it is through our children, so they say. I sometimes wonder about people who believe this sad and somewhat cynical philosophy. Who believe that all we have is the here and now; that when we die, our bodies decompose like the salmon on a stream bank. Where does one find courage to do the difficult things, when doing so might put oneself in mortal danger? Where does one find hope, in the midst of hopelessness? These are hard questions.
Unless, that is, you understand and believe the promises of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ. For in his life, death, and resurrection, we can see the model for what will happen to all who believe in him. Jesus himself tells us in the Book of John Chapter 14, verses one and two, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you." As children of the risen Christ, we have assurance that we are invited for all eternity to the place where he dwells; a place we sometimes call "heaven".