Exceedingly good !

 I want to think of a perfect morning, where there is lovely weather, good company, sunshine, and being surrounded by God's beautiful creation. In the words of a Mr Kipling's cake advert, this would be 'exceedingly good'. Perhaps almost heavenly?

There is a story about a Sunday school teacher who was trying to prove a point to her class about faith and following God. She asked, "If I sold everything that I have and gave the money to the Church, would that get me into heaven?" The Sunday school class responded, "NO." She asked another question, "OK, if I sold everything that I have and gave the money to the poor, would that get me into heaven?" The response was, "NO," so she tried another tack. "If I gave you all my money, would that get me into heaven?" "NO." "Well, what will get me into heaven?" One little boy piped up, "You have to be dead first."

I have worked with children a lot, and they often seem to want to know important things such as, "Who created God?" and "Why is there evil?" These are the gentle starting questions. However, they have also provided answers. To the question, "What is heaven like?", I read the following answers:

"Everything is free and everyone lives in a mansion."

"Everyone drives a monster truck."

"Heaven is a place that is so beautiful, you would think it was make-believe. It's perfect."

"Heaven is paradise. The weather is nice. It never rains. Nothing can go wrong. We will be perfect."

Well, a write-up like that does tend to make heaven sound amazing. In our Gospel reading, Jesus used short parables to explain what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. Kingdoms always sound magnificent to me. I remember, as a child, being very interested in kingdoms; after all, they have princesses and are magical. As I grew up and my love of history kicked in, I became fascinated by the Tudor period. I don't want to compare the Kingdom of Heaven, or of God, to that. The Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are the same; they are about the perfect life that we can have with God, both in the future and now.

We are part of the Kingdom of Heaven by the fact that we follow Jesus, and by being His disciples we try to be more like Him, which means that we seek to point people to a better way, a way that is exceedingly good. We know that there is even more to come; what we have now is a glimpse of what will be.

In the Gospel reading this morning (Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52), Jesus used comparisons to challenge people to make a decision. Were they ready for the Kingdom? Were they ready for a commitment that removed everything that stands in the way of God? And were they ready to spread the good news that they had heard?

This challenge is to us as the followers of Jesus today. Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven as being like a mustard seed, a small seed that can grow into something huge. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a small piece of yeast that, once put into dough, grows and makes bread rise. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who gave up everything he had for a small treasure that meant everything. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sold all he had for one great pearl, again another treasure.

We have the challenge of how we will react to the life changing news of Jesus. We can be like the mustard seed and the yeast, doing our own bit to spread the good news of the love of God in our lives. You may feel quite insignificant in the whole scheme of life, but to God you are everything. When you love others as God loves, then people will be changed. This does not have to be in any great action that is publicised, but by being as Jesus to people: coming alongside them, loving them, being a good friend, helping those who need help. This is your mustard seed, your bit of yeast from which God's Kingdom can grow, as you help people to see and know the love of God. A love from which we are never separated, as we came across in the reading from the letter to the Romans (8:26-39). I wonder whether this is even better than exceedingly good.

The man sold all he had for a field; the pearl merchant found the pearl of great value. He was a merchant, which meant that he had the job of selling things on. If we thought of God as being like the pearl, then we would be thinking that, for us, it is about giving everything up to follow Him and then wanting to sell the pearl on. Or rather, to fit the analogy better, that we would want to share the good news of this pearl with others.

God offers us His love, which is the best treasure ever. To know God is to know life; it is to know love, and we need to ask ourselves if we have removed everything that may stand in the way of our relationship with Him. It may be time, it may be other people, or we may be so busy trying to do the right thing that we forget to pray and so damage our relationship with God.

The reading from the letter to the Romans had the wonderful words, "I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God." We also had the reminder that because of all that God has done for us, "we are more than conquerors". When we follow our Creator, when we try to be more like Him, we are on the winning side.

To know God is to know heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is here in part because it is about following God, knowing that we have the promise of even more. Heaven is here in our lives as we reach out to God, but it is only in part because, in life eternal, we will truly see what heaven is like. In the meantime, I pray that we will all seek to bring heaven to earth by living more and more like Jesus, praying for those in need and loving those in despair. Amen.